#MY FASHION WILL GO AS BATSHIT AS I DO OK

[torchickentacos]

I'm reading poetry at 1 am and spiraling over like 45 emotions at once, which is how poetry was meant to be enjoyed, I think

[weirdmageddon]

i love these tags this person is so right

actually, can you imagine if dave was raised by B1 roxy?

i wanna get into this actually

(ok i had to spend a few hours rewriting this because IT DIDNT FUCKING SAVE AFTER FIVE HOURS OF WRITING WHEN MY COMPUTER UPDATED WHILE I WAS AFK so it would mean a lot to show this post some appreciation. i LOVEEE hearing what other people have to say)

even though these things mom does are presented in an extravagant, kitsch, jokey way, her intentions always came from a place of sincerity. she is simply Funnie

but rose reads too far into it and assumes things that aren't there, that her mother is passive-aggressively feigning interest in rose's interests simply because the things she does are so extra. "why do all of this if not to mock me"

im telling you right now if dave lived in this household he wouldn't assume antagonism, he'd go,

don’t forget who LITERALLY patented tangible jpeg artifacts as their post-scratch adult self and scattered shitty scummed up statue of liberties all over the planet. theres no way some of that overboard artful shit wasnt post-ironic / circling back around to genuine funny sincerity

dave's natural state is funny sincerity like roxy. he's had the natural capacity for this type of humor from the start and this is the direction he goes towards when he grows out of his brother's shadow by the end of the comic. dave and roxy share an earnest “so bad its good” type of humor

(lots more under the cut; the length of this meta analysis just got unwieldly with all the pictures and whatnot)

despite the alcoholism, roxy is a supportive mother. she's not the ideal guardian but hells of a lot more supportive of her kid than bro is. if she knew dave's interests she would totally indulge in them with some over the top silly goofy haha shit as a genuine gesture simply because she loves him

rose isn't too keen on it though. but she is more similar to dirk in her natural state of thinking of overthinking shit and assuming the worst, like the tags said

and yes dave got the sweet cuddly yet sometimes backhanded ouppy gene from roxy, probably even moreso lol

roxy's even said rose "sounds like girl dirk"

side tangent here, but this is something i wanna talk about.

i dont think bro should ever be in custody of children ever but if theres anyone who would be up to the task it's rose probably. i know she'd be able to keep up with him. not only does she have a defined personality (dave is more malleable and absorbs his environment like a sponge), if anyone can pick apart B1 dirk's batshit brain and probably be right on the money it's her. lil cal has been pumping patriarchal nonsense into bro's head and rose would be able to bring the fucking facts to the table without losing her own and being a living example of a badass little girl. i also don't think bro would try to force masculine roles onto rose like he did with dave, seeing as she is a girl, so she would actually have more of a leg up and get some passes that dave was never afforded. and rose wouldn't stand idly and accept any bullshit; she is no doormat. and i think this would earn bro's respect

but anyway, from this, couldn't we conclude roxy "sounds like girl dave"?

yeah okay. we havent even gotten into their penchant for funny typos or misspeaks, deliberate or otherwise

so, dave's environment

the sentiment "god you hope you can be as good as your bro at this some day" might have been genuine at the time when he idolized bro but of course he's not able to express that in any sort of sincere fashion because he's in dirk's fucking household. and this level 10 irony shit isnt doing dave any favors

his role models were the Internet and a vague idea of what Bro was like. So he built up his facade based on irony–not the literary definition of irony, as Rose might be quick to point out, but a popular concept of irony based on the idea that things that didn’t make sense actually made sense in some roundabout way. As a master of irony, Dave probably reasoned, he could see in a way other people couldn’t why a world that was scary and didn’t make sense really did make sense, and could therefore convince those people that he was superior to them. And he would wield his knowledge to maintain the appearance of superiority by calling everything ironic and pretending he didn’t care about things that didn’t make sense, and he would use walls of vaguely rhyming words to keep everyone at arm’s length so they wouldn’t discover his insecurities (source)

roxy's style is the embodiment of post-irony. being raised by mom lalonde would be like being raised by joel vinesauce ok

what can i say ….. (getting meta about this actually, hussie got these jpeg wizard wallpapers from a spyware website. link takes some time to load because internet archive)

rose is quick to read post-irony as actually being a joke/insincere, which in bro's case would be true. but i believe dave's natural instinct, outside of the influence of bro, is to read post-irony as genuine, which is exactly how mom serves it. we see this as early as act 3 from him; he understands her motives better than rose does herself:

and in act 6 intermission 2 i think it's pretty clear

but the thing is, it's always genuine from her. dave wouldn't have to second guess it because he's not one to naturally second guess someone's sincerity; that was learned due to his bro being virtually unassailable

there two types of ironies at play here:

seems like a joke, is actually genuine (roxy)

doesnt seem like a joke, is actually a joke (dirk)

you can make the argument that the second is is more psychologically destructive because it makes you question the reality of what is genuine sentiment and what isn't. dave never knew what was genuine and what was irony so he just sort of existed in this sincerity-ironic limbo and always did the opposite of what he genuinely felt on principle even if it always did originate from a genuine place.

"it just a joke bro i was just being ironic i dont actually x" is so much more trust-breaking and psychologically damaging than "wait are you being serious" / "i am being so fucking fr rn davy gravy" / "ok thats actually pretty fucking awesome. giant ass wizard statue" / "RIGHT"

how much about dave would change do you think? his character arc would be completely different for one thing, i think he'd have it good aside from mom's alcohol issues. he'd be left with the sweet and funny parts of him that we see at the end of the comic. the fake coolguy stuff is out, but this remains. this is dave in his element and we see it as early as act 1

he'd probably have no shades growing up in the lalonde residence* either cause those were given to him by bro straight out of the crater as an extension of his own cool image. and john gave dave ben stiller’s aviators for his 13th birthday to replace them so he could “spread his wings”

dave said he was wearing them for the ironies but i kind of doubt it. maybe post-irony but there was some reacharound to it being genuine because dave never put those pointy anime shades on his face again.

*though... it’s kind of hard to imagine him without his shades at all? B2 dave still got stiller’s shades from stiller himself so maybe getting them is a universal constant. i can imagine mom getting him them as a birthday gift cause shes pretty wealthy and probably could buy it out in an auction. but also itd be cool if john still gave him it as a gift

dave is actually a lot more genuine and easy to read than he lets on even when grappling with his upbringing with B1 dirk (again, see this post). this can be seen all throughout he comic but a good example is the evolution of thoughts about his interest in the preserved dead things in his room:

if B1 roxy was dave's guardian he probably WOULD have pursued paleontology because she wouldve indulged him in it and probably find it cool and worthwhile to pursue, instead of allowing dave to flounder under ironic detachment, being poisoned by irony to the point of gaslighting himself into believing he doesnt actually believe he thinks this shit is cool. even if it was indulged in this such a way; a superficially kitsch and ironic appearing presentation, it comes from a genuine place and inspires genuine interest. just read the comments.

basically, i think if B1 roxy raised dave, their relationship would have a surface level appearance of being bizarre or over-the-top but they’d have an unsaid mutual understanding that it’s completely in earnest and just build on each other's funny and absurd gestures of affection. rather than seeing it as one-upping each other, it'd more like collaboration of some silly bullshit that you take a step back and look at full and just say, "fucking incredible"

speaking of paleontology, mom had the proto-ectobiology lab. maybe they'd be able to use the equipment to appearify paradox ghost imprints of the dead shit to create paradox clones of things from the cambrian era??? sounds like a fun mother son bonding activity. and theyd actually put the sciencey shit in the household to use

oh god i know exactly the kinds of music shed listen too also growing up as a teen in the 80s. she on that (post)-punk/art rock/new wave/new romantic mtv stuff. XTC shit fr. this is a B-52S HOUSEHOLD. maybe the associates for the campy melodramatic flair. so he gets to keep the record on his shirt cause he is an enjoyer of the shit in her vinyl collection. dave would still gravitate towards musical expression and music itself but of more variety outside of just rap, with an 80s-90s, even 70s flavor due to mom’s influence. see this for perhaps a glimpse. ​she probably visited new york city a lot for business trips and because the music scene was cool as hell around that time, imports came straight from jfk airport, she probably got in on that a bit and have remnants in the form of vinyls and cassettes. in this way she could be distributing void to dave (influencing him with forgotten / presently irrelevant music). now he can REALLY rave about bands none of his friends have heard of. “hey davy grvay watcha listenin to” (he holds up vinyl cover) “omg snakefinger”

btw dave lalonde would look like this to me

[thethirdromana]

Kerr Avon's costumes, rated

The sequel to Romana II's costumes, rated, here by popular* request! (*maybe not very popular.)

