#YOU FUCKED THE WHOLE THING UP RIAN

[magpieinthemorning]

(I left out the stupid joke)

[wildandsmile]

commission idea🤌 vampire blue lock au characters like rin/sae/kuni/nagi etc and for kinks maybe like pinning/degrading ykwim i have a thing for neck biting hense why i love vampire au so much

Rian,Sae,Kuni,Nagi. Bllk boy when you tell them it’s ok to bite you

Total Wc. 1.1k

Warning. Oral F receiving, fingering, biting, choking, teasing, degrading breeding, riding, jealousy , sweet aftercare

An. This is my first time writing for vampires so...... yeah

Rin

He loses his mind, asking you a hundred times if you're sure about it, over and over again.

But once you reassure him, you're done for; he seizes every chance to take a bite out of you he can.

There's something about the way your blood tastes that sends his undead body boiling.

Oh, and he's a sucker for bloody kisses, the taste of your lips on his while your blood still lingers on the tip of his tongue, it turns him on like nothing else could.

And don’t even get him started on you guys are having sex he loves to feel you ride him while his fang are deep in your neck

You gasped out slowly, "Rin no more, pls I can’t take anyone ." As tears streamed down your eyes, you couldn't grasp how long you'd been at it or how much blood you'd lost. All you knew was that weren’t leaving this room anytime soon."Come on, princess, be good for me, just one more taste, please," he pleaded, not giving you any time to reply before sinking his teeth deep into your skin, watching as the blood rained down your neck."Fuck you taste so delicious and you feel even better," he groans as he rolls his hips, attempting to force yet another sweet orgasm from your already flowing cunt. He eventually lets go of your neck, but not before licking a long hot lap across your neck and pulling you into a deep kiss. It felt good, and the irony only added to your excitement as Rin began to thrust deeply into you. "Come on now princess, let me treat you real good for giving me such a great meal."

Sae

He's nothing like his brother; when you mention he could bite you, he's all in, almost immediately.

You even had to set a limit on how many times a day he could drink from you, fearing he'd drain you dry.

But oh, the teasing—he adores it, especially when he hears that little moan escape your lips. And how wet you get just form his fangs

He LOVES going down on you and nibbling on your thighs; the taste of your blood and slick combined makes his head spin.

He's a HUGE aftercare guy, coming back with bandages, snacks, the whole shebang.

"Come on, slut, you can do better than that," he says into your already swollen cunt, sliding his tongue across your sloppy folds. You tried to pull away, but he pushed you hard into the mattress, keeping you in place so he could plunge his fingers deep within you and curl them in just the right position. "Fuck look pet you’re getting our sheets dirty for me" he says as he begins to rub himself through his clothes. "Don't you think I deserve a reward, pet?" he asked as he itches the tips his of fingers against your sweet spot, forcing you to melt in his hands and moan loudly.That must have been his answer because soon enough he’s licking long hot strips across your thigh before sinking his fang deep into your skin licking up all the blood that trickles down making sure not to waste a drop.“ You’re so addictive pet, but I think it’s time to give you what you want, ” he said as he wiped the blood off his face and licked it off his fingers. “I’m going to have to cancel my schedule cause we’re not leaving this room until you covered in my bite marks.”

Kunigami (Wild Card)

• Right then and there, he takes you up on that offer, no matter where you are.

• Throughout the entire encounter, he's a big bully, teasing and touching you, yet not allowing you to reciprocate.

• He revels in seeing you in that vulnerable state when he drinks your blood, something about your clinging to him that ignites him.

• His possessiveness leads him to bite you in places where there's no way to hide the marks.

• Despite his bullying nature and slight transformation, he still retains the same caring demeanor, as evidenced by your favorite food waiting on the table the next day with a note that reads, "Make sure to rest well today, doll."

"Didn't I tell you not to push me away doll face?" he says, slapping your ass hard. "Only good girls get what they want," he says, and you whimper an apology before turning your face away so he doesn't see the fire burning your cheeks. But it doesn't last long as Kuni slides his hands up your skirt and rubs tight circles on your clothed clit, feeling how wonderful and puffy you can become with just a few touches."You really are a dirty slut doll face is that why you covered up your bite mark cause you didn't want the world to know what a dirty girl you really were huh” he says as he peels the bandages off your neck, revealing all the bite marks you worked so hard to hide. "I worked so hard to paint this pretty neck like my canvas, and you cover it up," he says as he wraps his hands around your throat, hooking your panties to the side and sliding to figure in rolling them until you buck into him. In that instant, he sinks his fangs deep into your collar bone. "Guess I'll just have to cover all of you in my bite marks so you can't hide them again."

Nagi

Is lazy he just waves it off when you tell him and goes back to his video game

• However, should he catch you talking to another guy, especially another vampire, his demeanor takes a different turn.

• He's typically gentle about things, so don't expect too much until he's angered.

• When he does get upset, he becomes more animalistic, perhaps even draining you completely.

• Yet, he always apologizes the next day, showering you with the princess treatment, whether it's playing his game together or enjoying a nap side by side.

"Who the hell was that love?" Nagi asks, his eyes shining a venomous glow. You don't say anything because you know it will only add fuel to the fire, and so that's how you end up locked in a mating press as Nagi buries his cock deep inside you kiss up to your cervix and his fangs even deeper into your skin drain you of what little you have. You couldn't tell if you were seeing stars because he pulled so many orgasms out of you or because of the blood loss."You’re mine, mine, mine," he says as he pushes your leg deeper into your chest and licking a long lap across your leg before biting you hard and watching the blood trail down your leg. "You're mine, and I'm going to make sure everyone knows it, even if I have to bite and knock you up to do so."

[trashquisitor-shirozora]

*enables you* what happened with TLJ 👃

After all these years I still can't properly find words to explain how deeply betrayed I felt after the credits rolled and I shuffled out of the movie theater with everybody else. There was a TON of hype surrounding this movie, an absolute fuckton. I only saw positive reviews about it, the cast, the director, the plot. I got excited to see where Rian Johnson & Co. would take the ST.

The only remotely negative comment I saw before watching the movie was a fandom blog saying they didn't like what happened to Poe. Since this blog was about racism in fandom, I knew something was off. That was my only warning.

And y'know, it was like, five minutes in? Ten minutes? And Poe makes a "Yo mama" joke at Hux? I used to go into movies with an open mind and spent days gathering my thoughts about them because I was always slow to react, slow to gather my thoughts into coherent strings of words. It's how I enjoyed Michael Bay productions and JJ Abrams' love affair with lens flare. I never got actively angry with a movie I was watching, and I was fucking angry by the time the movie ended. I still remember texting a friend while standing out in front of the theater because I was so confused. The response to TLJ was so positive so why did I come out of the movie so frustrated and confused and dissatisfied with the whole thing?

It's been years and we all know how this movie divided the Star Wars fandom and just... broke Fandom Spaces in a way I never expected. We all know what TLJ did and didn't do, and how TROS provided the final nail in the coffin that was the ST experiment. But back then, all I saw was positive commentary about the themes and messages of TLJ, how it portrayed failure and the dangers of putting someone like Luke Skywalker on a pedestal, how the Force was female, how... important it was to see Poe get characterized as a hotheaded hotshot who needed to be demoted, slapped around, and stunned in order to learn some kind of lesson, how important it was to see Finn lose everything he gained in TFA so that he could relearn how not to be selfish or something while starring in a fucking incredibly tone-deaf B plot, how Rey... I'm not sure exactly what because she didn't need training anyway and then spent most of her time trying to bring Ben Swolo back to the light????? Rose was so promising as someone who grew up under the FO's thumb but she and Kelly were fucking abandoned by Disney so I don't know if Rose existing was actually a good idea if it meant giving Kelly unending trauma. Mark slipped up by calling Luke "Jake" and expressing his displeasure in front of cameras, and I was so fucking baffled and alienated by his character after knowing how his story ended in ROTJ that I couldn't connect with whatever lessons I and he are supposed to be learning. JJ set up Snoke like a mystery box and Rian just yeeted him off without so much as a fucking explanation so what was the point of that? Hux was a fucking joke. Phasma was barely there. The only character that Rian cared about was fucking Kylo Ren and Adam says years later that he was never supposed to get a redemption arc anyway.

