#I've been having a great time but part of that is the inherent charm in his devil's saddle news clip upload

[falderaletcetera]

okay who wants a fucking great country-ish song about the 401 highway, apparently the busiest highway in both canada and the US and an absolute nightmare to drive on?

(because I didn't think I needed this but apparently really do, and it has single-digit likes on youtube, so I figure it can stand to be seen by more people.)

this guy has minimal online presence and only two songs actually for sale anywhere but @darkfinch managed to find this, which has some info and songs on it.

and now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go relisten, because this song goes hard and is quite happily stuck in my head <3

~

lyrics:

this is a long highway and it might take a day to drive from detroit back to montreal where the big rigs roll down through ontario and cars go speeds they should never go (never go, never go) take a look ahead flashing lights of red another crash out on the blacktop run on the news it says another driver's dead that brings the toll this month to twenty one (twenty one, twenty one) I took a ride today out on the king's highway from montreal to toronto bay justice will have its day with your life you'll pay better pay heed, so the people say keep your hands at ten and two do what you have to do keep them there until the drive is done or you may walk this road a lost and lonely soul another death out on the 401

just between you and I how can you justify the life you took with the pedal down (pedal down, pedal down) the ghosts they roam the road looking for their home and if they spoke you never hear the sound (sound, sound) I took a ride today out on the king's highway from montreal to toronto bay justice will have its day with your life you'll pay better pay heed, so the people say keep your hands at ten and two do what you have to do keep them there until the drive is done or you may walk this road a lost and lonely soul another death out on the 401 another death out on the 401

~

[absolutebl]

Top 10 Great BLs That Are REALLY hard to find (but worth tracking down)

You may want to go hunting anyway!

Seven Days

Seven Days: Monday-Thursday

Seven Days: Friday-Sunday

Japan 2015

Never doubt my ability to recommend this show. One of the best live action yaois ever made, with perfectly structured angst, fantastic characters and acting, and no problematic tropes (rare in Japanese BL). The leads have excellent chemistry although it’s low heat there’s still some really cute mutual kisses.

Cherry Magic AKA 30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii

Japan 2020

The sweetest fluffiest magical realism BL, packaged as a pinning office romance, very low heat (practically chaste) but the cutest. It’s truly great.

Cherry Magic Thailand

Thai 2024

A soft charming warm hug of a show about crushes and mind reading and self worth, with no-fuss execution from a consummate team and an OG lead pair proving why they remain eternal and deserve to grow up. Look, here’s the thing, Cherry Magic is a great Thai BL in its own right not comparing it to any other iteration. But even when I do compare (and I've seen all the Cherries and read the manga) it still stands. I personally like it slightly better than the Japanese live action, but I think that’s because I just really like Thai BL and I LOVE TayNew. Also all the kissing was both present and better than any other iteration. As it should be from Thailand.

I Feel You Linger in the Air

Thai 2023

IFYLITA is an exquisite BL, from filming techniques to narrative framework (much like Until We Meet Again). Steeped in history and family drama it edges into lakorn (but no as much as To Sir With Love and with way less scenery chewing). This is an elegant and classy BL... from Thailand which normally doesn't even try for classy. The main couple (both as a pair and individuals) were excellent, particularly Bright (Yai) whose eye-work acting style is a personal favorite of mine. Pity about the ending. Oh it wasn’t that sad but it wasn’t good either. This show could easily have earned a 10/10 from me except that it fumbled the… erm… balls in the final quarter. Argh. Whatever.

All about the ecstasy and the agony here.

Restart After Come Back Home AKA Risutato wa tadaima no ato de

Japan 2020

Atmospheric study in rural Japan meets complex family dynamics built on a romance framework of city boy meets country boy, grumpy/sunshine. It’s beautiful and icy sweet. Slow moving in places but ultimately worth the patience, low heat, low angst, and stunning.

Given

Japan 2021

Boy joins band, falls in love with other boy. The singing is terrible, fast forward through that but with the possible exception of the hair styles, this BL could have been made in 2015 and no one would be surprised. As such, it wasn’t ground breaking, but it didn’t disappoint either.

Make a Wish

Thai 2023

A doctor who can see the dead strikes a bargain with a wish-granting irreverent tree angel - naturally they fall in love (from Sammon: Manner of Death & Triage). Stars Fluke Natouch opposite not-Ohm, but who tf cares because Fluke has chemistry with everybody. Once again the Thai afterlife is incredibly bureaucratic but I enjoyed the premise and the unfolding of the story (it’s not predictable but still satisfying and with nice little twist). I like that the doctor is just gay AF - fag hag bestie and all the swagger. The cast is excellent even if the comedic stylings are a bit overblown and tonally off. It had sad parts and did make me cry but is ultimately happy with a great sex scene, good smiley kisses, and all the agency. Definitely recommended.

2 Moons The Ambassador AKA 2 Moons 3

Thai 2022

A Thai pulp that felt like it came out 5 yrs prior, with many of the flaws inherent to that time and studio system, including manufactured angst and convoluted plot, but an ultimately sweet main couple that (as a pairing) feels a bit more modern and satisfying to watch than they started out. This will probably go down in history as one of the few BLs where I genuinely didn’t care about any of the side couples. All that said, I find this show oddly appealing and rewatchable and I have no excuses for that except, I enjoyed it probably more than it deserved. Nostalgia & d**k, it's what's for dinner.

I Want to See Only You AKA Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai

Japan 2022

This is a beautiful well acted piece of cinema, about two boys who are opposite personalities and grew up together. Gifted and serious Sakura pines after outgoing eccentric manic pixie dream boy, Yuma. It is very pretty and this is the kind of atmospheric elegantly performed BL that only really comes from Japan (complete with dead fish kisses - what you though Korea invented them? oh no). If you want something stylish, this is it.

Triage

Thai 2022

BL does Groundhog Day featuring a doctor stuck in a time loop who must save a poor little rich boy from death by seducing the stuffing out of him, then PLOT TWIST, poor little rich boy must do the same for the doctor! Unfortunately... stuffing keeps leaking. I thought the plot was engaging if a little redundant and occasionally exhausting. The pairs were all well done, low heat but with decent chemistry and the support characters were likable (or unlikable, as required). If anything, the romance arc detracted and distracted from the main plot, but that doesn't stop this from being a genuinely good show.

HONORABLE MENTION

Great Men Academy

Thai 2019

Bodyswap involving unicorns turning a teenage girl into a boy makes this questionable as a BL (because, ya know, gender). But the fact remains that James is killer in the lead, and I (who do not like bodyswap) loved this damn show. Look, there is actual plot, hotties at boarding school, "bully the one you love" trope, some weird VR shit, very bad CGI, and yes, the boys end up together... whether they boys or not, so to speak.

Some of these shows may appear on a smaller streaming service, like WeTV, or they may be on a legal platform in your territory. I hope it goes without saying you should check there first.

(source)

This list updated Spring 2024, not responsible for cool stuff that went missing (or was added to a platform) after that date.

It's it last in a series the rest of which are:

[jbaileyfansite]

Interview with Wo What Wear (2024)

It feels like the tornado at the beginning of The Wizard of Oz, and if I've still got my ruby slippers on at the end, I'll be happy," Jonathan Bailey says, flashing that famous grin. The actor and current internet boyfriend is, of course, referencing the whirlwind that has been the Wicked press tour—a three-week-long global extravaganza where many (happy) tears were shed, memes were born, and the fashion, including a special pair of short shorts, had everyone talking. I'm catching Bailey on a Friday afternoon during a rare bit of downtime en route to JFK Airport. Destination: London for the film's final stop and premiere. For this Brit at this moment, there's no place like home.

He's exhausted—rightfully so—but still in great spirits, and I can happily say at the time of writing this article that all the promotional hustle and bustle from the cast has paid off dividends. Jon M. Chu's big-screen adaptation of the wildly popular 2003 stage musical is a certified hit with audiences, generating over $350 million globally and becoming one of the year's most successful debuts. The soundtrack is also smashing records.

Wicked is the finale to what has been a banner year for Bailey, which kicked off with an Emmy nomination for his spectacular performance in the historical miniseries Fellow Travelers. It also saw his return as Viscount Anthony Bridgerton in the continuous hit machine that is Bridgerton; the launch of his LGBTQ+ charity The Shameless Fund, which supports the community through global creative collaborations; and the filming of his next movie project, 2025's summer blockbuster Jurassic World Rebirth.

For the moment, Bailey is fully in what he tells me is his "Winkie era"—a nod to his Wicked character Prince Fiyero, who will leave you swooning with one bat of the eye or, at the very least, breaking out into song and dance. I can attest that the actor is every bit as charismatic and charming in real life as his on-screen counterpart, so it's easy to see why Bailey was a shoo-in for the film's lovable heartthrob.

