I'm Fucking Dying At This Page Someone Shared On Bluesky.

Fashionable bat costumes for your next costumed ball!

From La Mode Illustrée (1887), proposed fancy dress ball costume

From Fliegende Blätter (1882); it’s a satire magazine so it’s almost certainly mocking the idea, but I’m gonna take it at face value

how did adonis and koga start dating?

Adonis: That's how I see it at least.

making a separate post for this hehehehe <3

transparent ver doesnt he kinda look like barbie here. barbiecore or whatever

The song is Banana Shake (sped up)

California High-speed Rail has been awarded 3 billion dollars by the federal government for the continuation of construction

[TL] PYSCHOBREAK/Chapter 4

[ This post uses Ois~su ♪ ]

Time: In the afternoon of the next day

Location: ES TV station, in HELLSING’s, formerly UNDEAD’s, dressing room

Adonis: I wonder what Sakuma-senpai is thinking.

Is this my punishment?

No, it can’t be… Since it’s Sakuma-senpai, there will be some sort of deeper meaning to it.

Koga: Huh?

You think way too highly of that stupid old man. Nothings goin’ on in that head of his.

He does whatever he wants without a thought and then afterwards he makes up some shit ‘n goes “that went all according to plan.” He’s an idiot.

Adonis: You understand Sakuma-senpai very well, Oogami.

Koga: At one point in time, he was all I thought ‘bout, so.

Don’t matter how much I think about a version of him that only exists in my head, it has nothin’ to do with reality.

Adonis: ...

Koga: Anyway. What are we doin’ ‘bout this situation?

Adonis: I’m not sure. Actually, I wanted to discuss that with you.

Yesterday, we came face-to-face with fake versions of ourselves, with HELLSING, at the AIIE testing facilities.

After we explored the facilities, Sakuma-senpai gave us a course of action.

He said “let us turn this misfortune into fortune and take advantage of what is happening.”

Koga: Hmph~, I still think it would be better if we jus’ got ridda HELLSING entirely.

But it’s hard to tell the difference between them and the real ones, so it’ll be pretty hard t’kill them ‘cos it’s like they’ve got a mind of their own.

Adonis: Umu. That is one of the problems with AI.

Should AI, and robots alike, be given human rights?

If we don’t acknowledge this, and only use them as a means to an end, are we not creating a new system of slavery?

Koga: Nn, I don’t like thinkin’ ‘bout complicated shit like that. The HELLSING guys are surprisingly nice, ‘n they follow every command we give ‘em.

Even if they start bad mouthin’ us, we can turn them off with a remote control. They’re just machines.

It’s more of a problem of, is it alright for us t’dispose of them losers for our own convenience. They’re alive— well, they’re not, they’re machines.

Adonis: Do machines have souls?

Koga: I dunno man. But Sakuma-senpai said they might ‘n that's why we can’t get rid of them. We can’t mindlessly throw ‘em out.

Adonis: Sakuma-senpai is a nice person after all.

Koga: Yeah but he’s not a pussy, he’s jus’ sick of messin’ up other people’s lives with his own hand. AI ‘n shit ain’t humans, but, you get my point.

If I was destroyed by the person I loved, I’d want the same.

Adonis: …Anyway, HELLSING began idol activities when we were participating in that experiment and were isolated from the outside world.

And that ‘radical, immoral’ unit received widespread support, especially from long-time fans who expected that side from us.

It seems that Sakuma-senpai is taking full advantage of this situation.

Whilst HELLSING deals with radical, rock band type of activities—

UNDEAD will handle a variety of things that we have been undertaking since ES’ establishment.

It’s important to keep old fans happy whilst simultaneously bringing in new ones. Sakuma-senpai is trying to please both sides without alienating anyone.

With that, he believes that this will lead to our revival.

Koga: He wants t’split us up, divide us into light ‘n dark.

Normally I’d be totally against that…

But now we have handy robots that can act on our behalf.

It’s like they're copy robots. Hm.

Adonis: Copy robots…?

I’m not sure what you mean by that but HELLSING’s utility was proven at today’s live.

Koga: Mhm. When Hasumi-senp—I mean, shitty glasses, tried t’attack us on stage I was thinkin’ what the hell do we do.

There’s not a chance he’d understand our situation right now.

Adonis: It wasn’t exactly an attack per say, Hasumi-senpai was worried.

Koga: Hmph, he’s always been a nosy fucker. He’s like a stray dog or somethin’ that can't bare to be alone.

Adonis: I believe that’s true for a lot of people though.

Koga: Well, whatever. Shitty glasses is a good guy at the end of the day. It’s hard t’believe that there’s robots that look like humans operatin’ behind the scenes.

Until it becomes public knowledge that we’re usin’ AI idols, no one, not even shitty glasses, is gonna notice.

Adonis: Umu. At the moment, it is better for us to keep their existence hidden as if we reveal the truth, we may be subjected to harsh words and lose credibility.

