#Earnest Teenage Cringe

[hirokiyuu]

wow so when i wrote this i was like "hey this i'm only posting bc it's the first part to something much funnier" and then completely forgot to post the followup. so here have some dys>sol(>cal/tammy) bracelet scene pre-pre-pre-rship stuff. i love when kids are dumb and in love

it's ok (we'll find our way); 1k

When Sol crests the hill to where Dys is packing for his next trip out, the very first thing that Dys looks at are his wrists, because Dys is an idiot. Because apparently Sol is also an idiot, he is in fact wearing the databand, spinning it with his other hand as he stares down at it. “Hi, Dys.”

Thank fuck half the time he just nods hello at Solana anyways, because trying to unstick his jaw from where it’s glued shut sounds pretty impossible right now. Not that Sol even notices, really, still staring down at his dumb new bracelet. “Um. Can I… can I get another ten minutes where you don’t tell me you think something’s stupid?”

Thank fuck that him packing means he has an excuse to turn around. Against all odds his dumb voice doesn’t crack as he says, “Sure?”

“Someone likes me?” Sol blurts, instantly, and when he glances over, Sol is blushing. Stars. Dys kind of wants to die. “Like, I got this message on Vertumnalia, and apparently, um, this --” he holds up his wrist, like Dys hasn’t been staring at it since the moment he showed up “-- is from a, a secret admirer?”

Yeah, I fucking know. He bites it back. “Oh.”

“Someone likes me,” Sol repeats; he’s staring down at the dumb thing with stars in his eyes. “No one’s ever liked me before. Like, I mean, I thought, um. I thought Cal did, and I was…. I was totally wrong there, y’know?”

Because Cal is the stupidest person in the colony, yeah. Why anyone would ever pick Tammy with Sol as an option, Dys will never understand. “But…” says Sol, and the smile that had faltered on his face for a moment is back, small and sweet. “But I guess someone does.”

Okay. Maybe the whole thing wasn’t such a terrible idea after all, if it makes Sol smile like that. Or at least, that’s what Dys thinks for exactly two seconds, before suddenly Sol looks up at him and blurts, “Who do you think gave it to me?”

Nevermind, Dys wants to die again; he jerks back around, grabbing the nearest ration to shove into his pack so Sol won’t see him blush or whatever. Luckily Sol doesn’t actually seem to be expecting an answer, already barreling on ahead: “Like, I was thinking about it, and I really don’t know? Like, at first I thought maybe it was one of the Helio kids, but I don’t really know any of them that well, and whoever made this, um… I mean, it has a bunch of stuff I’m into, y’know? All the music and vids and stuff that I like?”

Next time Sol starts talking about Sanctuary Moon, Dys is turning on his holospeak and pretending he’s gone deaf. “So that kinda narrowed it down, I guess, to one of us? But like, obviously it’s not Cal--” because he’s an idiot, as previously established, and fuck but Dys hates the way Sol’s face drops a little just saying that “--and Nemmie’s super gone on that Vace guy already, so I knew it wasn’t her, and that just leaves --”

--oh fuck here it comes--

“--Marz?”

Dys stops. Puts his things down. Turns around. “...What?”

“I know!” Sol’s got his face buried in his hands, which is good, because Dys has absolutely no idea what kind of expression he’s making himself right now.  “I know, I don’t like it either, like….” He drags them down his face before looking up at Dys; for a moment seeing Dys’s face he wilts, but then rallies again. “I-I mean, it’s a nice gift! It’s a really, really nice gift, y’know? It made me… it made me really happy, okay?”

Stars. Of course it did. There’s a weird lump in Dys’s throat when he hears that, but Sol, still charging stupidly ahead, doesn’t even notice. “But even if I liked girls, I wouldn’t like Marz, she’s way too mean and bossy and I just….” Sol sighs again, slumping over, and despite his words he’s still playing with the bracelet. “I didn’t even think she noticed me that much.”

“She doesn’t.”

Sol blinks, looks back up. “What?”

Fuck. It’s too late to take the words back. Dys takes a single breath, wipes his palms against his legs, and then manages, “It wasn’t from Marz.”

“Oh,” says Sol. He’s got that same puzzled frown he always gets when they’re up on the walls and he’s struggling through his homework. “Wait, really? But how do you know… that….”

The silence is deafening, as the frown gives way to slowly widening eyes. Dys, for his part, turns around and starts shoving all his stuff into his bag as fast as he can, who gives a shit about organizing right now? “Dys,” says Sol, a little unsteadily, and even without looking Dys can picture the way his whole awful handsome face has gone slack in surprise. “Are you my --”

“So what if I am?” he interrupts immediately, because if Sol actually says the words he’s going to die. His face is on fire. “Don’t make a big deal about it.”

“Oh,” says Sol, still sounding totally bewildered. Dys should’ve chucked the stupid databand off the ridges when he’d finished making it; he starts buckling up the pack and ignores the fact that the top won’t go totally shut. When he glances back, just for a second, Sol’s gone red too, still staring at him, and in return Dys flushes even more and looks back away. “I-I won’t.”

“Good,” says Dys, reaching his limit. Before this stupid conversation can drag on any longer he grabs his pack and hustles away, not quite sprinting only because he can’t actually run with the stupid thing on. As he goes, though, he glances over his shoulder once last time.