Bailey's excitement for playing Fiyero was twofold. While the character is inherently lean on the page, there was a lot of complexity for Bailey to discover within the lyrics of his two musical numbers, "Dancing Through Life" and his duet with Elphaba later in part two. It was also an opportunity to come back to his earliest passions in life—singing and dancing—which he gave up on at a young age to pursue sports. Growing up, the actor was struck by iconic male dancing in film, naming Fred Astaire, John Travolta, and Patrick Swayze as big inspirations. There's no denying Bailey's talent as he performs "Dancing Through Life," a remarkable sequence of vocals and acrobatics that required bootcamp-level training from the actor. That, combined with the more emotional moments with Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, leaves you wanting more. His performance even earned a special stamp of approval. "Norbert Leo Butz, a hero of mine, sent me a text saying that I'm very much welcomed into the brotherhood of Fiyero, which I'm very, very proud of," Bailey shares.

Reflecting on the entire experience, Bailey is feeling eternally grateful and lucky for the opportunity to be a part of such a big cultural moment. "I probably wouldn't have been able to do it 10 years before, and obviously because of Bridgerton, I think it was the perfect time for me to be the right person for the job," he says.

Now, what's next?

I ask if he has a strong desire to run in the opposite direction after doing a big-budget movie like Wicked. Bailey's answer? "Yeah, definitely!"

Looking ahead to February, Bailey is set to play the titular character in Nicholas Hytner's stage production of Richard II. "I thought maybe Richard II onstage felt as far removed as you could go," he laughs. Theater is where the actor got his start, and it continues to be a grounding place for him. "Going back to the stage always feels, to me, like a creative reset because you are going back to the craft, and it's a very honed and creative adventure where you have to guide your body through it, and it's academic," he says. Bailey is the consummate student, always learning, nipping, and tucking his craft.

Richard II not only marks Bailey's highest-profile Shakespeare role to date but also reunites the star with Hytner, whose 2013 production of Othello at the National Theatre featured the actor as Cassio. "Him offering me the part of Cassio in Othello in the room was, for me, my big break," Bailey says of the theater director. "At that point in my life, I definitely thought I was more of a Roderigo, so to be offered Cassio was an example of [how] you have to learn what other people see in you."

Following Richard II, Bailey will return to the big screen with Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali in Jurassic World Rebirth, playing paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis. A passing of the torch from Wicked co-star Jeff Goldblum, perhaps? We'll have to wait and see, but Bailey does call Goldblum's Jurassic Park character Dr. Malcolm the "rizz king" and credits the actor's performances for keeping him "enthralled and titillated." "If I can achieve half of what he did in the original Jurassic, I'll be very happy," he adds.

What Bailey can say about his own experience at this time is how excited he is to be joining the major franchise given how deeply nostalgic it is for him. Jurassic Park was the first film Bailey saw in the cinema with his family. He gets goosebumps thinking back on that time. "I just remember feeling so alive," he says. "It's a bit like Wicked [and] going back to singing and dancing. [I'm] now going back to one of these iconic experiences that I found so inspiring then, to be able to infiltrate that world." To say Bailey is excited about this movie would be an understatement. "The idea of the John Williams theme playing under trotting through some grass fields chasing a dinosaur, you can't get more mind-blowing and eye-popping than that," he says.

It suddenly dawns on Bailey that he's in his 30th year of acting. The 36-year-old has been performing for the majority of his life, and considering all that he's done in his career thus far, it feels like the world is his oyster in terms of what he can do next. So what strikes his fancy these days? "Honestly, it feels like romance. You get butterflies or something happens, a little twinge. I just can't put my finger on it," he says. Swoon.

Bailey circles back to an earlier comment about Hytner seeing something in him that he didn't see himself. That's what he's constantly chasing. "To be scooped up by someone who can see a performance in you that you're not really aware of and to be guided by them in their own world and in their own vision excites me," Bailey says.

Reading a part he hasn't seen before or seen an actor like himself play before, filling those spaces, and finding those cubby holes—that is the genius of Jonathan Bailey. With each new project, he continues to surprise and delight.

Source

[rebelliousblogger]

Dishonored/Worm au I've been stuck thinking about at all times Pt.1 (The Powers)

Thinking about a dishonored and worm crossover story, one with a few distinct (and long) thought processes for it. here's part one, dedicated mostly to what her powers would be exactly:

Taylor is given the outsiders mark, and has a powerset that follows the more basic rules yet is still distinct from the powers of other marked we've seen in dishonored.

Marked people are given about 5-6 active powers, with an additional smattering of 5-7 passive abilities depending on the game.

While there is often some shared powers between marked, it looks like the general limit is about 2 powers between different marked.

The core conceit of marked powers seems to grant mobility to their user as their most basic ability, even if that ability isn't inherently meant for moving the user around. this power appears to either come in the form of teleportation with different limitations depending on the caster (ie; Corvo and Daud each receive a line-of-sight short range Blink, whereas Delilah and her coven are given a more indirect form of teleportation that seems to cover more area than the directed blink) or a form of personal transformation that sends the caster moving towards their next objective (Emily's Far Reach transforms her arm into a tendril that is able to pull her forwards).

Additionally, it seems that all marked are given some variety of Dark vision, a fairly generic sight enhancement that seems to also commonly allow the user to detect Runes and Charms, assuming they aren't given a different tool to detect them with.

Lastly, all Marked people seem to have an overarching theme between their powersets regarding who they are as a person and what they plan on doing. For instance, Corvo's Primary theme is that of a directed, singular unit of force capable of projecting far more damage than he should be able to, using Blink and Possession to get into an area, and then combining Bend Time with Windblast and Devouring Swarm to be an utterly unstoppable one-man army.

So what would Taylor's overarching theme that her powers grant her be? while control or other things along that line would work, I would argue that Taylor's primary character conceit throughout worm is closer to engaging in a diffusion of the self to achieve her goals, with how she tends to treat her body as just one marginally more important part of her swarm as the text goes on.

Therefore, Taylor's abilities should all focus on diffusing or transforming herself to perform certain actions, with a minimum starting base of one power that gives her greatly enhanced movement and another power that improves her senses, 3-4 other powers that more thoroughly follow the theme, and a limit of about 2 powers used by other marked people.

Shadow Leap allows Taylor to transform into a shadowy creature(think Emily's Shadow Walk) and leap forward at great speed, only ending the transformation on contact with a wall, floor, or ceiling. Notably, she cannot cast other spells while in this shadow form and is mostly incapable of interacting with the world around her. The initial velocity added by the leap is in a straight line similar to Blink and she is capable of casting the spell in midair, with her velocity prior to casting the spell being set to zero before the leap. Additionally, while she's harder to spot while doing this, she is still visible during the movement when compared to Blinking. Upgrades for it would include improving the velocity of the leap, allowing her to transition into an immediate takedown if she lands on someone, and reducing the effects of gravity on her shadow form, allowing her to have a limited "glide" while leaping.

Whispering Gaze allows Taylor to enter a state where her senses are sharpened temporarily, losing her ability to hear most normal things but gaining the ability to see objects and people through walls, see the amount of noise she makes, and listen to the "hearts" of people in her line of sight, which offers her insight into what they might be thinking. Upgrades would include letting her "mark" the people she listens to the hearts of to let her see their planned movements, better distinguishing the objects and people she sees through walls (ie; alarm systems and other defensive emplacements are now notably distinct from treasures, which are again distinct from food or medicine), and being able to see nearby Runes and Charms while using the spell.

Create Swarm allows Taylor to create a small swarm of insects with a limited lifespan of a few hours from her body that she has complete control over, effectively giving her a more limited version of her canon powers, with all the theoretical insane tricks that can come of that. Upgrades would include allowing her to create even more insects from a single cast, allowing her swarm to perform proper non-lethal takedowns, and making the lethal takedowns it was already capable of now increase the size of the swarm and get rid of the body of her target.

Void Infusion would act very similarly to the Havoc slab from Deathloop, allowing her to take on the timeless invulnerability of the void to move faster, hit harder, and take hits better, effectively giving her a minor Brute rating at the cost of being seriously expensive to cast for any proper amount of time. Upgrades would include letting her regenerate while in this state at a further cost to her focus, removing the base drain on her focus leaving only the loss when she gets hit or is regenerating, and greatly speeding up her non-lethal and lethal takedowns while in the state.

Impersonation is effectively Semblance/Masquerade, allowing Taylor to steal the appearance of another person. The impersonation looks physically identical to the impersonated target at the exact moment of the theft, and lasts for as long as Taylor has focus and is not touched hard enough to dispel the impersonation. the impersonation will additionally end if the impersonated target dies for any reason. It does not initially mimic the voice of the impersonated target, and will not initially knock out or otherwise disable them, meaning that the impersonated target can cause problems by obviously still being around and potentially even seeing Taylor impersonating them. Upgrades would include knocking out the people she impersonates, cloaking the unconscious bodies of the people she is impersonating, and giving her the voice of the people she is impersonating.