Like, this was the movie everyone hyped up? This was the movie that didn't answer any questions left unasked by TFA and didn't bother to move forward with character development for any of the known characters? I spent money watching a slow space chase that ended on a planet made of salt and killed off Luke for Reasons? Am I stupid? Am I dumb? Am I a peasant incapable of understanding the masterpiece Rian directed, this so-called Best Star Wars Movie Since ESB?

But I couldn't say anything. I couldn't be dogpiled for hating such a empowering movie for women, a diverse and inclusive movie that had the likes of John and Kelly and Oscar. I couldn't be lumped in with the Star Wars dudebros with their raging misogynistic and racist takes on the movie, the cast, Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm, Disney, etc. I couldn't be seen as one of them just because I didn't like a movie that I should like, I'm supposed to like. So I sat in silence, read meta, witnessed the fucking catastrophic explosion around some wild ass AO3 fandom essays written by a racist OG member of OTW about Finn/Poe, saw hate piled on black and bipoc fans, saw r*ylo fans come for John and John clap back at them, just saw an absolute fuckton of hate, and so by the time TROS came around I just... checked out. There was no way JJ could salvage what Rian had done and I was right. TROS was a corporate-run soulless garbage end to the Sequel Trilogy, but it ended just as The Mandalorian finished its first season and regained a lot of good will with this small story about a lonely Mandalorian bounty hunter who encountered a Force-sensitive Baby Yoda.

And then TBOBF/Season 3 of the Mando Show happened, just like how TLJ happened. All the promise, all the unanswered questions of the previous movie/season, all fucking dropped or provided with the worst, most unsatisfying answer. I'm sure others have found better answers and can live with what Star Wars gave us, but I haven't been able to. TLJ came out years and years ago, and I am still so bitter today. I'm still so bitter because TFA had such an incredibly compelling setup with such promising characters, and then TLJ Did That.

I got so heated while writing this. I'm still so mad. I'm still so bitter. I bury my head so deep in the sandbox I built for myself so that I don't have to think how Disney is twisting and contorting all these Mando'verse shows so that they all eventually lead to the ST, their precious hot potato child that just... didn't have to end the way they did if they actually had a fucking plan and fucking stuck the landing. I'll give the MCU this - their Phase 1? They fucking stuck the landing. I fell off the train tracks and haven't really watched the MCU since Captain Marvel, but at least they had a fucking plan and didn't fucking derail themselves like Disney did with the Sequel Trilogy.

I could be nice to people who like this movie but I'm not going to be. They can be nice on their own blogs.

Man, I can't even watch Knives Out or Glass Onion because my blood starts boiling. Just. TLJ did a lot to ruin what I hoped would be a positive and creative connection with Star Wars, and it took the Mando Show and the 2 minutes where Din and Luke locked eyes on the Imperial light cruiser to bring me back.

I'm gonna stop before I get way too heated for sleep.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Bit of thought and discussion last night over what makes a competent, effective movie vs a deep or interesting movie with Star Wars as our target.

So to highlight it in the most obvious way: George Lucas's movies are complex with deep plots, but are not well-written and fun to watch. So the prequels gained this reputation for being a bit of a slog because no matter how much Lucas loved this story he crafted, the way it was presented was lacklustre.

Meanwhile Disney tries to make a "competent" and entertaining movie with every attempt. Every marvel movie... before Endgame... was very entertaining and well-directed, regardless of if there was anything worth thinking about later.

When it came to Star Wars, Disney really struggled with this.

The Force Awakens is definitely a competent movie that hits all the beats they wanted it to. It has those good Classic Star Wars feelings, weighty lightsaber combat, a core cast that you love watching interact, and an emotional centre. It does the job it's supposed to, perfectly, whereas not taking a SINGLE risk with the franchise. It desperately doesn't want to be associated with Lucas's "boring power bloaty" prequels.

Of course the film recieves criticism for this, because it's just copying A New Hope without adding any new dna to the franchise. Every critic can see what Disney was doing, making a nostalgic star wars theme park, and they say they want Disney to deliver in the next movie.

Then comes The Last Jedi, where Disney's lack of direction became incredibly obvious. Rian Johnson took the Force Awakens critique FAR TOO MUCH to heart and made The Last Jedi the complete opposite - Everything TFA did, TLJ did in the opposite way. So instead of being a hero in waiting, Luke Skywalker is disappointing to Rey, he's ran away and fallen into squalor and he immediately throws away the lightsaber that brought him to tears at the end of the first film. And instead of leaning on the new trio everyone was excited about, Johnson splits them up permanently, with no interaction at all in the movie.

The Last Jedi tries to make itself more interesting by forcing threads into places that do not fit. Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy isn't a messy dark character, he's a starry eyed optimist, but this movie takes the easiest and cheapest route possible to turn him into something he's not because the author wants a darker more questionable story and has only got this one film to make it that way. The movie also leans hard into everything Disney was trying to avoid with the first one, long boring segments of whacky hijinks.

As a result a lot of writers have respect for Johnson's attempts to diverge from Disney tradition of super safe movies, his attempts to add stuff to Star Wars and make a unique film, but it completely fails as a competent movie and it fails as a competent story because there are too many authors clearly fighting with each other.

Movie 3... I've not seen it. I do know a lot about it, and Abrams spends the whole thing once again undoing everything Johnson did and trying to return to a safe Star Wars. TOO safe. To the extent that the plot completely lacks any comprehension because it needs to warp the story so much to return to the beaten path.

Somehow, Palpatine returned!! What the fuck!!! And why was this revealed in Fortnite???

Why are they puppeting Carrie Fisher's corpse?

Rise of Skywalker is disney at its worst because they have gone from being super safe to trying to return something adventurous to the safe path, without any degree of originality or creativity. I don't think a single actual writer worked on that film. It was all just direction to make epic setpieces, the pursuit of a "competent and entertaining" film instead of the ninth part of a story.

They are also repeatedly having to do this with Marvel. They have the lost the ability to do their own stuff with Marvel and are following a variety of comic plots, because that's "safe", right? But no, the comic goes to all sorts of crazy places, which gets in the way of making a competent and cohesive film. So theyre trying to get rid of some of that complexity, enough to make the writing bad, but not enough for Marvel to become coherent because that would require actually creating new stories and not following the basic, highly profitable guidelines of Marvel comics.

[tachosnachos]

Thoughts on hierarchy up till ep 5

This show is trying to be what it’s not. You tried, you made an effort and you failed. I’m literally rooting for none of the main characters. The only people I root for is Hera and WooJin. I understand that Hera was supposed to be the antagonist, but Jae I is such failure of a friend that it’s stupid to consider her a good character. Nothing the befell her is warranted. And she’s done nothing that’s evil enough to be thrown to the fire. What? Dating her best friend’s ex? Honestly, idc enough to empathise. Woo Jin is actually a nice guy here, just wished he wasn’t screwing their teacher. Teacher’s a lunatic but I could care less about her plot.

The worst part about this show is Jae I and Rian. Their acting, their lack of chemistry, the lacklustre romeo juliette-esque relationship that absolutely makes no sense. I don’t give a damn if their family’s competing because logically if they are the two top family’s in the world, how would them dating each other be “scandalous”. We’re not in the victorian era. That shit makes absolutely no sense.

Also, the guy’s a fucking bully and her liking him that much just makes me question her morals. She’s supposed be empathetic but it’s not giving. She’s worse than a bystander, she’s an apologist.

I forgot which episode but there was a scene where Kang Ha and Rian was having a stare of. And Kang Ha was all like “this must be the gaze my brother saw” and I spit out laughing. The boy wasn’t giving threatening look, he was giving confused puppy. I was like “Kang Ha, you have to tell me what we’re looking at. Am I supposed to feel threatened?”

Kang Ha is a weak protagonist. He doesn’t look like has a plan. None of the things he has done seem to work. This is supposed to be a revenge plot, but he’s literally affected because of a girl. He knew this girl could be a suspect for his brother’s death yet he still helped her? Why?? Rich of you to criticise other kids for not having a spine when yours is non existent.