Sol’s still standing right where Dys left him, head tilted back down to the bracelet, touching it gently the way he had been when he’d first walked up. On his face Dys can just barely make out that same small, shy smile as before. Dys nearly trips; Sol looks up; their eyes meet and for a moment that smile grows just a little before Dys whips his head back forward, his own dumb heart pounding so loud it’s all he can hear. 

[canisonicscrewyou]

she’s insane she’s a wet cat of a human being she’s got daddy and mommy issues up to here she’s pathetic she’s everything she’s a breakthrough case she’s in hiding she’s forever mourning she’s a mom she’s got trauma she doesn’t even know how to find a therapist for she loves her friends and she secretly loves attention and if one things for certain she’s never stepping foot inside of the TARDIS ever again (a lie)

[unionizedwizard]

underrated part of the early DT MSQ was

• finding out that the super epic trailer solo fight in a super epic ancient temple against a supervillain two-headed mamool ja while everyone else was out there enjoying their vacation was actually the wol equivalent of having a piña colada on the beach

• because said two-headed mamool ja is actually an honest-to-gods hero and also the literal king and he invited you to a friendly duel because he's got the Mamool Ja zoomies and can tell you've got the wol zoomies as well (or. nyaswell. for our miqo'te and hrothgar wols)

• the whole thing acted as the somehow non-creepy equivalent of conservative dads wearing shirts that go like "whatever you do to my daughter i will do to you. act wisely"

• directly followed by a very earnest "what do you think of my daughter so far. shes a bit cringe right? but i believe in her" and "please protect and guide her well" speech combo

• which was interrupted by said daughter, very angry at both her dad and you for secretly fighting behind her back (peak teenager moment) in a way that suggested (especially considering the ongoing "dueling as a metaphor for sex") she was actually doing her utmost to not go

at the wol to their face

AND HOW COULD I FORGET

• learning like three weeks later that estinien not only did the same thing, at the king's behest, but that he was paid for his services (😏) and so generously at that that even estinien "it's only one hair tie, alphinaud. what could it possibly cost? 9,800 gil?" varlineau thought it was A Lot. while all we got was a parent-teacher conference post-sexually charged nonlethal duel

12/10 funniest duty ever

[hedgehog-moss]

miss moss, i come to your inbox with a complaint. you gave me unrealistic expectations of childhood diaries. i found one of mine the other day and opened all excited, thinking "oh, i wonder what delightful stories i used to write, miss moss is always talking about her diaries, surely i had something to contribute to my adult self too!" nope. just thirty minutes of second-hand embarrassment for my past self (wait, is that just first-hand, then?). any other moment of my life, i wouldve just thrown it out without reading it, so i blame you and your wonderful writing style for the shame i had to endure

Aww—maybe you didn't read it in the right state of mind? There's got to be some sweetness or cringe-fun details in there! Or maybe you didn't write enough? My childhood diaries have pages and pages of embarrassing or pointless stuff, but I just wrote so much in so many notebooks, the sheer quantity makes it statistically more likely that I'll find fun snippets here and there. In addition to my actual diary, I had (in primary school) Stories notebooks and Ideas notebooks and also notebooks where I wrote fun facts I'd learnt in books, all of which often devolved into solemn ponderings and diary-adjacent writing. (It was a pre-internet life we had to pass the time somehow. It was that or watching the 3D Maze screensaver)

I don't re-read my teen diaries much though because past the age of 12 or 13 it gets violently embarrassing. I think the difference with my childhood diaries is that in my teen ones I wrote about stuff I felt embarrassed about even as I was writing it, so I re-read them and remember the, as you said, firsthand embarrassment. I started writing my diary in English rather than French at some point in my teens because I felt that using a foreign language made what I wrote sound less painfully earnest and more ironically detached...

This reminds me of the book "Teen Angst: A Celebration of Really Bad Poetry" by Sara Bynoe—exactly what it says on the tin; the author asked people to send her their bad teenage poetry and she published this collection. Here's the table of contents:

If the firsthand embarrassment of reading your own diaries was too much to bear, maybe you won't be able to endure the secondhand embarrassment of this book either! I remember a poem about an unrequited crush that started with "In the hand of friendship / you're a hangnail of discontent." And I like how all the poems are prefaced by a little paragraph written by the poem's author, gently making fun of their teen self :)

[ventique18]

- Not Malleus, sort of rant because of another game I'm playing -

I feel a massive, MASSIVE cringe when all of an otome game's cast is made entirely of rich, powerful, smart, handsome, godly perfect men who for some reason at the tender of 20 are already at the top of the world and the best in their fields. The only difference between them are some quirky personality tropes but remove that and they're basically dolls from the same mold. I know it's just blatant pandering for self-inserts and OC ships to drive revenue, but it feels like they're suggesting that regular people are unlovable. That somehow women (or people who like men) are incapable of being attracted to and caring for, idk, a guy who works as a teacher and makes the best of his regular life. A florist who names his bouquets after you. A cook who, though tired from work, would make delicious dishes to greet you when you come back home.

I know this sounds silly given my ultimate bias is exactly what I stated above, but in TWST, the rich powerful smart men are a minority. There are three guys out of 22 who are explicitly considered by the entire cast to be universally handsome. Most are just regular dudes trying to live their mundane lives. And I appreciate that. A lot of players appreciate that and love them for all their plainness and flaws.

