#I wanted to make it funnier and all cute but I have no effort in my bones

[gothffee]

Hi, hello, salutations. I’m Chris, or Sledgehammer if you want, depending on the day. I like long walks to the vegan cheese aisle, dad jokes, and currently I’m obsessed with the Interview with a Vampire TV show. I probably talk too much for my own good and usually make no sense, but guess what? It is what it is. I sing and write lyrics for a band called Motionless in White, and I’m Rhea Ripley’s biggest fan. Fight me on me this. I dare you.

Want to have a local gothffee with me? Come chat at @nothingforundead.

[chuluoyi]

Baby gojo and daddy gojo not wanting to share mama gojo😭✋i-

࿐ ࿔ 🕰️ 「 06:20 P.M 」

aww this is so cute of course this is the first i worked on after getting back from my weekend break <3 and actually i have this one similar ask too so i combined yours with theirs! here's some cute blinking gojo in phantom parade and okay now let us have some crack and make gojo suffer

a part of gojo's love entries

general masterlist

“bwah!” a nudge.

“myah!” a shove.

and then—

“waaa!” a… slap (?) on the cheek.

“huh?” satoru winced, touching where the baby’s palm just connected with his face, blinking rapidly. so he wasn’t imagining things. this really was happening in front of his eyes.

and it was the baby—his baby.

your giggles filled the air in response.

“hey, you,” satoru took on a very stern look and an exaggerated frown, glaring at his own son. the baby merely babbled at him innocently, blinking his wide crystal blue eyes that mirrored his. “bad, bad minion. this is a very serious issue. you shouldn’t do that, you hear?”

the serious issue being each time he tried to lean closer to steal a kiss from you, your son always found a way to repel him away with his tiny hands.

you snorted at his righteous tone. “he’s just protecting me. even your kid knows you’re a danger.”

a gasp left your husband’s shiny lips, mockingly in disbelief. “me? a danger? i make your life a heaven on earth!”

“heav—pfft—”

“i give you love, food, my body—” he emphasized, pointing at himself for a dramatic effect, and you threw your head back, dissolving into a fit of laughter even more, “—heck, i even give you this naughty baby!”

“wha—no! that’s team effort!”

“still! and now he is staging an uprising against me?” satoru cheekily eyed his child, who was now clutching the fabric of your blouse, tiny fingers playing with the shiny diamonds of your necklace—a gift from satoru too, actually.

“look at him go,” he grumbled, his eyes following each little movement his son made, then dramatically yelped when the boy pawed at your breasts. “hey! no touching! those are mine!”

“please.” you almost choked on your laugh. your silly husband always had a way to make things sound funnier than they actually were, and that was what made you fall in love with him more each day, really. “the milk is his!”

“he can have the cow’s! and more importantly, it’s thanks to me that you’re so milky—”

“satoru! you’re so uncouth i can’t—!”

“see? you’re laughing so much! this proves enough that i make you happy every day!”

later that night, after you put your baby to sleep in his crib, satoru gently poked his cheek, his expression tender despite his pursed lips. “he is out like a light…”

satoru might whine a lot, but ultimately, you couldn’t miss the look of adoration and fondness that made him the father of your child. even without saying it out loud, you knew that he would willingly put everything aside and sacrifice anything—first of all, himself—if it was meant for his dearest, most precious treasure.

knowing he'd do the same for you only served to melt your heart even more. and you felt full—so full, in fact, with warmth and love and anything that was soft.

you really do love him, don’t you?

“look at him, he’s like a shrimp,” your husband pointed out, still gazing at his baby in wonder as he kept poking and prodding at the chonky rolls of his little arms, and you thought, nothing could have been more precious than this.

“satoru.”

“yeah?” he turned instantly at the sound of his name, but before he could react further—

you stood on your tiptoes and planted a swift smooch on his cheek, putting the overflowing love you held for him in it. “mwah!”

“…?!”

for the next three seconds, satoru malfunctioned. the brush of your sweet lips on his cheek was so innocent that he was rendered speechless. heat steadily gathered on his face, turning him pink despite himself.

“you…” he groaned, collecting himself, a dopey smile was quickly plastered on his face to cover up his setback as you burst into hearty laughter. “now you’ve started it…” and then he latched on you with a glint of a joker, launching a full-blown tickle attack.

“a—ah! why?! satoru! ahahahaha!”

. . .

safe to say, your wheezes effectively awoke your son from his slumber, and as a bit of payback, you left satoru in the dust to deal with the crying baby, both of them whimpering in unison since he had absolutely no clue how to comfort the little one.

[phoenixkaptain]

I love it when pre Original Trilogy era shows how much effort went into making the Death Star. It took decades, literal decades, and it took so much money and so many people and it was such a secretive thing and it’s staffed by millions because it’s the size of a small moon.

I cannot express how much all of the added information makes it so much funnier that Luke blew it up.

Luke destroys literally everything Palpatine built. He blows up the Death Star, which was referenced in universe as early as the second movie. He blew up the weapon of mass destruction twenty years in the making. And he blew it up pretty much directly after it’s first and only successful attack. It was operational for fifteen minutes, fifteen minutes that Palpatine had the thing he’d been building for longer than Luke has been alive, and Luke blows it up. First day retirement, but first hour retirement.

Luke convinces Darth Vader to turn back to the light side, a feat thought literally impossible by literally everybody. Sidious clearly doesn’t see Vader’s betrayal coming. Vader’s betrayal was not in his plans, nor was it something he was prepared for. Sidious is a powerful Force user with all four limbs while Vader is a man in the tin can Palpatine put him in. If Palpatine had seen Vader turning coming, he would not have allowed it to happen.

Luke literally should not even be alive. Palpatine almost definitely got Padme out of the way on purpose, and he almost certainly was trying for her unborn child as well (there was way too big of a risk that a cute liddol bebe would bring some humanity back to Anakin, and Palpatine did not want Anakin to have any humanity) Luke living is literally the first step in Palpatine’s ultimate downfall, especially once Vader finds out that Luke is his son. His very alive son. His son that is not dead, despite Palpatine claiming Anakin killed Padme. Implying that Anakin killed Padme and she posthumously gave birth. But, she didn’t give birth on Mustafar, which was the last place Anakin interacted with her. And once the mother dies, you have to get those fuckers out fast or they die too.

I imagine Darth Vader piecing all of this together is that meme with all the math floating around his head, because how could Padme have died by his hand and then given birth like two hours later?

Luke killing Palpatine is what ultimately leads to the dissolution of the Empire as an omnipotent entity. Luke killed the Empire. Luke spends a good amount of his adult life killing Empire remnants. We see that in the Mandalorian, since he’s so recognizable that Gideon immediately knows he’s fucked just by seeing an X-wing. We read it in Legends’ continuity, where Luke terrifies Imperials because he can walk into their changing room and stand in their for a minute and they don’t even notice.

Luke destroyed Palpatine’s life’s work. Everything Palpatine spent his whole life working towards, and Luke kills all of it. He blows up not one, but two Death Stars (he may not have pulled the trigger on the second Death Star, but without him, it never would have been destroyed). He convinces not one, but multiple Sith and Dark Jedi to return from the Dark Side. He is the only reason that Obi-Wan Kenobi, the biggest pain in Palpatine’s ass ever born, lives long enough to make it to the Death Star.

Palpatine went through so much effort. And just when he had finally won, when he finally had a weapon capable of destroying entire planets with a single blast, making it impossible for any planets or peoples to go against him, Luke shows up nineteen years late to the Jedi party with space Starbucks and a droid twice his age and almost singlehandedly destroys everything Palpatine ever had a hand in creating.

Luke manages to become even worse than Obi-Wan Kenobi, the ultimate thorn in the side of politicians, and Luke doesn’t even understand any politics. He wasn’t trained in diplomacy like Obi-Wan and Leia, no, he’s a farmboy who left home for the first time in his entire life, just this morning. And he is the one to destroy the Empire.

If they rewrote Star Wars and had it entirely from Palpatine’s perspective, Luke Skywalker would be his greatest foe. Luke Skywalker would be the final boss. Luke Skywalker is the antithesis of everything Palpatine believes in and he is the one character that Palpatine cannot predict. He isn’t as moldable as Anakin, he doesn’t respond to threats very well, he’s apparently impossible to kill via Force lightning (still the funniest scene of all times, the progression of Palpatine’s face falling and him looking like “what the fuck??? Is this kid rubber??? I’ve electrocuted him eight times???”), his unwavering faith in his father’s goodness makes Darth Vader want to be a better person, Luke Skywalker is the big bad of Palpatine’s story and—

There is nothing in this world that is funnier than someone’s biggest antagonist being Luke fucking Skywalker. Luke Skywalker, who saved the galaxy with the power of love and who shouldn’t exist, by Jedi rules and by Palpatine’s own attempts, and whose best friends are literally droids, which Palpatine canonically hates!

Everything about this is hilarious, this is the funniest thing in all of media, Palpatine loses absolutely everything to some backwater farmboy who fucking likes droids.

[mya-valentine]

Hello crack request Tighnari, Kinich, Ayato, Cyno, Childe? (Sorry if this is a lot), S/o try pranking by kabedon them, this time they wanted to be the dominant one and pin them against the wall, while saying a cringey line like "Stop right there Babygirl~". only one problem though, s/o is shorter than them so they only look cute trying such attempt. You can write this in Headcanons :))

Headcanon: Tighnari, Kinich, Ayato, Cyno, and Childe With a Short S/O that Tried to be Intimidating (They Failed Miserably)

A/N: I deadass had to look up what a kabedon was

Tighnari

Tighnari would be caught off guard at first when his S/O suddenly pushes him against the wall. He blinks a few times, staring down at them in amusement, wondering what on earth they’re up to.

The second he realizes what they’re trying to do, he can’t help but smirk. Tighnari would immediately spot their effort to seem intimidating and dominant but would find it incredibly endearing instead of threatening.

Because his S/O is shorter, they might have to stretch to even reach his chest properly to pin him against the wall, making their kabedon attempt more of an adorable struggle than an assertive one.

When they say something like "Stop right there, babygirl~," Tighnari would raise an eyebrow, his fox ears twitching. He’d stifle a laugh, trying to keep a straight face but utterly failing. “Babygirl? Really?”

Tighnari would immediately break out into teasing, leaning down slightly to make eye contact with them. “Are you trying to be the scary one here? Because all I see is someone cute trying their hardest.”

Tighnari would most likely turn the tables in an instant, effortlessly reversing their roles. With one smooth motion, he’d spin them around and pin them instead, leaning in close with a playful smirk. “Now, that’s how you do it.”

He wouldn’t be able to help himself and would burst out laughing once he sees how flustered they’ve gotten after their plan backfired. “I appreciate the effort, though,” he’d say, ruffling their hair affectionately.

Even though they failed to be dominant, Tighnari would still think they’re the cutest thing ever and might reward them with a kiss on the forehead, saying something along the lines of, “Next time, maybe try a line that doesn’t make me cringe.”

