#and I draw cringy stuff and it's fine to show these

[atalienart]

Writing stuff. I'm not sure what to do. I know I joke about being scared of showing someone else my writing, but I'm actually so terrified that I don't think I can do this. It's not that I don't like my story. I read it and I think it's maybe not that bad for the second attempt at writing a story and it might be improved to the point of being fine. I worked on it hard, I did my best for now. Reading it is fun for me. But then I'm panicking, actually panicking, at the thought someone will think it's ridiculous, that I am ridiculous. Only thinking about someone reading the story makes me feel so embarrassed and I don't know how to fight it. And it's not about criticism, I'm fine with people telling me what works and what doesn't in a book. Criticism of my work is fine. I want it. My logical brain craves it. But I don't want people to think stuff about me. It's paralysing. How do I just go for it? How do I show my writing to people? I want to show it. Do I just quit and keep it in my drawer?

[visitor64]

ART/OC DUMP PART 1: My stupid persona and main OCs

(Before we start… Hi, future Me here, this is very long, I don’t really have else to say… this is very long.)

Hiii

it’s time for part one of my thingy!!!!

WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Anyways… MY PERSONA!!!

(And also explanation time!!!)

This is Visitor, my stupid thingy

I’ve actually made other OC introduction things before this, but they’re pretty outdated, so I’m not gonna show them…

probably

(Oh yeah, also, Visitor is a girl… I was gonna explain that she’s a tomboy, but I couldn’t get it to sound not cringy… and this still sounds cringy, Oh well!!!!)

New Visitor (Vistor 2.0), Old Visitor (Vistor 1.0), and Vistor in Mr SyS’ stupid 3D art style that I like to draw in, so I stole the art style completely which is why my art style is all geometricaly and stuff, and that’s why it looks exactly the same to my current art style!!1!!11!!11!1!

(I have never typed the word visitor in my life so many times.)

Uhhhhhh… ignore the last picture, I definitely didn’t draw that-

Okey that’s all that I have for Vistor! It’s now time for my main OCs!!!!!!

This is Ghost and Seefee!!!

Ghost was my old persona, before I was into Mario Madness, she’s just an OC now, and Seefee is my really really really REALLY old Mario Madness OC, I made her when I first got into it (which I’m pretty sure was somewhere in the middle of February), Ghost and Seefee are best friends

Team UNbeanABLE is an old thing… I’ll explain it later on, but it’s basically just a group of all my most recent OCs. (And there’s older versions, theres 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0)

So just remember to keep this for later, I’ll come back to it, or however they say it

Ghost doesn’t usually have legs… but sometimes I just draw her with legs, cuz why not!!!

Seefee actually has a backstory, it’s kinda dumb tho lol, so it’s basically just the main story of Mario Madness, to where BF and GF get the cartridge thing… and blah blah blah… but Instead it takes place in an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE to where Seefee has the cartridge sent to her house (on accident) and blah blah blah… yadda yadda yadda, but they decide to just keep her and not kill her or something cuz she’s so cool and awesome 😍😍🥰🥰😍 and Seefee is just fine with it because I said so- The end.

BUT WAIT! I said that Seefee’s backstory thing takes place in another universe.

Please keep that in mind for later, oh hey I’ve remembered how that goes… anyways, yes, PLEASE keep that in mind!! Because there’s a “OC�� here that will be kinda confusing if you don’t

Anyways here’s some art of Seefee!!!!! Because all the art with Ghost is so cringy that I don’t even want to look at it!!!!!

(also some explaining time!!!)

(This is very very old)

…oh no

Okay… so basically…

When I first made Seefee, I had an idea of making a FNF mod about her, of course I didn’t actually do it… cuz idk how to code…

But uhh…

i dont want to talk about this.

Nah im just kidding!!

I also had another idea for a FNF mod thing, that being Fanfic.

It sucks!!

It’s literally just… a fanfic.

Okay so first of all, Best Friend…

���

keep that in mind for late-

Swapped spelled wrong is just a thingy to where stupid dumb head (Mr SyS) and Seefee switch art styles because of course they did

Feelings is a dumb thing to where Seefee and stupid stupid dumb dumb head have a crush on each other- WHICH THEY DONT!!!!! Feelings was actually made as a joke, but I still hate it!!!! I hate it SO. MUCH!!! 😊😊😊

Oh wait, I just brought up stupid dumb whatever in a sentence that also had Seefee… welp, I guess it’s time for me to say it now…

Team UNbeanABLE (1.0) is literally just the unbeatable team or whatever it’s called, but I put Ghost and Seefee in it cuz of course I did.

But hey… remember when I said that Seefee’s dumb backstory thing and herself took place in an alternate universe?

And also when I told you that you should keep Best Friend in mind for later 7-9 lines ago?

Well that’s where it all comes together…

I introduce you to…

MR STUPID!!!!

Okay, so let me explain…

Mr stupid is how I used to draw SyS, because I didn’t know how to draw him back then. When I finally learned how to draw him correctly, I decided to keep the old version, and name him Mr stupid, and make him from an alternate universe because of corse. Also, the reason why his name is Mr stupid is because I used to call SyS Stupid-Stupid for some reason, and I still kinda do… but only sometimes.

and he’s best friends with Seefee and Ghost…

…

BECAUSE OF COUR-

Sooo… Team UNbeanABLE 1.0 is Mr stupid, Seefee, and Ghost.

Team UNbeanABLE 2.0 on the other hand…

…

KEEP THAT IN MI-

Jk lol

Team UNbeanABLE 2.0 is the same thing but with Vistor

I didn’t keep it that way for that long, so I don’t have much to say about it, nor do I have too!!!

Man, I am now just noticing how complicated my OCs are…

Jeez…

Anyways…

I have one more OC to share, and then that’ll be all for today. Then I’ll make the next part that probably won’t be as long as this one… hopefully-

This is Comi, and… WOW, CAN YOU GUESS WHAT THIS CHARACTER IS BASED OFF OF!?!??!!?!?!? CAN YOU GUESS IF THIS CARACTER WAS ORIGINALLY GOING TO BE A PERSONA!?!?! BECAUSE ITS VERY HARD TO TELL!!!

YOU CAN TELL I WAS INTO MARIO MADNESS FOR A LONG WHILE NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH-

so comi is a thingy… originally gonna be a persona… again. But something happened and I didn’t like her for a short period of time, but I like her again… or is it a him..? Why does she look like a boy- Anyways…

wow, I am now just noticing that i need immediate help. (Because I made a OC completely based of a stupid polygon man from a Nintendo commercial released in Australi- OH MY GOD, MR SYS IS AUSTRALIAN OR IEN IDK HOW TO SPELL)

Okay… im finally done… I think that’s all my main OCs… now I just gotta get my other ones…

NEXT TIME!!

I would put more art here, but I’ve reached the max amount of pictures allowed to put (on the mobile app)

So I guess that’s the end of it

Huh, I guess it was a good idea for me to split this up into parts!!

So tune in next time for when I go insane… AGAIN!!!

BUH BYE!!!

Note: I actually started working on this before I knew how to use tumblr to its fullest (I didn’t know how to make the text bigger and smaller, I didn’t know you could move photos and text around, and I didn’t know that you could shorten the preview or idk how to explain it of your tumblr blog… post… thing) so I’m actually very glad I decided to do this art/oc dump thing, or this would’ve been very difficult.

Oh yeah, also, sorry for posting this late, I was busy with school and I had to go to this event that was going on there, but afterwards I did try to work on this as much as I could, and now it’s done!!! And it was worth it, it’s really long… I mean, there is literally NO WAY I’ll post something longer than this!!!

Oh wait, I almost forgot… you can ask me anything! I just gotta learn how the ask thingy works… I’m guessing it’s probably not that complicated, but idrk… so I guess for now you guys can just comment a question about something and I’ll just respond with an answer!

Thanks for reading, and see ya soon!!! ^_^

[hurlumerlu]

Okay so, Playboyy episode 1, the bad first :

the acting is so rough in parts. And in some scenes it's fine cause that cannot be easy to play, but in others I'm just like. what the fuck are you doing. As often in those cases I'm left wondering if it's a "we didn't have the money for enough takes" issue, an actors direction issue, or if I'm missing something.

the show flip-flops between visually intriguing and/or visually funny and absolute & total blandness in a way I cannot make sense of.

The good :

Love how deliberately not sexy most of the sex scenes/kinks are. The terrible "cop" outfit ? the cringy flirting ? the standard porn lines in japanese ? incredible. it's funny, it's an interesting change of pace from the usual BL sex scenes and getting rid of the glamour feels relevant in an episode which has for whole thesis that everyone has to contend with sex one way or another

Like i said, the show is really visually fun sometimes. Not beautiful, I wouldn't say beautiful, but I'm enjoying seeing sets that have had a lot of thoughts put into their design. The choice to go for the #aesthetic rather than realism is great imo, especially when you compare how "normally' the playboyys are filmed during their little get together with the lush, absurd environment the rich boys evolve in. it's fully two different worlds and I love that.

speaking of #aesthetics I want to kiss whoever was responsible for costume design on the mouth. Those characters are dressed the way you'd draw them if you wanted them to stand out in a reader's mind. Real manga charadesign vibes. I fucking love it.

Nont (or is it Nant ? why do they have such similar names T-T) was on screen for so little time and still managed to have real impact on me. I'm invested in him, I'm invested in his quest, and his smug "you wouldn't know, you don't have a mother" was so mean - I love him already.

Probably controversial but I really liked the tense music/almost scare chords over Zouey trying to masturbate like. the guy's complicated relationship with his own pleasure is interesting and i. idk, I'm sure it broke immersion for a lot of viewers but it worked on me, I felt real unease both times.

The "could go either way" :

I have no idea how they're going to deal with Zouey's reticence toward sex in the future and I'm a little wary. So far I have no complaints but. you know.

Listen I am fully team playboyy and I don't think we're meant to take their "scamming those poor, fragile men" scene completely at face value given that it's their ass on the line if things go wrong but at the same time i don't trust tvshows to be fair to sex workers so. we'll see. I have hopes though.

Random thoughts :

I went from "Zouey what are you hiding ?" to "oooh noooo sweety" real fast, only to go back to "what the fuck are you hiding" toward the end, so at least the show is commited to keeping me guessing, which I appreciate

wow, Zouey's friends are dicks. also I get hat guy's annoyance at rich client's antics but like. not Zouey's fault, and I'm pretty sure anyone would refuse a blowjob if they had to lie on that coffee table with their hand behind their back for it. that shit looked terribly uncomfy even for someone experienced and you already know Zouey isn't. I know I said I was team playboyys but give that guy a break

how many kinks does First have ? put some back on the shelf honey you can't carry them all.

Nont (Nant ?) recording his investigation seems risky as hell but given the number of time we see the boys filming stuff/recording stuff/watching vids (and to a lesser extent Zouey's painting and all the shots through windows/glassdoors etc) I don't mind. I assume they're going somewhere with it and if they don't it contributes to the Vibes (also known as themes, probably).

I don't even think I've met all the characters in the opening and I've already seen three blowjobs. Not complaining, I'm impressed.

speaking of that, who is that scholarship student with the camo pants and white tank top ? he said like one sentence but I've already imprited on him.

kinda wish i could take an "east asian gay porn 101" class because I know I'm missing stuff ! I can feel it !

OBSESSED with that "play with me" tattoo. it's in such poor taste i could cry of joy.

[zexalisliving]

I have a confession. I made a new pin post.

Hello! My name is zexalisliving. You can also find me at

@zexalisliving (Where you're at currently/my main blog)

@zexalisloving (My writing blog)

@zexalislaughing (my art blog)

@zexalisgaming (my Duel Links blog)

@zexaliscreatinganewblog (my reblog blog)

and @zexalisidkanymore (where I post random odds and ends)

You can also find me on other platforms!

I'm active mostly here, but also on Ao3. You can find me at Keyshipping_til_I_drop there. You can also find me on Fanfiction.net and Wattpad, where I am XKeyshipperX and ThatKeyshippingLover respectively.

Some Things About My Blog:

I think I made it obvious that I love Yu-Gi-Oh!. I have watched DM to VRAINS (even though I haven't quite finished it), but I have not watched SEVENS or GO RUSH, or any episode other than ep 1 of Season 0. I have also seen every movie but the Toei one and Dark Side of Dimensions.

I am fine with/encourage the LGBTQ+ community here. I am not against that kind of thing.

However, I myself am straight.

I occasionally post about hentai/NSFW topics. Sometimes pictures are included. But only about Yu-Gi-Oh! Doujins I find on the internet, so if you're problem is real people half-nude or something, your eyes are safe here.

I don't typically block anybody, but those I will block include:

People who ask me for money or to share or anything like that (specifically if they send me an ask about it),

People who vocally show hate of yugioh,

and bots (cuz they're... well... bots).

Some Things About Me: I was born, raised, and am currently in Texas. Yea-haw, I guess...

I love anime (I think I made that very obvious). I also love video games beyond words and measures.

My ambition is art. It's, as Yuma said in my fic, "My passion, my purpose, my reason for living!" It all began when I was watching my dad draw (he's so much better than I am), and he was drawing a picture from a show called Sarah and Duck, and there was like, this moment that people have in movies where you just know. I knew I wanted to grow up and be an artist that could make pictures that looked completely official like he did, and so here I am.

Also, fun fact, Yugioh is the reason I'm as good as I am now, because my first time drawing from reference and really trying hard, was from an episode of DM.

I love to write as well.

I play Yugioh a lot. A WHOLE LOT.

I'm also a card collector, though I only collect Yugioh and Pokemon... Mostly Yugioh.

Doujinshi is my guilty pleasure.

I... I own 6 toads. And I love them very much. I've owned 14 in total, but... they don't typically live very long. They get diseases easily and due to that, I've just recently gotten over the loss of a sweet little guy named Visitor.

I'm learning Japanese, but I do not know how to speak much of it. (Mostly from watching the sub of Zexal without English subs on)

My OTP is keyshipping (Yuma x Astral)

And... that's pretty much all.

Some examples of my art:

Some tags that you'll find in my blog:

#yugioh (obviously)

#yugioh zexal (also quite obviously)

#keyshipping

#my art

#bonds beyond time again (my fic that I'm posting here)

#zexalisliving writes (any works that I have written and posted here)

#ask (when someone sends me an ask)

Some other Fandoms that I'm in/ might be in the future:

My Singing Monsters, Dawn of Fire included. (I've been playing that game legit since I was 6. However, since a big move in 2020 and stuff, I had quit. I'm back into it now, so yeah...)

Minecraft (I mean, you haven't lived life to the maximum if you haven't played it)

Terarria (If there's even a fandom for it. I've been playing this game since I was 7. I definitely recommend it to everyone. It's like 2d Minecraft but actually better)

(Very Technically) Naruto/Naruto Shippuden. (If any of you are wondering how much of a fan I was, I wanted to train my dog to be like Akamaru, I learned the handsigns for Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu, and I made cringy videos with my siblings about it, because they too were huge fans)

Veggietales (Yes, to those of you who have watched it, it's a weird fandom to be in. But I'm in it)

And last but not least, Inuyasha. (Not much to say other than the fact that I was crushing on him hard a while back)

You can find my future and already-existent posts about these in my misc blog @zexalisidkanymore.

