#...is there a crossover between fanbases here or is it just me

[southern--downpour]

i am once again mashing my hyperfixations together like a child playing with dolls

[kiwinatorwaffles]

I found This is About a Stuffed Bird bc of you and its one of my favorite fics ever. Do you by chance have more suggestions?

hermitcraft/mcyt fic recs? :0 let's go!!

i get a lot of my fic recs from other friends since i don't really go out and search on my own all too much for this fandom. but there are lots of great works out here! i will be listing out some of my favorites :3 mostly hc but a couple general mcyt ones that i think are an excellent read no matter what. all of the fics i'm listing will be genfic without ships!

also i just realized a lot of my bookmarks are grian-centric which is funny i guess because i am admittedly quite picky about content of my other favorites and grian just tends to have the most content in the fanbase. hope that'll be alright

(i hope some of my friends and mutuals don't mind me tagging them for their works)

hermitcraft longfics:

the last days of the free angel of carrows by @theminecraftbee - loved stuffed bird? here's another great longfic by second! this one is about joe and cleo in an urban fantasy mystery setting. again, second writes our beloved hermits into an captivating au!

leaping and hopping on a moonshadow by @lunarblazes - a fantasy au by luna my beloved! pearl suddenly gains magical powers and goes on a quest to find her long-lost friend grian who might know what's happening to her. she meets a lot of familiar faces along the way!

Recall by @redwinterroses - hey, i was the artist for this one! :D mumbo goes missing, so grian and scar search for him. they find that grumbot has been up to some... things along the way. the fic isn't finished but i think the chapters red put out is worth a read if you don't mind leaving off on a cliffhanger because it really is super interesting

dramaturgy by wormcity - a universe where gem and pearl join in a season 7 that was never finished. mumbo became the mayor, but the turf war went so very wrong afterwards. admittedly i have not finished reading this yet because ummm short on time xD but it's super interesting with a lot of layers of drama(turgy hahaha)!

hermitcraft short fics/oneshots:

for trying. by @autistic-evil-xisuma - a stuffed bird universe oneshot of x and xisuma during their lab days. great if you want to be sad over the doomed brothers again :D

the wheels on the bus by sparxwrites - a hilarious post-s8 oneshot about grian being a little shit towards the watchers. one of the first fics i've read from this fandom and i still love it

a body is an object by ruffboi - grian is a mimic, and pearl's arrival in s8 shakes him up. she hasn't seen him in a while and is quite upset to learn that the grian she knew died a long time ago. a great read for familial connections and conflict of friendships!

Goatman and the Rift by TheDepressedCanary - doc's eldritch powers start acting up when the rift appears. what shenanigans will ensue?

other mcyt fics/crossovers:

late at night, when the stars don't look quite right by @lunarblazes - an excellent empires s1 and hermitcraft crossover longfic, where grian lands into the server and is discovered by pearl! very great worldbuilding and relationships, i especially love the dynamic between gri and pearl and pearl and gem :D

every new discovery is just a reminder by amaranthinecanicular - grian begins pulling alternate versions of the hermits from the life series into the server. he does save a lot of them, but at what cost? it does end on a cliffhanger but this is genuinely one of the most captivating oneshots i've ever read... argghhh

The Fair and the Brave and the Good by @slashmagpie - an afterlife smp longfic centered around the shelby, scott, and sausage. i have never watched afterlife smp before in my LIFE and this is still one of my favorite pieces of literature ever. the characters and worldbuilding is impeccable and perfect if you like something dark with themes of hope and renewal.

Two Can Keep a Secret (If One of Them is Red) by anonymous secretmcblog - a 3L oneshot! ren suspects grian has stockholm syndrome with his pact to stay with scar, but his expectations are wrong. a truly excellent read and one of them first fics i've read! i still go back to reread it from time to time

dog at the door by fluffy_papaya & iamsolarflare - a longfic where doc and ren take a trip on a van on their way to s8. ren, however, is not quite himself, and doc has to learn to befriend the red king.

devil town is colder in the summertime by @bananasofthorns - a oneshot from a 100hsmp/life series d&d au! team BEST ventures into a cursed evil fucked up forest. uh oh.

Interview with the Aftermath by @ranchersrevenge (wanderlasts) - the last life contestants are invited for an interview. the responses vary greatly.

stars, smoke, and stolen car keys by wormcity - a 100hsmp modern au oneshot where grian, scar, and joel go on a hike. it doesn't go quite as they expected.

the beehive state by amaranthinecanicular - a dsmp oneshot after wilbur moves to utah. tommy visits him, and the two reconnect. i have to say i stopped following dsmp a long time ago but this fic made me BAWL. i don't even think you need to know any of the characters that well to really enjoy just how amazing the writing itself is

Can't Go Back (This Time) by @duckmumbo (musicaltvbooks) - soup group goes end raiding and accientally finds themselves in afterlife smp. nothing goes wrong, surely! also admittedly i havent finished reading this either but roy i swear i will. this is a great read nevertheless and the soup group dynamic is impeccable!

TommyInnit's unbeatable method of avoiding sudden death by eneliii - on the train of dsmp fics, this is the superhero au longfic that inspired my own hc superhero au, vdhau. it's a lot of funny shenanigans with tommy and his friends. the fic does take a dark turn at the end, but that can be skipped entirely (as said by eneli herself) if you just want the wholesome aspects.

if you don't mind a little self promo, here are some of my fics!

it takes two to play (the game of mutual secrecy) - the aforementioned hermitcraft hero au. this installment is centered around xisuma and evil x as brothers resolving their issues through hero work and solving the mystery of welsknight's disappearance :D there are other works that are set in the same universe if you're interested for more!

how to form the ultimate besties dynamic: an unreliable tutorial by hypnotizd - a oneshot! hypno is a warlock who goes treasure hunting under the sea. he meets a guardian who later becomes his unlikely friend.

smoke and mirrors, the hunt perseveres - grian's arrival in empires s2 unwittingly brings the watchers' suspicions with him. cue jimmy freaking out and a lot of shenanigans.

ballad of etho’s lab - my newest installment! a oneshot about etho's storied life as the redstone god.

i'm also currently working on the sequel to the game of mutual secrecy and a new (well not exactly new since i made concept art for it) au called private detective gem tasey! these will likely be released sometime late january or february. have fun with these fic recs! i haven't been reading as much lately but i hope ill be able to find more if anyone else asks in the future. cheers!

edit: the fics are out! here they are!

hiding in plain sight (the meaning of trust) - sequel to the hermitcraft hero au! it follows an escaped lab rat trying to acquaint themselves with human society while avoiding suspicion and making friends with familiar faces from tgms ;D

private detective gem tasey: a rotten mystery in london - a hermitcraft detective au where gem gets hired for a case that spirals completely into drama and politics!

[concreteburialplot]

VIRALITY // 11

11 - Peak Fashion

pairing: noah sebastian x fem!oc [vallie] 👀

masterlist: here | crossposted: ao3 | word count: 5k

warnings: angsty? but cute?, jealous nicholas, sassy but goofy noah, something revealed, very short time skips, 18+ MDNI

summary: vallie abruptly wakes to a million texts to meet for a last minute music video. upon arriving she discovers that the band is not at all prepared which sets her and noah on a mission.

Reminder: This contains the very mild crossover with Christian 'Kras' Anthony from Chase Atlantic ...... and introduces another extremely mild crossover 🫣 they are both merely for side character/reference purposes. Nothing huge, don’t worry lol just for fun

Disclaimer - This story is semi-AU since it does not follow actual timelines or events. The band is still fairly small & does things entirely on their own with no other support.

don't like it don't read it. don’t be mean for no reason & let others enjoy things thnx :)

VALLIE

Sunlight warms my eyelids and gently lulls me awake. My eyes shoot open at the realization that I have once again fallen asleep somewhere that isn’t my home – well my pseudo-home anyway. It seems that anywhere else feels homier than my showroom-esque Airbnb.

This time I don’t wake up in a panic, the smell of Christian’s woodsy cologne reassures me that I’m somewhere safe. The last time stamp I saw on my phone last night was 4:30 am. We had spent the whole night catching up, watching our favorite comfort shows, and binging all his favorite American snacks that he can’t get in Australia.

I reach over to the nightstand to grab my phone. A groan escapes me when I see that the time reads 8:47 am. My brows curve up at the ridiculous amount of notifications that fill my screen. While my job doesn’t really have “days off”, I had no specific plans or meetings booked for the day. So, it’s unexpected.

Most of them were from Bryan, the Omens’ photographer that I met at the warehouse with Noah. The messages flood my screen with missed calls and texts.

Bryan: Warehouse. 8 am.

Bryan: Hello? Are you awake?

Bryan: Music video. Today.

Bryan: I think you should be there.

Bryan: Hey!!! Music video !! Today !! 8 am !!

Bryan: Dude

Bryan: We’re starting. Show up whenever, if you want.

Fuck.

Kras continues to snooze next to me and I know that not even a plane crash could wake him up. So, I press a quick peck on his cheek before I roll out of bed and quickly begin gathering my belongings.

I’m rushing because well… Bryan seems like the only Omen who wants to cooperate or include me in any actual band activities. So, I have to be here. And I’m already an hour late.

I leave a small note on Christian’s dining table, saying how nice it was to see him, thanking him for the pep talk, and that I’ll see him and the rest of his band in a zoom meeting next Monday morning.

I’m still not sure if saying yes to his job offer was the right choice. I’m already stretched thin enough between my main client and now Omens, adding Chase might be more than I can handle. While my main client’s fanbase is much more… intensive, Chase Atlantic is still larger than both of them. And that swirls a terrifying pit of anxiety in my stomach because I’m not quite sure I’m equipped with enough experience to handle it all.

Gravel cracks beneath my tires as I pull up to the warehouse. I gather my bed head hair into the closest thing to a bun I can get it and try to rub off the slept in mascara smudged under my eyes.

My engine isn’t fully off for half a second before I’m out and locking my door.

I smooth out the exact same outfit I wore to Christian’s yesterday since I didn’t have time to stop home. Usually, I would never show up to a work event in sweatpants, a cropped cami, sneakers, and a flannel, but here we are. It’s not like the band is particularly formal anyway.

