#And getting to see the members' personalities in clips shows and stuff be the complete opposite of their image is really nice

[voxina]

Jade Thirlwall was only 14 when she first presented herself for judgement. She put on her best leopard-print headband and bravely sang some of Whitney Houston’s ‘Where Do Broken Hearts Go’ in front of the X Factor panel. “You’re a funny little thing, aren’t you,” remarked an amused Simon Cowell, like a cat playing with its food. Louis Walsh then jumped in with: “Unusual!” In response, Thirlwall thanked them with an unwieldy grin. 

For this tiny singer, it would be a case of third time lucky. After being put through to boot camp twice, she auditioned again at the age of 18, now wearing leopard-print trousers. Judge Kelly Rowland told the naturally shy teenager she’d be good in a girl group, an idea that Thirlwall was completely unimpressed with. She was resolute about being a solo artist and an unusual one at that.  

Rowland, of Destiny’s Child fame, had correctly identified herself in Thirlwall. That season of the show, Thirlwall was placed in what would become the second biggest-selling UK girl group of all time, Little Mix. Their accolades could fill an infinite scrolling Wiki page. They were a well-oiled commercial pop machine amassing billions of streams with hits like ‘Black Magic’ and ‘Shout Out to My Ex’ while touring stadiums until they went on hiatus in 2022. “I didn’t see myself as a conventional girl’s girl. I was nerdy and quiet. When they told me I was gonna be put in a girl group, I automatically thought of Pussycat Dolls,” she laughs. “I thought, ‘Oh no, I’m not sexy — and if they’re bitchy, I’ll struggle because I’m not confrontational at all. I shrink at any drama.’ But it turned out to be the best thing to ever happen to me for my confidence and understanding of sisterhood.”

Tonight, I’m sharing wine with her at a table in Shoreditch House to discuss the fact that Thirlwall finally has what she wanted: she is the solo pop star she always dreamed of being. “I’m a bit of a dark horse,” the Rolling Stone UK Trailblazer Award winner tells me. “I’ll try anything once. I don’t see myself as a safe person creatively and I am a bit strange. All my life I’ve been told I’m weird.” Her bandmates and friends saw it, her boyfriend, Rizzle Kicks singer Jordan Stephens, saw it, Cowell clocked it after only minutes in her company, and now the rest of the world gets to see it.  

Outwardly, she didn’t seem like the biggest personality in the band, but behind the scenes, Thirlwall had been the creative driving force and business mind. For her solo project, that incisive playfulness is fully on display. From the horror-influenced visuals to the Drag Race inspiration, Thirlwall — whose solo artist name is JADE — is more aligned with Charli XCX than Little Mix. On the addictive lead single, ‘Angel of My Dreams’, she switches between a Y2K sound, hyperpop and a nostalgic girl band chorus gone wonky to tell a story about the dark side of the music industry, a theme that is repeated across her presently untitled debut album. It’s smart and entirely unexpected.  

In person, Thirlwall has the same excitable offbeat energy she had as a 14-year-old in her first audition. She’s like a conspiratorial friend primed for gossip exchange: she directs me to a clip that circulated from a Little Mix interview where fans thought she was on cocaine because she was pulling odd faces. “People don’t believe me even now,” she laughs, pausing to sip on her rosé. There were bad moments and dramas when she was in the group, of course, but she’s prepared for the same to happen in her solo career. “I’m never going to discredit what we achieved. I don’t have anything bad to say about it, so I wouldn’t stir anything up, just to look cool,” she laughs again. 

The group’s young fanbase has matured with its members. Thirlwall doesn’t see it as her responsibility to appease them or tell them what they should and shouldn’t do. “I’m 31 years old, I’m gonna write about stuff I experience, my merchandise will reflect that, you know what I mean?” One such recent merchandise bundle includes sex aids. The other day, while recording with Sugababes, she told them what’s included in the package and had to explain to Keisha Buchanan what a butt plug is, much to her amusement. This is an older and wiser Jade Thirlwall having even more fun.

Thirlwall grew up in a household of eclectic tastes in South Shields, a seaside town near Newcastle. Her mother was a Motown fan who looked like Diana Ross, while her dad listened to 80s power ballads and VH1 classics. Her big brother — who she aspired to be like as every younger sibling does — was deeply into the happy hardcore-clubland classics era of the 90s and 00s. It was a happy childhood, in part due to the fact that there’s a strong Yemeni community in South Shields (Thirlwall is half Arab: one-quarter Yemeni, one-quarter Egyptian). “I have a lot of memories of my grandad cooking curries or waiting for him outside the mosque,” she remembers. “I listened to his prayer and Arabic music, too.” It wasn’t until she went to a Catholic secondary school, where she felt alienated, that she began to struggle with racist remarks and her feelings of anxiety. She was bullied by other girls, hence her initial reservations about being in a girl band. 

While she was in Little Mix, she didn’t understand that she could have spoken out more about her race. “I’d only ever seen negative stereotypes of Arab people in the press, so I was scared to promote my heritage,” she says. “I feel sad for my younger self that I could’ve been the representation I needed back then. I try to make up for that now.” Thirlwall has been outspoken about issues close to her heart. Whether it was attending Black Lives Matter protests and pro-Palestine rallies or becoming an LGBTQ+ rights ambassador for the UK charity Stonewall, she stands out among many of her peers for her political verve. 

Each of the girls knew a year ahead that Little Mix were disbanding, so they individually spent that period preparing in the studio. “It took me a long time to figure out how to not write a Little Mix song because that’s all I’d done for a decade,” admits Thirlwall. Panicked about the idea of having so much stillness after the group, she made an abundance of music in a bid to find her sound as soon as possible. This became an advantage: so sure of what she wanted to do, Thirlwall was able to approach potential labels with a fully formed vision. After signing with RCA of Sony, they assured her she could take her time to release her solo music, which came as a surprise: in the pop world, two and a half years is a long time to disappear. “In hindsight, I was freaking out about existing without the group and thought I had to jump on the hype of us just disbanding. If I’d released then, I would’ve been anxious and have put so much pressure on myself to be as big as [Little Mix] was.”

[...]

If Thirlwall was in charge of the music industry, it’d look different. Sure, it’s improving for artists because social media means “you can’t get away with as much bad shit”, but there’s some way to go. When I ask her how she’d change it, she sits up in a businesslike manner and adopts an Elle Woods from Legally Blonde tone. Before she’ll answer that, she’ll take me back to the nagging feeling she had that something wasn’t right with Little Mix. The four girls were presented with different contracts and told who their team was, and she didn’t feel she had a choice. 

To all intents and purposes, Thirlwall and her fellow Little Mix band members were child stars. She agrees with this assessment. “I almost think you shouldn’t be allowed to be a star until you’re 18. I’m so glad I was turned away and didn’t get put in Little Mix until I was 18 — and even then, I feel like that was too young,” she says. 

Previous X Factor winner and South Shields born-and-bred Joe McElderry had warned Thirlwall of his negative experiences in the industry. “I remember him saying make sure your mum’s there when you’re doing all these important signings. But I was too young to understand what he meant, and I made the same mistakes as him.”  

It wasn’t until halfway into their career that the young women looked around and wondered who that person in the room being paid to be there was or why their peers and friends were making more money than them. Thirlwall and bandmate Leigh-Anne Pinnock helped to write the Little Mix music but weren’t signed into a publishing deal until 2019. Unfortunately, it was a “really shit deal” that they were stuck in but at least she was finally recognised as a songwriter, financially speaking. (For her solo career, she has not signed a publishing deal because she now finds it hard to trust the entire framework.)  

If she were queen of the industry, her first decree would be to introduce a comprehensive course that artists take as soon as they’re signed by a label (if not sooner), that teaches them what a label deal is, how royalties work and how they make their money. That would prevent the type of situation that Little Mix got into when they were first signed. “When you come from a working-class background, you get your advance and think you’ve made it, but you have to recoup everything back. You’re getting all these lavish cars and making them wait for ages, but you’re footing that bill eventually,” she laughs drily. She would also introduce the sort of mental health care she’s managed to negotiate as a solo artist with her new label: a substantial pot of money that she can use if she needs therapy. 

The topic of mental health brings the conversation round to Liam Payne, the One Direction member who tragically died in an accident while under the influence of drugs in October. He was Thirlwall’s peer — the only X Factor pop group to outperform Little Mix by any metric was One Direction, with the two groups frequently spoken about in the same breath — and was once her friend. They both had their first auditions during the same series, aged 14. The pair returned a second time: Liam went through to the finals and was placed into One Direction while Thirlwall was sent home. Payne was encouraging of Thirlwall and told her she had to keep trying X Factor. She was then put in a group on a later series. They fell out of touch over the years, but she was naturally upset to hear of the news for both him and for his family — their mothers are still friends.   

“When the news broke out, it did shake me up because we’d started the same, but we’d ended up on very different paths. We both wanted to make it so much and sometimes that is a blessing and a curse to get what you’ve dreamed of. It’s unbelievably tragic,” she says of Payne’s death.  

Just hours after it was reported that Payne had died, Thirlwall was due to start a heavy day of promo for her single ‘Fantasy’. She cancelled it as she didn’t feel like she was the right person to be fielding questions about his passing so soon after it happened. After all, she hadn’t been close to Payne over the past several years. “All I can speak of is who I knew he was when we were kids, and he was someone that wanted to make his family proud,” she reflects. “He wanted to be a singer more than anyone I knew.”

[Full article here]

[brucebocchi]

Ranking 2024 anime, Pt. 3: #30-21

hey, this post is also available on my ko-fi, so please check it out and consider tipping/donating as i do this for free and am currently between jobs. you can find part 1 of the list here and part 2 here. thanks!

We're chugging along. I'd say we're finally getting to the good stuff, and there is plenty of good at this point in the countdown, but I also just really like complaining.

Let's get it.

30. KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!, season 3

I have a tendency to refer to the more brainless and/or trashy anime I watch as “junk food.” You know the kind; the ones that don’t really add anything to your life and don’t stand up to the more fulfilling series, but still get the job done when you go into autopilot. I’ve found that, as a habitual (non-metaphorical) snacker, I tend to just reach for something when I’m bored so I have something to do. And looking at it objectively, I don’t tend to enjoy myself while doing it and I usually don’t feel good afterwards.

I feel much the same way about watching KonoSuba.

Not that I think it’s ontologically evil or anything, but KonoSuba often has just as much going against it as it does working in its favor. For every joke that hits, and some of them absolutely do hit, there’s another that makes me question why I’m even watching it. I’m not against dark or even occasionally offensive humor; I adore It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a show to which KonoSuba often draws comparisons. The issue is that, at its worst, KonoSuba defaults to either “this person is a pervert,” “this person is a pedophile,” or “this man got sexually assaulted.” My issue isn’t with the subject matter so much as the fact that they rarely rise above the level of base shock value and that they keep happening like that. It almost feels perfunctory, like the writers had quotas to meet.

It’s not all bad, though. Even having only gotten into KonoSuba in early 2023, I still found myself lamenting its hiatus, and An Explosion on This Magical World somehow only made the heart grow fonder for the party members that weren’t Megumin. I appreciate that Darkness plays a pivotal role in the third season, because Darkness is hilarious and terrific. This season had a couple of the best jokes and goofy facials in the series. 

Overall, it’s a bit of a wash, but I can’t be too upset. It’s more KonoSuba, and it’s reached the point where that’s practically a value-neutral statement.

29. Wistoria: Wand and Sword

I don’t really have much new to say about Wistoria. It’s not the best magic school anime I watched this year and certainly not the best fantasy, but it looks terrific and it’s a fun enough time if you turn your brain off.

And turning your brain off is a necessity here because Wistoria’s story is as basic as it gets. It’s more or less Mashle if it wasn’t a comedy, and it’s such a transparent, dirt-simple power fantasy that it might as well be an isekai. Guy’s trying to keep a promise to his childhood friend, he sucks at the one thing everyone else does to the point of getting bullied left and right, but he’s super crazy strong in a his own special way. Actually, shit, I just described Kaiju No. 8.

Rule of cool wins out here, and this show does look phenomenal, but it might be better enjoyed via YouTube clips. I’m curious to see where the story goes from here, but I’m not completely sold yet.

28. Chained Soldier

Chained Soldier is horny isekai trash. Chained Soldier fucking rocks. We got big monsters, wild action sequences, unique and memorable character designs, casual femdom, solid comic relief, interesting (if predictable) twists, uncensored boobs, it’s got it all! 

It’s not the best-looking show in some parts, but that’s forgivable. The production values were fine, all things considered, and the action sequences in particular were terrific throughout, but I’m really glad this series is changing studios for the second season. I’ve read ahead in the manga (don’t judge) and Passione is gonna do a bang-up job as the action and shameless fanservice both ramp up.

It’s early in the story and a teensy bit shaky, but Chained Soldier is already a fun time. I have reason to believe it’ll only get better as it goes. And not just because of the boobs.

27. Suicide Squad Isekai

You wanted an isekai starring the Suicide Squad, and by God did you get one. This is a perfectly serviceable series by Suicide Squad standards and a pretty middling isekai otherwise. Nothing about the world in which this series is set is all that interesting or groundbreaking, but you’re here for anime Harley Quinn (and a few other DC villains I guess), and this show delivers.

Fluid, expressive character animation (when the studio wants it), a terrific Japanese voice cast, and entertaining hijinks among Batman’s infamous rogues’ gallery combine for a plenty fun time that ultimately doesn’t have much staying power. If you liked the James Gunn movie, you’ll have a decent time here. No more, no less.

Between Uzumaki’s disastrous production, Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim’s apparent mediocrity, and last year’s unwanted, execrable FLCL Grunge, I’m just glad that at least one recent anime production with Jason DeMarco’s fingerprints on it came out unscathed.

26. ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess

I ended up watching so many discrete series during the winter season that it’s probably not a coincidence that my bottom four series on this ranking (and six of the bottom ten) all aired during that season. When you filter feed, you’re gonna take in a lot of garbage. Sometimes you need some stuff that’s “just fine” to clean the palate.

‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess is probably a bit better than even “just fine,” but it’s not gonna be a ready recommendation. The premise is pretty one-note on paper: Warrior princess got captured by demons, they try to coax intel out of her via temptation, she folds, the intel is worthless, and the cycle begins anew. But if a run of over 250 manga chapters and climbing is any indication, the series manages to keep it fresh. Time for “Torture” works because it isn’t beholden to its premise and instead decides to play hopscotch with its own framework. Gradually but noticeably, the unnamed princess and her inquisitors and “torturers” become friends, they all enjoy the spoils of her snitching together, and they really just keep it up because that’s how this stuff is supposed to go. 

Nine months later, I still don’t know why I liked this show so much. It’s just the right amount of silly to me, and it’s cute as hell where it counts. Not the best thing I watched this year but far from the worst. If you want something dumb and weirdly wholesome that’ll make you chuckle here and there, it’s a good pick.

25. Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night

This is one I’m still agonizing over a bit. Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night is a terrific show on so many levels, but I still felt let down by the end of its run. It wasn’t even in the same ballpark of disappointment as Uzumaki or Metallic Rouge, thankfully. Like Uzumaki, it couldn’t live up to the promise of its all-timer debut episode, but on the flip side, Jellyfish largely maintained its high production value. Like Metallic Rouge, it felt like the narrative largely spun its wheels until the writers realized they only had two episodes left, but Jellyfish didn’t leave me feeling like I’d just wasted four hours of my life.

This series already had massive shoes to fill if it was going to be the best showbiz anime produced by Doga Kobo airing this year (“I’d have two nickels” and so on and so forth), but Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night unfortunately ended up getting outclassed on several fronts by shows that just did almost every element better. It looks terrific, it has a memorable cast, the music’s great, and it’s a welcome entry in the “Girls Doing Things” anime canon, but it was outclassed in its own broadcast season by Train to the End of the World, Girls Band Cry, and Yuru Camp. The real shame is that it seemed to have designs on being a tremendous LGBT show if it played its cards right, and instead opted to throw those cards in the air and walk away by the end.

I’d still recommend this show if you temper your expectations of any real narrative punch. There were some tremendous original series that aired this year, but Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night just didn’t reach those higher levels. There’s a whole bunch of good in there, but they couldn’t quite piece it all together.

24. Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, season 2, part 2

I’m gonna be real here: I’m sick of writing about this show. It’s exceptionally well-made and, on balance, easily one of the best anime of the decade so far, but the subject matter can touch such controversial and uncomfortable territory at parts that I can’t recommend it to anyone. 

The back half of Mushoku Tensei’s second season actually did a lot of work towards making up for a lot of the less-tolerable moments in the preceding ¾ of the show, even delivering a couple of the spring season’s best episodes, and then it gets weird again near the end. Not nearly as bad as it gets in the first season, nor in the worst moments of this season’s first half from 2023, but still off-putting, even for people who stuck with it for this long. I expect this to continue.

Mushoku Tensei is a great show. Don’t watch Mushoku Tensei.

23. Undead Unluck, second cour

David Production’s adaptation of one of Weekly Shonen Jump’s most inventive and ambitious action series continued into the start of 2024 as the story just continued ramping up and getting wilder.

Undead Unluck had an interesting, if occasionally uncomfortable start, with a fascinating power system and tons of secrets left to be revealed, and as it continued you could start to see the camera slowly pulling back. Midway through its second cour, shit completely hits the fan and any expectations you may have had fly out the window. Undead Unluck’s debut season was an amusing curiosity for most of its run, but the status quo is upended so effectively midway through the second cour that I was completely hooked. There were some infuriating pacing issues at those exact moments that were enough for me to dock it several spots on this list, but it’s still absolutely worth watching.

I decided to read the Undead Unluck manga a couple months ago and for as wildly as I thought the anime ramped up its scope by the end of this run, it turns out that the series as a whole goes to even crazier lengths than that. I’m completely sold now and cannot wait for more.

22. Kaiju No. 8

Counter to the series I just talked about, Kaiju No. 8 is one of Shueisha’s least​​​​ innovative battle shonen series. And that’s okay! Nothing wrong with wanting to see people fight giant monsters and one who can turn into a giant monster himself, and maybe you don’t want to have to deal with Attack on Titan’s incoherent politics to get there.

There is fundamentally nothing special about Kaiju No. 8, but I do appreciate that the protagonist is an out-of-shape thirtysomething desperately clinging to his hopes and dreams. No particular reason. There’s some interesting worldbuilding early in the story, and although it does lend itself to protag Kafka’s strengths in battle (non-”turning into a monster” category), it all falls to the wayside when it’s time for monsters, guns, and explosions. And I’m fine with that stuff, but I was hoping for a bit more of a hook.

All in all, this is a very well-made show, if a little muddy-looking at times. I wouldn’t have chosen YUNGBLUD and OneRepublic for the opening and closing themes, but it didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the show. I just like complaining about that stuff. Looks good, sounds good most of the time, and endearingly dumb. Can’t go wrong with that.

21. Mashle: Magic and Muscles, season 2

I ranked this show’s first season pretty low on my 2023 list, but I was willing to stick it out for another season, and I’m glad I did. Mashle really finds its footing during the Divine Visionary exam arc and irons out a lot of the issues I’d had with the first season, primarily how little the comedy initially landed for me.

A series that initially had my eyes either rolling or glazing over quickly recovered my attention early in the second season. Creepy Nuts OPs are a cheat code, I swear. Even putting the killer music aside, Mashle looks a lot better as well and has a much more engaging story in its second season. You can really feel it gaining its footing and finding a bit of swagger as the season goes on. The fight sequences are much more engaging this time out, and sometimes you get all the satisfaction you need out of seeing an emotionless weirdo punch the shit out of a mean nerd. A bunch of the jokes even land this time around!

I’m glad I stuck this out. Mashle is, at the end of the day, a hilariously blatant Harry Potter send-up, and frankly has no good reason to hit like it does, but I’m finally sold. At the rate it’s been going, Mashle seems to be set to adapt the entire manga, and I’m looking forward to seeing all of it.

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

i remember you making a post of best dressed man and you had included GD in it saying how could the thread be completed without him something like that and i was like gd? Because i haven't really seen the guy from back in the yrs, wtv i have seen is wtv clips ppl post on twitter and IF i come across it (kind of rare cause my circle mostly revolves around jm). I'm not particularly interested in k-pop or idols so i don't really try to deep dive there, very satisfied with having obsession with jimin only so what i was saying is that some time ago i saw someone making a thread on twitter about GD's photoshoots and t had great engagement with over 100k+ likes and damnn the thread reminded me why you included him in your that post of best dressed man.

Okay personally i won't say if he's good dressed or not because I'm again not much into that stuff BUT the experiments he did with his photoshoots were crazy like i haven't seen anyone do even 10% of what he did with those photoshoots. There was this one particular shoot of him with a woman and again damnn honestly. He was doing all that those many years ago. I get the hype he'd have around him and i know he's like one of the most popular from his times and most popular from his grp.

If BTS members ever do even ONE of his photoshoots from that thread ig the fandom would be GAGGING and idk they'd make the member some queer icon (They might have made taehyung one because of him posting gay movies and all that). Honestly? Hands down the craziest photoshoots i have seen and all of them actually. The clothes and all were very different experimenting and idk it could be big for me because I'm not much into all these stuff so haven't really checked many but yeah like seeing BTS's shoots and even other groups on my tl like none of them are doing it like the old generation ig.

Also wondering that if GD has done like that with a female why are these Kpopies be gagging and even shipping with even two idols (for this particular situation I'd say "idols of opp gender") ?? Should these things be not Regular and Normal? Or is it because it's rare to have these interactions in last 2-3 generations hence this state? I have seen few clips of old generation male/female idols having fun during shows n all unlike recent ones where ppl are just sitting there in the fear that someone might ship you with xyz idol there if you even smile lol. I'd never forget that one time i went ahead and watched a lizkook video on yt because i kept getting it recommended to me so i thought that if i watch it once I'll stop getting recommended again n again plus i was new in the fandom (tho i kinda knew how 'shipping' in geneal works in those edits, wasn't aware of the crazies of kpop shiping tho), i kid u not the whole video i was waiting for that one interaction because of which the video was made or because of which ppl are shipping. The whoe video ended and i was feeling dumb to even sit there n watch that whole 10 some mins video because i didn't know that u can ship ppl just because. it was edited from the 2018 MAMA the same one from where we have a infamous jkk moment. It's crazy how lizkook being one of the biggest shit yet they don't have a single on cam interaction. They might be besties off cam but there's literally nothing on cam yet it's one of the biggest ship of k-pop lol.

Why i brought the shipping in btw the photoshoot was because i can't grasp if any of the idol Today did that kind of shoot how everyone will react(or anyone has done it and I'm just under a rock?). Especially BTS members, the whole Tiktok, instgram armys plus half of twitter would be on the edge of cliffer the very next moment.

