#My top male characters of 2023

[dilebe06]

My Top Male Characters of 2023

[silusvesuius]

i legit love when a character's gender is so integral to their personality (and perception obviously.) like so concrete that if genderbent their whole shtick would just be absolute dookie. anyways i'm just writing this text so i can talk in the tags (My beautiful safe haven)

this 14 minute song is soooooooooooo FYRE

[noicevibes]

DONT FORGET ROT FOR THE MALE MOANING AUDIOS

My dear, I'm going to use this ask of yours as a catalyst... All of my personal favourite ASMRs, vids, etcetera... beneath the cut. Not all of them are only male moaning! Literally just all my faves I've collected LOL.

Links will not only be audios; a majority of them are videos.

Links will be from any of the following: Twitter, the Hub, Audiomack, Soundgasm, and likely other sites, so be prepared because they're not labeled, lol. And sorry if any of the links are repeated; my bad.

BUT YES, THE MALE MOANING AUDIOS UGH 😮‍💨

BLUE TEXT MEANS NEW LINKS HAVE BEEN ADDED.

Links with sparkles are my personal faves.

Edited, more added July 21, 2023

CerberosVA Now, if y'all like your man extremely vocal, if you like whimpering, or lowkey, you like the whole subby bf thing, PLEASE, THIS MAN, I cannot recommend his shit enough. He's on twt, the hub, probably the mack; please support his official work on Patreon, if you can.

x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x

softxwarm (hub) This guy does both asmr and stuff with his girlfriend, but his solo ASMRs are pretty coo'. I'll just share my top three since you can just sift through his videos, anyway.

one (video; solo) | two (video; solo) | three (video; solo)

moonxx911 (twt) ANYTHING by this man. I won't even both being specific; I listen to his shit on repeat, rotated.

Akiradubs (hub) He mostly does character dub audios, but he has some simpler ones that I enjoy, like this one.

one (audio, gn!; sub male, ig?)

RedactedASMR I haven't gotten so deep into the lore of it, but Redacted has a whole series of ASMRs that tell long ass stories, so if you have the time, I recommend searching him out. I believe most of them are on YouTube? Personally, Lasko is my favourite (he's so cute with the stuttering, ughhhh). I'm just going to link my personal Redacted playlist I've started, rather than link specific ones. You can find him on more platforms, but I don't think his n/sfw ASMRs are on Youtube... idk.

ncvb RedactedASMR playlist (the mack)

SeikyuuVA (hub; also on the mack) Look, Seikyuu isn't everyone's flavour... there's only a couple specific ones I enjoy, just because he really goes over the top with the sounds and aggression sometimes, LMAO, and it gives me second hand embarrassment...

Lxvesickk (twt) Just found him, hehe. Just listen…

WickLuvsU (twt) His audios are... immaculate.

X | X (play these both at the same time... you're welcome.)

Video Links, general

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 ✨ | 19 | 20

21 | 22 ✨ | 23 ✨ | 24 | 25 ✨ | 26 | 27 | 28 ✨ | 29 ✨| 30 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 ✨| 36 ✨| 37 | 38 | 39 ✨| 40 ✨

41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 (mmf✨)| 46 (aud✨)|

Video Links, mlm

I had to put these links in a separate post because I reached Tumblr's 100 link-per-post limit? Didn't know that was a thing. So, please find them here! There's about 80+ links.

Video Links, wlw

1 | 2 | 3

Characters Like, the fake dubs. I dunno what they're called.

Hanma Shuji (hub, audio; Akiradubs) Zhongli (hub, audio; Akiradubs) Akira/Joker (hub, audio; Seikyuu) Take this Audiomack link, too; it's my other personal playlist that has a shit ton of character ASMR dubs on it, and then some...

I'll have more to add along the way; keep an eye on the update date!

[phantasia69]

As a female gamer, one thing I love about Fromsoftware games is their female characters.

For me, a game having decent female characters is a huge selling point. I literally bought Elden Ring (and therefore got into souls games) just because of Malenia. She is literally the sole reason why I bought the game. I even bought the collectors edition of the game so I could get the figurine of her, which sits at the top shelf of my glass display shelf along with a figurine of Lady Maria.

I love how fleshed out the female characters are in Fromsoftware games. I love how the female characters are allowed to just be people, and not have their entire character revolve around them being female. They're allowed to be kind, mean, caring, selfish, deceitful, cunning, mysterious, vulnerable, strong, weak, and so many other things.

Even in the modern age, there are still so many games coming out that use female characters for just fanservice. All the time, I see games underutilize their female characters or just set them to the side entirely. Not once have I ever felt like a female character was used for fanservice in a Fromsoftware game, or at least, their entire character wasn't based around it.

I'm not saying that fanservice is inherently bad, I'm just saying that it gets a little exhausting when all of your favorite female characters, especially in video games, get over sexualized to the point where there's NSFW content of them everywhere. I know the same thing happens with some male characters, but I see it a lot more often with female characters.

I feel like a lot of newer games should take some notes from Fromsoftware when it comes to making female characters. It's 2023, after all.

[olderthannetfic]

I thought it would be interesting to see if I could easily determine which ships had the most works updated in 2023.

It turned out to be fairly easy, though a little time consuming. I think these results should be reasonably accurate.

Some points to note:

I did this on my own account, and I have like 2 people muted. So I am capturing the effects of archive-locked works, but my numbers might be off by one or two works due to muting.

Works updated in 2023 is a number that constantly changes as works are deleted or updated again in 2024.