Entrapping Tendrils allows Taylor to create flammable and prehensile tendrils from her body that stay in one location and attempt to restrict the movement of anyone who goes near them, completely constricting normal people who lack the strength or tools to remove the tendrils from themselves and still slowing down the people who can as they have to dedicate time to clearing them or pushing through. upgrades would include increasing the strength and durability of the tendrils, increasing the amount of tendrils that can be summoned, and covering the tendrils in small spikes that have a non-lethal poison which knocks out anyone who is fully constricted and slowing and weakening anyone else who touches them.

With this powerset we've defined Taylor's powers as revolving around transforming and shifting around parts of herself to perform different things she would never be capable of doing otherwise, while still following the rules set out at the start and clearly functionally and aesthetically being void powers granted to her by the outsider. thoughts and opinions would be appreciated!

[disarmd]

Yesss I've been waiting for this opportunity! 😂 I'd love directors commentary on the scene at McLaren manor at the start of chapter three of In Absentia! I feel like there's just SO much there in terms of characterization and relationship dynamics 🧡

[director's commentary] ooooooh, thanks for this prompt, nonnie, i'd love to!!! i ended up having so much to say about this... i literally typed for longer than the original scene. soooo, great choice!

A dinner party at McLaren Manner, the precise navigation of friendly and career development. People were glad to see Lando and spoke to him more than folks usually did when Daniel brought him to events.

with this i was just trying to show that lando had been making friends in the background. fun to write in the slice-of-life short scenes style, because inherently there's less need for connectivity between scenes. which is not to say that i didn't still spend a lot of time moving things around and trying to figure out the right sequence of events to build the narrative. i'd originally planned on this scene happening earlier, so it would be closer to daniel's big battle adventure in the first chapter, but then i needed more to have developed between lando and daniel so the next scene after this one of them at home would have more of an earned kindness. anyway, daniel doesn't see every moment of lando's life, and off screen lando is often inexplicably charming people. i think of irl lando and how genuinely glad everyone seemed to be for him when he got his first win, and imagine this world's version of that where he just manages to be very well liked despite not trying for that in any competent way.

They’d been rehashing the latest campaign — two steps back from where they wanted, needed, to be — when Zak turned to Lando and said, “I bet you were worried about Daniel when he was gone for so long. You must have wondered if he was actually coming back.”

It was passive aggressive, though Daniel wasn’t sure if everyone else at the table would be able to tell. The siege had taken too long and returned little yield. No one had been glad with the results when they got back.

not that i was trying very very hard to weave canon into the story, but a little daniel at mclaren throw back when he was getting blamed for the car not being fast.

“Why would I worry about Daniel?” Lando asked, that careless way he went on talking for too long. “He owns me until he dies. Best case scenario for me.”

He was truly such a blister, such a wretched annoyance in his every waking breath, but Daniel smiled, because he knew that to be true. And he knew the desperate way Lando’d fucked himself to orgasm on Daniel’s cock when Daniel returned. Both things were true.

the way daniel can kind of fracture his relationship with lando into different parts because he's fractured himself into different parts. like who he was when he was young and people hurt him badly, and who he learned to be, and how that meant hurting other people instead. he sees himself as coming to the end of his life and how he's become neither of those things, so now he mostly feels like nothing. but then he's got moments of being both those other selves, and then obviously all the times when he's triggered in other parts of the story and feels like he's back there living it.

He leaned toward Lando and said, quietly, but not so quietly that no one could hear: “Your mouth’s as leaky as your cunt.”

Lando nuzzled into his hand, putting on a pretty tilt to his head, looking up at Daniel through his eyelashes. He seemed to understand the thin ground on which he tread. When Daniel shoved, he went to his knees beneath the table. He warmed Daniel’s cock while the rest of them played cards.

didn't say anything here, because daniel's not thinking about it, he's just focusing on what he needs to do, which is show dominance over lando to reestablish the power imbalance and charm the table to gain social capital for professional purposes. but at the end of the next scene, daniel acknowledges that this was difficult for him. he has a really difficult time feeling like he's being forced to do anything sexual (which sometimes we saw him doing to himself in a way that was obviously bad for lando, worse for lando, but also not good for daniel). and having to perform like this - which is mentioned in the scene where he plays the lute where he allows himself to remember the ways he'd been horrifically trained to perform - is far more difficult for daniel than anyone in the room understands. but also, you know, it's the unhinged porn verse, and i think the interplay between lando and daniel is sort of hot, like the ways lando shows agency and then the times he chooses to let daniel have power. like obviously daniel has legitimate power over lando because he literally owns him, but in the non diegetic bdsm way, i was also playing around with those moments of actual "submission", which can only happen if lando chooses to give it. like obviously they have to do something because of the outside threat against further harm coming to lando, for sure, but probably daniel as well, so it's not literally consensual. but lando chooses to make it easier for daniel, to immediately cooperate, to show deference. daniel doesn't notice, because he's mostly dissociating, but i think lando also rubs his calves a little under the table, a touch that was just for them, which daniel would have liked if he'd noticed.

Daniel played hard then folded when he knew he was going to win, even though he could ill afford to lose the coin. He needed Zak to put him on another campaign. He’d already run through the little he’d taken home last time, and was not entirely confident he could pay all his debts next month.

He cursed his poor luck and got them all laughing. He said Zak would have to send him out to find more coin to barter next time, and ignored the stare Zak had fixed on Lando.

and like in the same way this lando is liked, wanted to show this daniel having irl daniel's social skills, his ability to read a room and seduce an entire group of men. that balance between how he fits the masculine ideal, his objectively strong physical capabilities, and then also the way's he can be visibly and, i think, invisibly vulnerable. in this, daniel needing something (money), which gives men power over him. and then the compounding impact of the power men had over him when he was a trainee when he was young. i feel like daniel would have a sense of the threat other men would be to lando in a way that men who hadn't had his experience wouldn't notice. like he's "ignoring" the stare in that he's not challenging zak on it while he's fawning, but he clocks it for sure. and then i wanted it to feel more intense after reading the next scene, where daniel tells lando that zak's expecting to own him again shortly, just as soon as daniel dies.

anyway, that's the end of the scene, but as if i haven't talked enough already, but part of the thing i had trouble deciding when i was planning the build of the story was where to put all this relative to lando asking to get fucked in the pussy. because, this was the start of the turning point where other types of power start balancing out a little in their relationship and they become something closer to partners.

the other way to sequence the events would have been to have lando ask for daniel to fuck his cunt after this conversation, where that bond of a level of something closer to trust has started to form. which would have also moved it closer in the general direction of consensual (obviously, daniel literally owns him, it's factually non con, but you know what i mean. within the context).

but i ended up not doing that - as you know from having read the story, haha. part of the specific tone i was trying to do for this story was to have things happen that were objectively wrong. and not to dodge away from the premise (sex slaves) and have the story try to convince you that it's conforming to a real world standard of ethics.

plus, i think for lando the trust required to ask daniel to fuck his cunt (something he thought was going to happen on his 25th birthday anyway) is significantly less that what it took for him to become financially transparent. ... more financially transparent, anyway. the bag of money he brings daniel in the next part is not the only he had squirrelled away.

(and are lando's chicken races unrealistically profitable? you just have to understand that he's effectively swindling every single person every step of the way. he's getting money or trade or exchange of favour from absolutely everyone. this lando has, through necessity, become much better at lying than our lando.)

Anyway, if you read all this you’re a hero and I love you.

[7grandmel]

Rip of the week: 27/01/2025

Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix)

Season 5 No Album Release (Read More) Concrete Jungle (Concrete Man Stage) (Alpha Mix) - Mega Man 9

Ripper Unknown

Requested by fezaki! (Discord)

The big appeal of Season 5 of SiIvaGunner for me, four years after the fact, is that it contains so many gems that I'm yet to discover, due to my detachment from the channel during 2021. I've been the song and dance a number of times; despite a handful of cool happenings like the Masked Wolf / Yankin' rivalry covered on Epic Rap Battles of History: Funny vs. Funnier, and the neat audio drama stories like what I discussed on Knowledge of the Depths, this was the year where the channel felt rather aimless in overall direction going forward. Without a huge investment in the ongoing story, I myself felt less engaged to want to investigate every uploaded rip as closely as I otherwise would have wanted to; yet despite lacking in overall direction, the production quality of rips had begun reaching previously unseen highs. Though the King for Another Day Tournament had ended two years prior, it felt to me as if the quality that said event promised had begun seeping into the channel's everyday uploads, as if the team had understood that layered, ambitious arrangements and mashups were just as appealing outside of events as they were as part of them. As a result of all this, Season 5 saw TONS of rips just like Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix); tragically underrated, largely divorced from the channel's goings-ons, yet OH so deliciously quality.