Sorry for talking about two different topics in one ask and make it long but i kida those were interconnected for this conversation tho my og intention was to talk about GD's photoshoot but another thought popped up in my mind.

I have a great article for you which will shed some light on G-Dragon and its impact. I referenced it in my analysis of Jimin's portfolio, but it's worth reading it in entirety.

It tackles the concept of masculinity and its various shapes in different GD works, including his photoshoots and what was achieved through that. If I remember correctly, the thesis was that as much as GD was pushing boundaries, he always kept things in balance through specific acts that ultimately helped him stay in a safe zone as well. Basically his act worked for everyone.

It's called "The deployment of gender for masculine balance: analyzing multi-platform K-Pop performances", by Minjeong Kim and April Lopez. You should be able to find it easily.

This is the abstract

[storkmuffin]

Hello again! I really love picking your brain and hearing your perspective on Seonghwa since he is one of the most interesting idols I’ve ever experienced so any and all information you have harbored and would like to share, I would love to read about!

His onstage persona and offstage persona are so different, which I am sooo glad you brought up along with the voice change. That’s originally why I mentioned why I’m in the in between about him and being actually queer or not since I know at the end of the day to some degree he has a job to maintain and popularity is part of that. He also comes across very clever so maybe the cynical reasoning has some weight to this discussion in terms of standing out. I guess I am just genuinely curious about the general perception of Seonghwa especially in Korea versus their very large international base of fans that feen off of the mlm fan service. How Seonghwa presents himself is very intriguing and makes me naturally curious of who he is since it seems like he has many interesting layers.

I’m getting off topic but he has also posted tidbits of the community like flags and such but I wish idols in general could be more open about their support or truly being in the community rather than leaving crumbs for people to make assumptions but in the same breath I understand and respect their boundaries of privacy since so much of themselves is up for display to the public so keeping what part of their life that they can to themselves is completely understandable.

To sum it up, I think Seonghwa is a very very intriguing person to be in the spotlight and I really love his progression and can’t wait to see what the future beholds for him and his members! Thank you for openly sharing your opinion and answering my questions so thoroughly! I hope I didn’t impose at all and I look forward to you posting more about Seonghwa!

I really appreciate the chance to go off about Ateez! It's not an imposition !!

Paying attention to kpop is basically like choosing to follow a sport, for Koreans. Kind of how if you're a men's baseball team fan, you will probably have no idea wtf is going on in the women's volleyball world, right? Just like sports, there are going to be people who become 'breakout stars' and become famous with the general public- Suzy comes to mind.

Ateez, as a band, has gotten mainstream news coverage for their Billboard success and being invited to perform at important American festivals and stuff, but the Korean general youtube public will put comments underneath those news clips going, Who the heck is this? By contrast, everyone knows who Yunchan Lim the pianist is, even if they don't really listen to classical music.

Because of this, I don't know if there IS a 'general perception' of Seonghwa or what he's doing. Seonghwa is a major deal to the fans of Ateez that will compete to the death to go to the fan meetings or concerts or music show recordings, but he's not a generally famous person.

The MLM fanservice is considered just the for-girls version of having the very slender girl pop singers wear super tight short skirts and doing twerking movements for their male fans. It's catering to the twin and contradictory needs of the boy idol fandom: they want to see the boys 'doing' romance and flirting, but not for real (bc homophobia), and not with women (bc it breaks the self-insert fantasy). It's sort of the compromise the industry came up with, to have the guys play at romantic connection with each other. My general impression is that previous generations of pop idols didn't like that this was being asked of them but from 4th Gen onwards, either they started looking for people who would tolerate it or the performers just accepted this as part of the job. The public narrative is that because the 'most perverse' women fans who spend the most money on Idols want this weird thing, the performers have to take it on as a cost of doing business, but everyone in every boy band is a super straight guy who wants to marry a woman and have 2.5 kids. It's a 2-for-1 attack, actually, of homophobically erasing queer signalling and queer people being in the arts or public figures AND misogynistically expressing contempt for women who like content that isn't catering to straight men.

[chaifootsteps]

Metallica Anon here responding to Taxidermy Anon's roll call. I'm going to be a little more extensive with my post so grab a snack and a drink. I'm a 31 male and I'm 10 months older than Viv. My story began around November of 2019 when I was (and still am) a member of a forum related to a show that I used to love but completely lose interest in. (If you're wondering what show? Let's just say Blitzø would love it. 😉) Then I noticed a few members had this particular character as their avatars. That character turned out to be Angel Dust of Hazbin Hotel. My curiousity grew and I eventually watched the pilot. I was completely enamored with it. I loved the animation, the characters, the voice acting, etc. Not long after, I began watching Helluva Boss and soon became enamored with show as well. For nearly four years, I was quite emotionally attached to Viv's shows, almost at the level of the cartoons I loved from my childhood. For a while, I thought Hazbin and Helluva could be some of the greatest cartoons in history. Unfortunately, as Phil Collins once sang, something happened to on the way to Heaven.

Actually, three things happened. I'll explain each one.

The Long Wait for Hazbin Hotel: I don't know how or why I managed to hold on for so long, but I did. I've endured HH's signing to A24 in 2020, the voice actor replacement debacle in 2021, and the character "redesigns" in 2022. I remember in November of '22, I had two things to be excited for in '23: the new Metallica album in April and Hazbin in the summer. (At least one of the things happened.)

To occupy my mind, I binge watched a cartoons until Hazbin would air, which I assumed would be as early as June. When June came, a lot of us were expecting at least a trailer. What did we get?  A cheap Angel Dust picture! I think this is when my hype for HH began to deflate. Then in July, Viv announced HH would be delayed due to the WGA/SAG strikes. At first, I thought the reasons were understandable, but then found out A24 can promote their stuff during the strikes. This made me feel suspicious on what’s going on. Once summer ended, I officially gave up on Hazbin Hotel… then the trailer came out with a release date, which is JANUARY 2024!

Did the trailer reignite my interest? HAH! No! I’m wasting any more time waiting for this shit! But that’s not the only reason…

The Decline of Helluva Boss: Up until this year, I loved Helluva Boss. I enjoyed the shenanigans of Blitzø, Moxxie, Millie, and Loona. I would always find some enjoyment in every episode, even the bad episodes like “CHERUB” and “The Circus.” However, Helluva had long waits between episodes ranging from two to six months. Yet somehow, I endured because at least new episodes were coming out.

Then came the episode “Exes and Oohs.” I hesitated to watch it at first as some previews and clips I saw turned me off. Then I finally watched the full episode… and I absolutely hated it! Unlike the previous bad episodes of HB, I did not find ANY enjoyment in this episode. Then came the episode “Western Energy “and the same happened again. Hesitated to watch at first, finally watched it and absolutely hated it. I began to question myself on why I am I still watching this. Finally came the episode “Unhappy Campers,” and that episode was the final straw for me. That episode made me so angry that I wanted to smash my head into my laptop. Three strikes, you’re out!

Ever since that damn episode, I swore off Helluva Boss. I have not watched a new episode or even rewatched an old episode. It also got me thinking if HB’s writing is this bad, I believe HH’s writing will be just bad or worse. Now let’s get to the source of the shit…

Viv’s True Colors: For a long time, I did not know very much about Vivienne Medrano, her history, or who see really is. I simply viewed her as a regular person who somehow found success in independent animation…

Then came spring 2023 when I learned of the ErinFrost and KenDraws allegations against her by Ayy Lmao’s YouTube videos. Those allegations really got me thinking and my views of Viv began to change. Later in the summer, I began using my abandoned Tumblr account and I stumbled upon the Viv Critical community… and learned everything awful about Viv. Not only is Viv awful, so is her fanbase. I can honestly say that the VivziePop fanbase is probably the most toxic I have ever been in… and this is coming from someone who was apart of another infamous fanbase back in the 2010s. I mean, I have never seen a creator that encourages their fans to attack and send deaths to anyone who has even the slightest bit of criticism.

*sigh* This post has gotten too long so I’m gonna wrap it up. Fuck Viv, she’s a leper messiah. 🖕

-Metallica Anon 🤘

That was a great story, Metallica Anon. Sucks that it had to happen, but if it had to, glad you found your way here!

[solarwynd]

I had a sudden wave of "I miss BTS" today but not the BTS of today if that makes sense? I miss how they used to be. BTS were never perfect and I'm sure I'd find loads of things to be annoyed at today if I'm super involved in the fandom but still, their chemistry was amazing when they were together. I see people talking about how they can't wait for BTS to be back together and they'll reference clips of them but it's so rare for those clips to be from 2020 and later. I'm talking about their dynamic specifically - in terms of entertainment their newer content isn't terrible but there used to be an x factor to their dynamic that really set them apart in the past. Nowadays they seem like a regular group of friends which is fine too ig but that special sauce is missing.

I remember one anon said (I'm not sure if it's your blog or another) about how armys cling to old narratives and can't accept that the members have changed but that makes sense because it's easy to accept change when the new thing is better than the old but in our case that's not the situation. Whether it's music or relationships or personality, old BTS (after they'd matured some and gotten some media training to be sure) was better than their current incarnations imo. Of course Jimin is the only exception here for me which is probably my bias speaking? But he wasn't my initial bias or my only bias so perhaps me liking only him now seems like a side effect rather than having solo blinders.

Sorry for suddenly introducing this topic. I was watching some old edits and I realised how much new bangtan edits are just thirst traps nowadays. Even the fandom has kind of degraded in that sense - with respect to charting and honestly also how much entertainment they get from just being in fandom. Maybe I'm just feeling doomsdayish since they're all enlisted and the fandoms a bit inactive even though they've been churning out solo stuff nonstop.

Also missing Jimin is a big factor to my general despondence. I know his promo completely sucked during face but at least he tried to give us as much as he could from his side like dance performances or variety show appearances or infrequently coming on live and just talking or doing tiktoks. It wasn't anything major but it was nice going through face era side by side with Jimin and I'm really missing him during muse era. His absence is so much more conspicuous than I thought it would be.

For all the jikook show will cause every degenerate Jimin anti to come out of the woodwork next month, and as much as JK in general annoys me nowadays, if I can see Jimin for 8 x 30-60 minute episodes, then I'm looking forward to it. July 19 with muse and then aug 8 - sep 19 for the show. And then maybe I'll take a break from the whole BTS thing because without Jimin around, things feel a lil bleak I can't lie

I get you and I agree.

[pothame]

Dude. I cackled during this weeks His Man 2 recap. When SW said JS had no concept of what’s happening in the rest of the house, he meant it.

We all know that everyone thought JS was a d*ck at the start of the show. But I can’t believe how much he terrorized the cast members over SH. He thought HJ liked SH?!!!! Madness. I also now really want to see the post phone call jealous JS.

I originally thought the editing for the show laid the JS/SH storyline on kind of heavy, but I’ve now decided they actually toned it down for audiences.

it’s so funny i look forward to it every week except for the weeks i missed bc i was busy i imagine they probably cut it out to streamline the show and bc they had a time limit for each episode and a set number of episodes, but it is really funny to imagine junsung being so jealous of anyone who even sat next to sungho😭 extra funny bc i remember him saying he preferred to sit in front of him so he didn’t have to turn his head to look at him, he just had to look up

but i so enjoy these extra glimpses into the show and i wouldn’t be too surprised if we get more extra stuff on the official youtube channel now that the house members have told the audience about more stuff

and i totally agree they toned it down lmao. just from that one clip from hyungjoons vlog from filming i’m sure we can guess they were oblivious and in everyone’s faces quite a bit, especially after their camping date. it really shows how much tunnel vision junsung had that he didn’t even notice hyungjoon being interested in a completely different person😭

[forgottenporkbun]

So I have an old Generation Loss theory I made after the Founders cut came out. It's a little incoherent due to me scribbling it down before I forgot but I'm gonna put it here and try to make it a clearer. Like I said before- this is just a silly theory I made and is probably very incorrect so bear with me. (I do go into something that Matpat talked about in his theory videos on GL just to warn you lol).

In the short videos we got before the social experiments we see red text and Matpat talks about how the red represents a certain group of people that I believe Ranboo is a part of (a lot of people speculated that Ranboo is the founder but I don't think that's correct and I'll talk about that again soon). These people want to kill the founder- teach people the "right" thing to do- which is to kill people when needed and possibly not just the founder (I need to rewatch those shorts-). (also I will be referring to the group the red text belongs to the Genloss group bc im not very creative)

Hetch talks about the founder gave him a place and runs the whole Showfall media company (the founder- not hetch if that was unclear). Why would Hetch/Showfall media want to kill Ranboo if he was the founder?

We now know Hetch as the script writer- that is the role the founder gave to him. He mentions stuff like how "characters" are only useful for as long as they are able to fulfill their roles (idk why I put that in there but I do think it's an interesting line). People go through these experiments to become cast members. Ranboo completed his experiment to become a cast member and did what they had to do to get to the end- even if it meant killing. Now the thing that I find quite ironic is the fact that Hetch labelled Ranboo as the hero [Who is he saving?]

In the end before they are killed, Ranboo has flashbacks- I mean- not quite flashbacks, but images of his younger self (could be his life flashing before his eyes). Right before the box closes we hear him mutter something that sounds like "I don't care". They don't care that they're about to die- which there could be multiple reasons why. One is that after the horrible things he did he thinks he deserves to die. Two, he knows that he has "followers" in this genloss group- now you're probably saying "Kai- wtf do you mean by followers?" Well, i think that Ranboo is a very important person in this group. I don't think Showfall media would have taken them if they didn't have a bigger part to play in that group.

Also, an odd thing is that in the Founders cut trailer there's this bit of red text that says "who are you?" that is probably important.

Another thing i found interesting in that trailer "One year ago a show was broadcasted to your world. Using the likenesses of popular figures." Did Showfall kidnap them? What's this other world that Showfall media exists in like?

At the very end we get to see a cassette tape being played- probably one of the tapes that that one character found (the one from that clip of Ranboo talking about how they found some old tapes and just needed to figure out how to work the tape player). This character has finally figured it out and this is the first tape we get to see the contents of (still really curious to know more about this Zero character)

Sorry this is really long- it's old but i wanted to know peoples thoughts on it. I realised a lot of things- like how the red text might not be from this genloss group (but the who are you message makes me have a whole other theory that im not about to go into). And since we have the new "from the desk of the founder" video we have a lot more info on the founder. Anyways, hope you had fun reading through my bullshit. Regards, -Kai

[dashboarddiaries]

Dashboard Diaries is a production of Atypical Artists, hosted by Lauren Shippen (@thelaurenshippen) and Cher McAnelly (@overchers). Our theme was composed by Lauren Shippen and mixed by Brandon Grugle. Art by Shae McMullin. Transcription by Laudable.

For bonus clips, ad-free episodes, and more, become a patron at atypicalartists.co/support.

Lauren: ... like some kind of Tumblr stock exchange where you’re betting on the movements and I-

Cher: Like, with the fandom, oh my god-

Lauren: With the fan list!

Cher: Yeah, like you can bet who is going to go up and down every week.

Lauren: You get extra points if you say I think this is going to go up by this number of points because you always have the plus number, minus number.

Cher: Yes.

Lauren: Obviously we could not do this for money because that is illegal I’m pretty sure! (laughs)

Cher: But for some ...

Lauren: There’s something here.

Cher: There really is something here. I am very excited about this.

[intro music]

The only problem is it does require numbers ...

[intro music continues]

Cher: Hello, Fandom Investors! I’m Cher McAnelly, Head of Entertainment at Tumblr. And multi series, multi season, multi fandom member ... or multi fandom investor? 

Lauren: And I’m Lauren Shippen, Professional Writer, who is still seeing massive returns from fandom’s that I invested in 20 years ago. 

Cher: Great one.

Lauren: Thank you!

Cher: And this is Dashboard Diaries, a podcast for you – the folks who are in this internet bunker [stock market] with us. 

Lauren: Ohhhhhh! I love it!

Cher: Ohhh! ... We talk about what’s going on in our favorite hell site, get into what we like to call “tumbl-lore,” do fandom deep dives [metrics!], and share the times when we’ve gone feral over a new ship [stock].

Lauren: I love it. The theme is coalescing. 

Cher: Yeah. With that, what has your last month on Tumblr been like? What have you really been investing in this month? What trends are you seeing?

Lauren: Yeah. You know? I sort of put my time and finances into a couple of new fandom’s. Some of which are a little bit older. So, I think I maybe mentioned this last month but I did start watching Black Sails. And it just grew richer and richer as the show went on and I finished it. And then went on a huge Tumblr tag dive and re-blogged a bunch of stuff and just ... I love how active the fandom still is and that’s something we’re going to talk about a little later. And then I am currently beating the drum of a little known show in sort of the Tumblr eco system – something that not a lot of people have invested in but that I love – which is Evil the CBS/Paramount+ show ... that I think people are really sleeping on.

It is A) genuinely scary and I feel like there are a lot of horror fans on Tumblr who would enjoy Evil. But then also it just got this great trio at the center. It’s really clever and funny. And emotional. The main character, Kristen, is a truly unhinged, insane, wonderful woman. I love her so much. She is simultaneously the Scully – skeptical and very grounded and also completely bat shit bonkers. And I love her for that. 

I was very happy to see, not only are there some people making gif sets, which I was very appreciative of, but somebody ships my little ship ... which is Kristen and Ben, who are sort of best friends in the show and there’s definitely nothing romantic between them but I think they should be together – and there’s at least one other Tumblr user who thinks that they should be together. I feel very taking into the warm embrace of that person’s gif set tags. 

Yeah, that’s kind of been my main thing over the last month. And then of course the finale of 911, a little bit of Furiosa here but it’s mainly been Black Sails and Evil. How about you, Cher? What has been rising in your estimate over the last month?

Cher: Well, the last month has seen just a huge ... it’s been a really, really big month on the ‘ton market, the Bridgerton market that is, on ‘Ton’blr as they’re saying. (laughter) And I’ve also been investing a lot of time both on Tumblr and just in general on Bridgerton because we had the Bridgerton Answer Time. Which we recorded I think a few days after we recorded our last episode. I don’t know if we’ve talked about it yet but it was so much fun. I got to interview Nicola Coughlan. And I also got to interview Jessica Madsen and Hannah Dodd and it was ... they were lovely and just incredible and I lost my mind. I actually opened the interview with Nicola by saying, “Hi, I’m so excited to talk about season three of Derry Girls. 

(laughter)

So, started off really strong there! But it was-

Lauren: I’m sure she loved that. Derry Girls is such a great show. 

Cher: Yeah, I agree. I also love the crossovers. I don’t know if you’ve seen the crossovers of Nicola doing the, “I really burn fer you Collin. I burn fer ya.” (laughter)

Lauren: It’s so good.

Cher: It’s incredible. An icon, a legend, it was the best experience ever and I also have so many thoughts and feelings about the new season. Definitely I’m assuming we’ll talk about it during this episode and maybe even ... I don’t know how long it will take for the stock to go down but I think the stock is relay just continually rising at the moment in my opinion. And then in addition to that, just a couple of other things.

Young the Giant, which is a band I’ve really liked for a long time, they launched a tour diary on Tumblr which is super exciting. So, their tour just started and they’re touring with Cage the Elephant. And then I can’t remember, I think I mentioned in a previous episode when we did the interview with the cast of Dead Boy Detectives the Caitlin Riley and Max Jenkins spontaneously read some Goncharov fan fic, speck script, or a scene from Goncharov written by a community member. Just happened because we were doing a segment at the end where we just showed them Tumblr posts and had the cast kind of reenact them. Some were about the show and some weren’t. So, I showed the Goncharov poster and I was like, “What is this movie about?” And it ended up ... I think it was Caitlin Riley who said, “Should we read a scene?” And so they read a scene from it and we posted it on Tumblr. But we posted the scene without context and that was a mistake. 

Lauren: Oh no. Why?

Cher: So, there were a ton of community replies being like ... “They couldn’t even learn the lines. They didn’t cast this as they should have. Obviously everyone knows this scene is between two men.” It was between Audrey and Goncharov.

Lauren: Got you.

Cher: I was like so distraught because I was so excited about this but then because I didn’t do the opening where they were like, “Hey, should we just do a scene from it?” It was just random. People thought that Netflix was making a Goncharov movie. It was ... oh my god.

Lauren: Oh my god! (laughs)

Cher: It was ... Context is SO key. 

Lauren: SO key.

Cher: So, that was ... I feel so bad because I feel like ... you know when you’re like, “I wish I could explain this?” But you can’t. So, anyway, I posted the context video but it was too late, Lauren. But anyway ...

Lauren: I’m so sorry.

Cher: I just want to set the record straight. 

Lauren: Yeah, clear the air.

Cher: So, anyway, yeah, just want to clear the air about the Gonch. I just want to comment on the Goncharov controversy, on the Gonch Contr and say that it was a spontaneous interview moment. It definitely wasn’t planned. There is no Goncharov movie being made. It was a bit. And so sorry for any confusion. I have learned that context is so key and I will be keeping that in mind for the future.

Lauren: Yeah. Oh man, you never know what out of context people are going to run away with, right? Posting on the internet is so risky. 

Cher: It’s SO risky. And it’s totally understandable. If I saw this thing come across my feed, posted on the ... I’d be like, oh, maybe they are making a Goncharov movie. You don’t know. So, I’ve learned about the importance of including context not only in the caption but also in the video itself. 

Lauren: There you go.

Cher: The more you know. Today I learned. This month I learned. 

And then finally, one other thing that I kind of have discovered on Tumblr ... I feel like it’s been a thing for a while but I’ve really been enjoying it and it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of people really following the tag – is Dashboard Simulators. Have you seen these?

Lauren: YES. I didn’t realize that there’s a whole tag for it but I am obsessed with this genre of posts.

Cher: Oh my god. I am having so much fun with this.

Lauren: For our audience, explain what it is.

Cher: So, Dashboard Simulators are essentially using the ability to include up to 32 images in a Tumblr post so due to this fun feature people are essentially putting together a bunch of screenshots of kind of fake ... creating fake posts essentially in world for things like Lord of the Rings or Cobra Kai, or even I saw Cat Dashboard Simulator. And it’s essentially as you’re scrolling through this post it should feel like the experience of scrolling through the dashboard in the world of this fandom or in the world of cats. And they are so funny and so much fun. And so intricate.

