#I've never really made holiday art in time so this is huge for me. I might post a tiny doodle tomorrow

[da-janela-lateral]

Christmas is already being celebrated in my country, so consider this bird AU piece an early present for everyone who will only do so tomorrow. Happy holidays! : )

[beatricenius]

Hi,sorry to just drop in like this😁 but I just wanted to tell you how absolutely in love with your phenomenal fanart I am!!! Every single one is just a legit masterpiece,and they never fail to make me smile and I'm forever excited to see new and old ones alike on here or the bird app!!! Your art is just so stunning - everything from the style to the colors,seriously fantastic!! Wishing you a pleasant holiday season!!🩷🩷🩷🩷

Gosh this ask has such perfect timing since I've been having huge amounts of doubts re: my art lately! Thank you, it really means more than I can say. I've reread this many times since I got it and it made me feel a little better every time. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season too!

[thedragonofbadasstemple]

Got tagged by @klutenpetter to share 9 new movies, games, and tv shows I got into in 2024! Not all of these debuted last year but last year was when I started to watch/get into them so I'm putting them in!

I was away on holiday so just now getting the chance to share. I had to really think about it to get 9 choices since I didn't really pick up many new animes last year, much ones I enjoyed immensely, and I'm too busy to play video games, but overall I enjoyed some real bangers in 2024! Put everything in approximate order to when I started them...

Witch and The Beast. LOVED IT!! The anime and the portion of the manga it covers is great, the following arc is even better. Everything covered in the anime felt like an extended prologue to the actual plot. I read the Manga from start to finish after I finished the anime since I enjoyed the art. I hope the manga comes back from hiatus soon.

Slam Dunk. I watched this with my partner and we greatly enjoyed it. Hanamichi's voice actor is incredible. We did not enjoy The Final Slam Dunk very much, it was a huge let down. I really want to read the manga so I can enjoy the intended plot from start to finish, but even if half the 90s anime is filler I still really enjoyed it a lot!

Dungeon Meshi. Also watched this one with my partner! Its very inspiring, both creatively as well as in making me feel motivated. I haven't bought any merch for this series, I'm telling myself Senshi and Laios would want me to spend money on cookware and food instead lol. I would like to purchase the manga and read it in Spanish some day. We can't wait for season 2!

BANGx9 BRAVERN!!!!. FUCKING LOVED THIS. Easily in my top 10 anime of all time. PLEASE WATCH BRAVERN IF YOU HAVEN'T YET!!! My sales pitch is its Yuri on Ice but Mecha AU. There is even a yurio equivalent. Its very funny and very gay. I got one of the t-shirts Smith wears as well, he's such himbo goals.

The Fall Guy. I watched this in the theaters with my mom! We went just to have something to do with low expectations and no idea what the plot was and we both enjoyed it. I bought it on blu ray as soon as it released! I really enjoyed this film, it is filled with love for the art of filmmaking and you can tell everyone is having a great time. I'm sad its a bit of a box office bomb, it deserved better.

House MD. I picked this up to have some background noise to help me accomplish tasks since I have ADD. Kluten, who tagged me, likes it, and I like having new things to talk with him about. I haven't finished it yet, I'm on season 6, but I do really love it so far. I also blame the Rasputin AMV for making me interested too, and all the memes in general. The House MD fandom propaganda really putting in the work!

Saw. Yes, I really didn't see the original Saw until 2024. I've wanted to watch it for years, ever since I saw an (incomplete) retrospective of the series and just didn't get around to it. I thought the series was just torture porn before said retrospective, but the original film is actually quite different from how the series ended up. I watched Saw 2 right after the first and it didn't charm me as much. I do not plan to watch further entries. The original is enough for me! <3

Mouthwashing. I didn't play this one directly, I watched ManlyBadassHero's play through. I actually had to watch it twice as the first time didn't really catch me, but it exploded in popularity and I watched it again and that's when I really fell in love. Swansea/Daisuke is Calladashi but a different font for me. Somethings never change I guess LOL.

Nosferatu. Watched this in theaters in Spain with my partner. It was the first movie date we had and we both really enjoyed the film. We're both freaks and related to Ellen a lot. I really enjoyed this adaptation of Dracula and its made me want to read the book again! I really loved that Orlock had a book accurate [REDACTED], I'm still very delighted just thinking about it! I can't wait to watch it again, I'm picking it up on blu-ray when it releases!

For this I will tag @solanum-iycopersicum, @wanderingpierrot, @tardigradetv, @dagaaz, aaaaaand @themetro5000.

[doubleedgemode]

I was considering putting together a personal summary of art for this year, and with many of the pieces being Guilty Gear (mostly A.B.A) fanart, I decided to try if I could fill a separate summary with just A.B.A pictures... And so, lo and behold.

Without counting the first two months, when she wasn't announced for Strive, I only did NOT draw any A.B.A at all on just ONE month... Which is uhhh:

... Well, we can all agree that she's definitely been my muse this year haha..

While I have liked A.B.A before she dropped in Strive, I prefered to be more focused on other stuff til she got added in. I really expected to wait more for her arrival, but I remember it as if it were yesterday!

This year has been a rollercoaster of emotions and changes for me, but having some familiarity in drawing the same homunculus has been... comforting? And has given me a lot of inspiration and ideas to practice, drawing-wise, not to mention that her return drew me back into GG, too! What else... It made me pick up Frankenstein and I've rambled so much about her to my friends that even the ones that aren't into these games sometimes send me A.B.A stuff because of course LMAO. Also she's very hot to me which never hurts lmao.

I've said it before but her character means a lot to me, specially her arc in Strive, and it was released during a time in my life that I really needed it. Trying to understand A.B.A, be it by reading her lore, discussing it with people or writing my own rants about her character has, in a certain way, helped me confront some uglier aspects of myself and inspired me to hopefully improve. While I'm not much of a tattoo person myself, (I love learning about them, but I don't know how I'd fare with the needles myself lol, and etc) I'm seriously considering to maybe get a subtly A.B.A-themed tattoo someday, because she means THAT much to me. I hope that doesn't change..

Next, I want to give a huge shout-out to the A.B.A fan community I've had the pleasure of interacting with yer. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. First, thanks for the art, posts, tags and more that you create, as the site had a drought of them before she got added in. But of course there's people who have been more constant than me in representing her before Strive, and I tip my hat off to them.

Next, I think some of the warmest reception that my art (and ramblings) has gotten has been in this part of the fandom, too. THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Whether you're a regular and I often see your username appearing in my notes, or someone that appears less often. Thanks whether you like, or reblog, or just read. Thanks specially for the nice tags some of you leave because they always make my day. Thanks for even sticking with this blog when it digresses from GG and even delves into more personal matters.

Ultimately, I think that it's beautiful that (even outside this site) there's been a group of very varied people who all came together to share their joy, and/or relatability of a fucked up digital homunculus whose song claims that she isn't able to fit in this world, that just wants to make a difference and be free. I also love Paracelsus, Paracelsus fans get behind me but hands down my fave that kickstarted all this is the homunculus lol.

Readers, I wish you Happy Holidays, or a pleasant time regardless if you don't celebrate. While at the moment I'm typing this there's still a bit of time left til New Year, I do also hope 2025 is kind to you and brings you good things.

