#Also cuz I love the different animation styles the films going for after watching the trailer

[yonderghostshistories]

(inspired by @theinsurancesketch 's post)

Monty Python gang, should I watch "A Liar's Autobiography" (2012) and is it any good?

[franki-lew-yo]

I really hate 2d purists. No, not 2d animation. Not 2d animators.

2d purists.

The sad thing is it’s gotten to the point that I really cringe hearing any pro-2D sentiment at all. I hate the arguments I agree with because how often they're misused and weaponized by idiots.

Let me make my stance here clear - 2d is NOT appreciated and 3d is used for everything! The layman Karen-mom who doesn’t have an artistic bone in her body looks at stupidsmooth 3D Grubhub ads and assumes quality cause it “looks more real” (aka ‘rendered’). I know as much is true because I literally have a member of my family who told my sister and I that she thinks 3d is better (and also that she “tolerated THOSE movies for us kids”. Touching words. My sister was taking an animation course by the way). Combined that with the studios either using 2D for cheap stuff or finding good 2d animation too “costly”, I get it and I’m not even any animator. I'm just a worm an illustrator.

but holy HELL -

There’s a backlash from the artistic community that's it's own kind of insufferable and deserve to be addressed.

“(insert2Danimatedfilm) is better BECAUSE it's 2D!”

followed by: "Animation is a visual medium and the quality of the art affects how much the story means !!!!”  

Yes. Totally. Animation is a visual medium and the look and style is important. Sadly, people use this excuse to really obnoxious ends, insisting that design being pretty is '' everything ''. When you treat a movie more as a special effects demo I get why you talk about the artistry at hand; but I’m sorry, visuals are not the only thing important and it’s why I’m also getting sick of the sameElsafacesyndrome rants too! There’s this attitude that's reads as "but it LOOKS better fromaproductionimage/teasertrailerwhichapparentlyisindicativeof all themovieactuallyis so it MUST BE better".

-“3D should only be used to make things look realistic!”

I think I know the logic this criticism is made in response to, and that’s the Sony + Illumination films which look just as good in 2D as they do in three dimensions. I know it feels like people are twisting this medium to try and make it like a classic cartoon when by all means people can and would love a classic cartoon being a classic cartoon. That I get- From the unsung 2D animator’s perspective, that’s more than valid !

But it’s a huuuuuuge slap in the face to 3d in saying it should only be used for "realistic animation" because

1: It’s not like realistic animation could age badly or look uncanny in the next few years. It's almost like technology is constantly improving, which I guess 2d animation never did and it was always the same technique and quality as every film that came after it.

2: The industry does treat 3d as a magic-moneymaker for this reason. Just listen to these people call the 2019 LION KING “live action” as if they’re embarrassed to call it animation. It IS animation! It would be impressive if you acknowledged that what it is, but like the CATS, you basically are treating it as just a neato tool to better your live action and not it's own artform - which it is!

3: By this “three-deeonly gud when real liek in da toystories” non-logic I guess 2d should ONLY be for flowyflowy SPACE JAM cartoons and maybe some Disney*. Just that though. You can’t do anything more with 2d. It’s never supposed to be realistic I guess. Good thing Richard Williams only did 'toons' and just toons that’s why we need 3d in the world I guess.

Wait no - that’s stupid.

"I HAVE to see the “Land Before Time 14″ when it comes out! I mean it’s a 2D animated film!"

Lost in the aether that is Youtube comment chains removed from kid's videos is a stream of this very VERY stupid argument supporting the buying of the 14th LAND BEFORE TIME film because it’s supporting 2D. My sister and I can be found on that chain arguing against this stupidity. All you have is my word, but trust me: it really did happen.

I’m sorry but...no.

Unless you have a friend or a family member who worked on these movies there’s no reason to see this and ESPECIALLY no reason to insist it’s a win for the 2D community if you buy up this crap - and I'm not judging if you do like it, but come on! LAND BEFORE TIME 14 isn't where your money should go if you really like this medium.

What’s so infuriating about this argument is you can tell it’s made by nonanimators. Real animators will tell you to support their movies cause they want some respect for their artform which is why there’s such a push from the PRINCESS AND THE FROGcrowd that you SEE and LOVE every 2d thing out there, regardless of how good it is because any recognition for it is k i n d o f what they're after!

Kiddy sequel schlock isn’t even in the same ballpark as KLAUS or WOLFWALKERS; these films DID have very limited theatrical runs (Klaus so it could be nominated; Wolfwalkers in places where theaters opened up after Covid) and should have been supported because they were labors of love made by people who love animation.

As other people have already pointed out, one of the reasons for the lack of interest in 2000sera2D animation is that the only films released alongside critical+financial 3D hits were cheaper 2D films that either coincided with daytime tv shows or should have been just direct-to-video. It’s not to say art couldn’t come out of these flicks, but dayum if it wasn’t abused as much as the texture software that era's CG used... Point being, should the world ever go back to normal: If you hear about an out-of-town showing an acclaimed 2D animated film, make time to trek out and see THAT!

Don’t give your money to see yet another made-for-tv movie on the big screen because all that tells the studio is: “yeah 2d IS cheap and only good for cheap stuff let’s just keep it cheap. Only 3d is important 8D 8D 8D !!!"

“I don’t understand how it works. So it sucks.”

This text is from an ANIMATOR btw.

“I don’t understand how it works” and “it’s just some computer rendering” is the exact same wave of logic the people who prefer cgi use.

The plebian Karen I mentioned earlier? She understands the basics of 2D animation as much as you did from one of those cruddy flash classes you took in middle-school. She 'understands' the basics cuz she watched how it was made on the DVD features or maybe back on the WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY. To her, the illusion is broken and she’s not impressed by 'just some drawings on paper'. You, an animator, know the process is more complicated and is intrigued by knowing how it’s made - not bored or disinterested -

Neither you nor Aunt Karen have really good cg-animation software at your house and unless you ARE a 3D animator you probably DON’T know all the ins-and-outs of how these movies are modeled, rendered, and animated.

Aunt Karen is bedazzled by them cause she doesn’t know how it works and the technical aspect makes her brain hurt so it might as well be magic and she can feel like a cool kid sharing Minion-memes. Aunt Karen is the nonartistic type who just wants to feel safe. You're not. You want to feel challenged.

I get it: you’re pissed off cause you’re in a field no one, including Aunt Karen, appreciates; told to work in cg which it's an artform you didn’t devote your life to and told to learn it cause THIS style sells! 3D is everywhere and is starting to look like 'garbage' even if you don’t animate 3D models yourself you just KNOW, I guess. Besides, you know all there is to know about 2d!! You know all there is to possibly know about this artform and have to fight this 'war' against "r e a l" animation! And I mean even when 3d software is there to use, it's not like you can actually make anything worth while in it, especially not anything that transcends the medium. Right Worthikids?

TL;DR: This argument is basically just " BWAAAAH I’M NOT GONNA USE IT I HAVE STANDARDS (a chip on my shoulder cuz art should be what I deem it to be) "

“PRINCESS AND THE FROG is-”

There’s a reason I can’t say I truly like PRINCESS AND THE FROG even though it's not even a bad movie! Like, stop reading this and watch PATF if you haven't it's good. It's my 'FROZEN', in that; I see a lot of potential in it I just think it needs some serious rewriting and that bugs me. Always have felt that way, tbh.

I dislike this movie because the response from the animation community seems to be it was perfect and the Academy was just Pixar-crazy with UP ((ftr, the Academy IS Pixar’s bitch and I personally advocate a sequel be made to WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY about Mike Eisner’s sabotage of the 2D department at Disney which is still in place now!- but that’s a story for another day)). I’m sorry but UP was just a better story. So was CORALINE. So was FANTASTIC MR. FOX. Honest to god it feels like poor PATF is brought up as just a talking point and never for it's own worth as a labor of love - which it was! I'd like to honestly know: had PRINCESS AND THE FROG come out now and been cg if it would have even half the defenders for it because now it doesn't "look" like how a Disney movie "should" look...

If you like PatF more than the currant Disney lineup because of it's culture, it's music, it's feminism, it's black representation? Awesome. Great. Those things should be appreciated and I never want that taken away from you. But if you seriously think PatF is better just for how it was animated and looks - I lowkey may hate you.

“ALL OF DISNEY’S LATEST MOVIES SHOULD HAVE BEEN 2D! THEY ALL LOOK AWFUL IN 3D!! ALL OF THEM!”

TANGLED, FROZEN, and MOANA? Yeah. Sure. But um, e x c u s e y o u- WRECK IT RALPH sooooo doesn’t work in 2d! It could have used different between the various worlds but it’s about hopping through different video games. I’m also of the opinion that ZOOTOPIA and BIG HERO 6 are fine the way they are. Their 3d is awesome.

The latest fairy tale Disney films are really big on their place alongside the 2D canon esp in marketing. They keep trying to mimic 2D to varying results though I don't think it works as well as the movie's I'd previously mentioned. Me personally, I would love a mix of 3D and 2D technology, like if the backgrounds in FROZEN still got to be 3D but the characters were handdrawn and shaded ala KLAUS ((sweet sigh)). But even then are they truly unwatchable just based on how they're animated to you?

MOANA would have been incredible in 2D but for the record - I don't think it feels out of place in it's style. It reminds me more of a Pixar movie with the heart of a Disney classic which is it's own just as good.

“2D is the oldest form of animation and it’s being replaced.”

Actually, if we’re talking animation in film, stop motion is the earliest form of animation. The stop motion animated THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED and TALE OF THE FOX predate Disney’s SNOW WHITE. And yes: stop-motion IS still a form of animation even if it’s a serious of pictures taken of real life things and not drawings, so don’t you dare come at me with the "but that's not animated"/"Technically it’s LIVE ACTION" crap or I’ll envoke the spirit of Sandman to get you at night.

“Every animated film would look better in 2D! Even PIXAR would look better in 2D!”

Again, Stop Motion.

No, I mean it.

Lemme ask: Would ISLE OF DOGS or FANTASTIC MR. FOX carry any of the same effect if they were generic 90s toons? I know NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS wouldn’t. Christ, don’t even get me started on Svankmajer!

Sometimes the problem is that a movie is envisioned with a specific artform in mind. Pixar started out with toys and bugs for a reason and that’s cuz they were always gonna be a 3d studio and they needed to first overcome the placisity of the models. Over the years they’ve gotten really good at effects and blending unrealistic proportions with real textures (and also not so much- ONWARD and THE GOOD DINOSAUR really needed some different character designs and yeah, I do think would have looked better with a 2d artstyle, but not the ones they had in their films. THE GOOD DINOSAUR needed more realistic-speculative looking dinos and ONWARD needed a grittier HEAVY METAL/BLACK CAULDRON appeal to its designs.) My point being that the problems with these movies aren’t even inherently the animation as much as it is a problem of style. As someone who runs a group speculating different styles and designs for movies and tv shows I’m all for envisioning a 2D ZOOTOPIA or Bluth-inspired FNAF. That’s amazing!

But that’s also the talk of fan artists and nerds and not the professional artists working on visualizing their stories!!

Since I ate, slept, and breathed NIGHTMARE in my youth I’ll use it as an example: All the concept art ever done for TNBC was on paper and 2D was used in the final film. However, even when Tim Burton was thinking of making it just a tv special it was always going to be stop-motion. NIGHTMARE’s puppet cast do work very well in two dimensions, believe me, but the film was made as a love letter to Rankin/Bass and the art form of stop-motion. Skipping to another Henry Selick-helmed project (haha), JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH was also always envisioned as a multimedia film to give it a truly dream-like atmosphere. If you know anything about Henry Selick you’ll know he’s 1) a perfectionist, and 2) loves mixed media and different types of animation and puppetry at once. That’s why he was the perfect pick to direct TNBC at the time, why JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH and CORALINE are so beautiful and why MOONGIRL, his only fully 3d film, doesn’t have the same appeal.

As for what films I couldn’t imagine NOT being 3D? Probably; 9, Padak, Next Gen, Soul, Finding Nemo, the Toy Story films, Wreck-it-Ralph (as previously mentioned), Wall.E, Waltz with Bashir, Robots, Inside Out, Arthur Christmas, The Painting, Happy Feet, Shrek, Enter the Spiderverse, Megamind… just naming a few here.

“I want a traditionally animated film [and by that I mean a 90s-Disney/Don Bluth looking movie] of ‘x'-popular live action/stage thing!”

Okay I’m cheating a bit but it’s my blog and so I’m gonna stick this one in because it’s related.

When I see musings about wanting live-action or CGI shiz to be in 2d again a lot of the time this argument actually boils down to " I want this to look like a 90s Didney movie ". Or, if it’s about animals - " I want it to look like a Don Bluth film! "

Like...there ARE other styles of animation out there...you know that right?

Frack, Disney themselves tried different styles throughout the 90s it’s just that the peak of the Disney renaissance films (LITTLE MERMAID, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, ALADDIN, THE LION KING) and the many imitators that followed tended to have the same look to them where only film/animation nerds kept watching into the era that was TARZAN, HERCULES, and ATLANTIS along with the kids. Aunt Karen wasn't singing Part of your World in the carride with you every day.

The Don Bluth argument is especially irritating because...what exact feeling do you WANT from a movie if it looked Bluthish? Each of the four ‘quintessential’ Bluth movies (NIMH, AMERICAN TAIL, LBT, and ALL DOGS) have such a different feel to them that’s complimented by that style; SECRET OF NIMH is a drama about wild animals trying to understand humans; LAND BEFORE TIME is even more squarely about an animal’s perspective as there’s literally no humans around; AMERICAN TAIL uses animals stowing away on the ship to tell a story about refugees; and ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN is ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN.

What the frack are you even asking for with that because I think there’s a certain flavor to the Bluth-styled oeuvre as well as the 90s Disney catalogue that would clash too much stylistically with some films.

Also come on! Like some Bluthian-style 2d would really fix THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS or SCOOB!, bite me.

I think this fixation solely on these two hand drawn styles and nothing else is based on nostalgia goggles, refusing to step outside the norm and discover different films and feelings than Disney and Bluth, and just preference. Goin back to NIGHTMARE there will always be a special place in my heart for Henry Selick’s stop motion, but I couldn’t imagine CHICKEN RUN or ANOMALISA in it's unique style.

Also I’m tired of every time there’s a "lets make an animatic to ‘x’ musical theater song" it’s reliably just Disneyesque or realistic. WHY envision an animated version of the show at all if it doesn’t have A STYLE to it??!?! I’m sorry but 90s-Disney does NOT fit CABARET!

“3D is so CHEAP now! Why can’t they just do 2D again?”

I think - on the cusp of the 2020s and the Grubhub hatedom, there ARE changing times ahead for 3d and 2d. The general public are starting to get tired of the same looking 3d films and wanting some 2d back, but they don’t have the best resources or opinions on animation to know what it is they want. Meanwhile, the animation community + industry is trying to figure out what to do and you have a lot of turmoil between the monopoly that is the industry, the high standards of the artists, and the mixed wants of the animation fanbase deciding what art needs to be.

It’s a tough business. And in the spirit of that tough business - maybe DON’T act like the means of a film’s production is solely your control, that you know best, and know definitively what the artists should have done....cuz you don't. Sorry my fellow criticalfanomanalysist-folks we DON'T and in an age of standom where fans and critics think it's okay to hackle indie animation studios about not getting their pitched cartoon out fast enough - we need to reserve these discussions to our circles and not treat them as gospel.

3d animation and 2d animation have to share this world. Stop acting like they’re either interchangeable in terms of budget, means of production, or artistry or that one has to be superior to the other.

The industry already says one art form is better (spoiler: it’s always live-action), we don’t need anymore of this purist garbage. Just stick to what you like while trying new things on the side. Be critical while also being compassionate. And remember:

[bangtanfancamp]

Honey (PJM)

--------------------------------------------

•masterlist

•jimin idol au! x reader

•7.6k words

•fluffy stuff, she gets a bit angsty though, but swiftly back to the fluffy stuff. like a cotton candy sandwhich...idk. I regret that metaphor. Immediately 🤭😂🙈. Lol.

•one shot

• (technically in the same universe as this drabble, but can be read totally independent of each other) happy birthday, baby boy 

---------------------------------------------

Jimin was positively glowing today. The buzz around him was always electric after a performance, but it was extra fantastic today. He’d been in his element all night and it showed- he carried himself differently then. He stood taller, shoulders back, chest and perfect chin lifted to the heavens. his skin glistened under the can lights like fresh dew in the morning sun and god, were you helplessly in love with him. 

After you’d accepted his proposal, he was insistent that you be present on as much of the tour as possible. He’d said he couldn’t stand to be away from you so he’d swept you up and away into his breakneck pace with him. Which is precisely how you wound up here- half a world away, snacking on a bite sized lemon tart behind the set of a British late night talk show and trying your absolute hardest to keep up as the boys were herded away to take photos following their performance.

The press tour for their new comeback had found the boys in five cities in the past four days- it had been relentless- but Jimin was beaming. Your beautiful boy was doing exactly what he was made for. Laughing and smiling with every stranger he met, enticing a crowd as he danced, drinking in this big fantastic world with bright eyes at every opportunity. You- however- were exhausted. 

Sure it was exhilarating to see his life but it was another thing entirely to live it. Especially since this wasn’t actually your job- so you were never entirely quite sure what to do with yourself. You cheered on every performance and celebrated at every dinner, but there was also a tremendous amount of time where you couldn’t really be with Jimin and didn’t actually have something to do. You felt like such a stranger all the time who didn’t know how to keep up the pace.

You’d never been around this many people and you were terrified of getting in the way. No matter how incredible this was, it was still his job. You were a nervous wreck fearing you’d accidentally mess something up. Your elegant eggshell dance was getting overwhelming- that is, until you’d see him. His eyes would find you across the room and crease into those perfect moons and in an instant, you knew you’d do anything for him. You knew you were right where you belonged. You swear, that smile was how he got you to do everything these days. You weren’t really complaining either.

The crowd pushed you into a room filled with giant light panels and sweeping white backdrops- a perfect space to capture the seven golden boys on film. Jimin was standing coifed and perfect along the far edge of the room. He was still in his structured yellow suit from his performance and his presence honestly filled the entire room. His hair had been newly tinted the most delicious shade of honey for this comeback and swept away from his elegant face. The way it shamelessly showed off his bone structure made him look so regal and highborn. You’d be clamoring in line to take his picture too.

