#LOVED the concept of ep 6. not the execution

[branchiopod]

actually listening to tma for the first time bc i’m doing a horror campaign and a player likes it so. research. and uhhhh fanon depictions were certainly a Choice

[pruesgaultier]

lets talk: agatha all along finale

ahead: spoilers obvi, and my VERY annoyed thoughts read at your own risk. and remember something VERY important: these are MY thoughts, MY opinions on MY page.

before i get into the bad, which there was a lot of imo, lets talk about what i loved

☆ i loved that jen got away and got her powers back. i really love her character and i hope we see her again. still crazy how agatha is the one who bound her like omg ???? good for her love that diva

☆ i love the agatha and nicky scenes. and then creating the ballad together, soooo sweet. she was such a good mom im so sad

☆ i love the alice part as heartbreaking as it was

☆ the part where billy created the makeshift grave for alice, lilia, and sharon

☆ "MY LOVE" "YOU LOVE ME" "WHY DON'T YOU WANT ME" im sickkkk they're absolutely insane and i love them so so much

☆ rio planting the flowers over agatha's grave, im sickkkk

☆ AGATHARIO KISS !!! was so so beautiful and passionate i love them.

☆ ghost agatha is sexy, don't know how i feel about her hair tho. some angles i like it, some angles i dont

now what did i hate, just about everything else.

☆ i hate how the first time we get a lesbian kiss in marvel, one of them dies. the bury your gays trope is so fucking tired. wrap it up. i don't care about male gay rep because they already had it in the mcu with eternals, it's not fair that when lesbians finally get rep, we don't get to keep it.

☆ not only do i just not fucking like billy, i hate how so much of this show centered around him, like if this was supposed to get me excited and into billy, it failed drastically. FUCK BILLY ??? WHO CARES ??? the show is called agatha all along and i feel like it was billy all along in too many parts. we didnt even get to see too much of her because of HIM. ALSO her sacrificing herself just to end up basically being his ghost side kick is also stupid. because while i get agatha not being able to face her son again, then why kill her ? why not let her live, what because he's a maximoff that we're supposed to see in later projects ??? like who gives a shit.

✧ they put entirely too much of this show on wiccan / joe's popularity and it didnt work nor make sense.

☆ also, on the topic of billy, i don't get why agatha just didnt drain his power and kill him. i know she made the deal with rio and stuff but he could've reincarnated into another body and they could continue wiccan's journey like that but in a different body. it honestly just seems like marvel sacrificed agatha to keep joe locke and its like who fucking cares.

☆ i hate how im left with more questions than answers.

✧ how and why did rio and agatha get married? agatha has been killing witches for so long, and im assuming rio appeared everytime, when did they get together?

✧ rio referes to nicholas as nicky, why? from what we saw in those 6 years agatha and nicky were together, she wasn't there.

✧ why did they make it seem like we would see them raising nicky together?

✧ they described agathario's history as "long and complicated", yet we never saw that or the aftermath of their relationship after rio took nicky? did rio and nicky meet before? because he seemed to know her or at least not be scared enough to feel "stranger danger" like what happened.

✧ in episode 4, we get agathario almost kiss and hat seemed like a healing moment for them and in the end we get agatha never wanting to see rio again ? why ? what happened that we didn't see for this seemingly drastic change.

✧ in ep 5, rio very clearly hates agatha's mother and refuses to let agatha go with her, and obviously we as an audience can infer the reason why, agatha told her what happened but still.

✧ how did the agatha trading nicky for the darkhold rumor even start ? agatha gave birth alone in the woods and gave him a completely different name, who knew about her son ? how did they find out ? im sooo confused by all of this

i love this show, or at least the concept, but i don't love the execution. it was supposed to be about us learning and getting to know agatha and i honestly feel like i don't know her at all. i loved eps 1-4 and ep 7, everything else, eh.

thanks for coming to my ted talk !

[dangermousie]

All caught up with Fox Matchmaker Spirit.

1. I think we are supposed to feel bad Princess Dimwit is dead but I am just happy we are moving on from Stockholm Syndrome: The Love Story.

2. I agree with everyone who’s been saying this is like an old shoujo storywise - unfortunately that also extends to plot complexity. Plotwise, you can watch on 3x or in the background or even skip and ep and you would not be lost at all.

3. The design and CGI continue amazing.

4. I like the concept of the main OTP much more than the actual execution but we have storylines like “ML holds inside and protects the soul of his ancestor who he thinks FL was in love with as ML pines of unrequited love and heartbreak for said FL” and honestly at this plot point I genuinely can’t be bothered to care they don’t have much chemistry or their acting is limited. GIMMEEEE!

5. This is a show that would be great fodder for some super fun fanfic.

6. Not enough angst and intensity for me to be invested. I don’t really feel for the characters, not for real. I think some of it is directing which is mediocre.

7. I want those outfits!

[imsociallyanxiousgetoverit]

My Reaction To “The Edge Of Sleep” Show

Spoilers below obviously

ep 1

so was Dave like unknowingly being prepared for this tragedy??? that’s my first thought about what’s happening

ep 2

I actually understand Katie’s view cuz she just believes Dave has disrespected her wishes. I’m glad once he’s there she reacts somewhat well considering

ep 3

this brings up the question if life is worth it even with extreme pain each second. it’s a good question to start discussion about from both those experiencing the pain and those caring for them. primarily the former talking to those around them about their feelings on it.

ah so perhaps I was correct about my ep 1 theory ha

ep 4

I’m so glad Dave talked to Katie finally. I’m also glad someone finally talked to Ruth. Their reactions are all understandable and I really appreciate that.

This concept is so cool and the execution is so well done. God I’m so glad to be watching this now. I’m checking out the podcast after this for sure. Never had the attention span for it before, but I’m hooked now.

Did Mark do Larry and sing by the way? I swear I’m hearing him everywhere lol. It’s so cool seeing his name in the introduction credits. Also the way we slowly understand more of them as we watch is 10/10

ep 5

Trying to figure out if the whale or elephant is good is hard cuz it seems obvious but what if it isnt?

Oh no they crash though…. right? Damn I’m so hyped to know what’s up.

oh my god the choice to make it like falling asleep as a viewer was so good Holy crap

it’s a hard thing to exert energy to stay awake but not so much you lose any energy to stay awake… as someone with insomnia this is a battle I am too intimately aware of

I’m so glad this is the cast. It’s so well picked for each role cuz they’re killing it.

NOOOO NOT THE POOR WORDING

ep 6

woah new intro.

is he dreaming awake now too? oh no.

Holy hyuck Matteo is going through it.

oh no there’s concerning sh info I really hope nobody uses it hyuck.

two hours. yall got this.