The plot twists were so obvious it wasn’t even a guess. I just expected all of us to know by then that when they did the whole reveal, all I could do was roll my eyes. None of the supposed “secrets” warrants the death of another kid. Like so what? You guys hooked up? You’re rich you can fucking cover it up!

Honestly, it’s so stupid. I don’t know if it’s because I finished lovely runner before this and I was blessed with great acting there that I feel immense disappointment here, but honestly like I feel the writers gave up half way. What a waste of a good set.

[spectordameron]

The Sequel Trilogy: A Story of Choice

Do not interact with this post if you insist on just being negative, passive aggressive, or critical against the films in the tags/replies. I don't want to hear it.

This post speaks frankly about topics such as abuse, brainwashing, torture, dehumanization, and non-con elements. Proceed with caution.

One thing that I feel goes often ignored or misunderstood about the sequel trilogy, is its core message and value, which is choice - especially, choice over circumstances, or choice over blood. I would argue this is the overall theme of the entire Skywalker Saga, but the sequels really center themselves around this idea, with it becoming the beating heart of the emotional plot of The Rise of Skywalker.

According to writer Chris Terrio in one of the festurettes for the film, this theme is best summed up by the character D-0, and Rey's short initial interaction with him:

Which is meant to be a mirror to what we know of Finn, Rey and (as we learn) Poe. They all come from pasts that were not kind to them, and were treated badly, but found a home in each other. It is a case of choice over circumstances: Finn chose to leave the First Order, Poe chose to leave the Spice Runners (and become a New Republic officer, then choose to leave that when he understood how compliant they'd become), and Rey chose to leave Jakku.

Choice is also mirrored in the trilogy's antagonists (DJ being a good example of the choice to serve only yourself and not join the greater war, Zorii puts aside her resentment and helps the Resistance) but none so much than Kylo Ren himself, who is as obsessed with the Skywalker bloodline as Snoke is (understandably).

There's an opinion and idea that between Ren and the revelation that Rey is Palpatine's granddaughter, that the trilogy values bloodlines and inheritance over choice, but I fundamentally disagree with this, because I think that's a misunderstanding of the story they're trying to tell.

When Han says that "there's too much Vader in [Ren]" in The Force Awakens, I don't take that as a dismissal of Leia being an Organa by choice, not when we discover that Ren is continuously making the choice to choose the Skywalker bloodline, and ergo Vader, over the family that actually raised him: a woman who chose her adoptive family over her biological family, and a man who had no surname but instead claimed one that was thrust upon him as an insult.

There's too much Vader in Ren, because that is the choice Ren made, and continues to make. He chose Vader over Leia, over Han, over the Solo-Organa family. It's a similar mistake that Luke makes:

Blood. Inheritance. The hubris of Ren believing the lightsaber belongs to him, simply because it belonged to Vader, to Anakin, even when the Force calls a quote unquote "nobody" to it instead.

Rey is revealed, obviously, in The Last Jedi, to be born to "nobodies", and Ren (sticks his whole fucking foot in his mouth) hurts her deeply by emphasizing Rey's worst fear which is that she has no place in this story, because she is nobody. It's a moment that haunts Rey enough that she doesn't even believe herself worthy of wielding the Skywalker saber in TROS:

Obviously - and famously - this revelation is because Rian Johnson preferred the concept of underdogs becoming heroes and thought it was the worst revelation Rey could possibly have - that she doesn't have any connection to this story that means so much to her.

Unlike majority of the internet, I love the addition TROS offers, which is that the truth is so much worse. Rey isn't just "nobody", she does have a place in this story, and it's in the worst way imaginable for her: she's the main villain's granddaughter.

And I don't think it negates what we initially learn about Rey, or her status as a "nobody". Her being related to Palpatine does not inherently result in her being somehow more privileged than other characters - she was still abandoned as a child, and was forced to work in order to survive, suffered bouts of starvation, and had to fend for herself for years. She's a traumatized young woman with fractured memories, and poor self esteem from said abandonment and the abuse Unkar Plutt put her under (he also emphasizes in the TFA novelization that she is a "nobody", and likely would have pressed upon her the lie that Miramir and Dathan fed him that she was being sold for drinking money, hence Rey's conflicting memories of parents coming to return for her and what Ren finds in TLJ).

Her position as Palpatine's granddaughter, however, puts her almost immediately into the same position that Ren once found himself in, and he tries to pressure her into coming to the same conclusion that he did: that because of the blood in her veins, she has no choice in going to the Dark Side, that she will wind up abandoned (again) for it, and there's only one place in the galaxy for her - by his side.

And when Rey is frightened enough by her hatred and resentment, that leads her into the Dark Side on Kef Bir and results in her killing Kylo Ren - she flees to Ahch-To to exile herself because she believes there's no escape from her circumstances. She was a nobody who had to earn this legendary saber, who doesn't deserve to be the protagonist of this story, and now she's the granddaughter of its villain.

But she's quickly reminded that blood is not everything:

Even while on Exegol, Palpatine attempts to taunt her with the concept that she has no one but him, that she's helpless but to continue the cycle: Luke had his father, but the only family Rey has is him, and if she doesn't give in and continue the cycle of violence, then her new family will die.

And once more, the concept of blood over choice, is immediately dismantled. Rey isn't alone, because Ben - having finally made the decision to shed his attachment to Vader's bloodline and chose being an Organa-Solo - comes and saves her. Rey isn't alone, and neither is her new family, because the entire galaxy comes in to help the Resistance.

And the ultimate climax of the battle, is that Palpatine does in fact kill Rey, and it is Ben's choice to revive her. He loves her, and so did his mother and father. Rey is family, and he dies to bring her back, and so she takes the Skywalker name - and is the happiest she is in the entire saga, because she's learned that blood and circumstance isn't everything, it is choice. And Rey has chosen and accepted her own family.

But circumstance and choice isn't limited to just Rey in this trilogy - there's also our other primary hero characters, starting with Finn.

Finn is a stormtrooper, taken from a family he'll never know, that we're not introduced to. He worked in sanitation, despite being a very promising cadet in Before the Awakening. Much like Poe, Finn is introduced as being one of the biggest "red shirt" offenders of the saga (seriously do we ever expect a stormtrooper or a fighter pilot to survive? no), and almost immediately Finn gives us the thesis of the trilogy:

Finn was raised and taught for one purpose: to fight and then to die for the First Order. He flees from the First Order, and TFA is spend with him tying his loyalty to his friends - choosing them over running away. TLJ finds him making the choice to actively fight against the First Order, and join the Resistance.

Finn's choice to turn away from the First Order, brought him to his family. And TROS sees Finn at his most grounded and reassured; he's found his own peace and purpose, and it's through the choices he made over his circumstance.

Poe is probably the only character of our trio who is the most assured from the starting point, and the only one who has a tangible connection to the Rebellion through his parents. However, this is only within expanded material, with only a mere allusion to it in TROS, so the only concrete thing we have for connection in the films is his and Leia's surrogate mother/son relationship, and how he's chosen to carry on her legacy.

When we start off The Force Awakens, he's quickly established as a member of the Resistance and a high-ranking one as well (he dismisses a briefing full of generals and admirals).

However, it's clear that Poe views himself as expendable - he rushes in, unthinkingly, back to the village on Jakku and gets captured as a result. He puts himself on the line between the First Order and the Resistance above D'Qar (it is no coincidence that he recognizes Luke and Amilyn's sacrifice plays first later in the film).

Leia, and then the circumstances of the film literally grounding him by blowing up Black One, forces Poe to slow down and examine the choice he's being presented:

Pretty quickly, Poe begins considering what Leia's asked of him, and pauses while mulling over Rose and Finn's plan, before making the choice to be the one to stay behind, rather than jumping into the fray to save the day.

By the end of the film, Poe has quite consciously stepped into the latter half of the choice presented to him. He wants to survive, not just sacrifice himself in the name of the fight, and becomes the leader that Leia knew he had the potential to become:

The heart of his conflict in TROS is his fear that, like Rey, he can't succeed where the past did. He isn't Leia, and he's not so certain that he can do this by himself - but in the end, he doesn't have to, because he has Finn for support, and Rey shows them the way, in a neat inverse to Poe in TLJ:

And then the entire galaxy steps up to overthrow the First Order, and Palpatine. Like his wookieepedia so iconically supplies, Poe becomes the spark that lit the fire that burned the First Order down, and he doesn't do so alone.

