#This Story Instance is soo cool - I love it a lot

[wilsons-journey]

Kralkatorrik

[sideblogdotjpeg]

hello unfortunately i thought even more about sol + swag as an analogy for being asian and it is . making me unwell. i am putting it under the cut for the main reason that it is stupid beyond belief

OK. so. hear me out .

STUPID REASONS WHY SOL IS ASIAN:

(and hint: this is all me projecting 100%)

1) moist frog who immediately turns off when it gets too cold. SOUTHEASTASIAN BOY AS FUCK (to me). guy who thinks thirty degrees celsius is pleasant temperature. guy who thinks that anything below 25C is sweater weather. guy who is soo sweaty and moist all the time (the humidity) and that is not only a natural state, but a preferrable state. 20 degrees is too cold. anything below 0 is actually not functional.

anyway. sol bufo. keepin it warm and gross. if its too cold and dry he immediately hibernates. king

2) idk if anyone reading this has seen shaolin soccer. but sol bufo. could clump shaolin soccer. essentially what im saying is sol bufo is like a buff asian jock. which is kinda goofy and goodnatured and loud and also very obnoxious. i cannot articulate this very well. but. what can i say except a human version of sol bufo was delivered to me in a dream and it was every buff chinese classmate ive ever met.

3) (you will notice the reasons get progressively more stupid and more deeply specific)

sol bufo would love milo. omg. like. chocolate drink in a juice box container that is branded as a sports/energy drink and also green. also the guy on the front of the packet milo. sol bufo coded. tbh

anyway. milo isnt strictly southeast asian..? but. yes it is actually.

4) the whole monk class is extremely steeped in asian 'aesthetics' anyway. i mean. ki. so whatever i can claim this monk for me thats my right

NONSTUPID BUT STILL KIND OF SILLY REASONS:

and this is also me projecting 100%. obviously all delusion. so i guess see this as a for-fun reading of the sol/swag storyline through the lens of a very specific of asianness

okay so. swag right. his journey is about leaving his home where he was comfortable and safe but also very confined. mothership lures him to ezry w the promise of opportunity & seeing the world, making something of himself. he ends up being exploited for his body and skills. and he runs away, but his blood still oils up the mothership cogs.

so anyway. i think its pretty clear how that cld map onto like . an immigrant experience? leaving home because of the need to find urself, but simultaneously, the threat of exploitation at the hands of ppl who see you as a potential profit to be mined. this is the first part

the part that is more crazy to me is his experience in irondeep. like, when he left moonstone he left his entire community. now hes alone ... and he cant go back. (he is stranded physically, emotionally). and at this low point, of true and utter loneliness and purposelessness, comes along bronzebeard industries. they offer him a job - but more importantly, they offer him connections.

like. thinking about how were introduced to swag. its not at his job, its his downtime, its when hes hanging out with his coworkers, when hes surrounded by 'friends'. w people who think hes cool, and the people who think hes a "sucker".

idk! but i think this also relates rlly strongly to a common experience of being international? like. when you know you are permenantly lost from home. what you want more than anything is to feel the same community and sense of belonging you used to have. and it is very easy for that desire to ge manipulated. (like - im just gonna mention the one specific instance that ive seen. which is like. international students on college campuses getting targeted a lot by christian groups. because they know those people are lonely and want a feeling of shared tradition and practice. anyway. this is one specific example but also this is literally what happens to lyddie and sister rosaline :-| )

anyway so in summary: swags story of hope/idealism, exploitation, and loneliness leading him to be a very good pawn. i think that is something that could potentially be read as the experiences of ppl dislocated internationally from their home. and im saying its asian because I Want To.

... and sol! okay. i think very simply: sol is super white-washed. total banana. and thats part of his character. he is a moonstone bullywug who never knew his own home, and still, has never even seen moonstone with his own eyes. he does not know his own history. (and kinda tangent, the place where he spends the majority of his life is in launchpad, a sanitized corporate version of reality. and i mean, the whole 'boy wizard and frog pal' is very clearly alluding to harry potter. like. its white.) but ignoring that, the essence of his character is like. this is a guy who does not know where he came from

and currently? a large part of his arc is about trying to unravel his identity by figuring out where (who) he came from. swag daniels is his one link to a community hes just now found out he has. that is a part of why hes trying so hard to save swag. swag is his family - specifically the parts about family you cant choose. that is hard, complicated and how you understand where the parts of yourself track back to.

like. i think a lot about how the pivotal moments of connection between swag and sol are all about swag... showing sol what moonstone is like. in a dream, he lets sol experience what that place is like. that place is a muggy swamp. idk. swag is taking sol back home. that fucks me up a lot

... anyway digression aside. i think one of the most painful things gg on rn w sols arc rn is. how its looking right now. sol is going to lose swag. sol is going to have to come to terms w losing swag. sol for the first time, yearns to know who he is and who he came from. but by the time he went looking it was too late. his time is up. that moment of connection was brief and gone. there are so many questions about their history that sol will never know now

so obviously this kind of dips a bit into metaphor at the end. swag represents connection to cultural history and heritage and identity. and in that lens, it reads to ME as a story abt being asian and disconnected from ur roots. but anyway. even without that lens i think sols story is still v much abt cultural estrangement

(i also have a very loose and unformed thought: which is that sols journey from wanting to stand out/be special to wanting to find a place of belonging. is ALSO INCREDIBLY RESONANT to the experience of being whitewashed asian... ESPECIALLY for ppl who do come from asia. and how that also relates to the tragedy of wanting to understand ur roots when its already too late. but . i dont rlly know if that is a common experience so. itll be noodling in my head for now)

anyway. my essay. and yes this is all make believe in my head . TLDR: i think swags an immigrant sols a banana and i am fucking insane thanks everyone

also if u read this all and want to know what part of this long ramble actly answers the question of why i think theyre asian. well. you know what.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

Hello! First off I wanna say I love you’re style and designs/shapes you give all the characters they’re super memorable and fit them so well.

Secondly someone might’ve asked this before but what are Astral and Dark Mist like in your college au?

HI THANK YOU!! i love exploring shapes in designs and stylizing characters so much...gives me so much joy 🥺

and actually nobody's asked about Astral and 96 in my college AU, gives me a chance to draw 'em! >:3c

Astral is Yuma's cool autistic internet friend and fairly recent transfer student, he's studious and quiet and Yuma is SOO SO EXCITED TO SHOW HIM AROUNDDDD EVERYONE CHEER AND CLAP FOR MY BESTIE RIGHT NOWWWW. i cant decide on a major for him rn but whatever it is he is an excellent student... eventually Yuma and Astral become roommates but currently Astral's staying with his host family (uh. Arven and his parents. from pokemon. dont worry about it ❤) and learning a lot. about insane American families.

Dark Mist meanwhile is, Kind of Just Some Guy. But Watch Out

isnt really related to Astral in any capacity in this AU, except for an instance of 96 committing identity fraud with Astral's credit card number and that's a fun new experience for poor Astral :,) He's just a slimy skeevy guy Vector gets into some business partnership schemes with (and kind of cant stand.) Has 35 fake IDs and 125 fake names and eventually one of his schemes goes south and he dies when his house explodes (long story) (dont worry about it 🥴)--now Vector's still in the middle of trying to unload all of Mist's illegal bullshit and it's a REAL PAIN IN THE ASS. He ditched Mist's car in the reservoir just outside of town and if you saw him do that no you didnt <3

[leekimdramas]

Revenge Of Others Review/rant

2022 dramas really be having the worst endings, right??

Chan Mi transferred from Busan to Seoul school to find out how her brother died and if he really committed suicide.

There she meets Ji Soo Heon who will not only help our female lead but will also be the main suspect in the horrible incidents that keep happening at the school.

Spoilers ahead.

I want to write that this drama was 10/10 from start to finish and it would have been if not probably the last thirty minutes of the drama.

Even before that there were things that could have been fixed to make the story’s pacing better.

But I think that it can be dismissed a little bit if the story overall is intriguing and left you in awe of how good it is.

But because of the last episode, I started to look into why it wasn’t that good.

For example, I don’t really think they made the story of having DID that great, we just fell back into the idea that it’s dangerous and we should be scared of those people.

We could see throughout the clues that there is something happening with Jae Beom and some people and I guessed what was the problem. And it would have been a cool idea if it wasn’t left for the last few minutes.

I also enjoyed the manipulation of the memories but it wasn’t done well. It happened once and it was interesting but when it happened the second time we knew not to believe it.

However. the characters fell for it again, which felt a bit stupid for us, as viewers.

So the plot lacked a bit of the tension and more explanation in one or other parts

It’s not like I hated the whole plot, it kept me interested and I wanted to know what is happening but there are things that bothered me.

The characters are decent, they might more go with emotions than logic but they’re teenagers what do you want?

I would have liked it if the police did better work in their job but it’s not a drama about them.

I think the characters weren’t expanded on much either, maybe except for Soo Heon. 

Others had backstories but they didn’t move much away from it, for instance, Chan Mi is there to find her brother’s killer and she’s emotional rather than logical most of the time. 

Which is fine, and it seems at one point that she’s changing a little bit. She’s going to take things more carefully but then goes against all the growth and goes back to the same place.

Plus she’s an athlete, and won medals, why she’s not training??? Why is nobody talking about her not doing the thing that she was transferred for??

It also happens with the villain aka Gi O Sung, they just throw out that he likes (loves) his sister, and nothing really hinted at it before??

OVERALL, I think I’m madder at the drama than I thought I am. I didn’t expect to write so much. Will you still believe me if I said I enjoyed the ride? I enjoyed the drama?

I did, but I had a lot of rant that has build up inside me.

8/10

[yhlifestory]

Week 5 : Reality TV and Digital Communities: The Fandom of Running Man

Confession time: I'm not really a reality TV person. I usually steer clear of the genre, but there's one show that has completely won me over—Running Man.

This week, I'm focusing on the connection between reality TV and social media, and one great example of this is Running Man. As a Korean variety show, Running Man has not only garnered a massive global following but has also cultivated a substantial online fanbase. The show's unique blend of humor, games, and celebrity interactions has created a dynamic online community that passionately engages with the content.

I feel like one cool thing about Running Man is how it lets fans easily connect with their favorite cast members and talk about the show online. Platforms like Twitter are buzzing with fans chatting about episodes, sharing memes, and creating fan art. These online chats help create a strong community where fans from everywhere can bond over their love for the show.

Another thing I want to talk about is Running Man's social media game is very on point. Their social media team is really smart about how they connect with fans online. They share behind-the-scenes clips, run polls, and even take ideas from fans for new episodes. (Allkpop, n.d.) For instance, on their Instagram, they chat with fans in comments and stories, which makes fans feel special and excited about the show. This smart move not only keeps fans interested but also shows that Running Man values its fans.

There is no doubt that Running Man has had a big impact on how fans connect online. Fans make a lot of content like reviews and funny videos. The show is so popular that fans from different countries have come together to translate episodes, meet up, and watch the show together. As I know, in Singapore, there's a Running Man fan club that organizes meetups and screenings. (AsiaOne, 2014) This international fan base has led to cultural exchanges and friendships that extend far beyond the digital realm. It can be seen that Running Man has really brought fans together from all over the world.

Hashtags are a big part of the Running Man fandom.

I still remember when Kwang Soo officially quit the show, my Twitter feed was flooded with his pictures and hashtags like #GoodbyeLeeKwangSoo and #3991DaysWithKwangsoo, which are also trending worldwide. Maybe I'm a big fan of Kwang Soo, so fans like me are finding it hard to accept the fact that he's really quitting.

Come back to our story, these hashtags help fans find each other and join conversations, allowing us to discuss our favorite moments and express our feelings in real-time. Social media trends, like specific challenges or catchphrases from the show, often go viral, attracting new viewers and growing the fan base.

From my point of view, the way Running Man engages its audience and encourages interaction is truly amazing. It’s fascinating to see how a TV show can bring together people from different backgrounds and countries, united by their love for the show. The digital community that has formed around Running Man shows the power of social media in creating connections and fostering a sense of belonging. Being part of such a vibrant and active fandom adds another layer of enjoyment to watching the show.

In short, Running Man shows how reality TV and digital communities are connected. The show’s ability to engage viewers and create a sense of community has led to a lively and active fandom that thrives on interaction and shared experiences.

Refrences :

Allkpop. (n.d.). ‘Running Man’ to reveal behind-the-scenes moments from their recent fan meeting. https://www.allkpop.com/article/2019/09/running-man-to-reveal-behind-the-scenes-moments-from-their-recent-fan-meeting

AsiaOne, 2014. Over 2,600 ecstatic fans attend Running Man fan meeting in Singapore. https://www.asiaone.com/entertainment/over-2600-ecstatic-fans-attend-running-man-fan-meeting-singapore

[nancywheelersgirlfriend]

Hi :) if requests are open, Steddie in which Steve try’s to put the legendary Harrington Charm on Eddie, but bc the Harrington Charm requires acting overly complimentary/kinda fake Eddie assumes Steve’s making fun of him (y’know, that type of bullying where someone’s like “oh wow is that your DND notebook? Soo cool :)” but then they go laugh at you behind your back).

Eddie gets pissed (understandably) and tells him to knock it off. Steve thinks Eddie hates him, Robin doesn’t know what to do, and finally Nancy of all people has to go to Eddie and be like. Sir, he is trying to fuck you- forgive him bc he is terrible at it. Also could end in a “all you had to do is be yourself” stupid fluffy moment :)

Even if you don’t get to this, I hope you like the concept, have a nice day :D !!

hello!! loved this request :) hope u enjoy! i love writing for the fruity four hehe

lonesome town (4,434 words)

Eddie’d seriously thought he was different. Why he’d let himself get tricked, he wasn’t sure. Maybe it was Robin’s insistence on the quality of her best friend. Or Nancy’s apparent unending forgiveness and love for a guy she’d had a fairly painful breakup with. Or Dustin’s younger brother syndrome, which made him talk his head off about the guy whenever Eddie was within six feet of him. Whichever it was, maybe a mix of the three (and an unspoken small crush on him), Eddie had deluded himself into thinking Steve Harrington wasn’t the world’s biggest douche. 

But he definitely was. ‘Cause here Eddie was, just trying to talk Robin about joining their summer campaign, when Steve suddenly leaned over the Family Video counter with a great, toothy smile on his face. Not that Eddie had seen it up close and personal before, but he recongized that smile - Steve had worn it near constantly in the hallways, padding after big-haired girls who he’d done something to upset. Why Eddie was now the subject of said fake-pitiful expression, he had no idea. But he didn’t like it. Or the shit it did to his stomach.

“Do you need something?” Eddie asked. Steve’s grin only worsened. His fingers reached out to tap at the pages Eddie had spread across the sticky purple counter - character sheets, story notes, all Robin asked to check out when he’d dropped her off the night before. Eddie held back a vicious snarl at the lack of personal space.

“I feel like I should be asking you that,” Steve replied cheekily. “What’s this? Dragons and Dungeons stuff?”

“It’s Dungeons and Dragons,” Eddie corrected, mentally steeling himself. He hadn’t gotten five seconds to take a breath before Steve Harrington, apparently, decided to go in on him for playing a so-called nerd game. As if his pseudo baby brother didn’t adore the same thing. 

“Right,” Steve said quickly, seemingly abashed. But was that pink trustworthy when it was paired with those eyes, that smile? Eddie leaned as far away from the counter as possible but Steve had him metaphorically trapped. “Anyway - what is all this stuff? Looks cool.” Eddie didn’t like the way he said the word ‘cool’. Not one fucking bit.