Or idk maybe stepping out of my teenager years just completely changed me. But GOD I was waiting for some guy who has nothing much to give but his earnest love and kindness. 😭

[liesmyth]

locked tomb characters ranked by how cringe they are

because this post by @wifegideonnav reminded me that they’re all losers, but some are even more losers than the others

Hot Sauce: 1/10. This girl is cool in all possible ways and definitely future lead researcher material. No cringe, zero notes.

Pyrrha: 2/10. By far the least cringe of The Olds. Yes her nicknames for Nona have dad joke energy but she’s very earnest about it and it’s cute.

Juno Zeta: 2/10. Total MILF. Very smart and should know better than to get flirty with We Suffer, but I get it.

Marta Dyas: 3/10. A complete badass with a very sensible outlook on avoiding unnecessary forms. Call me Judith because I would also make a pass at her at the first possible chance.

Commander Wake: 3/10. She made Pyrrha fall in love with her, seduced ever-loyal G1deon into hatefucking and galvanized a dying resistance movement. She was genuinely nice to Gideon those 3 seconds they interacted in passing! Then she had to go and hide under the bed of a mentally ill teenager.

Dulcinea: 4/10. Her horniness for revenge is epic. Let down Pal as nicely as she could and managed to outwit Cytherea when it mattered. Not cringe at all.

Camilla: 4/10. Yes, she could kill you in seconds but she did once sell cigarettes, her most liquid asset, for about a third of their market value.

Alecto: 4/10. Scary eldritch woman-shaped creature with a sword, comes highly recommended by Pyrrha Dve. Loses points for confusing Middle English and thinking John was the best possible Sailor Earth when he was clearly the worst.

G1deon: 5/10. Utterly willing to burn for what he believes in. Yes, he probably needs some perspective but he made sure the baby had enough air before kicking Wake out of the airlock and Matthias Nonius thinks he’s an okay dude.

Pash: 5/10. She has that freedom fighter swag and the cool hair but she is a terrible bodyguard coasting on nepotism, sorry to say.

Palamedes: 6/10. He didn’t clock the serial killer pretending to be his ex because he was too busy going to painfully extreme lengths to avoid interacting with her.

Naberius: 6/10. My controversial opinion is that Babs is the least cringe of the Third House throuple. Yes he looks and acts like a peacock but he puts up with Corona snacking on him for no reason and is still nice to her, and gives Ianthe solid romantic advice.  

Nona: 6/10. Cringe in the unselfconscious way of a young teenager, and put this ability to use making Pal fess up to his nurse kink. She will never be cool but it’s part of her appeal.

Mercymorn: 7/10. Speaks in onomatopoeias. She knows she is insufferable so she’s gonna do her best to make sure to be the most insufferable person in every room. Once called John Gaius “the best man I who ever lived” to his smug face and not even blowing him up later makes up for that.

Ianthe: 7/10. Looks like a wet rat. Hopelessly dramatic but she pulls it off. Declares her love for Harrow at every turn in the most transparent possible way then pretends she’s just being snarky. Some cool points for actually getting shit done

Coronabeth: 7/10. Terrible taste in love interests. Her freedom fighter era was hot but she thinks pompadour hair is a good look? Also, the way she spent her whole life lying about necromancy speaks of extreme conflict avoidance. Cringe move.

Judith: 7/10. She deserved to suffer and has suffered more than she deserves. It’s cringe how she clings to her imperialist brainwashing but she gets a point for rightfully understanding she should be wary of Corona, something Ianthe still can’t even grasp.

Ortus: 7/10. Yes he quotes his own epic poetry WIP at people but he also had to grow up on the Ninth with nothing better to do. Genuinely a very nice guy.

Cytherea: 8/10. Her unhinged vibes are very hot but she killed a couple of nerds and two teenagers instead of anyone who was actually dangerous. Cringe of her!

Silas: 8/10. Smarmy cloud-looking motherfucker. He is a child Pope and I guess he can’t help the inherent cringe of the Eight. But that’s still no excuse for bringing a portrait of John all the way to Canaan House just to hang it in your bedroom, dude.

Gideon: 8/10. Babygirl is a horny virgin with the vocabulary of a nerd. Harrow is bones over tit in love with her and she fails to notice after living in Harrow’s brain for eight months. Gets points for managing to maintain impressive biceps on a diet with no protein.

Augustine: 9/10. Extremely cringe because of how hard he tries to pretend he’s not cringe. Cigarettes on a space station and effectively performing swag don’t make up for how much he clearly wants to suck John’s dick. Which he did at least twice.

Harrow: 10/10. Spent most of her life being mean to Gideon because she was too hot to deal with and lobotomized a coffee shop AU into existence. Thinks Ianthe Tridentarius is beautiful. Once built a bone cocoon to sleep in after not drinking water for two days. Should’ve told God months ago that she just didn’t want to eat his fucking biscuits and stop offering.

John: 10/10. Unfortunately, this scale only goes up to 10 but we all know it’s not enough. Deeply cringe in a myriad of ways, chiefly among them the way he inflicts his barely veiled incest kink on all his friends. That one dad joke was gold, though.

This was getting too long but for the record: Aiglamene is cool and so is Abigail Pent. Magnus is not cool but he’s a fun time. The Terrible Teens are exempt from judgement on account of being 14.