Screengrabs from here (copied rather than linked per their FAQs). Invaluable record of what Avon actually wears in which episode from here. I haven't included overcoats, spacesuits, or anything Avon doesn't actively choose to wear, like prison clothes. Which means that rating this monstrosity

is left as an exercise for the reader.

I've also not done every single variation on black jackets with studded panels, even when they are technically different black jackets with studded panels, because otherwise we'd be here all night.

As seen in Space Fall and Cygnus Alpha.

Ugh. It's fine. The heights of bonkersness that Blake's 7 costume design would reach are not even really hinted at here. It's a perfectly reasonable outfit - grey shirt, grey trousers, grey tabard-thing. Add a name badge and Avon could be stocking shelves in a fancy supermarket. I'll allow that it does look comfortable, which will not be a theme of much else on this list. 5/10.

As seen in Time Squad.

I don't hate the brown patchwork thing (though brown is rightly Blake's colour), but what's going on with the larger square over his stomach? I feel like he's about to do some welding or something and it's there to protect his clothes, but it is his clothes. Avon only wore this outfit once, and who can blame him? 2/10.

As seen in The Web, Seek-Locate-Destroy, Mission to Destiny, Duel, Project Avalon, Breakdown, and Deliverance.

I think this one may have suffered from the passage of time. Because I look at it and think, why has Avon chosen to dress like an old-fashioned stereo system? But from the vantage point of 1978, I guess Avon had chosen to dress like a decidedly modern stereo system. Look at those rounded corners, he could be a first-gen iPod. And the matching grey of collar and cuffs is a nice touch. None of this answers the question of why he has buttons across his tits, but there are some things that are not for us to know. 8/10.

As seen in Bounty and Orac.

Oooh, green. Green is a nice change. And if you're watching Blake's 7 and you're enjoying those green sleeves, you'd better make the most of them, because other than one very notable exception, this is the last time that Avon wears an outfit that isn't brown, white, black or shades of grey for the entire rest of the series. The rest of it looks a bit like someone's Star Trek Discovery uniform cosplay got out of hand. 6/10, because green.

As seen in Redemption and Killer.

Obviously, this is a classic. And full marks to Paul Darrow for wearing a costume that was literally bought from a sex shop and making it look like something that anyone might wear to their normal day of fighting oppression and engaging in homoerotic tension. 10/10.

As seen in Shadow, Horizon, Gambit, and Children of Auron.

OK fine I threw away the term "classic" too soon, this is the true classic, the time Avon decided to dress as a thermal blanket and then pair that with thigh-high boots. ICONIC. What I love about this is aside from being batshit, it's actually kind of a nice outfit? I imagine that shiny fabric was absolute hell to work with but the gathering at the shoulders means it hangs surprisingly well.

It also gains at least 5 bonus points for featuring in this, one of my all-time favourite Blake's 7 moments:

I wish I could find it as a gif, but you'll just have to join me in pretending these images are moving instead. And in heaving a nostalgic sigh for the era when men were allowed to have normal bodies on TV. 15/10.

As seen in Shadow.

I've tried to go for just one main outfit per episode, because this is already very long and we're only about halfway through. But I had to make an exception for matching! outfits! And all the better for being an outfit that looks great on all three of them. I only wish that Avon could have had some silver boots like Jenna is wearing, I think it would really have completed the look. 9/10.

As seen in Weapon, Pressure Point, Countdown, and Dawn of the Gods.

In some ways, this costume is quite practical. Avon is wearing something not a million miles from bikers' leathers here, and the quilted part of the chest and back would presumably offer him a bit of protection if he got into a fight. But also, it's the colour and style of a brothel sofa, and there's no way in hell he could wear this and retain the ability to lift his arms above his head.

God, I love this show. 10/10.

As seen in Trial, Hostage, Voice From the Past, The Keeper, Star One, Aftermath, and Powerplay.

I have less to say about this because - and I mean this in full tribute to the Blake's 7 costume designers - it's just a nice jacket! It stays in keeping with the design trends we see throughout the series, with panels of different fabrics, and spacewear shiny silver bits, but ultimately you could wear this on the street today and no one would give you a second look. I quite like that about it. 8/10.

As seen Aftermath. (And the loose black shirt in Voice From the Past is similar too).

Maybe this is just my mid-00s goth-adjacent phase showing through, but I am, and always will be, a sucker for a man in this kind of shirt. 8/10, please don't make me justify this further.

As seen in Volcano and Rumours of Death.

The first of many similar black outfits, where I'm going to be selective or this will get tedious very quickly. I think this is the best of them; after this, the 80s started up in earnest, and Avon's shoulders were never allowed to be their natural width again. 9/10.

As seen in The Harvest of Kairos.

My parents haven't been camping in years, but somewhere in the attic they still have an old tent, which lives in a bag that looks a lot like this outfit. As if I needed any more reasons to dislike The Harvest of Kairos. 1/10.

As seen in Ultraworld.

Avon what are you doing. Brown is not your colour. I think I might headcanon that this is Blake's jacket, because aside from the brownness it also seems to be a fair bit too big for Avon. After a couple of seasons of squeezing him into the lobster outfit and other tight leather things, the costume designers seem to have swerved hard into boxy shapes from this point onwards. I disapprove. Honestly, I was going to skip this one except that I love what Dayna is wearing. Wish Avon could have some of that energy. 2/10.

As seen in Death-Watch.

Let's pause for a second, look to the left, and appreciate that Dayna is wearing another fabulous outfit. Now let's take a deep breath, and look at the utter monstrosity that Avon is wearing. Like a matador crossed with a bumper car. 0/10.

As seen in Rescue, Power, Traitor, Stardrive, Animals, Headhunter, Orbit, Warlord, and Blake.

Avon wears some kind of black jacket with studs for nearly all of season D, but I've picked this as the definitive one. I don't know if there's some kind of clever character development thing going on here with how big this costume is, like Avon is expanding into his leadership role, but weighed down by the responsibility too. It could be deliberate, it could just be what fashion was like in the early 80s.

What I do know is that however meaningful this costuming might be, it's not flattering. 5/10, and Avon finishes the series, sadly, no better dressed than he began it.

[lousirs]

this is a dump about the uglydolls movie novel 💋💋💋

Alrighty I'm basically a regular here SO LETS GET TO IT

lodoeheie so I just got the movie novel of uglydolls because i need to fill my hunger for uglydolls content and THERE R SO MANY LITTLE DETAILS AND DIFFERENCES IN THE BOOK???!!???

ok so Lou's monologue in the pipes are completely different and they kind of point out details about Lou like his loafers being expensive and allat

BUT IM NOT TALING ABOTU TAGT

there's this one part in the book where they are about to reveal Ox after the all dolled up scene and instead of Ox, Nolan was behind Lou???? I think it was just supposed to show how awkward Nolan is idk 💀💀

ALSO for some reason I feel like EVERUTIME Nolan made an appearance they always described him as "the handsome doll" and I find that so so silly but I love it

oh YEYEHA it's implied in the book that the dolls wear their own clothes when they aren't doing training which was not the case in the movie (probably due to animation complications)

in the gauntlet scene, in the book, it was Mandy who kinda taunted Lou to participate in the gauntlet rather than him deciding to buy himself. Also it made me think why he even decided to join it in both medias when he knew he'd fail but my friend and I just established that at that point he was probably already batshit crazy and had nothing to lose

the whole Ox flashback part was longer and had more details to it. So both Lou and Ox went for the gauntlet together and completed it but it showed that they failed and everyone thought it was Ox that caused them to fail when it was really Lou (kind of sad that Lou probably knew it was himself and had to put the blame on Ox)

it was also mentioned that both Lou and Nolan have somewhat of a muscular build so time to make some new head cannons

IM SO SORRY THAT THESE POINTS WERE ALL OVER THE PLACE AND THERE'S TYPOS EVERYWHERE

I just found thrse so interesting I'm so sorry

the book is pretty good imo (probably biased) and there's more stuff than what I put here so DEFINITELY go read it for yourself

why hello, we meet again... time for more rambling xD STRAP IN EVERYONE!

yes!! i've known about the novel for a hot minute. i haven't bought or read it (...yet) but i remember seeing silentreadersmatter (i believe?) post about it on wattpad... so shoutout to them lol. anywho time to respond to each thing mentioned in order (just about)...

lou with loafers!!: i always assumed he wore some sort of fancy shoewear... so it's nifty that they added clarification i guess xD

awkward nolan: awkward nolan is the superior nolan (in my opinion. i'm sorry lads)... i see nolan be depicted as a 'uwu soft boy bottom" most of the time... but i always thought he was just a awkward doll. like, an anxious mess that is trying his best but fumbles constantly. he's a ball of anxiety, and i love him. ANYWAYS

buff nolan real??: GOSH, I AM SO GLAD SOMEONE NOTICED THE MUSCULAR NOLAN THING. i always imagined nolan to be taller than the other dolls (he isn't really in the film but i always headcanoned it so because his uniform is smaller as if he was too big for it) but once i saw him be called "handsome" and "tall" and "muscular" in the novel, i flipped. the little baby boy is actually a BIG BUFF BABY. i have a doodle of this from a few months ago heheh... (thank you for giving me an excuse to show it because it's been lingering in my files for a while LMAO)

