#(also on a superficial level: i just think they're hot)

[aeternallis]

hot take of the day: a large chunk of Kimchay fic is just BarcodeJeff fic labelled as Kimchay/under Kimchay disguise

Reply beneath the cut for you nonnie, because my response may ruffle a few feathers~

Otherwise...

One, you're right, nonnie, and you should say it proudly! Also loudly, for those in the back, lmaooo~

Two, RPF in and of itself is not a bad thing, imo. RPF enthusiasts tend to play in that unusual realm of having just enough distance from the RL actors themselves that so long as they're not forcing their fantasies onto said actors, there's nothing wrong with writing out how these individuals can potentially have an emotional connection that goes beyond professional.

In fact, I would even argue that RPF also deals not necessarily with real people, but rather the personas of real people, if that makes sense. Considering the fact that most RPF I usually see are about celebrities and whatnot, there's always going to be a level of superficiality going on, yknow?

Having said that, I also do feel like at the end of the day, this sort of phenomenon of mixing actors vs the fictional characters they play is just inevitable as one gets further away from the canon, yknow? It’s happened with most fandoms that have thrived on here before, and KPTS certainly isn’t exempt from that, alas. It’s definitely a confusing, weird mix of wanting to consume more content between these two actors who have a lot of chemistry in front of the camera, and I don’t know, shorthand tropes/RL events that the author assumes the readers keep up with.

Like, as an example: I talked about it with a friend a little while ago, but sometimes when I see fics of Kim making music that alludes to Jeff’s work (i.e. Dum Dum, Rain Wedding, etc etc.), I often find myself asking, “if we were to compare how Kim was left off in the show��struggling to write new songs, not much inspo to be had except his relationship w/ Chay, re-writing Chay’s song to fit his own purposes, etc. etc.—versus Jeff’s current/ongoing wellspring of various activities besides music, do they even line up artistically? Would their aesthetics and artist journey even match?”

Imo, it’s a very thought-provoking question. At the same time, it’s easy to say “yes, they would line up, because Jeff used a lot of his own experiences to bring the character to life!” without having to necessarily think about Kim's character, or why it’s very easy to mix up the actor and character, without even meaning to.

Like, there are some headcanons I scratch my head at and wonder, "do you really think this is a trajectory you see Kim falling into, or it's just because you view Jeff in this light?" Lolol

More than that, JeffBarcode also have a significant age gap. At the time KPTS was filming, Barcode was a minor, and it would have been inappropriate for them to have engaged in anything more, even in terms of marketing. And to be honest, even though Barcode is three-four years older now, many fans (especially the younger ones) have yet to get over this mental block/boundary, without inviting scrutiny and potential cancellation online, because everybody be pearl-clutching nowadays.

This being the case, I can definitely see why the JeffBarcode enthusiasts would much rather prefer to use the vehicle of KimChay as containers for their RPF fantasies, rather than outright saying their fic is pretty much JeffBarcode fantasy. Lol Readers may not take their ideas as seriously or worthy of merit, and I definitely get the instinct of wanting to indulge in one's delulu, but also keeping yourself safe from harassment.

So, as a result? We get a lot of Kimchay fics that are masks for RPF fantasy, and less of fics actually examining the fictional characters themselves and what can they say about them, cut off from whatever the hell's going on with their RL actors.

It's not necessarily a bad thing, but there's less of the transformative aspect of fanfiction and art that comes as a result, unfortunately.

[graceofgondor]

hi! so everyone is sharing their hot takes and since i've agreed with pretty much every one you've shared, i need to know your opinion on this: unless i missed something in the book, i don't think chris and ginny are actually friends, like i think ginny views chris as her brother's girlfriend more than anything. don't get me wrong, i think they like each other and enjoy each other's company but just aren't close. i kind of disagree with the take that she's a bad friend, simply because i don't think she's a friend at all you know??

idk it just came as a bit of a shock when i joined the fandom and everyone seemed to assume they were besties. i haven't seen anyone mention this and i just want to know if i'm alone in this lol

hi!! tysm for the ask <33 yk I love to yap loll

(i actually love that you brought this up because i completely forgot to address this on my hot take post.) i actually have sorta complex feelings about this so allow me to explain!!

I do think Chris (in theory) is not a great friend, BUT that is assuming she and Ginny are friends to a certain degree. I typically operate under that assumption in discussion simply because most of the fanbase does and that's just my general take on said assumption.

As far as what I think in general?? It's kind of unclear. I definitely don't think they're close if they are friends, but from what it seems, I agree they aren't very close at all. It seemed like Chris kind of wanted to push Knox in Ginny's direction as a "favor" so to speak, not really because they were close and she cared about that sort of thing.

The main reason I don't think they're best friends is for one: it's clear they are very different types of people. Chris is a cheerleader/popular/preppy type girl (to put it bluntly), while Ginny is more soft-spoken, independent, and matter of fact, worrying more about the theoretical than the superficial (it's clear she doesn't try to put on a "persona" or sugarcoat things to please anyone) while I think Chris cares alot more about appearances. This is all very evident to me even in just the deleted scene we have of them at the Danburrys. When Knox asks Chris about Chet, Ginny gives her a kind of "seriously??" type look, while Chris just kind of smiles, answers, and brushes it off. And later in the scene, she blatantly notes to Knox that Chris and Chet are going to park, which, is a weird thing to say if you're trying to keep up appearances. It makes it evident that she's not, and not only that, but it seems she's unphased/unimpressed by the notion to begin with.

This is evident at the party too, where it's clear once again that Ginny isn't impressed by Knox, and she doesn't exactly try to hide that fact, even to his face—unlike Chris, who obviously put up with way more. I don't think Ginny is one to appreciate people who are fake either, because she's so real about everything, and she doesn't go out of her way to get noticed by people like that. (This all plays into her appreciating Charlie's approach toward her later on but that's a different conversation for another time.)

Anyway, for two: it's the same reasons I think Chris would (in theory) be a bad friend. She encourages Ginny to audition for the play, yet she doesn't go for her, rather, she goes because Knox convinces her. She completely ditches her at the party too, when its evident Ginny doesn't really have other people to hang out with, she just kind of wanders around. If they were really friends, Chris probably wouldn't do that, and she also would certainly care significantly more that Ginny got a large role in the play.

But to tie those together, I think you're right. In that, if anything, Ginny views Chris as a surface-level friend. She may gossip with her a bit or keep up with general life things, but I think like Knox, and like most other people, she isn't impressed by them, she doesn't really entertain the superficial personas. She's not exactly a social-outcast, but I just think she's smart, and she cares more about things with substance. (Hello—there's a reason she did Midsummer and Chris didn't) And that's why they aren't close, they just have wildly different priorities.