[fearforthestorm]

[image description: tags reading "in This Year by The Mountain Goats when he says 'i was seventeen years young', i cringe every time". end ID]

i'm sorry i just saw a mountain goats take so bad it made me want to log off the internet forever

[biblicallyaccuratepigeons]

IT'S PROBABLY EITHER CRINGE OR JUST SO EXPECTED ATP THAT IT FEELS LIKE "tshh... yeah..." AND PERHAPS EVEN CLICHE BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I THINK I AM ALL OF ME IS RHYTHMICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY SUCH A COOL SONG AND IT MAKES ME FEEL KINDA INFERIOR AND I HOPE TO SOMEDAY BE ABLE TO SING IT IN THE KIND OF EARNEST THAT A TEENAGER DISCOVERING REBELLION CAN

[bigassbowlingballhead]

“I can’t watch Heartstopper”: In Defence of Queer Cringe

“Cringe” is a term that comes up often; nearly anything can be labeled as cringey—a pop song, a text from an ex, or anything associated with Katy Perry. This dismissive label typically reflects discomfort with earnestness or vulnerability, especially in a media landscape that leans toward irony and detachment. I've also noticed it being used in discussions about the 2022 Netflix show ‘Heartstopper’. The thing is, Heartstopper is cringey, it’s a television show about teenagers in love, it’s going to elicit some eye-rolls—the overt sweetness, dreamy visuals and earnest storytelling—this “cringe” is not just an aesthetic choice, it’s a vital part of a broader cultural conversation. But so, what? Isn’t there a place for earnestness in storytelling, especially in a genre often fraught with angst and tragedy? 

Heartstopper follows Charlie Spring (Joe Locke), the kind, shy, and funny protagonist you’d expect from a popular young adult novel. He navigates Year 10, then 11, and finally Sixth Form with the support of his friends, family, and, most importantly, his perfect book boyfriend, Nick Nelson (Kit Connor). When people label Heartstopper as “cringe,” it often comes from a place of skepticism. They roll their eyes at Charlie and Nick’s heartfelt declarations of love, at the large, supportive friend group that all seem to fall under the rainbow umbrella and criticize the storytelling as unrealistic. Yet, in 2024, while no one claims that homophobia has been completely eradicated, it’s important to remember that this show depicts two middle-class English boys in love. It’s hardly a gritty topic.

The real issue is that queer narratives, especially those aimed at younger audiences, tend to be held to a higher standard than their heterosexual counterparts. We’ve watched countless seasons of shows like One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, and Pretty Little Liars, filled with melodrama, outrageous plot twists, and questionable acting. Yet those shows are given a pass because they fit familiar teen drama tropes, while queer stories face scrutiny for not being “serious” enough.

For many older queer viewers, Heartstopper acts as a healing balm; it’s not just refreshing—it’s revolutionary. The show beautifully captures the sweetness of young love and the journey of self-discovery, presenting a reality that many have longed for but rarely encountered in mainstream media. In this context, the moments deemed "cringe" become acts of rebellion, challenging the idea that queer narratives must always be rooted in trauma or tragedy.

So, while Heartstopper may be cringey, it’s essential to recognize the significance of it. It speaks to a generation craving them kind of representation that acknowledges joy alongside struggle. We shouldn’t hold queer narratives to a higher standard of seriousness while allowing their straight counterparts to thrive in melodrama and absurdity.

Fun fact, for this post, I asked some Tumblr users (yes, Tumblr still exists, don’t worry about it), what they think of the cringe label, and they responded with a resounding: “yes, and?”

SCREAM THAT KATY PERRY LINE IS SO HFDKSFHKSDLFHDKL

this is great!!! I hope you get an A

[animebw]

Short Reflection: Oshi no Ko Season 2

In case you're new around these parts, let me just pull a Kendrick Lamar and say that I'm Oshi no Ko's biggest hater. I staked my claim on this show being crap twenty minutes into the first episode and I've stuck by that assertion ever since. It's a shallow, insincere, cynical piece of crap masquerading as a Serious Examination of the entertainment industry, claiming to portray the true nature of working in this business while being just as plastic and pandering as the very attitudes it pretends to critique. No matter how many self-important speeches it puts into its characters' mouths, it can't hide the fact that at heart, it's a juvenile power fantasy about an self-insert edgelord who boringly broods and cringes his way through a half-baked murder mystery while amassing a harem of teenage girls, sister included. As I said in my season 1 review, if lies are the highest form of love, then Oshi no Ko must be the greatest lover of all.

So imagine how infuriating it was when I put on season 2 and realized it was actually really good.

Listen, I didn't want to believe it. How was this show getting me so invested? How was this show making me pump my fist and cheer with triumph? But the facts are the facts: for the first time this season, I saw Oshi no Ko rise to become the best possible version of itself. After all the garbage it put me through, I suddenly found myself watching a show that was propulsive, beautiful, earnest, and filled with genuine insight into what drives people to throw their lives into art against all better judgement. This is the kind of show Oshi no Ko was always promising to be but never lived up to before. This was a show at least a little worthy of the tsunami of hype it crested into the anime world on.