In the end, Tighnari would jokingly encourage them to try again, but he’d be sure to let them know that no matter how many attempts they make, he’ll always see them as his precious little S/O.

Kinich

Kinich would be initially confused when his S/O tries to kabedon him. He’s used to being the protective one, so this sudden attempt to dominate him catches him completely off guard.

His S/O’s shorter stature would make their kabedon attempt far less intimidating than intended. They might only reach his chest or shoulder, so instead of feeling pinned, Kinich would feel like he’s being hugged or playfully pushed.

The second his S/O says, “Stop right there, babygirl~,” Kinich would blink once before a slow, amused smirk spreads across his face. He’d bite back a laugh, trying to play along, but his glowing eyes would clearly show his amusement.

Kinich would try so hard not to burst out laughing because he wouldn’t want to hurt his S/O’s feelings. Instead, he’d look down at them with the softest gaze, as if they’ve just done something unbelievably adorable.

To make the situation even funnier, Kinich might lean down, bringing his face closer to theirs and teasing them with a low voice. “Babygirl, huh? Do you really think that’s going to work on me?”

Kinich wouldn’t flip the situation around aggressively but would lightly push back against their arm, making it clear that while they’re trying to take control, he’s still the stronger one. “You might want to work on your delivery next time.”

The more they try to act dominant and say cringey things, the harder it would be for Kinich to keep a straight face. His lips would twitch into a grin, and eventually, he’d let out a warm, deep laugh. “You’re really something else, you know that?”

If he’s feeling playful, Kinich might gently spin them around and pin them against the wall, leaning in close with a soft smirk. “Let me show you how it’s done,” he’d whisper, his voice full of teasing warmth.

No matter how cringey their attempt was, Kinich would absolutely love the effort his S/O put in. After laughing, he’d pull them into a tight embrace, his voice softening as he says, “You don’t have to try so hard to impress me, you know. You’re perfect just the way you are.”

Despite all the teasing, Kinich might secretly be a little flustered by their bold attempt. He wouldn’t show it outwardly, but there’d be a faint warmth in his cheeks from the idea of them trying to take the lead, even if they didn’t quite pull it off.

Kinich would probably make a mental note to tease them about this later, promising to get back at them for such a cute and silly prank. He’d say something like, “Next time, I’ll make sure you really understand who’s in charge.”

Ayato

When Ayato’s S/O suddenly pins him against the wall, Ayato would stay calm and composed, eyes glancing down at them with mild curiosity. He would be completely unfazed, wondering what they’re trying to accomplish.

The height difference would be immediately apparent. His S/O might have to stand on their tiptoes or stretch just to reach his chest, and Ayato would watch their efforts with an amused glint in his eyes, finding it more cute than intimidating.

As soon as they say the cringey line, “Stop right there, babygirl~,” Ayato’s composed mask would crack slightly. His lips would twitch into a small smile, but he’d suppress any outward laughter, wanting to see how far they’ll take this.

Always one for a good game, Ayato would play along for a moment, pretending to be helpless. He’d raise one eyebrow and give a slightly teasing smile, saying, “Oh? Babygirl, is it? Should I be worried?”

Ayato’s voice would drop slightly, filled with playful sarcasm. “You’re really quite fearsome, you know,” he’d say, leaning closer to them without breaking eye contact, his calm demeanor never faltering.

If his S/O keeps trying to act dominant, Ayato would find it adorable but impossible to take seriously. He’d smoothly reverse the roles without any effort, gently taking hold of their wrist and flipping the situation. Now they’re the ones pinned against the wall.

“Nice attempt,” Ayato would say with a sly grin as he leans in, “but I think you’re still a bit too short to pull that off convincingly.” His voice would be warm but full of teasing.

After a moment, Ayato wouldn’t be able to contain his laughter any longer. His usually cool and composed demeanor would soften, and he’d chuckle softly, brushing a strand of hair behind their ear. “You really do keep things interesting, don’t you?”

After his teasing, Ayato would quickly shift to affectionate mode. He’d tilt their chin up and plant a kiss on their forehead, his voice softer now. “You know you don’t have to try so hard. I’m already yours, after all.”

Ayato would definitely plan to prank them back. He’d give a cryptic warning like, “Don’t think I won’t remember this. You might find yourself on the receiving end next time, darling.” His tone would be playful but with a hint of mischief, promising a playful revenge.

Despite all the teasing, Ayato would find his S/O’s attempt to be absolutely adorable. He wouldn’t stop smiling or teasing them about it later, subtly slipping in lines like, “So, when’s your next dominant moment scheduled?” whenever the mood strikes.

Cyno

When Cyno’s S/O suddenly pins him against the wall, his first reaction is confusion. Cyno’s always serious, so he doesn’t immediately recognize this as a prank. He’ll just look down at them with a raised eyebrow, wondering what they’re up to.

Cyno is quite a bit taller than his S/O, so their attempt at kabedon would be more cute than intimidating. They might barely reach his chest, and Cyno would notice how much they’re struggling to maintain a serious face.

When they say something like, “Stop right there, babygirl~,” Cyno’s expression wouldn’t change. He’d stare at them in silence, processing what they just said, completely unsure of how to respond.

Cyno, being quite literal, might say something like, “But… I’m not a girl,” in response to the cringey line. He wouldn’t immediately catch on that they’re trying to act dominant or playful, making the situation even funnier.

Once it clicks that his S/O is trying to prank him and be the dominant one, Cyno’s lips would quirk slightly in amusement. He still wouldn’t laugh outright, but there’d be a subtle smile forming, showing that he finds their effort adorable.

Cyno, despite his seriousness, would try to play along in his own way. He’d probably respond with something completely deadpan like, “Are you planning to arrest me now? What’s the charge?” His sense of humor would kick in, though it would be as dry as ever.

Cyno would tease them in the most subtle way possible. “You seem awfully small for someone trying to take control,” he’d say, his voice low but clearly teasing, all while maintaining his usual calm demeanor.

If his S/O tries to keep up the act, Cyno would very casually flip the situation, turning the tables on them with little effort. He’d gently take hold of their wrist and reverse the kabedon, pinning them instead with ease. “I think this suits me better, don’t you?”

Cyno would drop a pun, his signature move, even in this situation. “It’s a good thing you’re cute, because your strategy? It’s pun-ishingly bad.” His straight-faced delivery would make it even harder for his S/O to keep their serious act going.

Even though he’s serious most of the time, Cyno wouldn’t be able to hold back a small chuckle after watching his s/o’s flustered reaction. It would be rare, but hearing his soft laughter would be worth all the teasing.

Once the prank is over, Cyno would wrap an arm around them and give a rare, genuine smile. “I appreciate your effort,” he’d say softly, “but next time, maybe pick a line that makes more sense.”

Even though he won’t show it much, Cyno would actually be flattered that his S/O tried to pull off something so bold. He’d admire their confidence, even if the height difference and cringey line didn’t quite have the desired effect.

Childe

The moment Childe’s S/O pins him against the wall, his lips would immediately curl into a mischievous grin. He’s always down for a playful challenge, and he’d find their attempt to dominate him utterly adorable.

Childe would notice the height difference right away. His S/O might be standing on their tiptoes or barely reaching his chest, and that would only add to the cuteness. He wouldn’t be able to take the attempt seriously at all.

The second they say, “Stop right there, babygirl~,” Childe would burst into laughter. He’d raise an eyebrow and lean down slightly, meeting their eyes with a teasing smirk. “Babygirl? Really? That’s the best you’ve got?”

Childe would totally play along just to see how far they’ll take it. “Oh no, what are you going to do to me now? I’m so helpless,” he’d say dramatically, pretending to be intimidated, though his tone would be dripping with sarcasm.

His S/O’s attempt to be dominant would backfire quickly. Childe would ruffle their hair with a playful grin. “You’re really trying to pull off the tough act, huh? Too bad you’re too cute for that.”

Without breaking a sweat, Childe would lightly push back against their arm and break free from their kabedon, reversing the situation almost effortlessly. Now, it’s them pinned against the wall, with Childe’s arms on either side of their head. “Is this how it’s supposed to go?” he’d whisper with a teasing smirk.

Childe thrives on challenges, so he’d definitely challenge them to try again. “You know, you might need some practice if you really want to pull this off. Let me know when you’re ready for round two,” he’d say with a wink.

His S/O’s cringey line would spark some flirtatious banter. “Babygirl, huh? I think you might be the one who’s in trouble now,” he’d tease, leaning in closer, his voice low and full of mischief.

Despite all the teasing, Childe would genuinely laugh at their attempt, not in a mocking way, but because he finds their effort absolutely adorable. His laughter would be loud and infectious, and he’d pull them into a hug right after.

After all the playful teasing, Childe would shower them with affection to make up for turning the tables on them. He’d press a kiss to their forehead and say something sweet like, “You don’t have to be dominant to get my attention. You’ve already got all of it.”

Even though he teased them relentlessly, deep down Childe would be impressed by their boldness. He loves their playful side and would secretly appreciate how comfortable they are joking around with him, even if the prank didn’t go as planned.

Childe would definitely make it clear that this isn’t over. “This was fun, but you know I’m going to get you back for this, right?” He’d smirk, already plotting his own prank in return.

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Masterlist

[beanghostprincess]

Transfem auntie buggy ideas again bc AAAA BRANROT I LOVE WOMEN-

Ya know,,,,, how Oda said,,,,,, Buggy COULD be really fucking powerful if there was effort put in? What if in transfem Buggy world, the effort was due to dysphoria-fueled depression and anxiety. Coming out ((and having such blatant and unrepentant support, from her lovers AND the Guild in its entirety)) leads to her actually... feel okay-ish. It's not a sudden in-all-fix-it ((she needs a PLETHORA of therapies)), but it starts her on a good path. Thay first step was difficult, but it was made... so much easier. Which leads to the second step. The third. The fourth.

And now that Buggy isn't having seventy four panic attacks every three minutes, she can devote some Brain Space to other things - her weapon making has become a sort of fidget toy type of situation, and she's.. actually really gotten a knack for this, over the years. She'd never call herself prodigal ((lowkey even if she is, with chemistry, physics and spatial awareness, she's so deep in the I'm A Liar hole that she doesn't clock that just.... Getting It isn't normal)).

Croc and Hawk are very supportive, even if they bully her (consensually).

And eventually, they even deign to try teaching her Haki - just to realize she's... been using it constantly almost her whole life. Her Observation is innate, acute, and one of the reasons she's so charismatic and able to reign in a crowd. It's both a talent for manipulation and also a form of reactive observation haki - by shifting her own energy among her followers, prospective or otherwise, she can encourage a specific reaction. It's a mix of Skill, Natural Talent and smoke and mirrors.

Learning that makes her wonder - if Haki can be so dynamic and THEN SOME, what other places has she not considered such an approach? Her weapons? Training? Her... her devil fruit...?

It's a paramecia. It affects her body, and she's gotten some rather decent control of it. Do paramecias awaken like zoans? Do logias? New Fixation Hours. She goes a little feral with the possibilities.