Sometimes, the great appeal of a rip is understood right from just hearing the concept. Joke lists on wikis can't always communicate immediately the effectiveness of a YTPMV, mashup or arrangement, be it the inherent comedic sound to Slope Dude's mix of sources, the sheer audacity and polish of no more nuzzles in my skin, or the context that surrounds a meme as dense in history as Bottom G and Lagplane. Yet with Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix), after seeing it amidst my requests and searching for it on the wiki, it clicked IMMEDIATELY just why this rip was worth discussing. Soulja Boy is a character who's been around in ripping circles since the channel's earliest days, an icon prominent in the SoundClown shitposting scene that SiIvaGunner grew out of; and a single glance at Dr. Soulja should be enough to immediately tell you why. From the listener's perspective, its an immediately charming and funny source, be it from the iconic steel drums and finger-snapping percussion or how its paired with the dorky, almost pathetic attempt at coolness that Soulja Boy's performance in Crank That evokes. From the perspective of the ripper, Crank That is in the same category as songs like Space Jam discussed on Hoopache and the yet-to-be-covered Chip tha Ripper freestyle; As comedic rap music with 4/4 time signatures andimmediately recognizable, funny-sounding beats, they're almost comically easy to just drag-and-drop on top of existing 4/4 video game music with little to no tweaking. It was their ease of production, and how it led to an absolute overabundance of low-effort rips throughout Season 1, that resulted in the entire Mr. Rental storyline covered on Mr. Rental [B Side] ~ Out of Options; its this entry-level skill floor that makes rips like The Jamminest of All stand out immediately in quality; and, indeed, it's the knowledge that all Soulja Boy is good for is his funny sound on Crank That that makes Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix) such an immediate stand-out.

Indeed, as you may well hear from just a few seconds of listening; Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix) is far from your everyday Soulja Boy rip, reinventing the scene even after Season 4 Episode 2 had already done so a year prior through the Crank That revitalization covered on Koopa Street. It is, paradoxical as it may sound, a Soulja Boy rip *without* Crank That in focus; still filled with Soulja Boy's immediately identifiable, half-hearted attempts at self-confidence, but notably lacking in those immediately identifiable steel drums. They're still there, to be clear - they make an absolutely triumphant appearance midway through the song playing whats best described as a backing-instrumental solo at 0:44 - but a majority of the rip is instead spent covering the separate Soulja Boy hit Bird Walk. Comparatively, it's notably quite a louder song than Crank That; the vocals layered and reverberating make Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix) sound almost oppressively excited, like you're listening to a group of cheering Soulja Boys in the stands, their cheering given amazing melodic direction through Concrete Jungle's fast-paced melody. Deeper in the mix, you can indeed hear that Bird Walk's lead vocals are pitched to follow along said melody in a way similar to rips like I will Never be a Redneck, yet its fittingly buried underneath the loudness of Bird Walk's vocals mashed up with the melody, the chiptune lead still also playing entirely unaltered right alongside it.

As someone completely unengaged in the larger Soulja Boy discography, the rip is a genuinely super fun listen in large part due to how familiar-yet-unfamiliar it sounds throughout. You hear bits and pieces of Crank That, you can identify Soulja Boy's unmistakeable swagger, and yet it never *quite* sounds like something you've heard before; which, honestly, makes it pretty funny that the rip is using music from Mega Man 9 in particular. The game Aiming to more or less be a spiritual throwback to Mega Man 2 in every way but name, the Concrete Jungle theme can pretty easily be compared directly to Wood Man's Stage theme in structure and the level it's used within; a comparison only made funnier given Wood Man's own high importance on SiIvaGunner itself as written about back on Nice, Slick, Blackness. In that sense, intentional as it may or may not have been, Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix) is almost like a bizarre, alternate-reality version of the kind of rip you'd expect to hear during Season 1 or Season 2; Soulja Boy and Wood Man, but it's not quite Soulja Boy, and it's not quite Wood Man, and yet its an absolute indisputable banger despite those restrictions. The, pardon the choice of words, uncanny feel of the rip is only emphasized by how, per the Wiki, two of the songs of which pieces of are used in the mix remain completely unidentified; nevertheless, they add to the cacophony in a way that still feels composed just enough to stay on track. Variety and escalation, like I've discussed on rips like Be Cool, Be Wild and Be My Girl, is the secret spice to making a SiIvaGunner rip truly memorable, and these little sprinkles keep the rip's energy topped up throughout its 3-minute runtime.

It's a damn shame that the rip's author remains completely unidentified, as there is tons of small little details in execution that I feel the need to commend. There's so much fun had throughout the rip, combining Bird Walk with whatever additional sources join the mix in ways both subtle and blatant, the aforementioned occasional but understated appearances of Crank That's steel drums, or, as also mentioned briefly before, how the rip still insists on having a quiet vocal lead pitch-shifted to Concrete Jungle's melody despite ultimately being secondary to the mashup playing above it. In particular, though, there's a moment right around 01:11, just a few seconds after the first unidentified source is added to the mix, where the progression of the song - its percussion, backing, melody, etc. - is halted for a split second, just to recapture a vocal quirk of the newly-added source. It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, the kind of subtle tweak for flavor I otherwise associate with rips by recognized rippers like Eazystep or Sweatpants Select; and yet here it is within Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix), an album-less, less-than-20K-views, 4-years old uncredited rip that I only found out about from a chance encounter on my submission spreadsheet. And it's a rip that's not just well made, but one that takes perhaps the most played out concept in all of SoundClown history - 4/4ths rap mashups - and twists and subverts your every expectation on them in ways you never thought SiIvaGunner could do five whole years into its run. That right there is, once again, the absolute magic of Season 5 SiIvaGunner for me in action; that classics on the level of Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix), rips waiting to showcase the ground they've secretly broken in being conceptually genius and filled with quality in execution, could just be waiting around every corner.

[thevegetablewhichnoonedaresname]

I'm gonna be honest, there are some books that I will just never care about seeing on screen even if the adaptation is really great and cool and faithful, because narrative voice is a thing that doesn't translate to screen and it's too big a part of the charm and experience for me.

I cannot ever see myself liking a Percy Jackson or Murderbot Diaries adaptation. Now, both of those present different challenges: I think Percy Jackson's world and story are better suited to a visual adaptation, for one thing, because there's plenty of cool locations and action and dialogue to build on, where a lot of Murderbot Diaries happens internally. But, like, personally... I just don't know that I care as much about Percy Jackson without Percy's narration. I couldn't get into Heroes of Olympus (even though I finished it), and that was the main reason why.

Even more so with Murderbot Diaries--you tell me you'd care even a fraction of the amount you do if we weren't riding shotgun in Murderbot's head. Pretend with me for a second that you don't know Murderbot yet and you're watching all that go down for the first time from the outside. There's nothing left. That is not a series that's heavy on worldbuilding or even plot, and that isn't a dis! It's not supposed to be. It's about a character. More specifically, the way that character experiences and interacts with the world, and how the rest of the world interacts with it. To take away Murderbot's narration is to take away anything that makes the series anything.

And this doesn't only go for series with first-person narration: I feel similarly about The Mysterious Benedict Society and the How to Train Your Dragon books. TMBS is mostly third person limited from Reynie's POV, with occasional switches to other characters. But all the characters have a good amount of interiority, and a lot of really good moments happen when a character is overcoming something in their own head (Kate and the bomb in the second book still lives rent-free in my head--like, you COULD show her anger visually, but I don't know if the conflict fully hits without being able to see her thought process). And yeah, I like being in Hiccup's head for the HTTYD books, but the snarky, quirky, adjective-riddled narrative voice is so important for the comedic, irreverent tone of those books that I'm not sure how you'd achieve the same thing in a visual medium.

I'm not saying I've never liked a book adaptation. I think The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe was good. The narration is relatively straightforward and omniscient, so I don't think we lose a lot, and the visuals are great. I'm also definitely not saying that adaptations of these books (or others) would be inherently bad! I'm just saying that personally, once I've been in a characters head, getting booted out feels like being deprived of or missing something, and since there's no good way to avoid that in a medium switch, I am largely unable to enjoy them as much as I would like to.

[pbear]

One thing I've always felt about Miraculous is that it has good potential and the ideas are there but they're not developed in the right ways that make it a good series. After watching the movie, I just felt it even more.

The animation. Gorgeous. Looking at this movie felt good.

The songs. Not great. Especially since they didn't get Cristina Vee to sing (why?). They weren't bad songs but they weren't anything special to me. Although, I did like how the song about Marinette first becoming Ladybug was to the tune of the theme song.

I've seen so many people saying how Movie!Gabriel is better than Show!Gabriel and they're right. I felt like I got his motivation a little better from the scenes where he remembers Emilie.

Master Fu is so extra in this. It's funny.

I'm not sure how I felt about Tikki and Plagg running off to find their own users. In the show, I liked that Master Fu chose Marinette and Adrien after they showed him kindness (and that happens with Marinette), but I also do like that these mystical creatures have their own judgment on who holds their power.

Honestly, more Alya and Nino wanted. More of Marinette and Adrien in their everyday lives instead of as superheroes would have been interesting too.