Unfortunately, it was also proof that this show is never going to be truly great.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. The first two thirds or so of season 2 are taken up by the Lala Lai arc, in which Aqua, Kana, Akane, and a smattering of new and old faces get together to put on a 2.5D stage play adaptation of a long-running shonen action manga. On concept alone, that's a pretty novel direction to take things; we don't really have 2.5D plays in the West, so seeing all the technical stagecraft necessary to translate manga into a theatrical performance was fascinating. Ditto the insight into the complicated process of adaptation, how communication can break down between parties and the conflict between keeping a work's original soul and adjusting to fit the demands of the new medium. I've long been an advocate of adaptations making big changes when it makes the work better, and watching those conflicts and conversations play out made me much more appreciative of how difficult that process can be. For the first time, it felt like all the industry info-dumping was actually enriching my understanding of how this business works, and how it informed the characters' place within it.

Speaking of those characters, what makes the Lala Lai arc really shine is in broadening the spotlight. This is no longer the Aqua and Ruby show; this is a full-on ensemble piece, where pretty much every member of the production has a moment to shine. It bobs and weaves between countless little stories playing out both during the rehearsal process and during the first performance of the play itself, flashing back and forth as it digs into the heart of each individual passion that drives these actors to shine so brightly. And watching those passions collide and cascade makes that performance absolutely riveting. Seriously, I can't count the number of times I just about leaped out of my seat and yelled "Fuck yes!" at someone reaching their full potential on stage and seizing the spotlight in a brilliant display of emotion (and animation; the swooping camera and surreal colorscapes that take over this part of the show are the best Oshi no Ko has ever looked). Natural genius, amateur, it doesn't matter; on the stage of Tokyo Blade, everyone is a star.

And no one's served better by this kaleidoscopic focus than Kana and Akane, who are probably the true protagonists of this arc. I'm still annoyed at how dumb and retconny Akane's backstory has been treated- I swear, season 1 gave us three different conflicting backstories for her- but her rivalry with Kana over the years is the best stuff in all of Oshi no Ko. They've admired each other from afar for so long, but resent each other for their incompatible acting styles. They're determined to outshine each other but never believe they can measure up. They can't stand each other, but they're entwined by fate so deeply they know they'll never be truly alive without each other. That push and pull of wanting to live up to someone while wanting to surpass them, hating and loving them at the same time, is the singularity that makes this entire arc resonate. It's gripping and heartbreaking and beautiful, and if Aka Akasaka has any self-respect, he'll end the manga with the two of them collectively realizing Aqua isn't worth their time and marrying each other instead.

But of course, that's not gonna happen. Because Aqua is the one albatross Oshi no Ko will never be able to untangle from around its neck.

And this is why for as excellent as the Lala Lai arc is, it can't save Oshi no No. It's why nothing can save Oshi no Ko. On a fundamental level, it will never be able to shake the fact that it's saddled itself with one of the worst protagonists in all of modern anime. Or at least, one of the worst not to come out of your average seasonal isekai slop, but I don't watch enough of those to know how hellishly low the bar truly is, and I intend to keep it that way, thank you very much.

The point is, Aqua sucks. He's always sucked, he always will suck, and his mere presence in this story makes even its best ideas turn sour and ugly by the end. Even if you took out the fact he's technically a grown man involved in romantic subplots with three underage girls, he's the worst kind of edgy self-insert Light Yagami wannabe, and he forces the whole story to bend around him and suck his dick at the expense of what it's supposedly trying to say. Gut-wrenching portrayal of online hate mobs driving a young talent to suicide? Nope, it's all so he can save the day and add Akane to his harem with no further repercussions. Showing the difficulties of new idol groups struggling for attention in the modern age? Nope, just another chance for him to show off at Kana's concert and save her emotional state for her. Hell, even Kana and Akane's rivalry is tainted by the knowledge that they're ultimately fighting over this reincarnated pedophile's dick as much as for each other's respect. No matter what ideas this show tries to explore or how earnestly it tries to grapple with the realities of the entertainment industry, it always ends up coming back to "Yeah, but isn't Aqua such an edgy chad badass saving the day and getting all the bitches? Damn, what a cool brooding dude!"

In other words, the real reason the Lala Lai arc works as well as it does isn't the focus on the stagecraft process, or the expanded cast, or Kana and Akane. It's because turning into an ensemble piece means Aqua gets at little screen time as humanly possible, so he's mostly not around to fuck everyone's great moments up for a change. And even then, every time he does show up in that arc feels like all the air being let out of a balloon. And he's probably at his best during the play! At least dealing with the lasting trauma of Ai's death gives him some actual internal conflict to play with! But even that's not enough to keep the protagonist of this fucking show from feeling like a sickening, blemish on his own supposed series. And once that arc's over and the focus returns to Aqua and Ruby in the season's final third? Hooooooo boy does it immediately go to shit again. All the masturbatory chauvinism I ripped into season 1 for is back like it never left, no lessons learned from how much better Lala Lai was charting an entirely different path. Hell, it's arguably even worse, because it ends up reminding us that Ruby's just as irredeemably broken a character as Aqua at this point. I know, the teenage girl trying to marry her adult doctor who is secretly her reincarnated brother also makes this show worse? I'm shocked, I say! Shocked!

