#I knew the final scene by all the gifsets and knew it would be the closing scene

[snarkylinda]

Mom the fucking cop show is making me emotional again.

[onaperduamedee]

Hi ! I know we never talked, and I don't want to hurt you even more by making you think about this more than necessary, so feel free to ignore me

I just read the addition you made to your post about WOT, and why it's so difficult for you to deal with the fandom and the whole situation rn, and I wanted to say thank you. You put into words what I feel, too, and it almost made me cry. The whole part about not letting it contaminate all the joy that came before and not destroy your creativity is exactly what I'm struggling with since Thursday, too, so thank you for saying it, I guess? I don't really have a point other than that, so yeah, just thank you, and I guess good luck for dealing with this whole mess ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

Thank you very much for your message and for understanding. I'm so sorry you are in the same place because it is the most harrowing feeling in the world. It's such an incredibly lonely and useless sensation. It is one thing to be shocked by a show's decision, it's another to have that decision change the way you see the story and the fandom so profoundly that it rewrites your own history with said story. I have several WIPs I don't know what to do with because I was waiting for the finale to provide certain scenes for gifsets or drawings. 

It's like opening the fridge to make a dish you had bought all the ingredients for and discovering they are rotten. Did I use the crème fraîche yesterday? Were people sick? Now do I cook something else or try to run to the store although it's probably too late? 

I have so much stuff that I want to create still! Gifsets and doodles and metas! But who am I going to share that with? With fans who have always treated the queer characters like they were on borrowed times? Who have tolerated the presence of gay fans and now that those fans are upset they are to be reasoned with like children? Who wholeheartedly agree with the showrunner that there was never anything more to Siuan's story than this, Moiraine's tragic girlfriend? I would feel silly to share my art with that knowledge. 

Ultimately what I mourn most profoundly is the loss of the community. I always knew some fractures were deep; they are inherent to fandoms and can never be mended. But for a moment, while the show had two lesbians as part of the main romances, it seemed like the corner in which gay fans are generally confined was not a corner but the whole playground. It felt miraculous to know that Moiraine would have a powerful arc as Rand's mentor and Siuan, in a smaller capacity, would go on to weave a brilliant tale about resilence with Egwene. But it was never part of the deal.

The deal was that the apotheosis of Siuan's story would be death, and their happy ending will likely happen in death. And most of the fandom is fine with that, while I cannot find it in me to be.

I don't really have an answer against that rotting feeling and the way it is making me question my enjoyment of past interactions. I guess I will retreat to more private spaces for sharing my art and thoughts because I cannot stop creating and talking about this universe that means still so much to me. But as I said, the show and its fandom have been tainted and perhaps it will clear out with time.

For now, there's just a lot of love I don't know what to do with. 

So I'm really glad you reached out because it does make me feel less alone to find other creators stuck in this in-between, shallow quicksand that refuses to let go or swallow the light entirely. I hope you find something a way out of it as well. Thank you ❤️

[angelsdean]

you probably noticed this but: right after dean finishes telling the CBGB story, he says “john friggin winchester” and takes a shot, and the jacting joices in that moment are… god. i mean the jacting joices are there the entire time ofc but they kinda give *overemphasizing this as a ‘cool john’ story* to me at first, but in that final moment—dean purses his lips, he shifts in his seat, he stares into the distance… he looks bitter. it’s like dean allows himself to feel bitter about this story for just a second, when sam and cas are no longer looking at him ://

(the exact moment i’m talking about is in a gifset you reposted recently)

Yea there's definitely a vibe throughout the whole thing that he's like, telling it as this "funny anecdote" but underneath there's more feelings brewing about this story. Like the story itself comes up because Sam prompts him to tell it, so it's not even Dean's first thought.

Even Cas asking them "You loved your father?" and Dean's response, "With all I had" is like, on the surface you can take that as a positive statement but it's also pretty vague when you really poke at it. It's like, okay and how much love for your father DID you have? It's not the same as a resounding "Yes, of course!" It's more, "I loved him as much as I personally could, given everything." And I do think Dean loved his father. Dean is full of love and he cares even when people might not deserve it. But, we also know he's no stranger to criticizing his father (as he literally says in the next breath that John was not winning any Dad of the year awards) and acknowledging that he was put through shit he did not deserve at way too young of an age.

Even him saying "damn if he wasn't there when we needed him" it's, I mean, he's literally criticized John for being a deadbeat and leaving them and not answering the phone and putting them in danger before so this line immediately rings hollow. And in the context of the scene it makes sense that he'd say this to Cas because Cas is specifically asking them about John as a way of understanding what a father is supposed to do. He prefaces his questions about John with the fact that HE never knew his father and thus has little experience with this whole Claire situation. He's looking for guidance, so it makes sense that Dean would over-embellish a little and want to paint John in a better light for the sake of telling Cas that "yea a good dad is there for their kids." Which we Know John wasn't always there for them. (Side note but all of this ALSO ties into Rowena and Crowley's subplot this episode, how she abandoned HER kid, wasn't there for him, left him vulnerable but is trying to be there now etc etc. Thematically it's an episode abt imperfect parents and their children). And the fact that Sam prompts the story to me says that Dean was probably just going to leave it at that, simply giving his advice to Cas that good dads are always there for their kids.

But anyways, all this to say, I can definitely see Dean feeling bitter about the story at the end there. Especially as the happy little mood drops and he's no longer trying to "give advice" and is reminded of the case, Claire, and how his own experiences actually relate to hers. It's like he finishes telling the story Sam prompted him to tell in the first place and he remembers, "yeah and that was fucked up. and dad might've been there THEN but what about all the other times he left us vulnerable and open to be preyed on. and now Claire is in the hands of this pseudo-guardian who is also putting her in dangerous and vulnerable situations, and and and."

[kutputli]

I have been bullied, outright bullied, I say, into finally watching Interview with the Vampire. Apparently Delhi boy Arun is the way to persuade me over my gore squick.

So three years late and several hours after the train has passed - my episode by episode live-blog. (These will probably be shallow reactions because I know all the meaty meta and analysis has already been written. I remember reading it back when I was an innocent parasocial of your gifsets.) Also, I am coming into this with a series of biases; I've been completely spoiled by way of seeing gifs, reading meta and going through the book summaries. This is also not my genre; I don't enjoy gothic or horror, I was never into the vampire mystique, and I learned vampire lore via Buffy and Angel fandoms back when. So I am predisposed to watch this for the specific angle of how to intersect with my friends' interest in the characters. Disclaimers out of the way...