I didn't scrape the entire archive or anything like that, so it's possible I missed a ship that would bump one of these down below 100. I'd take the last few at the bottom there with a grain of salt. But I think we can be reasonably sure the top ones are accurate and that the kinds of numbers that we see at the bottom there (eighteen hundred plus works updated in 2023) are about where the cutoff will be even if we find a ship I missed.

--

As for how I did this, I went to the category tags and the rating tags, filtered for updating in 2023, then excluded ships in the sidebar till I got to 130-150 ships excluded. I also grabbed ships that are big in general from tag search, which you can use to find all relationship canonicals, ordered by frequency.

I combined those lists of ships, cleaned off the works numbers, and generated a list without duplicates. That got me three hundred and something (yes, they were mostly duplicates). I generated the relevant AO3 URLs, opened them in batches with Open Multiple URLs, and copied the works totals into a spreadsheet. Not as tidy as using a script but honestly pretty easy if you know a few spreadsheet formulas to clean up data.

The key here is that if you're only going for pretty good and not accurate beyond a shadow of a doubt, all you need to do is generate a list of likely ships, then check them.

It's possible that there's some much-updated ship that is so evenly spread across these various other tags that it just missed showing up in the sidebar. Hopefully, grabbing more than just the top 100 avoided this problem.

This method also doesn't take into account backdated works. If a whole archive was imported in 2023 but all backdated, there could be some ship that didn't have new works but where AO3 users experience in 2023 was of an influx of content.

I also did this just now, in late March/early April, so some 2023 works have inevitably been deleted or updated again. So the exact work counts don't represent the experience of using AO3 throughout 2023. A fandom active in early 2023 might not have much updating in early 2024, while a fandom active in late 2023 would. This could demote the latter a few places in the rankings since I didn't grab numbers on January 1st.

Even if a person scraped AO3 every day or was monkeying around in the databases, you also have to ask what conceptual answer you're after. Is it works a user could have read at some point during 2023, whether they were deleted by the year's end or not? Is it new-to-AO3 works or only newly-created ones, not including imported archives? Does it matter if the works are fic? If they're in English? What about accidental double-uploads or translations of a single work?

I hope this makes it clear why a definitive ranking is not actually possible.

However, despite these drawbacks, I am confident that the rankings above accurately represent the broad trends on AO3 in 2023. Just don't get too fixated on whether a ship should be at number 73 or number 74.

And, of course, I excluded these from the top 100:

Original Character(s)/Original Character(s) - 20,026

Minor or Background Relationship(s) - 16,187

No Romantic Relationship(s) - 8,052

Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s) - 7,195

Original Male Character/Original Male Character - 6,283

Other Relationship Tags to Be Added - 5,618

Original Female Character(s)/Original Female Character(s) - 3,990

Original Character(s) & Original Character(s) - 3,210

Here's a spreadsheet if you want to see the actual numbers not as a shitty screencap. I left the next few below 100 for context.

[fungifanart]

hello my gay mycelium i am giving you one of my draft ideas (go wild, it's been rotting since 2023)

leona kingscholar + hands.

what do you think about his hands ;)

Hold Me Tight

Characters: Leona Kingscholar, male reader

Cw: Self-doubt, guilt, hurt/comfort

Word count: 793

Notes: If no one else got me, I know Soru's got me. Can I get an amen?

------------------------------------------------------

It's been roughly a month since you and Leona officially became boyfriends and you honestly couldn't be happier.

From the outside, it may look like nothing's changed between you and him: Same eating lunch together, same friendly banter between classes, same naps taken together at various times in various places, but it all feels so much more intimate now that you're dating that you can't help the sound of your heart thumping in your chest!

However, if you were to name one thing that feels truly different now, it's that his touches feel a lot more...hesitant.

If you aren't the one to take his hand while walking together, he'll never do it. And even when you reach out, you'll notice the smallest flinch in his hand before he reciprocates.

He does have his moments where he'll put his hand around your waist or shoulder while out in the halls or during naps, but even then, his touches have a certain feather-light quality to them that have become concerning the longer they go on.

Eventually, you decide to confront him about it.

Knocking on his door and announcing your presence, you walk into Leona's room to see him laying on his bed, as usual.

"Looks like you're enjoying yourself." You say as you walk to the side of the bed, earning a half-asleep grunt from Leona in response, "Mind if I join you?"

Your boyfriend lets out another grunt before lifting up the covers and making room for you.

Laying down next to him, you decide to test the waters by gently placing your hand on top of his and, just like you'd expected, his hand flinches away for a split second before quickly returning the gesture.

"...Leona, I need to ask you something." You say while sitting up in the bed.

"Mm...?" The lion responds while opening his eyes to look at you drowsily.

"Do you...not like touching me?" You ask directly, feeling his hand grow tense in your grasp.

"...What makes ya think that?" Leona asks, fully awake now.

"I've noticed several times now how you always flinch when I try to hold your hand and you always hold me so gingerly..." You explain as the self-doubt starts taking hold, "Am I...doing something wrong? Am I making you uncomfortable?"

In the silence, you hear Leona's breath hitch before he fully sits up next to you, "N-no, it ain't anythin' like that. It's just..." The lion takes his hand away from yours to look at it, "We both know what these hands have done. We both saw all that they've taken. They took the dorm's hopes away, they took the moisture out of the air, and they nearly took a life, which could've easily been yours." He pulls his knees into his chest, a defensive position you've never seen him take before, "When I think about holding you, my mind flashes back to the Spelldrive tournament and I get...scared. Scared that these hands might end up really hurting you, like they did with everyone else."

