#Also the artist who made the background *chef's kiss*

[lys-lilac]

So I came to know posting screenshots is valid?

HOW CAN I LET THIS OPPURTUNITY SKIP?

[a52-i-guess]

my review of the 2007 film "ratatouille"

okay so for context, i wrote this while/after watching it on the plane. plane wifi blocks discord, so i was originally gonna dump it in my friend discord the moment i hit the ground. it's long enough that it's more suitable for tumblr anyway, so im posting it here. but it's probably in a slightly different tone than i would normally use for a tumblr post.

here goes:

it's good!!!

it's really well-animated, the story is reasonably compelling, it's funny, and i love tiny evil chef and tall evil coffin-man critic. tiny evil chef is so much fun, and ego (the critic) is compelling, and everything he owns is shaped like coffins. which is great.

the politics are a bit weird, since it tries to treat stealing food like it's the same kind of thing as breaking into people's houses and stealing tvs. like it's some objective, unpardonable crime that the universe hates. but it also judges the rats for… eating garbage??? it's very strange. either you judge them for eating bad and having no taste, or you judge them for stealing instead of eating garbage. or, ideally, you judge them for neither, because theyre doing the best they can with little alternative. the solution to poverty this movie offers is simply "become rich".

also it's a bit weird about women? like the bit where linguini is going crazy trying to explain remi, and colette pulls out a can of mace. that's both funny and Real. but then he DOES lean and in kiss her out of nowhere, and instead of macing him she… lets it fall to the ground. that was kind of uncomfortable to me. it's also a bit sad to see a character whos defining arc is that shes worked really hard to get where shes at despite her gender… end up as a much flatter Love Interest in the second half of the movie.

the whole "anyone can cook" thing is a bit weird too. throughout the movie it makes it very clear that remy CAN cook, and linguine cant. not only that, but remy's ability is not through love, dedication, and practice, but born talent and physical gifts. it contrasts pretty heavily with the supposed theme of the movie! rather than "anyone can learn to cook" (true, uplifting), the message is rather "anyone with enough talent can cook, but that talent can come from any background". which the movie pretty much says directly at the end, actually. "not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere".

that was a lot of criticism for a movie i really did enjoy quite a bit. easier to pick apart things i dont like than verbalize things i did. which is something that the movie touches on, actually.

one thing i really did like is the choice of ratatouille. obviously they chose it because it's a pun, but like colette says, it's a peasant dish. remy grew up on a farm! he raided the house of an old lady who's implied to have lived through wwi and probably was a peasant before that. this is something from his roots. i like that. and the bit with the critic eating it is parodied endlessly, but that's because… it's really really good. seeing the dour critic suddenly smile -- first in confusion, then in wonder, then in giddy eagerness -- it made me tear up. it's really really good.

despite all my qualms about the themes, and despite my stupid goof where i treat it as high cinema, im glad i downloaded this movie on a whim the other day. i enjoyed it, and it made for a good plane movie.

additional thoughts:

this rat is GAY.

THAT RATATOUILLE (in the dish, not on the plate) WAS A FLAT IMAGE WITH NORMAL MAPS! I SAW THAT PIXAR!!! YOU CANT FOOL ME!!!

[s3thwrit3sstuff]

There are some popular artists on here but I figured I’d add ‘em anyways. I tried to somewhat organize it for you!! Let me know which ones you liked :))

Bleu Bledsoe & Gregory Sandomirsky:

-Cafe 130

Wilbur Soot:

-Trying not to think about it

-Amazon Standing Lamp

-Eulogy

-Around the Pomegranate

-Jubilee Line

-Melatonin 130

Lovejoy:

-Call me what you like

-Portrait of a Blank Slate

-Normal People Things

VIOLENTVIRA:

-God Complex

-I don’t care

-Luka

-Tarantula Girl

The Goo Goo Dolls:

-Iris

Will Wood:

-Cotard’s solution

Laufey:

-This is how it feels (& d4vd)

-Promise

-Let you break my heart again

-A Night to Remember

IU:

-Can’t love you anymore

K.Will:

-Please don’t (I love the mv for this one)

Usher:

-You make me wanna…

-Nice & Slow

Ciara:

-Like a Boy

Brandy & Monica:

-The Boy is mine

Queen Najia:

-Medicine

-music anon 🎶<3

Music anon, I'm sorry it took a while to reply to this ask! Life has been a little hectic (T⌓T) but I finally got the time to listen (and re-listen again and again!!!) to the songs you recommended and wowowowowowow!!

Cafe 130, Bleu Bledsoe & Gregory Sandomirsky — I loved this so much??? I don't listen to a lot of music of this genre (unless you count acoustic covers, lol) but this felt so dreamy! I constantly kept thinking of two lovers dancing together, as cheesy as that sounds. Or of a character visiting some castle in a foreign land, the mysterious king in a mask being entranced by them~ The violin and guitar go so well together, dancing step in step with the other, chasing after the other!! I loved this so much!!!! IDK how many more exclamation points I can put to show it!!! ಥωಥ

Wilbur Soot —

Trying not to think about it Is it fair to say listening to this made me feel like I was in some teenage coming-of-age film and just had an explosive fight with my best friend and now I'm on the bus ride home, staring out the window and trying to keep my tears in as I watch the scenery past by. I loved his lyricism so much! This song especially feels like reading a diary and the trumpets that come in during the interlude? The vocal layering? Chefs kiss, the regret in every sentence fuels me to write angst I swear.

Amazon Standing Lamp The guitar in the beginning literally made my ears perk up, the vibes in the very beginning piqued my interest so much. The tone set itself quickly, and I loved every second of it. And the discontented (?) plucky strings with the bridge? I need it in me actually. The lyrics made me add it to my OC's playlist immediately, lmao.

Eulogy GUITAR!!! ONCE AGAIN!!! BIG SLUT FOR IT!!! Also, how does he keep writing yearning so well??? His descriptions feel like poetry in a very angry way. I must know who hurt him - is he okay? (´;︵;`) "I wish I'd be the one who's hurt indignantly, but I can see; that the only one who hurts someone is me" BWAAAAAAAHHHHHH!! UEU UEUE UEUE!!1

Around the Pomegranate "In rapid eye moves. I fall right back to you," and if I die??? Honestly, another "I'm in a coming-of-age movie" feeling song but this song feels like I'm an outcast who just met another outcast and there's a montage of us spending the summer together and running away from bullies or lame adults. Then the bridge happens and it's a montage of me eyeing my best friend with queer angst. His voice sounded so fucking emotional!!! The way the song just ends after it??? INSANE!!!

Jubilee Line Guitar strums, save me guitar strums,,,, the quiet humming in the background spooked me when I used my headphones (lol) but I love humming along to it!!! The way he blames the city for his angst? Yes, I love directing anger at inanimate objects, that's so my genre of anything. "I'm so angry at you I'm beginning to find you in everything" I LOVE IT!!! The bridge where he talks about the barriers on the tube line/rails and how they fail??? Take me, music anon, I feel like I'm gonna faint

Melatonin 130 The beep boops made me smile when I first listened to it. Also, as someone who has insomnia, this song was giving big #relatable vibes but then he added about tucking his face in someone's neck and it became a painful kinda #relatable. ALSO THE WHOLE TALK ABOUT MEDICINE AND ANXIETY??? TAKE ME AGAIN MUSIC ANON I'M GONNA FAINT!!! The bridge??? THE BRIDGE??? OUUUUEEEEEE WHAT A GOOD SONG TO CRY TO WHILE YOU'RE SMOKING IN YOUR ROOM!!! "We're all apes with a diary book and corporate reads your pages" ????

Lovejoy —

Call me what you like The shift between Wilbur Soot's guitar strums to this band made me snort. I personally love pathetic yearning, like yes, kiss me if you need to but IDK if you need me like I need you MMMMM DELICIOUS ME THINKS "I'm not a paranoid, I'm a realist; I know you're gonna kill me!" OUGH HE IS SO PATHETIC I LOVE IT The twangy electric guitar plucks makes my brain happy. My head kept bopping just listening to this song.

Portrait of a Blank Slate The beginnings made me think of a movie montage lol. The lyrics make me think of a broody, distrustful, dude who falls for a magnetic woman who he feels will get bored of him but lord the yearning does not stop him. Her boyfriend is an asshole and the singer wants to make her happier??? I've got my head in my hands, music anon, when the interlude played I can imagine scenes of them getting closer than they should but always pulling away - hold me, music anon, hold me, please. Him apologising for it all being predictable??? What a loser (I need him).

Normal People Things HEAD BOPPING THE SECOND WE PLAY THIS!!! If I could drive, this song would need to be on the ban list, I will crash the car. This song playing during a chase scene with a delinquent and another delinquent but they're just introverted? Perfect me thinks.

VIOLENTVIRA —

God Complex Ough, ouGH OUGHOUGH This song reminded me of Yuno Gasai, lmao. But oh god, the lyrics??? Obsessed actually, I need this song put into a chip so I can stab it into my brain. The dark yearning??? The instrumental??? The way she keeps saying "I wanna be" to "I'm gonna be" - I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! Also reminded me of Brahms Heelshire but that's just me being a simp.