Speaking of, can we acknowledge at this point that the whole reincarnation aspect of Oshi no Ko just should not have existed? There's nothing in this story that couldn't work just as well if Aqua was just a normal edgy teen who watched his mom die as a kid and developed PTSD/a desire for vengeance from that. It's only just become even somewhat plot relevant, it's barely present in any character interactions or relationships (even between Aqua and Ruby, they almost never talk about it!), none of its themes have any reliance on their past lives to get the point across... Really, its only contribution is making every potential romantic subplot with Aqua a five-alarm emergency siren while the show limply tries to pretend he totally counts as a normal teenage boy for dating purposes, honest! It's a ten ton weight dragging the entire story down for no goddamn reason and you'd barely have to edit the earliest chapters at all to get rid of it entirely. That wouldn't fix all its problems, but it would at least make it salvageable. Which currently, despite how shockingly good this season started, it is not.

So where do we go from here? Who fucking knows. I'd like to think Oshi no Ko could somehow learn from its successes with Lala Lai and continue shooting for greater heights, but everything I've heard from my friends who've read the manga suggests that was the high point and it's all downhill from here. All I know is that for better or worse, I'm on this train to the end. If only to continue rubbing in everyone's faces that I was right from the start about what a turd this would turn out to be. But I'll save that gloating for when it's truly deserved, and god knows, it will be deserved later on based on some of the spoilers I've picked up. For now, though, I'll have to settle with giving Oshi no Ko's season season a score of:

6/10

Sayonara for now. Let's see what the future brings.

[dioptre-hertz]

presenting to you my Hideo Kojima vs Hirohiko Araki horseshoe theory.

these two guys are completely divergent in terms of how they approach politics and philosophy, but converge in that they both have a deeply honest, charmingly self-indulgent willingness to just create whatever seems Badass to them in a very teenage boy sort of way.

both of them will, with complete sincerity and not a hint of irony or doubt, present you with some absolutely batshit insane character design that a less confident writer would worry is "cringe". kojima will give you a character who wears the V for vendetta mask, takes it off and has Joker makeup underneath, and then starts blasting robots with lightning bolts from his electric guitar. araki will give you a guy named Vanilla Ice whose special power is that he can swallow his own entire body to become invisible. kojima will tell you that the guy who drinks blood and can walk on water, hypnotize people and survive being shot repeatedly is called Vamp not on account of his apparent vampirism, but because he's bisexual. araki will have his protagonist save the day by transforming a brick into a venomous snake that lived its whole life inside a poison cloud and thus contains a virus vaccine.

but kojima's work is deeply, profoundly political in intent. he has a Grand Theory of Everything and is so eager to tell you about war, society, life and death that he is almost incoherently earnest. araki, on the other hand, thinks about politics so little that he has barely stopped to ask himself what a "nazi" even is.

kojima has witnessed the grand truths of the universe, and needs to share them with you. araki has witnessed haute couture fashion magazines. but their shared sincerity and utter willingness to write outrageous things, simply because it strikes them as cool, somehow brings them close together.

[cam1lla]

She’s a covert conservative opp! No! She’s an overly-zealous cringe liberal feminist millenial! No! She’s a Barbie, a too-tall-too-thin-too-blonde arbiter of unfair beauty standards and male-gaze perfection! No! She’s an awkward, gawkish tall girl with thunder thighs and my favorite teenage sexy-baby pop star who is 5’3 and 70 pounds is WAYYY hotter and has a better body! No! She’s a nepo baby who was handed everything and never worked a day in her life! No! She’s a work-obsessed workaholic Girlboss overlord who does nothing but work and this is a bad thing because my favorite edgy cool girl artist who would rather smoke a bowl or party with the Red Scare girls than sit down and write an earnest song about her feelings is lagging behind her! No! She’s Miss Americana the straight man-dating symbol of everything oppressive and bad! No! She’s an evil closet lesbian lying to her fans, spread the truth! No! She’s an evil man-hating symbol of everything our country has lost, why isn’t she in the kitchen with babies! No! She’s apathetic to the nature of the world she hasn’t done enough she needs to fix every sociopolitical issue by herself overnight! No! She has a savior complex and it’s embarrassing she should stay in her lane! No! She’s evil for dating a clean-cut football player who encourages people to vote blue, respect women, get vaccinated, and support equality! No! She’s evil for having a two week long fling with a popular band guy but don’t worry we still like HIS music and we still will rush to buy his current girlfriend’s Mac cosmetics collab! We’re having a BRAT summer with the 1975! It’s only a problem when it’s Taylor don’t you know! No! She’s not a girl’s girl because she’s not making herself small so other people can co-opt her own accomplishments! No! She’s nobody just a pop fad and she’ll never be as good as late great legends of MALE MUSIC! No! Actually old man musician was RIGHT when he insulted her for no reason and discredited her hard work! No! Why are the swifties mad at old man musician for no reason! Why doesn’t she do this! Why does she do that! Why doesn’t she cater to me! Why doesn’t she give me what I want! When I want it! How I want it! Now! No! No! No! She’s Princess Diana! No! She’s Cersei Lannister! No! She’s Charlotte York! No! She’s the cast of HBO’s Girls! No! She’s Joni Mitchell! No! She’s Hannah Montana! No! She’s Lady Macbeth! No! She’s Ophelia! No! She’s Éponine! No! She’s Christine Daaé! No! She’s Barbie! No! She’s Oppenheimer! Slut! No! Prude! No! Whore! No! Virgin! No! Cunt! No! Goody-two-shoes! No! Witch! No! Nun! No! Girl! No! Woman! No! Person! No! Human being! No! Everything you need her to be and nothing you want! Everything you want her to be and nothing you need! It’s all too much and yet never enough! I think you’ve exhausted it all and should just let her live and make art and be Taylor!