I see Folio and Jolly first, who both give me strange looks, like they’re surprised I’m here. Then, Noah and Nicholas once I get to the entrance. They seem equally as shocked too.

“What are you doing here?” Noah asks, lined with his usual snarky tone, seeming almost offended by my presence.

“I invited her.” Bryan speaks up from the background, adjusting the camera around his neck. “And you’re about an hour late by the way.”

Regardless of his criticism, he gives me a smile and a side hug – which surprises me.

Aside from Nicholas – for…obvious reasons – Bryan is the one who meets me with the most warmth out of the five of them.

I offer a closed lipped smile and a small awkward wave to the band. I wasn’t prepared to accidentally crash a music video shoot.

“Nice outfit, you just get out of bed?” Noah quips.

I roll my sleep-deprived eyes, “Nice to see you too, Noah.”

The rest of the band disperses into whatever they were doing before I arrived.

Nick walks up to me and I can tell he’s trying his best to act casual.

“Hey.” He says simply but quietly between us.

“Hey.” I match his somewhat awkward tone.

My gaze reluctantly meets his and I immediately regret it. His hair is pulled up into a fluffy ponytail with his hair flat against his head and he looks so good.

This was going to be more difficult than I thought.

“Val?” He asks trying to get my attention.

“Huh?” I shake my head from the fuzz sitting in my brain.

“Oh, I just said it’s nice to see you.” He says demurely. “I’m glad you’re here.”

I take note of the dullness of his normally bright eyes, and the dark bags beneath them. It makes me wonder if he got as little sleep as I did.

The energy of this whole ordeal is so… odd. It makes me feel as though I’m once again missing parts of a puzzle that I’m not aware of.

His gives me a once over and lingers a bit on my flannel.

“Oh! Right!” I set my bag down on a nearby table before slipping the flannel off my arms, giving it a lazy fold, and offering it over to him. “Here have it back.”

He instinctively takes the folded garment, looking at it like I just handed him the wrong Chipotle order. His brows furrow, initially in confusion then into something much different.

Before he responds it hits me.

I fucked up.

Fuck

Fuck

Fuck

“This isn’t mine.” He states in a slighted tone.

“Oh- Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t get much sleep last night–“ I immediately realize that probably wasn’t the best thing to follow that up with. “I just need a coffee.”

“Right.” He lands the flannel back in my hands. He goes to pass me and stops as he’s grazing my shoulder. “And who’s ever it is, has shitty taste in cologne.”

My eyes widen.

Did I just put Kras’ proposed scheme into action by accident?

It’s fine.

It’s perfectly fine.

I’m fine.

I discreetly shake out the tips of my fingers and glance up to finally take in my surroundings fully. The floor is covered in a massive tarp, covered in… dirt?

I steal the phone from my tote pocket and carefully walk over to where Bryan is messing with some equipment. I shuffle right up next to him and whisper, “What…exactly is happening here?”

“I don’t know. Noah just woke us all up at the ass crack of dawn and said we needed to do this today.” Bryan shrugs, not stopping his actions for me, and continues walking carrying a large umbrella light.

“…and you all just went along with it?”

“Listen. I just work here man.” He sets down the heavy light and sighs dramatically.

I can’t help but chuckle at his verbiage.

“Okay… and why did you have to drag me into this?”

“Well, you have a job to do, don’t you?” He questions as if he doesn’t know the answer.

“I mean y-“ I begin but he cuts me off.

“Exactly.” He walks back over to a pile of equipment on a plastic table, and I follow him around like a puppy while he talks. “And you want them to like you, yes?”

“Well, I mean,” My eyes glance over at Nicholas who’s sat on a stool tuning a teal bass. The memories of our bodies entwined graze over my tongue and his working fingers sends a tingle between my legs.

Well, one of them likes me.

Is my first reflex to say.

But I’m not even sure if that’s true, especially not now. I should know better than to trust band boys anyway. I manage them, I’ve been around them since the start of my career. I’ve been best friends with Kras for nearly a decade. I’ve seen what band men do. How they treat the women they use to get off, even the ones they love.

“Look. They need you.” He says, his tone more serious than before and leans against the wall beside him with crossed arms. “Whether they believe it or not, they need you. You and I both know that. If Noah wants to be an arrogant, stubborn asshole, then let him. But don’t give up on them. They just need time.” His eyes drift to the four of them messing around with their instruments. “You’re stuck with them one way or another. And they’re not a bad bunch to be stuck with. Trust me.” He gives me a half smile before nudging my arm. “Loosen up a little, you might find that you like ‘em.”

Bryan pushes himself off the wall going to find some other task and I’m left with this peptalk I wasn’t expecting, especially from him.

I take the time to watch them, really watch them. Noah is well … Noah, so there’s some grumpy tension that follows him – but the rest of them, even while grumpy and irritated, flow together effortlessly.

Noah ripped everyone from their sleep and yet, they’re still all here. Sure, you could write that off as good work ethic, but I think it’s more than that. As unpredictable as he is, they let Noah lead them. At least for the most part.

They all showed up for him today and the whole time I’ve known them.

‘This band is all he has.’ Nicholas’ words echo in my ears from that rainy night in his car.

Maybe they all know that, and maybe they all honor it.

They all love him enough to show up and keep showing up.

Christian is right. I can’t let my feelings cloud this. If not for me, then for them.

As I clear from my dissociation, I realize I must’ve hyper fixated on their bustling about because the only thing I see now is their attire… or the lack thereof.

“Wait, wait, wait.” I cautiously step around the piles of dirt on a brown tarp to reach Noah. “Is this the whole outfit? This is what you’re wearing for the video?”

Noah sighs in exasperation and drops the corner of tarp he’s holding to face me. “Yes? Do you have a problem with it?”

“Problem with it? It is the problem.” I give him a once over, just black jeans and plain grey shirt with a faded CocaCola logo on it. I reach to his sides and give the seems a small tug to pull the logo taught against his thin chest. “You see that? What does that look like to you?”

Noah raises a snarky brow at me, “A Coke logo?”

“Wrong. That-” I drop the edges of his shirt and stab his sternum with my finger. “That is unpaid brand advertising.”

I can tell he immediately wants to roll his eyes but doesn’t when he realizes I’m right.

The rest of the boys wear similar outfits, jeans, t-shirts, hoodies.

“Okay, well this is all we brought last minute, and the house is like an hour away, I’m not driving back there.”

There’s no way I’m letting them shoot an entire video in dirt with such casual outfits. I tug at my lip and tap my fingertips on my arm in thought.

As if a lightbulb appears above my head, a possible solution crosses my mind.

“I think I saw a thrift shop in that strip where the bar is.” I shrug, “I can try to find something there. But I can’t just let you play around in dirt like this.”

Noah raises his brows and crosses his tattooed arms across his chest, “Well I’m sure as fuck not letting you pick out outfits for us.”

I walk over to my bag, picking up easily and walking towards the warehouse opening. “Then you better hurry up and get in my car.”

Noah and I had been looking through racks of dusty clothes for about 10 minutes without speaking to each other. I knew a thrift shop was somewhat of a risky choice, but after not seeing anything worth shit for a bit had me nervous.

I’m not sure why I’m nervous – but I shouldn’t be making risky bold decisions with them.

Across the racks I catch Noah picking up a thick peacoat. At first glance, I find it absolutely repulsive, but for a music video? It could be exactly what we need. At least it’d be better than a Coca-Cola shirt. For the vibe I think he’s going for, it might be perfect.

He lifts up the hanger and flips it around, his brows knitting intently at it. He likes it.

I haven’t known him that long, but he’s pretty transparent, no matter how mysterious he thinks he is.

I quickly divert my eyes back down when he goes to return the coat to its place on the rack. I know that if I say I like it, he’ll immediately be against it, so I keep my mouth shut.

“So, what kinda vibe are you going for?” I ask casually.

He glares over at me, “What do you care? Changing our clothes was your idea remember?”

“Whoa.” I put my hands up in defense. “I’m just trying to help.”

“Well, I’m sure you wanna put us in the same preppy clothes you put your other big mysterious client in. Which I’m still convinced is Harry Styles by the way.”

I roll my eyes knowing which “client” he’s referring to since I haven’t mentioned that I took on a third one yet. He means the first one, the one that landed me here in the first place, my ‘big success’. At least that’s what they kept telling me when sitting in meeting after meeting getting pitched different ‘next big artists’. And somehow, I got stuck with Noah & friends™️.  

“No, it’s not Harry and I don’t put them in preppy clothes.” I reply absentmindedly sifting through hangers.

“Them?” He picks up on my slip immediately and my eyes widen slightly. “It’s a band?”

I clear my throat and shake my head. “No – no that’s not what I–“

“It is, isn’t it?” His brows lower at me. “It better not be a conflict of interest, that would be a breach of contract and I-“

“Relax. I’m not stupid, I wouldn’t have signed contract if it was a conflict of interest.” I glare over at him with annoyed, tired eyes.

I sigh then allow my tense shoulders to roll back. “Yes. It’s a band. But they aren’t a heavy band they’re ehm…. more classic rock, hippie-ish?” I shake my head. “And trust me, I would NOT put you or the rest of you in any of their clothes.”

I press my lips together trying to stifle a giggle that threatens to escape at the thought of Noah in a glitzy jumpsuit.

“What’s so funny?” He furrows his brows at me in offense. “You don’t think I could pull off some hippie clothes?” He asks seriously, but I can tell he doesn’t believe it either, he’s just trying to be difficult.

Then it occurs to me that this reverse-psychology defiant behavior may work to my advantage.

“No, actually. I don’t think you could.” I shrug, sliding some clothes over. “Just like I don’t think you could pull off that hideous peacoat.”

His brows rise higher than I’ve ever seen them. “Oh really? Maybe that’ll be the one I choose then.”

Checkmate.

I ignore it to not put too much emphasis on it. “You never told me what’s the vibe you want.”

“Hm.” He pauses, maybe he doesn’t even know. “I’m not sure. Cult-y? Business-y? Underground elite secret society-y?”

“Wow.” I say with wide, surprised eyes and exaggerating my mouth around the word. “That’s… specific. And you planned to achieve that with graphic tees?”

“Shut up.”

“Right.”

“Would I know your other band?” He inquires, the curiosity obviously eating at him.

“Shut up.”

“Right.”