As the boys were arranged in line across the backdrop, you noticed Jimin’s eyes searching for someone. You’d assumed he was probably looking for a stylist or staff member until his ethereal grey eyes settled on you, waving you over. Hesitantly, you wove through the cloud of people and settled beside him.

“Yes, love?” You whispered.

“There you are. You’ve been so far away all night!” He was directed to form a bit of a long conga line-esque shape with his boys, him forming the caboose, and twisted his back away from you. You tried to slip out of frame, but he slipped a hand back to grab you.

“Hey, no. Stay with me. I missed you all night.”

“Jimin, you’re working. I’ll get in the way. You can’t use a shot if I’m accidentally in it” 

“Then they’ll crop you out.” He insisted.

“Baby, I’m serious. Let me go.” You pleaded, nervously glancing around the set.

“Stay.” He said firmly, his voice resolute but sweet. “I want you by me.” He peaked back over his shoulder with the most dazzling smile. Shoot. And just like that, you were lost all over again.

“Jimin, that’s not fair. How dare you trick me like that.” Your brows furrowed as your lower lip stuck out.

“Like what?” He asked innocently. His giggle was infectious as he licked his lips to stifle a smile. “I’m not doing anything.”

“You know damn well how good you look right now. I don’t appreciate you using it against me” You pouted. He deftly slipped his hands behind him, tugging your wrists until they slipped around his waist. Curse this flirtatious boy. He knew exactly how to pull you in. Your eyes still danced around the room to make sure no one from BigHit was coming for your head, but when no one did, you felt your resolve crack as your cheeks happily pressed against his back with a smile he couldn’t see. The citrus swell of his cologne was warm and sweet, and God, it made you just want to take a bite out of him. 

His head dipped forward as he laughed, showing off his beautiful neck. Forgetting yourself, you pressed forward on your toes, leaning into his back to come up and over to kiss the bare skin on his neck, a shudder running through him. God, he was so pretty. He’d gotten so much sun this year. First on vacation with the boys and then with you. The bright suit and dirty blonde hair just highlighted how beautiful his skin was these days. As the tip of your nose trailed across golden skin, You couldn’t help but sink a cloud of kisses into it as his airy giggle floated around your ears. 

“See? You clearly missed me too. I don’t know why you’re complaining.” He winked back over his shoulder at you, wisps of blonde hair falling into his face. He tipped his chin down to give the camera heavy lidded eyes as his free hand snaked behind him to tangle with your fingers

“You’re a troll, you know that? Can’t stand you.” You sneared, nose scrunched but lips curled in a smile, tugging a hand free in defiance.

“What a shame. Cuz I can’t live without you.” He sing songed. “This tour is gonna get real uncomfortable with that kind of attitude, y/n. Just sayin.” He shrugged nonchalantly, a smug smile on his devilish lips. He hadn’t caught the way your heart sank at his words. 

“It’s already hard for me.” You confessed to no one but yourself. Your words had been the smallest ghost of a whisper beneath your breath, but they pricked Jimin’s heart immediately.

“Hey. Wait….What?” Jimin shifted his weight back on his hip, his sculptured face softening in concern as you tried to slip your guilty hand away. Shoot. “Hey. No, don’t. I heard that, Jagi. What’s wrong?”

Your cheeks blushed softly, guilt tinting them pink at being caught. “Oh nothing. I’m sorry baby. Don’t worry about it. Forget that.”

“Y/n. How am I supposed to do that?” His free hand ruffled through his immaculately styled hair. It should have ruined it but only made it prettier. You sighed wistfully as you watched him spin his fingers through it. Taking a small step back, your shoulders dropped low, relieved to finally be fully out of frame as the tips of your right hand brushed his palm behind his back.

“Because I asked you to.” You said simply.

“Y/n. But you’re-God, I wish we could wrap this up so I could speak to you properly.” He sighed, displeasure clouding his features.

As the camera shifted to focus on an animated Hoseok, you took the moment to steal another kiss to the back of Jimin’s neck. He still smelled so clean and soft and so like him, but you could taste the salt lingering on his skin from his performance on your lips when you pulled back. He usually tasted so sweet, so like sunshine. The sharpness you tasted now reminded you that you weren’t just together in your own little world anymore.

“I’ll be fine, baby. Don’t worry about me.” You smiled into his skin again before slowly pulling away. Oh Jimin. You really did mean it. You loved him. You were so grateful to see his world and just be in the general stratosphere orbiting around him. How many people got an opportunity like this? You were fully aware of what a gift this was.

 But at the same time, you felt so small in all this. What purpose did you serve here? How were you adding to the world? This was Jimin’s contribution- not yours. You felt lazy watching the entire room swarm to keep this machine going- stylists, directors, producers, performers. Jimin practiced and performed for hours a day just to fly overnight to start it all over again in a new city. You were barely keeping up, you hardly knew what was going on, and You just felt so…..small.

-

A stillness and displeasure had crept into Jimin’s features as the shoot progressed. His eyes were stony. His jaw set. He looked beautiful and furious and pissed. 

You’d slipped back to the far edge of the room, your aura slowly collapsing in on itself as the night wore on, shrinking to hide yourself. You felt responsible for distracting him, like you’d just self fulfilled your own nervous prophecy that you’d accidentally eff something up on set, and you couldn’t bare to see the mess you’d made.

Jimin had immediately noticed the lack of your presence. The skin of his neck was cooling without the warmth of your lips pressed against it anymore, but he couldn’t move. And he couldn’t leave. Not yet. And It infuriated him. More than anything, he wanted to rush to your side. He didn’t know what was wrong, but he was willing to mold the whole world in his hands to fix whatever it was. 

At this point, he was sweaty and tired and annoyed. He desperately wanted to take these damn contacts and all this stupid makeup off and just go hold his girl- but the shoot kept rolling on. His temper was beginning to flair with each new position they were shuffled into. He was ready to leave. When was this damn shoot gonna end?

Taehyung was the first to notice Jimin’s surly demeanor as he placed a loving hand on his friend’s shoulder. 

“You look like you’re about to murder someone. What on earth is going on? Where’s y/n? I feel like I haven’t seen her all night.” He shook his shaggy bangs from his eyes, lifting his broad chin for the next shot.

“She was here earlier…..” Jimin sighed. 

“Yeah, didn’t you see the lovebirds cuddling on the edge of the set?” Jin popped in, lips pouted and blowing hollow kisses out at the air. “Practicing for the honeymoon already, huh? I know you guys are gonna get married soon but calm down, bro.”

Ignoring Jin’s cheekiness, Jimin continued on. “Something’s bothering her. I just don’t know what. And for the love of god, this shoot will. not. end.” His words came garbled through gritted teeth. 

“Do you think that’s part of it?” Taehyung queried.

“What do you mean?” Jimin asked.

“Well, I mean this is exhausting for us, but poor y/n just gets dragged around with us all day. She has to wait on us all the time. She probably misses her life back home.” Taehyung proposed calmly, shifting a hip to slip his hand in his pocket.

“She probably misses you. She came on a three week trip to spend time with someone who works eighteen hours a day and she just has to watch. She’s not at home in her studio or with her friends to pass the time. She’s probably lonely. And bored.” Jin added.

“Oh god, hyung. You’re probably right.” Jimin’s eyes found you across the room, leaned against the wall by the snack table before quickly starting out of the way as a stylist zipped by with a clothing rack. You didn’t seem like yourself. He felt like an idiot for not catching it sooner.

“Of course I’m right! Why do you sound so surprised??You should listen to me more often . I’ve got endless advice.” Jin said proudly. Taehyung rolled his eyes, fake gagging a little at his friend’s arrogance before being quickly being swatted in the shoulder. “Yah! I saw that. You’re lucky to know someone as wise and as handsome as me. Maybe if you listened, you would learn something.”

“Ow! I learned you hit like a girl.” Taehyung quipped, rubbing his arm.

“What?! Oh! Come here- I’ll show you how to fight!” Jin dropped into a boxing stance, crouched with his fists up, bouncing and darting around Taehyung. The shoot was quickly devolving into chaos as an enthusiastic Jungkook joined in the dance, happy to bounce and box and chirp around the other boys. Hoseok joined in, squealing out cartoon sound effects as Namjoon apologized to the photographer for their actions.

Jimin took it as his cue to slip away and find you.

-

“Hey, do you wanna get out of here?”

You jumped the second the crystalline whisper floated into your ears, gasping sharply only to be calmed by his gentle steady arms.

“Jimin? Where did you come from?” Your eyes wide with panic, looking back toward the chaos erupting on set, but Jimin slipped a ring laden hand against your cheek to pull you back to him.

“Wherever I had to to get to my favorite girl.” His smile was so sweet. “Hey, I’m starving and I really want to get out of here. Come with me?” How could you say no to eyes like those, so boyish and wide and full of hope.

“Okay,” you agreed, head bobbing your assent. He took his cue immediately, grabbing your hand and beginning to slip away. “But, wait! Jimin! Won’t you get in trouble? I don’t want to cause anything.” 

Jimin turned over his shoulder to dismiss you, but stopped the second he saw your face. Worry was making you chew your bottom lip as your sweet eyes looked wide and startled up at him. He knew better. He knew that face. You were an anxious mess. He wasn’t gonna get you anywhere until he addressed this first, but before even bothering with his words, he dipped down to kiss you.

Nothing passionate or heated- just something soft and gentle, to get your attention. A simple kiss to bring you back to earth. God, you’d missed this. You melted pliant into his lips, wobbling a little when he pulled back, luminous smile glittering across his face. He laced his fingers into yours.

“We won’t get in trouble. Promise.I’d like to see them try. You’re with me….I got you. Do you really think they’d have the nerve to mess with the future Mrs. park Jimin? Please. C’mon.” He winked and your spine tingled. 

Jimin called a driver to meet you both at the back entrance and take you back to the hotel. He wove you through hallways and rooms you hadn’t noticed before to grab his things and swept you toward the exit. Before he walked out, he stopped- snatching a jacket out of his bag. 

“For you, my love.” He slipped the oversized cream hoodie over your head and pulled the hood up over your face, hiding your hair, sleeves spilling over your delicate fingertips. “God you look good in my clothes. I always forget.” He licked his lips, eyes warm as they danced over you. “C’mon. Let’s get you out of here.” He slipped a mask over his jawline, popped a pair of shades over his eyes and tugged you into the night, guiding you into the black suv.

-

The ride back to the hotel was quick, quiet, peaceful. It was the first bright splash of stillness either of you had gotten to indulge in all day, and talking would just shatter it too soon. Jimin leaned back against his seat, manspread in his tailored yellow suit with his elegant neck craned back against the headrest. He’d undone his top few shirt buttons, the smooth skin underneath kissed by the night air. His fingers were busy raking through his thick hair as his eyes danced over the city. His hair had taken on an ashy hue in the streetlights, and as you both slipped into the night, his sultry eyes finally closed- if just for a second.

Window rolled down, you pushed your hood back a bit to take in the sights of a city you may never be lucky enough to see again. The wind whipped fluttery tendrils of your hair out of place, but you didn’t mind at all. It was the first time all day that you’d finally let your guard begin to drop and it felt amazing…

Your fingers reached behind you to twirl loosely with his on the seat between you. He happily took your hand in both of his, making a proper profession of caressing your knuckles softly. He still had his rings on from his performance, the cool metal occasionally tapping against your skin. A smile tugged at the corner of your lips at the contact and finally- you decompress.

It was the first time in days that you both sat still with no other people around. You couldn’t imagine how he exists under that kind of press all day long. It’s ignited a new respect in you for him and all that’s asked of him. It’s an impressive feat indeed for any human, especially one as sensitive and sweet as Jimin.

You wonder- for the first time -why it had never occurred to you on this trip to ask how he was doing. He had just seemed so happy despite all the reasons he should be overwhelmed so you assumed he was fine…but maybe you should get out of your head enough to check on him. I mean, it wouldn’t hurt to-

“Hey baby, we’re here.” Jimin tugged at your fingers, snapping you back to the moment. “You floating off in space again?” He whispered soft as he pressed a kiss to your knuckles. He was smiling like the midday sun at you again and there went your train of thought. “He’s gonna pull us around back so we don’t get spotted, but just in case..” he reached forward to tug your hood back up, this time swooping it so far it covered your eyes entirely . You felt like a fransican monk in stylish streetwear but you laughed and went along with it and Jimin loved you just a little bit more for it.

-

Once again, a simple task had taken longer than necessary for the both of you. They’d had to weave you through hallways and stairs and back rooms in an attempt to avoid the press and fans flocking in the lobby and valet parking. Jimin was sweet, whispering in your ear like this was a covert spy mission to distract you from how long this was all taking. 

Forty minutes later, you were finally in your hotel rooms. Jimin had kissed your nose and told you he needed to get out of these clothes and clean up but he’d be right back with you. You took the opportunity to promptly collapse on your back on the luscious bed, limbs splayed like a high and dry starfish, and let all the tension of the day drain from you. 

Your skirt, tights and heels were quickly replaced with soft pajama shorts, your bra and blouse immediately discarded, but found yourself crawling back into Jimin’s hoodie. It smelled like him, and the oversized cosiness of it made you feel lazy and warm-and you were 100% down for that. Dragging your bag over to your bedside, you dug around until you found your makeup wipes and began to scrub off the day. Legs crossed beneath you, you settled into your routine. You hair had been fortuitously flopped up into a bun, and your eyeliner was being gently smudged away as a happy tranquility descended over you. 

-

Half an hour later, the door clicked as your Jimin made his way into the room. The press tour had been a lot- it had presented a lot of challenges you never expected, but that didn’t mean there were no rewards. One of your favorites was seeing Jimin like this- fresh from the shower, just a natural boy. 

Your eyes danced over the clothes he’d snatched to throw on. Over how unfair it was that he somehow looked even better when he didn’t try- an oversized white T-shirt with a too wide collar showing off his pretty throat and chest, and soft black joggers- the epitome of comfort- that did nothing to hide his dancers stride or his perfect backside. Stupidly pretty boy. 

So unfair.

“Hey, baby girl” he smiled, flopping on his belly beside you. His weight made you bounce a bit, giggling to yourself. His face was bare enough for his dusting of freckles to show, and all his pale honey hair flopped forward heavily into his eyes. As vain as he always seemed about his hair, by the end of the day on tour he was just perfectly too tired to style it and you adored it. It was so god dang boyish and cute, and You loved how you got to part it out of his eyes like a curtain every time you kissed him on the forehead like you did just now.

“Why do you still have all your jewelry on? I’ve never understood that” you reached forward to trace a finger lightly under the chain on his neck. 

His smile is airy and light as he rolls over to face you. 

“Do I? I honestly just forget it’s there.im so used to it all now” He’s so winsome and innocent as he scoops his hair out of his eyes to smile up at you. There’s really no reason to though- his grin is pressing his cheeks so high and tight that his crescent eyes shut anyway. You dip forward from your hips with a smile to blow at his bangs. 

“You really are an old pro by now huh? How do you do this all the time? and how do I keep up with you?” You ask easily, shaking your head softly at the ethereal creature on your duvet.

“Do what? Get my hair played with by a pretty girl? It’s not that hard. They’re lining up around the block for it really. But None of them are ever as good at is as you though.....Plus, your services come much cheaper. Professional cuddlers  really make you pay through the noise these days.” He settles back against your lap, the picture of contentment as you play with the strands.

“You punk,” you tease, popping him in the forehead. “For your sake, I will ignore the fact that you just called me easy.” A wicked eyebrow arched over your features as you stuck your tongue out at him.

“Not easy. You just don’t charge what your worth.” He said smugly, cuddling into your lap.

“Impossible, that’s what you are.” You sigh.

“Impossibly in love….with your heart.” He quips. Oh god that was corny. Unashamed, he presses on, beaming up at you with puckered lips, fingers crafted into two hearts.

“Ew! That was gross.” You pretend to wretch at his cheesiness, choosing to ignore the goofy swirl of warmth in your belly at his words.

“We both know you love it, y/n. You can’t fool me.” He says smugly.

“Oh can’t I? I could if I wanted to.” You defend.

“And why would you want to? Hmm? Why would you want to hide something from me?” His eyes flit up to you, suddenly a bit more serious. It’s the first time you notice he’s taken his contacts out- the beautiful chocolate eyes you fell in love with looking solemn up at you.

“Who says I am?” You shift beneath him, gaze suddenly infatuated with the rooms decor. God that orchid arrangement is ostentatious.

“Even Jin can tell. So you know it’s obvious.” He deadpans.

“All knowing Jin huh? Idk, I mean he’s pretty perceptive. I wouldn’t undercut him.” You ramble.

“Y/n….” he flips up, to see you at eye level. “You know if something’s bothering you, you can talk to me, right? If we can’t even talk to each other, we’re not gonna get very far. What is it, Jagi? Where have you been lately?” He taps your temple lightly, his face soft to show you every word is genuine.

“I don’t… um, I mean… there’s nothing wrong. Per say… I just…” 

He pins you with a look that says spill and your facade begins to crumble. “Y/n… I didn’t give you this because I don’t know you.” His thumb brushes over the glittering detail of your ring. “You’re not telling me something.” At this, you melt. Just flop over and dissolve into a pile of mush as his honesty makes your heart squeeze. You hate when he’s sweet. You hate when he’s right. You thought you’d hid it better than this….

“Besides,” he continues, “Even if I didn’t know you, you’re a shit liar, babe. Those big eyes show everything. They just don’t give specifics- so spill.” His smile is kind but his eyes hold a challenge- he isn’t going to drop this. No way in heck is he letting this go. Brows furrowed, your resolve begins to crumple. 

“Jimin….”

“Y/n…. Spill.” 

With a heaving sigh, you acquiesce.

“Fine…” you huff. “I have no idea what I’m doing here! I’m an absolute disaster.” Your head hangs as you begin to pour heart out, hands flailing, downturned eyes completely unable to meet Jimin’s. 

“I constantly feel like I’m in the way. I’m struggling to keep up with everything and I don’t- I don’t know what to do with myself. And all I can think of is - is this what my whole life is gonna be? Do I either have to go half the year without you or drop my whole life and feel lost and terrified to follow you around the world with no purpose of my own? I’m not part of the big hit machine, but everyone else here is. And everyone here is working so hard and I’m just… what? Here on vacation? Getting in the way and following my famous boyfriend around while he works? I feel like such a groupie… I feel like such a… a nuisance.” 