^^^ lou is just trying to act evil and devious but he got this tall, handsome muscular doll getting in his way xD

ohhh but i can just imagine instead of the robot dog taking lou to the washer, nolan personally picks him up and drags him there. now THAT'S a moment i want to see.

fashion: oh, i didn't know about the clothes thing! DAMNIT i want to see them all in casual clothing, so i know what kind of styles they wear!! i mean, there's a concept art with lou in a white jumper with a golden 'L' on it... but that's all.

i have my headcanons for what they wear, but it would be cool to see... especially since most other dolls normally do have numerous outfits for the kids to dress them up in.

gauntlet: yeah, lou kinda lost the plot around that point. i would take a guess that he was probably unnerved by just basically killing two dolls, one that he knew (possibly for a while) and one that was close to his old friend, so when he saw mandy still alive he was like "well sh*t." and then came the downward spiral of him trying to sabotage the others, before inevitably sabotaging himself. ...but i think the book's version of mandy getting the crowds to peer pressure lou to joining the gauntlet made more sense (lou's reputation would be at stake and his reputation is basically all he has) than him joining anyways in the film. i guess they tried to make it make more sense with the whole "I don't even have to win. I just need to make sure you lose." but ehh... eh....

ox's tragic anime backstory: yes!! they should've done this version in the film honestly. perhaps they could've even shown lou's regret for lying to basically his only friend. ...oh wait, i forgot. lou's meant to be a 100% evil villain who kicks babies. anyways, again i feel that the novel made more sense than the canon we got in film. i guess in the film ox got recycled because he was causing others to fail by accident? but the novel's version is much more interesting.

if i remember correctly (and if i don't, count this as a rewritten version lol) the assistant robots took ox away after he 'failed' in the novel. i can imagine a scene where we are in ox's perspective, being forcefully dragged away to the pipes whilst lou looks at him, dread and sadness written across his face, yet he doesn't try to stop the robots. he just stands there, biting back his guilt. ohh... if only...

STRONG BOYS!!: heheheheh strong nolan and lou... would be funny if nolan didn't appear strong, but is actually stronger than lou. but then again, how can you tell if the doll is strong? they all look like same. lou says his arms are bumped or whatever in ugly truth but WHERE? WHERE'S THE BUMPED ARMS LOU??

anywho, thank you for the novella lore dump! for anyone who is interested, go check out the novel as well. it's pretty interesting if you are deep into doll purgatory. (also it's mentioned that ox used to wear a fedora from what i remember)(THAT IS TERRIBLE. I LOVE IT)

[us3rnam3-r3dact3d]

ok before I tweak out and forget how to words:

your writing of quinns character is phenomenal.

this is what I thought quinn was going to be like in the cannon. Give me someone who's absolutely bat shit CRAZY. someone that would warrant this level of fear and who could manage to keep pulling fast ones on tank, who we've all established to be pretty fucking strong. this quinn does his research and hits where it hurts, and he's not gonna keep sending lackeys to do everything for him THIS BITCH IS ON THE SCENE!!! IM SICK. AND THE FUCKING VIDEO??????????????? BAZ???????? IMGOING TO END UP ON THE NEWS IF YOU KEEP THIS UP. I'm not the biggest fan of angst, but even the cannon quinn was too soft for me. i thought he was going to be wayyyy more involved and psycho than just seeing the damage second hand, BUT THE STORY ISNT OVER!!! i trust erik has something devious planned and if he doesn't,,,,, we know we can count on u to fix that

I trust that u, have something even MORE devious planned. I'm scared pls don't hurt me,,,, I would say bc im in your walls but that just seems like bad taste after reading this

TANKFIGHTSCENETANKFIGHTSCENETANKFIGHTSCENE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

u thought i was done? no I yap

I lob fight scenes sm but it reveals sm about characters, tank knows they're tough shit and their endurance sometimes trumps their strength. even as wounded as they were, they still managed to take down a grown ass man mostly through spite, but that need to win or that need to be in control of the fight was strong enough to make them keep going. tank was in hella abusive relationship w quinn (surprise surprise), he clearly had huge control over them - so instead of having the emotional advantage (being able to manipulate, gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss), they got left the physical one. theyre so used to just tough it out that it became the main way they handle everything. IM STILL SICK SOMEONE HELP MY BABY.

and them subconsciously running towards the 10-19 while they were trying to hide or escape or WTV THE FUCK DARLIN YOU DUMB FUCK YOU JUST CONFIRMED THAT THIS PLACE IS A SAFE SPACE FOR U AND YOURE TRYING TO RUN AWAY?????? please please pleeeeaaaassseeeeee talk to david holy shit I'm going crazy

and them only giving out when david grabs them... I'm not even gonna say a damn thing.....it's all right there,,,,,,, what do you want from me

it's 9am what a lovely way to start my day 😙😙

-🦀

CRAB ANON MY FRIEND!!!!!!

I’m so glad you liked this chapter. I was thinking about you when I was posting btw, wondering how you’d like this one. There are a handful of more batshit crazy chapters coming up and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

My drive in a lot of my long form fanfics is to amend or at least tailor aspects of canon to my taste. Quinn was an asshole in canon for sure. A literal murderer. And I think we’ll get a further look at that before his time is through, but what I really wanted was a Fight to subdue him in the first place, a struggle to get him out of Darlin’s life. It felt… too easy. And maybe that’s a red herring in canon, but I figured, my story, I’m making him as horrific as he was talked up to be in canon.

You are very correct, Carb Anon. I do have something more devious in store. And nobody- NOBODY is safe.

I’m glad you enjoyed the fight scene!! Honestly I have a hard time writing action in the particular prose that I tend to use in narrative stories, so I tend to use them as vehicles for character exploration. I try to stray away from telegraphing each individual blow and more towards creating a particular ~vibe~ to communicate what I wanted to. If I’m not using the fight scene to achieve a secondary, character purpose, then I’m not putting it in there. I don’t know how many of my readers have been involved in a good old fashioned fist fight, but I think this style of writing them is useful to communicate how they can feel. They’re often very fast, only a few seconds, and a flurry of punches and kicks and yells. It hardly ever has the sort of organization and strategizing that we see in fictional fights. Darlin’ doesn’t fight like an action hero. They fight like an animal trying to survive, and I hope that their narrative through the fight communicated that.

And oh yeah, the relationship with Quinn was very very abusive, although they don’t now and maybe never will see it exactly that way. Darlin’ has a hard time seeing themself as a victim, not because of any pride or anything but because they have a hard time accepting that they can be victimized and not the perpetrator, or at least responsible for the abuse they suffer in some way. So Quinn goes from a sadistic abuser to an “asshole who, yeah, hit them sometimes and burned them and cut them and scarred them, but they gave as good as they got and they probably deserved all that anyway, and what unlucky bastard would ever treat them any better than that?” And he’s still got his roots in them. I think, genuinely, that they still love him in a way. They have a big heart, no matter what they try to portray, and they can’t just turn it off.

And YEAH even if their brain can’t process that they’re safe there, the soft animal of their body does know it, in a deep, subconscious way. And their body also knows that David is safe, safer than most people, safer than they are with themself. They’re running on fumes after the fight and when they reach David their body just goes “oh he’s here? Great. ✌️”

Anyway, can’t wait to deal with the aftermath in the next chapter. Hopefully we’ll have another update soon!! Thanks so much for reading and sending these asks in buddy, they seriously make my day.

[fandomcrazy6226]

Liveblogging Dracula Daily - May 3

So... apparently today is a tumblr holiday considering how much this particular tag is skyrocketing to trending, so I decided to subscribe to Dracula Daily and experience the story for the first time this way.

Yeah, I've never read Dracula, and basically all I know about it is vampires and Transylvania (spelling?) and that MatPat went viral for a... chair scene I probably don't need to go into detail about (only because I'm sure the venn diagram of people who read DD and people who follow MatPat already know about it).

So... enjoy this girl's first look into this 127-year-old book. First entry, let's go!

First off, I don't think I'll be able to read this without picturing MatPat as Jonathan so that is just going to stick around. Late trains are a plague on the world, one time my dad and I were up until about 3 in the morning waiting for a layover train in Chicago. Fun times.

OK one thing I do know about this is that there's a weird amount of recipe-tracking and apparently paprika so just for funsies I'm gonna keep a count of both. Recipe count: 1 (chicken w/ red pepper) ; Paprika: 1 (name of chicken).

Ooh, the British Museum! *insert joke about stolen artifacts here* Yeah, big brain moment to actually look into the country you're traveling to. I feel like that's something I would fail to do tbh.

