#a year in review was still good tho i would have loved to know more about how they spent the year in quarantine outside of their businesses

[nerinefy]

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ A LIFE WITH HIM ; FT. some OVERBLOT BOYS .𖥔 ݁ ˖

★ synopsis: how will they be like as your partner?

★ details: you/yours | headcanon | too much fluff | 1,000+ words

✦ ┊RIDDLE ROSEHEARTS

PHYSICAL AFFECTION (GIVING & RECEIVING)

★ not too big on PDA, so expect that the most skin-to-skin contact you two can have outside is the occasional hand-holding. he likes it when he's the one initiating the gesture whenever you two are out and about since he still can't help but have the need to be in control even after his overblot (like leading you to places and making sure ur still by his side).

★ he doesn't admit it but he loves when you link your arm with his and nuzzle your face into his shoulder (although he will still scold you if you do it) ESPECIALLY when he's in a mood and is almost about to off the heads of some rule-breakers OR maybe when you're giving too much attention to a rando because he may not admit it but he's greedy and wants your eyes on him only (but he's a gentleman and will never speak about it, only dismissing his inappropriate thoughts.)

★ in private though he's just a snuggly little cuddle bug, even more so if he's tired or stressed or most likely both. so many responsibilities are piled up on his plate just in his second year so the only thing that keeps his shit together is your warm and loving embrace. HE'S A SMALL SPOON. NO BACKSIES, okay maybe he's a big spoon if you're the one who needs a little more loving.

GIFT-GIVING

★ i mean from the name itself ROSEHEARTS, roses are his go-to (he's corny but we love him like that), but if you have a different favorite flower then he'll get those, and if you're allergic he'll try to make those handmade ones! although a little sloppy, pretty successful for his first try. overall he likes giving the traditional gifts like bouquets, stuffed animals, and chocolates :) but if he gets to know you more it might be more personal and intimate stuff that fits your tastes, and of course, should be of use to you too.

THE SIMPLE THINGS

★ whenever you're stuck on a study session late at night he likes inviting you to take a break and brew some tea for you. he'll even share some sweets that Trey gave him. although he won't leave you alone after he finds you like that, instead he pulls out some reviewers he has and helps you work on whatever you find difficult to understand.

WORD AFFIRMATIONS

★ "Our race is nowhere near finished, so please my rose, stay strong, I know you can and want to do so. I am always by your side okay?"

✦ ┊LEONA KINGSCHOLAR

PHYSICAL AFFECTION (GIVING & RECEIVING)

★ hugs, hugs, and MORE HUGS. just lots of hugs! doesn't matter if he's a big spoon or small spoon, he needs you by his side 24/7, 365. he just has to have his scent all over you u know, half-breed things. this man is just lazing around anywhere so might as well bring his favorite pillow with him. and no, he doesn't care if you have class and need to take a test worth half your grade, he needs you more! ★ of course, he doesn't have long-ass hair for nothing, go be his peasant and brush it, most preferably with your fingers if he's having a good hair day. your soft fingers massaging his scalp are quite literally going to take him to heaven, and he'll have no regrets tho so go pocket something if that happens. ★ he doesn't pick favorites when it comes to giving and receiving physical affection, he just wants his hands all over you and if the job is done then he's good.

GIFT-GIVING

★ honestly man, i don't know with him. he's raised right so of course he gives you stuff like flowers and so on. on the other hand tho he isn't the type to know what you like and will most likely just ask you what you want him to give you. maybe he'll just take you to go fetch them at the store itself if he isn't sure. but on special days like your birthday or your anniversary (assuming ya'll would last more than a week), he actually tries and it's pretty sweet and more elaborate.

THE SIMPLE THINGS

★ whenever he's forcibly on a call with his brother, which surprisingly is turning into a regular thing, if Farena asks about how he's doing, Leona likely ends up only yapping about you. i mean yeah he missed his last test and he spent his allowance for the month in a week but does Farena know about the time you were mumbling Leona's name in your sleep? he will deny it if he's called out for doing so. NO, HE DID NOT PERIOD. *hangs up*

WORD AFFIRMATIONS

★ "Whatever you're thinking of, don't. It's stupid. As much as I don't like admitting this, you're strong, and even more than most beastmen if you set your mind to your goals."

✦ ┊AZUL ASHENGROTTO

PHYSICAL AFFECTION (GIVING & RECEIVING)

★ man's busy all the time so it's hard to get your hands on him. even if he's not busy, he will sprint for his life just to get away from you. not that he dislikes your affection, the concept is just a little foreign to him. give him time to adjust, then you'll find out how soft his tentacles are! ★ when he's actually busy and working on stuff in his office (when the time comes and he's comfortable) he likes it when you flop yourself on his lap and nuzzle into his chest. he feels guilty that he can't give full focus to you since his schedule truly is packed but you inviting yourself into his office at late hours of the day just to snuggle comforts and assures him in some way. he'll definitely find more time for you, he's trying his best lol! ★ overall he isn't one to initiate the touching even if he's fully vulnerable for you. idk too ask him about it. he's just happy you like him enough that you cling unto him. but if you ask him he may favor hand-holding the most, it may be the least contact but feeling your hand on his is enough for him.

GIFT-GIVING

★ HE KNOWS EVERYTHING. i'm not even kidding, even when it's no special day he'd likely buy stuff just because it reminded him of you or when you coincidentally need it which is pretty cute but can be a little creepy.

THE SIMPLE THINGS

★ i saw a fic back then that said he gives you some coupons and by some i mean a TON in hopes that you visit the Lounge and that is absolutely true. though he forgets you two are together and he can ask you nicely to come over but who can say no to 30% off all menu items?

WORD AFFIRMATIONS

★ "My, how could I ever deny what that cute head of yours and those strong arms of yours can do! You are a valuable asset to me...what kind of asset? Well...it's up to you to decide."

✦ ┊JAMIL VIPER

PHYSICAL AFFECTION (GIVING & RECIEVING)

★ he's also busy, honestly might be one of the, or if not the busiest of all of these guys. when you two have time to be together tho, even if he's knocked out and drained, he'll never show it. but i can say that's only during the early stages of your relationship with him and depending on how you two met. he likes to present himself in his best state and he really can't do so with his schedule so eventually he just melts and the next thing you know he's hugging you from the back any chance he gets and you feel his heartbeat turn slower by the minute. ★ for those moments that he sees you out and about though he likes patting your cute lil head, no matter what your height is. though he is trying to be a little adventurous with you so he leans in to caress your hair gently and suddenly you're met with a quick smooch. (only when there's no one else in sight so yeah adventurous my ass) ★ like leona, he loves it when you play with his hair, and he does not like to admit it. just remember to keep it neat and use a brush while you're at it, plus a facial and maybe a massage because i know those muscles are TIGHT.

GIFT-GIVING

★ his gifts reek of HANDMADE. idk he has those vibes. handmade flowers, or some origami of cute animals, but he likes giving you handwritten letters the most. it can be hard to communicate his real feelings to you so writing is a way for him to freely and easily express those feelings.

THE SIMPLE THINGS

★ whenever he cooks for Kalim or just whenever he cooks, he suddenly has some leftovers that he decided he'd pack up for you. can't bring himself up to say that excuse so he just gives it to you and walks away.

WORD AFFIRMATIONS

★ "Whining is useless. Do the things you're good at, stop worrying about the things you can't. Oh, I'm sorry...did that come off too harsh?"

★ author's note: congratulate me for coming back. BASK IN MY GLORIOUS PRESCENCE. (i missed u guys too ig)

©nerinefy 2023-2024 all rights reserved. do not plagiarize, repost, or translate.

[whalesforhands]

This is the same anon with the truth or dare idea and I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKED IT!! Got me all giggling and kicking my feet (from the quick reply AND the fic hehe) wanna say rq that I love how wholesome and cute your fics are❤️😭😭 they're healing my soul from the manga

Anyways I was thinking of something similar but with 7 minutes in heaven😗

Imagine playing 7 minutes in heaven with the trio in the classroom after class (I doubt the closets in their dorm is big enough) and stsg are both picked to go into the supply closet first, leaving reader and shoko alone. While the duo are doing god knows what in that closet, reader and shoko are just casually flirting and the longer it went on the handsier (is that even a word) she got. She couldn't really help it with the way that stocking was hugging the fat of your thighs, you can't blame her for wanting to give it a good squeeze, to which she eventually did. Reader just let out a whine of shokos name and brushed it off, though it did fluster her a little with how bold shoko is.

After the 7 minutes, stsg came out with their hair and clothes a bit disheveled (nobody questions it). Though they both had this look, lowkey glaring at shoko for getting to spend alone time with you and even getting you to let out such a cute call of her name. Cue their usual banter with shoko fighting over who gets to spend time with you and eventually everyone does get back to the game, this time reader and suguru getting paired up.

If there was anyone you'd wanna be locked in a dark closet with, it's probably suguru. He's so nice and thoughtful, always making sure you're feeling comfortable and that you're not too tensed. Though with how small the closet it, the both of you are pressed up against each other. Now usually suguru is one to keep his composure, but it's just a tad bit hard to do so when he can feel your soft breathing, and your chest pressed against his. Whenever you squirmed, he'd tell you to stay still, but the more you tried not to do something the more you couldn't help but do it😭 so now we have a fustered suguru trying to keep his hands to himself and reader who's squirming around and apologizing profusely. Eventually tho, suguru hugs reader in place to stop the squirming, tho I think he underestimated your height a little, seeing as how his arms are wrapped around your ass and not your waist, with his hands resting at the back of your thighs, and a surprised reader lets out a loud cry, which surprised suguru as much as you, and the two outside of the closet, who opened the closet door immediately after only to be greeted with the sight of your compromising position. Needless to say it took both you and suguru a while to actually look each other in the eye afterwards.

This is kinda long sry😓

this ask brings me back to 2014 creepypasta boyfriend scenario core. but it’s totally something that stsg would pull though LMFAO. and sorry, i picked the closet. a whole spacious classroom vs a tiny, dark enclosed space, which would u pick? hehe

party games are my way into your heart ii (shoko x reader, geto x gojo, gojo x reader x geto)

warnings: gets kind of spicy, 17+, third year au, i got slightly carried away writing, i am definitely showing favouritism towards geto in recent fics, gojo stans time to step up that creativity of yours and not just in porn, reader is a loser virgin

‘Party @ MY room!!! tell shoko too!! btw if u both miss it i’m eating all the pudding in the fridge!!’ - The Great Gojo Satoru

Two options were given for you to circle.

Yes or YES

Satoru had surreptitiously handed the note to you.

By that, he rolled a ball of crushed up paper towards you via the ground, past Suguru’s legs and eventually hitting your shoe as you slightly jolted from the sudden distraction from your literature review of The Tale of Genji.

He had coughed, albeit a bit loudly into his hand when you ignored it, choosing to focus on your essay, until you heard him cough even louder.

“Gojo, are you experiencing a cold?” Yaga-sensei had asked, out of concern for his student as a teacher, and out of worried annoyance because it was Gojo.

“Ahhh~ Sensei, ahem! Just feeling under the weather today!” He had coughed out, the back of his hand pressed to his forehead for melodramatic effect, leaning back and slumping down in his seat.

“You seem perfectly fine if you’re playing up such theatrics. Focus on your work.”

“Yes sir!”

You saw Suguru roll his eyes as Shoko audibly snickers at the situation.

(You smile just a little at his silliness. Maybe you will pick up his note.)

You snatch up the paper, gently unfolding it as Shoko peeks at it from beside you.