Steve said it in the way bullies tended to say that shit. Specifically one instance in eighth grade, when Eddie had been plotting out a campaign at lunch and Tommy H’s tiny shadow had cast its way over his table. He’d picked up a character sheet, turned his toad face to Eddie, and said: “This is so cool, Munson. Mind if I borrow it?” Eddie didn’t reply. The paper was in his hand - too late to protest now, anyway.

Except they’d also borrowed Eddie, because he ended up side-by-side with the character sheet, headfirst in the dumpster out by the teacher’s parking lot.

“Sure,” Eddie replied drily. Steve’s eyes, for a moment, flashed an ounce of surprise. Eddie fought the urge to gloat. Yeah - they weren’t in high school anymore. There were no more dumpsters he was gonna get thrown into, especially not by some peaked grad like Steve. Even if said grad was incredibly attractive. It honestly made Eddie trust him less; who can be that hot and also nice at the same time? It was physically impossible.

But the surprise was gone so fast Eddie nearly assumed he’d imagined it. The megawatt smile was back as Steve practically slobbered all over his hard work, probably just itching to rip it up or toss it in a trashcan or something equally meatheaded.

“Is this your character?” Steve asked, and if Eddie didn’t know any better he would’ve said there was some wonder in Steve’s voice. Eddie was quick to shoot out a hand and snatch the paper back from where it’d been able to enter Steve’s hand (his fingers were right on the edge). Steve’s head snapped up in confusion. It just made Eddie more infuriated. How could he be acting like this? “Alright.”

Eddie huffed, not bothering with words. He folded up the character sheet (carefully avoiding too strong of a crease) and tucked it in his back pocket, away from grabbing hands or drooling jocks. When he looked back up from where he’d been folding it, he realized with distant horror that Steve had retrieved his Player’s Handbook from the bottom of the stack and was now flipping through it.

“What are you doing with that?” Eddie asked, embarrassed he sounded so desperate. But they were expensive. And he did not need to spend his afternoon as a fully twenty-year-old man fishing some book from a dumpster.

“Reading,” Steve said. Eddie could’ve killed him.

“Like you know how to,” Eddie muttered. He could practically hear the blood rushing through his ears when Steve laughed. As if they were sharing a joke - no, worse. As if Eddie was the joke. 

“Who’s this?” Steve asked, flipping around the book and pointing at a dwarf. “He looks cute.”

“Cute?” Eddie mimicked. Steve’s face gave nothing away. His meat fingers (okay - maybe they weren’t meat, they were actually pretty nice and tan from the summer sun, but that’s beside the point) flipped to the next page. He laughed again, this time at a little drawing of a dwarf and elf next to each other.

“Did you draw these?” Steve asked. Eddie’d had enough.

“Are you a fucking idiot?” Eddie replied sharply. Steve looked up slowly from the book. Now the previous confusion soaked on his features, faltering that dumb megawhatt smile. Some irrational, unevolved part of Eddie’s brain felt guilty. The rest took pride in defeating him at his own game. Eddie lunged over the counter, grabbing the book from Steve’s hands and back into the safety of his own before anything rash could happen.

“Is there something wrong, dude?” Steve asked, puppy-dog mode fully activated. Eddie resisted the urge to slap him. Instead he quickly collected his shit, pulling it to his chest as protectively as possible - Handbook included.

“You’re a piece of shit, you know that?” Eddie snapped. “I know I’m a freak. Jesus, I really thought you were better than this. Egg on my fuckin’ face, right?” With that and a shake of his head, he was storming out of Family Video; nearly barreling over a mom and child scouring the Animated section in the process. What a fool he’d been.

*

Steve stood slackjawed at the Family Video counter, utterly stumped. What the fuck had just happened?

“Close your mouth, you’re catching flies,” Robin popped up behind him, choosing possibly the worst moment to come back from helping some old lady find Milo and Otis and join him at the counter. “Hey - where’s Ed?” Steve clamped his mouth shut and blinked. 

“He left,” Steve said after a pregnant pause, still standing around like an idiot and staring through the glass front doors where Eddie had been at mere seconds before. The van peeled out of the parking lot like it was being chased by some big, hungry animal. 

“Why?” Robin asked, following his line of sight into the now Eddie-less store. “He was gonna explain how to make a D&D character to me - I told him to wait.”

“Yeah,” Steve agreed distantly. He could feel Robin’s beady little gaze hitting the side of his face, soaked with confusion and judgement.

“What’d you do?” She asked, and he rushed to speak at the same time:

“I didn’t do anything!”

They stared each other down for a beat, two, before Steve sighed and practically collapsed onto the counter. 

“Okay, so, I think I did something,” Steve amended. Robin’s responding groan was long and dramatic. “I said I think. It was very confusing.”

“It’s a shock you’re thinking at all,” Robin mumbled under her breath, but her hand came up to rub comfortingly on his back all the same. “What happened?”

“I was just trying to, um. Do what you told me to do,” Steve rushed out in one breath. He lifted his head into his hands, if only to cover the tips of his ears (which were rushing to turn red). 

“What I told you…” Robin repeated, thinking hard. Then she gasped in understanding and suddenly her face was pressed close beside his. She was hanging over the counter the same as him with a crooked, teasing grin spilting across her face. “You were flirting with him?”

“Jesus, scream it, would you?” He snapped in reply, face now a furious red. Robin’s grin only grew.

“And your flirting made him storm out,” Robin continued. The calming hand turned into an annoying, poking finger - digging into the small of his back and making him straighten up fast. “That’s fucking hilarious. That’s so funny.”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” Steve muttered, rolling his eyes. “I have no fucking idea what I did wrong.” 

“Can I check this out?” A young boy held up a VHS copy of The Long, Long Trailer. Robin held up a hand to his face, not bothering to address him or even cast a glance in his direction. Yeah, they were probably gonna get fired.

“Give me a play-by-play,” She commanded. Steve stepped back until his spine hit the counter. He leaned up on his elbows and swallowed down his raging embarrassment.

“I tried to ask questions about, um. Dungeons and Dragons,” He said, remembering the name at the last possible second and snapping excitedly. “‘Cause he had all that shit out. I wanted him to think I was cultured and interesting.”

“Because that’s the vibe you give off,” Robin agreed. He pretended not to hear the dripping sarcasm.

“But then he was just, like, really rude to me about it, and said-” Steve cut himself off, remembering how much his stomach had dropped at Eddie’s last words. “He called me a piece of shit. Said that he ‘already knew he was a freak’ and that he thought I was different.” He looked up from where he’d been tracing the pattern on the carpet with the toe of his sneakers to see Robin with a similarly stunned expression on her face. Maybe it’d been a poor choice going to her for advice - they shared brains and IQs. What the hell was she gonna know?

“Woah,” Was all Robin said.

“Can I please check this out?” The kid waved the VHS tape in Steve’s face, who coughed himself back into the present and managed a half-assed nod. As Steve went through the normal song-and-dance of instructing the kid on the renting rules and handing over his quarter in change, Robin tapped out a little pattern on the counter. When he finally got another chance to look back at her, she looked completely stumped.

“Woah,” Robin said again.

“He hates me,” Steve lamented, hanging his head and letting his hair hang down, limp and sad, in front of his eyes. “I have no idea what I did but I must’ve done something.”

“You must’ve,” Robin agreed distantly. “But what?”

“That’s what I’m asking you!” Steve nearly shouted, voice going up a humiliating set of octaves. Robin hummed and turned back to the awaiting stack of VHS tapes, ready to be marked down.

Steve spent the next hour pretending to rewind tapes and instead drowning in self-pity. It was pretty bad, even for him. Somehow he’d managed to make Eddie hate him in a thirty second interaction. That had to be some kind of record. Maybe he’d totally misread their previous friendship - conversations through the windows of their cars while dropping the kids off, pressed shoulder-to-shoulder at some crowded Party gettogether, sharing a cigarette out on Steve’s front porch. He really thought he was getting somewhere, with somebody who understood him. 

“You know, Steve, I’m pretty sure Japan can hear you sighing at this point,” Robin spoke up from her spot on the opposite end of the store, where she was unpackaging at Highlander display to be set up at the front window. Steve just sighed again, this time a little longer and louder for her benefit. He leaned forward until his nose hit the top of the boxset and rested the side of his head against the top. It buzzed beneath him. God, he was such a fucking idiot.

“God, I’m such a fucking idiot,” He said, because he knew Robin would agree.

“Here’s my perfect idea,” She said, suddenly two inches away from him on the other side of the television and wearing that dumb grin again. Steve leapt about a foot away. He’d been jumpy ever since, uh. Between demogorgon attack 2 and 3, for sure. “You should talk to Nancy.”

“Talk to my ex-girlfriend about Eddie?” Steve repeated, making sure to put emphasis on the ‘ex-girlfriend’ part. Yeah, he loved Nance - not like that - and she loved him. Didn’t mean they were healed enough to start chatting about other romantic interests. 

“She’s, like, the smartest person I know,” Robin protested. He ignored the spaced out look in her eyes when she said that.

“No, I-” Steve waved her off, turning around to head back into the Employee’s Only kitchen. “I’m not gonna do that. I’ll just let it simmer and die, and then I’ll die.”

“You are such a drama queen,” Robin replied, rolling her eyes exaggeratedly. “If you don’t talk to Nance, then I’ll do it for you.”

“Should’ve expected it, you guys share a fucking brain at this point,” Steve got out, before he shut the door to the employee’s room and effectively disappeared to mope for the rest of his shift.

*

“What?”

Robin closed her eyes and pressed the receiver closer to her face, as if it was actually Nancy and not just Nancy’s voice coming from fifteen miles away. 

“Steve and Eddie are being idiots,” She hissed, albeit a little louder than the first time.

“That’s what I thought you said.”

“I need your help,” Robin added, waving her arm in a fast, circular motion as if Nancy could see it. Around her Family Video died a quiet death - night shifts were the worst. “I think I can hear Steve crying in the break room.” Alright, that was an exaggeration. But not a big one. He was definitely sniffling a little.

“What’d happened this time?”

“Eddie stopped by to show me the D&D basics, but fuckin’ Mrs. Westbrook caught me in her death grip and forced me to find this stupid movie about a cat, or something. By the time I got back to the counter he was peeling out of the parking lot and Steve looked like a dog that’d just gotten kicked in the fucking face,” Robin explained in a long-winded breath, her go-to way for relying information. Nancy, bless her, was unfazed. She was used to it at this point.

“Do you know any details?”

“Steve’d tried to ask him some questions about it,” Robin said, racking her breath to remember exactly what Steve’d said. See, this is why shit never got done in their friend group. Information was relayed like a game of telephone. Still she tried her best. “And apparently, as Eddie was storming out, he’d said that he’d thought Steve was different - or better than that, something along those lines.” Nancy hummed. Robin twisted the phone cord around her finger tight enough to sting, just so that she could recover a little from the low tones of Nancy’s voice. 

“I think I know what happened,” Nancy finally said. Robin could practically hear her connecting red-yarn dots in her mind and it made her want to scream into her shirt. Instead she grinned excitedly and took a deep breath.

“Thank God, I have no clue,” Robin admitted with a little, bashful laugh.

“I’ll stop by Ed’s tomorrow,” Nancy offered. “I’ll fix it, don’t worry.”

“Steve and I have work here tomorrow,” Robin reminded her. “In case he has to do some sort of grand, romantic confession.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it. Night, Robin.”

“Goodnight, Nance,” Robin rushed out in an embarrassing whisper/whimper. As Nancy clicked the receiver back into its holder and the line went dead, she grimaced for herself. First step: get Steve to stop making an utter fool out of himself. And then, maybe he when figured that out, he could help her figure it out too.

*

Eddie woke up from his hate-fueled nap passed out on the motel couch by a rapping at his front door. Groggily he squinted in the vague direction of the alarm clock - it blinked a dull two. Two in the morning? The afternoon? He had no clue. Judging by the sunlight peeking through the blinds, he guessed it was the latter.

“I’m asleep,” He called out, voice faltering from his exhaustion. 

“Eddie, get your ass out here,” Nancy Wheeler said on the other side. And damn - she was the one in charge. Who was he not to listen to her?

She stood outside the door and waited, tapping her flat-covered foot onto the broken pavement and listening to him practically tear apart the motel room in search for a relatively clean pair of jeans. When the jeans were finally located, Eddie opened the door thankfully clothed and face excited to see her.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Lady Wheeler?” He greeted, leaning on the doorway with his permanently leather-jacketed arm (despite it being in the mid-80s). Nancy couldn’t help but smile a little at his dorky way of talking but she tried to roll her eyes to cover it up.

“I heard you and Steve got into a little fight yesterday,” Nancy said. Eddie’s arm immediately fell from the doorway as he let out a loud groan, stepping back into the motel room. Nancy took that as silent invitation to let herself in, plopping herself down on the bed closest to the door.

“Did he send you to apologize for him?” Eddie asked incredously, back now turned to her and face resolute in the shitty motel mirror. Nancy shrugged.

“Kind of?” Nancy replied, voice tilting in a question. “Robin sent me to apologize on his behalf because currently he’s crying. Or, I think so. She was unclear on that part.”

“He’s crying?” Eddie asked, laughing in shock.

“Whatever happened really got under his skin,” Nancy allowed. “Again, whether or not he was crying - I have no idea.”

“He’s crying,” Eddie decided. Nancy let him, watching with fond eyes as he began to pace back and forth in front of her. “Do you know what happened?”

“I know what Robin knows about what happened.” 

“God, you guys are annoying,” He rolled his eyes. “Steve was making fun of me. I shouldn’t be expected to put up with that.”

“Making fun of you?” Nancy repeated. And then she was laughing, practically bending over at the waist from the force of her giggles. Eddie stopped in his tracks, confusion splattered across his face. When she came back up, rubbing at her mouth and desperately trying to stop herself from completely collapsing, he could see tears in her eyes.

“Are you okay?” He asked out of genuine concern.

“You both are complete idiots,” Nancy said, having pulled herself together. Her face was stern again, as it tended to be. “He wasn’t making fun of you. He was flirting with you.” Eddie’s jaw made a thudding noise when it felt to the ground. Nancy looked severely unimpressed.

“Are you kidding?” Eddie asked, holding up a hand in front of him protectively.

“Why on earth would I be?” Nancy retorted. He had no proper answer. “Steve’s an idiot. He doesn’t know how to flirt like an actual human being and not like an ape, so he did what he knew best.” Eddie paused, rethinking that conversation from the day before. 

Steve’s pearly-white grin. His sudden interest in a game he’d been teasing Dustin about for years. His overennuciation and enthusiasm for the conversation. It hit like a freight train.

Eddie crashed onto the bed, nearly knocking Nancy over from the force of his tumble. He fell back onto the mattress, staring up at the popcorn ceiling and letting his brain spin around like a record.

“And you’re not kidding?” Eddie asked again, just to make sure.

“Ask him yourself,” Nancy offered. He looked up, chin to chest, to see her wiggling her car keys out to her side like a red cape to a bull. She knew him too well.

*

The off-pitch bell attached to the front door of the Family Video jingled but Steve didn’t look up from where he’d slumped himself halfway over the counter. Robin was staring, open-mouthed, at whatever morning movie she’d put on the boxset - completely out of it. It was hard to blame her - who was coming in to rent a movie at two on a Wednesday?

“Shit, Steve,” Robin gasped, finally having glanced up. She slapped at his back once, twice for good measure. He stood up and glared at her, rubbing at his sweater.

“Welcome to Family Video, how-” He cut himself off, utterly stunned to see Eddie meeting his eye. Slightly less surprised to see Nancy behind him, watching the interaction with bated breath. “Uh, hey. Ed. Hey.”

“Hi,” Eddie said, and this was the most awkward conversation Steve’d ever had. “Um. Can we talk?”

