#June 2020 Wrap Up

[smoothies-are-cool]

scott street

boyfriend! chris sturniolo x reader

summary: subscribers are convinced chris and his girlfriend broke up so they start making sad edits.

warnings: swearing, kissing, pet names (baby, ma, mama), mentions of y/n.

a/n: randomly got this idea, enjoy and please please read the author’s note at the end !! <3

november 1, 2020

halloween vlog with mom and y/n

“okay so, we have another special guest for todays video. chris’ girlfriend y/n!” nick exclaims as chris’ hand wraps around y/n from behind and rests on her stomach. y/n just smiles and waves at the camera.

february 12, 2021

guess the triplet by zoomed in pictures !!!

“chris wants to see if y/n can get some right so she’s gonna just go for fun.” matt explains as y/n moves to sit in front of the camera. chris stands behind her.

“alright.” nick says, turning his phone around to show a picture of someone’s hair. y/n squints her eyes to try and see the picture.

after a few seconds she giggles. “matt.”

“correct. next one.” nick smiles, swiping to the next picture.

the next picture showed an arm but in the corner of the picture you could see a little bit of a red t-shirt.

she immediately gasps. “chris! that’s chris.”

“how did you get that!” chris asks, his mouth open slightly.

“the red shirt. that was our first date and our first picture.” she tells him, looking up at him from her chair.

“well it’s safe to say y/n can tell us apart.” nick says, grabbing the camera.

june 25, 2021

baking pizza blindfolded with chris

“chris!” y/n giggles as chris starts playing with the flour on the counter.

“what baby?” he asks, laughing as well.

“stop playing with the flour.” she tells him as matt stands on the other side of chris.

march 4, 2024

sturniololvr

liked by 43,929

sturniololvr - i miss them.

12,741 comments

user - the last video she was in was the everyone relax video 😔

march 6, 2024

y/n ❤️:

*attachment one video*

this one has a little kick to it

chris baby 🫶:

y/n/n please stop sending me break up edits of us we’re literally still together.

y/n ❤️:

IM SORRY BABY BUT THEYRE LITERALLY EVERYWHERE

may 17, 2023

“chris can we talk?” y/n asks. chris’ mind immediately starts running millions of miles a minute. he thought she was breaking up with him.

“no!” he quickly exclaims. y/n gasps, realizing what was going through his mind.

“no baby i’m not breaking up with you.” she tells him.

“oh okay then yes we can talk.” he nods, walking closer to her, their chests almost touching.

“is it okay if i’m not really in the videos anymore? i really love being in them with you guys but the fans have gotten to be too much. i’ve tried to ignore them.” she tells him softly. chris’ face softens.

“of course, yeah. i’ll tell nick and matt in the morning.” chris nods softly.

“i’m sor-“ she begins to apologize.

“don’t even think about apologizing. i understand and i know that nick and matt will understand too. c’mere.” he says, pulling her into him.

march 13, 2024

chris makes matt and nick his favorite meal

“chris do you think i could be in today’s video? even for just like a second. i don’t like people thinking that we broke up.” y/n asks softly, just before the triplets were about to film a wednesday video.

“yeah mama, you’re always allowed in a video.” chris nods, a smile on his face.

“y/n come get your plate!” chris smiles at his girlfriend who was sitting in the living room. a happy smile spreads on her face as she walks into the view of the camera to grab the plate out of chris’ hand.

“thank you.” she smiles, quickly pecking his lips before walking back to the living room. she would usually eat at the table but the boys were currently using the table.

a smile stayed on y/n’s face as she scrolled through all the comments the newest video.

user - Y/N BABY

user - i can die happily knowing they’re still together

user - y’all are crazy

user - i missed her 😕😕

user - FAVVVVVV COUPLE THEYRE SO CUTE

a/n: hey guys !! sorry for being so inactive, this year has been so so crazy. for starters, i lost my great grandmother january first, and then i lost my great grandfather on february twenty third. a few months later, my older brother attempted and was put into a hospital, and now my grandfather has cancer that spread to his lungs and brain. on top of everything, i’ve been preparing for my aunt’s wedding (i’m a bridesmaid) and everything has been super stressful. i wanted to post something and let you guys know that i’ll be taking a break to take time for myself and to spend time with my family. i’ll still be lurking around on the app, commenting, reblogging, etc, i just won’t be posting any fics for a little while.

i hope you can all understand and i love you all <3 <3 <3

[multifandomgirl08]

Mini Verstappen Series Masterlist

Paring: Single Dad!Max Verstappen x Fem!Reader

At the end of 2020, Max Verstappen gets the surprise of his life when he finds out that his ex-girlfriend had given birth to a son, his son. A year and a half later Max's longtime girlfriend of 8 months finds out about his son Nico.

This is an ongoing series. I'm always adding to it. The masterlist changes often.

I do take requests for this. If there is anything that you want to see happen in this series just message me in my ask box. All of my normal request rules apply.

Reader Face Claim: Hande Erçel

Total Published Word Count: 62,997 Words

Disclaimer: This work below is fictionalized ideas and stories involving real people but does not directly reflect their thoughts, feelings, or behaviors. Please keep in mind that this is a work of fiction, so enjoy it as such.

𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑂𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟

0.0. Prologue - [December 10, 2020]

Max finds out that he has a son. And it changes his world.

0.1. Be Something You'll Love and Understand [December 11, 2020] Outtakes

He knew that he should have called his mom yesterday but he was still wrapping his head around the idea of being a father.

0.5. The Moment You Smiled At Me - [December 27, 2021]

The evening that started it all for Max and Reader.

1. Mini Verstappen - [August 15, 2022]

You get a small surprise the first time you visit Max’s apartment.

1.5. Girlfriend? - [November 1, 2022] Request

You meet Nico.

1.8. Caught - [June 4, 2023] 18+ Outtakes

Lando swears he knocked before walking into Max's hotel room, maybe he should have yelled before opening the door.

2. Change - [November 26, 2023 + January 2, 2024]

It’s the end of the F1 season. Some things are changing for the Verstappen's.

SMAU #1. The Secrets Out - [December 31, 2023 - January 1, 2024]

It’s the start of a new year. You and Max decide to tell the world about Nico.

3. A Lioness Protects Her Cub - [May 5 - 9, 16, 23, 2024] Request

Reporters are vultures and Max picks out a ring.

4. Day At The Karting Track - [June 14, 2024]

Nico starts karting. It opens a small can of worms.

4.5 The Engagement - [August 15 - 16, 2024]

He moved his hand over yours, moving the engagement ring that he placed on your finger, side to side.

SMAU #2. Through Max's Eyes - [March 8, July 30 - August 15, 2024]

Max’s Instagram posts about Y/N, and a small life update from the couple.

5. Something Bad, Something Good - [August 17 - 19, 2024] Request

Reader deals with the haters on Twitter, Nico calls Reader Mama. Max claps back at the haters on Instagram like the malewife that he strives to be.

5.5 Time to Move? - [August 25, September 15, 2024]

When Max had brought up moving, it was because the lease on his apartment was going to be up at the end of the year. Maybe it was time to find a new place for all of you.

6. Race Day - [October 20, 2024] Request

Nico tags along with Max during a race day in Monza, well as much as he can.

6.1 Wedding Headcanon - [February 2, 2025]

Headcanons from Max and the Reader's wedding. Social Media posts from their honeymoon.

6.5. Give and Take (Kind of Love We Make) - [February 28, 2025] 18+ Request (The Morning After)

Max had a plan in his head for the evening. He had mapped out the track before, and intended to keep to his strategy until they got home.

6.7. To Constantly Be Away - [March 9 & 10, 2025]

Second race of the season and Max is already having a tough time with the car. Missing his family only makes it worse.

7. From Three to Four - [April 4, 2025]

Reader tells Max that your expecting, he doesn't have the best reaction at first.

8. Stones To Throw At My Creator - [July 19, 2025]

He wasn't his father. He would never raise Nico like that.

SMAU #3. The Verstappens - [January 8, February 2, May 26, December 3, 2025]

Big things happen to Max and the reader in 2025. Moving, getting married, and a little surprise that neither of them were expecting.

8.7 Give Me Eyes To See - [December 8, 2025]

Nikita's first few days at home. Flashbacks to moments from the reader's pregnancy.

8.8 Nikita's First Christmas - [December 24-25, 2025]

Nico's first Christmas with his baby brother.

8.9 Ghost of Bittersweet Memories - [January 25, 2026]

A few of the drivers visit you and Max for the day, and you end up talking with Charles about a woman that he meets at an FIA event. (This is the conversation I referenced in Part 2 of Bittersweet.)

9. Glass Houses - [February 17, 22, 23, 2026]

When Raymond had called you about going and getting lunch, you should have known that something was going on.

9.5. All That I Can Give - [May 10, 2026]

Another Mother's Day and one of Nikita's firsts.

9.7. On Sleepless Roads, The Sleepless Go - [December 2-3, 2026]

It's the early hours of Nikita's first birthday, and you can't help but look back at the day you brought your son into the world.

SMAU #4. A Year in Moments - [February 10, May 28, August 2 & 27, October 22 & 31, 2026]

10. Redline - [May 25, 2027]

"I'm sorry, mijn leeuwin. I know you were excited to announce it to everyone."

10.5. Mommy and Me - [May 31 - June 6, 2027] Request

Late one evening after dinner Y/N brought up the idea to Max for her to take Nico out for the day.

11. X3 - [July 8-9, 2027]

“Hallo, kleine welp,” Max said.

11.5. She's Not Acid Nor Alkaline - [December 8, 2027]

Max and Reader have a night away from the kids in Santorini for the 2027 FIA Prize Giving Gala.

SMAU #5. Welcoming Another Verstappen - [2027]

12. Hey, Little Sister - [March 27 - November 20, 2028]

SMAU #6. - [2028]

13. The End of An Era - [November 2030]

The days leading up to Max retiring from Formula 1. The Article announcing his retirement. And the last race of his F1 career.

14. Right On Track - [2036]

Checking in with the Verstsppens in 2036.

15. Letters From The Past - [November 17, 2038]

Max and Reader sit down to read the letters that Amelia (Nico's birth mom) wrote.

𝐸 𝒳 𝒯 𝑅 𝒜 𝒮

Pinterest Board

Playlist

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Timeline

Dividers made by @cafekitsune | Banner made by me

Mini Verstappen taglist: @karmabyfernando, @barcagirly, @sachaa-ff, @iamahallucinationnn, @musingsbyshreya, @glow-ish, @nonsensical-nonsence, @fanboyluvr, @champomiel, @gothicwidowsworld, @lighttsoutlewis, @itsalwaysgay, @minkyungseokie, @mynameisangeloflife, @ursforever129, @aundercover, @bborra, @mindless-rock, @cixrosie, @barcelonaloverf1life, @taylorslovesswifties13, @konsti081, @mellowarcadefun, @smnthnclj, @brekkers-whore, @lpab, @thedecalcomania-blog, @xoscar03, @em-gvf01, @haikyuen, @shelbyteller , @geniusalpaca, @princessria127 , @mysticalnightenthusiast , @green-thots , @leah-also-known-as-creatoronwp

[cffeelia]

divine, divine | k. namjoon

“you are my pain divine, divine.”

summary: your long time boyfriend is the leader of the biggest band in the world. you’d imagine he would have some more time for you now that the group was temporarily disbanded, but he’s still busy with an album, leaving you to feel unwanted and lonely. it’s only a matter of time before he leaves for the military and all you want is to see him do anything but fall asleep in his studio.

kind of angsty but pinky promise it ends on a good note 🙏🙏

2022

bts has become apart of your life as much as it’s apart of your boyfriend’s, seeing as he’s the leader of the group. for the past 4 years, youve grown closer to the boys, growing a special relationship with each of them. from sitting backstage on tour, to placing blankets over them as they slept in their studio. you’ve seen all of their highs and lows, seeing as their moods basically determined your boyfriends.

namjoon lives vicariously through his band mates, if they were upset, so was he. 2020 was a rough patch for everyone, but namjoon took it so harshly. that was the first time you’d ever seen him sob, hands running through his bleached hair as he fell to his knees in your shared apartment.

“what am i even good for if it’s not music? and i can’t even get anything out in this time where everyone needs me. ____, why am i even here?”

all you could do was tuck his head into your chest, your mouth lightly parted as tears fell silently while he cried into your shirt. he’s never crashed this hard before, you needed to say something, anything.

you managed to calm him down after about ten minutes, the night ended with him wrapped in your arms, eyes puffed from his sobs.

thankfully, that year never repeated. you learned a lot about namjoon, his moods, how to comfort him. he wasn’t always a touchy guy, opting for words of affirmation both to you and to receive, but this year taught him how much he loved to be held by you. he would never take that for granted.

things went back to normal after about two years, and bangtan was excited to perform again for their permission to dance tour, though it wasn’t to the scale of the one they originally planned. however, the tour was successful, and definitely memorable for not just you, but your boyfriend and his band mates as well. you can still recall the night they closed off the tour, ‘mikrokosmos’ always would hold a special place in your heart, this group really loved their fans, it’s so admirable to see an artist hold that much love for people simply because they enjoy their music.

nothing good lasted forever, though.

june 14, 2022, during 2022 festa, bangtan officially announced their hiatus. you knew this news was coming since january of that year, but this wasn’t the bad part. if anything, you were excited to spend more 1-on-1 time with the love of your life, and for his close friends to get a break from the spotlight, but it wasn’t what you thought it was.

immediately after this announcement, namjoon was working like crazy on more music. their repackaged album was already out, and the busan concert went well, so why was he still calling you from his studio to tell you he wouldn’t make it for dinner again? that’s how you ended up in your car, trying not to violate traffic laws as you angrily drove to the hybe building.

“mr namjoon, someones here for you.”

the studio door opened to reveal a staff member, namjoon got up groggily from his seat, a little pissed of that his flow was interrupted.

taking the elevator to the first floor, he imagined it was probably some producer offering their beats again. why wasn’t security listening when he said he knew what he was doing for this album?

he wasn’t expecting you, hair braided out of your bare face. you wore his white tshirt and loose fitting jeans, clearly you rushed out of the house.

“hey baby. what’s up?” he slowly made his way to you.

“don’t ‘hey baby’ me, are you seriously doing this again?” you took his hand, dragging him back to his studio.

“what do you mean?” he struggled to keep up as you paced into the elevator, jamming the floor seven button

“____, hey, what’s going on? are you ok?” he cupped your face, dark circles hung along your eyes, your eyelashes poking straight out instead of their usual curled position. were you crying?

“no namjoon, im not! i thought you were done working on music, i want you to come home!” dramatically flinging your hands around, you looked longingly up to your boyfriends eyes, his hand still caressing your cheek.

“i’m sorry, i didn’t tell you. i’m preparing another album before i have to go to the military this december.” he smiled softly to you, but you didn’t return it. your face lost all emotion, turning back to the buttons on the elevator.

“i’m going home then, goodnight.”

“what? hun, what’s wrong? i’ll come home this wholeeee week. i promise, i just got a late start today babe.”

he grabbed your hand to stop your from pressing the lobby button.

“baby, look at me.” turning your head towards his smiling face, you knew you were in for it now. you planned to tell him off, and get him to come home. now you felt bad for interrupting his music process, and couldn’t keep up your angry girlfriend act any longer.

“just let me wrap up, ok? you can come with, there’s still some takeout in my office. give me thirty minutes i promise.” your eyes fell to his pinky, sticking out for you to interlock yours with and seal his promise.

you pecked his lips, looking away embarassed that he sweet talked the anger out of you.

“i love you, you’re real cute.” he whispered as he lead you into his studio.