I should probably keep track of all this. Carpathian mountains contain Transylvania, Moldavia, Bukovina. And the castle isn't on any maps which nowadays would probably be suspicious but I guess back in 1897 it wouldn't have turned so many heads. Oh this next section is all geography isn't it

Ok. Saxons and Wallachs in the South, and Wallachs are descended from Dacians. Magyars in the West, and Szekelys in East and North. ...no disrespect to any of these groups if they're real (I'm not sure) but these names look a bit like someone trying to scoot around the rules with a word in scrabble. Oh and apparently the Szekelys are descended from the Huns (Let's get down to business!!!). And all of the superstitions in the world are written down in one place in these mountains? Logistics?

"I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough" literally me every night this past week. Might be time to go back on the melatonin. Paprika count: 2 (cause of weird dreams? Can paprika give you weird dreams? *google* doesn't look like it) Ohhhh the paprika made him thirsty so he was up all night drinking water. That makes more sense.

Oh my god Paprika count: 3. Part of his breakfast. Incidentally, Recipe count: 2 (corn flour porridge and eggplant stuffed with... whatever forcemeat is. Mixture of meat and vegetables. Okay then) Ha! And again with the late trains. It really sucks when you do so much to be on time for something and then the something decides to make itself late.

Well now I wanna see this scenery out the train cause it's described super pretty. Alright these are some very interesting-looking outfits being described here. Cowboy hats? Were those even a thing when this book came out? I mean obviously yes they were if they're in this but like... what.

OK Bistritz is the town near the castle, yes? And apparently this town has been through some stuff. 13,000 death count, yikes!

I love how this guy is so happy his hotel is old-fashioned. Like that's such a definite eager history nerd moment. I can see why tumblr likes this guy.

Well that letter is a lot more friendly than I'm aware this turns out. I guess I'll see how it turns batshit crazy in the next couple days? I don't actually know how this story is really paced, but hopefully the next update happens tomorrow cause I really like this.

NEXT

[autumnhortsnort]

ok i have advice for how to learn to recognize story structures. bcs i don't think the underlying issue is world building. i think it might be story structure and where you want to go with it.

first off: world building is only as important as you need it to be. good world building doesn't actually matter as far as story enjoyment goes. look at game of thrones; people loved that show even tho the world building is atrocious.

Also world building is generally better of it is built in service to the themes and plot so having a good idea of where you want to go will help a ton with the world building later.

As an aside this advice may not work for people that have a different style of writing than me. im more of a architect style writer but garden writers are very common.

garden style is usually more episodic, the author may have a goal but usually will meander their way to it. its just messing around with stuff that you enjoy/feels right. generally its pretty character driven.

architect style is heavily planned out before hand there is a goal/endpoint that the writer knows and is working towards. usually needs a pretty thorough timeline/outline.

garden style lends itself well to exploring characters and character dynamics. a ton of sitcoms are likely garden style writing, as well as adventure time, steven universe, and the first season of gravity falls.(i strongly suspect neil gaiman tends to write garden style as well). architect style is generally good for people that tend to get lost or stuck in a spot. or if your story needs structure.

but this advice is more for architect writing, and doing this made my writing more strongly architect style.

It is also batshit crazy.

Basically you need to find a piece of media with multiple iterations and shotgun all of them. Take a ton of notes. Note story concepts, character interactions, tropes, writing techniques and compare these between each iteration. Beaze and i did this with as many of the on screen tmnt iterations as we could get our hands on. We watched nothing but tmnt for 2 and a half straight days. If it works you will not be able to go back to how you watched media before. I can't read or watch a story without seeing the narrative bones poke through.

breadsword watched the entire scooby doo movie collection and went through a ton of the same stuff. You could definitely do it with the transformers iterations.

What you could also do is read through the odyssey and watch and compare it to Oh brother where art thou. Basically taking iterations/adaptations and seeing how the writers translate it into there own story.

other stuff id recommend:

gravity falls dvd commentary goes over the basics of how these kind of shows are written episode to episode, useful for tv and episodic writing in general.

study politics for the era you plan to set your story, and what events caused said politics. i like to watch videos on the orgins of fashions and the aesthetics of an era bcs quite often the things people wear, the architecture, and how they decorated their houses with reflect a ton about culture and current politics.

try to figure out what sub genres make up your story, is it a: workplace comedy? roadtrip odyssey? springbreak rager? College grads trying to complete an experiment? ect. Highly recommend osp trope talks, and folding ideas for discussions of story elements.

ultimately nitty gritty world building is for after you've got a good idea of what you want to do. it will usually hurts more than it helps if you focus too much on it in the early stages of writing.

When it comes to character building I'd recommend making them with plot useful traits first, then add backstory that explains those traits, and flesh them out from there.

Additionally building characters in pairs or trios is a good idea. give them traits that inherently lead to character interactions (good or bad).

been strugglin to do art related things involving my own creations that arent fandom related. I want to do something with my art and characters, maybe make a comic or animation, but I don't feel my heart in some places where I do in others. like, the alien platoon i have, i want to do something with them but I'm not sure what , truth be told. I'm not much of a story writer and I guess not having a story has been pushing me away from wanting to do more with them as a whole, even tho I really want to.

[guccifloralsuits]

honestly if the apocalypse comes I WILL be fashionably dressed ok! if like half the world dies just THINK about the amount of unused clothes that’ll just be sitting in stores like bro u think imma be rolling around the nuclear wasteland or whatever in cargo and shades of brown???? hell NAH man imma b strolling in all the clothes I couldn’t afford when we had a functioning economy ok!! there’s not enough fashion bitch representation in apocalypse movies lmao

LITERALLY! if the world dies fashion is all we have I will serve looks stolen straight from Dolce and Gabbana head to toe while I carry a semi & kill zombies - I will NOT let myself die just to become some bland ass ghost in a tan cargo pants!!! Fuck no!!

[cheshire-kitsune]

Crossover idea:

Ok Hear me out, monster high x twisted wonderland. Not necessarily as an au (unless you want to make it one👀) but think of the head cannons people!

Imagine:

draculaura and Lilia becoming besties and relating to each others immortality.

Venus would absolutely go off on heartslabul for painting the roses and everyone involved would need help (rip riddle💀){the following day the whole dorm would be fearfully recycling}

I feels like the ghouls would absolutely bodyguard yuu from bullies if yuu ever got shit for being magic-less because they'd transition the "everyone's welcome to monster high" to "no one deserves to be discriminated"

Yuu and frankie have chronic "I need to save/help everyone" and "why do people keep roping me into these things" illness

clawdeen and vil trading fashion advice.

Crewl Maybe getting some fashion inspiration from the ghouls 👀

clawdeen and jack trading "fur-care tips"

the absolute girl/ghoul bossing vil and cleo would cause. (They'd either become good friends or extreme rivals {perhaps frienamies})

ortho and frankie becoming "made by a lab" buddies (the wholesomeness would probably be tooth rotting){throw in kalim for the lols and we all end up with diabetes}

idia and ghoulia becoming science/video game buddies (plus him introducing her to anime? Perhaps 🤔)

idia going batshit over robecca steam while ortho is like "your just like me!😯maybe you can be my sister!😄"

Lagoona helping out azul with his mer-form because she know how it feels to be discriminated AND the fact she has a friend who delt with it too (cough* kala cough*)

the octo trio or SOMEONE talking lagoona out of her relationship with gill (because he doesn't deserve her 😤)

You KNOW that pearl and floyd would be a match made in hell while jade and peri suffer trying to rein them both in

I wonder what an interaction with azul + spectra and/or scarah would look like🤔 (a lot of black mail and miscommunication that's what（-""-；))

I feel like silver would vibe with sirena von boo

AYO- Rochelle Goyle and Malleus 👀 (not necessarily a ship thing but like 👀)

I DESPERATELY WANT TO SEE BLOODGOOD RIP CROWLY UP

So many possibilities! Just a little food for thought 👀

[mistressemmedi]

ok bestie, your reblogs have my interests piqued; what is kinnporsche?

Glad you asked. Short version: it's a Thai show that chronicles the epic highs and lows of the love story between the son of one of Bangkok's biggest criminal families and the bodyguard that's supposed to protect him. Here's a short trailer for your viewing pleasure so that it sets to the tone.

The long version? Oh boy 😏

Let me give you a rundown of all the characters:

Kinn: middle child and heir apparent to Theerapanyakul mafia family. Massive trust issues. Somewhat emotionally constipated. He loves Porsche very much but is an idiot about it. His ego is big as his tiddies, which are always on display for everyone's viewing pleasure. Obsessed with making gun jokes.

Porsche: bartended turned bodyguard for the Theerapanyakul family. Massive himbo, but we love him for it. Fiercely loyal. Has zero sense of self-preservation. Tends to get himself in sticky (HA!) situations after a few drinks. All around little shit, 10/10 would recommend.

