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historyhermann · 2 years ago

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Velma Review

Velma is a mature animated series which mixes the genres of mystery, comedy horror, and thriller. It is based on characters from the Scooby-Doo franchise and is an origin story, of sorts, for Velma Dinkley, before the formation of Mystery Incorporated. The series was developed by Charles Grandy. He previously created Guys with Kids, produced episodes of The Office, and has been a creative collaborator with Mindy Kaling, the voice of Velma, since 2013. This review will have spoilers.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the twenty-fifth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on February 17, 2023.

The plot of Velma primarily centers around the story of Velma Dinkley. She attempts to uncover the perpetrator who murdered two local teenage girls, Brenda and Krista, and circumstances behind the her mother's disappearance.

She is soon joined by school news reporter Norville Rogers (voiced by Sam Richardson). Her former best friend, and popular girl, Daphne Blake (voiced by Constance Wu) also helps her, since her quest to find her biological parents, draws her closer to Velma.

Unlike previous depictions, Velma is South Asian American, while Daphne is East Asian American, and Norville, often named "Shaggy" in previous Scooby-Doo iterations, is a Black man. This representation is reflected in the voice actors: Kaling is of Indian descent, Wu is of Taiwanese descent, and Richardson is a Black man of Ghanaian descent.

The only one of the original Mystery, Inc. crew who is portrayed as White is Fred Jones. He is a popular 16-year-old rich kid, heir of a fashion line for men, and said to be a "late bloomer". Despite these negatives, Velma still has a crush on him. Voiced by Glenn Howerton, known for his role as Charlie Day in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Fred is accused as the murder suspect of Brenda and Krista, despite lack of evidence which ties him to the crime.

Velma is differs from previous Scooby-Doo series by not featuring Scooby-Doo as a character. Grandy, one of the show's executive producers, said that the show's staff struggled to find a take on this beloved dog. This coincided with Warner Bros. Animation telling them "Hey, you can’t use the dog", as Grandy recalled.

Apart from Kaling, Wu, and Richardson, the cast is relatively diverse, more than other Scooby-Doo series, including Black men, Black women, and actresses of Cuban, Chinese, Filipino, Malaysian, and Indian descent. This aligns with the focus of Kaling's small-but-powerful production company, Kaling International, which founded in 2012 and described by Time magazine as telling stories about "inner lives of women of color" and stories of underdogs.

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While in previous iterations, Velma has been in romantic relationships with men, her romantic attraction to women was hinted in episodes of Mystery Incorporated and in 2022 animated film, Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! In contrast, Velma depicts her as bisexual, as she has a crush on Fred, and accepts Daphne's feelings toward her. Like other versions, Norville has a crush on her, but it is not received by Velma, as it appears. This leads him, to later, date a cool girl named Gigi (voiced by Yvonne Orji).

Daphne has a crush on Velma, kissing her at the end of the second episode (as shown in the video above), causing her to go into a bit of a panic. She has crushes on men as well. Her actions are partially affected by her two incompetent police detective mothers: Donna and Linda. Both are voiced by lesbian actresses: Wanda Sykes and Jane Marie Lynch. Lynch previously voiced a lesbian character, Mrs. Roop, in The Ghost and Molly McGee, while Sykes voiced a lesbian character Deb, in Q-Force.

This representation is not limited to Daphne, Velma, Donna, and Linda. Cherry Jones, who voices the mother of Fred, Victoria, is a lesbian actress, as is Fortune Feminister, voice of popular girl Olive. Others are unambiguously queer, such as Nicole Byer, the voice of Crystal Cove High principal (and mother of Norville) Blythe Rogers, and Shay Mitchell, the voice of Brenda. This series appears to be the first voice acting role of Mitchell.

Despite this, the characters of Donna and Linda appear to reinforce the lesbian cop trope, which depicts adult lesbian characters as cops. This trope is said to make such characters more palatable to so-called "average people" in the U.S., if these women, mainly women of color, are "helping to uphold the systems that oppress them".

These characters seem to fall into the has two moms / two dads trope, although such a trope ignores "traditional" views of family life necessitating a mother and father. In this case, Donna and Linda are the same gender as their parents, just as Barry and Randall Leibowitz-Jenkins are in The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder. In fact, Sykes had personally served as a former NSA contracting specialist for five years, something which could have influenced her role as a police detective in Velma.

This breaking of the nuclear family is present in Velma's family, as her original mother, Diya Dinkley (voiced by Sarayu Blue), left. As a result, her father, Aman (voiced by Russell Peters), a lawyer, re-marries to Sophie (voiced by Melissa Fumero), owner of a malt shop in town and a pregnant model. The latter is often belittled by Velma.

While the first season spotlights Velma's long, and strong, friendship with Daphne, with Velma even proposing they become girlfriends in episode 8, it ends with everything up in the air. As a result of the events in the show's season one finale, Velma's personal life is in shambles. This is unfortunate because the writers had a chance to make Velma/Daphne canon, but chose not to. Instead, they went the route of Never Have I Ever, Wednesday, and even Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl by setting the groundwork for a likely love triangle between Daphne, Velma, and Norville, but not Fred. Such a development shows the limitations of Velma.

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Velma has been received by critics, and those on social media, with mixed reviews. Apart from the diverse cast and LGBTQ+ representation, I was drawn into the series as a new fan to the Scooby-Doo franchise. The dialogue can, sometimes, be snappy, funny, and witty, while the plot can move along smoothly. The characters, themselves, can be compelling enough to make viewers sympathize with them, but aren't always this way.

Even though Velma is snarky, one can root for her at times, but not at others. The former is the case when she has horrifying hallucinations as she feels guilt for her mother's disappearance. The only parallel that comes to mind is Julian Chase in gen:LOCK. Although he is only alive as a copy of himself, as his original body barely survived, he faces internal demons, which manifest in his memoryscape, while he faces external demons in the form of the Nemesi, who are "evil" copies of him.