-Edge

[brawlqueen]

PSA. / 2024 goals !

the reason i haven't been writing a lot is i've mostly been on my OC trying to play catch up on her lore and worldbuilding. you can find her in the pinned post . also i've been planning what i want to do for mizuki for 2024, and my interest very normal love for best girl only gets better each year. i just hope to do justice by her in my own way as i figure out what i'm doing post AI1.

as i'm canon divergent and i have a few things to talk about that i'll be hoping to capture or discuss hopefully some of this year that are parts of my mizuki's canon ! so i'll try doing it in uh, the most organized way because one goal i have at least for 2024 is better blog organization . it's too late to make a sideblog for musings / etc . THINGS I'LL BE DOING THIS YEAR . - focusing on catch up. unless a thread is requested to be dropped, please message me if so, i'll be continuing it. some i will drop for my own sanity, not because i don't want to write with you again! - seasonal / holidays asks will just be holiday asks with no specific content save for people i owe, ex: bubblez' kizuna or thane's trunks, etc. why? i think mizuki deserves to celebrate the holidays or anything remotely happy because while aiba is arguably as of now her best support system, let's be real, i genuinely want to find and work on any of her relationships because she's severely lacking in support. even from 2023. i'll try to stay more on the ball for again, my own sanity this year when i reblog them. - i will be writing my version of post-canon mizuki and child mizuki, that goes from her time before adoption from date, aka with shoko and renju which will be tagged appropriately because honestly mizuki doesn't know many reliable adult figures in her life, and it makes me very sad that she's arguably more mature than...most people save say, boss or pewter or hitomi etc. she deserves better! just because AI2 certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea, and it isn't mine in a LOT of ways, i still took stuff from it, and i don't think it's fair to halt mizuki at 12 forever just because we fairly have critique of NI / AINI and not let her grow up and experience a hopeful future and more bonds to fill the huge hole in her heart. let her be happy is the goal !

now i'm working on mizuki's post canon verse, as i've restarted aitsf 1 to move to aitsf 2, where i'll take a few things that i won't likely budge on unless you meet me halfway !

the verse title for anything post-canon and generally for 18 year old mizuki / teen mizuki or post explosion mizuki will be this verse tag!

__ 𝐕; 𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍*ೃ༄ not compromising with just this; i'm taking back all the happiness i lost.

__

now onto her post canon details i do have figured out.

mizuki and aiba are partners. one thing that's consistent is through her time with date, that can still be a thing because they ARE a family, albeit i feel estranged granted the resolution route is canon, so mizuki never really got to bond with him, get her aphonia cured, vice versa, is aiba's care through time in his eye socket appreciating the girl's strength and endurance and intelligence in both games. you can have more than one partner, and until / if we have another game and mizuki possibly gets another partner and i debate the chemistry, aiba is mizuki's partner and aiba is generally mostly with mizuki, but that doesn't mean she isn't with date too. she can love more than one person. and both dates are equally dear to her.

mizuki was still experimented on until 3 years old at horadori institute, albeit she has blurry memories at best, and i debate if she should fully remember! one factor of her godlike superhuman strength. but she also is trained in most japanese martial arts she can get her hands on! she is NOT a clone of bibi, bibi doesn't exist whatsoever despite me enjoying her personality, even if i felt it was made to mimic mizuki herself, if others who have muses with canon bonds to bibi, please talk to me so we can plot it out if you keep her as part of your canon ! as long as we meet halfway i'm more than happy to work with you !

mizuki is still a rookie detective and psyncer at ABIS. in my canon, she actually looks to ryuki, also new, but older for advice and i like to think as dual protagonists that they should have been, they get to do some cases together! only if a ryuki is willing of course.

for now, she's working on small to medium cases with aiba. the explosion still happened that took her vision clean out. she does this because of the gruesome history she has, not wanting others to suffer the same kind of unimaginable trauma she has with both biological parents murdered in various means and i'm still debating whether tearer even exists. he likely will, and if people also have the other culprit's actions in their canon, please talk to me too and i'll work together with you on that !

mizuki still runs lemniscate and sunfish pocket. she doesn't have the heart yet to really let go of her neglectful biological father's companies, even if he didn't care for her in a way she needed. in time, i'll see how she feels about this, as i do plan for mizuki to continue her education, as the girl is extremely intelligent.

mizuki is still best friends with iris, but my mizuki also considers amame and kizuna two of her really close friends, but they aren't a sister to her like iris is. they're certainly caring of her, and she'd protect them with her life, but she isn't as close to them as iris, and all of them do hang out together from what i've seen.

my mizuki is a lot more skeptical for the kizunas out there, of lien. she isn't comfortable with his advances towards one of her best friends and generally is a lot more protective. that said, it's all according to people who write kizzy. naturally she's fiercely protective of iris, who now is someone who works for her too as the president of an entertainment company.

my mizuki comes from the MIZUKI ROUTE in terms of character development but NOT THE PLOT EVENTS . iris is not inhabited by so sejima. date and mizuki DO bond like a father and daughter. date unless a date talks to me, DOES cure her aphonia or it's hitomi herself like canon because hitomi is the mom she deserves imho. but i tend to take away the development of her character and their relationship otherwise i feel the date family bond is....pretty estranged or mizuki is MUCH more doubtful of date caring for her at all granted the routes and how she tends to get overlooked a lot.

basically i want to as one of i'm sure other mizuki-mun's, give her my best in my own way, at my own pace !

and those are my goals as i replay the games (again!) . i hope to keep developing mizuki and thank you for being so patient with me as always, everyone ! also kinda sorry for the long post but it was all necessary !

[honey-and-sims]

i'm really, really sad that i missed simblr gratitude day due a lull in my mental health. but even though the day has passed, i still wanted to show my appreciation & give y'all the flowers you deserve.

first, i want to give a huge thank you to the cc & mod creators. the decades challenge would not be possible without your contributions to the sims community. being able to immerse myself into worlds i can only imagine is self-care. being able to imagine, to create, to play and indulge myself in this escape is an act of self-love and i can never begin to express how thankful i am to be able to do that. second, i want to share how much i love & adore my mutuals and friends i've made here. our small interactions, the notifications that remind me i am seen and not forgotten even when i'm not as active as i'd like to be, those who help me with work out the plot knots & who help me overcome my frivolous moments of perfectionism and give me the strength to just fucking post the damned thing! i value all of these equally, big or small and hold them very dear to my heart. i love that this little niche hobby has allowed me to meet so many amazing people and read so many wonderful stories and i promise, i never take that for granted. third is just anyone who creates and shares their art here. seeing everyone's creativity is inspiring for me. there are so many ways to play this damn busted-ass game and it's so cool to see that in real time. it's so easy to get discouraged when every other week there's a new patch, controversy or huge terrifying bug (i have trauma from high school years i stg ;~;) but your creations are what keeps me coming back. and fourth, but certainly not least, to my readers. ever since i was little, writing has always been my favorite hobby. i'm not patient enough for coding or in-depth editing, my hands shake too much for art & my brain does not compute math whatsoever. so writing has been my go to avenue for self expression and creativity. any question, any ask or tag game, that has come my way, fuels my love for these characters and my passion for writing. sometimes the internet feels like shouting into a void but knowing my efforts to craft a cohesive story aren't entirely pointless means so much to me.

i know i'm a day(s) late but hopefully not a dollar short when i say thank you. from the bottom my heart, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU. thank you for reading, thank you for your passion, thank you for your creations, thank you for your endless kindness & patience.

i wish everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS & i can't wait to come back refreshed in the new year!

happy simming! 💚

[yuneu]

Hey youu<33

Yes, I'm Italian. With a very flavoured and spicy side of German and Polish genes :) But yeah I'm Italian.

I would love to encourage you but unfortunately what you said is true, the education system sucks and is indeed very confusing, as it changes its rules every school year, sometimes even during the school year itself, and more than once. My mom works in special education and OMG I've seen her through her many breakdowns because of that. Let's just say, we still have a fascism-oriented school system, unfortunately. But no one seems to care about it, except for way too little teachers and the way-too-many students whose mental health is permanently damaged by it. And this ain't that helpful. I don't mean to sound diminishing, but lately things have been worse and worse here :/

Beside that, I love living in Italy. What I love is literally all the history. Culture. Art. Literature. Years-long traditions. I'm in love with my country when it comes to humanities. I'm just not so in love anymore when it comes to modern humans, instead, though :)

OMG please we're so connected on the holiday thing!!!! We watch ET some unspecified time between Christmas and New Year's Day, too. For no reason at all. IM SO LAUGHING AT THIS. IT'S FUNNYYY

OMG your mug!!!!! Need one. Will find one. Will buy one. The Comfort™️

Your taste in music? So me-coded!!! I literally grew up with my grandparents' love for some good ol' classic Italian singer-songwriters, a heavy-metal father, a Wham! mother, and classical musicians as my uncles. I go from Taylor Swift to Bach to David Bowie to Leonard Cohen to Judy Garland to Iron Maiden to Stravinskij to Katy Perry to Vivaldi to Bob Marley to Kiss to George Michael to Bon Jovi to Metallica to Pavarotti to Frank Sinatra to Queen to Gracie Abrams to Einaudi to Elton John WAY TOO EASILY lol (I am very sane, I promise. Well, kind of)

Wow you sound like my parents' idea of their perfect daughter in their wildest dreams!! LMAOOO my mom is CRAZY about figure skating!!! She loves it sosososoooo much. Unfortunately, it was way too warm in her (and my) hometown for it being an actual thing, so she never got to try it. But her eyes literally sparkle when she sees any figure skating performance. And I sometimes watch some of them with her. I'm not a huge fan like I know names or technicalities, but I do enjoy watching it very much. While my dad is a HUGE f1 fan! But this one, I don't enjoy at all :/ I love athletics though! I really do! I always watch it and follow it a lot. It's actually a family thing LOL cuz my dad used to do it. Besides that, I'm not really into other sports. Neither watching or practicing. I tried out some volleyball, basketball, football/soccer (you know, the Italian one LOL), swimming, yoga, and even ballet. I'd just always get too bored LMAO The longest I stuck with would be swimming and yoga, though. What about you? Do you do any sports?