“Away from this crowd? Good idea,” Steve joked, gesturing to the empty store. Eddie’s lips twitched before he was walking to the opposite end of the counter, back towards the door to the Employee’s Only room. Steve followed dutifully because he was learning he’d follow Eddie anywhere. Though the girls were silent, he knew they were communicating telepathically behind them.

“Look, uh,” Eddie began, a nervous twinge to his voice. He picked at his pointer fingernail absently. “Nancy told me something this morning that, um. Maybe makes me feel a little bad for the way I acted yesterday.”

“No, wait-” Steve held out a hand. Clearly the sharp movement took Eddie by surprise, because he was looking up from his nail and back into Steve’s eyes and - wow. Steve nearly forgot what he was going to say. “I should be the one apologizing. I made you really, really upset, Ed. I’m sorry.”

“You-” Eddie snorted, shaking his head. “God. You’re so perfect it makes me sick.”

“Sorry?” Steve said. He knew he had to be blushing like a fool.

“You don’t have to apologize,” Eddie finished his previous sentence. “I misread the conversation.”

“Yeah, but clearly I also did something,” Steve protested. “Just because I don’t know what I did doesn’t mean I didn’t do something wrong. So: I’m sorry.”

“You’re both sorry, get on with it!” Robin called out from behind them. At Steve’s bristled glare, she deflated a little and sent him an encouraging thumbs-up.

“Sorry about the peanut gallery,” Steve muttered as he returned to Eddie.

“Nancy told me that you weren’t making fun of me,” Eddie restarted his previous speech, but Steve held up another hand to stop him.

“You thought I was making fun of you?” Steve repeated. His big puppy-dog eyes looked so utterly pitiful and sad. “Jesus, Eddie, I - no wonder you reacted the way you did.”

“Your old pal Tommy H pulled the same trick on me in middle school,” Eddie explained hesitantly. “It’s, like, the oldest trick in the Book of Asshole. You pretend to be interested to earn their trust or make fun of them behind their back.”

“Ed, I’d never do that to you,” Steve promised. His face was open and genuine. “I swear. I’d never dream of it.”

“Yeah, well, I’m getting that now,” Eddie agreed under his breath, an embarrassed blush spreading across his face and down his neck. “But I didn’t yesterday. Now I get what you were trying to do.” Steve’s mouth dropped open a little. It was his turn to blush, bright and red and mortified.

“Um. What I was trying to do?” Steve squeaked. Eddie’s lips quirked up just slightly. He supposed that was the proof he needed.

“That you were trying to flirt with me,” Eddie explained, as if it were obvious. Steve blinked his wide, gaping eyes. He swallowed tightly.

“Right,” Steve agreed. “Um. And you’re cool with that?” Eddie snorted again and wiped a hand down his face, unable to fully tamper down his grin.

“Steve Harrington, you are complete and utter doofus,” Eddie informed him. “And you are incapable of reading social cues, apparently.” Steve squinted his eyes playfully.

“I’m sensing a but in there,” He said gleefully. He couldn’t stop the corresponding butterflies at seeing Eddie’s full grin, all crooked teeth and perfect lips. “I’m hoping there’s a but in there.”

“Mine or yours?” Eddie asked. Steve watched as his eyes dropped to Steve’s lips. “You’re lucky my type is absolute dumbasses.”

“I am very lucky,” Steve agreed. He threw one last passive glance around the store but his hand was already reaching out to yank on Eddie’s shirt collar and pull him in. Their lips collided and it tasted like salt. Like harsh cologne. Eddie’s arms wound their way around Steve’s neck fast, fingers pulling apart his styled hair.

“Stop making out on the clock,” Robin shouted from her snooping place on the opposite end of the counter. Steve felt something harsh hit the side of his head. He grimaced and pulled reluctantly away from a pinked Eddie, who was grinning like a fool.

“Did you throw a VHS at me?” Steve asked, glancing down at the floor to check the offending title - This is Spinal Tap. “See if I ever do anything for you again.”

“You could’ve given him another concussion,” Eddie added. “His punch card’s nearly full at this point, you don’t wanna give him another one.”

“Why did we work so hard to get you two together, again?” Nancy asked from her place beside Robin, leaning on her fist and smirking obnoxiously. She and Robin high-fived. Steve shook his head and rolled his eyes, returning his gaze to Eddie.

“So, you uh. You looking to check out anything?” Steve asked. Eddie’s gaze raked along his body as if Steve was some Michangelo statue. He bit his lip, but the bright smile broke through anyway

“Yeah, I am,” Eddie admitted, pleased to see Steve’s bashful reaction. “But, real talk: Are you seriously interested in learning about Dungeons & Dragons?”

“I like the funky little drawings,” Steve admitted. But it was mainly just to see Eddie’s grin again. And, as Eddie pulled out his books and papers and all that shit, so that he could practice his flirting skills a little more. Clearly they needed a little work.

[endless-brainrot]

tsukasa tenma is the leader of the group wonderlands×showtime from project sekai and he has a sister named saki tenma. saki was really sick as a child(e) but one day she and her family went to a live show and saki was really happy!!! and tsukasa is the best big brother ever so he decided to become someone like that so he could make his sister smile again. but they were pretty young back then so tsukasa forgot his original intentions later on :( he thought he wanted to be a star just so people would pay attention to him. but miku and kaito helped him remember so everything was okay! except it kind of wasn't! because tsukasa got mad at the group member nene because she accidentally messed up their first performance. but tsukasa felt reaaally bad so he went to see miku and kaito. when he got there he saw a plushie crying because the plushies in that world are sentient. and he did his lil dance which was very cute by the way i love it a lot! but the plushie only cried more so tsukasa did the thing another member of the group, emu otori, sometimes does. which was also very cute i love him he was blushing and it was adorable i want him to be real!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that's when he remembered he wanted to be a star so he could make his sister smile. he went to go and find all the troupe members did you know that the group is called a troupe? because i did but i totally forgot! and he started with finding emu first. and i could tell you emu's backstory but i am talking about tsukasa. he convinced emu to go find the others with him and they found nene who also felt very awful!!! i feel bad for her. anyway that's all of the wonderlands×showtime story i've unlocked so far so i will talk about how nice he is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm using a lot of exclamation msaks because i love him soo much what the hell has ren gotten me into oh dear!!!!!! tsukasa is very nice and kind and the bestest person ever <3 does soo much for his sister like one of the recent events showed!!! one time when they were kids saki was in the hospital and it was a doll festival thing so saki wanted to see the dolls but she couldn't :( tsukasa saw she was sad so he ran home and brought two of the dolls for her which made her really happy!!!! but saki was mainly happy that tsukasa came for her because he injured himself a bunch while he was bringing the dolls to her ugh he's so sweet i absolutely love him to death. he's also a very good senpai because he doesn't let his friends eat alone when they feel lonely and he will buy his kouhais lunch because he's such a good senpai. granted that one instance was where someone was flattering him into it. but! he said "compliments won't get you anywhere with me" and he still bought lunch for them because he's just like that. and also he gets blankets for luka a lot! like when she falls alseep randomly he'll get her a blanket he's so <3 and sometimes when luka is rolling on the grass he'll get a blanket for her because he doesn't believe that the grass isn't itchy. uuughhh he's too good for anyone ever. he's also really silly and funny!!! he makes weird noises and he's really loud and it's so funny i feel sorry for his voice actor. and he's also constantly on the verge of death because rui likes making him jump really high and striking him with lightning and setting him on fire maybe. and also getting a dragon to eat him but they didn't have a dragon :( sad. but he still pulls off all the stunts because he's just that cool!!! he also reminds me of alba just a little bit because of how he acts like a tsukkomi when emu and rui do something weird which is very often why are they so chaotic. anyways that's all i have to say i'm running out of space and i need to finish drawing tsukasa so thank you for listening to my ted talk goodbye

[quokki]

Hello I'm too nervous come off Anon which means I can't send pictures, but I wanna talk Abt my bias fhdjdjjd well actually I wanna rant Abt my beloved bias wrecker minho

Minhos so. Insanely talented and I just, I don't gush about him enough for how much I adore him and like fhhxbfjcjd he's so talented and pretty and amazing and I just love him

I think my favorite thing about him is how straight forward he is, like he doesn't fuck around and like he speaks his mind and I think that's just so cool of him I dunno, I think it's fun too seeing him with his straight forward personality and the others who just always tease and mess with him and then he just like. Looks at them and they're like oh ok time to big someone else hdjdjdjd. He just. He's so good. I love him

I think I love him and his like. His relationship with seungmin is so fun. Like they're the divorced couple but like it's so fun to see how much they bicker but you can still clearly see how much they care for each other and it's just so precious. I wish I saw more about them bc they're just. Their chemistry is so good and funny and there's never a full moment between them and I think they respect each other a lot idk it's just great I love them

I also just. I adore him and chan bc they like. It's so cute when chan like. Pampers and coddles him teasingly and Minho acts like he hates it even tho you can see him enjoying the attention, I think my favorite instance I can think of off the top of my head is their 2 kids room, where channie just has this shit eating grin as he teases Minho and Minho glares at him so halfheartedly it's just so fun, I think that Minho appreciates it and I think they just take care of each other so well

Oh god another thing like, I recently got minhos bbl and it just warms my heart how he just sends like a few check in messages a day, I always look forward to him telling me to eat breakfast at like. 11 pm my time, and him telling me to sleep when I wake up, like it's just so sweet seeing him just do these little reminders every day, and when we get a story it's nice but I think it shows just how warm and caring he is that he does that like every day, he sends little reminders and I can just imagine him doing the same with the members and like I dunno it's just so sweet I love him dearly

And then like my other favorite relationship he has is with my lovely boss hannie, they're so loving and caring and just. There's so so many pages I could write Abt them but I just think it's so nice to see how close they are and comfortable they are with each other ? And I think that uh I think I saw somewhere that Minho was the only member han never really picked fights with, and that's just. Idk I think they must have a really close bond and I wish I had a friendship like theirs chxjdjfjsj.

Ok I should stop now this is too much- thank you, this is fun, you're really cool and I hope you have a good day !!!!

it's okay!!!! you've done so much for this ask already 💕 i'm happy to give u pics instead

all these lino letters i've gotten are really getting to me lmao you guys are so cute about him

he really is so amusing to watch isn't he?

the divorced couple lmao i love that and the chan thing is so cute chan is so adorable pls

awww the bbl thing with the reminders and check ins sounds so sweet honestly, it's like you said, like makes it feel like he cares and thats so nice 🥰🥰

ok minsung yes ofc but omg this is the second time i hear about han fighting with everyone and i'm just?? i need to know more lmaooo i'm sorry i know this is lino focus time SFRHGWDACQAHG

this is soo fun and nice for me to read your letters so i'm happy you enjoy sending them cuz i LOVE getting them!!!

thank you 💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘

here's some linos for you 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

send me a love letter about your bias 💌💌💌

[xuyaa]

Age gaps

Ahh... I dread this but I'll speak anyway. I keep seeing people have a problem with big age gap couple in fandom. Now before your nostrils all fluff up let me say this, if you can't have an open mind or too fragile for my input please take your leave. This would be wasted on you.

About age gap on fandoms couple (canon or crack) I personally have no problem as long as both parties consent (without child grooming or forced relationship aspect) and considered legal at the start of their relationship and the legality here is not referring to our modern standard but on the couple's world and time. I'll try to explain but it might get long and boring but if you're still okay, continue.

I'll give an example, during the age of samurai if the situation permits like Uesugi Kenshin they can join battle at age 13 and there are still other examples of other famous child samurai. We call it child now because time change but during that time they were considered an adult once they enter battlefield. Why? They already trained years prior to kill and to protect their lord. Example of this in anime would be Himura Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin. His first marriage was when he's around 16 and that was an acceptable age at that era since he was considered adult at age 14. So even though I find it icky if modern day teenager marry at that age, I can understand Kenshin's situation. If I'm still okay reading about him killing people around at even younger age I'm not gonna complain about him wanting to marry (although it's not that simple white and black for him).

You get what I'm trying to say?

More example of the acceptable norms in past era. During certain era in certain place like for example Victorian England and prior, 14 year old boys and 12 year old girls are passable for marriage depends on whether the family want it or not as it's more political than anything else. Same in China for example during the Manchurian Dynasty 14 year old girl is considered adult enough for marriage. And usually the age of the husband is always older by few years up to few decades (officials and emperor). But of course over time all of the above would change. Not by much maybe? Depend on the country I say.

Still we can't just hold the old days custom and norms on our modern day standard that would be akin to the present you calling your two or three year-old self a moron for defecating and not wiping your own ass. Or like when you do something stupid at your young age (pick whatever stupid situation that you have take as a lesson. Done?). You just didn't know better back then but now you do and from your failure you learn, although it would be better if you learn from other's lesson but I say pain is an effective lesson for oneself. Would you rather have that memories of your lesson be removed or ignored? I wouldn't. I don't know if I might do the stupid thing again just to find out whether I can or not. Same as this this whole age gap, young age marriage in the past and present in some customs thing. Don't erase the fact, don't gloss it over because people have and can still learn from them. My grandma married at young age and I came to be as the result of her choice.

Have you ever seen high schooler called Robert D Jr handsome? I've seen it recently on youtube. They call him very handsome and another video talked about cool and handsome senior male models. I've scrolled through the comments and no one seems offended that these high school girls simping for male old enough to be their granddad. These girls called them daddy and commenting how hot they are and the comments either agree or saying the girls reactions are cute. Huh... reverse the situation if these old models commenting female korean idol for example and calling them cute or hot what would people think? "creepy" "pedobear" even though senior female might think the same lines, heck maybe even we think the same lines. See the double standard people use? Maybe not everyone, but the loud ones are there. They're so loud I don't even know if they're majority or minority. I have celebrity crush too when I was young and as it happen, he's my father's age and to be frank, I would not mind an older partner if said partner is compatible and emotionaly mature. My sister is 17 years younger than her husband and they turn out well because her husband is matured enough to understand her ups and downs emotion back when they're dating, even before. Are all men mature emotionally as they became older then? No, just as not all oranges is sweet. My sister is 10 years my senior but she's more bratty than I am sometimes. Is it wrong of my bro in law to be with my sis?

Oh you're just trying to defend pedophilia anywayヽ(`Д´)ﾉ.

No stupid, I'm trying to make you think. I don't accept pedophilia, shotacon or lolicon. My sis is old enough to be called spinster when they go out. Anyway, when you follow a certain series, try to see it from their era and custom's perspective. Some era is okay with 16 year old marrying. Some tribes in Asia allow marriage between cousins while others and the majority of the world frown upon them. That's just how they see and do things. For me as long as both side consent without pressure and not in the case of 'parents sending their child for marriage without their input' thing I'm okay to leave that alone, I'm pretty much sure we're on the same page there. I hope.

So, just as when you come to another country, you adhere to their rules and norms or you have no right to complain if they deport you out for not learning beforehand and breaking their rules. Or when you have a guest come to your home and they suddenly start demanding you to do stuff their way, you should kick them out if not slapping their face. Or if you want to be kind, explain how you do things in your home and hoping they would understand and respect it.

I'm jumping around but see what I'm trying to say? I'll get to another anime example.