“Stop.” Jimin clutches at your wildly flailing wrists. “Baby, stop. My groupie? Are you serious right now?”

“Yes! I am. Jimin, I love what you do. My God, you are so incredible when you sing and dance- the way you move- don’t make that sexual, you know what I mean- you…. you are the most amazing performer I’ve ever seen. You have worked so hard for this for so long. I remember when you were so stressed that you were barely eating or the nights I’d text you at 1am to tell you goodnight and find out you were still in the studio. And it’s paying off for you. Which is great because I don’t know anyone else who deserves this worldwide praise like you do- but baby, I’m a freelancer. I put in the effort but my work is never thriving. I can’t even begin to be in the same eschalon as you. I still have two roommates back home.”

“So? I have six,” his eyes are so warm but his brows are still knitted together, trying to follow what’s really underneath all this.

“Not because you have to. Not because you’d be on the street without two other people supporting your rent! I’ve got all these things I love to do, right? But they don’t pay the bills for me. My businesses have never turned into what I hope, but there are 14 year olds on Instagram who decide to sell something they make on whim and a month later it’s so successful that they’re verified…. and I’m… I’m just….”

“Baby?” Jimin dips forward to lift your chin. His eyes find yours and he smiles…. he simply smiles at you- warm and kind and lightfilled like nothing you’ve said has scared him the way it scares you. It helps you finish what you’ve started to say.

“I don’t want to hold you back!” It all rushes out in one clumsy exhale as you shut your eyes tightly, bracing for impact. “I want to be good enough for you. I don’t want to have to depend on you. I want to bring something to the table too. You’re Park Jimin. You’re already a legend. You deserve the whole world...you deserve a girl who works just as hard as you. Is just as successful as you. But I have so many dreams and hopes that just haven’t worked out. They’ve all failed so miserably compared to you and I…. I just… I want to be a wife you can be proud of.. I want … I want to be proud of me too.”

 and that’s when the tears fell.

 Silent. Unspectacular. Hidden but insistent as you fall in on yourself and Jimin’s heart breaks. He had no idea.

He’s always admired you so much.... He had no idea you thought so little of yourself and it makes him ache. He sees the whole universe when he looks at you. Surely you saw it too.

But right now, you didn’t. You’d been able to come on this tour because business had been that slow that you being gone for three weeks wouldn’t have made a difference. In his excitement to have you by his side, Jimin had offered to cover your share of rent for the month you’d be gone with him and that had been that. He was ecstatic to have you with him . He’d rattled off about it dreamily for weeks before you left. But as excited as you were to see his world with him, for the first time, it made you realize just how small your world was without him. It had bothered you ever since. This was Jimin’s first glimpse of it, and it wrecked him.

“Jagi…. baby, come here.” His airy voice is pleading as he scoops you into his chest. Your nose burrows into his neck, skin squeaky clean from the hotel soap, and you cry. Feeling hidden, unaccomplished and ashamed. You’ve never felt more exposed in your life- you never wanted to tell him any of this. You couldn’t bear the idea of how he’d look at you if he knew, but oh how wrong you were.

“Baby,.... I’ve always been proud of you.” His voice is gentle in your ear, almost a whisper. No one else exists in this moment besides the two of you. He presses his cheek to your forehead, his fingers lost in your hair as he holds you. “You were my best friend when I was a trainee. I felt like a wreck then- I was so stressed out I could barely breathe. But you always told me everything would be okay. Always. You’d remind me why I was special and that the world would see it one day.” You felt his cheek swell as he smiled. “But can I tell you something?”

“What?” You sniffled, a snotty mess beneath him.

“I never believed you.”

Your eyes shot up to meet his. “What?”

He chuckled softly, his thumb delicately brushing a tear from your cheek.

“Nope. Not a bit. I loved hearing your words when you built me up, but I didn’t believe you. Not even when you’d get all starry eyed when you saw me dance or I’d sing to you.” He confessed.

“I never got starry eyed over you.” You mumbled, sniffling and hiding against his skin. Smiling, he gently pinched your cheek and held it.

“Liar.” He kissed your pink face and scrunched his nose at you. “But I’m serious, back then, I wanted what you said to be true. I really did, but I didn’t feel it. Not here. Definitely not.” He brought a hand up to his chest and placed it over his heart.

 “I wanted the band to be successful so badly. I knew I could dance and perform, I knew what I could bring. But I thought my singing held us back. People would post videos of me missing my notes or of me tripping and falling on stage. I was smaller than everybody. I’d get ranked least attractive...I felt like the weakest link all the time. And that's what I believed. That’s the voice I listened to. More than anything. Even more than you. Because that’s what felt true. Not the sweet things from my best friend or even the nice words from fans or the other members. We were working so hard, but we never knew if our dreams would happen. People try every day and it doesn’t come true. I didn’t want to be the reason it didn’t come true for everyone else.”

You gazed up at Jimin as he wandered through his memories. Brow pinched and beautiful mouth frowning at the edges as he remembered a time when doubt consumed his world.

“But then there was you. You were so talented and kind and everybody liked you. Everybody. I fought Taehyung to get to close to you. He still won’t let me forget that he saw you first. But I didn’t care, I had to get to know you. You were so incredible and so out of my league. This impossibly pretty girl who I’d had a crush on forever …. I didn’t even think you’d talk to me. Do you have any idea how long it took me to introduce myself to you?”

Curled against his body, you looked up him in awe. He - liked you then? Before you even knew him? How had he never told you any of this? You thought you knew him inside and out, but it seemed Jimin had his secrets too. Eyes wide and soft, you pressed against his chest as you listened.

“But once I did, once we were friends, you’d tell me how amazing I was- all the time! Me! I don’t think you ever understand how insane that was to me. How much much it mattered when you’d say how one day the whole world would see how special the band was- how special I was.

“You’d ask me to sing for your over the phone. You made me laugh when I hated everything. You’d get furious when anyone would criticize me, and you’d make the biggest deal out of all the small accomplishments I thought didn’t matter. You were so kind to me when I was a nobody, when I thought I was small and when the world finally figured out who we were, you already knew because you’d been the biggest fan all along.” He looked down at you, eyes shining with a pride so bright it was hard to look at directly.

“And even after all that, I was still shocked when you let me take you on a date. You were my best friend- but I still thought you could do way better than me. I was nuts about you, don’t get me wrong, but I mean, I was such was a mess, and I....I am talking so much. Like way too much. I know that, but it’s just….. y/n, I need you get this. You saw me when no one else did. That’s why you feel like home, y/n. That’s why I knew I didn’t want anyone else but you beside me for the rest of my life.” He kissed the back of your hand.

“So…. if your life doesn’t look how you want right now, that’s okay. We’re still young. You have so much time. Where you are is normal. I’m the exception, babe. You can’t compare yourself to that. What’s happened with the band is a one in a million fluke. It cant be your standard, baby. If that’s your measuring stick, it’ll destroy you.....But i know this-if anyone can achieve their dreams, it’s you. Without you, I would never have achieved mine. So, if I can help take care of you now, I’m gonna do it. I don’t even have to think twice.” He shrugged easily. A happy lazy smile on his lips. “But i know you. You want to earn your way too. I know you’ll get there. But….promise me, be nice to yourself now. Don’t throw yourself away- for me.”

Cradled in his arms, you looked at the hand Jimin extended to you, pinky crooked and ready to hold on forever. “Promise me,” he whispered, the sound warming your bones. Silently, trouble melting from your shoulders, you sighed. One heave, long and slow enough to process all the love he’s just showered upon you. How could you do anything less than give him your forever? Trust him with your now when he believed in you so much?

“Promise.” You breathed, eyes wide, still dotted with tears and you slipped your pinky around his, holding on for dear life. He melted when you did, scooping you in tighter and pressing his lips to your joined fingers.

“My Jagiya.” His smile beamed down at you, and you felt yourself grow warm in his light. “Hey. Listen, I know I’ve talked a lot, but I’m serious about taking care of yourself. It’ll make life so much easier on the way… I promise.  For tour, you don’t have to prove your worth here. Everyone loves you and loves having you around. The stylists all think you’re so pretty. The boys on staff all blush whenever you’re nice to them. Everyone here thinks the world of you. Please let this be a vacation from you feeling like the world is on your shoulders. Just rest here. Or do your art here. We can pick up some art supplies in London and you brought your camera. Jungkook and Tae would love to help with that. And no, you wouldn’t be in the way. People love helping you, y/n. You just have to let them. God I’m talking so much.” He bugged his eyes playfully. Wiping your eyes, you giggled at his silliness.

“Ugh…. baby. I love you. I want you here. We’ll have a proper vacation soon, but while we’re on tour- talk to me. You’re not in the way. You can hang out with us and come to practice and take photos and make art. This is a good thing. We’ll figure out how our world will look when we get married. I’m not willing to give you up. So we’ll figure out how to make us both happy, yeah? It’s that simple” his eyes are starry with promise. It makes you believe him. It makes you realize you’ve been looking at this all wrong.

After several beats of silence, you finally ask, “I’ve been way in my head over this, haven’t I?

“Yes! Dear god, yes.” Jimin slumps exhausted against the headboard. Faking offense, you smack his chest and he rolls with laughter, trapping your hands again and pulling you into him. “You think too goddamn much, woman!” he bellows. “But honestly, it’s just cuz your brain’s so big.” He teases, poking you in the forehead. “Guess I can’t have the smartest girl in the room without her short circuiting and forgetting she’s the most magical thing in the world.”

Sniffling, you protest, “I don’t think anyone’s smarter than Namjoon. “

“And he thinks nothing of himself too. Honestly. A pair of fools, both of you.” His eyes roll.

“Not bad company then. Maybe I should go ask for his advice too.” You bounce your eyebrows teasingly, and Jimin’s jealous streak flairs gloriously as he tackles you on the bed.

“Hey!” He puffs his chest out, eyes squinting in mock fury. “I didn’t rebuild your ego for you to run to another man.” He growls playfully.

“Namjoonie! Come coach me out of my self doubt!” You call in a seductive, breathy tone. Jimin is having none of it. 

“And I did not sneak you out of that photo shoot to pretend flirt with my friend. You’ll pay for this.” He challenges. 

“Come and get meh” you tease, slipping out from under him just to have him lunge after you. A sharp squeal echoes through the room as you bounce across the bed with Jimin hot on your tail. 

“Aaaaaagh!!!!” Jimin lets out a growl as he snatches you around the waist, flopping you both down into the mattress. “You’re gonna pay for that,” he snarls, eyes devilish as he bites at the outer edge of your ear.

“No, I won’t,” you giggle. “Didn’t you hear? Park Jimin has a soft spot for me.” 

“Oh does he?” His nose drags across your throat.

“Yeah, I’m his favorite,” you stutter out, suddenly breathless at his touch.

“Hmm, we’ll see about that.” His eyes flick up to yours, and you think he’s come to repossess your soul. Dear god, his eyes. His breath is warm and swirling close, and you try to gather the last of your wits to ask a question before you’re lost beneath him altogether.

“Jimin… baby. Hey.” His attention has fully been lost as his mouth becomes preoccupied with the curve of your thoat. “Jim-oh.” Crap, why is he so good at that? Stuttering, you push through the haze his touch had created, attempting to regain your focus. “ S-stop that… Jimin, I’m trying to...I’ve been meaning to a…”

“Why do you talk so much?” He asks, the tip of his nose playful against yours. 

“Jimin,... I’m serious. I need to ask you…” 

“What, Jagi?” Letting out a huff, he rocks back to look at you. His voice is calm, teasing, but Whatever self control he’s got is about to snap- you can tell from the way he’s pulling his bottom lip into his teeth, the way his sweet eyes have become so satisfyingly predatory. He’s as hypnotic as a snake right now, fully ready to consume you, and your dumb butt is trying to talk about his feelings. Why are you doing this to yourself exactly?

Pushing your hands against his chest to get some breathing space, you pull back to ask,” I’m sorry my timing is so stupid. Truly, I am. Trust me. But…. I mean, I haven’t bothered to ask how you’re doing. It just feels so inconsiderate of me. I’ve been too wrapped up in my own problems.” You roll your eyes, annoyed at your own thickheadedness.

Jimin’s glassy giggle rings through the air as he dips his forehead to yours, his luscious hair brushing wispy against your skin.

“Me? Oh baby girl. That big heart of yours. I’m fine. This is nothing. Come find me when we’ve been on the same tour for a year and a half. Just a month in? It’s still just all the fun stuff.” His eyes are bright and judgment free, ignoring the fact that he’s flourishing where you’ve been drowning.

“Oh… well, if it ever does get overwhelming, you’ll tell me, right?” You ask, still concerned and trying to save face.

“Trust me- you’ll be able to tell.” He mimics his own angry eyes and you both fall into giggles. “But yes, Jagi.” He drops down to kiss your nose. “I promise I will tell you…. Pinky promise.” He reaches for your palm pressed against his chest and weaves your fingers together- wrapping your pinkies together and linking your thumbs, kissing them gently to lock in his vow. Your eyes flutter soft and loving up at him as he does.

“Good.” You whisper. “Now…. where were we?”

Jimin smiles, triumphant as he stalks close to his kill. “You were about to prove why you were my favorite.”

“Oh was I?”

“Absolutely.” Jimin grips the back of your leg, and in one quick snatch, yanks you to him. Your eyes blow wide as you you yelp helplessly. God, always forget how strong he is, and how much you like it when he shows it off. Satisfied with your submissive reaction, his grin grows impossibly cocky as slots himself on top of you, tongue wetting his impossibly full lips as he finally begins to lean in when...

“JIMIN!!!! Jimin!!!!! We’ve got to do an after show Vlive!!” It was Hoseok, banging a ruckus on jimin’s hotel door.

“Oh my god, are you serious? I’m gonna kill J-hope.” Jimin’s forehead crashes into your neck defeatedly.

“Come on, Jimin! Get off y/n already so we can get finished! ARMY’s waiting! Namjoon tweeted we were gonna start fifteen minutes ago!! Check your phone for once. We all texted you, bruh.” Hoseok blasted through the door.

“Yah!!! All right! All right!! I’m coming!....stupid Namjoon.” He muttered under his breath. “I haven’t properly kissed you in days. Not cool, bro. Not cool.” Jimin pouted. His deep set eyes lost under the furrow of his brows as he brushed his thumb along the curve of your lip, forlorn and pent up.

Teasingly, you caught his thumb with the tip of your tongue and pulled it into your mouth. Warm and soft, you let it go with a gentle pop as you broke the suction and jimin’s eyes blew wide. “Go… I’ll be here when you get back.” You whispered, eyes bright and enticing.

Jimin wove hasty hands into your hair, his breathing ragged. “ wow....How the hell am I supposed to leave you after that?”

“Because…. I said so. And there will be more when you come back.” You winked, loving being in control now. He wasn’t the only one who could play the seduction game.

“Oh my god.” Jimin, swallowed roughly, his eyes heavy lidded as he tried to regain his motor functions.

“Now go, I’ll order room service for you to Hobi’s room. You never had dinner. Go give army a treat, and I’ll treat you when you come back to me.” You kissed his palm as your voice took on the sultry edge that always made Jimin melt.

“Can we do the thing? You know the one where..”

“I know what you’re talking about, Jimin,... and the sooner you go, the sooner you find out if my answer is yes.” You winked, before mouthing “its yes” silently as you nodded at him.

“Yup! There it is! I’m gone!” Pressing a smacking kiss to your forehead, Jimin bounded up from the bed as you fell into a fit of laughter. As he turned back to smile at you from the doorway, your eyes raked over him one last time before snagging on something that made you howl with laughter.

“Jimin- Wait! seriously??? Already? You didn’t even kiss me yet! Put your hands in your pockets! Or only be on camera from chest up!” You cackled at him. Confused, he followed your eyeline to-

“Oh god, is it that… yup. No, it is. God, Jagi, you’re dangerous when I finally get you out of that head of yours.” He reaches down to adjust his joggers, laughing bashfully at the mess you’d made of him.

“Gotta make it up to you somehow,” you shrugged from the bed.

“Hey, no…. I’m serious though. I’m glad you’re feeling okay now. You trusted me to tell me your heart, and that means a lot to me. You sure you’ll be okay if I go?”

“I’m sure. I have a vacation to finally start enjoying.” You smiled, stretching out across the bed. As you shifted, your (Jimin’s) hoodie crept up, showing off a sliver of your stomach and Jimin licked his lips again.

“My god. Look at you. I’ll be gone thirty minutes tops.” He bolted back, planting a kiss that made something along your spine tingle. “Wait for me. I’ll be back” he smiled, peeling himself away to leave before jhope returned with his racket.

“You better…… hey,” you propped up on your elbows and called out to him.

“Yeah?” He looked back, eyes alight with love.

“I love you, park Jimin.”

He blushed, genuine and sappy, eyes crinkling soft along the edges. “I love you too, y/n l/n. And hey, We’ve got this. The whole world’s gonna be ours. We’ll figure it out. We’ve got time.” 

Your felt warmth pool in your eyes. You threw a pillow at him so he wouldn’t see you cry. “God, you’re such a sap.” You smiled.

“You know you love it.” He winked. “Bye, baby girl.”

He was right. You did.

-

fin.

[fortheloversoffilm]

Frozen 2

Title: Frozen 2 Director: Jennifer Lee & Chris Buck Release: November 22nd, 2019

Alright, so if you know me at all, you know I’m not a huge fan of Frozen (let’s be real “Let It Go” ruined it for A LOT of us).

SO, upon seeing this 2nd film of the franchise, and enjoying it, I was BAFFLED.

*I also apologize, in advance, for the amount of photos/stills in this -- seriously cannot get over the animation*

We’ll start negatives and build into the positives, end with a high note, cuz there are FEW issues I had with this film.

One of the first negatives I want to discuss is the storyline.  I wasn’t a big fan of the “no villain” aspect of this.  the argument for the Grandfather being the villain, is valid, but I also don’t think he’s the major issue here, plus it was a troupe I’ve seen MANY times and wanted something different.  It’s that Arendelle is in danger of being destroyed by the forces and spirits of the elements.  But after Hans, who was an excellent villain BTW, it felt like it was missing something.