We continue to mind our own business in our individual searches while early 2000’s pop plays through the small, dingy shop.

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Noah lifting up an obviously homemade PitBull t-shirt.

I can’t help but let out a loud laugh.

He snaps his head over at me with a goofy grin, “What you don’t think Mr. Worldwide is peak fashion?”

I shake my head laughing, “No, I definitely wouldn’t say he is.”

“I think this might be the most badass piece of clothing I’ve ever seen.” He seems half serious and half trying to hold back a cackle.

“It’s a… choice. But you know what? It might be perfect for you.”

He feigns offense, “Why because you think I’m so badass?”

A laugh erupts from me. “Yeah. Sure.”

“Well, I’m getting it. I might wear it in the video.” He throws the white shirt into his cart.

“Great.” I reply sarcastically.

The search seemed to be going a bit better the further we dig. I found a couple pieces that might work for the rest of the band to fit into Noah’s vaguely hyper-specific theme. He’s done the same, just not as successfully.

Across the aisle I notice his hands grasping the sides of a hideous white puffy jacket with patches of sherpa all over it and an oversized hood. The nylon material rasps as he rubs it between his inked fingertips. My brows curve at how he looks at it like it’s some lost treasure.

He pauses before turning to me, lifting it up to showcase its entirety.

“What do you think about this?” He asks genuinely, which throws me off. It sounds so authentic, so real, and not hidden behind any sort of sassy, crude walls, or ulterior motives. I don’t know if he’s ever truly talked to me like that before, especially not sober.

I’m still cautious since he’s fooled me before, so I stay neutral by lifting my shoulders to a shrug. “I don’t know. Why don’t you try it on?”

He eagerly scoots past his cart that takes up the entire aisle and walks to the mirror. The thick zipper hisses at how quickly he undoes it, like he’s been waiting his whole life for this moment.

I watch him in some form of awe, maybe it’s more curiosity of his behavior. The more I get to know him, the stranger he seems.

He slips his skinny arms through the sleeves, and it fits him loosely but just right, like it’s made for him – though that doesn’t detract from how it still looks a little ridiculous, just less so now that it’s on him.

He turns back to me and spreads out his arms like a child showing off a Halloween costume.

“Well?” He questions.

“I mean the jacket is still pretty silly.” I chuckle. “But it looks nice on you.” I compliment honestly.

A toothy grin spreads across his mouth and turns back to the mirror, “Yeah, I think so too.”

Quiet falls between us again and we move on to different sections. I get so focused on rifling through the clothes that I realize I’ve lost track of Noah. I scan the small store and can’t spot him.

“Noah?” I call and as if right on cue, I feel something dropped around my head followed by a scurrying Noah.

“What the hell?” I reach up and catch the edges of the large hat pulling it off and finding that he’s dropped a massive sombrero on my head. “Hey!”

He chuckles and pulls his shoulders to a shrug, “Might be perfect for you.” He mocks my words from before about the Pitbull shirt.

“Ha-ha very funny.” I roll my eyes playfully. “I’ll get you back.”

“Bring it on.”

What follows is a series of us trying to find the most ridiculous shit to throw on or at each other.

First, I got an ugly, dusty, grandma shawl that I threw on Noah’s shoulders as best as I could before quickly walking in the other direction.

Then, when I wasn’t paying attention and with great stealth, he was able to drop a yellowing Disney rain poncho over my body.

Now, he’s stood in front of a full-length mirror holding up various different pieces of black clothing. In my stroll through the hat section, I found a leopard print fedora perfect for his big head. I sneak up behind him, making sure not to get in frame of the mirror. I reach up on my tip toes to somewhat reach his head, tossing the hat up to bridge the rest, hoping that it would land.

It does land, crooked atop his head.

I cover my mouth to hide a chuckle before backing away slowly. Before I can make my escape, he snaps his head over in my direction, jostling the hat to fly off his head. In a swift move, he catches it with fumbling hands.

“Hey that’s not fair! You’re tiny and fast!” He plops the leopard fedora back on his head and anchors a fist at each hip playfully.

The goofy sight of it all makes me double over nearly cackling. “It’s not my fault you’re big and clunky!”

He pulls the flimsy hat off his head, squishing it thin between his fingers pointing at me. “You better watch your back, Thornhill.”

“Ooh, you’re so scary, Sebastian.” I tease with raised hands feigning fear.

“You think you’re so funny huh?” He speaks directly at me probably trying to distract me, but I catch him snatching another random hat off the rack while he slowly makes his way towards me.

My eyes glance at down at his actions and I make a run for it. I don’t know what I expected but, he chases me around the thrift shop like we’re little kids in a toy store. I stealthily weave through metal racks full of musty clothes trying to lose him, giggles pouring from both our mouths.

I ignore the judging looks from the employees and the few patrons shopping around us. It’s a blessing that I can’t hear the murmuring around us. My ears are full of only my own heartbeat and the sound of his playful and competitive laughter.

It’s then that I realize I hadn’t fully heard him laugh before, not sober anyway, and it’s so… endearing. It’s one of those laughs that’s contagious and only makes you laugh harder. Which isn’t something I expected from him. None of this is really what I expected.

He finally corners me in the scarf section. I spin around in the tiny space between us and within that split second he’s snatched a bizarrely colored thin scarf and throws it around my neck like a towel, keeping hold of each end.

Just as fast, I grasp a similar scarf and match his actions, throwing the scarf up around his neck. With the speed and rush of the motion, I accidentally tugged him closer and lower to me.

My eyes flutter up and the edges of his laughing grin shorten when his eyes meet mine. Unexpectedly, my breath hitches in my throat. I never noticed just how chocolate-y brown his eyes were until now. Normally his eyes are so serious or angry or… drunk, but right now, they’re wide and warm and just as confused as mine. His eyes shift side to side seemingly searching mine for something I’m not quite sure of.

Being this close to him really emphasizes just how tall he is, the top of my head barely meets his shoulders and for some reason, that realization makes my heart thump harder against my ribcage.  

I’m frozen where I stand, I should pull away, but I can’t. I shouldn’t enjoy the butterflies that run rampant in my tummy. It’s just Noah after all. The asshole that somehow always ends up drunk on the floor. The one that tells me how to do my job and how not to manage him. The one that told Nick that I’m a ‘stuck-up corporate bitch’.

But, that’s the same Noah that’s chasing me around this store like we’re playing tag on a playground.

My tummy twists and my breath sharply lodges itself in my throat when I catch his eyes dart to my lips – once.

Twice.

He moves closer, just marginally, and then again – eyes, lips.

I mimic his actions, my eyes flicker from his brown eyes to light pink lips.

Then he’s even closer – so close I can feel his exhaled breath brush past my nose.

Again.

Eyes, lips.

I feel his knuckles just graze my shirt where he’s still holding the scarf at either end and it sends electricity down to my fingertips.

Then, a strand of his long brown hair falls from behind his ear, and it seems to snap him from our daze. He lets out an awkward chuckle, steps back and slides the scarf off my neck by one end.

“We should probably wrap up here… I’m sure the guys are sick of waiting for us.” He scratches the back of his neck and diverts his eyes from me.

It seems like the right thing to do, but for some reason it leaves me a little disappointed.

Disappointed in what exactly?

What the fuck just happened?

I pull the scarf off of him in the same manner and hang it back up on its hook. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”

Checking out is hushed and awkward as we stand next to each other in front of the workers that had to watch us nearly destroy the store.

We walk out silently until I notice that he’s walking out with the leopard print fedora proudly plopped on his head.

“You really bought that stupid hat?” I chuckle calling after him carrying 2 heavy, giant bags full of clothes.

“Yeah duh-“ He begins looking back but trips over his feet across the exit door frame.

I bring a plastic bag-occupied hand up to cover my mouth to hide a giggle.

“Shut up.” He directs me with a pointed hand even though I hadn’t said anything.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re kinda goofy?” I laugh, shaking my head and clicking my key fob to unlock the car.

“Goofy?” He gasps as if he’s offended. “Valerie this is peak fashion.”

I chuckle and roll my eyes, “Get in the fucking car, will you?”

He laughs and matches my actions of throwing the heavy bags in the backseat. He slides in the passenger of my blue Mercedes rental and the clunky weight of his lanky body shakes the small car. He stuffs his legs into the tiny, allotted space for them. I would make a comment about how large he is, but I’m not in the business of boosting men’s egos.

I press the push-to-start and begin navigating my way out of the parking lot. It takes a bit for my phone to connect and begin playing music, but when it does it fills the car with a familiar tune.

Noah reaches over and spins the dial to turn up the music. It doesn’t fully register in my mind what song it is until Noah speaks up.

“Is this the hippie rock band you’re representing?” He asks, a bit of sharpness to his voice.

“I-I well, no, I just-“ I’m caught off guard and stutter. I’m new to handling more than one client and having them not know about each other seemed like the best course of action. But I particularly didn’t want Noah to know since I knew he’d compare what I do with others with what I do with them.

“It is, isn’t it?” He snaps. “You manage Greta Van Fleet?”

“I… well,” I pause then sigh out of pure exhaustion. “Yes. I manage them.” I say flatly, somewhat annoyed. “I don’t really think that’s any of your business though.”

He’s silent for a moment, seemingly just taking in the song – Lover, Leaver.

“You’re right. They’re nothing like us.” He announces simply. “The voice on that singer is insane though.”

I can’t stop my brows from furrowing, and from one abruptly propping up.

He’s not upset.

He’s not upset?

“Yeah… I know.” I reply cautiously, glancing over at him to decipher the unbothered look on his face.

“Well, don’t look so surprised, they’re good. I can appreciate good music, can’t I?” He lets a few moments pass. “I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. They sound so familiar…” He trails off in thought.

“I know, you were expecting Harry Styles.” I joke. “But it’s not, so you can chill.” I tap my fingertips across the leather steering wheel.

“I knew it wasn’t Harry.” He shifts in his seat, crossing his arms across his skinny waist with his hands draping over his sides. He rests his head on the door looking out the window. “If it was, you wouldn’t have taken us.”

“I bet you wish it was Harry Styles then huh?” I say as a somewhat half joke and glance over at him while mindlessly tapping my fingertips on the steering wheel. He stays silent, just watching the trees go by. I can’t tell if the silence is intentional or if he’s just zoned out.