I Don’t Care OUGHGGGGGGGGHHHHH THANK YOU FOR INTRODUCING ME TO SUCH A WONDERFUL ARTIST, MUSIC ANON!!!! Her songs have been on repeat for me since the second I listened to her lORD I just know the Creepypasta speed paints back in 2010 would've loved her music. This song is giving "I don't care if this love is destructive, I'll love you until I can't anymore" OUGHGHGGHGHGHGH MUSIC ANON HOLD ME AGAIN

Luka This song was so sad but knowing why she made it made me physically hold back my tears, especially the voice note at the end?? :((( Her lyrics, and the video description, I was teary-eyed reading it. The chorus is so heartwrenching (;﹏;) "I'm always pulled back to your soul" (´;︵;`)

Tarantula Girl This song reminded me of the time I was 13 and listening to Three Days Grace or Get Scared omg - I love vampiric love songs!!! GIVE ME MOREEEEEEEE!!! Was head bopping the entire time listening to this!! Also the instrumental scratches the itch in my brain "I kinda want you to stay, gimme the sweetest taste" OOOOUGHHH IM SO ILL also her voice is so good I'm obsessed

Iris, The Goo Goo Dolls — this song gave me SUCH a flashback please FNIERUHGRG I remember the fucking Wattpad trailers with this song, also when I was 15 and I had a crush on a girl in school I put this song in the Spotify playlist I made for her LMAOOOO Such a bop, and one with so many memories!! the OG yearning song for me personally

Cotard's Solution, Will Wood — piano, save me piano. the spookiness of the song made me sway a little in my seat while listening to this but then it got more and more unhinged and the way the vocals and instrumentals matched up with each other??? Insane actually!! "Sha na na na na na, free will!" made me giggle The song reminded me of old animes that I could never watch because my mom disapproved of my uncle's anime CD stash but specifically that one old anime about that vampire Van Hellsing? The vibes!!!

Laufey —

This is how it feels (& d4vd) I'm gonna be honest, I never actually listened to Laufey - no reason, just never got the time too so this list made me so excited!!! d4vd's voice reminds me of Disney Prince's serenading oh lord, so good. Then Laufey's voice joins in with the piano??? The yearning?? The violins?? You're out to get me, music anon, aren't you??? (this reminded me of satosuguynkento - "sorry for leaving like that, you don't deserve to get caught in my mess. loving you is just so difficult, i don't know how i should tell you that. I've fallen for somebody else, happened so quickly i lost myself. a shadow of you drifts by my window" especially. I'm going insane, I'm unwell, I'm ill.)

Promise THIS SONG??? EVERY TIME A FUCKING JJK EDIT CAME ON WITH THIS SONG, ESPECIALLY THE LYRICS "I've done the math-" SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING!!! Okay, but the lyrics? The instrumentals? Laufey better be ready to be charged with my therapy bill, I cannot do this anymore, I'm physically ill(er). another song that reminded me of satoyn - "Honestly, I didn't think about How we didn't say goodbye Just see you very soon It hurts to be something It's worse to be nothing with you" I'm deceased.

Let you break my heart again Just so you know, I had this song on loop when I "broke up" with my 4-year long situationship and sobbed my eyes out. It also me realize I have in fact listened to Laufey and she will most definitely be sent my psychotherapy bills.

A Night to Remember I braced myself for this song because so far it has not looked good for my mental health but I was greeted with such a smooth jazzy introduction and seductive songs and lyrics and I cautiously let my guard down. This song playing makes me think of two characters dancing in those wood, smokey, wine-glass-filled clubs. Made me think of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, lmao. The orchestra rising and falling in the background - oh god, I had to pace my room while listening to this. The vocals, the sultry tone, the instruments in the background OUHGHGHGHGHGGH I'm so gonna write something based off this song it's too good, I wish to consume it.

Can't Love You Anymore, IU — Nation's Little Sister never misses!!! I was preparing for a back-and-forth angry singing, but the resigned yet spiteful lyrics being delivered so smoothly made me go insane!!! "When I see you, I keep seeing myself in you, and I hate it" OUEUEUEUEEUE YOU WANT ME TO EXPLODE!!!! "I don't think we're in love anymore," the casual way they just sing it OUGH OUGHHHHHHH Like you expect things to be more explosive or dramatic, but the way it just happens and they're just tryna ignore it, hopes something sparks but it doesn't???? If I didn't read the lyrics, I'd honestly just bop to this in a cafe.

Please Don't, K.Will — THE FAMOUS MUSIC VIDEO LMAO. I honestly never read the lyrics to the song and watched the MV one time so it was such a pleasant time revisiting this masterpiece. The yearning, the pleading to not be left and the panic he feels as his lover grows more and more distant??? Ough hold me again please music anon,,,,,

Usher —

You make me wanna… The juxtaposition of Usher's songs next to the previous ones made me wipe away my tears and get ready to body roll seductively. The casual mention of infidelity and the infamous girl-best-friend syndrome oh lord, the lyrics feel so wrong but the vocals and the song make you feel less guilty. Do you think Satoru played this song when he was boinking Suguru while YN was depressed in the background, lmao?

Nice & Slow Usher whispering in my ear about coming over to my house made me think of those boyfriend ASMR videos and IDK how I feel about it LMAO This song plays when an early 2000s rom-com movie introduces a hot guy with cheekbones for days and also wears a scarf for no reason other than fashion (we respect it tbh).

Like A Boy, Ciara — Her spelling her name in the beginning was so cunty. ALSO, I KNEW THIS SONG SOUNDED FAMILIAR AND THE CHORUS PLAYED AND I WAS INSTANTLY HEAD BOPPING!!!

The Boy is Mine, Brandy & Monica — Had to immediately pace my room for this song, the edits playing in my brain making me go insane all over again. Such a classic tbh, should put this song in a national treasure vault so that when aliens find the carcass of our planet they can also bop to this song.

Medicine, Queen Najia — "Give you a taste of your own medicine," I love it when women succeed and enact their revenge. "imma leave you crying," OUGH IM IN LOVE! Also, I had a feeling this song trended on Tiktok and the "not for you, but for him" popped up BUT I NEVER KNEW IT CAME FROM SUCH A CUNTY SONG???? LOVE IT SO MUCH!!

[litfeathers]

Behind the scenes of Evelyn's Journal

Since this was a bigger project, I thought I'd make a behind the scenes post to talk about how it came together, and share some easter eggs!

———

Firstly, I want to impress how long it took to record and edit this thing. An almost 15 minute long runtime is a MARATHON! It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun and definitely worth it!

———

The wanted poster and meetinghouse graffiti are direct references to my fic A Most Certain, Strange, and True Discovery of a Witch. This is the poster Evelyn grabbed on her little vandalism excursion:

———

The frustrated look that Evelyn described Caleb making was this absolute classic:

(the wet cat gene is strong)

———

Evelyn’s bird drawings are a reference to her book of bird sketches from my fic There Are Owls and Witches in These Woods. Her sketch book has been passed down the generations of the Clawthorne family, and is my explanation for why they all have human realm bird palismen! They use her book for ideas! :D

———

Did anyone notice something special or significant about the day Evelyn and Caleb had their picnic? 😏

———

There is an AU where I kept this in /j

———

This is a cut line. I am not sure if this is me talking at the end, or Evelyn lmao

———

...the reason I was watching Elsewhere and Elsewhen in my sound booth? I was listening to Philip’s accent to figure out how Evelyn would imitate Caleb ahahahha

———

If you…let’s say…recognize Evelyn’s cackle?

*Slowly puts her finger on her lips*

Shh. No. No, you don’t. /lh

———

The light spells poofing at the end? That is actually Eda de-transforming from harpy mode at the end of Reaching Out! It was such a nice, clean poof! No background music or dialogue to work around! *chef kiss*

———

If you've read my fics, you can consider this story an alternate ending for There are Owls and Witches in These Woods. Everything up to the week in which this journal was written remains the same. There is a divergence when Evelyn decides she needs to protect Caleb by breaking off their friendship. Let’s just say that evening played out very differently. I'll let you guess and imagine for yourself what happened when Evelyn tried to break things off with Caleb. But I will give you this hint: his wish was very important. 😉

———

This is the sketch I sent @bananadramaaa to show what I wanted for the cover art. Behold my artistic skills:

It was so cool to watch the cover art come to life! It was only the second time I’ve ever commissioned an artist (and first time commissioning something complicated), and it was such a positive experience! If you need art for something and their commissions are open, I HIGHLY recommend them!

(Also we snuck a few easter eggs into the art ehehehe)

———

And it's time for some final thoughts.

I wanted to do something REALLY cool to sort of…I guess serve as a love letter to The Owl House? This show has been an amazing ride, and I wanted to create something as cool as I could to show my appreciation!

I wanted to show my gratitude to this silly, funny, wonderful, heartwarming show for existing. And to thank it for getting me writing and voice acting again. I am so grateful I decided to sit down and watch it last summer. I was lured in with the promise of witches and magic and owls, and ended up with a story that spoke to me so deeply.

Thank you, Dana. Thank you, crew.

And for anyone who made it this far, thanks for checking out my silly recording, and for being interested in my rambling. I hope you had fun!

Seriously. Thank you. 🔥🪶

[cafeinnewdelsta]

2, 3, 5, 9, 12, and 16 for octopath 2 pls :D

GASP :D

Let's see....

2.a headcanon you weren't sure about at first but have come to like!

I think one headcanon that might apply is the "Temenos is a Kal" one.

It somewhat would make sense if say Kaldena escaped with a baby that happened to be a newborn Temenos. Plus, I believe the massacre of the Kal people was approximately 30 years ago (I believe Kaldena is in her 30's???), and Temenos was an orphan taken in by the Pontiff.

I really do like this headcanon, but I feel like there would need to be an explanation as to why Kaldena would just suddenly abandon this baby Temenos (or perhaps it's not too out there, given their history of just... not liking each other?) It's an idea I'd love to explore more in the future, only because I actually do like Kaldena and think she's interesting, but the writer's did her dirty.

3. A character that fandom has helped you appreciate

This is a difficult one to answer if I'm going to be honest, mostly because I like mostly everyone in this game haha

Though there was a tumblr user who made me really appreciate Kaldena more - she already has a badass design and is an interesting gal with a tragic backstory. I wish she was more built upon, though. I feel the writers did her dirty :(

Alright enough about Kaldena, haha

5. Something you see in fics a lot and love

I haven't read a lot of fics regarding Octopath 2 that aren't Temehika related (there is a ParCas one I love though), so I think I'll list what I liked about those fics :3

Wake Up & Desert Nights: Temenos visiting Hikari in Ku is my all time fave

"Wake Up" especially has a moment were Temenos just struggling with chopsticks and calling Hikari "sensei" as Hikari tries to teach him how to use them. I also love that Temenos favours Hikari's letters over the other travelers

Solstice: Hikari is just finding himself sleeping on Temenos' thigh and is all apologetic about it only to find Temenos is pretty chill about it.