Just the time and effort involved – I am obsessed. Definitely one of my new favorite Tumblr trends, post types. It kind of comes out of web weaving in a way but more like light meme-y kind of vibes. But yeah, I’ve been having a lot of fun with Dashboard Simulators. And I’m pretty sure completely coincidentally ... I submitted the pitch for Bridgerton ages ago. We essentially did a Dashboard Simulator for Bridgerton with Nicola Coughlin – we did a segment called “Scrolling Ton’blr” and essentially I just curated a bunch of community Tumblr posts, set it up to screen record, and then Nicola scrolled through and talked about each post as she went through.

So, I love how perfectly that just ended up aligning! Yeah, it was super fun. 

So, anyway ...

Lauren: Yeah. The thing I really love about it is there was this post, god, I don’t know, ten years ago or something. I remember seeing it back when the old re-blog format was the way it was where if there were too many re-blogs you could barely read the initial post or whatever. And it was about, man, discourse in a world in which magical creatures were real would be so insufferable. And then it was everybody sort of role playing along and re-blogging about [selky 00:11:11] rights and vampire discrimination, sort of this parody of really sort of extreme tone policing but in a world in which fairies were real. Right?

The Dashboard Simulator trend is so much in that spirit to me. It’s the ultimate yes/and but it’s like just that extra bit of creativity of like I’m going to go and sort of come up with fake Tumblr names. I don’t know how people are building these images, right? 

Cher: Oh my gosh. Are they creating all of these accounts and drafting all these posts and posting them privately and screen-shotting them? And adding them all together?

Lauren: I hadn’t thought about that. ‘Cause I think when I first saw this trend appear maybe a year ago I do think it’s kicked up a lot more but it was sort of simmering for a while. People initially started in a text format, right? And sort of people coming up just with fake names and sort of putting emojis for the avatars and things like that. And it’s sort of evolved into this, yes, screen shot thing. Which is so ...

Cher: I haven’t even seen those initial posts. I want to see some of those OG ...

Lauren: I’ll have to go and dig some up. There was one ... this may have been in a screen shot format but there was one that was ... Ugh, I’m going to mis-remember what it was, but it was Dashboard Simulator of everything that’s inside my fridge. (laughs) Or no, it wasn’t that! It was utensils. It was sort of like utensil discourse. I love that, right!?

Cher: Incredible.

Lauren: That’s just so-

Cher: I really want to see what the utensil discourse is. 

Lauren: Right!?

Cher: That sounds amazing!

Lauren: Yeah, I’m going to have to dig that up in my archive. 

[guitar riff]

Cher: And with that, our next segment is Dashboard Confessionals. So, what post from your archives do you have this week?

Lauren: I did bring two. They’re from more recent years actually. I went back to sort of 2014, 2015 in June and in June of every year I was just sort of re-blogging Hannibal posts and that’s just ... Oh, that’s something I forgot to mention – my month on Tumblr was the ten year anniversary of Mizumono the Season Two finale which is one of the greatest episodes of television of all time. But yeah. So, June is a very Hannibal month for me so there wasn’t a lot of interesting stuff from earlier years. 

I brought something from 2019, which is just a gif set of Pikachu dancing from Detective Pikachu. It’s like this little ‘80s workout video. And I just ... (laughs) ... I want to cry just looking at it now. I have debilitating cute aggression for this little animated Pikachu. 

Cher: He’s just a little guy! 

Lauren: He’s just a little guy. I already have pretty severe cute aggression when it comes to animals. But there is something about the way that the artist built this little creature. We went to go see Detective Pikachu because I’m not a Pokémon person but my partner is. And the whole time I was like, “I am in PAIN.” 

Cher: I am overwhelmed. 

Lauren: There’s something about this little creature that is hooking into the back of my brain and I’m tearing up literally right now just looking at this little ... his little face and his little hands! So, I just want to share that because it brings me a lot of joy and also anguish. 

(laughter)

Cher: As all the best things should. 

Lauren: Exactly!

Cher: We’ll definitely circle back to that with your feels corner because I feel like that ties in very well. And I also completely agree with you. There’s something viscerally adorable about it. 

Lauren: He’s SO cute. 

Cher: Right!? It’s like from, what was it? Not Minions. Uh ... 

Lauren: Despicable Me. 

Cher: Despicable Me. 

Lauren/Cher: “It’s so fluffy I’m going to die!” 

Cher: Exactly that. I’m losing my entire mind right now. Yeah. Totally get that. Definitely ... great posted bookmark for a serotonin boost or dopamine boost. I never know what the difference is.

Lauren: Whatever the good one is.

Cher: Whatever the good one is. Yeah. Whatever the one we want is. Stay tuned for our science podcast or psychology podcast coming soon in addition to our stock podcast.

Lauren: So, the second post I brought was from 2020. This post is actually from 2016 but I re-blogged it in 2020. It’s just a great text post from user: gendzl (I don’t know how to pronounce your blog name. I’m so sorry!) But they write, “Tumblr is such a bizarre kind of social interaction. Like, the rules are so different here. I once unfollowed someone because they said prime numbers were ugly.” (laughs) That just really makes me laugh! “Because they said prime numbers were ugly and that was simply the last straw for me. Imagine hanging out with a friend and getting up from the table and never talking to them again because they told you they hated prime numbers? That’s what I did.”

(laughter)

The way that this is written is so funny. The fact that it’s for the reason of prime numbers is so funny. And also like, yeah, this is true. This is the beauty of the eco system of Tumblr, right? And the fact that despite it being a front facing social media where people can follow you and stuff unless you make your Tumblr private, it is sort of a more private space than a lot of other social media that you can just unfollow someone because they said that prime numbers were ugly. And what beautiful freedom that is!

Cher: Absolutely. You shouldn’t have that negativity on your dashboard if you don’t want it.

Lauren: Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

Cher: Also, is that a Tumblr as real life simulator of if someone said that in real life and you’re like, “unfollow.” 

Lauren: Yes! Exactly. 

Cher: Blocked and unfollowed. (laughs)

Lauren: How about you, Cher? What do you have from your archives?

Cher: I have two posts that I re-blogged in the same month within about eight days of each other in 2018. The first one is a gif set from Parks and Rec, another great multi season fandom show. It is from the episode where they do the model UN or something. And it’s a four gif set. The first one is Adam Scott saying, “It’s a white flag and you may as well start waving it right now, Leslie.” And then Leslie Knope saying, “The only thing I will be waving is your decapitated head on a stick in front of your weeping mother!” 

(laughter)

And then a gif that cuts to Chris Pratt with a kind of shocked face and then cuts to Ben and says, “Good lord.” Just a really classic ... makes me want to re-watch the show ... love Parks and Rec. I apparently love it so much ... even though this is pretty intense gif set of all rather pleasant moments in the show, I love it so much that I apparently just go on over to the second re-blog from eight days later, from a different account by the way ... same exact gif set. (laughs) 

Lauren: Incredible. That is SO good. I love that. I mean, it’s a great moment in the show. A great gif set. And clearly it was speaking to you in June of 2018 for some deep reason. 

Cher: It resonated. Yeah. 

Lauren: That’s amazing.

Cher: Oh my gosh. Great show. And so speaking of shows and fandom’s, our main segment for the week: long seasons, long series, long fandom’s – 

[game show trill]

I’m so excited to talk about all of the shows on Tumblr that have sustaining fandom’s which as we know and as we have talked about are so many, I don’t even know how we’re going to fit it in, but we’re going to. 

Lauren: So yeah. I don’t know how much of our initial pre intro conversation that I’ll end up including in the edit, so some of the stock jokes maybe haven’t landed but Cher and I were talking sort of about fandom stocks and betting on rising and falling fandom’s which we might do a thing about in a future episode. But then it did sort of turn into this idea of like fandom’s are this thing that you invest it. And fandom’s thrive the most when you are actively investing in them over a long period of time and when you see more of a return the more you invest, right? I don’t understand how stocks work, but ... 

Cher: It sounds like you do based on what you’re saying right now. Tell me who do invest in, because I ... that sounds very accurate. (laughs)

Lauren: But one of the things that we were talking about because we were texting about Bridgerton and this is something that I’ve seen a lot sort of in fandom discussions over the last several years and something I think about a lot, which is these shorter seasons and shorter season orders and also seasons sort of taking place a year, 18 months apart has really changed the fandom landscape in certain ways. And then we see the way that certain fandom’s really flourish and thrive and to me there’s something so interesting about the fact that the trending fandom’s, or the fandom’s that end up on the fandom metrics list are things like Bridgerton, which obviously is a great show but also sort of has the comfort of investing in it because it is a Shondaland show. And her shows run for a very, very long time. So, there’s a certain amount of promise there.

Also, it’s based on a book series and the book series has a lot of books. And so there’s the sense of safety and investing in Bridgerton because it is going to have longevity. And then of course we also ... and I’ve talked a lot about this show on here – 911, right? It has been renewed for its eighth season. Most of the seasons with the exception of the COVID season and this most recent season because it changed networks, and also the strike, too, I think actually was probably a much bigger influence – all the other seasons are 18 episodes. Right? Which we don’t see a lot of anymore. 

So, I was just really intrigued by this idea of ... I think that emotionally we all have this sense of wanting just more of the things that we love. That’s a very easy thing to want. If you love a show you want it to be 22 episodes a season, you want the seasons to have two month hiatuses and that’s it. But I also do think that there’s something to be said for it being a good business decision for networks and studios to invest in lots of seasons or longer seasons or faster seasons or whatever it is. And yeah. So, that’s kind of ... as we were talking about Bridgerton and pitching to Cher sort of talking about this larger thing because it seems like Bridgerton has sort of taken over Tumblr over the last ...

Cher: Yeah.

Lauren: And it was the same as part one. When part one came out two months ago or whatever. And it’s also taken over Netflix’s homepage. So, I guess I’m curious from your perspective, what do you think are the things that are making Bridgerton successful and do you agree that longer seasons ... more season longevity because obviously the seasons themselves are sort of short is contributing to that at all. 

That was a very long rambling thing. (laughs)

Cher: No, no. I think that perfectly encapsulates kind of the topic of the episode and why shows that you can kind of have that trust in that they will be consistent. The NASDAQ’s and things of the fandom market I guess. Even though I think NASDAQ is a stock ... it’s a thing comprised of multiple stocks. I don’t know. Anyway ... doing our best! (laughter) But no, I absolutely agree and I think that there’s kind of a give and take. I know that having longer seasons means often lower quality seasons because writers can only come up with so many ideas, especially when they’re trying to churn things out really quickly it can end up in season inflation where perhaps you get a lot of episodes but there’s not really a lot of substance or impact or maybe ...

But I also kind of don’t mind a filler episode every so often. I like getting those in-depth background stories and I think Tumblr is very much the same. I mean, obviously to the extent that Tumblr creates entire universes and new story lines out of the shows and titles and characters and fandom’s that they’re the most invested in with fan art and fan fic and beyond. I think that there’s really something to be said about both the shows where every single scene is super important and pivotal to the plot, I feel like maybe Succession is a good example of that or even maybe the Game of Thrones, until that final season which we pretend doesn’t exist. Again, that it was so ... I’m trying to remember how long Game of Thrones seasons were. The final season was seven episodes I think ... or six? 

Lauren: I didn’t watch Game of Thrones, so ...

Cher: There were a lot of seasons, the episodes were long but not many episodes per season, which I think is pretty consistent with HBO shows. But really jam packed with things. But I also, yeah, definitely think there’s something to be said about ... every episode and every story line doesn’t need to be kind of pushing the story forward in some kind of big impactful way. And I think that’s why procedurals do so well. And you can have so much fun and kind of play around with so many different plots. Like 911. Like Supernatural. And like Gray’s Anatomy, which is a show that I ... it has a pretty small fandom on Tumblr. There’s like 43K followers on the tag. I don’t even follow along on Gray’s Anatomy on Tumblr. I kind of separate, I don’t know, that show from I guess my fandom engagement, even though I have been watching it since I was a teenager and refuse to stop. Because I’ve invested 20 seasons at this point. I am not going to stop watching now. I will see this show out into the end because I put all this time in. 

But anyway, sorry ... I feel like I’ve gone beyond the point there. The question that you asked is what about Bridgerton is it that you think ... wow, I went so far off the [crosstalk 00:24:54] into Gray’s Anatomy. I think that the fact that Bridgerton has a lot of books and that we kind of know A) the Shondaland aspect, B) the fact that I’m pretty sure the contract we know is signed for at least two to three more seasons – you have that safety and security in investing the time and the effort into becoming a part of and talking about the fandom because, yeah, you know that the show is going to continue – whereas a lot of the time ... and as we’ve seen, oftentimes with a lot of shows that are cancelled after one and two seasons and people get really excited and dedicated to this fandom only for it to just completely drop sometimes on a cliffhanger. And that I feel like people definitely get burned before, they lose their investment and they’re like, “What communities can I invest in? What shows can I invest in that have a better ROI?” That’s Return On Investment for any non-stock experts out there. (laughter)

Yeah, I think having that safety and security definitely means that you’re a little more likely I think to see a dedicated fandom around something. I think that may also be why we see dedicated fandom’s around shows that are no longer on the air but have a lot of content because there’s so much to talk about and continue discovering. Supernatural has never dropped out of fandom rankings. Merlin started becoming popular after it was no longer on the air. But there’s five seasons of Merlin. So, there’s just so much subject matter to dive into for the community. I feel like there’s always new opportunities for discourse and I think that is one of the biggest kind of motivators in getting involved in a fandom. I don’t know where I was going with the rest of that. 

Lauren: I think you’re absolutely right. I think, too, that yeah what you were saying about sometimes you do get seasons that are a little bit too long. And actually this is something that I remember really feeling when Netflix was first starting to make its own original content. Where all of a sudden all of these writers who were usually trapped with 22 minute episodes or 44 minute episodes because ... for those of you who maybe are ... I mean, god, you could be like in your late teens and not have really grown up with network television, which is insane. But it’s like there were very strict rules for how long an episode of television can be. I think that when some of those people were given freedom the episodes ended up being kind of bloated and badly paced and I think it took everybody a little while to figure it out. But of course also to your point, HBO has always been doing that. AMC was always doing that. And their episodes were like 52 minutes or whatever. 

Obviously so much of this is around what is right for the story. You mentioned Succession. I think that’s a great example. Thinking about The Bear, too, right? I know that they filmed season two and three at the same time and they think that maybe they’re probably just going to do one more season after that. And that will be it. And I think having a plan like that and going into it and having a very tight story that you’re telling in a very specific way is amazing. I think those things can still foster immense amount of fandom interaction and cultural zeitgeist-I-ness and all that kind of stuff. 

I do think that we are losing something in having sort of everything be these eight episode, one season shows. And in things being cancelled before they can really thrive. A show that I think about ... every three weeks ... is Willow. And just the further that I get from having watched that show the more mad I am that it was cancelled. There was so much in there that to me the Tumblr fandom was never given a chance to really dig their teeth into. And even worse than it not being renewed is the fact that it just doesn’t exist ... you can’t watch it on Disney+ anymore! 

Cher: Yeah, and that’s such a loss!

Lauren: Yeah! And so there’s no way to then bring in new fans from that whereas even when I was a teenager there were things from earlier that were one season shows that had sort of cult followings like Freaks and Geeks. Right? Which launched the career of Jason Segall and Busy Phillips and all these amazing people and it was 12 episodes or something. And then Wonder Falls – Brian Fuller’s second show. There’s a young Lee Pace in Wonder Falls and he’s so ... 

And I’m really straying from the point. And I guess I don’t necessarily have a wider point than just sort of complaining about the state of media. But I do feel like the fact that we look around and the things that are sort of most talked about, have the most excitement and activity around them are things like Bridgerton, which had an existing fandom, right? Things like Star Wars, Marvel, Dr. Who, Star Trek – stuff that’s been around for decades. And of course there are exceptions to this. I think that Sherlock is a very short show that had a really outsized impact. I think Hannibal II was only three seasons of 12 episodes each – still has a very active fandom. So, there certainly are exceptions. But Good Omens also! Very short seasons, very far apart, but huge impact.

Cher: Oh my gosh. Enormous. To the extent that they’re the biggest topic of the year. Despite again having so much less subject matter to dive into. I guess beyond of course the source material, which I think again ties into the established fandom and the impact of the established fandom. Yes, Good Omens, there’s only those two seasons so far but you can dive into other aspects of the Gaiman-verse and you also know that there’s a lot of crossovers within the Gaiman-verse. So, you can even lean into that in your exploration.

Yes, it’s just two seasons of Good Omens but like is there anything in other ... like in the Sandman, how Dead Boy Detectives was a spinoff of characters from the Sandman series. Things like that. Are there other things that you can kind of dig into? Or even like know you’ll like and have that kind of opportunity for crossover. And also the entire time you were talking I was just sitting there thinking about how Flea Bag is one of my favorite shows of all time and there is so little of it. And Phoebe Waller Bridge has said, “Maybe I’ll make another season when I’m in my fifties, when Flea Bag is 50.” Which I hope she does. That would be amazing. 

But also the amount of times I have re-watched Flea Bag and just know that it makes me ... it’s an incredible show but I feel like I watch it like a movie.

Lauren: Right. And Flea Bag is also doing such a different thing, right? Because we all became such huge fan of Phoebe Waller Bridge and obviously hot priest and Andrew Scott and got another sort of boost in his career from that and now is having an incredible career. But I don’t know that I’ve ever engaged with the Flea Bag fandom, right? 

Not everything needs to have a really active fandom, right? I think that some of the greatest art and stuff sort of exists as it exists. It’s like I’m a huge musical theater girl. I was watching the Tony’s last night and musical theater ... Stephen Sondheim has had an impact on my life and I consider myself in the Stephen Sondheim fandom. But each of his shows, it’s like three hours max. Actually I don’t even know that he personally had a three hour show. But that’s sort of the outside length of a musical. And not to say ... obviously there are musicals that have massive, massive fandom’s. 

But yeah, I think that the sort of opportunity for people to discover something that in its first season maybe is unknown un-established – fresh and maybe still finding its footing. Right? I think that’s so big, too.

Cher: Yeah. Oh my gosh. 

Lauren: If you watch the first season of 911, I mean, there’s a lot of really fantastic stuff in the first season of 911 but just by the nature of Connie Britton only doing the first season, structurally the show is just very different in the first season than what it became. And the characters become so much richer and Kenneth Choi’s character, Chimney, is one of my favorite characters. Who he is in the first season is so different from who he becomes and it’s like you don’t get that chance if you don’t allow a show to sort of find its footing and work with the actors to also figure out what the actors are bringing to a role and how that can affect the characters. And I don’t really have a solution to this other than to just beg studios to give more chances to more things. And maybe spend less money on the first season so they can have a second season and all of that kind of stuff.

But I do think it’s interesting that in the top fandom’s we are seeing these things that are lengthy seasons or based off of source material or fandom’s that began almost 20 years ago, right? Like Supernatural began in 2005! We’re coming up on the 20th anniversary of Supernatural. That’s crazy‼

Cher: That is wild to think about. I want to unpack that later. 

Lauren: We will never be free of it. It will always be a major fandom on Tumblr because you can’t ... there’s over 300 episodes. So few shows have crossed that threshold that of course ... Kirk and Spock fandom. I still see a Star Trek post on my dash once a week of the original series. And I don’t follow any Star Trek blogs. But the hold that that show, which also ran for like 100 seasons has on people is incredible.

Cher: I agree that it has so much to do with just the amount of source material and the fact that you feel like you can always rediscover things. I mean, the joy of re-watching a show or even starting a show that has so much source material already and knowing what you have to dive into, which reminds me, I need to get back into my watch through of Supernatural. So, we’ll add that to the next episode. But yeah, as you were talking I was thinking about how Parks and Rec for example ... season one was pretty rough. Even to the extent I didn’t watch the first season and people ... I think I started watching Parks and Rec around season three.

Lauren: Same.

Cher: I tried it, I tried to get into it, I love 30 Rock and other shows by SNL alum, I was hoping ... and someone said to me, if you really can’t get into it, try starting with the second season. And then go back and watch the first. And that’s what I did. I immediately fell in love with the show and all the characters.

Lauren: Same.

Cher: Yeah, I think you have to, as you said, give shows that space to find their footing and discover themselves. Especially when it’s brand new subject matter that isn’t based on anything, that doesn’t have all that source material to work off of and they’re literally creating the story out of thin air and kind of discovering it as they go along. 

Lauren: Exactly. Yeah, Black Sails obviously has some source material, right, it is technically a prequel to Treasure Island. And involves also real historical figures as characters and a lot of what happens to the historical figures is based on facts and everything. But just in terms of, I mean, Parks and Rec is such a great example. I still have not seen the first season of Parks and Rec. I just never watched it. And that’s one of my most re-watched sitcoms and I’ve just never watched the first season because I think I tried a couple of episodes and I was like, this is not for me. But Black Sails, the first season, especially the pilot and even just the first few episodes is like very, “oh boy, this is a Starz show that has Michael Bay as the producer.” (laughs)

That is what’s happening here. 

Cher: Buckle up. Yeah.

Lauren: Yeah, lots of gratuitous nudity and not to say there shouldn’t be nudity in shows. I actually have a whole rant about nudity and sex scenes and the discourse around that and how I’m such an advocate for sex positivity, all that kind of stuff, and I love the discourse around that. But also I think the thing that gets lost sometimes is the fact that there are real people on set who are doing this. And how safe is the set? And what are unions doing to protect people? And the answer as somebody who is a part of that union is – NOTHING ... until very, very recently. 

That’s something I’m always thinking about when I’m watching something like the first season of Black Sails where it’s like a lot of, there’s lots of sex scenes where the women are naked and the men kind of ... you’re not seeing as much from them, or there’s sexual assault, whatever it is. And what’s crazy is that by the end of season four of Black Sails it’s become this exceptional story of love and power and identity and struggle that is genuinely like an incredibly effortlessly diverse cast of people. And what’s also crazy is when you watch the second season and the sort of reveal of the main character’s back story is revealed that is something that they thought about revealing in season one and then they just kept it for season two. And it changes everything. It changes everything that you think about the character, that you think you know about the world, and to think if they hadn’t gotten a season two, and they had decided to hold off writing it into season one because they’re like, it doesn’t fit in, and it wouldn’t have fit in. It would have been very jarring. But how great that they then had the opportunity to do it. Again, that’s a fandom that despite only having four seasons of ten episodes each, really has survived and has continued to thrive and I think now that it’s on Netflix will only get more and more fans. It’s a very long ... and I went on a huge tangent about on-set sex scenes ... (laughs) but ... 

Cher: No, but I also agree with you and have ... I’m shocked ... Are intimacy coordinators now required in all sex scenes? Because I feel like that’s just an option, right and not?

Lauren: Yeah. So, can I go on a very ... I’ll try to keep this-

Cher: Please.