Season 1 Episode 1 - Mmmm, I see what people say about the art direction. This is a very very beautiful show. Very deliberately staged historicity, very artfully selected colour palattes and design. I imagine watching it on a big TV would be rewarding (I'm on a laptop.) But actually, more than the quality of the design, I think what I am enjoying is the quality of the actors. Because I have been forewarned, I realise all the cast is serious scenery chewing theatre rats. But the energy they bring to their scene work is palpable even through the screen.

Louis for instance, is oddly not beautiful. I can think of several other actors who would look far more physically arresting. To be frank, I don't see what Lestat saw in him, that moment did not have an impact on me. But what Louis is, because of Jacob, is intensely watchable. He brings such commitment to the character that my admiration for the actor translates into sympathy for the character. And of course, the Theatre Voice. Absolutely A+ choice to choose Shakespeare trained actors to deliver what I imagine must be quotes from Anne Rice's original florid prose?

It's a dangerous risk to use that sort of of heightened textual narration, which can work on a page, to sit against the visuals we are already seeing. I remember how Good Omens season 1 did so much quoting from the book to disasterously flat effect. But it works here, and that is, I think, because Jacob delivers the lines with so much integrity to bringing us back to the Dubai penthouse as we watch the New Orleans scenes.

I really enjoyed Daniel Molloy, who I remember finding rather delightful in the gifs even before we all knew his importance and where he was headed. I love grumpy irascible characters and he's lovely at being surly and sardonic. And physically deteriorating and mundane and ordinary, which makes him such a good foil to -

my precious little murderboy Armand! I really do want to watch things unspoiled, so I carry some regret about going into this so very equipped with hindsight. But I did giggle as the very first vampiric contact we see is a cup of tea being placed by Unnamed Brown Guy hand in front of Daniel. That's the love of your life, dude! Give or take a few divorces and deaths. I was watching Assad very closely to see what choices he was making - if there were any clues to pick up on. He was pretty stoic during the hand burning.

But that silent service thing going on - that's definitely something that packs more of a punch if you imagine him learning that from childhood as a human. I've got all kinds of headcanons going on for him, which I've been discussing with @quark4561 and I think his backstory can be a heartbreaking foil to Louis's, in terms of service, and sex work, and segregation.

Speaking of race, I know much of the fandom adores Lestat, but I thought the great thing about casting Sam Reid, is that he isn't the kind of drop dead gorgeous version that Tom Cruise might have been (never seen the film) and so he comes across right from the very beginning as ordinary except for the priviledge of his power. We know already that his power is vampirism, but because of the casting choices, it also becomes the power of whiteness. Lestat isn't some idealised homosexual awakening for Louis, or at least, that wasn't the way I read it. Lestat uses money, whiteness, physical force and vampirical power to get to Louis, and that sets their relationship on a dark, abusive path from the get-go.

In contrast to this was Louis's relationship to Lily. I loved her and the gentleness of their bond. The needless cruelty of Lestat killing her (thankfully offstage, I do not need to see Black women murdered any more), hammers in that this is a person who is selfish and cruel (beyond the ordinary carnivorous murders that one expects of the vampiric genre).

I'm not sure I understood why Louis's brother killed himself. Were we supposed to believe Lestat fucked with his mind? Were the voices he heard a sign of suicidal delusions?

But seeing both of them hoofing together - and I am so glad we didn't see Lestat lurking about then, it was a Black wedding and needed to be closed to the community - was so moving. It made me feel Louis' love for Paul more than his monologue narration. I'm not Black or USAmerican, but I did feel that the Black experience of these characters was respected and integrated into the storytelling choices, from writing to casting to design to cinematography, in a way that really worked for me.

I'm looking forward to spending time with Louis and his assistant, and the grumpy old fart interviewing them.

[khaoala]

Top ten seductive/hot Ray moments according to you? 😊 You can just list them or yap about them. Whatever you want 🤗🤭

*Cracks knuckles* Anon, first of all, thank you for asking. In this dissertation, I’ll unravel all the moments Ray made me pause for a second or ten because he looked absolutely out of this world hot/seductive/enchanting/surreal. For the purposes of this, I’ll try not to overlap my Ray’s greatest hits with Sarah’s, who has already pointed out some excellent moments here. I agree with basically every one of her choices, but it’s not like we lacked on hot scenes from Ray. Because I’ll take every opportunity I have to gif Only Friends because at the time it was airing, I didn’t possess the skills to do a thing for the show, I certainly have a gifset queued for later this evening, and I hope it shows up 😀. Now, without further ado, let’s begin.

1. Checking Sand out after he lit his cigarette, episode 1.

Already starting by doing something I said I wouldn’t do, but listen, right when Sand walks off after lighting his cigarette, Ray just looks at him and checks him out with such a laid-back charm. You can clearly see he’s getting ready to hunt and his eyes are on his prey. Honestly, 10/10, no notes, super-hot.

2. Stop playing and tell me what you wanna tell me, episode 6.

If I’m not mistaken, SandRay only has three scenes in episode 6 and this one is the least angry one. Ray has been trying to reach Sand who has been actively ignoring him after the disaster at Sand’s apartment (when he was going to get birthday sex and instead got, I’m my crush’s second option). Suddenly, Sand contacts him and he thinks they’ll finally reconcile, but instead he’s faced with Sand trying to manipulate him by using his feelings for Mew. Ray ain’t stupid, he acts on his emotions quick and hot, but he knew he was being played, and right there when he sighs and rolls his eyes and forces Sand to go to the point? Quite hot.

3. Smoking in the bathtub with Sand, episode 11.

How do I describe this one? Maybe it’s the peacefulness in Ray and like, the genuine happiness from having cleared the misunderstanding with Sand and with no immediate issues in sight (we don’t count the substances abuses for this) that simply makes him glow. His hot score is high. His attractiveness score is high. Happy Ray makes him look hot.