Suddenly, it seems like all of these little walls she never noticed before have fallen away, leaving a vast horizon of possibility.

Shanks will take a bit to arrive at Karai Bari, and he's expecting a specific version of his former best friend (or former love or former sibling, depending on Preferred Shuggy Flavor). He is anticipating the Buggy he saw a few years ago, but this time Woman Mode.

Crocodile and Mihawk's protective hovering is not exactly smth he anticipated, but he's willing to roll with that! His lovely Bug is just so pretty, he HAS to tell her, see her for himself, it's not even a want, it's not a desire, he needs it the way hee needs sea salt in his hair and a hilt in his hand and air in his lungs.

Buggy, meanwhile has skipped right tf over many emotions, instead Fueled By Hyperfixation, and while part of her is absolutely REELING at Shanks showing up unannounced on HER island, another part is cackling in mad scientist and saying "convince him to guinea pig, 'for old time's sake'." Shanks is WEAK to Buggy Begging Eyes, and Croc and Hawk ((while also weak but not exactly as weak as Shanks, they can pretend)) are watching and honestly laughing internally bc....

Well. Buggy's on a ROLL. And Shanks is her newest toy.

Poor Redhair has NO IDEA what he's in for...

SHE'S A QUEEN SHE'S A PRINCESS SHE'S LITERALLY LIVING IN MY HEAD RENT FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is actually canon to me. Okay. Okay? She was just insecure and dealing with dysphoria and now she's the queen of the world. She owns it. Shanks is such a simp he's gonna let her do anything lmfao. And Mihawk and Crocodile absolutely love her and it's even funnier to bully her this way. And she's,,, She's so powerful. Queen. Absolutely amazing. Sexy but also really cute. Prettiest clown you've ever seen. HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT HER CLOTHES??? Because I have so many outfits in mind I am going INSANE. And I can't stop thinking about Luffy and her getting along and Luffy being extremely happy (not to mention Sanji, Don't- Don't let Sanji see her because maybe he dies. Me too).

[thislovintime]

1968.

“‘Actually, I wanted to leave the group over two years ago when the first season ended, but the guys convinced me not to. I didn’t care about all the things that were happening, all the acclaim. I hated the work! It was tough, and I didn’t like it. I just wanted to record for all my life. Also, the pressure was awful. We were working in an incredibly new environment. Half of the crew on the show was young and had very little experience at that level of work. Many of them were getting their first big break. Actually, after the TV show was canceled it was easier for me to leave. Doing the TV show was the worst. Then came the movie, and I couldn’t forego the movie, so I did it. You know, there were moments here and there — lots of good, funny stuff happening throughout — but the only time that I was really happy was when we were recording the ‘Headquarters’ album. The concerts were fun, but during the concert tours you are removed from your friends except for the guys. And even when we did take a few friends along it was only a mild relief. This last tour of Australia and Japan wasn’t fun because I felt hideously under-rehearsed. I was constantly pushing for rehearsals, and they were constantly saying well, like later. We couldn’t get together. Also, we didn’t play any new music this last concert tour. It was all old tunes, nothing from our newer albums, and it was a bore. But I think they suspected I was leaving anyway. For me, a lot of the pressure was off. When I felt a part of the group every time someone said something that jarred my sensibilities, I’d raise a huge ruckus and everybody thought I was out of my mind. While we were making the TV Special, knowing I was not going to be there any longer, I just thought to myself — I don’t have to worry about this thing — and I just let everything slide off my back. They must have though something was screwy. Then I finally told them, ‘Gentlemen I’m in negotiations to resign from the group.’ And they said, ‘Okay, well, there’s not much time, we’d better get to work on this Special.’ So we taped the thing and that’s the last I saw of them. The last day of the taping they gave me this little testimonial memorial watch.’ From his pocket Peter drew out a silver, antique-looking timepiece with the back side engraved, ‘To Peter Tork, from the guys down at work.’ ‘I’m free, I don’t know what I’ll be doing. I’m actually a little apprehensive, because there’s no doubt that there are three other incredibly talented fellows out there. They’re very talented guys. Mike is one of the funniest people I’ve ever known. Micky is even funnier and Davy is just cute as a button. Who could ask for anything more? Davy dances so great, did you see him dance in the film? I’ve not seen dancing like that on the screen except from Fred Astaire. The only other thing is that I’m both really relieved and really, really apprehensive. I’m terribly glad and also terribly sad.’” - NME, January 25, 1969

“Peter and I were the bulk of the playing ability because we were musicians. But when Peter left it rather unnerved Davy and Micky — and I changed my mind [about leaving]. After all, the personal appearances were pretty well satisfying, the music was fun, and the whole thing was fairly lucrative. And Davy and Micky left alone would have been in real trouble.” - Michael Nesmith, Disc and Music Echo, September 19, 1970

"In a telephone interview this week, Tork explained why he left the group in 1968, three years after it was formed. ‘Musicians were being auditioned in an effort to create the Monkees, and the purpose was to reap money,’ he said. ‘But for our first two albums, studio musicians were hired to do the instrumentals and we just did the lead singing. I didn’t want that.’ Tork convinced the other three members, Davy Jones, [Micky] Dolenz and Mike Nesmith, to do the third album themselves. ‘But I couldn’t get the guys to go for that again, so the fourth album was half and half,’ he said. Critics had frowned on the Monkees for this. ‘Every single malcontent felt he had the right to tell me what was wrong with the situation. I took the critics to heart,’ Tork said. ‘When I talked to the guys about it, they told me if I want more I should get my own act.’ Tork describes his current relationship with Jones, Dolenz and Nesmith as ‘cordial.’ ‘I learned to put all my bitterness behind me,’ he said. ‘I hear about them through the grapevine, but we have no real call to talk to each other, although, I had a brief lunch with Davy Jones in Japan recently.’ When Tork joined the Monkees in October 1965, he was 23 years old and inexperienced in handling fame and fortune. ‘There’s a lot of things involved with money and recognition, and the price was much higher than I expected,’ he said. ‘There’s an isolating pressure that goes along with success. I couldn’t handle it.’" - article by Lisa Stenza, Connecticut Daily Campus, February 26, 1982 (read more in an older post)

[polkadotpatterson]

For the ask game:

For Dot + Workman: 4 (in general types or specific shows, 12, and/or 25 (🥺) 

And then also and/or Salt coven for 15, and/or 37 bc now I'm thinking of salt movie night

4. Their favorite show to watch together?

I'm gonna be real I am perpetually bad at knowing what media any characters would like. I could see them both enjoying documentaries tbh? That's my vague answer lol

12. Who prefers calling to texting (& vice versa)?

I think when Dot was away in the Core and Dallas they tried to call each other whenever possible so they could properly talk!

...and now I'm thinking, what if Dot's fingers aren't particularly compatible with phone touchscreens, so they have to make a lot of extra effort to text either bc they have to wrestle with the screen, or bc they had to get an ancient nokia or something similar with buttons, and texting that way is its own kind of struggle. so, calling!

25. (a lil sappy, but..) What do they like about each other?

ough... I think the main thing has always been that they just Get Each Other in ways that other people can't. They both have that love of the sport and that great synchronicity when they play together, and they understand what it's like to be irrevocably changed by it in more ways than most players, to have their old lives stripped away and have their bodies made into something unfamiliar. and they help each other deal with that and work through it! it's good to have someone around who just understands you. kindred spirits. you know how it is

Beyond that, Dot likes that Workman is just such a warm person, someone who brightens up the room and makes them smile, makes them feel more at ease in any situation. Workman likes all the little things about Dot that the blessing tried to hide but couldn't, like their sense of humour and their devotion to their team, and of course how good they are with Beasley and how Workman can trust that Dot is the right person to take care of him when they're not around :')

SALT COVEN MOVIE NIGHT!!! this is such a fun concept. has everyone read the salt? read the salt

15. Who's the first to cry during movies that don't seem sad?

I think this definitely depends on the movie! Like, they can't watch anything with ocean scenes in it when SomeThing is around bc it gets upset and bad things happen when it gets upset!!! I think Dian would probably cry at some things in movies. Yado will cry at cute animal scenes. Phoenecia might cry a bit at a scene that reminded her too much of her old life and then she'd have to insist that this isn't crying, it's the new Moisturization Ducts that she gave herself, they're very efficient

37. Who wanted to see Oppenheimer; who Barbie? Did they switch opinions after?

I feel like this is a bit harder for me to answer when I still haven't seen either of them, but here's my best attempt at sorting them:

Team Barbie: Dian, Yado, Jenkins, Elodie, Carson (edit: KEVIN I forgot about Kevin)

Team Oppenheimer: Mehr, Austin, Weston, Phoenicia, Minh, SomeThing

Really doesn't care about any of this: Milo

I know Elodie and Minh aren't part of the coven (and technically neither is Carson) but I think this is funnier if it's Team Movie Night Double Feature and Elodie is happy to go bc yay team bonding! and meanwhile Minh is like what is the secret plan, why are you dragging me out here for this, is this an ominous threat about how you're building your own atomic salt bomb or what??? he's not having a good time

[4gem]

I have a lot of feelings about the msp episodes of our skyy but let's just focus on the good stuff yeah? Yeah.

So these scenes hit so different in our skyy's universe because our og tinn gun were basically dating but these 2 are nowhere close. But! Still! The sequence of events is almost the same regardless of where they are at in their relationship.

Idk that just makes me so emotional. Knowing Tinn and Gun have the same dynamics regardless of their positions and lives. Just 2 cuties crushing over each other.

But the difference there is in og msp Tinn was so stressed the entire time that he couldn't even think about how cute drunk Gun was. But our President Gun here was ready to risk it all because Tinn smiled at him but he had Por to bring him back to reality.

What's even funnier is that after making heart eyes at each other, Gun was really ready to dump Tinn after all his antics. Sorry babe, you gotta be able to date him first. Side note, I'm pretty sure they cut the scenes of Tinn puking there's definitely some inconsistency in the scenes there. Or they never meant to include it, eh.

Comparing this to og msp, Gem has grown taller, so the gang really had to literally hold him back. It was a team effort. But they didn't have to try with Gun. Even if it looked like they were. Acting is always *chef's kiss*.

Drunk Tinn is so much different from drunk Gun because he's just a mess and nowhere near as angry as Gun. Tinn is a soft boi, drunk or not. No wonder his soft "Mr. President" had Gun melting. I get it, Gun. I want a Tinn now.

Typing this while listening to love love love is such a vibe.

Overall, our skyy msp was very fun and hilarious and I'm sure the cast had a blast filming it and it was interesting to see a different story with the same core but I also feel like we missed out on a lot. Maybe that's just me. More on this another day.

[tgammsideblog]

Tgamm S1 Ep 13-A ¨Innocent Until Proven Ghostly¨ episode analysis

It’s Pete and Sharon’s anniversary and Pete has prepared a cake for Sharon. To all family’s surprise, they find that the cake has disappeared and accuse Scratch of eating it. Molly decides to investigate the case to find the real ¨cake stealer¨...