New questions: fav fruit? Fav food? Fav solo activity? Fav group activity? Do you have any hobbies?

Talk to you soon, have a good night.

— Your Deer Santa 🦌🎅☃️

PS: rereading this, it's so emoji-less. Pretend there's some weird emojis scattered throughout the boring words LOL

hi darling!!!

i get that. my high school italian professor used to teach in italy and had Complaints(TM) about the syllabus lmao. she made a point to teach us, in france, both the beautiful and not so beautiful aspects of past and modern italy. i still love it a lot and i have hope that once miss wannabe mussolini is out of here, there will be easier times for education and for italians in general :) tbf you’ve got one of the most complex histories AND are one of the most consistently resilient european people so that’s good to keep in mind!!!! (me vs my unyielding faith in humans & education)

hahahaha i love a girl with an eclectic music taste!! yas!!! italy has some of the best classical music, you’re so lucky to be able to just Understand what they’re saying in operas 😭 it took me so long to be able to listen to turandot and understand what’s being said lmaoo

you have the COOLEST parents omg. my mom did 17 years of ballet but never really made me watch it haha

and that’s so fun, i love watching athletics too though i SUCK major ass at it 😭 i used to do triple jump and loved it but never managed to get far cause im a hobbit. i did some basketball but i also sucked at it (i mean i am 4’11…. but no one wanted to Tell Me and ruin my dreams lmaoo) and then i did some dancing, which i liked but gave up after like a year cause idk reasons i guess 🤷🏻‍♀️ mostly lately as far as sports go i mostly just do some light hiking and a bit of weightlifting with my friend (cause im Not paying for a gym subscription lol)

fav fruit: it’s always been between raspberries and nectarines! i love refreshing fruits tbh

fav food: that’s such a GOOD question tbh. in true french fashion i am inclined to say just like… cheese lmao 😭 but i love anything italian (polenta >>>). my favorite *dish* is probably turkey escalopes à la normande. i grew up with it and it just stuck lol

fav solo activity: im gonna be a basic bitch and say probably writing. i just love sitting down and typing away, any kind of stuff from stories to essays and dissertations (especiallyyyyy when there’s no academic stake lmaoo). i also rather enjoy cleaning and organizing lmao, my apartment is always so neat (except for Thag One Chair. you know what i mean right. the sacred messy chair)

fav group activity: shopping 😭 world’s most basic bitch known to man! it’s so much fun to just wander around stores with friends tbh even when we don’t buy anything. i would love to go karting in group though, i feel like that’d be my favorite thing ever if only there were karting places around here :’)

hobbies: my current favorite is bracelet making lol, ive learned to do fun things with little beads so i love doing it while watching stupid tv. ive also gotten into bookbinding recently!!! im putting together my first project (rn im planning to bind ‘the knight of the cart’ and ‘le città invisibili’ by italo calvino!!)

what about you?? tell me all!!!!!!!

[romilly-jay]

This worked for me (WHY did this work for me?)

***spoilers*** [I know - ref a 2019 TV movie, does anyone care? Well, on the off-chance they do... Also, given the troperiffic nature of these movies, does it really count as spoilering elements that anyone Familiar With The Genre would be arriving, expecting in advance? Again, on the assumption that it's polite to say so, I'll - say so.]

It's the middle of the summer holidays in the UK so there is probably a law against watching Christmas movies but I am having a summer of jigsaw puzzles and loafing, and Amazon thought I might like this one and, somewhat to my astonishment, I really, REALLY did.

I'm a tricky audience for a Hallmark romcom because I ought to be their perfect viewer but I'm slightly too fond of grit and ambiguity and slightly too ready to throw my remote across the room when the characters do things that are too inauthentic or implausible or mean or stoopid. I think we can blame Georgette Heyer, whose heroines regularly got themselves into highly implausible scrapes but the writing carried me through. Apparently it's not whether I believe the scenarios (I'm fine with suspending disbelief) but give me witty, gritty characters who make plausible choices and only behave in limp ways if they're the plot device that gets the main action going, elsewhere.

I call to the stand -

Devil's Cub (heroine pretends to be her sister and while doing so is consequently ruined, kidnapped and taken on a trip to France where she nonetheless holds her own and is practically never Victimish)

The Corinthian (where the hero, returning home drunk, comes across the heroine escaping from her townhouse disguised as a boy and on a whim accompanies her/him back to her/his estate in the country)

Lots of ingredients in this movie I generally find myself objecting to - and I'm now realising it's about execution/script more than concept.

Things I generally react against but which I was able to go with here:

The heroine is successful but unhappy in a desirable Big World job but comes from a small town and returns home for Reasons.

She gets stuck in her old home town for Reasons (snow on the pass).

She has an ex-boyfriend who still lives in the town and they Have Unresolved History.

There's a Christmas Event she needs to get involved with.

She needs to Change Something about her current life and the time she accidentally spends in Home Town helps her figure this out.

Soooo WHY DID THIS ONE WORK (for me)?

Well, partly, cast chemistry - I believed the mother/daughter relationship. I believed the healing of the broken rels in the town. And I believed the restoration of the relationship with the Dishy Ex.

And - some good, small-scale choices (by which I mean, things that don't matter either way for the plot resolution). Like - she's a huge Country star and so it makes sense that her ex-best-friend's kids are a bit star struck by her. The girl, at least. I mean, they would be, right?

And - I've mentioned the writing? I feel like they say things to each other that real humans might actually say (okay, as well as all the things they say to each other that real humans wouldn't say but which are permissible under the Suspension of Disbelief During Consumption of a RomCom Act of i-just-made-that-one-up).

For example, at one point [okay, okay, in the middle of the movie when they've very quickly forgotten they were at odds with each other for a decade and have gone back to getting on well] instead of just pushing the You Left Me line, the Marcus Rosner character tells the Megan Hilty character that he's proud of all she achieved.

<3 this and darn straight - she's a bone fide Country Superstar.

Resolution - allows her to find her way back to people and community without giving up on her singing career. She buys the theatre, enabling the not-ex-for-much-longer boyfriend's community arts dream to move forward, but rather than Giving Up Fame, says that it will become her "touring base". (That makes sense -why not?).

There's also an arc about the dead father which I felt Switzerland (neutral) about - but I liked the way the movie handled the implications for mother/daughter rel as they move on from this loss.

In conclusion: no-one is The Big Evil, no-one descends into Lunatic Scheming, even the manager is just doing his job and Has A Heart.

The enemy isn't really an enemy - more a question or dilemma. What matters? Can we live the life we dream of and also stay in touch with people who are or who have been important to us? How to pick a way through our choices when it seems that perhaps we can't have it all.

==============================================

PS I'm not apologising about the jigsaw thing BTW. I think they're a perfect anxiety hack - at least, they're a perfect anxiety hack For Me.

I discovered this for the first time two Christmases ago, the Christmas of The Big Family Bust-Up when I was down in a dark and stormy Wales feeling pretty dark and stormy on the inside as well and not in the fun, cocktail-quaffing sense. S figured out that this might work for me and I was astonished to find he was Dead Right. This is S who I don't typically think of as someone with huge levels of empathy (um, wonderful in many ways but that is NOT his lead suit).