Some time passes before he returns to the conversation.

“Well, I don’t care if you represent them. Just know that I’m not dressing up like some wizard man like your other singer.” He warns firmly with a playful pointed finger.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Sebastian.”

Next Chapter -> 12 - Liar, Liar*

tag list; @ladyveronikawrites @kingdomof-omens @persuasivus @strawberryruffilo @thebadchic @the-hell-i-overcame @sinkingteethinwhitenoise @cncohshit @dominuslunae [comment if you'd like to be tagged?]

A/N: Thank you if you've made all the way to chp 11! lol thank you for reading anything i write. thank you so much for every like, reblog, ask, or comment. It means the world to me truly. Thank you.

i love hearing your thoughts so feel free to share! (i'm really bad at responding to comments/asks but i still love them 🥺)

[evilisk]

Gacha Games I've Played (And Dropped) in 2024

I'm broke but gacha games are free

= = =

Soul Tide (2022 - Present)

I didn't even stick with this for a week. I hate almost all gachas where the player characters have the magnetism of shitty harem anime protagonists. This game had that and a VERY inconsistent artstyle between all of its playable characters.

Fortress Saga (2023 - Present)

This shouldn't even really be here since it's more of an idle game than a gacha one, but it has the same shitty monetization as other gacha games and I didn't want to dedicate one post to one game since it's the only idle game I played.

This was fun for maybe the first hour, then it was addicting (but in an unfun, nasty way) for the next 20 hours. It's a shame because I do like the general concept (it's called Fortress Saga since you're running a Howl's Moving Castle-esque castle), but it's designed to be extremely addicting.

You do tasks that will get you pulls, and then you use those pulls to complete tasks which will get you more pulls, and you can use those pulls to complete more tasks to get more pulls to complete more tasks to- you get the idea

Didn't feel like I was playing a game, it felt like I was getting played by the game. I think certain types of people should REALLY avoid this.

Path To Nowhere (2022 - Present)

AKA "I can fix her" the gacha game

This game has some interesting things going for it. Even though I dislike "harem anime protagonist" syndrome, you can at least choose to be a female harem anime protagonist. It may have probably been designed with straight audiences in mind, but a not insignificant portion of the fanbase seems to be queer, so that's pretty neat.

...Unfortunately I just couldn't get into the gameplay. I thought it was just Arknights, but this game confirmed that I cannot play gacha tower defense games AT ALL. Gacha RPGs? I can deal. Gacha tower defence games? Absolutely unplayable to me.

Higan: Eruthyll (2022 - Present)

I thought I'd check out this game, because it's not doing so hot and an end of service announcement may be imminent. It's still not canned yet but I got nothing. Nothing to say about the budget Genshin designs, the story or the auto battler gameplay.

Grimlight (2022 - 2024)

I stuck with this one for a while, mostly because I'm going through a whole "South Koreans doing their own takes on western fairy tales" phase (other things that currently interest me are Lobotomy Corporation, Not Sew Wicked Stepmother and A Wicked Tale of Cinderella's Stepmother. I'm just hooked man).

The story is essentially Kingdom Hearts and the character designs (in the portraits at least) are very nice. There's not much of an actual game though. It's an auto battler so you're not really doing much of anything. The tiny battle sprites don't do the character designs any justice. And when the game's 'cancellation' was announced I had no real reason to continue.

Langrisser Mobile (2019 - Present)

The last game I dropped. It got me to stick around for 3-4 months, which almost no other game did. I think this is actually pretty decent if you're looking for a PVP game, that's just not what I wanted. Having to do PVP matches every day *just for my dailies* ended up being a big reason I dropped it.

The other reason is that progress is sooooo slow. I actually wanted to see how the main plot would get resolved. But 80% of my story progress was in the first month. After that it'd take weeks of grinding just to see the next story cutscene / fight. Then after progressing by one stage, you're back to grinding again.

Even gameplay progress is slow. I thought twice about dropping Grimlight since I had so many characters unlocked. But in Langrisser, I was still using the same 4-character team (Leon, Vargas, Almeda and Liana) from the beginning with only 2-3 new characters I actually picked up and was using (Varna, Bernhardt and Rozenciel).

I respect the game for having some of the coolest crossovers in any gacha (they got Slayers, Valkyria Chronicles 1, Yu Yu Hakusho, Gintama, even Pop Team Epic), I also *love* that dork Almeda, but if I ever play more Langrisser, I hope it's through remasters of the original games.

= = =

There is one final game I played, but unlike the others, I didn't actually drop it:

Reverse:1999 (2023 - Present)

That's right this was actually just a roundabout way of saying "I am now a Reverse 1999 fan".

I don't want to get into it now, but it feels more like "Touhou if it were a gacha game" than Touhou LostWord, which at this point, barely has anything to do with Touhou, if we're being honest. There are more of these "alternate universe" characters (read: OCs that are only loosely inspired by Touhou characters) than there are actual Touhou characters in LostWord.

All this to say that "I'll probably be posting about Reverse 1999" on this blog.

[vtuberconfessions]

I know there will be ppl who disagree, and ik its only really a thing bcuz of the controversies of "oh no [insert female oshi] had a collab with [insert male vtuber]!! What if they're together?? Now i cant be parasocial!!! I must now be an asshole"

But i think hololive should have at least one mixed-gender generation. One of the things niji actually did right. I think not only would it make auditions more available for nonbinary ppl and the like, it might also lessen the taboo of opposite genders collabing, cuz if you think abt it thats most common in the holo spheres, or at least it is from what ive seen.

And also its no secret that the male generations dont tend to do as well as the female ones, and while im sure we can all guess why that is, if they were together and collabed more often, there would be more crossover between fanbases, and the guys would grow a lot faster.

Sry for the chonka mongus paragraphs lmao. I dont tend to express any negativity towards anything in the rabbit hole, bcuz theres enough of that already and im just here for a gud time.

Anyway all of this may or may not just be me wanting a nonbinary holomember lol.

.

[desirepathzine]

It is 2023. Ethel Cain releases a surprise one-off single, unrelated to the narrative cycle she is currently pursuing, called Famous Last Words (An Ode to Eaters). Many are confused as to where the song comes from, if it relates to her Preacher's Daughter storylines, a long-term storytelling venture that Cain intends to continue for possibly the next decade. Fans that keep up with Cain on Tumblr might know that she released the song shortly after seeing the movie that inspired its lyrics, Luca Gudagnino's Bones and All, and posted its link here.

Bones and All has seen a small re-evaluation since the release of Famous Last Words, mostly by Ethel Cain's small but ravenous fanbase. The film was largely neglected upon its 2022 release.

It was initially hard hard to tell what the movie even was, from a marketing standpoint. Was it a film adaptation of a book directed by Luca Gudagnino? There was precedent for that in the public consciousness, Gudagnino directed the acclaimed Call Me By Your Name. Was it a horror film about cannibalism? Also that, horror has been thriving in our pandemic era, some of the biggest box office draws of the past three years have been horror films with massive budgets and surprisingly large audiences. A romance with two young actors with star power on the rise? Also yes, the stan culture surrounding particularly Timothee Chalamet were anticipating the film, but were perhaps not prepared for its stomach churning sequences of vioence. Chalamet in particular was a star in two films that were hugely popular adaptations, Little Women and Dune, and Bones and All is not really anything like either of those films, although they're all excellent.

Reaction to the film on release was bewildered, at least outside of its first screenings outside of film festivals. Horror romance road trip movies are not something oft produced, especially not as sincerely as Bones and All. It didn't make its budget back at the box office and slipped out of theaters before it had a chance at making any award season waves that might have revived its reputation.

I have found very few films so suited to our current era. Against the backdrop of eighties Reagen-era decline, sprawling across the mid-west of the United States, cannibal outsiders struggle and survive, both together and apart.

The cannibalism in Bones and All is some sort of inherent trait, one that can physically be smelled by other 'eaters'. You have to eat. It is non-negotiable. It's a metaphor that can be interpreted several different ways: is it about sexuality? Familial cycles of violence? Is it about addiction? Moral decay behind the American facade of prosperity and strength? It can be all of these. It is all of these.

Similarly to Bones and All, Ethel Cain, the musical project of Hayden Anhedonia, deals in American decay, issues of identity and religion, and indeed, cannibalism. Her debut album, 2022's Preacher's Daughter tells the story of the titular Ethel Cain, a girl from a small Alabama town, who runs away from home after the flight of her lover and the death of her father, falling in with a stranger on a road tip to the west who eventually feeds her drugs, pimps her out, murders here, and cannibalizes her. It's stunningly self-assured for a debut, and the story already felt sprawling. Cain intends to release albums detailing the story of Ethel's mother and grandmother, and the dark secrets of the Cain family.

The small fanbase of Bones and All has major crossover with Cain's fans, even before the release of Famous Last Words. There are quite a few differences between these two stories. Bones and All doesn't explicitly deal with the religion as a central theme in the way that Cain's story covers, but they ask many of the same spiritual questions, and of course both have much to say using cannibalism.

It feels like these two pieces are bubbling just under the zeitgeist. Ethel Cain certainly became very popular on TikTok, following dates opening for Florence + The Machine, as well as being attached to the wildly growing exvangelical/religious deconstruction community that TikTok has uniquely fostered. Within a few months of Preacher's Daughter finally taking off (which was a few months after its quiet May release date), Bones and All was shown at the Venice Film Festival in September, and released widely in November. Shortly thereafter, fanedits began appearing on TikTok, taking nine-minute album standout Thoroughfare and syncing the clips to Bones and All.

Although there are certain themes and lyrics that fit so well with the film, for a single song in particular, Preacher's Daughter could very well become the Bones and All concept album. Thoroughfare is the track in which Ethel, far away from home but never far away from her past, is seen by Isaiah at the side of the road, and he offers her a ride in his truck. Isaiah is on a great American roadtrip to find the love of his life. The song details not only their journey to the coast, but also Ethel and Isaiah's strangers-to-lovers slowburn. This hits shockingly close to that of Bones and All, where Maren discovers Lee at a grocery store in Indiana, both recognizing each other as eaters. Lee asks where she's going, Maren says Minnesota, and she hops into his pickup truck to strike out together, and on the way, fall in love, head out west, spend time apart, and find each other again. The lyrics of Thoroughfare align so closely with this story that it's hard to believe one was made independently of the other.