2023

so much for the stupid fucking pinky promise, once again you were left alone in your bed. namjoon was surprisingly here tonight, but he had barely said a word, his exhaustion took him over, and he almost fell asleep in the shower if it weren’t for you coming in to brush your teeth.

now he was sleeping at your side, head skimming your shoulder as you sat, propped up on your pillows, scrolling mindlessly on your phone. it was supposed to distract you, but your for you page wanted you to remember everything that you were missing out on. you know this is a hard time for bangtan, but what about you? namjoon was overworking himself as if he didn’t have ten whole months before he would have to enlist.

you wanted to feel bad for him, it’s so selfish to tell him to abandon his work to come spend time with you. but seriously, what the fuck? you didn’t even get to kiss him on new years, he spent it with jhope, in their stupid fucking studio.

your phone flashed all colors of purple and white, the tiktok video was from an army recounting their concert memories from 2019 during the lysy tour. you remember that night, hearing thousands of english speaking armys defy the boundaries of language to sing in korean for bts. it made you cry too, but this video inflicted both frustration and sadness in you now.

you turned your phone off, tossing it to the side and climbing into your sheets, head facing namjoons as he slept. you let a tear roll silently down your cheek, you wish he could care as much as he used to. he unconsciously grabbed your arm, barely awake as he interlocked arms with you, and shuffled higher on the pillows. he basically was inviting you into his arms. hesitantly, you scooted until you were in his chest, you arms naturally reaching up to his neck.

that one tear became two, then three, then you lost count. hopefully he wouldn’t notice how soaked his shirt was, you sniffled lightly, careful not to wake him. you had almost drifted to sleep, exhausted from your heavy breathing while you let your emotions fall from your heavy lids. namjoon pulled you into his chest tighter, feeling the wet stain of your tears startled him awake.

he gasped lightly and groggily sprung up from bed

“what? what’s wrong?” you asked, flipping a lamp on, your voice hoarse as you tried to wipe your tears discreetly.

“what, what, is this you?” he pointed to the dark circle staining his loose shirt.

this only earned a sniffle from you, everything fell out all at once, snapping joon out of his sleepy trance, he listened as close as he could, extremely sleep deprived and barely even awake.

“i miss you so much joonie, it’s- it’s- like, not the same anymore!” you sniffled “all i want is to just enjoy waking up with you and going out to cute cafes again without music being behind it! please,” your hands slapped into your eyes, “please joonie can you just, just come back to me once in a while? why am i competing with your music? shouldn’t you prioritize me? i feel so unimportant.” your voice died down, namjoon wasted no time in tucking you back into bed, he let you roll onto his chest.

“hun, you should’ve spoke up. i broke our promise, i know i did, i should’ve apologized princess.” he kissed your temple. “i’m so sorry, ____, i’ll spend more time with you baby. it’s been so hard huh?” he tilted his head back to see your relaxed face, still leaking tears onto his shirt.

“yes, i just wanted you to come home, i feel like i’m loosing it, i haven’t even showered for the past three days, i didn’t wash my face joonie everything’s just a fucking task right now.” you let out another sniffle before looking back into his eyes. “when will you just be how you used to again?”

he felt himself recharge as he looks into your beautiful eyes, though half lidded. he felt like he could sleep in your eyes, they were truly heaven. so much so he forgot to reply, “i know baby. it’s ok, you’re ok, i’ll find a way to stay home more often, that sound good?”

you nodded, puckering your lips lightly, he kissed you once, then again, and again, then your cheek, ear, neck, then back to your lips.

it pained him so much to see you hurt over him, especially when he knows you’ve been innocently waiting like the perfect girl you are for him to say something to you.

after a while, the two of you fell asleep, arms crossed around each other as he caught up on some much needed rest. neither of you woke up until 2pm, joon replaced himself with a pillow, letting you sleep some more while he walked to the living room. his guitar sat in the corner of the room, where it had been collecting dust for two years now.

he rushed back into the room to quietly grab his laptop, also stealing a soft kiss on your lips, before he sat down on your shared couch. he knew what he wanted this song to sound like, he just needed lyrics and now, he finally found them.

copying your words, he began to play quietly. it took a while, but he got the premise of the song eventually, deciding to put the guitar down to cook the two of you some breakfast. he turned the stove on, getting to work making pancakes.

the smell woke you up, even though the food had been made, your boyfriend knew it could be reheated. if you weren’t ready to wake up, he wouldn’t come get you. so, he settled back down with his guitar, playing his untitled song.

it was the sound that lulled you out of bed. despite what you’d said last night, you loved to hear namjoon singing. you stumbled into the living room, sitting down beside namjoon as he continued his song, eyes skimming over you. the smile in his voice was audible. you layed your head on his shoulder, letting the vibrations of his voice relax you.

this was exactly what you missed, just quality time with the light of your life. you had never felt better than at that exact moment, it was the peak of your relationship.

just like his lyrics, it was divine, divine.

i have ideas for a part two if anyone’s interested 😽😽 lmk!!

[morbidology]

Born in El Segundo, California, Christopher McCandless was described as his teachers as “marching to the beat of a different drummer.” After earning a bachelor’s degree in history and anthropology, he donated the majority of his belongings and savings to charity and decided to live a nomadic lifestyle.

By 1992, he had travelled all the way to Alaska. Once there, he lived off the land, or at least attempted to. He discovered an abandoned bust approximately 28 miles west of Healy - this is where he set up camp.

He documented his experience in a journal and through self-portrait photography. He foraged for edible plants and hunted animals, including squirrels, birds, and geese. His journal detailed 133 days out in the wilderness. Becoming weak, he decided he would return to civilization. However, the trail was blocked by an overflowing river.

He returned to the bus where he wrote an S.O.S. note which read:

“Attention Possible Visitors. S.O.S. I need your help. I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out. I am all alone, this is no joke. In the name of God, please remain to save me. I am out collecting berries close by and shall return this evening. Thank you, Chris McCandless. August?”

On 6 September, 1992, a hunter discovered McCandless’ decomposing body, wrapped up tight in his sleeping bag on the abandoned bus. He had died of starvation the prior month. His final journal entry that included words read: “Day 107. Beautiful Berries.” Entries 108 through to 113 were marked only with a singular slash.

The abandoned bus where he took refuge, known as the "Magic Bus" or the "Into the Wild" bus, became a pilgrimage site for adventurers seeking to follow in his footsteps. However, the remote location of the bus and the dangers posed by the harsh wilderness environment led to several rescue missions and fatalities over the years.

In June 2020, following a series of high-profile rescues and the increasing number of visitors to the site, Alaska's Department of Natural Resources made the decision to remove the bus from its remote location near the Teklanika River.

[myseungsunglove]

More than Willing | Ksm

Pairing: Seungmin x reader 

Warnings: Smut, piv sex, no protection (Wrap it before you tap it and all that advice) friends to lovers, language 

Word Count: 3.5k

𖠫Summary: Seungmin has been your constant since the moment you joined JYP Entertainment. He’s been your safe haven and your biggest supporter. When you became the 9th addition to Stray Kids in 2020, it only brought the two of you closer, but over the years there has been an unspeakable tension boiling at the surface, just waiting for a weak spot to break through and rear it's tempting head. 

✎A/N✎: This has been in rolling around in my head for a few weeks now. I think I’ve played it out enough that it’s time to put one to paper. Hope you enjoy. 

◠ ◡ ◠᭚ιαᵕ̈

「© February 28, 2024 by myseungsunglove」

XMDNIX

“Oh. My. God.” you sigh dramatically as you plop onto the king size bed in your NYC hotel room. “I can’t believe that just happened!” you giggle and groan all in one breath. “God I’m sore,” you grumble, throwing your arms to the side of you so that you look like a starfish on display in the bed. 

“Pff,” Seungmin scoffs playfully as he knees the foot that is dangling off the edge of the bed. “Welcome to life on tour,” he smiles down at you. “I can give you one of my famous massages later,” he teases, winking at you. “How does it feel to have your first performance in the US as a member of Stray Kids behind you?” 

You smile and sigh happily, reaching out a hand so he can help you up. He takes it gladly, moving to help you sit up, but instead he finds himself being pulled onto the bed, toppling not so gracefully on top of you with an exasperated laugh. You grunt at the weight of his body landing on you, but can’t help the laugh that escapes you. 

“It feels like I’m on cloud 9 with a 120 pound weight on my chest,” you tease, looking up into his eyes as he remains where he landed. 

“God, sorry,” he giggles, pushing himself off of you and rolling to lay beside you. “There really isn’t anything quite like that post concert high, is there?” He smiles wide, looking at you and a laugh tumbles from him. The cadence of his laugh sounds like a song. It’s beautiful and contagious and before you know it, you’re both giggling for absolutely no reason other than the sheer joy of the occasion.

 After the laughing fit has passed, you let your arm fall across Sungmin's chest. It lands with a dramatic thud and a low umph is punched from his lungs. You chuckle again and work hard to keep another giggling fit at bay.

“The only thing that makes it better is that I get to spend it with my best friend,” you sigh, running your hand along his chest over the Maniac hoodie he is still wearing. “But fuck my muscles hurt like a bitch,” you laugh again as you smack his chest playfully and sit up with an exhausted sigh. “I really need a shower,” you add, pushing your hair out of your face. It’s late June in New York, and it’s a hot one. 

“Yeah you do,” Seungmin smirks beside you. “You kinda smell,” he teases, sniffing the air and pulling a disgusted face. “Dibs on the shower first!” He laughs, jumping up from the bed and darting into the huge bathroom.

“Ya! Kim Seungmin you little shit!” you yell after him, hot on his tail only to have the door slam in your face. The last thing you see is a braces filled smile gleaming at you followed by maniacal laughter from behind the door. “Ah fuck you!” 

“You wish!” he sing songs as he turns on the shower. You do a 180 and stomp dramatically into the living area, throwing yourself on the couch. Your head thuds against the back of it and you are starkly reminded just how sore your muscles are. This is your first world tour with the boys, having joined them right at the start of Covid and you didn’t realize just how demanding “regular” idol life could be. All you had known was life as a “Covid idol” as you liked to joke. It was still busy, but this was a whole new level of busy. Not to mention you were already prepping for a comeback in October. 

You grabbed your phone from the coffee table and turned on your playlist. Seungmin’s voice from his Hometown Cha Cha Cha OST rings out and you can’t help but laugh. His voice is your favorite in the whole world. You still can’t believe he is your best friend. You look around the room and sigh happily. The two of you always share a room when traveling, even when the company gets everyone else their own room. Seungmin always insists that he be with you, for safety reasons, he claims. 

Sure you do feel a little more at ease with him in the same room when you are far from the safety of your dorms, but Seungmin knows you can handle yourself. The company initially forced you to room with someone, putting you with staff the first times you traveled. While you love each of them dearly, it hadn’t been the kind of experience you wanted or wanted to continue while traveling with SKZ and Seungmin had made sure that he was the one you roomed with from that point on. 

You breathe deeply and gradually your breaths slow and you drift into a light sleep. 

You’re eventually  stirred by a quiet albeit dramatic sigh. 

“I was gonna give you one of my famous massages,” Seungmin laments. You can hear his arms lift from his side and slap back down against his hips dramatically. 

“I’m awake,” you start, opening your eyes and blinking a few times as Seungmin’s figure comes into view. 

“That’s what I thought,” he laughs. You rub your eyes and when you open them again, you're surprised by the view. Seungmin has a towel still draped over his hips, his hair still wet. Usually he’d already be donning a white oversized T-shirt and a black pair of basketball shorts. 

You lift a scrutinizing eyebrow at him, and can’t help but let your eyes roam his body. His shoulders are broad and his chest wide. He hides it under all his oversized clothes, but he has a well built torso despite not spending a lot of time in the gym. He is dedicated to perfecting dances, and that’s evident in his build. He’s slim and toned, defined without excess. Solid. Steady.  His waist is tiny, smaller than yours, and his thighs are surprisingly thick though you can’t see them for the towel, but you know. 

Seungmin clears his throat and laughs. 

“Ya! My eyes are up here, perv,” he teases. 

A blush pulls onto your face and you stand quickly. A satisfied smirk creeps onto Seungmin’s face and the unspoken tension that’s been dancing between the two of you for the better part of a year has manifested itself right into the room with you. 

“Bought damn time,” you huff, standing and heading for the bathroom. “And you better not have been lying about that massage,” you add, your hand grazing Seungmin’s bare chest as you walk by him. He shakes his shoulders a little at your touch and tossels his wet hair around. You know goosebumps have pricked up on his skin. You don’t look back at him but you hear him clear his throat and sigh loudly as he falls against the couch with a chuckle. You can’t help but smile yourself as you step into the bathroom and close the door. 

You’re not sure how long you spend in there, but the room is full of steam and hot as hell when you finally step out and grab a towel, wrapping it around your torso. You use another towel to dry your hair so that it isn’t soaking wet and pull open the bathroom door, steam billowing out into the room, announcing your departure from the bathroom. 

“Fuck it’s hot out here too,” you complain, looking around for Seungmin. 

“You know I don’t turn down the air if I can help it,” Seungmin says. He is lying on the couch where you left him, with a towel still draped over his hips. 

“It’s not good for…”

“Not good for our voices, I know,” you interrupt him with a laugh. “Why are you still half naked?” you ask as you move into the bedroom and plop onto the bed again, holding the towel close to you so it doesn't fall. 

Seungmin isn’t far behind you and laughs at you sprawled across the bed. “Cause it’s hot as balls,” he says as he walks over to his suitcase and pulls out a pair of black shorts. He tugs them on and pulls the towel off. “You’re still half naked,” he notes, walking into the bathroom to hang it up.

“How bout that massage?” you joke as he returns to the room, still bare chested, his hands pushing his hair out of his face only to have it fall back onto his forehead, his efforts fruitless.

“Promise is a promise,” he shrugs, walking back into the bathroom. 

“You didn’t exactly promise, but if you’re willing I’m not complaining,” you sigh and pull a pillow under your head and shuffle around getting comfortable. 

“I’m more than willing,” he chuckles as he returns from the bathroom, your favorite lotion in hand. 

More than willing. You try not to let that phrase stick in your brain too much, but you can’t help but wonder what he means by it. 

“You trust me, yeah?” he asks, a serious demeanor overtaking him suddenly. His eyes meet yours and there is something there you don’t recognize. 

“Of course I do Seung,” you smile, a little nervously. 

He squeezes some lotion onto his hand, rubbing his large hands together as he keeps his eyes on you. He reaches down and grabs your foot, massaging gently as he asks his next question. 

“If you want me to stop, you’ll tell me?” He presses his thumb into the arch of your foot and a small moan escapes you. 

“Yes,” you breathe out as he sets one foot down and gives the other the same treatment. 

“Yes what?” he asks, and there is a teasing lilt to his voice now but a sense of command there as well. 

“Yes, I’ll tell you to stop if that’s what I want,” you sigh as his hands move up to your calf and knead into them. You take a deep breath when both his hands slide over your knees and squeeze earnestly at your thighs. You don’t mean for the quiet moan to escape you, but Seungmin’s hands have always been good at this. However, he has never touched you quite like this. There is something different about the way his hands move up and down your thighs, your skin on fire as he moves his long fingers to the outside of your thighs and up along where your leg and hip meet. 

You realize the towel has ridden up and remember you are still completely naked underneath. 

Seungmin seems to notice your embarrassment and digs deeper into your hips and chuckles when you moan louder, your hands flying up to your face. 

“I won’t look if you don’t want me to,” he says, his hands not leaving your body as they move up your sides and under the towel. “Though, this would be easier without the towel,” he says quietly, his hands dancing along your sides lightly. 

You’re not sure what comes over you, but you open the towel and let it fall to your sides, completely naked before him. 

He shoots up suddenly, his hands off you in seconds as he turns around quickly. He runs his hands through his hair and his head falls forward as his long fingers dig into his neck, his elbows resting against his knees. You can’t help but watch the way his back ripples with his movements and you have to stop yourself from reaching out and running your hands over his shoulders.  

“God, y/n, warn a guy first,” he chuckles nervously. 

“You said it’d be easier,” you reply, reaching out and running your hand along his arm, pulling at it to get him to look at your face. “And maybe I want you to look,” you add when his big brown boba eyes meet yours. His tongue darts out and wets his bottom lip as his eyes dart down briefly at your mouth and back up to your eyes. His stare is intense and you feel like your body is on fire from the inside out from his look alone, and he hasn’t even really looked at you, but the thought  propels you forward. 

You take his hand and place it on your ribs, your hand resting gently over his. His fingers splay across your skin slowly and then squeeze at your sides, causing you to arch into his touch. He turns around then his knees back on the bed as his other hand lands on your ribs. He squeezes them, his hands slowly sliding up under your breast and back down again, causing you to let out a breath that you don’t realize you are holding. 

You can’t take the tension anymore. You feel like you’re going to burst if you don’t do something. 