For *me* jigsaws absorb a perfect amount of cognitive focus - for other people, this might be the focus required for landscape painting or making jewellery, playing chess or bird/train-spotting. AND at the end of the day, it's an activity that simply doesn't matter. So calming.

[shearah]

Gosh, that's kind of a hard one for me, I've been living on barely enough to cover bills for so long I don't even remember the last time I thought about vacations...

I did get to plan a vacation when I was 17, and being autistic-and-bad-with-change as I am, I opted for a resort in Majorca my family has been to before (we used to go on holidays ~once a year until I was about...13?), that was also run by the same company as *another* resort in Majorca we went to (I promise we didn't always go to Majorca).

It was a veeeery large hotel made up of essentially several different hotels on a huge campus with multiple pools and activity areas scattered throughout (I didn't really go to any of the activities - tried archery when I visited with my family and the facilities were kinda rubbish, but considering we we part of an archery club back home and both me and my dad are trained archery coaches we were probably expecting a bit much) but all the different pools meant I could wander off and find a quieter one if I wanted to. There was a river right down the middle of the campus with some really pretty bridges, I remember getting some lovely (but incredibly amature) photos of the lights reflecting off of the water at night.

It was all inclusive with a buffet style restaurant (the serve yourself kind, so I didn't even have to talk to anyone, yay!) and while the food certainly wasn't the best out there, it was nice enough and had a decent variety. While I can really struggle to eat different things, I do like getting to try new foods, and buffet style means I can put a tiny bit on my plate and if I like it, come back for more. I usually ended up sticking to the same few things in the end, but the stimulation of something new is nice :) they'd bring out huge trays of fresh croissants for breakfast and the desert counter always had trays of sheet cake and pastries cut into these adorably tiny little squares that I just loved. Not to mention, unlimited ice cream! Poolside too!

It was about a 15m walk from the beach - a nice sandy one, not like the cold pebble beach near my dad's place. Not only that, but ever half hour there was a little skiff that went down the river to the beach and back, so you didn't have to walk either. Set off from right outside the restaurant. Plenty of lovely souvenier shops (and some delightful smelling restaurants, but we never tried any since we were already paying for food back at the hotel). I bought a new little braided bracelet/anklet every day with tiny shells and little bells on them so I jingled when I walked... they all gradually fell apart, but I still have one stashed away in my jewellery box. :)

It was during school term time so it was cheaper, but that also meant it wasn't as warm - I can't stand being sweaty. It was late september I think? So still warm, but not too hot for my miserable british soul. I basically spent the week reading in the sun, swimming in the pool, eating nice food and playing pool against my brother (and winning ;D)

I think if I had to choose a vacation again, I would probably go to the same place. The only thing that could make it more appealing to me would be if my international friends could be there too, and if I could bring my PC with me :)

Realistically though. I think an ideal "vacation" for me that I could actually afford would have to be a week at home with no migraines, headaches or back pain, all my raid groups taking a break (maybe one or two can stay, the ones where there's nobody in the group I want to strangle all the time) and I get to spend the week not stressing about comms or work at all, I just get to do my own thing, my own art and mods. Oh, and bao. lots and lots of bao.

:) @bearbaitmegs

[crazyworldofemmamarie]

do you like any other older horror movies? That's a very dumb question but I'm unashamed about such things. I've rewatched some of the movies that really scared me when I was younger, and if anything they're even more scary now. I only watched 3 or 4 of the Saw films, but your blog is making me feel like looking again.

I love the entire genre, please yell at me if I mess up a reblog, or if my extensive experience in the field can help with your endeavors. I'm a John Carpenter fan from Way back; sometimes I don't know who directed what has become my favorite movie of the week and it turns out to be his...some of em aren't horror, like Starman, but it's heavy sci fi, and 80's Jeff Bridges is such a great actor...rambling with the lunatics. I like your blog! Don't fall for any of those HP Lovecraft movies; there's no sex in the books or stories so that Reanimator fool can go...sex was the selling point in the 80's though, guess it couldn't be avoided. I've read a ton; it's gotta be good for something. The way folks are saying manifest; that's made it back around after 24, 25 years. I'm tryna track something, for the good of everyone, but I'm no psychic medium, not even a small. If you think I made even a little bit of sense, I thank you for your time.

Okay! what's One movie you Won't watch, or Can't? I couldn't watch more than probably 10 minutes of High Tension, probably because I have kids, but I think that's the only one that keeps me from looking at it. Tobyn Bell should get a fun, dancing man role huh? He's pleasant to see if you ask me;) my kid's a huge Leatherface fan but they remember his name and everything. I "got" to see all the Faces of Death tapes as a teenager, we're fine, we're fine(just smile and nod)...I'm not sure how much longer I have on this earth, so I'm making it weird, and keeping it positive and spooky is challenging! But this Halloween will be my first single Halloween since lots of years ago and I am not going to let it slip past another year. My parent's were wed on Halloween, they forgot the 31st was already special, and I've always liked that memory of them making out on the couch between the trick or treat visits...anyway, have a great day, forgive me for going off on Every tangent, still looking for my pack y'know? Idk if covens advertise openings and I'm still learning to behave lmao...if intent is truly key, I am so good. My intentions are good. I'm never surprised that we get to know the "bad guys", monsters in the movies and stories that I personally can't really hate, or judge, but those are the fictional ones. Unfortunately the bad guys out here are really bad, and boringly bad. Yell at me any time, but y'know I won't hear it, lmao

Holy Moly, I am so sorry, my dumb ass basically took forever to figure out how to reply but hey I got it now, haha!

And no, don't worry about rambling I totally enjoy your stories and thoughts and I find it amazingly sweet that you even took the time to write to me, really and I am always open to chat! (And in all honesty, I am still learning to behave as it, but there's nothing wrong with having a little fun, wink wink.)

I do wanna ay I think it's super cool you're parents got married on Halloween, that's totally badass! Halloween is my favourite holiday, my Mom was super big on it because she never got to celebrate it when she was young cause she grew up super religious and it was to make up for lost time.

If I ever got married and I could convince my partner on a date, I probably pick October 1st, but in all honesty, as long as I can get married in Autumn I am totally happy. Though that's a rant for another time, haha.

Now to answer both of your questions:

I really like a lot of horror and I usually go from 1920s German Expressionism horror to present day. Though I am not gonna lie to you, I get really stuck with that late 60s/70s horror, especially that Art house horror like The Last House on the Left or I Spit On Your Grave cause I really enjoy realistic, could really happen horror, plus as a film manic, the 60s/70s had a lot of freedom with things like art and film and I just feel we get more out of that and I'm just like you where it's dirty, raw and full of sex, haha.

Though the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre from 1974 is my all time favourite horror film of all time, but I do really enjoy Last House, Spit on Your Grave, Black Christmas, The Wicker Man and all that.

80s is a hit miss for me, I'm really not a big fan of those popular slashers like Elm Street, or Child's Play or Friday the 13th, but love those somewhat terrible b movies like Sleepaway Camp or Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2.

B Movies are another big thing for me, anything from Puppet Master to Basket Case to Evil Dead.

Now to you second question, the one film I can't watch and it's one of the very few films I've seen once and it's Cannibal Holocaust. I don't know what it was, I love cannibalistic films like The Hills Have Eyes or Cannibal! The Musical; but for some reason, this film didn't sit right with me, I can't tell you if it was cause it was too realistic, too bloody or the fact that they killed real animals on camera or that in reality you don't really know who the villain's really are (that's another rant for another time, I gotta whole essay on that, yeah, I'm a loser haha). In all honesty, I think it was all of the above for me, either way I can't do it, I look away if I see even clips of it or something, though I am trying to hyper myself up and try to watch again in the future as a future film study since I believe it's on both Tubi and/or Shudder.

Either way, I thank you very much for message and posting ask! Don't be afraid to send more, I am always willing to chat, (now that I figured out how to reply) and I hope you don't mind that i post this if ya do, just shoot a me a message, but either way, thank you so much for your time!