If you've read My Lady Ginny (which, alot of my anons have so that's why I bring it up haha) you'd notice I kind of ignored Chris alot of the time. Ginny only talks to her a couple of times over the course of a few months (mostly just for convenience/advice), and Chris doesn't go to that play at all. It was honestly a fine line for me to walk because I was unsure just how close to make them, especially after the events of the film/book. Did Ginny even know what Knox did at the party?? (I mean, she's smart like I said so it's likely she would find out) And if so, would that affect their so-called "friendship"? I don't think it would impress her, and I definitely think it would be weird with Chet afterwards, not that they seem inherently close either, but overall, it's just murky waters, and no one really talks about it. I think it would be likely that Chris' relationship with Knox would only push Ginny further away, not only because Chris broke up with Chet, but also because Knox in general isn't someone Ginny is particularly impressed by, and yet Chris decides to date him after what he did.

Anyway, to make a long story short... I think you're right. They aren't close. To me, they're surface-level friends, friends of proximity, and I think post-canon wise, that only wanes further. Chris doesn't get Ginny on a deeply personal level, and she's a very opposing personality, so as a result, that friendship isn't likely to go further in my mind.

As far as the fandom thinking they're best friends/special friends—to put it bluntly, I think both Ginny and Chris, (but moreso Ginny) are just plainly mischaracterized.

[penaltybox-gossip]

When I was younger, hockey players were appealing. Now that I’m older, the constant hooking up, their superficiality, and their extremely high body counts just disgust me now. Anyone else the same?//

It's not just hockey players, it's all athletes.

But I think there is a naivety in being a young fan who idealises these guys which as you get older starts to fall apart. Teams also do a lot of work with their content to make them look like cutesy fun guys and spin positive PR. But think of it from their perspective. If it's offered up then they're gonna take it. Many of these guys are ~5/6s and getting hard 10s slide into their DMs/match with them who will do whatever they want them to. Half these guys wouldn't get a second look if they weren't athletes. It's a huge ego trip for them.

Women also have a duty to not dehumanise themselves in this equation. If the guys had to act right or be forced to show respect to get what they want then they would but they're not because even if one girl lays down the law the next one in line will not and they'll just move on. They know a hot girl who has never met them before will hop on a plane and bang them with zero work on their part just because they're in the NHL. Why would they put in any effort when they don't have to.

There's a reason these guys act like that and that's because the girls/women around them enable it because they want a shot at the millionaire lifestyle without having to work for it themselves. I know someone who had a 26 year old woman show up to a hotel on the road to try to hook up with him when he was barely 17 years old. Hell even Slafkovsky was dating an almost 30 year old when he was 18. You think that woman is looking to date any other literal schoolboy that isn't the first overall pick in the NHL?

A lot of them do take advantage of the easy encounters being offered to them when they're relatively young developmentally because it's very flattering and that's a mindset that gets ingrained in their sexually formative years and spreads through the peer group like cancer. They all behave like that because that's just how they all behave.

There's also a scientific element. Athletes tend to have higher testosterone levels. That also means stronger sexual urges and a more voracious appetite than the average joe.

I would just say if you're a hockey fan then enjoy the hockey and set aside the off-ice stuff. A lot of fans go looking for it and then get offended when they find it. I can pretty much guarantee none of that digging is going to turn up a virginal hallmark movie guy who is earnestly seeking a bookish, homely girl who will bake him cookies and talk about their feelings.

Even when you dig into who these guys end up marrying, you often find a woman who has a long history of targeting and going after hockey players. That's just the off-ice game and I don't see it ever changing because it's completely ingrained in the culture at this point. (Sorry this turned into a full-on dissertation!)

^^

[liobi]

about that director's commentary thing

i'm curious if there's anything on that scene in the beginning of always where lappland has a weirdly charged discussion with kal'tsit in her room

Oooo, The beginning of always!

Background on this fic, I cannibalized two other WIPs that got incredibly jossed by the release of Il Siracusano (One of them a TexLappSora fic where Lappland took Popukar to a concert of her favorite idol, only to discover that under the lupo disguise, Sora was the little bunny girl whose journalist father Lappland had offed under her and Texas's boss's orders. She had let the little girl who witnessed the deed go, but their boss found out and ordered Texas to liquidate Lappland leading to her expulsion and infection). But anyways, on to the setup!

Both Lappland and Kal'tsit care deeply for the vulnerable. We see as much any time they are the focus of various events, but they go about it in different ways. Kal'tsit is methodical, scheming, and uses her long life and connections to accomplish her needs. She's got plans upon plans, irons in the fire galore, a Machiavellian master sitting atop a mountain of fallen foes and destroyed obstacles.

Lappland on the other hand is a bundle of unrestrained id, packaged and fired like a bullet on a path set by either herself or others, a genius at improvising and legitimately charismatic, if only used to get under people's skin. Lappland is the MacGyver of mob heroes. Lappland is also very consciously trying to be the opposite of her father. It's why i think under the right circumstances she'd be good with kids actually!

While she may believe that once she returns to Siracusa she will be helpless but to eventually become what she fears, in the meanwhile she is fighting tooth and nail to be kind and friendly and open to anyone that will have her (despite everyone thinking she's got sixteen layers of malicious plans and mindgames going on), but also she kinda sucks! She DOES sometimes have sixteen layers of malicious plans and mindgames going on! She CAN be mean and kinda nasty in fact she intentionally digs into people's sore spots constantly! She contains multitudes.

So with the fact that Kal'tsit and Lappland have opposite styles of operating, it's only natural that Lappland sees at least on a superficial level some similarities between Kal'tsit and her father.

Kal'tsit is also super hot and manipulative and leaves nothing to chance so!

PREAMBLE OVER, ON TO THE SCENE ITSELF

~

Lappland had no idea how much of this was actually Dr. Kal’tsit and how much was a carefully constructed facade to convince other people she was just like them.

Kal’tsit motioned across the room. “Sit where you like.”

Some small part of Lappland wondered where exactly the night would go if she chose to sit on the bed.

~

Right from the get-go Kal'tsit has the intention of measuring Lappland's... everything. Looking for any foothold that will give her power over the negotiation, some way to maneuver Lappland into giving her exactly what she wants; a teacher for Popukar who can handle the little berserker and an operator with a talent for improvising and resourcefulness that would absolutely be willing to cross names off a list if Kal'tsit needed her to.

The conversation is a game of chess, of battleship, right from the start and they both know it. Lappland thinks back to the mafia sit-downs her father brought her to for a reason! This is one, in its own way.

On top of all this, we know from Il Siracusano that Lappland despite everything still wants her father's approval and affection. So when she's confronted with a woman who on a surface level reminds her of her father who is not so subtly asking if she wants to get into bed, she's gonna have a boner that's hard (lol) for her to examine all at once (lolol).