The theme of choice and circumstances is often also reflected in the antagonists and villains. As aforementioned, DJ represents the choice Finn has of not joining, and serving himself, but there's another element to this theme, of characters looking down on our heroes for the circumstances they come from:

Snoke also expresses shock over the idea that a mere scavenger could resist his apprentice. It's a similar sentiment that Poe, Rose and Finn all experience within the Resistance itself under Vice Admiral Holdo:

She quickly reduces the three of them - Poe to no more than a trigger-happy flyboy, Finn to being a stormtrooper, and can't even be bothered to remember Rose, our resident behind the scenes worker underdog turned hero, despite supplementary material confirming that Rose is quite literally from Holdo's ship.

Like Rey, the three of them are underestimated and put down for or reduced to their 'inferior' roles. It's no wonder these kids are afraid they're not enough to be the heroes of this story - they've been told repeatedly that they're not, by villains and heroes alike.

Even more horrifically is the way agency and choice gets stripped away from the heroes by the villains:

Poe manages to resist an undetermined amount of time being physically tortured without giving up any intelligence, until Ren forcibly violates him by entering his mind (an experience described as "silent agony" in the novelization), and taunts Rey that he can do the same to her before she quickly turns the tables on him.

Both Ren and Snoke are able to paralyze their victims with the Force, rendering them immobile; Rey has similar trauma as Poe, albeit not from Ren, but through Snoke, as he immobilizes her and then tears through her mind in a similar manner that Ren does to Poe in the Force Awakens. Elsewhere, Finn experienced a lifetime of programming and brainwashing, reduced to a mere number without even a name to give him any sense of individuality. And Palpatine's ultimate play, before learning that Ren and Rey are a dyad in the Force and that power could restore him, was to literally possess Rey's body for himself.

It is a constant struggle for agency, with the villains quite often stripping our heroes of their autonomy - that is what the sequel trilogy is about. Three people who are consistently put down, devalued, who repeatedly have their agency stripped away, who are told they are stuck in an endless cycle, and it is about them going no, and leaving that behind and finding a home and a purpose in each other. Making the choice to find a new home, a new family, a new purpose, a new surname.

It is a victory when they emerge from Exegol, bloodied and exhausted and injured but with the sun shining, because they broke the cycle and they chose each other. It isn't about restoring the Republic, or holding onto the past. It's about three hurt people finding the value in themselves, and making a home with each other.

[b1gtimerush]

the brothers bloom dialogue prompts from rian johnson's 2008 film.

___, what have you done?

oh god, he's dead!

___, you dunce!

if we see each other again, it'll be as strangers.

as for the money, let it rot.

"wow" is the word you're looking for! wow!

buy you a drink?

it's true you never work with the same crew twice?

there you are. you hiding?

hold on, i must make piss.

do we have to go through this again?

i mean it this time, ___. this time, i'm really out.

i hate you. okay?

i can't do this anymore. i can't wake up next to another person who thinks they know me.

tell me what you want.

how'd you find me?

how you been?

i'm not saying yes, but what's the con?

you got something up your sleeve.

this is about me, right? somehow.

this isn't gonna give me what i want.

could you drive me home?

are you okay?

i'm really bad at talking to people.

i really want to talk to you.

what kind of stuff do you do?

it's a good feeling to be genuinely interested in someone.

are you leaving?

what was your childhood like?

a little fear might suit you, i think.

eat your waffles.

the day i con you is the day i die.

i think it'd be fun. we should do this.

this could go very bad.

i think a little real danger might suit me.

i think you're constipated. in your fucking soul.

you just got to stop thinking so much.

your smile is the sun, ma chère. and fallen men, we need the sun.

you don't have to be scared of me.

you probably won't believe, but i loved you very much.

i'm sorry i wasn't there.

i'm really happy right now. are you?

this isn't the ending you wanted?

i love her. i don't want to turn her into me.

trust me. it's gonna be okay.

you've been awfully quiet.

oh, god, i'm gonna be sick.

is this a con or is it real?

i love you.

there's no such thing as an unwritten life. just a badly written one.

you know what we're gonna do? we're gonna live like we're telling the best story in the whole world.

[isobelleposts]

“Eat The Rich” — My Favorite Genre in Film

by Isobelle Cruz [February 1, 2022]

The Menu (2022) dir. by Mark Mylod

The phrase in the title comes from political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s quote, “When people have nothing to eat, they will eat the rich.” The last film I watched that had me surprised they did not literally eat the rich was The Menu by Mark Mylod.

This film never took itself too seriously despite its center around the wealthy and the lengths they go to just to experience the finer things in life. It is fully aware of its bizarreness and adds bits of humor here and there, making it enjoyable despite mostly taking place in one setting.

As the first film I had seen this year, The Menu truly sets up expectations and a fresh path to more of what the industry has in store for the rest of the year. Moving on, here are four more films to see if you enjoyed The Menu:

Triangle of Sadness (2022) dir. by Ruben Östlund

Starting off strong with one of my final watches of 2022 that had me saying “what the fuck?” under my breath every few minutes is Triangle of Sadness directed by Ruben Östlund. What initially caught my interest in watching this film was a clip in the opening part wherein we see a bit of the modeling industry and its quirks, or so, ridiculousness. What I didn’t know, and certainly wasn’t prepared for,  was what I would witness next.

I went into this film after refraining myself from spoilers or even a hint of what it could be about, preparing myself to be either disappointed or pleased with what I was about to be met with. And that is exactly what I suggest to you as well. Ditch the synopsis and logline and head straight into this experience. Just know that you’ll be met with great dialogue, delicate cinematography, and a whole lot of shit—both figuratively and literally.

Parasite (2019) dir. by Bong Joon-ho

Behind my little song to the clouds to tuck its raindrops away, a certain thought would always lie at the back of my head while growing up. As we celebrate a class suspension and give thanks for the chilly weather in the desert-like heat of the Philippines, I wonder what life is like for those living by the rivers, whose roofs are made with cheap iron or yero and whose walls are made of thin wood.

It hasn’t occurred to me before how important these thoughts were until I encountered this film a few years back. Parasite presents its audience with the rich’s ignorance of their surroundings and several contrasts between the everyday life scenes of a wealthy and poor family. 

Parasite is precise, well-written, and surely deserving of its multiple awards.

Knives Out (2019) dir. by Rian Johnson

Whodunnit—-they say that when you see them once, you’ve seen them all. And that may be true, but Knives Out’s fast pacing and quick cuts from past to present still kept my eyes glued to the screen. It’s a classic murder mystery, encouraging the audience to say things like “It’s too early on for such an obvious clue.”

This will keep you thinking throughout its length, asking questions again and again in your head, eager to beat the ending before the killer’s reveal. Though predictable for some, Knives Out nonetheless offers a fun view into the world of a money-starved family and their deceased father, along with a bunch of odd and entertaining characters.

The Handmaiden (2016) dir. by Park Chan-wook

Of course I found a way to sneak The Handmaiden into this list. 

The film follows Kim Tae-ri’s character who falls in deep romance with Lady Hideko, the woman she works for. Just when you think it is about to finally end, a sharp turn comes and it’s as if the story had only begun then—this happens thrice, by the way.

As we go further along the story we encounter money’s play in the wickedness of men and are left with our mouths agape after another unexpected revelation or scene. 

The Handmaiden is not only a story of forbidden romance between two women but also a showcasing of comradeship and care for another in suffering. Looking past its long length and adult scenes is a mind-boggling and thoroughly written story accompanied by excellent direction, camera work, and acting.

[amysgiantbees]

Love in the Air

Spoilers

Just thoughts as I go I'll add to and edit this later...

I got into this show because I was wondering who the people the camera lingered on to long were in Wedding Plan (LOVE Wedding Plan). So since I saw Wedding Plan first every time I look at Rian's hair internally I'm like "just you wait it gets better I promise".

It would annoy me that Rain does the annoying so demure, so inexperienced shyness silence all the time if he didn't consistently not have two brain cells to rub together. So the silence as he tries to put any thoughts together really checks out.