I also have the issue that this storyline seems kind of out of no where.  We never REALLY met her parents much in the first -- which is why we could be going deeper here, but it didn’t feel necessary.  However, the fact there was NO mention of the Northuldra people (Is this the people of Kristoff’s origin?  Why are they not in the first? How can a whole grouping of people be completely forgotten?  How can Anna remember a portrait of Mattias but never know why he’s there in a portrait?).   I did LOVE the new rendition of the Frozen opening, I thought that was STUNNING, and I loved meeting the Northuldra people, regardless of my issues with where they were in the first film.

There is also the discussion piece of “This is the same as the first film story wise” -- which is a valid discussion, BUTT I would disagree with this based on the lack of a villain like Hans.

OK, so moving on from “Debbie Downer, just enjoy the movie for what it is.”  THE POSITIVES.

Firstly, I need to SCREAM about how AMAZING this soundtrack was!  Between Kristoff’s power 80s, love ballad and “Into the Unknown” -- I CANNOT.  It was WONDERFUL. Beautiful.  Spectacular.  And Panic! at the Disco’s rendition of “Into the Unknown” leaves me with CHILLS.  LIKE GUYS -- I have to leave a link.  

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcmHucRKTnI)

I also have to RAVE about how spectacular the animation is.  From the details in costuming to just how REAL the trees look in the flooding scene -- LIKE:

ANDDDD

ANDDDDD

It’s just stunning and beautiful.  The talent, craftsmanship, and beauty that went into these animations were amazing.  I caught myself MULTIPLE times with my mouth open in awe of this animation.

I loved the fun and beautifully designed Spirits of the Enchanted forest as well!  They’re quirky and understandable mad.

We also need to talk about the vulnerability that is shown by MULTIPLE characters in this film.  They are breaking barriers, stereotypes, etc., all over the place.  This is where I’m gonna dive deep -- so be prepared.

We’ve got Anna, who sings a whole ballad ("The Next Right Thing") about being in pain and feeling sadness and sorrow and still going forward.  She also continues to be strong in her sorrow, and do what is right at the cost of losing everything.  I think that message was powerful in the aspect that she show that fragility is important, but you shouldn’t let it engulf everything that you are capable of doing.  You can move forward from it.

Then we’ve got Elsa.  She should be extremely happy in the life she has and being freaking QUEEN.  But she isn’t.  She craves for something else, and knows this.  In leaving her royal crown, she is showing that dreams do not have to be those that were put in front of you.  They can be something different than what you’d imagined, pictured, planned out.

We also have to talk about her hair -- thats a MAJOR symbolism that has happened in film, animation, etc., for a long time (mostly from what I’ve seen in Studio Ghibli films, so I see you nodding at that Disney).  We go from a tight updo braid, to a longer braid in Frozen.  We are sticking with the longer braid in Frozen 2, showing her restraint.  However, we then move to a ponytail -- still restrain, but more free as she moves forward in her journey.  By the end we have FREE FLOWING LOCKS people!  That’s extremely important because it shows her entire freedom.  She is in her element and able to be who she TRULY believes.

Plus the PANTS!! *claps*  We have pants people for both Anna and Elsa!  -- I just really love their pant outfits

Now Olaf, who has grown to understand feelings and anger, and also to be selfless.  I mean Olaf chooses to encourage Anna to go forward and almost comforts her in his moment of complete despair.  I thought that was beautiful character growth for a comical relief character.

Now the big one -- Kristoff. We are TACKLING toxic masculinity in this man and I LOVE it.  I mean the man sings a full 80s rock style love ballad, “Lost in the Woods” (as mentioned earlier), with reindeer back up singers!  Like come on!  And we CANNOT pass up the fact he tells Anna “what do you need” and let’s her be her own hero.  That itself was powerful to show they are a TEAM and he is not her “hero” in the typical “knight in shining armor type.”  I also almost SCREAMED when he said “My love is not fragile.”  I am obsessed with it and the fact he directly communicates it with her.  It’s a beautiful moment of trust, love, and understanding on his part.  

***But I still have questions about Kristoff.  Is he Northuldra?  I thought he was an ice person’s son? But then why was he raised by the trolls? I need answers, Disney!

I honestly do have a lot of questions (was their mom the 5th element before them? I have soooo many Kristoff questions.  I need to see a royal wedding.  What happened with Ryder?), but at entertainment and that “leave the theatre feelings” I truly enjoyed this film.  It was a beautiful show of emotions from all the characters, while also having a BANGER of an album and STUNNING animation.

So if you’re on the fence to see it -- I’d definitely say go for it. <3

_______________________________________________________________________

imdb.com

indiewire.com

bbc.co.uk

youtube.com -- “Into the Uknown” by: Panic! at the Disco

nerdist.com

imgur.com

popsugar.co.uk

thewrap.com

latimes.com

CNBC.com

people.com

usatoday.com

insider.com

[afterspark-podcast]

G1 Episode 26: Transcript

Episode Show Notes

[This can also be found on AO3!]

S: It's a Megaman rock opera and a Megaman rock opera prequel.

[ Intro Music]

O: Hello! And welcome to the Afterspark Podcast, an episode by episode recap of the Generation 1 Transformers cartoon. I'm Owls!

S: And I'm Specs! 

O: And today we're gonna be talking about episode number 26: Attack of the Autobots. Let's talk about giant robots today, shall we?

S: Sure.

O: Today we open at the Ark, with the Autobots preparing something when the Decepticons attack. Prowl has a confrontation with Laserbeak.

S: Buy Prowl now, kids! He comes with a rad grappling hook accessory. You know you want it. 

O: Tubular! [Laughter] Thundercracker and Skywarp shoot at Optimus and he tries to save Ratchet bridal style but the explosion throws them both face-first onto the ground.

S: No one’s having a good day here.

O: No one is having a good day here. 

S: Rumble then, like, does his thing and sends Optimus and Ratchet into a crevice.

O: Elsewhere, Megatron and Starscream prepare to storm the Ark by spraying each other with invisibility spray.

S: Alright! Stuff that they'll never do anything with ever again. Does no one ever think of using these things, like, seriously? Do they ever think this stuff through? 

O: We both know they don't. Soundwave is the only one capable of planning ahead and no one listens to him enough, obviously. 

S: I guess, and then these two. They just walk smack-dab into the Ark. 

O: The Autobots don't have any sort of scanning crap for their front door based on weight, heat signatures, something?

S: I mean, I thought they had a camera when Nightbird turns up or something. They had a camera at some point, but it looks like they just got rid of their anti-ninja floor which would have maybe helped here?

O: Possibly, but then Megatron and Starscream enter the main Teletraan-1 room and press a button, revealing two beds or recharging chambers, rather. 

S: Oh, what does this tell us about the Autobots? Rather too much, I think.

O: [Laughter] 

S: Megs tells Starscream to hand him the personality disrupter-

O: Oh god.

S: And then he just, like, plops the thing into the machine.

O: We’re in the Teletraan-1 room, right? Like this- this is really the plan we're going with instead of blowing it up or something?

S: Or sabotage? 

O: Sabotage, yeah! I mean, I guess this is sabotage of a kind, but- but, boy in a roundabout way. 

S: Everyone just wants to fuck with each other's heads, we already know that. 

O: I guess. We were talking about Megatron and Starscream. It's like their MMO or their IMO- modus operandi.

S: Yes. And then these two just, you know, trot off outside and then take off. Megatron is laughing maniacally about the Autobots experiencing a “transformation” they won't expect the next time they go to sleep.

O: What is he, Freddy Krueger, now?

S: I guess?

O: [Laughter] The crossover no one asked for.

S: Well, someone might have asked for it.

O: Eh…

S: I don’t know. Back with Rumble, he's kneeling at the edge of the crevasse he created earlier wondering why he didn't hear Ratchet and Optimus hit the bottom.

O: Optimus and Ratchet come out magically flying and say, “Because we'd rather hit you!”

S: Okay.

O: It's so dumb, I can't I hate it. 

S: Unfortunately, the mental image that I have of this because I don't actually remember what happens is that they’re doing side hugs as they fly out-

O: [Laughter] No, I think they both come out punching or something but I don’t remember.

S: Yes but what I’m seeing is like a side hug with punching.

O: Oh my god. [muffled laughter]  

S: I’m sorry, it’s been so long.

O: It really has been awhile since we watched this.

S: And so, um, Megatron orders a retreat and the Decepticons follow suit. 

O: I love that Laserbeak gets away from Prowl in like five seconds flat despite being caught by Prowl’s grapple hook thing. It really makes it seem like he was just toying with Prowl the whole time. He probably was, cuz Laserbeak is actually intelligent. 

S: Yeah and distracting Prowl, or the guy who might wonder why the hell they did this seems like a smart thing to do.

O: Well, or the person who's going, “Golly, where’s Starscream and Megatron?” 

S: Yeah.

O: So, yeah, go- pretty good planning, there.

S: For someone, which was probably Soundwave.

O: Or Laserbeak. I would, I think either one would be capable of this.

S: Yeah. Brawn yells that, “Soundwave didn't finish his nickel-plated knuckle sandwich,” as Soundwave flies off. 

O: Say it with me kids, “Fuck Brawn.” [Laughter] Ratchet tries to chase Rumble but Rumble turns into a tape to escape his grasp. So he falls to the ground and then he turns back into a robot when Ratchet tries to pick him up off the ground and then he flies off, turning back into a tape and hopping into Soundwave’s chest. 

S: And the good chunk of this is happening while Ratchet is knelt on the ground trying to pick him up in tape mode.

O: Which is just a wonderfully ridiculous sentence. Anyway, the Autobots watch the Cons fly away as the moon chills in the background.

S: And this, it honestly just looks like a magical girl anime shot for some reason. 

O: Okay, I'm just like, how do you turn, like, the Transformers theme into a magical girl theme and and, uh, has that been done?

S: At this point, all that's coming to mind is, like, crossing the Transformers theme and the Sailor Moon theme.

O: I feel like Sailor Moon’s not a good fit. There's got to be a better- a better magical girl theme that's a little bit more action oriented, because you've heard- you've heard Sailor Moon, it's a love song.

S: Yeah, but the thing is I don't really watch a lot of magical girl anime, so I have a limited amount of experience.

O: Touche. I feel like Utena- crossing it with Utena would actually work better. Utena’s weird as balls, guys.

S: Yes, but I haven’t seen that yet.

O: I need to lend it to you, because it’s weird. It's, like, my kind of weird. [Laughter] Anyway, Ratchet comments that, “It's kind of weird that Megatron ran off so quickly,” but Prowl thinks that perhaps they were so quick to respond they were able to make their goal impossible to achieve.

S: Unfortunately, Prowl, you are extremely wrong here. You're so very very wrong, you're on a different continent. 

O: [Laughter]

S: You're on a different planet. You're ice cold, buddy. 

O: [Laughter] You can go south, you're, like, in the North Pole. 

S: But Optimus just looks very squintily into the camera and says that, “Megatron always has a method to his madness.” 

O: HE DOES!?!

S: Yes! 

O: I think it depends on the day and the writer. Is he a moron or a genius?  The world may never know!

S: How much crack is involved.

O: Also true. The next day we see the Autobots using the recharge chambers.

S: Oh, and our first victims are Ratchet and Optimus. And this honestly makes me think of- okay so the positioning of- [groans] 

O: Okay, with how the beds are positioned, it looks very, very similar to- to the 50 sitcoms like, you know, the ones. Like, uh,I Love Lucy, uh, Flintstones is not a good example because they did sleep in the same bed. Just, 50’s sitcoms, yes?

S: Yeah, I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, probably. Um. So basically because of, you know, morality codes or something they couldn't show couples sharing beds because- sex. You couldn't imply sex.

O: Basically, despite if they have children. I just can't get over that these are the ONLY two beds on the entire Ark. 

S: It’s share and share alike here, I guess. All the minibots pile in. I don't know. 

O: “Ah, nothing like a good recharge to give the old bolts some volts.” 

S: Some pep in your step!

O: I really hope that's what they meant.

S: I don't want to debate the robot physiology HERE, okay.

O: Not here, not now, uh-huh. The stars! The stars are not aligned! 

S: [Sighs] Optimus tells everybody to recharge after he hops out because they got some shit to do, man.

O: Teletraan-1 informs the Autobots of a rocket launch and Optimus orders everyone to the air force base because the Decepticons will obviously be trying to steal it.

S: [Sighs] It’s the only air force base in the continental United States, obviously. It's the only thing the Decepticons can pay any attention to.

O: Apparently, but this is not before his eyes turn red and he starts to sound real evil, though.

S: Yeah, everyone else appears to be bitten by the evil bug, too, as their eyes also start glowing.

O: We have confirmation that Optimus, Skyfire, Prowl, Bluestreak, Brawn, and Hound have been affected. Teletraan can apparently sense evil now as it blasts out about an evil presence being di-tected- di-tected? Detected!

S: Honestly, why couldn't Teletraan-1 tell there were evil presences there earlier with Megatron and Starscream, or any of the other damn times the base has been infiltrated because-

O: [Whispering] Who the fuck knows? Who the fuck knows? [Normally] Megatron appears to be talking to Teletraan-1 directly now and he kind of begins to monologue to it-

S: How the hell is he aware of any of this?

O: The personality thing had a camera/communication device on it or something?

S: Well, I mean, I guess Laserbeak could have planted cameras.

O: He's a good birb.

S: Yeah, either that or maybe he's there, considering that in the movie we see him, like, filming stuff.

O: That's also true, but we don't see him in there at least as far as the cartoon was concerned. 

S: That's true, I mean, the Decepticons didn't even see what he was filming until after he turned up, went into Soundwave, and Soundwave showed them or... 

O: True. However, for that matter, why the hell didn't they just send Ravage for all this? He- he can turn invisible! 

S: He was off doing something else? 

O: Getting a college degree? In what?

S: He's taking a course in oil painting.

O: I hate you, and I hate that this the obvious answer here (is because of you): he's getting a degree in Russian!

S: Because he's always a-rushing.

O: [Groans loudly] It's the only excuse I have for Beast Wars. It’s definitely your fault, though!

S: [Laughter] The camera pans out as Megatron blabs some more. Additional bot’s that are infected are: Ratchet, Sideswipe, and Trailbreaker. So we did cover it. 

O: We did cover it. Megatron orders the Autobots to silence Teletraan and Optimus just punches the fuck out of it. 

S: I guess that's one way to handle that, you can't turn it off. But, I mean, well maybe you can turn it off. But I mean, someone's gonna be real unhappy about that, later. 

O: Possibly. Whoever the poor sod is that's gonna have to fix it. 

S: Also, Optimus is probably gonna feel like a bit of a heel.

O: I imagine. Outside we see Bumblebee and Jazz returning back to base with Spike and Sparkplug. 

S: Sparkplug was feeling very, very posh today so they took the Porsche. 

O: Apparently, they've been updating Jazz's sound system.

S: I find it really funny that the humans have a better quality sound system than the giant robots.

O: Well, I mean, if high quality sound wasn't something they needed or wanted during war than it may make kind of a certain amount of sense.

S: That is a good point about, like, resource management. 

O: I mean like, it wouldn't be highly on the list of priorities. Can we hear what they're saying? Yes? It's good enough.

S:  Yeah, granted I don't know- Decepticons are the only ones who seem to use bugs or anything.

O: Also true. Otherwise it’s Bumblebee overheard it. [Laughter]

S: Yeah. Bumblebee overheard it or, possibly, Hound getting weird radio transmissions ‘cause I think that happened too.

O: Oh right, right when, uh, he jacked into Megatron's head.

S: Yeah. 

O: He didn’t, but that’s really what it looks like. 

S: It really is. He had a stupid little radar dish.

O: Pretty much.

S: Yeah, so Jazz stops and they proceed to test out those new speakers but Bumblebee’s just like, “I’m- I'm done, I'm going back to base.”

O: I love that Sparkplug complains about the volume as Bee’s driving off, too. Like, Sparkplug, like, you could have gone with Bee. [Laughter]

S: Yeah. 

O: Uh, but Bee arrives back to base and somehow initially misses the giant hole punched into Teletraan-1.

S: He rolled a one on this passive perception.

O: And that’s a whiff! [Laughter]

S: He got distracted by something else.

O: [Laughter] Bluestreak?

S: Maybe. Because Bluestreak’s being all creepy here and trying to drag Bee back to bed.

O: I love that Bee’s reaction to this uh, because Bluestreak picks him up. He's like, “No, wait-” But he doesn't sound afraid, he just sounds confused.

S: Now’s not the time Bluestreak and I mean, this just makes me wonder whether, like, the other Autobots just like, occasionally pick up the minibots?

O: Yeah. Like, do they- do they carry them? Are they like, “We need a nightcap and someone to hug.” Bumblebee is very huggable, obviously! 

S: I don't think Brawn would be especially-

O: No-

S: Brawn- or Huffer or Gears.

O: No,no, Brawn is going to sit in the robot playpen, for being mean to Perceptor. 

S: Yeah, I don't think Brawn, Huffer, or Gears would be especially, uh, popular with that but who knows?

O: Huffer would just whine all night. He would not be fun. But Bee is very popular as a cuddle buddy. A cuddle bug if you will.

S: Yeeeeeaaaaaaah!

O: Yeeeeeaaaaaaah! [Laughter]

S: [Sighs] Jazz manages to get some rock and roll with real rocks with his new speakers.

O: Which Sparkplug calls an avalanche but wouldn't this be a rock slide?

S: I don't know, maybe he's got different parlance, but I think it would just be a rock slide. Who knows. Jazz and the two humans head back to base, arriving just as Bluestreak shoves Bee into one of the infected recharge chambers. 

O: Bluestreak fires on Jazz but Jazz beans him in the crotch by throwing something. 

S: What did he throw? Who knows. Do they need it later? Also, who knows. Bee seems fine, I guess? I guess the chamber didn't turn on or wasn't on that long enough but-

O: He's fine, he's not evil. Eh.

S: And Sparkplug is able to fix Teletraan-1, so I guess he's the one who regrets everything.

O: [Laughter] I hope he gives Optimus a good talking to later.

S: Yeah, and Teletraan-1 then displays a video of Megatron shoving the thing in the thing, so I guess Teletraan-1 knew? 

O You couldn’t have said something sooner? You had all night, Teletraan. Really?

S: Teletraan-1 has just the shittiest priority's, I guess.