[riacte]

Re: Dearly Beloved in-universe fandom, it struck me that I have somehow never mentioned in-universe superhero/villain/whatever fanart despite fanart being such a core (and more importantly visible) component of fandom. (While mentioning fanfiction, subreddits, touching on fancams and ASMR roleplays etc etc) And I guess it makes sense because this is text, I don't really know they look like, and it's hard to describe visuals given the format I've constrained myself to. But I also feel like this blind spot has to do with other fandom-related meta lol. (Self indulgent and long rambling)

1. Superheroes/villains are classified as "real people". In real life fandoms, while there's fanart of famous real people (actors in movies, singers, Kpop groups, athletes, F1 drivers, etc), there's less fanart compared to fanart of characters (anime, video games, books, etc). I assume this is because you need to have a certain level of skill to capture a real person's likeliness nicely. And real people may feel offended upon seeing "bad" fanart of themselves, whereas fictional people can't feel offended.

But superheroes/villains are masked and often wear helmets for safety. So you don't need the skill to draw their real life faces. Their suits are probably visually distinctive which makes it fun to draw (and cosplay!).

2. Superheroes/villains aren't just famous real people. There's a political connotation, in which it could be dangerous to support villains and people may not like heroes because they're like fantasy cops with powers. Especially in this context in which the government controls the heroes, there's whole system to raise heroes from children, there's censorship and conspiracies. Bringing to the third point:

3. Fanart is a very visual. (No shit, Sherlock.) Okay, in the sense people outside of the fandom are more likely to encounter fanart. It's also a publicly liked form of fandom, in comparison to fanfiction. I guess edits and cosplay are also liked and respected, but probably less common than fanart. (Insert something about my positionality as a fan of MCYT who writes fanfic, something about MCYT loving fanart and including it in their videos, commissioning artists, whereas fanfic (rightfully and thankfully imo) stays underground) So people who write hero RPF are already seen as "weirdos" and "the corner of the Internet you shouldn't see". It's not taken seriously. But if someone posted hero fanart on Twitter, normies would see this as liking / endorsement of said hero, whereas fanfiction would not get this kind of visibility. (And is shunned upon probably no matter what you write because fanfiction is generalised is "weird thing Wattpad teenage girls do when they want to bang a famous person".)

3.1. Back to the MCYT fandom thing. Heroes/villains can be compared to MCYT since they look different on and off camera (with and without their suits, like Minecraft skins and designs), they use different names for their different identities, and they put on a public persona. Similarly, I can imagine heroes finding fanart of their hero persona flattering and occasionally engaging with it on Twitter. (Whereas fanfiction stays underground.)

3.2. So I loveeee parodying the "cringe" Wattpad fics, not because I want to make fun of them, but because it's enjoyable to write without restraint. (And it's funny.) I think the general style is so unapologetically fun (and nostalgic). I have a lot of things to say about Wattpad (in defence of its users!), but it mostly boils down to young people being excited and earnest. I know a lot of people hate Wattpad, especially its RPF. I find it fascinating. Because someone (often tweens) had to be motivated to write that, someone had to have the passion to do it, and they'll do it badly (knowingly or not), because writing as a hobby is supposed to be fun! It's the essence of it! And it's the "bad" kind of fanfiction that I want to pay respect to. The kind that people look upon with disdain. The kind YouTubers make fun of. Because more often than not it's a thirteen year old being silly/stupid and it's mean to make fun of kids earnestly trying to make something.

Anyways in the universe, fanfiction sites become a place to store government censored conspiracies/theories because they fly under the radar compared to Reddit and Youtube.

4. I always felt I wanted to write the story instead of Tweetgen-ing it. Maybe it felt more "serious". And mimicing social media with text/HTML is easier than graphics. Now I feel like the utter lack of visuals in a social media fic (when social media is extremely visual, almost obnoxiously so) makes me focus on text itself— dialogue, transcripts, usernames, Tumblr tagging, YouTube comments, notices about subreddits being taken down, to-do lists, "confirm to delete" text boxes. In-universe fanfiction (both the Wattpad and Ao3 type) is taken seriously in the sense it helps with storytelling— it shows differing attitudes to events and public figures. It shows what type of perception is popular.

Anyways. I'm not sure this is interesting and I'm probably rambling inside my head. I guess I do love fanfiction as an art form. And I do admire and respect the earnest writers and readers on Wattpad. I still occasionally wake up to like 30 comments on a Wattpad fic from 4 years ago. I'm glad people still read it lmao.

[booksandpaperss]

kind of obsessed with the fact you've slowly gotten more blatant with heartstopper hate lmfao😭 it's like. fine to me it's cute but NOTHING SERIOUS IS EVER GOING ON so I gotta be in a really specific mood for it I still haven't watched s2. definitely couldn't be a fixation. and everyone fucking loves it it's the best thing since sliced bread and I'm like. why tho. and then any critique of it is sorta dumbed down to "oh you just don't like how sweet it is but teenagers deserve sweet romance" like ok but why's it gotta be boring though. and too healthy like beyond normal levels of healthy. like this is missing even the usual human levels of miscommunication. and it gets resolved too easy. sorry this was supposed to cut off 4 sentences ago I'm realizing now in your inbox that I apparently have beef with heartstopper