I feel as if we are deceiving fans, which upsets me.

Koga: Yeah, it’s probably better if we tell ‘em.

But not right now. We gotta focus on dealin’ with all the new things HELLSING brings.

That’s why I’m worried ‘bout lettin’ the AIs do whatever they want at the moment. It’s best if us two monitor HELLSING.

Adonis: Yes, then us, along with fake Sakuma-senpai and fake Hakaze-senpai will perform radical, immoral activities at HELLSING.

Whilst real Sakuma-senpai and real Hakaze-senpai take part in variety shows and such with fake me and you as UNDEAD.

Koga: Our AIs are pretty good at what they do, so I ain’t too worried ‘bout them.

They’re doin’ a live broadcast but they’ve gotta act properly when they do a variety show.

Adonis: Yes. I cannot say yet as to whether this decision will turn out to be a good or a bad one—

So far, everything’s been smooth sailing. So much so that it’s scary.

[ ☆ ]

Chapter 3

various silly details in swingin' paroniria

When rei sings "this love song between a human and a monster" adonis stands behind him and mimes the arms of a monster with claws on "monster" (and kaoru and koga do this super cute show-off move)

The camera angles make it hard to tell, but they do some interesting blocking in general during lines about a monster where one (or more) members will stand behind the other with arms outstretched. i think it's supposed to make the member in front look like they have more than 2 arms

Drum kit on stage has a skull and roses (wow, i wonder who picked that one out)

On the line "[every smile of yours] is like a stake piercing my fickle heart" they mime pulling out something from their heart instead of stabbing something in

more undead character lighting!

koga prom pic hover hand

the heart on the mannequin matches the heart on the jacket! this one's pretty obvious i just really love the way adonis looks in this screenshot

This ending pose is unique in that adonis and koga are in the middle -- usually rei and kaoru (or at the very least rei) take center stage. the exceptions are the event songs, but in these cases the two center positions at the end have always been the 5* and 4* characters. considering that rei is the 4* in this event, not koga, i think it's really sweet that the senpais gave the underclassmen a chance to shine! it feels like undead is on more equal footing in !!!-era ❤️

Someone captured the solar eclipse on an airplane

i'm still thinking about adonis' and rei's conversation in the graveyard. like, it turns our perception of rei/adonis and their emotional intelligence on its head. on the surface, rei is incredibly charismatic and emotionally intelligent, while adonis is awkward and frequently takes people too seriously, but when things get personal, rei backs off while adonis is open and honest about his feelings, which makes adonis excellent at understanding rei. on the other hand, rei makes a faux pas. (cw for brief discussions of racism below the cut)

adonis comments that rei seems down, and rei is surprised that adonis noticed

rei IMMEDIATELY discredits adonis' statement, saying that humans can say they care for and respect someone as much as they want, but they never make a true effort to understand them. when adonis says it's because he's known rei for a while, rei calls him cocky. he's clearly uncomfortable with being understood and tries to steer the conversation away from personal topics, keeping it to light banter

rei then accidentally triggers one of adonis' insecurities by calling him a "killjoy." it's not his fault, but the nickname triggers adonis' insecurities anyway because he hates being associated with violent words like "kill," and it shows that rei is not always aware of the impact his words have on adonis. this leads adonis to show a moment of vulnerability and talk openly about his struggles as an immigrant in japan because he feels as though everyone around him is wary of him and fails to make an effort to understand him, instead judging him as violent from a glance, which is such a deeply heartbreaking sentiment -- it's so clear how ingrained this internalized racism is such that being called a "killjoy" set him off. he talks about how he feels as though he tries to behave as a model minority and be perfect and quiet so no one misunderstands him, but they misunderstand him anyway (and isn't this what rei and his family is doing? trying to be perfect so that he is simply allowed to exist, so people don't see him as a monster?). here is adonis giving tangible proof that both he and rei are misunderstood by others, showing that he does actually understand what rei is going through on a personal level.

adonis tells rei that he was hurt by rei blaming him for being the leader of the vampires, too (it wasn't rei's fault, but adonis doesn't know that). rei replies with "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, okay? I love you" which is exactly what he said humans did in the very beginning -- you can love someone without making a real effort to understand them. rei (in this specific conversation) is refusing to understand adonis because doing so would mean having to acknowledge his own weaknesses

and adonis shows that he was listening to rei and says that it's not about loving or hating someone. it's about understanding someone.

i love the scene of adonis noticing that rei was depressed post-crossroads and all the discussions of adonis being particularly clever / observant throughout the story... it really hammers home the adonis and rei parallels. both emotionally intelligent people who feel othered and who are driven by their love for humans and desire to help even strangers to the point of self sacrifice. the major differences between them are caused by adonis' crippling self esteem (which is something he's slowly but surely learning to improve) and rei being treated like a god (something that's also changing as rei allows himself to be fallible)

Hi stephanie,

I hope this email finds you, as the search and rescue team is otherwise completely out of ideas