“Kiss me,” the words fall desperately from your lips as your chest heaves tremulously under Seungmin’s gaze and touch. 

His mouth gapes slightly, but when you reach out and touch his neck, his brain catches up and he lets you pull him down to your face. 

“You want me to kiss you?” he asks, his eyes roaming your face as his hands stay firmly on your sides. 

“God yes,” you breathe out and that seems to be all the permission he needs. His hands tuck under your back and he pulls your body flush against him as his lips find yours. You’d been watching Seungmin sing for years, but nothing prepared you for how soft his lips are. Your chests are pressed against each other as your mouths open to each other, his tongue slipping between your lips and tasting you in earnest. You cling to him as he rolls you to lay on top of him, his hands roaming your back as he kisses you breathless. 

When your lungs are on fire and your skin ablaze and flushed, he pulls away, your name a whisper on Seungmin’s mouth. His lips are swollen and puffy and he looks  more beautiful than you have ever seen him, his skin flushed and his hair a disheveled mess. 

“Holy shit,” he breathes with a laugh as you kiss along his jaw and down his neck. “Fuck,” he moans when you nip at his pulse point then lave your tongue over it to smooth the ache. “Are we really doing this?” he asks, his hands settling on your hips.

“I can’t even tell you how long I’ve wanted you like this Seungmin,” you admit as you roll over beside him and hide behind your hands, suddenly starkly aware of the situation at hand, of the position you now find yourself in. 

Seungmin quickly moves on top of you, his hips settling against yours, his covered erection evident against your cunt as he rolls his hips into you. He moves your hands away from your face before he speaks. 

“Then have me,” he breathes out desperately, his lips locking with yours. He kisses you hard and deep and you can feel his braces against you as he moves against your lips. Your hands run down his back and over his hips as you desperately push his shorts past his ass. He lifts off you slightly, not wanting to break the kiss and pulls the shorts off completely, kicking them off as he settles back between your legs, his hard cock now running through your folds and your sweaty bodies moving slowly against one another.

 His hands are everywhere at once as he takes his opportunity to  move his kisses across your jaw and down the column of your neck. His lips trail across your collarbone and he sucks several marks onto your skin as you moan desperately and arch into his mouth. When his lips find your hardened nipple, his tongue swirling around it before sucking it into your mouth, a broken sob shakes your body. 

Seungmin lavishes your body with attention before trailing his way back up to your mouth. He kisses you slowly, his hips canting against yours as he confesses. 

“I can’t believe you want me too,” he breathes against your lips, his hand softly holding your face as his thumb swipes across your cheek. “My beautiful best friend. My y/n,” he sighs and kisses you again. “I love you,” he pants against your mouth. 

“Then show me how much,” you respond, your legs falling open more. 

He reaches between your bodies and grasps his dick in hand, running it through your folds before lining himself up with your wet entrance. “You're sure?” he asks, the head of his cock breaching you slowly.

You arch into him, your hands running down his back and settling on his ass as you help him ease into you. 

“I’ve never been more sure of anything, Minnie,” you let out your airy confession. “I love you so fucking much.” 

His lips find yours again, his hand on the side of your face and in that moment, you think you could lie there and kiss him forever and be completely satisfied. It’s only when he pulls out of you and slowly slides back in, his hips meeting yours and pressing hard against your body, that a moan falls from you and your brought back to the reality that you’re fucking your best friend. No, you're making love to your best friend. 

His hips find a slow and steady rhythm as he pulls away from your lips just enough to look into your eyes as he pushes in and pulls out of you. Your mouth falls open, small puffs of air cascading out of you with each press of his hips, his cock reaching that spot inside of you that sets you on fire in a whole new way. 

Your hands roam his back and move up to his shoulder, his pace slowly picking up as you squeeze around him, your head thrown back in pure ecstasy. 

“Fuck,” you moan, moving your body to meet his as you start to feel that coil tighten in your abdomen. 

“Fuck,” Seungmin echos, as your bodies slap together, his stomach tightening, that blissful release eminent. “Y/n, I’m gonna come,” he warns.

Your legs wrap around his hips, holding him to you as he drives into you, his rhythm now erratic. He reaches between you and starts to rub circles around your clit. 

“Seungmin,” you moan and arch into his touch, your walls squeezing around him. That’s all it takes for him to spill into you, his pace briefly quickening when his climax hits him. That’s what pulls you over the edge, his hands moving to your hips once he feels you flutter around him, his seed warm as it overflows from your pussy and drips down over his balls and down your ass as you quiver beneath him.

Your hands reach out for his face, pulling him into a kiss once more. 

“I love you, Kim Seungmin,” you whisper against his lips as he settles against your body, his hand running up and down your sides lovingly as he kisses you slowly again. 

“I’m so in love with you,” he confesses, looking into your eyes. “I’ve wanted you for so long,” his cheeks blush and you place your hands on both sides of his face. 

“You have me now,” you tell him, pulling him in again to kiss him hard. 

Suddenly he is laughing against your kiss and pulls away from you. 

“I don’t think this probably helped with your muscle soreness,” he jokes, pulling out of you and moving to get up from the bed. 

You laugh out loud, slapping his chest as he pulls away from you, his hand reaching out to pull you up. 

“Definitely made it worse,” you agree with a playful laugh. “Not that I mind,” you add as he pulls you up from the bed. 

“Shower,” he says as he tugs you toward the bathroom. “This time I won’t lock you out,” he winks as you step into the bathroom and he moves to turn on the shower. “You’ll  really get that massage now,” he smiles mischievously, pulling you into the shower with him. 

Your laughter is muffled by a teasing kiss and you can’t help but think what a wonderful tour this is going to turn out to be. 

[offender42085]

Post 1318

....and 80 stitches later....

Cody J Jondreau, Ohio inmate A796121, born 1995, incarceration intake December 2021 at age 26, sentenced to life with possibility of parole, scheduled for parole review April 2050

Murder, Child Endangerment

In December 2021, Cody Jondreau was sentenced to 29 years in prison for the death of his 9-week-old son. He murdered his son in September of 2020. He admitting what he did and pleading guilty in November 2021.

Jondreau was arrested on May 11th, 2021, in Polk County, Florida after an arrest warrant was issued for his son’s homicide. He was transferred to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Jail and was awaiting extradition to Ohio.

Due to the U.S. Marshal's involvement in transporting Jondreau back to Ohio as a fugitive, the sheriff's office says he was placed into the Pinellas Florida jail in the maximum-security wing. 

All inmates at the jail, regardless of where they are being held, are allowed time in the recreation yard. That's where Jondreau attempted his escape around on June 9, 2021.

The sheriff's office says the inmates in the yard at the time had indicated to the deputy in the tower that they were ready to head back inside. To alert the control room to let the group in the deputy went into the tower to call it in. 

At that time, the sheriff's office says Jondreau entered a restricted "painted area" in the yard and scaled the wall using a door handle, awning and conduit before reaching razor wire.

Instead of stopping there, Jondreau took his shirt off and wrapped it around the razor wire before hoisting himself up and over and onto the roof, according to the sheriff's office. 

To continue his escape, Jondreau made a 14-foot jump off the jail roof and scaled a fence also topped with razor wire. Deputies are reported to have tried to pull Jondreau off the fence but were unsuccessful.

The chase came to an end when Jondreau ran onto the property of a local business, was tased, tried to run again and then was taken down by deputies.

The sheriff's office says Jondreau was out of the jail for about 10 minutes and was never a threat to the public. Jondreau did suffer a broken heel and needed about 80 sutures for lacerations.

At this time, the sheriff's office has no indication that Jondreau was working with other inmates to stage the escape, though Jail officials are not convinced the escape was as spontaneous as the 25-year-old claims.

He was then returned to Ohio where he was sentenced for his son’s murder.

Video footage of the escape may be found at:

4s

[38sr]

How did you get where you are now? Job wise I mean? Were you a college student before doing this or did you go looking for jobs in the art industry straight away?

Oh, well it's been quite a journey for me in terms of how I got to where I am right now but here's the full timeline (?):

August 1996 - BIRTH

April 2007 - I watch Brave Story at Tribeca Film Festival, life is changed and I decide to purse animation

June 2014 - Graduate high school and accepted into Montserrat College of Art for Animation & Interactive Media

Summer of 2016 - Studied abroad in Japan attending Niigata School of Art & Design

Summer of 2017 - First animation job as an animation intern for Sesame Street (yes that Sesame Street)

December 2017 - Graduated from college (yes I graduated early due to having college credits in high school), did not have a job lined up

2018 to 2019 - Living back in NY with my parents, working on indie animation productions, creating emotes and animated intros for content creators, applying and getting rejected from many job listings, received and fail multiple storyboard tests, developing my own projects and story ideas after years of not being able to for school work

July 2019 - Fly to California for the first time, made the decision to move in order to further pursue a career in animation, at this time the Nickelodeon Artist Program were accepting submissions so I busted out boards for a personal project in 3 days and submitted it (please do not be like me, take your time haha)

September 2019 - I receive a call from Nickelodeon and I go through a series of interviews for 2 months straight

Thanksgiving 2019 - I receive news I was selected as a trainee for the Nickelodeon Artist Program

January 2020 - Move to California and begin work as a trainee at Nickelodeon (specifically for Rugrats reboot)

March 2020 - The pandemic

July 2020 - I leave Nickelodeon and move onto Titmouse as a storyboard revisionist for Star Trek Lower Decks

November 2020 - My Supervising Director for Lower Decks recommends me to the first Critical Role show Legend of Vox Machina

December 2020 - I do freelance boards for Vox Machina and get hired as a full time revisionist for season 2

January 2021 - I receive a interview request for a job on WondLa at SkyDance due to one of the directors finding my work online, I heavily consider the job

May 2021 - My Adventures of Superman is announced, I draw a piece of fanart that goes viral

July 2021 - Vox Machina season 2 wraps, I receive an offer to return to Lower Decks season 3 as well to work on X-Men 97 (I said yes to Lower Decks)

August 2021 - Spiderman Freshmen Year (now known as Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman) asks if I be interested to do boards, I decline not knowing what it was for

September 2021 - Showrunner for Spiderman contacts me personally for interview, my Superman fanart from May 2021 finds it way in front of the eyes of one of the creators for MAWS, still currently doing revisions for Lower Decks S3

October 2021 - Accept job offer as board artist for Spiderman, freelancing on MAWS as a character designer (first time doing this job), turn down SkyDance job offer

December 2021 - Wrapped on Lower Decks S3

January 2022 - Launch as board artist for Spiderman at Marvel Studios, still been developing my own personal projects at this point

February 2022 - Studio Shaft offers layout and genga work for Madoka Magia Record after seeing animation work of my personal projects, I accept

April 2022 - My episode of Madoka Magia Record airs, Studio Pierrot sends offer for work on Boruto

May 2022 - After my first episode on Boruto I am offered to work on Bleach Thousand Year Blood War, I accept and continue to on Bleach as of this post (3 seasons in total), Studio Mir offers me animation work for XMen 97 (I accept but only work on the first episode)

Summer of 2022 - Working on Spiderman, animating on animes, I think at some point this is when I was offered to do animation work for Castlevania Nocturne

November 2022 - Complete season 1 of Spiderman, Marvel/Disney lays me off for *reasons*, I receive an email about potential work on an unannounced show at Nickelodeon, I'm unemployed at this point

January 2023 - Collecting unemployment, freelancing on animes, trying to survive in general, also approached by Colosso to create my own course

February 2023 - Land a short gig on Big City Greens movie over at Disney TVA, Studio Mir once again offer me work but this time for second animated Witcher film

March 2023 - Land an interview as a character designer for that unannounced Nick show, didn't get the job

May 2023 - Wrap up on Big City Greens and Witcher, fly to Japan to relax (I failed)

July 2023 - Land a layout artist position at A24 (no it's not for Hazbin Hotel), Studio Mappa offer me work on Jujutsu Kaisen Shibuya Arc

September 2023 - Land another interview with Nickelodeon (this time for storyboard artist), freelancing on layouts and animation for Castlevania Nocturne S2, A24 job is stressing me out way too much so I decide to leave, MAWS hits me up for retakes on season 2

October 2023 - Wrap up at A24, I land the board artist job at Nick, I am also drowning in Jujutsu Kaisen production meltdown, complete my online course for Colosso, wrap up on MAWS S2

November 2023 - I start at Nick as a board artist, Colosso course release, I am still dying by the hands of Studio Mappa

January 2024 till now - Still boarding over at Nick and still animating on animes (I am VERY selective now about it though after JJK), I am also in therapy now Yeah so that's like, a real rough timeline over everything from school till now (and even then I am missing a lot of work details like video games and development projects due to NDAs). But pretty much what carried me was putting myself and my art out there on social media along with building relationships with people in the studios (outside of just my production) and that's how I've been able to maintain a steady work flow even when I was unemployed. Also not being afraid to develop my own ideas and share them since most of the times that gives the leadership a pretty good idea what sensibilities I have (and they just happen to match). I hope that answered your question!

[fawnim]

Help me buy a new graphic tablet so I can continue making art and taking commissions! 🥹

My current tablet (XP-PEN Star G690) has been with me since I started digital art on June 2020, and its wire has been fraying for a while. I've been wrapping it with electrical tape for months now but it keeps getting worse no matter what I do.

I worry that soon it will give up on me and I will have to pause commissions indefinitely — which is my biggest concern. Currently, I am taking art commissions so that me and my mom could divide with paying the bills. Pausing commissions for a long while until I can get a new one is really not the best thing in our situation rn, and I might just need to stop making art 'till then :c

It would help me and my family so much if I could get a replacement. You can help and donate to me over on kofi. Thank you so much for your kindness. 🥹💗

decided to make a new/separate post because it got cut off from my reblog

[leclerc-s]

honest series timeline

(white events indicate an official date, blue events indicate no official date, red indicates which events have corresponding parts)

1989

july first: daniel ricciardo's birth december thirteenth: daphne jones' birth

1994

september first: carlos sainz's birth

1996

february seventh: pierre gasly's birth

1997

march second: penelope trevino's birth september thirtieth: max verstappen's birth october sixteenth: charles leclerc's birth december eleventh: rowan todd's birth

1998

june sixteenth: natalia ruiz's birth

1999

may eleventh: mae jones' birth march twenty-second: mick schumacher's birth november thirteenth: lando norris' birth

2000

october fourteenth: arthur leclerc's birth november twenty-first: freya vettel's birth december thirty-first: logan sargeant's birth

2001

april sixth: oscar piastri's birth july tenth: dulce perez's birth september seventh: bailey winter's birth

2002

january twentieth: isabella perez's birth february twentieth: zoya torres' birth trevino family moves to madrid, spain first meeting between penelope and carlos

2003

first meeting between natalia and charles

2004

2005

freya's adoption

2006

october twenty-fourth: daphne's debut album release

2007

2008

november eleventh: fearless release

2009

september thirteenth: daphne gets interrupted by kanye west at the vma's

2010

twenty-fifth: speak now release

2011

july tenth: daniel ricciardo's debut grand prix

2012

october twenty-second: red release

2013

2014

june twenty-seventh: mae's debut in girl meets world october twenty-seventh: nineteen eighty-nine release

2015

march fifteenth: max verstappen and carlos sainz's debut grand prix april fifteenth: eyes wide open release mae and max begin dating first meeting between daniel and daphne

2016

february twelfth: kanye west releases famous february fifteenth: daphne seemingly shades kanye west at an award show july sixteenth: kim kardashian releases video footage of kanye's phone call with daphne, daphne issues a statement defending herself after the leaked call september twenty-eight: daphne and daniel begin secretly dating october fourteenth: evolution release october twenty-third: daphne performs after the us grand prix mae and max break-up

2017

daphne disappears for a year august twenty-third: daphne announces reputation october first: pierre gasly's debut grand prix november tenth: reputation release

2018

march twenty-first charles leclerc's debut grand prix november ninth: singular act i release natalia and charles' friends with benefits relationship begins

2019

pierre and rowan's situationship begins march sixteenth: lando norris' debut grand prix june thirtieth: scooter braun purchases daphne's masters july first: lover release july nineteenth: singular act ii release september thirtieth: seven release (see seven for further info) november twelfth: zoya's debut on high school musical: the musical: the series