While there is some similarity between both characters, Velma doesn't face trauma akin to the terror Chase experiences. However, she still faces the crushing burdens and oppression of being a person of color, and is in part of some dangerous situations.

Velma sometimes cheapens its own protagonists, even making them unrelatable, at times. For instance, late in the season, Daphne begins a fake relationship with Fred so that both of them can become popular, even if it enrages Velma. Daphne also wants to become part of Jones Gentlemen's Accessories, and is willing to put everything on the line.

On the other hand, Velma acts awful to everyone throughout the series, even acting like she is in a relationship with Norville to fool her mom, Diya, who is recovering her memory. She is probably even worse than the toxicity of Penny Proud's long-time friends in The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.

The series seemed to counter past claims about Norville's supposed drug use, as he says he hates drugs, and is only shown to be a nerd who likes Velma. While he might appear to be a stoner, he is annoyed, in the second episode, when stoners are listening to his online show. Funny enough, his father Lamont (voiced by Gary Cole), has a design similar to what Norville looked like in previous iterations. The season one finale hints that Norville may begin trying drugs, possibly marijuana, at the suggestion from his father.

In addition, there is a focus on beauty norms, shut-shaming, human experimentation, and the over-bearing power of the government (especially the police). In terms of the latter, the town's sheriff (voiced by Stephen Root), declares that they can't catch a serial killer because "it is a ghost", not because they are incompetent.

For example, in the fourth episode, it appears that Fred becomes a better person after reading The Feminine Mystique. Instead, Velma just sees him as problematic and gross, showing he hasn't changed. His character somewhat improves as the series move forward, as he becomes more sure of himself.

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The voice actors of Velma are seasoned, making the series strong in that regard. Many have experience in TV, film, and even theatre roles, or previously played characters on other projects by Kaling, like The Mindy Project and Never Have I Ever.

Furthermore, some voiced characters in Amphibia, Kim Possible, Milo Murphy's Law, Phineas and Ferb, Glitch Techs, and Big City Greens, six all-ages series. Others provided voices in mature animations such as Close Enough, American Dad!, Family Guy, Bojack Horseman, Harley Quinn, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Pantheon, and Bob's Burgers.

I had hoped that characters like Dandruff Tuba, voiced by Weird Al Yankovic, would be more prominent. The name was familar because he voiced Milo Murphy in Milo Murphy's Law, a character with so much extreme misfortune and bad luck that he is prepared for any situation thanks to his handy backpack. Sadly, he was underutilized in the series.

The voice talent of Velma comes through with actors like Richardson, who is best known for voicing Richard Splett in Veep. Also, Wu voiced the Mom in Wish Dragon, Lynch voiced characters in Final Space, Fumero voiced others in Elena of Avalor and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and Peters is a Black comedian. The cast of Velma includes well-known talent like Stephen Root, Ming-Na Wen (voicing Carroll), Debby Ryan (as Krista), and Frank Welker (voicing Fred's father).

Welker has voiced Fred since the character began to be animated in 1969. He previously voiced characters in a variety of series, like Star Wars Resistance, 3Below, Totally Spies!, and Futurama. There is, additionally, Karl-Anthony Towns who voices Jacques Beau (Jock Boy). Towns is a professional basketball player of Dominican descent.

Although Velma is not my favorite series, I somewhat enjoyed watching the episodes. Others may have liked the series as much as I did, or perhaps even more, as Velma broke records for HBO Max in terms of the largest number of people watching an original animated series on its premiere day. In fact, at times, the comedy can be subtle and strong.

The series premiere is a miracle in and of itself, considering the HBO Max content purge championed by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav last year. Two series (Summer Camp Island and Victor and Valentino) were removed from the streaming platform, while Craig of the Creek had its final season order cut in half, and Young Justice was effectively cancelled.

All five of these shows, regardless of other issues, had outward LGBTQ+ representation. Previously, the platform shuttered Final Space, which featured a lesbian protagonist, Ash Graven, voiced by pansexual actress Ashly Burch. The acclaimed Infinity Train, which featured Black and Asian protagonists in the third and fourth seasons.

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The fact that the series survived this purge could be due to the fact that it was produced by Warner Bros. Animation, along with 3 Arts Entertainment, Charlie Grandy Productions, and Kaling International. Not only had Charlie Grandy Productions, the production company of executive producer Grandy, worked on previous projects with Kaling before, but an executive producer, Howard Klein, was one of the heads of 3 Arts Entertainment.

Another executive producer, Sam Register, headed Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios, and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe. He had previously produced various Scooby-Doo and Tom & Jerry films, Teen Titans, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Young Justice, Harley Quinn, and many others.

Charlie Grandy Productions was known for producing The Office, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Duncanville. The show's producer, Kandace Reuter, had worked on Scooby-Doo!: The Sword and the Scoob and Thundercats Roar, and the show's editors had worked on assorted series, such as Undone, Bojack Horseman, and Tuca & Bertie.

Despite all of these experienced people, in the entertainment industry, working on Velma, it does not take away from one major flaw: music. Apart from a scene in the show's season one finale, in which Velma listens to old voicemails of Norville, the music is altogether unmemorable, and the theme song is strangely alienating.

This is too bad because a Bronx-born Black man, Craig DeLeon, who composed the score of the series, worked with renowned directors in the past. Perhaps his talent was not used as well as it could have been. There were no amazing songs like those in D4DJ or banger songs like the theme song of recently premiered Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

This credibility of the show's producers may have been a reason that the series moved forward on HBO Max, just as Harley Quinn did. It could have been part of the rationale beyond the renewal of a Season 2 for Velma. Considering that the series became a "lightning rod for controversy" and garnered many hate-watchers, it may garner more of a cult following than anything else.

Although the series has incurred backlash, with Wikipedia claiming that audience response had been "overwhelmingly negative", it did not dissuade me from watching the series, nor even writing about it. Surely some of the criticisms, like the comedic lines which fall flat, or possible stereotypes have merit. But, the show is not the worst thing out there as those review-bombing the series on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, or others complaining about it on social media and YouTube, may lead to you to believe.