Definitely more magical aspects to the powers of the Miraculous. Like, that yo-yo was dragging Marinette everywhere before she had control over it. Cat Noir didn't show as much as that which was something I liked from the show. That Adrien felt more comfortable in the superhero role before Marinette.

Also, NO LUCKY CHARM????

We saw Cataclysm once, although it didn't work out in their favor and Ladybug fixed everything at the end but I was waiting on that Lucky Charm.

Also, no Chat Noir transformation sequence. I would have liked if he got at least one dramatic one like Ladybug.

Bro, they're finally equals and working as partners and that's the importance of taking down villains is to work together. The show could never.

The intro painted the Butterfly miraculous as inherently evil which I get because you need it for the plot. But I always believed that the Miraculous were powerful objects and that one is not evil or good. It depends on the person wielding it whether that power is used for good or bad.

The movie shows you can have a satisfying reveal without needing over a hundred episodes for it.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. It summed up the parts I liked about the show and put them together nicely. The show isn't bad. The biggest problem I have with it is that it's unsatisfying because everything is drawn out and it feels like we're going nowhere at times. That's why I dropped it so to be fair I cannot speak on most of season 5.

I don't know if we'll get another movie like this one (the ending suggested something). I don't think we need one if we don't because this wrapped things up well.

[leagueofgardens]

Assault Lily × Ludvico Private Girls' Academy: The Blade of Truth

For obvious reasons, I'm not writing the full title of the play.

Ever since The Gleam of Dawn had its run earlier this year, my opinion has been that it was the best individual one of the Assault Lily stage plays, but the Ludvico quartet (in their revival versions when those existed) are the best series. And though The Blade of Truth was by no means bad and a worthy finale to the series, my opinion hasn't changed.

Extensive spoilers for the play below. Don't click unless you want to be spoiled! (Also, I talk about death, so a content warning for that.)

The Blade of Truth is actually the only one of the Ludvico stage plays that I've watched the original 2019 performance of, because there was no alternative at the time I was first watching the series. It was… okay. Definitely rough compared to the revivals, but I wasn't sure how much of it was inherent and how much was because of the lower budget those plays were working with.

It turns out that at least a little of it was inherent, but I'll focus on what was good first.

BoT 2023 (I'll abbreviate it as that from now on) was excellently produced. Assault Lily's stage tradition of projecting video onto the stage came out crystal clear, for nearly the first time ever, and was used to great effect every scene it happened in.

Though the choreography wasn't quite as fancy as The Gleam of Dawn's, it was frequently impressive, and the playwright/director duo of Sakuragi Sayaka and Hayashi Shuuji elevated their trademark of simultaneous scenes to new heights by occasionally having important conversations take place on one half of the stage while battles occurred on the other.

The story was an improvement over the 2019 version with a variety of small changes to the script, and possibly also thanks to the years of extra experience the actresses and staff have. Asahi and Nagisa were adorable together, the flashback scenes with Kazane made her feel less like just Mirai #2, Ichika and Karen both got even cooler, Himari was a lot more likeable, and Nonoka's scenes were somehow even funnier.

In the back half, Professor Amamiya "installing" himself into Kosaka the same way various other characters have makes a lot more sense than the 2019 version's brain transplant. I feel really bad for Kosaka, since she seems to momentarily regain her original personality just before she dies… well, no one ever said Assault Lily stories have happy endings for everyone.

Also, Pius seems to have mostly recovered from whatever issue they had in 2022 where the stage cameras and microphones precipitously dropped in quality (maybe Bushiroad gave them loaners and took them back when they pulled out of the Assault Lily project?)

What wasn't so great? Well, it's an ongoing thing with the Ludvico series, but the plain-looking hairstyles/costumes and boring CHARMs are disappointing coming from the other stage plays. They provide the advantage that they avoid having the occasional ugly-as-sin wig (like Kasumiko's in The Gleam of Dawn,) but I wish the crew had at least used different shades of natural hair so the characters are easier to tell apart. I don't see why Yuko couldn't be a blonde and so forth.

In BoT 2023, a reasonable amount of characters have custom CHARMs (or at least less common ones like Kazane's Triglav,) but I'll be quite happy if I never see another Dainsleif Carbine or Gungnir Carbine again in my life.

I'm still not a fan of The Blade of Truth's plot, particularly the second half. I've always been disappointed by Assault Lily's dull villains and feel that Toda Kotohi is the only one, in any part of the media mix, who's genuinely a great character. A bunch of nuns and Kosaka-sensei repeatedly screaming "This is for the good of humanity!" haven't changed my mind on that.

The fights were really cool, and Makabe and Kosaka in particular have their moments, but I wish we knew more about what they were actually trying to accomplish instead of them just seeming crazy.

While Sakuragi may have felt she couldn't make a change that drastic to the script in a revival, I think Ichika should have died when Makabe shot her. It really undermined the impact of that moment when she was just fine later, and more broadly I feel that Assault Lily's aversion to allowing even a single Lily to die in the present clashes badly with how its strongest plotlines are based on the deaths of characters in the past, like Mirai.

If Yuria had died in the previous Ludvico play, that would be fine too. Just kill someone. Anyone!

I feel very edgy saying that, but I really believe AL tests the limits of our disbelief with how everything, all of a sudden, always turns out just fine for the Lilies. (Unless you're a teacher, in which case you have a 75% chance of dying horribly.)

Anyway. BoT 2023 is a solid play, not the best Assault Lily stage play and not the best Ludvico one either (I think that's probably Schwester's Secret), but well worth watching. Don't miss it… though it's a little late to say that now.

[goblin-enjoyer]

Uh homestuck review type thingy before i go to bed.

reading homestuck has definitely been a trip. having to deal with and figure out how to work with some signs of old internet age, despite using the collection. trying to download some kind of app only for it to work worse than the main one. having to go to the original site as some of the more special links didn't work on the unofficial collection. having to sync up music. all these and probably more I had to deal with to read homestuck. definitely got me more invested ill tell you that much! liked a decent chunk of the humor, disliked another decent chunk of it as well, am neutral on other jokes n' such. some of the stuff early on doesn't age well but it gets better the farther you get in. the 4th wall stuff and all the non main story stuff swung a pendulum (hekekkek) between very fun and enjoyable to grading and annoying. I liked most of the characters though a few I wish got more screentime and interactions and a few I wish were a bit less president in some parts. the "shipping" stuff was inherently confusing and at times annoying for me, nothing stable, often felt like some pairings, both friend and relation ship, could be in the forefront in one part but then completely dissipate over a timeskip. though i will admit i did get somewhat interested at around the end when things were starting to get more stable. (favorite pairings friendship or relationship go as follows: terezi and dave. some of my favorite characters with a great dynamic, really wish they got to interact more, even after the offscreen hook up and break up. > Rose and Kanaya. great solid pairing to the end! also could have used a bit more time for development, but overall better off than most. they work really well as a dynamic duo. > John and Vriska. eh I could take or leave the relationship but I did like their friendship and wish their interactions didn't end so abruptly as they did) Speaking of confusing things, time travel. I feel like that and the fact that this is a early to mid 2010s webcomic should clue you in to how confusing this aspect can be at times.

Overall thoughts: I liked quite a bit of it, though I also disliked a decent few chunks of it. unlike most things I cant quite say I'm neutral on homestuck. not actively positive, yet not actively negative. but I still have some feelings on the thing, I just cant really make them out as the line between "thing I like enough to start putting the characters in situations" and "thank goodness I'm finally done with this piece of crap". Would I recommend reading it, even if you get it working better than I can? no, not at all. Did I enjoy reading it? other than a few issues, Yes! it was fun to read and experience, a real bit of ancient internet history and time capsule from right around the time i was first exploring the internet as a wee unknowing child of roughly 7-13. despite not going around that area much at the time, it still felt a bit nostalgic reading an mspaint internet comic from that era. an enjoyable romp threw a time before the internet was as part of daily life as it is today, while not quite being from back from the dawn of the thing. Reading homestuck definitely had me in awe with hindsight at times with finding out how deep its roots were in the internet. I will never roam the internet the same way again. but i think I've rattled on about homestuck being stuck in that sweet spot of old internet for too long so ill try and give my summarizing words here without going off on side rambles for too long, its like 2:30 am and i should probably try and get my sleep schedule back after having it messed up for like a week. (thank you eternally obnoxious BRAIN. and to a lesser extent the new world of warcraft expansion and homestuck cliffhangers)

Summary of sorts: I wouldn't call homestuck "good" but I wouldn't call it "bad" either. It is confusing, annoying and doesn't work half the time but when it does it oozes with charm, humorous bits that can crack open the core of anyone who likes older memes and internet humor and great music that gets stuck in playlists but not in your head. (in a good way) I would not recommend reading it as it takes time, effort and patience for a variety of things as well as a high tolerance for a bunch of stuff I'm getting to tired to mention. but i am glad I experienced it and I doubt you would too if you did dropkick my and many others warnings into a ditch and read the accursed thing. heck your on tumblr, you probably already accustomed to humor like that in homestuck! I don't know how to finish this so here's a funny skeleton gif to tide yall over as I go spellcheck everything and go write the tags.