In Naruto for instance, they became genin at 12 and killing people left and right. People are okay with that right? Yeah well, since it was soo popular I suppose... besides it's pretty glossed over in both manga and anime. But the same people that's okay with children killing left and right, would they be okay if suddenly the mangaka put in story about one of the chara going on seduction mission? If it's carried out well as in the chara being bamf, maybe no problem. But if things went south for the chara? I'm sure there will be outrage, especially if that's a female chara or worse if it's one of the main like Sakura. See? People hold the characters, the series and the mangaka to their own convenient double standards. Back to the age gap when shipping, I pick Naruto as example because apparently Sakura was just so shippable that people actually ship her with Kakashi and even Madara and she makes easy example. Don't ask me why she's shipped with Madara and I don't ship any of the two with Sakura. Anyway, if Sakura is mature enough to choose to kill as a teenager (and don't give me crap about Sakura never killing on screen. Their line of work involves lots of death and she's been through war) she's mature enough to decide her romantic partner even if it's suddenly Orochimaru(ㆆ_ㆆ) (did they even exist?). You can say her taste is terrible because he's an asshole but don't say it's gross cause the age difference because apparently Orochimaru can just rejuvenated to new body and be as good as a babe (I wish I could too). Anyway saying it's about age on these kind of chara is just straight up lie on people's part. Another example I can think of atm is snk. I've seen people against pairing the 104th with the veterans because of age gap. Now I'm not trying to be rude, but hear me if you please. The whole 104th are trained child soldiers and they're killing titans and even humans. You're all okay with that? If you still follow the series far enough and liking it maybe you enjoy seeing the action sequence, drama and intrigue? The fact that you still come back to the series after this long proves that you're still okay with all the gores and blood spilled with all the glorious child soldier most of all. They become soldier because of circumstances you say? I'm glad you think so too! Although I must point out, the 104th did CHOOSE to be soldiers (just as Naruto and co choose to be ninja). They could be farmers or thugs for all we know. All the soldiers in snk choose their occupation, thay all trained and decide to join the Survey Corps, in fact the only one that join reluctantly in the first place is the former thug although he continues in the end. That aside, their circumstances certainly are different than us don't they? They don't even know a car and blip exist before Marley... They must have a whole lot of different mindset and norms than ours too for a civilization whose life are about survival against titans that's 100 years behind than other civilization in their world. Ever think of that?

Seeing modern day teenage in romantic lights are indeed hard as I'm sure the majority can't even survive without their gadget and parents' money. I certainly can't at that age. Immature. Even those in their twenties and thirties are immature these days. But now when one of those child soldier who have a whole lot of different mindset and maturity level is being shipped with older chara, you're against it. Okay. Maybe it's indeed easier for you to see 15 year olds regardless of their profession to commit act of violence and even kill than to love... (does that sounds okay to you?)

...I'm not saying killing mindlessly is alright because it is NOT. But that would need a whole lot different threads and time to spare and maybe someone else can do it or already done it before me.

But here's the good thing, even when the ship starts when they grow and at the modern legal age of 18 and 19, or even far above like centuries, it's still not okay for some people to ship them. I don't mind if it's your preference and you don't go disturbing other's corner when they don't even enforce their ship as words of god and even acknowledging that 'yes, maybe it's not canon and just our bits of fun' but sometimes it got to the point of belittling those who do ship age gap couple and treat them like a criminal in need of help or wishing them death. Seriously? Yes. People are that immature.

If you don't like a ship because you think your own is better, fine. Do your thing in your corner but don't go to other people's corner just to talk shit without even knowing why they ship what they ship. Most of this ship is just in our head in the end, and even if your ship is canon it does not make you any greater in real life.

I can't think of anything else to say now, but thanks for reading with open mind. ◝(⑅•ᴗ•⑅)◜..°♡

Now before anyone waste their time typing out comments, I refer to my first paragraph. Here's some imaginary flower for you all🌷

Apparently I'm not clear enough so I fix my wording. I'm here not defending minor and old people relationship but age gap couple who happen to be aged up to acceptable age despite their profession. Here's some choco🍫

[importantwagonpursemonger]

Itaewon Class: PSRY+ JYS OTP

Hi everyone!! I recently finished watching Itaewon Class series on Netflix. Loved it. So after finishing the series I went through social media for its reviews & reactions & came to know that many people did not like PSRY & JYS pairing. Many people were shipping PSRY & OSA. I totally loved PSRY-JYS pairing. Here are my thoughts about the so called love triangle.

For me PSRY & OSA pairing was dead in the water in epi 2 itself. They had cute moments in epi 1 but after the accident of PSRY father, this relationship also died romantically at least. OSA was not under any pressure to accept help from Jangga Co. Mr. Park had already paid for her college tuition. I know other expenses are there but her initial plan might have anyways been working part time to pay for her expenses. Chairman Jang did not pressurise her in anyway for accepting scholarship or job at Jangga Co. She was no threat to him at any point in the show. But she still accepted it & led a comfortable life working at Jangga even after she knew how they had killed Mr. Park & how PSRY had to go to jail because of them. His entire life was ruined by that family. She still continued to work for them. Life gave her many chances to become a part of PSRY's life as a romantic partner. But she never took that risk. She was content thinking that PSRY continued to “ like” her even though she was actively working with his father’s murderers

I never thought that PSRY was in love with OSA at any point in the story. He had a first crush on her & after he lost his father, he designated OSA as his first love & kept her in that box. She represented hope of a better future for him after he avenges his father. But he was so indifferent to her. He was so emotionally removed from her that her actions against him didn’t even evoke a strong response in him. Being a good person is all well & good, but he showed more passion in his dislike for the Jang family than he ever showed in his so called love for OSA. He mentions that he likes her a few times in the series but never actively pursues her. He never even discusses his personal issues & emotions with her. What she knew about him was what had happened in the earlier part of their acquaintance. Their relationship was stagnant after that. Their relationship dynamics never changed. So I never really bought into his love for OSA. So this leg of the love triangle never had any growth after the initial foundation & remained at the same state.

JYS came into PSRY's life like a storm- all thundering & extreme. She was a functioning high intelligence girl with sociopathic tendencies. She could never empathetic or sympathetic towards others. She reminded me a lot about BBC Sherlock who was also a high functioning intelligent human with no empathy & sympathy. He also said whatever he deduced about a person without thinking about their feelings. JYS is the same. She uses her intelligence to be an influencer & earns a living for herself while still being in school. She is aware of her own genius as well as faults & it never mattered to her how her truth bombs hurt another person. Her 1st interaction with PSRY didn’t leave an impression on her. But her 2nd interaction with him at the police station where she saw him lose his cool against the police & Jang Guen Won left an impression. She became intrigued by him. Then later on the more she spent time with him the more she liked him & fell in love with him. After knowing about his past & goals, she actively started working with him to achieve his goals. She did not expect anything in return from him. She was in love with him & wanted to do everything in her power to bring him success. Even after he rejected her love for him, she didn’t flounce off in hurt & rage. She continued working besides him & still showed her affections to him. She made him feel loved even if didn’t reciprocate her feelings.

JYS antis complain that she was transphobic, racist & a stalker. I do not believe the show depicted her actions in such a light. It is just that they have misinterpreted what was shown onscreen.

Transphobic- She did not care about Hyun Hi’s sexuality personally. But let’s look at the sequence of events for her advise for firing Hyun Hi. Hyun Hi was not making food as per the standards expected from her. JYS recognised this as an issue for DanBam's growth. She made her opinion about this clear to Hyun hi as well. On top of that she discovered Hyun Hi was a transgender. She personally had no issue with it one way or another but it would affect the business if the patrons had come to know because her cooking was not the reason people were coming to the pub. If she was a great cook, then it wouldn’t affect that she was a transgender. But because it was not, her being a transgender was another negative point for the pub’s success. That is why her natural conclusion was to fire Hyun Hi. Also the point that she asked Hyun Hi that why did she not go to a transgender club instead of the normal one was because Hyun Hi herself confidently came out & said she was a transgender. She didn’t try to hide it. So JYS made this catty remark to her not because she was transphobic. She did not show any discrimination against her. So I don’t know where people got the idea that she was transphobic.

Racist- Kim Toni did not look like a Korean from his appearance. He genuinely looked like an African national. His nationality was also from Guinea. Though his father was Korean, Kim Toni was not automatically registered as Korean citizen since he was born in Guinea. His citizenship was not Korean even though biologically he was Korean. Hence when the club security refused to let him enter the club, racially discriminating against him, JYS suggested going to another club instead of fighting with the racist establishment because they could not prove that he was Korean national. She was not being racist. If she was racist, she wouldn’t have hired him at DanBam in the first place itself. So this racist moniker for her is untrue.

Stalkery/Creepy/ Pushy love for PSRY- JYS has a very selfish personality when it comes to her loved ones. Since she does not emotionally connect to people in general, the people with whom she does connect are very important to her. She decided to quit going to university to work besides PSRY because she liked him. She vowed to herself to help him succeed in his life. She believed that she could bring both success & love in his life. She got jealous of OSA as she was introduced to her as love interest of PSRY. But she also knows that they are not together in a relationship. So why should she give up her love for a love relationship that is not even realised. She did not put any obstacles or did not do any scheming against them. She just loved him. She was pushy with him because like a normal person who has a crush on a person she also wanted to know more about him. After learning his past she cried for all the pain he has suffered & worked with him actively to bring down Jangga Co. She got rejected by him but she didn’t turn vengeful against him. She continued to love him & express her love to him constantly so that he knows that he is loved. Some people interpreted this as sexual harassment. I seriously don’t understand this pov as she herself has told PSRY many times that if he is so bothered by her love , he can ask her to leave anytime. She would have seriously left him alone if he had asked her seriously. So I don’t know why people make this an issue against her.

PSRY was not a kid. He was a grown intelligent adult who though idealistic was not weak or a pushover. He was quite ruthless at many points in the story- his insistence that detective should turn himself in so that his father’s accident case be investigated even if it caused his daughter hurt was one such instance. Him pointing out to Director Kang that only she had truly lost everything when their plan to dismiss Chairman Jang from the office was another. He continued with his plan to take down Chairman Jang even though he knew that JGS whom he considered as a brother was not onboard with it. His refusal to give up his revenge plan when OSA pleaded with him to do so. Other instances are also their. If he believed that someone has harmed him or his people he was ready to take action against them. He was even ready to fire JYS when she asked him to fire Jang Guen Soo so that they can stay in the same location & this was at a point in his life when he actually needed her intelligence & expertise to succeed. So if he had such an issue against JYS expressing her love to him even after his refusal, he could have done it since he was already in a successful position in his business life. He had no reason to tolerate her so called harassment. But he didn’t because he didn’t actually mind it even if he said so. He subconsciously liked it. The last person who had expressed love for him was his dad. After his death his life was utterly devoid of love & happiness. It was bitter. He was craving for love & sweetness in his life. That is why he even named his pub as DanBam which he had revealed to JYS in their 3rd meeting itself. He was always connected to her on an emotional level since his outburst at the police station. He instinctively trusted her. Though people saw JYS constantly pushing him to open about himself as some pushy obsessive move by her, PSRY opened up to her on his own. If he did not want to be open with her, he would have refused her. Also he had expectations from her that when she made a mistake he scolded her openly. With others he was cool & calm but with her he was all fire when he asked her to leave after she advised him to fires Jang Guen Soo. Even OSA noticed that he was emotional in his interactions with JYS. She had not seen such passion from him in her own interactions even after almost a decade.

I honestly think he was also very selfish when it came to JYS. He had come to know from JGS that she was working at the pub after ditching going to university but he still didn’t advise her against it. He said to her because he needs her for his business but I think he also needed her in his life emotionally. It did matter to him that she not leave him. When JGW had come to their pub to make a job offer to JYS & Seung koi had expressed his worry about it, the camera had panned to PSRY who was drying the dishes. For a moment his hands had stopped but then he once again resumed. He was definitely worried on a personal level about her leaving. When he had seen her being manhandled by JGW, he had punched him & worried more about her injuries than what she was saying. He was about to pummel JGW but stopped at her one command. Though he was affectionate with his people but I think he was extra affectionate with JYS. He used to praise her extensively if she did some good work, users to pat her hair, even allowed her to use his shoulder to sleep in the bus, side hugged her occasionally. He had immense trust in her that is why he went ahead with the investor plan even if he wanted to initially open other pub’s one by one. I think the audience had come to know enough about him by that time that he always did what he wanted to in his own time without paying heed to another person’s advise. Once he had made his decision he stuck to it. But he changed his decision for her. Even when it was proven to be a wrong decision later on, he didn’t allow JYS to accept the entire blame. He in fact brought her fully into his revenge club after they were able to handle the investor crisis.

PSRY was subconsciously close to her but passed off his gestures with her as those of a brother or business partner. He was oblivious not only to her feelings towards him but of his own self as well. So when she confessed her love for him he was blindsided. He did not go after her himself when in any other case he might have. He went after urging from Hyun Hi. He tried giving her explanation for his refusal- age, business, his so called love OSA, even JGS love for her. But she cut to the chase & asked him point blank whether he even sees a possibility that he might ever reciprocate her feelings, he tells her No & asks her not to like him. Up until that time he consciously never thought of her in romantic light. He had boxed OSA as his true love but was not in a relationship with her. He planned that he would be with her after avenging his father & JYS would be with JGS like a neat package. But this incident shook his dreams foundation. He became aware of JYS in a romantic light. He stopped his affectionate gestures like patting her hair. But you could clearly see a different kind of warmth in his gaze for her.

He continued his denial & worked hard to achieve his goals. He allowed JYS to be by his side even though he could have asked her to quit since he said he didn’t like her expressing her love for him. But he was never going to. He has always been selfish with regards to her even though he was selfless with others. He was just denying his feelings for her after 4-6 years of working together because he truly didn’t think that she would ever be lost to him. Even JGS sarcastically pointed out to him that why was he being selfish & not allowing her to leave him because his business needs her. Even when he knows that his denial hurts her. He was coming to realisation of his feelings for her slowly. That is why he couldn’t get angry at her & ask her to leave, couldn’t give a straight answer when OSA asked him whether he still liked her. Also please note that he knows her drawer password but she also knows his computer password when she was shopping from his computer. Their relationship has developed from strength to strength in the duration since they work together but his relationship with OSA was not only stagnant but actually more distanced after so many years. No wonder he realised his feelings for her when the answer to every love test question was her. So though his realisation was abrupt it was not unanticipated.

Also it was not like he had only JYS & OSA as romantic options. He was a good looking, fit, intelligent & rich businessman. He wouldn’t have any shortage of women if he wanted to date. But he had no desire to do so because he was already emotionally involved with JYS & busy in his revenge plans. But then he had no problem in going down on his knees in front of Chairman Jang when JYS's life was on the line.

The show could have delayed or scrapped the kidnapping plot but it is what it is. But when he talked to his father in limbo he realised that though his life has been a burden, full of hardships but he still wants to live it because JYS makes it worth it for him. He wanted sweetness in his life but he had not realised that she had already dissolved sweetness in his life by loving him through all the obstacles.

So therefore they are my OTP of the show & I was happy that they got their happy ending together.

Now if the OSA fans are going to defend her by saying that oh she was working on her own plan for taking down Jangga then I would say it was too little too late. By the time she did anything against him PSRY did not consider Chairman Jang as a worthy opponent & he would still be facing criminal charges for hiding his criminal son who had abducted JYS & JGS. It was anyways not going to be swept under the rug. So yes, she did help in bringing down Chairman Jang but her revenge also came from a selfish place. She knew that PSRY had dedicated his life to avenge his father’s death & his goal was also same as hers. Still she continued working alone in her own revenge. Where she could have worked together with him, she worked alone when there was no need. I don’t even know if she would have actually resigned in the 1st place if Chairman Jang had not told her how he saw her as a despicable person not even worth as a human to him. He had tamed her like the livestock that he saw her as. I think only after that she made the decision to be a whistle blower. God knows how long she would have wallowed in her own self pity, thinking of herself as a martyr had that conversation & the kidnapping incident not happened. So though I am happy that she got her own revenge & freed herself from Jangga company, I don’t think she would have done it if she has not realised how pathetic she was behaving from Chairman Jang'a pov. So she definitely was not the right person for PSRY. She was too selfish & distant emotionally to ever be the support & sweetness that he was craving for in his life.