O: Apparently, Sparkplug asks how many other Autobots are infected and Teletraan-1 just says, “All of them.” 

S: Those beds got an awful lot of use and Teletraan-1 has no excuses-

O: No-

S: For not telling anyone. 

O: No, none excuses. 

S: The Autobots crash through into- through into the air base.

O: Welcome to this 30 second interlude. Now back to Spike and Co. 

S: Teletraan-1 warns them about the attack on the base and Bee and Spike drive off. 

O: Ratchet and Hound are in the front of some building, under orders to retrieve the plans for the solar satellite. Inside we see a female scientist chatting on the phone. 

S: She's literally the best human in this episode, and I have a question. Is this the first we’ve ever heard of the solar satellite or it's-

O: I think they might- I can't remember. I think they said it earlier in the episode when um, when teletraan one was like, “A solar satellite is going to be launched-” 

S Oh, yeah, it’s to do with a launch or whatever. 

O: Yeah because that's what they're launching.

S: Alright.

O: So I think Teletraan-1 might have mentioned it earlier when the Autobots were like, “Oh, we have to go there and protect it from Decepticons!” and then, “Oh no, we're actually evil right now.”

S: Okay, okay.

O: But she is definitely the best human in this episode.

S: She's alerted to the two Autobots attacking and then grabs the blueprints for satellite and books it. Meanwhile we cut to, um, evil Ratchet and Hound stooped over, stalking through the halls.

O: I love that, even, evil they aren’t just destroying everything, right now. 

S: Even evil, Ratchet’s got a delicate touch.

O: Not too delicate, and he does smash through the wall slash door to get to the scientist. 

S: I guess you do what you’ve got to do when you're-

O: Evil?

S: Evil or mind controlled or whatever. So the lady scientist, who’s name is Dr. Harding, breaks a window and then jumps out, cushioning her fall with a convenient table umbrella and then hoofing it off into the distance.

O: Cue scenes of destruction, as the Autobots are just breaking all of the shit back at the Air Force Base. 

S: They have Optimus smashing things and shouting, “Destroy, destroy, destroy!” 

O: Bee and Spike arrive on scene with Bumblebee trying to talk some sense into Prime but he gets punched in the face. He says, “Prime, it’s Bumblebee, I'm one of you're-”

S: I’m one of your whats?

O: What am I, anyway? Am I your son? Is that how this works?

S: Eh, who knows? Megs busts uh, into Mission Control like he's the freaking Kool-Aid man, you know, again, threatening a scientist who tries to stop the launch.

O: Then he destroys a bunch of computers and tells Soundwave to hack the main computer which looks suspiciously like the bank of computers he just had destroyed.

S: They wanted to- they wanted to save some money. Got to reuse that stuff. Soundwave’s just got this itty-bitty little Jack in his finger that lets him jack into the computer immediately and, honestly, I'm kind of entertained that somehow... the robots are compatible with human computer systems. 

O: I mean, I wouldn't put it beyond Soundwave to have like purposely thought that far ahead-

S: Yeah-

O: Either but- but, yeah.

S: Going backwards compatible for something as primitive as a human computer-

O: In the 80’s.

S: -in the 80s.

O: Yeah.

S: Verses, they're giant robots from outer space.

O: I mean, when we could make the argument about their tech isn't super as advanced as you'd think considering maybe they've been stopped since the start of war but ehh?

S: Maybe, it's just they're like 4 million years old, at least. Who knows what tech they had and also they're obviously a hell of a lot more-

O: Tech savvy than- than humans, yes.

S: They should be. Umm, and then afterwards he espouses about how “The launch can't be stopped now and in two Earth hours they'll be on the rocket, on their way to Cybertron.” 

O: So let me get this straight. You went into Mission Control, blasted a bunch of stuff that apparently didn't matter, then had Soundwave reprogram the thing so it'll go to Cybertron. Do they even have enough fuel for that? Do they know?

S: That's really what I was wondering too, or is there even going to be enough room for all of them on that considering that, you know, that sort of thing. It's like a rocket but most of that is just to convey this satellite into the upper atmosphere and then it just stays there.

O: I don’t even know if this is supposed to be manned. Like, if they were just launching a satellite I don't even know if there should have been room for people, period. 

S: There shouldn't have been any sort of room there. Whatever room there might be is supposed to be, like, fuel tanks or rocket engines.

O: But, but yeah! A lot the rocket gets dropped off in pieces during liftoff. Do they know that?

S: I think they just don't give a shit. I don't know, they don't give a frag, cuz they're robots. I mean, I assume that they scope this stuff out but I don't know.

O:  If Soundwave or the cassettes did recon they're gonna be fine. Seeker’s did it, they’re all going to die.

S: Yeah.

O: That- that's my take on it. 

S: Back at the Ark, Sparkplug says a bunch of gobbledygook about a thing he made to revert the Autobots back to normal.

O: I call bullshit, sir. But we all know it's gonna work because that's how this show works, so carry on. Uh, Jazz simplifies this as a “goodness transfusion.” 

S: Oh, Jazz, we love you, we do.

O: We do, you're great. Bluestreak gets back up and Jazz seems to think they've found their volunteer test subject.

S: How did they not tie this dude up while he was unconscious?

O: Good question, it's not like Jazz didn't have time while Sparkplug was fixing Teletraan-1 and making his goodness transfusor thing. What was he doing? 

S: For that matter, why the hell didn’t Jazz just- just, like, sit on him or something, so they didn't have to- didn't have to tie him up. Or have anything to tie him up. 

O: An even better question. [Laughter]

S: I don't know, they probably could have locked him in one of the recharge chambers or-

O: Something.

S: Jazz distracts Bluestreak while Sparkplug runs up and sticks the device on Bluestreak’s leg.

O: This works as Bluestreak’s optics change from red back to blue.

S: And he informs Jazz that- and Sparkplug about Megatron's orders to take the airbase and steal the plans for the satellite.

O: The three of them set forth to make more attitude adjusters. Apparently, they're not multi-use.

S: I have a number of questions, including why they're stealing the satellite plan but they're literally going to be stealing the satellite?

O: Megatron wants to cover all of his bases.

S: I guess? Maybe they wanted to like review if they're going to adjust the satellite or something-

O: I suppose.

S: I don’t know, or just make copies of it but if they have it they could just- I don’t know.

O: I don't know. 

S: Meanwhile, Dr. Harding continues to be a fuckin badass, climbing into a dumpster to hide from Hound.

O: In heels. I’m pretty sure she’s in heels. 

S: Yeah. 

O: Seriously, I’m in love with this woman. Why isn’t she in the series more? 

S: She and Carly would have gotten along well. 

O: I would have loved to see that.

S: She, Carly, and Chip.

O: Yeah! Yeah! Science buddies! 

S: Mm-hmm. So Dr. Harding’s, um, hiding attempt almost doesn't work as Hound begins picking up dumpsters and crushing them, but Jazz shows up just in the nick of time. 

O: Sparkplug and Jazz are able to return Hound to normal but the doctor runs off and right into the still-evil Ratchet. 

S: Jazz is a very on point today as he stops Ratchet just in time, as well.

O: Back at the Air Force base, the Autobots are continuing their rampage continuing to blow up all of the shit. 

S: Yep, tired of watching this Bee jumps on a plane and tells Prime he'll have to destroy him, too. 

O: And commercial break! Buy the toys, kids, Bumblebee’s gonna die! 

S: And back to the show, Skyfire is in the air, blowing shit up.

O: I just feel really bad for him, he's gonna feel super bad if he remembers any of this when he wakes up.

S: Um-hm. Sparkplug, Dr. Harding, Jazz, Bluestreak, Hound, and Ratchet arrived on the scene. They're just collecting people-

O: Yeah, this is like the superhero movies where you have to go collect each superhero. I also kind of love that Dr. Harding was riding in Ratchet, who was tried to kill her a few minutes ago.  Respect, madam, respect. 

S: Yup, they see Skyfire and then Scarf- eaugh- 

O: [Snorts] And then Scarfplug-

S: Sees Skyfire and Sparkplug wonders how they're going to get one of the devices way up on him. Hound offers to shoot it with his vertical beam gun.

O: Patent-pending.

S: They're able to shoot him once they get him to come a bit closer and then Skyfire returns to normal and then, now that he’s there, they load up and roll out.

O: Still the taxi service, buddy.

S: The scale is incredibly off here because Skyfire just looks like he's bigger than the Ark. 

O: Big boy! Bee is still holding the ground against Optimus but gets lifted up in the air, just as the others arrive in Skyfire.

S: They show up just in time to interrupt the evil Autobots’ arts and crafts lesson.

O: With aircraft! 

S: There's so much you can do with aircraft.

O: Obviously. Look! I can make pretty flowers. 

S: Yeah. You can give yourself wings.

O: [Laughter] Look Optimus! I’m a Seeker! 

S: Hound is able to shoot Prowl and Brawn with the personality things but misses Optimus. Who proceeds to chuck Bumblebee across the tarmac. 

O: Prime splits into three, by way of his trailer, Roller, and himself. So, the Father, Son, and Holy Trailer? [Laughter] 

S: Yeah.

O: Hound nails the trailer and Roller in short order.

S: They missed their chance to hit the three for one deal and now they have to get them all separately and, oh no! They're down to their last attitude exchanger.

O: They apparently only had time to make one extra.

S: I'm kind of amused by the fact that they acted- so the thing is, technically, I think they made three extras.

O: I guess you're right, because they missed with one, and then they had to hit two or- for the trailer.

S: that- four.

O: Yeah, they had- so they had to hit his trailer and Roller and then him. So you’re right. Technically, they made four. 

S: Which, that is actually a pretty good margin of error, I think.

O: Yeah, I’ll give you that one. You're right, they were like, “Okay, we know this many are infected, presumably,” and then they made four extra and probably ran out of time, which, fair. Okay, fair. 

S: So they- they made an attempt. 

O: They did. I got to give Jazz and Sparkplug more credit here. And Bluestreak, I guess, he was helping, too. 

S: Yeah. Bee yoinks the uh, remaining attitude adjuster out of Ratchet’s hands and books it on over to Optimus.

O: Optimus is able to fight the control for just long enough for Bee to get the attitude exchanger on him.

S: The Autobots realize they must stop the rocket launch to stop Megatron's plan and Dr. Harding says that it must go into orbit and that earth needs the energy that it'll supply. 

O: Why didn’t the Cons just steal it from orbit?

S: Because they're dumbasses and we've got to have something so, you know, have drama here.

O: Do they not have object permanence? Like, “Oh, we can't see it anymore, it's not there anymore.” 

S: I guess, I don't know they've made so many fucking spaceships at this point that they just have-

O: This shouldn't be a problem! [Wheezes] Hell, Starscream is apparently space worthy! They could have just- I don't know, waited a couple weeks and chucked Starscream into the atmosphere? 

S: I imagine all the Seekers are space worthy. I mean, have we gotten to the episode where Shockwave just rides Starscream in-

O: No, not yet.

S: -in space.

O: No, no, not yet. But- but yeah like we have proof that, at least, Starscream is space worthy and presumably both the other Seekers are, too. 

S: I don't think, shoot. What's-his-face? Astrotrain has come in yet but he's definitely space worthy.

O: Like, yeah, yeah! Fair, fair.

S: And we know Megatron’s space worthy.

O: Oh well, yeah, right! He can fly, why am I arguing with this? 

S: Yes, he can fly and, I mean, we already saw him survive a planet explosion or whatever happened with that.

O: I would still- don't know how that worked but, uh, they all load up into Skyfire again, and head over to the rocket launch.

S: Megatron rips a door off the rocket and the Cons pile in and-

O: That's not gonna cause problems at all here, huh?

S: Oh, it should. I mean, it doesn't mean that it will. 

O: This ship doesn't operate on reality... right.

S: It- Yeah, it ignores so many things.

O: It does. The rocket blasts off and Ratchet and Optimus bail out of Skyfire to land on it.

S: They, um, they're go- they're the go-team, apparently. Where's Wheeljack in this? I feel like Ratchet’s missing his buddy.

O: Wheeljack hasn't been in this entire episode so I have to assume he's taking the Dinobots somewhere, otherwise I'd assume they would have all been smashing stuff up, like with everybody else.

S: At this point, I just think Wheeljack, Perceptor, and Beachcomber took the Dinobots out for some enrichment and missed the whole thing.

O: I mean, probably just so they didn't have to fight the Dinobots uh, is why they're not in here but, uh, yeah, no, I agree with that. That's much nicer. 

S: Yeah, they're all out doing swamp science or something.

O: See, I'm just imagining - they took the Dinobots to the beach.

S: [indistinct]

O: Beachcomber’s with them, right?

S: Yeah.

O: So, they're all on the beach. Uh, Wheeljack is there with whatever a robo pina colada is, uh, Perceptor’s taking sand samples, Beachcomber is corralling the Autobots- er, the- the Dinobots close to shore. It's a very, very heartwarming family vacation. So Ratchet could get a bit of a break, you know, not having to babysit the dinosaurs and then they come back and it's- it's like that gif where the guy walks into the room and everything's on fire. That- that is what Wheeljack came home to- and he's, like, “Probably a good thing I left although, boy, do I hate coming home.” [Laughter] 

S: Yeah, yeah. Meg- Ratchet and Optimus have been trying to separate the rocket and the satellite so Optimus can take it into orbit and Megatron doesn’t like this plan.

O: Nevermind how this rocket is fucking GINORMOUS for some reason because the Cons are so! Tiny! [Laughter] Specs just keeps, like, shrugging in more exaggerated motions, I’m sorry you can’t see it.

S: Yeah. The other Autobots want to help but aren't sure how- with how to do it without hurting Optimus and Ratchet, until Jazz gets an idea, and I wonder what that idea’s gonna be.

O: He gets on the outside of Skyfire and I love Skyfire so much here, he's like, “Watch the first step, it's a doozy,” and, of course, all I can think of is, “Watch the first step, it's a dooooozy!”

S: And then Jazz transforms into car mode, so we have a car... riding a jet. Specifically, a Porsche riding a space jet.

O: I'm pretty sure that Skyfire’s, ah, model or whatever was not big enough to do that in Macross but alright. [Laughter]

S: Who knows? And about that Chekhov's gun or, in this case, Chekov’s speakers.

O: Jazz uses his new sound system to create a musical sonic boom.

S: Jazz weaponized music to take out a rocket.

O: Of course he did. Megatron orders the Cons to, “Abandon rocket!” 

S: Ratchet and Optimus land safely on Skyfire who takes them high enough for Optimus to yeet the satellite into orbit.

O: [Laughter] 

S: Honestly, why don't they just get Brawn to do this? 

O: I- do we even see Brawn? Is Brawn here? I don't remember.

S: I don't know, it's just no- I mean, why don't they just hire out Brawn’s services to toss things into orbit? 

O: [Laughter] Well, or, like, Perceptor. I know he's not in this episode but he's in the next episode as like- I could see Perceptor shooting something into space with an amazing degree of accuracy.

S: That’s true.

O: Probably would take less fuel, too. 

S: Yeah. So, yeah, Optimus yeets the stupid satellite into orbit and it's just goofy as hell. Back at the Ark, Ratchet’s yanked out the personality displacer from the recharge stations.

O: This would not have fucking happened if you had more than two beds! In the entire Ark! 

S: And if they weren't controlled by the same damn thing, like, if you had separate control systems.

O: Right, so you couldn't just shove the thing in Teletraan-1. But! Everyone decides to fight for credit for saving the day.

S: Ratchet has a fit of temper, as he does not want to share and begins to argue with Sparkplug, 

O: “You wouldn’t know a microchip from a potato chip!” The Autobots know what potato chips are.

S: Well, Ratchet does, and presumably Spike has eaten potato chips in Bumblebee so he might have had to deal with-

O: -Crumbs.

S: [Laughter, indistinct] -crumbs!

O: “Hey, Ratchet, I need a good vacuum.” “You need a what!?!” 

S: And we have a total on the number of Air Force jets destroyed by the Autobots. 

O: Jazz says it's 47. 

S: How much is that gonna cost the Autobots, anyway?

O: Nothing! Optimus says Ratchet, Sparkplug are gonna fix them!

S: Oh boy. Oh boy, oh boy. Uhhh, I’m not sure they're gonna pass muster for safety tests and Spike says that they're gonna be doing it for weeks.

O: Weeks? Just weeks!?

S: Well, I guess when you have giant alien robots doing all the heavy lifting it's not that bad but rather they shouldn’t be putting those back together, anyway. They should really just make new ones at this point because planes have a lot of safety requirements-

O: Yeeeaaaah.

S: -and stuff. Uh, I don't think anyone's gonna want to be in those planes.

O: I wouldn't blame them and join us next time for episode 27: Microbots! Get ready for a fantastic journey, into Megatron???

S: Oh, it's into a world of imagination.

O: Like nothing you’ve ever seen. Also Perceptor! It is a Perceptor episode and I am delighted.

S: Yessss. 

O: Also fuck Brawn. 

S: And we have some fanfic for today but I think Owls’ gets to be the one to give the recommendations.

O: So, I've mentioned this before, but I have a whole uh, sheet of fics, just in case Specs forgets to do the fics. And Specs forgot to do the fics, so I get to do it today. 

S: A lot- A lot of stuff happened recently.

O: It's been a busy month, guys, it has been so busy. I am so tired. The first recommendation is “Quiet” by LittleMissSweetgrass. Continuity is IDW, the rating is G. It is slash, because it is Cosmos/Soundwave. Our characters are Soundwave and Cosmos, and “Soundwave gets a virus and suddenly it is very loud.” It's a one shot. It is part of a series. It is very short but cute and uh, Coswave is one of my favourite ships ever,  which is why they got added to this because it doesn't exist in G1 and I’m well aware it doesn't exist in G1 so I was, like, look I gotta put ‘em somewhere. 

O: And then our other one is “Here Be Monsters” by Lush_Specimen. Continuity is IDW, it's G, its slash, it has Hoist/Trailcutter, Rodimus/Thunderclash, and uh, Minimus Ambus/Megatron- Our characters are Megatron, Hoist, Rodimus, Thunderclash, Riptide, and Minimus Ambus. In summary, “A late-night visit from Hoist forces Megatron to confront the overwhelming personal tragedies created by his legacy of violence. As he contemplates the long reaching consequences of his words he begins to wonder if he truly deserves a second chance.” This is multi-chapter but it has been completed. Um, it's just kind of nice. I'm always- I'm always here for ah, Lost Light Megatron actually having to think about things and being forced to consider, basically, his actions. So I really like this one.