4. Deal with him or I’ll do it myself, episode 12.

Possessive and mad Ray will always have a place in my heart. In this one, he was not only pissed, but he was also fucking insecure the man he recently realized he was in love with was going to ditch him for the hot muscular ex-boyfriend, and he still had in it him to say if you’re going to pick him let me know but if you pick me, deal with this quick or I’ll do it my way. So good.

5. The boy is mine, episode 2.

Ray being a little shit is one of my favorite types of Ray. In this case, it’s a good type of little shit because here he is making sure for the first time in his and Sand’s relationship that Sand will chose him before anyone else. The little satisfied smirk as Amm walks off because he won? Amazing. We love confidence.

6. Take the shirt off me, episode 5.

What a fucking menace, Ray Pakorn. He wanted to be fucked the whole day that day but unfortunately, Sand is working class man and had places to be and things to do. Doesn’t mean Ray can’t get his way, and he will get his way some way or another. When he told Sand to take his very tight shirt off him, I was already at the other side of the room screaming silently. I appreciate Sand’s self-control. I would have none.

7. Stop fooling yourself, Sand, episode 8.

I don’t know how many of you are traumatized by episode 8. For me, it’s pure suffering. Maybe it’s also because discourse that week literally anywhere was insufferable. But anyway, Joker!Ray is a nightmare. He’s drunk and high and very out of his mind but stay with me a little bit. The I can have feelings for as many people as I want thing? Problematic? Yes, but also kind of hot ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

8. He could convince you to kill someone or at least help him get rid of the body with his eyes alone, episode 8.

Ray being a little shit has a certain charm, we must agree on that. You have to admit that you need a certain level of confidence and lack of shame to show up to the person you didn’t pick and say, “hey, how about you help me with community service, hun?” And Sand folded like a wet piece of paper, and do you know why? Because Ray had his best pleading for cock 🥺 eyes on, and he was so charming and so manipulative, and so attractive. (I mean, the poking thing? It’s endearing.)

9. Just Ray, episode 2.

I think this is a serious case of lone wolf hotness or something. There’s just something especially attractive about Ray being by himself near the pool, with his sunglasses and a flask.

10. Watching Sand, episode 3.

Sand knows for sure how to fuck someone good, because Ray followed this man looking for a round 2 since that morning they woke up together, and he was sure he’d get that when he invited Sand to play at the hostel’s party. He had eyes on Sand up until Boston reminded him he should have feelings for Mew or whatever. He’s just exhaling hot energy. Let’s never forget the scene we didn’t have of Ray throwing his cup after his “confrontation” with Top, too.

[humaninpogresss77]

There's this scene in My Marvellous dream is you that I can't forget because is everything.

Even more now that we have the Us versions of Pam and Rak.

Like Pam is so different in both versions; and I feel part of it is because she doesn't have an enemy like Dawan in us.

So she is not always fuming ready to burn the world down and just the gentle touch of the love of her life is what keep us all safe.

I wish I knew how to make gifsets because this scene is great.

Because of plot reasons Dawan and Kim ask Dokrak to work for Dawan making her dresses.

And Dawan has to ask Pam to permission for that. Which is a problem because Pam and Dokrak hates each other.

And when it finally happened Pam refuses, saying that she doesn't have time now and she would not have time for been with her.

Saying that while be incredible angry.

Which Dokrak just smiles and says something along the line "oh but I would think of you every second of it" and touches Pam's shoulder.

And this tall angry woman melts into such a cute smile.

The change of been mad angry ready to kill Dawan and beat the entire world with the corpse changed in a mili second into this lovely smile dork that is just in love with her woman.

Is such a great scene and was played so well.

The scene starts in the 10min mark of this video if someone is interest on it.

You would miss the whole combo between Kim and Dawan that was so funny before but still.

I am actually considering learning to make gifs to make a gifset of this scene or learn how to edit videos to cramp a compilaton of the Pam and Dokrak scenes in these show.

For me this version of these characters were some of the best part of this show.

[shuishido]

This blog going foward + my thoughtso n the finale

With Ultraman Arc having come to an end i wanted to make some announcement regarding what i'll do going foward with this blog.

Ill be posting all the info we get regarding the movie and future merch, as well as events that happen in 2025 (if possible).

I also have some personal projects that are related to me rewatching the whole show more than once. Those projects are the following:

Im going to write down when each OST song is used in each episode. This is mostly because i can baerly hear the music in each episode and im interested in knowing when each song is used, itll also be fun to have all this info written down.

I also want to write down character details to understand them better (SKIP and everyone else). I want to take note of nicknames, honorifics, pronouns, historys between characters, characters interests, etc.

I want to make gifs for each episode, i want to continue my Yuma & Ishido scenes gifs i made once aswell as making other types of gifs for characters or kaijus or episodes themselfs (like with my "all the goodbyes" gifset). We'll see when we get there.

Now i dont know when i will start these projects or how much time it might take me to compleate them (especially because this year will be very busy for me) btu either way i want to work on them.

I will miss Ultraman Arc terribly, it was my first Ultraman, but this blog is not ending any time soon. This show will live with me for a long long time so you will see me here for awhile aswell <3

Okay now for a probably insanely long (and less serious) talk about the finale:

I want to preface this by saying, i spent the last 2 weeks being INSANELY anxious about episodes 24 and 25. Its mostly my fault, and thats not me blaming my mental issues, but im blaming myself for reading leaks. The leaks came out before episode 24, and even before the recap episode im preatty sure. So basically i spent like 3 weeks or so stressing over Arcs ending. Now, i think the way the leak was worded added to me being really attached to the show and also my very bad mental health, were not a good convination. And after episode 24 aired, i got insanely sick for a few days, the anxiety spike had been so big . that i just. i got sick .

The wait between episode 24 and 25 felt almost non existant compared to the wait we had till ep 24 and thankfully i did not get too overly anxious while watchign ep 25 like i had with ep 24!!

Either way, with that out of the way, let me talk about my thoughts on the finale:

It was perfect. Genuenly did not expect it to be this perfect.

As i mentioned, i read a leak about the finale so i knew Yum and Rution would both leave earth- BUT i was NOT aware of how it would happen. and thats why i had a whole anxiety thing killing me . I was really worried Yuma would leave forever or . that i wouldnt like the way the leaving earth moment was written...

But it trully exideed my expectations! The final fight is probably one of my fav fights in the whole show, and i really really liked that he defeated Sweed in his normal form.