Holy thwip water landing okay so not a crash technically??

HEAD BETWEEN KNEES MFS WHAT ARE YOU DOING (ik theyre out of it but ahhhhh)

Holy crap they survived Holy crap all of them

we love abandoned islands lol

oh no hallucinations.

I just realized is the elephant wearing a red dress? its too bright to be a monk-inspired robe right?

I wonder if this is all one island or if its shots mixed together to look like one.

These people are so strong Holy crap. Handling literal torture

it is a red dress!!

oooooo love raw power let’s hyucking go.

Would Katie really want that?

it’s interesting that the elephant needs him…. the fact it can’t just take control… hmm

they made it!!!!

what?

okay much more sense context wise now with so many survivors.

Safet okay. Interesting the name has safe in it. Sounds like prophet too.

This is suuuuch cult thwip.

lol are they real like bro its the actual whales

oh lord. war? more torture sigh.

he’s not gonna take “all as it should be” well

that room has got to be hot as hell tf

so much fire is not safe yall

oh hell no what the hyuck

OH NO KATIE NO

post series

I want to see what’s next so bad omg yes.

Podcast time!!!

[cloudysonder]

On "Daddy Issues"

Ok, I know I'm a bit late to the game here, but I was gathering my thoughts after experiencing episode 5 and 6

Let me preface this with the fact that I am a Hazbin Hotel fan; it's cringe and it's not the best writing in the world, but I love the characters and the concept and the art. I know a lot of people disagree and completely despise it and hey, you do you, but this is a silly little thing I enjoy and think is fun

but oof. episode 5 and 6 were rough, execution-wise. Also worth mentioning that episode 5 followed on the heels of episode 4, which was dealing with a lot of heavy topics and gave Angel a lot of character development very quickly and had a wonderful song and a budding relationship between Husk and Angel that was fantastic, so to get a confusing and overwhelming yet completely inefficient episode (ep 5) and then an episode with SO MUCH HAPPENING that it absolutely bowled you over with plot points and world building that weren't given a single second to breathe was really disappointing. I'll put the meat under a read more, but that's the thesis

this post is just gonna be on episode 5, and I'll make another one on episode 6 bc christ almighty both of them are gonna be long

Episode 5 was something I was really looking forward to-- Of the main cast, Charlie and Vaggie seemed the least intriguing to me (oh, did I say "seemed" past tense? haha! they still most definitely are the least interesting!), and I wanted to see how they would introduce something they've been building up to for a while: Charlie's famed "Daddy issues"!

Turns out, instead of actually keeping it as a point of intrigue for Charlie's character and using it as a point of tension to show that hey, Charlie isn't actually a perfect person, and she's also in pain with the rest of the sinners because her own family relationships are falling apart, they solve it in a single episode. That's right! The long-awaited, complicated, divorced parent and child relationship that twisted Charlie into a validation seeking, people pleasing princess that "wants to fix other people so she doesn't have to deal with her own daddy issues" (quote by Husk) is solved with a charming performance by Jeremy Jordan and a song!

Look, it's no secret I'm a huge fan of Loser, Baby-- I clearly have no qualms with storytelling through song. But you cannot song-plain this one away. We've established over 4 episodes that Charlie and her father have kept in minimal contact for seven years. That's a Long time (don't go trying to be like, oh time to charlie works differently, bc that shit's not established, and everyone in the show still treats seven years like a long time). We know that the last time they called each other was 5 months ago.

"More than Anything," solves basically everything by making the following points

Charlie was inspired by her Dad's dreaming

Lucifer was ashamed of his failures and hid away from her

Lucifer does, however, want so so deeply to know Charlie

Charlie wants to know Lucifer

They love each other <3

these are fine endgame points. Dare I say... good endgame points to arrive at?? But you can't stuff ALL these revelations into a single song and call it a finished relationship arc when they haven't spoken for real in 7 YEARS. Also, making Lucifer so goofy and silly and fun and charming is Not helping the establishment of his character as a self-hating former dreamer who doesn't want his daughter to make the same mistakes he did. It just turns him to tumblr sexyman cute quirky sympathetic never did anything wrong and loves his daughter, completely downplaying his absentee parenting.

You can't have him turn from "I do not care about your life. I do not care about your project. I will not ask about your passions and your dreams. I am already ashamed of my own." to "ur so right bestie!!! dreaming is so slay mama!!! I love you so much you're my little baby girl I love you so much, you're right and I will support you!!!" in the course of a single episode without like.... at least 3 real, in depth conversations happening. The song is beautiful, but you can't poetry your way out of an actual relationship arc.

BUT! But, but but! The fault does not lie completely with Lucifer, but also with Charlie. girl just forgave him??? For everything????? Despite having been so scared to call him at the beginning of the episode? It's very unrealistic for a kid to just accept that a parent loves them apparently so so deeply when they've never seen proof of it in the last idk just spitballing a number here SEVEN YEARS. If you want to make the crux of a failed parent-child relationship miscommunication, you're gonna have to get into the ugly--- the grieving of what you could've had earlier, the wondering why you didn't reach out earlier, the anger at why they've suddenly changed now--- and you're gonna have to explain why the miscommunication went on so long.

sometimes, if you have a pair of completely uncommunicative people, seven years may be reasonable. But Charlie is open about her passions! She's public! She constantly reads about "The Story of Hell" and paints Lucifer in a positive light! And Lucifer is quick to reciprocate any interest Charlie shows in him! He's quick to offer help, to spoil Charlie and show love! (Lucifer's points are two points that make SEVEN YEARS of MINIMAL CONTACT and MISCOMMUNICATION make ZERO SENSE).

additionally, Charlie's lowkey only point of intrigue that was set up (her relationship to Lucifer, the King of Hell) is now just... kapoot. solved. pish posh. now she's a done character.

THEN EXPLAIN WHY I STILL DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT HER???? I haven't seen her actually struggle in a way that's not played off as a bit, we don't get a real charlie breakdown monologue, there are no stakes for me as a hazbin hotel viewer to want everything to go well for charlie besides my acab rad leftist ass being like redemption and forgiveness is good and ultimately benefits society

she's fun, she's bubbly, she's kind! but those are all basic things we knew from minute 1 she was on screen. I need to see her struggle. For a main character, she sure as hell doesn't feel main. And I expected better female characters from female writers (feat. in my next post, Vaggie????? What the hell?).

goodnight new york city, you've been great!