God I relate to a man procrastinating and fucking up uni. I need more failures as my protagonists like this. Love him. Very relatable.

It bothers me more than I'd like that Saifah is meant to be the younger twin to Payu. He looks older and his is actor is two years older. If he was clean shaven I think it would work more. But every time they mention he's meant to be younger I just cannot by that.

I saw a review calling this a a modern queer bodice ripper and yeah 100%. I also am enjoying it a lot more now that I've heard that. Everything feels like it fits into place. Like you know how you do that fear factor/sensory thing where you touch something or eat something blindfolded. It could be totally fine and good and still a bit scary or weird if you don't know what it is. I just feel like I like shows a whole lot better personally when I don't go in blind. And yet the ADHD so often calls for me to do 0 research into what I watch XD

Episode 8 now and damn Prapai you had to open your mouth. You were so hot and beautiful before, probably helped by you not being the most arrogant man in the room (racetrack). But here you are. A nepo baby making your secretary cancel important meetings so you can bother people and change outfits. SIR get your shit together.

Nevermind I love him. Also love his secretary.

God Prapai's outfits are just INCREDIBLE! Like, not enough that he's wearing good, beautiful, colourful suits, but he has interesting ties and gorgeous pins. The stylist went off with Prapai.

I usually love how important family is in Thai media I've seen but I actually need Prapai and his brother to be less close. Or his brother to be SIGNIFICANTLY less open about how horny he is.

Sky you are now ADHD to me because I too need to keep notes on people I like too. Also I know your sleep sucks because of trauma but bad/irregular sleep is also a sign of ADHD. Plus risk taking behavior in HS.

Rain is ADHD too TBH. Inattentiveness, risk taking behavior, getting distracted, not thinking things through, time blindness and procrastination - his assignments. Also they both seem to study a lot better with other people.

Watching the special and love their friend full on villain laughing at the opportunity to bully them. Just love the bullying and banter in this. Sky getting Rain on his hands and knees is *iconic*.

I think the couples are very close to being something I wouldn't like because of the dub-con, alpha male/protector, gender role wife-husband shorter/fem man is automatically submissive stuff. Which is not only regressive but tired and cringe. However, it subverts this or is self aware enough to not be annoying. I mean you'd hope to have properly distinct couples but so much stuff I've read doesn't even do this. Sky loves to bully and tease Prapai. Like how Prapai's aggressive initial flirting was meant to be playful. I think so is Sky's jealousy and verbal combativeness. Which makes Prapai's stalking and Sky's excessive jealousy less uncomfortable or annoying and more fun because it's like they're both in on the joke. Similarly, Rain's dumb jealousy and misunderstandings could be lazy writing to make the plot happen. But Rain seems genuinely barely annoyed and Payu is so morosexual that again, it at the very least feels adjacent to lamp shading these tropes. Like they're in on the joke.

LOVE the special. Especially the table scene but could they not of had Sky playing a game on his phone. I would be much more into the scene if I wasn't low-key laughing at the completely black screen. Even if it immediately said game-over while he was pretending to play it. Also, considering how much egregiously blatant product placement I've had to watch since getting into Thai media you'd think they could find some game company that would jump at the chance to be there even in this small capacity.

So love them overall. Very cute!

[lasatfat]

Hi there! If you are still taking DA Worldstate questions: 13 and 19 for any/all of your protagonists?

canon DA worldstate questions

13 - What are their thoughts on the Grey Warden Order?

Eireann Surana: I think she has quite complicated thoughts on the Grey Wardens. Duncan freed her from the Circle, and she knows first-hand how necessary the Wardens are, but she also has a lot of problems with how they operate. She's of the mind that the Wardens need to be a little more open and a lot less ruthless.

Rian Hawke: The ritual to imprison Corypheus makes Rian very wary of Grey Wardens. They only had Anders to go on for a long time, and they love Anders to absolute distraction, but he's hardly a typical representation of what a Warden is. What happened to Rian's parents really brings home how far Wardens will go.

Gideon Lavellan: Gideon's first experience with the Grey Wardens is from Blackwall, so that probably skews his perception of them a little bit. He's horrified by the whole "raise an army of demons" malarkey, especially since he can't find any evidence that it's even possible to reach the Old Gods before they wake up. But he's also aware that they serve a purpose that others may not be able to fulfill.

19 - Are they afraid of death?

Eireann Surana: Very much so. She's not so much afraid of dying herself as she is of leaving behind her children. As they grow older and more independent, that fear abates somewhat. She'd like to grow old, but she knows they could manage without her, if it came to that.

Rian Hawke: It's not their favourite thing in the world, but there are other things they're more scared of, if that makes sense.

Gideon Lavellan: He tries not to think about it too much. He wants to believe he'll live to fight another day, and if he does die, it'll be fast enough that he won't know it happened. In the lead up to Trespasser, when he thinks he's actually going to die, it becomes a more immediate consideration, and he's absolutely fucking terrified.

[the-rogue-mockingjay]

24 + 27 + 30 for Ravi? :)

ty meg 😽

24. what's your wol's relationship with food? do they skip meals or do they eat at specific times religiously? is food important to them, or is it just a means to an end to keep their body going? does food mean something cultural or personal to them?

Oh she LOVES food, not just for the reasons of tastes good/nice texture/comfort food, but also because cuisine is so tied to culture and history. She loves getting to try the food in all the places she travels to. She has some things she fundamentally refuses to touch (such as beans and peas), but there hasn't been a single cuisine she hasn't liked, she always finds an array of dishes and drinks that become faves :> She's a terrible cook, however. She can make things that are edible but not very good, and inherited my curse that no matter what we do we cannot make scrambled eggs that don't taste like a new flavor of shit every time 🤣

She really loves the social aspect of food. Whether it's hanging out in the kitchen laughing and chatting while chopping vegetables, or a celebratory feast such as after a wedding, or a quiet intimate coffee date with a loved one, for her, love is at the heart of it all. Pretty much all her hangouts with her friends/family involve food, even if it's just snacks. Having to just stuff food in her face and run due to a tight schedule is something she LOATHES.

27. how does your wol feel about allag in general? the tech, the experimenting, the crystal tower? any thoughts on allagan ruins? are they impressed, scared, resentful, neutral?

She has....complicated feelings, about Allag fklgjhdghdfg. Like, it's impressive what they managed to do (create a WHOLE ASS MOON??? AND PUT IT IN SPACE???) but the depths of their depravity, their crimes against living beings, their obscene experiments- she hates them. And she thinks their aesthetic choices are terrible, to boot! (Amon being perhaps the worst example of this LMAO. She hates him and his shitty ass outfit so much (but she still hopes to be reunited with his soul in the next life, to help him find the answers he's been looking for all this time. And maybe next time he won't, yanno, blow up the world....))

More than that, though, every single experience she's had with Allag personally has been Bad, so when she sets foot in a ruin, she feels small, anxious, on edge. Allag is equated with loss, death, pain. Ysayle's death at Azys Lla, her fight with Thordan and his knights, the Warring Triad (which nearly killed Rian, one of her close friends and a fellow WoL), not to mention Garlemald's use of all that Allagan tech. Allag makes her feel like a prey animal being hunted for sport lfdkjghdkjgh, and boy does it ignite a prey animal rage in her.

She has very different feelings about the Crystal Tower. It's so...beautiful. Breathtaking. Incredible and intricate and MASSIVE. How could such a thing even be built? It helps that its architecture barely resembles typical Allagan construction lol. It's still very sad for her, though. The dragons imprisoned inside, G'raha locking himself away, not even mentioning the Seat of Sacrifice which she can't think about without crying.

30. how does your wol feel about children? do they want them? like them from a distance? hate them? no strong feelings?

When she was younger, she just kinda liked them from a distance, but not much more. In more recent times, such as ShB onwards, she likes them a lot! (Riqi-Tio looked at her once and she immediately got attached LOL). And one of the more quietly impactful parts of Stormblood was hanging out with that little girl (Isse's sister) who took her to visit her parents' graves. She's very protective of kids, always has been to some degree, so she doesn't take kindly to anyone or anything that threatens a kid. (can we say an extra FUCK YOU to Rielle's mom??)