You remain silent for a moment as you move closer to your boyfriend, "It must be tough to carry that guilt for so long. To not be able to trust yourself to not hurt even your boyfriend." Very gently, you wrap your hand around the other man's forearm, guiding it and his hand to lay against your chest so he can feel your steady heartbeat, "This may sound strange, but...I love your hands!" You exclaim, earning a confused look from the lion, "I love them because they're yours! I mean, how could I not love everything about you?" The other man continues to look at you in bewilderment, "And it's not just love, I trust you too! So if you can't trust yourself, then trust in the me that trusts you! That's why we're together, isn't it?"

Leona looks stunned for a moment before releasing his hand from your grasp, but unfurling his legs, "Being with me...it'll only get harder from here. I won't blame ya if ya decide to go back on your choice now..." He practically whispers while turning his head away.

Slightly frustrated, you quickly move so that you're straddling the other man so he can't turn away, "You say that like I'm not actively choosing you everyday, even now." You state plainly as if it were a fact of life, which it may as well be to you, as Leona's eyes widen, "No matter what happens, no matter what these hands do from here on out, know that I'm with you, one hundred percent." You finish as you guide his hand up to cup your cheek and this time, you don't have to keep it there for him.

[2kiran]

𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 . . .

𝐏𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐔𝐏 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐄. a separate masterlist wherein it’s composed of yandere content and random thirsts.

images are not owned by me. the dividers are from cafekitsune.

YAN. 0001.

★ six and nine. they could never leave your side for long. ( clingy! gn! yandere. dom! m! reader. blowjob. fingering. )

spar with me. you’re learning self defense. ( slasher! m! yandere. sub! m! reader. slight dirty talk. grinding. )

favoritism. your older situationship can’t live without you. ( stalking. biker! m! yandere. top! m! reader. smoking. age gap. breathplay. semi-public + clothed sex. pain kink. toxicity. )

endurance test. he’s teaching you a different way to use knives. ( slasher! m! yandere. top! m! reader. knife play. pain kink. )

LOVE LETTERS. 0002.

why don’t you. taming the disobedient brat. ( sub! amab! character. dom! m! reader. daddy kink. handjob. orgasm denial. hair pulling. )

it’s an order. your lover easily becomes really jealous. ( dom! gn! character. top! m! reader. jealous sex. dumbification. begging. )

teacher’s pet. fucking the professor you swear you hate can’t be that bad. ( sub! top! character. dom bottom! gn! reader. age gap. cheating. riding. )

thigh warmth. an alternative to cockwarming. ( bottom! character. top! amab! reader. cockwarming. thighjob. )

akrasia. lack of self-control. ( sparring. dom! male! reader. cock crushing/stepping. slight dubcon. pain + humiliation/degradation kink. blowjob thru clothes. dirty talk. hinted older reader. improper s&m. public sex. )

the dealer’s owner © 2kiran 2023. all works included in this post are under my name. don’t steal.

[noirflms]

୧ ˚₊ 6:30 PM — miya atsumu

it’s too good to be true when silence greets you in the home of yours.

atsumu is a girl dad , he loves his princess and he knows his princess loves him too , but his love is too much for his little girl , but she doesn’t seem to care , for she knows of her daddy’s love for her. you know how her eyes gleam at the mention of her father , they sparkle with adoration for the male and that is something that you know is unchangeable — something that could never be taken out of your lives.

it is utter silence in the home of yours when you enter , hands clutched onto grocery bags , shoulders sagged from the weight of your laptop bag. it might be a day off for atsumu but for you the weekday is never called off and tired is all you’d ever feel. the silence is not eerie but you have never witnessed such silence before and it certainly scares you.

the kitchen is lit by dim lights , it is not a mess as you always expect but clean — dishes in their places and dirty ones still sitting there , waiting to be cleaned , not a box is out of place — and you are clouded with worry for this is something out of character for your two troublemakers. your heart palpitates in your chest , drumming against your rib cage , and in worry your place the bags down in a hurry feet already rushing to reach your daughter’s room.

your hurriedly open the door , but the sight before you washes away all your worries.

the room resonated with atsumu’s heavy snores and your daughter’s light breathing. your little girl is placed upon her father’s chest , drool dropping upon his tank top but he is in such a sound slumber that atsumu doesn’t seem to care , her hands clasp the cloth of his tank , and your eyes do not miss the way it clenches every now and then.

a sticker sheet sits nearby — her pretty pastel and pink ones that she so stubbornly had asked you for — but few are missing , the new packet thrown open and you know they are placed upon atsumu’s bare arms and face , some line his collarbone , and most upon his face and arms. you let out a little laugh looking in what state your husband has been left in , but he is such a deep sleeper that it doesn’t trouble him at all.

your feet lead you to your dear family , your fingers brushing the baby hairs away from her face away and you watch her muzzle into her father’s chest. atsumu’s heavy hand rests upon her small back , and you smile at the sight of the two sleeping so soundly. your gaze softens at the way he holds her and you can’t help but press a short kiss upon his forehead and on her head , brushing his blonde hair back and you feel him lean into your touch.

“ honey , is it you? when did you come home? ” he stirs awake , knowing of your touch and you shake your head , watching him groggily cleaning the sleep from his eyes.

“ sleep my love , i’ll take care of it , i know you need it. ” you whisper , pressing a kiss to the crown of his head and he leans into the warmth you bring. he sleepily mumbles an ‘i love you’ and pulls his daughter closer , shifting to sleep on her little bed , one she is growing too quickly for.

you have loved such a sight , your eyes always soften with nothing but love in them when you look at the two. even though you have been two who never settle for less , your little joy made it quick to come down , settle for more than you ever could and sometimes you are happy knowing atsumu is a girl dad , for then you know he would do anything in this world for his little miracle.

and you are happy that he is yours to call , for you know he has tried his all to get you the world , and you know he’d do the same for your little girl , he’d put the world in her feet if she’d ask him too.

atsumu as a girl dad is pretty canon and i am here for it 😭��

NOIRFLMS 2023 ! all rights reserved - plagiarism is a crime. reblogs are very much appreciated.