She smirked, reading the note before mouthing something to you.

“See you there.”

(Anything for Shoko.)

——

“Ugh, of course I get you.”

“Pfft, you should be proud, darling!” Gojo leaned against a huffing Geto’s shoulder, snuggling his head against him.

“I’ll be sure to show you a good time, sweetie~!” Gojo had puckered his lips, aiming to land an obnoxiously wet kiss on Geto’s cheek before his forehead was held back by the said victim’s palm.

“Save it.” Suguru grimaced, getting up.

Wrapping his arm around Suguru’s waist, Satoru lead them both to the closet, sending a wink towards you and Shoko before he slid the closet door shut.

…

…

…

“Ahnnn! Suguru you’re such a naughty boy!”

“Good god- Shut the fuck up!”

“Ooh~, I like it when you’re so mean to m- Ack!”

You heard fumbling, cursing from Suguru when he whacked his arm against something, Satoru growing strangely quiet.

You turned to Shoko, cheeks burning and embarrassment written all over your face as you tried to ignore, tried to stop your mind from imagining what was happening in there.

“Is… Is this normal for people our age…?” Your hands were pressed bashfully to your face, your shame apparent as Shoko downed another sip from her glass.

(“It’s special grape juice, don’t worry.” She had smiled, “You can have a sip, though.”)

“Totally normal if you’re as ‘active’ as those two. Haven’t seen them go a day without touching each other.”

(“Is it… Really that good?” You watch her down it. It looked kind of sweet.)

“…”

“Aren’t you curious about what it would feel like?” She paused, a devious smirk overtaking her face. “With me, of course.”

(“Try it, babe.” She had pressed the rim of the glass against your lips gently, about a single sip left inside. “Maybe you’ll like it.”)

——

Perhaps that was how you ended up in this situation.

Sitting on the ground, your thighs parted just enough for Shoko to be inbetween them, her lips pressed against your neck, her hand on your thigh as you squirmed at the feeling of her sweet tongue on your bare skin.

It felt good.

“Shoko…” Your hand comes up to her shoulder, gripping and trying to pull her closer as you felt her knee inch closer to your core.

It made you feel so… Warm and fuzzy. You can’t tell if it was the sip of alcohol you had, or maybe it was Shoko herself.

“Ah, Shoko!” You felt her bite down as your voice came out unexpectedly loudly in the form of a moan.

The closet door slammed open.

A haphazardly dressed Satoru and Suguru stepping out, almost hurriedly, causing Shoko to smirk, slowly separating from you but not without ensuring that your unbuttoned dress shirt exposed the mark she had left on you.

Satoru’s smile was tight eyes flitting between your neck and your face behind his sunglasses as Suguru kept his usual serene expression, albeit it looked a little forced.

A little angry.

“Why don’t we have our beloved (name) go next?”

——

“Suguru? I-I’m sorry I got you… I-I know you prefer Satoru so-“

“No, no.” He sounded a bit panicked, his hands pressed against the wall to prevent any ‘accidents’.

“You’re… Wonderful. I’m actually quite glad I got you.”

You perked up, your heart jumping at his words.

“R…really?”

You hear him chuckle. “Really. I’m fine with just chatting with you for the next 7 minutes.”

You hope he couldn’t tell that you were blushing.

Pressing your head against his chest, you uttered your soft thanks, feeling his hand gently stroking your head.

Your hands blindly shifted around, trying to feel for something to hold on to so that you could give Suguru some space, so that he wouldn’t feel uncomfortable touching you.

“Ah, p-please don’t move around so much.”

“S-sorry-! I’m trying to- ah!” You fell forward, your chest pressing even closer to Suguru, your thigh brushing against a certain area that causes him to freeze up.

You continue to squirm as you try to regain your balance, unknowingly rubbing against a slowly hardening-

“I’m sorry-! I’m going to hold you, okay?” You hear his hands moving away from the wall, trying to politely find purchase on your body before-

“S-Suguru…! That’s- That’s…!” His hands had unfortunately settled themselves on the globes of your ass, almost as if he had forgotten the height difference between the both of you.

“I-I’m very sorry!” His hands aimed to move up to your waist, but with your squirming, his hands only slipped further down, brushing against the skin of your exposed inner thighs as you suddenly moaned at the euphoric sensation.

(Another embarrassing sound from you…! Are you trying to kill off your social life?!)

The door is suddenly jolted open, a pouty, flustered Satoru gulping as he took in the sight.

The hem of your skirt had caught onto one of the many hangers, leaving it slightly flipped up, giving Satoru an eyeful of your panties.

Suguru’s face was bright red, his hands still on the back of your upper thigh, his grip had tightened protectively on instinct when the door was slid open, as if trying to defend you.

(It didn’t work. If anything, it added more tension to the scene.)

You were doing no better, panting and slightly sweaty, your hair a mess as you leaned against Suguru’s chest, hands wrapped around his waist.

You looked euphoric. Your eyes unfocused, the embarrassment making you cling even more onto Suguru, hiding your face in his chest.

“Get out, Satoru!” You felt Suguru’s chest rumble with displeasure, your face burning bright.

masterlist

Notes:

You and Suguru found it hard to look at each other without blushing up a storm for 3 days straight.

Shoko couldn’t stop laughing with every awkward interaction she watched between you 2.

You accidentally fell on top of him during one of the 3 days. Suguru nearly passed out.

Satoru was extremely pouty. He begged for a final round after you and Suguru got out of the closet. Just before it could land on you, Yaga had burst in, asking what all the racket was. That was the end of the party.

Satoru was refusing to cuddle with Suguru for a whole day out of pettiness.

Satoru, out of pettiness yet again, refused to talk to you civilly. You ended up cuddling with him in place of Suguru to, in his words ‘Make it even!’.

[stevethehairington]

okay so. overall review:

actually not as bad as i expected it to be! and not as bad as i thought it was going to turn out while i was in the trenches there lol. i still wished it focused a little more on eddie's home life/relationship with his dad and uncle AND his friends, and had way less of the romance stuff (read: none), BUT i will admit that there ended up being a lot less of the romance stuff than i initially expected and a lot less than it seemed like there would be while still in the middle of the book.

the paige stuff still made me uncomfy bc i didn't like the power dynamics there (paige had something eddie wanted desperately, and i don't like the idea that that could have had something to do with his "feelings" for her/why he engaged with them ((esp bc let's be real — he didn't seem super torn up over not getting to be with her in the end)) or that she used that to her advantage bc there was ALSO something in it for her) BUT i will say they did make it slightly less skeezy than i expected bc she was only a couple years older than him instead of like. significantly older like i expected.

i do wish there was more about eddie's friends and their fallout and reconciliation. his friends were super important to him and he just. dropped them. like that. and there was BARELY any blowback. like yeah there was a fight with ronnie, but we never actually got to see the reactions of any of the other hellfire/corroded coffin guys, and i would've liked to see that. same with the reconciliation, it felt very minimal — i would've liked to see more of how that played out too.

I LOVED EVERY SINGLE GODDAMN SECOND OF WAYNE MUNSON CONTENT, THAT MAN IS A GIFT HE IS AN ANGEL I ADORE HIM WITH EVERYTHING IN ME. IF THERE IS ONE THING THIS BOOK HAS DONE IT HAS SOLIDIFIED MY STANCE THAT WAYNE MUNSON IS THE BEST GOD DAMN CHARACTER AND I WOULD DIE FOR HIM.

as for eddie — i think the author did an alright job finding his voice. there were times where i thought she really nailed it, but there were also A LOT of times where i thought "he would never say that!!" "he would never do that!!". it wasn't very consistent, but overall it wasn't awful and there were some good parts!

the other characters we know and love that made cameos — VERY fun to see them (gareth, chrissy, jason, hopper, will, jonathan!!!) gareth was ESPECIALLY fun to see because they really embraced that feral chihuahua boy energy we love to assign to him. BUT. i am SO incredibly upset with how badly they massacred my boy tommy h (whOSE LAST NAME THEY COULDNT EVEN GET RIGHT I MEAN W H A T!?) they fucking. got his characterization SO BAD. it was awful. i am. personally offended by it (joking, mostly rhsjsi). (as a tommy lover i am. devastated tho. HE WOULD NOT DO THAT!!!)

OH ALSO — reefer rick. WHAT a fun dude. hes out here in his robe and bunny slippers drinking darjeeling tea, living it up. what a guy.

id like to give a huge FUCK YOU to principal higgins too! they made that dude a straight up MONSTER. he was unnecessarily CRUEL and some of the things he said straight up to eddies face,,,,,,, sir what the FUCK. i know the 80s was a different time but jesus fucking cHRIST was casual cruelty and bullying from grown ass ADULTS commonplace? i sure hope not.

ALSO FUCK AL MUNSON LIVES ALL MY HOMIES HATE AL MUNSON LIVES. that man was AWFUL, TRULY HONESTLY GENUINELY THE WORST. neglectful and cruel and downright AWFUL. NOT ONLY DID HE CONSISTENTLY ABANDON EDDIE THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE BUT THEN HE DREW EDDIE INTO HIS SCHEMES, CONNED HIM, FUCKED UP REAL BIG, AND THEN LEFT EDDIE IN THE ASHES OF THEIR — OF HIS — HOME AS THE ONLY PERSON LEFT WITH THE COP WHO GOT SHOT AND IS LIKE SLOWLY BLEEDING OUT. TALK ABOUT FUCKING TRAUMA WHAT THE FUCK. i hope he got flayed ALIVE by charlie greene lmao it would serve him right that absolute twat waffle.

also, im gonna be real. the end of that book was actually INSANELY depressing. like, it tried to be positive because you gotta end on a positive note right? but it just fell. COMPLETELY flat. bc we all know what happens to eddie in canon. he's sitting there reenrolling in school, peacoking around about how he's GOING to finish high school and he's GOING to graduate and he's GOING to show principal higgins that he CAN do it and that he ISNT the fuckup deliquent he's convinced he is. BUT WE ALL KNOW HE DOESNT FUCKING GET THAT IN CANON. he's taking waynes advice and fully embracing who he is and he's learning to be comfortable in his own skin and to rise above all the noise of people who don't like him and think he's a freak. ONLY WE KNOW HE NEVER TRULY GETS TO DO THAT EITHER BECAUSE WE ALL KNOW HOW IT ENDS IN CANON. so yeah it just ends up being a REALLY fucking BLEAK ending because all of that "positivity" is absolutely tainted. it's fucking soured. and i am once again INSANELY INFURIATED about eddies death. so fuck the duffers, again.

also, eddie munson literally never caught a fucking break. not one fucking break. his ENTIRE life was just one series of tragedies after the other and it truly just continued on that way until he fucking died. honestly, its a goddamn MIRACLE that he has ANY ounce of positivity and optimism and hope left in his life when we get to him in s4. thatd how utter dogshit a hand he has been dealt in life. and it only.got worse from there. and i will NEVER forgive ANYONE involved in his creation for that.

so yeah! that concludes my journey reading flight of icarus. it was a wild ride lol.