Post-ENW, I think kids are some of her favorite people in the world slkfjghfdkgh. They've grown on her a lot over the years. They're funny, clever, not burdened down by The Horrors yet, and perhaps more importantly, they are the future, the ones who will inherit the legacy and world she leaves behind.

I don't have an exact timeline for it, but eventually she and Aymeric do adopt a few orphans, and they have one biological daughter, Juniper, who was a surprise (O'ravi didn't think she could actually have kids). Juniper likely inherits her mother's autism, though hers is a fair bit milder.

[boysplanetrecaps]

Boys Planet Eps 9-10 Recap: Switch

Hello, lovies! As you may know, I already wrote a recap/master post for episode 9, and another one for episode 10. This recap focuses just on the stuff that’s relevant to team “Switch” -- so their rehearsal period in episode 9 as well as their rehearsal footage and performance in episode 10. But you’ll have to switch to the full post first, which is my cheesy way of saying to click read more! 🙂

The Trainees Here’s a list of the trainees in this group along with their rank as of episode 8 and their two previous missions:

Kim Tae Rae 7 / Back Door -K / Man in Love

Keita 8/ Kill This Love - G / Zoom

Park Hanbin 13/ Hot Sauce - K / Law

Yoon Jong Woo 15 / Back Door - K /Home

Na Kamden 20 / Back Door - G / Law

Zhang Shuai Bo 23 / Back Door - G / Feel Special

The First Rehearsal Segment

At 31:45 of episode 9, we visit with team Switch for four whole minutes!

They start by deciding who would get the killing part, and Yoon Jong Woo says he doesn’t want it because it’s all about confidence, and he has none. Also, I kind of get the feeling that he's a little over the whole thing. Can't blame him, but I hope he shakes that off.

But you know who does want the killing part? - the formerly blue haired Park Hanbin. 

Surely, though, he won’t be able to do a good audition? He can’t learn the choreo that fast? 

But he gets up and does the killing part for his team and does it flawlessly. Better than Kamden, who has had a week to prepare. TaeRae, comparing Hanbin’s dance to the video on the tablet, says, “how much did he practice?” (We’ll come back to that in a second….) 

What happened is this:

Park Hanbin looked at the numbers. He knew his initial team, En Garde, would almost certainly lose all or most of Ji Yun Seo, Lee Ye Dam, Oh Sung Min, and Hiroto. Hanbin knew that if Hiroto or one of the other three survived elimination, then his team would have one extra trainee. They’d probably vote out Hiroto, or whoever else survived, which would mean that Park Hanbin would be stuck with his 10 seconds of subvocal 3 as his only contribution to the team. There was a vanishingly slim chance that Kum Jun Heon or Park Gunwook was going to yield the killing part to him, or that his team would award it to him from merit. So, betting on the chance that at least one of Hiroto, YunSeo, YeDam, or Sungmin would make it, Hanbin learned the choreography to Switch, while also learning the choreography to En Garde, with the plan of volunteering to switch to Switch. 

You guys, I told that story to my fella, and he was like, “that is some Rian Johnson, Knives Out, Poker Face level of machination and plot surprise,” and I was like, yeah. Accurate. 

I don’t think that Park Hanbin liked Switch better the whole time or anything like that. He asked the Star Creators to put him in En Garde. But Hanbin wanted a Killing Part, and he was willing to work twice as hard as anyone else in order to get it. 

Now, what about Kim TaeRae? I think that Hanbin and TaeRae talked about this ahead of time. Remember, they’re both with WakeOne. They auditioned together at the Star Level Test. TaeRae is a vocalist and probably relies on Hanbin to help him with choreo when needed, at the agency. Hanbin knows that TaeRae isn’t a hyper-social butterfly, nor is he hyper-audacious, pushing for the parts he wants. TaeRae somehow or another didn’t get main vocal in Backdoor. Like, what the fuck? So Hanbin knew that someone other than TaeRae was likely to end up with that juicy subvocal-1 part in Say My Name. Not great for TaeRae. But meanwhile, Hanbin also knew that TaeRae is much beloved by the Star Creators, and is an excellent singer and a decent dancer. Hanbin knew that he, Hanbin, would be able to teach anyone how to dance. He also knew that having TaeRae on his team will benefit both his team and TaeRae, because it’ll ensure that TaeRae gets a main vocal part and it’ll ensure that his team has at least one top-9 trainee and at least one trainee who can sing really well. It’s win/win/win for Hanbin, TaeRae, and their team. Also, having TaeRae on his team meant that he’d have one more chingu who would be sure to vote for him to have the killing part. And also also, since TaeRae and Hanbin are both at WakeOne, what’s good for one is good for the other, because they’re undoubtedly going to debut together eventually and their fame and future success is tied together.

Notice how TaeRae asked, “How much did he practice?” when Hanbin did the killing part -- not “how does he know this?” or “did he practice this?” TaeRae already KNEW that Hanbin had been practicing this. He was only surprised as to the extent of it. That’s further proof that they talked about this in advance. 

I love this so much, and I just love Park Hanbin. That kid is the Jeon Soyeon of this batch of trainees. I mean, not necessarily in terms of song composition or whatnot, but in terms of brilliant strategy. Whether he debuts in Bepler or not, he’s going places. 

Also, Na Kamden is just a sweet guy, isn’t he? Losing the killing part, he just says, well, Hanbin is really good. You’re good too, Kamden! This whole team is pretty strong, and this is the performance I’m actually looking forward to the most at this point. 

So here’s the part distribution -- wait, Keita is sub rapper 3? At first I thought that Keita must have been planning something, but as I watched more, I became less sure. Oh no...

Anyway, they start practicing, and the editing focuses on how TaeRae is having a little trouble learning the choreo. It's! Shocking! That a Main Vocal! Would have a little trouble! Learning choreo!!!! 

Even his hair won't cooperate. Don’t worry. He has Hanbin there to beat the steps into him! 

Now, let’s skip to 30:00 in to Episode 10.  It’s D-Day and the boys come out on stage, all dressed in super bright colors.

Key asks Hanbin about rehearsal, and we jump back to the team’s first meeting with the psychopath dance teacher. We’re reminded of how the team ended up together, and the dance teacher says that this is a good team, with several trainees who got a good result in the second challenge mission -- Hanbin came in first for Law, TaeRae came in first for Man in Love , JongWoo came in first for Home, and Keita came in first for Zoom. 

But their dancing isn’t perfect, how dare they not be perfect after like 12 hours of rehearsal?

Especially TaeRae, who at some points didn’t dance at all but just sort of walked because he is a VOCAL and was going to be SINGING at that point. (1) Aren’t they allowed to adjust the choreo? Isn’t that part of the assignment? And (2) Let me get this straight, you fucking psychopath -- you want TaeRae to be dancing “powerfully” WHILE HITTING THE B ABOVE MIDDLE C? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? That’s several notes higher than that high F# they made the boys hit in Na BiNa. This is fucking falsetto territory, and you want him to dance “powerfully” AT THE SAME TIME? I hate these dance teachers so much sometimes. Human beings have human bodies. Jesus Christ. This is why singing in Kpop is going down the drain -- because they want people to dance “powerfully” while hitting B4. 

The judge guy actually helps a bit (shocker, right?) by suggesting a modification for the choreo for TaeRae, but TaeRae doesn’t understand, so he makes him do it over and over like 19 times before getting off his lazy evil ass and showing him. 

That night, Hanbin asks Keita why Keita didn’t go for a bigger rapping part…

Hey, I know what you readers like. 

… and Keita says, “I don’t have any energy left.” Keita interviews that he’s lost a lot of confidence. Oh no, Keita!! Oh NO!!!!  

Back at rehearsal, Na Kamden, who is really a good guy, hands over leadership to Park Hanbin, because he thinks -- no, he KNOWS -- that Hanbin will do a better job. Everyone at home is like, “wait, Hanbin wasn’t already the leader?” 

They work on the dance, both the big picture and the details, sometimes over and over and over. 

Then, like the fucking genius and sweetheart that Hanbin is, he gets Keita involved in fixing up the choreo, which does two things: (1) re-energizes Keita and (2) utilizes their resources! Yes. 