Wow. That was a long post. But I had to get my feelings out somehow. Please share your comments if you agree or disagree with me.

[eventyrstuff]

Every Kdrama I’ve watched under the cut, to keep track and for recommendations.

Warning: Spoilers, few unpopular opinions ahead, please bear in mind: to each their own.

2009

·       You’re Beautiful – 16 amusing episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? This was the era of female leads pretending to be male (Hana Kimi, Ouran etc), but I still loved it. We follow the story of the female lead (who was a Nun at the beginning) who pretended to be her twin brother and become a part of the country’s current hottest band because her twin had a cosmetic surgery mishap (lol). It’s mostly trying to fit in and try not to get exposed but of course our male lead discovered her true identity thus begin her suffering and second also knows but did not admit it thus begin his unrequited love and comic relief and best character in the series was left in the dark thus begin questioning his sexuality 7/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? YES. Park Shin Hye is love and Jang Geun Seuk’s smile is freaking adorable. 9/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? JEREMY AND SHINWOO AND JOLIE YES. 10/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? MOST DEF. I fell in love with PSH’s “Lovely Day” and “ Without Words”, ANJELL’s “Still” and “Promise” though I prefer Lee Hong Ki’s version 8/10 o   Would you rewatch? I’ll definitely rewatch, I would love to compare my opinion back in my tween years and opinion now   o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: Episode 6 – Shin Woo and Mi Nam’s pseudo date (totally heartbreaking for tween me) Episode 11 – supermarket scene was the best, Episode 13 – Cooking scenes was hilarious, every scene with Jeremy, TAE KYUNG AND THE PIG o   Words Association: GO MI NAM, Pig-Rabbit, JOLIE!, Fly me to the moon, “hyung, vinegar?” o   Yes it has overused plots, common conflicts and family drama but the characters and their dynamics are truly worth watching this and if you need a good laugh (this drama has a looooot of funny scenes), this one is for you. 8/10

2011

·       Heartstrings – 15 forgotten episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? It’s a college drama involving modern and traditional Korean music. I honest to God forgot the whole drama, I think there was rivalry between the main leads? 6/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? Not sure, but if it’s Park Shin Hye, I guess so, sorry I’m shit at remembering this drama o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? I forgot so I guess not? o   Are the OSTs compelling? I am pretty sure it got an amazing Osts with having Park Shin Hye and CN Blue’s Yong Hwa but the only thing I remember was the song “Byeul” or Star and it was sung by the secondary character but it was really catchy o   Would you rewatch? Looks like I need to rewatch since I mostly forgot this drama o   Will rate once I have rewatched but if you shipped Yong Hwa and Park Shin Hye’s characters in You’re Beautiful, this one is for you.

Then after years of Jdramas, Anime, Mangas, YA books I returned to Kdramaland in…

2018

·       Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo – 16 charming episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? College athletes’ coming of age drama, added a dash of love and friendship and dreams. Strong female lead and affectionate male lead, sign me the fuck up. 9/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? I AM EMOTIONALLY INVESTED WITH THE LEADS PERSONAL AND LOVE LIVES. YES. 10/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? YES EVEN THE CAMEOS (Hello Lee Jong Suk who I haven’t watched any of his drama yet at the time and Ji Soo) 10/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? I downloaded 2 of their OSTs (You&I and Dreaming), it was the first Korean songs in my playlist 9/10 o   Would you rewatch? Absolutely o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: “BOK JOO, WATCH OUT!”, “YOU DIE, I WILL KILL YOU”, Snow kisses, the gang in the amusement park, THAT SCENE WITH JISOO AND JOO HYUK o   Word Association: SWAG, Messi, Chicken, Samgyupsal, WHAT, Chubs o   I totally recommend to everyone, it has a unique plot, still not over the main lead’s chemistry, you’ll fall in love with the whole story. 10/10

 ·       The Heirs – 20 clichéd episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? It’s your typical rich man poor woman plot, high school setting oozing with alpha males and lots of trope scenes, if only female lead was also an heir or they develop more on her character it will be memorable, I can’t really differentiate with other dramas with the same plot – well except the male lead’s mother is not your typical mother who absolutely hates the female lead 3/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? No, not really more on the secondary characters, both male and female leads are meh 2/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? With the mute mother and FL’s bestfriend and his girlfriend yes, everyone else is forgettable 3/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? I only remember “Love is a moment” because it was used by fanmade crack videos on youtube ahahaha 2/10 o   Would you rewatch? Probably no. o   I guess if you are a big fan of Boys Over Flowers and looking for the same genre this one’s for you, this did not really age well for me, probably would have loved this if I watched back when I was in highschool – reminds me of wattpad days. 3/10

 ·       W: Two Worlds – 16 enthralling episodes (Started 2018 Finished 2020)

o   Is the plot interesting? The plot is what compelled me to watch this drama, male lead is a webtoon character created by the female lead but made famous by her father. Male lead does not have your best childhood experiences but became really successful as an adult but there are mysterious instances that put his life on danger, the female lead (doctor) was drawn in on the comic and saved his life, unknowingly her actions changed the course of the story and it reflected on the comic in the real world – this was truly a good concept 9/10 because I actually forgot I started this drama last 2018 then rewatched and finished this 2020, I am still confused. o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? THE CHEMISTRY WAS ON THE ROOF ON THIS ONE. I DIDN’T EVEN CARE ABOUT THE OTHER CHARACTERS 10/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? I was actually more focused on the main leads, did not exactly give much attention to other characters 3/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? I only liked “Where are you” but it was sung by that guy who was jailed among other things so I don’t know how I feel now. Still the opening was lit o   Would you rewatch? Yes, I will try to fully understand what the mechanics or rules of being a webtoon character and being alive in the real world o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: KISS IN THE JAIL was the first thing that came to my mind, also real life scenes to comic scenes and vice versa- kudos to the artists, slap and kiss scene, the flashing scene, 4 romantic concepts scene, the adorable scenes recreating the illustration book, the transition when yeon Joo dropped her ring, the hospital bed scene o   Words Association: #4, handcuffs, all the winks, sudden “saranghaeyo”, ring, bus stop, “to be continued” o   This drama was amazing for the first 10 episodes then became complicated after, I loved the chemistry between the 2 main leads but unfortunately overpowered the whole story – don’t get me wrong I love love stories, but my reaction was the same as those who read the comics – too much cutesy stuff they forgot the storyline, I wanted them to explore the W show, but they focused on filling the plothole for the murderer which created more conflicts and confusing scenes. The line between the comic and real word created plot devices and more questions. This drama has flaws but cool premise though, I hate amnesia plot on any drama but it was well incorporated on this one. 8/10

·       Goblin – 16 amazing Episodes (Finished, rewatched 2020)

o   Is the plot interesting? A general in Goryeo dynasty got punished by the Gods to be immortal and his sword still in his chest only the Goblin bride can take it off so he can be at peace and die. Immortal lead with a side of grim reaper as best friend, charming female lead with a confident female boss – a story with reincarnation and ghosts, scenes that will tug your heart – yes, one of Kdrama Masterpiece 10/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? At first no no with the age gap but yes, I say while crying o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? HELL TO THE YES, DEOK HWA, GRAMPS, SECRETARY KIM, HELLO CUTIE TAE HEE, SUNNY AND GRIM REAPER 10/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? HAUNTINGLY BEAUTIFUL OSTS, particularly “Round and Round”, “I Miss You”, “Stay with Me” and even without lyrics I still worship “When the time stops” aka the music that speaks to your soul 10/10 o   Would you rewatch? YES ALREADY DID BRUH WILL DO AGAIN o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: Every bromance scene, I got hooked by the scene in the first ep where Eun Tak celebrated her birthday with her ghost mother, epic goblin and grim reaper modelling in the highway, everytime sunny flips her hair, grim reaper and his guests in the tea shop o   Word Association: Canada, sad love, candles, rain, chicken, tea, car crash *sorry not sorry* o   Totally recommended, well-deserved on its popularity. Will make you laugh and cry, at the same time. Acting skillz man. 10/10

 ·       Strong Woman Do Bong Soon – 16 whacky episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? Female lead has super strength which was actually passed down to every woman born in her family, she wants to be a game developer but instead got hired as bodyguard of our male lead who is a ceo of a gaming company 8/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? I remember that I did, I was? I need to rewatch haha o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? I remembered I did not like Ji soo’s character and don’t really remember other characters… o   Are the OSTs compelling? Can’t quite remember so I need to - o   Would you rewatch? Yeahp, will do o   I’ll do a rewatch before rating

I had a watch list back in 2018, but then I became busy with work and life until…

2020 (Details will be more longer since every Kdrama is still fresh on my mind)

·       My ID is Gangnam Beauty – 16 pretty episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? Basically, female lead deems herself ugly and undergone a plastic surgery to fully change her face before attending the university – but a popular guy back in highschool (junior high?) was also attending the same uni and recognized her – it’s a mellow sort of drama tackling Korean beauty and it’s extent, still cute story tho 7/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? We must protect Mi-rae at all cost, Cha Eun Woo’s character is a little bit emotionally constipated but Eun Woo is *swoon* 8/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? I am all for Mi-rae’s family and childhood friend, Kyung Seok’s sister, Yoo eun was very notable as well, I love how her character is completely fair and understanding 7/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? “D-day” and “True” is a bop to listen to, everytime I hear “Something” all I remember is Cha Eun Woo’s slow mo glance, other OST is a bop but not enough for me to put on my playlist 6/10 o   Would you rewatch? Probably but not right now o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: New face dance, bathroom scene with Kyung Seok beating the shit out of their senior, whenever Kyung Seok is annoyed with Soo-A but total heart eyes mode with Mi Rae, Cinema pseudo date – eating popcorn using straws, when he changed the color of his hair, Kyung Seok’s ID when he was a waiter, their high school date, and that last sweet scene in the final episode o   Word Association: gangnam, perfume, plastic, umbrella, soju o   I wasn’t planning on watching kdramas again after a long time but this quarantine just makes you do things and no regrets at all, MIIGB probably isn’t the best of the best but it definitely made me want to watch more kdramas and lo and behold more kdramas watched in a span of 2 months than in a year back in 2018. I love how it tackles on true beauty and female oppression and how idiotic alpha male trope is 7/10

 ·       While You Were Sleeping – 16 not enough episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? A prosecutor, a reporter and a cop can see the future when they sleep, which helps them in solving cases and do their best to change it. Every case is fascinating makes you say “ohhhhh” when they present their defense and I am like *chef kiss* I love the premise and the supernatural part of the story. 10/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? YES. JAE CHAN AND HONG JOO ARE ADORKABLE AND HAS INSANE VISUALS  10/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? HAVE YOU MET JUNG HAE IN, THE PROSECUTOR TEAM WAS THE BEST. YES. EVEN THE SIDE CHARACTERS ON CASES AND THE VILLAINS 10/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? I usually don’t hear the OSTs while focusing on a scene but boy oh boy, OSTs stole everything, I am obsessed with the whole album. The melody and tune is very captivating everytime you hear it you just want to embed it on your brain. If you are still having second thoughts watching this drama, listen to it’s OSTs the feels they give is the same feels when you watch 1000/10 o   Would you rewatch? I’ve watched it again after finishing it so yes, 100% yes, need more episodes still having withdrawal syndrome, still watching fanmade videos on youtube o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: Every episode lol, the opening sequence, the outro scenes in episode 2 and 3 (with that background music), everytime “It’s you”, “You belong to my world”, “When night falls” and “I love you boy” is the bg music, every Jae Chan and Hong Joo parallel (Episode 2 and 16 particularly), OT3 scenes, the shadow picture, KISS IN THE RAIN, IN THE SAKURA TREE AND THE ALMOST KISS IN THE CAR if I list down all of my fave, I will be writing the whole summary of each episode. Hmmm. o   Words Association: Snow hug, sakura kiss, batman and robin, scarf, JUST ICE, choir, seatbelt, samgyupsal, femme fatale, lip balm o   I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. ULTIMATE FAVE. I AM BIASED SHUTTUP. JUST WATCH. NONE CAN COMPARE. NUFF SAID. 100000/10 SOMEONE FANGIRL WITH ME

 ·       Pinocchio – 20 important episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? This whole drama is about mass media and its major influence on anyone’s life and it is so powerful. We have a male lead whose family has experienced the impact of misguided news and it is painful to watch because this really happens irl at worse, this is due to a reporter which is our female lead’s mother. Now our female lead has Pinocchio Syndrome hence the drama title, she can’t help but hiccup when she lies, it’s very interesting to know why both leads wanted to be a reporter given their situation 10/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? YES, I JUST WANNA HUG THEM. Imagine having a condition that forces you to tell the truth, you can’t keep your feelings, privacy or secrets at all and to add an indifferent mother who did not care for your dreams but more on publicity. Imagine having a dream and working hard to reach it but after college you fail every job interview and it’s so realistic I just ashfdsjfha (Except the Pinocchio syndrome part but come on) Imagine experiencing a childhood where you don’t know what happened to your firefighter father, is the news about him running away true because it was his fault all those other firefighters are dead? Imagine your brother doing his best to hold your family together because your mother is on the verge of nervous breakdown to the point of pushing her to choose death, pulling you to a hug and just jump? Imagine this male lead fighting every chance to not love this girl who is the daughter of the reason why his family is gone now and could not leave her because she is also the reason why he decided to fight for the injustice done to his family and to others victims of fake news and they are so supportive of each other. It freaking hurts and I’m sorry I just have a lot of emotions for these two 1000000/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? YEEEEES, GRANDPA AND FATHER, I LOVE THEIR FAMILY DYNAMICS SO MUCH WHEN GRANDPA CRIED I CRIED! EVEN JA MYUNG HYUNG who has not enough episode in THEY DESERVE TO BE TOGETHER NOT JUST FOR ONE EPISODE. EVEN BEOM JU, YOO RAE, NITPICKER JANG, CAPTAIN, BOTH CAPTAINS ACTUALLY, CHAN SOO AND HIS FAMILY EVEN I LOVE TO HATE THE VILLAINS 100/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? I was too focused on the intensity of the story but I do love the bg music –“First Love”, “The Only Person”, “Pinocchio” are few notable OSTs 8/10 o   Would you rewatch? YES FREAKING YES, I REWATCHED AFTER WATCHING IT o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: Episode 16 as a whole, because main lead conflict with each other was resolved and that dinner scene is one I always rewatch, of course episode 1 introduction for Dal Po is freaking hilarious, Episode 2’s “Because I like you” damn feels, snow kiss, all the grandpa scenes and brother scenes, that scene when In ha remembered being drunk, that scene where Dal Po meets his brother again and I just ahjasgdjhsdgf, the intense debate and paralleling it in the seminar, the Christmas episode pyung pyung pyung my heart huhu o   Word Association: Six Degrees Separation, rumor, button, MSC/YGN News, traffic cones, hiccups, piggy banks, text messages, family o   EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH THIS. I LOVE EVERY PART. IT WAS ON MY WATCHLIST LAST 2018 WHY DID I NOT WATCHED IT THEN. THE ACTING THOUGH YOU JUST FEEL THEIR INTENSE EMOTIONS THROUGH THE SCREEN. FEELS EVERYWHERE. 100000/10