That's all for now, well, until I remake this intro post. But I hope you were able to get through this monster of a post while keeping your sanity. Because I almost lost mine while making it.

Bye for now!

[magicalgirlagency]

I'm sorry that you had to go through tough times back then... could you please elaborate? It's okay if you don't answer this ask; no one's forcing you.

It's alright, love. I'm just a bit upset at the years of double-standards.

Like, here's the thing: Girls, specially TEENAGE girls, aren't allowed to enjoy things. If they enjoy things, then that thing is automatically considered cringy.

You know like how some 2010's TV shows and boy bands/kpop groups have large female followings? They're constantly dismissed as superficial, and are reduced to ridicule and heavily stereotyped by fujoshis and Wattpad fanfiction writers (the "my mom sold me to 1D" joke has stopped being funny like five minutes ago, okay? Plus, that's slavery/sex-trade; how fucked up do you have to be to joke about a thing that still happens nowadays?!)

Meanwhile boys are allowed to say and do the most out-of-pocket shit, and never get reprimanded for it. Case In Point: The male fans of My Little Pony, the Bronies. They get a cool fan name of their own, conventions and even a fucking documentary! What do girls get? Absolutely NOTHING!

It gets even worse if you are a neurodivergent woman. And that's where my past of self-loathing comes in...

You see, back in middle school and high school, I was the weird kid. I struggled with socialization, and I rarely hung out with other teens. And I've spent most of my time drawing and fantasizing about those cool fantasy worlds...

My main interests (other than magical girls, of course) were Sonic the Hedgehog and Pokémon (nothing much has changed, lol), and this would influence heavily on my drawings, as people would often point out that the characters I've created looked like they came out of either SonicTH or Pokémon.

As much as this was just an innocent commentary, it used to fill my heart with anxiety and dread, because of the infamous and dreadful Chris Chan, as for years, he gave autistic fans everywhere a bad name (I'll spare you all of the details, but he's in jail now).

Thanks to his rancid internet legacy, I did not only hated myself for being autistic, but also for enjoying the same game franchises; and I'd close myself to the world in fear of being bullied for loving stuff. My teen years felt like an endless nightmare to me, because I did my hardest to not succumb to the fatal ordeal of being seen and known.

But nowadays, I am finally at peace with myself. Sure, the fears and anxieties still remain, but I remember that I have people to support and help me out whenever they can, and I feel more at ease than I did before. And I have this blog not only as a coping method, but also to grow and develop as a critic and as a content creator, learning the dos and don'ts of modern storytelling (and if we're being honest here, I'm doing a better job than most professionals out there...)

Take it from someone who went through this: Double standards are HURTFUL. They can do a number on your mental health, and it'll certainly take a while to detox yourself and finally be free. Most people on the 'net are fine with being cringe from what I've seen (in and out of Tumblr), and that's a relief.

But sadly, this is a thing that still plagues today's society; I remember stumbling across a TikTok video with a guy talking about how girls shouldn't enjoy shounen because "they don't understand the complexities and struggles of the MC's journey", or some bullcrap like that.

I mean, boys don't understand the complexities and struggles of magical girls, but that certainly didn't stopped them from creating Madoka Magica and traumatize the whole entire world back in the 2010's...

And funny how men say that "girls don't understand", when majority of the content creators I have met here on Tumblr that enjoy shounen are GIRLS. Not only that, but they were also BLACK as well (there's also the issue of racism/colorism within otaku/geek communities, but that's another story for another day).

And what's even funnier is that shounen is not even that great nowadays! I mean, most of the shounen characters are either dead or miserable! And that's not complex storytelling; that's just plain torture porn and shock value!

Not to mention the whinning and moaning when something doesn't cater to them, like how "The protagonist of Turning Red is a 13yo asian girl, so therefore I am unable to relate to them, because I am a MAN".

Like, bro; that's not an excuse. I am a woman, and yet I could relate to male characters, such as Miles Morales, Midoriya "Deku" Izuku and Kageyama "Mob" Shigeo.

In all honesty, if you have to rely on things such as gender for relatability factor in a media, then you're a BAD consumer of media. It's about time that you woke up and realized that the world does not revolve around you.

I've sincerely had it up to here with this double standard crap!

I want to be free! I want to be unapologetically happy and loud! I want to enjoy things and create stuff! I want to live life, like God intended!

After years of self-hatred, I absolutely won't tolerate this sexism crap any longer. Men have spoken for far too long; now, it's time for them to SHUT UP and LISTEN.

Cringe Culture is fucking dead, red pandas murdered it in cold blood.

[scrapyardboyfriends]

The reaction to Aaron and Ben tonight shows how subjective watching soaps can be. Non Robron people used to complain about bro hugs between Robron and how they had no chemistry, the dialogue was cringy and how it was totally unbelievable that Aaron would be would someone who had held him at gunpoint. Now with Robron fans, they are using the exact same arguments about Ben - bro hugs, cringy dialogue and how could Ben be with someone who used to bully him. It wasn’t great tonight but I thought there was some attempt to flesh out the relationship a bit if only to make it believable that Aaron would be prepared to move away with Ben which I think is the most likely exit story for Danny given that he could be on screen for maybe two more weeks at most.

I mean, it's definitely subjective but also objectively, the writing for Aaron and Ben's relationship has been terrible. Unless you're thoroughly blinded by the thought of Aaron being with any non Robert guy, most of their fans at least admit that the writing has not been great and they wish it could be better.

And I guess there was some attempt to flesh out their relationship and Ben as a character this week but it's so too little too late, it hardly seems to matter. I mean Aaron said last night "that's typical you innit?" to Ben wanting to do nice things for the HOP and it's laughable because Ben hasn't been on screen enough to have any kind of "typical" behavior. And tonight, all they did was go back to the well of Aaron being some aggressive, violent thug for the sake of plot, which is just regressive to Aaron's character at this stage and with no story to back it up and also just repetitive for Ben and Aaron. The one bit of story they had was their shared history of Aaron bullying him and a year later, that's still coming between them. But all they do is sweep it under the rug because "when it's good it's really good" except we've literally never seen that on screen.

But to be fair, may of us robron fans also complained about Danny and Ryan's "bro hugs" during the robron era. I mean this Ben and Aaron hug was....fine. But because it's based on nothing, I couldn't care less about it or their in unison "I love you".

The thing with Robron for me, despite some of the more far fetched elements of their story, is that there was always story. Sure Robert held a gun to his head at the lodge and it was insane but the whole lodge breakdown didn't come out of complete nowhere. It was building. And they didn't just say "oh it's fine" and get together 12 seconds later in the next episode. It took months of Robert proving himself to Aaron during the Gordon story before Aaron was able to trust him enough to get back together with him. I mean, presumably Aaron has somewhat shown himself to be a different person from when they were kids but that hasn't been a story they were interested in exploring or showing on screen. Ben was ready to go out with him five minutes after seeing him again, a drink, and a vague explanation. And most of their "relationship" such as it is has been off screen. We haven't seen the "really good times" and we haven't see Aaron prove that he's a better guy. I mean you could say that Ben saw something during the Liv stuff but they didn't bother to draw those connections or make that into any kind of story. Most of Robert's development and proving himself was on screen and so while it's still an insane soapy hand wavey thing, at least they're showing us that story. With Ben and Aaron, they're just not. And so all of it feels so empty.

[bearpillowmonster]

Static Shock Retrospective

I was watching Young Justice: Season 2 (Invasion) when I decided I wanted to watch this, I always liked Shock but never got into the lore of it, and I love his powers. I've seen gifs of the show and thought it looked interesting but never really got around to it, I just haven't been in the mood. Then I saw a video on YouTube called "Jimmy no!" not knowing that it was from Static Shock and oh boy...it got dark, I wasn't expecting it to go that deep, that kind of thing wouldn't get aired today but it made me interested in it again.

I started the first episode and Virgil's personality made it for me, mix that with Richie, played by Jason Marsden (aka Max Goof and Kovu) and you have a very nice protag duo. I instantly knew that I was going to finish it when I saw him using a blanket like Dr. Strange's cape or a homing device because of his static cling. Yes I started it because it's dark, but the series isn't always dark, just parts of it, like the first episode has to do with gangs, another with racism, then one where a kid gets trapped in a vault and is losing oxygen?? I mean is my memory hazy and cartoons were just like this and aren't now?

They call the people who were in the accident from his origin "Bang Babies" which sounds like a play on Baby Boomers, Virgil is pretty quippy like that. With this, I'm not a big fan of all the baddies coming from the same incident as our hero, especially when we don't see them all there in that episode, you might as well say that the whole town was infected.

Does it withstand the test of time? Well yeah, as I mentioned, there are things we probably wouldn't see in today's television but the topics are quite relevant as well as the humor. The visual style is pretty nice, the language they use isn't as "cringy early 2000's crap" as I thought, the only sign of age is formats, they'll talk about VCRs and have CDs hanging from the ceiling. The actual content is ahead of it's time with almost public service announcement type episodes that are extremely relevant today, for example, one episode they go to Africa and they show that "Black people can be superheroes too." and Virgil says about how in America he's a black kid, but in Africa he's just a regular kid and asks Ritchie if that's what it's like for him all the time. They talk about culture, sometimes it'll teach a lesson that way and it's so wholehearted that it just fits, it's really nice and surprising to see. 

They have sections at the end of the show where they'll have an artist draw a specific character, it's different every time, I have a knack for that and for some reason I remember it?? Maybe I accidentally caught it one day or I'm confusing it for something else because I'm pretty sure I never saw the actual show but it's only after some episodes from what I can see. I think I remember Avatar doing something similar, I guess great shows think alike. 

Here’s a link if interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PPMgBU_GmU

Virgil's mother is gone, they make that apparent pretty much from the get-go so no spoilage here but I like the way they make his sister pick up where she left off. Like there's a running occurrence where she'll make a meal for the family and Virgil will make fun of it and say something like "Runny...just the way I like them..." about his eggs, it's like she's doing this stuff to fill the gap and failing but she's making the effort and that's all that counts, for as much or little as we see her, this is a nice little additive to her overall character. As for his mother though, I like that they go all in and make that a running theme, sometimes having full episodes commemorating her.

There are some special guests too. I won't say any more on that though, I'll let it be a surprise if you decide to watch it because the crossover episodes are hands down some of the best I've seen and another reason I started this series.

I got about halfway through the series and I was like "Oh yeah, what about Frida?" She appears in the very first episode and she seems like a main character, then Daisy enters the scene a little later but Frida's kind of been pushed back to the background, used only when the plot finds her convenient, so we don't really get a whole lot of character from her. I guess that's representative to the series as a whole because what I got was a lot different than what I expected from those first few episodes.

In season 3, they change up the intro, it kind of fits the times, the original one sounded kind of 90's, the second one sounds very early 2000s, I suppose it fits the flow. We still get the original theme during Static's bigger moments, but they do that for all the seasons. What's funny to me is that if you read the Wikipedia page, it says they wanted something fast paced with "DMX-type vocals", ha! As if. I will say that some of the OST overall has a few really good tracks, but unfortunately I haven't found a way to find them on their own, separated from the show. I know most of them only last a short time but other DC shows still have the OST released despite being fairly short or only being in a specific episode. That's not the only thing that changes, he has a second design, which I personally have become accustomed to the white shirt over black but it is what it is, his costume was literally just street clothes in Young Justice and I was surprisingly okay with that so whatever suit is fine. The second one is meant to show that he's growing and it definitely seems that way with the sleeker design and more black added but what I really like about it is that he takes the jacket off sometimes and the Static shirt is just a sleeveless black shirt, it just adds more variety in my opinion. Daisy's overall design changed too for whatever reason and Frida's changed a tiny bit, her's is a little harder to notice.  

For some reason in the middle of the season, in the episode "Consequences" and "Trouble Squared", he changes back to his old suit (I mean he could have just had the old suit lying around and decided to use it for old times sake) but it seems like that episode was made before S3 started or something else because Daisy has her old design as well. It also shows that he has a FULL white mask, not just the eye mask, like a part that goes over his head, I'm not sure if that's supposed to be where his hood is or what but he takes it out of his backpack separated from his hoodie. It might've been just a miscolor though. He has electric as his power (obviously) but they use it in pretty creative ways, the most outlandish and kind of dumb one though is that they basically have him use Photoshop. 

You can also argue that he makes the computer a touch screen.

Now Season 4's first episode is really pretty cool, reminds me of something out of Ben 10 but without spoiling it, there's a part in an earlier season where Static asks where a certain character is and they respond by alluding to a DC reference, however we see that character again in the season 4 opener so the timeline doesn't fit, there are a few other inconsistencies but that's the one I'll mention.

Season 4 also seems to have a return for a lot of different characters almost like a sequel to those episodes. Those are hit or miss, some do well while others don't. It's easily my least favorite of the seasons. It's not bad or anything, it has some really good episodes but the good to bad episode ratio is just more than the other seasons, I must have been spoiled by the consistent number of good episodes.

This may be the realest animated tv series I've ever seen and it's about SUPERHEROES! The way they manage that is unbelievable. I hope we see more of this character, somewhere, anywhere because he’s been given the backseat in pretty much everything, even the comics, he’s been absent from those for quite a while, I feel like now is an excellent time to bring him back, I mean look at the current position we’re in.

The last retrospective I did was American Dragon, there are a few things that I can compare between the two endings but does this one seem definitive? Well in a way, yes, it seems like a very good last episode but doesn’t end everything off in such a way that there wouldn’t be room for one more season. I have a feeling they knew it was the last episode given the way they sort of built it up here and there. The cancellation, however, was caused by the lack of toy sales, not lack of views, however I can’t say I’ve really seen any merchandise from the show.

Seems like there were some dinky Subway toys and a GBA game...

[danwhobrowses]

WWE Royal Rumble 2021 - Initial Thoughts

I know I’m late, but employment is still a thing, and I had to prioritize that over an all-nighter, but it’s time for the Royal Rumble, one of the more exciting shows of WWE’s schedule, so let’s get on with it!

Spoilers for Royal Rumble, you have been Warned

I might not invest too much in kickoff matches but the Women’s Tag Match was not a good time

It was fine before the end, but who the hell decided that Charlotte should control 90% of the champions’ offense and have the hot tag!? Asuka is the RAW WOMEN’S CHAMPION, not Charlotte. After the tag Asuka literally had one spot and she was dead, completely taken out of the match for *checks notes* being thrown over the Announcer’s Table...you know that thing several wrestlers come back from easily.

The finish was just too much too, Ric distraction didn’t work, Lacey distraction didn’t work, Kirufuda Clutch didn’t work but then the brass knuckles did. Too much.

And why TF are we putting titles back on Nia!? We should’ve just given the titles to the Riotts, or the winner of the Women’s Dusty Classic. It also cuts me deep that Asuka and Shayna are treated this way, even as champion Asuka is a side character to Charlotte T_T

Main show though and I don’t like the package and interviews between entrances

Drew vs Goldberg was just...meaningless.

It was cringy enough that Cole had to spout drivel to make 60 year old Goldberg seem strong but to have Drew be ‘injured’ by a barricade spear - something much more tired wrestlers have and will get back up from in less time and continue a longer match - was daft. Also saying that Goldberg’s spear or jackhammer is the best move of all WWE is stupid, it was a WCW thing

Thank God Drew Won, but the post-match does remind you of the meaningless circumstances this feud came about. Suddenly Goldberg is okay with Drew’s same manners of respect

I mean, Carmella’s entrance and gear is cool, but do you think it eats at Corey a little that Carmella’s ‘behind the curtain’ bit is a tad...red light district?