Boiling Under: "My, Hikari" - that's it. That's all that needs to be said. It's a short one, but it speaks volumes.

Northen Nights: The combining of Temenos's Stormhail Chapter and Hikari's Chapter 4 is just *chef's kiss*

Also in a ParCas one I read called "Knit Two Together", there was slight background Temehika where Hikari finds himself enjoying Temenos's paper plays

9. A ship that isn't your OTP but that you enjoy

Knightlight - I love the ship and enjoy Crick and Temenos' dynamic. I love Temenos' teasing of Crick, but also how he genuienly cares about him. I love the lengths they go for each other during the course of the story.

I love seeing it as the prelude to Temehika too - the idea that Temenos is a magnet to these swordsmen who are good lads and honourable, trustworthy and naive is just a thought I love too much.

More of a crack ship, that I think I'm the only shipper of (lol), but I enjoy Parteme (Partitio and Temenos). I just think the idea of these two getting together in secret would be hilarious, plus it has been shown that Temenos loves to tease Partitio.

Throné and Agnea is a pair I've been thinking of lately, too thanks to satsuha, haha

I also love the thought of Throné becoming Agnea's bodyguard

12. Compliment someone in your fandom

Aaaa, I think your art is super cute and I love the animations you do :D

Also I think @beantothemax is really sweet, and I love seeing the AUs and fics that their mutuals send in their askbox

Meansary - I love their Hikari art sm, their work is just so good

There are also some artists on Twitter that I like such as @QSz6h1 and @dxmnwatxr_ who do some cute Temehika art (they call it Hikateme over there) :3

16. A tiny detail in canon that you want more people to appreciate

I'm sure I've said it before, but the fact that Temenos is actually really nice to Hikari and seems quite gentle with him in his travel banters

Like in Hikari's Chapter 4, Temenos, though seemingly doubtful about the situation, still supports Hikari's decision to meet with Rai Mei, even giving him a warning to be cautious.

Sorry if I went on an unrelated tangent with these, but I had fun answering these :D

[mymbios]

Tala Oxley was born on the sun-kissed shores of Brighton, England, where she spent her childhood days running along the pebbled beaches with her younger sister, Chesa (27). Their mother, Isabel Oxley (54), a proud Filipina, worked as a chef at a local seaside restaurant, while their father, Graham Oxley (56), was an engineer. Tala’s childhood was a mix of cultural experiences, with her mother’s Filipino heritage infusing their home life with rich foods and traditions, while their father introduced them to English sensibilities and seaside adventures.

For the first thirteen years of her life, Tala lived a blissful life by the sea, until Graham’s career uprooted the family across the Atlantic to Charleston, South Carolina. The move to the United States was a major shift for Tala, who suddenly found herself in a new country, navigating unfamiliar terrain and adjusting to American culture. Her English accent and wide-eyed fascination with her new home made her stand out in her high school, where she was quickly dubbed the "posh girl." It wasn’t long before she caught the attention of a boy and followed him to his college of choice after graduation. However, a year into her college experience, Tala realized that neither the boyfriend nor higher education was for her. She left school and returned to Charleston, moving back in with her parents and taking a retail job to figure things out.

A few months later, life took an unexpected turn. During a stormy night, Tala and her sister Chesa were in a car accident. While Chesa walked away with only minor bruises, Tala sustained several broken bones and was forced to undergo months of physical therapy. The experience, though painful, turned out to be a pivotal moment in her life. As Tala went through her own recovery, she grew fascinated by the rehabilitation process and how physical therapy could help people regain their strength and confidence. Inspired, she decided to pursue a career as a physical therapist, channeling her bubbly and kind nature into helping others heal.

Tala is the kind of person who lights up a room with her infectious laughter and sense of humor. She’s always up for an adventure, whether it’s testing out a quirky new recipe she found online or spending a day kayaking or surfing along the Charleston coastline. Bold, bright colors dominate her wardrobe, and she’s rarely seen without her signature funky jewelry—pieces she picks up from thrift shops, markets, or online artists. Tala loves trying her hand at viral art projects she stumbles upon on TikTok, and while not all of them turn out like the videos, she always has fun in the process. She also lets Buzzfeed quizzes guide her decisions on everything from what movie to watch to where to go for dinner.

Tala's adventurous spirit extends to her love for food. She’s a self-proclaimed foodie, always on the lookout for the next best restaurant or experimenting with new recipes in her kitchen. Cooking is one of her favorite ways to relax, and she enjoys blending Filipino dishes with Southern comfort food, creating flavorful fusions that reflect her own multicultural background. Days at the beach are another passion, reminding her of her early days in Brighton, and she can often be found with her toes in the sand, paddle boarding, or watching the sunset.

[the-witches-you-couldnt-burn]

Bad dreams in the night

By Adam Ellis

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The art style is gorgeous (love the eyebrows) and the choice to use blacks and whites (butter corn ramen & hangnail) or blue monochrome (little house in the sea) seperate those stories from the rest and give the reader a much needed reprieve.

My favourite stories were: Green Ribbon, Better Kate than Never & Viola Bloom

Each are very different in their own right and seek to make the reader unnerved by using human traits to show our gruesome tendencies.

THERE ARE SOME SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT (TW: NSFW)

Me and Evangeline at the Farm:

Relatable. Everyone has that one old story we’ve watch / read and could never find again. Overall I didn’t find it scary, more sad.

Milk Door:

It’s giving Coraline. It’s giving ‘get me the fuck out of here’. Delulu is not the solulu, GIRL CALL THE POLICEEEEEE

Butter Corn Ramen:

We’ve all had that food we miraculously found one day and binged until we felt sick; this story perfectly encapsulates that. We truely are what we eat

Ps. I also like that this was left black & white, it makes it creepier

The Green Ribbon:

A good story is something you enjoy, a great story makes you feel emotions. I felt anger at the main character’s narcissism and apathy, I pity Jane’s situation but wonder if she knew that she was the other woman and I felt sorrow for Charlotte, she deserved better.

Forest Fruit:

Ugh. When I saw the title page I knew I’d love this story. I like the characterisation of the boy and how he never looks the coast guard nor the camera in the eye. I love and hate the open ending, I want more but I also adore the mystery of this cliffhanger!

Bus stop:

I find this story the most whimsical turn of the other stories. A magic shop that provides me what I need when I need it? Sign me up, I need a million dollars.

Hangnail:

Hangnail made me the most uncomfortable. Body horror always gets me freaked out, good job. Also hangnails SUCK

Better Kate than Never:

Reality TV these days could easily turn into horror if they just threw in chainsaws and fake blood. This story reminds me of all those shows that replace a character’s actor with another. I like how the audience is always a background & never focused on. I love Taffy, she reminds me of those family blog kids who deal with the privacy invasion, give advice to their younger (or in this case, less experienced siblings) then escapes when they’re 18. I think this one is my favourite, it makes me question so many things. What happened to the first Kate? How did this Kate appear? Has Taffy gone through this too? Are the parents in control of the show or are they puppets to the producers?

Ps. I’m glad Kate escaped but why didn’t she take my girl Taffy with her 😭

Little House in the Sea:

It depicts the isolation that single motherhood brings, I personally believe that it also delves into enmeshment / co-dependent relationships. I love the artist use of a monochromatic colour scheme as it shows the character’s perspective of her world (only seeing one way of doing things, not questioning or changing it)

Murder Party:

I agree with the author, true crime has rotted a good majority of brains (although I am being a hypocrite as I have listened to them too). It reminds me of those murder cases and the criminals get love letters, it’s just gross. I love the open ending of the podcaster, you didn’t need to show her death to create impact from it

Viola Bloom:

This was the perfect finale. This one definitely creeped me out the most, something about her unnatural body posture and Viola’s curse poem just made bile settle in my throat. And the calling card stuck to the last page? Omg brilliant, chef kiss to the author

[casukaga]

I'm sure you've been asked this hundreds of times but how did you develope your art style? I especially love the way you color your pieces. They're chefs kiss for sure lol

i think of art styles as just ways you view the world,, how you choose to emulate what you see from life. disregarding how skilled you are in art, how you draw rn is your style, it just develops over time.

if you follow artists on social media, you’re gonna see elements of their art style you enjoy and may want to include in your own art (you might copy the way one artist draws eyes, another on their noses, another for their coloring style, etc.)

(i answered a separate ask about my own inspirations that influence my style here!)

and the more you draw, you’ll slowly find out what works for you.

for example, if you copy the way one artist draws eyes and continue to use it in your own style, over time, how you draw eyes could develop into your own way. that artist was just the foundation to help pave the way for your own art style.

like, your art style isn’t just made up of your favorite artists’ styles, it’s also based on choices you make. your style can be made up of:

(1) things you find appealing! if you like sharp angles and geometric shapes, your style may be more angular because it’s something you like! it’s not necessarily because an artist you admire did it, it could just be because you like drawing things that way and like how they look.

personal example: i like drawing lines in hair! i find it really appealing and like the shapes they make when i do it. i took inspiration from a friend who drew in a geometric style, but i didn’t rip this exact hair technique from them or any specific person. i just happened to do it and liked how it looked. i find it appealing, so now it’s just part of my style.

(2) things you just have fun drawing! if art is your hobby and something you really like doing, of course you’re gonna wanna have fun as you do it! so find particular things that you really enjoy drawing out.

personal example: when i sketch, i really love little scribbles like these! it’s just so fun to taper off lines this way.

i’ve done them so much it’s practically become second nature when i sketch. i like to be loose with my lines and don’t like making them entirely clean cut. i like the freeing feeling of letting my lines go wherever, and often the result is just scribbles like these. they’re fun to do, so i keep ‘em!