Vegas: our resident little meowfioso. Objectively speaking he's is a garbage human being but that's alright because he's hot while doing it. He is Kinn's cousin and the family issues between him and Kinn is what (mostly) fuels Vegas rage. Tries to pursue Porsche with the same relentlessness of the squirrel in Ice Age who desperately wants that nut. And much like the squirrel, he fails spectacularly at it every time. Also, whips and chains do excite him. He relaxes by torturing people.

Pete: Porsche's bestie, also a bodyguard. Not going to spoil much but... Him and Vegas? More than meet the eye. He's a certified Freak™️. Everyone in the Theerapanyakul compound has seen his ass - including his boss. He's bit of an enigma tbh. Everyone in the fandom is cheering for him to get kidnapped and tortured. Whips and chains do excite him as well.

Kim: Kinn's lil bro. Affectionately known as Kimlock Holmes because he has an investigation/murder wall in his bedroom. He's not too involved with the main family but he is investigating the presence of a mole. When he is not investigating, he plays music, uses copious amounts of lip gloss (seriously, how are the man's lips always so hydrated and juicy????). Because of his investigation, he ends up crossing paths with Porsche's lil brother.

(Por)Chay: Porsche's lil bro. Absolute ray of sunshine. Cannot speak one bad word about him. He is so sweet that every time he's on screen I can feel my cavities growing. Has a crush the size of Texas on Kim.

Tankhun: eldest son of the Theerapanyakul fam. He's allegedly batshit cray cray but honestly? Smartest one of them all. Excellent fashion sense, I cannot emphasize enough how much I would love to raid his closet. Lover of tv dramas and certified fish dad.

There are many more characters but these are the main ones.

The series has some problematic moments (ex. dub con) so if that may be a trigger I'd suggest giving it a skip. It's such a fun series because everyone involved (aside from Chay I'd say) is on some level a terrible human being. They literally lie, kill, torture etc. as their daytime job lmao. The series has its fluffy moments, funny moments, (very) sexy moments and action packed moments. The cinematography alone is just... *chef's kiss*

You can legally watch KinnPorsche on Iqiyi - I think the first episode is available without a subscription here, at least you can gage if it's something that you may enjoy before committing :)

[theloststarboy]

Warning for slight sexual references IG??? Idk but this man….this got me

BurningTheKitchen@.BurningTheKitchen—

We’re starting a new thing Name wip but we want celebrities to come in, and cook BUT you must follow the instructions Steve gives you. If you wanna participate please DM us :)

Gareth @.GarethTheFucked—

Oh my god. The guy are gonna love this count us in.

Eddie wasn’t all that sure considering the shouting he could hear as gareth was cooking „NO! Not- NOT directly in the pan what the fuck?“ —the guy who was talking was this apperntly high level cook who was like really good at what he does but mainly only does it on YouTube.

Gareth had signed the band up for it, thinking it would be fun, fans would love it, it would work.

Eventually an hour later, it’s Eddie’s turn. He considered himself a decent cook but apperntly this guy was pretty prestigious so…

„Ok! Eddie next“ the girl—Robin, the camerawoman producer lighting head and media manager of this guy smiled— welcoming her into a pretty top notch kitchen, like this was just the guys house and the kitchen was fucking insane

But oh shit. This guy. Oh fuck.

He was sitting on the counter and…oh fuck his hands were totally tied behind his back to prevent him from butting in but holy shit Eddie’s mind went wild because this guy was stupid attractive? Long hair perfectly styled in a white chefs uniform, sans hat, that was fitting pretty tightly on him showing off his arms that fit snugly in the short sleeves

„Hey! Would shake your hand but“ Steve, as the chefs uniform read, wiggled his hands and, yeah ok Eddie cannot afford to be focusing on this right now, „anyways…you are making our main entree, a good old fashioned ravioli, my own nonas recipie“ Steve smiled

„Damn, that’s a bit upsetting“ Eddie said once broken out of his trance, he had to play up his charm…for the camera „cause you’re looking like a whole meal right now“ Eddie grinned

Steve blushed furiously and laughed, tilting his head back, oh Eddie was gonna have fun with this one.

Angel<3 @.GrantsAngels

OMG CSN WR TALK ABOUT THE NEW BTK VID WITH CC??? SPECIFICALLY EDDIES PORTION ONFGGGGG STEVES SO FINE F BUT THEN EDDIE JUST????

DarlingGirlStar @.LittleLieblibg—relying to @.GrantsAngels

NO FR??? Omg I better be seeing some edits of them like some of the stuff Eddie said???? Also Steve w his hands tied behind his back????? Robin SO knew what she was doing w that. She knew we would run wild

PrettBoy84 @.CCfanfr

[attached image, gif of Steve with his head back, a veiw from the side so you can see his hands, his face red and mouth open]

ong need if they don’t start dating…

[attached image, gif of Eddie, from a diffrent angle thanks to Robin of Eddie kneeling dough, sweating only a little]

GODAMN THEY ARE SO…..

(Had a feeling fans of both CC and BTK would go batshit I mean ik how we are, Aldo this idea was stolen from a commenter on the og post)

Famous YouTuber Steve Harrington introduces the new format "Corroded Cooking", wherein each member of Corroded Coffin makes a fool of himself trying to follow Steve's instructions in the kitchen

Corroded Coffin frontman Eddie Munson had really low expectations for this whole thing but as soon as he enters the kitchen he sees something that's good enough to eat. And it's not the food on the table.

[lonespektr]

Oct 29th Run Sweetheart Run

Missing women posters

Right out of the gate assuming you didn't see the trailer or get it from the title

A young woc is in HR ( who's also black guy) is reporting something fucked up HR says hey sistah are you heard right, take the hit and get a good letter of rec but ok if you really want to report it we have to be...careful about our approach

Pan to the oh so subtle, all female secretaries taking calls for the all white man names

Our heroine is called "sweetheart" by her boss who calls later pissed. She apologized for reporting the creep and he assures her no its not that and the creep is fired!!! But she fucked up something else a double booking! She doesn't know what the boss is talking about but instead of chewing her out further there's a kind of..promotion??

Why don't you go the client dinner? You double booked me, but the client just needs hand holding

All this whilst creepy men are being creeps on the bus so clearly not getting paid enough to afford a car

It was weird on the bus the guys seemed oddly like conspiratorial in their creeping like they were in on it together

She's a single mom

Bestie provides not only emergency baby sitting but a wow wow red dress a compromise is made with a very beige very professional, trench coat

Exceedingly bashful European does the kiss kiss at the door

Blood spot yikes period leaking how embarrassing

The house looks like a fucking museums

Once again another this woman knows more than you and man talks like he knows what

Random dog goes bat shit (animals always know)

And he goes batshit

And SHE apologizes for a strangers dog

He says he was bit by a dog in childhood. They are basically on a date now????

Is roller skating appropriate for a client

They haven't talked shop once but the boss said don't bother, now she's kissing the client going inside after saying she had to get her kid

Ummmm

There's a weird bit with. 4th wall break he looks and the camera and music stop abruptly and the audience is left outside the door completely unclear how much time passes but she burts back out the front door mascara running panicking

Neighbors see her screaming, and ignore her

Finally blocks two white women call the police begrudgingly they book her for public intoxication

Survivors aren't believed ✅

Sex worker with a heart of gold gets her to share her sob story then flips a lid and wants out of the cell saying the woman's clock was ticking that guy she met was bad news and women have died access if she can get to the First Lady she might make it and good luck lil girl

Cops are on the take and let the guy in her cell it's all very too super villain when it doesn't have to be cause he's just a connected rich guy

But full sicko the rich guy let's her out and says he is going to stalk her and hunt her through the night

She takes a cab from a seemingly one not shitty dude left alive to her bosses house

The sex worker lady did tell her not to go home and the creepy guy said he would follow her, it stands to reason she doesn't want the guy tracing her back to where her kid lives AND if the cops are on the take she needs another rich powerful white man as a shield

In true millennial fashion she doesn't know any of her numbers. I sure as hell fucking don't , they are in my phone 🤷🏾🤷🏾🤷🏾 should I remember at least one? sure! Do I? Fuck no I got dyscalculia when I'm stressed I forget MY number

Anywhoo me boss is very rude to his wife despite saying mostly the right things he still says "sweetheart" and the wife is giving off battered woman vibes, keeps making hi signs

How are you so rich your office has a bathroom

She is clearly a smart cookie and checks bosses laptop there's no hard evidence but she sees she didn't double book the calendar and she is booked for something under TITHE she checks the calendar for TITHE and it's the creepy guy with all women meetings that's enough for her she books, the boss follows it clear he is trying to run her down

She's in the wifees old woman onzie fucking ha I really like the intrusive title cards that shout RUN and then the music picks up