Sasha’s promo didn’t hit for me unfortunately

Reginald didn’t deserve to be ejected for that! He caught Sasha and get beaten up for it

Jesus Carmella! Sasha got barely any of that dive

Screeching and faffing aside, Carmella got a good showing...I do hate quick tap outs in title matches though

Sami cuts a good promo, but his content wasn’t exactly the best. New Day are hardly the management’s faves, it’s taken this long for E to get a singles run, Fans literally had to Yes Movement their way into giving Kofi the world title.

New Day’s Brodie gear was good though

Bad Bunny as the ‘Biggest Latin Artist’? Is Cole for real? I didn’t even know who he was before today

If the song is about Booker T then why is he dancing around GI Bro?

Come on Book, you hang on the Sucka! That’d be like if the Rock just went ‘If ya smell what the Rock is cooking’ without the drags or pauses

Ric’s ‘with a tear in my eye’ promo was after the Rumble though...

It’s actually a sad stat that just over half of the Rumble winners win titles

No Morrison segment for the escape spot!? He did it as much as Kofi dammit!

Sorry Greatest Royal Rumble is not canon for me

This Stat Attack has taken far too long

I’m okay with Mike Rome but couldn’t a woman have announced the Women’s Rumble? Where’s Lillian at!?

NAOOOOOOOMIIIIIIIIIIIIII GIRL WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?

That hair is amazing as well

I know you can’t say it, but we all remember that Benoit won the rumble in the first two as well

Was...Bianca wearing earrings on her entrance, she looked like she was taking them off

Billie actually had the right idea, can’t be in the match until you enter the ring, it’s clever stuff

That tank did not look like it was meant to turn that direction XD

It actually surprises me every time how tall Shotzi is, I always imagine her short

Billie no...not with Shayna

The piped boos are highly unrealistic to boo even a heel Toni Storm

Shotzi eliminated and then horrible singer Jillian comes in? Urrrrgh, Bad Singer Jillian was terrible

Wrestling wise she hasn’t missed a beat though

Billie’s surprisingly being a highlight here with actual narra-OHMYSHITITSVICTORIA

Gear was a bit meh but Victoria definitely can still go

Oh Peyton the purple looks good on you, and her Widow’s Peak was not bad at all

Ah, good for Santana, for a moment I thought it said Santina and got a very bad chill

Damn Liv, Speed Machine!

Ooof, the betrayal is real Billie

THIS IS MY BRUTALITY!

Somehow I’m genuinely upset by every elimination so far, good job!

Aaaaaand then they got rid of Victoria and brought on Charlotte to immediately take out Rhea -_-

That was a clever move from Bayley but damn Ruby landed hard

Are we seeing a Bayley/Peyton team? Or is she just eliminating the Riotts for revenge for Billie, but also Liv Nooooo!

Torrie now, eh okay

Ouch for Dana

Lacey...no, this ain’t working

Poor Peyton, her elimination was a side chapter

And we missed Bayley’s elimination!? For Shame

Mickie! Good to see ya! Aaaaand being beaten by Charlotte...

Nikki Cross is back too! Hopefully they find a good story for her

Alicia Fox? I guess she sobered back into the good gra...R-Truth? No

Oh yeah, Humberto is a thing

Jerry shut the fuck up!

The 24/7 stuff was super unnecessary, we did not need to take focus off this match

Lacey eliminating Mickie, rude.

Dakota should’ve gotten more time, she barely lasted a minute

Reginald again deserves better

See Tamina vs Rhea would be exciting...if Tamina was booked better

Naomi’s chemistry with Bianca is really insane right now

Lana *reminded of her feud with Shayna and Nia* Also Lana *goes for Rhea*

That was a hard tackle on Alexa by Rhea...aaaaand she’s eliminated mid ‘transformation’ a bit worthless for me

Road Warrior Ember Moon! And right into the Eclipse that’s the good shit

Baszler probably shouldn’t have eliminated Lacey story-wise

The Betrayal is real for Tamina as well

What’s with the crazy camera cuts!?

Nia eliminating Baszler? Nah...

Hold on Cole, baiting Nia over the ropes isn’t a ‘tremendous elimination’

The betrayal is real for Lana too, Nattie sure shrugged off that double assault

I get that the narrative is that Charlotte has beaten both Bianca and Rhea before, but to hang against both of them after already being in a match and hanging on from two apron attacks was daft. Stop making her super strong, she’s mega talented yes but giving her the Brock Lesnar energy does her no favours

That close call though with Rhea and Bianca was great, need more spots of two wrestlers about to be eliminated at the same time

The final bit of chain wrestling too was great, that’s what you need at the final part of a rumble, the mini-match

I had Rhea as my win prediction but am more than happy for Bianca, who was my second choice. Winning at No. 3 is great and her emotional promo just gets her more over. Bianca vs Sasha’s gonna be wild too

Overall the Women’s Rumble was good, most of the women got shine and there were a few mini stories too, do wish that more time was given to some women and that Sonya was in the rumble but the returns were good and most of the eliminations got me good

Miz talking about guaranteeing a championship run like he didn’t lose the last cash-in and didn’t have a chance to cash in previously this night when Drew was ‘reeling’ from the barricade spear.

I reiterate that I wish Sonya was in the rumble, but do like her endorsement of Bianca

Again, this 24/7 stuff is wrong place and time right now

Last Man StANDing Match for the UniVERSal Championship

Cole, there is Champion’s Advantage. Triple H vs Michaels Last Man Standing, neither men made the 10 so Trips kept the title, 17 years ago. Royal Rumble 2004.

See, this is where a Finisher Spotfest works, because it’s not about pinfalls it’s about keeping people down

The camera switches are not doing good on this portion of the side of the thunderdome

Yes, attacking the knees, this is the Cerebral ‘rope breaks with his pinkie finger’ Owens I like to see

Ooof the Golf Cart, a la Kane and Stadium Stampede

Why is this training area just like a second arena

Lil’ running ref in the background

Right into that conveniently placed mini-ladder

Not the forklift! Think of Judy Bagwell!

Oh that curtain is the thing Becky took a photo of! I mean she was always gonna be backstage

Corey before the match ‘there must be a winner’, Corey after Owens went through the stage LED ‘The ref should consider stopping the match’

Did the Ciampa move there to stand up

I don’t think you’re allowed to use a Ref Bump that way

Then the Second Ref restarts the count and stops at 5!? If this doesn’t come back next SD it’ll be a misstep

It was a physical match, not the best I think the finish brought it down. The problem is that KO has lost 3 times now and the last time is a botch finish, and we can’t have him lose again - the poor guy needs a win

ON THIS DAY, I SEE CLEARLY!

I will say this immediately, revealing Edge and Orton as 1 and 2 beforehand was a terrible idea, just because you don’t have a live crowd doesn’t mean the people watching from home can’t be surprised

‘Number 3 is the worst number to draw on average’ - Belair just won at No. 3

Ali at 4? Then went after Edge and not Orton?

Sami, just don’t get in Orton’s face

Refs what are you doing? No rules in Rumble, where were you with Nia and Shayna with that logic

‘What does Shin need to do to be more successful?’ - for one not face AJ Styles, he is still a tag, US and IC champ as well as a RR winner, that’s quite successful

Carlito finally shows after the Legends Night tease and yes those are some abs

So...Randy’s just sleeping with this knee injury

Big E enters with some snappy camera angles again

I was hoping for more Ali - especially since Ricochet came immediately after - buy angry E was nice to see

Wait is that Elias’ entrance? Where’s the guitar strum?

Priesty, wonder if this is his main roster call

What DJ leaves his equipment on stage anyway?

‘The biggest star in the world in the music business’ - for real?

‘I’ve heard of flying squirrels but flying bunnies!?’ - Corey you need to watch Tokyo Joshi Pro, they got a flying sugar rabbit

To quote Ross Tweddell, MMMmmm Riddle...does not do it for me

Stop with the camera cuts I beg of you!

Mayor of Knox County!?

Ricochet eliminated by Kane, le sigh

The betrayal is real for DBry

Big Elim for Priesty though

‘Now it’s a Royal Rumble’ - reminder that Edge is a KOTR winner too, and that Nakamura is the King of Strong Sty-oh and Corbin eliminated him :/ what was the gauntlet about if you’re gonna Corbin him?

Otis’ new gear is slick

aaaaand Corbin’d again

Big Dom Fuck im Uhhhhhh Spinebuster’d

Damn he got him though

Dang that bounce sound from DBry

Bobby no why you gotta do Dom like that!?

Hurricane back from his Gangrel crossing and disposing Sammy Guevara’s broken body in Elite Deletion to do another rumble

One of these days, he’ll hit that Chokeslam and shit will go wild

Christian! This time getting the more emphatic reaction

Oh that smile, that hits you in the chest cavity...then Riddle ruins it

Rey comes in and WWE made him an advertisement ¬_¬

Edward James Omos what are you doing? well...I know what he’s doing, IC feud between AJ and E

Edward James Omos fuck you for eliminating Rey

The betrayal is real for Shamu

Cole how did you know it was Seth before his entrance hit?

I don’t think we were supposed to pick up Shamu welcoming Christian back but that was sweet

Then finally BWOAR

And Bwoar eliminates Cesaro, what was the point of his push? (it’s because his contract’s nearly up isn’t it?)

Again with the camera switching

Seth No! And where’s the boos pipe music!? DBry was a heavy favourite, that would’ve caused heat

Can’t believe Mmm Riddle lasted ahead of DBry

I didn’t forget about Orton, but the finish was good, that Orton tease got us good

It was a decent rumble, in hindsight you could tell Edge was winning given how they put express focus on Michaels winning at number on in the stat attack, Edge being face in peril for the first 10 entrants and Cole reminding us how long Edge has been in there

I don’t at all hate the end result, though I do question whether it was the best choice in the long run. Edge had his rumble win returning from injury already and throwing more legends at Drew does imply a heavy lack of depth in the current roster. Edge didn’t really need the win, but I’m not disappointed in him winning

The Men’s Rumble itself wasn’t as good as the women’s I don’t think, a lot of favourites of mine were unceremoniously dumped out quickly, any layered storytelling didn’t get enough time and it did feel a little by the numbers, almost a microcosm of modern WWE booking

Overall it was still a decent PPV, happy with the winners of the rumbles and that’s mostly all we need from a Royal Rumble. The Road to Wrestlemania starts here

[bunnyangelle]

I wanted to move this subject before anything else, because I had doubts for a long time.

Nova is a complicated character. She is a chaotic villain, but she isn't fully evil. She had multiple terrible experiences, but she did kill and hurt people.

And most of all, she is not sexualised.

Yes, Nova's body IS hourglass-shaped and she has nice curves. She IS naturally a very attractive woman, but her looks is NOT ALL that there is to her. (The way she looks is mentioned constantly in her backstory. It's kind of one of the reasons she prefers 'ugly' people. Because she hates herself and the way she looks)

This is why I didn't want to draw any suggestive stuff with her. I fear that people will think that Nova's just that: tits and ass.

But she is not. She has such a complicated backstory that I've been revamping for weeks now and it's still not finished. Her old one is outdated and very, very messy, so I advice you to not look at it if you haven't before.

Nova is a sadomasochistic mentally unstable woman. Her PTSD, bipolar, depression and perfectionism get in the way constantly for her. She is a broken woman that just wants to be with her daughter and boyfriend, but her vengeful and chaotic nature doesn't let her just live a peaceful life.

So, a little bit of a warning for her blog: I am still figuring out how she acts and talks, but one thing you can be sure of is that I will try to show you how she functions and how her mental breakdowns might look like, so for you to see her unstable and constantly shifting between moods is a given.

I feel like Sewerslvt's music fits her very well.

And this is why I fear posting anything slightly nsfw-ish on the internet with her. I don't want to imply that she's fine and a perfectly functioning human being because she's not. (Doesn't mean she doesn't have a sex life. She is an adult, goddamnit. She is literally older than Cortex and possibly every other character in the franchise. Let the woman do what she wants to do) She is, I think, my most complicated and deep character I have. I know the franchise of CB isn't as serious as I'm making Nova's backstory to be, so I might get shit for it, but I genuinely refuse for her to be some sort of stereotypical sexy femme-fatale trope with absolutely no backstory.

If she were to actually be in the canon, her backstory would be barely mentioned. There would be indications or like, hints, but that'd be about it.

Oof, alright, enough talking. This is getting kinda cringy. I might delete this later. I just wanted to talk about Nova because I became so fond of her and treasure her a lot.

[lostinshawnsmemory]

Figure You Out: Chapter 4 - Shawn x African OC

A/N: I would like to apologise for how long it’s been since you saw Shawn and Tolani. Life just gets in the way you know? That being said, they are back with a vengeance.

Word Count: 5.8k

Warning(s): None

MASTERLIST 

Series Masterlsit 

Fic Playlist 

“How was the date with coffee boy?”

Tolani stopped,  her fork halfway to her mouth. Desire had insisted that she joined her, Nicole and Kyle for lunch on campus during their collective free period and there was no way she could get out of it. “We haven’t hung out as a group since that night.” she had whined. “That was a week ago. I mean we all live together.”

“Umm. Coffee boy is fineee.” Tolani shrugged drawing out the ‘fine’. “Just fine?” Desire asked with a raised eyebrow. “You looked so excited before you left yesterday and we didn’t catch you at the cinema so it must have been good.” she wiggled her eyebrows.

“You’re dating!” Nicole squealed. “Nope.” Tolani shook her head. “I’m not dating anyone.”

“What’s wrong with dating?”

“Firstly, one coffee date doesn’t mean I’m ‘dating’. ” Tolani said raising her hands to put the words dating in air quotations. “Second of all, I didn’t come all the way here to meet a boy. I have shit to do.” Tolani huffed, signalling the end of the conversation.

“You know we didn’t ask you to come out just to ask about your coffee date right?” Nicole looked at her. “We want to hang out with you and get to know you.”

“Yeah.” Kyle added. They’d crossed paths a few more times after ‘liongate’ as she was calling it. After that comment, she’d been incredibly wary of him and even though she wouldn’t call him a friend anytime soon, he was someone that Desire spent a lot of time with and because of that, she was willing to give him a chance. “We want to be here for you.”

The sentiment was sweet if not a little premature. Tolani knew that they were being nice and wanted to get to know her, but she just didn’t feel 100% comfortable around them yet. It took a while before she warmed to people, save for a certain curly-haired singer who knew more about her than anyone in the city, though that wasn’t saying much when she took into account how many people she actually knew in Toronto.

“The date with coffee boy was good.” Tolani smiled thinking back to her coffee date with Shawn and the subsequent car ride date if you could call it that. “We talked about life and music. You know casual first date stuff.”  “You said the word date!” Nicole observed winking at Tolani “And you were clearly out of your comfort zone and I for one am happy about it.” she sipped on her drink. “It was…. nice.” Tolani muttered staring at her meal as if the answers to the universe’s deepest questions were in her pasta salad. “He’s cute.” she shrugged.

“Look at you divulging information” Desire said with a raised eyebrow, “I thought I would have to threaten you for you to tell us anything.” Tolani playfully elbowed her. “I share things with you guys.”