[bisexualhobi]

exo - exist review

i just wanna start by saying that this comeback is the highlight of my year already. i did have high expectations because after all, this is exo and their discography is easily at the top of the entire industry... and for groups that debuted over a decade ago they're one of the last still standing, so after a 4 year old hiatus the expectations were high to say the least. did they manage to meet them? let's find out!

the title track deserves a whole paragraph so:

cream soda - a high paced r&b pop song with a luscious instrumental and a collection of high notes that flex the strengths of the group. it definitely packs a punch and i think it would benefit from getting a slower intro but even so, the song doesn't disappoint. it kinda reminds me of a maroon 5 song during their golden years and i think it's the perfect balance of "grown men r&b" and playfulness (coupled with less than subtle sexual innuendos about popping like a soda bottle this is a great evolution for exo, who have been known to always make pussy popping music but have struggled to shed the high school boys image sm is so fixated on giving them). rating: 9/10

regret it - literally straight out of the pcy1 vault and you can't convince me otherwise. soooo happy to hear an r&b jam straight out of the 90s since that is literally exo's blueprint. i love the production on this track because it has enough elements to keep it interesting and the chorus is super catchy. chanyeol takes the crown for me for obvious biased reasons but i love kyungsoo and jongdae's runs in this. rating: 10/10

hear me out - sounds much better like this. like now i get 100% the reasoning behind this song and the style it has. it's really such a chill vibe and a welcome breather after the one two punch of the previous songs. i feel like the prechorus and post chorus of this song could have been amped up way more and a breakdown for the bridge would've made it ten times more fun tho. rating: 9/10

random observation i noticed: the resting silences between songs are a tad too short for my liking. we need to let this marinate and sometimes it does feel like the album is sprinting towards the end.

private party - chanyeol opening the song AS HE FUCKING SHOULD. this beat is nasty... it's the perfect combination of exo's r&b sultry side and a hot sexy beat to shake ass to. it's just fun and good and takes you on a sonic ride from start to finish. i did expect the weeknd vibes from the title alone but i'm glad with the result here. rating: 10/10

cinderella - oh marz. oh you.... i knew exactly what the beat drop was gonna sound like from the second the song started and i'm not mad about it! this is another old school r&b infused serenade song while giving it a fresh modern style with the synth arrangements. taking a point off just because the mixing is too compressed and the synth takes over the landscape in an overbearing way (happens all the time with flume too so i get it but i feel like this could've been prevented here). rating: 9/10

no makeup - okay so the whore music run of this album from private party to no makeup is insane. we get it. these men fuck. they made sure to let us know they're in their 30s and it was about DAMN time. that post that's like they melted their dick and balls into a flashdrive and fucked the console in the recording studio.... yeah. the background harmonies are TOP TIER too but i didn't expect anything less from exo. props to jongdae, minseok and chanyeol cause they were working overtime layering these vocals. rating: 10/10

love fool - deadass was expecting this to be the slower snoozefest of the album... but exo are intent on making every track off this album COUNT. this is such a classic exo jam... every element of this song works in their favor. great melody, great instrumentals, great topline, great chorus. this is PURE quintessential exo. rating: 10/10

another day - this is good song! a great song even. my notes for this one just say "good song. really like it" it's just not something that stuck out to me enough to analyze it further. i think that's fine. the layering of vocals is once again great. i don't love the topline specially for the chorus (feels super nct 127 past their peak) but it's still a good song. rating: 8/10

let me in - this is their boyz ii men serve of the year. perfect closer. perfect slow ballad and i'm not a fan of those in the first place. definitely the vocal highlight of the album. that's all i can say. exo did it once again kids. rating: 9/10

[jadetheblueartist]

IM SO SORRY I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED YOUR TEGAN ASK

I feel so bad :( you said it took you three hours and also I had written a huge response and now it’s gone ;-;

Okay so I’m going to rewrite my response but I’m really sorry if I get things wrong since now I can’t review what you sent ;-;

————

I LOVE THE IDEA SO MUCH!!!! And I would love to hear more about their training and life on the ship!

I may be obsessing over Talon and Megan a tad bit…

I love all the possibilities of how they passed the time in the car so much. It would be so awkward at the start and I’m all here for it!! I imagine Talon carried most of the conversation from the beginning until after they really got to know each other. I feel like at the start Talon would just awkwardly try to tell her what has happened to the earth while she was gone in hopes of starting some conversation. I’m imagining the parking lot picnic with them just drinking slushees and eating whatever gas station food seemed good (I’m assuming everything is kind of run down?)

Car karaoke. Oh it would be amazing. Talon trying to find songs Megan likes and trying to get her to sing along, windows rolled down, it’d be such a vibe.

With the race scene I can’t stop picturing the scene from princess bride where they both are rolling down the hill XD

Their relationship is so great, two strangers bonding in a long car ride… oh wait they already knew each other? They were already in love from book one? But Megan’s memory was wiped- WAIT NO THEY WERE IN LOVE AND HER MEMORY WAS WIPED!?!? Okay, okay, it’s fine at least they became close again, just a fresh start nothing to worry about… HER MEMORY WAS WIPED A SECOND TIME!?!? TALON THOUGHT SHE WAS DEAD!?!?!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (this is so tragic but I love it so much)

Talon nooooo why the tragic backstory ;-; (I love it very much)

Oh and the art? I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! I love Talon’s design!!!!!! The drawing of him saying happy birthday to himself makes me so sad ;-;

Also question time!

Do you have designs for the sci fi ppl? Are they like aliens or just advanced humans chilling in space? Does Talon hide his tattoo? (I love that type of angst so much mhm hidden scars [in this case a tattoo tho]) and you said there was an image limit… could I see those drawing you couldn’t show? Also why is it called Tegan (is it bc Talon + Megan = Tegan…)? That should be all of my questions…

Anyway I absolutely love this story and please feel free to tell me more whenever! (I’d love to hear a lil more about Ivan too)

Again really sorry abt deleting the ask ;-; I hope you have an amazing day though!!

(I feel like I’m forgetting things I wanted to mention but idk)

Oh my I wrote out this whole thing and it deleted it for me hahaha let’s try this again

No worries about deleting the ask it happens hahaha and it doesn’t look like you got anything wrong so yay!

I’m gonna answer this paragraph by paragraph

-IM SO GLAD YOU LIKE IT and I’m pretty sure I have either the original google doc or a “Megan’s POV” doc that I can look into to give you those details :)

-I’m so glad you’re obsessing so we can be in the same boat

-I’ve been mulling over that car scene for years and somehow you managed to squeeze out even more serotonin for me to devour I thank thee. And I think it’s run down ish, like people are still there but WW3 is kind of happening/ just happened soooo you know

-it would be the vibiest ^^

-I’m so glad you said that bc I couldn’t connect the dots as to what that scene reminded me of but yeah that’s amazing

-IKR the mind wiping rocked my world. My friend was at the point where she was writing the post separation explosion and we were on face time and she casually mentioned “oh you know the cars weren’t the first time they met, right?” I went feral trying to get all the info out of her hahaha

-yes his backstory makes me so sad…

-I’m glad you like the design! It was our group’s “hot guy” design hahaha I’ve tried to make it more individualized to him over the years tho, and that happy birthday one gets me every time (especially since that’s probably how he spent most his birthdays…)

Yay Question Time!

-I believe I could at least get the designs for those people sometime soon. They are just random people who decided to work for big bad (aka the voice, bc they only heard his voice through speakers at first). The voice decided he could make some good money abducting children and forcing them to be assassins so he did that. The government doesn’t know about them bc they hide in space. The few organizations trying to take them down are the only ones who really know about it

-talon has a few different tattoos, the one he got initiated with is a tattoo/ permanent burn so it has to stay covered to protect it, the other is just on his neck and he leaves that one in the open (I can point it out in the pics below)

-and yes! Tegan is the ship name for Talon and Megan (it was that or Melon hahaha)

-Ivan didn’t really have much personality in the oh other than he was angry bc the scientist that snuck into the escape ship was dating his crush, I’ve made some personal modifications to him in my head though making him more protective rather than just angry (he’s also Megan’s cousin) and I just remembered I have a drawing of him? So cue the picture section :)

Picturesssss

Here’s Ivan, the permanent third wheel (he doesn’t know tho)

The first ever drawings of Talon and Megan 😬

Moving on… idk which of these are repeats so lemme know if they are and I could probably substitute them for new pics

And now the og Megan design vs the much needed redraw

Ughhhh the one on the left still haunts me…

I was struck by the limit again so I might reblog this with a few more, idk hahaha

But reading through this ask made me so happy you have no idea (insert the “I don’t normally feel things but that one got through” donnie gif)

Thank you so much and I’ll look into the daily life on the ship and the sci fi guy designs :)

[sablegear0]

Finished TotK Finally

As in, finished the story. End numbers after buying the last boss pictures and completing the Compendium were 87.72% complete. I may go back and do koroks and minigames sporadically when I want to wander around in the world again.

So I suppose people might expect my thoughts or a review. Idk if I have anything unique to say but I may as well so: Plot and BIG ending spoilers under the cut. Also extremely long detailed opinions. Like this one got REALLY long. TL;DR at the very bottom.

The End Bits The Light Dragon In a previous blog I applauded Nintendo for letting their women characters turn into incomprehensible beasties lately (TotK, Dread). For the record, I posted that shortly before being spoiled on the fact that Zelda changes back at the end. Needless to say I was re-disappointed. I get WHY they did it. Permanently removing the title character from the game via 10,000 years of ego death doesn't really seem like a great reward for the player seeking out the plot; BotW/TotK Link and Zelda have gone through more than most of their incarnations to get where they are, so it's nice to give them a happy ending, etc. It just... kinda sucks because that was a really cool move otherwise. But Nintendo will not tell us an intentionally tragic (or even bittersweet) story so we got our girl back.

Also she was fine, by the way. She just woke up fully able to move and speak like she'd just had a bit of a rough nap. She also canonically does not remember her millennia spent as a dragon in any fashion. I know the fan writers are probably having a field day with injury/trauma recovery fics for her and I don't blame them. 10k years of ego death and a monstrous transformation should come with some consequences, shouldn't it?

To be honest the nature of the deus ex machina in question bugs me more than the fact that it happened. "Idk Sonia and Rauru did something" is the actual explanation we get (thanks Mineru, you're a real one tho) and it feels... hollow. Like, if the two dragons had clashed and injured one another, and "dying" knocked Zelda out of the transformation the same way destroying the Secret Stone that Ganondorf had taken destroyed his dragon form, that would make more sense, right? You still get your dramatic ending that's a cinematic reflection of Skyward Sword and a symbolic close (presumably) to Ganon's cycle of reincarnation. The arbitrary "power of love" (and not even the Hero's love, come on) ending just doesn't sit right.

Ganondorf Neither did the actual fight with Ganondorf, to be honest. I prepped some pretty high-value weapons, assuming that like BotW I'd have to break a few swords on him before the fight was over. But they just, again, deus ex machina'd that the Master Sword was indestructible for that fight and at no other time. My big scary weapons did see some good use in the wave fight beforehand, which was kind of neat but also kind of underwhelming. I guess that's the point where the game checks if you can handle that many enemies (ie. did you bring enough friends), similar to how doing the Divine Beasts halves Calamity Ganon's HP in BotW.

The duel-style fight for the first two phases was kind of cool. Made a bit annoying by TotK's tighter timing on parries and dodges. And the fact that the legitimate pressure of having your HP outright destroyed (cool, stressful) was removed by the third phase (annoying, no consequences for doing poorly in that part of the fight).

Third phase was neat. It was cinematic, but with no actual danger. I don't think I took any damage that wasn't just gloom-ticks from standing on the demon dragon to attack it. Didn't even get to use my cool bows in the aerial battle. Additionally I didn't have any need for the cool armour I had worked so hard to upgrade. I spent quite a lot of time and effort upgrading the Ancient Hero's Aspect and a second high-defense set (Champion's Leathers, Soldier's Greaves, Amber Earrings). The latter I did use in the demon dragon phase because it looked cool. The former I completely forgot that I had (despite having had to kill an ungodly amount of King Gleeoks to complete it). I used the Depths set for the first two-thirds of the fight because of the Gloom resistance it offered.