[zepskies]

Aw yay! Good to know! 💜 And wonderful. I'm glad to hear that! I've been getting nothing but rainstorms and flood warnings where I live lmao.

Oooh you've intrigued me with Assistant to the Villain! I'll have to check that out. I've also heard of ACOTAR but haven't read that yet either. 🫣 Both are going on my list!

I love that you love AUs though. I see where you're coming from. There is much more freedom and creativity when it comes to the setting and characters. And you're right, there's more pressure to be factually accurate to the plot with canon stories. (Personally I kind of like that. My brain craves structure lol. But at the same time, I love the creativity of AUs!)

What parts of Dean are Dean because of hunting and what is inherently him? What can I push and twist as part of Dean when I make him a cop, a firefighter, a doctor, etc? I love finding ways to make him a hero outside of hunting, give him opportunities to be loved in a way he couldn't in the show, etc.

I love every part of this! 💕

And lmao I smiled all while reading your FMK choices. Great minds think alike!! Dean is such a part of my fangirl soul at this point. It's impossible not to choose him for "marry." 🥰

(And OMG someone that shares my finale thoughts! Boy should have been able to live a long life with his dog and a nice girl).

Girl exactly. That's half the reason I wrote the Midnight Espresso series (especially the "finale," which acts as a S15 fix).

But honestly if I could I'd "marry" Beau too. That man is pure sunshine. 🤠

I can only imagine his sweet southern charm turning a little....heated during a make out session. 😂

LOL exactly. 😏

Anywho, yes please do send me questions anytime, friend! I'll be sure to do the same for you when they come to me. 💜

Hi Zep! I'm back for more random fanfic & writing questions! First, do you prefer writing canon type stories or AU's? Or do you let the idea influence which category it falls under more? Second, do you only write fanfic or do you do your own personal writing too? I fully believe you could (and should) write a novel someday if you desired! You're so talented and I'd love to see what you could come up with. Lastly because I want to, FMK for Dean, Beau and Ben? 👀 Hope you're having a good weekend!

Hello, my friend! (Can I call you Michelle? I see that in your bio. 💜) I'm having a great weekend, thank you! I hope you are as well.

Oooh, these are great questions!!

Canon vs. AU Stories

So when it comes to fanfic, I have more experience with canon stories, but I enjoy reading and writing both canon and AU depending on the premise. For example, reading a firefighter!Dean story (and my love of Chicago Fire and other procedurals) led me to write Smoke Eater, my first full SPN AU story.

Writing an AU is more challenging in my opinion, because you're doing more extensive worldbuilding and character building than stories in a canon storyverse. Smoke Eater was much more challenging for me to write than Never Say Goodbye, for example, which is a soulmate AU within the canon SPN world.

A Book Maybe?

Second, do you only write fanfic or do you do your own personal writing too? I fully believe you could (and should) write a novel someday if you desired! You're so talented and I'd love to see what you could come up with.

Aw thank you very much, love!! I so appreciate you for saying that. 🥰🥰

Yes, I've actually been working on a novel for the past couple of years. I've taken a break from it since I've been writing so much fanfic lmao. But it's actually a a fantasy/romance. (Think Bridgerton and Howl's Moving Castle meets GoT, with less violence, lots of drama, and a bit more magic lol.) I had a major breakthrough in my draft and outline a few weeks ago, so my goal is to finish it this year! 💕💕

FMK With Dean, Beau, and Ben

Oh shiiiiit. Girl, you tryna kill me??? 😭😭😭

Okay. Because I could never "Kill" any of these men, I'll sub that for "Kiss."

First, I'm gonna have to fuck Ben. Because...yeah. 🥵

(And sorry but aside from BMD-verse Ben, I think I'd tear my hair out with this guy as my partner, if he didn't break my back first. 🤣)

Next, I think I have to...and shit this is hard, but I'm gonna have to kiss Beau.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this cowboy sheriff with all my heart and soul, and he would undoubtedly treat me right (once we got him into therapy for some of his trauma).

But...

Dean has held my heart the longest out of these three. He's flawed and has trauma beyond belief, but I'd love to give him the loving, comforting, supportive relationship he always deserved on the show. (And then fix that fucked up ending for sure.)

And for that reason, I'd have to marry Dean.

@luci-in-trenchcoats I would also love to hear your thoughts on writing canon vs. AU, since you've written so much of both. What's your favorite, and which do you find more challenging?

Also, since you tied me into knots with this question, right back at ya!! FMK with Dean, Beau, and Benjamin. 😘

[hermajestyimher]

Individuality Series Part I: Do You Really Need That Relationship to be Happy?

It seems like for many the thought of living life without a companion by their side, even if for a short period of time, is unbearable. And it's hard to blame them for it. From birth, we are bombarded by society to believe that we must be inadequate if we don't pursue romantic relationships and prioritize them in our lives. This is especially true for women and girls.

I am here to tell you that not only is there nothing wrong with singleness, but it can actually be a blessing in disguise.

I've always been an individual, since childhood I've stood out from the crowd, and while like many other children my age I daydreamed of fantasies of being with prince charming and what my life may look like as I grew up with a boyfriend and later husband, dating was never at the forefront of my life growing up. Now, as a young adult who is working very hard to make a name for herself, I've come to realize that much of the pressure we often put on ourselves to be in a relationship is unnecessary and quite frankly, toxic.

Not only is today's dating scene completely awful in many ways - especially for women with high standards for themselves and others - but the hyper fixation we often times give to having a partner often times derails us from our long-term goals and puts us in situations that can potentially harm us n many ways. From STDs, unwanted pregnancies, soul ties, abuse, and control, or simply bad influencing from someone we consider a romantic partner, giving our time, space, and body to those who do not deserve is a recipe for disaster.

There is power in solitude and individuality. There is power in having a clear focus on the things we want out of life and finding joy outside of romantic relationships. Life is full of so many beautiful experiences awaiting for us to tune into them, but we need to have a clear and clean state of mind to do so, and this is impossible when all our attention goes towards trying to impress and be with people who can only push us down.

This isn't to say that romantic relationships are inherently harmful - far from it. But for those who are interested in being in one, it's always best to allow them to develop naturally when you least expect it. To ensure that you aren't desperate to be in one and end up settling for people you know are not a good fit for the sake of being in one.

When you are secure in yourself and you know you don't need someone to be happy and feel fulfilled, is when you can allow those who are truly great for you into your life at the right time.

[tenebrius-excellium]

As promised, I'm here with a longer reply to your many comments @queenofthearchipelago @common-or-garden-blog @jan30els @always-amity @anhttydbookfan @makisez @dopscratch!

TL;DR: I watched the movies first and love them. I only listened to the books once and may have already forgotten stuff. The depressed vibe I noticed was there independent from the books' plot - it makes me uncomfortable - , and I can't get over the plot holes. For a book series which clearly intends to comment on society, these reasons make it fall short of believability and expectations.

A couple things to begin with:

a) I have watched all of the movies first and they have captured my entire heart. I knew the books were very different but this might explain part of why I ended up not liking the book vibe very much.

b) I have listened to the Httyd audio books exactly once. There is a great chance I have missed some important details which I am now unable to recall. The above post simply refers to the overall feeling that lingered after experiencing the plot for the first, and only, time.

c) Having been to Scotland myself, the larger book themes of depression, helplessness, horror, cannibalism, madness, poison, and slavery confuse me because they cannot be attributed as common traits to this allegedly deadly and unforgiving land, which might have served to "inspire" the tales. Scotland is beautiful. Scotland is witty, and funny, and magical. It definitely has that special kind of viking charme which expressed itself in dirt, disgust, weird games and habits, territorial squabbles, loudness and pride, song and drink in the books. Scotland is rainy and muddy and cold and damp. Sure. But did you know it is dotted in shrubs of brightly yellow gorse, which smell of coconut? Did you know the shallow waters along the shorelines are covered in orange starfish? Did you know the birds there are giant dorks, and that Scottish forests are paradisial and lush, rivaling Irish fairytale bliss, when left alone instead of mass-harvested as monocultures? Did you know that the culture produces an abundance of fantastic whiskey, haggis, scones, and cheese?