“Yeah right.” the two girls scoffed in unison. “You actually have to be around to share things with us.” Desire noted, “And to add on to what I said earlier, it’s been donkey's years since we’ve seen you.”

“Shut up!” Tolani rolled her eyes, a small smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. It felt good to have banter like this. This was what making friends and building relationships looked and felt like. The only other person she felt like this around was Shawn and while she liked having banter with him, she knew that she couldn’t rely on that alone. She needed her own friends, people she could joke around with and be herself around.

“Oh, I was going to tell you!” Nicole screamed startling everyone at the table. “You know how you were flirting with Shawn Mendes that night?” For the second time in less than an hour, Tolani’s fork stopped halfway to her mouth. “Yeah...” she said trying to keep her tone as neutral as possible.

“Apparently he was seen riding around with a girl in his car.”  When the words hit homeTolani’s stomach dropped and she was flooded with numerous emotions, the primary ones being anger and jealousy that Shawn was with someone else. "What?!” Her and Shawn were not involved romantically and he had a right to do whatever he wanted. Tolani knew that but she couldn’t deny that the feelings were there. “When?” she asked with trepidation.

“A few days ago, here I’ll show you the photo.” Nicole took her phone out of her bag, it took a few seconds for her to pull up the photo but those seconds felt like hours. Eventually, she turned her phone around and showed everyone the photo in question. When she saw the photo, Tolani was immediately filled with relief, but that feeling was then taken over by a new one, dread. The photo Nicole was talking about, was a photo of the two of them when they were out driving, but you couldn’t tell it was her due to the angle of the photo. The comments under the photo were full of conjecture. Everyone wanted to know who the girl was. Some speculated that the girl in the photo was someone on his team, others were sure Shawn had a girlfriend, while others stated that she was just a friend. And some people were certain they knew who it was and kept name-dropping her.

The saving grace was that no one had mentioned her name. ‘Hopefully, everyone has moved on from me.’ Tolani thought making a mental note to check her Instagram comment section and DMs that she’d been purposefully ignoring.

“This is from a fan account.” Kyle noted, “You follow Shawn Mendes fan accounts?”

Nicole nodded “It’s all over social media. Shawn is notoriously single and whenever he’s with a girl, the internet goes wild. That being said, I’m a huge fan. I’m actually seeing him in a few weeks.” She then turned to Tolani “You should come with me!”

“I don’t knowww” Tolani shrugged dragging her words. “Won’t it be sold out?“ “I’m sure we’ll figure something out. Maybe you’ll run into him again.” Nicole winked, referencing their initial meeting. “Still can’t believe that happened.” Tolani felt her cheeks warming. “Yeah, it would be crazy to see him again after that night.” She hadn’t told her friends about the two separate times she’d met Shawn. She wracked her brain for anything she could use to change the topic of conversation and was eternally grateful when her phone beeped letting her know she had to leave for a seminar starting 10 minutes.  “Sorry guys, I’ve got to go, I have a seminar on microeconomics in 10.” ‘Saved by the bell.’ she thought as she picked up her bag and walked away.

——————————————————————————————-

Tolani walked into her first seminar of the school year feeling a little nervous. Lectures were easy to manoeuvre, you sat there in silence and left when it was over. Seminars were different. As far as she knew they were much smaller groups that encouraged talking. This was where she struggled. Tolani was the kind of person who only spoke when she was comfortable and there was no way she was comfortable enough to speak freely in a room filled with people she didn’t know. These were the times she wished she had a friend she could go with, alas none of the friends she did have did the same degree as her. So she sat in the back row, hoping that the class would go by without consequence and she could go about her business.

A little while later a woman walked into the room and stood by the board. “Hi my name is Kirsty Morten, but you guys can call me Kirsty and I’m going to be your seminar tutor.” she was a younger woman, much younger than Tolani anticipated, with kind eyes and a warm smile. “Okay so before we dive into microeconomics and what that is, I’m going to go over the register and try to put some names to the faces. Okay?” Her statement was met with an unenthusiastic “okay” from everyone in the room.

Kirsty then proceeded to read out the names on the register without consequence until she came to Tolani’s name. “Oh, we’ve got a hard one. Okay. Umm. Toh- Tow- Wow this is hard to pronounce.”

“I usually go by T” Tolani’s voice rang out from the back of the room. She felt everyone’s eyes on her as Kirsty said “That’s so much easier to pronounce.”  ‘I’m sure it is’ she thought mentally rolling her eyes. She knew that her name being butchered was to be expected but it didn’t make it any less jarring or cringy.

Tolani zoned out while Kirsty read out more names, that was until she heard a name she was familiar with. Her head snapped up when she heard Kirsty’s interpretation of the name. “Oh, we’ve got another difficult name here.” she chuckled nervously “Tow- uh- Toh- wow.” “Tomiwa.” he said deadpan, clearly displeased by the situation.

She scanned the room to see where the voice came from. Her eyes landed on a fade in the middle of the room, 3 rows ahead of her and even though she couldn’t see him, she felt a kinship with him. Having someone butcher your name was not fun.

The rest of the class went by without incident, it was also incredibly boring.  Introduction to Microeconomics was just that, learning about Supply and Demand and Consumer Behaviour, all the things she’d learnt about already. That meant she spent most of her time staring into space, so much so that she didn’t notice when class was over till she felt someone tap her on her shoulder. Tolani turned to find Tomiwa smiling at her, she knew it was him because she recognised his hair. He was the only one in their class with a fade so it was definitely him.

“Hi T” his voice was husky, his accent familiar. It was a lot like hers but lighter as if it was fading. “Hi. Tomiwa right?” He smiled when she pronounced his name the right way. “You don’t know how good it feels to hear someone other than my immediate family and a few friends pronounce my name correctly.”

“I know what you mean. That’s why I just go by T. It’s so much easier than having people try to pronounce your name and fail woefully.” She hadn’t told anyone why she introduced herself as T and it felt good to have someone who understood the sentiment.

“What does T mean?” he asked.

“Tolani.”

“Tolani.” he repeated nodding his head. “Tolani and Tomiwa, T & T. Now we have to be friends, I mean we're both Yoruba and the first letter of our names are the same, it’s in the constitution.” “Slow your roll.” Tolani laughed holding up her hand. “You haven’t passed the test yet. I have numerous questions.” “Oh shit! There’s a test. Alright then.”

A few minutes later the two of them were seated on one of the many conveniently placed park benches littered on the York University campus. “Are you from Lagos?” Tolani asked placing her backpack by her feet.

“I am, but  I moved here a few years ago just before high school and haven’t been back since. What about you?”

“Born and raised all my life. I only moved here just before school started.” she paused “Do you miss it?”

“Lagos?” he asked, there was a touch of sadness in his voice. “Yeah, I do. I love living in Toronto don't get me wrong, but there’s no place like home you know?” When Tolani nodded he continued “It’s hard to explain but there's something about living in Lagos. There’s this indescribable energy, almost like a sense of-”

“Chaos.” they said in unison.

“Exactly!!” Tomiwa cheered. “You get it.”

“I had to describe what Lagos was like, to someone who’s never been there and I struggled. It’s so hard to accurately describe. You have to go there and see it to understand.”

“You don’t have to explain it to me, I get it.”  

“It’s nice to talk to someone that does.” Even though they’d just met, Tolani felt a connection with Tomiwa. She’d felt out of place since she’d arrived in Toronto and it felt really good to talk to someone who understood where she was coming from.

“Okay. I have a serious question. Where can I get Nigerian food cause it’s been a hot minute since I’ve eaten Jollof rice and I need it.”

“You can’t make it?” Tomiwa said with a raised eyebrow and a sceptical tone.

“I can!” Tolani replied sounding defensive, her Jollof rice was amazing if she did say so herself. “It’s just that it takes a while and I live with other people in a pretty crowded kitchen soo.”

“Fair enough. There a restaurant called Mamaland on Lansdowne Ave. Their food is amazing. We should go some time.”

“Yes please!”

“And if you ever want to make it, you can always come round  to mine.” He gave her a small smile.

“One day I’ll take you up on that offer.” Even though his invitation was definitely on the forward side, Tolani appreciated the offer and stored it away. “Emphasis on ‘one day’ though,” she added.

“So can we consider ourselves friends now.?”

“Like is said” Tolani replied with a smirk “There’s a test.”

“Hit me”

—————————————————————————————

“I can’t believe you have never been to EatDrinkFestival* you’re cancelled!” Tolani exclaimed, shock evident on her face. “How can I be cancelled for that!” Tomiwa rolled his eyes at her. “Cause I said so.” Tolani fired back. The two looked at each other before laughing. They were currently walking out of their microeconomic seminar. They’d been spending a lot of time together since they met, having coffee together before class and even sat next to each other. It felt really good to finally have someone Tolani could truly call her friend. She considered Desire and Nicole friends but there was a disconnect there, while Tomiwa understood her from the jump. It felt like they’d been friends for years rather than a week.

“I just never got around to going before I moved.” Tomiwa shrugged. “It’s amazing!” Tolani replied. “You get to go and try so much incredible food. I’ve gone the last few years and had a great time.” There was a sense of sudden melancholy in her voice. She didn’t know when she would go home next, she hadn't talked about it with her parents. The thought of not going home for a while made her sad.

“I’m sure there’s a food festival in Toronto we could go to.”

Tolani looked at her friend and snapped out of her funk. “True, even though it won’t be the same, it’s bound to be amazing.”

Before Tomiwa could reply her phone rang the name on the screen making her smile. ‘Shawn’

“I’ve got to go.” Tolani started gathering her things. “My mum is calling.” That was the second time she’d lied to someone where Shawn was concerned and while she did feel bad about lying, there was a part of her that felt like the lies were warranted. It had been over a week she’d seen him, and communication between the two of them had been pretty sparse and seeing a call from him was a welcome surprise.

“Hi Shawn.” “Hi honey.” his voice sounded as in her ear as melodic as ever. As if she needed a reminder that even Shawn Mendes’ voice was attractive. “Honey? That’s new.” she thought. “So we’ve graduated from texts to phone calls now?”

“I mean we’ve shared music. We’re basically married.”

Tolani couldn’t help the laugh that escaped. “Speaking of music, how’s the playlist?” She’d been updating it constantly, adding more songs that she thought he would like.

“No word of a lie, I’ve pushed it on all of my friends. I can’t stop listening to it.” That was hard to imagine Shawn and his friends dancing to any of the songs in the playlist, seeing as Shawn was so against dancing as a whole. Tolani couldn’t deny that it would be hilarious and she would willingly pay money to see Shawn and his friends attempt to dance to a Davido song. “Yeah, Afrobeat has that effect on people.” she shrugged even though he couldn’t see it. “As much as I like our talks and you know I do, is there a reason for this phone call?”

“How about I just wanted to hear your voice?” Even though she couldn’t see him, she could tell that he was smirking. Tolani felt her cheeks getting warm. “Thank you Shawn, but I’m pretty sure that’s not why you called me.”

“You’re half right. I really did want to hear your voice, but I also wanted to invite you to a party I’m having on Friday night.”

“Oooh, a party.” Friday night that was two days from now.

“Whenever I’m home I like having a few people over at my place just to hang out. Nothing too crazy. Would you like to come?” Two words struck a chord with her, ‘My place’ meaning his house. If she went, she would be at his house. In his space. Her heart started beating quicker at the thought of being in his house. He was speaking but the words had blended into white noise in her ear until she heard the words “If you want.” which snapped her out of her reverie.

“Huh?”

“I said you could bring some friends I’ve if you want?” The thought of her friends being in the same space as him for an extended period of time stressed her out further, but she couldn't deny that the idea wasn’t a bad one. Tolani looked up at the sky considering the question until an idea popped into her head. “I’d love to bring a friend.” “Great!” Shawm sounded excited which in turn made her excited. “See you on Friday. Bye honey.” “Bye Shawn.”

She cut off the call and turned to Tomiwa, “How would you like to go to a party on Friday?”

——————————————————————————————-

By the time Friday had rolled around, Tolani was nervous. She didn’t know what to wear, so she decided on a black tank top and blue ripped jeans with a dark red lip, emulating a look she had on when they met.

Shawn had texted her his address and told her to come over at 9 o’clock. It was 8:45 and she was in an uber heading towards downtown Toronto. She made polite conversation with Tomiwa in the back but her mind wasn’t fully there. She was thinking about Shawn. Even though it had only been a week since she’d seen him, she was nervous to see him again, especially when she took into account the fact that she would be on his turf. Every time they’d met it had been on slightly neutral territory, even when she was in his car she felt comfortable, but being in someone’s home and car were not the same thing. She also had to take into account the fact that he would be with his friends and people had a tendency to act differently around their friends and she hoped that Shawn wasn’t like that.

Shawn lived in an apartment building close to the entertainment district. ‘Fitting,’ Tolani thought as she got out of the uber. Her and Tomiwa walked into the building and greeted the concierge and let him know that they were headed to Shawn’s apartment on the top floor. In the elevator, Tolani could hear her heart in her ears. She felt like she was going to throw up. She knew that there was no reason to feel that way but she couldn't help it.

By the time they got to Shawn's door, they could hear music, evidence that people were already there. When they got to Shawn’s door, she heard Tomiwa whistle under his breath, clearly impressed by what he’d seen of Shawn’s building. Tolani knocked on the door and they waited. While they waited, a thought crossed her mind, Tomiwa didn't know that the friend she was coming to see. He may be Shawn to her but he was still Shawn Mendes uber-famous pop star to everyone else and that was something she probably should have taken into consideration when she invited him. They waited outside and when there was no response, Tolani knocked on the door, louder than before, this time they only had to wait for a few seconds before the door opened and Shawn filled the doorway.

One thing Tolani had learnt in the short time she’d known Shawn was that he was a smiley person, that was why she wasn’t surprised when he beamed at her. He looked as gorgeous as ever in a black shirt, jeans and Chelsea boots. He wasn't even trying and he looked good.  “T! I’m so glad you’re here!” he exclaimed, as he pulled her into a hug, ‘Great.’ Tolani thought, ‘He even smells good.’ They hugged for a few seconds even though it felt like it was closer to a minute when they broke apart. Tolani turned and indicated to Tomiwa and introduced him. “Shawn, this is my friend Tomiwa, Tomiwa this is Shawn.” It was then that Shawn turned to acknowledge her guest a look flashing across his features so fast she couldn’t decipher what it was. “Hi. Thanks for coming.” he said indicating that they should both go inside.

Walking into Shawn’s apartment felt like taking a look into Shawn’s mind. It was spacious, which in and of itself wasn’t surprising when she considered where he lived and how much it probably cost. He had a piano tucked into the corner and next to it was a guitar rack that held 5 guitars which again was not surprising. Apart from that, it was a pretty standard apartment, anyone could have lived there, the colour palette was pretty neutral with shades of blue and grey scattered around, but there were elements that were obviously Shawn. He had photos that she assumed were his family as well as photos of friends that she could recognise in the room. The thing that did surprise her was his view. Shawn had a balcony with a stunning view of the Toronto skyline. She stared at it for a few seconds before the noise in the room pulled her back. It sounded like a Post Malone song.

Tolani looked around and was catapulted back to the night she met Shawn. She’d awkward and out of place with her housemates and that was how she felt surrounded by Shawn’s friends. There were easily 50 people in the room and even though that number wasn’t very high, it was enough to make her feel uneasy. She knew that bringing a friend she was comfortable around was the right move.