So far the public transport drivers are the heroes of this a bus driver lady picks her up for free I mean she's clearly bleeding from the head (still) and there's white guy clearly chasing her

The fourth wall camera breaks pull us in as unwilling co-conspirators in the mess we are in on it we are hunting her too we are the creepy man

This is the second time I have seen it in these types of films and when I say it's absolutely necessary

They are doing something weird with the menstruation the wife said he can smell her blood and she's been outta tampons

Another reasonable guy intervenes kinda when the creep catches up to our heroine (who is trying to buy tampons) he fires off a warning shot but then backs down as the creepy white guy is rich and ...a clear lunatic but it's enough distraction for her to

She calls the shit x from the bus drivers phone

He's still shit

They are conveniently under a hyper sexualized Billboard

He demands answers before taking her anywhere, she finally fesses up and he goes machismo and says he's going get the guy but they go to the ex house who is fucking her best friend

Turns out ex is swanky and accomplished business man of types lives in a nice house the ex bestie is about to say no way until she sees the state of her and it's all girls club and the man is the odd man out girls support girls

The tv is playing a classic slasher where women are brutalized a clear commentary on these types of films

The ex boyfriend apologizes for blaming her for the incident and says of course he was being an idiot

It's nice they establish simultaneously the fear of Schrodinger's rapist men around every corner but not also saying all men are trash to hell with them it's a nuanced depiction of men while still establishing the patriarchy is overwhelming

Tarot reading

He follows her to the ex house

The whole family is there and tooled up they are going to kick this guys ass and they tell Cherie and a younger relative to hide

But he kills them all

Dance number

WHOA OKAY(just went into supernatural ) he's literally like a monster he ripped the ex head off

RUN

he gets hit by a car (because he's in the middle of the street like an idiot)

She tosses a soaked tampon on a moving truck

Enough time for her to run as he chases a false lead post car accident

Now there's something odd at a church he's ...doing mind tricks..it act entirely clear there is obviously a shape-shifting element but...maybe he just shape shifted after he walked the priest on the head

Real priest isn't dead and catches him one so she can ditch

Another outfit change after a bleach wipes bath ouch

Some body horror whoop I thought she was gonna put that bleach wipe up her hootch

Another clothing swap

And another save by women in the secret underground party to the rescue

She FINALLY calls the First Lady (the number on the missing women posters) and gets a ride

He literally wrecks the car off the freeway he's fully ready to end the chase cause he just car wrecked a car full of bio science majors who were going to change the world

He actually does hate dogs a dog just walks up and he takes off

Think the dog is a girl

He may be allergic to sunlight

The lady is a secret spa with secret women club and she's putting her blood down a bunch of city drains clearly a full scale operation

Vague references to angels and demons maybe been on earth for a long time but maybe so has the first lady

But they don't work for free they want her to be bait to kill him

You don't own me 🎵🎶🎼🎵

But she is gearedup in a gi

And there's a plan

That she is perfect for because she is the ultimate final girl, nobody else has made it to near sunrise

For someone obsessed with her blood he's a priss

About getting it on his tan suit

The throughline here is that the patriarchy serves to keep smart talented women underfoot

And ego is always a mans folly

Now she has hold of the camera and instead of the careful cutaways they have been doing to avoid the violent porn they do not cut away (very much) from his gruesome death

The ending is a a guard dog / nanny dog because pits were originally considered a nanny breed

And her going home to her baby

Adorable dk brown baby

That's it baby cute the end

[batarangsoundsdumb]

alright pal is time i ask the big question

which fics do you recommend us

wouldn't you like to know weather boy?

this is what i've been reading the past few weeks:

le festin - quidhitch (this is clark/bruce and is rated 'm' on ao3) i love this fic to hell and back because it's stupid, doesn't know how to deal with his emotions! bruce wayne and himbo simp! clark kent and a lot of really cute batboys interactions, which i'm always here for.

Color Palette - audreycritter listen, nothing i do or say will ever be better than bruce wayne wearing eyeliner in the 80s and doing a youtube video with stephanie brown. go read this this instant or perish.

It Wouldn't Be Make Believe (If You Believed Me) - poisonivory (damian wayne/jon kent) damian is a brat and i love him so much. okay hear me out: college students, right? right? undercover mission, right? right? fake dating au, right? right? right? yeah that's all.

Paint Cans and Sneaking Out - batshit_bogs (@batshit-birds) damian is bastard (affectionate) just,,, look at him with his little friends and his little shenanigans i love that little dude so much.

Plagiarism Is Not a Joke, Batman - good_ho_mens 23 year old bruce wayne has the energy of a grandpa yelling 'get off my lawn'

Enhanced Fashion Sense Is A Perk Of Being A Cat - hey_its_lyn a tim drake au where he's raised by catwoman is something that can be so personal-

miss twenty-something - quidhitch feelings. are something that i have. and am reminded of having. everytime. i think of this fic. jason-centric, there's a cat, wonderful writing, jayroy, just read it.

The Big Book - Chimie_Chat i,,,, i love roy harper so much it hurts. my boy-my man, look at him doing his best and trying to recover and being *screams into the void* (jayroy, alcoholism, and the titans are there too)

American Ninja Worrier - DangerBeckett tim,,, why are you like this? the novel. (tim gets an intern, apparently that doesn't go over well with his siblings)

Iris West and the Multiple Resurrections of Eobard Thawne - poppiesandsunflowers flashfam serial killer au! but theyre really just killing one (1) guy so it's okay. (this one is *chefs kiss* and a mandatory read for the stoner tim drake cinematic universe)

how about we run it all through again? - poppiesandsunflowers babe,, why do you gotta do me like this. wally- my beloved, are you ok? are you ok???? (time travel sucks, just ask wally)

(fic recs one and two)

[dangermousie]

2020 End of Year Post - kdrama edition

You can find my 2020 cdrama post here: dangermousie.tumblr.com/post/638449659546845184/2020-end-of-year-post-cdrama-edition

This is only going to cover kdramas that aired in 2020; if it originally aired another year, it’s not on this list.

It’s been a pretty lackluster kdrama year. There are probably only 5 kdramas I truly loved and only three of them I was really obsessed over. Better luck in 2021!

DRAMAS WATCHED

(In order of liking from least to most as opposed to pure quality; I am including if I’ve seen enough to make up my mind; yes I realize that’s inaccurate, but that’s my list)

42 Born Again - so bad, so incoherent, so insane, I have no idea why the leads signed up for it (and unlike some of the other watchers, I think it was awful from the very start.) There is literally nothing about this drama that makes sense.

41 Love with Flaws - a bunch of people who should be tried under the Geneva Convention.

40 Sweet Munchies - Jung Il Woo proves his inability to pick a functional script.

39 Meow the Secret Boy - if you ever wanted to bang a cat, this drama is for you. Not being a furry, however...

38 Do Do Sol Sol La Sol - I lost braincells just typing out this title.

37 When I Was the Most Beautiful - the only way it’s not the dumbest, most pointless melo of 2020 is because Born Again considerately came out the same year.

36 Woman of 9.9 Billion - if you want to watch an artsy French movie about miserable people, but only badly made, boy do I have a drama for you.

35 Lies after Lies - screams after screams.

34 Backstreet Rookie - people were up in arms about various problematic plots. I am a survivor of many plots much more problematic but even I couldn’t survive how utterly boring and annoying this drama was and how utterly irritating the leads were. This has taken Ji Chang Wook off my top favorites into “should I even check his latest Lovestruck in the City? Probably not” territory almost single-handedly (Melt Me helped, to be fair.)

33 Men Are Men - boring is boring.

32 Dinner Mate - two beautiful boring people eat out a lot.

31 Was It Love - no it wasn’t.

30 Alice - Joo Won in the shower can make up for a multitude of sins but not plot nonsense of such magnitude. When you find yourself thinking it would be better if he hooked up with the alternate universe version of his mother because at least then something entertaining would happen, you know it’s bad.

29 More than Friends - started out OK, then made me hate basically everyone and kept going.

28 Start-Up - honestly, it’s probably more decent than its place here, but the toxic and batshit fandom for it (the worst this year) made me feel like breaking out in hives any time it’s even mentioned.

27 The Spies who Loved Me - how to take a good cast and waste it.

26 Private Lives - it was good but it never took off with its concept and spent more time on the incoherent plot than the OTP which was its one strength. It’s a decent drama but coming after Heartless City and My Beautiful Bride from the same writer, it’s a disappointment.

25 Record of Youth - as high as it is due to Park Bo Gum hard carrying this entire awful drama on his shoulders and doing it so well I finished it. Alas, while he is in one drama (and that drama is great), the rest of the characters and the entirety of the script are a pointless useless mess.

24 Do You Like Brahms - excellent first third, mediocre middle, and terrible last third. I don’t know what musical term applies to this? Diminuendo, I think.