[monzabee]

https://www.tumblr.com/monzabee/720291660815384576/httpswwwtumblrcommonzabee720284161327448064

Yeah me too !! I always love talking to you💖!!! Exactly like it makes sense for them to have that eligibility criteria.

That’s what it would’ve made such a good spin off ! And yeah I too love his acting, I think that whoever is on the show has been cast so well and they all do such a good job 💜!!! I mean she does become a bit at times but somehow I didn’t manage to catch like a major difference 😭 also tell me if you see it too but alexis and Joey king kinda look similar right like they could pass for siblings at least

Architecture wow that’s a cool field!! Oh no that’s sad but also good in a way because now you’re doing law ¿ and hahah bestie ikwym . So i didn’t want to continue science after 10th and I’m not interested the slightest in commerce-y things so in arts I was going through the psych syllabus and I found it interesting and I had talk with my school counsellor and she told me about her experience and the various prospects of the field soo I decided to go with it and I’m liking it so far and I’d say all the crime/ detective type shows also always made it seem cool 😂

Thanks bestie💜 also did you hear Daniel is going to do a watch along of the race on Sunday but idk how the f1 tv pro people can access it but if you’re a sky customer you Crofty said you can watch by pressing the red button on the remote .

https://www.tumblr.com/monzabee/720291735136272384/httpswwwtumblrcommonzabee720284226463956992?source=share

Oooh Nicee good for her too now she can relax for a while !! And omg sounds super fun I hope you guys have an amazing trip and enjoy yourselves 💖🌟 are you visiting these places for the first time or you’ve been there before ? Alsoo do tell us how your holiday goes✨!!

-💖

i hope they realise that it's a missed opportunity and people would've loved to watch jess😭 i love milo's acting so much, he has a movie about racing actually and it's such a sad movie but i love it😭 and YES THEY DO LOOK SIMILAR, I'VE NEVER NOTICED BEFORE

that's a really interesting story!! i totally get that you didn't have any interest in commerce and didn't want to go with science (samesies) but psychology is honestly such an interesting route and i'm glad you find it so too!!🥹🥹 and bestie, the tv shows having a huge impact is such a true thing, they always make things seem a lot interesting🤭🤭🤭

the freaking red button on the sky remote is going to kill me, i need to see this thing with my own eyes😭 but it's exciting that we'll get more daniel content!🥹💜💜 i'm sure he'll do a wonderful job!🥹🥹

thank you bestie, that's what we hope as well!!🥹 we've been to some of the places before, like colmar and the rollercoaster park we'll visit, but my dad has planned a few days in new neighbouring cities so it will be interesting to see those🤞🤞 of course i will, i'll keep you updated!🥹🩷🩷

[light-lanterne]

no one asked me but i don't care >:(

please, if i may, allow me to share some words about some of my favourite people this year. i must forewarn you, i most certainly forgot someone x.x i am feverish and have the memory of a goldfish, so please forgive me.

anyway, in no particular order:

@bottomlessabyssposts

hello, dearest nico! i'm,,, talking to you as i write this so this is a little awkward x.x anyway, thank you so much for letting me ramble for hours on end ! i'm sure it must get a little overwhelming at times, so i'm genuinely thankful for your endless patience and kindness. let it be known that you're an amazing writer and i can't wait for your next projects~ i'm a little angry at you though >:( that nier song you sent me is now stuck in my head and i can't get it out u.u anyway, thank you for letting me share my bad poetry attempts with you, and for helping me give shape to ideas that would otherwise be discarded simply because i don't know what to do with them. you're a great friend :] thank you for letting me talk to you

@smoosnoom

moon! there is much i could say about your writing but it'd probably take a lot of space so i'll just go ahead and expose myself: it is i, a friend-shaped krampus !! >.< i was too shy to talk to you then, but you're just so lovely and easy to talk to so thank you for being so welcoming and sweet :( i wasn't kidding back then, your writing is nothing short of impressive and all your stories leave me feeling like i just got a nice, warm hug :] as i'm sure it's become evident, i have too many words and this post is going to end up being huge so i'll leave it here. thank you again for being so friendly and for making such nice, beautiful stories~

@paladibun

jace ! it's been a bit, i hope things are going well for you~ so, i've actually been writing for quite a few years (for different fandoms) and never had someone made artwork for any of my stories. there will never be enough words to express how much that meant to me, and your continued support and encouragement are big reasons i didn't drop tde after the third chapter (i must go back to writing it x.x i promise i'm almost done with the next chapter). anyway, thank you so much for being so amazing to me, and thank you so much for sharing your beautiful art with us all. you're insanely talented, and every piece you produce is ridiculously unique and jaw-dropping <3

@ghoulsanderson

well, well, well. would you look who it is? if it isn't the person who inspired me to start writing after a two-year-long writer's block,,, no, but seriously, thank you so much for sharing your pretty stories with us! i adore your writing style and the way you get into mike's head is outstanding~ each of your works leaves me craving for more and each of them is even more enthralling than the last :] hope you've been feeling better ! and i hope we all get more vecna'd mike stories because, like you, i am feeling a slight withdrawal x.x

@lilacline001

lilac! hello! it's also been a bit since i saw you here on tumblr; i hope you've had excellent holidays! when i started making graphics, i had absolutely no idea what i was doing until i made the one for nocturne. it was an epiphany! a defining moment where i went from getting frustrated over never "getting it right", to having fun making stuff! so thank you for that :] your story motivated me in all the right ways~ speaking of,,, what an amazing tale! the way you write is heart-wrenching and endearing to no ends and the intrigue surrounding the universe you've created has me thoroughly hooked :] thank you for writing one of my favourite stories,,, ever, honestly,,, and i can't wait to see what happens next!

@bookinit02

haven! another one of my favourite authors! i started reading byler fanfics sometime in july and your works were some of the first that really got me into this little hyperfixation of mine~ (,,,should i be thanking you for that? x.x the brainrot is real and you're the one to blame /lh) anyway, yeah! your stories are amazing and unique and inspiring! i love the way you blend sweet fluff and soul-crushing angst so effortlessly. it hurts, but i love it ;-; i shall eagerly await for the next chapter of your retelling~ thank you for your incredible work, and for being so nice every time we've interacted !

@itsromeowrites

aha! another individual who's responsible for my hyperfixation! i don't have any evidence because ao3 decided to eat all of my bookmarks (what's up with that, anyway?), but 'a game of truths' was one of my first favourite fics x.x anyway, thank you so much for the amazing stories you write! just earlier i read 'playing pretend never felt so real' and i am not ashamed to confess that it had me giggling and smiling like a fool all the way through. you have a beautiful way of conveying the intricacies of your character's emotions and i can only aspire to be a tenth as good as you are in the future. thanks for the stories and for the sweetness ! i saw your post from yesterday (?) and it made me so happy ;-; thank youu

@astrobei

hello suni :] i've got a confession: i don't know why, but for a few months of my byler-spiral i,,, didn't read your works x.x no reason, i just,,, didn't. but everything changed (when the fire nation attacked yes, i know i'm not funny) and now they've become a great comfort for me! just recently i was having a really bad day and rereading some of your work really lifted my mood! the way you portray domesticity and feelings is incredibly realistic and endearing, and the introspective sections you write are so eloquent and descriptive~ thank you for the amazing works :D

@andiwriteordie

ahoy, oh wondrous andi! we haven't interacted much tbh, but every time we do you're incredibly kind and you make me smile a lot so thank you for that :] likewise, thank you for the astronomical amount of stories you share with all of us! there was this one post that went around the other day, about how some writers just seem to be made of stories. i believe there's no better way to describe you than that! every day, you share some beauty with everyone and it's downright scary how good everything is all the time :S more than that, however, it is inspiring to see so much creativity and you're constantly the reason new ideas pop into my head~

@perexcri

hello percy ! :] out of everyone on this ridiculously long list, i think your story, 'to hell and back again', is the one that had me laughing the hardest. my tummy even hurt at some points >.< it takes a lot of talent to create such an engaging story that seems to have the perfect combination of alluded-angst, humour and fluff~ i've read a handful of your other works since, and they're just as good, just as entertaining and heart-warming! you really are amazing and i can't wait to have some free time to read a few more of your stories hehe thank you for being so amazing, and for the huge honour that is making one of my graphics into an actual physical object! your friend (don't know if i should namedrop them) is amazing and it still baffles me to imagine something i designed being made into a physical thingy. thank you to both of you~