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This season had Fred, and his family, as the manifestation of White privilege and wealth. It is on par, in some ways, with the snobbishness and narcissm exemplified by nouveau riche protagonist Kaz Khan in Neo Yokio.

At the same time, the series exemplifies the reality of how easy it easy for someone, especially people of color, to be swept up in the criminal system. After all, Velma herself is almost imprisoned by being at the wrong place at the wrong time, before she falsely implicates Fred in the murder.

Thee show's plot only hints at part of what the Marshall Project noted in their November 2020 post about trials in the U.S.: that many felony convictions on the state and federal levels are often results of plea bargains, and prosecutors are some of the most powerful players in this criminal system, relying on sheriffs and police as key witnesses. In many of the states, the Marshall Project noted, that judges can charge for use of a public defender.

In Velma, the arrest of Fred by Donna and Linda is not questioned, despite Velma's defense of Fred, before his outburst causes the judge to declare him guilty. Velma's father, Aman, takes Fred's case because he wants the money for his girlfriend, Sophie, not because he truly believes in the case.

The series highlights the inadequacy of mental health care in the U.S., therapy, and gender disparity. The latter is exemplified by the school Principal, Blythe, only having 50 dollars in the school budget to counter "centuries of toxic masculinity", which she uses to pay for an all-girls self-defense class, taught by Daphne's moms. The former is shown through Norville and his father.

I thought the story's focus, at first on experiments by Doctor Edna Purdue, the grandmother of Norville, a scientist who found a way to keep the human brain alive outside the body, was intriguing. I would say the same for the series plot about Velma's mom, Diya, her lost memory, and manipulation by a miscreant to commit the murders. However, it felt hollow in the end.

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Velma reveals that Diya had been manipulated to recreate the lab of Dr. Purdue, recruited by Army General Henry Meeting to create the Special Covert Operations Brain Initiative (Scoobi), a reference to the original franchise. This manipulation happened through hypnosis by Fred's mother, Victoria (voiced by Cherry Jones). It is further noted that Velma herself was hypnotized as well.

Victoria states that she wanted to switch Fred's brain with someone more "ambitious", who she believed were "hot girls", and keep the global brand of Jones Gentleman's Accessories afloat. This absurd plot cheapened the series. It was compounded by Velma's foolhardy attempt to get her mom to remember anything, involving massive lying, which blew up in her face, and her rupturing of friendship with Norville after falsely accusing his father as the serial killer.

While the social commentary on big companies which support politicians who "look the other way", as is the case for Jones Gentleman's Accessories, is apt, as much as the criticism of economic exploitation in My Dad the Bounty Hunter, it is muddled by the rest of the story.

For one, there are callbacks to the first episode of this series, when female characters were showering in the nude together, sexism by the police, and more. In the case of Velma, it is problematic that the villain is a woman in that it could send a bad message about women in positions of power.

Through all of that, the series seems to hint at a possible storyline for another season, as the police officer who received the file from Velma is killed while putting it in a "solved cases" box. Undoubtedly, in the next season, Velma will continue to use her "pretty good" detective skills, the relationship between Velma and Daphne may develop, and a new "conspiracy board"/"murder board" would come about. The series will likely have a love triangle between three of the protagonists: Daphne, Norville, and Velma.

This is because, in the season one finale, Velma inadvertently said she "loves" Norville, so he came to save her from the serial killer who is out to kill her, Daphne, and Fred. If this comes to pass, and the story straddles the home/school lives of the main characters, and doesn't come into more of its own, it will feel more like a stale CW drama. That would be a serious loss of potential in a story which could be stronger if it's plot had better execution.

In the end, I feel this series is not great but not terrible, as hate-watchers have declared. Instead, it is only in the middle. So, I can't fully, and confidently, recommend giving this series a watch.

The first season of Velma is currently streaming on HBO Max.

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kazifatagar · 1 year ago

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New: Malaysian Actor-host Hero Tai Zu Xiong Now Apologises for Singapore Comments

Malaysian actor-host Hero Tai Zu Xiong apologized for controversial comments about Singapore made on a Taiwanese reality show. The episode’s theme was ‘Singapore versus Malaysia,’ aiming for verbal sparring between both sides. Tai clarified that the scenes were edited for entertainment purposes, expressing regret for the misunderstanding. He said Singapore was too boring and was man-made. Social…

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#apologies #Hero Tai Zu Xiong #Singapore Comments

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gaykpop · 3 years ago

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Coups: I agree that purely going off vibes he's pretty hard to read + I don't think I've actually seen him show attraction to a man - still, at the moment I believe he's bi due to various receipts (wearing that rainbow flag jacket multiple times accompanied with a Balenciaga Pride shirt, GOSE TTT 2019 where he changed his own lyrics from "my baby girl" to "my baby boy", saying he wants to be in Slytherin because Draco Malfoy is cute). At the very least, he's definitely an ally.

Jeonghan: I never thought he was gay - he's clearly attracted to women and most likely dated Sowon from Gfriend for a while (cue infamous moment where Minghao and Joshua turned to smirk at him at an awards show when Gfriend won an award). I also don't believe he's bi as I've never seen him show attraction to a man but unlike Coups, there's nothing else to back any alleged bisexuality up. I think that a lot of the "Jeonghan is gay" discussion stems from him having long hair and being seen as the "mother" of the group at their debut. I believe he's aware of the effect he can have on men but doesn't reciprocate any attraction.

Joshua: Honestly one of the more confusing male idols I've stanned when it comes to this kind of discussion. I lean towards straight - I know people cite his English voice a lot but I think it could just be a typical LA accent or maybe he picked some mannerisms up from some gay friends lol. I definitely think he's probably the most private SVT member so I wouldn't at all be surprised if he had some secret boyfriend somewhere, but at the moment I think he's straight.