23 I’ll Go to You When the Weather is Nice - nice and mellow but nothing much happens.

22 Forest - mainly for Park Hae Jin’s excellent and frequently naked bod.

21 The Ballot - I didn’t love it as much as everyone did but it was well-made.

20 Hyena - more romance and less weird law stuff would make it better.

19 365 Repeat the Year - surprisingly solid.

18 The Game Towards Zero - see 365.

17 When My Love Blooms - very old fashioned, very lovely.

16 Chocolate - also very old fashioned and very lovely but also with Yoon Kye Sang performing medical procedures bleeding and shirtless. MMM.

15 (tie) Secret Royal Inspector - a fun if run of the mill sageuk.

15 Find Me In Your Memory - best melo this year.

14 Mystic Pop Up Bar - surprisingly good even though I wasn’t planning to check it out.

13 Where Your Eyes Linger - came out of nowhere but was tender and hopeful and lovely.

12 Itaewon Class - Park Seo Joon hard carries a drama that is already excellent. Love it.

11 Psychopath Diary - Yoon Shi Yoon is such a treat in a hilarious, cynical, dark comedy.

10 Kairos - more like ouroboros.

9 Queen Love and War - in a year where sageuks are very rare, this was solid and surprisingly moving and shippy.

8 The King Eternal Monarch - people didn’t like it but I did. It’s no masterpiece and both the leads and the writers have better dramas, but it was a lovely romantic fairy tale for me.

7 Mr. Queen - sharp, hilarious, and some of my favorite actors.

6 Psycho But It’s OK - healing, sharp cinematography and even sharper chemistry.

5 Crash Landing on You - the last ep pissed me off so much this drama is dead to me but I loved it so much until then I can’t place it lower in good conscience.

4 Train - who knew I would go this hard for an OCN drama or that OCN would do romance so well? But this time-travel mystery romance is just incredible and I shipped the OTP and rooted for the characters and loved every last bit of it.

3 Run On - this is the drama Record of Youth wanted to be but failed. Smart and lived in, you feel like you are peeking at real people, but also even four episodes in, I am so invested in the main characters separately and together, and care for them so much, it’s a little frightening.

1 (tie) Tale of the Nine Tailed - my perfect fantasy romance. I liked it better than Goblin, yeah I said it.

1 Flower of Evil - all the tropes I love in one incredible package. I would rewatch episodes waiting for new ones trying to puzzle the story and to stay withdrawal but it works just as well on rewatch. Lee Jun Ki brings his trademark tortured intensity and for once, both his leading lady and his script back him up and are worthy of that. It’s perfect.

FAVORITE DRAMA

It’s a tie between Tale of the Nine Tailed and Flower of Evil but if I had to pick just one, FoE, because it had me seriously obsessed and guessing about the protagonist and gave me the narrative tropes I love so much and an OTP that statisfied all my hurt/comfort kinks and then some.

WORST DRAMA

Born Again - honestly, this is so bonkers it almost becomes good but alas...

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER

Do Hyun Soo/Baek Hee Sung, Flower of Evil - he is so messed up, so on edge, so traumatized. Yet capable of so much warmth and caring even as he himself doesn’t realize his humanity. FoE is basically a story of a man pushed and punished by the world for his entire life who, because of one woman, finds a safe place and peace and slowly comes to life without realizing it, and watching his desperation to keep this small bit of normalcy is so heartbreaking and exciting all at once. Plus, you start the drama thinking he’s a psychopathic serial killer and end it (if you are me) thinking he must be protected at all costs and if anyone even looks at him wrong they must suffer, and that’s quite a change!

FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER

Nam Ji Ah, Tale of the Nine Tailed - she is so funny and tough and smart and loving and amazing that I will totally buy that a literal demi-god will do anything and everything for her and love her for literal eternity.

NEEDS TO BE MURDERED

Dad in Record of Youth - yes in a year with serial killers and supernatural demons, I picked a normal character from a mediocre drama. It’s his everyday awfulness to his family that hits so hard and I am sad he never got his comeuppance.

FAVORITE SHIP

Ji Ah x Yeon - a fearless reporter and an immortal demi-god who’s been hoping for his human beloved to reincarnate. A really rare set-up where the OTP is equally ride or die, so compatible and completely BAMF. I got why he waited for her for that long and then fell in love with her all over again. Perfection.

Runner up: Flower of Evil - he is so messed up he literally does not believe he is capable of love or empathy, but he falls in love with her anyway and so utterly she permeates his entire life. She is tough as nails and only believes what she sees and is the sole person who believes in him against the world. She loves him but he needs her. She needs him but he loves her. They are amazing.

FAVORITE SECONDARY OTP

Seo Dan x Gu Seung Jun, Crash Landing on You, North Korean x Conman were so good I shipped them harder than the main OTP and the end of that storyline pissed me off so much I dumped the drama and didn’t finish it for months (and it’s still dead to me.)

NOTP

Record of Youth - it started out and they didn’t have much chemistry but the dialogues were interesting and I thought the chemistry would grow. It didn’t and deteriorated, their dialogues became boring and relationship had zero development (about as much as the supposed female lead.) I think we were supposed to feel bad they broke up and they were going for a bittersweet open ending, instead I found myself happy about the break up of two incompatible, chemistry-less people and hoping for the love of God they never get back together.

FAVORITE SCENE

Yeon and the bridge of knives, Tale of the Nine Tailed - Yeon choosing to undergo the creeptastic bridge of knives for a chance to save Ji Ah, who at that point he is not aware is the reincarnation of his Joseon love because, as he says, he doesn’t care if she is or isn’t, it just would be more horrible to have her die than to undergo the horrific torture he is undergoing, and then the sequence with his catching her, her weeping over him and the fact that she is the original Joseon girl revealed and all the bandaging and his watching her sleep and all that loveliness, is everything for yours truly.

Runner up: Hyun Soo having that break-down at the cliff at the end of ep 15 of Flower of Evil as Ji Won desperately tries to convince him she is alive and he finally stumbles to her.

Runner runner up (it’s my list, I will do what I want): Do Won preparing to blow his brains out to give a chance to Seo Kyung to live in Train.

BIGGEST CRUSH

Seon-Gyeom, Run On. Yeah, I know. Im Siwan is tiny, delicate featured and has a runner’s build, none of which are things that normally appeal to me. But his character is so odd, so honest, so unflinching in pursuing what he thinks is right, so incapable of self-pity despite plenty of reasons for it, and so ridiculously attractive when he smiles, I don’t even care.

BEST SCENE STEALER CHARACTER

Kim Bum, TotNT - I started out being annoyed by him and ended up looking forward to his scenes and being distraught by his ending.

NEEDS A SEQUEL

Honestly, none. I was fine with all the endings. I wouldn’t mind seeing post-end life of Tale of the Nine Tailed characters or the OTP settling into their literal new world in Train, but I am good.

TROPE THAT NEEDS TO DIE

Time jump that solves all the problems off screen or alternatively years pass and everyone is frozen - something that kdramas need to learn and need to learn badly. See Record of Youth, Brahms and Start Up.

FAVORITE TROPE WE’VE SEEN A LOT OF

Men who are ride or die for their OTP - this was a great year for this - the male leads of four of my five dramas were beyond anything on that scale (only exception is Run On because it’s still too early to tell there.) Yes PLEASE.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

This was a banner year for that what with Start Up, Do You Like Brahms, Record of Youth, and Private Lives all starting out well and nosediving off the cliff but winner is Crash Landing on You. I loved it so much for bulk of its run but the last episode pissed me off so much I deleted all my files and called it a day.

BIGGEST GOOD SURPRISE

Flower of Evil - I had no expectations of this drama and wasn’t even planning on watching it despite liking both the lead actors because yet another “look at evil serial killer be evil” drama with no romance was not my thing. Luckily someone convinced me there might be some romance and I peeked curiously. Honestly, their promo campaign was the most misleading and dumbest thing ever.

Runner up Psycho but it’s OK - I have never liked Kim Soo Hyun in anything before and the drama premise seemed WTF but it was shockingly good and KSH totally blew me away.

Hardest Working Lead

Yoon Shi Yoon - he starred in two (!!!) dramas in 2020 playing three characters and not only were both these dramas awesome in a lackluster year, but if it wasn’t for the fact that I knew it was the same actor and the fact that the characters shared a face, I would have never believed that they were played by the same actor. So good!

2020 DRAMAS I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT I MOST WANT TO WATCH

None. Covid Year gave me PLENTY of time

BEST NON-2020 DRAMA I’VE WATCHED IN 2020

My Beautiful Bride and Deserving of the Name - I was obsessed with both of them and honestly, they were much better than the bulk of 2020 kdramas I watched.