The rest of the scene really consists of them testing the water, trying to gauge where the other person is at and what they're getting out of it. Lappland is set up to both care about kids and also Amiya, and Kal'tsit cares about both of her daughters and keeping Rhodes Island alive and running and sometimes you need assassins and terrorists to do that. So they find somewhere in the middle to meet and Lappland doesn't rip her stitches because of ill-advised sex.

[blrecs]

04/50: couples' guilds ("virtual strangers", "turns out my online friend is my real-life boss")

When I am not being sickos.jpg about loving extremely toxic and unhappy love affairs, I am always on the hunt for the episodic ensemble cast story that has lots of hijinks. This is why I routinely reread "Monthly Girls' Nozaki-Kun" from beginning to most recent chapters. I started my manga-reading journey with Takahashi Rumiko, after all.

The mistaken/secret/double identity plot is a classic among low-stakes, slice-of-life type romcoms. In fact, GSNK begins, and maintains for quite a long time, just such a plot. The fun of GSNK is that no one is trying very hard to hide their identities, but that their other selves become secret identities/double lives simply because they're so outlandish. Nozaki's secret identity (being a shoujo mangaka) is so incongruent with his personality and large hulking body that no one believes him even when he starts passing around volumes of his manga to his classmates. Sakura's not-so-secret identity (having a huge honking crush on Nozaki) is so unbelievable, apparently, that even Nozaki can't believe it and assumes instead that she's figured out his not-so-secret identity of being a mangaka. Many such identityplay hijinks abound: the prince of the school is a girl, the flashy wannabe Casanova is a shy boy whose only experience with girls is through harem dating games, "trunks vs briefs?" and so on.

These stories are always at their best when multiple subplots converge, like in the alternate drafts of GSNK's chapter 45, where Wakamatsu's mistaken belief that Seo and Kashima are dating lead him to mistakenly believe that Hori is attracted to hot guys, Kashima to believe that Wakamatsu is fighting her for Hori's affection, and Seo to believe she is relaying messages between two halves of a love triangle when in fact she is being inadvertently wooed by Wakamatsu. It's a pity that Tsubaki Izumi decided the alternate drafts were too convoluted, because I think it's in those versions you see her true talent: being able to add increasing levels of mistaken identities without the characters becoming parodies of themselves. In my opinion the rejected versions of GSNK 45 become the basis of Miyako and Ryosuke's story (Ryousuke is under a misapprehension that Miyako is a cabaret dancer with a high school boyfriend, he overhears and is told things that should clue him into the fact that he's wrong about all the facts but his strong mental allows him instead to create an alternate universe where Nozaki is a bunny girl dancer), so really, in the end, Tsubaki couldn't help but be herself, and that's to our benefit. She loves an overly complicated imaginary love square. I wouldn't be surprised if she, too, loved Takahashi Rumiko.

Convolution like this, though, is only possible when a story is not focused only on the main couple, but on the variety of human relationships that could be the foundation for misunderstanding. This week I reread Nmura's "Turns Out My Online Friend is My Real-Life Boss!" and read for the first time the webtoon adaptation of HoneyTrap's "Virtual Strangers," which both begin in the same place: two people find friendship in a MMORPG while also knowing each other in another capacity entirely in real life. Despite having the same premise, there isn't even a superficial similarity to the two series, and it took revisiting GSNK for me to put my finger on why: there are barely any supporting characters in "Virtual Strangers," whereas in "Online Friend" the first gaming buddy Hashimoto truly meets in that capacity is not Shirase but rather Salted Salmon aka Kumada, a high schooler who becomes a third leg in a love triangle and eventually a confidante for Hashimoto and Shirase when they start dating.

That is not to say that one series is better than the other, even though my preference is for the ensemble hijinks in "Online Friend." "Virtual Strangers" is truly a comedy of context errors, and wholly focused on the relationship between Yeowoon and Jigu. Neither Yeowoon or Jigu's personalities offline or online are fake, but context means that in-game, Ji9star is always following Neuta like a bad but very loving penny, whereas in real life, Jigu thinks Yeowoon is a gay stalker who practices lifestyle BDSM. Their relationship online is so different from their relationship offline because offline Jigu feels like he cannot be wholly himself or honest with Yeowoon, and no matter how honest Ji9star is with Neuta, it cannot actually mirror the experience of hanging out in person. Yeowoon and Hashimoto are both oblivious, but in "Virtual Strangers" that obliviousness is the kind of strangely homophobic gay in-joke that's common in bl: isn't it funny that Yeowoon thinks Jigu is so handsome and tells him so to his face? Isn't it funny that Yeowoon is always acting sweet to guys and then being surprised that they like him? It's funny to be mistaken for a gay man, when you aren't a gay man!

On the other hand, the double lives of the characters in "Online Friend" are not split between online vs offline, but rather different facets of their personalities expressing themselves because of time, place, and occasion. Shirase is a demon boss, but also a doting boyfriend. Kumada is a typical rowdy high school boy; he feels so emotionally mature and well-behaved when with Hashimoto because he wants to be on his best behavior in front of his crush. The game functions as a way to keep the characters interacting, rather than as a masquerade ball for their personalities, which becomes increasingly obvious in volume 2, when Kumada's other brother is thrown into the mix as part of an imaginary love triangle.

And... I have nothing in particular to conclude! Some weeks I have no important bl thought scholarship to complete. Sometimes I just read stuff and kind of want to talk about them. "Virtual Strangers" is so clearly an adaptation of a bl novel. The "getting together" arc feels so drawn out and long because the tension between Yeowoon and Jigu and Ji9star and Neuta are clearly where the author excels. "Online Friends" zooms past the initial identity stuff so quickly that it's no wonder Kumada had to get brought in, and on an alt account too, to keep up pretenses that this was about misleading online identities. Premises are just that--a presumption of a plot, before the real plot kicks in.

You can read "Virtual Strangers" on Lezhin and "Turns Out My Online Friend is My Real-Life Boss" wherever Kodansha allows.

[revenge-of-the-shit]

Just watched Joy Ride (2023) and mixed thoughts.

Spoilers below!!

It was really, really refreshing to see East Asian women being portrayed as unapologetically raunchy and messy and terrible and fucked up. It's the first time I've seen a movie where they're NOT some out together socialite or kung fu badass or a fetishized dragon lady or delicate lotus flower. The characterization was well done and I felt like they were fleshed out pretty well, and it was a very sex-positive portrayal of East Asian women and it was done ENTIRELY without fetishizing them. It's a low bar to pass and the fact that this is the first movie I've seen that passes this bar is... depressing but it was very nice to see that they can be trashy and sexy and just be themselves.

It's the typical sort of humour you'd expect from an R-rated comedy. Not my sort of thing entirely, but I had some laughs for sure and some other reviewers thought it was hilarious.