Jun: Where do I start...I honestly think Jun is one of the gayest idols currently active right now. Something which I find really interesting is how Vernon is widely known by Carats to be a LGBT ally but I don't see the same kind of discussion around Jun, despite Jun's instances of allyship arguably being in a more "dangerous" context than Vernon's (in Chinese/through Weibo rather than in English). I'm just gonna assume that because most of his allyship is done when he's in China, Carats are less likely to see it unless they actively follow Jun stans. But anyway, for allyship there's:

Going to see Taiwanese actor Aaron Yan a couple of days after he was outed as gay, with Aaron Yan signing an album for him with the message of "Dear Wen Junhui, dear monster: shine your own light bravely, love your uniqueness. LOVE WINS". Jun would then post this message on Weibo along with a picture of him and Aaron

Said he was a fan of + wants to collab with openly gay Taiwanese singer Hush in 2018 - in 2020, Jun shared his Spotify playlist and there was a Hush song on there so he's still a fan

Was given a few songs to choose from for his official Chinese solo debut and he chose Crow, a song written and produced by a Malaysian-Chinese gay couple. The song itself is about people being shunned and isolated due to society's prejudices, and it asks people to not judge based on appearances or preconceived notions. Jun would post a link to the song on Weibo, along with "I hope everyone can be brave and break through the shackles of preconceptions". In an interview, he would say "As long as you take off your tinted lenses, to properly understand somebody no matter what type of person they are, they will all have a unique beauty inside of them. Don't mind what people around you think. You are the most special, irreplaceable existence in the world so accept your own type of uniqueness"

For other general receipts I can think of:

When he was filming that vampire drama + said "I don't love you, I only love [male actor]" to the female lead and he feels up the chest of said male actor

When someone at a fansign asked him something like what's his ideal girlfriend and he said "what's a girlfriend? A type of food?"

That time he went on a spiel about what an amazing boyfriend Wonho would be

General flirting he does with men/testing out pick-up lines on Minghao/whatever was going on with Mingming

Perhaps what people find the most important was his relationship with Pentagon's Yanan on CYZJ - sooo many moments which I think added up to something: the flirting when they first became partners (Yanan: Are you confessing to me? / Jun: Yes, confessing to you right now [...] Jun: Didn't I tell you I've always wanted to see what you'll look like when you become a wild boy? / Yanan: How wild do you want?), the joke about Yanan cheating on Jiacheng with Jun, how much they clearly cared for each other, the other contestants making jokes about it (Jun to Zhennan: I have you in my heart / Zhennan: What about Yanan? / Jun: *looks flustered and hits him* + Minghao's "did you guys come here thinking this was a dating show? The both of you are so cringey") - I don't think their relationship ever progressed past friendship but I do think about what might have happened in another life lol

(If we're gonna be really delusional, we can say the sweet potato jokes the other members make around Jun are alluding to his sexuality)

Didn't mean to write so much but yeah, Jun is firmly in the gay column for me (although bisexuality is also an option, even though I can't recall much of how he acts around women (except in CYZJ but I'm not sure how much that can be chalked down to general social anxiety/being unfamiliar with women)).

Hoshi: I used to think he was straight but I think so many things add up to him being bi. Apart from just general vibes, I think there's a lot of stuff to talk about when you start looking into him but he just doesn't have that One Big Receipt TM which might be why some people overlook him. I feel like we can confidently say he's an ally (the infamous gay chicken rights video, preordering multiple Pride jackets/hoodies which he made sure he was first photographed wearing during Pride month), performances influenced by gay culture and just general gay shenanigans (contacting a vogueing expert to help with the Touch choreo, the choreo with the male backup dancers in Spider), and there are instances of him being attracted to men (checking out Jun in that SVT School series, saying he wanted to run a bakery because the owner was really handsome + mentioning him again in an interview months later, got really flustered when Jeonghan flirted with him). Some K-carats also make jokes about him "liking it up the ass" lol so...do with that what you will. In general, I just get the feeling he'd be down to be with either men or women. Wonwoo: Don't even know what to say about him because to me he's just so overwhelmingly straight I don't consider anything else? Pretty sure he's an ally at least (read Call Me By Your Name and even bought a peach-themed phonecase afterwards...) but I've never once seen him do anything remotely gay. I remember there was that rumour about him having the same girlfriend since he was 14 which is a very Wonwoo thing to do, so I choose to believe it. But I did appreciate how he (and Mingyu) refused to say what the Bittersweet MV actually was about + just kept reiterating that it's up to the viewer's interpretation.

Woozi: Former ignorant homophobe but I like to think he's come around to the idea (or I would hope so, seeing as the majority of SVT seem to be at least allies). I still think he's obviously straight.

DK: Apart from that time he said he couldn't look at Jaehyun without his heart pounding because he was too handsome, I haven't seen anything else from him that made me raise an eyebrow. I think he plays up his idol persona a bit - and part of that is acting very flamboyantly - which might give people pause. He seems like a sweet guy but I'm pretty sure he's straight.

Mingyu: Another enigma...I learn towards him being straight but bisexuality is also an option (really don't think he's gay). What's interesting about Mingyu is I remember that he, Jun, and Seungkwan used to be touted as the "gay trio" on this thread but over the years people have grown less sure of him. He was the one who came up with the idea of Bongbong being genderless and saying it can be loved by both men and women, but I'm not sure how much that indicates. What I do find interesting is how he's very artsy along with Vernon and Minghao, and the three of them are obviously very close and go out together a lot, but of course straight guys can be artsy too.