The two got drinks and found a quiet corner to sit on Shawn’s huge white couch, Tolani with a coke and Tomiwa with a Corona. “You didn’t tell me you knew Shawn Mendes.” he stated looking at her with a shocked look on his face. Tolani took a sip of her drink and wished that she had something stronger. “Umm, yeah we met a while ago.” “How?” “We met at a coffee shop.” It wasn’t a total lie, they had met at a coffee shop, albeit a few days after they met at the bar but she didn’t feel like that part was relevant.

“That must have been a chance encounter, especially for you guys to be so close that he invited you to his house parties.” Before Tolani could answer she heard Shawn’s voice from across the room.

“T!” Shawn yelled over the sound of the music, “There are some people I want you to meet.” Tolani looked over to her friend who waved her off. “Go and mingle I’ll be fine.” She walked over toward the kitchen, it was a state of the art kitchen with an electric hob and an island that Shawn was leaning on. As she entered the space Tolani couldn’t help but think about how easy it would be to cook in that kind of kitchen and she wondered how often Shawn used it. “Here she is.” he said indicating to 3 of his friends when she was within earshot.

“Guys this is T. T this is, Brian and Jon. The one whose face is obscured by the camera is Connor.” “Hi.” Tolani waved somewhat awkwardly. “So you’re T, we’ve heard so much about .” Brain announced. He was almost as tall as Shawn and had red hair and mischievous eyes. “He hasn’t stopped talking about you.”  Jon added. Much like Shawn, he had eyes that seemed to smile at her and she instantly felt comfortable around him.

The only person who hadn’t spoken was Connor. He looked like he was half paying attention to what was being said as he was more engrossed in the footage he had recorded. Connor was stunning he easily could’ve been a model and Tolani wouldn’t have been surprised if he was, he just had one of those faces.

“Shawn hasn’t stopped talking about you.” Brian teased at which point Connor nodded. Tolani turned to Shawn with a raised eyebrow and saw him blushing profusely.

“Really?”

“Oh yeah! Every single day since the day you met.” She turned back to Shawn who had gone an even deeper shade of red.  “Anyway!” Shawn interjected in an attempt to change the conversation. “T is the one who made that really sick playlist I’ve been listening to!”

“I knew Shawn didn’t make that playlist on his own! He has good taste in music but its not that good!” Jon quipped. “Thanks” Tolani beamed, “I just added a bunch of songs from back home that I thought he would like.”  

“And where is home?”

“I’m from Lagos in Nigeria. Currently in Toronto for school.”

“Really? I don’t know anyone from Nigeria.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think you would.” Tolani laughed.

The four of them talked with Brian telling stories from his and Shawn’s friendship. They’d been friends since they were kids and seeing them like that made Tolani miss her childhood friend Folasade. She made a note to call her as they hadn’t spoken in a while.

While she was talking to Jon about his music, she heard familiar lyrics that put a smile on her face.

“She take my money when I’m in need, Yeah she’s a triflin’ friend indeed. Oh, she’s a gold digger, way over town that digs on me.”

She looked at Shawn and he also had a smirk on his face and she knew that he remembered the night they met where they had argued about what Kanye album was the best. “Don’t start with me.” she warned. “Only because you know that you’re wrong.” he stated, clearly trying to bait her.

Tolani rolled her eyes at him and decided to follow along with the song. By the time she got to the second verse, everyone in the room was screaming the lyrics.

“If you ain’t no punk, holla “We want prenup! We want prenup!” (Yeah!)”

After the song ended Tolani decided to switch her drink to something stronger. She noticed that Shawn had Hennesy and poured a shot for herself then mixed it with coke. It was a safe bet as far as drinks were concerned and she had a feeling she would need it tonight.

Shawn came up beside her. “Having fun?” She looked up at him and gave him a small nod. “Where is your friend?” “Not sure. Probably socialising which is more than I can say for me” she replied lifting the red solo cup to her mouth, the beaded bracelets on her wrists jiggling with the motion.

“You talked to my friends and now you’re talking to me, I’d say that counts as socialising.”

“Look at me being a social butterfly.” Tolani replied, holding the rim of the cup in her between her teeth.

She was about to ask him why he had invited her when the song changed and all her thought skid to a halt. A Burna Boy song was playing, more specifically, it was her favourite Burna Boy song. He was playing one of her favourite songs at his party filled with people who had no idea what song it was. She looked around and noticed that there were some confused expressions but for the most part, everyone seemed to like the song.

Tolani whirled to face Shawn her mouth agape. “You’re playing Burna Boy right now!” He smiled at her and nodded. “I am” “You mean to tell me that Shawn Mendes is playing Nigerian music at his party right now?!”

“Yes he is.”

Of all the things that she had expected, this was not one of them. She wanted to say something but someone one the other side of the room called him. He looked at her apologetically before walking off to see what the person needed, clearly in host mode.

Tolani stayed where she was swaying from side to side enjoying the music that she had introduced him to. When the song ended and another one started, Tomiwa came up to her looking just as energetic as she felt. “Shawn Mendes listens to Nigerian music?” “Apparently so!”

“Okay, we have to dance. Can you shaku shaku?”**

Tolani gave him a look that said “You have to be joking” and started dancing, in a split second Tomiwa joined her, the two of them perfectly in sync. Within seconds there was a crowd of people around them, trying to imitate the dance but failing woefully. Brian and Jon had asked Tolani to teach them and she tried but it wasn’t a success. She couldn’t stop laughing watching Brian flail his hands about completely offbeat. Jon was better nailing the footwork but he was having trouble following the song, clearly paying too much attention to what he was doing rather than the song that was playing.

Shawn had come back and was watching them a smile on his face, but the look he had on his face when he opened the door was back and just like before, it was gone before she could pick up on what it was.

Tolani walked up to him and stared up at him, looking him in the eye, “Do you want to dance?” she asked. “I already told you, I hate dancing.” he chuckled. “It doesn’t have to be that kind of dance.” she pointed over her shoulder indicating to Tomiwa who was now attempting to teach everyone another dance that clearly wasn’t working.

“Nope. I hate any kind of dancing.” he shook his head. “Fair enough.” Tolani shrugged. “Can I talk to you outside?” “Sure.” Before heading to the balcony, they stopped by the kitchen where the drinks were situated. Shawn refilled her drink and grabbed another Corona, then they made their way outside. The view from inside Shawn’s apartment had nothing on the view from the outside.

“Wow.”

“It really is an incredible view.”

“Are you used to it?”

“Truthfully? I don’t think so. I’m barely home, so when I do come home, the view takes my breath away.” he sounded wistful, probably because he was thinking about all the travel he had done and was yet to do.

“And that’s CN tower?” Tolani pointed to the sizeable structure that dominated the Toronto skyline. “Yeah it is.” he nodded. “I think it’s amazing that you’re learning about my city.” “Well it’s my city now too.” she quipped.

After a few seconds of comfortable silence, Shawn spoke “I know asked before but I’ll ask again, having fun?” She nodded again more enthusiastically than before. The change in music had upped her mood. “I am. More so because you played music from my playlist.” she paused. “That- that was really thoughtful.”

“I am super thoughtful.” he declared wiggling his eyebrows at her.

“Shawn is every conversation we have going to involve your ego.?” she teased rolling her eyes playfully. “No, but I like fucking with you.” “I can tell.” she smirked.

The silence returned but this time it was different, there was an energy in the air that wasn’t there before, it was almost tangible. Shawn took a step closer to her, and her breath hitched. “T, I know I’m probably being really presumptuous right now but I wanted to tell you that I really like you.” his voice had dropped an octave and sounded huskier than usual. Tolani could feel her cheeks warming, and could’ve sworn she could hear heartbeat pick up. He was closer than he had ever been and she didn’t want him to move away. “I really like you too.” she replied. He saw a smile break out on his face as he leaned forward. Tolani’s eyes fluttered closed as she leaned up to meet him halfway, she could feel his breath on her face as they closed the distance between them.

Before their lips touched she heard her name “Tolani!” Tomiwa’s voice rang out snapping them back to reality. She turned to see him crossing the threshold onto the balcony. Tolani felt her face warm and she backed away from Shawn who was looking everywhere but her.

“Hey Tolani! Hey Shawn!” Tomiwa waved clearly more than a tipsy and unaware that he had just interrupted something. “Hi Tomiwa.” Tolani said, willing her heart rate to slow down. “Great party man.” he turned to Shawn who clearly unamused but was hiding it under a mask of calm. “Thanks.” Shawn replied.

At that moment, Tolani felt like she needed to leave. Her mind was running in different directions and she knew she couldn’t sort through her thoughts with Shawn in close proximity. She turned to him and gave him an apologetic smile. “I think it’s time for me to go.” her voice sounding a lot smaller than it did prior to the interruption She saw the look on his face as he nodded giving her a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I understand.”

During the car ride, Tolani couldn’t help but think about what had happened on the balcony. ‘What would have happened if Tomiwa hadn’t walked out’. Even though she was largely disappointed by the distraction, there was a part of her that was a little relieved. She knew how she felt about Shawn and was positive that he felt the same way but there was something that was stopping her from facing her feelings head-on.

She pulled her phone from her pocket and sent Shawn a text

Tolani: Thanks so much for an amazing night. I had a lot of fun. Sorry about the interruption. Maybe next time?

She locked her phone and put it back in her pocket without checking to see if he had replied.

Taglist

@justbeingoceana @rulerofnocountry @dazedshawnm @speakingofmari

@thotmendes @sinplisticshawn @mani-lifes @bugheadfanatic @shawnssnack @sean-mendezzzzz @dimestorebieber22 @anxious-bi-bb @kyloreins @momenraul @andibecamethestars​ @eve134340 @muffinnmendesss @pinkk-peonies​ @jxnellemxnae

Let me know if you want to be added or taken off

*The EatDrinkFestival is a food festival held in Lagos every year in December. It’s amazing!

** Shaku Shaku is a dance really popular in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. 

[rocketablackbear]

Really like a lot of stuff but I can’t talk about any of it because all the other people who are obsessed with it are really cringy or have such a bad public perception. Like let’s start with a softer one. Gaming, can’t talk about it at work. Every one is a old fuck and thinks it’s a waste of time. The younger kids don’t talk about games with me cus I’m apart of the “adult” group. This is what I would like to talk about the most it’s hard to talk about it with people who don’t care and I can’t get them to tell me about their interest soooo no conversation happens there. Also I don’t want to be labeled as a “gamer” cus that’s fucking horrible. And the older generations say it thinking it’s a cool hip thing.

Furries, they are seen as sexual deviants cus that’s all the news says about them and that’s the loudest part of the community so it’s easy to say that’s how they all are. There’s freaks in every fandom, club, or audience. Like sports fans going nuts over games. People have been FUCKING BEHEADED cus they were not happy their team lost or some other shitty excuse. BuT tHaTs FiNe CuS sPoRtS. Also furries can be awkward and cringy as all fuck. I just like bears. And I really like art. Pretty art is so so nice on the eyes. Furries draw a lot! So that’s how I got there.

Fucking Homestuck. A lot of people have had bad experiences with them. And hate them. So why put myself in with a hated group. The fans are bad. I don’t like how they act. But I do like the story. And gosh try explaining it. It’s not possible.

Miku, no one knows her. That is, people who are not online. And that’s who I interact with.

NO ONE READS! I WORK AT A SCHOOL! AND NO ONE READS! Sure teachers read the shity books that they force the kids to read. But no one reads for enjoyment. I could talk about books forever. I’m not going to talk about crap like Harry Potter or Fablehaven. Teen books kill my soul. Such cheap stories. I love Wheel of Time and Stormlight Archive. Sci-fi is awesome too. That’s actually how I met my wife. In a sci-fi/fantasy class. Love her.

I don’t watch a lot of tv/movies. No one understands it. Cus they’re so into it they can’t see how lazy it is but our civilization says it’s ok. So it’s ok. Right. I’m not saying it’s not. I just. Can’t. It’s hard for me to sit through a show. I watch some anime but very few.

I think I’m also just an opinionated prick. I do expect others to just agree with me. Cus I’m the main character of course. But everyone is their main character. If I offended you in this I don’t really give a damn. Tell me why though cus I’m not afraid of my views being tested.

[thesportssoundoff]

“For Christmas I  Want....” What the UFC needs per division in 2020

Joey

December 10th

Right around now the majority of us are desperately chasing down gift ideas and huddling our cash together to try and budget it out for the people we care about evenly. In MMA, December means that for one month we spend 31 days pretending that everything's going to be fine in MMA. That the sins of 2019 are gone and won't re-emerge in 2020 and we are about to embark on another insane run like 2015 or 2016. MMA's changing, growing and expanding and shrinking and evolving and degrading all at once around us and so as we embark upon what should be a hectic 2020,  I wanted to take a light hearted approach at examining what 2020 will be. What would the UFC request that the MMA Gods give them in 2020? What are the divisions asking for on their Christmas lists? Let's run down what each division is secretly wishing for when we enter the next year of MMA stupidity.

Flyweight and Women's Featherweight- A bullet

Simply put, both of these divisions would probably be better suited if the UFC just put them out of their misery. 2019 started with a UFC flyweight roster rapidly approaching the single digits and a threat of TJ Dillashaw stepping in to kill the division outright. It ends with a roster of fighters still not too far off the single digits with a champion who seems disinterested in defending the title and clearly has the plans to move up to 135 lbs full time. The likelihood is that the flyweight division will get a title fight or two and then fade off into obscurity as there's no real prospects of note, Benavidez as champion has long lost any luster and the Cejudo good vibes are dead and buried. For women's featherweight, it was a golden carrot to get Cyborg to stop feuding with the organization that hired her. The Cyborg championship era lasted all of two fights and the Amanda Nunes run with the title is dead and/or bloated. Nunes having a token title defense vs Megan Anderson might appease some folks but there's been no development and no real sign of progress. Let these divisions go and let Bellator and Brave/ONE find stuff for them to do.

Men's Bantamweight- Some sizzle for this steak

The UFC's 135 lb division has been one of the more promising developments over the past few years. While it took a slight step backwards for me in 2019, I still think this division is among the best in MMA even if it ranks slightly behind 170 and 155 lbs. There's depth, new talent, a variety of names and faces and personalities and barring something unforseen 20120 figures to keep the pace overall. What it needs in 2020 is for this division to finally get an ROI on some big time names. Henry Cejudo is a promising potential draw at the lighter weight classes but I think he's still going to need help to reach the high end mark on his upside. That requires some names to step up and give him an assortment of fun new challenges. Dominick Cruz needs to get healthy because Cejudo vs Cruz verbally at least has some compelling appeal to it. Cody Garbrandt still has SOME name value and I think if he goes on a streak, we'll see an reset in terms of how fans view him. Jose Aldo and Urijah Faber need to find ways to win tough fights and maintain in the title picture because while I may not care for Cejudo/Aldo or Cejudo/Faber, there are fans who very clearly love these guys and would be absolutely up for seeing them try to capture the title from Cejudo. Guys like MArlon Moraes, Sean O'Malley and Petr Yan need to continue to develop new fanbases and keep up their stretch of exciting fights. This division has a lot of talent but it might need to get a bit greedy in search of some big money fights.