[atopvisenyashill]

general thoughts

i do love the way robert is clearly manipulating ned in the opening of ep 6 but ned is just so high and pissed off and now deeply triggered he’s just like “alright whatever you say i guess.”

emilia is not good enough to sell this “i’m doing instinctive and kinda dodgy morally speaking blood magic” scene. i really love the way they link dany’s weird magic to bran’s weird magic by having bran have his own “instinctive and morally dubious magic ingrained in his bloodline” moment, once again, they do a really good job linking parallel storylines & concepts with the way they order the scenes. i’m very curious to know when this stops lmao

“where’s bran?” “i don’t know i’m not of your house” this entire exchange is exactly why Jon hates Theon so much akskdj

“you don’t have the right-“ “to what to save your brother’s life? it was the only thing to do and I did it!” i really like this exchange, i think it would hit more if robb looked like a 15 year old and theon looked like a 19 year old but they both do a really good job here.

that muttered “fuck off” from mord really cracks me up

doreah trying to stand in front of dany when viserys holds the sword out at her…

the way robert’s parting words to his son and heir are “you’re a shitty ass heir, i really fucked you up lmao. now leave.” and joffrey goes from looking devastated to closing himself off and stomping out.

cersei keeps staring at ned to see if he suspects anything in the background it’s kinda funny

this entire scene with jon throwing a tantrum is exactly why theon hates jon so much akskskkdkskksjdjdjd

sam asking pyp to sing for him and pyp angrily stomps away……..i love these boys so much. kit’s acting is sooooo bad in these scenes omg.

damn is this a safe space. can i say something about khal drogo and jason momoa in this part. aksjdj.

actually……..is this a safe space can i say something about [redacted]/drogo & dany………………………….

all the acting in the scene where the stark girls are taken is really good. framing of it and jumping between the two is really good, juxtaposing not just septa mordane & syrio forel as mentors to the girls, but also what the two will face next - sansa the unwanted attentions of the men around her while living as a hostage, arya the fear and desperation of living among the smallfolk in general but especially during times of war. the minor tweak with septa mordane here is good.

the toner they got on emilia in the dothraki lands is so fucking bad like it looks soooo obviously like she’s wearing makeup

“who do you really serve” “the realm my lord, someone must” this would hit harder if i didn’t know where varys goes in this show.

i know i keep saying this but lena headey never winning for this is crazy. sophie turner only being nominated one time is crazy. sean bean not getting a nomination for this is crazy.

i know i know WHY but WHY is alliser thorne allowed to publicly beef with a teenage boy and when that teenage boy gets mad, it’s HIS fault. why isn’t ALLISER confined to quarters for purposefully going to a kid who is worried his dad & sisters are gonna be executed and laugh at him and make fun of his fear of his family dying 😭 jeor mormont why are you a BITCH just like jorah

i really love the way drogo phrases dany pushing against his own power. “look at my son inside her, makes her grow fierce.” undercutting both the point she’s making and the anger she’s expressing, and praising himself while he does it. what a vain, self involved idiot lmao.

but also. can i say something about khal drogo again.

“there’s no mention of arya” “no,” robb said miserably. richard really got that miserable look down.

the way that joffrey leans forward to petulantly spit “you’re too old to protect anybody” and slooooooowly leans back with a sneer as cersei takes over. the little jump when barristan throws the sword down. the slight slowing down showing us everyone laughing at barristan and the cut to sansa’s devastated face at the scene. but then he cuts pycelle off for sansa, and it’s all,,,,,, oh but he’s nice to me that must mean something!! it’s so good.

changes i noticed

cutting the fever dream is the dumbest thing this show ever did

i know george hated that boar hunting scene bc “it wouldn’t just be six dudes hoping to meet a boar” and he’s valid but i do love renly snapping at robert even tho it’s all a bit too ooc to take seriously. i like that they wanted to make this point about “nostalgia is a liar” and the only person who could make that point to robert’s face and not die is renly & ned and NED sure isn’t gonna do it, it’s just that they had to rework renly a LOT in order to make it work. altho i don’t feel like they rewrite his reputation - brienne & loras still idealize him, margaery & olenna seem to think he was goofy as hell, so it’s not imo a TERRIBLE reworking of him. we’ll see how i feel when we get to stannis i guess.

i love theon begging ros to try to get her to stay and be his mistress but she’s keeping it professional the whole time, just completely refuse to play into his fantasies about her. i feel like it really speaks to how pathetic theon’s status is as a hostage but it also feels like their own take on tyrion/shae which misses the point there a bit. it’s fine i love ros lol.

on god the littlefucker sexposition scene is worst scene in the show. like, yeah petyr evil monologuing to some of the sex workers tracks with how they’ve characterized him but it’s just so unsubtle and also, the way they characterize him is a deep departure from the book where he’s a lot more subtle than this in how he gets away with his nonsense.

theon feels bad about himself after being snapped at, and losing ros, so he goes to antagonize osha only osha cannot be antagonized, and sees right through to his worst insecurities and pokes at them. i also love the constant wildling dig about everyone else being southerners also makes theon as curmudgeonly as it does jon snow lmao.

it’s so annoying how horny they make sam. exactly like the weird change to tyrion.

richard madden has grown as an actor imo because while he has the Big Dick Energy down, he doesn’t quite nail the moments where robb is talking about his fear. tbf it could also be bc they cut the scene where they really dig into robb’s fears when he and bran cry in the dark in his room, and i feel like if they had asked more of him, he might have risen to the job.

that said, there’s a clear reframing here where we follow robb’s pov and not theon’s or bran’s in many of these winterfell scenes, and that sure is annoying. like the scene opens on robb, follows his face, follows his thought process. instead of focusing on theon’s reaction, or bran’s bewilderment with northern politics. i think showing us scenes that Could exist that we wouldn’t be privy too early on is fine (ie the cersei & robert talks, the boar hunt) but they should make an attempt to keep the framing book accurate. am i nitpicking. i think i’m nitpicking. richard does a good job with the “golden child” thing, you can really understand why the starklings and theon all orbit around him.

[coderiderr]

9, 22 and 27 for you good friend!!

09. personal bias aside, who do you think is the best written character and why? 

regarding MCD oh katelyn absolutely no question. plot threads and arcs can get a little all over the place but katelyn has a consistent motiv/arc she follows through on s1-2 with her defection and everything, we love you katelyn <333 ugh queen

For mystreet well tbh. uhh. s1-3 zane is the only one who had a solid like. arc (?) about opening up and making friends. (not that he should be opening up to these ppl theyre all assholes to him lmfao) so much happens in mystreet and the quality, ranges. s1-3 was like a sitcom but then s4-6 were so much idk.