¨Innocent Until Proven Ghostly¨ is an episode that shares a few similarities with ¨Game Night¨: It involves a casual event in the Mcgees daily’s lives and takes place in their house. It takes a small situation to ridiculous levels for the sake of comedy.

The main reason this episode works is due to the character interactions. Each one has their own scene and some new detail about them gets revealed that makes the whole situation funnier. The whole story plays like a court scenario in which each character gets summoned and judged by Molly. It’s fun to see how they play off with each other trying to find who is the real ¨criminal¨.

There isn’t any important development or reveal like other episodes have. Nevertheless, it’s an entertaining story that has some funny moments and sweet scenes between Molly and Scratch. I think it shows well how they care about one another and how Scratch considers Molly’s opinion of him important, even if is for something that it isn’t that serious. They have this cute thing that do a handshake called the ¨Mcgee guarantee¨ as a way for Scratch to promise that he is telling the true to Molly. It’s very silly and adorable, like you think they came up together with it.

Another aspect that is nice to see is Pete being a loving husband to Sharon and making all these gifts for their anniversary. It’s never treated as cheesy nor he gets made fun of it, that itself is sweet to see. Something i appreciate about Pete is  that he is a loving parent and husband who is not afraid of showing his emotions. In fact, he is a very expressive character. Sharon gets a nice moment as well when she reveals that she doesn’t like Pete’s carob cake but she avoided telling him because she knows that Pete puts a lot of effort in making it. While lying isn’t the best thing, you can tell she didn’t want to hurt Pete’s feelings and still appreciates the gesture.

It gets revealed that Darryl has a pet tarantula that he was trying to catch. It’s an interesting addition to his character since he didn’t seem to be that interested in animals in previous episodes. This new pet becomes a running gag later on and it has some potential to make a few plot episodes.

Near the end of the story, the Mcgees find out that there is ectoplasm under plate where the cake was and try blaming Scratch for eating the cake again. Moments later Molly remembers that Scratch is allergic to carob and there is this very funny scene she puts some carob inside Scratch’s mouth and grews many times his size as result of an allergic reaction. It’s a very good callback to the first episode ¨The Curse¨ when Scratch told Molly that he didn’t eat carob bars. It’s a clever way of using a small gag and turning it into plot point in here.

The episode ends with an adorable moment with Molly apologizing to Scratch for not believing more in him and hugging him while he is the size of the house. After Scratch (mostly) returns to his normal size, he and Molly find out that all this time it was Geoff the one who ate Pete’s cake and then stay silent in surprise.

Overall, ¨Innocent Until Proven Ghostly¨ is a cute episode that funny interactions between the Mcgees. Despite not having important development, it works well for its premise and in result it is entertaining.

[fasterthanmydemons]

[ Speedster of the Galaxy ]

Mantis smiled when Pietro stated he would be okay with Groot painting his face, saying he would just pretend to be asleep. “That’s really sweet. I know looking over a child is probably not what you expected or wanted when you joined the team, but Groot is good. He is very curious and friendly, he is always making up constellations. We raise him together.” And that made her happy. Mantis was glad she could help give Groot the light-hearted, happy childhood she couldn’t have.

“He likes it!” Mantis echoed Pietro’s words as Mr. Dibbles devoured the dandelion. She beamed, laughing and clapping cheerfully. Dandelions were delicious, so it was no wonder he liked them so much. She looked at Pietro as he explained why Rocket brought up Ego, and while a part of her did feel a little upset that Rocket revealed things about herself, she knew he meant well and wanted to give Pietro context to help him understand Mantis a little better. “Oh, you are not boneheaded. You meant no harm by it. It was an honest mistake.”

A sudden laughter bubbled up out of her when Pietro said Rocket mentioned that the Guardians had seen each other’s butts. Placing a hand over her abdomen, Mantis laughed harder as she realized they probably looked like a combination between a group of outcasts and a cult. But what made it funnier was how unbothered Pietro seemed by it. “Yes, we do feel a little too comfortable around each other. Some of us more than others. I mean, Drax walks around shirtless all the time,” she remarked. “When you travel the galaxy, at some point you treat everything like it is natural. Life in space requires you to have your guard up, so we let it down around each other.”

She smiled as Pietro tried to translate the name of Groot’s species. “Do not worry, your Latin is fine. It is actually my first language. I grew up speaking it. It was the language Ego spoke, although he spoke all languages; he was millions of years old and therefore had plenty of time to learn. It is an ancient tongue, far more ancient than people think. Ego means ‘I’ or 'me’, so I always had to refer to myself in third person. Instead of 'I’ or 'me’, I would say 'Mantis’ or 'this one’. Only Ego was allowed to have a sense of self.” Mantis said, her tone matter-of-fact. She wrung her hands a little. “If you ever wish to improve your Latin, you can let me know. I will be happy to help you.”

Mantis laughed once again, amused, as Mr. Dibbles tried to get to the other dandelions. His tenacity was worthy of respect. “He is so cute!” She nodded when Pietro asked if she was sure she was okay with the turtle eating her plants. “Of course! People usually need patience to grow their plants, so they feel bad when something happens to them because they had to invest time and effort.” Mantis touched the dandelions with her hand, and the other plants curled around it, begged for her touch. Her antennae started to glow with a dim light. “But I can simply do this.” Just like that, more dandelions grew, blooming just as bright, just as yellow, and Mantis plucked them, gleefully offering Pietro the bouquet, a feast for his turtle. “It is easy.” Despite the light of her antennae fading away, her face still lit up, happy to help this hungry little being. She blinked when Pietro asked if she would like to hold Mr. Dibbles after he was clean. “Oh, but… do you really trust me with him? You are so protective of him already.” Given that Pietro had lost his freedom on his home planet and the closeness with his sister, Mantis didn’t want him to feel like his turtle would be taken from him. However, she smiled, wondering what Mr. Dibbles’ actual colors looked like. “But I must admit, perhaps it would be nice. He is adorable.”

(Holy shit no wonder Noah feels he’s “less” than Basch, given that belief that the second twin should be killed. And ugh yeah, I wish they could include some of the deleted scenes. That’s why I consider them canon for Mantis + I add stuff from the comics like her plant manipulation, astral projection - though my headcanon is that she’s only able to astral project post-IW, after she was in contact with Thanos’ mind - and she also has precognitive abilities in the comics. I’m still not sure how to integrate that into her MCU self. Maybe as a result of that one thread where she calms Stephen’s fractured mind, since he guards the Time Stone? :o If you’re cool with that of course, since that’s your Stephen. I want to relate it to the Time Stone somehow since it would be logical. Also, happy belated birthday, Silence! <3)

__________

{ Well, all I know of Mantis I learned from IW and EG, and I can say that all the abilities you’ve given her seem to fit her well and all seem equally appropriate for her, whether they’re canon MCU or comic or otherwise. But then, you already knew what a fan I was of your Mantis, so... ;) And I love the idea of her gaining precognitive abilities from delving into Stephen’s dumpster fire of a mind! Go for it! I think it’s a very creative idea in the first place that she sort of gains new abilities or unlocks different potentials she has after interacting with other people’s minds. It makes a lot of sense that someone as empathic as Mantis wouldn’t be able to encounter other minds, especially ones that are very powerful or that have their own unique abilities, without coming away a bit changed. Very creative, I love it. And thank you! I feel so old, lol. XD }__

Did he seem like someone who didn’t like being around children? Pietro wondered as Mantis seemed to start apologizing in a way for Groot adding an unexpected child presence on the ship and among the Guardians. “I don’t mind him at all,” he said, shaking his head. “I like children. I used to play with the children in Sokovia. They liked me because I could run and get wayward balls and toys and things that got away from them and bring them back really fast.” His smile faded a bit then. “Too bad that by the time I got really fast... Sokovia didn’t exist anymore. But I hope wherever they are, they are safe and happy.”

Pietro chose not to argue with Mantis when she said he wasn’t boneheaded. If he was being honest, he felt awfully boneheaded so far, and he hadn’t even been on the ship for very long at all. But Rocket had also told him not to share as much and to keep things to himself so as not to upset Mantis, so he decided to focus on Mr. Dibbles instead. “I think you have made a friend for life,” he said, smiling. “He definitely likes these flowers. He made that one disappear pretty fast,” he said, watching the turtle with a chuckle. “He may be slow on his feet, but he is fast eater. Who says turtles need to be slow at everything?”

He had to admit that he was a little jealous of just how comfortable all the guardians were with each other. He wished he could have had the same with the Avengers, or with anyone, really. Well, besides Wanda, but he wasn’t with her anymore, and that was making him feel like he didn’t belong anywhere or with anyone. Never in his life had he felt more displaced and alone, but instead of wallowing in a bad mood, he was trying to let the Guardians bond cheer him up, even if he couldn’t be a part of it. “Is nice. To be that comfortable. I am happy for you all,” he said with a smile that was perhaps just a little bit sad. “Is good to be able to let your guard down sometimes, especially when your work is really stressful. So for you guys, home is not a place, it’s people. Is very nice.” His home used to be Wanda, but she had Vision now and was moving on from him.

“Oh yeah? Well you speak very good English for it not being your first language. Mine still needs work. Not many people speak my languages, though, so I try to speak English. Wanda is better at it than I am, though.” He really needed to stop mentioning Wanda. She wasn’t with him anymore, and he needed to find a way to move on without her. That was something he never thought he would have to do, and didn’t want to do, but right now he didn’t have much of a choice. At Mantis’ offer of helping him to learn better Latin, Pietro smiled again. “That would be cool. I would like that. But only if you were comfortable doing that. I don’t want to upset you again. You are very nice person and I don’t want to make you nervous or sad or anything like that. I can be a difficult student because learning from books has always been hard for me, but I would like to try if you are up for it.”

“Hey!” Pietro exclaimed with childlike excitement as Mantis made more dandelions grow. “That is really cool!” He’d never known anyone else with Mantis’ abilities before, at least with regard to plants. It seemed to him to be a really useful skill, being able to make plants grow much faster than they would naturally. “To be honest, now that I’ve got him up here in space, I am little bit worried about having enough food for him. But if you can make these grow, maybe he will be okay until I can get some supplies and things for him, yeah?”

Mr. Dibbles was absolutely delighted by the sudden appearance of more dandelions. Did it make sense? No. But also did he care? No, he was a turtle. Unexplained dandelions were just as delicious as ones that made sense to him. If a turtle’s eyes could light up, Mr. Dibbles’ definitely did at the sight of an entire bouquet of dandelions in his human’s hand. Maybe it wasn’t going to be so bad to stay here after all. If he could just get all this crusty mud off. Mud was okay, but once it dried, it got weirdly itchy and constructing, and Mr. Dibbles wasn’t having it.

“Of course I trust you with him. I can show you how to hold him so is no problem. You are so gentle with living things, and you were so nice to him just now, that I know he is safe with you,” Pietro said, trying to encourage Mantis. “I’m sure he would be happy to have more friends and not always be stuck with me all the time. Especially friends that understand his dining choices,” he added with a chuckle. “But okay, I should go and help him get clean now. You can help, if you want, but otherwise I’ll get him clean and then tomorrow you can hold him. Okay?”