Just a little nudge from a friend seems to spur Keita back into action, and soon they’re all involved, all dancing. 

40:30 The Performance

So we skip to D-day. 

The judges are looking over the stage, which is set up to look a bit like an arcade, with bright day-glow colors. There’s an elevator door that is going up to the 9th floor -- referencing their desire to go up to the top9. 

Out in the audience, Wumuti is spoiling it to the audience that the concept of the performance is that the boys are stuck in a video game world. The fact that he knows that is an indication of how much of the performance was determined by the boys who were in each group before The Great Reshuffling. This implies that a lot of the stuff the various teams are doing might be the result of the hard work of trainees who aren’t in that group anymore. This is all really messed up, MNET. 

And the boys come out on stage to perform. It’s time!

My Take:

I know I’ll be in the minority here, but I actually like this song. I know, I know. But listen to the studio recording of it and maybe it'll grow on you. It's like a weird NCT song mated with a Black Pink song and had a child that mostly took after its father. But I'm fine with that. I also really liked the dance practice. I feel like I can focus more on how good their dancing is -- especially Yoon JongWoo, who is wearing white here, and seems to be trying his best to remind us that he would have been fucking fantastic in Over Me. They look like they’re having fun, like I just sort of want to jump up and join them dancing. They just have good chemistry and seem like friends. It’s one of those things that makes Twice so fun to watch, is the feeling that you’re watching a group of friends having fun rather than a group of coworkers forced to work together.

As for the Stage Performance: 

Overall, they do a great job. I wish we saw more of Keita, and I wish the camera work and outfits let us more easily see their dancing, but it was a cute, fun, lively performance. I don't have a ton to say about it, but I enjoyed it. Hanbin was the standout for me in the live performance -- though I'm telling you, Yoon Jongwoo stands out in the dance practice I linked above, and I think he would have stood out a lot live as well. Kamden, Keita, and Z-Bo did well too. I thought it was all really cute and cheerful.

TaeRae’s live vocals sounded great, because I love his vocal color, but still, they are just a bit shaky here and there. I hope he gets some more vocal training because he really could be great. Baekyhun wasn’t perfect when he debuted either and with more time, he has better learned how to control that powerful instrument he was born with. TaeRae needs to work on his mix, and his agility, but I know he can get there. 

Afterwards, we find out that Zhang Shuai Bo got the lowest score, with an obviously punitive 402 points. You and I and he and all the other trainees know that this is the audience punishing Z-Bo for his “bad behavior” in earlier episodes, and I’m really sad for him, actually. I’ve come around to him -- yeah, it wasn’t cool to be passive aggressive with Solji, or to leave Woongki to sing the whole chorus by himself. Not cool, Z-Bo. But on further review of the situation, I think I was wrong to think that Z-Bo was being rude to Woongki in general -- Woongki has no animosity toward Z-Bo, so why should I? Plus, Z-Bo did a good job in his Switch performance and didn’t deserve such a low score. This was actually the first time that I really understood why some people are big fans of his -- he looked great on stage, actually! The dumb hair extensions really worked, the ugly pants looked good on him, I don’t know, he made it all work. But he seems resigned to his fate. 

Who came in first? Well, obviously Park Hanbin, with 741 points. 

This is his third straight time coming in first in the mission.

He’s slightly less amazed each time it happens.

He interviews that he’s starting to gain confidence. Well, I should hope so, lovey! 

That brings us pretty much to the end of this recap, but I do want to say that if you like slightly weird kpop songs, give Switch another try, ok? Listen to the official studio audio and use headphones. It’s actually a pretty cool song. It’s ok if it’s not your thing, I totally respect that, but I think the live performances on this show are consistently hampered by a poor mix -- the vocals stand out like it’s karaoke, and that’s not great for your overall enjoyment of the song. So it really can’t hurt to just give the song another try when you can really hear all the cool touches on the low and high ends. I’ve come to really like it. 

And that’s really the end! 

See you in the next one, lovies! It's Say My Name .

[unproduciblesmackdown]

like hearing an autistic person talking abt realizing like "oh so friendships for some ppl don't involve always having to maintain a performance" and going damn right yeah and now "oh so friendships for some ppl involve their getting to expect that the other ppl will be interested in them and provide support" like huh go figure. more surprising like oh right i guess i always felt like interactions require maintaining a performance that can only go wrong (generally true; like there's no "well you're ruining things by keeping ppl from being the Real You so just Be Yourself" like a] masking isn't Real or done by Yourself or b] like if you unmask people like you now & ableism is over, b/c it was your fault for reacting to it in the first place) & thus also that i should be interested & provide support but not expect that in turn / the sense as well that you are/can only come up short and have things to make up for anyways while lucky whoever's even providing the time of day

then it's always an Exercise to go "oh right well beyond going [my god autistic character] the whole time, what Things re: winston billions was i still not quite seeing as as unusual / Not Good as they are. even for billions" like sure noticing he's holding on to the hopes of some kind of positive / actual relationship w/rian for like year 950 & this manifesting with the Determined Friendliness but zooming in like oh i guess that adamant amicability sure involves winston suppressing a negative reaction to negative treatment and yet still hoping for an improvement, which like, was always Possible but a) hinged on rian simply choosing to change how she regards/treats him (or someone intervening to change the situation) & b) apparently is not going to happen. thinking like yeah that's very Friendly of him. and knowing like man winston's sure still trying to keep this friendliness offer open for like two years. but also now more specifically going like Yeah and pretty fucked then that his baseline expectations don't include that Mutual Interest & Support (though someone being abusive is definitely interested just not in any good ways. and certainly not (actually) supportive)

[chaos-event-horizon]

has rian ever seen Might/Smite on the news?