22. who's the character that you most identify with and why?

i dont think i identify with any of these guys honestly. theyre all very different from me,. mystreet liochant ig, bc he does nothing <3

27. what's something really interesting that you wished canon decided to explore more? alternatively, what's something interesting that you wished the fandom acknowledged more?

OH THERES SOSOSSOSOSOS MUCH goign on mystreet concepts first uhm s4-6 i dont like ghost but her concept is so insane but the fucking execution but like she literally cant remember anything about her life other than the name zane & like love. which she interprets as oh he must be the love of my life or smthin so shes obsessed with him but extremely strongly implied (or outright confirmed id have to rewatch) this is the ghost of emmalyn from mcd and the reason she remembers zane is bc MCD zane literally killed her husband in front of her its so crazy. thinking the reincarnation of the guy who killed your soulmate is your one true love bc you cant remember why you know him AHHHHHHH

s1-3 mystreet im blankin on a lot of it. idk garroth repsect ur brothers boundries more or smthin </3 wish they leaned more into the hilarity of zane being part of the homeowners association. wwe only got the ep where he judges christmas decorations for a competition. ohhh wait they shouldve leaned more into zane being an outcast and why bc theyre kinda like hes a dick ig? even tho like. he reasonable defensive and shit bc the people around him are like. constantly making fun of him. i think he deserves to be a little bit of a dick.

MCD JUST LIKE>> TRAVIS IN GENERAL HIS CONCEPT GOES SO INSANE AND THEN THEY JUSARGHHH like his dad is the demon lord and he grew up solely with his mom and is extremely outcast at the village he protects FROM HIS DAD bc of his parentage and the dude literally spends all his time alone after his mother died he has so much compassion for people who hate him it goes so crazy. and hes so ashmed of his demon side im ahhhh. hes always lurking in ym brain

and dante and gene dante and gene. pov youre orphans and your big brother is doing something terrible so you report him and he winds up being hanged for it and he comes back as an undead monstrosity and kills literally everyone in your hometown ((i realize i have misremebered it was a memory wipe not killing but so many village wipes happen in this series can you blame me)) but you and you are haunted by the guilt you feel. its hard but you end up finding a new place to call home and new people to call family until one day theyre gone and you do your best to help your little struggling village and you perservere until one day 15 years later theyre back and havent aged a day. you thought they were gone.

also just fucking getting to see dante age and get married and become a father while gene is stuck in the same 20 y/o body goes crazy. what happens when you outgrow your big brother

also hmm i dunno. i think we should all aprreciate brenden more. also kiki & zane are so we need to talk about that more

[iguessitsjustme]

Violence!

6 and 20, I haven't done those recently.

Oh so you hate me? I consider you one of my bestest most dearest friends and you hate me? I cannot BELIEVE you would do such a thing.

6. which ship fans are the most annoying?

Doing an irl ship. ZeeNunew. Moving on...

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring

Okay. Hot take: not a fan of the commentary we keep getting in shows. Or I guess I should say, I am not a fan of how these shows choose to do the commentary. I am not going to say if it is good or bad, I know that is subjective and also there are cultural differences to certain things that I honestly have no place in mentioning. I also won't name which 2 shows I'm specifically thinking of here (though I'm sure most people can guess at least one of them). What I will say is that, for me personally, I prefer any social commentary about any topics to be subtle. I want to have to analyze and scrutinize and really think on my own what the show is trying to tell me. I want to have to figure out what the show is saying and what message it wants to convey. I want it to feel more personalized and less...preachy. Idk I'm probably explaining this poorly. But I find it tedious and boring when the show does the thinking for me. I don't need that and I don't want that. I may be an idiot but I am a smart idiot and I think it's much more fun to talk to people about shows that really make you think on your own about what it's saying.

A good example of a show with the kind of commentary that I like is Love in the Big City. Is it a show I would necessarily recommend to everyone? No. But every person that watches that show will take away something different. Even people with extremely similar taste in media. Another good example of a show that is making commentary but lets the viewers take whatever messaging speaks to them? Moonlight Chicken. I would even argue Last Twilight until the end. So Last Twilight eps 1-9 are amazing at this. A lot of shows struggle to find that line and find that balance and what is good in concept ends up not working in execution.

Choose Violence Ask Game

[acequinz]

The acting performance is great and the revenge goes hard because I love the way she punishes them.

Even the effects for the demons and stuff is sexy but the plot is meh at best.

Like loving the concept and visual execution but I could not give a fuck about the plot, not feeling the chemistry that much either but I think that's mostly cause the male lead feels very okay-ish to me, very basic but in an annoying way.

Which is crazy because this is exactly the type of shit I love.

I felt more connected to ngnl in ep 1 than I have to JFM in like 6 episodes which is disappointing cause I was very excited for this drama.

I can already see how certain plot points are going to roll out which isn't bad, but certain characters feel more annoying than interesting. (Basically I don't like anyone but justitia right now and it does in fact hinder my liking of the show)

[mcsm-rewrite-project]

What is the MCSM Rewrite Project?

It's exactly what it sounds like!

I'm making what is essentially a new version of Minecraft Story Mode. The characters will be reimagined, keeping core elements alive, but making them overall... better. I believe the original MCSM had a lot of potential, but fell flat in execution. I am attempting to rectify that, more or less, but in book format.

The Important Bit

I'm posting this on tumblr just to sort of say "Hey, I'm making this thing. I think it's really cool, and any ideas would be appreciated." So, that's that! I'm looking for some ideas. Specifically ideas for episodes 6-8.

Things I have planned and established already:

Jesse is nonbinary. It makes sense considering I'm adapting a game to a book.

The main cast are actually competent. Because there's no reason for them to act like they've never existed in this world when they've been here for forever?

Servers exist. This is most important for the second arc (Eps 5-8). I've got some information established regarding servers, but basically all that I'll say here is that they vary in game mode, how many people live there, server operators, and some of them may even be modded.

About episode six... No, I'm not doing the YouTuber cameo thing. I am using original characters for this part of the arc, specifically mine and some friends'.

What about season two? I haven't officially decided if I'm doing anything for the second season. I probably will. But for right now most of my focus is on season one. That being said, I have done some thinking on it thanks to my good friend. We'll see where it goes.

Also, custom skins are going to be a thing. Not nearly enough completely inhuman characters in this game. I've even got it planned how they create these custom skins as well.

The big threat is also different. So I sort of replaced the Wither Storm as well. The new threat is a respawned Ender Dragon, except it's much stronger and also much larger. It also tunnels the way dragons do in the actual game.

If you hadn't figured by Jesse being non-binary, this book will be very queer! I am planning to also make Jesskas (Jesse x Lukas) canon. Sorry, Jetra fans!