2020

january thirty-first: miss americana release march twenty: the entire phone call between daphne and kanye get leaked july twenty-fourth: folklore release december eleventh: evermore release daniel and joshua reunite mae and max

2021

lando and bailey's fake relationship begins april ninth: fearless (daphne's version) release march twenty-eighth: mick schumacher's debut grand prix may twenty-first: sour release september: filming for daisy jones and the six begins november twelfth: red (daphne's version) release mae and max begin dating again

2022

march: filming for daisy jones and the six wraps natalia becomes pregnant july fifteenth: emails i can't send release september twenty-eighth: daphne and daniel get married october twenty-first: midnights release pierre and rowan accidentally get married in vegas september twenty-eighth: daniel and daphne get married november twentieth: sebastian vettel's final race

2023

january seventeenth: baby leclerc is born rumors of daphne and fernando dating begin (see the daphlonso scandal for further info) lando accidentally leaks daphne and daniel's secret relationship during a livestream (see the daphlonso scandal for further info) march fifth: logan sargeant and oscar piastri's debut grand prix march seventeenth: daphne's eras tour kicks off and emails i can't send fwd release mae and max get secretly married the first meeting between logan and zoya july seventh: speak now (daphne's version) release july eleventh: daniel replaces nyck de vries at alphatauri august twenty-third: mae and max's familial wedding party september eighth: guts release october twenty-seventh: nineteen eighty-nine (daphne's version) release november 11th: daphne's famous line change, "karma is the guy on the track" (see karma is the guy on the track for further info) november fifteenth: mae and max's vegas wedding party (see what happens in vegas never stays in vegas for further info)

2024

january 25th: charles leclerc extends his contract with ferrari for a disclosed amount of time (see divorcegate for further info) january 26th: lando norris extends his contract with mclaren for a disclosed amount of time (see divorcegate for further info) february 1st: lewis hamilton announces his departure from mercedes, and announces his multi-year contract with ferrari. (see divorcegate for further info) february 4th: the 66th annual grammys, daphne announces her new album, the tortured poets department ( see let him be a trophy husband! for further info) march 2nd: the 75th formula one season begins. april 19th: the tortured poets department release june 21st: the secret of us release july 29th: carlos sainz to williams racing announcement august 23rd: short n' sweet release august 27th: logan sargeant's departure from williams racing september 26th: daniel ricciardo's departure from visa cashapp rb december 8th: the final eras tour show

… more events to be added

[guster-animations]

Geats Finale Commemoration Producers’ Symposium: Translated

here’s my full 10k word translation of the geats producers roundtable, originally published on TTFC. i did geats’s one first because it’s already been graciously transcribed and posted by other people (with a few typos)— you can find that transcription of the original japanese text here.

this translation was done for a few projects of mine. join the henshindex wiki today!

if you notice that i messed anything up please let me know!

Kamen Rider Geats TV Series Ending Commemoration Toei Producer Team Special Roundtable Discussion Distributed on Sunday, August 27th, 2023 10:00

The fourth Reiwa entry in the Kamen Rider series, “Kamen Rider Geats”, finished broadcasting all 49 episodes on August 27th. A new program, “Kamen Rider Gotchard”, will start in September, but there are certainly many people that still want to immerse themselves in Geats’s world.

So, this season will have a “Toei Producers Special Round-table Discussion” delivered like the ones before it.

It actually became over 25,000 words long, but please read through it once.

Attendees

Naomi Takebe (Chief Producer) Joined the Kamen Rider series as a producer starting with “Kamen Rider Agito” (2001). She was the Chief Producer for “Kamen Rider Kiva” (2008), “Kamen Rider OOO” (2011), “Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters” (2012), “Kamen Rider Gaim” (2013), and “Shuriken Sentai Ninninger” (2015), among others. Additionally, she is in charge of many other works, including the Toei Movie-Stage “The Shinigami Incident” (2020, 2022).

Minami Takijima (Assistant Producer) Met the requirements for the “Tokusatsu program producer recruitment”, and joined Toei. Was an assistant producer for the works “Mashin Sentai Kiramager” (2020), and “Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger” (2021).

Fumiki Yoshikawa (Assistant Producer) “Geats” is the first work he has been in charge of as an assistant producer. His personal history prior to entering Toei will be discussed in this round-table discussion text.

Interviewer

TTFC (Toei Tokusatsu Fan Book editorial department)

State of Mind I: Reaching the End of the TV Series

TTFC: First of all, a few days prior to this interview, the “Kamen Rider Geats” TV series finished filming the last episode, the first screening of it ended, and now there’s nothing left to do but air it. So truly, your work is finished. I would like to hear your present state of mind…

Takebe: The filming itself ended at the end of June this year.

Yoshikawa: We were filming for exactly one year.

Takebe: Fortunately, nobody in the cast was ever infected with coronavirus. We were following the excellent schedule perfectly until the end, so I am happy as you’d expect. By always wrapping up filming about 6 episodes ahead of time, there was a sense that the script was being made about 10 episodes ahead. It’s the help of the brilliant staff that made this happen.

Takijima: As the filming progressed smoothly, even though we thought we were going well ahead of the broadcast, there were several times where the script had to be rushed on the filming location. (Laughs)

Takebe: It’s because this year, we made Yu (Yuya Takahashi) write it all by himself. I think that made it difficult. However, thanks to our hard work, it’s now calming down a bit. Everyone in the cast is doing the summer movie campaign and such, and we’re moving on to preparations for the “Final Stage” being hosted from September to October. How about you two? It’s your first time being involved with the Kamen Rider series, Takijima, and Geats is the first work you’ve been in charge of, Yoshikawa.

Takijima: By now, the only thing I have to say is “It was fun”. I mean, even if I stumble in the middle of a work, at the end it’ll always total to happy memories. (Laughs)

Takebe: Really? I think it was fairly exhausting work, and you don’t have any criticisms? (Laughs)

Takijima: What was frantic was frantic, but it was because we did everything we wanted to do, as we should have. In this interview’s proposal too, “Please talk about what you regret not doing!” was written, but I don’t think I have many regrets…

Takebe: However, do you feel a sense of freedom now?

Takijima: I do. (Laughs) The delivery has finished up to the final episode; that’s big. And after that, the movie was successfully released to positive reception, so at any rate I’m feeling a sense of relief.

Takebe: Right now is the time when there is exactly no filming and no work. For the first time in a year (Laughs).

Takijima: Personally, I’m beginning preparations for a separate work, but I was able to take a long break the other day.

Takebe: I rested a little bit too.

Yoshikawa: While “Geats” was shooting, no one got sick. It wasn’t “sickness coming from the mind”, but it may be that we got through with fighting spirit.

Takebe: How was it for you, Yoshikawa?

Yoshikawa: I joined Toei because I wanted to work on the Kamen Rider series, but I really didn’t know anything about making television shows at the start. So I’ve basically just been learning over the past year. I hoped I would be able to grow alongside this particularly young cast because I was very involved with them while working. Because it was that kind of year, I started crying when I called for them to wrap up. I think that no matter what works I’m in after this, I’ll definitely remember “Kamen Rider Geats” my whole life. I will always treasure my “Geats” toys too.

Takebe: By the way, should we talk about your personal history, Yoshikawa? Truthfully, I’ve already met you prior to you joining Toei; we’ve worked together.

Yoshikawa: That’s right. I met Ms. Takebe during “OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let’s Go Kamen Riders” (2011) and she helped me. I was playing as a child actor, but because my dream of being in the Kamen Rider series had already come true, I quit too early. After that, I became the age to start looking for a job, and I thought I’d go overseas at that time, but at that exact moment, coronavirus entered the world… While wondering what I should do, I thought about how there hadn’t been a person credited under both cast and staff in Kamen Rider works, since I still liked the franchise. With that, I became determined and joined Toei.

Takebe: You’d also met assistant director (Junpei) Shiokawa a while back, right?

Yoshikawa: I did meet him. After that, I met (Soichiro) Hiragane too. When I was in “Tomika Hero Rescue Force” (2008)’s Shiokawa crew (episode 47, “Hurry Rei: Save the Parent and Child’s Bond”), the VE was Hiragane. (TN: I think VE is short for visual editor??)

Takijima: Speaking of, Hiragane worked on the “GARO” series too, so he was also acquainted with Kokoro Aoshima (who appeared as the heroine Alice Hiromi in 2017’s “Zero: Dragon Blood”).

Takebe: “Let’s Go Kamen Riders” is nostalgic… I was on (Osamu) Kaneda’s team, right?

Yoshikawa: That’s correct. I remember there was a scene where we jumped down from the Den-Liner, but supervisor Kaneda wasn’t happy with the shots, so it had to be redone about 10 times. Actually, I’m sorry for spending so much time on my personal stories; let’s move on to a different topic. (Laughs)

State of Mind II: Like a Fox

TTFC: It’s common to be asked for every season, but looking back on the past year, what kind of things were off course of the original plan, or plans by the production team that were rejected and moved past?

Takebe: First of all, (Hideyoshi) Kan of course. He literally “took the form” of his character.

Yoshikawa: He quickly became cooler and cooler.

Takebe: I also met Kan at auditions for “Avataro Sentai Donbrothers”, and he left an impression on me. I decided to gamble on him for Ace Ukiyo in “Geats” and see what happened. I wasn’t fully confident either, and I think it was hard on Kan to do things like take more than 20 redos of one shot in the early days, but he improved more than expected. He started with voiceovers.

Takijima: That’s right, that’s right. He first spoke as Geats in “Kamen Rider Revice”’s summer movie.

Takebe: Likewise, I have a feeling that He changed in the winter movie (“Kamen Rider Geats x Revice: Movie Battle Royale”).

Yoshikawa: The person himself said it well in another interview; during the filming of the winter movie, by performing with everyone from the cast of “Revice” and the legends from “Kamen Rider Ryuki”, his awareness of himself changed.

Takijima: At about the same time, (Koichi) Sakamoto’s team was filming their 3 episodes (13-15) and there was a big change there too.

Takebe: In past generations too, there’s an impression that Ryoma Takeuchi (Shinnosuke Tomari/Kamen Rider Drive) and others also greatly improved during the winter movies. I think because of that, receiving one big push of encouragement at that time, it’s definitely a good thing for them to have.

Takijima: What I remember well is when we filmed for the Blu-Ray bonus video. Volume 1 was released in April, so it was shot just about when the year was coming to an end. For “Quiz Tournament” (recording for Volume 2), we had to gather all the cast members playing supporters too, and Sara’s actor Nene Shida was the host, so doesn’t that make 11 people? That was the first and last time where so many members would meet in the same room. So we took a group photo as well, but Kan was strongly becoming “a man who wants to be able to properly stand in the center”. Of course, since he’s the lead, he had been standing in the center up to that point, but after filming the winter movie and the like, he had an aura of sorts.

Takebe: Something I liked about Kan was that because he played sports into his school days, he was able to get a really solid grip regarding the direction from the supervisors. He showed a positive attitude towards being taught, and from the directors’ perspective, they saw good results from their teaching. In the summer movie too, he was challenged by having to perform a variety of roles, but (Shinichiro) Shirakura also felt his development.

Yoshikawa: He said, “He had a certain presence”.

Takebe: So, I miscalculated about Kan… I’m sorry about that. Though I miscalculated in a good way. (Laughs)

Takijima: We were bewitched. (Laughs)

TTFC: From the beginning, we feel Ace was simply established as being “the strongest from the outset”, and having an absolute existence, but we wonder: was that always the aim?

Takebe: Yes. That is, when we were first talking with Yuya Takahashi, he said, “What kind of protagonist do you want to do?”. At the time, it was the beginning of a war, and coronavirus hadn’t settled down yet. In the midst of that situation, I said that I wanted to see a reliable protagonist… one that’s always at the center of the story. Yuya took that and completely realized it. At that time, I said I wanted to do a taiga drama (TN: I swear this is what it says even though it makes very little sense). Yuya really liked that direction too, so he said like, “I want to write all the episodes!”. Takijima, is there something you “miscalculated”?

Takijima: It wasn’t a miscalculation but rather a needless fear, but when we were deciding which Riders would become various forms, I had a little bit of unease that we were making it too difficult for the audience to tell who was fighting. However, more important than that, the impact that the masks made was strong. I think this is the simplicity of the designs and modeling that made a big difference.

Takebe: The fox and cat riders weren’t there.

Takijima: An “animal motif”, if you think about it now, is an idea that only surfaced in the second half of the design conference(s). With animals you can tell them apart, so until we reached the end, we were able to have a lot of different Riders. I think that was a success.

Takebe: It was natural to need to decide the design and concept of the work’s primary Rider—that is to say, the protagonist Rider—but during the design conference, Shirakura said “If it’s easy to understand, it’s good”. Shirakura left the conference when it was time to decide the primary Rider, but his prediction was correct just as you’d expect from him. I think the person who said “I want us to do the first white-colored Rider in a long time” was (Hideki) Tajima from Ishimori Productions.

Takijima: With that feeling, a part of me was uneasy, but when I was called on, what came out was “Oh, it’s okay!”. From there, we proceeded with confidence.

Takebe: I thought the fox and tanuki Rider motif was well accepted (Laughs). The design team and molding team did good work.

State of Mind III: A Colorful Set of Characters

Yoshikawa: I don’t have a “miscalculation” or anything like that either, but Geats didn’t have a character in the “mentor” position for the whole year. Instead, for every chapter, everyone was coming and saying “I can go in this time period”. For example, something like Koji Abe (Morio Koganeya/Kamen Rider Mary) who was only in a few episodes at the start, or staying for half a year like Ryo Kitamura (Niram) and Shiho Harumi (Archimedel). By socializing with a lot of people, a variety of actors participated in “Geats”, and that was truly great. Moreover, we got actors like Tsubasa Sakiyama (Win Hareruya/KR Punkjack) to come back later on after leaving one time. Shugo Oshinari (Girori) also was gracious enough to come back again at the end. I think this kind of pattern is pretty interesting. So many actors, as well as people with proven track records, helped with “Geats”.

Takebe: Regarding Sakiyama, he starred in a TTFC spin-off work as well.

(Photo of Win transforming from the Punkjack special)

From “Geats Extra: Kamen Rider Punkjack”

Yoshikawa: Ryuji Sato’s Jitt as well— even though he only appeared for about the last 10 episodes, he left an incredible impression. I liked how cool he was.

Takebe: More than anything, it makes me happy that everyone gladly took part. For such busy actors to take time out of their schedules…

Takijima: There were so many people who made do with their schedules for Geats despite being in stage performances (Laughs).

Yoshikawa: We get them to come to the film studio by saying things like “The morning of this day is okay!”.

Takijima: Kekera’s (Mitsutoshi) Shundo for example. When he first appeared, it was just his voice, but at the exact same time he was going around the country on stage in “Ganryu-jima”. But when he was still traveling, we had a scene where we really wanted him to appear in person, so we made him come back to Tokyo just for one day. With such circumstances, we had to decide what we’d shoot on which day, and set up the schedule. I think there were many parts that had trouble on the set too… Regarding actors who were stitching together their schedules with separate dramas, we checked the live schedules for the people who were playing together for one scene, and they couldn’t appear together on this day, so we had to change the scene or negotiate… it’s never-ending (Laughs).

Takebe: But that did result to something, right? Like with Kitamura, action director (Toshi) Fujita was praising him. In his henshin pose, there was agility in each separate motion, and he always executed it well.

(Photo of Niram transforming)

From “Kamen Rider Geats” episode 21, “Divergence V: Gazer’s Crushing Blow!”

Takijima: That in particular, what we really tried to get across was to make a big impact in one scene. Everyone in the audience too, since Geats is a system where they’re “dropping out” from the beginning, they don’t know which character will appear when, and that part makes it interesting. We on the management side can’t be careless either (Laughs), so that’s why when characters who already left appeared again for the first time in a while, it’s similar to having legend Riders from past shows come back.

Yoshikawa: And “Geats” itself still hasn’t ended, either (Laughs).

Takijima: In that sense, it wasn’t strange to disappear at any time, and yet ultimately, who ended up staying until the end was Daichi (Laughs).

Yoshikawa: That may have been the greatest miscalculation (Laughs).