I also really enjoyed how the fake dream and Yumas parents were handled, i was ripping my hair out yelling for Yuma to not accept the dream as reality LMAO.

I did not expect Yuma to call SKIP his family, i adored that, i was giggling and kicking my feet about it . Family forever and ever!!! Also im not even going to talk about TeaCoffee because this could go on forever and ever if i did. All ill say is, i love gay people, congrats on the engagement <3

After they said their goodbyes and Yuma left, i was already happy with how things had turned out. I was glad Yuma said he would return, if the show ended there i would have probably been okay with it. BUT . the detail of CONFIRMING that Yuma comes back 3 months later. is just perfect. genuenly straight up puts the show as my favorite tokusatsu ever. That finale just topped Den-O for me. That finale was able to dethrone the first tokusatsu i ever watched.

As i said before, this show will live with me for a long time. Im very lucky to say that ill probably be able to watch the movie in the cinema once it comes out so im exited to keep loving Ultraman Arc forever <3

Okay im going to shut the fuck up now

[lord-aldhelm]

𝓦𝓘𝓟 𝓦𝓮𝓭𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓭𝓪𝔂

Another week, another tag game! Please share your last sentence; or, if you don’t have one, share a plot bunny or idea! (OR sketch for your artwork!)

I have not been tagged so I get to start!

I have SO MANY THINGS ongoing right now. First, here is a bit from Chapter 14 of Darkest Before the Dawn:

The air was tense, thick with fear and anticipation. She could see Aldhelm readying his men for the battle, locking their shields together in the wall while the spearmen waited just behind the front line. The banner of Mercia flew high above his troops, a white dragon on a field of dark green. Beside it flew Aldhelm’s own banner: a white wolf courant with gold eyes and a gold border, on a field of dark forest green. It was a bold choice for him to fly his own banner at the battle, and sent a clear signal that he was the one in charge. It was considered treasonous for an ealdorman to fly his own flag instead of the flag of Mercia in the presence of the King, and he was doing so at great risk, although he knew Aethelred would not be made aware of it and even if he was, he would do nothing about it.

Other Stuff:

I have my first One-shot finished and ready to publish in a few days once it is edited and the moodboard is finished. I will not share anything about it here so you get to read it in a few days when I post it!

I have *at least* two more oneshots to finish (they are chapters of Springtime that never made it into the final cut) as well as my original story for Springtime before I cannibalized it and changed it to be the version that I posted. There is still enough left of the original story to perhaps publish a short fic (maybe 10K-ish) so I will work on that too.

Once Darkest Before the Dawn is complete (it is at 50k words, 14 chapters and I still have a lot left!!) I want to go back and edit Springtime in Saltwic. I love the story to bits but I have learned a lot in writing over the years and want to add some more descriptive stuff that was really missing from the original story, and also some better transitions between the chapters so it is not so jarring. I will not be deleting or changing anything, just adding to it and maybe fixing some words here and there for more eloquent ones.

I just made two gifsets for my James blog last night, which are sitting in the queue to post. I have one more short film and two feature length films of his to watch and gif, and then all of his old stuff will be done (unless I can find the two indie films of his that are MIA). Once Marie Antoinette is released in mid-March I will add that to my watch/gif list as well.

I am working on giffing Aldhelm's scenes from 4.07 as well, and those will be added to my queue. I am scheduled out into May at this point. I also need to fill up my queue with more BTS photos; I have hundreds and hundreds!

I also have a bunch of BTS videos and interviews and stuff with Aldhelm/James that I am planning on giffing.

Last but certainly not least is I am finally working on the King Aldhelm painting once more! I am working on his hands rn, which is giving me absolute fits! But I hope to be done with that part and move onto the rest of it by the end of the week. And maybe next week I have some nice WIP of that to post as well.

@gemini-mama @thelettersfromnoone @thenameswinter99

@bagheerita @solinarimoon @errruvande @paula-in-dreamland @aneurins-barnard

@waterfallsilverberrywrites @holy3cake @whitedarkmoonflower @bilbotargaryen @lady-wyrd

@grinningkatz @ladyinred2248 @hikaruchen @st-eve-barnes @alexagirlie

[kiwichaeng]

Favourite Lone Star Fandom Memories

Thank you @carlos-in-glasses for tagging me and thank you @thisbuildinghasfeelings for starting this <3 I am sorry it took me a while to get to this but this week has been simply put A Lot.

In no particular order:

The Gif Set that changed it all.

April 2023, I am swamped with work and exhausted all the time when I come across a gif set of the Lou 2 scene and I am simply a goner. I see the love, the communication and the CARE in that one gif set and am immediately hooked. I needed to know more about those two men Immediately but I am busy af so I consume all the fic and gifsets instead for now. And well here I still am! I binged the show like insane finally in May just a week before the wedding episode aired. I still remember so clearly where I was when I first saw it and I wish I could find that one again just so I could tell the gif maker how much it means to me.

My friendship with the wonderful @fallout-mars

From comment boxes to asks to dms, getting to know Millie has been just amazing. I was so scared the first time I posted a comment on their fic (wits my beloved) and I could never believe that the author I admired so much wanted to talk to me. When I got the first ask I proceeded to freak out to my best friend about it and sent her a draft of my reply. Millie, I am so glad we got to talking and that you were nice enough to send me little snippets when I was too busy to read. They were and still are the absolute highlight on nights when things get a lot. The wits universe that you have created is something that I will carry with me for a very long time. I am so grateful for every reply, ask, snippet, message, your crochet creations and precious Buzz pics and I'm so glad you exist <3 (may I have more Buzz pics pls 😔😔)

Reconnecting with my now best friend through this show.