I could tell that the film was indeed made by diaspora for diaspora. There were just so many little details sprinkled through the whole thing that I could recognize from lived experience

While the film certainly made some commentary on internalized racism, I felt like it never really followed through with exploring this theme, or that when it did, it was somewhat superficial and did not really fully address it. Same goes for exploring the theme of being in-between - something that's very, very central to diaspora - as well as the identity crisis evoked by a twist I admit I was surprised by. All of these, while they had the potential to be weaved more strongly into the film, were not really fully addressed - and while this is a comedy movie, the way that all these themes were set up as serious things to address led to a rather mediocre reaction to its execution.

The female gaze is generally very, very, very present for this film, which is once again rare to see in R-rated comedies with nudity and sex. None of the four friends are ever objectified as sex objects, and anything sexual is something they choose for their own pleasure. It's a very sex-positive take, again.

Sprinkles of queer Asian experience in there too, which is nice to see. I found Deadeye to be a very compelling character as I can relate to them in several levels, and it was really really nice to see queer Asians who can be awkward, be raunchy, be terrible, be unapologetic, a d just be human.

Plot was a typical comedy plot, so not revolutionary at all and with some plot holes, but it's a plot.

One more point under the cut with bigger spoilers but also CW: Mentions of SA.

Overall, I'd give it a 6.5 - 7/10. Not great, not bad. Could've been better. Some weird spots. But it sure is something, and I'm glad to see more Asian American rep all across different genres.

One of the biggest scenes that made me feel off was a scene where Stephanie Hsu's character, Kat, has a bag of coke up her ass, and it breaks. She freaks out because she feels it entering her system and it makes her, as she says, "very horny." At this point, she and the three others are in a hotel with a bunch of hot athletic Asian men who are friends with one of the MCs. One of the men, who's also Kat's ex, tries to hit on her and hook up with her, but she tries to reject him - she also tells him that she's engaged, which he is. He does not back off and he does not take her seriously. She runs off (to the gym). He follows.

While he definitely thinks she's sober (he has no idea she's on drugs), the rest of the gals, FULLY AWARE that Kat is completely drugged out of her mind and being hit on by someone she does not want to be with, decide to go their separate ways while wishing everyone a good time and to "have fun tonight". Nobody checks on Kat.

At that point in the film I was beginning to get extremely worried that they were going to play off a date rape-esque scenario as a humorous, joking one given how the entire tone of this scene was a humorous one.

At the end, they do not have sex, thank God.

The scene between them is indeed sexually charged. What happens is that she pulls a muscle when trying to work off the energy, and he uses a muscle blaster/massage gun on her back. He does not touch her without her asking him to, but she is still under the influence of drugs (which he doesn't know...but still...). She then grabs a basketball and puts it between her thighs, and he uses the massage gun on the basketball. Afterwards, she takes the gun and uses it on his balls, and apparently shatters his pelvis. Wow

This is never addressed afterwards, ever. The scene left me feeling rather confused and more uncomfortable than anything else in the entire movie. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but something about it was clanging bells in my head.

[aliciavance4228]

Alright, I Actually Have a Little Problem With Smut in Books (and "Popcorn Books" in General)

So, recently one of my classmates asked me if I read "Kafka on the Shore", and I told her yes. Tl be perfectly honest, I was kind of exited knowing that I can finally talk about a book that I enjoyed, but right when I was about to explain to her about how this book references the myth of Oedipus she straight up asked me "Did you find those scenes hot? 🤭"

First of all, I was partly pissed off by the fact that she was talking about the sex scenes from a novel that is supposed to make you uncomfortable and explore some quite disturbing themes. Murakami is a talented writer, but he often does the mistake of adding unnecessary sex scenes in books where there is no need for them. But because this one particularly is partly inspired by the story of the man who killed his father and then had sex with his mother, they made sense here. However, due to the fact that people are instantly perceiving them as "hot" or "steamy" rather than essential or relevant for the plot, they already start to lose their importance.

And secondly, this question also made me think about all those BookTok shorts with captions such as "If your gf said that she's a bookworm what she ment is that she's reading smut" or "Books that have 5/5 spice 🥵🌶". Now, do not get me wrong; I don't consider that there is something shameful in a woman reading and enjoying erotica; on the contrary, I think that women should be more encouraged to read and enjoy that. Heck, even my asexual ass has read "Tropic of Capricorn" and "Delta of Venus". And no, I don't consider that everyone should read only heavy (refferring to the content) books; not everyone is an intellectual and sometimes you just want to read something that's purely simple and enjoyable. However, by claiming that all a bookworm girl is reading is straight up cheap smut, what you're indirectly insinuating is that "girls are just sex hormones on legs who are thinking superficially, being intelectually uncapable of appreciating something on a profound level."

I know that I might sound like a hater right now, but a book that was poorly written and sold only because of the sexual content inside it is no different than a pornhub video. There is a difference between a novel where the sex scenes are essential for the plot, and one where they're replacing the plot itself and aren’t even well written to begin with. And the way these types of books are particularly capitalized and mediatized the most leads to a serious case of intellectual masturbation.

Now, just to clarify certain things: not every book or author that became popular thanks to BookTok is necessarily bad. There are exceptions, such as "A Secret History" or "A Simple Life". And no, there isn't any shame in enjoying "popcorn books". However, people have to realize that one of the main purposes of reading for a very long period of time was to challenge your mind and make you explore different themes, concepts and ideas. By reading the same genres with the same cliché tropes and for the same reasons, you refuse and get outside of your comfort zone and decide to remain in your little shelf. And just because you enjoyed a "popcorn book", that doesn’t mean that you have to deny the fact that it was poorly written, or objectively mediocre compared to other books.

And no, not every mental fart deserves to be turned into a physical novel that you can find in a library on a bookshelf. That's what Fanfiction was invented for.

[scribble-dee-vee]

Dale 💄🎈🧣

Hey nonny!! Ty for the ask <3

(Based on these questions, I have a sneaking suspicion that you're someone with more than a passing knowledge of this character,,,, in which case I am v flattered. If you DON'T know my terrible lil guy, then you may just be a bit psychic. hehe)

For anyone curious, the full prompt list is over here!

Answers below cut because you got me YAPPING and they're LONG. Pls note that I have listed a few content warnings in the tags.

💄 (lipstick) - What does your oc think of their face? Do they have a positive or negative opinion? Do they wear makeup? Do they have a skincare routine? What traits do they like most about their face?