@byleresque

hi kat! i've only recently read one of your stories and i have already put your other two on my "to-read list" because your style is so nice and funny and charming :] it did ache a little though, but it was the best type of ache so i'm sure i'll enjoy everything else you put out~ thank you so much for the cuteness and the giggles, and for being so supportive and sweet ;-; good luck with writing your book! i'm sure it'll be wonderful~

@untitled-byler-blog

lilly! hi ! :D hope you're having a nice day! i'm,,, very quiet and awkward so i don't typically comment on your stuff, but lately i've been seeing a lot of sad posts from you :( and i just want you to know that you're amazing! your stories might be short, but it honestly makes me think of fairy tales and that's lovely~ i am incapable of brevity (clearly x.x) so it's confounding to see how someone can fit so much stuff in such few words no, seriously, how can you paint such a clear picture in the space it takes me to describe a singular hug? x.x it's impressive and requires a lot of talent (which i evidently lack) and i wish more people gave it a shot because each of your fics is a lovely nice ride~ anyway, all this is to say that you're awesome! i hope you feel better about this all soon and please remember you can send me any of your stories so i can share them and maybe help a little, okei? i'm cheering you on !

@rotisserie5107

helloo! so, we've never talked, i don't think. or maybe we have, i do have the memory of a goldfish so please forgive me if i've forgotten x.x anyway, hi~ just wanted to thank you for always being so nice and supportive of my stuff! your little comments always make me smile a lot :] that's all i wanted to say hehe

@souppiemousse

hi hii! may i call you souppie? or is there another name you'd prefer? :S we've never interacted, so i apologise if this is random :( just wanted to tell you that i adore your art~ it makes me super happy to see it and it has inspired me a lot lately when i'm writing~ so yeah, i just wanted to thank you for sharing your adorable art :] (okei, i'll stop being a weirdo now u.u again, sorry if this is icky)

okei, that's it! that's all the people who come to mind for now :S sorry if i missed anyone, i'm just tired and sick :( happy new year to everyone! i hope you accomplish anything you put your minds to, and i hope you smile and are happy today and every day this year :]

(i'm gonna take a nap now, this was supposed to be short x.x)

[foryoureyes-o-n-l-y]

I have read @bananaheathen 's fics before, almost all of them multiple times over, but I hadn't dared to start Of Mates and Men as a WIP. I know , I knowwww it was constructed in a way that it was equally enjoyable as a WIP, but knowing how much I loved their other fics , I knew I would be obsessing over the wait time too much to properly enjoy it

ANYHOO , All this to say that I had been saving it as a sort of treat to myself during the winter holidays because the hype around it within the Fandom made me feel like it was an indulgence I would enjoy the most tucked under blankets with a hot beverage , that that, is the kind of treatment it deserved. Now I have been told I'm too particular and dramatic about the way I consume media, so much so, that in trying to consume every piece of media to make sure I enjoy it the maximum amount, I've ended up not consuming them at all. But, hear me out. You all were NOT KIDDING ABOUT IT BEING AN INDULGENCE, A PROPER TREAT, A REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE IN MY LIFE THIS YEAR AND ALSO QUITE LIFE CHANGING. After having curled under covers with hot beverages ( and also using every other ounce of free time I get to read it because I am addicted?! ) and having given it the treatment I assumed it deserves, I have some thoughts ( yes, more, actual thoughts, this was just the introduction )

1. I didn't think you could learn THIS much from a fic, to put it plainly. And I've read tons of fics before this which were absolutely beauuutiful, fics that've made me cry(out of happiness and/or pain), fics that I took time to recover after just because they were so moving, so SO nice, I couldn't quite believe it was real. I've read so many fics which had one huge moment or several scattered pieces which really made me stop and introspect and take a deep breath and have touched me in more ways than one. I've read fics before that I considered instrumental in some way, in making me a better person. But friends when I tell you This Fic surpassed it all, i mean, THIS

FIC

SURPASSED

IT

*ALL*

!

Look I was ready for a good fic, I really was, i read great banter by the author before, and I loved Louis going bonkers over Harry in very dramatic ways in their other fics as well so I genuinely knew I was in for a good time. But I could never, ever ever prepare myself for the personal impact of the fic on me. I hadn't ANY idea, a fanfiction could teach you this much about life, about myself, about - IDK I'm already out of words this is not going great 😭

Fanfiction usually teaches you a few life lessons there's no denying that. But I genuinely didn't expect to learn so much about myself, to actually feel such a personal connection to any story. Idk I just, feel like a better person, and my relationship with myself has changed even if by a little bit and I just observed that I'm being a little kinder to myself, in my head. It's never , EVER happened before and I'm not sure how it did now. It was the life lessons that came dressed as beautiful life lesson-y sentences that hit you HARD (idk if you know what I mean ) but it was also the overall journey, the consistent little things, the changing relationship between Louis and himself, the persistence of people who love him in his life and the love he has for them, and the way the love shapes him as a person - It was all of that and more, or less Idk,

I feel good in my heart, when I read this, a warmth I cannot explain, a safety that's...I'm not even sure how that could happen, a love for my people that's 10 times fiercer than what I consciously felt before and a very new, fresh friendships with myself that was definitely not their before.

Is this actually therapy in the form of a fic? No absolutely not. I would never say that. Therapy is important, it's irreplaceable like that really.

But does it heal you in a way ONLY art can? Absolutely yes. Does it just touch you so very intimately that you feel better just by that? Absolutely. Is it the literal example of how art just existing, makes us so much better as humans just by making us FEEL? 100%

I've learnt so much from this fic about love and friendship and grief and sorrow and Happiness and love and friendship, but I cannot emphasize this enough, no fic has ever impacted the relationship I have with myself, the unfairness of it , the cruelty of it, and somehow this has. And if it was not clear from this terribly wrong rant, I'm so eternally grateful to you @bananaheathen for doing this. You don't know how many lives you've touched and changed Just by providing this very enjoyable, very beautiful work of art. .

(I'm not done

Can you imagine 🥲)

2. The JOKESSSSSS. The inside jokes, the jokes within the inside jokes, the Fandom jokes, the wordplay The WORDPLAY, the niche wordplay that's just there for the fandom to find like little treats within a large treat for being a part of this chaotic space. One thing about me is I love canon references in AUs because they are so creatively done and it's just so fun when you realise that a canon moment is happening and you know, You knowww it's one of those momentsTM and you know what's gonna happen next and it's just a special thing between the author and the fandom and yeah. One of my favourite things.

But again, I was not ready for the way this fic includes Canon references( I don't think anyone can be ready for that actually). Because it's SO FRESH, SO UNIQUE??!?!!!!?! like I would have never imagined the Restaurants being named like that?!?! Sarah and Pillow Person?!???! Diana?!?! Perrie's?!!! ( I'm trying to make this spoiler free hence the ambiguous exclamations but also I have no words to explain the genius behind this so I'm not even trying )

They just keep coming 😭😭🤯🤯 they just keep blowing your mind and then they are just followed by more. If you thought you were floored by Tea Swift, welp you didn't think fast enough and now you're floored by Pillow Person and then soms other niche reference that only the fandom will get IT'S SO LOVELY GUYS HOW IS IT SO LOVELY I GENUINELY CANNOT BELIEVE HOW GOOD THIS IS LIKE I'M ACTUALLY HIT BY A TRUCKLOAD OF FEELINGS OF ADMIRATION AND REVERENCE WHILE I WRITE THIS

3. The banterrrr The banter, THE BANTER !

The OT5 Banter, The boyfriend banter, the best friends banter, the consistently enjoyable and somehow so accurately characteristic banter that pervades this fic is probably the mosttttt enjoyable part for me. Makes me want to reread it while reading it. For the first time.

4. OT5 feels. So. Much. Of. It.

The friendship makes you laugh and cry the most I think. It's just. It's beautifully done, a work of art to just narrate the evolution and the persistence of the friendship in that way. Something that is so purely done in the story I would Never be able to praise in enough words.