@vkookslays and I got talking again because we had Lone Star in common. I posted about the finale on my Instagram story and the next thing I knew I was getting a dm from the girl who I talked to every single day years ago but then drifted apart. I have no idea what I would have done without you, especially in 2023. You have been my absolute rock and support and I love you so much <3 and you WILL wake up with me at 5 am on Tuesday to watch the finale whether you like it or not 🔪 :)

My first time streaming an episode

Holy shit what a rush that was. The live blogs, the commentary, the posts, the community! I am going to hold that feeling with me forever it was absolutely amazing

First time sensitivity reading a fic

I saw @lemonlyman-dotcom mention she needed one and I was So Nervous but I texted anyway and oh my god it was kind of amazing. For the first time I felt like I was part of something bigger and it made me so happy to be able to share insights from my religion and help. It was amazing

The love I got on my fic

Y'all were the sweetest and kindest people ever I swear!! Not even just the published work but any time I posted a snippet (rip autopsy fic) or anything like that I was so overwhelmed with the support. My anxiety kinda hates me a lot so I was so surprised at all the love and it was the best thing ever. Thank you <3

OPEN TAG <3

[suckishima]

haikyuu rewatch s01e01

i've been itching to rewatch the series lately and a few years ago i did something similar for miraculous ladybug where i wrote up like a stream of consciousness/commentary post and made a gifset for each episode and i wanna try to do it again for haikyuu?? we'll see if i stay committed or not lol—gifsets per ep probably a lot more likely to continue than commentaries tbh, these things are long and not thought out so,

anyway let's start with episode 1, who wants to take bets on how many times i get teary-eyed?

ughhhhh how did i not know IMMEDIATELY my first time watching what a fucking banger of a show this would be. this opening scene is sooo aah. the voice over with the sounds of the balls and shoes, the actual content of the 'a tall tall wall' monologue, and then the visuals of just hinatas shoes stepping up to the line and then 'it was a view i could never see on my own' and the rest of the teams shoes step in??? FUCK

holyyyyy and bc im obsessed i know who is who based on their shoes in that lineup and after thir 'onigaishimasu' and they run onto the court they all run in at different speeds?? and like tanaka goes quick and kageyama bounces on his toes and tsukki is all like unenthusiastic?? what the fuCK bro

its been literally 40 seconds and im in awe aaah

oh.. oh no it's the intro. i was joking before about getting teary-eyed but uhhh

how long has it been since i watched season 1 omgg 😭😭😭

gOD the opening is so good, not just imagination but the visuals rrr the practicing shots and the animation on all the volleyball looks so great wowow

one of the less talked about of the many crimes of getting movies instead of a 5th season is definitely the loss of another amazing opening and ending

damn did i really never realize that karasuno of the little giant's time didnt JUST go to nationals but theyre playing on center court when hinata catches them on tv? meaning its either the semi finals or finals, damn lol

hmmmm i am already conflicted about whether or not i wanna talk about manga spoilers in these writeups lmao. tumblr blockout spoiler text WHEN

anywayyyy manga readers hinata on his bike watching little giant on tv iykyk (and if you know me lol) right

rrrr the imagery of the crow flying into hinata from the screen with still the sounds of the balls and whistles aaah what a cool way to show inspiriation

huh, the libero is no.2 not no.4 is that manga accurate from just before furudate decided that it was a Thing for karasuno or did the animation not check?

okay i checked and you literally can only see the little giant in the manga and none of the rest of the team so im calling it an oversight on the animation side lol (understandable, tbh when youre just making people up to fill in the shot, you arent thinking about jersey lore)

no one cares but my japanese is surprisingly better than when i first watched (at which time i knew nothing) and i can actually understand a few bits here and there without the subs

reading the occasional katakana in the background is fun too. mmmm i should try looking at og scans of the manga to see how the sound effects are intended to be read, ive heard the way furudate incorporates the characters into the action as the sound itself is really well done

air salonpas!

oooo one of the teams practicing spikes had one guy hit left handed, thats a fun detail!

dude hinatas friends are such homies i swearrrr

'whats our opponent kitagawa daiichi even like' 'idk! but we're gonna win!' lmaooo hinata you coulda done SOME research

ooo the shot of kitagawa walking in and looming above hinata is so well done, they look huuuge. i know factually that kindaichi and kunimi are tall but i tend to forget, kunimi especially, hes got short energy to me 😅

yessss and the shot of kagyama walking by and just like his Aura is enough for hinata to pick up on the king vibes yooo its so goood

kitagawa daiichi banner is just 'victory' lol okay

i could use some of hinatas blind confidence in my life lmao

oh jk its bathroom tummy ache time

man the set up for kageyama as like powerful early on is SO good, weve only seen him twice so far and both times it all above the king cape, which im pretty sure is also supposed to represent how hinata sees him which rrrr what a great way to set up their dynamic knowing everything that's to come. greatest opponent to greatest ally etc etc

also thinking about how this IS basically all hinatas POV (including the quote i just referenced) and what kageyamas POV of hinata is when he looks back on it all 👀

kageyama telling hinata he shouldnt talk big bc he isnt even physically ready (referencing tummy ache), and hinata right off the bat telling kageyama 'the six of us go all the way' and kageyama responds 'i will win every game' oooo yep they both got some things to learn from each otherr

seriously how is hinata like the friendliest person on the planet. his team is SO bad and all he cares about is that he's finally on the court, he's so positive and determined even when they're doing terribly and his friends dont know wtf is going on

🥺🥺🥺 he's so happy seeing his palm all red after spiking the ball successfully the first time waaah

sjkhdk i always laugh at 'well there IS a foxy senpai on the girls team' lmaoo like he could have just ignored that part of the question, and who translated it to 'foxy' anyway lmaoo

koji, soccer friend, coming in for a foot receive! he missed lol but for real hinatas friends are so cool showing up for him like this

i mean, they are also avoiding him when he tries to practice throughout middle school, but they showed up here when it counts

love that you can see the 'mild internal bleeding,' as kuroo would call it, on izumi's arms when he tells hinata that his arms hurt lol

akjhsakjsasj they hype hinatas jumping skills, the music swells, you think hes got it, aaaand then immediately triple blocked and the music cuts back out lmaoo. honestly, love how haikyu always plays with expectations like that

half time serve routines my beloved.... i miss you..