The Isaiah in Thoroughfare may resemble Lee, but the Isaiah of the rest of the album is more reminiscent of the central antagonist of Bones and All, a sinister drifter named Sully, who meets Maren in her initial journey out into the world, and teaches her a few things about what it means to be an eater, but seems to have malicious intentions with her. After Maren flees from him, he begins stalking her across the country on her journey. Just when Maren and Lee might have found their place in the world, living peacefully in Ann Arbor, Sully breaks into their house, and attacks Maren as she returns home from work. Lee and Maren fight Sully off, killing and eating him, but Lee is critically injured in the fight, and asks Maren to eat him as he dies, and she does.

Isaiah and Sully both exploit the weakness of a young girl away from home for the first time, going to great lengths to dominate the chosen victim of their intentions, to the point of death. In Sully and Maren's final confrontation, he pins her to a bed, and we are unsure whether his next move is to eat her or to sexually assault her. It is deeply disturbing, and many viewers probably assume it will be both of these things. Likewise, in Preacher's Daughter, Isaiah dominates Ethel by feeding her drugs and pimping her out of the back of a strip club, eventually locking her in an attic, and after she makes an escape attempt, he shoots her in the woods, freezes her body, and later cannibalizes her. In fact, the entire rest of Preacher's Daughter following Thoroughfare details Isaiah's hold over Ethel, and her ascent to the afterlife where she looks back on what has happened to her.

Both Maren and Lee could be typified as an Ethel-like protagonist, two sides of the same coin. There's also similarity to be found in Lee's upbringing and Ethel's, both dealing with an abusive father that was complicit in cycles of violence, we later find out that Lee's father was also an eater, in addition to physically abusing Lee and his other family members. Lee ate his father to end the cycle of abuse.

There are also parallells between Maren and Ethel's matriarchal experiences with violence. While must has yet to be revealed about the Cain family women, Maren's cross country trip to find her mother ends in shocking fashion. Her mother, who voluntarily entered a mental institution, has eaten her own hands off to attempt to end her violence towards others. But because eaters must cannibalize to retain emotional and physical well-being, she is non-verbal and unwell when Maren finds her. She had written a letter while in better health, to be given to Maren if they ever found each other again, in which she expresses that Marne would be better off dead than existing in the world as an eater. There is an unending string of violence connecting childbirth and the raising of girls in a world that will never try to accomodate them between both Bones and All and Preacher's Daughter, a thread that specifically looks diffeernt than thee thread between a father and a son who are eaters. Indeed, Maren's final night in a normal world as a child is at a sleepover, a rite of passage of girlhood, that this violence given to her by her mother, ensures is her last.

It is remarkable that these two pieces, that recall aesthetic and emotional resonance so specific, could exist independently of one another, and come int the popular conscience at nearly the same time. Both sets of characters seem like they could exist in each other's stories.

Outside of the contents of their respective stories, public and critical reception to both of these pieces has seen some similarities unique to our position in post-pandemic 21st century. Critical reception to both Preacher's Daughter and Bones and All was very positive, glowing reviews for both, but the public audience was initially very small. Preacher's Daughter released in May but didn't gain TikTok traction on a wider scale until November/December of 2022, and Bones and All's wide release date in November was met with poor turnout, the movie quickly dropping to VOD services and out of theaters before award season campaigning might have been able to turn its public reception around.

But Bones and All gained a public reappraisal faster than many other films that have attained that status. Another recent movie that regained public exposure due to revaluation, Jennifer's Body, which weirdly is also about a man-eating woman, took a decade to have its moment in the sun. Bones and All was re-appraised within a year of its release, and is finding its cult fanbase much faster. Many who missed the film during its initial release have found it on streaming services and were surprised that they could have missed it.

This resurgence is not without a few drawbacks, ones that Preacher's Daughter is constantly plagued by in public discussion. When the public is confronted by a piece of art that has much to say, and is deeply sincere with those intentions, it is easy to divert those intense emotions by creating a culture of memes and jokes surrounding it. This has been oft-debated in relation to Ethel Cain's rise in popularity, this deeply felt album that deals with grave subject matter, not limited to parental sexual abuse, religious trauma, assault, and cycles of pain, is often reduced to Meemaw jokes and putting the album's signature ballad, A House in Nebraska, over any pictures of celebrities wearing vaguely old-fashioned looking clothes. A semi-joking campaign to get Preacher's Daughter released on vinyl turned into a silly meme-phrase often left in the comments of any Ethel Cain instagram post. Hayden herself has discussed this public reception in recent interviews, expressing some frustration with it, noting that people will occasionally heckle her with the jokes mid-performance at her shows or otherwise devalue something that she performs and produces very sincerely. In an attempt to discourage this behavior, she has since cut back on being a "relatable social media personality" and limited her interaction on her long active Tumblr account in particular.

Bones and All has received similar treatment on social media as part of its public resurgence. Many TikTok user's first exposure to the film was Lee's confession of eating his father being turned into a meme audio that users sync'd to jokey videos about something much more tame than patricide. And as with Ethel, the tinges of stan culture started to seep in, edits of Lee by Timothee Chalamet stan accounts filling any search for the film on media outlets.

None of these silly videos or thirst tweets are morally reprehensible, or even that bad, but it is interesting that when confronted with works that tell stories dealing with intense violence, both emotional and physical, a large portion of people responded with lighthearted jokes that de-escalate the emotions both creators might have hoped to achieve with their works.

It's also worth noting that Bones and All and Preacher's Daughter present an aesthetic that is hard to sell as aspirational. They both present a world in decline, rusty pickup trucks, the beauty and the desolation of wide open spaces (per Hayden, several Ethel Cain visual inspirations are inspired by Andrew Wyeth's gorgeous and lonely paintings), wood paneled walls like the kind in your grandma's basement, hunting camo, and a sort of working class sensibility that can easily be replicated, but is not so easily authentic by anyone who has never experienced living in a food desert. Much has been made of the resurgence of Southern Gothic, a storytelling mode that is inextricably tied to poverty and unpalatable characters. Preacher's Daughter is perhaps the most popular in the current crop of pieces that are focusing on the southern gothic, which perenially comes back into fashion during times of hardship and insecurity. Bones and All ties itself to many of southern gothic's tropes, and there is certianly an emphasis on poverty and those living on the fringes, even if regionally it's all over the place. In our current social media era, it is hard to separate aesthetic enjoyment from consumption. It's easy to find users giving Preacher's Daughter perfume recommendations, or thrift store hauls inspired by Maren and Lee's cobbled together wardrobes. And again, this isn't a necessarily a moral wrongdoing, just a reaction that is somewhat at odds with the stories and themes present in these particular works.

But ultimately, the cultural landscape is richer for having these pieces in them, and those that resonated with them cherish these stories deeply. It is serendipitous that Preacher's Daughter and Bones and All exist in a time where they can be enjoyed and studied in tandem. They are both stories so suited for our current era: violent, unsure, frightening, but yearning for beauty and those that can travel this landscape alongside one another.

[dayurno]

🤔I was thinking that some of the popularity could be because of the massive overlap between the trc and aftg (and somehow six of crows), or maybe it's just bc the aftg was being passed in book tumblr circles and soc and trc are popular on tumblr too, but there was this venn diagram that was inescapable back in the day with all three books, and trcs rlly popular, tradpub, loads of book instagram/youtubers made videos about it in 2016/17 then you'd look for recs with books like trc and people would recommend aftg though the books are way different to trc, there's crossover fan works too, maybe it's just because there's gay characters and both books deal with abuse. Idk this is probably the worst example ever but it's like how people would watch the untamed which was extremely popular then get into danmei, aftg would be a fairly hard series to find or to get get recced unless you were on tumblr maybe?

While writing this I realised for the book to even go around in ya tumblr circles it would've had to have been kind of popular in the first place🥲I wasn't here in 2016 but I was in 2018, I do think that if you got into trc and maybe soc which are more easy to get into since they're just more well known and find in bookstores you'd go on tumblr and find something to do with aftg the overlap between the two fandoms is crazy

OH FOR SURE i have not read soc but i did read trc and honestly it was shocking to me how different it was from aftg! the idea that these books overlap in anyway is insane to me. trc is a magical story about teenagers and friendship, aftg is a self-published sports anime masking as dead dove. perhaps people feel like trc's friendship theme is in any way alike to the foxes, but the idea just feels absurd to me; the foxes are barely even friends. sure they are neil's family, but each other's family? hard to say. for the upperclassmen, yes, sure, if they can ignore kevin and andrew and aaron. for the monsters i will gracefully decline to comment

now re: the untamed and getting into danmei............................. danmei is mostly if not entirely self-published and known for heavier themes, and to have a story blow up among chinese readers is already hard as it is; to blow up among international fans feels even crazier. it's a pretty fair comparison! i guess in a way soc and trc did pull most of aftg's fanbase, but i don't know if it was all of it. like fallenstarzz said, it was probably a strike of luck mixed with the general lack of complex yet easily accessible (white american) queer content at the time. we rave about the toxic yaoi now but in 2014-2018 the most 'problematic' queer content i can think of is killing stalking and its disciples, most of which were published by authors of color outside of the imperial core. i imagine aftg owes much of its fame to the whiteness and nearness of its cast and setting too. it was more than dead dove. it was toxic yaoi for white people

[squiddlysq]

Sun & Moon Throughout the Pizzaplex

I recently got ahold of Security Breach & played through it for the first time last night & was kind of obsessed with alot of the environmental details I was finding, specifically in relation to Sun & Moon.

I feel like in fic it’s always implied that the daycare is super closed off & there’s like no mention of the attendants anywhere else in the plex & that their merch is confined exclusively to their gift shop cause they’re sort of cringe or unpopular with older kids. HOWEVER their stupid little faces were basically everywhere I looked & I wanted to show both that and a couple of really cute unique props I found. I know there’s like basically no crossover between the sun & moon fandom and People Who Have Any Intention of Playing Security Breach so I wanted to just compile a bunch of the stuff they have around the Pizzaplex here for easy access by anyone who (understandably) doesn’t want to play the game. I’m putting under a readmore so I don’t clog the tag with a giant ass photo post but I think these things are cute as hell & some of them I’d literally never seen, in the tumblr fanbase OR in any of the playthrough’s I’ve watched through so take a peep if you wanna see Sun & Moon appreciation throughout the Pizzaplex.