So, here's the thing: Dale is hot and he knows it. He likes to express this fact LOUDLY and OBNOXIOUSLY. A lot of this grandstanding comes from a genuine self-obsession, but he also has a complicated relationship with his body and how other people perceive him. The connection between a person's self and their body is actually a pretty major theme in Lost Letters; Dale is hyperaware of his own embodiment, and it drives a lot of his actions. At best, he can turn this awareness towards personal confidence and interpersonal gains (actively via manipulation and seduction, but also passively through social biases). At worst, he feels trapped, exploited, and overstimulated. He's constantly paranoid that people are watching him. He is extremely sensitive to texture and temperature, especially when he's upset. He's constantly bothered by how people see him and how he presents. We could talk about his relationship with blood, as a jilted descendant of the Queen who does a little violence now and then. We could also talk about his experiences with exploitative sexual relationships and assassination attempts, both of which have altered how he views his own body! But I feel these are tangents to the question at hand. In terms of his face, Dale likes his green eyes. In fact, his eyes are the ONLY part of his face that he ever tells the reader about in draft one! We learn more about how he looks through other characters' perspectives, but he's not usually looking at his face when he's looking in a mirror. He's thinking about the impact of his overall presentation and how he might alter it. In terms of makeup and skincare, Dale lives in a pseudo-Victorian dystopian fantasy hellscape with rigid gender roles – do with that what you will. (It IS really fun to think about skincare in the Diamond City, though!! I have no doubt that Dale keeps up with a meticulous standard of hygiene for his context, and certain other characters would LOVE Sephora in a modern AU.)

🎈 (balloon) - What does your character do at parties? Are they a wallflower or a party animal? Do they go with friends or alone?

Dale goes to a LOT of parties in Lost Letters, so I've gotten to explore this in some depth! Dale is neutral to the common party activities of A.) hooking up with people and B.) consuming various substances – he generally does both if it will help his social or political standing within a given group. He's part of the Goldenheart aristocracy, so parties are a natural background setting in his life. He tends to go with friends, or frenemies. He pretends to have fun, but he usually doesn't. In Lost Letters, Dale is a college student and member of the Rosehip Club, which is essentially a co-ed fraternity for rich kids. He's lifelong friends with Rosalind Lake, the Club's ringleader, and Jamie Fenway, another important member. At the beginning of the book, he meets Charles at a Rosehip Club party! (Thus kicking off the main plot :)

🧣(scarf) - What comforts your oc? Is it an item? An action? A person? Whatever it is, how any why does it comfort them?

Charles <3 For real, though, mutual comfort is a key factor in their relationship. Charles makes Dale feel protected and safe. It's superficially because Charles is an elite soldier who's always around him. On a deeper level, it's because Charles DOESN'T judge him based on political importance or appearance or history. He just kinda takes Dale at face value and listens to him???? Um the bar is in HELL but Dale has never really experienced this before. Charles provides a nice respite from his usual stressors. They spend a lot of their scenes together A.) cuddling, B.) arguing for fun about irrelevant stuff, and C.) doing tourist activities in various City locations. Lol. They would kill it at Disney World in a modern AU. Dale also likes to journal, in somewhat sinister and extremely plot-relevant ways. I GUESS that's comforting for him, lmao. I won't say much more because spoilers, tee hee.

If you read all the way to the bottom of this post, I love you sm!!!! And now you know All That about this morally deplorable blorbo. Please don't get too attached. I promise you, it's for your own good 😅

[spider-xan]

I liked Spider-Gwen at first, but then actually read the comics and they weren't. That Good. She is a good character in ITSV/ATSV, but idk I still feel indifferent about her. And she's been, once again, relegated to just The Love Interest by the majority of fans. Regular Gwen is Peter's love interest and Spider-Gwen is Miles' love interest. Nothing else. It wouldn't bug me if people weren't so obsessive about her, most fans are like "Gwen HAS to be there she HAS to we NEED Gwen!!!!" and it's very annoying. It especially annoyed me that people were drooling about the fact that Insomniac might (or might not) include her and make her Miles' age, so they can be together. Completely disregarding the fact that Hailey exists.

I like her design and all, but she's very meh to me, speaking as a woman myself. Beside the things I've mentioned, my biggest gripe with her that she feels like a completely different character and not a variation of Gwen Stacy. With alternate versions of Peter, while they feel slightly different, they still have the character's essence. The only thing she shares with the OG Gwen is the blonde hair and name, she might as well could've been an OC.

Yeah, this actually is p much how I feel about Spider-Gwen as well tbh! I actually do remember when she debuted and it was coming off hot from the massive spike in mainstream popularity she got after the first TASM film came out in 2012, and I think a major selling point was that her comics would explore what if Gwen lived and got spider superpowers - so I was surprised when I read the comic and aside from having blonde hair, a strong personality, and a cop father, she was basically a new character, rather than if 616!Gwen had a different life; I know a big Spider-Man fan on here wrote a really good meta post examining why Spider-Gwen fell flat for her that I don't have the link for on hand right now, but I remember it discussed the odd choice of taking away Gwen's science skills from 616 when that was a trait that set her apart back in the 1960s and would have been interesting to explore if she had spider powers.

But yeah, like, I would consider myself on the flexible side with adaptations instead of being a strict textual purist, but I agree that you do have to keep a core spirit to a character or else they may as well be a new character with a superficial resemblance, and that's what Spider-Gwen felt like to me - if she had been branded as Spider-Liz Allen or just a new Spider-Woman, I wouldn't have thought of her as actually being a Gwen with someone else's name.

And yeah, you're right that Gwen in general often gets reduced to a love interest who doesn't exist independently of Peter or Miles. (My controversial TASM opinion is that she's not really written as an independent character so much as the perfect girlfriend for nerds.) In Miles' case, it also happens in reverse where the non-Black fandom struggles to think of him as a character separate from Gwen, in stark contrast to how Peter is not treated that way by fandom unless they're hardcore shippers who only ship - and then yeah, you get misogynoir like people screaming, 'Where is Miles' girlfriend??', re: Insomniac Spider-Man 2 while posting a picture of Spider-Gwen and erasing Hailey.

Anyway, yeah, I agree she does not and should not be in everything, and it honestly bugs me when people try to point at Miles by comparison and act like she's on par with his importance when she's not - Miles was groundbreaking and still important to this day on a meta level bc he was an Afro-Latino Spider-Man who became THE Spider-Man in his universe and took Peter's place originally amidst a lot of racist backlash to that change in the (Ultimate comics) status quo, whereas Gwen is far from the first white woman Spider-Woman, nevermind the only one, like, no, she is not the Miles Morales of (white) women.

[starrypawz]

Gerry/Nemo for the character development questions from headspace-hotel please? 2, 3, 8, 22? Thank you!

useful/fun character development questions for couples

Does this change over time? What things do they find “hot” about their partner after they’ve been together for some time, and have had more time to, well, notice and appreciate?