The Mechanics Devices All that said, what TotK set out to do it did decently well. It expanded on the physics-heavy improvisational gameplay of BotW with the addition of the Ultrahand fusion mechanic and Zonai Devices, improving on their base engine to create a system that I have heard other devs consider basically magic. Devices and weapon fusion, however, were clearly balanced with the early-to-mid-game in mind. The devices were tools, not weapons, even the ones that were nominally weapons. They simply did not put out enough raw damage to be used offensively, and were better as deterrents or distractions for enemies.

Weapon Fusion I know people weren't crazy about weapon degradation in BotW and I think TotK managed to make it slightly worse. In BotW, all you had to do was find where a desirable weapon spawned and make note of it so you could come back to pick it up after the Bloodmoon respawned everything. In TotK, you have to do that AND fight a monster with a good fuseable part to improve it. You have to do twice as much farming for about the same amount of gain. And that's not even accounting for the weapons you'd break fighting something big like a Lynel - sure they drop good parts, but you might break 2 or 3 weapons taking one down, even with help from your sages. You're operating at a net loss.

Granted the fused part of a weapon does the bulk of the work, but TotK did the interesting thing of making each flavour of weapon ("Soldier's", "Zonaite", "Gerudo", etc) have its own unique properties. This is very cool, until you find a type you like and struggle to find enough of them. Again, you have to trek around to find them and also hope you have the materials for a good fusion. It has its moments, like sticking a Silver Lynel horn on a Gerudo weapon to get a damage value over 100 (which is absurd, most "good" weapons cap out around 50 on average, barring any extra effects), but again, you're usually operating at a slight loss with respect to weapons.

Armour Upgrades To be frank: It's bad. It's bloated and way too resource-intensive. In BotW there were a limited number of sets you'd actually want to upgrade, as each had its own unique thing and that's it, there's one of each. Even doing all of them for completion's sake was achievable. In TotK they have those basic sets, plus a few more unique sets, plus a few redundant sets, and a frankly absurd number of generic aesthetic sets (which flavour of Link would you like? Ocarina of Time? Twilight Princess? Link's Awakenng Remake?) And in all of this they never thought to rebalance the amount of materials required for upgrading.

And on top of THAT, I think they messed with the item drop-rates too! Most enemies can drop 2 kinds of resources, some potentially have more, some only drop 1. in BotW I don't think (thought I may have to check) each type was a guaranteed drop, but you saw every type fairly frequently. In TotK each enemy now has distinct rare drops. And they can be RARE. And the worst part is you need a LOT of them for some armour upgrades. For example; Lizalfos tails are the Lizalfos rare drop, and the armour sets that need them can need up to 15 of the stupid things from a particular species of Lizalfos. Have fun grinding, because now you're playing Monster Hunter instead of Zelda.

Vehicles and Horses The vehicles both did and didn't trivialize crossing the map; a significant amount of grinding is needed before you have enough batteries to cover any distance, Wings (the bird-shaped gliders) have a limited lifespan to keep you from just flying everywhere, and the overworld is generally complicated enough that any fast wheeled vehicle will not be useful for long, and any all-terrain vehicle moves only at a modest speed. Ironically, just use horses where available. They're faster, more versatile, and can be called to you if they're within earshot. Also horses can spawn with overall higher stats than in BotW, and can be upgraded, though with significant resource investment. (It is worth noting that the "best" horse in base BotW, the royal white horse, is only middling to above-average stat-wise when compared to a good wild-caught horse in TotK. They power-crept the horses!)

The most interesting vehicles/movement devices, to me, were the rockets and hot-air balloons. Both add a lot instant verticality in a game that is all about traversal. Fusing a rocket to a shield gets you a huge boost for little resource expenditure (rockets are a bit rare until you can purchase devices). And once you find the Autobuild schematic for a hot air balloon base, all you need to add is a flame-emitter and you can ascend as far as your batteries allow.

Shrines In my humble opinion, TotK knocked it out of the park with its shrines. The ones that have actual puzzles, anyway. There is an unfortunately large proportion of "blessing" shrines that have no puzzle in them, and not all of them even need to be worked for that hard. The ones that do have puzzles are excellent. There are quite a few that highlight different uses for devices, and a good handful that take the Eventide Island/Master Trials-style challenge of stripping you of all your gear and put some twist on it. (Notably these are most interesting in the mid-game, when you have enough hearts to survive but not to trivialize the no-armour combat difficulty.)

They also did the very classy thing of not locking outfit parts behind hidden chests in Shrines. All the hidden chests were perfectly optional bonus chests that required no frustrating re-visits after finding out where that last piece of armour was hiding. Also the slight variations on the music theme was a nice touch that kept the shrines feeling fresh. No shade to the Sheikah Shrine theme, but the strong synths could get a bit grating at times. TotK's gentle, plinky shrine theme variations were an improvement.

The Map The Overworld Probably(?) the most common complaint about TotK and one I share. It's too damn big. In addition to mostly recycling the map from BotW (which bothered some people more than it bothered me, I think), they added an equivalent-sized map for the Depths. Now, BotW's overworld already felt a bit sparse, but it fit the tone of a literal post-apocalyptic world and encouraged you to poke around looking for koroks and investigating enemy camps. TotK's surface overworld is dotted with far more enemy camps and significantly fewer koroks, so it is about as dense but more dangerous/annoying (depending on your hp and gear) to traverse.

There are some major changes to the surface, beyond adding ruins to some spots; most of Death mountain is now safe to travel on foot (probably to encourage use of vehicles) and is no longer superheated, and there are a few spots where the road network is broken, dividing the map into 2 halves that cannot be crossed between on horseback. (In BotW, by comparison, all the roads were connected and you could auto-pilot a horse from one end of the map to the other, provided you took roads marked on the map.)

The Sky The Sky islands were relatively few, for all the hype they got in the promotional material. However I think their self-contained structure and handful of unique features (the "death star" islands, the dive challenges) helped them not overstay their welcome. Besides, the islands themselves are technically also ruins, 10,000 years old and finally visible to the naked eye from the surface, It's a wonder there's as much left and it's as functional as it is. They are beautiful, though. I did enjoy just loitering around in the sky to take in the view and the relaxed atmosphere, as there are fewer enemies up there.

The Depths The Depths... I think I share the majority gripe with the Depths. They're too big. The Depths are another whole open world that is more hostile with even less in it. It exists to grind for resources and pad the playtime. The challenge of the depths is in initially traversing it, having to light your way through impenetrable darkness and navigate dense enemy encampments and find Light Roots to fill out the map. After that, provided you have enough battery power, it can generally be ignored by flying over it. Which is unfortunate. If I were to fix the Depths, I would make it more akin to the Sky Islands; more self-contained, make it a series of winding, interconnected discrete caves, like one big dungeon crawl, rather than a second open world to ignore. Still have the Light Roots be important to vision and mapping, but have the general landscape be more contained. Maybe even have a few more areas that are inaccessible at first except by dropping into the correct chasms, like they did with the Eventide Island and Tingle Island Chain areas of the Depths.

Everything Else Side Quests and Koroks Honestly I enjoyed the variety of sidequests in TotK, and also enjoyed that some of them were quite involved. TotK had two "Tarrey Town"-equivalent long-form side-quest lines; one being visiting all the stables with Penn (I am counting this as one quest because you get drip-fed armour pieces from a unique set throughout it), and the other being the Mayoral Election / Local Cuisine questline in Hateno Village. There were also side-quests to optionally construct the Champions' weapons, which was neat, and to build a house with crazy Ultrahand powers, which was totally frivolous but fun to do. The one thing that bugged me a bit about the side-quests was running into NPCs that reasonably should have remembered Link but didn't. It felt odd, especially poking around Tarrey Town initially.

The Korok puzzles had some new variety to them, which was nice. The block puzzles were given the extra interest of being able to rotate things with Ultrahand, and the vehicle/towing mechanics were given a chance to shine with the "help me reach my friend" puzzles. Having Hestu appear in some less-than-ideal places to begin with (and the whole Lost Woods thing omg what a pain) kind of sucked, but getting those sweet sweet inventory upgrades is always worth it.

The Characters I love all the Sages, I'm going to say it right now. It was really cool to see some familiar faces from BotW (that actually recognized me) and learn what they'd been up to in the ambiguous time-gap. Teba being the slight exception but honestly - meeting Tulin and realizing this sweet bean bird boy looks just like both his parents hit me right in the heart. Mineru was also very cool and I'm glad we got to hang out with her (and bid her a tearful goodbye... my lovely lanky lady...). I also appreciated that doing the Ancient Writings quest teases Mineru's introduction. That was a nice touch.

Penn and Purah are fun, and the Lucky Clover Gazette and Monster Control Crew quests add some depth and background progression to BotW's Hyrule. You get to see how ordinary people are faring and how things are advancing post-Calamity. Seeing the various peoples of Hyrule gather at Lookout Landing after clearing a regional temple was neat, even if it was really only for show.

I know some people have beef with Rauru and that's maybe a blog for another time, but I don't think I have a strong enough opinion to bother. I didn't mind him, I think his arc was clear enough, I think I would have liked to see more of him and Sonia interacting with Zelda in a more everyday fashion - it seemed like she had a lot of fun in the distant past and something more than just a text log of that and a couple cutscenes might have been nice. Honestly I think I would have liked to see more of Sonia especially, she seems like an interesting lady (again, something more than Chaucerian text as proof would have been nice).

I'm honestly kind of mid on Matt Mercer's Ganondorf? I get that he's a big name and people were excited to hear him in the role but idk if the voice was entirely a good fit. They rocked the hell out of his visual design, though. Very good updated look, borrowing elements from some of his previous incarnations. Again I would have liked to see more elaboration on him though; what was the Gerudo tribe like under his rule? Were there dissenters? Give me more worldbuilding or I'll be forced to do it myself.

Music Mostly the same, actually. Overworld themes were recycled. Shrine themes were different and an upgrade imo. Combat themes were slightly different but I probably wouldn't be able to tell them apart at a listen. The Temple music though, oh boy. I loved these themes; they took the ramping instruments from the Divine Beasts control panel gimmick and mixed the Divine Beast Approach themes with each Sage's unique motif to create some really cool but pleasantly unobtrusive tracks. The Depths ambience was appropriately spooky, and the dynamic theme that kicks in when you high-dive was a nice touch, especially since there are distinct versions for diving to the surface and diving to the Depths.

But the standout tracks for me? First, the intro sequence where you descend with Zelda into the foundations of Hyrule Castle and hear the ever-layering Zonai chanting with the spooky reversed voice clips? MMM. 👌 So spooky, so tasty. Genuinely had me on edge even though I knew nothing would happen because it was the intro. The return sequence by the endgame has it build even more intensely as you descend even further and it's fantastic. Second is the Gloom's Approach / Gloom's Source battle theme. The distinctly electronic drone and beat associated with the Depths/gloom-related stuff gets room to shine when this tense bass-heavy track kicks in.

The Little Things I am actually going to stop this one here because I think this part deserves its own blog. There are a ton of little details in TotK that I absolutely adored and I want to gush about them with proper space allotted.