S: Nice, thank you. And that just about wraps it up for us today. Remember to check us out on Tumblr or Pillowfort as Afterspark-Podcast for any additional information, show notes, or links we may have mentioned.  You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter @AftersparkPod (all one word), and various other locations by searching for, “Afterspark Podcast,” such as AO3, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and Youtube, just to name a few.  Until next time, I'm Specs.

O: And I'm Owls.

S: Toodles!

[Outro Music]

[petalsbloomed-a]

VERY LONG  CHARACTER  SURVEY !! RULES.  repost ,   don’t  reblog  !    tag  10  ! good  luck  ! TAGGED.  stolen !!! TAGGING. anyone who wants to do this tbh cuz this is long as shit and i dont want anyone to do this who might not be able to aljdhfskjdhkj

BASICS. FULL  NAME : galo thymos NICKNAME : himbo, idiot, rookie, newbie, #1 firefighting idiot AGE : 21 BIRTHDAY : june 30 ETHNIC  GROUP : japanese (+ korean / western european) NATIONALITY : american LANGUAGE / S : english / japanese / studied french and spanish SEXUAL  ORIENTATION : demisexual ROMANTIC  ORIENTATION : biromantic RELATIONSHIP  STATUS : single HOME  TOWN / AREA : promeopolis (i envision this being around nyc / tri-state area) CURRENT  HOME : lives with older sister and niece PROFESSION : firefighter, undergraduate student

PHYSICAL. SKIN : pretty fair tan, but he sometimes appears a little darker than usual. his skin does a strange thing where it changes shade in different lighting. his skin is usually smooth, but right after getting finished with work, he sometimes is covered in dust and appears somewhat dried out. EYES : slightly upturned, deep-set, wide and somewhat of an almond shape. irises are usually very round, and are a bluish-cyan color. pupils often alight with mischief. in intense lighting, you can see a little red dot reflecting off his eyes. LIPS : pretty thin and nude, hard to notice. matches his skin tone very well. usually quite smooth. tends to get chapped after working. COMPLEXION : pretty fair, but in different lighting, he can look a lot tanner than what he really is. BLEMISHES : he has a few moles here and there, but overall his skin is fairly clear and clean. he doesn’t suffer from acne nearly as much as he did when he was in grade school. SCARS : he has some tiny, barely noticeable acne scars on his face, chin, and neck. the most noticeable ones are on his left arm from when he was practically set alight by a burnish flame. these are thick and quote coarse, and can cause some discomfort when touched. he also has a very small nick in his left ear, which was how his sister identified him when he found her after being separated from their family after the burnish incident when he was a kid. TATTOOS : an arrow that goes right below the nape of his neck to the middle of his back. the point is at about the small of his back, and there are a few decorations along the arrow. HEIGHT : 6′0, 183 cm WEIGHT : 165 lbs, ~75 kg BUILD : very muscular, quite athletic. very beefy arms, strong chest, well-built abdominals. however, his thighs and waist are pretty thin and trim. FEATURES : his most distinct features are his dramatic haircut and scars on his left arm, as well as the small white line on the outer helix of his left ear. his chest and shoulders are also quite broad in comparison to his rather thin waist. ALLERGIES : slight peanut allergy, dust, pollen. USUAL  HAIR  STYLE : undercut with a dramatic, spiky blue mohawk. USUAL  FACE  LOOK : mischievous smile or smirk; sometimes looks a bit wistful, like he’s thinking about something. USUAL  CLOTHING : is normally shirtless, wearing thick red firefighter pants with a yellow “3.” most often wears black rubber boots, black gloves, ear lobe piercings, and an industrial piercing. sometimes wears a black tee-shirt.

PSYCHOLOGY. FEAR / S : spiders, bugs, needles, being in love (kind of), losing his sister or niece, finding out his parents are dead. ASPIRATION / S : to continue his firefighting career, to receive a masters in emergency medical technology / fire prevention & safety technology. POSITIVE  TRAITS : brave, caring, friendly, modest. NEGATIVE  TRAITS : daring, reckless, sensitive, over-attachment. MBTI : entertainer (ESFP-A) ZODIAC : cancer TEMPEREMENT : choleric / sanguine SOUL  TYPE / S : performer ANIMALS : zebra VICE  HABIT / S : twiddling thumbs, jiggling leg (usually the right), twirling & playing with hair, biting nails, chewing lips, swearing, sighing, pen clicking. FAITH : none; would consider himself agnostic. GHOSTS ? : yes. AFTERLIFE ? : not sure. REINCARNATION ? : not sure, but leaning towards no. ALIENS ? : yes. POLITICAL  ALIGNMENT : independent, opinions slightly more left-leaning EDUCATION  LEVEL : graduate student

FAMILY. FATHER : nikanor thymos MOTHER : agape thymos SIBLINGS : danai thymos (older sister) EXTENDED  FAMILY : james (ex-brother-in-law), aria (niece) NAME  MEANING / S : his first name is of an unknown meaning, but it could mean “from gaul” in greek. his last name comes from the greek word “thumos”, which means “spiritedness” or “the need of recognition.” HISTORICAL  CONNECTION ? : not that we know of, i think ???

FAVORITES. BOOK : harry potter / hunger games MOVIE : the lion king 5  SONGS : rick astley - never gonna give you up, lady gaga - born this way, beyonce - countdown, ariana grande - god is a woman, pitbull - timber (feat. kesha) DEITY : zeus HOLIDAY : christmas MONTH : july SEASON : summer PLACE : his bedroom / the lounge at work WEATHER : partly cloudy SOUND : meditation sounds SCENT / S : coffee, flowers, fresh baked desserts, fresh pizza, light cologne TASTE / S : coffee, vanilla cake, milk chocolate, parmesan cheese, green tea anything tbh FEEL / S : soft blankets, comfy pillows, loose-fitting clothes ANIMAL / S : dogs NUMBER : 13 COLORS : teal blue / flame red

EXTRA. TALENTS : piano, singing, writing, linguistics, thinking quickly, firefighting BAD  AT : drawing (sort of), getting himself organized, following orders (sometimes) TURN  ONS : kindness, sensitivity, acceptance, openness, agreeableness TURN  OFFS : irresponsibility, lack of free time, ignorance HOBBIES : piano, singing, writing (stories, poems, etc), karate TROPES : ambiguously gay, antiquated linguistics, broken tears, calling your attacks, the chosen one, firemen are hot, going commando, hunk, idiot hero, innocently insensitive, large ham, mr. fanservice, oblivious to love, the protagonist, rookie red ranger, scars are forever, shonen hair, you gotta have blue hair (found here, there’s a lot more actually) QUOTES : “medals are made to be awarded to and from people who deserve them.” / “you can’t just kill for no reason!” / “[i’m] the universe’s #1 firefighting idiot!”

MUN QUESTIONS. Q1 :   if  you  could  write  your  character  your  way  in  their  own  movie ,   what  would  it  be  called ,  what  style  would  it  be  filmed  in ,  and  what  would  it  be  about ? A1 : honestly??? i think i would keep it the way it is, BUT i would like to have seen some more canonical information about galo’s family. as of right now, we know that kray saved him after his family was attacked by the burnish. if i were to direct a new movie about galo, i would focus it mainly on his family. Q2 : what  would  their  soundtrack / score  sound  like ? A2 : i think it would be a mix of melancholic music as well as more upbeat stuff. on my blog’s main page there are links in the sidebar to both a soundtrack playlist as well as a pop music playlist; i definitely think it’s fair that a variety of genres would suit him and his experiences. Q3 : why  did  you  start  writing  this  character ? A3 : when i first watched promare, i was instantly drawn to this buffoon himbo. i’ve always had a thing for upbeat, energetic characters who are also quite caring and a bit dumb (which yes galo is very smart but he has his moments). while their personalities differ greatly (despite having the same personality type), he reminds me a lot of lance from vld, who i absolutely adore as well (and i also rp him too oops) Q4 : what  first  attracted  you  to  this  character ? A4 : again, probably his personality. while i’m not as energetic and upbeat as galo and i have a very, very different personality type than him, i feel like i definitely do understand him. i understand why he feels he needs to be overly confident, and i also have my moments where i just need to storm off and be alone. god i could write paragraphs and paragraphs about why i like galo but i wanna keep it short and sweet and just stick with those two points, which i consider to be the biggest points. Q5 : describe  the  biggest  thing  you  dislike  about  your  muse. A5 : look, i know i said i liked confidence, but something about galo that annoys me is the fact that he can often seem too confident. like yeah he seemed pretty humble in that pizza scene at the beginning of the movie, but i can’t help but feel a twinge of annoyance towards people who put themselves right into the center of attention and be all like “yeah i know i’m great.” like my boy i love you but do u have to announce urself every time u appear on the scene??? and pls stop being so reckless u honestly might die too soon one of these days we want u to be around for us to enjoy u Q6 : what  do  you  have  in  common  with  your  muse ? A6 : i definitely feel like we both have our moments where we just need some peace and quiet. of course, everyone needs this, but when galo talked about running off when he was pissed reminded me of me; i tend to go and cool off and vent to myself if i’m annoyed about something. we’re both naturally people-oriented and love to be around others, even though galo likes being the center of attention a little bit more than myself. Q7 : how  does  your  muse  feel  about  you ? A7 : in the sense that if galo were real, i honestly think we would get along fairly well. we have different ways of dealing with things, but we have similar habits and personality traits. however when it comes to rp blogs, while i do like to headcanon things about my muses that mirror my own opinions and beliefs, i do consider the mun/muse relationship fairly symbiotic. we as real people can learn so much from fictional characters and in how we play them, and of course, the mun will determine some things about the muse that will deter from canon. Q8 : what  characters  does  your  muse  have  interesting  interactions  with ? A8 : i just started this blog and have had very minimal interactions, so it’s hard to say ! i’d say that an interaction with a kray muse would be the most interesting. part of me wants galo to forgive kray and to have a better relationship with him post-movie canon, but there’s still so much about galo and kray’s relationship pre-movie as well; what was their relationship like? was kray like a father to galo? how can i describe the psychological mindset that galo had after finding out that kray betrayed him? there’s so much about these two that i really want to discover and look at, while of course providing my own insight (cuz that’s what muns do, right?). Q9 : what  gives  you  inspiration  to  write  your  muse ? A9 : i like to study galo’s actions in the movie, and try to find the underlying cause of the actions he takes. however, when it comes to headcanons, i will often think of a scene or an idea in my head and then internally apply it to galo and see if it works. this is usually what kindles my writing fire: the thoughts that often rush through my head. Q10 : how  long  did  this  take  you  to  complete ? A10 : like two whole days lmao im so slow

[thelunarbond]

OC Questions with Phoenix

Questions taken from this post! Sorry if there are any typos, this was super long and I’m tired lmao

1) Their age? 

19

2) Their sexuality/sexual preference?

He struggled with it for a while, but now he’s openly pansexual. Anyone who’s nice to him for a while he’ll become attracted to 

3) Any siblings?

Phoenix has a little brother called Baxter! Baxter is 12 years old. They have a great sibling relationship; they trust each other and always look out for one another

4) Their favourite season?

Autumn/Winter. He hates being too hot and sweating, and he loves wearing sweaters cuz he’s insecure about his arms 

5) Who were/are their parents/guardians?

His parents were an artist and a musician, but they both died when he was 8-9 years old. His foster parents do not get along with him at all and they have arguments on the daily. Since joining the Lunar Bond, Phoenix lives with the other members and doesn’t visit them at all; he only sees his brother outside of the house

6) Their gender?

Cis male 

7) Their date of birth?

3rd September! (side note; I always do a drawing for his birthday, I’ll be sure to post it here this year!)

8) What clothing style?

He prioritises being comfy over everything else. He always wears a pair of ripped black skinny jeans and old, beaten up sneakers. He’ll often wear a long sleeved t-shirt or an oversized hoodie/sweater; the biggest one he owns goes down to his knees! He’ll also sometimes wear earrings (he has a cartilage piercing and both lobes pierced). He’ll never wear anything in public that shows off his arms or legs 

9) What is their favourite food after a break up?

No food. He doesn’t eat. He might drink some water if he gets a headache from thirst. And he’ll spend the rest of the time crying or sleeping. He’s melodramatic help him

10) Their favourite thing to do after a break up?

As mentioned earlier, crying and sleeping. Also listening to sad music. Help him please I’m begging

11) What happens in “the honeymoon phase” for this character?

He’s constantly buying gifts. And wants to see them every day. He becomes incredibly clingy and can sometimes get jealous. He’ll basically do anything for his S/O. He’ll turn up unannounced on their doorstep with flowers. Nobody in the Lunar Bond expects him to be like this at all, as his initial personality is so cold. However he is the most romantic person in the Lunar Bond by a long shot

12) How many serious relationships have they been in?

Three; one when he was 14-16, one from when he was 16-17 and one from recently to present day  👀 

13) What is their nationality?

The Lunar Bond universe is set in a world different from our own, so I’ll just write the equivalent nationality. He’s white British 

14) What languages do they speak?

He really wants to learn a language, however at the moment he only speaks English

15) What is their profession/education?

He’s currently a NEET. He dropped out of school due to anxiety and doesn’t have a job because he recently moved to the city and is too afraid to apply. In school, he did exceptionally well; he’s incredibly clever and always got straight A’s in all his classes. Perhaps when he comes out of his shell a little he’ll get a job doing something he loves

16) Their favourite comfort food?

Soup. Especially chicken noodle soup, as his mother used to make it for him. He’ll always have a bowl of soup if he’s feeling down

17) What is a food they hate?

Not a food, but he can’t stand coffee. He absolutely hates the bitter taste and can’t drink it because the caffeine makes him jittery

18) Their music taste?

Anything. His phone has all kinds of music, from contemporary pop to rock to classical to jazz. His father being a musician really helped him open his eyes to a broad range of music. The only kind of music he won’t listen to is screamo, as it’s too “noisy”. He has a preference towards calm songs as they help him feel relaxed, but he’ll listen to anything

19) Is there a story behind their name/meaning?

(For this question, I’ll write about the process of naming Phoenix!)

Originally, Phoenix’s name came from a name generator. I was struggling to find a name suitable for my main character that wasn’t too safe but also wasn’t too wacky and wild to the point where it wasn’t realistic, and it also had to suit the character. Once I saw the name Phoenix I just knew it fit him perfectly. At the start of the Lunar Bond story, he feels like he doesn’t suit his name; a Phoenix is fiery and always comes back after death and he feels that he is none of those things. However as the story progresses, Phoenix always rises back up after being knocked down. And as he opens up to his new friends, he becomes passionate and fiery about keeping them safe and close to him. He grows in the story to suit his name; he rises back up after every failure, and has the fire in his heart to protect those close to him 

20) Something they do that seems childish to others?

He frequently gets lost in make believe worlds in his head. These mostly come from books he’s been reading, as he loves adventure and fantasy books. He’ll zone out for 30-90 minutes and daydream about being a part of a fantasy world; some people around him think that it’s childish as he’s not grounded in reality

21) What is their all time favourite TV show? 

He doesn’t watch TV. At all. He didn’t really watch TV when he was younger either. He plays video games occasionally, but he mainly reads books or watches films

22) What is their all time favourite movie?

(I’ll write the real-world equivalent of Phoenix’s favourite films here!)

It changes depending on his mood. Hes indecisive and can’t choose a favourite. If he wants to relax, he likes animated films like Kiki’s Delivery Service. He also likes superhero movies like The Avengers. He also likes classics like The Shining. 

23) How big is their family?

Incredibly small. His only blood relative he has left is his brother Baxter. Both his parents were only children, so he doesn’t have any aunts, uncles or cousins. Both his sets of grandparents died when he was very young

24) Are they close to anyone specific in their family?

As his only remaining blood relative, Phoenix is very close to Baxter. They tell each other everything and not a day goes by where they don’t talk to each other, at least on the phone or through texts. For the majority of his life, Baxter saw Phoenix as more of a parent figure as oppose to a brother as Phoenix would always look after him. Baxter also doesn’t remember his parents so relies on Phoenix to tell him about them and what they were like

25) Have they got any allergies?

Not in terms of food, but his skin is incredibly sensitive. He can’t use products that are too scented or he’ll get a rash. He also can’t use aftershave for the same reason, so he’s stuck using the same soaps that he knows for a fact won’t irritate his skin

26) Are they an emotional person?

Yes. He’s incredibly emotional. However, he won’t let it show in front of other people. To people who don’t know him well, Phoenix is cold, stoic and sharp tongued, and pushes away those who try and get close to him. He’s terrified of getting hurt, so he doesn’t allow people near him. On the inside, Phoenix is lonely and begging for someone to support him. When he’s alone, he lets out all of his emotions. He’ll punch a pillow if he’s angry, he’ll cry himself to sleep if he’s sad, he’ll giggle like a schoolboy if he’s happy. There’s only one person who can see straight through him... 👀

27) Do they get angry/lose their temper quickly?

He doesn’t get angry easily, but he’s easily irritated. He will never yell at someone or start an argument unless they’ve really touched a nerve. He will never start a physical fight with someone either. His anxiety makes him easily irritable, so he might tell someone sternly to leave him alone but that’s about as far as it goes the majority of the time

28) What are some of their guilty pleasures?

Animated films, and when he was a kid he was secretly into musical films aimed predominately at young girls (e.g. High School Musical). He still knows all the words to the songs to this day

29) Do they have pets? Do they want pets?

Phoenix hasn’t had a pet since he had a hamster when he was 5. When he moves into his own house he’d absolutely love to have a cat. Or 2. Or 5. He loves cats! He can’t have one right now though because Chase is allergic 

30) Do they like kids? Do they want kids/have kids?

He doesn’t mind children. He doesn’t love them or hate them. He’s very good at looking after children/babysitting because he looked after Baxter for so long. However he doesn’t want his own children because he would worry about them all the time

31) Who’s cuddle buddy are they?

Spoilers 🤐 🤐 🤐

32) Do they have any tattoos?

No. He’s terrified of needles so he’s never getting a tattoo

33) Do they have any piercings?

Only the ear piercings I mentioned earlier!

34) What is their hair colour? Is this their natural colour?