(3) techniques done just for the sake of convenience. you may start to find shortcuts in drawing/coloring certain things, and over time that technique will just become implemented in your style.

personal example: as aforementioned, i like keeping my lines loose and sketchy. if you look at my lines, you’ll see that they’re not very clean; they go off the edges and are open ended sometimes.

it’s a mix of inspiration from ramonn90’s art, but also it was just convenient for me.

i’ll be honest: i’m lazy. sketchy lines are convenient because i can be lazy: i don’t have to spend time cleaning up my lines and i can leave in my mistakes.

additionally! y’know how some artists complain that their outlines look boring and less expressive than their initial sketches? i also felt that way about my art in the past, but i found a way to counteract that that worked for me:

nowadays whenever i sketch, i copy and paste it onto a new layer. i keep the parts i like, erase the ones i don’t, and then continue to outline everything else onto that layer.

for me, this is convenient because it helps maintain the expressiveness of my initial sketch, because i’m keeping parts of the sketch in the final outline.

another personal example: how i color backgrounds. again, i’m lazy. because i’m lazy, i don’t really draw out backgrounds—i don’t want to spend time drawing every little leaf and tree and detail in the back. instead, i throw a bunch of blobs of color onto the canvas and call it a day. let viewers interpret it for themselves.

this was all out of convenience because i’m lazy. but hey! it works, i like the way it looks, and i have fun doing it.

there are probably more factors that play into the development of your style, but that’s all i can think up atm.

also, if you’re curious about my coloring in general, i like impressionism and blocky coloring styles. i love traditional paintings where you can see each brushstroke and color. here’s a pinterest board of art with that kinda style that i like!

compare that to some instances of my coloring—

and you can see the influence.

i used to get so hung up on what my style was, but as i continued drawing, the development just became natural and not something i put as much thought into.

this is all just how i interpret art styles, so i hope that gave you some insight on my thought process!

[oekaki-chan]

hi clef! i love your art so much its so good and its actually one of the reasons i started drawing! your shading and anatomy is just *chef's kiss* i wanted to know if there are any artists who you look up to??

Thank you so much Anon 😭 I have LOTS of artists whose works I really admire, including hobbyist artists and professional artists, but I think my biggest inspiration in art is @runmonsterun-blog ! I think I discovered their art in 2016 (?), their art is what made me develop an interest in putting little details on my art, I also really like the lineart-heavy kind of art style they have. I even use one of their art as my laptop background for years now :]

[river-bottom-nightmare]

Nightwing #80 Review

woot woot i’ve kept it up for three issues lets gooo. i liked this issue more than the last one. there’s a lot of fanon dick characterization peppered in, but not so much that it puts me off entirely. also, i’m getting increasingly concerned about bitewing. but i did like tim in this one, very nice

look at all the blue and purple and pink. honestly at this point, i’m a broken record but come on come on come onnnnnnn. the blue and pink is very pretty though. this cover’s a bit offputting at first, and a bit spiraly, which i’m sure was the intended effect.

this is a genuine concern of mine. dick’s a vigilante, and he doesn’t have the same sprawling network and resources that bruce does. (even if he is a billionaire now, he hasn’t amassed the same collection of crime-fighting equipment that bruce has.)��

i’m not sure if he’ll be able to take care of bitewing. damian’s got plenty of pets, but alfred used to take care of them, and now bruce plus the rest of the batfam is taking care of them. as far as we know, babs only drops by occasionally, and the same goes for dick’s family and friends. will dick be able to give bitewing the love and time and affection that a traumatized puppy like her needs? i really hope so.

she does look adorable in this panel tho.

dick. richard. richie. baby. why are you shirtless.

you have scars upon scars. probably chemical burns. bullet wounds. weird fucking squiggly lines from knives that only psychos with blade fetishes use. no normal person has the body that you do. and you don’t think that showing up shirtless in front of the police is going to raise suspicion? you don’t think that the people accusing you of murder are going to look at someone who looks like they’re a fucking mob enforcer and go hmm that’s a bit suspicious?

put on a SHIRT jesus CHRIST it’s like you’re not even trying to hide your identity.

look at this pompous little princess demanding only the highest quality head pets i’d burn down latvia for her. (no offense latvians it was the first country that popped into my head.)

pretty boy pretty boy pretty boy pretty boy-

no seriously kudos to the artist here. his expression is so human i wanna cry. dick, right now, is sheepishly asking a question. he knows he’s not going to get into any real trouble, he knows that he’ll be able to talk his way out of or somehow maneuver his way off this mess. but he’ll play nice for the police, so he’s asking a friend for a favour, part self-condescendingly and part oh-well-what-can-you-do.

and his expression reflects that. rather than a stoic expressionless face most male comic characters have when asking someone for something (or all the time really), rather than the weird desperate supposedly “seductive” face that most female comic characters plus dick grayson have when asking someone for something (or all the time really), he’s making a face that i pulled like yesterday. or the day before that. it’s kind of silly, kind of casual, very much human. i like it.

thank god. proper (in character) acknowledgement for officer grayson. yea, fuck cops in general, but i like that they included this line.

obviously, he’s not talking about the actual criminals, he’s talking about the police force itself. the bpd was too corrupt, and dick realized that he wasn’t helping. not only does one clean cop not make a dent in an overall dirty force, but dick was putting his allies in danger too. not only that, but it wasn’t good for dick’s mental health either. he was spreading himself too thin, and surrounding himself with some of the worst of crime 24/7 did a number on him. dick’s got a history of self-sacrificing tendencies, and i’m just glad he’s not a cop anymore.

dick has a gotham rogues mug. they make gotham rogue mugs, and dick has one.

what kinda city looks at it’s frankly horrible crime history and long list of certifiably insane serial killers who are all still alive and actively committing war crimes and goes “oooooh yea imma put that on a coffee mug!” gotham, that’s who.

this isn’t important i just like how all of bitewing’s barks are blue

back straight, hand on his hip, cheerful smile on his face as he says he’s being accused for murder. love that for him.

they couldn’t have said “yea it’s complicated” in a better way even if they put the words “yea it’s complicated” right there on the page in bold red letters. literally all the love to the artists.

dick please. you’re KILLING ME what the actual fuck IS THAT???? WHY DO YOU HAVE A MUG OF THAT???

anyway nightwing collects novelty mugs confirmed.

this paneling is so beautiful. 

tim’s the focus, but he’s not the first thing you see. he’s placed in a way that forces the reader to drag their eyes all the way up the page in order to reach him. it us know just how high up tim is carelessly crouching, especially close to the ledge of the building too. i cannot think of a single better way to introduce a character, and this character in particular: you instantly know this is a version of tim with plenty of experience and training, is comfortable in his body and knows his limits, but still hangs onto that civilian awe of being in a high place and overlooking a brightly lit city.

absolute classic robin. i love it. 

this isn’t even that important but it made me happy. this is how you train surf.

you don’t crouch or bend over when you get to a tunnel, which is oddly enough what most people think (at least from my experience). you bend backward. that not only 100% ensures that you’ll make sure you’re low enough to make it through the tunnel (because you can see the top of the tunnel, unlike when you crouch or bend), but it also makes it easier to get up: all you have to do is push up with your arms into a bent stance, and you’ll be in a ready, moving position. from a bend or a crouch, getting up is more awkward and more slow.

on a meta level, i like that this creative team knows what they’re doing when it comes to the small, almost unimportant stuff like that, because it makes the action more real. (as real as you can get with a guy running around stealing hearts.)

on a in-universe level, it once again drives home both dick and tim’s experience and professional level skill.

regardless of who you side with in the “should tim drake be robin again?” debate, you gotta admit that tim’s rebirth robin suit is r a d as fuck. if i’m not mistaken, this is the same one he was wearing in 2019 young justice for a little bit? it’s cute and hella cool i like it.

remember what i said about human expressions? doesn’t happen as often to tim bc he’s a Child, but it’s still nice to note when someone humanizes him, too. (that’s why i love the duckboy panel so much lol.)

me, at first: that’s not a “good call” dick that’s just common sense

me, now: sprinkled throughout the entire comic we can see dick bending to tim’s instructions if only briefly, joking with him to keep the mood light while still maintaining a serious mood and retaining control over this particular outing. this implies that dick’s doing it intentionally, purposefully leaving places in his sentences blank and offering affirmations, in order to encourage tim and train him in things bruce might not necessarily touch on, such as social chameleoning and misdirection techniques and love/affirmation from a family member. dick is not only a loving and supportive big brother, but he never stops training his younger brother in better vigilante tecnhiques because he wants tim to be better than him. in this essay i will-

d o g g o

also bitewing is getting so many head pats today i’m living for it

look at him, standing on a telephone wire with ease. nice flex, dick.

also look at how he’s silhouetted. the moon’s full bright, bright enough that the sky around dick is light, too. (at least. i’m like 99% sure that’s the moon.) not like most batman comics, where it’s sometimes hard to distinguish bruce from the background, which is entirely on purpose.

gotham is a dark gritty city, and so is bruce. the two of them are one. bludhaven may be a bit of a mess, but it’s being portrayed in all these different shades of blue and purple and pink, that are all light enough that dick stands out from the background. he hasn’t been swallowed up by the city, and chances are that he won’t ever be. also, the colouring helps establish bludhaven as a city too. there’s still hope for it. the light colouring means that it’s not going to sink into a pit as deep as the one bruce wove gotham into. the whole point of this nightwing arc in particular is to turn bludhaven into a better place, and it’s (most likely) letting us know early on that dick is going to accomplish that. he’ll struggle, but he’ll do it.

so dick??? dick designed his escrima sticks with a situation like this in mind? he created his signature and most iconic weapon (other than his chatty mouth), with a built in feature that turns his escrima sticks into tim’s signature and most iconic weapon???? just so that if he and tim ever got into a situation where tim didn’t have his staff, dick could make sure tim had the thing that would give him an edge over anyone he was fighting??? he’s such a big brother oh my goddd.

also tim’s smirk in this is just *chef kiss.* a staff is something he can work with, a staff is something he wields like an extension of his arm, a staff is means that someone’s about to get their ass kicked because tim’s about to beat the shit outta them.

this is my new phone background.

they really made sure we remembered that hey, those first few months when bruce was grieving too much to be any sort of a mentor to tim and was still unwilling to properly train him to be robin out of fear that he would end up like jason, dick was the one who stepped up (once he got over himself and his own fears and hangups with bruce) and trained tim to be robin, trained him how to fight and flip and fuckin fly out there, all while changing his own style a bit to be the more experienced one in the partnership while still trusting said partner to hold their own, so dick and tim have a very unique and cohesive fighting style that makes it hell for anyone who fights them together, didn’t they?