First I just wanted to show that they’ve got multiple stands to themselves for merch in the main lobby gift shops ! Like as SOON as you enter the game proper you’re basically immediately hit with these guys;

And these cute little Sun shirts that are scattered throughout the plex giftshops;

These I think people are more likely to have seen but I still think the bathroom decals are so cute & I personally had only ever seen the Sun one in game footage so ! Here’s both;

Onto the more exciting stuff look at this ARCADE MACHINE !!! It’s looks like a regular clawgrab machine except it doesn’t have any prizes loaded into it, the design is so cute though;

Again I’m sure most people have seen this but I love Sun’s shit ‘BANNED >:(’ poster so much & it is ALL OVER kid’s cove;

This one is my absolute favourite I’ll be real, snooping around the backrooms of Roxy Raceway I found Sun & Moon themed go-karts and absolutely lost my mind;

At first I just found two tucked in a dirty corner and I was like ‘Welp guess homophobia strikes again’ BUT there were several of them scattered around with the other karts & several (^^^ in the pic) laid out ready to go on the track.

& just a couple other miscellaneous things, like this cute little logo I found in the backroom of the theatre that I don’t think I saw literally anywhere else;

& this tiny shit 3 pixel art of the boys on their section of the pizzaplex map lmao. I think they’re literally just in their poses from the daycare statue but it’s still a cute doodle;

There’s also these Moon faces up on the Faztheatre sign which I’d never seen before ! (Ignore me visibly wandering around taking screenshots of the environment when I’m supposed to be running for my life)

& lastly I just wanted to show these like, dedicated merch counters they seem to have in the prize counter room cause they’re cute as hell & Moon even has a collectible figurine on sale which. Canon confirmation of an adult nerd fanbase for the daycare animatronics in universe I guess;

It’s repeat textures so I won’t bother with pics but they’ve got posters and plushies and pictures literally ALL over the Pizzaplex it really sweet. Like they are not neglected in the plex marketing literally at all. I even found a Moon screen inside one of the arcade karaoke rooms for some reason. Bonus this note you can find made me heehee. Moon scaring the shit out of children like it’s his job;

[aerkame]

I’d like to toss my hat into the ring since that anon brought up AUS. I don’t have any favorites or enjoyment of a lot of them, So here’s a sort list I can think off;

1. A/B/O: It’s just very, very, uncomfortable.

2. Crossovers: 80 or 90% of the time when there’s crossovers, it’s just crossing over for the sake of having your fav characters meet and get up to crazy adventures. There’s no actual reason as to why there crossing over apart from that.

3. mafia: Not a fan as there’s nothing different, but there’s a Mob AU by Clownn (correct me if I spell it wrong,), they put a unique twist by having it be physiological and giving it certain traits to make their AU stand out from the usual Mafia AUs.

4: anesthesia: It’s a pretty cheap way to get characters to fall in love and kinda creepy when you think deeper about how easily bad things can go.

5. Soulmates or Marks: I don’t like the idea of a mark or something telling you who your partner is or who to be with. What if you don’t want a partner tho or not interested in falling in love? Are you allowed to be just friends instead?

I prefer if authors/creators add more unique twist or additional spin on AUs. The down side is, I have seen some pretty unique AUs but they’re not as talked about or popular since it’s not the go to ones that fanbases love.

Ah yeah, A/B/O AUs tend to romanticize toxic relationships a lot from what I usually see. Not liking it is understandable. Ironically though, the whole Alpha, Beta, and Omega stuff that was made by a researcher later discarded his own theory after further study of wolves. (In short, wolves are just large families with mom and dad in charge, the whole A/B/O stuff makes no sense.) So the whole thing is really just made up of disproved theories and is purely fiction.

The others are also understandable. Some of the AUs tend to have repeating themes or they end up being complete copies of each other. The Whole amnesia one is creepy, yeah. I have only ever read 3 fanfictions in my life that did this trope properly and it only really works if the characters knew each other beforehand or they were already in a relationship before it happened.

The soulmate one is kind of okay depending on who is writing it and how it is written. I've seen a handful of very well written soulmate AUs that actually got creative with it, but a lot of the fanfictions for AUs like that just repeat and copy each other a little too much.

To be perfectly honest, I agree that unique AUs are way better because it leaves room for even more AUs to branch off of those one and it also helps other writers get a good idea on how to handle the idea behind it.

My other favorite AU type is one I don't see often but I wish I did, and it's the self-aware ones or the ones where the reader/character ends up in the fictional world of the fandom they're in. My reason for liking those ones is because they can turn into good horror fics or have creepy vibes IF done right. It's like the 4th wall breaking rule in some video games or horror movies. Twilight Zone vibes y'know?

For my own personal Finfolk AU, I did want to add yandere vibes, but not like Wattpad anime fanfiction kind of yandere. I think yandere fics should be taken seriously and treated seriously because of the topics they deal with. I have read so many fanfictions that do it just right where it genuinely scares me and it makes for interesting dynamics between the characters. I haven't gone into full horror with the AU though simply because I'm afraid of people romanticizing what is supposed to be dangerous behavior or dark topics. The finfolk folklore itself is dark when you look into the stories/mythology. I just don't like seeing how often AUs and fanfictions with serious topics get put on a pedestal in a wrong lighting. But, I do plan on eventually trying to go full horror with it at some point. When? I'm not sure yet. Maybe when I have more experience in writing. All I know is that making the characters attractive (that is what finmen/women do regardless in folklore) but obsessive without making it romanticized is going to be difficult.

[anotheruserwithnoname]

Remembering the early days of the DW revival in North America

(You never saw this in the UK or US) (Source)

With the return of Russell T Davies upon us, there’s a lot of nostalgia for the early days of the Doctor Who revival, the years before ... well, name a controversy. Lots of hope in the fanbase that RTD will be able to bring back the feels of the early days (and not just among those who were too young to remember the heady days of 2005-2010). There’s also a lot of hand-wringing over the fact that outside the UK the series will be part of the Disney+ family. But non-UK networks have always influenced the show in a lot of ways. 

Not everything was good - I have some real negatives below - but here’s a quick list of memories of the early years of the revival, which began at a time the mainstream in North America was still very much of the mind of “Doctor who?” and dismissed it as a grainy old series that usually aired after Monty Python on PBS after midnight on Saturdays.

I remember:

* When we had to wait months between UK and Canadian broadcasts. Just imagine trying to avoid spoilers today!

* When the Sci-Fi Channel in the US allegedly rejected the show for quality reasons. So many American fans didn’t get to see the first series with Eccleston for about a year (or had to order the DVDs).

* When Series 1 did air in Canada, the CBC had Christopher Eccleston record intros, commercial bumpers and “final comments” that included a mixture of trivia and promos for a “visit the set of Series 2″ contest being done with the Canadian edition of TV Guide (ironic, I know). By the time Christmas Invasion aired, Chris had left so they had Billie Piper do the intros and bumpers for it. They dropped the gimmick for Series 2. Thanks to the TV Guide tie-in, Doctor Who also got its first-ever cover on the iconic magazine, albeit only in Canada.

* When most episodes of Series 1 ended on the CBC with short documentaries and interviews with the Canadian DW fan club; one of them I believe was responsible for spreading the notion that the 1996 TV movie was titled “The Enemy Within” (which was just a suggested title apparently).

* The difficulty in getting the Series 1 DVD sets in Canadian stores due to the “Doctor who?” factor. I recall I had to special order and it cost me close to $100 in 2005 or 2006 money. And at the time only one DVD retailer (back when they could be referred to in the plural sense) would touch it. Amazon wasn’t a thing yet.

* The CBC not airing the part of “World War III” that resolved the cliffhanger of “Aliens of London”. For the CBC that was their “dancing animated Graham Norton” moment.

* How the CBC, after the initial flurry of interest, seemingly forgot about the show (a charge made by the main Canadian DW fan club a few years later), resulting in Runaway Bride airing after Series 3 began, the main CBC never airing Voyage of the Damned at all (leaving the Series 3 cliffhanger unresolved), and airing a 42-minute edit of “Journey’s End” that was totally incomprehensible (and delaying the broadcast until after the DVD release of Season 4). Torchwood likewise was bounced around. Soon after, the CBC cancelled Doctor Who and Space Channel (now CTV Sci-Fi) picked it up, eventually airing Voyage of the Damned and moving to same-day broadcast with the UK. They also picked up Torchwood. (Sarah Jane Adventures only aired on the BBC Kids cable network and either was cancelled or the network folded so we mostly saw it on DVD only; K9 never aired here at all, but again was on DVD.)

* The CBC also never showed the Children in Need minisodes, so I believe we had to wait for DVDs before seeing the prequel to Christmas Invasion and the Time Crash crossover.

* The sea-change when Series 5 arrived; Sci-Fi (Syfy) in the US and Space were now airing it the same day as the UK, though for here they added a US-style prologue to the opening credits with Amy explaining the concept of Doctor Who.

* When Sci-Fi aired Let’s Kill Hitler in the US with a special animated mini-episode during the commercial break promoting a sponsor - something that would be absolutely unheard of on the BBC! (It used to be on Youtube but I can’t find it anymore.)

* The “good old days” when most of the “good stuff” (basically anything involving video or gaming) on the BBC’s main Doctor Who website was “geolocked” and inaccessible to North American visitors. Fortunately this didn’t include the minisodes created to promote Series 2, but people had to sail the high seas (or later turn to Youtube) to obtain stuff like the mini-episode Karen Gillan made as a tie-in with an Amy Pond game and some of the scripted stuff Sarah Jane Adventures had on its site, and the Captain Jack’s Monster Files webseries starring John Barrowman.