 ·       Romance Is A Bonus Book – 16 heartwarming episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? It’s about romance and books! Lee Jong Suk is on it what more can you ask for? Kidding aside it tells a story of a 30 something mother who to go back to work after 12 years which left a huge gap on her resume, she also got recently divorced and experiencing the repercussion of that, all of the job she applied for has focused on her work gap instead of her skills (which by the way as an HR a very hard truth). She applied as a support role on a publishing company and got hired but by omitting a lot of things on her resume. Oh and her childhood friend, our male lead is actually a co-owner and editor of the company. And he is also in love with her since high school. 9/10 but the fluffiness of the whole series is worth 10/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? YES, Dan-I is totally relatable and Eun Ho is lovable. I love their relationship so much they are each other’s home. 10/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? With Hae-rin (COME OOON UNREQUITED LOVE AGAIN WITH LJS CHARACTER?), Seo Joon, President Kim, Manager Seo, and our very own Gangnam Leopard YES. Others not so much. 8/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? The OSTs are feel good, the kind of playlist you want to hear when you read or travelling, point to “Rainbow”, “Walking on Sunshine”, “Happy End”also the heart churning feels when “You’re Beautiful” and “ A Story I couldn’t see” begins playing in the bg 10/10 o   Would you rewatch? YES over and over and over again o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: The first episode with the wedding visuals, so aesthetic with the running in the highway, the power dance was so out of place but it was adorable, the scene where Dan-I reminisce her married life and it just breaks your heart, the essay part of her application is just motivating and sad, WHEN EUN HO WAS DRUNK AND WENT TO DAN-I’s PLACE BECAUSE HE ALWAYS GO THERE WHEN HE MISSES HER AND I JUST AHGSHJAGDKJGHJ, “If that’s love, I love her then”, GANGNAM LEOPARD CLUB SCENE, the subtle Snow confession (what’s with LJS and Snow???) the long brown overcoats comes out I’m there, when Eun Ho rejected Hae Rin so nicely I cry, movie date, the day Dan-I and Eun Ho spent together at their house, all the book pages at the end of each episode o   Words Association: THE MOON IS BEAUTIFUL, noona, power pose, love letters, books, seasons change, cucumber allergy, April 23 o   This drama is literally a warm blanket on a rainy day. Recommended if you want a pure love story with almost no conflict and mellow storyline – just the thought of finding love and home in the same person is truly heartwarming. For aspiring writers and book lovers! Love the quotable quotes in it and the warm feels it gives 10/10

 ·       Extraordinary You – 16 extraordinary episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? We follow the story of the extras in a comic book. Get it? EXTRAordinary you, haha okaaaay, anyway, its fictional characters becoming aware that they are fictional characters and trying to change their fates, having a life of their own outside the “stage” and all around creating chaos – breaking the 4th wall if you will. We have your cliché high school filled with rich kids and an elite group called A3 (which was funny bc it was almost mocking F4), then we have the female lead who thought she was the main character of the story but was only the love bridge extra for the main characters. And our beautiful male lead who does not even have a name. Very attention-grabbing 10/10 also just found out the drama was based on a webtoon, so it’s a webtoon inside a webtoon nice. o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? Dan-Oh is a fun character to watch, her range of emotions and the way she acts in and out of the stage deserves a standing ovation, I don’t mind Ro Woon’s visual too haha 9/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? Yes to Lee Do Hwa (Because violin playing cutiepie), Joo Da (girl became aware and finally got claws at the end) and Dried Squid Fairy and Su Hyang (because their history is interesting) , not really into Bae Kyung or Nam Joo (who was 2dimensional character until the end) 8/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? I loved all the instrumental background music especially “Highschool Runway”, Also “My Beauty” which was very kdrama-esque ending song 7/10 o   Would you rewatch? BIG YES o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: Every Dan-Oh and Do Hwa’s internal monologue and their bromance, every time Dan Oh breaks character but the page flips, every time she curse and criticize the writer, checking the male population’s back, when Dan-oh opened the umbrella and we got to see Haru’s face *dokidoki*, every reaction when they transition from stage to shadow, I mean kudos to Kim Hye Yoon’s acting from crying to laughing then from head over heels over Bae Kyung then cringing at herself , “It’s Bae Kyung Time”, the scene where Haru and Dan-oh was holding hands and here comes third wheel Do Hwa the way they reacted with Dan Oh’s “Annyeong Lee Do Hwa” made me rofl o   Word Association: AYUUU JINJJA, HARUYAAAAA, stage, shadow, page flips, October 10, secret, flower o   I love the concept and how it felt like writing fanfiction, you put your favorite characters in alternative universes or different setting and watch them fall in love all over again – in this case destiny also plays a huge part since the writer continuously separate them but they still fall in love with each other outside the stage. It’s fun to see the other side or the fillers whenever characters are not on acting on stage, they have more character depth and development. I definitely love the Sageuk and College AU part. 9/10

 ·       Graceful Family – 16 wild episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? It’s a drama full of Makjang so we are riding on a rollercoaster ride, I am here for all of it gimme gimme that outrageous plot with a dash of crazy family on the side and a group of people who cleans up their messes 9/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? SEOK HEE IS THE BEST FEMALE LEAD YET FREAKING BADASS BITCH QUEEN. Yoon Do is okay but really overpowered by Seok Hee’s strong personality 10/10 for Seok Hee o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? I am very interested in Ms. Han and the Top Team’s deal unfortunately it was not addressed further in the series, wouldn/t mind a mini sequel with them as the main characters, Choi Na Ri and Seo Jin is loooove, and I love Wan Soo with all my heart even after everything that happened 9/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? “Liar” is on my playlist solely for me to feel as badass as Seok Hee and “Black Diamond” because it plays with your emotions 8/10 o   Would you rewatch? Solely for all the WTF moments o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: ALL THE DINING TABLE SCENES, opening scene in the first episode got me hooked, all Seok Hee scenes made me stay, Wan Soo’s hilarious scenes, that whole hanbok shop scene, whole jail fiasco, when Seok Hee fights head to head with TOP management, PICASSO’S FUNERAL SCENE, Episode 9 when Choi Na Ri moved in, episode 15’s biggest plot twist, Episode 16 and it’s whole 1 hour and 45 minutes of drama o   Word Association: Home sweet home, Cannes, Picasso, power vacuum, kingmaker, Auntie o   It has a lot of flaws, plotholes and characters you wished was fleshed out but man what an exhilarating ride it was. I love all the dirty secrets in the closets and plot twists (won’t spoil just watch it!) but Seok Hee is definitely the show stealer for me. Soo Hyang’s character here is starkly different with her character in My ID is Gangnam Beauty and it’s really amazing. 9/10

 ·       Hi, Bye Mama – 16 heartbreaking episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? This is all about mother’s love and the life she left behind. Our female lead died in an accident and has been a ghost for five years watching over her family especially her daughter, she watched how her family moved on – her husband remarried and her daughter grew up with a different mother. The Gods has given her a chance to live again if she gets back her place within 49 days – this means she get the chance to become human again and finally meet her daughter. 9/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? I AM EMOTIONALLY INVESTED IN ALL OF THEM. 10/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? SEO WOO YAAAAAA, Min Jung, her whole family and best friends even the other ghosts and their painful stories YES. 10/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? I was busy crying and could not really hear the bg music because all I hear is my heart breaking a million times. But “Happy” made me happy and sad at the same time and the haunting “Same Town, New Story” instrumental is love o   Would you rewatch? I am not sure if I’m ready to cry again o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: whole episode 8 is where I broke down crying – I know this whole series is about mother’s and their unconditional love but episode 8 showed fathers and their incomparable love to their daughters and I just asjhdajksd the epilogue in this episode just made me cry nonstop – I am actually crying just remembering that scene, every epilogue will make you ugly cry, every time Seo Woo smiles, Episode 11 and that epic showdown in Kid’s café, when Yu Ri became human again and how happy she was she can hold Seo Woo, every scene with her and Seo Woo bonding, Gang Hwa and the egg,  the list of things she wants to do, when Seo Woo finally called her MAMA o   Words Association: mother, stepmom, ghosts,  “I am happy”, shaman, egg, 49 days o   I am emotionally exhausted watching this show, I cried on every episode, this definitely hurt me in every way possible. Highly recommended if you want a good long nonstop cry 10/10

Dramas I did not completely watched sans a few episodes, finished by skipping scenes or reading drama reviews. Warning: total unpopular opinions

2009

·       Boys Over Flowers – we all know Hana Yori Dango is superior, I just got bored of recycled scenes and I really don’t like LMH here, sorry

2018

·       Scarlet Heart Ryeo - Plot is very interesting but Sageuk dramas are not my cup of tea, reminds me of Fushigi Yuugi which I hated when I was a kid dunno why haha, will look for my motivation to watch the whole drama ·       Oh My Ghostess – got spoiled, skipped and just read episode summary

2020

·       Hello Monster – did not even finish 1st episode, skipped through episode 2 -3, too many plot holes, just read last episode spoilers ·       Hotel De Luna – finished 7 episodes got distracted by work and life. Plotline is interesting and characters look promising, will rewatch but I already know the spoilers and ending ·       School 2013 – just read the dramabeans episode reviews, may watch but reminds me of Gokusen concept (which I do love but very repetitive) so may not ·       Suspicious Partner – I liked the plot but unfortunately did not care too much on the main mystery of the whole show which was who the actual murderer is, did not like the shared childhood trauma, but acting still was good, its just the storyline ·       Doctor Stranger – I seriously would have loved to finish this because LJS’s acting skills on point (how can he be that seriously angry in North Korea then be clumsy adorkable in South? Howww) but alas, the female lead storyline is cringy I stopped at episode 6, read reviews and it would have been 20 wasted episodes for me ·       What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim – full of stereotypical tropes I could not finish, too romcom for me and could not invest too much about their history

Watchlist (2020)

·       Hospital Playlist ·       Crash Landing On You ·       Kill Me, Heal Me ·       I Am Not A Robot ·       Sky Castle ·      Love Alarm

Hit me up with your recommendations, better yet your favorite kdrama and reasons why it’s your fave!

[alexisluthor]

Deep Dive - Stranger Beside You *WARNING* PSON SPOILERS

Where to start with this ep? Well, much to the surprise of no one at all, Eve turned out to be related to the girl in the box! I think the real twist was how the show handled her morally ambiguous actions. Malcolm manages to keep a (relatively) cool head after finding out what Eve had been hiding. He doesn't fall apart at the seams, I believe, because he saw it coming... he was already preparing for the worst. And I think the audience can't help but sympathize with Eve. From how things played out, it seems like she never intentionally set out to hurt Malcolm. Which is great but...she still...did hurt him.

Putting that aside, there is a bit of contradiction in her words and actions. She had done everything that she did in order to find out the truth about her sister, then later, in Malcolm's loft...says she doesn't want the truth just because she developed feelings for him? That seems a bit weak. If something happened to my sister, I'd turn the world upside down to find out what happened, no matter how in love/lust I was with my romantic partner. To step right up to the finish line and hesitate like that was...in my view...bizarre. I mean, how long has Malcolm been in her life? Not nearly long enough for her to sacrifice the truth for him. For good measure, they also threw in the...but knowing will make it real... BUT GIRL...you only  got close to the Whitly's in the first place because you WANTED to know. Also...how did she narrow it down to the Surgeon? Do you know how many homicides there were in NYC in the 90s/00s? But apparently she just made an educated guess that it was him? Okay...I'll take it.

I wonder how old TGITB was when she was killed. She ran away at 16, but kept sending photos and letters...but for how long?  Sure, taking TGITB  was the 'perfect' opportunity for Martin - the situation fell into his lap. But selecting a victim so haphazardly seems to buck against Martin's intelligence. As a surgeon with a modicum of common sense, you'd think he'd do research, find the right person, make sure they didn't have family, etc. She didn't have family, but he didn't know that. And who knows how many people could have witnessed him helping her back to his house in broad daylight. It's just...not smart of him at all. He did mention to Mal in one of their little sessions (when Mal was in college) that he did improvise. But there's a difference between improvising and being reckless, which is what this instance seems like. I digress though. 

Anyway...moving on...Malcolm's little dinner with dad was interesting. I think it shows just how much Martin compartmentalizes. In his mind, he was a great father, he 'just happened' to live a double life. Later, when Malcolm is confronting "da bad guy" he reaches into his own bag of past experience to tell the guy that he'd been hurt, and made to think that was love, when in actuality, it was abuse. I think this was meant to echo Malcolm's own experiences, especially about the bit about being 'powerless.' Malcolm is powerless at times, and certainly was as a child. But up until TGITB, his father had been a great example of a loving parent. Which is where the cognitive dissonance comes into play for Malcolm. He really is torn asunder by the fact that he did have an attentive and loving father...up until TGITB and the chloroforming, etc. 

I've read a lot of people's opinions on Martin, seen their hatred for him. But I believe that Martin chloroformed Malcolm so many times, to avoid killing him. I think he was biding his time, hoping to return to whatever his sense of normalcy was. I don't think Martin ever intended to kill Malcolm (he just told him that to get him to stab him, and John likely planted that seed due to his jealousy of not being the 'chosen' murder protege). Let's face it, if Martin (a -what- 190lb something, grown man, serial killer) wanted (tiny) Malcolm dead, he could have killed him immediately after his discovery of TGITB. I think Martin's logic was..."I don't really want to kill my son. Let's see if he has the sociopathic/psychopathic tendencies like I do, Mayb I can get him interested in muuuuurrrrdeeeer." And when that went south, Martin's gig was up. But if you watch these ep's closely, you can see that even though Martin is a conniving, manipulative, sociopath...the only thing he truly seems to care about is Malcolm. What do narcissists love more than anything? Themselves! And what is Malcolm to Martin if not the embodiment of his legacy? He, like so many parents, looks at his offspring and sees an extension of himself. 

Anywho... Malcolm finds out the reason his 'lies' were so successful, was because they weren't 'lies' to Martin, but the 'truth.' Fascinating. How has no one written a book about The Surgeon? *whispers, that could be a story line for the future* *coughs*

The dinner scene was great. It was also great that Martin could deduce Malcolm was dating simply from hearing "dinners and plays" over the phone. He seems preternaturally invested in Malcolm's personal life. Malcolm is his only real lifeline and relationship. So how will he react to the fact that not only is Malcolm's girlfriend related to TGITB but that even after 'using' Malcolm and Jess in a way...that he's choosing to remain with her? OUCH. I think that was a twist not a lot of people expected. But the odds of that relationship working out has to be slim to none. 

I mean...what do you tell the kids (not that Malcolm wants to have any)? "Oh, yes...well...your grandpa murdered your aunt. Then mommy got close to the murderer's ex-wife and son and fell in love with the son - daddy. And here you are! Oh, and our relationship was founded on a bed of lies and pain, loss and suffering. I got to bitch slap murdering gramps one day, so that was therapeutic." I mean............could that really work out? o_0 Also...what if Eve does want kids, and Mal doesn't? Or what if she decides that she wants a relationship that isn't a painful daily reminder of her trauma? There could be some serious roadblocks ahead. (And taking her to meet Martin...ooof...is that the smartest move? What do you think? I can see Martin just completely losing it in a fit of rage. (Also, Martin clearly ships Dani/Malcolm as well...soo...eeee))

Aaaannnnd of course, there's wonderful Malcolm...my sweet...sweet...idiotic genius who decided to leave a crowded space in favor of a horror-movie-setting, rug warehouse upstairs? Sweetie...no. You need to make better choices. 