Minghao: He's my bias so I admit I could be, well, biased but I just can't fully write him off as straight yet. Although he hasn't actually said anything outright, I do believe he's an ally (that Weverse art of all the people kissing which he captioned with a bunch of gay couple + family emojis with one heterosexual family emoji at the end, seeing Hedwig and the Angry Inch with Vernon, the Burberry Pride shirt, his smile during Vernon's answer about supporting LGBT Carats). I know people bring up the "girl or boy?" ideal type thing a lot, but I'm kinda inclined to believe that as a 19-year-old Chinese guy living in Korea he didn't mean it as some kind of grand bisexual coming out and his Korean wasn't just good enough then to explain what he meant...but maybe that's what he was hoping people would think so who knows! Apart from that, I've noticed he never uses gendered language in Chinese interviews when talking about his future partner (harder to do in Chinese than Korean, I think) aaand maybe this is just me being delulu but I've also noticed that he loves kids but never brings up wanting them? He always just says "oh I want to live on the beach with my partner and our dog"...but maybe that's a reach. When it comes to being attracted to men, I'm also gonna reach here and say that when he was a mentor on QCYN there was a weird moment where he asked one of the trainees to repeat his part because he looked so cool/handsome, and Minghao looked kinda embarrassed saying it. And then Minghao went into the performance himself and that trainee smiled at him and it looked like Minghao's ears went red. Plus there's that whole thing about him hating Y/N fanservice...so I think I'm leaning towards bi but I'm not really sure.

Seungkwan: Used to think he was gay, then I had a very brief period of being like "well maybe it's just all stereotypes and he's actually straight", then I did some digging and was like "never mind he's gay". Apart from all the stereotypical mannerisms and being a fan of gay icons such as Beyonce and Uhm Junghwa (who he called "queen" in English), he has shown attraction to men (not being able to look Kai in the face when handing him a water bottle on Amazing Saturday + covering his face on a different show when Kai started doing a sexy dance, arguably Vernon - don't want to go too much into shipping territory but honestly there used to be a loooot of weird moments between them which other members even picked up on). There is also a video where the members are asked which member they would introduce their younger sisters to, and Wonwoo says "Seungkwan!", Seungkwan says "Don't you have a younger brother?", and then a few of the other members get weird looks on their faces. Another thing I find important is his ease around women - I mentioned this before but he reminds me of Key in this regard, even female idols are so comfortable around Seungkwan because they know they don't have to worry about any dating rumours.

Vernon: Clearly an ally and makes sure people are aware of it - a lot of the music he listens to, as well as movies and TV shows (Sense8, Moonlight, Cloud Atlas), are linked to LGBT culture. I think bringing up the "RIP SOPHIE" tweet here is important as I honestly found that out-of-character for Vernon - he doesn't use their group Twitter much and it's unusual for idols to make "RIP [celebrity]" statements anyway, so I think him doing that means he wanted to send a message. He also owns clothes from multiple Pride collections, and of course the famous equal rights moment. The lyrics to Rocket (and the lyrics to the English version being even gayer) are also pretty important, especially paired with when that fan noticed there were no female pronouns in the lyrics and Vernon said "thank you for realising it" (implying he did it on purpose). My personal opinion is that Vernon is bi but it's very believable that he's also just a straight ally.

Dino: Love him but he is possibly the straightest male idol ever...I have not seen a single thing which indicates any possible attraction to men.

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lotrobsession · 3 years ago

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Godfrey Gao was a Taiwanese-Malaysian-Canadian model and actor. Described as Asia's first male supermodel,[2][3] Gao was the first male Asian model to appear in a campaign for Louis Vuitton. As an actor, he was known for his roles as Magnus Bane in the 2013 film adaptation of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, and for his leading role in the Chinese television series Remembering Lichuan

#godfrey gao

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arisgamer2000 · 4 years ago

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Mermaid Melody - Dubs Judge

Hi!! Today, I will share with you my opinion for dubs of the Mermaid Melody anime. Credits @hikayagami for the idea!! Soooo, let's start? (P.S. English ADV and Turkish dubs are not released)

Best Mermaid Melody dubs

Cantonese Dub

This dub (like every Anime/Cartoon Cantonese dub) has subtitles at the bottom of the screen for the whole episode which I find really useful! The acting and actors are GREAT and if I had to watch a dub for 24 hours a day, I would choose this dub! Most of the songs are left in Japanese except Koi wa Nandarou, Ever Blue and Taiyou no Rakuen in episodes 1, 16 and 34. Although it suffered cuts on TVB, TVB kids aired it uncut.

French Dub

The French dub I could say is one of the best ones because I love how powerful the voices of the actors sound as well as the improved scripts. Also, there is a songs dub for all the songs that appeared throughout the series. A thing I didn't really like is how songs that were sung by villains or (super) idols were given an echo. I can also appreciate how some names were changed such as Lucia becoming Lucie. As for the French DVDs, they're really HQ! X3

Hebrew Dub

The Hebrew dub is a faithful one to watch. The acting is mostly good and the actors did a great job! However, there was a laziness in the dubbing as you could hear the actors open their mouth and etc. All the 31 songs of the series(included opening and ending themes) are dubbed and sometimes even two translations existed. A Video-on-Demand service of the dub also existed and instead of using the original opening sequences, 4 new ones were made. Sadly, episode 23 is omitted and episode 6 has a cut. The TV version has Hebrew subtitles inserted which I find really respective!

Korean Dub

The Korean dub, ahhhh!! The acting is perfect and nothing is omitted!! Like the Mandarin Taiwanese dub. The songs are all dubbed along with the opening and ending themes. Also, this dub is one of the four ones around the world to make two translations of several songs.

Serbian Dub

This is a European dub I can show respect because of how different it is from other European dubs. First of all, Koi wa Nandarou is used as the opening theme for all episodes and Splash Dream as and ending theme beginning with episode 29. The songs are all dubbed but something I found weird about this dub is how episodes 52 and 91 had two ending sequences, the actual ones and Splash Dream. Pretty stupid huh? Also, when Sara reformed in episode 51 and sang Return to the Sea's second part the dubbers listed it as a separate song making Serbian Sara having two image songs! The voices sound iconic for me but the acting is fairly okay. Another reason I can show respect for this dub is that it dubbed over the original Japanese version instead the English one or the Spanish one. It followed the Japanese version closely. The Serbian dub, due to its succesion has been shown in Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia. 1 DVD was released in Serbia containing episodes 1 - 3 and a CD with all the songs of the first season was released too!