[crepesuzette2023]

Thank you for the tag, @pauls1967moustache! My heart is in my fiction, and I'm happy to talk about a bit. <3

How many works do you have on ao3?

15! All within the Beatles fandom (various pairings, but with a focus on J/P).

What’s your total word count?

95,825.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

In John's Lap (early days mclennon), play me one of yours (early days, Jim POV on J/P), Brian Manages (Sole Direction) (1968; Brian lives AU/Fix it, mclennon from Brian POV), Serenade in Paul (PWP mclennon), I was the dream weaver (1968/1969 breakup, angst; John POV)

Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?

I do. I deeply appreciate it when people take the time to let me know their thoughts, or simply that they liked my story—and replying feels like completing a handshake.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Probably I was the dream weaver—there is some hope in the end, but it's a small flame in a dark night. But the love is there.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

I think Brian Manages, which is only appropriate, since it's a Secret Santa gift (2023). Yes, the story is about saving Lennon/McCartney, but it's mainly about Brian, and it was important to me to give him a happy ending as well. And, of course, Eyes of the Storm: John goes to a private opening of Paul’s EYES OF THE STORM exhibition to meet with Paul, who, after many years and many ups and downs, is still his lover, and his favorite collaborator. Shameless wish fulfillment fic: John lives, everyone lives…and everyone is there.

Do you write crossovers?

Not yet, but I would love to one day! I can't think of any, though...

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not yet.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do write smut, and I think I tend to write smut with feelings. No specific kinks yet, except...Paul's leg fur and body hair. And his entire spritely gestalt.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware. Brrr.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Again, not that I'm aware.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, twice, with @ohjohnnysblog. Thank you, OJ, for holding my hand during my very first fic, Storage Space, and for coming back for Serenade in Paul!

What's your all-time favourite ship?

I'm probably mainly a John/Paul fan, but I have a soft spot for Paul/Mal, and actually enjoy Paul/ any male Beatles-adjacent character, or Paul in a threesome...

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I am determined—*determined!*—to finish my story about Old Man Paul releasing his mclennon dreams/memories on the world. I'm also determined to write a long Woodland Sprite Paul AU. One day.

What are your writing strengths?

I swear I'm not fishing for compliments, but I honestly can't say. I don't hate my writing, I'm just reluctant to analyze myself that way, you know. But if I had to pick one: I think I have the ability to remember, out of all the Beatles stuff I read and saw and thought about, the right detail at the right time while writing. Not as in listing facts, but as in: this would fit nicely here.

What are your writing weaknesses?

English isn't my first language, which in the context of Beatles fic means I'm not your best choice if you're looking for realistic Liverpool dialogue to leap off the page. I wish I had Paul's talent for mimicry...!

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

People can do what they want, but if there's entire pages in a language I can't read, and no footnotes to help me, the story isn't for me. Individual words and phrases are a different thing, of course.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

This one! Beatles! McLennon! Paul, you were my first, and I was your billionth!

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

Breaking news, I think I might try my hand at Peaky Blinders at some point...

What's your favourite fic you've written?

Similar to you, Mo, I love all of mine equally, but I have special love in my heart for the fic that lifted me out of a spell of the writing horrors this fall: Johnny Gentle and His Group, about the Silver Beetles' 1960 Scottish Tour. And, of course, Hurricaneville: leg combing McLennon in 1961!

Tagging, if you’d like @eveepe, @revollver, @m1ssunderstanding, @unchaineddaisychain , @therealsaintscully and @scurator!

[dilebe06]

My Top Male Characters of 2023

[dissiasims]

🎃 Simblreen 2024 Gift 🎃

Outfits inspired by two anime characters - Gon & Killua ;)

Gon Set

Jacket: 24 swatches

Skirt: 20 swatches

Fishing Rod Accessory: 17 swatches - Left Bracelet Category

Base Game Compatibile

Custom Thumbnail

Get them from SFS: Gon Jacket // Gon Skirt // Gon Fishing Rod Get them from TSR: Gon Jacket // Gon Skirt // Gon Fishing Rod

Killua Set

Top: 14 swatches

Shorts: 14 swatches

Yoyo Accessory: 2 swatches - Left Bracelet Category

Base Game Compatibile

Custom Thumbnail

Get them from SFS: Killua Top // Killua Shorts // Killua Yoyo Get them from TSR: Killua Top // Killua Shorts // Killua Yoyo

Other simblreen gifts 🎃:

Simblreen 2023 Gift - Villain Set

Simblreen 2022 Day One - Bat Themed Gifts

Simblreen 2022 Day Two - Glowing Shoulders Mushrooms

Simblreen 2022 Day Three - Levitating Gemstones

Simblreen 2021 - Sorin Dress and Bows

My Halloween Themed CC

CC from pictures under the cut 🎃👻

Gon Hair: Daylifesims - MHA Hair Set (Hawks) Shoes: Dissia - Wendy High Sneakers v2 (Platform) Socks: Dissia - Dide Tied Socks

Killua Hair: Daylifesims - MHA Hair Set (Dabi) Shoes: Dissia - Wendy Mid Sneakers v2 (Platform)

I've allowed hairs for female frame using s4s, originally they are only male frame

[glorious-sunset]

LBFAD is the most inspiring series I have ever watched and here is why…

Although Love Between Fairy and Devil (LBFAD) only caught my eye on Netflix in December 2023, I’m so glad it did and that I didn’t miss out on this stunning and thought-provoking masterpiece. It is the most inspiring series I have ever watched for many reasons. Aesthetically, I found the beautiful 4K production quality as enjoyable as high-budget productions such as Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. I frequently felt the need to pause and admire the well-designed sets, and exquisitely detailed costumes of even minor characters. The acting is superb across the board, and the leads act and respond very naturally to each other. The long hair of male characters is especially well-done, falling naturally with subtle highlights and looks real. All these details breathe life into this fantasy world and make it very realistic.