[roll-da-credits]

Scenario: Putting Make-Up on Nekoma Boys

Characters: Kozume Kenma, Lev Haiba, Alisa Haiba cause I love her sm omfg

A/n: This was HEAVILY inspired by my desire to look feminine the way guys are just because of a tiktok video. Small warning (?) I literally do not know how to describe doing Lev’s make up, because it just looks so fucking complicated. (also can you imagine how pretty timeskip Lev would look with that makeup look??? Just god, chef’s kiss dude).  Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy my first scenario thing.

Inspo; Kenma’s, Lev’s, Alisa’s

🖤❤️🖤

Kozume Kenma

You knew putting on make-up on your boyfriend wasn’t going to be that difficult. He’s used to sitting on a chair hours on end, being unbothered by anything around him. Getting him to agree to doing it was the difficult part. This mission all started when you as Kenma’s lover got tagged repeatedly in a video where a girl was begging you to do make up on him, to complete the femboy look. Since he already wore a skirt for a tiktok trend once.

After much planning and looking for the perfect time you finally convinced him to put it as a reward for a charity stream he was doing. If the donations got to 100k he would let you put on make up on him.

“I still think this is a bad idea.” He chuckled setting up his stream. You, who was laying on his bed watching him mischievously grinned, “Why not??? 100K is a lot of money, I doubt people would donate that much.”

Oh how wrong you were. Within the first hour the donation already double that number and Kenma could only glare at you for convincing him to do it. You burst in laughter when he looked at you desperately wanting the stream to be over already. “Fine, just don’t put a full face on me.” 

You laughed and introduced yourself to the stream before going to put on his make up. You had decided to do a tiktok look where the guys are feminine the way boys are. By defining his cheekbones, giving him slightly bushier brows, deepening his eyes, and finally a bit of eyeliner. His stream went wild.

Everyone, excluding him, seems to be enjoying the entire process and the end result. His fans even begun donating more and requesting other make up looks to you.

“Babe look, someone want me to use bold colors on you. Can I do it?”

“No.”

You laughed every time he would immediately say no at your request, but you didn’t miss the slight blush that crept to his face every single time. You had a slight hunch that he actually enjoyed being dolled up. A mental reminder made it’s way to your mind to ask him after the stream if he wanted to do it more often. 

You were almost 100% sure he’d say yes. 

“Right take it off.” You ignored him and went back to your position in the background. “Y/n I swear.”

“What you don’t think I did a good job?” You decided to teased him much further. He groaned and turned his chair to face you. “I love you, I really do, but please take it off.”

Giggling, you strode to him and gave him a light peck on his forehead. 

“You look incredible, anyways, don’t you have games to play on your stream? Just take it off after.”

You walked back to the bed with a smug grin feeling like you’d won, until, “200k and I’m forcing them to go against me in any game 1v1. It’ll be funny watching them rage and get embarrassed at how bad they are. ” 

The donation bar was at 190K.

Lev Haiba

Lev was very used to using make up, not full on full faced make up but more of a touch up. He was a model after all. But his make up looks were always to make his already beautiful natural face shine even more. It was never editorial or over the top and you desperately wanted to change that.

“Babe?” You called him when he got home after working. He hummed in reply. “Would you let me put on make up on you?”

Immediately, he jumped over to your side with the biggest smile in his face, he looked like a energetic puppy. “So, yes?” You looked at him with an amused grin. In which he replied to your question nodding enthusiastically. 

Because he came home earlier than he usually do, you decided to do the make up on him right at that moment. That and because he followed you around like a lost puppy for 5 minutes straight whilst you were doing other chores, very expectant about the pretty make up you were going to put on him.

You decided to pick a bright blue eyeshadow that would not only match his dark navy suit he was wearing for a photoshoot, but also his beautiful eyes. After hours of working you were pleasantly surprised that Lev stayed still. Or at least still enough for you to work without a mess. 

He still talked here and there. Not to mention how he would sometimes look at you dead in the eyes with the most love stricken gaze. It flustered you, yet you were determined to finish the look. 

Once you were finally finished, you brought the mirror close to him and he exploded with joy. “Baby you did incredible!!! How did you do this?!?!” he didn’t stop complimenting you or admiring your work, even as you were setting up some lighting for some photos. Because even you had thought it looked too amazing to not be photographed. 

After taking some pics which was easier due to his modelling skills, you had to physically drag him to the bathroom to wash all of it off. He complained and whined to you but you still forced him to clean it, afraid he would get acne if he kept it overnight.

The next day at work though, you got a message from Lev. 

‘CONGRATS!!! You’re my new make up artist now, I won’t take no for an answer  😁’

You spammed him repeatedly asking him what he meant by that but he just left you on read.

Alisa Haiba

You already knew your girlfriend, Alisa Haiba, was a rather hopeless romantic. But you’d never expected it would’ve placed you, her lover, in this kind of situation. Currently you were in front of an already dressed Alisa ready for her shoot and you were expected to put on make up on her. 

“Love, this is too much pressure.” You looked at the array of make up tools Alisa had set up for you in a nervous wreck.

“I know you’re good at make up!! I just wanted to show your skills off to my team!” She smiled rather expectantly at you. 

With eyes like an excited kitten ready to play you couldn’t refuse. 

See it all started when you were experimenting with your own make up. Trying to do random editorial looks and so on. What you didn’t account for was your peeping girlfriend in the door frame watching your every move with sparkles in her eyes.

Her mind raced with the possibilities of the both of you working together in a set, her as your model. To her it seemed like a dream come true and a way to satisfy her imaginative mind when it came to romance. Though, you being in the situation right now, you couldn’t help but feel anxious at the eager gazes of everyone in the room. 

From the make up artists working on the other models, to the photographer. Everyone was waiting for you to make the first move, they wanted to see what Alisa’s chatter was about when she recommended you for a high end brand modeling job.

“Remind me what the theme was again?” You gulped nervously as you started racking your brain for ideas. “Angelic.” She answered.

Finally exhaling the breath you’ve been holding, you picked up a brush and began to work on her eyes. You had seen her looks in all of her modeling gigs, they used a lot of light blue to contrast with her beautiful platinum hair and bright blue eyes. So, you wanted to do something different.

Something that would most likely impress the people around you and hopefully not bring down Alisa’s reputation for recommending you. 

After you were done, you held your breath once more and stepped aside to let Alisa look at the mirror. Shockingly she squealed and jumped to crush you in a hug.

“It’s so pretty!!!” That exact moment you could feel the tension in the entire room drop immediately. 

Everyone was rather impressed by your skills and especially Alisa who begged you to be her MUA for the rest of her career. Which you declined with a wry smile, you didn’t think you could handle the crushing pressure that the stares of everyone in the room would bring every single time. 

[love-amihan]

| ʜᴏᴍᴇ | ᴊᴊᴋ | ᴀᴏᴛ | ʜǫ | ꜰɪʟᴏ | ᴛᴀɢʟɪsᴛs | ᴍɪᴍɪ |

ROSES // INUMAKI TOGE

word count: 1k+

warning: angst, implied toxic relationship, character death, mention of blood

song inspo: ang rosas by rob deniel

amihan's note: with rob deniel's new song titled 'ang rosas' i would like to create a lil' drabble with it, ahh i love his songs sm. also the mv? beautiful and nostalgic, it's just *chef's kiss* he's such an underrated artist. okay you have to bear with me, this has sudden changes of time and settings, happy reading!

side note: i’m not kidding when i tell you that i did this on roulette, from three fandoms and it chose toge two times in a row. was planning to do it as a drabble but i guess it’s a one-shot now. special thank you to my friend for beta reading and giving more ideas kith kith <33

aged-up!toge x gn!reader -modern au-

“toge, i have someone for you to meet” maki smiles at him, the man looks up at the mention of his name, busy with the device in his hand, not catching the half of her sentence. you appear from behind maki, startling toge.

his eyes widening, “l/n y/n” you simply introduce yourself, holding out a hand for him to shake. maki knew you're his type, she encourages him to do the same. toge smiles back, slowly and gently shaking your hand, “inumaki toge.”

“where’s y/n?” toge asks, peeking from maki’s doorframe, his poor friend has been hearing the same question for the nth time today. “i don’t know toge!” she whines out, pulling her phone away for a moment, “why don’t you ask them yourself?” she glares at him.

who in return, just pouts at her. he crosses his arms and shakes his head, “don’t want to.” maki sighs and bids goodbye to the person on the other line, “is it about that.. rascal?” she motions for him to come closer, toge nods at her words.

“afraid to start a new one?” she opens her arms and hugs him, stroking his hair in comfort. “y-yes,” he stutters out, recalling some of the memories. “they’re different, they will never hurt you,” toge sniffs from the crook of maki’s neck, a tear falling down his cheek, nodding again, “i know.”

toge’s cheeks hurt from smiling all day, neck in pain, and eyes strained from looking at his phone all day but it's totally worth it. he’s pulled back to reality by a smack at the back of his head. he looks up, rubbing the sore spot, smile still present.

he looks around the table, “what?” his group of friends looks at him strangely, “you’ve been on your phone all day,” yuta points out. “yeah and? i’m always on my phone,” he says while holding up the device.

“you were smiling… it’s creepy” yuji added. maki groans and sees your picture from your conversation with him, “he’s just in love, don’t mind him” she waves a hand to drop the subject. “i am not!” toge denies, looking at maki with his mouth agape.

“sure, sweetie pie” mai says while scrolling through toge’s phone. “give me that,” he snatches back his phone with a small blush. “this calls for a celebration!” yuta exclaims, smiling at his close friend.

toge tried. he really did, but he can't avoid it sometimes. it really has to happen the one time you’re away, “you’re worthless” the voice echoes in his head. toge covers his ears, tears streaming down.