Taiwanese Mandarin Dub

The Taiwanese Mandarin dub is probably the most faithful dub ever! The actors and acting are the best and the songs are translated twice! All songs are dubbed along with openings and endings with none to be omitted. This is also the only dub to have Kaito voice by a woman LOL! Several songs had a new title in CD releases.

Average Mermaid Melody Dubs

Castilian Spanish Dub

Oh well, thanks to this dub, we got a Greek, European Portuguese and Turkish one and even the half English opening theme. But... it feels kinda off, I mean the acting is partially okay and many of the singing voices are nice but uhh some were fairly old but there were new actors hired even for minor characters!

European Portuguese Dub

Err... the acting is not really good but I can award the dubbers for trying their best! Also although it was dubbed over the Castilian Spanish dub, it looks like they followed the Japanese version as well. Songs were also dubbed but the songs sounded too off.

Greek Dub

Well... whil I am Greek and also love how this dub is the only European dub to have two translations for each song(like Hebrew, Taiwanese Mandarin and Korean dubs) and the acting is really really good but there were so many mistakes in the songs dub that feel weird. As in the Portuguese dub, some songs were recorded only once or given an echo in solo parts to sound like all 3 sing(like in Super Love Songs and Kizuna). At least I can say the voices are the most iconic ones X3

Least Favourite Mermaid Melody Dubs

Thai Dub

Oh well, the Thai dub kinda disappointed me. The acting barely exists and it is weird how the Japanese phrases are kept(e.g. Aquamarine Pearl Voice is pronounced as Mizuiro Pearl Voice XD) the songs are not dubbed but subtitled are inserted instead. Though the Thai DVD quality is not and the best one.

If anybody has episodes of the Albanian, Bosnian, Indonesian, Malay, Malaysian English, Tagalog dubs please don't hesitate to send me :)

#mermaid melody

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madeinchinataiwanhk-blbambeyond · 2 years ago

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MAN CRUSH FANDOM • MADE IN TAIWAN

•CHANG SHUO HANG

[Nickname/aka: SEAN CHANG also LEO ZHANG]

•LINUS WANG

#Man Crush Fandom #Made in Taiwan (Malaysia)#My GIFS #From My Main Blog: BL-BAM-BEYOND #Taiwanese BL Series #HIStory 5: LOVE IN THE FUTURE #Hai Yi & Johnny #Johnny Entices Hai Yi #Virginal Johnny Puts On The Brakes #Hai Yi All Hot & Bothered #First Time...with a Man For Hai Yi #Malaysian Model Slash Actor #Taiwanese Actor

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bl-bam-beyond · 2 years ago

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BL- BOYS' LOVE:

Series: HIStory 5: LOVE IN THE FUTURE (2023, TAIWAN)

Hai Yi (LINUS WANG) steps up to the plate, confessing his love for Johnny (SEAN CHANG)

and then the kiss...

#2 OF 2 #POST 2 #HISTORY 5: LOVE IN THE FUTURE #TAIWANESE BL SERIES #My GIFS #NOT LOVING MY GIFS ON THIS ONE BUT...#THE KISS #HAI YI SAYS I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU JOHNNY #EPISODE 7 #10 EPISODES TOTAL #MyGIFedit #MALAYSIAN ACTOR/TAIWANESE ACTOR #IN MY MIND HAI YI & TANG YI ARE RELATED #FREE TANG YI

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unexpected-nightview · 4 years ago

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can you recommend some (preferably chinese) tv series to watch after the untamed? i have hard time deciding what to watch next

Okay so *cracks nuckles*

The “budgety+quality” ones Joy of Life : period drama, long but good pacing, COSTUMES BUDGET, intriguing story, lots of political schemes, romance is not that bad, the acting is GODDAMN GOOD (especially for the older actors). Also. The Second Prince. Oh! And Xiao Zhan but he appears later. Winter Begonia : set in 1930, based on a BL and despite Feng Tai having a wife it SHOWS (oh my god they were soulmates). Costumes again are *chef kiss*. More daily life than action-driven but not necessarily slow. Oh and it’s about chinese opera. Acting good (seriously, Feng Tai and Xi Rui’s interactions are just pure bliss). FOOD. The Sleught of Ming Dynasty : detective but in period drama, F O O D. So much food oh my god. The main trio works well and I particularly enjoyed Wang Zhi (but then again that’s my fave type of character so yeah). Pace slows down but then picks up. Based on a BL but does fall into the trap of setting the male couple with their respective female LI. Doesn’t last long, they don’t stand a chance but poor girls suffered from bad writing. However there are some things that were handled with more care than I thought possible so bonus points.

The Romance of Tiger and Rose : romance and action-y (more like buffoonery), period drama. It does have an interesting setting premise and some things I genuinely thought were “clever” or worth a conversation. Qianqian and Han Shuo have no business being so cute. Nor does Pei Heng (ot3 for the win fight me). Zi Rui is just the best character ever. Periodt. For real tho : for a romance-focused story I was surprised by how much I like it!

The Ghost Bride : Taiwanese-Malaysian (1890), have watched only 2 episodes (out of 6) but so far so good. So for a short one it could be nice. The Lost Tomb Reboot : like I said, at the very least the first 11 episodes if you enjoy Indiana Jones-esque stories.