Every line of each song from the phenomenal OST is brimming with hidden meanings related to the series, adding lots of additional context! The artwork created for the opening and ending sequences is also full of meaning (minor spoilers ahead). Take, for example, the last picture where the OTP are sitting on a boat in the Oblivion River, the junction between their two tribes, the male lead has removed his crown and hence his responsibilities at least for the moment, and they are watching the sunrise together for the rest of eternity after the close of the series (sigh!)

Every single character of note in the series goes through profound character growth, the only exception being the abstract ultimate villain Taisui. Even the secondary villains and dictator of Shuiyuntian have grown and changed their perceptions by the end. It made me believe that anyone is capable of opening their minds and bettering themselves. Both lead and side characters are repeatedly faced with overwhelmingly bleak choices and heartbreaking challenges, especially in the last ten episodes. Yet every time, they show courage, sacrifice and selfless love that is amazing and very inspiring.

It is rare to find this kind of poignance in any production. I used to find Game of Thrones inspiring due to Daenerys freeing the world of slavery…until Season 8 happened. LBFAD tops Game of Thrones in this regard by freeing two distinct realms from conflict. The actions of the OTP break through a hundred millenia of mutual hatred and relentless conflict between their people with no end in sight, to create a new dawn of lasting peace. LBFAD reminds me of Lord of the Rings in terms of its cinematographic beauty and themes of never losing hope and prevailing over overwhelming odds. However, the stronger focus of LBFAD on the lead couple’s development and on creating multidimensional villains and side characters made it, for me, more engaging to watch.

The world-building and depth of characters has many layers in LBFAD, to the extent that much of the context was clear to me only in retrospect on rewatching the series and on deep reflection. The fast pace of the series also means that a lot of action occurs off-screen in between scenes. There are no filler scenes, there is no room for them. Every scene adds new plot twists and depth to characters, making the series highly addictive.

I am not a native mandarin speaker, and came to realise how beautiful the language is only on encountering LBFAD and its OST. It inspired me to learn mandarin, which makes rewatching the series highly enjoyable as I am able to pick up new nuances. I’m embarrassed to be late to watch LBFAD after its release in August 2022, but have thoroughly enjoyed the posts on Tumblr from fellow fans, including enthralling artwork, meta and links to fanfiction. It has encouraged me to post on Tumblr myself. I have started to post my interpretations of artwork, mandarin names, xianxia concepts, and story-format reflections on each episode. I am thrilled to be a part of this wonderful community!

Links to some of my other LBFAD articles:

Character Names in LBFAD - Meaning and Significance

Location Names in LBFAD - Meaning and Significance

LBFAD Opening Artwork - Hidden Meanings

Here is a link to my episode 1 review (contains spoilers). All of my LBFAD articles and episode reviews can be viewed with the tag #lbfad reflections (hyperlinked) and the table of contents to these is here.

[allboutheyaoi]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks....

This is interesting, I must answer this ask.

They are in no particular order.

Miyauchi Ichirou from Kashikomarimashita, Destiny (this is very obvious right from the start)

Sanji from One Piece (*sweats* yes, I am a very avid OP fan)

Jiang Cheng from Mo Dao Zhu Shi / Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (my favourite depressed anger management grape uncle)

Hua Cheng & Xie Lian ~ Hualian from Tian Guan Ci Fu / Heaven Official's Blessing (nah I don't care they come as ONE)

Xiao Ce'an & Shen Lanzhou ~ Cezhou from Qiang Jin Jiu (separating them is just infeasible)

Hijikata Toushirou from Gintama (I was SO goddamn crazy over him for a good period of time)

Ueda Tomoharu & Gotouda Aki from Honto Yajuu (how can I not include my forever OG BL couple)

He Tian & Mo Guan Shan from 19 Days (they're my empire)

Kwon Haebeom from Our Sunny Days (LISTEN THIS SERIES JUST CAME OUT IN 2023 BUT THIS MAN RIGHT HERE I WANT HIM SO BAD)

Dimitri from Anastasia (my childhood crush, always)

Honorable Mentions (because it was REALLY hard to choose):

Song Qinglan (Mist)

Ginko (Mushishi)

Benimaru Shinmon (Fire Force)

Oh dear, this was actually ALOT harder than I thought. I MIGHT have cheated a little (just abit), but it was literally impossible to choose ONE!!! Thank you for such an interesting ask!!! <3

[dangermousie]

Ok, 13 eps in and it’s official - Lost You Forever is this year’s Love Between Fairy and Devil for me, and not just because I am unreasonably obsessed or because I love the design or because it features a protagonist horribly hurt by life and a love interest who gets to them by pure sunshine goodness.

No, it’s because they both are summer dramas that I mocked before they aired and whose cast gave me hives and then I had to eat crow dinner with crow coffee and crow dessert.