I think that's all the important information that I'll be putting in the pinned post here. So that being said, feel free to send me any questions, or ideas for this.

Thanks for reading and taking interest! I'd love to hear quite literally any ideas or concepts anyone may or may not have. Please, I don't bite!

I'm posting the rewrite to both AO3 and Wattpad in hopes of reaching a wider audience. I also know some people may have a preference for either site. Here's the AO3 link, and here is the Wattpad link.

[voidify333]

Got a lot of OFMD vibes from Good Omens s2???

BIG spoilers for both GO S2 and OFMD S1 under the cut

Like, this isn’t a situation for the copied homework meme format, I believe it’s just same braincell on a really juicy story beat to create drama in a high concept romance, but I find the similarities fascinating so I’m gonna post about them. (What’s funny is that the thing that actually got me to watch OFMD in the first place is the promise of Stede being like aziraphale and blackbonnet being like A/C…)

The main thing is how the ending of ep 6 reminded me of OFMD ep 9.

The central pair kiss for the first time— letting any remaining oblivious audience members know this isn’t just a bromance, and alienating any homophobes in the audience who weren’t already alienated by the queer supporting characters. (That last bit is actually the biggest other “ofmd vibes” thing I picked up— how the very queer supporting roster served both to let homophobes know the show isn’t for them, and to reassure the queer audience that they’re allowed to hope for the main pair being Outright Canon)

But they also enter their divorce era— specifically, what happens is this:

The sunshine bookworm has a scene with a character the audience recognises as antagonistic (completely different scenes though— Stede’s traumatic experience with the bully in the woods vs Az being emotionally manipulated by metatron into thinking coming back to heaven is a good idea)

This scene, combined with his existing insecurities, causes him to return to a life that he won’t even find fulfilling (we know this bc he stepped away from it in the first place!) but he’s been convinced that it’s The Thing He Has To Do

In the process, he abandons his black-clad true love and breaks his heart

But here (in addition to all the obvious differences in context and execution), the season cliffhanger cuts away BEFORE “episode 10” as it were.

And… I don’t think “episode 10” is going to happen immediately for Aziraphale when lights go up on s3. Like, the “love epiphany” part may come in an early episode (we saw the way he touched his lip), but he’s certainly not getting the “plan to leave” part until some time further into s3, because the life he’s mistakenly gone back to isn’t with a Mary figure who cares about him but wants him elsewhere as much as he secretly wants to be elsewhere— instead, it’s with Heaven, an abusive cult that is planning to use him to destroy Earth, and has the power to destroy him on a whim.

Aziraphale’s key insecurity is his need for authoritative reassurance that he is Doing The Right Thing. This is what allowed metatron to use the offer of heaven to manipulate Az into hurting Crowley’s feelings and then abandoning Crowley. The tone demands an eventual happy ending (my faith in this is why the ending of e6 didn’t even make me mad), but Az is going to have to work through those issues before the happy ending can take place— Nina basically spelled this out.

The next place this comparison led me was to the thought “can I connect a red string on my cork board between post s2 crowley and ep10 Ed?”

There is an important difference between them, and it’s in kind of the opposite direction as the difference between Az-when-we-cut-away and Stede-when-we-cut-away

Ed has closed himself off to vulnerability completely after his heartbreak, and lashes out horribly, and we all know the reunion in s2e1 is not going to go smoothly

Meanwhile, although Crowley is heartbroken and mad… he is ultimately like Maggie on the “I hope she’ll be there when I’m ready but there’s no guarantee—” “there is” front. Aziraphale needs to work through his issues, and the plot needs to get to a place where The Real Big One is foiled and neither of them are in imminent danger of destruction, and once Az stops being an idiot he will need to do a great many “you were wrong” dances, but once all those prerequisites are fulfilled, we’re getting our second kiss (and I’m fanning myself just thinking about that hypothetical scene hoooooboy)

Maybe there will be a period of “angel I can’t forgive you. not yet”, that would be juicy drama, but the tone of the story demands that any such moment will be temporary

However, I do have a vivid mental image now, inspired by e10 Ed, of post s2 crowley standing in the bookshop and saying to himself out loud “oh, nothing lasts forever, is that right, angel?” and then going on a bender of destroying or giving away books (I lean towards giving away as it would leave less permanent fallout for later, and also be funnier, while still being just as potent a gesture of spite in the moment)

Anyway when OFMD S2 comes out and we get a better look at the blackbonnet divorce arc I’m going to try to use it as a divination tool to predict the events of the A/C divorce arc

[jacksjoke]

dear! your opinion on love for love's sake? i'm just 🥺🥺🥺❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

hello anon!! i absolutely loved it!!! i wish it had more time to get into certain things but overall it was so enjoyable (and so stressful hdkjhdljk) and i think it's one of the best i've seen concept and execution wise. the game interface was so fascinating from the jump not to mention the way it devolved into horror with the hints throughout but then heavy in ep 5 and 6 forward; it was SO JARRING ugh it was amazing!!! such an interesting unique series, very glad it was made and its nice to see so many other people really loved it too, i have them to thank for putting it on my dash :)

[scoobydoozies]

the racism was uncomforable in the headless horror my other problem with it was how the guy just took his wife putting him in the hositpal as no big dea.... it just felt so unbelievable..

relationships in this show are very..strange to me... we got velma abusing shaggy/ velma the smart one being jealous of scooby/ fred showing zero interest in daphne until the plot demands it/ daphne/velma alone come off too pushy that it gets uncomfortable/ and thats just season 1

season 2 i wont spoil much cause im not sure how far ya are. im only about 5-6 eps in but i ididnt want to see a jealous fred act like a crazed ex but they decided woo its comedy to kidnap your ex girlfriend/ and again we have a women being weird to shaggy but an old women so its 100 times worse and just played off as a joke.. this show is just mean to shaggy

so how this show was recommended after velma is beyond me.. at best the background animation is good and we got the voice of kronk/ and frank welker is having fun i think tis amazing he can still do him so well at 70 / but they can only do so much to make it bearable with all the romance drama/ plot twists it reminds me of a cw show but animated

yeah like that's what i mean when i say this show really just isn't written well. there are some really cool concepts, but rarely are they executed to their fullest potential. characters make choices not based on their own personality and goals, but for the convenience of the plot and creation of conflict, which often leads to some really unfortunate side effects when you actually think about what's happening. as an example i wanna break down the fred and daphne thing, but this kind of writing is present throughout the whole first season (which is all i've seen so far, though i've heard a decent amount of things about season 2, but i'll try to stick to what i've personally watched for the most part)

like, at first fred shows no interest in daphne beyond friendship, but is a pretty good friend to her, while daphne is head over heels for fred to the point that she has basically no personality outside of that. yet, there isn't anything about fred that she actually likes. in the first episode she says that he's like one of those geniuses that's isn't appreciated in their time, but it's clear from later episodes that her and the rest of the gang think that he's stupid. beyond that, everything he says is annoying or boring to her unless it's him showing her romantic affection, and even then, only in certain ways.