[prowerprojects]

Aside from noticing a shift in how "found family" is portrayed in fandoms these days, I wonder if this is a semi-conscious side effect of Tails over the years being semi-shafted until the past decade. (Aside from AOSTH{though was often a kidnap victim} and Boom, most adaptions had him downplayed or outright replaced. Yes, Prime, this technically includes you. The comics aren't exactly clean either, but Archie is the most guilty.)

But yeah, I get the appeal of "parental big sibling" tropes. Not every sibling relationship is the same though, or is all peachy. I don't think Sonic thinks Tails is so inept that he can't trust him to be on his own in most circumstances, young or not. (Fox is more likely to run INTO trouble than make it himself. High intelligence doesn't mean you won't do dumb stuff on occasion; especially if you're not well-versed, but I sooner buy the idea of 'baby' Tails having separation issues than willingly getting into a shootout with cops. Not unless he was saving someone anyway) Sonic's influence on Tails is mostly guidance and support. While Tails does seek approval, Sonic does not have huge authority over him. Tails striking out on his own and living his own life doesn't make his bond with Sonic any less close. Reunions can be just be as emotional, y'know? (Plus, wouldn't Sonic be proud of that? For Tails to achieve his dreams through his own efforts? Give me a Sonic being the loudest person at his little brother's science presentation.)

Also, I don't think Tails would care who Sonic dates. Curious at best, and I'm sure he would want to be on good terms with his romantic partner and even bond with them, but I don't think he nor Sonic would appreciate the former being babied at every turn. Plus, wouldn't Tails being a gremlin by giving snide, knowing looks to Sonic be funnier? (And there's plenty of sibling activities that doesn't involve parenting one another: Movie nights, water gun fights, pranking, sparring, camping, gaming. Even just napping in the sun under a tree.)

Likely another side effect to the "non-action" and "dependency" Tails got hit with. (Which is funny because I have witnessed at times back then of some accusing Tails of being potentially appearing too competent to the point of making Sonic look "weak". Wanting Tails to have limits on his mechanic skills is one thing, but saying he should stick to tinkering vehicles only is very restricting though?) Nine may have endured bullying longer, but it doesn't mean it stopped having an effect on Tails himself. (Called names, had his tails messed with, people smashing his inventions. He may grown to embrace his qualities, but he clearly still has self worth issues that is ripe for exploring more. Nine's is mainly trust. Companionship too, but mostly trust. They've both been hurt, one was just lucky enough to get support early and ongoing.) Heh, I could go on a tangent on how finicky fans are at the thought Tails talking back to Sonic or dare have a different opinion than him and Nine gets a pass because he's "Anti-Tails", but that'd be another essay. xD (But yeah, hopefully Prime ends well.)

((Oh, and cool ponytail Tails art, btw. :] ))

Hmmm, could be. Early portrayals call still influence the way people see a character, even after all those years. (I mean, Sonic and chili dogs thing even got canonized and everything)

I definitely see Sonic as more of a mentor rather than parent figure. I think Sonic has a lot of trust and respect for Tails, and it's hard for me to imagine Sonic like. Grounding Tails or something similar. If this happened I imagine it would be such a wild concept to Tails he would think it's a joke, but more importantly Sonic wouldn't even think of doing this, I don't think he thinks of himself as that kind of authority figure in Tails's life. And Sonic is Tails's biggest fan definitely. I like that one bit from a q&a where Sonic gets asked who's smarter, Tails or Eggman, and he immediately picks Tails... (It's so cute, idk, especially since there's no way to actually prove it, and it's probably not even true (of course, "smartness" is relative), and then he goes on to say how Eggman is still a close second and very dangerous and not to underestimate him)

[No comment on the shipping thing, I pretty much agree though]

I've mostly seen people wanting Tails to have a limit on his skills to make him as a character more "grounded" and "realistic", but Shadow can have 10000 superpowers and I don't see anybody complaining. You know what else is unrealistic? Flying by spinning your tails. Especially since Tails was portrayed as this "pan-purpose scientist" since the beginning, and it's not a part of "flanderization". Like for sure, vehicle engineering has always been his specialty and biggest interest, but for example he made a Chaos Emerald radar back in Sonic 3, and had a robot back in Tails Adventure. People bring up the fact that he struggled with a plane prototype in Adventure 1 as an example of him being not that great with his mechanical skills initially, but he had already made a rocket back in Sonic the Fighters at that point.

Yeah, bullying messes you up big time, and it's not easy to get over it... If this wasn't something Tails had to deal with in the past, he might have a completely different outlook on himself nowadays, even if he still felt inadequate. Though I do like how the games don't really push this into our faces all the time, it's just a part of the backstory that helps understand the character better but you can still understand what's up with him even if you don't know the details. (Also makes me think he probably doesn't talk about this, it's something that only Sonic knows about most likely, and even then still probably not in detail).

(There's a lot of things that I don't quite like in Prime, I just don't bother talking about it, but I'm pretty optimistic on how they're handling Nine! (& Tails))

(Haha thanks =^-^= )

[originalwinnercheesecake]

The Owl house Season Analysis Bottom 5 and Top 5 episodes of the Owl House

I have wanted to do this post for a while. its what the title says,my opinion on the five worst episodes and the 5 best episodes... Now everybody knows what a good and a great episode are. I have heard some people try to argue that The Owl House does not have bad epsidoes, just less good episodes...

Yeah as much as I love what this show grew into that is pure denial and we are not doing that. Season 1a of The Owl house is mostly bad shooting for passing, with  2 outlier episodes that somehow managed to be good (you can probably guess which ones) I like 3 characters in in season 1a: King, Amity, Tiny Nose. Other characters, particularly Luz an Eda, suffer greatly from the writing focusing more on giving them popular (woke) labels and not really exploring them, which negatively effected the show because instead of making them better it felt like the show could only keep them on top by making all other characters lamer. 1b ranges from okay to kinda good. This was when Luz stopped basically playing pretend that she was Azura, and actually put effort into learning magic, becoming Luz the human whitchlet. Hexside was a great setting and putting Luz in a classroom setting,where she spent more time with kids her own age, gave the show the chance to flesh her character out more and give her differences and weird corks that were cute instead of destructive. Also I love, love, loved that they added learning differences to the character diversity. That is a difference that is largely overlooked in modern media. Eda changed from a mentor (which she failed at) to a parent figure, which was an improvement, but she still felt like a very hollow fusion of the Stan twins. She had what was cool about them, but they were also goofy looking, were often in over their heads and very concerned for themselves and their families. Eda is beautiful, the curse is largely ignored, and she is supposedly to powerful to concern herself with the plans and threat of her enemies.I also felt like it took her until half way through 2a to gain the kind of heart Stan and Ford where both shown to have like 2 episodes into their characters. In a character focused show like The Owl House it’s a poor character who only experiences highs, lows make characters compelling and have you root for them to get back up again.

 Season 2 was when the show took what it had and ran to becoming a great show. The Show finally knew what it wanted to do with Luz and Eda, it also picked which on of Kings three roles (small adult roommate, furry pet, young child) it was going to stick to. These choices allowed it to go deeper into the stories of our three mains and up the stakes. Because the stakes were up it could finally make the villains/anti hero’s (we got anti-hero’s) competent, and the threat became something real. Also the show was finally able to put actual thought and character into the secondary and side characters (see Lilith and Hooty... I am sorry Lulu and Hootsifer’s character glow-ups).

Again I really do love this show, and like to compare its lows to its highs because, like with the characters, the lows make the high better. So here are the worst and the best episodes (in my opinion) of the owl house

Bottom 5 episodes number 5 Once Upon A Swap: Yeah you knew this one was going to be here. Its on everyone’s bottom 5 lists. Body swapping episodes are a cliche. It added nothing to the story in the long game. It could have been a decent stand alone episode if it had been funnier, but the majority of the jokes miss their marks. It’s a very skipable episode unless you are just completely board. All of that being said its only fault is being boring and skipable. I left it low on the list because their is nothing in it that really made upset or disappointed, and nothing in it that negatively effected future episodes.

Top 5 episodes number 5 The Intruder: Remember when I said that 1a had 2 outlier episodes that were actally good. Well you probably guessed that I meant “The Intruder’ and ‘lost in language”. As much as it hurts me to not have the first great Lumity episode we got on this list (to many great episodes in season 2) The Intruder is the better episode. Its the second best episode at handling horror elements. We see King and Luz bond for the first time and its sweet. Luz learns her first (and for season 1a her only) gliph, thus answering if or if not she can really do magic. Also we get the introduction of the curse, which is both one of the most fascinating concepts in the show, and a really tasteful metaphor for a chronic illness or disability. This was the owl houses first brilliant episode, and 37 episodes latter it is still one of the best.

Bottom 5 episodes number 4 convention day: Yes I am listing “Covention Day” as one of the worst. I know some people like to argue that its one of season 1′s best because its the first episode to talk about the covens as more than school tracks, explains the sigils and gives a reason for Eda being wanted a wanted criminal.. oh but not evil. Well even if this episode was plot important, I still strongly dislike it for two very big reasons: reason 1 Luz; reason 2 Eda. What I said up top about how at first the only thing likable about them is that they are label representation,  that in the beginning they are handled badly as characters, and the show forces them on top by dragging everyone else down. Yeah convention is all that at its worst. They both talk like they are the best, but in action they are nothing but a couple of lazy, annoying, fakers, who put no actual time, or effort where their mouths are. I did not want Luz to give up magic ( After “The intruder” I wanted her to actually start seriously studying it and for Eda to actual at like a mentor), but I loved Amity for telling Luz that she had no right to toot herself a “Luzara Greatest witch ever parade’ and calling her out, and I wanted Lilith (an implied accomplished study and teacher) to wipe Eda’s smug “I cheat my way above everybody else because I rule” grin off her face. The twist that Lilith was cheating too was lame, clearly written in to try and save Eda and Luz’s faces as mentor and student, and I hated it, along with being seriously annoyed at Eda. Luz, and Lilith. Amity started this episode by purposely stomping on King’s cupcake and she is somehow still the only one of these four with any actual integrity or honest morals.

This episode is low because the fight between Eda and Lilith is animated totally awesome and a very enjoyable watch... at first. My only complaint is again Eda. Lilith was totally about to win before Eda’s little fake out cheat. This particular fight is one Lilith should have been allowed to beat Eda. Luz won’t have to give up being a witch because Amity and Luz undid their bet spell and weren’t the ones fighting. Eda and Lilith only had a verbal bet going on, and since Eda is such a cheating con of course she wouldn’t honor her end of the deal and would slip out the back door. Lilith beating Eda at the Convention would be a great metaphor for the hold Belos has on the witches and magic. Giving us a small example as to why many witches are fooled into believing that covens and sigils make them stronger (Lilith would still only be stronger because Eda is curse), and why wild magic has become less popular. It also would start the Emperor’s coven out as being competent and seeming more like a real threat earlier on. But in season 1 Eda was rose-colored like crazy and had to come out way on top every time and had to be “better than everyone else” because the show writters I guess did not know another way to make her and wild magic seem cool.