'we keep trying.. because we havent lost yet' <333

but also kunimi, what a mood lmao

the animation on hinatas slide hit after the toss missss aaaah, and kageyamas bangs like whipping in the wind before he reaches as far as he can aah god this whole sequence is so beautiful

kageyama after knowing hinata for roughly 30 minutes: "this guy overwhelms me" skagsajsa

he has every quality to be someone even better but—WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THESE PAST 3 YEARS?? 😭😭😭😭

karasuno senpai in the crowd!! related dumb question time, why isnt tanakas hair blond here? he should be a first year atm, and the beginning of the ep said this match is about 3 years and 3 months after little giants nationals (which is in january, although iirc the month changed sometime around those years so possibly it was in march during his time—hence why call 'spring tournament') but either way if hinata and kageyama are still middle school third years then tanaka should be a first year and thats when his hair was blonde. likely in universe answer i guess is just that this tournament is after the practice match where karasuno loses badly and gets made fun of which makes tanaka respect his senpai more and shave his head lol. which also, if hes here with them at this middle school tournament also makes sense with that so. question answered i guess

'if you want to be the last one standing then become strong' waaah

awwww the first years that he recruited to fill out his team stayed with him to practice with the middle school girls team!! they caught the volleyball bug <3

not me pausing to try and see which one of them is the foxy senpai..

lmaoooo the "old ladies team" that hinata practices with are called the yukigoaka beauties lol nice

yoooo hinatas running toward the gym for the first time and a crow flys away and a feather crossed in front of hinata niiiiice

let me tell you i had relatively low expectations for haikyu my very first time. i just wanted something easy to watch while i ate my lunch during the day, and i thought it would just be a predictable underdog story where hinata gets revenge for middle school. and i wasnt against that, i was relatively entertained this whole episode, then it gets to the end and reveals that kageyama has to be his teammate and i was like OH this is gonna be GOOD good. immediately have me hope and reassurance that the show knew what it was doing and wasnt gonna just be typical cliches etc

fuck i wish i could watch again for the first time

i warned you this would be long lol, honestly these writeups are more for me in the future to like remember my thoughts etc and like i said we'll see if i keep it up lol

[esther-dot]

I’m sure you’ve been asked this a million times, but is there a specific meta (or metas) that you feel sufficiently explain the pol!jon theory?

Kit's face.

Obviously, that's kinda a joke, and I'm gonna link more stuff for you, but to me, that is one of the most compelling arguments for it. Not merely because he failed to communicate love in his scenes with Dany (although that's true), but because, there are a hundred other emotions he was conveying in their scenes that we have to ignore or deny if we're to accept that he was enraptured with Dany, trusted her, or thought she would be a good queen. If you look at that gifset, in many pivotal scenes, he's torn, worried, disappointed, afraid. All sorts of emotions that simply don't fit in with the "fool in love" storyline.

Another of my favorite posts on the subject is this gifset in which D&D create parallels between Dany and LF, JonDany/LF&Sansa, some, or all of this, clearly intentional. Or this parallel from s7 that uses repetition of a line to indicate, Jon and Dany are not friends, they are in fact, opposing forces. Or this scene in s8 showing us that Grey Worm doesn't trust Jon, which again, is saying, Jon isn't as loyal as he's supposed to be. I mean, I knew that, but again, it doesn't fit with the story. Those speak to D&D’s plans, things completely beyond the actor’s control.

I'm linking a number of gifsets right off the bat because what they chose to put on our screens is more compelling than the words I use to try to argue my opinion. For example, this gifset of Sansa being the power in the North, look at who Jon (nonverbally) recognizes as the person he should show deference to. It's a weird detail that we know they orchestrated to show a specific thing, but again, it doesn't fit with Jon being a Dany convert or believer in her status as their true queen.

ANYWAY, far as I can tell, everyone had a different version of the theory, some of which, I didn’t like much, some of which, I still think are the best explanation of what I watched, but this gifset is basically the summary of it. Jon heard Sansa, he purposed to be smarter, and was unwavering in his loyalty to the North. Simple as that. This, I think, is the meta that best explains the political Jon storyline in s7. There were many wonderful metas on this, sadly, many of my favs are no longer accessible because bloggers deactivated (my pol!jon tag has some posts in it still), but basically, I think it was an interpretation that showed more respect for Jon and Dany.

Dany sliding into paranoia and isolation is something they tried to speed run in s8, and it was presented as a kind of "madness," but if Dany was right, that Jon wasn't loyal to her, that she didn't have love, it's a more sympathetic story for her, as well as a darker but more coherent story for Jon. It reminds me of Aerys and how he was "paranoid" in the end, but we do have lines that sound as if, yeah, people were wanting to dethrone him (potentially even his son), which in no way justifies the horror he wanted to unleash, but does create a more nuanced scenario, something Martin is very fond of.

Dany realizing the person she trusted can't be trusted could have been (I thought was) a critical moment in her choosing fear as her path to power in 8x05, and I didn't think it served her well to pretend that was all in her head when it clearly wasn't. I wrote this post finale to explain my thoughts on show Jon, what happened to him, the parallels I saw, the meaning behind it.

[lavender-gayz]

Lizzie the musical at Southwark Playhouse Elephant - some little moments that I loved, part 1/?

Background: This production originated at Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester. It features Lauren Drew as Lizzie; Maiya Quansah-Breed as her neighbour, Alice; Shekinah McFarlane as Lizzie’s sister, Emma; and Mairi Barclay as the Bordens’ housekeeper, Bridget. Esteemed tumblr user thegirl20 has many lovely photosets and gifsets of the cast, including this high-definition one where you can see the faces of everyone in the main cast (and also the set!)

I was lucky enough to catch this show with the main cast in London at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant a couple of times (plus once with Emma Louise Hoey as Lizzie and Ayesha Patel as Bridget) when they went on a mini tour in Nov/Dec 2023 :)

1. The House of Borden:

Bridget ladles out impressively gloopy gruel while singing about all-purpose mutton. Both Lizzie and Emma give it a wide berth (and say no to breakfast for the rest of the show).

Emma goes, 'we’ve no personal objection BUT SHE CAN'T HAVE WHAT'S OURS' – an increasingly-concerned Lizzie rushes over and shakes her head and Emma is temporarily mollified. Fair is fair in the House of Bordennnnn!

The way their voices go up in the last ‘let us take you to an August back in 1892’ – MUAH.

2. This Is Not Love:

Lauren Drew performs the majority of this song while sitting uncomfortably in an ornate armchair where something horrifying routinely happens. It’s very effective.

She really conveys the despair and the agony Lizzie feels – there's one bit in the final verse where she gasps out, 'this is not love' and she sounds so incredibly broken.

(“I want…to see arms outstretched to hold me / wanting nothing in return / but only for me to feel safe and secure”

She’s literally next door, Lizzie.)

And at the end she tears herself out of the chair with the line ‘I don’t know what it is, but I want out of it.’