later in season 1, fred suddenly switches from having no romantic interest in daphne to being in love with her, for no discernible reason. we know he didn't just secretly have a crush on her before, because we know that when he shows interest in someone he becomes incredibly jealous and possessive, and in episode 3 (before he liked her) he was totally supportive of her going on the date with rung. she ends gets so upset about him not reciprocating her feelings in the way she wants (as if she's owed that or something) and for having the audacity to like things that aren't her, that she writes a diss track about him and rejects him when he actually DOES reciprocate her feelings.

then there's that whole thing where he asks her on a date to the trap museum, and she gets really mad about it… for some reason? it's apparently because he makes everything about traps instead of her? she then gets all googly-eyed over a teacher, fred gets jealous, and then daphne says that she has the teacher's phone number and that they're planning on going on a date… at the trap museum. which either means: 1. she doesn't actually mind learning about traps and she's just annoyed that he's continuing to have an interest in the thing he's interested in for no reason, or 2. she's lying about having a date with the teacher, and is just saying that to hurt him. also, side note, the show never addresses or even implies that there's anything wrong with the teacher/student relationship aspect of all this. like, at all. the issue being presented here is that daphne's making fred jealous, because they liiiike each other~. at the end of the episode he calls her his girlfriend, and suddenly she's totally not mad at him anymore and is like "oh i would LOVE to go to the trap museum with you"… even though he was LITERALLY asking her out on a date at the beginning of the episode! which means he thinks of her as his girlfriend! nothing changed! she just changed her mind because it was time for that conflict to be over.

then fred and daphne are together and it's pretty much fine for a while, but then fred starts acting really controlling about her, almost verging on stalker territory. he starts making a list of all her habits and whereabouts, keeping track of her schedule and trying to control her and their relationship. she becomes (rightfully) uncomfortable with this, and says to velma it's giving her trust issues. she doesn't really talk about it to him directly, instead she asks a spirit board about the issue in front of him and he notices. later they actually DO talk about it, he apologizes for his behavior and it's chalked up to him being overprotective because of his issues over his absent mom. the one that scooby said was hot. that part's not relevant but i think it bears mentioning. anyway i actually felt like the way this conflict between them was handled fairly decently for this show. fred has an obsessive personality so this being a character flaw makes sense, daphne not talking to him about it right away and being a little immature about addressing it makes sense fits because she's a teenager, and they did talk about it and work it out. the problem doesn't come from this specific episode but the fact that fred… doesn't actually stop being controlling about daphne in later episodes (like i know about the kidnapping thing and doll with her real hair and the getting mad at/bullying marcie for not being daphne… ugh. don't even get me started on the way the gang treats marcie.)

then fred ends up proposing to daphne out of nowhere (they're still in high school btw), saying he wants her to solve mysteries with her forever, and she's over the moon about it. she gets really into it and starts planning right away, wanting to one-up her sisters and all that. when she tries to talk to fred about wedding stuff though, he's totally disinterested, and she continues to be disinterested in anything about him that doesn't revolve around her. great basis for a future marriage /s. they end up telling their parents who don't approve, velma and shaggy get mad at them for not telling them about the engagement, yada yada, whatever. at the end of season finale when the truth comes out about fred's past, he calls the engagement off completely because he wants to find his real parents, alone. the guy who is supposedly all about the team and wanted them to all move in together after high school and to solve mysteries together with daphne forever… wants to solve the mystery of locating his parents on his own. why??? well obviously because the writers want to separate them all for the dramatic ending, of course! and they didn't bother to set up any real justification for that beforehand that would actually make sense.

what's worse though is if you think about that ending from a totally in-universe perspective, it makes fred look REALLY bad. like, he proposed to daphne to keep her bound to him forever, but the second it felt more convenient to not have her around, he throws her in the garbage? AND continues to be obsessive and controlling about her later?

i think fred being controlling can be a good character flaw to have, in fact be cool scooby-doo did that really well in my opinion, but when you apply that character flaw to a romantic relationship, i think you have to be REALLY careful about how you portray that, and the show doesn't exactly have the best track record when it comes to condemning toxic behavior like that. plus, the level of control can only go up to a certain point severity and persist for a certain amount of time before it stops being an innocent mistake.

and this is just. how the show is written. in general. characters do nonsensical things for the convenience of the writers, which often paints them as being petty, fickle, and shallow. they often do mean or selfish things purely for the purpose of creating conflict and nothing else, which makes them come off as being bad people. im not opposed to shows where the characters are deeply flawed or even the villains, but it really doesn't feel like it's on purpose with the main 5. their bad behavior is often justified or left uncriticized or unpunished

when velma's hitting shaggy (and doing so hard enough to hurt him) for talking the way he talks, fred and daphne completely ignore it. the only one who cares about it is shaggy, who's later villainized for breaking up with the girl who abused him, demeaned him, and tried control him, after she gave him an ultimatum to get rid of his best friend! a member of their team! do fred or daphne ever tell her, "hey, scooby's our pal, and asking shaggy to get rid of him is really selfish of you"? nope! she continues to go on and on about how "he left her for a dog" for the whole rest of the season, and plenty of other characters throughout the show sympathize with her or mock shaggy for his (correct) choice. nobody ever stands up for him or defends him at all.

there's not even any discernible reason why any of them are interested in each other romantically. hell, there's no discernible reason why any of them are friends at all! well, besides velma and daphne bonding over their shared entitlement to the boys they're into, and similar shallow romance drama and other stereotypical ~girl things~. i wouldn't even say they all share a love for mystery solving-- shaggy and daphne don't seem like they could care less about that, and even fred and velma don't feel like they like it as much as every other iteration of those characters i've come across. fred mostly just cares about setting traps and nine times out of ten velma would rather angst over shaggy or get a pedicure with daphne than focus on the mystery. they solve mysteries together because that's what's dictated by the show they're in. that's it. they're not even very good at it! in the first half of season 1 mr. e is holding their hands, guiding them through some of the most obvious and clear-cut mysteries i've seen from this franchise. the writers try to make them look smarter by deliberately not showing key clues to the audience (who can probably figure it out anyway by ruling out the obvious red herrings and paying attention to the basic structure, even if they're given 0 clues or motives that actually incriminate the character), and this just makes the reveals feel cheap, and further highlights how ridiculous some of the explanations are.