A lot of this is in the past - as far as I know there are no longer restrictions on BBC website content (or if there is, it ends up on Youtube in about 10 minutes anyway); same-day broadcast is the norm; it’s easy to get DW-related DVDs and Blu-rays (though it remains to be seen if we ever see anything from RTD 2.0 on permanent media here in North America with Disney+ in the picture); and the idea of Syfy or CTV Sci-Fi - or certainly Disney+ - taking a 75-minute episode and trimming 30 minutes out of it for broadcast as was done to Journey’s End is impossible to imagine. Sadly though, at least for now, the enthusiasm for the show where people did care that Let’s Kill Hitler had an extra scene for the US only, or that Billie and Chris recorded exclusive materal for the CBC ... it too is in the past. I hope RTD is able to restore it and prove you can go home again.

[mrbexwrites]

WIP Questionnaire

@surroundedbypearls tagged me here - thanks :D

Tagging @sarahlizziewrites @queen-tashie @words-after-midnight @cowboybrunch @spideronthesun + open tag for anyone who wants to join in :) I'm working on Blood Union so I'll answer for this WIP!

1. What’s the first part of your WIP that you created?

I have a notepad where I outline the main plot points/scenes that I want to write. This is my kind of zero-draft and I'll use this to write my WIP. It helps me know how to structure my story and mostly keeps the characters in check. I'm a certified planner.

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

Most likely the chorus to Danger Angel by Larkin Poe. This song is pretty much was inspired Mave. (I'm obsessed with the live version, but the studio version works just as well!)

3. What are your favorite characters that you made? Why?

Mavis is my favourite, as I've written all of the Blood trilogy from her POV. She's fun to write as she's so different from me; confrontational and doesn't choke on her anger. Anton, who started off as a background character, has crept to the fore, and has been a surprise success. He's become such a layered person (in my opinion) and has take on a much more central role. He's just a cranky, curmudgeon who is a secret cinnamon roll when it comes to his cats.

4. What other pieces of media do you think your fanbase would share?

Most likely Supernatural & Buffy. I feel that there's a lot of crossover between these shows and my WIP.

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP?

At the moment? Finding time to write. I'm either too tired from work, or have too much stuff to do, so my writing takes a backseat. I find that really frustrating. I just want a week off worok to complete everything on my to-do list, so that I can have a guilt-free black to just sit and write!

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

Other than demons, the main animals that make an appearance, are Anton's cats. Domagoj is a big, fat, ginger street- tom, and Božica, his prize-winning ragdoll, as well as her kittens.

7. How do your characters travel/get around?

Mavis has an old transit van that she's converted into a campervan a la #vanlife as it allows her to be mobile when on the hunt for demons. Arnauld, being a billionaire demon has a range of sportscars, and Anton, a self-proclaimed petrol-head, loves an SUV (not just because they're good for running people over with!)

8. What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

I'm not even 10k words into this WIP, so still very early stages. I don't tend to write in chapters- I add them when I start doing my first editing skim- but I'm probably only around chapter 3 or 4

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) you think will draw your audience in?

I hope- Action Girl Mave, her dymanic with her found family, her antagonism of Arnauld, and her budding friendship with Anton and his cats.

10. What are your hopes for your WIP?

That I can get it finished sometime this year, and it doesn't need too much editing 😭

[transfemlogan]

idk if you can see asks again yet BUT

i kinda wanna talk abt what that anon was saying with people adding non-side characters into fanworks and how that could be connected to other analyses of the fanbase (i haven’t been here as long as u have though so mb there’s some stuff idk abt)

for me it’s symptomatic of the way this fanbase treats the characters in general- they like. boil them down to one simple trait, one little personality thing that becomes how they’re viewed in fanon. so like patton is just sweet/innocent/stupid, but all other aspects of who he is, what he does, etc are kinda they out the window.

people add characters like picani and sleep even though they’ve had no canon overlap with the sides because their fanon personalities are simple enough to imagine with the sides. this fanbase ignores canon events so often that they can just like. add characters in and it feels the same to them

by making them into these one-note characters, it’s easy to imagine them interacting with one another as if they are from the same series because they’re so one dimensional and shallow in fanon. they can basically be made into whatever you want them to

i just think it kinda says something abt the way this fanbase warps it’s characters beyond recognition tht you can straight up just add these guys in and it doesn’t change the dynamic much, it doesn’t seem super out of place, and they’re just kinda. there

idk if that made any sense, im really tired, but my thoughts on this change all the time so i might look at this later and decide it’s bullshit lol who knows

I do agree that people boil down the sides into one specific trait & dont have any nuance to their character, however every fandom has crossover AUs. Every fandom boils characters down to their characters into one specific trait. I don't feel like there's anything to discuss there, because if I wanted to talk about how fandoms function as a whole, I'd just talk about that. But I don't want to. I want to talk specifically about the SaSi fandom and how it correlates to the series.

There's a difference between

"the series is about morally greyness and how there is no 'good' or 'bad' in the world, but the fanbase completely ignores that to treat the sides one-dimensionally" (and because of the lack of content and large stretches of time)

&

"the fanbase creates crossover AUs, like every other fanbase, and tends to make the characters one dimensional to fit them into the AU"

Every fandom has the same issues, but it's very interesting when it comes to SaSi specifically, because they are actively ignoring the lesson in Sanders Sides. It's the same with the Undertale fandom. People were actively ignoring the point of the story to make a child out to be the villain, because they couldn't comprehend, or want, the idea that it was them/the player who was fault

(also, it's less the one dimensional thing, & more that they are all creations of Thomas. People are adding in shorts characters and cartoon therapy characters because it's all by the same creator. I'm sure it's also because their fanon identities are so shallow it's easy to imagine them interacting, but that's not the main reason why it's done. It's done out of love for the other creations Thomas has.)

[quickdeaths]

@bsqvad from here

He would have been surprised. In her experience, a lot of pro-gamers and streamers were agency-affiliated now. D.Va had done collaborations with other people because a sponsor she knew wanted her to work with an agency they partnered with, leading to her meeting her stream cohosts about a half hour before going live. That style was becoming more and more common. For all her endorsement deals, it was a point of pride and comfort that the only person who had final say on D.Va's projects was Hana.

D.Va laughed again, though not in a way intended to be mocking or unkind. "Hey, no need to thank me, Kenma. We're just two streamers doing some fun collabs, no need to bring honor into it." That was another thing that D.Va tried to bring to her persona. Sure, she was a world champion, a high-tier streamer, a crossover celebrity in her own country with TV deals and sponsorships, but that didn't mean she wanted a wall between herself and anyone. D.Va was approachable, and didn't want anyone to feel inferior around her. Well, unless she was in the middle of kicking their ass at StarCraft.

Peering into the fridge, her eyes lit up. "Oh, Nano Cola!" She grabbed one can, paused, and then snatched a second just in case. "I ate on the plane, but these will be good for keeping me fueled up. Thanks!" Honestly, she'd probably endorse them even if they weren't paying her. Way too many nights had been spent grinding out rank on her various games, picking at takeout food and as much Nano as she could drink without feeling sick.

"That works for me," she said with a nod, setting down the sodas as she pulled one of her suitcases into the room after Kenma. "I should be away from the windows, so no one can try to guess the location from the outside view." She'd started staggering her Instagram posts when she wasn't looking to be D.Va for other people, just for that reason. "If it's not a big deal, we could even move the desk space around so we're on opposite sides. No chance my camera would pick up anything, then."

At her core, Hana was a gearhead, and setting up her battle station was fun, if a bit time consuming. Still, that meant D.Va could talk to Kenma during the process. "It's fine either way, but did you mention that we'd be doing collabs on your streams or your socials?" She hadn't said anything to her fanbase about it ahead of time, just in case something hadn't worked out. Besides, with her following, guerilla streams always did good numbers. "Oh, and can I use your computer for a second? I have something to show you."

[air3d3lalm3na]

The massive gulf of difference between people who are into the internet-fandomized (immature, commodified) version of theatre, the arts, etc, and people who were part of this as a social culture before

and especially grew up around it.

Old Broadway vs New Broadway. The throwing out of standards in favor of TV and Hollywood style of ““““content”””” is naturally followed by TV and Hollywood fanbases flocking to it.

Like no I don’t want to see your goddamn Funko Pop of Hadestown The Mean SpiderBob Musical 2: On Ice. Or your squeeing about the crossover slashfic.

The fandomization of everything is so fucking tiring.

You can’t even really blame people. This is just what happens when people let the devices (TV, internet especially YouTube) raise their kids. Versus being raised to view this AS A CULTURE and participate in discussing it and even creating. I mean, this is natural — the parents are failing these kids, who then become adults who fail their own kids: because they seem to have no idea of what a culture is or that you are supposed to aim for something higher. (Rather than just sit and passively “consume” as if “it’s entertainment!”) To engage with it by making conversation and analyzing and yes emoting and……..etc. (A whole mindset you live with every day in and out and it doesn’t shut off. It doesn’t start or stop with the show.) Entertainment is NOT the goddamn goal or even the main part of what is going on. Or at least not what that word has been watered down to mean.

Just holy motherfucking fuck Pleeeeeease get me out of here

Except that actual Broadway is invaded and bought out and sold into this shit now. Catering to it.

So…to Off, or more like Off-Off, I suppose. Not sure where else to go at this point.

I’ve had these thoughts so many times, but until I get anywhere physically different, and “make something” of my life out of what it has been forced into, I won’t be able to get to whatever the next steps are.

Just feeling pessimistic and tired. Got to find the right people and yes opportunities again.

[thesebright-lights]

Call me crazy but after listening to Lover (the song, not the album) I was honestly kinda shocked there wasn’t more overlap between Will Wood and Taylor Swift fans. There’s something about the song that just reminded me a lot of “In Case I Make It”. Looking at the lyrics, yeah, it’s short, there’s some good lines in there, but at the end of the day I think your average Will Wood fan would want something more wordy, and with more complex instrumentation.

Really though, I think there would realistically be more crossover between the groups if the culture surrounding both artists (and that both artists create) wasn’t so different. I find huge artists like Taylor Swift really interesting, and that’s partially because I don’t really get how the music industry even works on that level.

Every artist experiences this to some degree, but the way big pop artists aren’t really people as much as they are products really boggles my mind- or rather, the extent of it does. The fact that so little is actually known about who Taylor is as a person really fosters a culture that just creates insane levels of parasociality. I get that thats the point. I get that thats why she doesn’t speak about current issues, because its better to let people believe you hold the same opinions as them. This is why you see far-right and leftist swifties alike. Usually not far-left on account of how rich she is, but it’s fascinating regardless.