Nemo notices when Gerry kind of goes through a bit of a 'weight gain as healing' journey (like he remains a fairly slim person but it's more like 'oh they're just skinny' rather than the kind of 'this might be a sign his life is less than ideal' kinda way) and like it's both a 'he looks good' and a 'it' a sign he's happier' thing also like on a more superficial level as he grows his hair out more gets some more ink and piercings which just make him hotter and I guess just a general gaining of confidence over the years

For Gerry I think again it's the confidence and just sort of 'your body has changed a little bit as we've gotten older but I like it' like Nemo and just like an ever growing apreication for just the little things like the pattern of Nemo's freckles and just as they get to that point just the various little things that are signs they're alive and actually getting to be older and beating the odds here as they both just continue to be spooky weirdos together.

By contrast, what was the moment that first made their ~heart~ Soft for the other person? Not necessarily a conscious realization of “I love this person,” but a moment that had them like “Oh…I adore them…”

I think one of those early moments is from them just hanging around and for a brief moment it feels like they're just two normal people being friends and then he remembers something funny and laughs a little to hard about it and kinda snorts/chokes on a bit of pop

For Gerry it's a moment like he's over at Nemo's place and he just realises how safe he feels around them enough so he's just kinda leaning into Nemo maybe to the extent he's kind of like actually falling asleep on their shoulder and he's aware he's probably squashing them a little but Nemo doesn't seem to mind

What do they think about romantic love? Do they have baggage surrounding it? Do they idealize it? Is it an object of longing and wanting, or were they really not thinking about it until they started falling for the other character? What are their expectations like?

I think both kind of fall into a camp of 'I mean it sounds nice I guess' but both have cynicism about it for slightly different but likely similar reasons like not really getting to experience love for loves sake. Like I feel Gerry might have a bit more direct baggage on this front due to his treatment by Mary and so he's not really used to the whole 'wait people sometimes just like you for you and not what they want you to be/how you can be used'

Nemo doesn't come from a place of not caring it's a caring so much it hurts and people using that caring against them so it kind of forced them to try and push that out of themself which didn't go super well

Neither of them had much if any romantic experiences to speak of before meeting each other for varying reasons and generally it just not being a priority for either of them and just don't really know how to navigate any of this so they do kinda stumble a bit muddling it all out and realising 'oh shit i like you'

What does sex mean for them? Socially, religiously, what attitudes are they bringing with them? Is “virginity” something they care about? Do they want sexual experiences to occur within a certain “level” of relationship, or does that not really matter so much to them?

They're both in a camp of 'sex is kind of weird and people are weird about it and it shouldn't be such a big deal'

before meeting each other their previous experiences of anything sexual were kind of in the camp of 'hookups that didn't really go anywhere' so both of them are a bit like 'are we virgins? maybe? depends on what metric you use' also for Gerry his previous encounters had been with cis dudes so that was also something new although Nemo didn't actually know this until they'd been hooking up for a while.

Said encounters weren't traumatic for either of them but it was still a bit like 'I feel kinda weird even though I wanted this'

But when they reach that stage between them they kinda muddle things through and develop a decently healthy (and kinky) side to their relationship that they sort of stumbled into and they were kind of in a bit of a sort of fwb/well i like havng sex with you stage for a while before they were like 'Ok yeah actually I really like you'

[cate-planchette]

One of the ways women bond is through co-rumination, and for radfems / feminists one of the problems they're going to ruminate over is patriarchy and how they see the way it manifests. When a woman comes along going 'well I simply don't care about that or I'm willing to do the thing that makes it better for me even if it's worse for you' that basically means 'I don't care about what happens to you' which is being responded to in kind when radfems lash out. Radfems are usually against belittling or vitriolic against women - but you've just opted out of the shared concern for women in-group, so here's how it feels to be on the receiving end of no concern for women.

Women who do this complain about this, but if you've opted out of the in-group, why should you continue to receive the benefits of being in the in-group? why is feminism expected to be the only welfare movement that doesn't focus on an in-group but puts in the work for everybody?

Men already don't care about women, so that as a tactic is not going to have any effect on them. Men can bond with a nazi friend because they know he's either already in that nazi's in-group or because he's trying to demonstrate some level of usefulness that will put him in the in-group. They're not going along to get along and having lots of easily forged friendships, they're tactical alliances with no intimacy hence the constant whining about male loneliness.

Men define themselves as the opposite of women, so women are always already the out-group and forced into a position of constantly performing usefulness to ask to be included (tradwifery) or into a position of trying to form their own in-group, which women undermine by performing for men. This stuff isn't complicated and is talked about all the time with 'pick-mes' you're just trying to overcomplicate it by acting as AAP or but women want to date men changes anything meaningful.

AGPs know it is a fetish, and they can probably get back into the in-group easily if they need to; they're often the most aggressive ex-military men, or aggressive in general, so they're useful to the male in group either as men or as shock troops in women's spaces.

AAPs are turned on by the idea of being men because it gives them a different performance to larp that isn't tradwifery, even though frequently they end up seahorsing it up anyway, because they're in too deep and that is ultimately what the male in-group is going to demand from them. The fujo obsession with gay men is to always insert into the feminine uke, who is 'bad at' being a man and yet protected by the seme anyway, because they know they're not going to be able to compete with men at being men really. They know it's a performance and so much fujo stuff is about performing disinterest and then getting discovered, or ftm fetishes about getting discovered and converted back to feminine. The point is you perform first and wanting to be chased is hot because men like that.

Both sets of trans people know this stuff is a performance of social dynamics of the opposite sex, and that they are bad at but might be rewarded for trying if they reinforce the most conservative values of the in group that designed those social dynamics (men). There's an overwhelming co-morbidity between iding at trans and being autistic, aka already being bad at the default social values you're born into performing. But if you're performing an obviously fake mimicry of the other set, it doesn't matter if it's a fairly superficial performance.

Also, radfems and separatists do not hate or fear straight women and their sexuality. It is that they disagree with most women on where the line is on what counts as pick me, male-supremacy reinforcing, female-liberation-undermining behaviour. If you really think that male supremacy is bad, why would you share your life with one of the people that benefit from it and have a stake in it continuing? separatists ask this question constantly, and straight women pivot to 'you're just afraid of us' in reaction, as if 'transphobia' isn't trans women going 'you don't think we're men, you're just afraid at how good we are at being women!!'. There is no fear of someone's basic existence in either situation, just fear of what self-serving choices they might make and how those choices might impact women in general.

@monsteradarling

"Just as many AGP transwomen associate womanhood with submission, masochism, fragility and inferiority (and enjoy it!). Many AAPs do the same, however they often prefer to be the dominant and masculine, and regard womanhood/femaleness as disgusting, inferior, and humiliating... when you realize what AAPs regard womanhood as, and contrast it with how many blackpillers regard womanhood, it is hard to not see similarities."