Oh fucking BOY--

~~~

"GREETINGS, CITIZENS!"

The young man paused mid step, hearing an oddly familiar voice coming from the TV that Boss had left on. Curious, the brunette peeked around the corner just in time to listen to the screams of hundreds of people as the person holding the camera shakily followed the movements of...

All Might...?

"Well, what have we here?" His boss sneered on the other side of the screen. "A ribbon cutting for police-sponsored cell towers? Can you people be any more obvious about how you're 1984-ing it up in here?!"

Ran snorted at that comment, then blushed. Did he seriously find that line... Funny?

Some huffy politician, who Rian was sure was inches away from passing out or crying, practically scrambled back behind a podium. All Might's smirk grew deeper, and the young man felt his heart race a little as his employer suddenly looked directly into the live camera. From the shouts around the area, it seemed as though the police were already incapacitated, but people were calling for more.

"Consider this a semi-violent protest. The people of Japan deserve to be allowed to have private phone conversations! None of us voted to be spied on day and night, and I'm not going to sit back and willingly give up my freedom."

The blonde supervillain flicked his finger, and a sharp burst of air slammed into the tower, sending the whole thing flying towards the atmosphere and what Rian knew had to be escape velocity.

That's so cool...!

"Endeavor's going to stop you...!" The politician sputtered.

All Might, however, only laughed.

"You would have known if the hothead was on his way over not, Dickless... After all, this tower was spying on him, too!"

He turned to the camera again, and Rian felt his cheeks get warm.

His eyes are so intense!

"Villains, citizens, even heroes... We're all the same in these eyes of this douche and his cronies on the police force! Don't let them lie to you and make you think giving up your freedom is necessary to this extent. You are worthy of freedom from tyranny and privacy in the comfort of your own homes!"

And just like that, as quickly as he came, the blonde turned and walked away, finally jumping so high into the air that the camera couldn't perceive him anymore.

Wow...!

Rian blushed, fidgetting as he stood there, goosebumps lighting up his skin.

It's... It's not like he even did anything that interesting or villainous. He just... That was so cool.... He scared all those people, too! He must have hurt someone like the cops, but... Well, he's a villain. Fuck the cops. I trust Boss.

The brunette swallowed, quickly prying himself away from the TV and jogging towards the kitchen. He had to finish dinner, and it seemed like All Might would be home soon.

[vaderssidechick]

Sequel Trilogy Rant Time

Ok, I’m going on pure stream of consciousness here, so maybe a lot of this won’t make sense. But hey, that didn’t stop the Sequel Trilogy now, did it?

But you know what would have made it all make sense? If Rey was, indeed, the reincarnation of Anakin Skywalker.

Hear me out.

So, once again, we have a magical child who is basically a slave on a desert planet in the form of Rey. This Rey girl, she’s something else-- a scavenger who knows exactly what she’s looking for and what it’s worth, a crack pilot, a mechanic, and a really good fighter.  

 Sound familiar? Yeah, of course it does. Now, if JJ and Rian didn’t have their heads up their asses, it seems to be that Rey is freakin’ Anakin Skywalker reborn. Maybe even down to the “divine” birth, because they first 2 movies did everything they could to make sure WE KEEP GUESSING WHO REY’S PARENTS ARE. 

So we find out that Rey’s parents sold her for drinking money-- but then they didn’t according to Kylo. But then they did? But not really? UGH!! So here’s what might have happened-- yes, she was sold, but not for drinking money. She was sold because her “father” discovered that Rey was not actually his biological child. Her mother of course thought she was his as well until Rey received her “chain code”, which is based on DNA. Rey’s chain code divulged that she had none of her father’s DNA-- and that her paternal DNA couldn’t be connected to any living human male in the New Republic system. Enraged and thinking that her mother cheated on him, Rey’s “father” takes the child and sells her into slavery because he can’t stand looking at her. Maybe he used the money to tie one on. 

Now let’s take a look at the cave scene in TLJ. She keeps seeing herself in a mirror image, over and over again. A scene, which of course, IS NEVER EXPLAINED WHAT IT FUCKING MEANS. Well, if you go with the Anakin Reincarnation Theory (ART from here on out), it makes complete sense. SHE’S BEEN HERE BEFORE, MANY TIMES. And she’ll keep coming back when she’s needed. Because she is The Chosen One (oh yeah, that whole concept just got swept under the rug, didn’t it?).

Then there’s the whole vision scene in TFA. Um, The Force AWAKENS??? Like, from a deep sleep? Or possibly DEATH? Why does Rey have such an intense response to touching Luke and Anakin’s lightsaber? She sees the past, she sees the future? Could it be, possibly, I dunno, because it was HERS all along? Because the kyber crystal inside it was not only chosen by Anakin, but by every Chosen One before or since? Because that particular kyber crystal was specifically for The Chosen One? 

Why is she so strong in the Force without training? Why can she do the things she can do? And why do her powers suddenly emerge? Could it be because her powers manifested when SHE MET ANOTHER FORCE SENSITIVE FOR THE FIRST TIME? Say, I dunno, FINN? Like Luke’s Force powers finally came about after he met Obi Wan? More on that later. Maybe, Like I said, stream of consciousness. 

And then there’s Kylo Ren. Why is he so drawn to her? Yeah, we’re skipping the whole Diad thang here. Why is he so obsessed with her, like he’s obsessed with, I dunno, Grampy Vader? In fact, why would he react so strongly when Rey says to him in their torture session, “You’ll never be as strong as Darth Vader?” Yeah, she got in his head, sure. But Kylo was so shook, he basically ran out of the room. And then in TLJ, he says, “Let the past die!” He doesn’t need to worship a ghost anymore, because the “ghost” is here now, with him. Why do they Force Bond so quickly? How can they hear and see each other across the galaxy? Because they are bonded not only through the Force, but through generations. 

Because ANAKIN came back to save him. He came back to save his children, and to save the galaxy. Because he is The Chosen One. And that’s what they do. 

Anakin, being Anakin of course, can see what’s happening from the Cosmic Force, and he doesn’t like it one damn bit. He even argues with Obi Wan and Yoda, insisting that he GOES BACK AND RIGHTS HIS WRONGS. He sees Luke losing hope, he sees Leia still fighting a fascist regime now headed by his own grandson. His work is NOT finished and, frankly, Anakin feels that he didn’t deserve his redemption. His family is still suffering, even decades later, because of his actions. He HAS to go back.

Obi Wan and Yoda of course don’t like the idea. Qui Gong, however, LOVES it. He gives Anakin his blessing, and Anakin asks how he can go back. Qui Gong answers, “They way you got there the first time, of course.”

So Anakin casts his gaze over the galaxy, and hones in on a woman on Jakku, a woman who resembled his own beloved mother. He smiles, thinking Jakku is the perfect place to come back, the planet that saw the Empire’s final defeat. 

Hence, the title “The Rise of Skywalker” makes some goddamn sense. Rey IS a Skywalker, just the way Anakin was a Skywalker. Through Rey, Anakin saves his grandson and yes, defeats Palpatine once and for all. Rey brings Luke back from his exile, she leads Leia’s armed forces, she makes Finn a founding member of the new Jedi Academy. How incredibly fitting would that be???

And it would make all the freakin sense in the world when, at the end of TROS, when the old woman asks Rey her name, she proudly says, “Skywalker.” Because she IS Rey Skywalker. 

End of rant. 

[introverted-ghost]

Hello, how are you doing? :))

Just realized how ~weird~ it is that we have been friends for this long and I do not know your name. I don't mean your real name necessarily, but just some way to call you? Lmao I literally cannot believe I am only now asking this, I feel like a terrible online friend :((

Funny how internet friendships work tho. Like I know you're a half-psychic pisces, and your favorite color is green, and you like The Owl House and The Ninja Turtles and Ninjago, and you have cats and several siblings.....

But I don't have a way to call you.

????

Honestly wtFUCK.

So imma ask you some questions to know you a lil better, if you don't mind.

1. HOW CAN I CALL YOU OMGGGG

2. Favorite candy

3. How was this past week? Anything fun?

4. What kind of books do you like? Not gonna ask favorite book, but just talk to me about books :) you like reading, right? I know you like comics, and reading comics is reading. You can talk to me about comics.

5. What is your favorite fun fact? Can be about anything. I'll tell you mine: a human teeth has 32 calories.

6. YOU HAVE CATS, RIGHT? I HAVE THIS MEMORY THAT YOU SHOWED ME SOME PICTURES OF THEM. RIGHT?? TWO OF THEM. I DIDN'T MADE THAT UP. RIGHT????

7. Do you still wanna be friends after this mess of an ask? Lmao.

Sorry. Currently 2:00 am. I shouldn't be allowed to use internet at this unholy hours.

I’m gonna fucking die I just finished answering this then tumblr crashed and it was gone. Anyways~

1. To be honest I don’t really care what people call me. Most folks call me dryad but I also go by edland, xero, kylan, and rian or anything else really since I don’t super care

2. I don’t think I have a favourite candy so I went to check what was in my stash which was virtually nothing (Imma have to stock up once I get paid) but there was a container of pink lemonade lemonheads (which are pretty good btw)

3. Id probably have to make a whole separate post to cover everything I did but basically we went camping a lot in different places across the province each night (depending on where you’re from that may not seem too impressive but I’ll tell you in messages the size of it compared to Colombia so you get the picture)

4. I like fiction stories, usually fantasy but chill if it’s not. I recently (yesterday) got a book from the library I asked for ages ago (it took extra time since the one they gave me originally was in Chinese so I returned that one and asked for one in english) it’s called journey to the west btw. I know a lot about it and have watched many adaptations of it but it’s nice to be able to read it. Yes I also like comics

These are all the Tmnt comics I have so far

5. I don’t know if this is my favourite fun fact or if I’ve already told you or if you already know since you’re super smart. The Latin words for 7 8 9 10 are septem octo novem decem respectively. You may recognize them as the 9-12 months of the year, which you would be correct. It bothered me that it doesn’t match up but they were named during the Julian calendar which started in April (that’s also how April fools started) so with quick comparing I learnt that it STILL DOESNT MATCH UP :|

6. I do have cats. Three of them though

First there’s Meredith he’s the oldest by a month

Then jingles

Skip ahead 5 or 6 years and you got Maggie (this picture was taken after she was spayed and we had to put her cone on when I wasn’t there to watch, she tried to escape while I was at school but just ended up making things worse for herself)

7. Yes of course I do!

Now you answer them! Well except 5 since you kinda already did. And 6 since it was kinda a me specific question. And 1 since I already know your name. And a modified 7 (do you still want to be my friend after this mess of an answer?)

Also go to sleep 🔫