Phoenix’s hair is a light-ish brown colour, which is his natural colour. Minami is desperate to dye his hair but he always says no

35) Do they like musicals?

Other than the teen musicals he watched in secret as a kid? Sure! He has to be in the right mood to watch a musical though. He only watches musicals that are made into films; he’d be way too intimidated to go and watch one on stage

36) Do they like marmite?

He tolerates it. He doesn’t love it or hate it. He’ll eat it if it’s there but he won’t go and buy a jar of it

37) Do they like glitter?

Not really. He thinks it’s too messy and he likes to keep stuff tidy. He’s let Minami put glitter on his face before though

38) Do they believe in the supernatural?

Phoenix is the kind of person to be totally sceptical of supernatural stuff, but then the minute something vaguely spooky happens he’ll freak out and run away

39) Have they ever seen a dead body?

Yes. Wont go into details because spoilers  🤐 🤐 🤐

40) Have they ever had a near death experience?

Being a member of the Lunar Bond is a constant near death experience 

41) Have they ever broken a bone?

Yes. As a kid he broke his leg while climbing a tree in the forest. The worst part was that because he was alone and didn’t have a phone, he was found 2 and a half hours later by his mother as she was wondering where he was

42) What are they like when they’re drunk/what kind of drunk are they?

An overly emotional drunk. All his feelings come spilling out everywhere and he’ll be crying or laughing hysterically or yelling. If he has an S/O he’ll become even more clingy than he is usually

43) Did they ever get drunk while underage?

Yes. He got drunk with his ex-boyfriend when he was 15. Nothing too bad happened; he just ended up spending 3 hours telling said ex-boyfriend how much he loves him. Technically in some countries he’s still underage (however the drinking age where he lives is 18 so it’s all good!) 

44) What is the first thing they do when they wake up?

He checks the time on his phone so he knows what day it is and what time it is, as he’s been known to spend a long time sleeping. He’ll then make himself some tea

45) Do they consider themselves to be popular?

Absolutely not. Phoenix spends a lot of time worrying that his new friends in the Lunar Bond don’t actually like him, and that they’re being nice because they feel like they have to be nice to their teammate. Among the members of the Lunar Bond, he’s actually fairly popular and thought of highly; but he’ll never believe them if they say that to his face

46) How do they like their tea/coffee?

Tea: Depends on the type. He’ll drink loose leaf teas slightly weaker as they have a stronger flavour, so brewing time is lessened. He drinks green tea fairly strong. Some teas such as vanilla rooibos he’ll drink black, but other teas such as Lady Grey he’ll add some milk. Some teas such as Lapsang Souchong he’ll drink weaker with a little sugar

Coffee: In the trash. Where it belongs. At least in his opinion

47) What do they smell like?

Lemon and tea tree body wash, as that’s the only one he likes that doesn’t irritate his skin. Also second hand books

48) Are they a virgin?

No, but don’t tell him I told you that

49) Do they wear glasses/contacts?

He needs reading glasses as he’s slightly long sighted, but it’s not so bad that he has to wear them all the time. He wears them fairly often as he’s nearly always reading, and he just forgets to take them off 

50) Are they good at remembering significant dates, such as birthdays or anniversaries?

Yes. He doesn’t even need to write them down. He remembers dates from weird things, such as when he got his new glasses or when he got his ears pierced. He never forgets a birthday or anniversary and always buys gifts far ahead of time

[callonb]

GYBurst of Inspiration/Motivation

Where does inspiration come from? - Snacks I recorded a song with Samuel Hawkins recently and that was the first line of his verse. Lately thats been on my mind more and more. Where does my inspiration come from and why cant I always bask in its motivational energies? Seems that my drive comes and goes with the moon phases or as planets enter and leave our orbit. Could be the skys dictating my moods and movements (which i think it does have an effect) or it could be the mass amount of coffee and tea i drink a day. Definitely important factors but not quite the source. My mom definitely motivates me, she believes in everything Im doing and helps every way that she can. Its not financially but sometimes emotional support is more important. Shouts out to Momma B you the realist. Same for my homies and not homies as in people i force myself to be around, cuz having friends is what you do. Actual family that i grew up with and have developed a relationship with, the GYB family. The ones who sat me down years ago and was like dude...... you need to take this rap shit seriously. The ones who are now getting more and more involved with the movement every day, pushing everything to the side and riding along with my dream and making them their own. Everyday the homies are pushing to help me create this vision for you guys as they've adopted it as their own. Like minds on the prize, Shouts out the Layer homies. That only seems to be half of it tho, and Ive never felt this type of fire burning inside me before so what is it? Magazine drama and BS doesn't motivate me, Music doesn't seem to hit me the same way anymore. I used to listen to music constantly, new rap definitely doesn't do it for me.....makes me feel lower. New tv shows dont do it for me im bored with most of the popular shows out. Same for games or just typical activities that people partake in. Partys, drugs, random hook ups...It all seems so blah to me and im completely uninterested. I learned I have to stop feeding my lower self and focus on my higher self and what that part of my being truly wants and thats to CREATE!!! Whenever im around an environment that drives me to create and push myself i perform better. So i guess i just realized what really inspires me, and thats a creative environment. Who is responsible for this? Well I saw the Rotunda Project last weekend at Maiden Alley, a collaborative piece by Fairseas. The Fairseas are a group of musicians named Jeran Simmons, Bobby Dowell, Codie Franklin and Shanden Simmons. I watched them plant this seed years ago and now its a giant tree that you can sit back and marvel in its greatness. The main theme of the film was collaborating with your community. I cant lie ive had many many thoughts of leaving my community to collaborate elsewhere but ive came to a realization recently that it isnt necessary. To my surprise and probably a lot of people around here, there is a bubbling hip hop scene around here that is about to explode. Ive started to invest my time and efforts into this scene now and received nothing but results. Shanden has been a major influence in my artistry because he is always honest, encouraging and persistent....three very important characteristics to have in a creative environment and on top of that has become one of what i would consider my best friends. I look at him as one of my GYBrothers. On to the hip hop scene around here tho..... mysterious person named "A" aka the Hollow Man and he is one of the most promising producers/writers around. His solo stuff is outstanding and the collaboration effort we are working on "A & B: The Empire" is next level. Its been well over a year in the making and will shock most people when they hear the new styles i bring to the tape compared to my previous work. A always challenges me to be very intelligent when I piece together my verses and I like that. He makes me want to grab a dictionary and start reading so I can match his extensive vocabulary.....and maybe I have done that lol. Im the ONLY artist that the mystery man works with at the moment and that hits me now in a way it never has before. Like why me, do I really have something in my music that would make this beyond talented artist spend his time and efforts to make beats for us to collab on and want to include me in everything he does? His beats are above any producer Ive ever heard even in the big leagues of the rap game its crazy but he will prolly have his own GYBlog entry about him eventually. I have to move on before i make this to long lol. Next is JSkrilla, I have met the Skrilla a few times in passing but i dont think we realized what each other really could offer the other. Until i ran into him at the damn ROTUNDA PROJECT.....back around full circle. After that we decided to get together. We showed each other some of our music. I didnt know he made dope beats as well as spit hot fucking fire but he does. We shared our philosophies for our craft and talked hip hop and all sorts of other randomness. Then we picked a beat and wrote a song on the spot. Bar for bar back and forth. J stressed to me it had been a LONG time since he had been able to just sit down and write with another emcee that wasnt intimidated by his ability to write on the spot, or to match his caliber of wordplay and rhyme schemes. To both mine and his delight I delivered. Skrilla really challenged me tho, most artist get so caught up in the main stream BS or conforming to certain concepts and topics in their verses that it had been a while since I had felt pressure when writing to make sure my bars are up to par. Felt good to feel that energy again i had been missing the want to become better and that leads me to the main cause of my motivation and my improvments or just overall attitude change whatever you want to call it. the TRYBE!!!! Snacks, B. James, and Waun D. are the Cerberus of this rap shit. I have a lot to owe to them. GYB and Trybe share the same values as far as what we hope to contribute to the culture of arts and musics and how we hope to impact the hip hop community as well as the communities we all live in. I have done one show with them and have multiple other ones lined up with them. As a matter a fact i cant see myself doing a show with anyone but them from here on out. Once again them as well as JSkrilla could have their own full length blog entry but i digress for the sake of your attention lol. The Trybe challenges me to be a better emcee by making me freestyle. Which if you have been around me doing music ive never been a good freestyler.....UNTIL NOW!!! They have cracked that shell and brought me out of it. Making me partake in their cyphers everytime we get together. Soon Ill be as smooth off the top as i am with the writtens then its over for everyone! Sharpening my skills is not something that other rappers really push you to do. Rap is very competitive and braggadocios so pushing someone to improve and possible be better than you is unheard of. The Trybe doesnt see it that way though, they want us all to grow together. With a shared love for hip hop and me and Snacks shared love for Anime we can talk for hours and hours before we realize we havent done any music lol. Everytime I hear a new Trybe song i feel my artistry being challenged. The message in their music makes me want to really focus on the concepts i present in my music and start challenging my self to pretty much step my game up. Between Skrilla, "A", and TrYbe, everything new I hear makes me question my latest bars which is exactly what I need. Hip Hop is my life and my love and above any amount of money i can potentially make off this art is the desire to be the best emcee to ever grab a mic and thats the same mindset i had when i originally picked up the pen and decided i would be a rapper. Before i saw 8 mile and realized that being a white rapper wasnt necessarily accepted, before all the laughs, all the hate and just general shade i received for my dreams. Being white in this game is a roadblock but for the first time these guys made me realize that i have overcame that hurdle 100 times over. I had a long talk with the Trybe last night and they gave me a boost of confidence that finally fully ignited that fire i had lit but tried to conceal. Im no longer worried about what is cool or what people want. I just want to create and you will more than likely like it because I do have skills that i myself had been sleeping on. I hear these artist like A, Skrilla, and Trybe and i felt underneath them but now i see my self as an equal. We all have different things we bring to the table that compliment each other and its time to put it all together and make it happen. Plus we all just fucking dope and there is no denying. This is my new goal. No more time wasted on what i "think" is the right move. Im going to follow what i KNOW to be the right path and follow my heart. Thats challenging myself with these artist and like minded individuals to always be better. Also as Snacks has said before "move at LIGHT SPEED" thats just what Ill do with my light brothers here. We like some damn warriors of this rap shit waging war against a evil corrupt entity but thats also for a whole separate entry lol But no war of this caliber is complete without a general so shoutout to SirDuke. Ive also recently became friends with this crazy dude and he has shown me in just the short time ive known him more love and support than some people ive known my whole life. He also inspires me because he has dedicated his life to serve and protect (literally) and most importantly LEAD. He has an army of pretty much every hood and every rapper in each of them just waiting for his call. and he is not leading them astray, Shoutout the Kollektiv. Duke is also a talented singer and emcee. He has a show with me tomorrow at the Hangover in Murray MAKE SURE YOU COME TO THAT AND SEE MY NEW ALBUM CONSCIOUS TRAP PERFORMED LIVE starting at 9pm. but yeah Duke is dope and I can appreciate his leadership skills and what he hopes to accomplish in his community by cleaning it up through music. He is rubbing off on my and motivating me to hold that same position with my Layer army of GYB homies ive assembled. Most of them are clueless about the industry and music so its up to me to guide and lead them so they can be their own selves and make it in this world without the middle man down your neck. Im going to wrap this up because it ended up being way longer than i intended but i wanted to also say to my fellow collaborators and friends above all. Wolf, Golden Wrist Banks, Trevell, Dope, Simple, Benji and Angel Mascato. You guys have MAD SKILLS. You guys inspire me too because I hear something different in your music than i hear from most. I want you all to continue to grow and expand your creativity to new levels. Tell YOUR story. The same story is constantly told but how will you tell YOURS in the true challenge. So i encourage you guys like i have been recently, step outside of the norm and do what you truly feel in your heart that you need to, fuck what everyone else wants from you just create the way you feel appropriate. A lot of you are working with Duke regularly and I think he will tell you the same thing I am now. Even if its certain people in your lives holding you back, they gotta go. Surround yourself with positive people that want to grow with you instead of out grow you and you will see the same results. Probably why you guys were all on my latest album, except Trevell im sorry and you should have been but you know the deal homie its all love. Frank.....dammit man just rap lol but anyways ill end it on this note. Getting in touch with that child like mind state and that pureness of love in my heart again. Losing all my intentions to want to be better and out do someone but rather COLLABORATE with like minds in my community has already in return pushed me forward in a lot of ways. Seems almost as if they had been waiting on me this whole time. Its certain that my actions are now speaking louder than my words and everyone is starting to catch on. including myself finally. If you read this far thank you and I love you. Youre more than likely part of the reason why i typed this or why i even continue to do what i do. I trust you guys just as much as you trust ill deliver. Have a great day, maybe you can draw inspiration from this or some of the same people or things that i do! So put down that magazine full of empty content and read something meaningful that you are interested in, turn off the news and watch some anime, stop playing shooter games and play final fantasy, stop eating out and prepare your own meals, dont listen to music just play instrumentals and freestlye every day or just make your own, quit scrolling on facebook and take a stroll around the block, only spend time with those that help you grow rather than keep you low. So much inspiration out there sometimes we just have to break away from what we are used to in order to pull from the experience. Now im really done. and excuse my poor grammer and probably a shit load of spelling errors. That wont ever change, these blog post are run on sentences of my thoughts that pass through my head every day. Sometimes i just take the time to jot them out as they pass. PEACE LOVE AND GYB!!

[diviinedogs]

❣️hoi, what was art school like? I'm planning to go myself (and my family is pretty passively aggressively turning me down), but I just want to know what skills do you learn? What is the experience? Thank u for your time! Ur blog and art are amazing btw

hI I think it really depends on the school but I can give like the idea of two of them since I went to another school for precollege to see if it was something I’d be interested in majoring in! C./C/A and I went to Ri/.ngli./.ng and my parents are actually letting me go back to school now so hopefully I’ll be back there in Fall c’: also thank you for liking my stuff!

this ask is gonna long because I know I’m gonna ramble so I’m gonna call the schools C and R so I don’t have to do the slashes all the time! C’s experience was a specific  1-2 month course so it’s nothing like actual college at R so feel free to skip down to it, I just thought it was important to add since it was my first experience at an art school

and after I talk about the schools I’ll say what stuff’s good to include in your portfolio, of course this is based on my experience but for the most part it helps in what you should try strengthening 

I did animation at C, which was 2D in the morning and 3D in the afternoon. I did precollege the summer before my senior year cuz it’s like the college experience before college so you do get the feel of how it is being on your own, and I wanted to see if I was good enough to pursue something art related. At this point, my parents were on the fence about the idea, so it would help them too. And C’s in California, so I had a bunch of relatives who could show me around and who I could stay with during the weekends

experience wise, the teachers and TAs I had were really nice, so in 2D it was stuff like learning Principles of Animation and the first thing we did was a flipbook animation I think? and then it went to looking at scenes from movies for inbetweens and character sheets and we all worked together reanimating a quick scene from a movie. In the end, we all chose a really short scene from an animated movie to study and reanimate for our final

while in 3D, it was just learning around Maya and doing animation exercises each day with it, eventually working your way up to a mini film (nothing’s completely rendered though! just models), other than that it was pretty much the same as 2D

so basically, I learned the basics and they were really helpful, but to be honest I felt a bit lost with how free it was, you basically had to learn everything on your own with the teachers just checking your work. I was really good at 3D but it... wasn’t fun for me lol so I decided that after this I’d want to stay in the 2D realm of things

now for R! My parents were worried about the starving artist myth and all that, so they would absolutely not let me do Illustration even though that’s what I really wanted, so I chose Game Design and I was like hey I’ll deal with it or like maybe I’ll like it. If not, I could always try convincing my parents to let me switch my major. 

the way things work at R is that all the majors are put into categories, so Computer Animation, Game Art, and Illustration are all the Media Arts majors. All Freshman take basically the same type of classes and things start breaking off around the second semester of freshman year. Eventually you like see no one outside your major lol

and lET ME TELL YOU........ R HAS A VERY HEAVY WORK LOAD, so you gotta be prepared for that. I think just about all art schools are like this, but R’s very strict on it.  Manage your time wisely, there’s a lot of times I’ve seen people pull all nighters just to finish all their assignments. I was really bad at managing my time too, so when I go back I need to be more strict on myself. It’s better to do things early and relax than relax until last minute and have anxiety hell. Not many of the teachers are about how much homework you have in other classes. Also, it’s good to not do things last minute because then you can relax earlier and scanners and place you go to take photos aren’t crowded.

and trust me, your teachers will know if you did something last minute, and they can tell whether effort was put into something or not. 

Now for classes, I’ll talk about just freshman year since that’s probably what’s most helpful to you right now and since I was made to drop out by my parents I’ll probably be repeating like the second semester of that rip.... anywAY

so, R starts you with foundation, so figures classes, 2D design, drawing (this one’s perspective! so important but rip everyone forgets everything after that semester so I should probably start studying perspective again)

the figure classes at R are sO GOOD............ you improve a lot with those, a few weeks into it I was thinking about the figures I had in my portfolio and was just like...... fuck these are so shitty how the hell did the school accept me.... of course the experience depends on the teacher, but I loved my figure drawing teacher he was really cool and good. He did demos at some point every class to where we would all just hover over his shoulder and watch him draw while he explained what he was doing. You i

2D design I hated because like...... abstract... it’s supposed to help you work with compositions and such but I really don’t understand abstract and execute it properly so that was a really difficult class for me 

drawing class is just doing still life and perspective exercises, you don’t really get to the fun part till second semester, I forget the other exercises but I remember that towards the end there was one where you designed a car (like a fun spin on it like.... I think mine was a firefly styled car? yeAH)

other classes were Film & Narrative (so studying films, it was cool) and Writing Studio, which is just like a writing class, they don’t really apply to skills/experience in art so I’ll skip over those

second semester, you still have Figure Drawing, but there’s more of a focus on stuff and you get to draw animals too (sadly no, no real animals come into the classroom. You work off of projections and then there’s a field trip to a big cat sanctuary)

drawing II gets fun because you finally get to use photoshop for your still life and assignments, the assignments get more fun like the Tro/./.ja./n Ho//rs/e assignment. Like you could either do the actual one or draw a similar scenario, I’m totally blanking out on what I did but one of the examples was like a giant wooden mouse with cheese and in the back were cats watching the actual mice. Anyway, it had even more of a focus on compositions and colors. 