[quidfree]

Regarding obnoxiously long books, which is your favourite - war and peace or les mis (and general thoughts please)

ooh, good ask, anon. this is a no-brainer for me because les mis is in my Books of All Time shortlist, but i'd never really considered them side-by-side despite the fact they're contemporary and weirdly similar novels.

quidfree's literary takes hours: comparing obnoxiously long classics edition

why les mis is superior: for me personally? i think les mis manages to do what war and peace does on a micro level (which is a funny thing to ever say about les mis)- sprawling tragic historical narrative, tapestry of characters, exploration of the self via specific protagonists, but with more focus so the read is less exhausting and more engaging. not to say i didn't enjoy W&P, because i really did- but i retained a lot more of les mis even on first read, because of hugo's tighter framing. i'm generally a lot more attached to the characters of les mis than i am to those of W&P. but at the same time they're almost all broke and/or revolutionaries instead of russian nobles so who's surprised....

also, only les mis has a detailed description of the paris sewer systems, so. (and a lot more puns, i feel like.)

actually on a more serious note that's probably something else that i enjoy more in les mis: the narrator's voice, being hugo's, is more charismatic to me.

points that W&P scores: a lot more women involved, including scheming and morally questionable ones. i think fair's fair in fiction- any and all gender represented should have a wide range of mores and personalities portrayed. it's more fun that way. and kudos to tolstoy: he manages to keep you more or less up to date with everything happening to his insanely enormous cast.

romantically i'm also a lot more invested in the dalliances of W&P than les mis, excepting marius' tree-bashing moment. natasha & andrei my problematic besties...

another thing: i can't read russian, but i can read french, which means i get to read les mis both in the original language and in its excellent translation. i'm sure i'm missing out on a lot by not being able to read the russian W&P. (for les mis it's a lot of puns.)

i'm hung up on this but it is crazy how much superficial similarity there is between both oeuvres now that you've brought this to my attention. not just the whole 'extremely long book by extremely assiduous and kind of unhinged social commentator author' thing, but the unusual choice of protagonist (pierre/valjean), the merciless depiction of war and conflict, the killing off of the most sympathetic/heroic figures, the complicated love triangles.... also napoleon is there

they're also both really funny although with W&P i'm less sure when it's intentional. like i know pierre post helene is having a complete breakdown but him joining the freemasons was so funny to me. the equivalent of becoming a scientologist because you got a divorce. elon musk moves.

i have great respect for both authors not just for their talents but for the unabashed confidence to constantly halt the narrative to drop their hot takes on life humanity and society. go off

i will say though that obviously in general les mis enjoys a far more pervasive reception across (western) culture in its myriad adaptations and particularly the musical, so there's a lot more opportunity to engage with it in-depth that probably plays into my biases.

if you have any les mis OR war and peace takes please share i would love to hear some random opinions on either. or even follow-up questions, like who would win in a fight between andrei and enjolras. or what kuragin and montparnasse make of each other.

[bugeyedfreaks]

Previous anon about ppgxrrb post (the first one lol)

I agree with a lot of what you say about the shipping of ppgxrrb and how the fans just depict them as ultra hot bad boys. Its a breath of fresh air to see others’ perspectives on this, cause as I said before I admit I am a fan sometimes but even seeing a lot of ooc works puts me off. I understand if older fans/people only like it because of nostalgia (I’m one of those) but I’m more baffled with seeing new/younger that also likes to ship them, I can see them just liking the Boys cause they think gender bent/evil/alternate versions of the main protagonist are just fun in general, but I don’t understand why a lot of new fans that also ships them, maybe its because of fanart/fanfic.

In regard of that fic (assuming we’re talking about the same thing) I think the reason why it was praised so much and put on high pedestal was because the standard of the ppgxrrb fics were pretty low (at the time anyway) and for me personally it does felt I’m watching the original when I read it, (aside from the shipping thing, but I only read it for the character writing mostly) imo probably the closest thing I can get to what an older/teenage ppg would sound/read like, it just had shipping… lol but also yea I agree with you about the other villains not getting enough fanfics for themselves, its unfortunate cause ppg has so many great villains and the fandom just chose the least interesting ones (rrb)

Also I love how you described Boomer, he’d definitely be a whiteknight type then probably go “bubblevicious” when he doesn’t get what he wants, in fics he’s usually the first, quickest and easiest to be redeemed which is just very boring and probably the reason why Blues (BubblesxBoomer) is the least favorite of the 3 ships.

Yeah, I think on the most basic, superficial level, taking NOTHING about the personality or history of the characters into account, if you were to show someone who never saw the show a lineup of the Powerpuff GIrls characters and ask them, "Who are the girls' boyfriends?" they would choose the Rowdyruff Boys. Just because of their character designs they're the easiest characters to pair them off with. And I don't use "superficial" or "easy" as an insult, like... it just is what it is by the very nature of it. On a little less of a basic level, they're probably the only boys in the show (including the boys that are in the girls' class like Mitch and Elmer and Harry, etc.) that would be considered "attractive" enough to match up with them. Which, y'know, I could go into a whole rant about the superficiality (negative this time, haha) of that and how that way of thinking feels very creatively limiting... but, yeah, when you're a new fan and you see all this fic/fanart, not to mention how the ship is ultra visible and popular, it's the simplest entry point.

We're totally talking about the same fic. 😂 Again, I've really tried to read it and have an open mind about it, and I guess the mere fact that (from what I remember) the girls occasionally do have fights in it is enough to make it different from a standard PPG/RRB fic where the girls' superpowers are completely forgotten about (a la the City of Clipsville girls)... but the villains and the crimefighting STILL just feel like an afterthought (and maybe it's just my pretentiously high standards for them talking, but I remember really disliking how the dialogue of some of the few villains that are even included in the story was written). For the most part it just seems like it's all just fancy set dressing to disguise your average high school teen fanfic. I remember trying to read it again a while ago and I got to an early point where like some characters were suddenly like making out and I was just like... ew, no, not for me. 😩 That doesn't make me feel like I'm watching the show, that just makes me sick to my stomach! Stuff like that just pulled me way out, I couldn't enjoy it.

And I guess that's also a thing I dislike about some of the fanfics, like... if the RRB are going to have any similarities to the girls it's going to be their negative attributes, but that doesn't seem like an issue that ever gets explored. It seems like, despite whether or not people write them as still having problematic misogynist qualities, Brick always just turns out to be the hot intelligent one, Butch is the tough dude bro, and Boomer is the sweet, sensitive boi. How boring IS that?! 🤣 It doesn't seem like anyone's really challenged themselves to see things from any different, meaningful perspectives, and I have always felt that way. It is a bummer though that, when I have found the rare fanfic that has great writing and feels like the show characters and tells a story that's interesting and new (or even has a ship for the girls that's completely off the wall but... somehow actually works!)... it's because I had to dig through all the PPG/RRB content to find it. And I've seen many people who've written cool stuff get frustrated enough about that difficulty of visibility that that they take down their fics, or they get discouraged from writing anything else, or they even get harassed for daring to write anything against the norm. It bums me out.