TL;DR TotK is alright. I know I'll catch flak for saying it's "good", so I won't. Settle down. It's alright. Some things it does extremely well, some things could have been edited for time, and some things remained just kinda mid from the original.

If I have to give it a number, it's a solid 6.5-7/10 . Competently constructed, technically impressive, mostly cut-and-pasted, mildly bloated, narratively kind of boring with no sense of stakes and an ending that undoes some otherwise interesting choices.

[aerodaltonimperial]

✨Fic Writing Review 2023✨

Tagged by @rosabellebelieve and oh girl. Ain't nobody ready for these stats LOL. Uh oh. Also, I've removed all collab fics for purposes of this, as it doesn't really seem fair since I only wrote, like, half of them lmao.

Words and Fics

268,626 words in 2023 (mother of god)

52 fics on AO3 (dear christ)

I'm not even counting Tumblr ficlets, oh god, don't make me

Top 5 Pairings

💚🖤Jack/Darby (24) (NUMBER ONE???? how tho)

🧡🖤Hook/Danhausen (23)

💚🧡Jack/Hook (5)

🔮🍑Julia/Anna (4)

🧡🎤Max Caster/Hook (3) & 🧡🍊Orange/Hook (3) (HAHAHAHAHA)

Top 5 by kudos

i found love where it wasn't supposed to be (right in front of me) [Hookhausen]

man of lesser words [Hookhausen]

don't need a cure for love [Orange/Hook]

baby please (would you read my eulogy) [JungleCorpse]

you're the realest thing i've never had to fake [Hookhausen]

Top 5 by hits

baby please (would you read my eulogy) [JungleCorpse]

i found love where it wasn't supposed to be (right in front of me) [Hookhausen]

now you know how i feel [Hookhausen]

Weekend in Fresno: or, a Hook choose your own dating adventure [Hook/everyone]

threat level: euclid [HH, JC, SP]

Fandom Events in 2023

I made it to a wrestling show! Since they never go near me and my life is what it is, I really can't manage more than one a year, and I've got to be lucky to get that to work, but this was a big deal and I'm so happy that I could make it happen!

ALSO I MADE UP A FUCKING PAIRING AND GOT IT TO THE #1 FOR BOTH PARTIES INVOLVED you know what this counts as an event LMAOOOOO i'm thinking no one should actually have this power

Upcoming Projects

If I ever stop bemoaning my perceived lack of skill, I've got 2/3 of a fic that Vamp prompted dialogue for, largely me writing something fluffy and saccharine because she was trying to write smut and we were both trying to write out of our wheelhouses lol

Writing reflection

Well! 2023 was quite a year, honestly. I was going to be like OH HOLY SHIT about my word count but when I took our collabs, it dropped so fast, so that's good, I guess (???). I'm still so happy I discovered wrestling, because it's been easily 12 years since I had this amount of creativity for a single fandom. And this year I really stretched out and started writing new stuff within the wrestling fandom! That's exciting (depending what you followed me for, I suppose LOL).

But more than anything else, this year I looked at what I wanted to write and said, FUCK IT, I'M WRITING IT. And I started dropping horror shit I fully expected that no one would read, because I didn't think people came to fandom for spooky stuff??? And lo and behold, y'all really showed up for those fics! I'm forever grateful you saw me writing absolutely batshit horror and were like yes, Katy, we will also read this creepfest. So much love.

I also tried to write more smut, which I am not particularly adept at, and also some darker themes. I do try to write lighthearted things, haha, but my own mental state has been not stellar, and I think that tends to come out in my fics. And I started writing femslash, which this fandom needs so much more of! So. All in all, a real banger year for me in fandom. I'm pretty proud of a LOT of the fics I wrote this year.

And, obviously, 2023 would not be complete with me mentioning that Vamp and I produced an epic shit ton of words together, and MORE IMPORTANTLY had an absolute blast in doing so. What a whirlwind writing together has been!!! I think we've really gotten to this point of just great flow, and I'm super proud of how we work so well like we do. We DO HAVE SOMETHING ELSE COMING but we've been "planning" it since August and haven't written it yet, so HAHAHA. Anyway. Expect that in 2025, or something. ;)

Rules: Feel free to show whatever stats you have. Only want to show Ao3 stats? Rock on. Want to include some quantitative info instead of stats? Please do this. Want to change how yours is presented? Absolutely do that. Would rather eat glass than do this? Please do eat glass, I’ve heard it’s good for your gums.

Tagging: @whysamwhy123 @meeplanguage @fille-lioncelle and anyone else who wants to take a stab at this!

[gxilgramore]

Jubilee is a lot!

Yes i know the quality of the photo is bad, i couldn't find an high quality version of the OG cover.

First listen of Jubilee, and i assume you already know why i gave it a chance, because the episode Dalek from series 1 with Eccleston is an adaptation, and of course being a Eccleston fan i was interested in how the story would work with a completely different Doctor and Companion.

Basic stuff first, Evelyn is delightful, ok, she is not a standout for me, she feels like other companions to some extent, but make no mistake i still love her and the relationship with the Doctor, their dialogue feels kind of Donna, kind of Sarah Jane, even kind of Charlie Pollard but she still feels like her own character because of her aspirations and objectives, you can also say that she feels like Rose, but I don't see it besides the compassion for the seemly good Dalek and the confrontation of the Doctor's own internal hatred, i think she is pretty good and I don't know if other stories showcase her in a different light but im curious, if you have any recs for other Evelyn stories id love to listen.

Also the Daleks here, my previous experiences with them in BF were the first 8th Doctor/Lucie Miller story that i forgot the name, i as you all know i think this story is mediocre at best, and i thought most Dalek stories from this era would be like that and I'm so happy of being wrong, the Daleks here are not only full of the threat that made me love them in Victory of the Doctor but also more thematic relevance than ever, because of how much they add to the whole "humans can also be bad if fed by propaganda" thing, also the "good" dalek has an personality so unique by how much Briggs (i think its Briggs) put these inflections and manical laughter to him, it really makes him feel so alien even in the other parts of the storie where he should have felt like a normal Dalek.

And speaking of the TV episode that adapted this story, yeah i can see where the similarities come, but it also feel like the TV episode reconstructs from the ground up the story to feel to the 9th Doctor character, Dalek is (at this moment, i need to rewatch series 1) my favorite episode of that season, so seeing an episode that expands on those themes is pretty amazing, im not complaining of course that Dalek is a watered down version of Jubillee, those stories care the same themes but Dalek adds his own spin on it with discussions of PTSD and the framing of the Doctor as a being that can villain due to his traumas instead of the humans so they compliment and expand on each other instead of the TV episode feeding on it's source material.

And another thing is the build up, in my Chimes of Midnight mini review i made clear that the way Sherman builds a mystery is so anxiety inducing and i want to know more because what the actual fuck is going on and Jubilee also carries exactly that, this fucked up world that it builds is so weird that it feels off-putting even to think about it but you really want to know why these people are this way, how that happened, the mystery of the TARDIS, the Doctor's visions, the second legless Doctor, it feels wicked, dark, disturbing, also because it's kind of gruesome, yeah i know, its the wilderness years, Doctor who was like that, but i was not expecting a beheading, the "Doctor" dying like a maniac, it feels really tense and the cliffhangers, god they are so good, i literally gasped at 2 of them because of how tense they are, Sherman is really climbing to be my favorite who writer, him, moffat and Davies are my big 3.

Thematically is where things get... Complicated, because yeah the point of the story is fair and the way it explores it is intense and hammer the point home a lot, i still feel a bit weird about the entire conclusion tho. Don't get me wrong i felt more rewarded in that conclusion than in Chimes, it's not about the narrative rather than the themes being portrayed, thats why Jubilee is a lot, because it is so many themes, from propaganda, the relativation of fascism (even a kind of meta joke on the Dalekmania, somehow), the hypocrisy of the way governments deal with the rise of fascism in the modern era, it's so many themes packed into a 2 hour audio drama that it gets really dificult to discuss right after listening to it, requires some listens and thinking to grasp to totality of its political themes, and im too tired to think and with too much adhd to relisten, thanks college for both of these.

Jubilee is good. 9/10

[esc-is-holding-me-hostage]

Okay, I'm finally done with the annual quick reviews. Overall opinion: it's 2020 all over again but the lows are not so low (and the highs are not as high either). The competition is very open, which is refreshing after last year's one-horse race disguised as a two-horse race. There are no songs I would listen to after the contest but as a Eurovision lineup it's pretty entertaining and varied. Also, the girl-bopocalypse of 2021 was much better. Albania The decision of translating the song into English is already questionable but did we really need a fucking dance beat in the last chorus?

Armenia I love how fun it is, but I wish there were, you know, lyrics in the chorus

Australia You couldn't have made a more unsettling music video if you've tried.

Austria I don't know why they've decided to go with bloody eurodance this year. It does not feel updated for the modern times, it's not a cheeky pastiche either. We Will Rave feels like it's been lying around in a vault for the past 20+ years and then the Austrian delegation accidentally stumbled upon it and decided that yes, it will be a perfect Eurovision pick. I still don't hate it though? It might become my guilty pleasure of the year even.

Azerbaijan Why would you bring a guy with such a charismatic moustache just to do a little 10-second chant near the end? He deserves better!

Belgium I should love it. It should've been my number 1, it's Belgium going back to Dark and Moody™, it's what I always want from them. And yet I only like it. The last minute or so is great, but the lead up to that is whatever and doesn't do anything for me.

Croatia The chorus is weak and kinda generic, but the verses are so good they make up for it. The "please meow back" line receives the award for the best lyric of the year.

Cyprus For a twice (or possibly thrice) recycled song it's surprisingly okay. Nothing groundbreaking, it's still a dance-pop song from Kontopoulos, but it's fine.

Czechia I have a complex love-hate relationship with this one. The melody is great, it's exactly the kind of music I listen to outside of ESC. But good lord, do I hate the repetitive self-empowerment lyrics in the chorus.

Denmark Ehhh... She's a good singer I guess.

Estonia I think it's my favorite song of the year? Similarly to Trenulețul it just activates some primal dance spirit in me. Suit jackets on the naked body are still a crime against humanity tho.

Finland Yeah, I'm sorry, but if you hate No Rules, then you hate fun.

France France keeps trying to hide from us what's actually popular in their country.

Georgia It's another generic girl-bop ESC song, we've got half-a-dozen of these this year, but goddamn Nutsa is a fucking powerhouse.

Germany Imagine Dragons-ass production aside, the elephant sounds are such a bizarre choice.

Greece ... I'm sorry but Zari sounds like a bunch of noises with no melody to me, I'm very much not the target audience for this one and I don't get why everyone seems to love it so much.

Iceland Yeah, it's dated and kinda lame but in a very charming way.

Ireland Doomsday Blues is great, but because of all the layering and vocal distortions the live version will always be very different from the studio one. What I'm trying to say is that the live version sounds like an off-off-Broadway villain song.

Israel It's boring as fuck.

Italy It's nice but similarly to Greece I have no idea why is it so beloved by the fandom.

Latvia The song is so boring, that the most talked about part of Latvia's entry is Dons' lack of hair.

Lithuania After I've reassured myself that no, Luktelk does NOT sound like a Ruki Vverkh song it became pretty good.

Luxembourg So much potential in Luxembourg's comeback and yet they went with the most mid(tempo) song ever.

Malta Another generic girl-bop, and the closest we've gotten to an actual SloMo copycat, but it's okay I guess.

Moldova I almost forgot to write anything about Moldova before posting it, which is all you need to know about my opinion on In The Middle.