Even higher up North towards Norway or Iceland, you'd get the aurora borealis along with colorfully painted houses. What I'm trying to say is that the darker Httyd book themes are not directly tied to the country, its history or its culture after all. They cannot be justified or otherwise explained by the location alone. The region doesn't have to be depressing in itself, not even in the year 900. So the story happens independently and does not reflect the cozyness of what Scotland can be if it wants to. I take issue with this. Because why would you merely focus on the negative traits that the European North has to offer, choosing to tell an especially hopeless story to children on purpose? Where's the inherent beauty and fun? Regarding the overall selection of the topics, I'm sensing a strong personal connotation, specifically a private struggle with the freeze response and depression on the author's part, and I don't like it. I've never taken issue with certain amounts of sinisterness, or with temporal lows in a story. But this particular author's lense, this specific perspective lined with horrible, crippling depression never leaves the pages. I'd rather not fill my mind with it for the full duration of twelve books tbh. If it were finally defeated, okay, but it never gets defeated. Thus, it can affect the reader beyond the conclusion of the final book. And I don't wish that on myself, nor on any kid. Ever.

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Now about the stories themselves; frankly, I believe it's the plot holes that spoil them for me. The Httyd books are RIDDLED with plot holes and alternate logic. I don't get it. There are AWESOME and super powerful real life metaphors in there - like with Humongous, who nearly killed the wrong guy over false information, or with Valhallarama, who was able to turn the symbolism of the Slavemark around. ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIC STUFF.

The books are also HIGHLY ENTERTAINING because of their absurd creativity. The nine fiancés? GOLD. The Romans???? INCREDIBLE. Nano dragons and treasures and a quest for America and the double-bladed axe???? IMPECCABLE. Stoick and Bertha's bickering? MY HEART. Camicazi? GLORIOUS. Snotlout's final speech? TOUCHING.

I was able to overlook so much of what was rather loosely thrown together in the name of "it's a quirky children's book" and "let's see where they take this universe-wide anti-slavery war".

...................and then there's the part where Hiccup casually sells out the Hairy Scary Librarian to Madguts. And it just ruins EVERYTHING for me. To me, this action of his goes against the very core of his beliefs and destroys his credibility. Hiccup would NEVER.

And again, with all that wonderful alternate logic on hand, ... WHY would you then choose to want to tell a story like this. WHY would you choose this ending, if you could also magically fabricate a sudden victory if you wanted to instead? Why would you leave it on this notion of a truce which everyone knows is failed from the start, and on a faint, dream-like, future hope, instead of a roaring success in the present? The story is not true. The message it gives is not realistic. It is bound to lean into the depressed lense, and it paints world history as doomed because humanity is made unable to change. Even if the victory lies beyond the books, humanity is overall better than how it was depicted in those stories. To me, there is not enough reason as to why Hiccup is the only option to be King. There is not even enough reason to need a King at all. The power which causes the King's Things to flock to him remains a suspiciously opaque mystery. Trusting in fate isn't enough to solve all of those tangible problems. The dragons are bleeding out from betrayal and heartbreak and an official crown with a promise, even from a person like Hiccup, is supposed to fix it. Yeah Idk I'm with Furious on this. I don't buy it. Sorryyy T_T

Funnily enough, the movies deal with the flaws of the books to an extent. They are meticulously realistic. They utilize the natural beauty and the features that the Northern Realm comes with. They also choose radical hope, and friendship instead of despair. Even a villain as utterly pointless, depressing, needlessly violent and senselessly stupid as Grimmel couldn't prevent a happy ending from seeping through, as it's canon that the dragons and the humans just couldn't stay away from one another no matter how hard they tried to distance themselves. Curiosity, love, and the need to educate future generations got the better of everyone - ex-universe creators as well as in-universe characters. People couldn't help but see everyone happily together in the end. The cheap, sappy existence of Homecoming proves it. Yet THAT'S somehow the truth. Separation isn't needed to prevent war - it's the opposite, regular communication is needed. The Httyd books are just biased towards every inhabitant of the Barbaric Archipelago, be it dragon or human, having intemperately negative or incompetent values except for Hiccup.

They are not a reflection of reality. Not in the way the fandom has interpreted them, anyway. That's sort of my take on it, and I'm sad that I can't really provide a nicer opinion. I wanted to like the books, believe me. Up until Book 4 I'd say they're okay. Book 8 has permanently altered my brain lol. But I feel more comfortable sticking to the message of the movies. Having listened to the audiobooks now, I treasure all the more what Dean Deblois and the team have done to the material in the animated movies. I like the movies better. Yeah. Hm. I hope you were somehow able to follow my reasoning with all of this.

This said, no shade to anyone in the book fandom!!!!! I'm glad for everyone who enjoys the books, you guys are some of the most wonderful people I've ever encountered and you have so much more to talk about amongst each other in the httyd community! The fandom definitely hits different and deeper for those who know the original lore, and I've enjoyed the tidbits I came across before reading the books myself. Now I like to return and stick with the films. And I'll pretend that the books are cool, because the people who read the books are actually the ones who made this fandom cool, and the fanart I've seen of the books is also really cool. So that's that. <3

The more I think about the Httyd books, the worse they get. I'm so, so sorry fandom. Hiccup deserved so much better than to be King.

As absolutely haunting kids adventures, go for the books, why not, sure!

As a reflection of society, they are the saddest possible version and I can't sign off on them.

[firecoloredwater]

🥺🎢💖👀😬 for the ask game? -💙

<3 <3 <3 Thank you!

...you know it'd help if my computer would actually display all of these emojis. Luckily my phone does so cross referencing time!

(...oh yeah that length thing.)

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

...I can point at it but I'm not sure how to put it into words, but: people understanding and caring about each other, not because they Just Get It When No One Else Does, but because they're okay with not getting it so long as they know what the other person wants/needs.

Also people prioritizing each other in unconventional ways and despite not being expected to. (Whiiiich mostly means 'while not in a romantic or parent/child relationship.')

Basically I like it when characters are important to and care about each other (especially in ways that are very specific to the characters and not culturally standardized), but I want it to be... organic isn't a good word; I like when characters click and I like when they've built something powerful over time, but I very strongly prefer that they could have built something equally good and strong and valuable with other people if they'd made different choices/the situation had been different (or maybe even they have! I love when characters have multiple strong and different relationships), and I tend to be :/ about anything that feels too much like Destined One True Love No One Else Will Ever Love Or Understand You Like This.

(Except that I do enjoy soulmate fics. I am vast and bewildering to myself as well. Although I like a lot of tropes that make things I am otherwise uncomfortable with explicit and a major part of the worldbuilding.)

It's also very easy to get me with characters that are... hm, not rejected entirely, but conditionally tolerated? "You're weird and annoying/otherwise disliked, but you're useful, so we'll be polite, but you're only welcome so long as you're being useful, not as a friend or anything." Or characters that have internalized the idea that they're only acceptable to the extent that they're useful.

Also it's not exactly feels, but I love snarky characters and good banter.

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

...hard to say, but it's probably a Girl Genius fic. That fandom is just wild inherently.

I think if I'd gotten very far with it Yet To Be A Legend probably would have won, since it was meant to be Agatha POV as she broke through and learned that she was a Heterodyne while escaping/adventuring through the wastelands. Buuuut it only got two chapters, so that didn't really happen.

As it is, Somebody Else's Dream might win, because while the actual in-story emotional arc is pretty standard, the context is... I believe @songwithnosoul called it "a charming tale of kidnapping and coercion" and, well, yeah. Yeah. Girl Genius is Like That.

💖 What made you start writing?

Genuinely no idea. The first story I remember writing (outside of school assignments) was because I wanted a character who had escaped her abusive family in canon (Menolly, for those who know Pern) to go home and Show Them All how great she was so they would be forced to recognize how wrong they'd been about her and feel bad about it. So I just started writing it, with full plans to mail it to the author, be praised for how great it was, and have it officially published as part of the canon, because I did not yet know what fandom or fanfic was and thought I was the first person to ever have this idea.

(Luckily I was about 10-11 and abandoned it after about a page and a half, or else Anne McCaffrey, the canon author, would still be suing me.)

I'm pretty sure I'd been writing before that, though, so I have absolutely no idea where it started. It's just a thing I've Always Done, which is actually very inexplicable since my family is fully STEM-oriented and all encouragement was toward Being A Scientist. I was an obsessive reader as a kid though (like, I recall being about 8-9 and being able to read while I walked through the hallways between classes, because I would not put books down even that long), so writing was probably a result of that somehow.

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

Currently all my writing energy is going into either original(ish) stuff or Blessed Sacrifice AU (cowritten with @denialcity/@codedredalert, Naruto Founders "hey what if we took this ship-enabling trope and went WAY into the deep end of worldbuilding and consequences for it? ooh look, a shiny supernatural idea--").

I don't want to get very spoilery, but I'm slowly working on a few side fics (oneshots probably, with another POV, but no major plot developments/not actually necessary to read to know what's going on in the main fics), one from each of Izuna's parents' POVs.

There's also the (not yet titled) next main fic in the series, which will be Tobirama's POV (ooor maybe shared with other Senju), and get into how other clans view the Uchiha and their whole Thing with red-eyed people and yomotsu-shikome. Also Uzumaki religion!

😬 Which of your fics would you be most horrified for friends, family, or coworkers to stumble upon?