Top 5 best episodes number 4 Labyrinth Runners: This was after Disney cut season 3 down to 3 specials and canceled the show premature. This is likely the last time we will ever have a episode at Hexisde. Our last chance to explore the school tracks, and possibly our last chance to give focus to many side characters the audience had come to love. The show pushed a lot of characters and concepts into the background believing they had time to do them later. Then they were told they couldn’t. So they made this banger of an episode that answered all the fans questions about background characters, showed them in their best light, and also seemed to apologize for upsets fans felt about some o these charcters not getting focus they deserved: Gus did not get the A-plot enough so he gets it here, and the writters want to make sure everybody knows what a great witch he is. Amity and Willow rebuilding thier friendship was thrown out in favor of focusing more on Lumity, so its the B plot of this episode, complete with Amity apologizing to Willow for underestimating her skills as a witch all these years. Fans really really wanted to know what happened to Hunter after he ran away in Hallow minds and were upset Luz did not seem concerned about him? Do not worry, Luz sent a text to her friends to keep an out for him and Gus finds him this episode.

They also included a unclear and idoitic director in the form of Head illusionist Adrain Graye, who was not only a continuation of the coven heads being what you wouldn’t expect; but also his bad instructions, unlikable attitude, and the way he got beaten up by children at the end wasn’t just some throw away comment roasting the Disney producers. Oh no we got a love letter to characters and fans, complete with a full on barbecue of the producers, and it was deliciously petty.

Bottom 5 episodes number 3 I was a teenage abomination: My problems with this episode are basically the same as my problems with “Covention Day” but this ones does not have a cool witches dual to try and save it. I do not mind Eda having Luz do chores, they are a fair payment for room and board. But It was annoying hearing ‘laboring for me is the best job there is, you don’t need no education” every second line. King talks like he is a better mentor to the slug monster, but he gives it no training, and it was obvoius it was going to try and eat him and Eda once it got bigger. Both he and Eda are useless teachers and I pittied Luz... Then I saw how she was acting. Amity is supposed to be the bully right? Let’s see what she did: worked and studied hard on her abomination, accidentally did a bad job of giving Willow a pep talk on taking her studies more seriously if she wants to prove herself as a witch, was proud of her grades, and called Willow and Luz out on committing academic fraud after Willow unfairly stole her top mark. Now let’s look at what Lux and Willow our protagonists and “hero’s” do: Luz with Willow’s help illegally trespasses on a school campus, Willow with Luz’s help commits Academic fraud on an important assignment and steals a top mark from a student who actually did the work. When they are called out by Amity they keep up lying to Willow’s professor and get Amity in trouble even though she is right. Lie to and try to con the Principal. Destroy part of the school. Remind me again why Amity is the bully girl when Luz and Willow are acting much worse?

Because Luz was almost dissected by Bump? Yeah Bump was in abominations growing up, and is a principal. He totally knew Luz was kid and was trying to scare her and Willow into confessing. Also I am sorry but Luz deserved to be scared like that when you remember that again she trespassed on school grounds without permission to help a student commits academic fraud. If Luz doesn’t want to risk being hurt them she shouldn’t rush to situations a toddler would know are dangerous and wrong. Willow being that strong at plants without any training, getting rewarded at the end by being transferred to the plant track, and her dads who previously insisted she take abomination instead and banned her from plant magic accepting this for some unknown reason, was all a terrible choice then unless we were never going to see Willow. again. That is her whole story and arc. It should have taken at least 1 season for her to get transfered, complete with exploring her pasions and learning type, why her parents wanted her in abomination, and why it was a bad fit for her; then another season for her to fully master plant magic once transfered. Instead it's all done in wrapped up in her first episode. I blame this episode for nearly all Future Willow episodes being more about Lumity or Hunter. I blame it for why she was sidelined so hard in season 2, once Luz and Amity did not need her to create situations for them to come across each other. There was just little to virtual nothing that could be done with Willow after this episode wrapped up her whole arc with school and latent powers. This episode had little basically nothing good, our protagonists were worse than out antagonists, and it ended an important characters journey before it had time to be explored; so I have to put it on this list.

Top 5 Best Episodes List number 3: Knock Knock Knocking on Hooty’s Door. Now here is another episode everybody knew would be on the list. If Labyrinth Runners” was the best episode for developing the seondary charecters "Konock Knock Knocking On Hooty's Door" was the best Episode for developing core characters inside the owl house. Hooty now wants to be a life coach after Lilith implied he was a protector in a letter. Side note it is nice to see that Lilith did follow through on her promise to be pen-pals with Hooty after leaving with her mom. It is also nicer to see that they talk about Hooty’s feelings and troubles to. Lilith’s got more going on of course since she is starting over, but healthy friendships are a give and take relationship, and Hooty’s troubles are important too. The animation is beautiful, it addressed very real feelings and fears with all four characters, and it ended with them all getting great development. Hooty’s confidence in his own importance is restored, King has powers, Eda makes peace with the owl beast, who was actually once a demon that was captured in paper by the collector, who threw it away to be discovered by the curse sales man (I had been wondering all season how Lilith was able to find and afford such a strong and complicated curse)... And Lumity are officially girlfriends.

Bottom 5 episodes list episode 2 The First Day: Oh look an episode that took place after 1a? Yes the show got better in season 1b, but it still was not consistently good yet and there were a few episodes that were set backs. This episode was the worst of the set backs, had me scared we going straight back to early 1a episode quality. Luz went to hexise because after “Lost in Language” she got serious about wanting to learn magic, and Eda was not able to tech it to her. At this stage Luz knows only two gliphs and is really novice at controlling both of them, her entrance exam reminds us that. With how psyched she to go to the school and finally start learning you would expect this episode to be about Luz settling into to school, and starting to put more work on finding alternte ways to do magic. Bump even helps her out by sticking her in the potions track. Its an all purpose magic track, she does not need a bile sack because the magic will be in the ingredient, and it was the same track Eda was in so Luz can continue her Legacy... Luz decides  almost right away potions (Potions!) is the most boring of the track, and sneaks out of her first class to go play with the oracle tracks equipment. She is then immediately caught and sentenced to the detention track for the entire semester (harsh! This is her first offense, no warnings Bump?) But then we learn that the detention track is all education loving rebels, who use secret tunnels to learn all the different types of magic. Wow this track is even more perfect for Luz than potions!.. of course she does not stay. By then end of the episode this untrained, novice, witch, who has only been on the isles a couple months at most, and at the school less than a day manage somehow convinces the principal to change the system and permanently allow multi-tracking at Hexisde and protect any teacher and student in that program. A feet that seasoned witches with lots of talent, years of learning magic, and who begged for the chance to do more could not because... they are not main heroines.

That was only my second problem. My first was that the dentition track kids are all written to be idiots and jerks. It was blatantly obvious that the bad stuff Luz told her friends about the detention track was from before she learned about their club. She has been with them since learning it, and has not spoken to anyone else. Plus they know sitting at a desk doing nothing is boring, that is why they sneak into the tunnels. It would be one thing if Gus or Willow were known as blabs and they were afraid of their secret getting out and the tunnels being boarded up, but no. Luz did nothing wrong and they are bullying her for stupid and forced reasons to create drama. I do not like seeing other characters be jerks to Luz in a situation where she did absolutely nothing to them first. I heard Dana originally saw the detention trio as unimportant and was never going to bring them back, but did later because of fan demand... Well of course fans would like these characters and see them as important. They are the first young characters to be shown as negatively impacted by Belos’s one type of magic per witch laws, and the first to mix their magic. They were always going to be important and should have always been written with care.

On the bright side this was the first episode to convince me that Lumity might become a real couple instead of just friends who are supossedly coded as being more

Top 5 best Episodes number 2 Enchanting Grom Fight: Secondary characters had Labyrinth Runners, Core characters had Knock Knock Knocking On Hooty’s door. This is the episode the cliche slice of life episode that did the best job of developing them all together. The episode starts with Luz talking to her mom on the phone and feeling guilt at having to lie to her. SO Luz and Camilia must normally have a pretty hones relationship. We also learnt hat they speak Spanish to each other (representation!). When the school starts talking about Grom we learn Skara had a boyfriend back then and hey were adorably excited to go to grom together. Gus and King are hanging out after “really small problems” and are doing the announcement together. Eda got invited to chaperon. Luz owns an otter suit. when we get to the dance we see that their are gay couples dancing together as well as straight ones, mattholomule trying to boost his status by dancing with an older girl who clearly only agreed to the dance out of pity. Willow confidently handing out homemade corsages to classmates. King gets stage fright (just like Raine) and Gus helps him. Cat and Pufferfish head apparently know each other and went to Grom together. In the beginning of the show it seemed like the mouthhead girl was going to go with the beast-keeping jerk, but I guess they split because she spends the night hanging out with Amelia instead. You would expect Boshca to go with the quarterback but instead she goes stage and spends the night hanging out with other singles...interesting. Poor Ed and Em got stood up (I hope they TPed their dates houses)...

I liked Grom’s take on peoples fears. It starts out with kinda joke fears, things that are a bit creepy or a little embarrassing, then moves on to bigger fears. Nobody’s worst fear is actually as bad as it seems, but all of them are relatable to a degree and nobody is shamed for having them. Then of course that heartfelt moment where Lumity faced Grom together, Luz offering to go to the dance with Amity since she was to scared to ask her crush, who we get actually get confirmation was Luz. Thier dance together was absolutely stunning. Amity has gotten so strong with abominations. Luz is only on single gliphs but has perfected those enough to become  a formidable fighter. And then they combine their powers and their attack gets stronger, metaphorically these two are powerful and capable on their own but better together. Their last go turns Grom into a beautiful pink tree right int the forest: Metaphor the right support can help you find the beauty in a bad situation. This was wonderful.