5. Look I cannot see an end to this post if I keep taking up one thing at a time that I loved about this, maybe I'll write a post as big as the fic ( no that's too much, it's quite a big fic , But I might, it is possible). The relationship is beautifully done, the Individual character arcs and their growth, beautifully done, the relationship develops very very very beautifully and is a whole other thing of beauty in itself i don't know how else to define it.

I have several more thoughts but I would never finish them I think , because I keep getting new ones as I write this and whenever I find myself thinking about this fic. So to summarise my rant about how miraculously good this is, I just want to say,

My feelings towards this fic are similar to Louis' feelings for Harry in it, and to anyone who's read the fic, the seriousness of that statement is not lost, i know.

Thank you so so much for this @bananaheathen Ironically, I don't have words to properly thank you for what you've created. But it is a highlight of my year.

[purrincess-chat]

I feel like I've been hit by a sledgehammer bc of this ep. Understandably so that people who didn't want pre reveal Adrienette dating are upset and I can get behind that. But I feel like I'm bummed out bc now I think that pre reveal Adrienette dating is not well and terrible. I do enjoy it, but seeing other people's opinions just made me disheartened. Makes me feel like I'm the best who's dumb or stupid for enjoying it.

So, a couple bits of advice that I find work quite well for me:

Stop reading people's salt posts because they're almost always written in bad faith from places of anger, meant to antagonize, and they pass their opinions off as fact, so of course anyone who dares disagree is a fucking idiot because they deem their opinion as the only valid one. (which people like that in general are just yikes)

Filters are your friends. Tumblr has a quite effective filtering system. You can filter words, phrases, usernames, tags, literally anything you don't want to see. If it's someone that you generally like and don't want to unfollow them because of their opinions, ask them nicely to use a specific tag for those kinds of posts so you can filter them. Now you don't have to look at them.

If fandom is stressing you out, take a break. It's the holiday season. Go visit friends and family, decorate some cookies, eat something delicious, go outside and go for a walk and get some fresh air. I am a strong advocate for taking breaks from fandom to clear your head and realign your priorities. Fandom is supposed to be fun. Sometimes people just forget that and take things way too seriously. Take a week off. If that's too much, take a day. Do something else for a bit, and I promise when you come back you'll realize how silly it is to let other people dictate your feelings.

And if anyone is angry at you for having the audacity to *checks notes* enjoy something and is telling you that you're stupid for enjoying something, then that says a lot more about them than it does about you, babe. People can vague post about me until their fingers fall off, but I have neither the energy nor desire to care because I'm not sorry for enjoying what I enjoy. Art and media are subjective, and plenty of people enjoy different aspects of the same source material based on their personal experiences, beliefs, and preferences. One idea isn't better than the other, no matter what anyone says. If you like something, that is totally and completely valid. You don't need to justify it to anyone. (not to mention arguing over the same two ass people has always been and always will be silly to me like the reveal is gonna happen and everything is going to be one dynamic anyway so why are yall pressed)

Additionally, if it helps, I can tell you the reasons why I love their development this season.

As someone who has always related to their dynamic in particular, and whose favorite part of their side is watching Adrien fall for her, the whole shift this season has had me really giddy. From the very first episode of this show, Marinette has been scheming and planning ways to get Adrien to notice her/tell him she loves him. We've seen her grow and overcome her jealousy, we've seen her put him first, we've seen her care about him when no one else did, we've seen her fight for him, which most of those he never even knew because she didn't do those things to make him love her, she did them because she loves him. I've loved the direction they took their dynamic this season with Adrien finally realizing that Marinette means so much to him and coming to understand those special feelings for her are love at the same time that Marinette is dealing with heavy trauma surrounding him. And just the absolute tender way Adrien approaches her and tries to help her through all of that is just *chefs kisses*

It shows huge development on their part for Marinette to even be able to admit that she loves him and wants to be with him (even just by raising her hand). And Adrien meeting her where she is and not putting her down for not being able to speak her mind, but instead being so incredibly patient and gentle and understanding. Adrien loves her in spite of all of her antics. He finds her quirks charming, and he sees through all of it to the girl underneath. She didn't need to go through with some crazy scheme or grand gesture to confess her feelings to him. They just needed to get down on each other's level and talk and communicate with each other and learn to understand each other. It's high time that the show brought the two of them closer and let the two of them work through her anxiety around him together. I completely love the two of them ditching their friends' ideas of what their relationship needs to look like and instead opting to figure out what works best for them together. Having the two of them date pre reveal and sort through that trauma together and learn the ways that they need to be loved is going to help them tremendously when the reveal eventually happens, and I can't wait for that!

And that's just a portion of my feelings for them this season because I don't want to spoil later episodes that people haven't watched yet, but yeah, I think their development is so sweet and satisfying to watch. And if anyone is mad at me (or anyone) for just enjoying the show, then that's their problem. I have better things to do than worry about people being mad at me for liking something because imo, that's a really dumb reason to be mad at someone. Like can you imagine someone being like:

"Hey, I really like chocolate milk."

Then someone else being like:

"Um, how fucking dare you? Strawberry milk is the only good milk, and anyone who likes chocolate milk is fucking stupid and should feel bad for liking it."

You see how silly that sounds? Don't let other people convince you that chocolate milk is gross if you like it. They can get over it or die mad, either way you have a tasty beverage. Let them ruin their own day, not yours. But that's just my approach. I am a very laid back person who's never really given a fuck about what other people think of me tho. That portion of my personality has only strengthened with age because I find that it rarely truly matters, especially when it comes to fandom. If they're not paying my bills or putting food on my table, then I don't particularly care if they don't like the way I feel about fictional teenagers. But I get not everyone is like that, so go with my 3 tips above. Subjecting yourself to salt posts is only going to warp the way you view the show and ruin your overall enjoyment of it. (trust me, I've been there) Leave the salters to their bitterness, and just enjoy the show. You'll be better off for it.

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Dino Watches Anime (Dec 21)

Happy Holidays! I've been spending my winter break watching anime like a loser. Some things never change...

I will be updating some stuff from my previous entry on this list (which was at the beginning of the season I think).

Series (mostly seasonal)

Wandering Son

This anime felt like a manga preview, and I'm not complaining. I just think they left it unfinished. Unfortunately, I don't think we would ever be able to get a continuation with this considering that it was allegedly "not well received" (although winning some awards). Alas, I enjoyed my time watching it and being called out during a few (a lot) of parts regarding puberty and gender identity. Its incredibly slow pace and pastel-like art style were very fitting. I would recommend it, but you do need to be in a certain mood to watch it (as it has very little comedy).

Spy x Family Season 2

Yeah, it's very good. I don't think I liked the tennis arc nearly as much as everyone else, but I still like this season a lot. I feel like everyone is either planning on watching or is watching it, so I won't spend too much time on this one.

Chainsaw Man

I do get the hype. This is a great show, but I honestly think this show is an 8/10. I think a lot of the supposed relatability of the main character is lost on me (aroace). It's a cool world with very interesting characters. The morally gray atmosphere and characters are refreshing to see from a Shonen Jump manga (where friendship is always the answer), and the art is absolutely amazing (yes, even the CG is pretty good). But I think something is missing for me (can't figure out what it is).

Akuyaku Reijou nano de Last Boss wo Kattemimashita

Yeah man, this show is sh*t. I already talked about it at length, but I also gave it a 5.5/10, so I think my friend's comment about me being a clown is incredibly realistic unlike having a structured magic system in this anime. Oh well, I guess if you like Yuichiro Umehara doing ASMR cringy lines, this show will definitely be on your list, but I was shaking my screen and cringing 70% of the time while watching this show.

Cool Doji Danshi

This show made an appearance on my "take" on the portrayal of social anxiety and pretty privilege in anime, but I feel like I'd need to watch it and finish it in a really specific mood where I wouldn't think even puddle-deep.

Pop Team Epic Season 2

That last episode was literally a 19-minute buildup for one punchline that was... alright. Yuuichi Nakamura dubs live-action actor Yuuichi Nakamura. Besides that, the episode doesn't hold any value to people who haven't watched the type of show it's parodying (me). The rest of the show is incredibly niche in terms of humour, but at least this show is aware that it's sh*t. There were a few moments that made me smile and maybe let out a chuckle, but watching Pop Team Epic is pretty much like buying a huge bag of trail mix just for the M&Ms.