LKSSJJSJS LISTEN listen. I don’t even hate it. truly. I even genuinely enjoyed myself during the nick and Charlie parts bc that’s the part that thought is actually put into. I just hate how much everyone loves it so blindly

honestly my biggest beef with it is that it’s marketed and treated as the most genuine and diverse groundbreaking queer storyline there is when that’s literally so far from true and it really really shows ppls true colors when they think this bc the sapphics and POC are literal props it’s actually absurd for a show that’s supposed to be a safe space for queer ppl

and god do I hate that part of the reason it’s so popular is bc it portrays these queer teenagers as never having a single, physical thought in their entire life. there was this whole plot centered around one single hickey that Charlie had??? and something abt the physical attraction portion of it all, which they did try to show btw, felt disingenuous to me. and I know that’s why it’s so palatable to a mainstream audience and it pisses me off and again it just doesn’t feel genuine. which is ironically one of the main arguments against heartstopper criticism: “it’s not cringe it’s just earnest” when yeah maybe it’s Trying to be earnest but when u look at it from more than a surface level lens it’s not rlly succeeding

and I know the aroace storyline in season 2 with Isaac resonated with a lot of people and I think that’s wonderful, and I actually do think that was something that was done well, but how can you have a storyline around asexuality when you don’t show the contrast in how it is being an allosexual queer person. there was a whole lot of romantic attraction going on but even more tip toeing around the sexual attraction aspect. and I don’t expect it to be like sex education for example in terms of the focus on sex obv , but the lack of acknowledgment of that aspect of the queer experience paired with how much the uwu wholesomeness of it all is played up rlly rubs me the wrong way. once again: it feels dishonest

I was actually talking about this with one of my mutuals the other day and they pointed out that it is very plain that alice olseman did not consult a single queer man in the writers room. and if someone can prove this wrong be my guest but I rlly don’t think the whole physical attraction component would have been done so badly had an actual queer man been on the team. feels kind of like back in summer 2022 when byler shippers would literally shun and harass anyone who even implied that Will’s feelings for Mike probably included physical attraction meanwhile Noah Schnapp himself was making jokes about it bc he’s an actual gay teenager.

not gonna even get into right now how Tara and darcy felt even more like props this season than in the last one and I didn’t even like watching their scenes bc the writing itself felt performative. that’s a whole other post.

and man, wouldn’t it have been so nice if there had actually been people of color in that writers room. On a purely surface level heartstopper has a very diverse cast but once again, peel away even one layer and you realize it’s a bunch of tokenism, which brings me full circle back to my original point: you can’t say it’s peak representation and diversity when it’s whitewashed as hell and doesn’t gaf abt sapphics despite literally being written by one. guess she chose her whiteness over her queerness even when writing a queer story which wowwww sooooo original.

okayyyy anyways did NOT mean to write a whole essay but u discovering ur own beef reminded me of mine lmaooo

all of this was to say that basically I’m not gonna pretend I didn’t enjoy myself during parts of the show, and I don’t wanna shame ppl for liking it that is not at all what I’m trying to do here, it has its own place in queer media and if a show like this came out in like 2010 it would be groundbreaking despite its issues (but again it’s literally 2023 do fucking better) , but I take issue with people treating it like something it’s not and with the amount of love it gets I feel like I have to be really loud about my criticism of it, especially bc usually the criticism of the show that gets any attention isn’t even slandering it for the right reasons and like. if ur gonna hate on something queer and popular do it right

oh and heartstopper writers? maybe try speaking with an actual teenager once in your life before writing their dialogue they do not fucking communicate that well

okay I’m done now finally 🫡

[partywithponies]

Being a Star Trek fan often means picking your favourite ship when you're an earnest overeager cringe teenager and standing my your choice unrelentingly until the day you die.

Personally I picked T'Pura, because I have the strongest willpower on the planet and will invent an entire ship lore out of a single scene. The space wives ever.

[crispy-ghee]

Godzilla Minus One is probably literally the best movie I've seen all year, I can't stop thinking about it. It's got all the good Godzilla Destroys shit set pieces that people probably go in expecting, but at its heart it's a melodrama about Post War Japan, Survivor's Guilt, PTSD, and questions the ideas we (but also largely the Japanese people) have about "Heroic Sacrifice," the value we and the people with power put in "life," and the strength behind choosing to live.

I don't know if it's still in theaters since it's supposed to have a limited run, but it's beautiful, and I wept, and if you can see it, you should see it.

Unless you're someone who can't handle some really earnest melodrama, then stay the fuck out of the theater. I had a bad experience w/ teenagers and people who just couldn't handle scenes like that w/out feeling like they had to undercut it by making sure you Loudly Knew that they had Ironic Emotional Detachment and thought a man loudly weeping about feeling like he should've died was Cringe.

Hollywood Godzilla movies haven't been as successful in understanding that the Human Drama is the main compelling focus in Godzilla movies, and they've fallen short in making you care about characters at times. It's about the spectacle. Which can be fun! I enjoy a big dumb movie as much as the rest of us, but I feel like a lot of general audiences have been conditioned to have those moments undermined and undercut w/ irony and jokes.

That isn't what it is here. It's a fantastic movie. Let a man cry about his trauma w/out feeling you gotta laugh loudly about it. I am a movie talker sometimes, but you don't gotta MST3K your way through everything just because a feeling makes you uncomfortable. I know we aren't used to MELODRAMAAA here but...just...let it be.