Bottom 5 epsidoes number 1 Escape of the Palisman: My least favorite episode. I waited all season for the owl beast to reappear and to get more on the curse, and now that it happens, nothing. King takes it to the park to win an argument with a baby about a slide. That’s it? Rip off! Plus with Luz and her friends going to a stadium to watch a sports game from bleachers sounded boring to began with but it would have been better than watching Luz steel from Eda, injure Owlbert in a way that looked bad, get off scoot free (note she never apologized to Owlbert or Eda), and Learn nothing.The trials that were supposed to be exciting were not because the show could not even be bothered to at least pretend they were anything more than the BAT Queen’s chores, again did nothing to strengthen Luz and Owlbert’s bond, and again Luz never had to apologizes or actually make what she did better. The worst part of this was that this was set right before the first hiatus and it left us with with virtually no suspense, questions, or anything to look forward to when the hiatus ended. We saw a blurry shadow of who cursed Eda, but she barely cares and is unlikely to investigate (she never did. Lilith told her). The Bat Queen’s backstory was the highlight of the episode but I knew right when she said that she did not remember her giant we were unlikely to get anymore on it for a very long time (it’s looking like never). At the end o this episode I felt nothing but annoyance and I honestly did not care if the show never came back after hiatus, and that’s a problem

Top 5 Episodes number 1 Hollow Minds: It had to be Hallow Minds. This was the climax of season 2, the one where every mystery and secret that had been built up all came out. Were both The Emperor and he writers stopped playing games and got serious with us. I loved the first part of the Emperors mind (his lies) was beautiful and royal looking, but the deeper parts (where the truth lay) was so dark and sinister. We saw Team Red working together and it was a welcomed laugh. Hunter and Luz are forced to work together again and their enjoyable reluctant sibling relationship from Hunting palismans. Worried mama Eda is back and is willing to protect her children magic or not. How Team Red get the potion to Eda. OF course we all had long sense known the reveals by then. We knew that Hunter was a grim walker clone of Belos dead brother., and not the first golden guard. We knew that Belos was Phillip, and that Phillip was a witch hunter from the human world. We knew that Luz had helped him with Gliphs in the past (when she thought he was some great and heroic adventure/inventer). None of that prior knowledge made it any less suspenseful to watch Luz and Hunter go deeper into the Belos’s mind, and none of that made their shattered reactions to Them learning these secrets any less painful. The one thing I did not expect, but maybe I should have, was that scared kid Belos was the real inner Belos and he wasn’t shaking because he was scared. When we heard him break, unable to contain his laughter anymore and hem morph into himself, when the zombie was revealed to be his palisman victims trying to warn Luz and Hunter... as chilling as Scooby Doo Zombie Island. The moment he tells Hunter "good bye” and tries to get rid of him as Luz cries. When he uses Luz’s fake name and clips of her calling him his real name to torture Luz. Hunter saying Luz’s real name instead of “Human” as he once again chooses to save her over giving Belos what he wants, knowing this time Belos see and he will not be safe... This is a fabulous climax to the season, and in my opinion the best and most engaging episode of The Owl House

[w2soneshots]

You’re to cute -W2S

words: 1.0k+

warnings: pregnancy, slight worrying.

summary: Harry and the boys decide to cheer you up by planning a cute evening for you and the side girls.

notes: I love this request, so cute🥹. Protective Harry🫶🏼. I hope you all enjoy!!🤍🧸🎀

Me and Harry have been together for almost five years now. We always knew we wanted kids so when I found out I was pregnant we were elated. It's been amazing so far. We had to wait almost 3 months to tell everyone, which was torture for Harry since he can't seem to keep his mouth shut. But once we could finally tell all of our family and friends it was amazing. I could rant to Faith about the good and bad things that come with being pregnant and Harry felt a huge weight off his shoulders.

This last six months I haven't been feeling the best. I had awful morning sickness at the beginning (which is how I knew to take a test), I'm tired all the time and the hormones have been wild. One minute I'm laughing the next I'm in tears then two minutes later I'm pissed off. But the first scan, listening to the babies heart beat, finding out we're having a little girl and feeling her kick make it one hundred percent worth it.

Today Harry had to leave for a sidemen shoot early so I woke up alone in our bed. I got up, made myself breakfast, took a quick shower then put on some comfy clothes and lay back down on the bed. I sighed as I turned the tv on, then I clicked on my favourite movie. I spent almost the entire day in bed and on the sofa which has been my daily routine for quite awhile now. I've been to lunch with Talia a few times, baby shopping with Faith and Harry always makes an effort when it comes to little dates, mini golf, bowling, stuff like that. But I've still been feeling a little bit left out.

When I finally heard the front door open I smiled. After he'd put his things away Harry pushed open the door to the bedroom. His face beamed when he locked eyes with me. "How are my girls?" He asked as he sat down on the bed, beside me. "We're good. How was your day?" I moved to rest my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around me. "Um some of it didn't really go to plan but I think it'll make the video funnier," He replied. "Actually... me n the boys were talking and -only if you feel up to it- we were wondering if you wanted to come out for dinner and we could watch that new movie that just came out in the cinema?" He proposed.

I smiled (tho he couldn't see my face) "that would be lovely. But don't you hate movies?" "Well I don't hate them, they're just not really my thing. But if it means getting to spend time with you and my friends then I really don't mind." My heart melted at his words, then uncontrollably tears began to spill down my cheeks. I sniffled and Harry quickly brought my face up so he could look at me. "What's wrong? We don't have to go if you don't want to." He reassured kindly. "No Harry I'm fine and I really want to go, that was just really sweet." I wiped my face. He laughed lightly then pulled me into a hug.

After getting up I brushed my hair back into a ponytail then slipped on some shoes before grabbing my phone. "Ready?" Harry asked. "Yup! Let's go." I replied with a bright smile. Harry drove (for once) and we were soon outside the cinema. He held my hand as we walked into the building. I looked around and spotted Faith, Freya and Talia standing near the popcorn, along with their boyfriends and Tobi. We walked over to them and a look of pure excitement spread across Talia's face. "You look so cute! How are you?" She pulled me into a friendly hug. "Pretty good, you?" I replied sweetly. We waited a few minutes for JJ to arrive, when he did we scanned our tickets and made our way into the theatre.

The entire movie Harry's hand was intertwined with mine, while my other one sat comfortably on my little bump. "You two are so cute." Faith whispered into my ear. I looked at her and smiled. Once the credits started to play we all got up and grabbed our things. As we walked out we decided on Nando's for dinner, since there's one just a five minute walk from the cinema.

As we were walking down the pavement a pretty big group of fans surrounded us. I was quickly pushed away from Harry as I got trapped in a small sea of people. "Hey!" I heard JJ's voice call out "move!" My eyes scanned around and they met with Ethan's. He lunged forward, pushing the teenagers out of the way. Then he gently grabbed my arm and pulled me back towards Harry. Josh, JJ and Tobi told the fans to politely "get lost." While Harry fussed over if I was ok. "Are you sure? Is the baby ok?" I nodded as my heart rate slowed "I'm fine. They didn't know. It's ok." I reassured him. Since I'm not really in the public eye we decided not to tell the fans that I'm pregnant. We want to just keep it to ourselves for now, our little secret.

With Harry on one side and JJ on my other we walked the rest of the way to the restaurant. Once we got there we found a table and sat down. Then Josh and Simon went to the front counter to order. Our food came just ten minutes after we'd ordered. We chatted amongst ourselves and I talked to Faith about the crib me and Harry had just recently ordered, since it wouldn't come for quite a few weeks and we wanted to have everything finished as early as possible. Once everyone had finished we walked back to our cars, said goodbye and headed home.

"Thank you for tonight Harry." I murmured as I lay on his chest. "I'm glad you had fun it was nice to see you laughing." He replied. My eyes closed. "You're so cute." I whispered. "Good night y/n. I love you." "love you too." My voice trailed off as I fell into a deep sleep.

[fillintheblanksplease]

Okay okay okay - for real this time.

For some reason I've been wanting to write more. I haven't acted on it much, but there has been a growing desire. In an effort to better myself, I'm trying to be less hard on myself. Like a lot less hard on myself. At the same time, I'm trying to hold myself accountable. With that said, I can't help but want to point out the fact that it's hilarious that I start off this post mentioning how I've wanted to write more, but that I haven't acted on it. That's just typical me, isn't it? Wanting something, but not acting on it. If you really had to summarize my life down - that could be it right there. A man that wanted things, but never acted on those desires. So while I try to cut myself some slack (as you can see, I'm pretty mean to myself in previous posts) - I need to hold myself accountable. I don't know if that's step 1 or step 50. But it's a step that needs to be taken.

I've been thinking a lot lately - just about my life, where it's headed, the circumstances that led me to my current life. Things could be so much worse, couldn't they be? On that same token, things could be so much better. The only thing that is preventing things from being even better is myself. I feel as though there are gaps in my life - years where just about zero fun occured. But the truth is, I try and hide the parts of my life where I'm unhappy with my physical appearance. I have a pretty extensive, well documented portable storage device full of photograhps and videos I've taken since about 2007ish. I can make this quick - I take tons of photos when I'm thin (admittingly, there's only a few of those years) and I take significantly less photos when I'm overweight (like currenlty)

I just look back at some photos from 2019 when I was working out and eating right. I look so happy. What's preventing me from living my life with that happiness all the time? The answer is me. If I can't be honest with myself, what is the point of this blog? It's time to get honest. Like really really honest.

I'm not physically attractive, in the classic sense. Whatever that means. Thin or fat. I'm not attractive. Weird hair. Round face. Sunken in eyes. Pale. I don't really have anything working for me in the physical department. I never will. Throughout my life, I've been compared to my older brothers. Honest to god, whatever god you believe in, they are all just objectively better off than me physically. All taller. All thinner. More athletic. This point has just always been drilled into my head, since I was a child. Why can't you be like your brothers? Your brothers are cute, but you? Ehh

Those are things that I can't change. I understand that. But what can I change? My weight. My fitness. I can change those things. I've changed them before. I can do it again.

To give myself a little credit, I'm definitely smarter than all those fuckers - no contest =] - I'm funnier too, but maybe that just comes with being the ugly one. Either way, I'm fine with it. This last go round with losing weight, my emphasis was just being the best version of myself. That's all I can ever try to do. Worrying about other people, comparing myself to them, it doesn't get me anywhere. So why even worry about it? Why waste that time? Why let those things consume me? I can't became a 6'3 star athelete. I can became a damn fit 5'11 (and 3/4in) motherfucker in his 30s.

The choice is mine. I need to constantly remind myself of that. The choice is mine. I just need to make the choice.

I find myself always being disappointed with others. I think that just stems from expecting things from other people. If I really just stop expecting things from others, they can't dissapoint me. But If I expect things from myself and act to make those expecations a reality? Well then I can't be let down, now can I?

I'm making this sound easy. Of course it's not this easy. But it is this easy you see. There are always going to be variables, things out of my control. But at the end of the day, I can only control what I can control. So step 1, let's do exactly fucking that. Let's control the things we can control - to the best of my ability. Sounds so simple. But I bet if I can act on that, my happiness will drastically improve.

I don't want to be that person who hides when a camera comes out, because I simply don't want to see myself in a photo. I don't want to be that person that makes up an excuse to skip out on an event, because I'm too embarrased to be seen. I just want to live my life. It's up to me and only me to put myself in a position where I can be happy with myself. I'm going to do it, for real this time.

Let's fucking go.

[orangepeelshortbreadcookies]

@hopepaigeturner Forgive me for the late response, but since this is an excellent request, it warrants time for an appropriate answer. And you must know that by asking this, you have activated the Benophie obssessed academic part of my brain. You want references? Behold my pile.

(Side note: I am not a historian so if other East Asian Bton fans and Benophiles out there notice something I got wrong, please do correct me.)