Lauren: Okay. There has been very interesting discourse over the last several years on Tumblr specifically about sex scenes in film and television. I think that a lot of the discourse is really healthy. It sort of came from a place of people being like, “There’s never a reason that you should have a sex scene in a movie.” Which if you don’t like that stuff, then don’t watch it, that’s fine. And then other people kind of coming and taking the other side of the argument which is the side of the argument that I agree with, which is like, no, if that’s an expression of the story ... there’s lots of reasons, even if it is just to titillate people. That’s also valid. It’s valid to feel titillated, right? 

Cher: Yeah.

Lauren: I agree 1000% with all of that. If it’s something that the storyteller wants to do and all the actors are on board – great. However, I have voted “no” on the past two SAG contracts as a SAG actor because back in, oh god, 2019/2020 I want to say was our last TV contract that went up ... it did not require intimacy coordinators. And then on this contract obviously there were a lot of things with the AI and all of that kind of stuff. But I ultimately ended up voting “no” because once again SAG is not requiring intimacy coordinators. It is strongly encouraged. 

The language around it was stronger but there should ... you have to have a stunt coordinator on set to do a stunt. There is safety. There’s OSHA laws. There’s union laws. There’s insurance stuff. And the fact that we don’t have that for ... and I say this as somebody who has done on stage nudity. I was [inaudible 00:40:42] Spring Awakening. I’ve done the on stage sex scene thing. I understand the environment around it and everything. And just until that is required, to me, I don’t ... I cannot watch a sex scene in any film or television show and not be thinking about that. Just because we know of the rampant abuse that occurs on sets. 

Something that they have now required is closed sets, which is good because that means that not anybody can show up on filming on those days, right? Also, closed set frankly means fewer witnesses as well. You know? And it’s like I just ... there’s so much around it that, yeah, if a woman wants to get naked on screen – Nicola Coughlin talked about this with Bridgerton, right? And sort of really wanting to show a type of body that’s not seen in that context a lot. And absolutely. Love her for that. And I’m sure Bridgerton, given its content, has an intimacy coordinator. (laughs) I have no doubt.

And I think that a lot of those scenes really do add to the narrative but I am always thinking about what’s the environment and who is there? Especially if it’s an actor that’s not as established. Are they feeling pressured into it as a requirement of the role? Was this mentioned as a requirement of the role? Yeah. That is my little soap box. (laughs) And I will not vote “yes” for a SAG TV of Film contract until that’s required.

Cher: I mean, I couldn’t agree more. It’s absolutely shocking that with the amount of money that is put into all of these shows and all of these titles, that there is not a requirement for an intimacy coordinator. It can obviously be fit into the budget. It is not ... the fact that the language was changed to “strongly suggests” but not required is also, okay, you’re going to change the language but not go all the way? What’s even the point?

Lauren: What pushback are you getting and from where and why are you letting that pushback take place?

Cher: Because the pushback sounds pretty frigging nefarious to me.

Lauren: Exactly.

Cher: What would ever justify pushback on an intimacy coordinator? 

Lauren: Yeah.

Cher: When all an intimacy coordinator does is make sure that the set is safe and consensual. Which is the key. Yeah. I mean, I have a lot of opinions. I feel like I really like the show Outlander and I have to skip the ... constant it feels sexual assault scenes. Those are not, that’s not what I ... I think that ... I don’t know. I have some opinions on whether that’s ever relevant to actually show or if it’s more traumatizing versus implied.

But yeah. Having an intimacy coordinator for consensual sex scenes is extremely important. I mean, it’s important tenfold for a non consensual sex scene. 

Lauren: Yes. Yeah. 

Cher: Because that can be so traumatic. 

Lauren: Yeah, and I think the excuse for a little while was around the fact that there were just so few people who actually were trained for this job, right? I think that’s not quite the case anymore. But not only is it a way to make things safe and consensual and give somebody a person to go to if they feel unsafe who is not the director, right? But also the literal blocking of those things. Right? This is another reason why I can never sort of step outside of myself and watch sex scenes for what they are because I’m always just like, what was the blocking? 

Cher: This is unrealistic ...

Lauren: Yeah. (laughter) Actually, there’s a funny anecdote about American Gods and then re-shooting an entire scene because Brian Fuller wasn’t on set the day that they did the Gin sex scene between the two men. And he watched the playback and was like, this is not how you have gay sex and they had to re-shoot the whole thing. 

And yeah, there’s a whole queer aspect to this as well that needs to be talked about. But yeah, if the director is literally blocking a sex scene are they trained to do that? Most directors are not creating fight coordination for stunts, right? They’re not the ones literally choreographing those fights. They have people for that. So, it’s like why would they be then qualified to do a different kind of physicality? I could talk about this forever. I need to shut up!

Cher: Oh my gosh. Yeah. Noted. No, but I mean I think it’s so important to talk about it, to talk about it openly because I think one thing that ... because sex and intimacy can be an awkward topic or a hard topic to talk about whether it’s in film or just in general I think yeah it can contribute to people having trouble talking about it on set, people having trouble talking about the importance of this issue off set because people get kind of like uncomfortable and think is this appropriate or whatever it is. But no, as you said, there is an expert for every other aspect. They bring in cartographers and language experts and all of these different experts. There was a ... I did an interview recently where there was a snake wrangler on the set. 

Lauren: Incredible. Yeah.

Cher: If they can have a snake wrangler, you can have a friggin intimacy coordinator. I feel like. Which one feels more important? Actually, the snake wrangler was to get the venomous snakes off their set so I think that would be very important. (laughter) Yeah. Super important. For different reasons. But anyway ... 

(laughter)

Lauren: A perfect conclusion to this discussion. 

Cher: I could not agree more. 

[gentle music]

And to close, Lauren, what has you in your feels this week?

Lauren: Well, obviously union contracts – always. 

Cher: Yes.

Lauren: I mean, yeah, I am in my feels once again about Merrily We Roll Along which I feel like I’ve mentioned several times on this show. But the Tony’s, as we’re recording this on June 17th, the Tony’s were last night. And yeah I watched them live. They’re basically the only award show that I watch anymore. And not only did Daniel Radcliffe get a Tony for his role in Merrily We Roll Along, which is a show that I have seen twice and sobbed at both times profusely, and I just love him, his speech was so sweet. I also saw him in How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying ten years ago and he was fantastic in that as well. It’s been amazing to watch him grow. 

But also Jonathan Groth got his first Tony. And when I said to my partner, “Oh my god, I’m so glad he finally got it.” My partner was like, “This is his first one!?” I’m like, “I KNOW.” It’s Jonathan Groth. 

Cher: That is shocking. I had no idea.

Lauren: He has been nominated for everything he’s ever been in. Spring Awakening, Hamilton, etc. But he’s never actually won it. And his speech was just – it’s so clear that he’s had this thing written out since he was like 19 years old. And I also saw him in the previews of Spring Awakening back in 2005/2006 – I don’t remember exactly what year it was – and I just remember being so blown away. He was 20 years old or whatever. So blown away by the clarity of his voice. His gravitas even then. And granted I was 14 and so I was also like, oh my god, you’re so pretty. (laughs)

But I don’t know, there will always be a part of me ... it’s like I don’t necessarily have any fantasies about like giving an Oscar speech or an Emmy speech or anything like that. But anytime I watch the Tony’s there’s always going to be a little part of me that’s like, oh man, that’s the career path that I diverged from. I was originally on that path and then I decided not to sort of pursue it. And I don’t know, just seeing these wonderful people succeed is just ... I just got very emotional about it. So, that is what has me in my feels.

What about you, Cher?

Cher: Well, I honestly for kind of a similar reason but for a fictional character.

Lauren: Love it.

Cher: I am in my feels for Hacks. 

Lauren: Oh yes!

Cher: And just ... I cried throughout this season. I love Hacks so much. I know we’ve talked about it multiple times and we’ve brought it up as ... I think I’ve brought it up for my Feels Corner every month for the last two months it’s been on the air. But the ending of this season and just the fact that Jean Smart – spoilers ahead – Jean Smart’s character ... God, Deborah Vance, how the fact that Deborah finally, finally got late night, finally got this thing that she’s been working towards and wanted her whole life. It just was so beautiful and it warmed my heart and I love this show. I also loved the drama at the end. I’m messy, I loved it. I actually think I said out loud, “Yes” when Ava kind of finally stood up for herself with Deborah. And even beyond stood up for herself. Kind of like gave Deborah a taste of her own medicine. I loved it. It was fantastic. I’m really, really excited for the next season. I love this show. And it makes me really happy.

Lauren: Same. Absolutely same. 

Cher: And with that, I’m Cher McAnelly and you can find me at OverChers.Tumblr.com. 

Lauren: And I’m Lauren Shippen, and you can find me at TheLaurenShippen.Tumblr.com.

Cher: This has been Dashboard Diaries. And ... 

[outtro music]

Lauren: May your anons always be loving.

Cher: Your dash always refreshed.

Lauren: Your gifs always be loading.

Cher: And your ships always canon.

Lauren: May the fics you’re reading always be finished.

Cher: And the answers you seek always in the re-blogs.Lauren: Thanks for scrolling with us!

How do we build long lasting fandoms with short lasting TV seasons? How do you know when to invest in a story when it might be canceled the next day? Cher and Lauren discuss that and much more, including: the real problem with on-scree sex scenes, the Ton-blr, and the importance of snake wranglers.

Credits and transcript in our reblog. You can find transcripts for this, and every other episode, here.

Find the posts discussed in this episode in this tag!

[meikatsudon]

THE RAMPAGE from Exile Tribe - 100degrees (Lyrics and English Translation)

100degrees

Damn... we on fire Turn the heat up Here we go now Yeah... are you ready? Let's go!

Arikitari na hibi Say goodbye Kyou made no joushiki Kutsugaesu Sameteru me de Nani ga dekiru Come on, come on Okose yo AKUSHON Kata ni hamerareta Destiny Toutatsu shite mo Shosen Muimi Michisuji nara Koko ni tsukuridasu Ikou Ima da minu hate e

Kurayami wo Osoreru hitsuyou wa nai Kimi ga shiranai Arata na Sun will be rising

(Running on, running on) Mezasu itadaki (Running on, running on) Tomose fire (Running on, running on) Tayasu koto naku Todoke 100degrees (Running on, running on) Sandou shita nara (Running on, running on) Te wo kazashi na (Running on, running on) Motto takaku Todoke 100degrees

Donna atsui kabe mo butsukowasu BUREEKI nashi ni Run No, we can't stop RIMITTAA nara sude ni OOBAAHIITO Come on, come on Tsugi no SUTEEJI e Kuchi dake janaku tsune ni Move Tachidomarazu Makikomu Kore made no Life Koko de Nurikae Furui kara Nugisutete

RISUKU no nai Sentakushi wa hitotsu mo nai Dakara kyou mo Subete kakete We Burning

(Running on, running on) Mezasu itadaki (Running on, running on) Tomose fire (Running on, running on) Tayasu koto naku Todoke 100degrees (Running on, running on) Sandou shita nara (Running on, running on) Te wo kazashi na (Running on, running on) Motto takaku Todoke 100degrees

ADORENARIN ga agarippanashi Yakedo saseru kurai Heat it up Hai ni naru made we on fire Furikire 100degrees

Okosu New wave Kison no Rule wa Break Akita shitto nara Ima sugu Go away Under pressure Heat up Saseru Game Backfire Gyakkyou wo kate ni Gain Higher and higher Tenjou nanka shiranee sa Everyday Everynight Migaiteku Skill Jamamono sokodoki na Go my way Yameru tsumori demo 3 the hard way

Kurayami wo osoreru hitsuyou wa nai Kimi ga shiranai Arata na Sun will be rising

(Running on, running on) Mezasu itadaki (Running on, running on) Tomose fire (Running on, running on) Tayasu koto naku Todoke 100degrees (Running on, running on) Sandou shita nara (Running on, running on) Te wo kazashi na (Running on, running on) Motto takaku Todoke 100degrees

ADORENARIN ga agarippanashi Yakedo saseru kurai Heat it up Hai ni naru made we on fire Furikire 100degrees ADORENARIN ga agarippanashi Yakedo saseru kurai Heat it up Hai ni naru made we on fire Furikire 100degrees

100degrees

Damn... we on fire Turn the heat up Here we go now Yeah... are you ready? Let's go!

Say goodbye to the ordinary days Turn around what's been socially acceptable up to this point What can you do with cold eyes? Come on, come on Make something happen Destiny is so cliché Even if you get to where you're going, it means nothing in the end I'll create my own path right here Let's go to a place no one's ever seen before

There's no need To be scared of the darkness You don't know this, But a new Sun will be rising

(Running on, running on) I'm aiming for the top (Running on, running on) Ignite a fire (Running on, running on) Don't let it burn out Let it reach 100degrees (Running on, running on) If you're in, (Running on, running on) Don't shield your eyes from the light (Running on, running on) Even higher Let it reach 100degrees

I'll break down every wall, no matter how hot it is There aren't any brakes here, Run No, we can't stop The limiter's already overheating Come on, come on, go to the next stage Don't just talk, always be on the Move I can't stop, I'm being dragged in Rewrite the Life that you've had so far right here Break out of your old shell

There's no need To take the safe option That's why You still have to bet it all today We Burning

(Running on, running on) I'm aiming for the top (Running on, running on) Ignite a fire (Running on, running on) Don't let it burn out Let it reach 100degrees (Running on, running on) If you're in, (Running on, running on) Don't shield your eyes from the light (Running on, running on) Even higher Let it reach 100degrees

My adrenaline's still going Heat it up so you make everything burn we on fire until we become ashes Shake free 100degrees

Start up a New wave, Break any existing Rule If you're done with being jealous, then just Go away right now Under pressure Heat up the Game Backfire Any adversity you may face makes you Gain sustenance Higher and higher I don't care about the ceiling Everyday Everynight I keep on brushing up my Skill Don't let any obstacles get in your way Go my way Even if you wanna give up, 3 the hard way

There's no need to be scared of the darkness You don't know this, but a new Sun will be rising

(Running on, running on) I'm aiming for the top (Running on, running on) Ignite a fire (Running on, running on) Don't let it burn out Let it reach 100degrees (Running on, running on) If you're in, (Running on, running on) Don't shield your eyes from the light (Running on, running on) Even higher Let it reach 100degrees

My adrenaline's still going Heat it up so you make everything burn we on fire until we become ashes Shake free 100degrees My adrenaline's still going Heat it up so you make everything burn we on fire until we become ashes Shake free 100degrees

[dourpeep]

i have even more ideas now...

what about like the moment you open up about your relationship with kazuxiao the fans who were already seeing that happen were celebrating and on both of y'alls insta or something is where you announce and it's like a picture of all 3 of you chilling together or something

and then when they finally appear on a variety show they're just questioned throughly and they talk about how you guys meet and what they like about you

ok but the moments where you just feel sort of insecure since being an idol is hard and you're technically dating your seniors and you're just hit by the antis who are against yourself relationship so you lock yourself in your room in your dorm by yourself to cope. your roommate (can be whoever) contacts them both and they immediately come over and come in and offer soft kisses and soft murmurs of reassurance that they'll never leave you and that everything's gonna be ok.

side note i can see xiao just being a whole meme without realizing?? for like variety shows he's just known for his dead pan expression and then i can see him being so competitive on shows like running man..mans ripping tags left and right, while kazuhas just hiding in a weird spot or something

kazuha on the other hand i can see him being a troll, he likes to mess around with the hosts of the show and manages to mess up some of their plans, he also likes messing with his group members, where xiao likes to say that kazuha looks innocent but is a part of the devil line with venti

onto albedo i can see him like answering questions in his vlive and fans realize that a lot of his songs are more romantic and sort of pining?? and they're asking where the motivation is from. he answers that it's just something that he saw recently so he felt motivated (it wasn't the fact that he had realized that he was 100% in love with you)

but like all of this mans inspiration comes from you, he's had multiple songs dedicated to you before your relationship was even open to the public, and when your relationship finally does, it just clicks for fans and it suddenly makes sense, your ship name trends worldwide for the day

but how you and albedo met, i can see both of you guys being in the industry already and you guys are sort of know each other but it was for a one time off collab with other artists involved so you didn't really talk with each other. like i said before albedos a solo artist while i can see you being a part of a popular group already. but then both of your companies decided to do another collab and especially picked you two since you guys already worked on a collab before.

at first it was like awkward since albedos really socially awkward but then things click when you guys start writing the song together. everything just matches so well?? and you guys just compliment each other?? and that's when you learn of albedo just staying at the studio so late so you often bring food. this leads to you guys getting closer and albedo even stops his work just to talk to you more. when your song comes out and everyone is waiting for the stage, there's just so much tension?? but the good kinda and everyone is awed by the song and the vocals coming from you and albedo.

i can also see the both of you guys appearing on variety shows together too, like appearing on a show where you two travel to another place and experience the culture there, with albedo being your tour guide and showing you all the famous places (one of the many times where fans were awed by his research and knowledge) and then if you guys were to appear together again after you guys reveal your relationship, a lot of the times they show idols as they wake up, they'll see you and albedo being clingy af to each other.

on another side note, albedos totally a troll on variety shows, he likes messing around with the hosts and other contestants since a lot of the time he's not really interested in the show itself, it's more for publicity. however, when he first appeared on a show with you fans noticed that he actually seemed interested for once and that's where your ship name started.

albedos totally a golden child tho, he's like basically perfect in everything so a lot of the times variety shows don't catch him slipping, however the one time that he did was when you were mentioned, the clip of with his ears bright red was trending for a couple of days :)

GIVING ME SO MUCH GOOD FOOD THANK YOU ANON

I think that this covers everything hehehe so I won't add to-

wait wait I put it all under the cut b/c it's a lot again-

Okay okay but like for the 'announcement' picture, what if it's like those photo booth pics (but like each picture you need to scroll through like on Insta) where it's cute and wholesome! The three of you are having fun wearing some silly glasses or hats, doing peace signs or finger hearts....and the very last photo is the three of you sharing a kiss- or, at least trying to.

It's sweet, a little silly, and most of your fans take it really well! After all, they can see the chemistry that you share and can't deny that the three of you would have a good relationship.

As for the insecurities of dating your seniors, Kazuha and Xiao are quick to knock back any of those worries. They love you so, so much and hate the fact that something like that makes you doubt for a single second. If anyone ever tries to bring it up, you know that they're going to immediately quip back.

Naturally, you're roomed with Venven :D He's technically an up-and-coming after he stopped doing idol stuff for a few years, so not only does he know the ropes, but he's also one of your biggest fans and biggest supports (outside of Kazuha and Xiao).

Though he's silly and light-hearted, he's quick to recognize when things are serious and need handling.

So as soon as he sees that you're not doing so great or if he notices the comments on your posts are going in a bad direction, he speed dials Xiao and the two of your boyfriends are right at the door in under 15.

Not only are they fast about it, but they have all your favorite snacks, a movie or two, some popcorn, and a ton of love and affection because they'll be damned if their love is going to be affected by some asshole's comments about their love life! What do they know anyway??

Actually this all could work too if Kazuha and Xiao are part of 4NEMO-

Hmmm

That'd cause so much more ruckus- not only is half of one of the most popular idol groups are taken, but by the same person??? And each other??? Man, that's wack.

BUT THE GAMESHOWS

Xiao would most certainly be super intense with those. He just can't help it--competition drives his blood and makes something snap in him. He's dead serious about doing well, regardless of the game. I actually have never watched said game shows, but--

Like...he's out for blood. No one is safe. Not even you or Kazuha if you're on opposing teams, though he'll be a bit more gentle. Maybe even with the hint of a smile while you have an expression of utter shock at the fact that he's just so fast-

Or if it's not a game show and instead you're doing some sort of idol group activity with a few others to get to know each other?

Someone suggests ping pong and, knowing how competitive Xiao gets, he's pitted up against Tartaglia and man. That's scary. There's no doubt that someone would clip the video and make it into an overly-dramatic retelling complete with music.

Hilarious.

As for Kazuha! He'd be a bit of a mish mosh! He enjoys poking fun at others, and he's so sly! Those poor hosts don't realize that he's goading them on, but sure enough--he is. Who knew that his charming smile and mild-mannered attitude could be so devastating?

But even then, he's mostly wholesome! There's a lot of little clips, mostly of your doing, of him in a 'kiss the chef' apron getting caught off guard while cooking something up. The videos aren't great because you're giggling while recording and he ends up placing the ladle down calmly before wrapping you up in his arms. Half the video ends up being the two of you laughing and joking while it's pointed at a weird angle towards the counter.

Sometimes it'll point just right and you'll get a half-blurred view of Xiao sitting at the kitchen island with his reading glasses perched on his nose and book forgotten. He tends to get up and join in for a few smooches before reminding Kazuha of the food that's still cooking.

--

Albedo!! He absolutely is the golden child. He's fantastic handling things under pressure in a cool, calm manner. Handsome, charismatic, incredibly smart--man's hit all the stops and just keeps going.

It's not until it comes out that the two of you are together that his cool façade (hardly one, though) falters and at the mere mention of you, he'll go soft. There's a tenderness in his eyes, a small smile on his lips, and his blush? Absolutely adorable. How can anyone object when he's obviously so in love with you?

And the idea you mentioned with the two of you traveling and experiencing stuff together sounds so cute (':

He particularly enjoys exploring new cuisine, so expect him to feed you some food from his plate-

There's also a few times where you two have gotten lost in the new places, more because you're both so busy taking in the sights to realize you've taken five wrong turns- But then you make it into a whole adventure, foregoing the map and deciding to wander around. What better way to discover and learn about somewhere than getting lost and wandering?

You find quite a few hidden gems this way since otherwise you'd be hitting more popular areas!

Wait- do they really show idols waking up???

Ahh regardless, Albedo's definitely a cuddler. He loves it, can't get enough of it. It's not often that he gets a good night's rest, but with you it seems like he's fully recharged and ready for the day! It's cute too because it doesn't matter--big spoon or little spoon, you on his chest or him resting on yours. Even a few times with you facing each other with your hands intertwined.

I also agree that Albedo would mess with the game show's hosts and contestants. Not only would he, but he'd be entirely smug about it (after all, we need to have that #smugbedo going on).

No doubt, there's been times where the cameras even focus/zoom in on him where he's sitting because he's got that smirk on his face.

[sugar-petals]

Group Sex With SuperM

SUMMARY: creating a group chat is all it takes.