MOST ANTICIPATED IN 2021

The Moon That Rises in the Day, Hong Chun Gi, Joseon Exorcist, Island,  Frightening Cohabitation, Snowdrop.

[heatwa-ves]

replying to all of this because I like having opinions 💥

valk- you've only seen shu in the war he gets better I swear 😔💥💥 he's such a good character my sweet little bingus also valk has some of the best outfits in the game shoutout to sewing

eden- eden lore is batshit insane but I don't know any of it 💖 love and light 💖 all I think about when it comes to eden is how much I can transgenderise them they're a girl group 2 me. have you seen the ibara girl moment card. have you seen trap for you

2wink- they're called 2wink for reasons unknown to anyone they are just silly like that. they're just little guys but also apparently have some of the saddest lore in enstars like my guys are going through it... also there's this enstars fangame that focuses on them and I've nearly finished it and it's doing insane things to me

akatsuki- can't say anything more about them other than yeah they're cool. keito used to be in a rock band with rei and koga so there's that and also he writes fanfiction and lives off red bull he's so flop

knights- idk when leo appears in the anime 🥲 at the point of the anime he's probably travelling the world with mama but I think he has a tiny cameo at the end of ep12 but I never finished the anime so idk about after that. izumi is in his bitchiest era during the anime (withdrawal symptoms from Leo) but he gets (a little) better and when leo returns he doesn't kidnap any more people afaik.

ryuseitai- THEY R SO SILLYYYY love them to death kanata is literally incredible like....puka puka.... and midori my fav girlboy did you know midori has a line in an event where he calls himself chiakis "daughter... I mean, son" like ok 🤨🩷🩵🤍🩵🩷 I see u. anyway kanata and chiaki have one of if not the deepest and most insane backstories in enstars however I know nothing about it bc I haven't read meteor impact 😔😔😔

madara is so silly I love him 💖 mfw I'm an assassin and also highly traumatised and also just a silly guy

alkaloid- tatsumi is my fav I love him sooooo much... aira my silly.. and uh. mayoi is great but I'm just gonna say he's probably not what you're expecting when you see him 😭

undead- KOGA AND SANEMI. I see the vision actually lmaooo koga is way cooler tho love him 💖 kaoru is one of my fav characters after knights he just makes me feel so unwell but that's a rant for another time. adonis is great I have issues with his writing but again. topic for another time

ra*bits- nazunyan nazunyan nazunyan 💥 he's everything. I like the others too especially hajime

crazyb- they're sooooo good meru is my fav I love my men with blue hair and problems... anyway just keep reading main story and you will come to love them 🙏

switch- I fuckin love switch.. sora is my fav he's just so hahihuheho. they're fun and they have good music. also if you think their !! outfits are bad (they are) you should see their ! outfits (fashion crime)

trickstar- I was like you at first loving Mao and just 😐 on the rest but idk when a switch flipped in my brain and now they're one of my fav units love them they're so polycule

strawberry what are your opinions on the units other than fine 💥

good question!

Most of the lore I know is from the anime lol

here's my rating of all their unit costumes or uniforms or whatever they're called:

I'm sorry, I really hate Trickstar's uniforms 😭😭😭😭

Now, let me rate all of the characters in the units:

Valkyrie: Mika's cool, I don't really like Shu so far :( the uniforms are soo cool though

Eden: Hiyori looks cool I guess 👍 I don't know the others' names sksjdjsj Nagisa, Jun(?) and maybe something beginning with I? Ibara? I keep thinking Isara, but I know he's the guy from Trickstar, anyway, I don't know a lot about Eden, I like their uniforms

2wink: my silly little guys, I love em <3 they are so joyous and fun, and also I randomly got a 5 star Hinata card the other day so I might be biased shskdjsj (also why are they called 2wink????? 😭😭😭)

Akatsuki: Keito and Kiryu are cool, Souma is so blorbo <3 I like their uniforms but it unnerves me how there's no sleeves

Knights: 💥💥💥💥 you've told me stuff about Leo before but he's not in the anime so idk that much about him tbh 😭😭 Izumi's kind of an asshole so far but his design is cool so I'll let him get away with it, Arashi and Ritsu are so cute, I love em <3

Ryuseitai (I hope I spelt that properly): they're so funny omg 😭😭 they're like power rangers meets sailor moon 😭 the red guy (I want to say Chiaki?) gives off such "positive older student in a sports anime" vibes lol, Shinobu is so cute I like how he's a ninja, Kanata is just... wow 💖💖💖, Midori is so 🥺🥺🥺, I genuinely forget the last guy's name 😭 I kept mixing him up with the red guy, but he seems cool as well <3

Madara(?) don't know anything about him except that he makes the others call him "mama"? ok. seems cool though ig, I like his hair and his cowboy aesthetic

Alkaloid: Aira and Hiiro are cool, I really like Tatsumi (this is gonna sound weird but I'm probably biased because he's Catholic or something 😭), and Mayoi looks really cute but I haven't met him in the main story yet so idk much <333

Undead: Rei is cool ig, Koga reminds me of Sanemi kny, no opinion on Kaoru, Adonis seems more normal than the rest of them and I love him for that <3

Ra*bits: Nazuna Nazuna my wife Nazuna love love love 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖, Tomoya, Hajime and...... Mitsuru(????) are cute, I like how the last guy was eating popcorn instead of watching Trickstar perform in that one episode

Crazy:B : no opinion on Rinne or Himeru, sorry </3 Kohaku is cool, I like how he's an assassin or something, Niki is soo pretty I like his hair

Switch: Tsumugi is so babygirl <3 Natsume(?) is really cool I like the occult stuff, don't know anything about Sora so no opinion </3

Trickstar: 😬😬😬 I hate their uniforms so much, I'm sorry 😭😭😭 Subaru is like Hinata from Haikyuu but not as likeable, Hokuto is just there ig, Makoto or Yuuki or whatever is also just there, Mao is so slay I love Mao 💖💖💖💖💖

[pub-lius]

thoughts while rewatching the john adams series bc im so opinionated pt 1: join or die

its really scary how much the actor who plays adams looks like my old pe teacher 😐

i do like the unbiased portrayal of patriots, bc a lot of american shows make the patriots look like innocent victims, but these were grown men being assholes a lot of the time. also don’t glorify protesters in history if you’re going to have your police teargas modern protesters doing exactly what the historical ones were doing 🤨

“i could tell by the set of your shoulders” girl queen his posture doesn’t get better. however i do love how they show them able to know each other’s feelings and thoughts based on each others body language. its very sweet

JOHN STOP WHISPERING I CANT TURN ON CAPTIONS ON THIS totally not pirating APPLICATION

child abuse 1: strangulation

ah yes, john, run towards the gunshots and screaming

child abuse 2: hate crime

“look at me 👁👁 look at me 👁👁” -the last thing you hear before you die

sam adams is literally incomprehensible wtf is this man saying

child abuse 3: verbal abuse

“i care not for malicious tongues on either side” “…*leaves*” me too abigail

i can never express how much i love 1770s fashion. just everything about the 70s. it literally slays so hard omfg. both english and french fashion too. they both put their whole white peoplussies into those fashion standards

“i do not have the luxury of your birth or your purse, sAaM” ok i can understand the purse part but his birth??? bro you’re deadass cousins. your pEdiGReE aint different (/nsrs idrc how that shit works)

charles abuse 1

aH sNoWBaLlS. a TERRIFYING prospect 😙

i love all the trial scenes. ik they’re supposed to make john look like a genius, but they just make him look batshit. also get further from the camera pls, im uncomfortable

omg the part where they have the black man testify. this is so important im so glad they included it. idk if this man actually testified, but i think it really shows the racial mindset of the time and the way white people oppressed poc. it comes across as a lot less redundant than all the historical dramas/biographies/novels that repeat the same speech about the horrors of slavery. like yes we know!!! but all the black characters you show barely have lines in the media you’re producing!!!! this character plays an integral role in the plot and also makes a point at the same time!!!!!

ooo adams going all ace attorney up in this bitch

also is this what the north looks like??? the color palette is so depressing goddamn

“are you prepared to swear that captain preston stood in front of his men?” “yes” … “are you prepared to swear that there is no way for captain preston to have given the order” “i cannot” bitch. make it make sense

okay no the way captain preston goes to say “young montgomery” and instead says his rank is so sad. he’s clearly like a father figure to them and i ☹️☹️☹️ props to the writers for that detail

ok but the scene where she proofreads his speech, thats me. im john. i write too much and i will admit its to make people think im smart. fake it till you make it. im with johnny on that one

LEEET TYRANTS SHAKE THEIR IIIIIROOOON ROOOODDDSSS AND SLAVERY CLAAAANK HEEERR GAAAAAALLING CHAAAAINS-

charles abuse 2

child abuse 4: calling them pumpkins tf

a bit obvious parading your illegal congressmen down the street in front of british soldiers but alright