Featherweight- A definitive Max Holloway solution

The UFC spent most of 2018 having open discussions about whether or not Max Holloway was long for the 145 lb division. They talked a bunch about wanting him to move up due to intense weight cuts, saw him move up and then immediately bailed on the idea when he fought Dustin Poirier. My take is that Holloway is still probably destined for 155 lbs and one loss to Dustin Poirier (who is a naturally monstrous dude at 155 lbs) shouldn't deter them. If Max Holloway is hurting his long term health at 145 lbs but may be "too small" for 155 lbs then he'll just need to adapt to that and overcome that the same way Frankie Edgar has done for years. Figuring out what Holloway will be doing in 2020 will probably be aided by the Volkanovski fight but even if Alexander Volkanovski becomes the latest 145 lber to come up short vs Max Holloway, I'm still not convinced I need to see Max toiling at featherweight. As a bonus item or a stocking stuffer if ya will, it SURE would be nice to see the likes of Zabit, Yair Rodriguez, Shane Burgos and Calvin Kattar continue to clear out the 145 lbers who have been sort of lingering in the same spots since about 2016 or so.

Lightweight- For their stars to actually fight

Easy enough, right? The UFC's lightweight division revolves around three names; Conor McGregor, Khabib Nurmamegodov and Tony Ferguson. I'd almost argue that Tony Ferguson is a level behind Dustin Poirier drawing wise but I think at peak value, those three guys make this division hum and draw the big numbers. Not even playing the "these guys fight three times a year!" card, the UFC got two fights out of those three guys and one of those (Ferguson vs Cerrone) was a desperation heave at the last minute. If this division is going to go places then Khabib needs to fight more, Conor needs to stay out of trouble and Tony Ferguson needs to come close to resembling the pace he had in 2016 and 2017. Even accounting for Khabib taking time off for Ramadan, this division cannot exist with THIS much talent in it without more fights from those three guys. I guess you could even throw in Justin Gaethje who expects to sit out until the Tony vs Khabib fight happens. You can't have 4 of your top 5 guys not doing anything with so much talent to be tested up and down the rankings.

Welterweight- A break

The welterweight division is the world's dumbest MMA riddle. It sure seems to trumpet out a finish or a "What the fuck is happening?!" fight on a per show basis better than any other division out there. I mean off the top of my head you have Vicente Luque, Tim Means, Mike Perry, Elizeu Zaleski, Niko Price, Geoff Neal, Robbie Lawler, Jorge Masvidal, Santiago Ponzinibbio, Muslim Salikhov, Matt Brown and that doesn't even begin to account for some of the dudes I can't remember off the top of my head. This division is loaded with dudes who exist to hit each other in the head really hard over and over and over until somebody falls down. It's the world's cruelest division in terms of raw violence. Unfortunately at the top of the division, we've basically had the same 4-5 guys hogging up spots and they more often than not tend to bring us fights that fall on the wrong side of the entertainment scale. Even if you like Kamaru Usman, Leon Edwards, Tyron Woodley and Colby Covington, you have to admit you're probably exhausted by four dudes with similar styles and similarly cringy trash talk skills sucking up all the air and hype in this division. The UFC could really use a break from these folks in 2020. If Edwards/Woodley and Usman/Covington go off without a hitch, it'd be nice for us to get somebody new and fun in there just to allow us all the chance to mentally reset. Maybe that's Jorge Masvidal even!

Middleweight- More Israel Adesanya

The UFC has been very fortunate with the health of its breakout star of sorts. Since coming to the UFC at the start of 2018, Israel Adesanya has fought four times one year and three times the next. He's been busy and consistent and either healthy or healthy enough to always make the walk. With some much instability around him, the UFC really needs Adesanya to continue to take fights throughout 2020. If the goal is to do Adesanya vs Jones then he needs to have AT LEAST two fights prior to this (say March and July of 2020) against top competition. Yoel Romero is seemingly going to be one of those guys and you'd assume a healthy Paulo Costa is the other. The goal should be to keep Adesanya busy because you won't have his freshness and ability to fight consistently forever.

Light heavyweight- A genuine Jones challenger

I feel like it speaks to the pain of 205 lbs that Jon Jones' two title fights were against former 185 lbers who had casually beaten the shit out of the guys who once held pole positions in the division without much challenge. 2019 was a weird year for the division as it felt old, stagnant and perhaps worst of all directionless. If you honestly asked the UFC, I'd bet they'd say privately that the biggest disappointment of 2019 revolved around the fact that the fighters they probably expected to move up and provide fresh challenges all failed. Chris Weidman was smoked by Dom Reyes, Jan Blachowicz retired Luke Rockhold, Jacare Souza's 2019 was abysmal and his LHW debut left nobody impressed while Yoel Romero and Anderson Silva stayed home at 185 lbs. If one was to remove Dominick Reyes from the conversation, the next in line would be two guys who have pretty much failed historically when given a major step up (Jan Blachowicz is not too far removed from a four fight losing streak and Corey Anderson has been KO'd by the likes of Gian Villante and Jimi Manuwa) while the likes of Nikita Krylov, Misha Cirkunov, Khalil Rountree and that one polish dude (Michal Oluwalewalebangbang) all sort of did nothing. Even prized prospect Johnny Walker had a topsy turvy 2019 punctuated by getting smelted by Corey Anderson. The UFC needs to end 2020 with one of two things set in stone; 1) A genuine challenge for Jon Jones or 2) an understanding that Jon will be leaving the division for good and the UFC will finally have to invest resources into rebuilding this morbid division.

Heavyweight- More of the same, baby.

Seriously. This division is A-ok. You got a bunch of new dudes beating the shit out of each other, every year 2-3 new doughy guys show up and make a bit of an impact, a new HW to get giddy about from Brazil or Europe or Russia every few months and the likes of Alistair Overeem, Derrick Lewis, Stefan Struve and Andrei Arlovski to tie this shit all together. Let's keep HW happy and dumb, right? The only complaint could be had in every division really; have your champs fighting more.

Women's Strawweight- ALSO more of the same

Seriously this division has really become one of the best in MMA full stop. It still has the well earned reputation of being a decision division but if one wants to be honest, the depth at the top of this place is UNREAL good. Joanna, Zhang, Andrade, Namajunas, Suarez and Ansaroff on their own merits are as strong a top six as any division can offer. Throw in a healthy mix of ladies like Alexa Grasso, Claudia Gadelha, Randa Markos, Carla Esparza, Cynthia Calvillo and Marina Rodriguez and you've got great depth below that. Even if there isn't an influx of exciting fun new names (I think Virna Jirandoba and Brianna Van Buren are really the only two new debutants worth really getting excited over), there's plenty of talent o be had here. This is MMA's most unpredictable division so keep giving us wacky madness then.

Women's Flyweight- An identity

I guess you could sum up a division by its champion and clearly Valentina Shevchenko is the perfect face for this division. She's really talented, sometimes compelling as a fighter but you can't name anything about her besides "She killed Jessica Eye and she has a bullet tattoo!" At this point, what could you say about the women's flyweight division? What's their identity? What makes the women's flyweight division unique? Is it not just a grab bag of fighters too small for 135 lbs, too big for 115 lbs and prospects who are still trying to cut their teeth throughout the division? Women's flyweight fights just feel like they exist, adding nothing but always appearing on shows. What's the key to figuring out this division? They need an identity that gets fans to better understand it.

Women's Bantamweight- Depth beyond Amanda Nunes

I think there's a really good chance that barring the emergence of some faces, this division will not see a woman on the same level of Amanda Nunes, GDR and Holly Holm. What this division needs is depth because Holly Holm is one foot out the door and GDR has already retired once already. Just sign a bunch of ladies!

[hazyheel]

AEW Fyter Fest 2019 Review

So, we start out with the pre-show, and the first match was a triple threat tag: Best Friends vs. SCU vs. Private Party. The story early on in this match was that Best Friends and SCU were totally bullying the much smaller Private Party, although they certainly impressed. They had a lot of really good high flying offense, inculding an awesome shooting star press from Marc Quen that was unfortunately broken up. There was a really cool moment in the middle of the match where everyone in the ring was just nailing each other with huge moves, such as cutters and huge tornado DDT’s. There was also a really great near fall, where after Quen flipped out of a top rope German, and then ran up to the top rope for a hurricarana into a cutter on Franky Kazarian, but Scorpio Sky broke it up. It was not long after that when the Best Friends were able to hit strong zero for the win here.

After the match, The Dark Order came on the tron and called out the best friends. They said that they would utterly destroy them, and that they were only the first. They said they would dissect them slowly. The lights went out, and the Dark order’s minions surrounded Trent and Chuck Taylor, but they ended up just disappering.

Grade: B. Not the smoothest match in the world, but still pretty good. Private Party really shined here, and they definitely got themselves over. They were the least known tag team in this match, and they certainly impressed. However, Best friends were definitely the best pick to win this match. They are one of the most over teams on the indies, and it makes sense to continue their feud with the dark order.  Good stuff, and I look forward to seeing more of private party in the future.

Then we had Leva Bates vs. Allie, with Peter Avalon at ringside. Coming to the ring, Avalon actually tried to win Bates’ heart, and when she rejected him once again, so the destroyed the tent on the stage and decapitated one of the mannequins. Bates then cut a promo about the importance of reading, while the crowd chanted “We can’t read.” Allie then came out and got a good reaction. The match was fine, not really any huge spots. There was one point where Avalon tried to interfere by tripping Allie, so the Librarians are definitely heels. In the finish, Avalon tried to give Bates a book to hit Allie with, but Allie gave Bates a superkick for the win. 

Grade: C. Not the greatest match in the world. I am not a big fan of Allie, I certainly haven’t seen a great match of hers. Leva Bates seems pretty good, but I can tell that the librarian gimmick will get old quick if I have to deal with it on a weekly basis. I hope I get to see more of Bates with a different opponent, because she looks promising. 

Then we had Jebailey vs. Michael Nakazawa. Nakazawa cut a little heel promo before the match, where he tricked Jebailey into revealing which leg was injured last year. He attacked the and they started the match. Nakazawa quickly got baby oil involved, making everyone slip all over the ring. Jebailey beat down Nakazawa with a fight stick, which was funny, and he also tried to drown Nakazawa in a kiddie pool. They battled by the pool for a while, with Nakazawa nailing Jebailey with a inflatable flamingo, before being powerslamed into the pool, prompting a holy shit chant. Back in the ring, Nakazawa beat Jebailing with a gamecube remote, before choking him and spearing him off the apron through a table. Jebailey was able to powerslam Nakazawa onto some lego things, but when he got back up, Nakazawa tried to shove his thong in Jebailey’s mouth and ended up hitting the ref. Jebailey then wrapped him in a cradle, but the ref was down. Nakazawa then reversed it with the thong in Jebailey’s face. 

Grade: D+. I don’t think anyone thought this would be good. But honestly? If you stop watching this as a wrestling fan and just remember that Jebailey just wanted to be a wrestler on the one night he could, then it’s at least kinda fun. He did well for a total amateur. Plus, the crowd was encouraging him a lot, and he took some stiff shots from a kendo stick. 

Opening the show was CIMA vs. Christopher Daniels. They put on a pretty good contest early on, just trading power moves back and forth. Daniels wokred over Cima’s back throughout the match, which interfered with Cima’s flying offense. There was one really good move where Cima hurt his back when he hit a razors edge, and Daniels durilled him with a blue thunder bomb. A great near fall came when Daniels hit Angels’ wings, but Cima kicked out. There was a rather cringy moment during the match when JR referred to Cima as an “Oriental” wrestler. God, that is just awful. Anyway, Cima got the win with a meteora.

Grade: B. Pretty good match. There was an odd pacing here where Cima was moving quite a bit faster than Daniels, which gave things a weird feel. But Cima was really good here, both in selling his back and hitting some hard hitting offense. This match definitely hyped me up for Cima vs. Kenny Omega, so this was certainly a success.

Then we had a three way with the women, pitting Yuka Sakazaki against Nyla Rose and Riho. The match started when Nyla Rose Irish whipped Riho after a handshake. So, the Joshi teamed up on the much larger and more powerful Rose, creating a sort of unofficial handicap match. Rose was more than happy to fight in that sort of match, locking both in a Boston crab at the same time. Sakazaki nearly botched a dive to the outside, but very carefully climbed the ropes instead, which was actually super cute for her character. Rose gave Riho an awesome guilltine splash, but she didn’t even go for a pin. Riho then tried to splash Rose, but was caught. Sakazaki then did the same, but was also caught in an awesome show of strength. The two Joshi then tried to pin Rose together, but there was a kickout. Rose then absolutely destroyed Sakazaki with a powerbomb, but when she went to hit a finish on Riho, Riho got a great rollup for a shocking win. 

After the match, Rose tried to attack Riho, but Sakazaki came to her aid and they fought off Rose. However, Riho pushed Sakazaki away when she tried to help. Sakazaki was really really sad about that too. 

Grade; B+. This was a really good match. Rose looked like a monster of a heel, and the Joshi sold like goddamned crazy for her. She will be huge in this division, she seems awesome. The Joshi were awesome as well. This was a really big win for Riho, so she will probably be pretty big player in this division, but I’m really hoping for Sakazaki. That girl is wonderful. I’m sure that the AEW women’s division will be absolutely great. 

Then we had the fatal 4-way, Adam Page vs. MJF vs. Jimmy Havoc vs. Jungle Boy. MJF tried to cut a promo before the match and absolutely wrecked the very nerdy crowd by saying that their mom swallows. He called everyone geeks, fat, disgusting, virgins, and losers. Oh my god he is good on the mic. The match was showing everyone’s character and styles. MJF was constantly trying to steal a pin, Jungle Boy flew around, Havoc would just randomly run in and hit something crazy, and Page was constantly the babyface standing tall. At one point, Jungle Boy went for a reverse cannonball splash on the outside, but his boot clipped the turnbuckle so he botched it a bit, but it still looked great. Whenever MJF could attack Page, he would attack the knee. At one point, MJF went for a sharpshooter, but Page reversed it into a sharpshooter of his own for a short submission sequence. Havoc took out Jungle Boy with a death valley driver out of the ring and onto his friend Luchasaurus. After Havoc hit MJF with a double stomp off the top, MJF ducked a buckshot lariat so it hit Havoc. MJF then fled the ring as Page hit Havoc with deadeye for the win. 

Grade: B+. Another good match. The action was very fast, we had the winner that we definitely needed, and we saw a lot from Havoc and Jungle Boy. They will be big in this brand, so I’m happy that we saw them get some offense. Page did not pin MJF, so I bet that they will do the singles match at fight for the fallen. Good stuff wrestling here. 

Then we had Cody vs. Darby Allin. Allin came into this match wth a crazy amount of energy and excitement, playing an underdog but a dangerous one. He was grabbing rollups whenever he could, really fishing for a win here. Allin took a dangerous bump early on where he was thrown into the turnbuckles and he slipped through the middle ropes and out of the ring. Allin worked over Cody’s hand, which was injured pretty recently. Allin was also flying all over the ring, and hitting Cody with everything he had. Cody was simply using his strength advantage to take down Allin at every turn. At one point, Cody hit a reverse superplex as the crowd showered them in AEW chants. Another crazy spot saw Allin go for a coffin drop on the apron, but Cody rolled in the ring, so Allin just crashed onto the apron. Cody then knocked Allin into his own body bag, and gave him a disaster kick while he was in it, but only a near fall. As the time limit ticked down, Cody started to lay into Allin with his weight belt, but Allin wouldn’t stay down. Allin was able to hit an over the top stunner, but Cody quickly recovered and hit a cross roads, but only made the pin as the time limit sank down, and we ended in a draw. 