*sliiiiides the 45k of problematic city alpha/omega AU behind a curtain*

I feel the need to specify: the alpha/omega is not the source of any of the problematicness. The characters are just awful all on their own. If anything they're actually less problematic in the alpha/omega AU.

Anyway though that one's not getting posted, so really if my... okay well basically all my friends are in fandom one way or another and have probably been linked to my AO3 at some point, that's not saying much.

But if family/coworkers somehow found my AO3, ehhhh whatever. I don't really write smut so, I guess there's the dramatic sort of poetry from when I was 15? But nothing is particularly embarrassing or more personal than People I Know Reading My Writing is in general. If anything family reading my fanfic might be less awkward than them reading my original writing, because the canon provides a bit more interference between me and whatever they read.

Thank you again!

[momtaku]

i feel like one of the biggest issues in the levi fandom in general all comes down to superbowl. i know you're convinced you're right which is cool. but i've read many different metas and takes and i have to say all of them are pretty well supported too. in my honest opinion, i truly think it could go either way. the way u view the super bowl really defines how you view eruris relationship. i just wish people could accept that. we have peoples on both side claiming theyre 100% right and there’s no other way to view it, both using parts of interviews and smartpasses that appeal to them. i wonder why it’s so hard to understand that isym left it so vague that it could go either way. eruris devotion is not as “obvious” as you claim. before stumbling across your blog i didn’t even think it was that significant a relationship. i cant deny it now but i wonder why it’s so hard for you or tsuki to get that not everyone is going to agree with your takes just because you think it’s textually supported. there’s soo many fans who watch the show and have no idea eruri is a thing until they join the fandom. it doesn’t make them stupid it just means we took different things from the manga. for some the devotion was plain obvious, for others it wasn’t. for some the devotion is interesting, for others it isn’t. why not just accept that?

Oh god please don’t lump Tsuki in with the likes of me 😂 What I am about to say about Tsuki has a Disclaimer for mistakes and misinterpretation because what follows are my thoughts about her--but I’d say her bias is best summed up as “the intricacies and possibilities of language”. If you’ve perceived a ship bias on her blog, I think it’s more that she sometimes pushes back on mistranslations she sees. She takes translation more seriously than anyone I’ve met. She’d rather lose an arm than contribute to a false narrative running loose in the wild. She realizes translation is a powerful weapon and wants it wielded fairly.  For instance, one thing she’s expressed to me is that the Japanese ship fandoms are usually careful to preface “this is one way you can read this”, but when those thoughts come over to tumblr it becomes “this is the only way to read this.” I think that bothers Tsuki both because it’s unfair to the language she loves and to those who don’t speak it. And argh... let me just toss heart eyes all over tsuki. I really appreciate what she does. Helpful fandom translators are a gift. I appreciate that she’s open to eruri and levihan. I respect that she enjoys both ships and can see both sides. She’s not the enemy here. She’s helped me be more balanced and fair. 

But otherwise this is such a good ask and I agree with much of what you're saying.  I want to be clear that I don’t see it as my job to convince people. I'm not writing for that reason. I'm offering a viewpoint, so I'm not pressed or bothered by the existence of other viewpoints. I'm happy they exist because thinking about things from various angles has benefitted me and is a great way to consume media.

I make it clear on my about page that I write my opinions and not the canon thoughts of Hajime Isayama. My blog description plainly states my shipping bias. With me you can say the ingredients are clearly on the tin.  I don’t try to hide that. There's not a lot that ruffles my feathers in fandom but I will say that when I happen upon "unbiased" meta writers I do sigh deeply. We all have biases and like it or not it’s obvious to anyone reading. 

I will say at this point though in the manga there are topics where I'm done looking at all the angles. I've followed the snk meta community for 7 years. I've been open minded. I've read everything there is to read and spent my time examining my ideas to see how they hold up. I've changed my mind on plenty of topics because of this. My shipping preference being one of those actually. My words probably have a level of confidence that they didn't in my early meta writing days. So yeah, there are topics where I think I am 100% right, but the important point is I don’t call anyone else 100% wrong. I don’t take potshots at other shipping communities. 

I think the main thing I’d push back on from your ask is that I’d say the way people define serum bowl is less about how you view Eruri and more how you view Erwin himself. At least that's what I've seen. Erwin’s negative qualities are a starting point for many. In sports terms I’d say it’s like some people automatically handicap him at -20 and he has to pull out from there. Part of that may be the anime’s harsher portrayal. I’ve heard some say his trope is one they don’t like. Others admit to an inherent bias against strong male authority figures. As you say, we all see things differently. We all bring baggage and bias into what we read. Cultural bias is there as well. Some themes go down better with certain audiences. Erwin being viewed as a cold emotionless leader who wrongly hid his motivations is a largely Western read. Some of Tsuki’s writings have touched on this.  I’ll link to a few if you want to read more: cultural consideration about Erwin in general, chapter 72 from a cultural lens and a Japanese article on Erwin’s charms.

Regarding your last sentence, I don’t know what you want me to accept here.  As I said initially, I’m not interested in convincing anyone. I don’t think anyone is stupid for thinking differently. I’m writing for me. I’m writing for anyone who wants to read my thoughts. The anons I get have asked for my opinion so I share that with them. I’m sorry if this frustrates you. 

One thing I’ve been told is unique to the AoT community is the prevalence of meta writers and the authority they wield. Basically the criticism is that meta writers are the BNFs and not the artists and fic writers. I haven’t been in many communities so I can’t say if that’s true, but the idea has always bothered me. My meta is opinion and bias spoken in a (hopefully) coherent and entertaining way. It’s to be read, weighed and then discarded as a reader forms their own opinions. If I haven’t made that clear enough, I am now.

Thanks for the ask and the discussion it opened up.

[gold-pavilion]

Red-san お疲れさまでした! ♡

Enjoy your days off as much as possible and rest a lot!!

For the ask, I have two things in mind hehe I hope you don't mind! You don't have to super deep analyze it (if you don't want to), it's more like your opinion.

First, I've just finished marathoning bsd manga, anime, spin offs, novels, fics lol, and I'm in a BIG Chuuya mood and as I also know he's your favourite, I was wondering what your fav canon moments of him are! Like, scenes that most caught your attention or something.

Thank you Anne-san!! Oh don't worry, that's perfect!!

This is one of those things where Chuuya being a side character in the grand scheme of the mainline story (not the novels, ofc, where he gets his protagonic time) is actually nice, cause it makes each of his appearances SO significative. Thinking of each time he's appeared in the manga/anime, each of them has a huge significance in regards to his character, so I love all the moments dfgfdhfg.

The first encounter with Dazai, when he's captured by Port Mafia, introduces the character interestingly but ALSO shows a great deal of the back and forth they've got together, Chuuya knowing that Dazai is underhanded and tricky, Dazai preparing plans cause he just adores messing with Chuuya, plus their banter and inside jokes (the 'rich lady Chuuya' bit).

The brief moment at the end of season 1 where all he does it stand there and bow down to Mori as mafia leader, showing that rowdy guy we've just met as humble and respectful before his superior.

That time where he meets the ADA for negotiations during the 3-part conflict with the Guild, where he's just charming as HELL, approaching the others with such confidence and carrying out his negotiation orders to the T cause as much as it's not his intel work, he follows orders phenomenally.

The brief appearance where he's helping protect civilians along with the rest of the mafia while the city is in chaos over the effect of Q.

And at that, the small scene where he's speaking with Mori about fallen mafia comrades and how much that stings for them both to see!

His drink and cheers with Kouyou and Mori at the end of season 2, showing his relaxed demeanor in down time with his coworkers n family.

His moment as interim mafia boss in season 3!! It's such a power moment, as well as heart-warming to see him operate with his beloved organization in Mori's stead, plus how funny his showdown with Ranpo is.

Of course, can't forget about his stellar participation in Dead Apple, from the amazing battle scene to the lil moment with Akutagawa to everything between him and Dazai.

And the yet-to-be-animated helicopter rescue, around when the Hunting Dogs first appear in the manga!! I've pointed that as my favorite manga panel of him, having such a TIME fighting and letting his passionate character shine through.

Every time Chuuya has appeared, his time has been anything but wasted. He's always having amazing character moments, he's utilized carefully and fantastically in that way.

But if I were to pick, I'm going with the entirety of the season 2 Double Black episode and its manga equivalent. That moment of Q's rescue where Chuuya threatens to kill him, testing and mocking Dazai's new morals in the process as well as keeping steadfast on his own, even though the thought of "his comrades in bodybags" tests his patience... followed by the first use of Corruption, it's just unforgettable. Corruption is the peak display of Chuuya's character to me, the abandon and dedication that's so inherent to his nature, the trust in Dazai that can never be buried away and, of course, the amazing visuals of that moment (I'm a sucker for fucked up powers and his slashed pupils and the pattern on his skin drive me nuts HAHA).