Speaking of, most Will Wood fans are pretty liberal. And queer. The type of queers that find You Need to Calm Down borderline offensive. Yeah, I understand the lack of overlap now. Despite how similar a few of their songs sound, the culture surrounding both fanbases are so unbelievably different.

I am curious though, are there any swifties here that happen to also be Will Wood fans? I listen to her music because it’s nostalgic, and I don’t mind a lot of her newer stuff, too. My experiences with Swifties irl usually involves them claiming Phoebe Bridgers is a small artist, I need you guys to balance the scales 🙏

[seriouslycromulent]

Some thoughts on "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" - Season 2

It may seem odd that I'm only now getting around to watching the 2nd season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, but that's just the nature of my schedule. I often watch a new series well after the season is over, and somehow manage to avoid spoilers until I watch it (but not always).

This works for me because I've always been an "Odd One Out" in that I rarely agree with the majority of the fanbase on the general likes and dislikes of a show or a season. So watching it at my own pace and reacting to it without the undue influence or commentary from the more "popular" voices in the fandom shouting me down is definitely where it's at.

So with that said, here are some of the random thoughts I've had while watching Season 2 of ST: Strange New Worlds.

Please keep in mind, nothing I say below is a sign that I don't like SNW. As a matter of fact, I'm one of those weirdo Trekkers who pretty much loves all things Trek. Each series has things about it that I like, even if it may not be my favorite series in the entire franchise. I pride myself on my ability to find joy in all things Trek because I believe the vision of this universe has many perspectives and stories to tell. And I'm here for all of them!

Let's dive in shall we ...

Loves

I love the way Captain Pike trusts his crew implicitly. It's almost to the point where, I dare say, he's bit of a Mary Sue when it comes to how much of a great boss he is. Every time hell breaks loose or some conflict arises, he always handles it far better than any boss I've ever had or any boss living today in the 21st century would likely ever handle it. I remember he was like that in Star Trek: Discovery, s2, and I was thoroughly impressed. Even taken aback by how good of a boss he was. And although it's kind of a Mary Sue, I ask the writers to change nothing. Who knows? Maybe some of the folks who are bosses watching it today will pick up on his behavior and bring some of that energy into the real world.

Like many, I loved the "Those Old Scientists" crossover episode with Star Trek: Lower Decks. But I knew I was going to like it if for no other reason than Jonathan Frakes directed it. Whenever I see Frakes' name under the director credit on anything, I know it's going to be good. I don't even care what the show is. But the part I truly loved about this episode besides all the fanservice delivered by the amazing script and the actors (you can never have too many Anson Mount eye-rolls) was the sweet moment between Pelia and Boimler around the warp core. The advice she gives him near the end of their conversation really hit home: " ... There's this one guy I remember, he said to me, 'I always pretended to be someone I wanted to be, until finally, I became that someone, or he became me.'" I mean, that line was honestly the most profound message I've heard from any Star Trek series in the 35 years I've been a Trekker. I'm serious. I think I'm going to write down that dialogue and turn it into my desktop wallpaper so I can look at it every day. Out all the awesome that's in this special episode, that moment was perhaps the one I loved the most.

Likes

Carol Kane joining the cast as Pelia. I've always adored Carol Kane. Ever since I watched her on reruns of Taxi when I was a kid. Her ability to balance comedy and drama in the most unexpected ways has always endeared her to me. But I never thought I'd see her on a Star Trek series, let alone as a recurring character or series regular. I'm beyond delighted to have her aboard, even if it's for a short while.

Thanks to Uhura, I think this is the first time we've ever seen a genuine doo-rag on any Star Trek series. If I'm wrong, please correct me. Either way, I'm glad that in the future, we can still keep it real about natural hair care and beauty maintenance.

Dislikes

"Ad Astra Per Aspera," the episode tackling the case of Una Chin-Riley's position in Starfleet after her background was exposed was a decent episode, but not a great one. Allow me to explain. The part that made it fall a bit flat for me were the courtroom scenes. Perhaps I've become too jaded by American TV legal dramas over the past 30 years, but the behavior of the lawyers and judges was far too lax, timid and inconsistent from what I would expect from a JAG-like proceeding or any courtroom for that matter. When the prosecutor yelled "Objection!", the judges barely responded, and certainly not in a timely manner. And when they did respond, it felt weak and uncertain. And then they were too lax when the defense attorney objected as well. I understand they wanted to remain impartial, but instead they come across as disinterested, and considering what was at stake for Starfleet, it simply felt out of place for this situation. Also I'm happy with the outcome of the episode, but it didn't stir the emotional response I expect from great writing on Star Trek, especially considering the way they've handled court cases in the past on other series. Overall, I just feel like that episode could've been written better, with tighter dialogue and more realistic reactions from all the parties involved.

I'm also not a big fan of the fight choreography on SNW overall. To be fair, the fight choreography on all Star Treks has always been a bit silly looking. It's very theatrical, as in what you would normally see on the stage (think Broadway or the West End). Then, on top of that, there's a lot of -- as they say in pro-wrestling circles -- selling to make the impacts look devastating. But on SNW, it somehow manages to look even more "made for the stage" than usual. Perhaps because they tend to use a lot of slow-mo in their fight scenes, at least more than other Treks. Maybe because the choreographer is trying to stay true to the fighting styles common from the TOS, where fists would swing very wide and every move was telegraphed 30 seconds before the actor even started. But it's just ... not ... working. It's not bad enough to make me dislike the show, but I'm not used to wanting to fast forward through fight scenes, and yet on SNW, I've been known to do so.

I know I'm in the minority here within the fandom, but I just want to reiterate that the least interesting thing to me about any Star Trek series is the romantic relationships of the characters. Look, I get it. A lot of fans love shipping characters, and it's the bread and butter of most fanfic stories. But as far as canon stories, I'm just not invested. It's not why I watch the shows. As a matter of fact, the only couple I've ever taken an interest in out of all 8 live-action ST series and 3 animated ST series is Riker/Troi. So you can imagine how much I groan inwardly whenever SNW spends significant time on the romantic relationships of the characters. And as I've said before, they spend A LOT of time on the romantic relationships. More than any other ST series. I don't hate it, and it's not enough to make me stop watching the show. But ... ... I cannot adequately express how much I don't care about Spoke and Chapel's relationship. And this season, they spent so much time on their relationship.

What the f*** and why?

Episode 4, "Among the Lotus Eaters." Capt. Pike, Dr. M'Benga and Lieu. Noonien-Singh travel down to Rigel VII to try to repair the cultural damage Starfleet inflicted on a planet during a botched mission from years before. Pike has been there before. He knows they have to land far away and walk to their destination. They need to walk a whooping 20km before nightfall, in fact. It's snowing and the winds are fierce. I'm sure that Joseph and La'An can tell what the weather is like before they leave the shuttle. And yet ... not one of them packs or wears a hat and gloves. Why? La'An even had the audacity to mock Lieu. Ortegas for wearing a hat when she thought she was going to be on the Away Team. Guess what? Erica was right! You all should be wearing hats and gloves. I don't why that was so annoying to me because it is sooooooo on-brand for Star Trek, but seriously ... why no hat and gloves? Why are you not prepared?

Why oh why is every single set on this show so damn big?! I've seen fans complain about the technology being too advanced compared to other series (on ST: Discovery, s1-2). I've seen fans complain about the sets being too dark compared to other series (on ST: Picard, s3). But am I the only one who's like, "Why is this shuttle carrying only 3 people so freaking big?" Or "Why is a Lieutenant's quarters so huge?" Seriously, Erica Ortegas' quarters could fit a 3-bedroom apt in NYC inside of it. It would seem that SNW loves to make up for past transgressions when it comes to square footage. Their transporter room is ginormous. I mean, the space between each transporter pad is absurd. The bridge looks bigger than the USS Discovery's bridge, and Discovery's bridge had more personnel on it. The Captain's Ready Room doubles as a conference room, but I also think there's a study, a smoking lounge, and a walk-in closet in there. And the mess hall! Come on! It's as big as Ten-Forward was back on ST: TNG. And I swear you can fit the entire USS Defiant inside one of the shuttles on SNW. Now I try not to compare New Trek with Old Trek or '90s Trek because I feel it's not really fair given how much technology has changed. But when it comes to the sizes of the sets, that really doesn't have anything to do with technology. Soooooooo ... why are the sets so damn big?!

---

OK. Now that I've gotten that off my chest, here are my overall thoughts on the show --

Warning: Here's the part where I piss off a lot of fans, so hold on to butts. I like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I think the cast is lovely. I'm happy to see these stories are being told, and I will definitely watch season 3. But ... it makes me miss Star Trek: Discovery even more.

I appreciate what they're trying to do with SNW by delivering nostalgia vibes along with new stories that never had a chance to be told, but hopefully tell them in a way that works for today's audiences. Yet unfortunately, I'm not the audience they're aiming for. Hear me out. I'm the audience that has been waiting decades for Star Trek to tell stories about hard and honest topics that may not have convenient or happy solutions by the end. Stories where human beings behaving like real human beings, not poster children intended to be idolized as role models. Deep Space Nine gave me some of that. And Discovery gave me all of that.

There are some episodes this season where SNW attempts to do that, specifically the "Under the Cloak of War" (episode 8). But even in those moments where we get to see Dr. M'Benga show how messy humanity can be, it still comes across as an after-school special meant to teach the audience how to be a good productive member of society.

Plus, I think they only tried that with this episode because it dealt with war, which is the only topic for some where folks are willing to acknowledge that humanity is messy. Also, Star Trek's war scenes always feel a little bit too polished to truly reflect the darkness of battle and its aftermath. Perhaps this is due to so many people wanting the show to be sanitized for family friendly viewing.

Now, let me be clear. This is not a condemnation of SNW. Just a recognition that the stories that Discovery tells/told were for those of us in the fandom who love the unapologetic recognition of the reality that all life in the universe is complicated, and human beings are hardly the ones to get it all right in the end. Maybe that's why some "fans" dislike Discovery so much. But I have my doubts.

Anyway, that's my general takeaway from the show. Like I said, I love all things Trek. I'm happy to see SNW continue. I'm sad that this year will be Discovery's last season. But ultimately, I'm grateful to have all the stories the franchise is willing to tell.