Netherlands I hate to say it, but I kinda love it? Yeah, Joost has the most punchable face in the history of humanity and I've made several references to my comedically exaggerated hatred of 90s dance music, but Europapa just keeps getting better the more I listen to it.

Norway I like it, but can't really say anything about it other than that.

Poland Very "topped at number 37 in Billboard hot 100 in 2019 and then was featured in a couple ads"-coded

Portugal One of the Portuguese entries of all time (i still like it tho)

San Marino Not as good as Arcadia but I'm happy Megara have made it to Eurovision anyway :)

Serbia It's fine.

Slovenia Similarly to Belgium, I wish I loved it more than I do.

Spain Really fun entry, iconic journey to ESC, but the weak vocals will be the reason the juries will murder Zorra in the Grand Final.

Sweden Not as forgettable as everyone says it is but it's still polished Swedish pop entry #569328

Switzerland From testing the limits of my attention span two years ago to making the most ADHD song of the year, huh. The Code is so many things at once and yet it works without feeling like a disjointed mess.

Ukraine I miss the times when Jerry was making funny meme songs, now we're stuck with her religious awakening era. Alyona's verse is the highlight of the song, everything else is good if you don't think about the lyrics too much.

United Kingdom I don't know how, but the UK has managed to make a decent song that I kind of hate yet again. The production in Dizzy annoys me to no end, I fucking hate the bells and the synths in the chorus, why are they so fucking annoying.

[taegularities]

i mean this in the nicest way possible because i truly love you, but i wish writers in general wouldnt try to force reader engagement. i often reply with feedback, but at the end of the day, you should be writing because you want to, not because you want validation. i dont know if its just me who feels this way, but when writers constantly mention needing feedback or they wont write/will stop writing a popular series, it feels like a threat. i dont want reading to feel like a chore, where i need to constantly be validating my favorites so they dont get taken away from me. i love you and your writing and i wish my likes were enough. sometimes i, as a reader, dont feel like engaging/leaving notes. sometimes i just want to read and move forward. i feel like many writers have turned appreciative comments from readers into an obligation.

again in no way is this meant to be hateful towards you, i feel like this can apply to many of my favs. i just needed to get it off my chest and hopefully assure you that we like your writing, even if there's less engagement. if you disagree with any of my points, please tell me/ask me to clarify. i dont want to hurt your feelings and i would love to hear from the writer's side!

hiii! no worries, thank you so much for being respectful and wanting to hear my opinion, as well. i know some people let these things out in the rudest manner possible, so i appreciate that <3

so, the reason i haven't been writing atm is because i lack the time and energy to write :') this year has been crazyyyy busy, so i just don't get to it anymore – and since i've been away/less present for a while, i guess i also drifted away from tumblr, too, and then felt like people might've forgotten about taegularities, and then i wasn't sure if the effort would still be worth it (i get insecure at times, but that's a me-problem). now, the reason i (and many other writers) have this worry is bc writing requires an insane amount of energy and brainpower – when i tell you that so many of us actually slave over just a scene or even a paragraph for ages 😭 (example: the last cmi update was far shorter than what i usually drop, but it took me days to just edit one scene). we ache to write all the time, but life also gets in our way – i barely get time to sit down and work on my fics these days… so when i do get time, i want to put it out there into the world and then see the reactions, too… i write for myself, ofc, but for you guys, too, so i can share that joy; or else i'd keep the fics in my docs, right?

and in that sense, when we write something in the rare free time that we get and that we hope others will love just as much as we do, we do seek some sense of validation, even if that sounds odd. it's like – imagine you studied for a test for like 2 weeks, but then don't get the results you hoped for (which might be a weird example, but effort-wise, it's similar, even if fics don't affect writers' lives in that sense). i know there are many who just write and don't care for feedback (even tho i've seen even those who say this be sad about reader engagement which �� very valid), but i think that most who expose their soul and heart like this, do want to see people enjoying it/speaking about it/hyping it up. every creator, be it in the movie, music or art industry, loves to see reactions! and think about it – most writers get so genuinely excited when someone sends an ask that doesn't say more than "i loved this so much!! you're such a good writer!!" which is insane?! like, i know that i do – i get so happy and remember these comments 5ever, and it's a 2 sentence review as opposed to thousands of words. the effort here is unbalanced, but we still love it so much. and you don't need to write an essay, you never never do!! i swear, it's always enough to even get a few words or sentences <3 which, in the end, isn't a lot to ask for, you know?

i'm not saying i will stop writing my series. i would stop if it got 0 reactions OR if my life stood in its way too much; i'll keep loving what i write and write out of joy, no doubt. and tbh, i don't care about notes either. like, i remember "ruin you" getting way less notes than cmi but GOSH we had so much fun back then bc of the interaction and the craze made me so happy hahaha and yeah that's what it's essentially about – community. does that make sense? it's tumblr where likes don't make a post circulate – reblogs do, so yeah, unfortunately, likes are not enough :( i wish they were. i totally get what you mean, though. even feedback shouldn't be an obligation, but if you truly like somebody's work, it never hurts to send a tiny message. it really means the world to us when something we adore and are so proud of – creating art, sharing our heart, wanting everybody to see this love – is met with so much joy. and it's fics, you know – we love love love writing, but it's something that can be read. and we want people to read it and we're legit sitting there like "👀 and?? aaaand?" lol it's so nice to know when someone truly appreciates something… ofc you don't have to comment on my stuff, but i promise feedback makes a difference. it's why so many do leave :/ i hope that made sense!! once again, thank you for being respectful!! i love you, too, and am truly grateful that you're here and enjoying my stuff!! <3

[triphimi]

Arcane season 2 review and opinions (spoilers obv):

As a show by itself it was good... not as good as 1st season I feel tho? Obviously the biggest problems s2 has are pacing issues and lack of time which resulted in a very rushed story in the whole season but especially episodes 8 and 9.

The ending is bittersweet which was expected, but the lack of connections between characters in act 3 was lame. Yes, I'm bitter about Sevika not having a single line throughout the whole act and Isha not being mentioned by name at all.

That sex scene felt so forced too ngl. I wish we still got it but in different settings cuz like Vi, your sister kinda went to kill herself. The scene itself was cool ig but why did it have to be in a prison cell bro.

I liked what they did with Viktor, Ekko was carrying the plot of act 3 and saved the day as usually, Singed got the happiest ending out of everyone which is funny and fitting to his gameplay in lol. You know, fuck around everywhere, piss off everyone and get away. Isha despite being just a plot device was a nice addition still, loved the dynamic between her and Jinx and Sevika.

Making Singed Orianna's father and the Doctor Reveck was something people were speculating about for a long time already.

Now speaking as a league of legends fan after they decided to make Arcane a main canon...

Why? Things were perfectly fine with how they were before. Sure, some things being canon are cool maybe but it sacrifices so much of the already existing story for this. And it messes up the timeline so bad. Mostly because Singed seemed to stay in P&Z and it doesn't seem like he has any more ties with Noxus after Ambessas death and he didn't seem to have any before so... who made the gas for Noxian invasion of Ionia? Did that even happen anymore. The Invasion had to happen bc Swain seemingly already has a deal with Raum (unless we want to speculate that the crow was just Raum before he made a deal with Swain but who tf knows now?)

If the invasion did happen already then either:

a) Singed did make a gas for Noxus before Arcane and it's just never mentioned that he had previous connections with them?

b) Singed didn't make the gas Noxus used in the invasion. Takes away some importance Singed had in lore but with that new one, he at least has something. With that half of Ionian champions lore isn't fucked at least

c) The invasion did happen but they didn't use the gas which messes up SO MUCH. Half of Ionian champs lore is not canon now? Did something different happen to them, who tf knows?

I know the next series will probably be set in Noxus which might explain some thing (pls timeline) but that's like another 3 years or so of waiting.

Sorry if it felt mostly negative. I don't think that season sucked completely and would still rate it 8/10, ig I was just holding it up to a higher standard than i should've. Its also bc I focused mostly on act 3 here and kinda wanted to rant about the all the main canon lore from before Arcane is now in limbo of what's canon and what's not, and unfortunately it doesn't just include P&Z and Noxus.

[simplylove101]

2024 Horror Challenge: [26/?]

↳“Do you know what happened to the last person who tried to kill me? I crushed her fucking head.” MaXXXine (2024) dir. Ti West

Plot: In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.

Starring: Mia Goth with Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Halsey, Lily Collins, Sophie Thatcher, Giancarlo Esposito & Kevin Bacon

I think it's safe to say, this was quite possibly the most anticipated horror movie of the year (at least since it's the ending of a trilogy and its release date kept being up in the air) X was an unexpected hit and Pearl was such a great prequel that it was always gonna be interesting to see how Ti West chose to end this trilogy and how people would feel about it. And well, as expected, the reviews I saw were mixed, which made me nervous before watching since I really wanted to love it myself. Sadly, I didn't love it but I also didn't hate it either. There were still plenty of things to enjoy I think since overall, I think the cast did rather well (obviously Mia was lovely as Maxine once again remaining the scream queen she is) and it has memorable enough moments. I just didn't love the overall direction that the story took since it does feel as though it goes off the rails a bit. But also, I wanted Maxine to feel less damsel-y than she does at times here (tho she does have two solid moments of being a badass) since that's what made her such an iconic final girl the first time. Kevin Bacon had me dying with his scenes. I did feel a little annoyed each time that Elizabeth Debicki's character was on the screen since all she ever did was rant to Maxine about Hollywood in a way that felt like it never contributed enough to warrant it in repeated scenes since I wanted more stuff about the actual mystery, which honestly will seem quite far-fetched to most people. I didn't mind that part as much personally but narratively, that was definitely a choice by Ti. lol I do appreciate that he stuck to the 80's aesthetic the way he did because it made the movie lovely to look at. Music cues were good. It felt like the proper makings of a good slasher in those departments, just certain choices in the actual story made this one not be as good as it possibly could have been I think. That said, I still love this trilogy. I still enjoyed things about this entry so it's not all bad. Just keep the expectations low. Should Ti have made a third movie? Probably not. But I don't hate the fact that he did.

[sillygoofyqueer]

Here’s my review of chapt. 15 of losing hope!!! I’m sorry it’s so late! Slide has kinda been kicking my ass lately tho your stories do make it significantly better (probably gonna do a reread soon) ANYHOW, on with my thoughts

Wwx and LQR’s interactions are so painfully awkward but that’s kinda what makes it adorable. LQR being like “he’s clearly hurt and has been through some shit. I should help” meanwhile Wwx is like “he hates me and I shouldn’t do anything to piss him off” and then they get started bonding over music and get significantly more comfortable and FOUR YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I WAS SCREAMING OF HAPPINESS!! Legitimately I was a little scared someone would ask what was going on because how do I explain that I’m making noises like I’m dying because of two fictional characters in my friend’s fic that are bonding?? Especially with the confusion on WWX’s part. Ugh it’s so bittersweet and I love reading every second of it.

Wwx talking to LQR about more serious things and reflecting on how things went when he was a kid. Also LQR pointing out that all WWX wanted was to be seen and then Wwx being like ‘how did you know that?? You’re not wrong but…’ . UGH, HOW ARE YOU SO GOOD AT WRITING THIS???

Wwx getting the approval of LQR was not on my bingo card but I will 100% take it and enjoy every second of it. I really enjoy fics where LQR realizes he kinda fucked up all those years ago and makes an effort to make it up to WWX and LWJ in his own way and your fic has done that spectacularly. Especially with talking abt baby LWJ because dear LORD, THAT SOUNDS ADORABLE.