After the match, the crowd chanted for overtime, and it looked like they were going to get it, but Shawn Spears showed up and nailed Cody in the head with a nasty chair shot. Spears looked like he was going to hit Brandi too, but the ref got in the way and stopped him. Spears walked away as MJF ran into the ring, ready to kick ass. Cody walked away with Brandi helping him. Cody looked pretty legitimately loopy.

Grade; B-. The match was alright, tough to follow up that awesome match at Double or Nothing from Cody, but this was still pretty good. Allin looked really good here, playing a scrappy underdog that did everything he could. He pulled out some nasty and dumb stunts, which what he is known for. He certainly impressed me. I thought the finish was a bit contrived, with Cody having plenty of time between hitting cross roads and making the pin. I thought the post match attack was scary, that was a rough chair shot that really belongs in the 90′s, was unnecessary, but I would love to see that feud. Probably going to secure another match at All Out. But as for this match, we are open for a rematch, and they brought Darby Allin to a whole new audience.

Into a 6-man tag. Lucha Bros and Laredo Kid vs. The Elite. The Bucks entered as Ken and Ryu, while Kenny Omega came in as Akuma. As a video game nerd, I was happy. Laredo Kid and Nick Jackson squared off, trading some high flying offense, but quickly all members of the teams entered the ring. The Luchadores quickly got the advantage with a triple suicide dive. They then gave Matt a double superkick into a reverse rana which looked badass. Another point saw Matt giving all of the luchadores northern lights suplexes, drawing loads of cheers from the crowd. Matt hit an awesome combination of a destroyer into a spear. Kenny then gave each of the luchadores a dragon suplex. The Luchadores took back control, when Fenix dove over the post, and Kid hit a Lardeo splash, but Omega kicked out just as Pentagon ran in to give Matt a destroyer. At another point, the luchadores all charged at the elite, so they haduokkened them away. Matt wanted to give Pentagon a swan diving Meltzer driver, but nick mistepped when going over the top rope. He still climbed the ropes, and Fenix intercepted him for a spanish fly to the outside. Back in the ring, Omega gave Kid a v trigger, liger driver 98, and the one winged angel for the win.

Grade: A-. Of course this match was great. They got 6 of the best talents in AEW, and put them in one ring together, and they killed it. There were a couple rough spots, but nothing that would derail the awesome match. They flew all over the place and hit so many awesome spots. And this one wasn’t a finisher fest like the big tag match at Double or Nothing. They just hit some awesome moves and put on a great show. This easily could’ve been the main event of the night, although I think it was a good choice for the semi main.

And in the unsanctioned main event, we had Joey Janela vs. Jon Moxley. No disqualifications, anything could happen. They brawled at ringside, with Janela starting off the hardcore spots by hitting Moxley with a prosthetic leg that was passed through the crowd. The two then pummeled each other with a chair wrapped in barbed wire, before both faling through a table off the apron after a Russian Leg sweep. Moxley then threw Janela back in the ring for a spear through a table in the corner. Moxley kept it up with a board with barbed wire on it,  but Janela ended up putting him through it with a death valley driver. They kept up the crazy spots as Janela hit on elbow drop off a ladder in the ring, through Moxley on the outside with some tables. Moxley got revenge though, giving Janela a death valley bomb out of the ring and through a barbed wire board on the outside. Moxley then introduced thumb tacks, before taking off Janela’s shoes and slaming him on the thumbtacks. Janela begged for more by flipping off Moxley, so he grabbed more of them and gave him the death rider onto the tacks for the win.

After the match, Kenny Omega ran in to give Moxley a v Trigger, piledriver and a double foot stomp onto Moxley. He beat Moxley with a mic stand from the band that didn’t show up. He then threw Moxley into the drum set, beat him with the sticks, and smacked him in the back with a guitar before walking away. Some refs were escorting him to the back, and Moxley pushed them away in frustration, but Kenny came back out to beat him with a trash can and giving him a death rider onto the garbage can.

Grade: B+. Not the best death match I have ever seen, but it was still really good. I was just interesting to see Moxley in this kind of postiion. I know he missed these types of matches, and it was awesome to see him back in his element. Those thumbtack bumps were actually sick, and I cringed hard at both those and the barbed wire.  Definitely the right person won, and I really liked the attack afterwards. Their feud is just going to build more and more until All Out, and it should be a great match.

Overall Grade: B

Pros: Triple threat tag; Cima vs. Daniels; women’s triple threat; four way; 6-man tag; unsanctioned

Cons: Bates vs. Allie; (not putting Jebailey on here, because while it was not a good wrestling match, I certainly didn’t think it was a con)

[forte7]

Forte’s Fan Character Flashback Friday - #7

Name:: Valarie Masters Series: Danny Phantom Background: Holey moley guacamole! I missed Fan Character Flashback Friday! I mean... today is a Friday, but I was supposed to post this last week! Dangit! I'm sorry! Things are kinda crazy on my end still and it only dawned on me today that I had forgotten to do something - and it was this.

A thousand apologies for my tardiness, but going on about that still won't get this posted.

I've actually been waiting to post this character because I KNOW I had old art of her SOMEWHERE around and I cannot, for the life of me, find it, and unfortunately, I'm down in Texas right now to help out my aunt and uncle so I can't even continue looking for the physical copies of said old art if it even still exists. I KNOW it exists, because I used to post art for this character on a Danny Phantom fan forum I would RP on and heck, I even found that old forum, managed to log in to see if any of those old links still worked, and NOPE.

Guess I deleted them off the Photobucket I once had them on at some point and where the physical copies are, I'm not sure, because I don't remember seeing them when going through my old drawing binders.

It's really quite frustrating.

Anyway, this is Valarie, who I named forgetting about the actual Valerie Grey character from the series, cause the name fit the general bad fan character naming system of "it starts with the same letter of the character I like and is kinda similar, so I'll go with it".  I kept it anyway, cause little me reasoned, "well, this Valarie spells it with two As while the other is with an A and an E, so it's fine."

Just kinda funny that they're both linked to Vlad though, so yay, I guess? Hahah, I dunno.

Anywho, Valarie was set up/designed to be Vlad's daughter, but not even his biological daughter, though not a clone like some of my other fan characters, though with things that happen later in the actual series, it would actually be... possible/viable. Instead, she was a extraordinary creation of the Ghost Zone and was more or less "born" of the supernatural energies that construct that dimension.

I guess you can kind of compare her existence to that of Maria from Silent Hill 2. The Born from a Wish scenario kind of implies that Maria was manifested by the town using James' subconscious memories and feelings regarding his wife. Valarie, in the same vein, was manifested by the Ghost Zone, for whatever reason, to help placate Vlad's need and want for a family of his own.

Mind you, this entire backstory was cobbled together before Kindred Spirits introduced Dani Phantom and her entire storyline... which... is.... kinda the same, really, to Valarie's, and I remember at the time, was kind of mad about it back in the day.

Speaking of Dani Phantom, I remember how a lot of people were mad about Butch Hartman's apparent laziness in her character design and creation, cause it was pretty akin to many "bad fan characters" that you see out there, which, hey, I won't deny; that's what this whole Flashback thing I do is about, but you know, this just serves as a good example of the fact that pretty much... everyone does this. Everyone makes bad fan characters, even for their own things, so I think it's just more healthy for people to realize this and embrace it, hahaha.

Going back to Valarie - she's more or less a person who exists to help Vlad chill the fuck out and maybe not ruin things for everyone or everything. A more recent reason I came up with for this was that Clockwork and/or The Observants that are seen in the Ultimate Enemy special with Dark Danny foresaw Vlad's ambitions proving to be too troublesome in the future, so to prevent this from causing way more havoc than it's worth, even with Danny around to stop him or whatever, they're like "hey just throw him a kid; that'll keep him busy a little, right?"

Even with her supernatural origins, Valarie is half-human and half-ghost like Vlad and looks much like him thanks to just her being a physical manifestation of one of his subconscious desires. Physically, she’s about seven or eight years old and generally acts playful, though polite, but can occasionally come off as spoiled.

She shares many of her father’s sentiments towards various issues and people, though it’s safe to assume she doesn’t fully understand his reasoning for those feelings due to how young she is. For example, she harbors a dislike for Jack, though finds his clumsiness more amusing than idiotic and only really says she hates him because Vlad does.

In regards to Danny, she likes him and finds him fun to play with, but in her terms, that means toying around with him. Despite her small size, she can hold her own in battle and has a good handle on her ghost powers and won’t hesitate to use them to pull pranks or harass other people, especially if she has or is told to. Her antics can be described as impish while in ghost form, though she likes to feign innocence if caught.

A big point of curiosity with her is her memory; she has no memory of a time before not “being” and has no real answer when asked about her childhood. She doesn’t seem bothered by this lack of knowledge and usually shrugs it off, intent that she exists because she does; she feels no need to question it further. For her things are simple: if her father is happy, she’s happy. Be this just some childish thought process or some more ingrained sense of purpose because of her strange origins is up for debate.

More was actually done with this character than others and like I said, there used to be old sketches of her about. If I ever find them (and I hope I do, really), I’ll be sure to post them.

But aside from that, like I said, I did role play with this character on a Danny Phantom fan thread and boy was that a cringy time. I will admit now, that back then, when I was like 12 or whatever, I was an obnoxious brat who didn’t know how to really socialize or what she was doing on the Internet. Hahaha, when going back there to find the old image links, I ventured onto some of my older posts and…. Whooooo boy, no thank you.

I know at that point I did also write short fanfics from time to time, but I think those might be locked on boot drives from our old computers and don’t have a way of looking for them now either. For those, if I ever do find them, I might also post them, but it all depends on just HOW much cringe I want to trudge up and share, hahaha.

I know I’ve been ranting a lot now and it’s already now past Friday, even for the time zone I’m in, but I’m gonna go on a little side story as… an apology, though it just means a bit more ranting.

When I said I RPed on this site, I can’t actually say a lot of actual character development happened. I don’t remember what the system was for RPing canon show characters and the times they did pop up, it was on a situational basis, because more people were interested in playing their own character and pretty much everyone on that forum had half-ghost, half-human characters that had their powers for one reason or another.

There was one thread that was particularly popular though that I spent a lot of time in with most of the other players, called Halfa High, so it was just kids in high school. Characters, like mine, that were younger than high school age, had various reasons for being there, like they’re super geniuses or they have a sibling there they’ve come to see or something like that; it’s a fandom RP so anything can happen. Most of the stuff in here, because it was 12-14 or whatever year olds, was just characters pairing up with each other, cause I guess that’s just what kids care about, hahaha. I don’t know, I’m just an old lady now.

Anyway, this thread went on for a good number of pages and eventually they started a second one. And then they had one where everyone went to summer camp, so other weird adventures could be had without the confines of going to school.

This was the one I remember doing the most in though frankly, I don’t remember what the overarching storyline was at the time, though I don’t think I knew what was really going on back in the day either.

One of the big points I do remember was the fact that many of the people on this forum looked up to one particular member, who I’ll call Susan, because that was her character’s name. I’m pretty sure she was in her early 20s at this time, so a lot of the younger people gravitated towards her because she was mature and knew how to keep things moving in terms of RP story; she was more or less the main storyteller of the Halfa threads, coming up with a lot of the plot points and twists. She was also just popular cause she had been there for a while, I think, and she was a pretty good artist on the forum.

She wasn’t necessarily a bad person and usually always open to adapting an RP to involve suggested ideas, but I remember at the time, I was super jealous of her. One, because she did have really good art and I felt like a poo-poo artist and two, because she seemed to have a lot of sway in terms of what she wanted to happen in most scenarios, so much so, it was treated as forum canon that her character was married to Dark Danny and had two kids with him.

Nowadays, of course, I don’t give a damn. Whatever. But back then, it was annoying to me. And I guess some part of me wanted to pair my characters with Older Dan. I remember actually being openly mad about it on the forums and to her in private messages about it and did get in trouble for being a salty, little brat for it. One time, I even wrote a bitter fanfic that was less than subtle in regards to it, but I remember cooling my jets enough for them to not just full out ban me.

Like I said, I was obnoxious back then; it’s a phase all kids go through I guess, cause I see it in kids that age even now.

Anyway, this actually developed into a story point in the RP when I agreed to not be such an Angsty Annie about the whole thing and the Halfa Summer Camp thread took some weird turns. Besides the usual pairing of everyone’s characters with one another and other summer camp-y hijinks, it had time travel, an evil group that were named after the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and political unrest regarding a ghostly royal family.

The royal family, of course, consisted of Susan and Dan, and their two kids. They had a son and a little girl, who I don’t remember the names of in the slightest. Susan got crowned? Queen of the Ghost Zone after she and some members of some Ghost Council? Were able to seal away Pariah Dark… and in that timeline, Dan was a fugitive, so they got married in secret and still managed to have secret relations enough to have their two kids.

But see, that was in the future of the Ghost Zone, which was like 20-30 years away from the time of the events of the actual RP. Why they were going back in time, I don’t remember, but I think it was something to do with Clockwork sending them back or something, who knows.

Valarie, however, is also technically part of the Ghost Royal Family (cause that’s a thing here…. hahaha), because I guess Susan was… Vlad’s niece? Somehow? So that made her and Valarie cousins, but because Susan was the one who sealed the Big Bad away, that meant she got to be Queen, just… because? There will be a lot of uncertainty with this recollection, cause again, heck if I actually knew or know what happened then.

Anyway, I guess in the uhm… present timeline, Susan was going to summer camp and this was before her and Danny were even a thing, cause doesn’t happen until they’re adults? I think, but she runs into a version of Dan that’s… in between him being a teenage and the future version that’s married to Susan… and… there was some contention with that, but again, I don’t remember what…

But eventually, everyone’s future selves end up appearing at summer camp, again for their own various reasons, along with Susan’s future kids, who get caught up in things, mainly because of misunderstanding and people having grudges and just wanting to kill other people without talking it out.

This loops back to my annoyance with Susan getting her character paired with a major canon character and the aforementioned political unrest, because it led to Older Valarie being a quiet, hardened soldier with a hidden, strong, but deeply unrequited love for Dan, which of course, causes a bit of tension with her and Susan, who is the Queen in the future. Also, apparently, I guess? There was a Ghost War or something? In the future or at some point that they set up a Royal Guard and Army, cause Valarie was more or less the Captain of all that, along with the personal trainer of the eldest son of the Royal Family. Future Susan, of course, is fine with her being in such a position of power cause I guess she’s proved it by this point and she doesn’t know of Valarie’s feelings for her husband, so it’s all right as rain as long as she just… stews about it silently to herself, because that is totally the healthy thing to do.

Older Valarie also goes back in time though, because eventually, people start coming across the aforementioned Four Horsemen, which aren’t really horsemen, because they don’t even have horses, but again, are named after them and are supposed to be the “living embodiments” of their namesake. So we have super powerful characters named War, Pestilence, Famine, and Death running around for… reasons? That I can’t even remember. Certain members’ characters are actually the younger versions of the Four before they’re… corrupted? Or something like that and given those names and most the people who turn into whichever, of course, have to fight their evil, older selves cause that’s cool or whatever.