The reason why I took so long to answer this is that, for a very long time, many East Asian countries were to varying degrees delegations or colonies of China, so there are many overlappings in our customs, as well as language, which for a modern Vietnamese who doesn't speak any Chinese languages is a bit tricky. And yet even with these overlappings, East Asia is in no way a monolith. As a matter of fact, @tilly-tilly-2827 and I had a lengthy discussion about the connotations of just the colour green in different countries very recently. If I am doing this, let's approach it the right way, for I am nothing but a dedicated Benophile.

Alright, here goes:

Hebao (荷包)

These are embroided, scented satchel, or aromatic pouch, an ancient, very popular accessory in Chinese culture. Its origin lies with The Dragon Boat Festival. Initially it was used to protect the wearer from insects and diseases. A bunch of nice-smelling herbs is put in there. Later it became more popular as a daily accesory, for both women and men. You see it worn a lot in Chinese dramas. Like this:

Its romantic meaning started with how the the Tujia people used it: as a love token from a woman to her lover. The maker of the pouch would put a lot of effort into the embroidery of it, as it represents the adoration and devotion to her lover, so they're usually very pretty. Now I would definitely enjoy Sophie making a hebao for Benedict, in the case she's Chinese. It would be cool if the embroidery turns out to be nice, but I think it would be way funnier if she ends up putting something silly on it instead, even when the needlework is still an excellent labour of love: like a chonky honey bee, for it seems like it's Benedict's signature, regardless of the morbidity of it. Or a cute puppy, for how he keeps following and panting after her.

2. Love-knot

More specifically the Pan-Chang knots (盤長結), or endless knot, although I also really like how Koreans call it the chrysanthemum knot (국화매듭). In Japanese it's mizuhiki (水引き), although the practice and the looks of the knots do look different there.

Another love token that you can dangle on your waist! Traditionally made from one single continuous cord, it symbolises eternity and unbreakable union. The legend is that Yue Lao, the God of Love, "unites with a silken cord all predestined couples, after which nothing can prevent their union." (E. Cobham Brewer, "Dictionary of Phrase and Fable", 1898). Fun fact: Yue Lao is also known as 'the old man under the moon'! And personally, I find moonlight to be such a Benophie thing. I love this one. It's so simple yet meaningful, transcending all classes as a declaration of your desires. I am also announcing that I am working on a one-shot where Sophie makes Benedict a love-knot.

3. Heavier jewelries:

This one requires some more distinctions. So this is the Vietnamese Xà tích:

Usually made of silver, and predominantly worn by women, around the body and over the waist sash. Not only gorgeous to look at, they're also functional. One can attach to the medallion their little knife, some keys, a tweezer, and your cute shiny trusty tobacco tube. It's like a fabulous utility belt. Batman could never. Definitely on the pricier side, as jewelries are concerned. In early 19th century, when Bridgerton takes place, this is considered a bridal item. As in:

"Cô dâu miền Bắc (thời Nguyễn) vào ngày cưới tóc vấn đuôi gà, đầu khăn gài con bướm bạc, cổ đeo kiềng bạc, chuỗi hạt vàng, lưng đeo xà tích, váy sồi đen, mặc áo mớ ba, bên ngoài mặc áo the đen, trong là áo hồng và áo xanh."

--Đoàn, Thị Tình, Trang phục Việt Nam (Vietnamese Costumes)--

My translation:

"On her wedding day, the Northern bride under Nguyễn dynasty wraps her hair in a coiffure with a side ponytail, her khăn vấn (turban) is adorned with a silver butterfly brooch, a silver torc and a chain of golden beads on her neck, down her back around the waist wears the xà tích. She puts on her black skirt and her best, most formal silks. Medium layer is a black linen jacket, inner layer is pink and green silk.

Example of a traditional Vietnamese wedding set before 1975:

Now, I can't (yet) find any conclusive visual evidence of flatland women in 19th century wearing the xà tích. War does funny things to documentation and archives, who knows? Luckily many more minor ethnicities in the lower Highlands still treasure and practice this custom, especially during festivals:

Now, the Chinese version, the Dingdang (玎珰) is somewhat more fancy and in my opinion, a lot less practical:

Did you know the East Asians loved jade? Because they LOVED it.

From: Weibo 撷芳主人, 04.04.2018

A chatelaine with strings of pendants attached to it. Also a waist accesory, for both men and women. Favoured by people of higher social standings. Originally used to weigh down the lighter material of tunics. Imagine you were hooking a windchime to your silk sash. Your job as a nobleperson is to make sure that when you walk, the sound made by the windchime is pleasant to listen to, and not ear-puncturing. Definitely used to enforce etiquette.

In Chinese dramas:

Maybe it's the bias in me speaking, but I am of the belief that the Vietnamese xà tích is superior. The Chinese ones are very pretty, but they're also impractical, constraining and a bit too over-the-top for Sophie's character.

Also xà tích, along with the rest of the bridal jewelries, are usually provided by the groom's family, so it's definitely something Benedict could (should) do.

Although I must say I prefer the more simplified form with either only the scented satchel or with a piece of jade along with it, like how this Korean drama did it:

4. Jade

Engraved jade was also used as love tokens among people of higher class. Couples had them in pairs, its meaning lie pretty close to wedding rings:

Do I want to see Benedict gve Sophie something like this as a wedding gift? Survey says probably? Idk, it is pretty and my precious Sophie only deserves the best, but the idea of a white man wearing jades with very deep, very strict Asian roots and iconography I'm having trouble digesting. Maybe this is somewhere Benophie could forge a beautiful middle ground. And seeing Sophie wearing jade jewelry would be nice. Although I do have doubts about how Bridgerton writers can execute this artfully.

5. Scenes

Some of my favourite jewelry gifting scenes come from books, which were not translated to English to my knowledge. But I do remember a particular piece of iconic jewelry from this Korean drama called The Moon Embracing the Sun, and it's a hairstick:

Context: this character is the Queen, the her hairstick portrays a Moon Phoenix (hence the pearl), which symbolises her status, holding the Sun (King) in its arm. It was given to her by the King, then Crown Prince, years ago, as a token of love, before their decade-long separation. It was a very sad, very romantic scene, which is wild to say when it was played by the children versions of these characters. Huge talents alert.

And last but not least, one reference of romantic gesture that I love is this dance from Moonlight Drawn by Clouds, which is coincidently another love story between different classes. This scene never fails to make me swoon. First, the romanticism. The unspoken yearning. The EYE-acting. Second, I would love to see more asiatic instrumentals from Bridgerton, and I think Bridgerton could take notes from how this scene beautfully transitioned from a classical diegetic orchestra to the emotionality of the contemporary non-diegetic score.

Hope this helps!

Some of my lovely mutuals might know this, but I was born and raised in an East Asian culture, where there is a the strict code of respect and curtesy. Words, conversation can be high-text, and there is alot of reading between the lines.

Although the social codes and the indirectness can be suffocating at times, there is a beauty in the formality.

And I would love to introduce one example.

There is one very famous translation of the phrase, “I love you.” By the Japanese author, Nastume Soseki (1867-1916)

When a young student translated “I love you.” into 君のことを愛しています。(Direct translation of I love you in Japanese) Soseki rejected this translation.

Instead, Soseki translated “I love you,” to

“The moon is quite beautiful tonight,”

Even though this is a product of his time and the culture in the Meji period, it is an incredibly subtle, nuanced translation I can’t help loving.

So when the two couples confess their feeling towards one another, they don’t look at each other but they look up at the same night sky and say,

“The moon is quite beautiful tonight,”

And you are supposed to respond,

“I’ve never seen such a brighter moon than this,”

Which means, “I love you more.”

＊Although now in Japan, this phrase is soooo overused that is becoming a cliche. And really corny. So I definitely do not recommend using this when you are flirting with someone from Japan. Unless you want to impress him/her.

＊Also the rhetorics become increasingly difficult when in comes to rejection.

“Stars are more beautiful than the moon,” means “I’ve got someone else in my mind,”

“The moon is too bright tonight.” would be “Thank you, but you can aim much higher than me,”

“It’s beautiful because you see it from far away,” means “I really don’t have interest in your affections.”

“But the moon isn’t blue,” would be “yeah, you an me? Never going to happen between us.”

I’m rambling on too much.

Anyway, I just really want to see this kind of subtlety on the Benophie season. Benedict can’t straight up declare his love all and mighty back in London at No.5, so it would be lovely if there is a secret code of telling Sophie that he loves her.

A poem, or a certain phase, that makes Sophie blush and tell how ardently Benedict loves her without saying “I love you.”

Just my little thoughts for the season🥰

[lollytea]

(Had this scenario in my head for weeks and I’m going to try to describe it as best I can)

You know those “best friends forever” bracelet or necklace sets? What if Gus has one half of one on his dresser and Hunter and Matt each comes across it and are convinced the other is responsible. Cue a comedy of errors as they try to prove that the other has the other half while keeping Gus from catching on to what they found.

And, like, if either of them thought about it for more than five minutes they’d realize how unlikely it is for the other to buy a secret BFF jewelry set - Matt because it’s too openly sentimental and Hunter because he doesn’t have the subtlety to not wear it openly - but no, heads empty, only friendship. Meanwhile they’re trying to act natural because it’s fine that Gus has another best friend, really.

Eventually things come to a head because Gus has a knack for detecting friends in distress and it’s revealed that either:

1.) He and Willow got the set together years ago, but hers kept getting damaged so they stopped wearing them. (Willow always has a handful of band aids on in flashbacks, so I assume any jewelry wouldn’t last long) Neither of the boys can really be upset about this because that’s not a competition they want any part of.

or

2.) He bought it from Eda and there was never a second part.

THIS IS SO FUNNY

Like it doesn't MATTER. It's a cheap piece of plastic on a shitty chain and yet Hunter and Matt flip their shit over it. They're like "ohhhhh you're really gonna give him a NECKLACE?? Something that obnoxiously flaunts that the two of you are friends? Egotistical much?" Completely ignoring the fact that they're both kicking themselves for not thinking of it first. Which is double funny because Matt would have thought friendship necklaces are stupidly cheesy in any other circumstances. Feud with Hunter got him acting unwise. He might just snap and give Gus something stupidly sentimental too. Then they'll see. They'll all see!!! ("They" is pretty much just Hunter.)

Anyway the two of them eventually get frustrated with the lack of proof that the other is responsible for this so they both separately decide to take matters into their own hands. They're gonna solidify their friendship with Gus too.

Obviously they cant force Gus to stop wearing the necklace (Not thinking about how they've never seen him wear the necklace. Head empty.) But his wrists are currently bare. So they both set out to make matching friendship bracelets.

Mattholomule spends hours making little beads out of lava rock and gemstones and whatever other stupid pretty thing he can find and strings them together. Meanwhile Hunter makes a pair of beautifully embroidered wristbands.

They don't get an answer on the necklace until after they've presented the bracelets to Gus. (A mortifying ordeal for Matt. He will never live this down.) It's lucky Gus has two wrists!!

The idea of Willow and Gus having friendship necklaces is so cute and I love it. But I think I prefer the Eda option cuz its just so much funnier. Nothing!!! All of this paranoia and effort for fucking nothing!!! Matt went and exposed himself for NOTHING!!!