The whole thing with Suibian had me and still has me in tears. I hope you know that.

The little interlude with the juniors going to what I assume is Puqi shrine is fucking hilarious. Especially with HC just standing there like :3 while Jin Ling is freaking out.

10/10 chapter and is probably in the running for my favorite so far. Thank you for writing and as always I wish I could give you more kudos. Also please remember to take breaks and take care of yourself!!

DON'T EVEN APOLOGISE!!! I can completely relate and I'm just glad to see you in my inbox - I mean, it would be hypocritical of me to be upset because this has been sat in my inbox for a little itty bit as well. ANYWHOSLES, I'm literally so giggly because I can make Lan Qiren feel remorse for what happened and NOBODY CAN STOP ME. It would make sense to me that they'd bond over music because Wei Wuxian had to use it to survive and loves it, and Lan Qiren should be a big fan of it because he's proud of the Lan Clan. Meaning he's proud of their musical cultivation, so of course he has an ear for music! Even if he wants to pretend it's all for cultivation, he loves it really. So they get to bond over it!! You know I have to slide in little bits of angst and you KNOW I love making him be called out over things he knows are true like '😧 what do you MEAN you can be remorseful and understand my point of view??!!?' He's not used to that stuff, it's scary. Lan Qiren, on the other hand, can be introspective over the years - he thinks about it idly because Wei Wuxian (to his knowledge) is dead, so there is naught that can be done no matter what he finds out. Until there is. I'm coming at it from the idea of a sympathetic Lan Qiren that didn't learn about Lan Wangji's crush through Lan Wangji actively defying him and squaring up against his own clan to defend a violent, abhorrent demonic cultivator that has just murdered people in grief-stricken fury. I dunno about you, but I do genuinely think it would help the situation because of previously mentioned points. Now he's just exasperated and determined to embarrass Lan Wangji as payback for walking in on them making out. Subian and Wei Wuxian's relationship will literally never not mean everything to me and them reuniting is also everything to me. They deserve it, goddamn it. I'm glad you liked the interlude, I myself was wondering what was going on with them and so decided to write about it - yes, of course Hua Cheng is being a little shit, like "resentful energy? Could not be me." Fun fact, Lan Sizhui playing Inquiry is actually why Hua Cheng wandered into the shrine (he was supposed to be shopping for more gifts for gege, and heard the call). How will Jin Ling deal with Jiujiu showing up? Will Jiang Cheng actually pop a blood vessel out of rage? How will Wei Wuxian deal with training with a sword for the first time in years upon years? FIND OUT IN CHAPTER SIXTEEN!!!! (I'm glad you enjoyed chapter fifteen, I was worried that it didn't feel right, if that makes sense.) I love you so much, and hope you feel better soon!!!!!

[megatruxfr]

Reviewing Dutch versions as a Dutch bc i can lol - Dinotrux

A kids show that is already very high quality for its targeted audience, also has great voice actors.. but in Dutch?

I am Dutch myself and i personally like watching Dutch versions, i don't think they are so bad as everyone in our country says, i even know lots of them and i am a big fan of some of their works as they try to grow in a country that constantly bashes them for their work even tho they have such good voices most of the time. And i am just a teen 🤣

The Dutch voices

Ty

Voiced by: Jelle Amersfoort

The first thing i like about Jelle's job on Ty's Dutch voice is how he doesnt at all sound like Andrew Francis - he sounds much deeper, also a bit older hihi and he has less voice breaks. Jelle is very good at working with his voice, especially depicting emotions. In Dutch Ty sounds (in my opinion) more realistic instead of like a character. He sounds very mature. You can hear how hard Jelle worked for this and how much work he is willing to put in this. Ty has one of my favourite Dutch voices.

Dozer

Voiced by: Frans Limburg

Frans Limburg is just one of those voices that everyone in our country recognizes. I garantee you that everyone in the Netherlands has heard Frans Limburg in an animated movie / series at least 2 times. No one just knows his name. And that is a HUGE shame, because Frans is a national treasure, mark my words. The passion and the energy he puts into everything he does is just amazing to listen to! Dozers Dutch voice REALLY sticks out with the rest of the crew. Frans Limburg's raggedy, screamy acting voice fits Dozers character and personality so well and it also sounds a lot like Brian Drummond. But unlike what we see with Ty, Dozers voice is in Dutch slightly higher and screams more, unlike Brian Drummonds lower, often more calm voice. And the VOICE CRACKS - They are GENIUS!! Idk how else to describe it. Frans Limburg sometimes cracks his voice when Dozer is screaming or yelling, it really adds to the animated character and makes it very fun to watch and hear. Dozer had a few episodes where he was voiced by someone else (in at least the pounder episode) all i knew is that i wanted Frans back. Frans does such amazing jobs and i loved his depiction of Dozer! Continuing with...

Skya

Voiced by: Yael van Rosmalen

Skya is voiced by Yael van Rosmalen, who has worked with DW and Netflix before with Dragons: Race to the Edge where she played Astrid in Dutch. And as soon as you hear Yael's confident, sharp voice, its hard to forget it. Even though she isnt in a lot of productions, Yael clearly puts a lot of effort in her roles and really gets the characters she voices. Her voice is very memorable and its sounds absolutely great. She fits Skya better then i would expect, i heard her only once before as Astrid in the Dutch version of Dragons: Race To The Edge, wich i watched when i was like 8 or something, (15 now) ALL the time in between i have never watched RTTE again, and as soon as i heard Skya speak in Dutch i immediatly regocnized the voice, even after 7-8 years of not hearing it + not even thinking of it. Almost a DECADE later and i still immediatly remembered the voice. To me that really says something about how good this actress really is in her work, especially if i only remembered her from a show when i was, point 1, a young girl just looking at my screen and not paying that much attention to how a character sounds, but point 2, also not even liking the show that much and after being done watching it pretty much forgetting what it was about. Skya's Dutch voice doesnt only sound memorable, it also fits her character ridiculously well and Yael van Rosmalen, AGAIN, does not sound that much like the original English actor, in this case Ashleigh Ball, and yet she manages to fit into the character so well. I love her voice, i think she is very underrated and she deserves to be in more projects. We need more of this girl, she steals the show! Now lets go further with..

Ton Ton

Voiced by Hein Gerrits

I never really thought about Hein Gerrits and how he played Ton Ton, but something i definitley regocnize is how he does not sound like Matt Hill at all. Matt Hill and Hein Gerrits, their voices are worlds apart, but this isnt bad. I loved both of the impressions, in the case of Ton Ton and his Dutch and English voices i dont really have one i necesarrily prefer, or like more, but i do think Ton Ton sounds good in both languages. When i first heard Ton Tons Dutch voice i didnt really know what to think of it and to be honest i still kinda don't, but its really not bad. I do not think Hein Gerrits sounds bad. I think he portrays Ton Ton quite well, he sounds like he's having fun, his voice fits Ton Ton well too. Heins voice fits Ton Ton pretty well if you ask me, especially when Ton Ton yells, whoops or screams or says the word dude, like Hein knows what Ton Ton is about, he sounds very enthousiastic and like he's having fun. Also i am so glad they kept the word dude in the Dutch version •_> •

D Structs

Voiced by: Paul Kloote

This man. This man right here. This mother ffing man.

Paul's job on this show was just... wow. His work in general is so good i'm not even kidding. D Structs sounds amazing in Dutch. Paul Kloote is already good at voicing villains, i have heard him in more animated shows, like Kulipari where he was the Dutch voice of lord Marmoo, and he sounds exactly like D Structs does (wich made me giggle a bit uhrm) but Pauls acting and the way he fits into his characters is AMAZING.

You know a voice actor is good when they use the exact same voice for each character they voice, yet they still manage to fit into the character perfectly and making them sound realistic. Thats how i know Paul Kloote is good at his job. This man has an awesome acting voice for villains. He makes D Structs sound so realistic and dangerous, like he should be portrayed. Paul Kloote perfectly keeps up with Paul Dobson's original voice for D Structs. From D Structs' angry roars and dialogue to his scared / angry screams and definitley his evil laughs, Paul Kloote can do it all. He made D Structs so real and so amazing in this dub. I had pretty low expectations of Dutch D Structs, but boy was i blown away by Paul Klootes job. Just another underrated actor that deserves more attention. Someones gotta point it out! 🫠

(Final character!)

D Stroy

Voiced by: Paul Donkers

(Whats with all the Pauls in this cast lol)

Digging a little deeper here. Uhm.

Okay, being completely honest, i didnt really like Paul Donkers as D Stroy. His voice doesnt really add anything to the character. Brian Dobson made D Stroy sound like the sadistic, intelligent psycho he is, but Paul Donkers' job was just kind of bland. Ntm he sounds waaaay deeper then Brian, and it doesnt really fit D Stroy as a character. Paul Donkers is a good actor, but his voice just doesnt really suit D Stroy if you ask me, if i think of Dutch voice for him i would rather think of Rutger Le Poole (Dutch voice for Hawkmoth in Miraculous Ladybug) or Simon Zwiers (really good voice actor, was Mattis in the new Ronja - series on Netflix i think) also i am 100% sure i have heard Paul Donkers multiple times before. His voice sounds familiar, but i dont know from where.

Dinotrux in Dutch: is it worth a watch?

It definitley is!

The Dutch actors suit the characters very well and really add their own layer and vibe to each character! I would definitley recommend you give it a try and i hope you like it as much as i did!

🇳🇱Stop met klagen over nederlandse versies! Ze klinken vaak gewoon goed!

Anyways, this was my review! I will do this more often. Thanks for being here! :]

[convenientalias]

2023 Dramas I Watched in 2023

Cdramas:

A League of Nobleman--Slashy historical mystery drama. I loved all the slashiness and all the intrigue and then in the last few episodes I fell even more in love with the villain. Worth a watch but not my favorite slashy historical mystery of the year.

Mysterious Lotus Casebook--My favorite slashy historical mystery drama of the year! Tho more wuxia than historical I suppose. Bromance and archnemeses and identity porn abound. The identity porn in particular was a special treat for me; a character wandering around all these ppl who care deeply about him or idolize him but all think he's dead is my catnip. (I technically have a few episodes left to go on this one but I'm still counting it bc I am very close.)

Parallel World--YE LIUXI. I did a review of this one here! The short version: urban fantasy and parallel worlds in a desert setting, with a badass amnesiac female protagonist.

The Lady and the Lies--Miniseries, one of those short-episode things that China's doing a lot of now. Involved a cheating husband and a wife out to get revenge. I'm sorry but I shipped the wife with almost every person doing her wrong. She should destroy their lives and also dom them. They're all kind of obsessed with her anyway, in their own way.

Under the Microscope--You ever sit down and say, "Okay, but what I REALLY want from all these historical dramas is to just dig into the tax fraud going on in the background"? Me too, my friend. This show and Long River, which I also watched this year, are all about logistics, bureaucracy, and corruption, and the small man's struggle against ppl in power. That makes them both kind of difficult watches in a way, but also fascinating. I have yet to finish Long River, but this one is an easy 14 episodes and not as emotionally draining, so it was much easier for me to binge through.