Now, the “not that good+lower budget+bless their hearts they tried” who can be enjoyable to watch

My Roommate is a Detective : detective premise (duh), Shanghai in 1920. The costumes are not bad, the acting is a bit mismatch but bearable. Honestly Chu Sheng/Lu Yao/You Ning do work (give it time). CS sugar daddy of LY. The Bromance™ that ends up with a panicky het couple out of fucking nowhere and one dude staring sadly in the distance (don’t watch the final episodes, not worth it). Oh. And not so subtle hints of PATRIOTISM. But it’s funny (ridiculous). Once upon a time in Lingjian mountain : period but fantasy. Bonkers like It don’t even know where to begin with this one. I had me confused. Wang Wu is queen and that’s it. The dubbing is all over the place but weirdly funny. It’s mostly comedy but it does have it’s angsty moments (the last scene had me SAD okay). Costumes and props...they tried. Altho I’m pretty sure Wang Lu wears a thin jacket that looks suspiciously like plastic? IDK. Confusion. Guardian : I mean at this point this one is just iconic. The only good acting comes from Bai Yu and Zhu Yi Long. Bless their hearts they tried. I cannot in good conscience be too harsh with the wigs. Also, based on a BL but yet again, not that subtle (the lollipop pop pop pop). The ending differs from the novel and it sucks so hard that the author of the novel had to make like a short story thingy to fix it. Pretty wild. The Lost Tomb 1 : *circus anthem*. PATRIOTISM. CGI that screams in agony. The tomb feels like a liminal space??? Wu Xie best boi. Still have to see Pangzi again (he is about to enter the scene I just know it). Emo!Xiao Ge with Evanescence on repeat. DRAMATIC MUSIC at random. All very intense, we don’t what or why but it’s all VERY INTENSE. 10000/10 would recommend. And because I cannot go making recommendations without adding these two

Psychopath Diary (kdrama) : it’s one of those that you feel the people working on it had fun and IT SHOWS. Really, really, REALLY satisfying ending. No romance shoved up your throat. Male and Female lead work well and establish a solid friendship. Seo In Woo dancing in his murder room. Strangers from hell (kdrama) : look this shit is scary af but doesn’t rely on jumpscares. It’s just a perhaps not so slow descent into madness and it’s amazing. If you enjoy that genre it’s a must watch.

#I tried to keep it short #failed but not miserably sfjslf #have fun!#blabla #Anonymous

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dear-indies · 3 years ago

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I’m trying to find a British Asian fc that I like but I’m having a hard time finding lists that include people beyond super famous actors (and popular fcs) like Dev Patel and Henry Golding. Only requirement is that he’s under 35 (and British Asian). Thank you!!

Has younger roles:

George Young (1980) Malaysian Chinese / Greek Cypriot.

Matt McCooey (1981) Japanese and English.

Amit Shah (1981) Kenyan and Gujarati Indian.

Ashley Chin (1982) Afro-Jamaican, 1/4 Chinese.

Jon Foo (1982) Chinese Singaporean / Irish-English.

Upen Patel (1982) Gujarati Indian.

Riz Ahmed (1982) Pakistani - despite him being popular people don't use him as a faceclaim much.

Davood Ghadami (1982) Iranian and British.

Satya Bhabha (1983) Parsi Indian / Ashkenazi Jewish.

Arsher Ali (1984) Pakistani.

Sacha Dhawan (1984) Indian.

Shane Zaza (1984) Indian.

Nikesh Patel (1985) Indian.

Neet Mohan (1985) Indian.

James Floyd (1985) Tamil Indian / English and SCottish.

Jan Uddin (1985) Bangladeshi.

Harki Bhambra (1985) Indian.

Also:

Colin Ryan (1986) Thai and Chinese / British.

Will Sharpe (1986) Japanese / English.

Lewis Tan (1987) Chinese Singaporean / British - too handsome not to mention.

Rhydian Vaughan (1988) Taiwanese / British.

Ricky Norwood (1988) Kenyan Indian / English.

Shazad Latif (1988) Pakistani, English and Scottish.

Christopher Chung (1988) Chinese and Irish.

Jaz Singh Deol (1989) Indian.

Himesh Patel (1990) Gujarati Indian.

Jassa Ahluwalia (1990) Punjabi Indian / British.

Divian Ladwa (1990) Indian.

Rishi Nair (1991) Indian.

Mawaan Rizwan (1992) Pakistani - gay.

Malek Rahbani (1992) Lebanese.

Jonathan Raggett (1992) Chinese / British.

Zaqi Ismail (1992) stated as being “Indian African“.

Fady Elsayed (1993) Egyptian.

Viveik Kalra (1998) Indian.

Dillon Mitra (2001) Indian.

Amar Chadha-Patel (?) Indian.

Rudi Dharmalingam (?) Indian.

Chris Lew Kum Hoi (?) Cambodian / British.

Samuel Mak (?) Chinese.

Antonio Aakeel (?) Indian.

Ryan McKen (?) British, Jamaican, and Indian.

Here ya go!

#fc help #rph #rpc #underused fc #underused fcs

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reedrph · 6 years ago

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reed do u know of any asian actors and actresses that could pass as 20s - 40s? i'm drawing a blank trying to think of any. :( ty.

I’ll be including everyones ethnic background as well so no one accidentally gets racebent!! All of this is going under the cut, because there is a total of 162 different actors & actresses listed below.

If anyone sees any mistakes feel free to send me a message so I can correct it!!

Actresses

Alia Bhatt (26, Indian)

Angel Locsin (33, Filipina)

Angela Yeung Wing (30, Chinese)

Anushka Sharma (30, Indian)

Arden Cho (33, South Korean)

Ariel Lin (36, Taiwanese)

Aya Ueto (33, Japanese)

Bea Alonzo (31, Filipina)

Bae Suzy (24, South Korean)

Baek Jin-hee (29, South Korean)

Celina Jade (33, Chinese-White)

Claudia Kim (Kim Soohyun) (34, South Korean)

Constance Wu (37, Taiwanese)

Davika Horne (26, Thai-Belgin)

Dee Hsu (40, Taiwanese)

Deepika Padukone (33, Konkani Indian)

Dilraba Dilmurat (26, Uyghur)

Doona Bae (39, South Korean)

Emma Wu (29, Taiwanese)

Gemma Chan (36, Chinese)

Guan Xiaotong (21, Chinese)

Go Ara (29, South Korean)

Ha Ji-won (40, South Korean)

Han Hyo-joo (32, South Korean)

Haruna Kawaguchi (24, Japanese)

Heart Evangelista (34, Filipina)

Im Yoon-ah (28, South Korean)

Ivy Shao (28, Taiwanese)