3. ‘I love you too, Father.’

4. Gotta Get out of Here:

Lizzie absently trails her hand along Alice's arms and shoulders in this one bit at the start - Alice never stood a chance tbh.

Maybe I'll do a separate Alice x Lizzie highlights thing.

LOVE the energy in this song and how Lizzie almost seems possessed when she sings about something hanging over her and how she physically throws her body around.

Alice's higher 'stay here longer' when she joins in on the chorus is what angels dream of.

5. If You Knew:

Let's have MAXIMUM YEARNING

To set the scene: we’ve just come out of ‘Gotta Get out of Here’, where Lizzie expresses her need to get out of here and is hindered by Bridget, Emma and Alice (with some very cool dance breaks). Lizzie finally breaks free and Alice chases after her but loses her. We’re now in Alice’s bedroom where she’s thinking about Lizzie.

Lizzie is just off to the side (presumably in her own home or in her yard) looking sad and letting down her hair.

Alice is singing to herself about how much she loves Lizzie and wondering how Lizzie would react if she knew about this.

(She thinks a secret’s just a lie! This may or may not come back to bite us!)

Her voice just SOARS when she sings about dreaming about having Lizzie in her arms.

I like that this song expresses the pretty relatable concern of ‘oh no if you knew I had a big gay crush on you would you still let me touch you and comfort you’ but it doesn’t come with a side of ‘oh no it’s so wrong and gross for me to have feelings for another woman’. Thanks, Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer and Tim Maner!

And good news for Alice: YES Lizzie will let you hold her close when she knows about your secret gay feelings AND she will make out with you and hold you close too! You will get to be happy for approximately seven seconds before Bad News Bridget interrupts.

6. Soul of the White Bird:

'the violence of freedom'

Emma joins in with Lizzie from the side at ‘oh if I had wings like a dove’ - the harmonies!!

Bridget knits and goes la la la in counterpoint while Lizzie slowly falls apart.

7. ‘Lizzie, don’t!!’

8. Maybe Someday:

The FIRST iteration of this song and it’s Alice singing to Lizzie about how maybe someday her heart will be open. They may not get a conventional happy ending together but by god their story is integral to this show.

It is so sweet and then they end up cuddling and falling asleep!

I was going to save this for the Alice x Lizzie highlights, but this was too cute to leave out so I guess I'll just include it twice: Lizzie is the big spoon!!!

9. ‘Her bed is freshly made, as if she hadn’t slept in it at all!’ – Bridget, relishing her role as a gossipmonger-in-chief

10. Who hasn't had to kick a girl out in the morning because your sister needs to vent about developments in your father's will and is threatening to go to Fairhaven? Sisters, amirite?

11. ‘Emma, wait! What if Mrs Borden…dies first?’

12. Sweet Little Sister:

It has been said before and it bears saying again: vocals for DAYS.

The little lyric change to “I look into your cold dark eyes” to suit Lauren’s eye colour!

Bridget and Alice pop up with mic stands to sing along.

And then Emma fucks off to Fairhaven even though her sweet little sister was begging her to stay.

13. Mairi's delivery of 'oh Miss Emma you've forgotten your book! And she asked me to pack it S P E C I A L.' is so deeply funny.

14. Also hilarious: the very un-suspicious way Bridget slides the book of household poisons over to Lizzie.

15. ‘…time for Mrs Borden’s tea!’ I love Bridget.

This feels like a good time to take a break!

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

And now, it's time.

Day 5: Happy 5 Year Anniversary!

Wow. 5 years. I honestly can't believe that. Oh my GOSH that's long o.o. I went :O when I saw that when seeing advertising for the week.

I love this show so much (ignore me posting and editing to get it here before midnight for me lol). It's absolutely insane how long it's been. I started watching late in November, I believe, maaaaybe early December. We'd talked about getting Disney+, and I knew my family would find it silly but I was intrigued by a show called High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. A crazy title and a weird premise. I said I was just curious, fascinated by it, wondering what it would be like. So, one evening, my sister and I watched it.

We watched the first four episodes and laughed and made fun of it the whole time. But, miraculously, I found myself invested.

And the next episode.

In Season 1 Episode 5, they brought Seb and Carlos to us as a couple. I was shocked and happy, and honestly a little confused. I didn't know I was queer yet. I knew what queer was, had found out from my sibling surrounding some family stuff, but I'd never seen canon queer characters before. I guess I knew I was an ally, even if I didn't totally get why, but it was just so cool to see them. I honestly felt kind of weird because what did two gay high school boys mean to me, I was a straight girl!

Ha.

It wouldn't be for a couple more years that I would realize I was queer. I too fell victim to the "yeah, but I'm just an ally" trap lol. But I seriously fell in love with them. I remember my sibling and I loving how cute Carlos's little dance was, how excited he was. How devastated and in denial we were when Seb didn't show up. And how much we loved it when Carlos danced, and when Seb did show up :').

That solidified the show for me. That made me stay. They made me stay. They've meant the world to me ever since.

And since then, I have seen 33 amazing, wonderful episodes (just like the 5 before them lol). I've been angry, I've been sad, I've been in awe, I've been happy. I've seen myself represented not just in queer characters, but in theatre kids. In kids who are lonely and find family there. In kids who lived in a shadow, who were shy, who were thrust in and trusted by their teacher and director.

This show is silly. It does silly things, it has silly performances, it has silly jokes, silly unlikely things happen, and it's a silly premise. But I absolutely love it. I realized one day, after having seen someone mention "the One show that changed them forever", that mine was High School Musical The Musical The Series. Sounds silly, and I had to think about some of my more recent shows to figure it out. But it is. I remember scrolling through the tag, searching Seblos, before I even made a Tumblr account. Seeing things first after the finale of Season 1, deleted scenes pictures of Carlos giving Seb flowers. So many important moments for me were taken alongside step with HSMTMTS. Even though I barely post about it anymore (because so many interests catch my attention and I don't usually have much to say about it off the top of my head), it's still the 4th top "Posts a lot about" when you go to search on my blog. I think that says something. And I'm proud of it.