Another assignment was designing a character’s room. It could be any character, but you couldn’t have anything that gave away their name. People had to be able to guess who the room belonged to just by looking at it. Sounds hard, but fun. If the character you chose had like a specific style from the concept art of where they’re from you’re free to use that too! I did Kida from Atlantis and one of my friends did Greg Universe’s room, so she got to imitate SU’s background style which was cool to see!

3/D desi/gn was............. super difficult to me, I almost failed that class >w>;;;; because it was woodshop type stuff and polymer clay depending on what you wanted. However, every assignment you did would lead up to the grunt assignment, which was like, you had three designs of things that would be possible grunt level monsters, and you essentially pitch a game idea to the class and they pick the best. SO again, modeling especially with actual clay is hard for me but it was a great experience when it came to designing and stuff. There’s more but I don’t want to get into all the assignments

3/.D design differs based on what major you’re in, and you only get it if you’re doing one of the Media Arts majors, but I’m pretty sure for the most part they’re the same?

if you major in Game Art or Animation, then you also take traditional animation, which was really fun but tbh...... I only knew how to do animation because of me being at precollege at C and then like learning stuff on my own, you were really left alone a lot, which is the same for some of the other classes. They’ll help you if you ask, but if you don’t then you can’t really get helpful feedback. Again, it depends on the teacher. The one I had was really nice and I frequently went to her for help.

so despite how some assignments/classes were hard for me, I really loved R and I’m excited at my parents giving me the option to go back, I just need to do a portfolio again >w>;;;; R’s a really good school with a lot of great resources. All of my issues came from problems with people (not teachers just other students) there and I’m not gonna get into those cuz personal lol

OKAY SO for portfolio tips

still life

figURES

ANIMALS, it makes you have a better understanding of anatomy and stuff

try to have a mix of media in there, like I mainly do digital but still have some traditional stuff to show that you know how to use those

I would keep figures realistic and not stylized so they can see that you have an understanding of them

depends on the school I think, but R strictly says in their guidelines to not do fantasy stuff like unicorns and dragons

NO FAN ART.......  you can have it but you need to be really, really vague? if that makes sense, like people shouldn’t be able to tell it’s fan art

have what you’re applying for in your portfolio, so like depending on what you want I’d add concept art stylized stuff or character designs 

you gotta have your best work in there, like some people like having okay/bad work to show how much they improved but that’s a bad idea, if you don’t think something’s good don’t put it in for colleges to see 

[randomalistic]

🎬 MY 2023 MOVIE LIST

THIS YEAR I WATCHED:

44 DIFFERENT MOVIES

30 NEW MOVIES 17 REWATCHES

28 ANIMATED MOVIES 16 LIVE ACTION MOVIES

I’ve also linked a few posts with my initial reactions/discussions

MUST-WATCH LIST: at least imo. teehee.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

Labyrinth (1986)

ParaNorman (2012)

The Last Unicorn (1982)

Nimona (2023)

Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)

Wreck-it Ralph (2012)

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

Megamind (2010)

Coraline (2009)

Kung-Fu Panda (2008)

The Book of Life (2014)

Corpse Bride (2005)

Isle of Dogs (2018)

Tangled (2010)

I hope I keep this up !!! Maybe I can watch more TV shows or play more games next year :)

+ SOMETHING COOL TO TRY: Watch 2 similar movies back to back more often. You’ll be able to make interesting connections between them and it's fun!

-- Extended list below --

———————

ABSOLUTE FAVORITE

Watch it!!

Good but had some problems

———————

1-12-23: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) ACTUALLY PEAK FILM. AMAZING VISUALS, EPIC FIGHT SEQUENCES AND VERY HEARTFELT . I love piss in boots. MUST WATCH.

3-9-23: The Steven Universe Movie (2018) (rewatch) Spinel is in this. The songs are amazing. Fun to revisit !!!

3-24-23: Labyrinth (1986) DAVID BOWIE AND INTRICATE PUPPET CREATURES 80s FANTASY MOVIE I AM IN LOVE. Must watch

4-8-23: ParaNorman (2012) hit me harder than I was expecting, really subverts your expectations. AMAZING. MUST WATCH.

4-28-23: The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) I watched this on my birthday :) It made the child in me so happy

5-8-23: Tinker Bell (2008) (old rewatch) Pixie hollow is a legitimately communist society. Fun to revisit !!

6-18-23: The Little Mermaid (2023) ew live action remake lol. But it’s one of the better ones. ok honestly i'm mad that i sorta liked it upon initial viewing. maybe its just cuz i havent seen the original (WHAT ARE YOU DOING!????? oh mygod please watch the original one OK FINE I WILL........)

7-17-23: The Last Unicorn (1982) really a product of its time. So beautiful and unique in its own way. Must watch

7-28-23 Run Lola Run (1998) Indie german crime/thriller film that was fun and experimental, I loved the late 90s trance soundtrack and had a good time, it went by quick!

8-3-23 Barbie (2023) ITS BARBIE !

8-19-23 (Most of) Aladdin (1992) (old rewatch) gGenie………. The animation is GODLY. the early CG is a bit rough but hey it was 1992

8-25-23 Nimona (2023) MOST QUEEREST COOLIEST MOVIE I SEEN HITS VERY HARD AND ITS SUPER GOOD OHHHH…. PLEASE MUST WATCH!!!

9-8-23 Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022) finally got around to this one, what a special experience. MUST WATCH

9-15-23 The Road to El Dorado (2000) White savior movie but otherwise fun characters. Tulio and Miguel are the gayest straight guys I’ve ever seen

9-15-23 The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) GENUINELY HILARIOUS AND SO GOOFY. It was fun seeing this right after el dorado.

9-21-23 Wreck-it Ralph (2012) (old rewatch) brooooo this moviie sucs I hate it so much i. please watch

9-22-23 How to Train Your Dragon (2010) very powerful music and showcases a very touching relationship between humans and nature/the unknown, must see !!!!!

9-29-23 Little Miss Sunshine (2006) dysfunctional family road trip with chaotic/dark humor. ITS FUNNY I LIKED IT

10-1-23 Elemental (2023) REALLY didn’t deserve the hate, it’s a sweet romance/immigration story. A little cheesy but it’s charming. The visuals are a feat to behold

10-4-23 Napoleon Dynamite (2004) some outdated language/humor but otherwise a Very specific brand of silly/charming

10-5-23 Marcel The Shell (2021) unexpectedly touching and unique movie presentation style - I may have cried

10-7-23 Megamind (2010) (old rewatch) ICONIC and hilarious supervillain film and aged very well. MUST WATCH!!??

10-21-23 Coraline (2009) (rewatch) this movie has such a distinct, creepy identity and it’s enthralling each time. MUST WATCH

10-27-23 Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) has tonal problems and it wasn’t confident enough to go all out all the way through, which is so unfortunate… But AMAZING otherwise. The architecture ??! And Frollo. Evil priest characters you are so cool

10-27-23 Kung-Fu Panda (2008) (old rewatch) Legitimately amazing animated martial arts movie and embraces self love. we all know this. It’s even better on rewatch. MUST WATCH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10-27-23 Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) (old rewatch) SURPRISINGLY POWERFUL AND A REALLY GOOD SEQUEL. Hi shen blushes

11-4-23 The Book of Life (2014) this film is such an UNDERRATED TREAT. Absolutely gorgeous celebration of Mexican culture. Incredible world and characters and the style is so distinct. Must WATCH !!!???

11-5-23 Five Nights At Freddy’s (2023) :) I’ve been waiting for this ever since I was 13 and I had so much fun watching it. This was a highlight of my year!

11-12-23 Corpse Bride (2005) Really really good Tim Burton Halloween movie with so much stylization. So much fun to watch!!!! And so ethereal at times. MUST WATCH

11-12-23 Frankenweenie (2012) Very cute but disappointing ending, too safe. It could have been more impactful if they pushed it further. Watched this after corpse bride and the parallels were FUNNY.

11-18-23 The Wizard Of Oz (1939) (old rewatch). The real life abusive filming process makes this movie Hard to Enjoy with peace of mind- but the finished product is truly groundbreaking and whimsical

11-20-23 The Bourne Identity (2002) AWESOME THRILLER ACTION MOVIE EHEHE

11-21-23 Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) unpopular opinion - the movie suffers when you don’t see it in its original intended form (in a movie theater . In 1977.) I SWEAR. I STILL ENJOYED IT THOUGH. ….

11-22-23 Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me (1998) SO SILLY but mean spirited/offensive humor at times. ITS AUSTIN POWERS…

11-23-23 Monsters University (2013) (rewatch) MOST UNDERRATED DISNEY SEQUEL/PREQUEL. FUN AND IMPACTFUL COLLEGE FRIENDSHIP MOVIE

11-25-23 Wreck-it Ralph (2012) (rewatch AGAIN.) haha

12-1–23 Isle of Dogs (2018) Incredibly unique/distinct presentation style. My friend who’s a Japanese major loves this movie. MUST WATCH

12-1-23 Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) another silly goofy little dysfunctional family unit, a bit yikes at some parts but overall pretty lighthearted. It was cool seeing this immediately after isle of dogs cuz you could see the inspiration in the visuals between the two

12-8-23 The Mitchell’s vs. The Machines (2021) silly robot apocalypse family road trip movie with AMAZING visuals (everyone in the family is autistic)

12-17-23 Prancer (1989) Unexpectedly heartwarming movie about a little girl helping an injured reindeer. VERY SWEET and great message about the impact of kindness and the wonders of being a child. MADE ME CRY.

12-18-23 Wreck-it Ralph (2012) (3rd REWATCH) get a hold of yourself oh my god ‼️

12-19-23 The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) (rewatch) classic muppet Christmas movie :)

12-22-23 The Muppets (2011) (old rewatch) SURPRISINGLY CATCHY SONGS and a silly muppet movie. Fun to revisit. Tex Richman my beloved

12-23-23 Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1964) Mediocre writing and mean spirited at times <3 BUT ITS A CLASSIC. so ofc i liked it

12-24-23 Tangled (2010) (old rewatch) I forgot how good this movie was. ACTUALLY PEAK and so fun to revisit. Such a fresh take on a fairytale story, great songs, amazing romance, and also empowering about overcoming an abusive parent … MUST WATCH!!!

12-26-23 Klaus (2019) (rewatch) it’s so great to see a new 2D animated movie come out, and such a great story too. Cute origin story of Christmas and POSTAL WORKER APPRECIATION!!!!!

12-31-23 Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) (rewatch) started off the year with this movie and then ended with it! What a treat!! I even wrote a short essay about it 1 semester ago :)

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In conclusion, I love movies !!! But my favorite movies are those that are confident in their identities and don’t hold back. Like share your message to the fullest !!!!

I watched a lot of stop-motion movies this year. I wanna watch more studio ghibli movies next year

And maybe I should purposefully try watching bad movies… it might make me appreciate good ones more and easier see what they do right. But also. I really dont wanna watch ralph breaks the internet.

[kingoji]

I’ve been giving the Godzilla ‘Millenium era’ movies a bit of a binge rewatch in order this past week, since we finally got a blu ray player in the house that they work on.

It was quite an odd period of movies. Seems to be the selection that opinions are most varied on as well. I’m gonna share mine on a film by film basis.

For the benefit of anyone who’s just happened upon this and doesn’t know the history, the Millenium series is the name given to the Godzilla movies from Japan that were made from 1999 to 2004. Initially they came about as a reaction to Tri-Star’s 1998 attempt (the one with Ferris Bueller and Leon), but the dwindling ticket sales of their previous series of movies, the Heisei era, also encouraged them to rethink their formula some. What was decided was that three standalone movies would be commissioned with different takes on the franchise, and the most popular would be the direction they embraced going forward. This largely fell by the wayside, and all but two of the films of the era ended up becoming standalone features. Naturally, as a result the reactions to the films varied as the tones and themes of the films themselves did.

Godzilla 2000

This is my personal favourite of the Millenium movies, and not only because it was the first one made where I was aware it was being made at the time and, thanks to publications like G-Fan, was able to follow along with updates periodically. I didn’t get online until around 2006 or so, so this kind of niche news was extremely hard for me to get ahold of. Godzilla 2000 had a radical redesign for Godzilla. It may well have been an effort by Toho to show Tri-Star that you *could* be extreme in redesigns while still honouring and being recognisable to the original (I am a fan of the Tri-Star design as a monster, but as Godzilla it was a failure), but it was also a solid way to visually differentiate this series from the previous one. Production values were higher across the board, and it was much more experimental in its special effects, often integrating the suit-acted Godzilla into panning or otherwise in-motion real-world shots. Before this, the technique was only ever used to add Godzilla into static shots or the far background. It doesn’t always hit the mark, but you have to respect that they aimed for something and took a shot. The miniature city sets were actually the largest ever constructed at the time, and the decision to reduce Godzilla’s height by half meant that they could be made larger and more intricate. In other words, the city sets looked more realistic and expansive, meaning they matched the real-world shots better and would be demolished more convincingly. The lighting work was stellar for this film, too, with crimson skies replacing the blue-tinted spotlights of the Heisei.

The human cast here is probably the most realistic and likeable of this series as well. All too often people dismiss the human element and act like the monster stuff is all that matters, but I cannot stress how much I disagree. Having a human cast you care for makes what happens with the monsters more urgent. My favourite character in this one is Katagiri, the director of the Crisis Control Intelligence bureau. He is considered the villain of the piece, and the film supports this by making him needlessly dickish to the main character and dangerously glib as to whether he lives or dies, despite the man posing no threat to him, his company, his position, or literally anything else about him. Thing is, despite this overplayed animosity, Katagiri’s behaviour and personality are actually fitting to his position and responsibilities. If it weren’t for his chafing attitude, he could have been the hero of this film quite easily. He reminds me of ‘The Colonel’ from Akira, only less stoic and serious.

In fact, I’m not sure there is a villain in this film. Godzilla is immediately established as a natural threat, but at the same time there are two equally valid points of view voiced about him; that he is a danger that has to be stopped, and that he is an animal doing what he does and should just be contained for study. Katagiri is next to be introduced as someone we shouldn’t like or trust, but see above. Then there is the alien life form which takes longer to fully understand the motives of but is no less destructive in the meantime. The alien, which for the most part is always hidden within it's vessel, had been stranded on this planet for millenia, and for whatever reason cannot leave. So it does what any living creature would do and tries to survive. It engages Godzilla because his DNA contains the key to surviving this new environment, but when things don’t go it’s way the life form resorts to learning what it can about Godzilla from our internet data first. This hacking and absorbing of data is seen as a hostile action and humans treat it as such. Then it faces Godzilla again and gets what it wants, only for things to go wrong again and Godzilla’s DNA mutates the alien from it’s natural state to a grotesque monster which then has to fight for it’s life before being destroyed. Next time you watch the film, pay close attention to how Orga acts when it is revealed. It looks at itself with horror, and when Godzilla advances on it it backs up in a manner which seems to say “Whoa, whoa, time out!” and only really gets into the fight when it realises Godzilla is not going to stop. It’s outmatched from the go and knows it, and everything it does seems born of desperation rather than aggression or strategy. Orga is one of the most tragic creatures in the Toho stable; a creature of genuine intelligence trapped in a brutish, cumbersome form, killed before it can try to do anything about it. Of course, for most of the film the alien is an ass to humanity, so it’s hard to feel too sympathetic to it. Then when Godzilla has “saved the day”, he proceeds to lay waste to Tokyo himself anyway, reminding us that while he may not be the villain, he’s sure as shit not our hero.

Actually, I think that’s the only universal source of contention for this film; after evrything has gone down and before Godzilla goes on his rampage, the human cast wax philosophical about him. One notes that humans created him, and ever since have tried to kill him. another than asks why he then keeps saving us. A third postulates that maybe it’s because “Godzilla is inside each one of us”. Which makes no sense. The first statement is correct, but the question asked is wrong as in this movie’s timeline Godzilla has always been the threat, and only got into this fight for personal revenge. I don’t speak Japanese so I don’t know if this is a bad translation, but I personally choose to interpret the real meaning of the discussion as something closer to the second person asking if we deserve Godzilla, an the final replying that we all carry the weight of responsibility for him. That’s how I’d phrase it if I ever adapted it in some way. It would also lead in better to Godzilla setting the area on fire than the actual “cuz we bros, man” that we get.

Takayuki Hattori is the composer of the score for this film. His only other Godzilla score was 1994′s Godzilla Vs. Space-Godzilla, but in the west probably his better known work was on the anime series Martian Successor Nadesico. I loved his work on that show, and as such am fond of his work on Godzilla. It certainly has a flavour distinct from other Godzilla composers that I’ve often read as “sounding more like Hollywood”, but I actually think it carries over conventions of anime scoring. You have very strong and individual sounding ‘hero theme’, ‘villain theme’, ‘battle theme’, ‘comedy theme’ etc. which you could easily imagine being attributed to an episodic show, often short and punchy. Whereas Hollywood movies are mostly scored to match exactly what fits on screen at that moment, and while you may get repeated cues added into different scenes, rarely is an entire piece applied wholesale to multiple scenes. I think I preferred Hattori’s work for G Vs SG than here, as that was in general a more fantastical film and as such a better fit for his “animated” style. Despite the overt sci-fi elements of Godzilla 2000, it is still comparatively a much more grounded film (there are no maser cannons here, and this film’s idea of advanced military arms is a new missile which is better at piercing armour than anything before). That said, this score is still strong and suitable, and to me feels more complimentary to Akira Ifukube’s traditional Godzilla theme than other scores have been. When it plays in this film it’s fitting to the overall sound, which seems to enhance it’s effectiveness as the familiar “shit, you know what this means” piece to build the anticipation, whereas in the next film it’s a more jarring difference that just makes you go “Cool, they’re using his theme after all”.

As a final piece of trivia, this was the first Japanese Godzilla film since 1984′s The Return Of Godzilla to get a western theatrical release, and the last until 2016′s Shin Godzilla. The trailer for the American release used Rob Zombie’s fast-paced song ‘Superbeast’ as accompaniment, which tickles me to no end given that this film was a response to Tri-Star’s Godzilla and the repeated chorus is “Hey yeah, I am the one that you wanted! Hey yeah, I am the Superbeast!”

Next up: Godzilla X Megaguirus!