↳ A/N. yep, we’re going there. 

words. 14k

WARNINGS ⚠️ friends to lovers hc, porn with plot, idol au, sex w/ all members individually and together, dom/sub dynamics, corruption kink, sexting, blowjobs & cunnilingus, gaping, graphic, pegging, bondage, light foot fetish, sex toys, spitroasting (m receiving), brat taming, dick riding, protected sex, doggystyle, cuddling aftercare

curious about an eightsome are we

understood

how’s the state of things then?

last september you decided to open an entire group chat just for planning your juicy sexual activities together

and oh lord is it active

and full of ideas

and explicit videos

and emojis

and excitement

yesterday taemin sent a clip of lusciously covering himself in champagne foam for you

wearing close to nothing

in fact just a piece of gauze, a snake-shaped necklace, and probably a bit of perfume

oh boy

watching that was an out-of-body experience for sure

the entire chat basically imploded with reactions

but hey hey

not so fast

we need to go through everything from the start

to see how all these utterly historic events happened to unfold

so where did all that come from?

first off 

befriending super m outside work (eating together, fooling around, bingwatching stuff, you know)

...means there’s no point nor chance in having a permanent favorite with a group like this

every member truly is the creme de la creme

super m is the package of the entire packages

they are so legendary you can bias each member for one day of the week 

and never run out of that pure bliss

in fact 

you all agreed to do exactly that on a regular basis to get to know each other casually

it just naturally happened

seven days seven members that’s just logical

you can’t always hang out together in full attendance so you split up your times and set specific days

you change that routine very often depending on your individual moods

but it usually goes like this because you want to develop closer bonds with them one-on-one

so this is how it ends up

mondays you work out with xuxi. oh, that sexy smiley man. his body is the ultimate bomb. is there something better than doing sit-ups next to him? anybody’s sports motivation would go through the roof. and if there’s someone you call to share a pile of food with? it’s just gotta be him. being with yukhei is self-care.

tuesdays, you visit ten to check out his latest dance moves. and: to have a huge cuddle session with the cats. sometimes, you watch whatever series you’re in the mood for. it’s always a time to slow down and mend your sore muscles from monday anyway. you think ten is so interesting and talented, and super pretty, truly one of a kind.

on wednesdays jongin and you often end up on long midnight walks with the dogs or you both look after his cute nieces. meeting up at the river han is a staple, you get ice cream and snacks. you adore kai because he’s a sweetheart and steadfast person, and admittedly... so damn hot, holy hell. being with him makes you feel great.

thursday is baekhyun day and full of cheeriness as you’d expect. long hours of gaming, cheeky skinship, banter, and pizza eating await you at his apartment. you adore this mochi for his everything, he makes you laugh uncontrollably so much. sometimes, you also comfort him when he doesn’t feel good about himself or exhausted from practice. he will sing anything you want, baekhyun is like your personal 24/7 radio station.

fridays it’s time for the studio. mark is crafting his most fire bars and loves to have you around there. you inspire him a lot. he’s just completely astounding and the sweetest to you. friday most people would go clubbing, but super m just has to meet up in the studio. no paparazzi, and the music is obviously danceable. i’m telling you: this mob can jop, duh.

saturday is for handsome taeyong who loves coming to your home. cooking, organizing, doing the laundry, and browsing youtube together is the best thing. taeyong is the shyest goodest boy and a great listener. he gives great advice and is the epitome of respectful. you just vibe very well together.

sunday you dedicate to taemin. you watch artsy films, experiment with outfits, and he plays the piano for you so expertly. man, you are lucky. he’s like a fairy to you, and a connoisseur, a mythical figure almost. since he’s a newly-found cat dad, you easily fill your day playing with the most interesting kitten that is lee kkoong. sometimes, you even meet shinee members dropping by.

so yes this is what paradise looks like

and they all love to engage with you in their own way and you develop favorite ways to spend time, they put so much effort into this

it goes without saying that you all realize how hard you’re crushing as the weeks pass

like can you imagine

all the hormones i swear

you’ve already been joking to them that you have seven boyfriends some months ago

well the prophecy is fulfilled faster than you can blink

when you meet up as eight for a movie night at baekhyun’s, the atmosphere feels pretty frisky

because lucas is sending you ten thousand glances and certainly nobody misses that

if this guy is laughing at your every word i mean

meanwhile taeyong is having a nervous meltdown at your every comment about the movie, it’s ridiculous, he’s smitten as fuck, he looks at you like you’re an actual goddess

mark keeps on making glimmering eyes at you as well, and he asks you if you want popcorn every two minutes

baekhyun is all curled up close to your lap and not even watching the movie because his face is almost nuzzled into your sweater for fuck’s sake

taemin has spent the entire preperation in complete frenzy making sure there are scented candles everywhere and the snacks are exquisite and costly. mother taemresa? at full throttle. he even used his own damn credit card.

meanwhile kai suffers from his fidgety legs, constant hair fixing and even more inability to concentrate on the movie 

because damn, he knows he wants your attention. he literally came around with the tightest shirt he owns so there’s that. you can see every little muscle doing its thing when he does as much as breathe. kai is now well aware he came to impress. it won’t take him a lot to realize he wants to be even closer to you than doing midnight walks.

ten is so firmly snuggled up next to you, he might as well be your cat himself. if ten starts acting like a clingy feline instead of being in roast mode, you know he’s lovestruck i’m telling ya

needless to say

the mood in the room is hard to ignore

hell there are romance candles everywhere all those hecking rose fumes are to blame

surprise surprise all the members try to sit as close as possibly to you the more the movie progresses

even abandoning the couch and seats to sit on the ground in front of you instead

“you want popcorn?”

“like some more popcorn?”

“here, have my popcorn!“

“more popcorn?”

“hey do you want popcorn?”

from all sides, constantly

the m in super m stands for making sure you have popcorn

you never run out

like when the leading lady is pulling out a cigarette in those old hollywood flicks and at least twenty guys are scurrying to offer a lighter

i’m exaggerating but

nobody even knows what kind of movie they’re watching tonight though

the elephant in the room is trumpeting too loud to understand the dialogue

you’re surrounded by seven big ole hotties who have fallen for you

it was inevitable

it’s more than clear to everyone that they all like you and you couldn’t be any more fluttered yourself

let the hunger games begin

i’m jopping i mean i’m joking

this is not the wwe

it’s pretty clear to the boys that if they fight you’re gonna be so unhappy and your quality time together is ruined

you adore them all, and they’d be regretful about hurting their own bonds 

and anyway

if it came down to it and the bad blood was really escalating um...

...ten would destroy all of the competition

there’s no denying

by the simple virtue of his badassery and winning disease

quickly reducing all his opponents to a pile of dust so fine-grained, the great freddie mercury himself would resurrect to sing the soundtrack in the background and pump his fist

imagine that. superm actually being gladiators i mean wasn’t that the entire jopping mv

baekhyun would try to pull the leader authority card and use his hapkido martial arts skill but ten would obliterate him anyway so

even if taemin put on a dark robe and drew a salt circle to summon a million snakes from hell, ten would win the fight to a fault

but that’s too apocalyptic and outside of that thought experiment the boys are actually kinda shy so... let’s scratch that

there are seven days of the week with good reason 

you ease the uncertainty and tension by saying you’d truly fail as a tv bachelorette

everyone understands that deciding would be impossible and cheating is shit

why give someone a rose and break 6 hearts when you can hand out a whole damn bouquet

it’s more stylish my friend

and for what reason would ten want to face off against taemin and his army of snakes in the first place. they’re ten’s greatest inspiration

nor does kai have any tighter shirts 

he already ran out, he brought his A game from the get-go

on top of that the popcorn is empty there’s no more to offer

so you remain with the idea to just keep your daily routine

xuxi monday, ten tuesday and so on

keeps everything in order

it’s fair

plus it doesn’t mess with their schedules

usually unless a big award show is coming up but that can be re-planned in advance as well

you know... things can develop in their own timing with each member

it’d be awkward to expect everyone to be on the same stage at once

baekhyun is comfortable with all kinds of back hugs while taeyong and taemin are still completely flustered and turn all wobbly at just a greeting wave

you know what i mean

it’s already clear everyone loves you very differently 

some members are more straightforward, others take it slow, it’s just a normal thing

that’s when the group chat is born

it’s still very sfw 

compared to how explicit it’ll be in the future ahem

and everyone is overcautious with writing something except baekhyun, the eternal extrovert

for now you keep each other updated on how it’s all going with trivial details

earlier you just had individual chats and baekhyun arranged the group meetings since he knows the schedule best

now it’s all in one spot so that works

everyone’s curiosity is quenched at least a little bit

and they see each other anyway and put their heads together

baekhyun will be the most open about how far your skinship slowly develops followed by lucas and kai who oggle each other in their usual tom and jerry manner

which you have an eye on

you tell the members something very important for when they’re envious

or feel the need to one-up or catch up

it’s the sign to get closer to you and that they’re ready for taking another step. that’s literally what jealousy is all about

that advice helps them out a lot actually

kai takes that to heart in particular because he knows he’s prone and feels bad about it

and they also learn from ten who carries a quiet happiness with confidence that doesn’t need comparison, but he can also talk very honestly about how he’s standing with you to the point

ten knows how it’s done

as expected of such a competent man

like he’s kissed your hands very lightly but he doesn’t feel the need to show it off all day

and he also leads by example together with taemin and taeyong how one can give compliments even when not being involved in something 

“you’re looking adorable together“ as taemin would often say about you hanging out with kai or baekhyun

a lot of praise culture is developing in the group chat

you like to see it 

and now for the other elephant in the room

as for who will ask you to sleep with him first

(and mind you at this point they’re all walking around with condoms in their backpacks and jackets)

believe it or not

after the finishing touches on his latest mixtape (oh yes), and those tracks have you feeling some kind of way oh shit, mark gathers all his courage

yes it’s mark lee 

literally he steps into the blaze of bravery of jongin when he first put on a crop top

and gets out a little “can we... some time... you know...” after you’re having some pretzel sticks together and awkwardly sitting around

oh what's gonna happen next huh?

you say you’ve been thinking about it a lot

that he has a great body doesn’t go unseen

and tell him how you imagine it with him

long story short you’ll have your first quickie in the sound booth that night

cutting straight to the chase

him steadily penetrating you from behind, you leaning closely with your back to his chest

just standing and enjoying the rhythm

that dick. is amazing.

oh god, mark lee

long, curved, smooth, a classic

meanwhile your fave rapper is definitely going through it

his arms tell you everything

that’s an embrace for the books

he’s hugging you like his life depends on it

you can just take in how he’s been showering twice today this guy is clean as fuck he smells so good

getting off from shampoo and fabric softener is not what you expected but it definitely makes you clench

you both know he’s not gonna last for more than six minutes and that’s ok

that’s a lot of long-held frustration released into that condom

and a lot of passion put into how he puts his guitar fingers to work on your clit afterwards

jimi ‘lee’ hendrix has arrived

oh yeah mark, you fucking treat, fuck it up

that way you won’t last long either since you guide his finger tips to your favorite spot and the motherfucker completely goes for it

“like this, like, um?”

and he goes off with the wrist

oh shit

it’s all kept so short and simple and you’re on the oldest mustard-colored studio couch that ever existed but mark lee is mark fucking lee nothing can obstruct his quality

like this guy has some serious skills with the angles

that orgasm is gonna get some moans you didn’t know you were capable of out of you

never wasting time, that guy is he

mark definitely fucks like he raps. fast and good

you cool down together looking each other in the eyes, forehead to forehead, for like fifteen minutes, and you give each other little chaste kisses all over your faces and he melts every time

your little rendezvous was definitely so needed 

you ask if you can bring some vibes to play around with and a watermelon next time

you don’t have to ask twice

mark is so damn happy

and the timing was right

straightforward and spontaneous. that definitely works well with mark

no complaints, you go home feeling comfortably refreshed. you’ve told him he could tell the others or wait to do it, this is up to his comfort because he is shy

neither happens

after just one glance at him the next day while the group is doing a photoshoot

baekhyun already knows mark slept with you 

he just knows

and makes a loud “ohh wow, you did it” noise

ten takes two only glances to understand what’s going on too

mark nods and the whole group is highstrung for the entire day

like a hive of bees oh yes

kai is massively proud of raising mark so well but also really surprised

unlike taemin who calmly advised mark on many things in advance

guess where mark’s fingering skills originate from

he took some secret pointers from the king 

taeyong is shook at his rap buddy’s singleminded grit to just spontaneously ask you

while baekhyun...

is keeping it together repeating the anti-jealousy mantra you gave him in his mind

“jealousy means to get closer jealousy means to get closer jealousy means to get closer jealousy means to get closer....“

it makes him realize oh god he really wants to be inside of you badly as well

you ain’t dumb, you see his change of tone from cute to sexy in the group chat even if he might not notice

baekhyun is trying extra hard to make you react to him

he posts so many cute selfies with kissy faces

needless to say taeyong’s time slot gets postponed to next thursday while you visit baekhyun this evening

it works for taeyong because he still needs to think some things through

the news overwhelmed him a little and he is shy about meeting up but that’s not a problem for you

and it’s better to get together with your mochi sooner because you both know there’s a lot of banging to do

like seriously

your mood tells you that candy’s on the menu today

oh yeah. it’s time to be all over your clingy lil’ honey bunny 

there’s not much endless wooing involved it goes to the point very fast after you arrive at his home

you just wanna stop pretending and fuck like animals and see his brain melt from it

remember how baekhyun once said he doesn’t fancy nice girls

that’s what he meant by that

mattress earthquake

he wants you fully riled up with arousal and addicted to touching and grabbing him

yeah baekhyun gets off on your desire

that’s not hard to accomplish when he makes big puppy eyes and puts his tongue on your neck

with that gomez addams shit... kissing up your arm and then popping off as soon as he gets there

congrats morticia

here is a man who can handle ya

he’s being so slobbery and moany about it that it knocks the breath out of you 

that shit is so good

baekhyun is not just a pro at giving head my friend it’s also giving neck

and unlike mark, may god have mercy on you, baekhyun keeps on going and going and kissing and kissing and he wants to lick up all of you so bad 

we know how needy and stamina-heavy this fella is

baekhyun is super m’s most insatiable member by fucking far

he’s like just give it to me and you’re like ok here we go

this guy is burning up oh god

that’s an evening of ten thousand positions, fearless cumplay, and a lot of face-sitting

super m’s most unleashed tongue right here

thank god you worked on your fitness with xuxi otherwise you couldn’t do this

he’s moaning in some harmonic scales or something it’s a whole concert

baekhyun is fully at it with you in every room of his flat with his whole neck and underarms looking mighty veiny

yeah he even carries you around to make it short and simple he’s one impatient bun

he can lift up sehun bridal style so no worries

mochi is smol and thin but he won’t drop you i promise

he’s fueled by horny boyfriend hormones and wants to give you the greatest night of all nights

and hit all the amazing spots

baekhyun aims to make your pussy lips throb and fall completely in love with him

and the bridge of his nose if you get what i’m saying

he’s also versatile in his clothing choices

if you say keep your nerdy glasses on, oh yeah they stay on

just a little challenge to see if you can ride him hard enough to see them fall off

and that dick is not some extra long lasso mark lee calibre

so he can really bend it more and thrust with ease at many angles

talking about mark

he regrets not asking you earlier but you tell baekhyun that this way was much better because you unceremoniously skipped to the fucking instead of messing around

if it wasn’t for mark’s courage to break the ice even with a choppy sentence 

you’d still be awkwardly looking each other in the eyes while munching pizza

all hail mark lee nervous legend

this way, baekhyun goes all out with fewer restraint and the burden of being first with making the impression that comes with it

we all know he’s too self-conscious for his own mochi good so that’s a better way to start out

this way baekhyun will have sex with you until he’s passed out on his bed

knocking him out like that might as well become your favorite hobby

even minutes after your tongue still feels like it’s knotted together with his honestly, the muscle memory is kicking in

and this must be the most dick thrusts you’ve ever gotten in one night

baekhyun really wants to be all inside you, make you feel him

if the condom broke at least his baby will be easy to identify from day one

it’ll come out and belt a perfect G#5

he gave it all my god you stopped counting the times you came your pussy is just dripping wet it feels crazy

and his voice has become all raspy i—

that was baekhyun’s hardest vocal run yet i swear

the contraception shelf in the convenience store next to his house is close to empty

but there’s no need to buy more

what you two perverts have been up to is enough for comfortably going through 10 years of celibacy

baekhyun is content and sleeps like a baby

you hold your bun for like two hours afterwards and never want to let him go

you are as wobbly as taeyong after getting a head pat from you

and the most well-kissed girl in this city tonight

both sets of lips

what a smoochy boyfriend

you even get the chance to jerk baekhyun off in his half-sleep after he wakes up and asks you to put your hand in his pants

guess who opens his mouth very wide to lick his own semen off your fingers with some really obscene noises

it’s his royal nastiness byun baekhyun 

who sucks your tiddies to drift back into sleep again

with his hands in your pants

god bless this man

the group chat is sending 👀 emojis all the way throughout the night

your boys know love is in the air

they’re loosening up the timing is right again

you send cute smiling emojis 

a bunch of “ahs” and “ohs” come through via voicemail

and lucas even writes: “so who’s next? 😳”

damn

you reply boldly: “the one asking that”

the group chat becomes a buzzing beehive again

from which you extract that kai is also very interested while ten, taeyong and taemin prefer waiting a little more

but this time you don’t switch time slots since you’ll meet xuxi on monday already 

kai wants to set up something nice and prepare the catering and whatnot (alright you rich man)

so it’s gonna be wednesday as usual with him

so far so good that’s the plan

sunday being taemin day, you get together to read and paint and listen to music

you feel like just doing some sensual kissing with him and taemin is very down

yeah baby he is the kissing king, taemin is hot stuff, he knows exactly what he’s doing, those lips are the pillows at the gates of heaven

losing your mind is a staple when you do that with him

just making out on the couch surrounded by the nicest arrangement of pot plants you’ve ever seen while it rains completely relaxes you and the serotonin is off the charts

he holds you so gently and tastes so good

what is it, rose water or something like that

he even put on his coziest sweater so you’ll love leaning against him

TL;DR taemin is the biggest fucking romantic in the history of SM

that was so seductive you’ll be dreaming about it

applause for lee taemin please

perfect contrasting programme: just hours later

yeah here it goes now

monday starts with xuxi stripping more than he usually does 

at the makeshift gym in his room while he’s on the treadmill

with his hair freshly dyed the most himbo shade of blonde ever

and yeah that’s blonde with an e because yukhei is too sexy to be called a blond. what an ugly word to look at

he’s a blondé

so that’s nice

he’s so dtf you just skip the workout 

time for lubed condoms.

i don’t have to tell you that you literally jump on him 

or that you’ll be dealing with super m’s singlemost biggest equipment

he doesn’t even have to drive it home an inch by himself you’re already riding him

he can’t handle all that gear in the first place

because how do you even develop a technique with such an unrealistic dick

hell how do you even exist like that

so it’s clear who’s taking the lead

all he has to do is work that body but it sort of happens on its own

himbo autopilot

you are going hard and chaotic on this man

xuxi doesn’t even know what hit him

he’s so vocal and excited 

you fuck him while he holds you up, get down on several gym benches, have him bend you forward at the bathroom sink... 

...and you attend business in ten’s room on a desk and window sill

because it’s the most silent there and doesn’t disturb xiaojun’s beauty sleep

ten has discreetly ushered you there and preoccupies himself in the kitchen with the cats

he knows how the game is played

either floor ‘em all or always watch out for others

MVP

but you are secretly wondering what ten is plotting because he has some serious self-control and observation skills

given how tidy his room is... whatever his plans are you can look forward to it

xuxi is definitely suffering from your heavy duty cock destruction in the meantime while being in heaven at the same time

that dick is worn out and dripping 

so much bouncing is even gonna make the biggest boy lose it

milking that orgasm out of him is gonna be so gratifying yum

the deep and defeated moans, my god he really surrenders to the pleasure

wow that was almost as to-the-point as studio sex with mark

no idle talk in nct huh

you clean each other all exhausted and then gobble up three bowls of noodles each

then sleep for two hours in each other’s arms

then do a second round because this guy is really getting you going and yukhei wants to live this monday to the fullest

like this man gives you previously unknown levels of energy

must be the blonde hair. it does sexy things when yukhei is twitching

this time it’s a dick blowing festival

oh yeah

the type where you’re so sloppy with your head bops, he doesn’t even know where to put his hands and needs to think emergency thoughts

oh yeah big dicks make for some nice slurpy noises that sound really plump you know what i mean

he’s gonna realize very soon you do this shit for your own entertainment

and get all kinds of squeaks and faces out of him

only little pauses help him keep up the stamina so he asks you to pull off for a bit every two minutes or so

he has to look elsewhere and distract his mind with thinking about washing the dishes

girl... your tongue has this man sweating major bullets

you’re big on the corruption kink are you

once again 

xuxi is gonna be so shaken and pass the fuck out from cumming

and he thought he was a horny guy

his soul must have left his body and that scalp is probably dead

but bleaching was worth it (he looks like a sleeping angel now)

not to mention banging all over the wayv dorm

ten got a preview of what’s expecting him

not that he doesn’t know he reads you well

lucas promises to return the oral favor next monday and finally collapses entirely in the living room wearing only boxers

nothing new for wayv, great sight for you

not a single workout routine has exhausted xuxi this much

he needs 10 hours of sleep to reboot

“she’s so wild 😲😂😍” is gonna be what he’ll summarize it as in the group chat later

first big boy taken down

the second one follows

wednesday is right around the corner 

oh yes

kai definitely goes off with the preparation you are not ready for this spectacle

he redecorated his entire kitchen and bathroom to perfection with flowers, lanterns, dim light, petals, expensive fabrics draped from the ceiling, and there’s a great view on night time seoul

you can tell he’s best friends with taemin

i mean they’re the greatest entertainers of their time of course their taste is great

always going the extra mile

the black, sheer shirt with a deep cleavage that kai put on is nothing short of a treat

is that a lace choker he’s wearing

and his hair is pushed back lord have mercy

you get pretty weak in the knees at that

the catering leaves nothing to be desired either. a full 3-course sicily-style italian meal with 100% organic ingredients and beautiful basil and thyme garnishings

to set the mood afterwards jongin does what he does best

don’t tell me you didn’t see this one coming

just a chair for you, some music, and him

is this like a whole damn private concert?

he has prepared an entire setlist to thrill you with selected styles of dance

even a rendition of salsa, swing, and tango argentino

i’m telling you...