Takebe: He really came in and stirred things up. None of the main Riders, even Michinaga, can fully turn to the “evil” side. So an existence like Daichi’s became essential. Of course, if you’re bringing someone in you always have to consult with their schedule, but that feeling of tension worked better than expected. Naturally, the idea of arranging it into “chapters” itself was decided on from the very beginning, but once we did it, we had fun ourselves too (Laughs).

Takijima: Daichi might have been symbolic of that. He was appearing the whole time, but his position changed with each chapter (Laughs).

TTFC: I don’t think anyone in the cast could tell what was going to happen next either. New characters were introduced when they didn’t expect it.

Yoshikawa: On that topic, when Kan read Fuku (Suzuki, playing Ziin)’s name in the script, he was pretty surprised. “Wait, Fuku?! That Fuku?”

Takebe: Fuku turned down a work. We were also surprised to hear that his papers were coming to auditions. However, he didn’t really fit the main character role we were thinking of. But since he went through all that trouble to audition… it only seemed natural.

Takijima: They said that strictly speaking, it was difficult to let him appear from the beginning schedule-wise as well.

Takebe: So he got lucky, and we got lucky too (Laughs). We’d already decided that whoever played Ziin would be appearing starting in the middle of the show. We said, “Now that you say it, he’s a good fit, isn’t he?”, so the story progressed concretely. But even with that casting, if the papers didn’t come from Fuku’s side, I don’t know if I’d have brought the story to him. Even if I thought of him, I would have assumed that surely he’s too busy for it.

Takijima: So, Fuku “has it” after all.

Yoshikawa: When we were recruiting, there was an age limit. For “Geats” we were looking for men aged 18 to 26 years old to play regulars, and Fuku had just turned 18. It seems like he wanted to apply the first year he could. He said, “I’ve been waiting (for when I was old enough to apply) a long time.”

TTFC: With the position of “Supporter” unique to “Geats”, and moreover those being characters that transform into Kamen Riders themselves, it was already a perfect fit, wasn’t it?

Yoshikawa: After we began filming too, each time he saw a new Rider form or suit on the location, he would say “That’s so cool!”. I don’t know if he was saying it as Ziin or himself (Laughs).

Takijima: While he participated in various other media, he continued to show his love for Kamen Rider. We were glad he was able to appear in the show too.

Takebe: When the episode where he “Finally transformed!” released, the celebratory mood from all of the fans was amazing. And his speech when it was time to wrap up recording was moving as well…

Yoshikawa: ‘Isn’t “Geats”’s theme “wishes”? With that kind of show, for one’s wish that they’ve had since they were three to come true in it makes me happy. I wanted to convey the idea that “If you keep wishing for it, it’ll come true someday” through me transforming into Kamen Rider Ziin in “Geats” to kids across the country as well’…

Takijima: It was an amazing speech.

Takebe: Even though acting is his entire career, he started crying the moment he received his flowers. We were deeply moved as well, and cried along with him. After that is Beroba. Right when we were rehearsing the first scene she would appear in, Yuya came to the filming studio…

Yoshikawa: It was the day he came in for hon-uchi (preparatory meeting for scriptwriting; TN: ‘hon-uchi’ is an abbreviation that the transcript explains. I kept the term in case anyone needs it). That ended and I told him that Beroba was coming in, so he stayed and watched the rehearsal.

Takebe: Maybe Yuya saw (Ayaka) Namiki’s visuals and acting for the first time there and was inspired. If I think about it, I didn’t expect Beroba to survive as long as she did (laughs).

Yoshikawa: I guess Yuya was following along with the script as well.

Takebe: Turns out that we’d found an incredibly talented person, and Beroba, who I thought wouldn’t make it that far, performed excellently. It was another miscalculation (Laughs).

Takijima: She was good from the start, but kept getting better after that.

Takebe: I don’t know if she’ll ever stop getting better.

Takijima: She does her homework perfectly on the site (Laughs).

Takebe: I think it’s okay to say this, but she took a high school test during filming and passed it perfectly. She talked about normal things as well—you wouldn’t think she was a 15-16 year old, she was very reliable.

Takijima: She was excellent in giving answers for interviews and the like as well. I think it’s a little because she’s been a “Chao Girl” since elementary school, and had many chances to interact with adults, but I feel like that’s not all it is. I wonder if it’s a talent of hers.

Yoshikawa: I first met her when she was auditioning to appear in the role of “Kozue Hayama” in episodes 11-12 for (Teruaki) Sugihara’s team. She didn’t fit Kozue’s role then, but Director Sugihara said that if she kept learning, she’d be good. After that, when it was time to decide who would play Beroba, she was invited again.

TTFC: Beroba’s first appearance was unique in Geats, being in episodes 20-21 which director (Kyohei) Yamaguchi was in charge of.

Yoshikawa: Since Beroba would be a regular cast member, the head director (Shojiro) Nakazawa was there as well. There was a passage in the script that said to “laugh like the devil”, and she performed that with great vigor. Because of that, Sugihara, Nakazawa, and Yamaguchi all seemed to decide that she was going to appear. When Director Sugihara wrote the report later, he did so gladly. “She was good after all!” he said.

Takebe: Director Yamaguchi was also very particular about Beroba’s clothes. He spent a lot of time on it. It’s because of him that she’s covered from head to toe (Laughs). He included the color compact, and the jelly beans…

(Photo of Beroba and Archimedel)

From “Kamen Rider Geats” episode 20, “Divergence I: Jyamato Deliveries!”

Takijima: Truthfully, it seems like the image that Directors Nakazawa and Yamaguchi had in their heads were a little different. So that’s a “chance encounter”, too. I think that maybe if Director Nakatsu was the one filming her first appearance, her clothes would have been different as well. But Director Nakazawa left it to Director Yamaguchi.

Takebe: That’s also an interesting part of the Kamen Rider series. Because many directors are involved, a variety of styles mix together.

Yoshikawa: The basic idea of the Supporters was solidified at an early stage. I remember what Ms. Takebe was writing on the whiteboard while everyone was discussing: “I wonder if a girl would be good for Michinaga.”

Takijima: On the topic of Michinaga, “Maybe a person who’s a carpenter?” appeared for just a moment, didn’t it?

Takebe: Because Geats, Tycoon, Na-Go and Buffa are a group of 4, I was thinking about how to make them not overlap.

Yoshikawa: As a result, Michinaga got a “heinous young woman” attached to him (Laughs). Speaking of girls, I think the ages might have been being decided at the same time.

Takebe: Ziin, Kekera, Kyuun and Beroba are described in words that express emotions. Yu is also good at naming. And the management side’s Girori, Tsumuri, and et cetera… including the change in perspective, I was always impressed because he thought of names that were simple but nothing alike.

Forward I: To Create “Uniqueness”

Takebe: The timing of Ziin’s first appearance was planned by Yuya from the start, where, as the existence of the audience for a reality show which is the Desire Grand Prix is revealed, the plot seems to turn on its head for a moment. We did that between the end of the year and the beginning of the next. That part of the structure was one that Yu also took pride in.

Takijima: On the other hand, the design tasks are always planned pretty far ahead, but I remember that when the jumbled concept art for the varied Rider forms that DGP players and supporters was presented, Yuya really got the idea that “fighting as a tag team sounds interesting” in his head.

Takebe: That had its ups and downs too…

Takijima: Yes. Like the change of Kamen Rider Kyuun’s motif from a dragon to a lion. I don’t remember why it was changed (Laughs).

Takebe: I guess because it’s a kind of cat. At least Yuya was thinking about these various things ahead of time, which was helpful. Well, on the topic of Yuya trying to do things too early, something we kept saying “Please wait a little bit” about and stopping him on was the twist of Sara’s death and Keiwa’s awakening.

Yoshikawa: We kept arguing back and forth about that.

Takebe: The existence of Sara as comfort was precious, and even if we had to do it at some point, the image of the work would darken, so by saying “a little further” and “a little more”, I waited to have him do it for a considerable amount of time. As a result, Tycoon’s awakening was delayed for 40 episodes.

TTFC: With the style of having not only the Riders as game players, but also supporter Riders and management Riders, there is a lot of people and variation, and I think it differentiated itself from the so-called “many Rider” seasons up to this point.

Takijima: As the Kamen Rider series gets longer, it’s really difficult to do that. Even recently, “Kamen Rider Saber” was a many Rider season, and “Kamen Rider Revice” had a fair amount of people transform by the end as well. I think that to differentiate it from recent seasons, something we should have done was discuss it a lot. Because “Geats”’s situation was firstly the “structure” called the Desire Grand Prix, we made the increased number of Riders “inevitable”.

Takebe: But, we also had an intention to explain the setting, so we had a lot of Riders appear in episodes 1 and 2. That was difficult in the first place. Each year, the number of Riders gradually increases from the primary or secondary, but in the case of “Geats”, since we want to see how the system works at the start, it was necessary to make many Riders appear at once. In the announcement as well, we showed an image of seven pitch-black Riders running closer, and wanted to make them think, “Just what will happen this year?”. We were picky about that area, but because we were being so different from the usual, our schedule had to be tight… that was a lot of trouble.

(Photo described above)

From “Kamen Rider Geats” episode 2, “Encounter I: Treasure Hunts and Bandits”

TTFC: You had to show what the “Desire Grand Prix” was like at the start regardless.

Takebe: Yes. With the middle stage progressing into the second half, the focus was moving away from the game, but for the first part of the show, everyone was worried about the contents of each game. I was reassured because Yuya already had experience with continually writing for shows in the Kamen Rider series twice. He wrote in the large amount of characters and items truly well. There were naturally things we couldn’t do due to budget and schedule issues, but I think that even so, it was a year where we were able to do as many things as possible in the most extravagant way possible.

Forward II: The Personalities of the Directors

Takebe: This time, Yuya wrote for each director… He tried to write to fit the personality and strengths of whichever director was in charge of the episode.

Takijima: Because he had past experience writing “Kamen Rider Ex-Aid” and “Kamen Rider Zero-One”, he was able to do that.

Yoshikawa: For example, Sakamoto’s team likes to have action in the state before transformation (civilian fights), so he decided to write an episode (13) where the belts get stolen and they can’t transform (laughs).

Takijima: And it seemed like Keiwa (Ryuga Sato) could somersault, so he decided to try that when Keiwa transformed into Ninja (episode 27).

Yoshikawa: Director Yamaguchi likes to use napalm, so episodes 20 and 21 are a bomb game.

Takijima: After that was a scene with riding bikes. He would decide what he would do for the directors before he knew who was going to drop out (Laughs).

Takebe: That way of making things is interesting. I think more than anything, all of the directors for “Geats” did great work. Not just Director Yamaguchi; but Directors (Kazuya) Kamihoriuchi, (Ryuta) Tasaki and (Hirofumi) Fukuzawa all participated too. Even if just for one or two episodes, I’m glad they did it. It’s been decided that Director Tasaki will be doing the pilot for the next season, “Kamen Rider Gotchard”, but he was able to do a few (episodes 31-32) before starting preparations for that. I’m glad we could work with Fukuzawa’s team (episodes 35 and 36) too. I felt good excitement on the filming scene.

Takijima: In terms of the filming order, the TTFC special “Avataro Sentai Donbrothers VS Avataro Sentai Donburis” was ahead of it, but Fukuzawa’s work in “Geats” was released sooner.

Takebe: We asked him to do this first, too. We had already decided to ask him at some point, so we said to please try “Geats”. Director Nakatsu was always saying “I want to see Fukuzawa’s team do it” too. I’ve worked with Director Fukuzawa as a director and action director in the Super Sentai series for many years, and seen his talent up close, so I believe he was confident he could create something interesting. And if he was not in charge (as action director) of the next Donbrothers movie, he might have had more time in his schedule to shoot.

Takijima: When you listen to the stories from the cast, it seems like they hadn’t seen that kind of direction before then. “Try this position”, and things like that. I think the approach of having the play come from the movement was refreshing for them.

Takebe: In my personal experience, during “Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters” (2012), I still like the times when we got people like Directors (Osamu) Kaneda and (Hiroshi) Butsuda to enter, but those were directions that make the best of their backgrounds in action or special effects direction. Director Kaneda’s foundational way of thinking is “the rest of the acting is also action”, and that was also being reflected in his direction, so when Fukuzawa’s team was doing it this time as well, I wasn’t worried at all, and if anything I was looking forward to it. What was more adult-like than I expected was impressive. Even though Fukuzawa’s team really likes to do it, we couldn’t do many action scenes timing-wise, and I’m sorry about that.

Takijima: It was one where the characters were talking to each other a lot more than usual.

Takebe: I think in episodes 35-36, while it was a new director starting in the second half, it was difficult to gather all of the lead cast.

Takijima: He was originally a player (suit actor) too. He said that because he understands what it’s like to be playing the roles, he didn’t stop many shots while they were happening. That way it’s easier to act than if you cut it short. So it’s a longer take than usual, and you have a little more footage to work through.

Takebe: I thought that when I was watching.

Takijima: With the timing for episodes 35-36, the cast had also come to the point where they grasped each of their own roles, so it fit well.

Takebe: More than anything, because he has a career as an action director, he really excels at bringing the set together.

Yoshikawa: As for Fukuzawa’s team’s sets, they were very bright.

Takishima: Fukuzawa keenly said “It’s a good and warm set.” but I would say it as “This is Fukuzawa’s personal virtue” (Laughs).

Takebe: The assistant director (Koichiro) Hayama and archivist Hideko (Takayama) were candidates themselves too since they did Sentai together, and they helped Fukuzawa with his debut. The end result was good, and many people said they wanted to see Fukuzawa’s team again, so I’d say it was a success. Tasaki’s team doing the “Heaven and Hell Game” as Tasaki’s team was as great as you’d expect. That was one that Yuya liked doing too. It was an unexpected chance for him to team up with Director Tasaki that had barely happened before now. Only once in Zero-One (episodes 42-43).

Yoshikawa: It was in the endgame. He did the episode when Izu died from explosion (ep. 42).

TTFC: Director Tasaki filmed “Zero-One” for episodes 33-33 too, but those were the exact ones where Masaya Kakei wrote the script.

Takebe: At the time when he was filming for “Geats”, there was a good balance with his work for “Gotchard”, but because Director Tasaki was also doing “Kamen Rider 555 20th Paradise Regained”, announced this year’s Golden Week, we worried if the timing was right. But it fit into his schedule right after “555” and before “Gotchard”. Because Director Tasaki is a person who nurtures cast members, we wanted him to at least do one set of episodes.

Yoshikawa: Really, someone like Kan was saying, “I wanted to work with Director Tasaki more.” At that point in time we were over halfway through the year, and he was playing the role of Ace, but in Director Tasaki’s episodes he got a lot of new surprises, saying, “Is there anything like the way he does it?”

Takebe: So to speak, they were called guest directors, but we rotated between only one group of directors: With Directors Nakazawa (who hadn’t been a main director before), Sugihara, (Takayuki) Shibasaki, and Sakamoto, there was a good balance with who was in charge. The winter movie was done by Director Shibasaki, and the spin-offs and character song music videos by Sakamoto.

TTFC: It’s amazing that Director Nakazawa is filming one episode, the summer movie, and the final episode.

Yoshikawa: On the contrary, he was in charge of most of the chapter finales, too. Especially in the first half, like with episodes 9 and 10, and 16 and 17. The director was saying “I want to do the final episode and another one again” (Laughs).

Takebe: He might have accidentally become the main director (Laughs). But even with the aspect of the director making the script, he helped a lot. It was a place where the summer movie and final episode fit the view of its director well. Speaking of the finale, I have a feeling that the chronology and the like isn’t especially straightforward, but that was Director Nakazawa’s idea. “Geats” is fundamentally supposed to be easy to understand, but he decided to structure it differently with the idea that it’s good to leave some things up to the viewers’ interpretation for the last episode.

Takijima: The preparatory meeting regarding the final episode with the director was after the one for the movie soundtrack.