[calipolifan]

I love that you care so much about the adults of atla. The kids are very interesting of course and very compelling characters, but the adults, including Ozai, deserve more fandom attention. Out of curiosity, what got you onto the Urzai ship to begin with? I like that you portray them more closely to how they were originally meant to be in canon. The relationship might have become abusive, but there was definitely love there once, if I understand correctly. But please correct me if I’m misunderstanding them! It’s a ship that isn’t usually depicted with much nuance except for “Ozai is the devil himself” and “Ursa is a poor abused little angel”

Also, after seeing previous asks, I couldn’t help but ask you what made you consider shipping Ursa X Hakoda and Ozai X Kya too? I’ve always enjoyed crack ships and those are some very interesting ones. With Ursa X Hakoda, I get the sense that feelings would develop due to shared trauma and the love would follow later. But with Ozai X Kya, I can see their relationship starting as hot and steamy, especially if Kya is a consort or concubine, then they begin to bridge the power/distrust gap and develop romantic feelings as equals. Wanted to get your opinion because I think what makes crack ships so fun is that they’re open to a variety of interpretations.

Thanks!

The kids get enough attention by the fandom anyway, especially certain ones... *cough* Zuko *cough*.

The reason I usually get drawn to the adult characters in a show where it's mostly about kids, is, a) I'm an adult too, b) I usually start thirsting for one them before ending up getting genuinely interested in their character lol.

Why did I start shipping Urzai? I guess it was the weather. It was just the very first Ozai ship I was exposed to, luckily (or unluckily) without context from The Search for good plot.

I ended up stumbling over some really old-school fanfiction where their relationship was portrayed that they were closer to being equals. If not in rank, then at least in mind. I remember in my early days in the ATLA fandom that I was really attached to the very romantic idea of Ozai banishing Ursa to spare her from the execution she would've faced for high-treason. Azulon's murder didn't go smoothly and there'd been clear evidence for an outsider's influence, a trail that would've led sooner, rather than later, straight to Ursa.

I wish I could go back to that time... The fandom has poisoned me like lead over those last two years.

Anyway, for a long time, my utter hatred for the comics got me into an outright Urzai rage. I got the honour of being one of the mods for Urzai Week last year, too.

But I digress, again.

Ozai is my favourite character in the franchise, so it was just a matter of time before I started shipping him with more characters apart from Ursa, and I'm not sorry about either of these facts.

Kyazai? Ozkya? is a ship idea that came pretty late to me. It seems most of the time based on the concept of Kya ending up as Ozai's consort/concubine, and even that is rare to come by. I've seen an AU idea where Ozai takes both Hakoda and Kya as his consort (because he's greedy like that), and I'm still thinking about that. No matter, it's hard for me to really... judge the ship, if you get what I mean.

Hakursa is a ship I read and liked once in a fic that was more centered around Urzai's emotionally messy divorce in a modern AU than anything else. In most other settings, that is, "poor Ursa finally ESCAPED that demon called Ozai", my Urzai heart just bleeds too much for me to even attempt to really get into it.

Both wife-switcheroo ships are really just crack ships to me, and I like them on a superficial level. That being said, they're all also DILFs/MILFs, and in that way, that's enough for me to keep wanting to mix them together in couples/throuples.

[eve-is-obsessed]

1x1 NICE FACE rewatch

my thoughts on Eve's characterization and foreshadowing in this episode, and a tiny bit of gay panic

so I'm starting my rewatch of Killing Eve and thought it would be fun to post my notes/ reactions here. **spoilers ahead**

when they're translating Kasia's "heroin Polish" (such a good line by the way), right after Niko says “your killer is a small-breasted psycho,” let's take a sec to appreciate the camera zoom in on Eve's face??? perfect. amazing.

and right after her female-assassin fantasies suspicions are confirmed, she kisses Niko! parallels much? season 2 where Villanelle sends Eve flowers and she proceeds to have sex with Niko as an outlet? or when she and Niko have sex after their argument about V? or when she sleeps with Hugo (ew) but V is talking in her ear the whole time?? aaaaaaaaaaaaa. I think this scene sets up so well that from this moment on, Eve's driving force, even - especially - in her relationship with her husband, is Villanelle.

speaking of V, when she's walking down the street in Paris and checks out that middle aged, dark curly haired woman,,, incredible. she has A Type. more on that later.

some foreshadowing and delicious irony when Niko says “how bad have you been?” and Eve responds “really bad” after she goes to meet Kasia and conduct her little investigation. obviously this doesn't even hold a candle to the bad things Eve does later, murder chief among them, so this line was really interesting.

when Dom and Eve are visiting Kasia at the hospital and Dom says "should have brought her some chocolate or something,” - this line highlights, in a small way, that Eve is not compassionate and doesn't really think about how others might be feeling. on first watch, I didn't see the Eve red flags for a while, but here they are!! in plain sight!!

the!!! bathroom!!! meeting!!! adlfnhoei;nf skjdbvkl;adfk holy shit it's LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT BITCHES. this scene makes me believe in love.

but on a more serious note, V's attraction to people who look like Anna makes the bathroom meeting even more resonant because it really isn't just surface level - V's eye is instantly drawn to Eve, Eve is surprised at someone looking at her Like That (bc she and Niko have zero chemistry), and that superficial desire is what allows for the moment of true connection between them.

what a fantastic first episode. does not disappoint, 10/10. we get an intro to Eve's boring life and desire for intrigue and excitement, and also - on second watch - her morally gray and selfish tendencies. also V being hot and killing people, like always. (side note: a LOT of people die in this episode, either 6 or 7 by my count)

this concludes my notes for 1x1 "nice face." rb with more insight if you want and i will love you forever!!!

[musette22]

can we talk about how chris loves American football while Seb couldn't care less, same with Disney (theme parks) and then Seb loving coffee while Chris thinks that's a monstrosity, one being hot often, the other being cold, one choosing "safe" projects while the other choosing risky ones, i mean... i absolutely love their differences but also their hearts are in the same charities (with kids), they love space stuff, i adore them

It's really funny, they're so different in many ways, almost opposites, but where it matters they're SO compatible. And you know how people say opposites attract? I think that's true on a superficial level, but on a deeper level you need to be pretty similar and agree on the things that really matter, or you won't last. And I just think Chris and Seb strike that balance perfectly. They complement each other in the aspects in which they differ, and they're super in sync when it comes to their mentality, the way they treat people, their loyalty and their love for self-reflection and personal growth and wanting to contribute something good an meaningful to the world. I love them. A lot. 💘