Mob Psycho III

This is an absolute masterpiece. I didn't think the show could top the previous season, but here we are. I rated it a 10/10 even if Bones didn't animate a few things (it still felt incredibly cohesive). The only thing that brought it down was the Sakurai scandal, but that isn't any fault of the anime.

Bocchi the Rock!

You know, I really should've watched this before writing that post on social anxiety in anime because "she's just like me fr fr". Despite being over-the-top (this is anime), I find this interpretation, while drawn for comedic value, still incredibly realistic for its subject matter. Not only that, but it's got some good tunes and is like the antithesis to K-On (guys, these shows aren't remotely similar when you look beyond the superficial traits). Anyways, there's an incredibly good video about why it's good on YouTube already. I relate to Bocchi a lot (almost too much), so I'd highly recommend it for that alone, but I wouldn't blame you if you ducked out because she was too relatable. Also, I'd like to give a shoutout to the seiyuu who make this anime so much fun, especially Yoshino Aoyama who made that glitch scream.

Movies

Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare

This movie looked incredibly promising because of its creator, Io Sakisaka, who also wrote Ao Haru Ride. Despite not actually liking the Ao Haru Ride anime, I figured it was definitely worth a shot. What I got was a manga recap that was incredibly rushed and poorly paced (one summer festival lasts maybe 3 minutes before it abruptly changes setting). The character motivations make little sense, and they seem very shallow in terms of development, which makes their relationships feel incredibly half-assed. These things are crucial for shoujo romance anime, which are built on empathy and connections between characters. Although the genre can feel melodramatic at times, when given the proper time and care, the melodrama is far more palatable. However, even if the proper time and care were given, part of the plot is just a common p*rn plot. No joke. They even have the step-sibling trope, which is yikes. Overall, it was a very mediocre movie that did not meet my expectations at all.

Umibe no Etranger

When describing this movie, my friend said it sounded like "a cry for help." That's not inaccurate, and I would be lying if I said that this movie didn't annoy me at times. This movie is incredibly short and fast-paced, and at first, I thought this was caused by a similar issue to the previous entry, but surprisingly, the manga follows a very similar structure and pace. However, there were a few lines that were cut that didn't make sense to exclude (but it doesn't heavily impact the main storyline). The rating system also lied to me calling this PG-13 when there is an explicit scene in there (between two adults). I don't like how they make some BL characters incredibly whiny (especially when we're supposed to believe they're consenting adults). I feel like this movie really lacked proper development and time. The side characters were only given names and maybe one trait each, and I feel like they really could've done more with this story. Alas, the soundtrack was great, which helped elevate it, and the setting (Okinawa) looks great and full of life. There is a sequel manga, but I feel like making this film entailed that we would be more attached to these characters by the end so we would be encouraged to go read the manga.

Summer Ghost

This is another very short movie, and it really ain't that deep. Everything in this movie is predictable. Every single plot twist is like Dora the Explorer and didn't shock me, and ironically, I think they should've closed one of the plots better because it arguably looks like MC did not report something he was supposed to and may have just incriminated himself by putting his hands on evidence that should've been at least shown to eventually be in police possession. Anyways, the soundtrack carries this movie to no end, and the voice acting was also good. This is revealed early on, but MC is not explicitly mentioned to be close to death unlike the other two characters, so his ability to connect with the titular Summer Ghost makes less sense than it needs to.

Eve no Jikan

Technically, this has an ONA and a movie version with both being nearly the same minus a few scenes that should've just been included in the movie version (it would've added less than 10 minutes overall, I think). Because of this, you are kind of required to watch both to get the full story. Some comedic moments in this anime feel out of place since the story tells a tale similar to Hal (another movie about an android). It tells little tidbit tales of androids and how they get along with the humans they have been purchased by. There are a few episodes that stand out to me (4 and 6 of the ONA). It's the best watch out of this category (although that isn't saying a whole lot). It was thought-provoking and had some great voice acting, but I would've really liked a continuation. It felt like a passion project through and through (it's an original with no source material), so if you're interested in human-android relation like the previously mentioned Hal or Plastic Memories, give this package a shot.

[maychorian]

As someone who's been in fandom for awhile, do you have advice on getting over the end of VLD? I bet I'm silly for being so upset over a dang cartoon, but I feel like Allura's fate punched me in the stomach :( VLD isn't the first show I've seen with a bad ending. But it is the first show I've really been involved in fandom with, drawing fanart and reading fics and such. Maybe that's why it hit me so hard. S8 was how I started my winter break and that made it extra bad too..

Aw, I’m sorry it affected you so badly. It really sucks to get your heart broken by something you love.I’ll be honest, I’ve never experienced quite what you went through here. All of my fandom obsessions have faded slowly over time rather than being abruptly killed by a story or character decision that threw me, like the ending of this season did for you. It’s usually a series of disillusionments and disappointments slowly piling up until I can’t take it anymore, flaws in that show that I was aware of from beginning just becoming more and more apparent, things like that. But sometimes big moments do kill off a big part of my love, and it’s usually character death. Like with Supernatural, the deaths of Ellen and Jo Harvelle were a big blow, mostly because I could see very clearly that it was a cynical writer’s room decision and not something organic to the story, so it hit me hard to suddenly see all of the strings that were being pulled. That was in the middle of a season, though, and I kept watching for several more seasons until all the flaws built up to a point that finally killed off my lingering affection for the show.

Person of Interest did this too by killing off a character I really liked in the middle of a season, but I was never fannish about that show, so it hurt, but not like you must be hurting now. I honestly don’t think I’ve watched another episode of that particular show, but I don’t feel any great sense of loss over it. It was a show I liked, not an obsession.My fannishness for Voltron really took a big hit at the end of Season 6 because of the way Kuron was handled. I just HATED the way he was thrown away without even being acknowledged as a person. No one mourned for him, no one questioned the decision to override his consciousness. Not even a throw-away line to indicate that he wasn’t in that body anymore, nothing. Like the writers didn’t even realize what they were doing. That was what hurt me the most.I held on in a vague hope that they might try to fix it later, but of course they didn’t. Nothing in Season 7 did anything to repair that giant hole that the show put in my love for it. So that hole just kept getting bigger and bigger, until by the time I watched Season 8, I almost didn’t care anymore. I cared enough to enjoy the majority of it, and to be upset by the ending, but I don’t feel as heartbroken and devastated as you’re feeling right now. I’m sorry.As for how to get over it, I do have a few ideas.

1. Concentrate on what you like about the show. Remember the moments that made you fall in love with it, and celebrate those. You’re not a fool for falling in love with something that would break your heart later. You had no way to predict that that was going to happen. Accept how things turned out, be upset about the things you didn’t like, but be happy for the fun and joy you felt along the way. 

2. Embrace the death of the author. Once a fictional property leaves the hands of the creators, they don’t have control over it anymore, not completely. It belongs to all of us who love it. You don’t have to take anything you don’t like from canon. Use what’s good for you, discard the rest.

3. Fix-it fics.They are very much a thing. I’ve seen quite a bit of art on tumblr fixing various aspects of Season 8, and though I haven’t ventured to AO3 for a while, I’m sure there are plenty of fix-its popping up there, too. Like I said, the show doesn’t end with those who wrote and create it. It doesn’t end with you, either. There are plenty of people out there who love this show and will continuing creating content for it, taking what they like and leaving the rest, just like you. You can even create your own fics or art, or even just daydream about how things might have been different.

4. It might be good to take a break for a while until you have a handle on your emotions. Watch other shows, read other stories, play with your pets, spend time with your family. If you celebrate Christmas or another holiday around this season, make sure to enjoy it as much as you possibly can. Give someone a gift, bake some holiday treats, sing a song. Remember that there is much more to life than the internet.

5. Give it time. Broken hearts mend. It’s a hard lesson, but don’t be afraid. You’ll find another show you’ll love just as much as you loved Voltron. I’ve been through a series of fandoms in my life, and they’ve all brought me great joy, wonderful interactions with fellow fans, and huge bursts of creativity that make me and other people happy. 

You’ll be okay.