Overall... Dani not wanting to run the background check and get involved in the Mal/Eve drama - great move. JT ribbing Malcolm about screwing up his kid - quality content. Edrisa's hand on Mal for too long, drawing the attention of Arroyo - perfection. Edrisa dramatically tackling Malcolm - chef's kiss. Malcolm getting beaten up and choked - the fuel for many people's future fanfic's I'm sure. Malcolm not having had a therapy sesh in, what feels like, forever - probably not smart (but boy's busy). All in all, a great episode. And I suppose Ainsley won that little..."who's the better investigator" contest after-all ;)

[kingofthewilderwest]

It's anon-whose-dad-looks-like-McGucket again! He hasn't eaten any raccoons... yet... at least that I know of... XD Having fallen into this fandom hole rather aggressively with a lot of time on my hands, I have found the episode commentaries, graphic novel, and shorts. Are there any other behind the scenes or supplementary materials you recommend?

Hey there again! And bless, bless you for falling down the fandom hole.

As far as supplementary materials are concerned, I’m going to list everything I would recommend. I’ll even list things you’ve mentioned above, in case other people reading this post would be interested learning about GF extended materials too! I’ll be listing GF content in order roughly from “most essential” to “not so essential.” Note: this isn’t a comprehensive list of tie-ins. Also note: this list talks about spoilers from the show itself.

Journal #3. If you’ve already found out about the graphic novel and gotten your hands on that, I imagine you know about Journal #3 too - but since you didn’t mention it above, or if you were going to skip it over, I’m bringing it up now! Journal #3 is a *MUST*. I consider this book as essential to the Gravity Falls experience as the show itself. (Probably because the 1980s boys are my soul, life, and feels.) Journal #3 isn’t written to be a dump of monster lore, though there’s paranormal experiences in this book, of course. Journal #3 is a well-done narrative focusing on Ford’s hubris character arc and providing it amazing resolution. It also complexly dives into the relationship between Ford and Fiddleford, and to say that that narrative has ruined me and kept me awake at night would be an understatement. It makes the scenes and events of S2 more meaningful, and just… aughghgh. There’s so much to unpack there and I keep waiting for an excuse to yak about it.It’s also got several moments I wish could have been in the show proper (though I respect the need to cut for time and focus on the Essential Essentials, and think they did a great job prioritizing). If you’ve finished the commentaries (don’t know how far you are), you may remember Alex Hirsch saying they tried to get Dipper’s real name reveal into the show sev’ral timez, but ultimately cut it and left it for Journal #3. That scene definitely reads as “should have been in the show,” and it’s a great moment. Plus, Ford’s final remarks about “trust no one”? Ohhhhhh it’s so good, and makes the resolution to the show’s events all the better.

Journal #3 Blacklight Edition. Unless you can travel back in time to preorder, or have several thousand USD to spend today (no, I’m not joking, go onto eBay and cry), you’re not going to get your paws on the special blacklight edition of Journal #3. But there are people who have photographed important notes! Such as: [1] [2] [3]

Lost Legends. A  graphic novel with several short adventures. They’re all side adventures, but there’s some development on Dipcifica, and Mabel confronting her selfishness, that are nice additions and expansions to people’s characterizations. Wonderfully done, nicely arted, and feels like reading four new short episodes of the show.

The shorts, etc. I know you said you’ve gotten to the shorts, but there are so many shorts and promotional ads that I hope you’re going through the wiki pages and not just DVD menus to unearth everything. I don’t feel like pulling up my DVD to check, but if I remember right, some things like Creepy Letters from Lil’ Gideon didn’t make it to hard copy release?So anyway. I know some of these are easy to find and you’ve probably gone through them, but for the sake of thoroughness:

The Unaired Pilot

Creature in the Closet

Dipper’s Guide to the Unexplained

Mabel’s Guide to Life

Fixin’ It with Soos

TV Shorts 1 and TV Shorts 2

Mabel’s Scrapbook

Mystery Shack: Shop at Home with Mr. Mystery and its Outtakes

Old Man McGucket’s Conspiracy Corner

Creepy Letters from Lil’ Gideon

Gravity Paws

’Pocalypse Preppin’

The deleted scenes. The special edition DVD/Blu-ray provides a ton of S2 footage of the writer’s room, Alex narrating the storyboards, and through that showing us scenes that were cut or altered. There’s AMAZING stuff there, oh my goodness.It’s complicated finding all released deleted scenes materials, though, and honestly, I’m still trying to fish through the interwebs for more. You’ll find some released storyboards online for S1 and S2 that didn’t make animation. There’s a second long animation of Ford and Stan adjusting their glasses at the same time that made trailers but not “A Tale of Two Stans.” Or you’ll find things on Alex’s twitter page, like the now-notorious Dipper-snaps-Dippy-Fresh’s-neck-on-screen moment. And things like Bill’s initial introduction scene have been animated by fans. :)

Shmeb-you-unlocked website. I have fondness for this page because I love learning minor details about characters. This is a hidden website url you can uncover going through Lost Legends. Got some fun stuff on Anti-Mabel, Tate McGucket, and Pacifica, for instance. 

The Episode Commentaries. Seriously, these are the most enjoyable commentaries I think I’ve watched (outside of the LOTR cast commentaries, anyway). They’ve got insight into everything, from talking about character psychology, to storytelling techniques, to storyboard artists’ contributions, to how fans’ responses literally changed how the creative team wrote the show. 

The Special Features for the Special Edition DVD / Blu-ray release. All the special features on the DVDs are cool and enjoyable! Between the Pines, etc.

The Hidden Special Features. The Special Edition DVD / Blu-ray release comes with lots of hidden special features! Grunkle Stan’s hidden commentary for Land Before Swine is treasure. Like, Stan starts rambling about his childhood and embarrassing stories about Ford and stuff… it’s amazing. There’s also a Bill special feature that I love. 

Cipher Hunt! Most of it’s just fun, but it’s wild to consider that Alex staged an international scavenger hunt by choice. I don’t like road trips, but I would be very tempted to travel to see that Bill Cipher statue. Because I have… fandom issues. Haha.

Dipper and Mabel and the Curse of the Time Pirates’ Treasure! Though I’ve entertained myself with this, I don’t recommend this as highly as the other stuff on here. But if you want to keep living Gravity Falls, this is one of the books out there with original non-show content. There’s even a few moments in this book that were taken from the unaired pilot or deleted scenes. It’s a choose-your-own adventure, has nice art, and stuff. While it is written by Rowe, I don’t consider this as necessary of an addition to Gravity Falls fans because the choose-your-own adventure doesn’t (to me) capture the deep heart of the show. It’s more of a light, silly, random what-have-you. It does have a hidden web link to a page with the Axolotl, though, so that’s sort of important?

The Games. Most games are simple online flash games with no informative or lore-adding content to them. You won’t get anything new out of them, so take or leave them. But ya know, they still pass time in non-objectionable ways. If you’re really craving ANYTHING GF, why the fuck not. That’s how I ended up playing them. Some games have enjoyable versions of the main theme… the Weirdmageddon: Take Back the Falls game did not have to go so rocking hard on the music, and yet it did. (I may have recorded the audio to the level select and stuff and added it to my iTunes library.)I know you’ve been watching me play Legend of the Gnome Gemulets on my twitch. The other games that I think are the most entertaining are Rumble’s Revenge and Pinesquest (mostly Pinesquest, but it’s a “sequel” to Rumble’s Revenge). 

And if you haven’t gone clue hunting and decrypting yourself, and don’t want to extend the effort to do so, the cryptograms page on the wiki is a must!

Alex’s old twitter posts have some interesting things too from time to time?

I hope I remembered the main things. And I hope this helps!

[gimmedatingadvice]

Hi luv, I hope you’re having a wonderful day/night !!

I wanted to ask do some advice because I just need some outside perspective! So I’ve been dating my bf for 18 months (+1 year of friendship) and we’re both 19. Basically all of this starts back on 10/21/20 he was feeling bad and had decided to go get tested for covid, and he came out positive. That same day after getting his results he called me and let me know,during that phone call he somewhat tried to hint that I gave it to him bc I live in my college dorms while he lives off campus. That same day (like 15 min after hanging up with him) his dad calls me and was extremely disrespectful and blamed me for him getting covid. Well that same day after being humiliated by my bfs dad I told my bf about it and told him what happened and that I didn’t want to ever speak w/ his dad bc I wasn’t going to be treated like that by anyone (like my own parents have never humiliated and make me feel so bad). My bf said he was going to be neutral in the situation but then proceeded to defend his dad (-.-) and said that I need to be more understanding about the situation. So fast forward 2 day (the day I get my test results) and I came back negative for covid and I just had to self quarentine just in case, well then I let him know about my results he was soo salty and he literally said “k cool”. I let it slide because I didn’t want to argue about it, so throughout my self quarentine we had gotten into a pretty bad argument (#1) about the whole father situation + some built up tension about how I wasn’t being “myself” because I wasn’t in the honeymoon phase. Well that night he got mad and was wanted a break, I told him okay and told him to take as long as he needs but that I wasn’t going to wait more that a month, he said that was fine. Well the next day I wake up and he had posted stuff online in regard to our argument and how that he doesn’t have anyone in his side and stuff (he always does this after arguments he starts it I just ignore it) WELLL after that post I saw that he had posted a conversation he had started with one of his female friends that she was giving him advice and stuff I was like wow because I just don’t like the vibe she gives off. (I don’t have a problem with him having female friends, but it just bothers me that I was pressured to drop all of my guy friends... but that’s a different story for another day). Anyways after seeing that I was kinda upset but still gave him space he texted me in the afternoon that day that he wanted to tak, we talked it over and he had decided that we should stay together. So the next day went by smoothly but on the 3rd day he asked me that was wrong and stuff, and I told him that I was upended about the whole starting a convo w/ the girl and that I was upset that he still hadn’t apologized to his really rude and petty behavior of those two days. We he got v defensive and agitated that I told him why I was wrong and so told me to figure out what I want and if I still wanted to be in our relationship and that I had like 4 days to figure it out. WELLLL I based on his behavior those days prior I was considering breaking up with him but decided against it bc we were under a lot of stress. The next day (4) I get a text from him saying that he wanted a response by the end if the night bc it wasn’t fair for him to keep him waiting... so I told him that we could try to work it out. After that we were doing alright ans slowly trying to fix out mistakes and make sure we corrected our wrongs. Well towards November we’re back to we’re we were before, but I noticed that would just run out of conversation and I know that I personally will do things to avoid talking to him. Lately I’ve just stopped feeling any feelings in regards to him, I do love him but find it hard to incite any emotion.

Hi!! Aww, thank you! I hope you’re having a wonderful day/night too, but if you aren’t because of this concern you have about your relationship with your partner, I really hope I can give you some help to put your mind at rest!

So based on what you sent me, I’m afraid your boyfriend was being rude and disrespectful to you before. I’m sorry that happened to you. You said you were both taking time and effort to work it out though, which is great and I’m glad that you’re both doing your best! But, I see that the problem you have now is that although you love your boyfriend, it sounds like you’re losing interest in him. Maybe the relationship has burnt out.

You may think that you need to break up with him since you’re not into it anymore and that could be what you need to do, but if you genuinely care a lot about him and you both really want to make the relationship work, it’s usually possible to get through the difficulties and make it work. So, don’t make any hasty decisions.

Now, ask yourself what kind of relationship you want (what do you need to feel loved, what love means to you, etc.). You should be completely honest with yourself. Think about why exactly you’re feeling this way. Maybe it’s because your boyfriend isn’t meeting some of the expectations that you have of him. Maybe it’s because you aren’t compatible with him. Oh and trust your gut feelings too.

You should also have an honest and kind discussion about it with your boyfriend (preferably in person). It’s important for him to also know what’s going on. Let him know what’s bothering you and be very clear about it, so that there will be no misunderstandings. But also remember to be prepared for how he might react. For instance, if he doesn’t feel the same way as you do, he’ll be hurt. And it feels terrible to hurt someone, but you have to remember that this is a better option for him and you; it’s better to be truthful. That way, you can both come up with a solution that would suit both of you. You can either work on this together or end it.

You are both still young, so you’re both still learning and growing up. You can both stay in the relationship by learning and growing together. Or you both might decide not to stay in this relationship. And that’s sad, of course, but that’s okay too. Not all relationships last.

Also, if you did all that you can to work on this relationship and you’re satisfied about that, but you’re still unhappy and you feel like you’re in this relationship just because you have to, you should consider breaking up.

[bluriginals]

Quest for the Northwest Review

@gfdeepwoods @mysteryseeker

Sorry to keep you waiting!

It's been a long time coming, but it finally came! Not only since the last Blu Blogs (all the way back in March; yikes!) but since I made the promise to provide a review of Quest for the Northwest for a member of its crew (all the way back in June). Now I know what you're thinking and I will tackle these thoughts in order of importance:

1.) What's Quest of the Northwest?

It's the first installment of Gravity Falls: Deep Woods, a fanimatic based series chronicling some adventures in between the normal episodes of Gravity Falls

2.) jesus /march/

yes i know i'm awful

3.) Someone requested you to review their stuff?

i know it's so exciting!

ok maybe none of you were thinking that but i was and it was so flattering and cool and stuffs

4.) Does this have anything to do with the Mystery Hut review?

Only vaguely; MysterySeeker (who I'm assuming is running the project) saw it and thought I was apparently good at this so they asked me to throw some of my...'me' their way.

5.) You promised this review in mid July and it's almost October. What do you have to say about that, HydroPants?

Uuuuuuuuh...there's my ride?

Now in my defense, the first part was released January 16th and the second Hirsch Day and that's a 5 month wait so if anything I'm like, 3 months fashionably early!

Read and weep, boys.

Alright alright, in all seriousness deepest apologies for me taking SO long to get to this. Getting that feedback on time is likely important for whatever you guys are doing with Deep Woods moving forward and it's just plain unprofessional. Really sorry to you all! But enough apologizing, let's get to the review of...

If you haven't already watched it, you should check out part 1 here .

As I stated before, I might not have known about this or looked into without my Mystery Hut review and as I stated there, I was really hyping that project up. Since then I've learned to abolish hopes/dreams and reject happiness, but the thumbnail did give a good first impression. It had a well-crafted quality to it and had been made specifically TO be the thumbnail. This really contributed to my gut feeling that Quest for the Northwest would really be something special. And let me tell you it is DEFINITELY really good. However, rather than talking about it on its own, allow me to spend the entire review judging it not only by its own merits, but by comparing it to Mystery Hut. Naaah, just kidding I'll leave that ol' coot alone. Before I we go in on the story, let's talk about the presentation. Oh my.

Presentation

This presentation is just /amazing/. It's really like taking a step back into Gravity Falls as if nothing's changed (as much as you can in an animatic sense). Starting off with the sound direction, Quest for the Northwest has a distinct element that truly gives it the GF edge any project attempting to emulate the original series needs: the music and audio cues. Brad Breeck's music fills the scenes it needs to and adds to the atmosphere so much. However we aren't dealing with Johnny Test or a 4Kids dub here; the fanimatic knows when to stop talking and deliver some golden silence.

This example from early in the episode where Mrs. Northwest discourages Pacifica from playing with the commoners utilizes sound cues in a way that emphasizes what happens in it

I can't think of a true example of silence off of the top of my head, and it's likely that many scenes use a more lowkey part of the OST, but that works towards the same objective: quieter, more somber moments that appropriately juxtapose the louder ones. It never feels like these silences are too long, awkward, or the result of someone flubbing a line or not being able to think up some dialogue to put in the place of said silence. Speaking of flubbing lines, there's basically none of that: the casting and voice direction are extremely solid. I feel as though some of the people from Mystery Hut (THIS AND TWO THINGS LATER WILL BE ONLY COMPARISONS I SWEAR) may be 'reprising' their roles in Quest for the Northwest (which will hence forth be abbreviated as QftNW) and if they are I gotta give some shout outs to them and the voice director because the delivery and inflections of every line are just right and more. You really get a sense of the emotions and mindset of the characters with every word they say and on the whole the inflections feel very reminiscent of GF. Dipper, Pacifica, Jeff and Preston while not perfect matches are honestly good substitutes and deliver every one of their lines the way you'd imagine the real VAs to. Soos is honestly spot on aside from not being as deep but the real star of the show is Mabel. Though she isn't a near perfect match like Soos, whenever I hear her voice actress speak I can actually feel those Kristen Schaal-isms in her; not just through her dialogue but how she says certain words and just her voice in general. There's even special attention to detail in some places like when Jeff's voice breaks when he's pepper sprayed and in some instances, you can even tell what a character is saying based on their mouth in a single frame.