if kim jongin moves his body for you like that you’ll be fucking hooked and honored and not believe your eyes

what a feast

prepare for a serious case of dropped jaw

and jongin being an absolute daredevil dancing incrementally close to your chair

he incorporates all these little moments of skinship

where he strokes your hair, your jaw, or takes your hands

while at the same time he’s completely destroying it on the dancefloor

with those scorching hips and how he works it on the carpet right in front of you

you’re about to fucking melt

what a time to be alive

the sheer shirt’s buttons are holding onto dear life as do his pants

kai’s movements are becoming extremely ecstatic

what a fucking lapdance 2.0

men have clearly evolved otherwise this wouldn’t be happening

kai dances like a king on a stage but jongin? is god-like when he dances with just one person as the audience

shiit

and because he’s very nervous

he work particularly hard to ace it

in his mind he’s already underneath you judging by how he’s moving

...you can definitely fancy a luscious private concert each wednesday

and for designated activities in the bathroom

he even made a whole 5-hour playlist of the finest songs

so he can make you grind on top of him

don’t tell me kai isn’t the master of courting

king of effort

i don’t have to tell you that this is gonna be the most sensual night you’ve ever had

kai will get to know your body very, very well

those hips never stop do they

the fact that thursday is baekhyun day right after this?

wow aren’t you exhausted

the orgasms just seamlessly continue huh

everything goes on like that 

friday you have a toy-filled, passionate evening at the studio with mark who’s doing the most 

let’s say mark just has good ‘vibes’ indeed

this almost gets as messy as your first time with lucas

have fun cleaning up that couch, canada

what a sex marathon

if you don’t have your period

there’s always a lot of action going on 

or actually. you do catch a break for the weekend

saturday you bake delicious, pistacio and pecan-crusted sticky buns with taeyong 

who also shows you the new fledgelings that have hatched in his apartment

so adorable

sunday you endlessly make out with taemin in the sheets who has of course heard of jongin putting on a show

so he dances for you as well and even does the hands-tied criminal choreo in an especially luscious rendition (aka extra heavy breathing and grinding on the floor, and doing splits that almost rip his pants)

oh yes my love

nothing really happens afterwards you just have dinner completely flustered

if lee taemin dances, sex becomes redundant and doesn’t compare anymore

but really now

the slow burn is unbearable with him for fuck’s sake

taemin knows how to work up the seduction bit by bit

you basically masturbate all evening after returning to your house

god. what to do with this guy

on monday you ravage yukhei’s dick and get all that head 

xuxi is a chaotic fella but he keeps his promises

plus you get the best full-body massage of your life

and for the first time pull out your phone to basically livestream yourself riding him

so the whole chat can watch for five minutes

yep. you learned that courage thing from mark lee

the camera work is obviously subpar but the video definitely has maximum effect

kai and baekhyun stream their reaction right alongside your broadcast

“woah woah oh my god oh my god!!”

everyone’s freaking out, everyone stops whatever they’re doing, everyone is glued to their screens, they love your body moving

you’re having a blast 

especially when you stream another round an hour later and lucas holds the camera now

his arm is perfect for that by the way

strong and stable and high up in the air

so you can do your thing on that fat dick with a bonus of the sexiest xuxi moans ever

that deep but soft tone... yukhei really got a perfect groaning voice huh

after getting steamy for almost ten minutes, you get some great close-ups of your pussy after having yukhei pull out mid-romp

because that gape is for the gods

don’t kid yourself with a dick like that inside you’ll be opening a little wider

it looks and feels even better with lucas tracing his long fingers inside of it

with the closeup zooming in even more while he’s putting his thumb on your clit 

mmh that’s good stuff

six very shaky boys are sitting in front of their phones right now being able to look um very deeply inside of you

baekhyun is basically frozen to a statue on the reaction stream and salivates nonstop it’s just running down his neck at this point

his wettest dreams are right in front of him

stretched out pussy all juicy and swollen? baekhyun’s lifeblood. he’s seeing god 

he turns up the brightness of his phone to maximum so he can see every little detail 

remember. this guy loves to be inside of you so obsessively he wants to pay rent to live in there

so he’s appreciating an HD view of his favorite place, really deep and really pulsing and really soaked

yukhei has slathered you in lube and really pushed apart your muscles very gently, no abrasion, you relaxed so nicely around him

it’s feeling good as fuck

kai who’s watching right next to baekhyun just stares with big eyes

every injury he ever got while dancing is suddenly healed 

he’s a new man his spine has put itself together his legs are reborn

taeyong almost falls off his chair when he tunes in

he’s that bewildered

he just types a big WOW and a wall of blushing emojis

the explicit songs he’s been listening to and whatever he’s been rapping about recently are nothing in comparison to this

finally someone climbed up to taeyong’s level of nastiness

and he thought he’d never find someone on eye level

secretly he loves the nice view but he won’t admit how much

meanwhile he will rewatch this over and over for the whole week at least five times a day

and then there’s taemin

| adorable 😊🤗🎀 6v6

| can you put the camera a bit closer again 👉👈

| and turn on the flash if that’s ok 😳

| ah thank you 💟

i don’t know what taemin has seen or heard or experienced in his life and what made him this way but damn he loves that graphic shit

turning on the flash makes even yukhei’s jaw drop and rub your clit even faster

he’s damn proud he could make your pussy open up to him this way as he should be 

cuz he’s really been improving his Big Cock Techniques (BCT)

mark doesn’t write anything but he’s online and streaming so yeah he’s jerking off

with two hands

baekhyun is typing how much he loves the wet sounds and how great the fingering action is

and he’s damn right. telepathy 

that’s your favorite pervert right there yeehaw

in the meantime yukhei’s brain is empty he’s just smiling bright and enjoying the moment and the attention and your body

ten is basically next door because this is the fucking wayv dorm 

you can hear him choke on his coffee and whisper ‘oh my fucking god, oh shit’ to himself

the phone almost topples into the sheets while lucas is putting all those rubs and circles into your clit but the audio is already telling the boys to watch very closely anyway because here it comes

taeyong is probably falling apart by now given how he’s posting a couple fragmented sentences that you try to decipher on yukhei’s phone

until you get close and take up filming yourself again 

so yukhei can make a video with his own phone as well

yep that’s two cameras on you by now not just one

xuxi’s been such a steadfast babe 

and he gets to see the fruits of his work. for one, just how much of an imprint he left with his cock inside you 

and second how hard he can make you cum now

those big fingers are magic on you

taemin gets all the closeups he ever needed from your camera because you hit the zoom even more

yukhei starts kissing you twice

not as carefully as he often would

it’s the really wet and passionate version this time

he films your lower faces as good as he can

those big fucking lips 

they never fail to make you get the hots

they’re really made to do all this are they

his tongue nips into you with extra saliva on board

you suck it into your own mouth and mix it with yours, and gather some more

and slip your tongue above his in return

yukhei makes sure you can hear him swallowing all that warm runny spit and moans into your mouth

guess who just blew one big juicy load into the condom

and he’s not even inside of you

jesus christ yukhei

looks like french kissing is his orgasm button 

you start sucking on his tongue when it slides back between your lips and you make them really tight and puckering

the noise is so delicious

yukhei shoots the rest of his semen into the condom

you go even harder on him, the kiss gets really deep

kai and baekhyun are literally jumping up and down on their beds by now

taemin and mark are sending star-eyed emojis

ten is definitely beating the meat next door

yukhei’s hand is massaging incessantly between your legs

he makes you feel. so. good.

when he retreats from the kiss you’re ready

you can hardly keep the phone stable in your palm

yukhei also points his camera back at your pussy again

and makes sure to catch every contraction

you know an orgasm is good when you’re going all “oh... ohh...”

even taeyong goes online to stream his reaction because you cum so beautifully

he’s actually crying and can’t close his mouth he can’t believe what he’s seeing

your pussy lips are so sloppy and stretched apart and twitching and you make sure the camera catches every bit

it takes almost half a minute until your muscles calm

you tell yukhei to clean it up with those plump lips of his

baekhyun and taemin are violently agreeing with thousands of “YESS EAT UP!!!” and “yes!! 😊♥︎🌹” text bubbles in the chat

your guys are so cute do you realize that

in order to have both hands free, lucas ends his video, puts his phone aside, and is already licking you up like a whole bowl of whipped cream

you keep on streaming on your own phone and brush the hair out of his face

the best part is catching yukhei’s tongue winding between your lips and then spoiling your pussy with big kisses very very slowly as not to overstimulate you

he’s such a fast learner he’s doing it really well

once you’re satisfied and cool off, you stroke the back of his neck and his favorite boyfriend duties are officially on pause

so he can go to pull off the condom and clean himself up, and get ready for bed after a quick mini snack

while you blow kisses into the camera, flirt with all your babes while they flirt back and even bow to you

and film your pussy all swollen and licked up but slowly closing a little bit again, ever so slightly

ten sends two little black hearts and a little “that was the most amazing thing i’ve ever seen thank you 😽”

you make sure taemin gets an extra close view of your clit and taeyong is making high-pitched squealing noises in his reaction video stream

mark goes like “yea that’s the spot!”

kai has joined baekhyun with the mouth and saliva action, they’re both licking their lips all over the place and make lewd lusty faces

they’re literally sucking and eyefucking your pussy through the camera bitch they want it so goddamn bad

oh to have their mouths on you right now to come down from your high and chill

you tell everyone how much you miss them and how badly you want them to be here

and how you want to feel all of them all over, on your skin and inside you

the chat is full of yearning and horny crying emojis now

yukhei helps you clean up the rest while you text how it felt with mark and baekhyun because they wanna know more

you talk about how yukhei’s girth is always rubbing that one spot inside and his breathing changes when it does

and you say you really loved their reactions

the members promise to be careful and discrete when they re-watch the stream and ten also says that if you don’t want it to stay in the chat some day you should never hesitate to delete it

you say no problem boys you should know me inside out, just remember to use head-phones when yukhei starts slurping at the 01:27 min mark

taeyong and mark are losing it at your puns

then you have a glass of water taller than yukhei’s dick and basically dance to the bathroom

lucas talks to the boys with his big ole smile in his pyjamas while you’re busy

oh god he is so shy

but very very blissed out. it really takes only two things to make this man happy. big plates, twitchy pussy.

a truly simple man. you like that

kai is definitely evolving from his teasing yukhei agenda in the meantime

he is sending thumbs up emojis instead of raised eyebrow ones

you lay down in xuxi’s big embrace and say goodnight to your boys

yukhei buries his nose in your hair, and kisses you on the forehead so innocently, taeyong melts in his little video square on screen

taemin is a big fan as well

he’s living true to his “explicit shit and romance” life motto isn’t he

you ask if everyone was enjoying themselves

big positive reactions all over the chat

you coo how you adore them all so much and want more of things like this where everyone is involved

eight people are going to bed very happy today

yukhei waves and baekhyun goes offline as well, as does taeyong who’s beaming

end stream

it was a masterpiece

that mark needs to recover from the very most, his entire bed is full of used tissues

and basically

over the next few hours the chat is losing their minds over and over again

everyone can’t stop gushing and telling you what their favorite part was

kai says how turned on you were was making him hard all night

ten enjoyed the wild kissing part and how wet everything was

naughty boy taemin keeps on talking about how — i quote — your insides are the best ever!! while sending flower emojis

your stream has unleashed a gigaton of sexual energy

and that basically goes on and on

until tuesday arrives

oof 

today’s the day

you know that ten is up to something 

except the little hearts and kiss comment

he hasn’t written much in the chat

oh shit oh shit what is he planning

he truly is a pisces

you know that some epic stuff is about to go down since the cats are with yangyang 

and — what

there’s a large canvas in his room with a piece of cloth to cover it

lord have mercy

he’s bringing the big guns

ten will even hold a little speech on how he got inspiration two weeks ago

only to proceed to unveil the art very shyly

it’s an elaborate pencil drawing standing about as tall as him

immaculately sketched in a realistic way

have a guess what he’s been drawing

exactly right it’s an erotic depiction of you

laying on your back, thighs spread, head thrown back

and to make it mysterious you see more of the legs rather than the crotch area

so whatever or who is giving you pleasure is entirely up to you to imagine to your liking

it’s more about how the person he drew feels lust rather than the onlooker. he drew this for your own enjoyment

he did that very cleverly and classily 

this canvas will be your utmost treasure and get such an intimate spot in your home

it doesn’t take very long until you’re mounting him and get those hips moving in a circle

ten is just full of surprises

you ask if you can photograph the drawing and upload it to the chat

ten is like ohhh!

but why not, now that he thinks about it. he secretly likes praise and visibility for his drawings so much

the post is definitely a success 

lots of exclamation marks and reaction memes for three hours straight

but who would’ve thought otherwise

ten is just massively talented, always on point

and hits the right nerve with his line of work

as your pussy can attest

yukhei is gonna tease in the chat that he heard you in the dorm and that it sounded mega hot wink wink wink

ten writes:

| my tongue hurts 

| let’s do it again next week

| i feel inspired to draw more as well

the chat explodes with hype for another two hours

multiple members come up with their own artistic takes on you

on wednesday kai presents a feral dance he choreographed for the whole morning. showing a representation of what you are to him and what he feels for you

very beautiful

on thursday baekhyun gifts you a deliberately humorous doodle titled mochi mama in the style of i dunno, probably picasso on crack

you have not seen anything like it

it’s gonna make you laugh in sad hours for many days to come

talk about come

baekhyun will have his hands busy in and on you all night

he wants to feel mama mochi and please you and make you smile

try not to climax challenge: failed several times

on friday mark blasts a song he wrote about you as soon as you put your hand bag down in the studio

100% of the lyrics are about how sexy and charming and special you are to him and how infatuated he is and how much he thinks about you all the time and how much you knock him off his feet, and how he has the biggest hots for you, jesus christ

that mark lee canada flow wants to make you fucking nut right then and there

the fandom just got his lit mixtape and he’s already working on another one i guess he sure has enough nsfw inspiration for it

all the more reasons to cum hard on his dick tonight

and make sweet love to that sexy body because mark lee isn’t the only one with the hots

then comes saturday

taeyong day

the tension is rising

you’re at his place

the sweet boo comes to put some chirping fledgelings into a towel on your lap as usual

there’s a big crispy lasagna baking in the oven, dripping with cheese and sauce with the most full-bodied herbal mix ever

damn tasty 

gordon ramsay would rate this particularly well on twitter

honestly man

we all know gordon ramsey would like taeyong’s dishes

the evening passes as it always does

so he didn’t jump on the bandwagon that’s interesting

it’s almost as if the stream didn’t happen or anything

just as you expected

taeyong doing his own thing and being just very consistent makes him so sexy and desirable to you it’s hard to explain

you just like his style of going about things you know

he’s very receptive to your impulses

you figure it’s up to you to make some steps

so when he opens the fridge to pull out a self-made, perfectly swirly vanilla-chocolate vortex pudding that’s just at the right temperature, you can’t help but hit on him like the world is ending 

but as you learned from taeyong’s example: your way

you ask him to open his mouth and maneuver spoon after spoon of pudding into it for him to deliciously savor it

giving him compliments on always making your day along with that

that bowl is empty very fast my loves

and taeyong very happy

oh yeah he was enjoying that

with his eyes closed

oh fuck

the sexual tension could rip the air in half like a mark verse

you decide to sit down on his lap all nonchalant and finish your own pudding... more than suggestively

taeyong is basically holding his breath at this point he’s a puddle

you tell him he can put his hands on your waist if he wants to

no answer needed his fingers are already on their way

you can hear how his heart is approaching a techno music BPM

at this point all you can do anymore is lean in to whisper if he likes to go to the bedroom with you

he can keep the apron on

taeyong tastes deliciously of pudding aye

you roll around in the sheets kissing so heavily

this is pure indulging you just feel how you’re sleeping with a chef

who happens to have the veiniest dick of all time

you’re definitely filled up well

sliding up and down on him deliciously for twenty minutes

really slowly and hugging each other tightly

and saying romantic things

that’s the good life

by the end of the evening the group chat gets a picture of taeyong’s world class lasagna 

and a ‘very random’ shaky picture of your hand in his hair

which baekhyun instantly comments as:

“now tyong knows how great you taste as well 🤓😁🤗“

yukhei agrees wholeheartedly and ten starts making baby don’t stop puns

kai is totally in love with the quality food 

baekhyun voices his interest in making more pictures of that kind with you. you know, hand in the hair, no big deal

kai says hurry up with it hyung, all the hair dye makes you balder every minute

baekhyun reprises his doodling and now draws a couple

it’s mama mochi with byun baldhyun

“this will be the next selca“

glorious

you’re having a damn good time

but later you feel something is going on

the whole week passes and taeyong seems to be brooding

next saturday he has a hard time expressing himself when he comes to your home 

you ask if he’s not comfortable having more sex or if he struggles with the relationship setup

taeyong says it’s not that but can’t explain any further

you go on a whim and ask if it’s a confession he has on his mind

bingo

“taeyong... if you think i’ll judge you for something. remember we’re only doing this since a couple weeks. it’s hard to know how the person really reacts if you don’t know each other inside out“

he is still hesitant

you ask him if it’s something taboo

“yeah...”

you thought so. taeyong is the least basic person you know along with taemin

guess why these two are saved for last my dear readers

you tell him that how he’s in his own lane is what you appreciate him for in the first place, it’s why you’re here with him, you love your duckling chef so much

if he wants a different kind of sex that’s perfectly him

he looks relieved and understood hearing that

and confesses that yeah... he wants to go a little kinkier with you

now you know why taeyong was acting with so much restraint

and put all of his feelings and sensuality into food pretty much

in fact the kinky sex has already started whether you noticed or not

indirectly. as in, the dynamic

truth is he wants to be a service sub

oh yeah lemme introduce you to some new things

service subs like to really cater to their dominants and fulfill their every wish not just in bed, but around the house as well

and there’s even more to it as you will soon discover talking to him about it

an apron is only the start

in case you have been living under a rock

taeyong’s duality is nuts 

he’s a completely shy mega pervert

it’s not a secret that this guy wants hardcore bdsm torture sex

you letting all that aggression loose on him for fucking sport

and being cold to him

with a bit of soft domme action as the perfect balance 

yep 

he wants you to take him out and take care of him at the same time

he’s perfectly aware he’s among the freakier and more deprived members

even ten is just casually freaky and just open for a lot of things. taeyong is deliberate

and pretty deep in the femdom community as far as his browser history is concerned

we all know assertive partners are his thing

but he’s afraid he’ll get you into something that’s a lot of responsibility

you say mister i’m familiar with your interests 

my dear you never made them hard to guess

you tell him it’s no problem for you to give it to him raw

you’ll be doing disgusting things to him that sexy face will straight up drown 

did you know?

our dear boy taeyong loves it when you spit in his mouth and do virgin roleplay

if he asks you to break him don’t be surprised

he wants to release control completely

he goes by all the rules

and i guarantee. when he comes along your dominatrix mood is gonna skyrocket he just brings that shit out in people

his mere naked body is just... how not to go nuts on him how he wants it

long story short tied up taeyong head to toe ends up immortalized as a vertical photograph

the group chat is overwhelming your notifs with wide-eyed emojis and all caps

amping up the game a little more each day are we

without even trying. hell, this just happened

where this is going is gonna be fun

sunday goes down with you grinding yourself all over taemin but you’re both clothed

you grab the back of his neck to lean in for kisses over and over and over

yes kisses are key

if not the favorite thing he does

let this sink in. if taemin overwhelms a little kitty with a hundred thousand smooches, just how kissy is this guy gonna be 

and have fun teasing his erection through his pants

lee taemin a squirmy mess? hell yeah

in classic fashion he will spend the most time of the evening on his knees getting slapped around in several blindfolds, harnesses, and wrist ties

his fantasy finally came true

i repeat what taemin has been dreaming of is reality

thank god for taeyong having you second guess his private tastes. otherwise you would not be on your dom grind now

taemin even goes as far as ordering lingerie for your encounters — to wear himself because he’s taemin

satin and silk blouses he already has in his wardrobe so there’s no shortage

i don’t have to tell you that you can spend hours grinding on his cock in a room full of candles while taemin is in head-to-toe bondage

that’s his idea of a good time and hell you are really treated to perfect eye candy, taemin’s hotness will bring your pleasure to a new level

the group chat will definitely love your photography taken from your sessions

taemin is just an utter no-compromise kinda man to make kinky love with. everything is planned he’s never settling for less than a perfect evening

where both of you really experience the ultimate satisfaction from treating your bodies to the best of clothes and toys and scenarios

give me an amen for taemin being your sunday guy because this legend of a man is your personal church

and his discography is the bible

and cum play is the baptizing my friend

so yeah huh

every day you can look forward to. monday to sunday

and not a day goes by without someone in the chat reminiscing the steamy video you did with lucas

you end up repeating what you wished that day

for everyone to be with you

so you could feel all of them 

and you say maybe it’s time to arrange something 

you’ve gotten to know each of them personally and intimately by now

and integrated them into your personal life

hell when you wake up the first thing you see is ten’s drawing across your bed

or baekhyun’s funny mama mochi art on your phone background

and you start your day literally selecting from a pile of taeyong’s freshly washed and ironed clothing stacks in your wardrobe

sitting at your breakfast table with a bouquet of flowers that kai and jongin brought you

eating food you bought together with lucas

listening to music that mark made especially for you

they’re all in your life together so it’s the right time to make some heated love together

the chat is all down you don’t even have to ask any further

baekhyun volunteers to go about his leader duty to organize the best possible venue and best possible date

cause with superm things do go 100

he asks what kind of atmosphere you have in mind

you say hard and nasty and kinky

which will definitely make the chat interested

and baekhyun was about to rent a huge modern art penthouse in gangnam

you say no need to go that expensive. you just need a large bed, no paparazzi, and an area where you can be loud. sculptures you could care less about

you have yukhei on your team, so that’s a living sculpture already 

it needs a safe haven essentially, with a dark and lusty atmosphere would be so nice

ten steps in saying he has the exact spot you’re looking for 

he has a friend who runs a declining night club in the suburbs, with some pretty attractive and grungy backrooms with plenty of space to fuck

yeah a club is exactly what you’re looking for that’s a good idea

it’s closed on monday so baekhyun and ten arrange a rental just then

of course way in the evening

with the guarantee of nobody else around

baekhyun knows how this rigged game rolls he says they need the club to perform a dance practice, overnight stay, and shooting a music video

which is only a half-lie

not “hey we are super m planning an orgy wanna invite dispatch and tell lee soo man”

regardless ten’s friend is pretty chill and indifferent anyways

and baekhyun’s money is doing the talk

you’ll be guaranteed to be left by yourself

monday evening it is. 