Takebe: The last episode to return to the TV series before the movie was also getting the finishing touches, and there were many close calls, but I think we were progressing relatively easily at that point in the year. We took care of our schedule, anyway. To some extent, I’m glad we made deposits in the early stages. (Tsuyoshi) Miyazaki had already joined as action director for the winter movie, and thinking about the progress of the TV series, I thought it would be difficult for Fujita to cover the movie. Of course, Fujita was inserted into the winter movie when he could do it, and I strongly asked him to be in the summer movie for “Geats”. As long as you’re doing that kind of work, it won’t be easy, but still, there’s a sense that it’s being done as much as possible “so everyone can be happy.” Actually, Producer (Taku) Mochizuki also stuck with “Revice”, and as the year went on, it seemed like a lot of things improved. When getting handed the reins, improving dramatically was difficult, but he tried to improve little by little. If you pay attention, there are cases where the situation gets gradually worse depending on the work, so… While working in order to avoid that feeling, the schedule was stabilizing, so taking as many break days from filming as possible, he made it all the way to the end.

Forward III: The Assistant Producers’ Work

Takebe: Sentai and Rider— thinking about both, Rider has a storied history, but Sentai’s (having had more continuous series) is longer, so a lot has been established in its system. Including the event planner 104, there is a large number of staff that have been continuously involved since old times on the Sentai side. However, Rider still isn’t there. It’s a characteristic of Rider to have our work change depending on the season. Changes in staff are also frequent, and we have things where the work doesn’t flow automatically. So Takijima, since this is your first time with Rider, you must have been bewildered, right? There are probably more things that an AP (assistant producer) has to think about and do themself than with Sentai.

Takijima: That’s right. But I also like working on the small things, so I’m fine with just doing that, unless it seems like I’m always doing it (Laughs). Really, I can’t go that way either.

Takebe: This year the first thing at the back of the script was a table for the Riders who appeared that time, and the person who did that was Takijima.

TTFC: Indeed. From a perspective like ours, that was very helpful too.

Takebe: I think it was quite difficult. But it was very much needed. If new models were involved, “There are new models!” was written in red letters like a price tag. Having that kind of thing in the scripts became common for the whole staff to do.

Takijima: On the filming site too, while doing whichever group it was at the moment, and preparing for the next group, that kind of feeling, it’s always running smoothly. So I’m ordering minor props and the like, doing irregular things that are often carelessly left out. Accidentally falling into the mindset of “I think someone will do it” is bad, so let’s move it along here, or let’s ask the supervisors to decide ahead of time too. I might have been a little pushy, I guess.

Takebe: But I think that helped fairly well on the site.

Takijima: In Sentai, especially these last few years, it’s changed a lot, and there are many original components that seem to overturn the series’ accepted practices, but we have a scheme that’s been developed over decades of kaijin and demon attacks, so to some extent I think we can still handle those changes. For example, when we say “the next episode is a replacement episode”, they say, “alright, a replacement episode”, or rather, before doing bi-uchi (preparatory meetings for art), the things that seem necessary get prepared one after another (Laughs). I guess those sorts of things are different from Rider after all.

Takebe: On the opposite side, the quantity of form changes and such is special to Rider. There aren’t many of those in Sentai.

Takijima: Right. Anyway, for myself, although I wonder “is it good that I did this much?”, the part of myself that was happy to be doing this is big.

Takebe: You were also writing letters, right? Kyuun’s letters.

Takijima: That was my writing too, I wondered if it was alright…

Takebe: But, were there auditions within the staff to write the letters?

Yoshikawa: Yes. I failed it (Laughs).

(Picture of a letter from Kyuun here)

From “Kamen Rider Geats” episode 23: “Divergence T: Now, For the Sake of My Favorite!”

Takebe: In the end, I feel like there was a deadline, but the good thing is that you were moving so fast I barely had to ask you to do anything. From there, what was done by Yoshikawa was now done by you. You’re already fine standing by yourself!

Takijima: Ah, no need to say that… I’d like to thank Bandai’s design team too. Especially (Takato) Yamashita (Plex), who made Geats’s design, was great to work with. Every time, even with the small requests, he still responded quickly.

Takebe: He has excellent taste. With the sheer number of Kamen Riders, they were always able to design them to be differentiated without fail.

TTFC: How about you, Yoshikawa? Please talk about what you noticed or felt as you shifted to working “behind-the-scenes”.

Yoshikawa: First of all, when one work is made, I only interact with the many people in this… Of course, when I was on the acting side as well, I knew many staff folks who came in. But I didn’t concretely know what kind of work those people were doing at that point. More than that, the reason is there is also a lot of staff who aren’t present while filming. There are many great people that just do post-production, as well as the people at Bandai and Plex that I just talked about, and (Takayuki) Taketani who designs the Jyamato… There are the famous lines “Nothing’s happening in the conference hall! It’s at the filming site!” (Laughs), but the staff and anyone that doesn’t come to the set puts zeal and love into the work. I think there might be staff members that I still haven’t met personally. Because I knew that from my standpoint, I tried to keep that in mind for the young people in the main cast. Of course, I think they are thankful for each thing the staff provides, but they come to take it for granted when they spend so much time in the same place. However, aren’t, for example, the actors who don’t properly memorize their lines about the same difficulty as staff members who forget the filming equipment? When I realized that kind of thing, I tried to convey it.

Takebe: It’s because our company’s staff is all so kind. They all care about the actors a great deal, and they do things the assistants would normally do without worrying about them. But the reality is that’s only here (Laughs), so I don’t want the younger newcomers there to get the misconception that this is normal after all. In the distant future, who loses money will be themselves. What I was asking Yoshikawa was to listen to conversations, especially the young men. Because he’s close in age to them, his past experience (as a child actor) can be put to good use. He deeply communicated with them, especially with Kan among others. He gave them movie recommendations too.

Yoshikawa: Kan was eager. There were times where we’d talk on the phone late at night. “I still don’t know how I’m supposed to perform this place here in the script for the scene we’re filming tomorrow.” Still, I wonder if it was difficult to listen to the directors timing-wise. I don’t know how helpful I was to him… Things like the day he couldn’t understand his own acting and said, “Yoshikawa, do you have time today after this?”, and I went along with him to dinner. Regarding the movie recommendations that Ms. Takebe talked about, he made sure to watch them, and told me his own thoughts about them. In addition, he said things like “When this scene happens, I don’t really get the meaning of that actor’s performance”, so I said “They have that expression because this course of events happened!”, and he responded, “I see,” immediately writing a memo on his phone. For how inexperienced in acting he was, he was eager to try and take in as much as he could.

Takebe: I’m glad you feel that way. This isn’t about anyone in particular, but today’s young generation doesn’t read books a lot. Personally, I think when you get them intimate with printed text, their way of reading the script changes too.

Yoshikawa: That’s right. Because “moved to tears” is written in stage directions, you will read that and cry while acting, but the truth is it’s more important to think about why the character is crying while playing the role.

Takijima: In that area, for example when it is Director Tasaki he’s asking the actors themselves, “Right now, what feeling are you hitting with?” or “Why are you gesturing by raising your right hand?”, and they’re made to think about it. After all, if you’re not reading the script, you’re going to move without knowing why. The newcomers start thinking about that going forward, so they develop little by little.

Takebe: Rider and Sentai have had “schools” as sets often, but truly, we teach that kind of thing and we get them to study. Of course we include manners, and the fundamental things…

Review I: A Lively Group of Riders

TTFC: You’ve just returned to talking about Kan, and since you touched on the supporters and management side cast at the start, now I’d like to hear about the main cast other than Kan, if you could.

Takebe: Ryuga (Sato) was inexperienced in acting, but his looks and physical ability were points that I liked.

Yoshikawa: In video auditions at the start, his ratings were high and he moved on to face-to-face. I looked back at his material and found that Ryuga was getting an A from Ms. Takebe. So it was our first time meeting him in person too. He was filled with wonder, and while other people were auditioning he was saying things like “Whoa…” (Laughs). Well, the real person is fairly different from Keiwa. If I said something, he can do it immediately, and fairly dexterously.

Takebe: “Satoshi” is a good way to describe it. (TN: I have no idea what this is referencing) I don’t mean that in a bad way at all, he’s very attentive and and he completely understands things.

Takijima: Director Nakazawa likes to make comedic scenes even in serious episodes. I was impressed that he gave that to Keiwa often. The director must have decided that Ryuga could do it and left it to him. He was even doing that in the endgame at the soba restaurant in episode 48.

Yoshikawa: He can put together scenes himself like that without being told in detail. I think that’s his talent.

Takishima: Director Nakazawa also happily said to Ryuga, “You’re good at this kind of thing.”

(Picture of the scene referenced)

From “Kamen Rider Geats” episode 48, “Creation X: Tsumuri’s Requiem”

Takebe: So as for Ryuga, I think there is a matter of which way he’ll fall from now on. On the other hand, there will be scenes in the future where such responsiveness alone is not enough for what the directors ask, so sometimes he should should be an “acting fool”, or rather, be deeply immersed in his role, and grow even further. He’s promising.

Takijima: That’s right. He has the ability to see himself objectively, so he can immediately come up with ideas like, “If I do it like this, the people watching will like it” (Laughs). Of course, that’s also a good side of it, but I want him to go even further than that. Because I think he can do that.

Yoshikawa: You’re not deciding what suffices by yourself, you come to look closer at your expressions, like Ms. Takebe and Takijima said, I think new opportunities will open. Because there is clearly “room for growth”, he wants to do his best.

Takebe: Next is Yuna (Hoshino). How is she? From the start, she had a strong image.

Takijima: After all, she was only a person who had a lot of activity in the YouTube and modeling worlds, and still young, so her professionalism is amazing. It seems like her mother said to “always be aware of the people watching you”, and she tightly follows that idea.

Takebe: No matter what or when, she never lets her smile die. I don’t think she can.

Takijima: I think that with such a small figure, she came to energetically persevere. There are definitely times where she gets tired. But she never lets that show on her face.

Yoshikawa: She was 17 when filming started, and now she’s 18. But even then, she was able to care for those around her so much, and always kept them lively.

Takebe: Regarding her acting too, the only word I have is “confidence”. The staff certainly loved it too.

Takijima: In things like her speech at the winter movie premiere she seemed nervous, which is surprising when you think about her background, but I guess she’s honest at the core.

Takebe: During the speeches for the summer movie, Director Kamihoriuchi said “The most improved one is Yuna”, and she started crying with joy.

Takijima: Isn’t the Kurama family amazing. Ryoko Yui as her mother, and Shinji Kasahara as her father. She called them “acting monsters” without realizing that could be misunderstood (Laughs), so that arose. She got her role so well, and she is amazing too.

Takebe: She deeply wanted to be an actress, and I’m sure that when her performance was announced, she cried with joy too. Having that determination is great, and although this isn’t “Geats”, if Yuna keeps wishing, that wish will surely come true.

Takijima: To say just one thing, I’m happy she tried to keep the scene calm, but I say when the moment is right, it’s also good to not care about your surroundings and instead enter your own world and zone in. I guess she’s so kind that she can’t help but look around her… As much as I think that, I have lots of thanks and encouragement for Yuna.

Yoshikawa: As for (Kazuto) Mokudai, can I talk about him? Truthfully, he was busy with other jobs and such, and couldn’t attend auditions. But I liked him a lot and wanted to meet him, so I prepared a chance for him to try out on a day when he was available. Then he took that opportunity, and he was decided to be Buffa… Michinaga. His answers on the audition questionnaire were interesting— For the question “Are you good at a sport?”, he calmly wrote the response “I can do anything”. Also, during auditions, we met with 4 people who had taught Mokudai, but even though no one was asked, they kept changing the subject (Laughs). Like, “Really, is that so? Then, how is (so-and-so)?”. He, like Yuna, was 17 at the time. Despite this, he would always go about unabashedly, and I would think “Who does this guy think he is?” (Laughs).

Takijima: You said back then that it felt a little like Kiita (Komagine, who played the lead in Zenkaiger).

Takebe: That’s true, I was saying that.

Takijima: Kiita and Mokudai both listen well to what people said, and are able to further respond accurately based on their opinions. By the way, after the auditions for “Geats” ended, when the manager asked how it went, (he/I) replied, “I got a good laugh out of it” (Laughs).

Takebe: Mokudai was decided, with Kan as Ace and Ryuga as Keiwa, and it felt like the last piece of the male group was filled. Our opinions on who would get which one were divided until the end, and like what we said at the start, Kan’s Ace was a part we made a gamble on, but it turned out amazing.

Takijima: Next is Tsumuri. Kokoro Aoshima.

Takebe: With respect to her, in auditions, she seemed to be a little unfit for a cheerful character, but Tsumuri was probably the only character at the Desire Shrine who would become an ally of Ace and company, so we wanted her to perform cheerfully. She was tempted to perform the character in a role like that more mysteriously, but we kept saying “Be cheerful” and it paid off, and before our eyes, a bright and sweet character became established. Director Nakazawa especially took care to that. Nakazawa’s team’s Tsumuri was always cute (Laughs).

Takishima: No matter what, Tsumuri would always get a lot of exposition lines, so we had a lot of trouble with that in the early days. But she got through that period wonderfully. Even so, there was a lot of greenbacking, and she had to say things that she hadn’t known before as if she knew them. I think it was difficult.

Takebe: It’s because Yuya loves Tsumuri too. There’s also Neon as a heroine, but Tsumuri is a different kind of heroine. As the keyman of the endgame, she showed a lot of growth over the year. I think she persevered well. At the beginning, she said, “If people remember the role of Tsumuri better than myself, I’ll be happy” and that was striking.

Review II: “Second Times” and Action

Takebe: To speak of the characters other than the main 5, the keyword was a sense of “second job”. They did their first job not as a Rider, and by then it’s easier to work with them because we know those people’s abilities and personality to some extent, and those actors are more willing to work with us because they think we liked their previous performance. To cite something specifically, Ryo Kitamura as Niram, and Tsubasa Sakiyama as Win Hareruya both appeared together in the “Toei Movie-Stage” The Shinigami Incident (Shibasaki), and because of then, we thought about having them appear in “Geats” too. Daichi’s Dai Gotou was in the stage show “Kamen Rider Zangetsu”, and Fuku Suzuki was also in the movie “Saber + Zenkaiger Super Hero Senki”…

Takijima: Kekera’s Shundo is “Kamen Rider Amazons”.

Takebe: Shinji Kasahara was a guest role in “Amazons” too, but in terms of Toei shows, he appeared in “Mirai Sentai Timeranger” way before then.

Takijima: Girori’s Oshinari too, he appeared in a movie for “Kamen Rider Wizard” directed by Nakazawa.

TTFC: Speaking of connections to Director Nakazawa, Haruka Kudo from “Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger vs. Keisatsu Sentai Patranger” appeared as a guest in the summer movie.

Takebe: With that feeling, this year had a pretty big group of returning actors, but everyone did it happily, and lent us their help as much as they liked. Everyone certainly delivered performances that exceeded expectations. If you think about it, while the framework of long-running dramas and serial dramas is their many returning actors, in tokusatsu, the mental images of the characters performed are strong, so it’s hard to call back people who were playing former regulars. Of course, even when new people are cast in lead roles, Yu has many reliable abilities in alumni, so there should be no difficulty with talking to those people again. So, Takijima and Yoshikawa, from here on out, whatever work you’re in charge of, when the time comes, I want you to talk to the cast members that you came across in “Geats”. Also, we didn’t talk about action very much, so… I think the greatest outcome left to talk about in “Geats” is its action. The action director Fujita, and (Hiroshi) Nakata, who played Geats, those two are the show’s treasure.

Yoshikawa: I’ve been watching the Kamen Rider series for more than 20 years, but I’ve never seen action that cool. As one of the people who were involved in Kamen Rider mania, I really liked the action that I hadn’t seen yet. The shots that Fujita did were amazing too, and Nakata’s Geats was always sexy.

Takebe: However you do action, what you do to make it new is always something you’re worried about. When I enter the position of Chief, I have to find a replacement for last year’s action director: (Michihiro) Takeda for “Kamen Rider Kiva” (2008), Fukuzawa for “Go-Busters”… Fujita in “Geats” was that kind of aim. Thanks to you, there was a lot of “You’re doing your best with the action”s, but I think we were able to revolutionize action in Rider, and it had a big impact on other works too. “To change” and “being changed”— for example, it was the ikemen boom at the time of “Ryuki”, and the popularity of voice actors and suit actors for “Den-O”. Those spread to the Sentai and Ultraman seasons that started there. I think these tokusatsu programs establishing new practices is how you say they “changed”. There is a reaction to the new “beginning” that Geats’s action created, and I look forward to the action that Fukuzawa will make in “Gotchard”, being the one that comes after.