Ye Cheng--I must admit I watched this for the pretty people. It's set in a matriarchal fantasy wuxia setting, but the gender role reversal feels a little shallow when the strongest good guy and the strongest bad guy are both men, even tho in theory women are supposed to be the warriors in this setting. However, the role reversal can be quite interesting in some ways--watching the male MC run a brothel as the city's top entertainer, try to use his ~masculine wiles~ to charm the FMC in a way that would be more typically feminine, and deal with the power dynamics of joining the FMC's household. Also, the two leads are just a lot of fun and have a lot of chemistry. The plot is sometimes stupid, but it's still a lot of fun to watch. Also, this was one of just two dramas I managed to finish this year that were mostly romance focused. When you reach the "dropped" section you will see that this is an impressive feat.

Kdramas:

Bloodhounds--I love Woo Do-hwan and I love Park Sung-woong but you know I was here for the ACTION SCENES. PEOPLE PUNCHING EACH OTHER AND SLICING EACH OTHER WITH KNIVES. THATS WHAT ITS ABOUT. I've also written a lot of fanfic about the protagonist and villain at this point but honestly they should have interacted more, we were robbed.

Queen of Masks--The only rich woman thriller kdrama I completed this year. But honestly, when it comes to rich woman thriller kdramas, I've seen better and femslashier. Mine did a better job with the whole "your husband told you the mother of his child was dead, but guess what it's actually me and I'm still alive and here to cause problems" plotline, tho I still enjoyed it here. And the sexual assault aspect... eh. I don't love seeing that kind of plotline in a revenge story; it's such a serious issue (and so much more realistic than, say, "this businessman murdered my whole family to acquire our company" a la Eve) that it kind of makes it hard for me to enjoy the fun of the mystery. But I suppose the way they handled it at least had gravity. My favorite plotline was Hae-mi and her husband and the drama they got into, which is serious in its own way (addiction and lies) but extremely well acted and with so much romantic chemistry.

Revenant--Spooky spooky ghosts and Kim Tae-ri, what's not to like? The possession aspects were creepy without being gory or too terrifying for a wimp like me to handle. The acting was great. And I actually shipped the sort-of-romantic subplot, though apparently a lot of ppl shipped the two MCs instead, which is understandable.

Song of the Bandits--A whole ton of gunfighting and other action scenes. One very badass assassin woman, a dude who is equally capable of taking out a whole squad of soldiers or bandits on his own, a villain with a complicated relationship with the dude above, and a woman spying on the Japanese government who's in a sort of spy love triangle with the MC and the villain. the plot was okay but again I was mostly here for the action!!

Thai dramas:

My Dear Gangster Oppa--This year I tried to watch a bunch of different BL dramas bc I was in that kind of mood but the truth is, it's not the het that gets me in m/f romcoms, it's unfortunately the romcom. Despite that! I persisted and did manage to finish this one. The lead couple was cute, and there was gangster intrigue and action etc to keep the fluff and comedy from driving me insane. still mostly a romance.

To Sir With Love--Also has a BL romance in it but not really a romance drama but a Family Drama with lots of familial plotting, the classic first wife vs. second wife scheming-for-their-children plotline along with what could have been a love triangle between brothers... except Tian is gay, which means the love triangle is null (except he's still engaged to his brother's love interest. which is awkward for all involved.). Also Tian being gay is a Deep Dark Secret. There's a lot of homophobia which might turn some viewers off but I loved seeing Tian's struggle between wanting to come out and having been forced to stay in the closet for so long that he freezes even at the thought of telling people he trusts. Also his mother commits a bunch of murders with terrible poison mushrooms so if THAT'S what you want out of a Thai drama, there is also that. Also he and his brother are. so sweet. and I love them. but also the central m/m romance is very good and involves assassination attempts and identity porn and pining and everything good. Also also this is actually a 2022 drama BUT IM STILL COUNTING IT bc it came out in October 2022 and am I really supposed to get around to watching dramas that fast??

Started and dropped:

Kiseki: Dear to Me--Even gangsters and intrigue could not save me from dropping this romcom.

Our Blooming Youth--This is also a romcom. You may see a pattern here. But to give it credit it is quite a plotty historical drama too. I just didn't really care about the two leads and dropped it halfway through.

Pandora: Beneath the Paradise--A thriller that was going places a bit too wild and frustrating for me.

Killing Vote--Can you believe I dropped this with only four episodes to go? I'm sorry Park Sung-woong, I love you but the plot is just so boring. And it plays at moral complexity while being just. not very complex. Like I swear the morality in this thing is "catching bad guys and punishing them is good, not catching them and not punishing them is bad." We could be talking about police corruption, our MC's terrible ethics, innocence until proven guilty, and so on and so forth, but we were just not going there. Also the twists were doing very little for me and the cops are just not very interesting characters. Again, Park Sung-woong, I'm sorry, you were a decent character but you could not save this show. Let's be real I needed either more Devil Judge here or more Death Note.

Legend of Anle--The romcom element was not helping this show's case but I still tried for 1) wuxia with identity porn and 2) Dilraba Dilmurat costarring with Gong Jun. Unfortunately those two had no chemistry and the plot was just very unsatisfying for me in the political intrigue area. One example: Gong Jun can't find the supplies needed to pacify a near-rioting mob. But that's okay bc Anle's subordinates found it. How did they find the super secret hidden storehouse?? we don't know and will never find out bc it was offscreen and never explained. They just did. this would be fine if it weren't, like, the climax of the episode and presented as a victory of the two MC's brilliance. I can't deal with this.

Naughty Babe--It's. A romcom. I'm so sorry I probably should just stop trying.

Other romcoms I quit too fast to give a fair opinion: You Are Mine, Extremely Perilous Love, My Lethal Man, Taikan Yoho.

Well, there you have it, 2023 dramas I watched in 2023.

Fun as it was, I think in 2024 I'm going to try to catch up more with older dramas lols.

Did y'all watch any of these dramas this year?

[bigbumder96]

my review on the original heartbreak high + the characters after watching like 2 nd a half seasons😈😈😈

spoilers below‼

the original is so much different to the reboot?😭 tbh the first season was very different to the rest of the show aswell as the reboot, but the only similarities i feel like they both have is that its took place in the same school and some (2💀) of the characters are in the reboot some way or another

overall, i do like the show. more than the reboot??? maybe, maybe not, idk😰😰😰 but its very well written in the sense that all the characters are insufferable, but you still feel pity for them and have a soft spot for them until next thing you know, theyre number 1 on your favourite list for the next 3 episodes until they do something crazy and slide all the way down to the bottom🙁

the storylines are actually really interesting, although i just know the writers are starting to run out of ideas. like theyre averaging around 40 episodes fkr 7 seasons there is NO way its gna be interesting all the way through💀 although i could be surprised, i was only bored in the first episode or two, because it has a bit of a slow beginning. infact i started this tv show ages ago but i never got past episode 1 until now😭

one problem i do have is the normalised large age gaps😨 like a 30 year old will date a 17 year old and nobody bats an eye... a bit scary tbh😞😞😞 they do still have storylines about how bad large age gaps are and how they're creepy but yk... hypocrisy is a real disease. im not too surprised though, as the tv show is based off a movie, called the heartbreak kid, about a romance between a teacher and her student. not so funfact: the teacher was called christina and the student was called nick. they were both played by the same actors as nick poulos and ms milano in the tv show. ☹

my opinion on the characters:

THANKFULLY they decided to keep this relationship out of the tv show. that doesnt stop the teacher x student relationships though😰😰😰 like the whole mr north - rose thing seemed pretty one sided on roses part thankfully, but he was still a nonce. like wdym u got a 17 year old pregnant and thats why you dont want to date rose? shouldnt the age gap or the fact shes your student be the reason??? then you had a 30 year old picking up con from a highschool, where she tells him he would look 'sexy' in a uniform, which just screams red flag, plus southgate and george (2 adults) knew and didnt gaf??😭 omg need i remind he was basically 🍇ed by lucys mother in the catering episode🙁 dont even get me started on sam and rivers. like he started harassing her which is horrible, but then she keot defending rivers and eventually started liking him back??? and when the students find out deloraine fired her they got mad at deloraine??? do they not care shes basically a nonce😥😥what even was the moral of this story because it was so icky... and then they run away together.😐 one storyline that highkey made me sob was lucy and her mums bf. im so happy they portrayed this in a negative light, cuz the scenes made me so uncomfortable. lucys actor is incredible tbh, this storyline was acc so sad☹

sorry for ranting, im just so mad about these😭

nick: he actually used to be my favourite, but at some point he became such a dick. like i still have a small soft spot for him because he was really nice at times, but him cheating on jodie was probably the final straw for me😭

i still absolutely ugly sobbed when he died🙁 tho

jodie: i didnt like her at first for some reason?? i dont know why???? shes actually really sweet, and probably the most open minded character in the whole show. nit at all relevant but she lowkey gives off gothic vibes😭 anyways someone find her a nice supportive boyfriend or i will date her instead. tbh tho, her and nick were cute while they lasted. also she is acc such a good singer and rapper omfg.

i also love the friendship she has w rivers and steve. like that is the perfect definition of platonuc boy and girl friendship where you can be close without catching feelings with eachother. like cuddling the homies. like kissing the homies goodnight. idk man my point is that some trios do work😋

con: probably my fav character !!! he was also my dads favourite too (my dad used to watch this when he was younger) 😭 he has a very likeable personality icl, although i feel like he lowkey has a lack of storylines. idk why, it just feels like they never give him any important storylines which is kinda sad😞 one storyline that he did have was the one with rose and jack and OH MY FUCKING GOD I GOT SO MUCH SECOND HAND EMBARASSMENT. like con, ily but asking rose to marry you was NOT a girlboss move🙁 anyways dare i say he has adhd. people might disagree, its just a headcanon (although he is adhd coded. quinni may not be the only nuerodivergent character in the hbh universe..😈)

steve: i used to hate him because i thought he was irrelevant and treated danielle horrible, but at some point in season 1 the episodes got very steve-centric and he grew on me sooo bad.😨 istg tho, there was a certain point where he could not catch a break and i felt so bad😭 like imagine ur parents divorcing and becoming homeless because none of them wanted you, and then finding out youre adopted??? crazy. imo, id say he had one of the best written storylines in the tv show, but i think thats just because i lowkey related to him.😣 like the depression arc was real (that aint even the part i related to💀) anyways hes also vv funny, and i know he dies and im already grieving him despite not actually getting to that part yet☹

danielle: i mean shes okay???? i liked her at first iykwim but then she became kinda annoyibg nd rude😭 shes fine now, but i still dislike her. however, im kinda curious to see how this drug storyline works out, as the writers seem to do pretty well with all of danis storylines. ive not gotten to this bit yet, im just kinda curious😞 however, i dont know if shes pro choice or pro life and ots scaring me...

rivers: idk, i mean sometimes hes tolerable, and other times hes just a knob. i do feel bad for him though, he went through some shit🙁 he was kinda creepy at times tho, ntm the racism and homophobia...😰 i can sense the character development though, like the difference between him in season 1 vs now is obvious ! i do dislike him quite a lot though still.

the whole thing with sam is so icky though😭

rose: icl, i loved her. she deserved to be in the show longer. i thought she was incredibky delusional though, like first that pedo mr north, and then jack? except the crazy part was that her delusions were right😥😥 i was extremely oblivious to the fact jack liked her back, but yk, never underestimate the power behind teen girl magazines😈 the whole thing with the baby felt realistic (i think?? idk ive never had a teen pregnancy before) amd i thiught it was all executed pretty well !!! plus tess was really cute😭 it would be cool if tess came in the reboot as a teacher or something!!

icba to talk about every single character, so if perchance anybody wants to know how i feel about a certain character/storyline please ask! my box thingy is open :))