you already have a whole bunch of fantasies to let loose on your boys

and put it all in the chat

yo it’s called brainstorming and it sure has brain in it

you discuss

and it goes down next week 

you encouraged the members to wear what they feel best in, no dress code, no comparison thinking. you want to meet them like you got to know them, each in their favorite expression

taeyong dons a mass onslaught of fetish gear underneath a trench coat, including a fancy collar, lots of hairspray

and latex gloves. shit he’s a freak

baekhyun puts on the coziest clothes he finds and his smol sneakers but they are secretly expensive, his hair is curly and big, he put on a nice scent

kai can’t help but go black suit and lace underneath, you know him

bleach blonde yukhei gets out the tight white tee and smug jeans

creative genius ten goes all out designing his own fashion (!) with paint, he puts on sexy af glasses and goes for his signature ‘cleavage down to the belly’ look underneath a bomber jacket

mark goes for a casual suit but make it swag, with a sleeveless top underneath, yeah those mark arms go crazy 

taemin — picks his most dazzling silver outfit that looks like a rendition of mermaid scales, pointed shoes, princely hair, famous i’m so fabulous

and it’s already starting out sexy in the car before you even arrive 

because this is all gonna be glorious from the first second to the last

baekhyun and kai will do the driving

you have not one but two classy and sexy chauffeurs you hear me

yeah in their shiny black german cars with those sleek comfortable seats

baekhyun, taeyong, ten and lucas are a team

and then you get kai, mark, and taemin, including your group luggage because such a trip needs a lot of things to pack trust me

you’re with team kai on the way to the club and with team baekhyun the way back 

it’s already lit and steamy on your way there

nothing better than getting in the mood held by the greek god arms of none other than lee taemin with mark lee assisting

you’re entirely wrapped up in kissing taemin so passionately, his tongue melts into your mouth like the finest chocolate

thinking about how you were making out last week gets you going even more

as does feeling up his bulge, ugh taemin is so sensual

mark sitting on your other side being eager to attend to your thighs, your waist, your back, your hands, your hair, your stomach

yep

yukhei has been telling him about the wonders of a whole-body massage since you like it so much

mark gets his hands all over you to provide a sexy caress and wow he’s doing it well, giving everything the perfect kind of attention, always asking if you want more of this or more of that

mark loves everything about you and he knows how to make your anticipation become even more intense by dedicating time to all areas generously

you feel like he’s worshipping you head to toe

it’s the way to get turned on

mark has great soft hands and knows your best spots by now

that’s exactly why it was a good idea to sleep with the members individually at first

you could figure it all out in detail and each member could show their style of doing things, and you could teach them

mark has become an expert in skinship

while he’s kissing into your neck whispering revering things to you nobody else would understand

they’re intimate, spicy details from your studio lessons

with a romantic twist even because mark is giving you his entire arsenal, the entire palette

“i’ve been thinking about you so often...”

with jongin driving carefully and taking the lesser frequented roads 

kai is really keeping it together

the maknae backseat party is faithfully photographed by mark who sends it to the other team after taemin and you select the best shots, giggling

your favorite is a bird’s view of your cleavage with taemin kissing right between your breasts, slightly below the sternum

his hair is softly splayed over the area

taeyong and ten reply with heart eyes in the chat

on you go kissing and touching

taemin is so gentle with you and easily accepts your wild licks and bites, leans his head back so you have perfect access to his neck

by the time you arrive at the club’s back entrance, he’s marked up and his lips are mighty used

ruined neck, ruined mouth

taemin’s favorite two accessories to walk into a club with 

including a hard-on

with mark and kai strutting right after, chewing mints

...both getting hard themselves because mark loves your body and jongin has very good ears when it comes to picking up things that happen in the back of his car

and this bitch got a raging libido, so

the best part is everything is prepared

the other team already parked their car there earlier

ten had the keys to every needed lock, showed everyone around, and then baekhyun went into organization overdrive

this is the first time he didn’t clown around to distract from work since debut

if baekhyun ever means serious business... wow

your best boy taeyong has located the perfect backroom that’s shaded inside and neon-lit from the outside

the window’s aren’t particularly low-sitting so that’s a privacy plus

there’s a huge white extra oversized bed with some more great furniture and a sofa landscape

he desinfected everything to a T

and pulled out every utensil you might need from a large black bag

he walked in like he just commited a bank robbery but in reality there’s cutesy pink rope in the bag

oh well

classic taeyong

yukhei sorted and handed out the condoms plus water bottles for everyone

he’s the expert for the basics don’t come at him he’s doing a great job

after you reminding everyone of the safeword 

taemin sits down with you on the bed and you keep kissing

keeping up the flow right there

//

you beckon your lil’ adorable mochi who’s been dying for skinship

baekhyun is so turned on he wastes no time joining

still fully clothed while the other members are about to undress

you actually like baekhyun huddling up against you in his oversized hoodie it’s cute

so hey, change in plans

everyone ditches the protocol and climbs on the bed only without their shoes 

lot of ties and belts to pull them closer to you

you bring all of them together on the bed now

the feeling of having everyone around you is so electrifying, you have to distance from taemin’s seductive lips not to get some kind of adrenaline overdose

jesus this guy is trying to soak your pants like baekhyun forgot to turn off the shower

you get to enjoy five minutes of relaxed massaging from all sides to cool everything down a little

baekhyun and yukhei alternate with kissing you

yum

big plush lips plus a horny tongue

that’s a good combination

kai is definitely setting the pace of how to massage you, and how to move the body while doing so, and what expressions to make 

instead of sitting there awkwardly staring into space

remember? master of courting — that’s kim jongin

even baekhyun follows his example a bit

you’re entering cloud 9 from that whole-body massage

you can tell they’re all dancers. there’s rhythm involved

having the seven of them attend to you at the same time just hits different

that are 14 hands

70 fingers

all in sync with kai’s physical ideas, carefully yet purposefully kneading and stroking 

kai also helps everyone find a good area and makes sure everyone stays away from any precarious or sexy zones

because you’d probably get off from that in the matter of a blink

to be honest you’re already feeling heated you can’t help it

but that’s a good sign you’re definitely feeling this 

and there’s not a single limp dick in this room at this point already

baekhyun being the best people reader all over again manages a seamless transition to some water drinking

so everyone is ready to go

you wish you could do everything at once but decide to get a load of some slow body rolls against you because hell yeah

courting expert kai is sure to oblige, dance god taemin joins right in, and ten completes the holy trinity and hell does he go off

photographer mark on duty again. this moment has to be captured

baekhyun does his mood management magic and encourages ten and taemin to let out their little sounds more

kai he doesn’t have to tell

nor you because you’re already moaning

shit these guys are just too good

these bodies are machines

again bless your xuxi workout sessions

you wouldn’t keep up otherwise

you curse them because your pussy feels creamy way too early

switching to grinding on their bulges is not a better idea because it’s making you even hornier but anyway it’s your favorite activity

yukhei takes time and some effort to get fully hard so that’s a grateful job now

because you can gather yourself

you resort to using your cleavage to stop turning yourself on completely

and then your hands to palm his pants because that’s even more inconspicuous

group sex with superm? hardest early orgasm avoidance challenge EVER

is there some kind of legally accessible viagra for women

there’s no way you could turn yourself off help

you either get the first orgasm out of the way or keep it together to have some suspense in here and see the boys work hard

the decision is clear

time to bring out the toys that taeyong assembled on a table

baekhyun, taemin taeyong and ten are in the down to get tied up in various ways

lucas and kai get blindfolded and get a sexy task from you

slowly humping the mattress just for your viewing pleasure

topless for that matter

no need to ask twice there they go

photographer mark stays free and flexible. it’s always good to have someone outside bondage just in case with such a big group

anyway so you will be busy for sure

the rest of the boys strip down to only their briefs and get a good dose of spanking

ten is definitely moaning the loudest there

taeyong ends up with tied wrists in a prayer position and has his fun getting slapped around by you 

until he’s breathless and smiling to himself with his tongue hanging out

someone got his daily meal of smacking

taemin highly approves 

nobody’s surprised

baekhyun gets a quick and simple upper body rope harness that’s very easy to grip him by

and just to tease him you add some nipple pinches

result: loud baekhyun noises

cute as hell

so that’s how he’s been training himself to reach all those high notes

interesting

taemin, completely naked, has his hands and ankles tied, looking so beautiful all helpless and his cock itching for stimulation

and because taemin’s strange ‘artistic’ kidnapping fantasies that he never stops talking about cannot be ignored he gets a mouth gag for good measure

you know you just roll with their ideas

he’s a simple man that’s all he needs

you decide to put a bigger bondage piece on ten who ends up in a hogtie aka his new favorite place to be in

if there’s one guy who’s flexible like that it’s him

let’s see for how long he can take it

ten likes a challenge

you tell mark exactly what kind of pictures you want of your tied darlings and he’s well-engaged with that task

baekhyun is clinging to you a lot in the meantime

he gets kisses on the mouth 

and your open ear 

because you can tell there’s something on his mind

or rather

his ass is telling him something after you activated it with spanks huh

what does baekhyun want?

baekhyun wants the strap

and the strap he shall get

his time has come

this time the safeword won’t do so tapping yukhei’s thigh is the deal

taeyong’s kinky tool collection has a nice and thick equipment to offer, jet black black straps, jet black dildo, like it’s some kind of secret agent gear

it takes a lot of lube to get it into baekhyun’s tight and tiny ass but what’s new 

he’s not the gaping expert 

and way too busy laughing at the members’ reaction faces so his damn asshole is contracting god dammit

what a brat

next time he gets a toy for prep

only when you grab him by the harness and get into a rhythm, baekhyun throws it back

good boy

kai and xuxi are allowed to take off their blindfolds now because you have a task for them

taeyong’s toy collection features one extra long double-ended dildo, transparent and neither too slim nor too wide

if baekhyun doesn’t have that thing inside his throat i don’t know who

this shit is made for him

and you can tell he’s salivating for that

you tell yukhei to use those big hands to keep baekhyun’s head steady

and oh wonder, his long fingers enclose it perfectly

kai gets to go hard on baekhyun and fulfill his lifetime fantasy that he has had for over a decade now and jerks off to every night:

baekhyun not talking

so while baekhyun’s ass is getting properly stuffed

so is his mouth

kai has no qualms squeezing the toy into baekhyun’s throat a little more roughly

those are some pretty intense choking noises

mark steadily hits the snapshot button

some people go to pound town

baekhyun goes to silicon valley

kai is not afraid to push that thing as far as it can physically go

you’re pleased with how he’s doing it

and with baekhyun’s blowjob abilities anyway

is there a better throat in this industry? probably not 

he’s pretty surprised himself with how much he can take it

that poor ass is getting more than it can handle in the meantime, baekhyun is throbbing and whining

little did you know his prostate is so sensitive and makes his dick leak

such a shame you fully exploit that

you tell yukhei to have baekhyun move his head on his own to get into the rhythm

and get taeyong over to suck on the other end of the toy because oh yeah

let me just say these two are amazing

god bless sm entertainment 

not for any executive decisions

but for their uncanny ability to attract and assemble all the subs

lee taeyong giving head like the rent is due is a sight you need in your life

like everything, he does it roughly and properly

baekhyun is barely even sucking anymore just straight up gagging and seeing stars

because uh-oh here comes a big fat prostate orgasm

mark is clever enough to hit record on his phone

and capture a shaking baekhyun travelling through a whole bunch of universes, at least in his mind 

because that’s how strong his climax is

all he can say is thank you mama mochi and recover from this on his back

kai is satisfied with the result as well because baekhyun managed to not say anything for fifteen minutes

kai never had this much silence in his life

taeyong is still not done sucking the toy off and you let him

never step between a man and his favorite dildo

lucas takes up the task of untying ten who wants to share the other end that’s free now

and mark hands over the camera to kai who films just that

which also means mark is in the mood for you

about time to get some dick

and have taemin watch right next to you

being able to delight in mark’s wonderful technique

doggystyle

which ends up in kai joining 

which causes yukhei to join

and baekhyun to film 

the three are literally queueing while waiting for their turn

you tell them when to pull out and let the other member have you

until mark is riddled with so much suspension, the fifth thrust on his turn ends up in an unexpected hard climax

“oh my god oh my god!“

obviously kai will let loose now and cum as well, accompanied by really breathy groans

yukhei takes his time to make you moan which gives both taeyong and taemin a good show and an untouched orgasm

eventually you get to hear lucas growling his soul out

and kai bickering to pull out already

because it’s time for buffet

after getting rid of his condom, mark has been untying the very resilient ten who’s been in prawn bondage for like half an hour and five minutes now

respect

he and baekhyun team up to eat you out

yeah prepare for a dream team

while mark and kai chill on the other side of the bed

lucas on the other hand still doesn’t have enough and ends up licking your legs with his cock firmly palmed in those big hands

baekhyun and ten are doing the most meanwhile, lapping you up all sloppy

the job of the cameraman goes to a wild taemin who’s undone his safety hook 

he can’t stand this shit anymore he has to join the action instead of lying around in ropes

jeez the guy has the fun of his life playing with filters

silently giggling to himself

until kai finds out that taemin has been putting cat ears on ten and cowboy hats on lucas

kai confiscates the phone from naughty taem and decides to take up that task himself

so taemin can eat you out himself now

alright there are three heads bumping each other between your legs now

and yukhei close-by, currently nibbling at your outer thighs

can you imagine how crowded and crammed that is

you tell mark to get taeyong out of his ties as well

if you’re gonna cum he has to join the party as well

and he will not hesitate my friend

taeyong’s kinky tongue (which can make all kinds of completely unprecedented moves and slurping noises) riles up the other three to put all their effort into this

you order baekhyun and ten to line you left and right of your hips, fingering you from there

and let both taeyong and taemin get you to the point with their tongues at the same time

it’s a busy day innit

the reason is that baekhyun and ten didn’t come but you plan to change that with some dual handjob

baekhyun lets out some pretty hoarse panting noises

(yeah jongin destroyed him with that toy in his mouth for real)

once your hands grip onto their erections, almost automatically baekhyun’s fingers start going crazy on your clit and ten goes mad with his thumb right next to it

yeah he’s kept his rings on this is gonna be a sexy sight

mark and kai retire from their pillows to join at your request

mark kissing you, jongin sucking on your breasts

from this point on things are pretty much just a daze

two tongues two hands? oh shit

four people are trying to make you cum what did you expect

and three other people are licking you all over

yukhei doesn’t even care at this point he’s just straight up kissing your feet

ten is silently groaning it out, he’s pouring his seed into the condom with little twitches in the hip and shoulders

taeyong’s tongue is gonna finish you off, taemin’s lips will make you feel so good, your legs will be a shaking mess in yukhei’s hands

how to even describe this

it’s an explosion of heat and contractions

you’re going fucking crazy from all that head and tongue action god damn

mark definitely has to swallow a lot of your moans all over the place

and taeyong

also swallows

what a god-loving man

your pussy is leaking enough to feed baekhyun as well

who still strokes himself off while he’s cleaning you up with his mouth, oh boy he really developed a lot of stamina

you have your fun telling him to stop jerking himself off

so his orgasm ends up being ruined

those always mess him up

always a nice sight to have him shaking and whining and gasping

you have to roll over at some point before getting overstimulated

phew that takes quite a couple of deliberate breaths

now you have seven hot guys with sopping wet mouths on your hands, looking at you exhausted and infatuated

that’s super m for you

yukhei, man for the basics he is, hands out towels

you really gotta say he’s kept a clear head in all of this except maybe the sudden foot fetish reveal

of course taeyong towels himself down the most he’s basically covered himself with anything he could get his hands on

that face is dripping like his saturday evening lasagnas 

you help clean mark who kinda lost his mind and heart while kissing you, he needs your care a little more now

baekhyun soon snaps back into organization mode and has the brilliant idea to unpack xuxi’s and jongin’s luggage

to have everyone wearing their gigantic hoodies and sweaters

it’s warm in the room anyway but this feels so much cozier

after going to the bathroom

a ball of cuddly guys is snuggled up all aroud you faster than you can think

mark and taeyong are already sleeping they really knocked themselves out

champs

kai finds the completely forgotten phone somewhere in the sheets and turns off what seems to be a 50 minutes video

that’s gonna be fun to watch some time

baekhyun nuzzles himself to sleep against your sweater, right between your breasts

“mochi mama thank...” are his last words before he drifts off to pineapple pizza land or whatever dreamscape is in his head

probably something much dirtier but anyway

lucas and kai steal kisses from you and go off to sort out the room

jesus christ they still have the energy

taeyong’s nasty lil’ toy collection gets cleaned and reassembled, the ropes get coiled up, the towels wander into a washing machine in the other room

whose steady bumping lulls the rest of you to sleep

while taemin, epitome of taste he is, plays his best of hits on low volume with his phone

dozing off between seven guys while “heaven” is playing? 

best thing ever

the rest is history. you’re surrounded by sleepy cuddly sweater men

you actually sleep for a couple hours

dawntime you wake up cozied and sandwiched between yukhei’s tiddies and jongin’s back

which is the most protected, snug place on earth

even a nuclear superweapon couldn’t explode past that spot

they’re fast asleep

giant baby and teddy bear

safeguarding you in unison

ain’t they adorable

baekhyun is awake silently doing pilates, smiling cutely at you when he sees you’re awake, and he gets a big load of kisses i’m telling you

miraculously everything is tidy and smells fresh, and there’s a light soup in the air...

... lee taeyong got up at 6:30.

he was a whirlwind

the group gets to enjoy a 3-course classic korean breakfast 

because taeyong found the club kitchen

what kind of godly entity is this man

how did he do all of this

the club is the cleanest it’s ever been

taking care of 24 people is probably so difficult, this is actually easy to him

you depart in a good mood because damn that soup was restaurant quality and baekhyun had the idea to give you morning head to which everyone joined in

good thing the club has showers

baekhyun is still horny as hell and you want that D(elight) any time of the day 

so you fuck for a bunch of minutes in his car after dropping off the team and they giving you playful winks

you park the car behind xiumin’s house because that’s the most calm place to be

people are sleeping on xiumnin so hard, no paparazzi are around, ever

baekhyun settles there with you smiling

he didn’t sing “get you alone” with no reason

baekhyun needs that one-on-one time with you to ground himself and love you all over again big time

plus you are dying to cum bouncing on him on the driver’s seat 

while he is desperately gripping the steering wheel to have something solid to hold onto

yeah baekhyun is always ready to lose it for ya

it’s literally such a good spot to fuck

he’s strapped in all underneath you and you can see him squirm and get heart eyes from up close

you also love how your thighs meet the fabric of his pants

baekhyun’s tiny lap is already worth a huge nut you love grinding on him

those shapely thighs

with his cock peaking out from underneath his sweater

what his morning head tongue can do, his dick can do twice with ease so time for round two today

glad you have your bag with some utensils

you’re generous with lube on the condom

in fact you love spilling it over his pants a little

it looks like you’ve been squirting on him that’s why

baekhyun is down for your pervy imaginations

and gets even harder

not bad lil’ guy

time to make him moan with the grip of your walls

mochi breathes pretty hard because damn... more dick destruction

you love burying your hands in his sweater at the shoulders and just fucking ride

his hair gets messy, his bedroom gaze is so intense

his ass still hurts from yesterday but it seems to turn him own judging by the high-pitched groans and his begs for you to bounce on him harder

no problem his dick is just made to be ridden

if this wasn’t a high-tech car from the future with carbon and whatnot anybody could hear baekhyun’s um ‘vocals’ from the outside

this is so much fun oh my god

baekhyun releases with his eyes shut and teeth pressed together, his nose is all scrunched up

jesus this one got to him

he drives you to his home with his fingers shaking a little on the steering wheel

literally tapping like they do in his microphone on stage

yep this shook him up

and insatiable byun is now satisfied byun

nothing better than knowing you ruined your cupcake boyfriend in the best of ways

back at his apartment and after some extra carbo hydrate heavy food, as a pre-nap treat you grind on his thighs and his ass because why not

and gyrate him to sleep with his arms and legs stretched in all directions

both of you are still in disbelief that all of this happened

legend has it you’re dreaming of more group sex ideas that night

the next day taemin sends the champagne video to celebrate your first time together

which brings us back to the start

and that’s how it all happened

now you know

congrats on being a lucky girl

related: super m as subs

FINAL NOTE. ah shit i love this dynamic, thank you for reading 🎊

© 2017-2021 submissive-bangtan. all rights reserved. no reposts or translations allowed. all depictions fictional.

[cyberrat]

61st Batch Of Fics: 2nd Fill

Angelo/Cole/Lúcio/Genji – Milky AU – Part 72 – consensual; casual fucking – Angelo finds a new aspect of being a cow.

---

Lúcio leans against the side of the fucking machine first but its movements are too unsteady so he awkwardly stands on the soft mats surrounding it, looking like a pirate weathering the sea as he thrusts he taps around on his phone, then smiles brightly and thrusts it at Angelo’s face.

“Here! Look at this! Symmetra has it uploaded to your folder on the farm’s main server. That folder was pretty empty up until then, ya know? But it’s bursting at the seams now.”

What plays on Lúcio’s phone is a video; and while Angelo knows instinctively what it’ll show, it still shocks him to see his own face and body as he crawls over the barn floor of their own farm and begs quite loud and obscene for any and all studs to fuck him, and if that is not possible, would they please just use him as a urinal? He’s been a good cow and would love taking care of their needs?

Heat floods his body again. He would have stopped on the spot but the machine just rocks along, fucking his oversensitive hole while he stares at the clips that Lúcio is showing him; things he’s completely forgotten ever happened or never has processed much in the first place being deep in his head and just drunk on getting fucked.

Lúcio looks… like a proud parent, really. He is bouncing on the spot, though Angelo can’t tell whether that is because he’s excited or because of the wobbly mats he’s standing on.

“Honestly, these are all so good? I did not think that this Symmetra person would be so fun, if I’m hones. She seems super up tight? But these are all awesome – look, here are a few from that time she took you out from the farm? You went to a Milk Bar, how fun is that?! Look at you going, servicing all those civilians.”

Lúcio’s finger moves the video along, letting Angelo watch in fast forward his complete descent into madness. He can watch himself getting covered in cum before he’s taken out behind the bar and someone first hoses him down before sticking that very same hose into his rectum to wash him out from the inside.

Lúcio takes his finger off right then, letting them both watch in real time as Angelo’s belly visibly inflates with water as it rushes into him faster than it can shoot back out past the stopper of the hose.

He kind of remembers the person that is handling the device; they had been a member of the staff. They look polite but still bored as they fill Angelo up like a water balloon and listen to him wailing. He’s fucking the air desperately, obviously more than turned on by even this simple cleaning procedure.