“no!” he shouts to no one, rocking back and forth in the corner of the room. the voice in his head laughs at him, “oh you know it's true, no one will love you” the voice mocks him, toge shakes his head, calling out for you.

you drop the bags that were in your hand, seeing the apartment dimly lit. you rush to where his room is, sighing in relief but your heart breaks at the sight. you immediately comfort him, wiping his tears before resting his head against your chest.

his arms wrapping around you tightly, desperate for security, “shhh, i’m here, i’m here,” you repeat your words, afraid he didn’t hear it the first time. it’s been like this for months now and you will never get tired of reassuring him.

you are always there to comfort him, you want to fix his broken heart and you will do anything to have a happy healthy relationship with him. “i’ll never leave you, toge” you assure him, kissing the top of his head, which the man believes with his whole heart.

your relationship with toge is special and unique in a way, sometimes it’s like the two of you share the same mind. here you are standing in front of him with a white rose in hand, offering it to him while toge’s holding out a red rose with a silly smile.

“do we share telepathy or what?” he chuckles, accepting your rose as you did the same. you shrug, giggling at both your actions. he tucks the rose in his waistband nice and secure before looking at you, “that aside. may i have this dance?” he holds your hand, kissing the back of it.

the gentle water splashes from the cliff serve as your background noise, both your giggles filling the empty area. fresh air surrounds the two of you, wind passing by, making you shiver a little. you nod at him, “of course you may, kind sir” you reply, bowing back at him.

toge presses play from the remote, romantic melody echoes the place. his hands finding its way to your curves, he looks into your eyes lovingly. the sun setting behind you while both your hips sway with the song.

you hold one of toge’s hand up, wanting him to do a twirl. he giggles, doing as told, twirling gracefully for you. as he faces you, you present the red rose for him causing him to flush red accepting the rose he gave you.

he grips the red rose, the thorn prickling his fingers in the process making him hiss in pain. pain that made him realize your presence will no longer be near him, he looks down at your tombstone.

“you told me you’ll never leave me..” his voice cracking. he closes his eyes and looks up, tired of crying for the hundredth time.

“and i didn’t,” your voice loud and clear causing him to open his eyes and look around. “up here, sweetie pie,” he follows where your voice comes from, seeing your transparent frame.

your hand reaching out for him, “i never will.” you say with a smile. toge stretches his hand out, successfully grabbing yours, the red rose in between his and your hand, “i know.” his tear-stained cheeks stretching up to a smile.

gripping your hand, the thorn digs into the palm of his hand, prickling it for the second time. this time bringing him back to reality, blood trailing down his hand as he stares at it. he lets out a bitter laugh, “i will try, y/n” he gently lays down the rose in front of your tombstone, “that’s a promise.”

copyright © 2021 by love-amihan all rights reserved. do not repost in other platforms. reblogs are welcome and highly appreciated! <33

taglist; @foxxtrot-116 @tendo-sxtori @lumpiang-toge @chibishae34 @emeraldscloud @simplyrosesxr @kenmakeii @sushi-guro @duhsies

[grouchythefish]

sending you an Ace Attorney right back for the ask game !

for this ask game

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most)

Edgeworth. I relate to Phoenix Wright because I too, am obsessed with that fucking weirdo. He has so much fucking trauma. Everyone he meets hates one of his dads and is obsessed with the other and it's a 50/50 toss up which dad is gonna be which. He loves kids shows and doesn't want anyone to know but still keeps steel samurai merch on display in his office. He owns at least 2 homoerotic repression customized chess boards and doesn't have a fucking clue how to play chess. How could I not be obsessed with him?

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped)

Trucy. Playing AA4 forced me to confront the fact that actually I might want a kid someday.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

OK I have 2: 1 - Ema! I hate that the anime didn't have the bonus case in it because I love Ema. Everything about her in AA4 is chef's kiss. 2 - Shi-Long Lang. My headcanon for him is weird wolf girl to transguy furry pipeline. His tits are always out because he paid a lot to be able to have his tits out and he's getting his money's worth

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week)

Valerie Hawthorne honestly. Like, ok I've rewritten this like 4 times to try and keep it short and that tells you everything you need to know. imo we never really get the full true story of her death and what really happened with the fake kidnapping plot since the second trial gets interrupted. I'm so interested in her relationship with Dahlia and also their parents. Like, why she went along with the plan in the first place, what made her decide to come clean. I think about it a lot.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)

Sigh. It's Larry. Listen. His dating history aside I just find him very relatable as a fellow artist who seems to have a different job every few months and is always finding himself in weird situations unintentionally. I think he and I are both genuinely just here for a laugh.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

Klavier. Firstly, I think it's fun to see his unfazeable rock star act get cracked. Secondly, I just wish there was more of him after AA4.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

Look, ok, people are going to hate me for this but Athena. She commits medical malpractice in court every day by calling what she does to people "therapy" and also forcibly outed someone's gender in front of an audience. Playing as her gives me brainfreeze.

[miyacchis]

Notes from a Con Man - Musical Great Pretender Stage Report Act 1

This is a bit extremely rambly, but I want to give some description of the distinguishing features of the staged version of Great Pretender as compared to the anime, although my plan is not to give a complete recap of the plot, as I’m sure anyone who is choosing to read this has watched the anime - or so I assume, but you know you do you. I try to control myself and keep it just to what is relevant, but I’m also a wordy bitch and that will never change, so, reader beware, I guess.

 The stage is set up with three levels (the stage level, the second floor, and the third floor where the band is). Both the stage level and second floor have a couple of rooms that can be pulled out or opened, and backgrounds are projected onto the set to create different settings. With the exception of the opening theme, which is taken from the anime, all of the music is live, and there’s very good interplay between the band and the performers, and I don’t know if I’d ever been to another show that felt so vibrant/alive/idk?

First, the biggest change made for the sake of clear storytelling on the stage is the addition of a framing device: the plot is conveyed to the audience through Edamura’s (Miyata Toshiya) narration as he tells his story to a prosecutor after the events of LA Connection. The play opens where LA Connection ends with Edamura being questioned at a police station, where it’s clear that he has been attempting for hours to convince detectives to believe the team-confidence-wild-and-wacky-adventures ™  explanation as to how he came to be in possession of a bag stuffed with foreign currency. Detectives are fed up with him and ready to go berniewiththesteelchair.jpeg on his ass. Enter Kitaoji (Kato Ryo), an elite prosecutor who seems to be on track to become attorney general, although it is unclear to those at the police station why he would take interest in Edamura’s case. 

Edamura is initially reluctant to open up to Kitaoji (Kato Ryo), certain that he won’t be believed, but after Kitaoji quotes from Shakunetsu (side note: I had no idea that in English Shakunetsu was turned into Die Hot which is an absolutely incredible pun and I really commend the translator), Edamura thinks Kitaoji might be just the person to believe him and help him to make amends to all those he had harmed through his life of fraud. Kitaoji encourages Edamura to start at the beginning and goes to eat a piece of candy, prompting Edamura to question, “What would you do if this simple piece of candy was sold for $5 million?” at which point he begins telling his story, transporting us first to a club in Hollywood where we are introduced to the plot with Sakura Magic and, more importantly, Laurent (Miya Rurika, goddess, dressed devastatingly in green), who is identified in quick succession as a French trader, an arrogant Don Juan, and the “bastard who got me into this mess.” 

Edamura bumbles through Laurent’s plot to build hype and clinch a deal with Cassano (Otani Ryosuke) by having Abby (Yamamoto Chihiro) “test” the “drug,” while giving small asides to Kitaoji to explain the main players and reveal to him that this is all a con job, but when Edamura is called to sign the contract to supply Cassano with the drug for $5 million, he flips out, pulls Salazar’s (Mikami Ichiro) gun, and flees the club, without the excuse of believing that he had taken drugs as he did in the anime. It is also not at this point that Edamura makes the connection between Laurent and Kudo and realizes that he’s been set up (Miyata!Edamura is overall a bit less perceptive than Kobayashi!Edamura, as we shall see, although I think this was a function of simplifying aspects of the characters’ interactions for the sake of clarity for the stage). 

Kitaoji pops in and out of the story from this point, donning different costumes (an unhoused person, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Razzie from the Shakunetsu series, etc.) to illustrate different aspects of the main characters’ conversations, and he serves as a way to get into Edamame’s head, allowing him to express what he is thinking and feeling as events in the story play out. It is in the metanarrative that we get some of these more comedic scenes, as well as additional insight into Edamura’s character as he grapples with his own identity as a scam artist and the son of a child trafficker.

After escaping Cassano’s henchmen outside the club, Edamura rejoins Kitaoji to ask if he’s following the story so far, which of course he is not (lol), so Edamura dives into how he met Laurent and came to be in LA. From here we flashback three days, joining Edamura and Kudo (Fukumoto Shinichi) in Asakusa as they spy Laurent as a potential mark. Edamura pulls the wallet-switch trick, and this scene generally follows the anime, although parts, such as the scenes showing Edamura selling water filters and Edamura and Kudo being raided by what seems to be the police, have been cut. After realizing that Laurent pickpocketed him and saw through his grift, Edamura quickly follows and catches him as he is about to depart in a cab to the airport. Just a moment to talk about this cab because it was such a cute, clever idea; it was really just a little push car driven by one of the supporting cast, and it can be disconnected in the middle, so as the driver pulls off, the back seat can be left behind, allowing the audience to watch Laurent and Edamura’s conversation as they are taken to the airport. 

Similarly to the anime, the successive scenes are nominally delivered in English, so Edamura switches to a dialect of Japanese to represent his accented English, which I mention only because Miyata discussed Edamura’s code switching with Kobayashi (Edamura’s Japanese voice actor) in an interview in vol. 51 of Stage Square and how he was concerned that he might confuse Standard Japanese and the dialect during scenes where he has to go back and forth quickly. Kobayashi reassured him that as he got into the character of Edamura Miyata would naturally fall into dialect whenever speaking to Laurent and Abby, and I’m very biased, buuuttttt throughout the run of the show, Miyata performed this beautifully, and as someone who for several years lived in the Tohoku region, the dialect of which Edamura’s accent reminded me of, his accent made me really nostalgic. 