Jamie Chung (35, South Korean)

Jing Tian (30, Chinese)

Joanne Tseng (30, Taiwanese)

Jolin Tsai (38, Taiwanese)

JuJu Chan (30, Chinese)

Julia Ling (36, Chinese)

Karen Fukuhara (21, Japanese)

Kathryn Bernardo (22, Filipina)

Kimiko Glenn (29, Japanese-White)

Kim Chiu (28, Chinese-Fillipina)

Kim Ji-won (26, South Korean)

Kristine Hermosa (35, Filipina)

Lana Condor (21, Vietnamese)

Li Jun Li (35, Chinese)

Liu Shishi (32, Chinese)

Lee Ji-eun(IU) (25, South Korean)

Lee Sung-kyung (28, South Korean)

Maggie Q (Vietnamese-White)

Maine Mendoza (24, Filipina)

Maki Horikita (30, Japanese)

Mao Xiaotong (31, Chinese)

Masami Nagasawa (31, Japanese)

Mini Tsai (31, Taiwanese)

Nadine Lustre (25, Filipina)

Namthip Jongrachatawiboon (36, Thai)

Natapohn Tameeruks (30, Thai)

Ni Ni (30, Chinese)

Nittha Jirayangyurn (28, Thai)

Park Bo-young (29, South Korean)

Park Shin-hye (29, South Korean)

Patcharapa Chaichua (40, Thai)

Radhika Apte (32, Indian)

Rila Fukushima (30, Japanese)

Rinko Kikuchi (38, Japanese)

Satomi Ishihara (32, Japanese

Shruti Haasan (33, Indian)

Sei Ashina (35, Japanese)

Seol In-ah (23, South Korean)

Shaina Magdayao (29, Filipina)

Shen Yue (22, Chinese)

Shin Min-a (34, South Korean)

Sonam Kapoor (33, Indian)

Shraddha Kapoor (32, Indian)

Suzu Hirose (20, Japanese)

Tao Okamoto (33, Japanese)

Tian Jing (30, Chinese)

Urassaya Sperbund (26, Thai)

Yang Mi (32, Chinese)

Yifei Liu (31, Chinese)

Yū Aoi (33, Japanese)

Yui Aragaki (30, Japanese)

Zhao Liying (31, Chinese)

Zheng Shuang (27, Chinese)

Actors

Alex Landi (26, South Korean-White)

Aaron Yan (33, Taiwanese)

Jing Boran (29, Chinese)

Bai Yu (28, Chinese)

Baron Chen (40, Taiwanese)

Barry Nadech Kugimiya (27, Thai)

Caesar Wu (22,Chinese)

Charles Melton (28, South Korean-White)

Chen Xiao (31, Chinese)

Choi Min-ho (27, South korean)

Chris Pang (34, Chinese)

Christopher Larkin (31, South Korean)

Daniel Henney (39, South Korean-White)

Darren Chen (24, Taiwanese)

Deng Lun (26, Chinese)

Dev Patel (28, Gujarati Indian)

Do Kyungsoo (26, South Korean)

Dylan Wang (20, Chinese)

Gerald Anderson (Filipino-White)

Godfrey Gao (34, Taiwanese)

Gong Yoo (39, South Korean)

Harry Shum Jr. (36, Chinese)

Haruma Miura (28, Japanese)

Henry Golding (32, Malaysian-White)

Hiro Mizushima (34, Japanese)

Huang Xiaoming (41, Chinese)

Huang Zitao (25, Chinese)

James Ma (25, Thai-Chinese)

James Reid (25, Filipino-White)

Ji Chang-wook (31, South Korean)

Jin Goo (38, South Korean)

Jirayu Tangsrisuk (25, Thai)

Jung Kyung-ho (35, South Korean)

Kanata Hongō (28, Japanese)

Kentarô Sakaguchi (27, Japanese)

Kento Yamazaki (24, Japanese)

Ki Hong Lee (32, South Korean)

Kim Ji-soo (25, South Koreran)

Kim Soo-hyun (31, South Korean)

Kim Woo-bin (29, South Korean)

Kōji Seto (30, Japanese)

Kris Wu (28, Chinese)

Lee Jong-suk (29, South Korean

Lee Min-ho (31, South Korean)

Li Yifeng (31, Chinese)

Liu Haoran (21, Chinese)

Ludi Lin (31, Chinese)

Lu Han (28, Chinese)

Mackenyu Arata (22, Japanese)

Ma Ke (29, Chinese)

Masaki Okada (29, Japanese)

Masaki Suda (26, Japanese)

Mikael Daez (31, Filipino)

Nadech Kugimiya (27, Thai)

Nam Joo-hyuk (25, South Korean)

Park Bo-gum (25, South Korean)

Park Hyung-sik (27, South Korean

Park Seo-joon (30, South Korean)

Paulo Avelino (30, Filipino)

Ranbir Kapoor (36, Indian)

Ranveer Singh (33, Indian)

Ryan Potter (23, Japanese, Ashkenazi Jewish)

Ryosuke Yamada (25, Japanese)

Sidharth Malhotra (34, Indian

Shahid Kapoor (38, Indian)

Shawn Dou (30, Chinese)

Song Seung-heon (42, South Korean)

Sota Fukushi (25, Japanese)

Steven Yeun (35, South Korean)

Takeru Satoh (20, Japanese)

Tanawat Wattanaputi (36, Thai)

Tomohisa Yamashita (33, Japanese)

Warintorn Panhakarn (33, Thai)

Wesley Wong (32, Chinese)

Wi Ha-joon (27, Korean)

Xian Lim (29, Filipino-Chinese)

Yang Yang (27,Chinese)

Yudai Chiba (30, Japanese)

Yuke Songpaisan (30, Thai)

Zhang He (34, Chinese

Zheng Yecheng (25, Chinese)

#rph #rpt #rpc #rp masterlist #fc help #i really just spent 2 hours doing this #there are so many more #but im tapping out MNXBMXN #Anonymous

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