It is insane… especially since Angelo can’t stop staring at their face whenever they’re visible in the video. There is something so captivating about their attitude. Like this is such a normal, everyday occurrence…

“There are so many good moments. If you give the okay, I’d love to put together like a… best of playlist or something. Genji is convinced that we could make you go viral super fast. Honestly, I think so too? Like there’s this video platform for short clips… people’d go nuts for this kind of stuff.”

As he speaks, Lúcio reaches over and pushes a few buttons on the machine, making it go faster and fuck Angelo harder. It’s that kind of… of mundane obscenity that just hits him different. It plucks a cord inside his chest that he hadn’t even known was there.

There is just so much still to learn and so many things he hasn’t put in his paper that he feels now should be absolutely in there. He could write so much more, so many details that have never been talked about in any of the literature because none of those scientists have ever put themselves in the shoes of the cows and let themselves become brainless little fucktoys-

“What do you say? Genji and I could manage the account if you want to…” Lúcio is back at his phone, scrolling through video after video while Angelo is holding on to the fucking machine and tries to focus on the feeling of it methodically moving inside him. It’s just not the same as a real life stud, though; it doesn’t have those unpredictable motions to it that make breeding that much more exciting.

“L-Lúcio-”

Lúcio peers up from the phone and to him. “Hm? What? Hey, you don’t look as happy as I thought you would… hmmm you need some hands-on action. Wait a sec, I’m gonna use the call button, maybe there are some volunteers…”

He pockets his phone and makes his way over to the door of the calf room. His motions are rather unhurried; they have all the time in the world, which is… comforting, in a way. He’s not being rushed and Lúcio does not seem like he’s going to get impatient any time soon.

The others will probably visit them once they have all their snacks gathered, and they’ll sit around and talk while Angelo gets railed by volunteer studs. Just two weeks ago he had gone to more or less great lengths to have his breedings as private as possible, feeling that having an audience would just be too… gauche… but after his time with Symmetra he must admit that his views have changed somewhat.

He does not focus on the ‘watching him’ part as much as he is thinking about the fact that he’ll have company by people that he knows and trusts. Friends.

In the end it comes just as he had predicted that it might: Him on his back, getting his feet held in the air by two completely unfamiliar men while a third is dicking him down to try and get those jitters out of him that had been plaguing him intermittently after the intense week he’s had. They’re just soft aftershocks to what he had experienced, but still more than enough to warrant a treatment such as this.

Genji tries to talk to him about his social media account; he seems to think that Angelo won’t say yes so he keeps badgering him about it to try and convince him when Angelo has already thought that it might be… fun to try but hasn’t had the brain capacity to say as much.

In any case, it is just one more aspect of the mundane obscene; Genji talking to him as if he had any way of replying coherently while he gets railed by stud after stud.

It’s good.

[ruby-whistler]

Alright curious anon here. All this is /dsmp /rp from here on out unless otherwise specified and is refering to characters. If i make any mistakes or am misinformed please let me know! So by the cat was nothing compared to mushroom henry i was meaning more toward the fact that the cow was killed as a punishment for something not worth or ok for it to be killed for at all and the fact that it belonged to tommy, wheareas the cat was killed more to annoy dream and belonged to tommy. (1/?)

alright then another lengthy reply, here i come! /lh /dsmp /rp

Dream also did not seem to mourn the cat much, shrugging it off with a "just more motivation to break out".

it was killed to hurt dream, not to "annoy him". it doesn't matter who it belonged to, c!dream was attached to it and it died, which had an effect on him and also further proved his point about attachments being weakness and caring getting you hurt, and it's still very sad.

you say that it was not ok at all to kill mooshroom henry, but the cat's death wasn't ok either, so i really don't see your point.

again, i disagree it was "nothing compared to" either way. i never meant to compare them in the first place, i was simply talking about the cat and c!dream so i don't see why it is in any way necessary to drag c!tommy and other dead pets into this. /nm

also, it isn't true he didn't mourn it. he is a very reserved person who doesn't show his feelings much, that's true, but the cat death still changed the way he acted afterwards, as well as the attempts he made to prevent it. he didn't "shrug it off", he yelled about it because he was understandably upset.

You mentioned that propganda was used to make dream seem like a tyrant, could you specify a bjt? Cus im a little confused srry /gen. Because the most i can remember from the lmanburg era at least is him being called a b'tch or other similar insults. You also mentioned how trauma responses can be differet which is true! I agree! Do you have any ideas to what caused dream the trauma?

wilbur would continuously make him out to be some sort of oppressive, tyrannical force, in front of his troops - a prime example of this being the lyrics of the l'manberg anthem itself and the l'manberg declaration of independence.

actually! here's a nice thread about l'manberg's establishment complete with links, timestamps and evidence :]

i also said in my previous post what could've possibly caused it, but since the character intentionally hides his emotions from the public, it would be difficult to see how things really affected him - which is why the way his spiral went is the majority of the evidence that would imply it, however it does make sense within the story as well with what i mentioned last time.

I would like to note that for sapnap at least had reason to leave dream. Some examples off the top of my head are dream leading an angry fundy to sapnap's pets on purpose, resulting in some deaths, dream assisting tommy in burning down sapnap's effiel tower where he got engaged to karl, and dream giving tommy either mars or the other fish at the battle of the lake. Idk about george tho other then the whole mexican lmanburg/el rapids thing and decrowning him

c!sapnap was actually at fault for most of this, and it wasn't really ever betrayal on c!dream's part.

c!dream is a mediator and he wants to stop everyone's conflict - c!fundy was angry because of c!sapnap's actions, and hence it made more sense for c!dream to centre him on c!sapnap's animals instead of running around killing everyone's pets (at that time, all c!dream knew was c!sapnap did something really bad and c!fundy wanted beckerson / mars from him, which were also his and c!george's fish).

c!sapnap was an instigator, and in multiple conflicts during the time as well as before he'd align himself against c!dream. he isn't "loyal" per se, he causes chaos and the reason c!dream helped c!tommy was because, c!sapnap, again, killed his pet. the first l'manberg war and then the 16th are signs of the fact that c!dream and c!sapnap were willing to fight together in actual war, but these small conflicts where c!sapnap continuously picked fights weren't about personal loyalty, nor did they seem to affect their relationship at all.

c!george was never really hurt by c!dream either. the dethronement was him very obviously being a guilt-trippy drama queen, but, well, that's just the character. he had stolen the l'mantree while he was supposed to be the diplomatic figure of the greater smp, which is why c!dream was justified in - very politely, may i mention - taking the duties off of him (seeing as he was also trying to keep him safe and c!techno had already assassinated him once).

Im pretty sure i remember cc!sam stating that his character never canonically physically tortured dream during his subathon but take this with a grain of salt as i am looking for the clip currently. So to the best of my knowledge dream did not have a physical contact trigger during tommy's visit which! I rewatched the vod and dream actually was first to hit tommy and i can give you my full writing downs but 10/12 of the phy-

you never finished this point because you had to go do something, but i'll reply to what is here at the moment (i suggest writing these down before sending next time, or even writing them out wholly before sending a single one could help avoid stuff like this).

i am 95% sure that the reason cc!sam stated this was because people were suspicious he had already been doing what c!quackity was doing after - torture within the storyline itself is associated pretty much only with what c!quackity is doing, so that's what he meant, just to clear up confusion - the starvation or terrible conditions haven't been retconned, but it was direct torture (like c!quackity is doing) people were asking him about.

i never said c!dream had a physical contact trigger at all, i don't think he had that, though he probably will after the torture.

huh, ok, i'm gonna have to rewatch then, but i remember c!tommy punching c!dream a lot and him just telling him to stop and only punching back to get him to stop. trigger or not, getting hit isn't very pleasant, if you know what i mean.

You mentioned tommy stealing dream's armor unprovoked. Do you have the vod or a general idea of the time so i can find it? Like before lmanburg after another event so and so because if you do not have it i can find it but any help is appreciated.

i am pretty sure you can find the video on cc!tommy's channel! there are also recaps of the disc war on youtube :]

I wanna talk a little on why the Final Control Room was so messed up. For starters, with the way the room was designed. It was small, and had labeled, empty chests with each person's name on them as a mockery. The next reason is that its bascially a kill box.

It's fairly inescapble with the stairs being ones you have to jump up, slowing anyone who climbs them down. The final reason it is messed up is that it is shown to have caused every person who died in it trauma. With tommy there are several examples, the time he saw it with techno, the way he refuses to go near it, the exposure trauma, etc. Fundy also appears to have trauma, as when the Red Banquet executions began, it can be seen as him being afraid of dying last again.

It can Be thought as tubbo having trauma because he buries most of his issues and pretends to be ok. Moreover this event took at least one of each person's canon lives, making it the most canon lives lost EVER in a dream smp event. (This is not hate on any of the ccs btw i loved this scene and its one of my personal favorites). Plus the fact Eret's betrayal just literally happened, giving at least Tommy and Wilbur canonic trust issues.

i wouldn't call the chests mockery? it was a trap. people had traps on the smp before. it was a trap in the middle of war, supposed to end said war by killing them all at once rather than individually which would be a lot more bloody and difficult.

i agree c!tommy and other people might have post-war trauma, especially if they were young during the time, but i think that's because the final control room was "messed up", moreso because the war itself was. it all happened fairly instantly as well? i don't think c!fundy would be able to realize he was the last one standing within the two second before he wasn't.

it "can be thought" and it can be interpreted like that but besides c!tommy there isn't much evidence for them "all" being traumatized by the final control room. of course betrayal would spark trust issues, i understand that.

The probation was humiliating in my opinion because dream was Sending tommy anatgonizing messages through out the whole meeting, plus he had to write a review of his day every single day, which fundy mocked him for.

i mean, it was definitely a strike to his pride, but he was being extremely uncooperative so i don't really blame the other members of new l'manberg trying to teach him to listen for once? of course i know c!dream was riling him up, and that should definitely be considered. i don't think it would be as humiliating if c!tommy didn't make it, is what i'm saying.

for the tommy being toxic to fundy? At least for the examples you gave, to me personally they come acoross as either in a meta way being the cc's bantering or in canon being the characters having banter. If you can send the post with the clips so i can read the tone better that would be cool but if not i will try and find em.

no, these were all in canon. canon isn't only when c!tommy is being nice, it's also when he's being a jerk. /lh

the first one was him threatening c!fundy about kicking him out of l'manberg and undermining his self-worth, and the second one was him trying to get c!sapnap to vote for them via bullying c!fundy.

i found these from a transcript focusing on c!fundy's character, so i don't know exactly where the first one is from, but the second one i am pretty sure is from when the elections were starting with the whole cabinet battle deal and all of that.

there are other instances, and all of them are canon. his personality was never being nice or compassionate, so i'm not really surprised? he still cares about the people he cares about and is very brave, y'know. but this part of his personality is definitely a valid reason for people to dislike him.

I hope the exam went well :). Hope u have a great day! (Ps i think theres something called a submission box to send in pictures? Am not entirely sure sry)

it would've gone well but my work-speed is a tad too slow for the schooling system (considering i'm three years younger than my classmates,,, probably that's also a factor) so probably not despite the fact i knew everything and would've aced it if i only had more time. i did as well as i could so i'm not worried about it, but thanks!

i think you're thinking submissions. sadly, i tested it and it doesn't work on anons, so idk how you'd solve that, maybe make a burner account?

Curious anon here one point you may wanna include in the redemption essay is that c!tubbo or c!tommy do not necessarily have to forgive him. What's important is that he recognizes what he did was wrong (exile, beating tommy to death, manipulating them both, etc) and does his best to make amends. Hope this helps! Can't wait to see your essay

it's out, idk if you've seen it yet, and i think i included enough of that so hope it's all good! :)

the mcc update video is out if you are an mcc enjoyer. It's very neat, if you wanna check it out

yeah! i am a fellow mcc enjoyer, saw it already, thanks for telling me though, i'm really hype for today.

Allo curious anon here sorry if the lots of asks bother you. I was just curious if i could share an interesting post i saw today about c!dream :0 (not necessarily negative i think? More of a statement of an often-confused canon)

sure thing! i don't know what you mean by often-confused since, the entire fanbase is very confused always, and often selection bias plays into the perception from both sides, but sure :]

you also sent in a thing for the other anon who said they didn't know what c!dream did that bad; pretty sure they couldn't really be alerted since, not sure if they watch my blog that closely, but i'll summarize your points just in case and add some notes;

the repeated blowing up of l'manberg (in my mind that's largely a positive since i,, despise that country, but fair enough), revealed c!ranboo as a traitor (they seem to be friends so i also,, think that might've been planned between him and enderboo), sent ghostbur away (i don't think c!dream knew it was dangerous for him and wanted to actually hurt him, but idk), participated in fighting against c!sapnap when he killed people's pets (that's only negative against c!sapnap and didn't seem to hurt him much at all), and then the whole vault scene where he was allegedly planning to steal people's things (though saying he would & being stopped beforehand and doing it are two different things, frankly).

so i still agree with the other anon that a lot of the hurt he did "to the entire server" (he only negatively interacted with like,, a half of them) is exaggerated both by the characters and the fandom, but i guess that's a consequence of most people seeing him as a threat to everyone's happiness rather than a complex personality.

Also he was aware of the butcher army going to kill techno but only got involved because he saw an opportunity to get a favor. (As he knew in advance due to him telling techno to get a totem, watching from afar instead of interveing or manipulating tubbo out of it)

i don't understand this at all, i'm sorry. how do you know he only helped techno in order to get a favor? last i remember he was only doing it to protect and strengthen his alliance, and techno came up with the whole favor thing entirely on his own. you might've not watched techno's perspective or their prior interactions, idk, but this really is a misinterpretation in my eyes. /nm

sorry if that is overly dream negative i just wanted to let yall know cus you seemed unaware -curious anon

nah dw, i watch the smp and i watched all of these things happen so, wouldn't say unaware, but thanks.

[dreamygeorgenap-archive]

I've notice before that, even though Dream loves to tease George, he can't help but be honest or praise him right after. it's like he's scared George might think he's serious and that he's gonna take it personally. this last clip shows it perfectly, cuz not even 10 secs ago he's was like "haha George is cheating what a loser", but then as soon as George starts complaining/getting annoyed, he reassures that George is worthy and important immediately.

he also always says things like "i just wanted to talk to you", "you're worthy and I appreciate you", "you're more than you think you are" (not all direct quotes, but you get what I mean). I'm convinced Dream just knows George is or too humble sometimes or thinks too low of himself.

if you pay attention enough, you'll see George never compliments himself. he will always say "I'm alright... i guess", "I'm not that good at this", "I'm trash at this kind of stuff" even though he's really good at what he does. he just goes too harsh on himself and pay too much attention at this mistakes, getting annoyed and frustrated pretty easily when it comes to himself.

in his speedruns streams, when things go wrong, he will always get soooo frustrated cuz he feels like he owns god-like skills and entertainment for us. that everything has to be perfect and every little thing will make us hate him forever (although that's clearly not true). you can see he struggles a lot with it, bc almost every friend of his tries to calms him down pretty often. Dream does it, Sapnap does it, Quackity and Karl too. okay, they go hard on him sometimes, but all of them have such care and are e-word by George. you can feel the need to reassure that "everything is fine" when things just don't go well in his streams. and I think that's the cutest thing about them.

people love to criticize them for being "mean to George", but they are all friends after all. i get that can be too much and hard to watch sometimes, but if George was really annoyed by that, i believe he would say something. you gotta remember he's offen described as someone who "doesn't let things get to him" and "don't really care that much".

and I say we don't see not even half of all the love between their friendship. just to imagine how they interact when there's no cameras around, a smile grows in my face. they are the best.

ps: I'm not saying being annoyed at the "bullying George" bit is wrong! it's totally valid!! i do get overwhelmed by that too, but i guess I just like to see the bright side of the things hahah

ps²: I'm sorry if that's too long, i just love rambling about them lmao. hope you're having a wonderful day :]

— 🌙 (hope no one has ever used this one before lol)

The reason Dream says stuff like that is because George will say something like, “I’m worthless” and Dream says,”You’re not worthless,George, we love you” in return and sometimes other people, like in the clip you linked, will say “you’re nothing” and Dream defends him, “he’s not nothing”. I don’t think it’s about George being humble, although I agree he is and it was even the word Dream used to describe him, I just feel like Dream doesn’t like when people joke about themselves or other people like that and he wants to remind people of their worth.

I get what you’re saying about George getting frustrated with himself but later on you say he’s someone that lets things go quickly so I don’t think he gets worked up all that much. He’s just vocal when he makes mistakes in a way the others are not. I would say Dream encourages him and is his moral support“pretty often” and Quackity does too but idk about the others. Although I’m sure there’s examples.

I’ve already stated my opinions on the way they bully George. I don’t like it and I think it’s completely overused and I don’t like the “they’re all friends” argument because first of all yes, we know they are but friends can tease and hurt friends feelings. the problem is most friends are not bullying their friend streaming live in front of thousands of people and a lot of those people think it’s okay to tease that singled out friend on Twitter. So George isn’t only teased by them, he’s teased by some of Twitter too.

And I think it’s mostly when Karl and Quackity get together that they immediately jump on the “bullying George” jokes, because when they’re apart and with George they don’t do it as much. But if Quackity, for example, is streaming with George the vibes are great but then if Karl joins its immediately teasing George time. And that to me, in my opinion as a audience member and as a fan, is annoying. Plus I found it very interesting that they kill George all the time but then in Karl’s VR stream they turned the tables and killed Karl and he was annoyed by it. He was almost self aware.

Yes, I get that they have offline lives are offline friends and all that but if they are the same people offline, which I generally believe they are, then they probably tease George off camera too when they get together. Like the “what’s this then?” thing they do I don’t think that happened on camera, so that’s another teasing “hahaha George has a British accent hahahaa” joke that they probably came up with off camera.

[laurasroyalblog]

Laura’s Thoughts on Meghan and Harry’s Interview

Behind a cut because you know I have a lot to say. I have 17 points so you’ve been warned.

1. The first, second, third, etc most important revelation in my mind was Meghan having suicidal thoughts, reaching out, and receiving no support. That is appalling from an institution that through many different members (most notably Kate but it has been an issue of the family at large it) has advocated about mental health and more specifically about reaching out and talking.

2. With that and with so much of what Meghan said it’s really tough for me to even conceive of a way that the BRF/Firm/whatever wasn’t horrible. Because I can’t imagine that it plain didn’t happen. That is lawsuit territory and would destroy Harry and Meghan. So my guess is that the best case scenario for the BRF is that this happened but that there is more to the story. And with this situation and others I will talk about. The fact that it happened....it’s hard to imagine additional information that would exonerate the BRF completely.

3. I don’t want to imply in any of this that I don’t believe her. Quite the opposite. This is just me trying to point out that I think even imagining the best situation for the BRF that is even remotely possible, it’s still really bad for the palace.

4. The thing that bothers me about some tabloid stories and interviews is when people talk about how they feel almost exclusively. It’s hard to really have much to evaluate the situation on because you don’t know the situation that led them to feel that way. What I loved about Meghan’s part is she didn’t actually discuss her feelings all that much. She gave vivid examples. What that does is it almost makes the feeling implied because the viewer can put themselves in the situation and imagine how they would’ve felt. That is incredible.

5. This started from the beginning. I thought the story of her being told not to go out because she was oversaturated but then pointing out how she’d only been out twice in months was the start of many powerful examples. With so many of us in COVID, that example was profoundly relatable.

6. I thought the Kate part was interesting. The part about how the story was opposite makes the fact that it was never corrected even more jarring. I wouldn’t expect BP to say “Actually Kate made Meghan cried.” But given that that is what happened I would expect some kind of denial especially for someone so new in the Royal Family.

7. I stood up and applauded when she talked about how being a fan of her and Kate doesn’t mean you have to hate the other. That was so needed, and I think it shows what many of us have been saying...that the person those people stan would be appalled by their actions. Now of course, I think a bunch of people get thrown into the stan category who aren’t that, but that’s another story.

8. I’m still reeling from the discussion about Archie’s skin tone. I know so many in the BRF have lived sheltered lives, but honestly how sheltered of a life do you have to live to not see that that is racist as fuck? And if even if you lived that sheltered of a life, ignorance is not an excuse for racism, it’s one of many underlying causes of it.

9. I thought she was so eloquent about Archie’s title. It was a revelation that it wasn’t her and Harry’s decision, but I also thought the discussion about security and it being Archie’s title to refuse were both also enlightening.

10. So to summarize this half, Meghan’s part was utterly compelling to me and I found it all pretty devastating. I wanted to give her a hug and also felt I understood so much more about her at the end of it.

11. Like I said in the preview, I found Harry’s a bit more of a mixed bag.

12. On the one hand, his discussion about his father not returning his calls, security being pulled at the last minute right before lockdown, and the discussion about Archie’s skin tone were all pretty devastating.

13. Things got a bit hairier (but somewhat intended) when it got more to the feelings stuff. I thought saying he felt “trapped” was a bit tone deaf. He made it about his whole life, and I think if you’re going to say something like that it can only be after going out of your way to speak of all the privileges he had merely by being born into the family. It just seemed ignorant of the realities many faced. I get that being a royal isn’t the fantasy many think it is. There are certain ways to express that, but I think Harry’s statement wasn’t the best.

14. The money situation. Again, I think there was a way to artfully discuss the situation. Something like “We were looking for a gradual weening of funds so that we could work with the Firm to establish plans for that first year and to get all our ducks in a row, and instead they opted for a sudden stopping point” to me is a lot more powerful than what he basically said “They cut me off in the first quarter. Luckily I had my inheritance.” Again, imagining the situations of the people watching...that just doesn’t play well.

15. I thought Meghan was far more artful in her sidestepping than Harry. She also flat out didn’t side step as much. But as an example when Oprah asked her due date she said summer. Clearly, Oprah was going for more specific and you can understand why Meghan wouldn’t want to answer that (security) but she still answered so it didn’t come off that way.

16. Harry on the other hand just didn’t do that as artfully. Some things he flat out said he wouldn’t say when there was a better way. For instance the Archie skin tone question. Instead of saying “I’m not going to talk about it” he could’ve confined himself to what Meghan had already said and when asked to name say something like “Given the pressures I felt in the Firm, I don’t want to lay this on one person when I know that question likely is the result of an institution wide attitude.” Again, he has no obligation to speak on any of this and I certainly understand why he didn’t. But I think there are ways to not speak that come off far less defensive.

17. I’ll end with my favorite things.....IT’S A GIRL!!!!! Meg as a girl mom is just going to be everything. Also can we talk about that clip of Harry, Meghan, and Archie with the dogs on the beach. All the feels!!!!

So there you have it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you it wasn’t long. Believe it or not I have more to say. I’ll post the quick hitter @hrhatbat and I do when it is up.