Takijima: I think it’s good that there’s a cause-and-effect with Fujita’s action. With the beginning of battles in the script, you’re writing which side wins in the end, but you aren’t really pointing at minute details related to physical movement or the items they use. Because of this, Fujita is making the flow of events after the battle starts, but the enemy weapons are troublesome, so they block the arms a lot, or they took a hit and lost their balance, but at that rate they barely escaped on their feet, things like that. Without the fights onscreen stopping, the “battles” have temperature and are always incredible. (TN: she made a pun on the word for “battle” sounding similar to the word for “warm”) Like Geats vs. Buffa in episode 32, I thought it was their final battle. Honestly, at the beginning, I wondered if they would get short of breath somewhere if the fights were this densely packed.

Takebe: It was amazing from episodes 3 and 4.

(I assume there’s a photo here from episode 32 because the Bilibili article had the caption but not the actual photo)

Takijima: That’s right. Well, I assumed it was the start of a new program’s trade fair, or a one-time highlight reel, but it kept going.

Takebe: I really think about Fujita thoroughly. So when it was the summer movie, he seemed tired since it was side-by-side with the TV series, but he wanted to do the summer movie himself no matter what, so I respected his wishes and let him do it.

Review F: Reiwa Riders Continuing to Battle

Takebe: On Rider sets, we have staff capable of filming the new boys in cool ways. I think filming the famous experienced actors well is not a difficult thing because they have their own potential, but truthfully, filming the newcomers well is challenging. However, the first episode of each series is made possible by the director. as well as the cinematography and lighting teams. I say “Our company’s staff is incredible!” with honesty, including the fact that they support them as they grow. More than that, there were times when even the main characters Keiwa and Neon didn’t appear, and Ace couldn’t let his guard down even though he was the star (Laughs), but how was the cast with handling this area?

Takijima: About that, the one I worried about most every time was Dai Gotou. He (?) would check a new script and go “Oh, Daichi is still out! Thank god!” (Laughs). Compared to Gotou, everyone who played the main Riders wasn’t worried about it.

TTFC: If this series continues, I wonder if it will somehow be a tendency. “I guess this character won’t die.” Of course, having exceptions is still an interesting thing.

Takebe: After all, during “Kamen Rider Ryuki” 20 years ago, it was different in many ways. That time there weren’t exceptions, so when the next script came, the first thing everyone did was check if they were alive or dead (Laughs). They had a hunger for success. That’s something you need to have in order to grow, so we want today’s kids to have that knowledge too.

TTFC: With 20 years, the ways viewers regard TV itself have also changed. Because of that, us at TTFC are also supported by a lot of members, but the way of enjoying dramas that are distributed has also been established.

Takebe: To get them to continue watching one-year-long TV series, you can’t make careless decisions. It wasn’t like this in the old days, but now there are already plenty of attractive contents outside of television, so we’ll do something to advance against competition. Kamen Rider is a strong brand, but that isn’t enough to get them to watch it. The way me make trailers and things like that are planned to the furthest extent possible. In the week leading up to the next season, we can’t let them forget about the program. And not just one, but if the “favorite” works continue to come back, they can keep watching. For that, the things we can do inside the work after we’ve first done everything, and also the promotional material, without caring about looks, we did it. So Takijima and Yoshikawa, the two of you, you kept at it. On that chance, if you argue unreservedly, anything goes. You know about the work “Kamen Rider Geats”, you’re interested in it, so we get you to watch it. I’m realizing that this effort has never been more important than right now. It’ll be time before long (Laughs), but do the two of you have something you want to talk about?

Yoshikawa: Because it’s the first work I’ve been in charge of, I think there are still many parts I’m not useful with, but the other day, when I went to drink together with Director Nakazawa, he said, “As for Kan’s growth, you’ve become a good mentor for him”. Without thinking, I asked, “Director, are you drunk already?” (Laughs), but I was already crying. Kan was a good guy, and I think I had good chemistry with him, but to hear those words coming from the main director in my first work… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget that.

Takijima: Even in the next work you’re involved with, you might be nominated as “in charge of mentoring the lead actor” (Laughs).

Takebe: Director Nakazawa is incredible too. I think he also saw that point. After all, a director has a wide field of vision over the people they work with.

Yoshikawa: I already talked about this and my personal history, but I was really happy with the many Kamen Rider names I devised. Tycoon to start, plus Glare, Gazer, and Regad. Because English is my specialty, I was also entrusted with the English translation of the Desire Card in the opening and such. As a big Kamen Rider fan, I wouldn’t have regrets even if I died tomorrow, and even if I did die, Tycoon’s name would remain! (Laughs) It was truly a privilege to be part of this year.

Takebe: You also came up with the message at the very end, “Ace with us”.

Takijima: I have the character songs.

Takebe: The character songs! People seem to think that I do the character songs, but I don’t (Laughs).

Takijima: It’s a good thing to have a mental image like that when you’re involved with the work (Laughs). I made a lot. I’d only worked on Sentai shows up to now, so it was my first time working with Avex, but the group of writers is kind here too. The music producer (Mayu) Iida’s selection and distribution is also as expected, and the ideas I conveyed to her were realized at a terrific resolution. While discussing the lyrics, I came to understand the characters even more, and it was fun work. Because all of the producers paid great attention to the music videos as they made them too, the fans predicting “Geats” certainly want to look over these too.

Takebe: Even in the nationwide Final Stage, everyone in the cast will be singing, so please look forward to that too. Speaking of, the other day there was a lot of excitement in the summer movie’s Kansai campaign, surprisingly at the same time, and I was happy.

Yoshikawa: Kan is from Kyoto, so he probably said “I’m home!” with his speech (Laughs), but really, there was a frenzy to the point that the meeting hall shook.

Takebe: I’m relieved that “Geats” has provided good results in television ratings, box-office scores, and toy sales. Especially from the beginning of the year onwards, the second half saw an increase, so it was worth everyone’s effort. When you’ve been doing it for this long, you see some cases where the hard work doesn’t amount to anything, so… in that sense, I’m extremely grateful. Even though we’re announcing the Final Stage and V-Cinext, there are still many other “Geats”-related projects in the works, so I would appreciate your continued support!

[theshowliveontour]

Niall Horan brought his headlining tour, THE SHOW LIVE ON TOUR 2024, to Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday night (June 3), and delivered an impressive set that highlighted his evolution from boy band heartthrob to a bona fide rock star. The concert marked Horan’s first time headlining an arena in Nashville and follows his previous visits to Music City, when he headlined The Ryman Auditorium and Ascend Amphitheater.

Sold Out Concert At Bridgestone Arena In Nashville

The sold-out show served as a testament to the 30-year-old singer/songwriter’s solo success, drawing fans of all ages adorned in homemade merchandise and Niall Horan-inspired outfits, eagerly awaiting the former One Direction star’s arrival.

As the lights went dim, a pair of eyes appeared at the top of the stage and then a cinematic introduction was projected on a vintage theater style stage set up complete with curtains and clamshell foot lights, bringing an old school vibe that flawlessly fit Horan’s set.

“Good evening Nashville,” Horan shouted, greeting the crowd with a big smile on his face, as he exploded into a high-energy performance of his fan-favorite tune, “Nice To Meet Ya.”

”I Have Dreamt Long And Hard About This Night”

Donning a black leather vest, black tank, black pants, and a handkerchief in his pants pocket, Horan looked every bit of the rock star he has become and kept the crowd in the palm of his hand throughout the entire concert.

“Welcome to The Show Live On Tour Lovers! Holy smokes, this is insane, thank you so much for selling out the famous Bridgestone Arena for me. I really appreciate it,” Horan said graciously. ”I have dreamt long and hard about this night, and thank you so much for selling this arena out for me, it’s mind-boggling, I can’t believe I am here. Nashville is one of my favorite cities in the world, and I love coming here. I love the music in this town, I love writing in this town, and it feels like home here. I love it, so thank you so much for welcoming me back.”

He continued, “All the memories that I’ve had in this city over the years, I just love the place. There are some cities that just stand out to you and just make you feel comfortable, and Nashville and the people in it just make you feel like you’re at home.”

Surprise Guest: Noah Kahan

A highlight of the show was his intimate acoustic set. With the curtain shut behind him, Horan took to the microphone stand with just an acoustic guitar and delivered a raw and heartfelt performance of “Put A Little Love On Me,” followed by the crowd-pleaser, “This Town,” which featured a surprise guest, Noah Kahan.

“Since we’re in Nashville, there’s some good songwriters around the place,” Horan said before welcoming Kahan to the stage to join him for the performance. The excitement to see the “Stick Season” singer was palpable, as he was welcomed by deafening screams.

He concluded the acoustic set with “You Can Start A Cult.” After Horan wrapped his set, the capacity crowd offered thunderous stomps and applause demanding an encore, which Horan obliged and returned to the stage for a two song encore that included “Heartbreak Weather” and “Slow Hands.”

21-Song Set List

Horan’s 21-song set included songs from all three of his solo albums: Flicker (2017), Heartbreak Weather (2020) and The Show (2023). He also threw in a cover of One Direction’s hit, “Stockholm Syndrome,” a fan-favorite that prompted a massive sing-along during his set in Music City.

Throughout the concert, Niall Horan made it a point to connect with his fans on a personal level. He took a moment to read many of the handmade signs brought by fans, interacting with them in a way that made the massive arena feel intimate. His gratitude was evident as he thanked his fans multiple times, often becoming visibly emotional as he watched his dreams unfold before his eyes, with a capacity crowd singing along to every word.

“I just want to thank you all for the loyal support over the last 14 years, it’s just been absolutely bonkers. Whether you’ve been there since day one or you just watched The Voice and said ‘well, I like him,’ thank you I really appreciate your support, and I am so happy to be here in this arena tonight with you,” Horan exclaimed with a big smile emblazoned on his face.

From Boy Band Member To Solo Superstar

Niall Horan’s concert at Bridgestone Arena was more than just a performance; it was a celebration of his journey as an artist. From his days in One Direction to his impressive solo career, Horan has proven that he is a force to be reckoned with in the music industry. His genuine connection with his fans, coupled with his undeniable talent, made for an evening that Nashville will not soon forget. With this tour, it’s clear that Niall Horan is not just a former boy band member, but a solo superstar who has truly come into his own.

Niall Horan kicked off his world tour in February of 2024 in Belfast, UK, at the SSE Arena. The North American leg of the trek launched at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida, on May 29, 2024. Produced by Live Nation, the stint will continue through the end of 2024.

[venusvity]

i really REALLY need a venus timeline of their album releases + solo cause why am I thinking they be releasing album on top of albums like 😭😭 do the girls not know the word REST ??

they don't because they're under mydol dnkjask anyways!

2018

SHE DEVIL would be released in March and promoted until May.

Baebi would debut solo in June with Bubble Pop and wrap up promotions the same month.

Kisseus would be released in August and be promoted in September. Jiah would also debut solo with "Why, Why, Why?" in August but only had a two-week promotional run.

Baebi would have her first comeback in October with Tell Me More, which would wrap up promotions within the same month.

They would close off the year by releasing Tasteus in November and conclude promotions in December.

2019

The VSCAPE Era was a continuous six-month promotional period, with each release of BATTLE ROYALE, PUNCHOUT, and LOVE SIMULATOR, each getting two months of promotions and the era concluding in late June.

Jiah would also have her first solo comeback in June with "Good Luck, Hun." and wrap up those promotions in October.

Chloe would debut solo in August with Fine and promote the single until September.

Jiah would have another solo comeback that year with "Moon, Sun, Stars," in November and would conclude promotions within the same month

The girls would continue to promote the VSCAPE albums sporadically throughout the rest of the year.

2020

BRAINROT was released in January and promoted until March. #dontlike would release in May and conclude promotions by June.

In July, Come N' Get It would release and have a pretty short promotional run due to the backlash they received for the sexy concept so they only promoted it for the month of July.

Baebi would release Gashina in August and pretty much promote it on and off throughout the rest of the year because of it's success.

Chloe would have her first solo comeback with Underwater in October and conclude promotions in November.

Bad girl was released in November and would wrap up promotions by the end of December.

2021

I AM VENUS would release in January and be tied in the promotional run of VENUS, I AM which was the repacked version of the album. This album promotional run lasted from January to April.

Illusions would release in May of that year and conclude promotions in early June.

Summer Luv! would release in July as Venus' last comeback of the year but this song, due to it's crazy success, was promoted for the rest of the year.

Hello Baebi! released in August and received a short promotional run of two weeks, concluding in the same month of its release.

Chloe would have a comeback, Siren, in October which concluded promotions in November.

And Baebi would close out the year with the release of Touch in November and promote it into 2022.

2022

Chloe would kick the year off for Venus in Feburary with her comeback Shoreline, that would conclude promotions in March.

Venus would have their first comeback of the year in May with Hi-Tops and conclude the promotions for it in June.

July would be their last comeback with their beloved creative director, Lexa, and be So Sweet which would be released in July and conclude promotions in August.

Baebi would have a solo comeback, Twit, in Septemeber that would conclude promotions in October.

Venus would end the year off in November with the release of GOTCHA and promote the mini album until Januaray of 2023.

2023

VMOONS and (RE)MOONS) would have a joint promotional run as the ladder was a repackage. The promotional period for these albums would start in March and conclude in July.

Jiah would also have her first solo comeback in over four years with "Teddy Bear" in July and wrap up promotions within the same month.

Venus would release TTYL in August and conclude its promotions in October. Just a week after the promotions for TTYL would end, they would release BLESSED IT BE, which would conclude its promotions in late November.

Chloe would have a solo comeback, INVU, in December and conclude promotions for it in the same month.

2024

The majority of the year was used to promote VENUS VICTRIX by releasing three promotional singles: DRAMA, I AM THE BEST, and THE BOYS, which would be the lead single of VENUS VICTRIX. This album only recently officially concluded its promotional run this September.

Chloe would have a solo comeback with POP in March and wrap up promotions within the same month.

Baebi would make her long-awaited solo comeback in April and wrap up promotions in late May.

Sena would debut solo with Sweet Like Candy in June and conclude her solo promotions in August.

They are currently gearing up for a November comeback with the mini album WHIPLASH.

[cameronprincess]

The One Where They’re Quarantined Together

June 2020

Gabriella’s been living with Luke since Los Angeles issued a shelter in place order for the entire state so he suggested instead of her commuting from Orange County from her apartment to his house everyday, just move her stuff in.

101 Dalmatians was playing as background noise for Petunia and her new cocker spaniel she adopted through a friend of Crystal. She named her Rowan. The two dogs immediately getting along the minute she brought her home.

Gabriella got up from their bed and slipped her feet in her fuzzy slippers, her feet muffling any sound as she made her way down the kitchen and making a pineapple açaí bowl she's been craving for the past 2 hours. She heard four sets of paws running towards her as she hit her leg and gave her best puppy eyes.

"You want some pineapple girlies?" She baby talked them. Their tails wagging back and forth.

Gabriella threw three individual slices of the fruit on the floor as Petunia and Rowan ate it and Petunia waddled to the couch while Rowan played with her turtle chew toy.

She heard the noise of a guitar and faint singing coming from the basement. Figuring she hasn't seen Luke in a while, she made him a glass of iced water. Whenever he’s writing music time isn’t a thing to him.

She trotted downstairs trying to muffle the sound her steps as she reached the dimly lit room, The Mac book being the only source of light in the space.

She knew about his life on the road from such a young age. He was constantly on the go and this is the first time in 5 years he's had a chance to sit back and relax. Except that's the farthest thing he was doing. Standing in the doorway he doesn’t even acknowledge her presence, way too focused on the guitar sitting on his lap and the voice memo he’s recording.

Gabriella likes to sit in the room with him sometimes whenever he's been writing and to give him some ideas or just company. It makes her feel peaceful and relaxed listening to his voice. He’s so creative and that’s something she admired about him.

She walked up to him and placed her chin on his broad shoulder. "Hey."

He turned around and looked at her, already smiling at her. "Hi."

"I got you some water." She stated as she put the glass down.

He rubbed his eyes and silently thanked her with a kiss on the lips and gesturing for her to take a seat next him.