I haven't had a lot of interaction with the fandom during my time here, especially while the show was still running (and because I mainly stay in the Seblos tag, especially with remembering scrolling through all the Driver's License stuff before and when it first came out lol), but everyone means so much to me. Especially everyone still posting, still creating now. The fanfics, the art, the edits, and gifsets, everything is so important to me, and everything else. Thank you all <3. And thank you, when I did come, for being such an accepting place (at least the places I went to). Thank you guys for sticking around through this show, and even for just being here for a little while. Thanks for sticking with me, those that have :). And the friends I've made from this fandom and this show - you mean the world to me <3. Thank you all so much for everything you've done, everything that's made this show even more enjoyable :'). I love you all so much ❤️.

I love High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. And I'm proud and happy I do :).

Happy 5 Year Anniversary 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥰🥰🎊🎊🎉🎉🎂🎂🎂!!!!

[three--rings]

Okay finally able to watch 4 Minutes ep 1.

I legit didn't realize how much I missed Bible until he was on screen, omg. Also, I NEED to know. That cat…is that one of BIBLE'S CATS? I'm sure there are like, trained TV cats, but somehow I feel it likely Bible would bring his own, yanno? I need a gifset of Bible and Cat ASAP.

Eek, okay, calming down.

ETA after finishing Ep: Oh good, new show to obsess over now IWTV has finished airing. Unfollow me now, etc etc.

Also I should remember to also be excited because this is a Sammon show and I like her writing!

Oh! The Boy is Acting!! Already! (I feel like I've watched so many BL at this point without Serious A Acting that I forgot that sometimes happened.)

I also have to say I do love this premise. I love that there IS a premise, yanno? Like an unrelated-to-romance premise.

And I like that Great is starting out in a not-a-great-person place, from what we can tell. Like from the partying and hit-and-run, though I will give some allowance for outright panic.

As an aside, I used to spend hours in ER rooms doing psych assessments and I have once said the Forbidden Words: "it's quiet tonight", and nearly got jumped by a room full of nurses.

Oh good, medical shit. My personal nightmare. I'll just be, not watching any OR scenes then.

So, other guy, Tyme? He's a bit of a prick, too? Is this prick for prick? …..You know what I mean.

Girlfriend? Are we gonna be cheating?

We have an already together side couple? Why does that make me so apprehensive?

Also, wow, it's been a while since I watched Kinnporsche. I wasn't expecting, uh, so much so soon. So much skin and…yeah… Oh wait, said before the Full Ass.

Well at least we're repping condoms.

Oh….well okay then. Guess they've put us on fucking blast…so to speak.

Why do I feel like the rest of the Thai BL industry is gonna be watching this going: oh fuck, not again. Goddammit.

Whoever Korn's partner is, is PRETTY. Wait, sudden ominous cat??

Okay so 4's AND 13's. Just covering all the Superstitious Number Bases.

I was spoiled for this, from yanno, ALL THE GIFSETS that were the only reason I knew this show had aired, lol. So yeah, very interested in What It All Means. Super excited.

[whumpofalltime]

WHUMP OF ALL TIME: Quarterfinals are here!

Find links and propaganda under the cut. Quarterfinalist match-ups are untagged, so your votes and reblogs matter!

Once Upon A Time:

(gifset 1, gifset 2)

"There's blood, wounds, captivity, bondage, a slow-dipping-mechanism, a big rescue, and excellent acting by Colin O'Donoghue - who delivers the tiniest whimper and the most delectable of trembles for our whump-loving eyes to devour!" ~ @killian-whump

"

All the respect to the Hawaii 5 0 one scene because I haven't watched it and can't judge it, but. Killian was BROKEN. Absolutely and heart-wrenchingly devastated. He was tortured within an inch of his life (… or death, I guess) and practically left to slowly drop into a pit of eternal despair.

Killian was not easy to break. He would get injured and get back up with a sneer and an "I'm alright love you should see the other guy".

But to reach that point? The point of telling Emma she should have kept herself safe instead of saving him from this torment, to hold on to her like she was his lifeline, to SMILE that small smile from the first bit of hope he'd gotten since he ended up there?

The relief upon watching this episode for the first time was visceral. For two episodes we knew Hook was being tortured, we saw him try and fail to limp to safety, we saw his resolve and defiance desperately hold on, we saw him accept his fate, we saw him preferring to be tortured further than hurt his friends… And then he got saved! And he had no witty comeback, no effort to hide his pain. He just fucking collapsed in the arms of his beloved, of his saviour, and held on for a moment to realize that it was real, she was there, he was finally safe.

Add to that some amazing, jaw-dropping, emotional acting by Colin O'Donoghue, how can you get any better than that?

Anyway vote for ouat. Because this whole torture mini arc existing is probably what caused a chain reaction of me understanding and accepting I love whump, so. I wouldn't be here torturing blorbos if it weren't for it 🤣" @piracytheorist

Buffy:

(gifset 1, gifset 2, YT clip, YT clip #2, YT clip #3) thanks to @iamthegodofhalefire for the links!

"It was my first whump and it’s never been beaten! He’s kidnapped, tied up, mandhandled, gagged, thrown on the floor, slapped, tied up differently, tortured with holy water, then is exhausted and woozy from it all - then gets tied up somewhere else and stabbed through the hand to drain his energy. Then collapses at the end! It’s SO good!"

"Angel is kidnapped to give his blood to Drusilla in a ritual to make her better - she’s sick and was turned into a vampire by Angelus (Angel’s evil alter ego) many years ago. He killed her family as part of turning her and she went insane because of it. As Angel is a vampire too, holy water burns him, so she tortured him by pouring this over his skin even 😬 he’s then stabbed through the hand in the ritual and is rescued and collapses to the floor. Amongst other things!"

~ @Iamthegodofhalefire

[theolderguards]

So I finally watched 65 with Adam Driver and Ariana Greenblatt last night, and I fucking loved it so much more than I thought I would, so now I'm gonna be making gifsets of all my favorite scenes (soooo pretty much the whole movie)!!!

And I knew I was gonna love Adam, because to me he can do no wrong, but what surprised me more was how much I LOVED Ariana as Koa 🤯 She did such a fantastic job and I found myself going back to watch a scene again in the middle of the film just because of her. I was thoroughly impressed by her and she was what, 13-14 when they filmed this?? Now I feel like I have to watch Barbie again just to focus on her performance in that film ✨

Anyway, I'm glad I finally watched because it's been on my to-watch list ever since it came out.