and i could just keep going, really, but i won't because this is already getting really long.

like i said, there's some cool concepts and ideas here, and every once in a while there will be an episode or scene or line that's pretty good. the backgrounds are nice, same with the designs of a lot of the monsters. i liked the episode with the orc biker gang, i thought the frighthound was really creepy, i like there being an overarching plot and getting to see the gang's school and home lives, i like there being an old mystery incorporated, i like fred being autistic (even if the representation there is flawed), i love fred jones sr (i guess since they make all the characters selfish assholes, it turns out that when that's what they're supposed to do, they do a pretty good job), etc. if this show had different writers, ones that think things through, can write women, that don't perpetuate toxic relationship dynamics or sexualize teenagers, that know how to craft mysteries with proper pacing and intrigue, that have a grasp on humor beyond cynical mean-spiritedness (which sometimes bleeds into outright bigotry), it probably WOULD be the best scooby-doo show.

and yeah, it's really ironic that this was the show everyone was recommending as an alternative to hbo's velma, because it seems like they share a lot of the same problems, velma's just a lot less subtle about it.

[rachel-morrigan]

Your page makes me wanna return to the brony fandom holy cow I dropped off after the beginning of season 6 or smth...

Ehe i love making people go back to mlp in some way,if you decide to catch up w it tho allow me to give a fair warning

Everything happens in terms of enviroment changes but little happens in terms of character development after season 5-6, which isn't a terrible thing cause clearly they knew all the mane six were essentially fully developed (twilight being the exception as she has main character privilege ).

So they brought in more characters and a new secondary cast as well, which a lot of people were upset about cause it felt like an unneccessary addition as some would simply declare "they could have just ended it instead" which granted is fair but i think it's just as unfair to condemn the new lil characters they introduced because they took to some extent the mane six screen time.

If you want to get back into it, do so with an open mind, the story progresses and new peeps gets introduced but it's not necessarily a bad thing (unlike what many wants you to believe), there are still some great episodes and some others that don't need to be overread in their concepts and executions.

Also cause the show main target was never that old of an audience, it just gradually adapted to that audience as time went on, but the main idea behind mlp is friendship and basic easy to understand morals, which is something people tend to forget and criticize like it should be peak cinema ahah.

I like mlp cause growing up it substituted for figures and parentings i was lacking, and to me its simplicity in execution for non plot driven eps is more than enough and shouldnt be too complicated than that, it worked just fine for when i was a kid and it felt comforting once i grew older, and it also shaped many passions of mine such as reading, my interest in history and so on.

Its not excluded from criticism of course, she's all yak is definitely..an episode to say the least! It exists!

But to quote DWK

"Do you like saturday morning cartoons?"

"Of course"

"Hypothetically, imagine if you were just sitting there watching your cartoons and a bunch of wannabe professional movie critics showed up and started deconstructing that saturday morning cartoon using the same standards you'd normally apply to art house cinema, what would your reaction be?"

"Those people were missing the point of the show"

With this i mean that for example, just because a dress and a pair of work pants are both pieces of clothing, it doesn't mean they can be judged by the same criteria because they're meant to be worn for different purposes.

[tharizdun-03]

Love Live! Sunshine!! Season 1: EP 1-7 Watchthrough

i dunno why i decided 2023 to be my idol year, but anyway, we're on Sunshine!!

#1: "I Want to Shine!!"

okay, so unlike the original, sunshine wants to throw all these characters at us at once, and honestly, nice? i feel like these characters are even more immediately gripping and distinct. also, the show looks even better i think? i am liking.

these two share one braincell

#2: "Catch the Transfer Student!"

sunshine is so good, man

best girl

i'm like way more into this than the original love live already and i'm not quite sure why cause nothing it dramatically better, i just think everything is slightly better and that builds up. it's slightly prettier, it has slightly more interesting characters and dynamics, etc.

also, chika is straight up reading the love live wiki right there

the love live songs i have on my spotify so far btw

i love how when i started the franchise i kept reiterating how the idol style and its songs isn't really for me, and look at me now

i mean, still not an idol fan, but bangers are bangers

#3: "First Step!"

oh my god i love how sunshine subverted it!!

the original love live's corresponding scene always stood out to me as its most emotionally effective one, but I think sunshine did almost just as good here, having chika tear up a bit but then bringing the crescendo back with, an all time favourite trope, THE POWER OF COMMUNITY

there's a  definite weird sense when watching this show, cause you're aware that it's a franchise very specifically hand-crafted to appeal to its otaku audience that makes it feel a bit grossly commercialized, but that doesn't mean there's only commercial value and no artistic.

artists still make these shows, and i think they emanate a lot of genuine warmth. i think it's telling that they could've continued milking μ's but instead they allowed them to retire and took the risk of focusing on a new set of girls.

#4: "Two Girls' Feelings"

i love how sunshine!! is using μ's as a direct inspiration for our characters here, and how we've tied very specific characters and why they motivate our new cast specifically (the rin one was especially sweet, cause it was one of the cutest scenes in the OG series)

sunshine!! has just done such a great job. i don't think the original ever really shone when focusing on its side cast they way this episode did, so i'm glad to see this new iteration just improving on the franchise's core strengths

#5: "Yohane Descends"

It is very nice for Yohane to be self aware of her chuunibyo stage and her struggle being trying to grow out of it. It makes for a lot of layered comedy, those two clashing sides, but also makes it even more sweet when the others accept her anyway.

Honestly, you don't need to grow out of it. My advice? Channel that creative spirit into something that fits it the best, where you get the most positive feedback from it and the least negative. You can always put the persona on, but it'll impact your ability to make friends. If your IDOL persona is your outlet instead, then that’s the best of both worlds, right?

#6: "Let's Make a PV"

That's it, right there. Community. What makes your town special is not the town itself nor its locations, it is the people. The relationships you forge with those around you, the support networks you can rely on in need, the way everyone cleans the beach together. That's special.

Also, yes, Sunshine!! is kinda bound by the shackles of its predecessor. I think it's fine so far, cause Sunshine is basically the original concept executed to perfection, but any future series is gonna have to do something a bit different.

#7: "Tokyo"

doesn't say word. does a spinning flip over them to assert dominance. queen.

i love how in the meantime there's this tragic shakespearean drama brewing with the seniors lol

late night talks? they are so in love.

I love You's outfits lol. She went through a dozen this episode, but even just her regular hat has her name on it. Like, imagine if mine just said "Theodor." Granted, her name is You, so it's probably easier to find a hat with that already on.

yohane just casually practicing dark chants in the background always cracks me up

i said it before (or maybe i didn't actually) but i went into sunshine!! with expectations of it surpassing the original love live cause from what i've peeked sunshine!! seems to have the best character designs. so far, i am being proven right.