She took a seat on the couch in the corner of the room being careful to not trip on any stray wires to sit next to him. Laying her head on his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her back, fingertips brushing against her exposed spine.

“You okay baby? That sounds a little too sad? Even for you.” She asked concerned.

He smiles somberly and almost looked amused. “It’s not meant to sound that sad to be completely honest with you. It’s more of a look into how seventeen year old me felt as a teenager at the time y’know thick into the music industry. I have most of the lyrics but now I needed a guitar riff for it.” He explained.

“Can I hear the full song or whatever you have?” Bianca asked softly looking at him with pleading eyes.

“Course you can baby.” He smiled at her, picking up the blue guitar.

"All this running in motion time slips by till you’re lost in your mind,” He starts until he gets to the end of what he has. Looking up from his guitar he sees faint tears in his girlfriend’s eyes, making him concerned.

“What’s wrong?? Do you not like it.” He quickly asked.

"It's so beautifully sad Lu." She laughed through a sob.

"So these are happy tears right??" He questioned unsurely.

She nodded and threw her head back in laughter.

"But 3 days from now is CALM release day! Aren’t you so excited! " She shook his shoulders excitedly.

“I’m gonna be severely underwhelmed.” He joked making Gabriella slap his chest.

“You little shit.”

——————

Gabriella took the album release very seriously around the house as she bought a cake from Publix and noise makers in the color scheme of the album. She also delivered the noise makers to the other boys front porch’s and a little care package for them since they definitely all won’t be able to hang out as a group for a while.

She decided to be a good girlfriend and make celebratory waffles for all of the bands hard work that finally paid off. On her mind was also a celebratory blowjob for Luke, but he didn't need to know all her plans

Luke smelled waffles and groaned slightly as he pushed Petunia off his leg as she looked at him with a face that read 'I wanna murder you'

He slid on a t shirt and walked downstairs to see Gabriella listening to 'Vapor' as she cleaned the kitchen up in nothing but an oversized sweatshirt and some purple lace panties.

"I want to breathe you in like a vapor I want to be the one you remember." She sung to Rowan in her arms.

"Really? You couldn't have picked something from Youngblood to sing to her. At least thats two years instead of 5.” He laughed at her swaying the puppy who yipped at Luke to get his attention.

"Sounds Good Feels Good was the reason I became a fan so this album is special to me. Plus I went to Sounds Live Feels Live in LA with my best friend and that’s when I fell in love with you so don’t even." She defended.

“Whatever makes you happy.”

“Your voice is a blessing her puppy ears to the pop punk goodness that is Sounds Good Feels Good. I don’t think you should be treating me like this whenever I woke up extra early and made you waffles.” She pushed the plate towards him and a cup of coffee.

———

The band took shifts over their instagram live later that evening. First it was Ash by himself on an iPad, might add. Then Micheal and Calum, yet Micheal’s phone died before he could talk about Best Years. Now it was Luke’s turn.

Gabriella sat curled in a fluffy blanket on their shared bed rewatching Vampire Diaries while Luke attempted to join Calum on his livestream. He finally got it to work after 2 minutes of Calum struggling.

“How old are you Cal? 90?” Gabriella joked as soon as Luke joined Calum, the two yelling in excitement of seeing each other.

“Did Ella just call me old?” Calum’s laughter rang through the phone.

“Sure did dude.”

Luke shook his head slightly, reading the comments of people calling his girlfriend funny and asking where she is.

“Lemme give the children what they want.” He sighed in fake annoyance turning the phone to Gabriella who waved her hand with a smile. “Hi you guys!”

“What are you drinking, wait lemme guess.” Calum asked as he saw Luke’s tequila cup when he turned the phone back around.

“Ahhh tewqulia.”

“We ran outta beer so second best option here.”

“Bit of naughty water.” Luke said in a weird english accent that made Gabriella chuckle slightly.

At some point during their segment they started talking about cake flavors instead of the album tracks.

“How do you not like red velvet cake??” Calum asked in pure confusion.

“Well, it’s not the fact I don’t like it. I mean- you don’t go to a birthday party and they sing happy birthday and then they cut the cake, you’re like ‘eh red velvet cant wait to eat this one.’

Sometime during that conversation Gabriella ended up falling asleep. Luke gathered Petunia and Rowan so they could go potty before they slept anywhere near their room or in Rowan’s case on the bed since she always finds some way to sleep on Gabriella.

“Ella.” He whispered shaking her shoulder slightly. “How did you fall asleep that fast?”

“The sound of your annoying voice lulled me to sleep.” She laughed slightly.

The two laid together later cuddled up watching some random rom com but it was mostly background noise as they were heavily making out. Gabriella pulled on his lap as he took in her appearance. Black ribbed tank top and some blue silk shorts she got in some sale at La Perla a couple years ago.

Luke pulled back slightly and leaned his forehead on hers. “I think I heard something about a blowjob earlier this morning. I think I deserve one now that the album’s officially out.”

“Hm maybe you do for all your late nights and hard work.”

She quietly tied her hair up before moving down and kissing his waistband of his shorts, inflecting a groan from him. She pulled his dick from his basketball shorts as her eyes widened in excitement. Nothing compared when she got to suck him off.

“Shit.” He cursed when he felt her tongue kitten lick his tip.

She spit in her hand and slowly jerked him off. She slipped him as far as she could go and jerked the rest she couldn’t in her freshly manicured hands.

“Your mouth is so good.” He groaned as she made a choking noise.

She knew he was close by the way he was basically whining for her mouth as she widened her green eyes more making her look innocent as ever as spit covered her chin.

“Fuck, open your mouth.” He quickly said.

She obeyed as she stuck out her tongue waiting for his release, she felt it coat her mouth and some on her chest. Gabriella stuck out her tounge proudly displaying nothing.

“Good girl.”

He pulled his shorts back up his legs and grabbed a tissue, cleaning his release up off her chest.

Her hair clung to her sweaty neck due to the heat of the room as she had a dazed out look in her eyes.

“You okay??” Luke questioned noticing her dazed and confused look.

She nodded and climbed on top of him and laid her head on his chest.

“Happy album release,” She smirked grabbing a yellow noise maker from the bedside table and blowing it into his ear making him flinch.

“Jesus Christ.”

[lightofraye]

glen powell glen powell GLEN POWELL!!!!!

i wannahear what u think of him and the gigi paris mess!

... my gods, I've turned into a gossip columnist. 😏

All joking aside... there's really not much to tell. Glen, Gigi, and Sydney all kept it out of the public eye. Lots and lots of gossip magazines went nuts, so did fan speculation. I think it was later addressed, eventually, with very vague interviews that only stated something along the lines of "It just didn't work out" and Sydney insisting that she and Glen were only really good friends (that and she was happily engaged, with her fiancé being right there as a producer as they filmed).

As I said, the gossip mags and tabloids made a lot about it.

Whenever Glen and Sydney weren't filming on set, they took tours and trips around Australia. They went to local Sydney (as in Australia, not the actress) sites, Taronga Zoo, and even the Sydney Swans locker room.

There was a behind-the-scenes clip of Sydney on Glen's lap that apparently sent fans into a tizzy.

What's interesting--and noted by many--is that when a lot of those couple-y photos of Glen and Sydney came out, Gigi came to visit Glen in Australia. And he greeted her with flowers.

Anyway, back in April 2023, rumors of affairs stirred up when someone noted that Glen's then-girlfriend, Gigi Paris, unfollowed him and Sydney on social media.

That happened right after Glen and Sydney finished filming Anyone But You.

To many a fan, that meant that was confirmation of an affair. That and Gigi's "break-up" IG post, which was cryptic as heck but also very pointed to anyone who could read between the lines.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gigi Paris (@msgigiparis)

(Interestingly, Glen actually 'liked' that post.)

Gigi and Glen had been dating since 2020. They had a ton of cute photos on Instagram (both of theirs) and in public. But roughly around the time of filming wrapping up, Gigi and Glen hadn't been seen together since she came over during filming.

Sydney and Glen were also incredibly flirty during the press tour. When they appeared at the 2023 CinemaCon. During an exchange, Glen joked that the actors love to see themselves on screen, and Sydeny responded with, "Oh please, Top Gun."

Glen replied with "I love when she calls me that."

Eventually, June of 2023, Sydney said the supposed affair was just good acting. She claimed that the photos they saw were all of them on set, in character.

While social media and gossip magazines and paparazzi fanned the flames, Glen admitted the intense speculation took a toll. During an interview with Men's Health in November 2023, he admitted, "When all that stuff happened, you know, publicly, it felt disorienting and unfair. But what I'm realizing is that's just a part of this gig now."

He spoke about it six months after Sydney addressed the rumors.

Of course, Sydney fans were puzzled: wasn't she engaged? Yes… yes she was. And still is.

Sydney became engaged to her long-term partner, restaurateur Jonathan Davino, in February of 2022. When she guest hosted SNL in March of this year, she confirmed that she was in fact still engaged with him, and he was on-set for the entirety of Anyone But You. (They co-produced via her production company, Fifty-Fifty.)

Glen made a special appearance on SNL in the audience, and during Sydney's monologue, the camera zoomed onto him instead of her fiancé. A lot of folks found it funny. I found it cringe-worthy. (Link to her monologue.)

Thankfully the rumors began to die down, though there were smatterings of gossip about Jonathan being seen without his ring and "moving" out of Sydney's place. But that too died down.

Meanwhile, Glen's been busy with a number of movies--Hit Man, Twisters, and apparently working on a mini-series (I think) about Chad Powers.

I do remember Glen talking about how finding love is hard when he's constantly working. There's aspects of the industry that makes it hard to have a relationship, especially when they're on the go. He said, in an CBS Mornings interview:

“This is a time where life is moving so fast that I don’t even know if I could bring someone into it … in a healthy way, even if I tried,” the Twisters star explained.

“If love comes and hits me in the face and knocks me over, I welcome it with open arms because that’s something I really want,” Powell said, noting that he wants a family and kids. "At the same time, I realize that it’s going to take a very specific type of person to navigate this. It’s a lot.”

For now, Glen has his adorable dog, Brisket, to keep him company.

[spicybylerpolls]

In response to that anon about how sex couldn't possibly have always been heavily tied to and the natural narrative arc the Duffers had in mind for Mike and Will -

Well, for one (and correct me if I'm wrong), if the pandemic hadn't happened, they would've filmed S4 throughout 2020 and likely wrapped post-production sometime in spring/summer of 2021 (possibly later). This means we would've got a late summer or fall of 2021 S4 rather than summer of 2022.

This also means filming for S5 would have likely started in Spring of 2022, or even later if we consider the fact that S4 actually finished in July of 2022 and production PRIOR to the WGA strike was supposed to start in Spring of 2023 (IIRC) That's nearly a year gap. Not only that but if you go onto the wikipedia page for S5, you'll see that because of the pandemic the Duffers were able to completely outline and rework S5. So if the pandemic didn't happen, they would also have to do an outline as well as actually write S5 post S4's drop in the late summer/fall of 2021 (in this magical, theoretical timeline).

Honestly, with this in mind, I wouldn't see filming for S5 commencing until mid 2022, possibly even the early fall.

So basically the theoretical timeline without COVID and the WGA strike would be:

2020: Film S4

End of 2020 - Mid/Late 2021: Post production

Late 2021: S4 Drops

Summer/Early Fall 2022: S5 Filming begins

This would put Noah's age at 17, almost 18 and Finn at 19 almost 20. And presumably the hypothetical sex scene wouldn't happen until the later episodes so by then Noah would be 18 and Finn would be a full 20 years old, and likely almost 21.

Like, say the scene happens in Episode 7. This would be the very tail end of production, as we know they pretty much film in blocks. This would be June of 2023 or around there... Noah nearly 19 and Finn 6ish months away from being able to legally drink anywhere in the world. Lol.

Also, Finn literally has a scene in WYFSTW where his character masturbates, and he was just 18 when he portrayed that. Why are people so disgusted by the idea of him portraying something extremely similar to this but as Mike?! In my opinion this proves it's not just about the actors (and seeing them grow up) because I haven't seen anyone say it was weird for including that scene in that movie ...

BUT REGARDLESS, like spicybylerpolls said - there are a ton of examples, WELL RESPECTED examples at that, of underage actors portraying a storyline involving sex. I mean, look no further than Degrassi. Almost all of the actors are cast as teens (sometimes pre-teens) and almost all of the characters have a storyline to do with sex at some point, most of them when they're underage.

This is a perfect example because the point of these storylines are to educate teens on sex (the same thing Mike and Will's storyline would be doing for many queer kids btw) and also to represent their many, many confusing feelings about sex. And yes, all of the actual sex scenes in Degrassi are implied - which, although people have explained how an explicit scene would be important for Mike and Will's storyline, ultimately it's not absolutely necessary for them. (Although I don't think an implied sex scene in the same vein as Degrassi (or even Jancy) is going to work within the darker tone of S5 but I digress...)

Anyway, there's a ton more examples beyond just Degrassi [Skins is the first that pops to mind] but no I don't think it would be weird for a 17 year old to have a make out and then *implied* sex scene when it's already been done and accepted in the past with absolutely no issue (as long as the actors are comfortable of course).

But this isn't what's happening so who cares. And we have already heard the Duffers state that, although they have had a lot of it planned out, they do write for the actors too. I can even recall them saying how when they got back on set for either S3 or S4 they realized the kids ... weren't kids anymore and they were going to have to write to that.

So yeah, I think it's totally possibly the Duffers imagined that in the end, Mike and Will would overcome their shame about their sexuality by ... having sex together, however that looked on screen, since there are a myriad of ways to do this without showing sex at all.

[spring-into-arda]

Minhiriath Midway Step up, step in, let's see what you win! The Minhiriath Midway is full of games and fun!  Spin the wheel, try your luck at the Crablor Grab, and see what prompts you get by the luck of the draw (or keep playing until you find something you like).  You can use the Midway any time during March, and beyond!

Blue Ribbon Exhibition The Prince of Cardolan loves to acknowledge hard work and creativity.  Enter your finest works into the Blue Ribbon Exhibition as an exhibition challenger.  Challengers will compete against others for the title of Best of Cardolan in the categories they enter.  All entries for the Blue Ribbon Exhibition are due by noon on June 1, 2024.

Dappled Dapper Pony Picture Coloring Contest The Dappled Dapper Pony Picture Coloring Contest (D²P²C²) is a very basic coloring contest event. Everyone starts with the same base image, and colors and embellishes their pony in whatever way they choose. 

Dappled Dapper Drabbled Pony Race  The Dappled Dapper Drabbled Pony Race is a team writing event which is being run as part of the Cardolan Carnival, a Back to Middle-earth Month 2024 Event.  For groups of 2 to 6, three races will be run throughout the month.  

Lost Treasures Quest  Part of Back to Middle-earth Month is revisiting works that are already in the world -- old favorites and new discoveries.  For the Lost Treasures Quests, you will be able to choose from leaving new commentary on works posted or written before 2020, making rec lists, working on WIPs (writing or art) that are at least a year old or more, or posting works currently unavailable publicly or at a new archive. 

The Prince of Cardolan's Grand Gala; April 12-14 The Grand Gala is a live event held on Discord.  During the event, winners of the various competitions will be announced (with the exception of the Blue Ribbon Exhibition), games will be played, live readings will occur, and generally, it will be a grand time.

Additionally, B2MEM is an open event where ANYTHING you create during March counts!  Feel free to add works you start, add to, or finish in March to the gallery!  You can also host your own events -- let us know what you're up to, and we'll add your event to the list of festivities!

Timeline of Events

The Midway will open on February 24, 2024. 

The Blue Ribbon Exhibition categories will be posted on March 1, 2024.  Entries are due by noon on June 1, 2024.  Winners will be announced at the Tarnin Austa event. 

The Lost Treasures Quest gameboard will be available no later than Feburary 24, 2024.

The Grand Gala will take place April 12-14, 2024. Cancelled. All activities moved to June. Announcements to follow.

Posting & Viewing Works

Beginning March 1st, 2024, works can be posted to the AO3 collection. This collection never closes, so while the event will wrap by the end of April, you can always add works later as you are inspired and finish them. If posting on Tumblr, use the tag B2MEM24 and @ this tumblr to make your posts easy to find by our team for reblogs!  You can join the Discord at any time!