I thought the concept of LBFAD (demon king and fairy girl occasionally swap bodies) was risible. I thought anyone who cast Dylan Wang in anything, let alone as a terrifying demon lord, needed to have their head checked. I’ve seen that man in a number of dramas and he can’t act, thought I. Oh, and that trailer was simply awful. This is going to be a great terrible flop and I am gonna enjoy hate watching and mocking it, also thought I. I checked it out solely out of sheer morbid curiosity and I was a gone five minutes in. It ended up my favorite drama of 2022, made it into my top 10 cdramas of all time in fact, and if anyone said Dylan did anything but an amazing job in LBFAD, I’d fight them in the parking lot. Man tore my heart out.

Now comes 2023 and here is another anticipated summer drama, Lost You Forever. If you assume I learned anything from the LBFAD scenario, you would be wrong. (In my defense, in the overwhelming bulk of cases when I hate the concept, trailer and cast, I do not end up adoring the final product.) Nobody could explain the plot to me coherently (not their fault in retrospect, I can’t even explain it myself as it’s more character study than anything.) The concept screams reverse harem, something I am primed to enjoy about as much as I was primed to enjoy LBFAD body swap between female fairy and demon king or perhaps a toothache. The cast - yikes think I. The last Yang Zi drama and performance I enjoyed was the Battle of Changsha. A drama that is a bona fide masterpiece and in which she performed amazingly but was released in 2013, a whole decade ago. Ever since then she’s proceeded to play a range of cheery dimwits who only a mother could love, and only a mother in possession of earplugs and perhaps a gag at that. And to me she started sleepwalking through those roles to boot. Watching her and her dramas became the definition of elevator music. And her leading men here? Ooof! The guy who plays the cousin I’ve never seen in anything. Tan Jianci is good in the right role but I did not think that was going to be a good role and then we get Court Lady Tan Jianci which - shudder. And Deng Wei? Yikes! I’ve seen him in a bunch of dramas and he was the walking incarnation of color beige. And that trailer was a giant huh.

And now here we are. The story is exquisite and I feel so deeply for everyone in it (now, in case of cousin the feeling is the desire to barbecue him but still.) The acting is uniformly good and so is the story. And Yang Zi does not play a cheerful dimwit but a haunted old soul and she does it so well my heart breaks for her and I am so invested in her it becomes ridiculous as I feel her slightest joy or disappointment so intensely. And oh Deng Wei is my other revelation. If someone told me I’d be swooning over a character played by him I would have told them to sleep off all the booze they must have just consumed. But guuh, his 17 just might end up being my favorite male character in 2023 cdramas and I feel for him so deeply and remain amazed how he makes goodness layered and not boring or cloying at all.

That crow feast is sooo delicious!

Am I gonna learn? Hell no! Provided we are not all murdered by a giant asteroid, come back to this space in 2024 to see what other drama that I was prepared to hate I am now obsessing about.

[jaemmphilia]

★ episode one: casual ★ || seo c.b

★ summary: changbin is called into his agency by his manager to come and look at a potential script for a mini-series that's a spinoff of the popular movie: don't say goodbye. he accepts the script immediately, not realizing who his co-star is until changbin sees him sitting at the table.

★ pairing: actor!changbin x actor!male!reader

★ warnings and rating: colorful language, reader and changbin have some history, enemies/idiots to lovers, (16+ rating), arguments, changbin calls the reader some mean names

★ word count: 1.8K (1810)

★ binnie's thoughts: welcome to the beginning of the paint me naked series! this is going to be a fun one, and i think i've postponed it long enough...

★ requested?: yes, thank you @goovultss and i'm so sorry it took so long for the first part to come out...

★ disclaimer: this fic in absolutely NO WAY represents changbin as a person. this fic is simply for entertainment purposes, so enjoy!

© triplejracha, 2023. please do not copy to any other platform.

★ series masterlist ★

Changbin is over the moon these days.

He’s at the top of his acting career, just like he’s always wanted. He’s constantly being invited to award shows and various celebrity parties (he was invited to world-famous actor Hwang Hyunjin’s recent birthday party, so he knows he’s made it to the big leagues.). He’s a humble guy, no doubt, but sometimes he can’t help but wonder how awesome he is as an actor. 

His career started when he was around three years old, and he was in a commercial advertising some sort of brand-new juice. He thought it was gross, but his mother told him she wasn’t going to listen to him whine about the fluid being nasty. He sucked it up and completed the commercial without any further fuss. Will he always remember that oddly specific taste so long as he still lives? Of course, but that’s not the point. Ever since then, he became popular, being cast in small roles, such as the child for a couple, or the younger version of the main character, the list goes on and on.

His roles only increased as he got older and his baby face morphed into one of a more mature type. His chubby cheeks remained, but he finally grew into his nose and eyes. He was then cast into more concrete roles with mature characters and themes. He was excited when he had to smoke a fake cigarette when he played Yoojeon, the secondary love interest and the most intimidating boy in school. 

But his success didn’t stop at acting, he was also chosen to walk down fashion runways, as well as appearing on the front of dozens of magazines boasting about his fast jump to fame. 

As Changbin is relaxing in his penthouse, flicking through endless channels as he shovels some chips into his mouth, his phone rings loudly. He sets the remote down and picks up his phone, the familiar contact name of his manager, coming to view. He immediately picks up, placing the phone up to his ear.

“Hey, kid. Got any plans today?” His manager asks, and Changbin tells the older man no. He had planned to hit the gym for a few hours, but that can wait until tomorrow. 

“Great. Come to my office, there’s a script here that’s calling your name.” The man says and Changbin wastes no time in jumping up and slipping on his shoes. His manager knows that Changbin would never turn down a script, he’s simply just high off on success. 

“I’m on my way right now! Did you send a car for me?” Changbin asks as he barrels down the stairs of his penthouse, nearly falling to his death. 