Anywayyyyyy

After Laurent and Edamura bet on the outcome of Laurent’s upcoming “business negotiations” and it’s agreed that they will travel to LA together, the opening theme plays, the main cast is introduced, with Edamura running up and down the set to give a sense of action, the title in massive letters is lowered onto the stage, and we rejoin the main plot with Edamura trying to elude Cassano’s gang on the streets of LA by hiding behind the title. The supporting cast gives us some great background color as like random people in LA, like we’ve got some girls with Starbucks cups, some people breakdancing while simultaneously mugging a Dodgers fan, a skateboarder shouting “STREET”...for some reason. Perfect encapsulation of America *chef’s kiss*

Laurent finds Edamura and tells him to come home because he’s a good boy (😳), and Edamura is then introduced to Abby who, just as in the anime, kicks and knocks him out, after which they collect him and take him to an upscale hotel where Cynthia/Paula Dickens (Senna Ayase) is performing as a jazz singer. Laurent greets her briefly, but we don’t properly get introduced to her character until a later, very frustrating scene, but I’m not going to get started on that yet (it’s not her that’s frustrating, but it’s how they chose to have her and Edamura meet, but anyway we’ll get there). She sings “Summertime,” and it’s a lovely performance; all of her acting choices are very clearly informed by her experience in Takarazuka - she has these really dynamic, almost over-the-top movements and she uses that to her advantage to be one of the more comedic actors - and it’s really entertaining to watch.

Laurent orders them drinks; Edamura has something pink in a little martini glass, and he splutters when he tries to take a sip because he can’t handle his alcohol, which makes Laurent laugh, giving a lot of credence to Laurent’s statement soon after that he derives a lot of pleasure out of toying with naive boys like Edamura who pretend to be tougher than they really are. There’s also some funny adlib with Abby at this point where she gets brought different plates of food like fake fruit on one day and a tower of donuts on another. Laurent explains who Cassano is and the plan to defraud him and gives Edamura a notebook with a fabricated recipe for Sakura Magic, so the notebook is not part of what Edamura prepares himself when he goes later to get himself captured by Cassano to negotiate with him. Edamura has a couple of outbursts accusing Laurent and Abby of putting on airs, pretending to be carrying out justice, repeatedly interrupting the band who give him dirty looks and Shi-won, dressed as one of the saxophonists, loudly blows the saxophone back at him, and this prompts Laurent to be like nah we’re getting too much attention here let’s continue this back at the hotel. 

The hotel scene is fairly similar to the anime, but once Edamura is left alone, we get the first instance of him thinking about his family as he reflect on what Laurent had to say about how people don’t always believe the truth that is in front of them as they would rather believe whatever is most convenient. He flashes back to his family going home together after his father finished a case (the hotel room is on the second floor with his mom and dad entering on the stage level; the younger version of Edamura is done in voice over), and of course they seem like a happy family, although it’s interesting that what his dad has to say about ethics was cut from the script. The scene focuses more on Edamura idolizing his father as a great lawyer.

Okay, so we’ve finally come to the scene I absolutely hated and did not think was necessary, after Edamura leaves the hotel room. He is approached by three unhoused persons, one of whom he at first thinks is Kitaoji coming to interrupt the narrative again, but he soon realizes that they are “real homeless.” It was really just a disgusting, cruel stereotype; one of them is playing with a rat they found, another is acting like a junkie, and the ringleader is trying to get money off of him because they haven’t eaten in three days and then they steal his little Toyotomi Hideyoshi figurine and play keepaway with it and don’t stop until Cynthia/Paula Dickens (at this point she’s Paula tho so I’m going to refer to her that way) enters and is like knock it off. So that’s how they meet. Cool. They could easily have come up with something else and they just didn’t.

But, anyway, since he got his figurine back, he explains to Paula that his hobby is collecting capsule toys, and during his explanation, a gacha machine is projected up on the stage, out of which comes Kitaoji dressed as Toyotomi, followed by a bunch of other figures from Japanese history. This part always got a pretty good laugh out of the audience, and I think it was a pretty cute way to stage it. Paula insists they go to dinner together, so she can hear more about Toyotomi, and the capsule toy figurines all follow to a diner (serving “breadfast” 24hrs lol) where Shi-won is dressed as someone named Ricardo. The figurines all start to get drunk, while “Ricardo” fixes Edamura and Paula some tacos; meanwhile Edamura explains that Toyotomi began as a simple peasant, but because of his hard work and study, he was able to climb all the way to the top and unite all of Japan as a powerful lord. 

Edamura asks why she decided to help him before and he despairs that he must seem like a beaten dog, but she explains that while she might seem confident, she faces tremendous anxiety getting on stage every day, particularly as she wants to make it big as a performer but can’t expect to get the attention of a label just because she can sing a bit. (In the background, Francis Xavier is completely sloshed and ends up drinking with Ricardo) Edamura suggests that she take inspiration from Toyotomi as someone who was able to trick even his enemies into working with him and represent herself as someone more important than she is to get music producers onto her side. She seems fired up by this proposal, and she says that she’ll follow the example of Toyotomi, “Japan’s best confidence man,” which gives Edamura his own motivation to get back to trying to win the bet with Laurent. He asks Paula to wish him good luck and runs off, and we get the first dance scene with Edamura and a number of samurai as he builds up to confronting Cassano. The scene ends with him running into a video shop, presumably to rent Cassano’s movies.

Laurent and Abby are called to Cassano’s mansion - they argue if Edamura is capable of pulling off a job like this, although Laurent insists that he has a natural talent - but they are certain that he must be dead when they hear from Salazar that Edamura was taken into their custody at the airport trying to run. However, Edamura bursts onto the scene, dressed in a new Hawaiian shirt, and at this point, Miyata looks as though he has been in a swimming pool, but it’s just sweat lmao. Cassano informs them that he’s made a new deal with Edamura for $10 million, and when they ask how, we get a flashback showing how he got onto Cassano’s good side by praising Shakunetsu with Kitaoji, as Razzie, acting out scenes from the Shakunetsu movies on the second floor of the stage. Whenever Cassano hugs Edamura in these scenes, it was really funny because his jacket would get just absolutely covered in Miyata’s sweat just ugh gross lol 

Cassano’s accountant joins them and they play out the whole bit about confirming Edamura’s credentials as a pharmaceutical scientist, at which point Edamura finally realizes that Kudo is working with Laurent, when he calls Kudo to thank him for deceiving Cassano’s attorneys. After Cassano has confirmed Edamura’s identity, he takes the crew to his factory and insists that Edamura make Sakura Magic for them right there and then so that they can be sure to properly replicate his recipe. She does this the whole play, but particularly during this scene, you can really see how well Miya Rurika portrays Laurent as always calm and and in control before Edamura but as quietly losing his shit whenever he feels like they’ve been backed into a corner, and we also get some very cute like Laurent clearly being exasperated with Edamura but the two of them starting to be able to play off one another as they convince Cassano that the factory isn’t up to snuff for making Sakura Magic. 

They have to clear out because they hear someone coming, but Cassano promises that he will build a new laboratory for Edamura and entrusts his care to Salazar. The police bust in after everyone has left; Anderson does the absolute most to show off to everyone that he’s properly securing the scene, but he’s clearly relieved that Cassano slipped through their fingers once again oh my how does this keep happening oh well better luck next time. We get a proper introduction to Paula and Shi-won as members of the FBI who have come to investigate Laurent and his organization (Paula has changed into this beautifully tailored brown tweed pantsuit and she pulls it off so well), and Paula threatens to expose Anderson’s connections to Cassano if he doesn’t follow her lead.

After the scene in the factory, we return to the present in the interrogation room with Kitaoji and Edamura. Detectives bring Kitaoji additional files on Edamura, asking if the prosecutor has heard of the attorney Ozaki. They inform him that Edamura is Ozaki’s son, and Kitaoji is a bit shocked; he leaves, saying that he will review the files. The detectives collect the money before exiting the room, but not without getting in a dig at Edamura, telling him that he clearly takes after his father. Edamura is stricken by this statement, and the act ends with Edamura battling with this internal conflict. 

I don’t think anyone would want to read all of this, but if you have, thank you so much. I hope some of it at least was interesting or informative. I’m going to end there for now, as I’ve already gone on for too long, and I’ll finish writing up the second act in another post.

[causticsunshine]

writing goals for 2022

i was tagged by @princelyharry @thestylinsons and @loveislarryislove to share my writing goals for 2022—ty guys!!

1. first, foremost, and most importantly—i just want to get more things finished. i have such awful perfectionist tendencies on top of 'combined' ADHD i'm still learning to better control, so i'm always turning simple ideas into big projects because they have to be perfect, as well as constantly skipping around between things because my attention span is practically non-existent, so everything i do takes forever to finish when most of them...just shouldn't. 2022 please bring me some sense of accomplishment i beg of you

2. to stop being so pre-occupied with being repetitive in themes. the more i've been writing the more aggressive this nasty habit i've picked up has gotten, said habit being: viewing wanting to use my favorite tropes to write in several different pieces as me just being unimaginative and unoriginal rather than merely having things i like to do? with drawing it's much easier for me to sit down and scribble something selfish or draw the same people, characters, themes in slightly different ways over a long period of time without feeling that way, but for some reason with writing i either stonewall myself by 'if i don't get to write x i'm not writing at all' or even trying to pick up ideas i'm not super into just to try something different and then being unhappy with a project and constantly rewriting it because it's not something i'm wholly committed to

3. i already kind of met this goal by battling my fear exchanges and fests by signing up for subrry FF, but i also already signed up for two more fic fests due this year and will have fics coming in february and april and i'm really excited about them!

i'm still formulating a proper idea for the fic coming in spring, so rn i'm primarily working on a momrry fic with artist harry and writer louis wanting to become parents! it's lightly adapted—i.e. just the background info + details—from an art school AU i ended up scrapping this summer, and honestly so far i'm feeling very *chef's kiss* about it. harry is also trans + gender nonconforming in the story and there's a lot of talk around past dysphoria and a long journey to self discovery, as well as well-deserved gender euphoria, and ofc momrry because who would i be if it didn't live up to my name??

it's also a story very near and dear to my heart and i've kind of been using it as catharsis for a lot of complicated feelings i've held onto as someone who often experiences dysphoria, but also wants to have their own children. i really hope you guys will like it <3

4. mmm i want to get more comfortable talking to other writers....

i'm very shy when it comes to talking to new people online anyway as well as being kind of withdrawn with my process now due to some Bad past experiences, so i'm still pretty hesitant to talk continually or in-depth about fic planning, taking on others' prompts, both giving and taking advice, etc. i think i've become really used to doing my thing alone as both an artist and writer and dabbler in many other mediums for the same reason—not great past experiences. and: the first like, six months or so i came back to the community, most all friends i made and have kept either aren't active creators, or are strictly active audience members here to talk and consume media—and that's been the story a lot of the time for me—so i've become kind of like...used to not being able to properly talk shop with people i'm already comfortable talking to, as they often don't completely understand feelings or issues i may have with art or writing.

i want to get better about that though! whether it's on here or discord or otherwise, i really want to get more comfortable talking to other writers + the like about things we all do instead of awkwardly putting something out there when everyone's offline and then worrying about how i come off or sound.