You can EASILY tell that Jeff's saying something with an 'L' sound, and while you don't have to mark little things like this in boards unless they're really important, I appreciate it a lot.

The only gripes I have with the sound (and they're admittedly minor) is that I feel like Part 1 is a bit quiet, even at max volume and Snadger's hiss audio in part 2 is loud. Like, if you have it at 100% prepare to get that faux jumpscare chord feel. But these really are nothing in comparison to the great sound in this fanimatic.

Upon my first viewing of the episode I was blown away at how well-crafted and consistent the art was. I could NOT believe that there were that many boarders; 4 at most. But I found myself shocked to see a plethora of different artists names flash on screen during the credits (16 to be exact; 4 times as many as appeared). On the second viewing, I was definitely able to distinguish more than 4 styles, but 16 is still WAY more than I'd ever guess. It's just so consistently good, on-model, and expressive, its many artists are able to carry it together with pride.

This shot in particular is really pretty, so I wanted to highlight it :)

Sure there'd be occasional hiccups like Dipper and Mabel's heads being squarshed in some frames or the first portion of Jeff's beast slaying plot but you still get a genuine sense of effort from each and every frame/artist and (Mystery Hut comparison incoming) not ONCE does it ever stoop the low, haphazard inconsistencies and disregard of the Gravity Falls artstyle as Mystery Hut did. In fact, it goes so much further beyond that. Just...take a look.

(Nearly) Every. Single. Face in this project oozes with the Falls. I absolutely loved it and it was a pure joy to look at. Not a second goes where something isn't moving and it's in the best way: each frame is logical and compliments the one preceding and succeeding it. I can honestly imagine so many of these frames transitioning smoothly from one to the other in animation and this level of attention to detail and desire to express a genuine Gravity Falls experience is commendable to say the least.

They remembered dramatic, shading using close-ups and in some shots they even bothered to put in unique towns people that fit the style! Cute!

But the biggest thing of all that propels this to new heights artistically has got to be the understanding of the characters.

QftNW has such a great understanding of Gravity Falls' characters not only in how they talk but equally as important: how their physical body works in relation to other objects as well as themselves.

Dipper's (audience) right hand has such a nice depth to it and the way Pacifica's hair bends on the bench looks like it jumped straight outta the show.

But there's on example that stood out to me above the rest. Just...look at this beautiful  8 frame scene where Dipper and Mabel take off their Pacifica costumes.

Forgot how tumblr shrinks wide images like this, so here: bask in the full glory of these frames!

Whoever drew this is my Super Star, the 1-Up Boy (or Girl). It's on model, it understands how the individual 'pieces' of Dipper and Mabel work (hair, arms, face etc.), it has touches like their changing facial expressions and Dipper turning his hat forward. I just can't do it justice this scene is so /good/. MysterySeeker when you get to this, please give that boarder special shout outs. I love this scene so much aaaaaaaaaah

Alright that's enough gushing about the glorious art and sound. There's one last remark I'd like to make about the presentation. The episode managed to get in a special monochromatic full version of theme which is great, but in the end the episode totaled out to /27/ minutes. Now, if that's what they want to go with that's absolutely fine. Nothing wrong with having your Gravity Falls fan series run a couple over the normal limit. But if they really want to go for that Gravity Falls feeling they should cut 5 of those minutes.

Story and Characters

Quest for the Northwest's basic premise is that Dipper and Mabel decide to go out to a parade being held to honor the election of the holder of the best running gag, Tyler Cutebiker. However upon seeing a miserable Pacifica in the parade Dipper and Mabel (mostly Mabel) callout to her and try to get her away from the parade and by extent her parents. All isn't right however as with Jeff's role as leader being questioned due to his inability to find a new queen, the town's precious princess may find herself in more trouble than she's bargained for. The basic story definitely shows lots of promise, particularly in the idea of having an episode where the Pines twins both interact with Pacifica. But before we really go in on that let me talk about the structural elements that hold up this story.

As stated in the presentation section, the visuals here are on point and they really propel the episode forward with great action based gags, both subtle and dynamic. Jeff rubbing his eyes after being pepper sprayed and Preston's reactions to all of the filthy commoners being near him (Soos especially) added to the scene SO much.

Don't touch me, PEON. And on a similar note...

Don't touch me phone, PEON.

The characters aren't just moving through each scene as lifeless dolls, occasionally making flanderized quips that are supposed to remind you "YUP THAT'S THEM". That wasn't uh, that wasn't supposed to be a Mystery Hut sneak diss either I just wanted to say that the characterization is great. Speaking of that third Mystery Hut diss, it's finally time to get to it as we talk about the characterization. Mabel's characterization is MILES better than it is in Mystery Hut. There she was a spouting faux-Mabel non-sequiturs and generally being a flanderized nuisance. But here? Her dialogue isn't substanceless; it's endearing, and smart, and feels SO Mabel. And being that this is QftNW, it's not just her dialogue. It's her actions. How she moves and the things she does: licking the beard hair twice (and ultimately eating some at the very end), her "balloon sense" in scene 2, picking the cotton candy off the bench when they hear people calling for Pacifica and then sliding next to them when they look behind the wall.

It culminates into making Mabel feel well represented and because she's one of our two protagonists, it's pretty important to have her on point. And that my friends is that LAST you'll hear of Mystery Hut for the rest of this review. Probably ;)

I think that Pacifica was handled really well too! Some fans would've had her be a complete 180 from her appearance in Northwest Mansion Mystery, having her be all nice, and kind, and forcing Padippica down our throats in a way that feels unnatural, Pacifica still retains a lot of her personality. She's clearly only JUST learning to be better person and it's the gradual type of character development that I love to see.

Pacifica says "It's ok, most people are terrible at what they do." and not only is this a funny line but it feels perfect for a kid who's only steadily learning to drop her rich girl tendencies.

Sort of reminds me of the Steven Universe episode "Beta" where Peridot is showing Amethyst and Steven the Beta Kindergarten and making remarks about the gems that emerged there that really bring out her more Homeworld-like habits.

Jeff's pretty well-handled as well. Due to him being more of a recurring character in the series he's got nothing that really stands out but he's still well represented, especially in relation to the show. Basically all of his dialogue feels right at home with him. Though there is one action he takes in the story that particularly stands out, and that's retrying the Norman scheme from Tourist Trapped. I know this seems like the type of thing that'd I normally whine about and call forced reference/fan-pandering, but the way it goes about is such a unique parallel to Dipper and Mabel's encounter. The Gnomes are NOT the smartest creatures in Gravity Falls, so it makes perfect sense for them to double down on such a make-shift plot. It further expands on the parallel by having the plot fall apart very plainly. Him stumbling over his words, dropping the hand, and just coming on too strong coupled with Pacifica not buying it at any point and eventually fighting her way out is a serves as a smart subversion of Mabel's encounter with them, helps advance the plot in a unique direction. On the topic of throwbacks that brings us to Dipper and well...

For the most part I believe Dipper's also himself. At first I was thinking he was being a bit of a downer but honestly, it fits Dipper to be resistant against things like going to the parade. Him not thinking about Pacifica's huge milestone in Northwest Mansion Mystery (NMM) where she disobeys her parents is a little bit harsh but things really go over the edge when after the twins manage to get Pacifica off the float, Pacifica mentions that while appreciative, she doesn't want to be caught with them for fear of more punishment from her parents. Dipper replies to this by saying "See Mabel, she hasn't changed at all. And here I thought you were gonna start trying to break the world's worst chain".

Barring the fact that reprising the "world's worst chain" in the context of demeaning Pacifica comes off as absolutely brutal seeing as the line was such a landmark part of NMM (it was the thing that made Pacifica finally consider a change of heart), it feels very forced. Dipper didn't need to say something that cut so deep AGAIN especially after Pacifica saved ALL of their lives not out of obligation but out of wanting to do the right thing. And that's just the world's worst chain part; the fact that he says she hasn't changed at all? Way too much. And considering that she's just doing something as little as running away from a boring parade and not tricking Dipper into exorcising a ghost it was really unwarranted for him to go nuclear on her like that. Honestly this is the only instance of bad writing in this entire fanimatic. Like, Pacifica not wanting to consistently disobey her hella strict parents again makes sense. Has the Fear of God never been put into this boy by Mr. and Ms. Pines?

But don't let this minor blemish make you think it's NO good. The episode's writing is honestly SO good. And it's referential/injoke humor definitely isn't a hit or miss in most cases. You know, based on the fact that I gave 1 hit example and 1 miss example; I didn't want it to come off as QftNW being a crapshoot when it comes to reference jokes. It's very subtle but you can catch things like 'Dope Dog', an obvious reference to Cool Cat who we all probably know from YMS, Pizza Guy being jibbed YET again,

Shout outs to whoever boarded the first montage too btw

Alex Hirsch's face being on the TV and name somewhere else in the episode, the former Mayor's honorary statue and the fact that it has 2012 on it,

You guys KNOW they would've had to vague the date if this was a real episode.

And best of all Pacifica's response at the end when asked if she wants to visit the shack. If you don't get it, listen to how she responds to Dipper. You'll get it. QftNW is just plain good at balancing the worlds of emulation and fandom. I salute you fair fanimatic.

As you could guess from how much I've gushed about the characterization, the writing is a joy. The jokes are very much Gravity Falls and from start to finish this episode is doing its best to give you that feel when you have GF.

On first viewing this had me /ROLLING/, oh my god. What a great way to start off an episode.

And it keeps this kind of stuff up throughout its entire run. BTW shout outs to one of the guys who said "MS. NORTHWEST" while they were looking for her. This is so random but the way one of them said it honestly sounded like professional VA work. He knows who he is. Alright that's enough goofing around. How do I feel about the actual plot, the meat of the story separated from the writing/art framework? As stated before I truly believe this to be a great fanimatic. Its production efforts are high for a fanmade project and you can just tell lots of love and heart were put into every aspect of it. But if I'm being quite honest, I found the actual plot sort of weak. The writing itself was top notch so that did it a lot of favors but if you take a step back, you realize that not a lot really happens. Like, a lot HAPPENS but not a lot of substance happens. The episode deals with two primary conflicts: Pacifica trying to take a break from her daily routine and avoid her parents and Jeff trying to prove he's a worthy leader. Both are handled in a pretty straight forward manner: Pacifica avoids her parents all day and worries how they'll react, Dipper and Mabel come up with a valid excuse less than half way through the episode; Jeff tries to kidnap Pacifica, fails, the kids pity him and help him out by doing the classical costume farce and all is well. It's lacking the strong character plot (ex. Mabel questioning if she is a good person in Last Mabelcorn, Dipper confessing his crush in Into the Bunker, Dipper and Mabel wondering if Stan is really what he seems in well, Not What He Seems, Soos learning how to deal with girls/the fear of being alone in Soos and the Real Girl etc.) present in nearly every Gravity Falls episode. Even the segments within Bottomless Pit! and Little Gift Shop of Horrors managed to place some significant character plots that easily feel just as strong as the real episode's despite them not actually happening. Here minor conflicts arise, but they're never anything that hard to surmount or quite frankly, that interesting. After letting it sit with me for a while, I realized that

1.) The episode has two montages. Not that having two is some abominable sin they should've avoided at all costs, in fact montage 1 is great for giving an abridged showcase of the kids day together. Montage 2 on the other hand doesn't exist to parallel montage 1 (showing an advancement/decline), or show anything of interest in general. It's just your normal training montage. It has funny jokes but it seems sort of excessive. Montage 2's results are a total flop and result in them having to think up a b plan. The fact that montage 2 is ultimately not important isn't even lampshaded, in fact it's more played as unfortunate with how Jeff nearly cries. I'm not saying that montage 2's failure should've been played for laughs, especially since in episode the failure is punctuated by a gag, just that in the end montage 2 was a bit cliche and unnecessary.

2.) Pacifica's presence in the second half feels sort of extra and as if it's there primarily so we can get more Dipper, Mabel, Pacifica relationship-growing-time fanservice. Which is not to say that is at ALL a bad thing (the bit in the last scene before the credits scene is SO cute and not forced at all I love it), but when you're trying to write a good story, particularly a Gravity Falls one, having a strong central conflict to carry the episode is pretty imperative. One easy example I can think of off of the top of my head? There could've easily been parallels drawn between Jeff and Pacifica and the pressure from the obligations they have to their families. Jeff on his only simply isn't that compelling a character and making him into a compelling character that late into Gravity Falls isn't that beneficial. He isn't locked out of development due to being a recurring character, but having him have his own little arc that ultimately contributes to Pacifica's (a major character) would've been a better choice. There's obviously more than one way to do things, but that's something I thought would've worked out well.

3.) The title "Quest for the Northwest" doesn't reflect the episode's contents. Jeff's easily apprehended by Pacifica so there's no such quest to speak of and it isn't a clever bait-and-switch title like "The Ricklantis Mixup" because Pacifica defeating the gnomes on her own isn't the big bait of the episode, it's just a nice little parallel to Dipper and Mabel's encounter. Had it actually been about Pacifica being kidnapped and Dipper and Mabel going on a quest to save her whilst say, Pacifica decides to help Jeff out of pity after she breaks free on her own, eventually coming into her own as someone who's taking the first steps to being a better person, THEN it could've been called Quest for the Northwest. It would have the double meaning of not only Dipper and Mabel being on a quest to save Pacifica (the Northwest), but Pacifica being dealt her own 'quest' in helping Jeff out. But that's just me spitting out a specific theoretical I liked, there's tons of ways the title "Quest for the Northwest" could've been justified. The episode's plot just isn't one of them.

4.) Last and certainly least, the black eyebrowed Gnome who's clearly trying to usurp Jeff really isn't relevant. He's shown as the leader of this growing insurgence, but all he really does is talk mad game in two scenes and get absolutely destroyed in an admittedly funny scene. He didn't need to be his own character and the gnomes dissatisfaction could've been more properly represented with a mob rather than a man...urr, gnome. But really, this is a drop in the bucket compared to the bigger issues presented in #1 and #2. Had those been more refined this would just be an outlier rather than a cherry on top of a problem cake. A single layer problem cake mind you, but still a problem cake.

But enough of the negative: in the end Quest for the Northwest is a satisfying episode that captures the soul of Gravity Falls magnificently well despite its faults. An absolute must see for Gravity Falls fans, and if you for some reason read this review without watching it, check it out part 1 and part 2 here. There's plenty to see both writing, visual and gagwise that I didn't spoil, and honestly? Not seeing it is a disservice if you like Gravity Falls a lot. Definitely worth a watch. 8/10; MUCH better than Sonic Lost World.

th-that's my thing now guys. any time i give a number rating it's also quantitatively compared to sonic lost world u

Anyway enough of me babbling, if you enjoyed this fanimatic like I, you should check out their tumblr page for updates on whatever they have in the works . Pretty sure the next episode coming is being titled "Deep-Rooted Misunderstanding" so look out for that, cause I know I will! And while you're here, you might as well check out some of the rest of the this blog and see if you find anything you like. Stay tuned because next week, we're going to be talking about Sonic Forces and/or Mario Odysse-- on second thought let me not get back on my bullshit and promise next week, see you guys in june lmfao