“Yes, it’s waiting at the front of your complex building. And please don’t rush down the stairs. You remember what happened last time.” The older man scolds. 

Oh, Changbin remembers it well. He was excited about a script reading and he misstepped on the stairs and fell straight down to the bottom, breaking his arm in the process. The broken arm led to him missing the opportunity to play the lead role in the movie he was going to be reading the script for. They gave the role to his worst enemy: Moon [Name]. 

Moon [Name] is the bane of Changbin’s existence. He’s snobby, egotistic, and contemptuous. Changbin hates his guts with his pretty face and great acting skills. Ugh, it drives Changbin up a wall just thinking about that asshole. Moon [Name] loves to make things into a competition, he’s always been like that. It’s always about who can get the better roles or who can accumulate the highest amount of sponsors for just a single role. 

If Changbin could drive, he would’ve hit [Name] with this car a long time ago. 

Once Changbin enters the building, he gets the rundown from his manager. His manager tells him the script is a spinoff of the hit movie “Don’t Say Goodbye” starring Han Jisung and Lee Minho. Changbin gets even more excited because he loves that movie. 

He remembers sitting in his penthouse sobbing like a baby because Jinhae (Jisung’s character) had died of some terminal illness without his summer lover, Yeohan (Minho’s character) knowing. He cried for days and days after watching the movie for the first time. He then proceeded to watch it six more times. He’s a hopeless romantic, cut him some slack. 

Knowing that the script is for the spinoff, he wonders if the characters will be the friend of Jinhae and the brother of Yeohan; Taesung and Yeohei. They were only mentioned a few times in the movie, and it was hinted that they were crushing on each other. Changbin also wonders which role he’ll get, will he be Taesung or Yeohei? If he were to choose, he would pick Taesung. Taesung sounds way cooler than Yeohei. 

Changbin arrives at the producer’s building, and he goes to the large meeting room his manager told him to go to. Changbin greets his manager outside the room, and he can’t help but notice the nervous look on the older man’s face. The way his eyes shift and refuse to look at Changbin.

“Hyung, what’s got you all worked up? Is your wife not speaking to you again?” Changbin jokes, but his manager only lets out a huff of a laugh in response. “Hold on, what’s going on? You always laugh at my jokes!” 

“I think it’s best if you walk into the room and see for yourself.” The older man says, his gaze still not meeting Changbin’s. Changbin is confused, his strong eyebrows furrowed as he pushes open the door to the meeting room.

When he enters, his gaze falls on a particular body in the room. The person looks up from his phone, his soft [EC] eyes staring straight into Changbin’s eyes. When the two of them realize who each other are, they both speak in unison:

“Oh, fuck no.”

It’s a few days after that unnecessarily aggressive encounter with [Name], and Changbin is not taking the role of Taesung. As much as he would love that role, he refuses to work with [Name]. Changbin’s manager is desperately trying to convince and bribe the young star to take the role, but Changbin isn’t listening. 

“Come on Changbin! This role could be huge for you! You’re already familiar with the storyline, and the director says your appearance fits Taesung’s character perfectly!” His manager cries out, the man slowly getting fed up with his bratty client. “It doesn’t get any more perfect than that!’

“I’ll take that role when [Name] is not my co-star,” Changbin says gruffly, letting out a puff of air as he lifts the heavy metal bar above his head, his bicep muscles tensing with strain. “You know how I feel about that fucking brat.” 

His manager huffs and rubs his temples, “Do you maybe, I don’t know, think you’re being dramatic?”

Changbin sets the metal bar on the hooks above him and he sits up, wiping the sweat off his forehead. He fixes his glare onto his manager, his plump bottom lip jutted out, which makes him less intimidating than he thinks. “Me? I’m not being dramatic! I just really hate that pretentious asshole!”

“Changbin, just think about the aftermath if you take this role. You would blow up, even more than you already have. You’re already at the top, but you can go higher.” His manager says to him, hoping those words of encouragement will give him the push he needs.

Changbin thinks about those words, the tension between his brows relaxing just a bit. If he takes the role, his fame would skyrocket, taking him higher than he already is right now. Maybe he should take the role, what if [Name] isn’t the same dickhead he remembers the male being? With a very dramatic sigh, he agrees to take the role. His manager immediately takes out his phone to call the director, leaving Changbin to resume his once-interrupted workout. 

It’s the first day of filming, and Changbin is pretty much vibrating with excitement. He spent the past three days memorizing his lines. He could barely sit still long enough for his makeup artist to complete his makeup. He was itching to film and he had not seen [Name] yet, so today was already faring to be a good one. 

That is, until [Name] showed up on set, his hair and makeup finished, his once [HC] hair now hidden under a black wig with purple streaks, the hairstyle in a shaggy cut. [Name] has a lip piercing, a silver ring straight down the middle of his plump, soft red colored lips. He’s wearing a fuzzy wine-red sweater with white cat paws littered around it hanging on his slimmer frame. Changbin tries not to stare for too long, but he has to admit that the piercing suits [Name] pretty well. A little too well, he might admit.

He turns his gaze away before he gets caught staring, and his makeup artist informs him that he’s done. She hands him a mirror, and Changbin barely recognizes himself. He has on green contacts, making his chocolatey brown eyes morph into a soft hazel color. They decided to keep his natural deep brown curls, feeling that they tied Taesung’s character together perfectly. His makeup artist placed a few small fake tattoos on his face, and he really likes how he looks. He feels like a badass motorcycle driver or the rebellious son of a mafia boss. 