5. come up with better replies to nice comments and feedback than yelling thank you and putting some form of heart emoji in afterwards. i'm really bad at accepting compliments so anything from a simple 'loved this!' to dissertation-level compliments makes me a little emo, and i want to get better at expressing my gratitude for kind feedback on my work.

tagging @hershelsue @dryourtearsaway @ialwaysknewyouwerepunk @thedevilinmybrain @larrysballetslippers @polaroidlouis @non-binharry and anyone else that i might've missed and who would like to do this!

[whyqueerbaitingisbad]

movies & shows

cracks knuckles* alright this is going to be more of a rant than an analysis because i’m basing this on both my research, but also how it felt to personally be baited by these shows. there are obviously more pieces of bad (almost every horror movie) and good ones but these are the ones i’ve watched.

please keep in mind that i am but one queer and everyone has different opinions.

Supernatural (CW) 2005

This show is 15 years old and just ended. From season 5 till 15, there has been tension between two of the lead characters. They were constantly shipped together and not only did the entire fandom know about this ship but so did almost all of Tumblr. On top of that, the actors and show runners knew about it as well. Which is why it makes it ridiculous that it was constantly pushed aside while the romantic coding  kept happening, even after show runners dismissed it as being intentional. The Destiel (Dean x Cas) case has been going on for years, and as the show came to its end, many fans had hope. But N O P E. Instead, we got a love confession from Cas where Dean looked like he was near constipated and the Cas was killed and sent into a fiery place that was not hell but s u p e r  h e l l.

… w hy.

Sherlock (BBC) 2010

Just like Supernatural, this show was renown on Tumblr for not only how good it was, but its hinting at a potential relationship between Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. But again, like Supernatural, the intentional tension between the two characters was denied by producers. This caused an uproar within the fandom, and even left some people believing that, after the last season aired, it had been a joke and the producers were hiding a “secret, unaired season” because they had felt so robbed by this show that had implied something and denied it.

The 100 (CW) 2014

We got lesbians. We got background gays. We were happy. Then, all of a sudden, one of them is killed for no reason. Did it advance the plot? No. Was she fighting and died in battle? lol no. She was doing literally nothing and got shot and died. And then the producers kept bringing her back once a season in the form of a ghost or illusion because why? Because she was a fan favourite queer character. ✨bury your gays and sparingly bring them back for profit anyone?✨

Voltron: Legendary Defender (Netflix) 2016

*deep breathe* This one is a special disaster. Not only was there romantic tension and romantically coded scenes for 7 seasons, but producers, voice actors and artists working on the show repeatedly said “don’t worry klance (Keith x Lance) shippers, you’ll be happy”

. … w h e r e??? You code one of their scenes with a sunset in the background while they talk about love and then one of them goes on a date with someone who has declined his advances for 7 seasons but now in season 8 decides to do a full 180. Not only that, but you announce at a Comic Con (a convention) that a character is gay and has a fiancé, only to kill off the fiancé and never make it explicit in the show except at the last second of the last episode where he marries a no name character. 

Personally, i’d like to say a big fuck you to the show that strung me along for 2 years and never stopped saying we’d be happy to then pull the rug out from under us and call us crazy for thinking anything from the past 8 seasons was intentional.

Scooby-Doo (2002) 

While not being outwardly queerbaiting, this movie’s filmmaker has just revealed some shocking news, which wasn’t at all shocking to the gays who had watched this movie over the years. In July of 2020, James Gunn, the filmmaker of Scooby-Doo, revealed in a podcast that, initially, Velma was explicitly gay in his script, but then the studio watered it down until it became nothing. This isn’t an example of baiting as much as it is changing a character’s initial design to “better fit an audience”. The worst part of all this is that with Velma’s character having been written with a l i t t l e queer subtext, people had been theorizing about if since the movie came out, but were always yelled at by the internet for “imagining something that isn’t there”. But now, even with it being said that the initial point was for her to be gay, people have no objections to still refusing to accept it. Why?? So we can’t get the subtext gays OR the confirmed gays?? Make it make sense.

Brooklyn 99 (NBC) 2013

To have the queer characters firstly introduced without mentioning their sexualities and have it brought up naturally was so goddamn nice to see, because no one does a big deal about it unless they ask for that. This show is amazing in general but the way they show their queer characters is *chefs kiss*.

She-ra and the Princesses of Power (Netflix) 2018

This. Show. My heart SOARS. It's just a remake of an old show so absolutely nothing was ever expected, but then it was sprinkled in and ENDED WITH A BANG. And it was so beautiful and real to see the struggle of two friends who care for each other and want to be together but have different visions of the world fall in love. And they also had characters with disabilities, a non-binary character and jUST SUCH A GOOD SHOW.

Kipo and The Age of Wonderbeasts (Netflix) 2020

This is a case where you go into it not expecting anything and are BLOWN AWAY by the bare minimum. And not because it’s bad!! It's mind blowing because this is the simple representation we need!! Not something over the top, but an every day relationship. It’s just two boys falling in love and going on dates and being nervous around each other, yet i was so stunned. Because it’s not shown enough. I should not be this excited over something that should be this normal. 10/10 though this show is so good for all kinds of representation.

Steven Universe (Cartoon Network) 2013

This show did so much for queer representation with its general message of loving everyone and loving who you want. Especially since it was aired on Cartoon Network, a channel for kids, it was able to help normalize something so looked down upon in some circles. It made it easy to watch for s o m e people because it's a cartoon but it's so beautiful to see these ladies so in love with each other, both platonically and romantically and we see them have a family dynamic that isn’t a “nuclear family”. Rebecca Sugar (creator) really said “lemme just break all stereotypes real quick”.

Adventure Time (Cartoon Network) 2010

It's the “knowing a fanbase shipped something so hard that the creators made it canon” for me. This relationship had been theorized by fans for years, but it had never been explicit in the show. When the finale episode came out and the two shared a kiss, it was a moment of celebration. The producer of the show said that it had not really been planned but when the episode was being made, the choice of what happened was given to one of the artists (bless your soul Hanna K. Nyströmthe). And as the show releases little bonus episodes, its latest was centered around Marceline and Bubblegum and their relationship. AND WE LOVE TO SEE OUR DOMESTIC LESBIANS BEING HAPPY AND IN LOVE.

Yuri on Ice!!! (anime) 2016

The fact that an A N I M E gave us a love story between two men is mind boggling and it makes me so happy!! Especially because it's a Japanese show and they’re very conservative about these things just makes it more emotional. The creators said they wanted to make the anime take place in a world where gay/straight isn’t a thing, it’s just love (ladies, you’re going to make me cry). So as the weekly episodes came out and fans start speculating, THEY GAVE US THE LAST FEW EPISODES FULL OF ROMANCE AND EMOTIONAL SCENES BETWEEN THE TWO AND THEN THEY GET R I N GS?!???!! You watch for the figure skating, you stay for the figure skaters that are in love.

Shadowhunters (Freeform) 2016

*insert me being frustrated that the actors are straight so we can move on from that disappointment*

This show really said “let’s name a whole episode after this couple because they deserve it”. But seriously, they gave us two characters whose entire plot does not center around their sexualities while still showing us the differences in a relationship between someone experienced and someone new at this. They were both powerful and amazing characters apart from each other, with their own story lines and goals but they loved each other so much omgs. SO MUCH. 

It was so great to watch.

Love, Simon (2018) 

There’s a lot of disagreement on whether this movie is good representation or not. However, we need to take into consideration that this was Hollywood’s first movie with a main character that was gay, where the story’s focus was on Simon’s love story. The biggest problem, for me at least, was that the actor playing Simon is a straight man and not queer. My problem is not with him, but the fact that there are other actors that are gay and that could have played Simon just as well. (the love interested was however played by a queer actor so ✨progress✨)

All in all, this movie does represent what a lot of queer kids have to go through: being outed at school, how they then come out, the bullying and doubt they go through.

The book is also really good.

Call Me By Your Name (2018)

This movie is so aesthetically pleasing and was able to capture the confusion and heartbreak felt by a boy who’s struggling with his own feelings towards a man. His inner conflict and joy and l o v e he feels but doesn’t know how to deal with is so well communicated through the screen and just breaks your heart because it feels so real.

But again, they could’ve gotten gay actors to play gay characters…

through having this list here, i want to show you that it’s not hard for creators to give good queer representation. the LGBTQ+ community isn’t asking for much, we just want to be well represented on screen as just a regular character, not some token queer kid there for the diversity points. having been exposed to so much queerbaiting and just not seeing any representation on screen, i always get over-excited when i see a queer character, and that’s not how it should be. it should be a normal thing, something you can find in most pieces of media, just like there’s a straight white cisgender person in everything.

and they seriously need to start casting queer actors for queer characters...