I'd like for our "antagonists" maybe to sometime also be a full on team, and not just two or three people. i understand why they don't do it, cause it's not a show about the rivalry, but if we ever wanted to do that variation, it'd be down.

ALSO IF WE DON'T GET A MUSE CAMEO IN THE SUNSHINE MOVIE I WILL RIOT

EP 8-13 watchthrough: https://www.tumblr.com/tharizdun-03/721261502412324864/love-live-sunshine-season-1-ep-8-13?source=share

[thesinglesjukebox]

JIMIN - "WHO"

To follow up "Guess," here's something at the other end of the horny axis...

[5.38]

Kayla Beardslee: The depth of the BTS vault in the last year has been genuinely impressive; the results have been mixed in vision and execution. "Who" is a song driven totally by the topline -- having even one or two moments where the melody pauses to let the music riff in conversation with it would be nice -- but something feels really off-putting about the vocal production that's meant to be carrying the song. I can sense Jimin’s mouth moving with every syllable, yet it also sounds like he recorded his performance from the back of a cave. I'm a lover of ambitious K-pop tracks, but the instrumental here doesn’t feel very K-pop at all, in that it picks one idea and sticks with it for the entire song without changing up. To be fair, "Who" is at least a year old and was recorded as a stopgap to tide fans over during BTS’s enlistment period, so realistically it’s not the time to expect Jimin to release anything fresh or ambitious. (Did anyone else listen to that J-Hope EP, though? That was fun.) [5]

Alfred Soto: I wish the former BTS singer the best, which includes better tunes than ones that ape "Like I Love You"'s plastic acoustic funk and Ed Sheeran's fan dance of sincerity. [4]

Nortey Dowuona: Jon Bellion came a long way: from playing switch hitter on Logic songs to writing bops for the Korean Beatles, from dropping "All Time Low" to rescuing Justin Bieber, Halsey and Miley Cyrus from all time lows, from playing on beat pads in Long Island to touring the world with twenty one pilots. But he is only human, and he makes mistakes, such as putting in a 5 count in the second verse to fill time. (Pete Nappi has much to answer for.) Jimin boldly puts his thin tenor to work trying to sell this, though, and delivers a surprisingly courageous run, a sterling performance that commits to the 2003-era bit. (Tenroc, responsible for the guitar licks and additional synth riffs and drum programming, probably heard that run and rued the day he willingly entered that other guy's studio session.) If this is the first Jimin solo offering, I will take it. [8]

Jonathan Bradley: "Who" bursts forth with the energy of a dancefloor filler, but Jimin's feathery vocal points toward an underlying R&B framework that is more delicate and compelling than the airless production allows for. With acoustic guitar stutters that call to mind early Justin Timberlake and a gasped tenor that suggests the emergency of The Weeknd (if not the skeeviness), there's no shortage of things to like about this. See also: a "why-why-why" interjection that's strong enough to be a hook but sticks harder for only appearing once. For a song drawn with stark emotional and musical lines, though, "Who" would be easier to appreciate if the negative spaces were emptier. [7]

Michael Hong: "Who" is surprisingly slick, even if it can't seem to decide whether it wants Jimin to look romantic or erotic. The better part of this leans toward the former with its restraint, ready to fall in love but still waiting for the right person. It's the latter part that's hard to stomach; the showy high-notes are grating, and that heavy bass sets its sights on something more explicit, souring the flirtatious ambience of the guitar melody. [4]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Exquisitely corny — every guitar strum and each of Jimin's treble-y wails signals a grand ambition to sentimental pop greatness that is only fleetingly met by the threadbare song undergirding "Who." I'm sympathetic; it's a song about love in a gnostic sense, where the actual existence of an external one to be loved is less important than the internal knowledge that the heart has something to wait for. Yet this concept proves brittle in Jimin's hands, less a romantic epic and more a yearning vamp, never quite reaching the heights it wants to exceed. [6]

Katherine St. Asaph: The degree of fanservice here -- who is his heart waiting for? Is it someone he's never met, someone who lives thousands of miles away, oh my God could it be you? -- is so shameless and OTT it's genuinely remarkable. So is the old-fashioned PG-rated romanticism -- for all the hyperpop vocal smear and sophistipop instrumentation details (that synth glissando!), this sounds not far off from, like, Enrique Iglesias or the A*Teens, and somehow makes that refreshing. [7]

Edward Okulicz: It's OK to be nostalgic for 2003, but this isn't any of the things I'm nostalgic for, but rather quite a few things that need to stay back in memories -- "Like I Love You" rhythm, outrageously piercing hooks and chords and melodies that remind me of not-very-distinguished British boybands I became familiar with through my trawls through the Eurocharts back in the day. [3]

Iain Mew: Something in the melody and the way it steps into the stutter of the backing keeps making me think of JLS's "Beat Again." With Jimin's blasé commitment to expending nights, his mind, and the world on someone he hasn't even identified yet, it might even be a prologue to the same relationship that JLS offer the batshit one-sided epilogue to.  [5]

Mark Sinker: The two poles of Jimin's public being are (a) that he graduated from GLOBAL CYBER UNIVERSITY (as others did also, tbf) and (b) the preternaturally sensible haircut he sports in his Wikipedia photo (warning: this may change). Here he solves future couple-dom as if it’s a data-processing problem, addressed with both vim and angst: “someone she can count on – 1 2 3 4 5!” Meanwhile I saw family cars in riot-flame off the corner of the square where I lived, and here he slides and glides through a stage-set of much the same as if this semi-infinite numerated care had no weight to it at all. [9]

Ian Mathers: You know pop criticism/fandom is in a healthy place right now, because I have the passing thought "I wonder if I'll be hounded off the internet for this" when my primary visceral reaction to "Who" is "did they not notice that the vocals and/or vocal production is offputting?" The song itself is fine, if a bit generic, but there's something a bit too trebly or piercing for me, and since the singing is unsurprisingly front and centre it's hard to get past.  [4]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: I’m not super picky when it comes to audio mixing, but something about the way that Jimin’s voice is tuned sounds so deeply off that I actually checked to see if my headphones were malfunctioning. [2]

Dave Moore: Sleek, hyperprocessed vocals, spiritually closer to "Believe" than hyperpop, against a transnational production that sounds like it's from everywhere and nowhere. It provided a fun global guessing game until I cheated and checked the credits. Huh, probably more interesting than anything I've heard from BTS, good for him. [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]