“You look pretty good, Taesung.” A playful voice snaps him out of his little fantasy world. His face falls when he realizes [Name] is the one talking to him. Changbin hopes he didn’t get caught staring at his sworn enemy. [Name] is standing right in front of him, a cheeky smile on his face. Changbin wishes he could just slap that look off [Name]’s face. 

Changbin and [Name] barely managed to finish one scene together before they began arguing. The two are all up in each other’s faces, spitting hateful insults at each other. Their managers exchange a look, the two of them were already used to their client’s childish behavior by now. [Name]’s manager asks for a short break, even though filming had just started no less than five minutes ago. The director nods, not wanting to get in between the quarrel. Changbin’s manager pulls him away from [Name], but that doesn’t stop Changbin from calling the other male a stuck-up bitch.

“Changbin, what the hell were you two even arguing about?” His manager asks, handing him a water bottle, hoping it would calm the male down. 

Changbin angrily drinks the water before answering, “[Name] sai–” A pause. “You know what, I don’t even remember.”

Changbin’s manager groans. This was going to be a long filming process.

[sinimake]

Big agree with what you said about Johnshi. I've been in fandoms for a fuckton long time and this isn't new but damn does it bother me that in the year 2023 we still have to go through this.

It isn't only how the story goes for both Kenshi and Johnny (they meet at their lowest, go through hell together and come out of it as better people). It's also the banter in the intros (not only between them but also the fact that Kenshi and Johnny talk about each other to the others). And don't get me started with how their designs work : the blindfold is now forever tied to Johnny and the whole red/blue design going on.

But no. We can't have what would be the most organic relationship in the whole MK1 story. Instead we have Syzoth and Ashrah (which, don't take me wrong I LOVE them both) who happen to breath in the same room and possibly bond outside of the mainstory?

Agh sorry for the rant but sometimes I get bitter bc we couuuld have it aaaaaall >:(

EXACTLY 😤😤 I AM SO MAD!!!

Let me rant some more about this.

NRS was the first to introduce the first ever gay character in the fighter style video games. Love them for it, love that Taleena is canon. However, they're still pussayh for not making johnshi canon.

So i have been fangirl for more than a decade and IT IS ALWAYS THE SAME DAMN PROBLEM WITH BIG PRODUCTION COMPANIES they're so afraid of public backlash.

Let me tell you why not making Johnshi canon situation is different from Taleena and Kung Jin by opening big ass can of worms.

1. MK is dominated by cis hetero males. Yes, many people from various bg play the game, but it is undeniably true that the majority of fan base is men.

2. There's a phenomenon called the fetishization of lesbian and bisexual women. I am aware that I'm being controversial by saying this, but this fetishization makes the general public be more "accepting" of lesbain couple than the rest of the queer community, and it resonates mostly in straight men where they see queer women as objects that are simply putting on a show for the enjoyment of those watching.

This leads to my next point that it is a high probability that Taleena is allowed to be canon because the backlash from the cis hetero male fan base will be less than having gay relationship in the game. And let me tell you, Taleena interaction is bare minimum in the story mode!! I mean, yeah, they're trying to hide their relationship from others and the story is not exactly focused on them but they can be so much more! I can gloss over the lack of taleena content but was hoping for more in the future installment. But guess fucking what? Alternate universe Tanya and Mileena are rumored to be married to men in the upcoming mk1 side story.

Like imagine the vast possibility of having alternate universes where you can notch up the teased Forbidden Lovers trope but instead of having Taleena being happily united, NRS makes their only queer relationship straight???? *maniacal laugh* Honestly i will fight NRS on SIGHT. In my eyes, this only proves that they don't really care about queer representation, they're just filling the diversity qouta.

3. With what i said, NRS is a fucking coward for not making their popular male characters gay. You might bring up my boy Kung Jin but listen to me, debuting new queer character and making existing fan favorite character queer are completely different things. Kung Jin is first introduced in MK X and his sexual orientation is subtly suggested in the game. While Johnny Cage has been rated among the top Mortal Kombat characters by various gaming media publications.

If NRS made Johnny gay and in a relationship with Kenshi, imagine how fucking big the media coverage of them would have been. Literally, the second coming of that beer company queer backlash would have happened. Every gaming news outlet would be making articles on it. Johnshi would be trending on twitter.

I understand that it would be quite a risk to that to your business but guess what? They gave the most organic, the most heartfelt, the most tender story arc (ok i could be lil baised but you cant deny the chemistry) then slapped good ol' guys being pals and best friends forever crap on them 🙃

If Johnny and Kenshi were opposite gender, no cap, NO FUCKING CAP THAT THEY WOULD HAVE A FUCKING COUPLE.

4. I think Johnshi arc takes almost half of the story mode because we go through Johnny, Raiden, Kenshi, Baraka, Ashrah, Syzoth POVs till they come back from Outworld mission and in every chapter, Johnny and Kenshi get significant moments. And those moments are exclusive to only two of them, specifically tailored to them.

People say they're just friends, but i think the difference really shines if you consider that Kung Lao and Raiden are equally friends with them too. During outworld mission, Kung Lao has minimal dailogues and screen time when Johnny and Kenshi have interaction. If Kenshi and Johnny were just friends, they should have shown Kung Lao's reaction to Kenshi's blinding, Kung Lao's worry for Kenshi in the Shang Tsung's real laboratory, Kung Lao's line for Kenshi's regained sight RIGHT ALONG SIDE WITH JOHNNY.

What Kenshi and Johnny have exclusively belongs to them. That sets the difference between platonic friendship and the connection of those two.

Straight couples have less fucking interaction than one fucking scene and they are magically together. So tell me why the fuck Johnshi is not real

They SHOULD BE REAL and I'm so DONE with NRS