Younger Valarie, at the time, was just hanging about and I guess fawning over a teenage Danny or the in between Dan (this is just as confusing to remember as it is to read, trust me), and I think makes friends with the Future Prince and Princess, who again are running around. I think the Prince was there to try and find Dan, because he believes he? Killed his father? Even though Dan is his father? And Dan was there anyway to protect the younger version of his future wife…? And the Princess was there just cause she wanted her mom, which is Future Susan, who went back to… do…. Something…?

But anyway, Younger Valarie ends up getting approached by her future self, who had originally come to serve her duty as Captain of the Royal Guard and protect Future Queen Susan, but eventually starts to realize that she could perhaps mess with the past to change things to the way she really wants them (even though I know now that would probably create some annoying paradox but please don’t get me on time paradoxes cause we’ve been here long enough already), so she starts to put it in her younger self’s head that everything going on here isn’t fair and she should do more than just be obedient and trusting and take whatever Susan says without question, because by not being more open and honest about your feelings just leads to a life of misery, pain and loneliness.

However, Younger Valarie just doesn’t get why she would say these things and rejects that line of thinking, which kinda makes Older Valarie snap and be like “okay, fine, I guess I’ll just go kill some peeps and then you’ll see what I mean”... I mean, I think? She does try to stop influencing her younger self and try to take matters into her own hands though.

Because at one point, we did have it where Older Valarie confronts Older Susan about her deep, dark hidden feelings, and they get into a fight over it, especially after Older Valarie threatens to go kill the Prince, but being a trained soldier and the Captain of the Royal Guard, Older Valarie does kick Older Queen Susan’s butt, but I think… is interrupted by one of the Four, that being War.

I think Older Dan also comes in at some point and chides Older Valarie for her actions, but heck if I remember. To be honest, if I fully cared and wanted to really relive some cringe, I could probably go to the forum and just read over the whole thread, but that was like 200+ (if not more) of pages and I…. do not feel like doing that, hahaha.

Anyway, Older Valarie and War end up getting into a fight, because it turns out War himself has some issue with Older Valarie. And it turns out that he used to be like her second in command? Or something? Who disappeared while on a mission and ended up into some spoopy, dark, dangerous, evil place, where he got corrupted and turned into War and it turns out he was okay with it, because he was also angry and bitter, cause surprise! He himself had feelings for Older Valarie, but poor guy got friendzoned and his attempts went unnoticed because she instead had feelings for Older Dan, because love triangles are also a cool plot twist to do, cause why not, I guess.

Uhm… I think during this fight was when Older Valarie started to notice the error? Of her ways? Or something like that after seeing one of her closest subordinates fall into darkness, so her story shifts to trying to get War to remember who he used to be. This character did have an original name, but I totally forget what it was… Anyway, War claims that there’s nothing she can do because he embraced and was more than willing to give up his soul or whatever for the power to actually make Older Valarie notice him or something.

I… actually don’t remember much past this point, though. I want to say she did end up getting through to him, but that might just be me rewriting history. That character, though, was more or less being set up to give someone for Young Valarie to pair with and I do thing there was a present day or at least an uncorrupted version of that character pop up at one point….

But besides that, I don’t even remember if that RP was finished, mainly because I think I started to stop going there as much and lost interest. The RP itself, actually, I think started to slow down, mainly because people got busy with other things, especially Susan and because she was again, more or less the driving force behind most things, it petered out.

I’m actually uncertain how old I was when there, because I will admit, when I was in my first year of college, I toyed around with some of the concepts from this RP and wanted to repurpose it into a story. It was mainly the stuff that took place in the future with the Royal Family and with the Four Horsemen, where basically, it would follow Older Valarie (hell, the “rewrites” character name might have just been Valarie for simplicity sake) as she dealt with her feelings with the Royal family and her relation to it, trying to protect the Kingdom and its people, and eventually deal with the disappearance of her Second in Command and his reappearance as a giant threat later on.

…. Really, I still kinda like the idea…

ANYWAY, I have talked long enough and am tardy enough with just this post as it is, so I’ll leave it at that. According to the Google Doc where I’m writing all this before actually posting, this is six pages long, so even more apologies for my rambling.

Still, hope you liked this month’s look back in time and look forward to the next one!

[brendancorris]

Thundercats Roar thoughts...

So a friend of mine showed me this trailer a few weeks ago, and for a second I didn’t believe it was real. But, before I get further into my thoughts on this thing everybody else on the internet has already covered, let me go into my history with Thundercats.

Despite never drawing much fan art for the series, Thundercats is a property I love, and one of the biggest parts of my life in my earliest years. Born in ‘86 with three older siblings, I was just in time for the original Thundercats. My family already consisted of die-hard fans, so it was naturally one of the first franchises I got into. From the time I was born to when I was about 4, Masters of the Universe and Thundercats were what it was all about. It wasn’t until ‘89 that I got my first TMNT toy, and about a year later that was literally all I cared about. 

But before my TMNT obsession, there was Thundercats. While I do have many fond memories of watching the show, my most beloved memories of it are simply being a fan. Collecting the action figures, listening to my siblings talk about the show, and playing Thundercats. Not a video game, though. On nights when my Mom was out, my Dad would host He-Man or Thundercats games where he’d be either Skeletor or Mumm-ra, my oldest sister and brother would be She-Ra and He-Man or Lion O and Cheetarah (while my other sister would be... somebody) and I, being the baby, would always get stuck being Orko or Snarf. All us kids would wrestle our dad and beat up on him as he’d try to defeat us. Epic stuff. Some how the younger of my two sisters would usually end up horribly injured after each game, though...

Simply put, Thundercats was the real deal with my family when I was little. The action was great, the evil beasts were awesome, the toys were a blast, and Cheetarah, along with the He-Man girls, made me feel things my tiny self wasn’t yet ready to feel. 

It wasn’t until I was in high school that I revisited the show, and, honestly, I was surprised how much it held up. Especially considering in high school I was “too cool for everything” yet I still acknowledged its quality. Yes, it was corny in the way all old children's’ shows were at the time (I have nothing but love for that tone, but I can see how it would be hard to digest for later generations), but it still had great, smart, sophisticated writing for its time, amazing animation and artwork, good characters, and one of the most hype intros ever.

In 2011 a reboot was made. This reboot was far darker and more built on political commentary. It was an understandable progression. The fans had grown up, so the franchise did too. While I wasn’t a huge fan, I can respect the quality of the writing, art, and over all work that went into it. It was a sophisticated piece of art. I felt it went a bit too extreme with the tone it was pushing, and as a long time fan of the original, found lots of the changes and design choices hard to digest. But again, it was a good show, and I respect what it attempted to accomplish. 

However, the show was canceled before season 2 could air. This left a lot of fans mad, confused as to whether it was low ratings, low ratings as a result of its switched time slot that was far from ideal, or just a business decision to sacrifice a popular show just to make way for a potentially more popular future show. While I can understand the upset from fans 100%, I didn’t feel it as I wasn’t a regular viewer. 

So, fast-forward to earlier this month when my friend shows me this trailer. As I said, at first I thought it was a joke, like College Humor or something. Then when the realization sunk in that it was real, I hated it. But, quickly I told myself that I don’t know enough about it yet to fully judge. I haven’t seen an episode. Sure, it looks awful from what I’ve seen, and I can clearly see the “monkey see monkey do” going on here with the copying of other successful modern cartoons. But, again, I haven’t seen it. Before I get into my final thoughts thus far, I need to address the elephant in the room...

...the similarities everybody has seen in this and Teen Titans GO!

While I wasn’t a die hard or anything, I did watch the entire first two seasons of the original Cartoon Network Teen Titans series when it was new, and I did like it. I thought it was very well-written, well-acted, had great characters, great character development, great stories, and great action. The characters worked off of each other beautifully. However, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I had some issues with it.

UNPOPULAR OPINIONS AHEAD - PREPARE TO HATE ME

Since its release I have always found the art style to look very under-developed and unappealing. It looked like an awkward imbalance of the (already bland in my mind) Justice League cartoon style and a newbie anime style. The best way I can describe it was it resembled the artwork of a junior-high kid who just started drawing anime. Also, I found a lot of the anime-inspired elements to feel forced. When characters would mutate into chibi disasters or tropes like sweat drops scrolling down their faces would happen, it was always a bit cringy and out of place. It felt like it was shoehorned in rather than rightfully fitting in.

But the most notable thing about the show was it was a pretty huge departure from the original DC comics. Gone was the realistic art style of the comics. Now the characters all had big, round heads, twig-like limbs, huge hands and feet, and big anime-eyes. Everything was very simplistic, sharp, and jagged. There was far more comedy, some great, and some that cringy chibi stuff I mentioned. The integration of anime tropes and far more kid humor was a huge departure from the comics. So, basically, despite being a good show, Teen Titans, the show, was a huge departure from its source material.

Then comes Teen Titans GO! and overnight it becomes one of the most hated (and most popular) cartoons of this age. I didn’t quite hate it, but wrote it off as crap without seeing it. It is a shame that the original show was canceled before it got to be finished, but putting fans’ anger towards that aside, the creation of TTG makes perfect sense. The characters proved extremely popular and marketable, largely because how comedic they could be when bouncing off each other (and the original show had been canceled. Continuing a canceled show years later is a difficult task, regrouping the team, dancing through the legal BS, and finding enough staff and people to fund it to be on board, as well as a network to accept it). More simplistic art styles were becoming more popular, and after the post-Adult Swim days, hyper, wacky, odd comedies have become the norm.

To be honest, any time I have seen Teen Titans GO!, which has only been about three episodes or so, I laughed. I don’t care what people say, the show is legitimately funny. Is it the greatest show ever? Not by a long shot. Is it better than the last TT show? Probably not. Is it a shame it exists while the original never finished? Kinda. But is it a bad show? Honestly, no. 

TTG knows exactly what it wants to be and delivers. It may not be the sequel show old fans wanted, but if you put aside the hatred, you’ll see it’s not only a funny cartoon bursting with energy and very well-defined and appealing character designs reminiscent of shows like Dexter’s Lab, but also a huge love letter to the Titans, the last show, and all things DC. It is clearly made by DC fans. I may be biased because I love Weird Al and The Golden Girls, but, man, this is funny right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ICmOMLX3rQ

Admittedly, even the movie trailer looks funny, and I’ll likely see it, despite not really being a fan of the show. Just like the 2011 Thundercats, I see what the TTG team is intending to do, and I appreciate how well they do it, despite not being a regular supporter of it.

And, well, that brings us back to ‘Roar’. Will I like it? Based on what I’ve seen so far, likely not, but who knows. It could end up being the next Sonic Boom. I do strongly dislike the art direction for Thundercats Roar, and the footage shown thus far did not make me laugh (except Mumm-ra learning about the cats being on Third Earth by reading it in the newspaper. That actually got a chuckle from me). But, as much as my gut is telling me to hate this show, I won’t pass judgment until I’ve at least seen a couple episodes. It’s definitely not the Thundercats I love, but to be honest, I didn’t want a TC reboot. I was fine with it just being as it is. So if somebody’s going to reboot it for a new generation, I’ll be glad to see my favorite franchises get passed down, so long as it is done lovingly. If the show truly is a love letter to the history of the franchise as it claims to be, and if it’s a decently quality product that obvious care went into, I’ll be fine with it.

It would be so easy to tear it apart and hate it, but as I get older I find myself growing more accepting of such change. I’m not EXPECTING to like it, but who knows, I also wasn’t expecting to like Sonic Boom. Basically, so far I’m not digging what I’ve seen, but I’ll keep an open mind and stay hopeful. Here’s hoping they can change my mind with the final product.

The End

[universetwo]

[Monday to Saturday] Chapter 1. - Wonwoo Needs to Fall in Love

Warmup Post ✧ Masterlist 

"She walks into the room, she looks at him, and says, I regret dating all of those guys before you, I regret making fun of you when you were just a simple nerd playing games for hours at one sitting, now I realize you are the only one I love. Then he stands up, slowly walks to her and says, You only love me now because you figured out my father is a CEO, you only love me for my money! He shouts then he walks out from the room and slams the door!"

Everyone in the room, including me, is silently blinking and processing what just happened. Seungcheol hyung is standing passionately on the couch while holding my script up high.

"Hyung, I think that's a terrible idea. We are not going to win this competition with such a cliché storyline," says Jihoon with his arms crossed, which makes Seungcheol hyung get off the couch with a deep sigh.

"You are such a party pooper. People love drama scenarios, we should do something similar," he still pushes and Jihoon rolls his eyes.

"But we are not doing this for average people! A strict professional film community will judge every submission so we have to come up with something more creative," adds Jihoon and he grabs my script and looks through it again.

"I quite like what Wonwoo wrote… I think that's pretty exciting and they might like it," shrugs Soonyoung and I shake his hand.

"Fine, but there is some stuff where you should add more emotions," Seungcheol hyung says as he turns towards me and he pats my shoulder.

"Yes, sir."

We started to work on this movie project back in January when we were all on winter break. Even if we could have gone home to spend some time with our families, most of us stayed on the campus to take some extra classes or continue our part-time jobs.

I was passing by the film lab while I was sorting out some documents for the film department, just to earn some money, and I saw this flier with a competition on it. It said, make a short movie, maximum twenty minutes, of an original story and you can win up to ₩5,000,000 for each crew member and a trip to France for the International Young Adult Film Makers Festival.

We never thought about making a movie but this seemed like a great opportunity. In our group, many of us are talented in multiple fields. We have Seungcheol hyung who likes to be in charge of things, we have Mingyu and Minghao who are good with designs and know how to work a camera, we have actors like Seungkwan, Seokmin, Chan, and Junhui, then Hansol who is good at editing, and last but not least our Jihoonie who is good at everything related to sound and music and he is also serious about these kinds of projects. But I'm also here who is sort of good at writing stories, at least that's what my minor is. And with all honesty, now at the beginning of the project, I have the most pressure on me.

"There are some parts that need to be stronger in the dialogue," says Jihoon as he is holding a red pen in his right hand and starts drawing lines around some parts of the script. After most of the guys left, some of stayed behind in our dorm room to go over the script. Jihoon and I were sitting at the table next to each other. He was really focused on looking over the script all over again and trying to give me good feedback and advice.

"Yes, I agree… but the thing is, you all want some romance in the story but I'm not good with it," I say while I'm looking down on my hands, ignoring his eyes that filled with confusion. I feel a bit embarrassed.

"Then go and fall in love," laughs Mingyu who is leaning back on the kitchen counter.

"As if it would be that easy. None of us are good in relationships," defends Soonyoung and he is right in a way.

"Speak for yourself hyung," retorts Chan and he raises his hand to show off his promise ring which we all know so well by now. That cocky smile of his cannot be erased. It's annoying that the maknae among us had a girlfriend in college before any of us. I mean, we have three guys who are seniors but they never dated in the past four years.

"Okay, you don't have to remind us how miserably lonely we are," sighs Mingyu and he walks away while shaking his head.

"Why doesn't Chan write the story then or at least the romance dialogues?" I ask and Jihoon starts to laugh.

"Have you ever seen his writing? This kid can only write business reports for his classes and other than that I heard him talk to his girlfriend and I thought he is talking to his mom," laughs Jihoon and I look over to Chan to see his reaction. He is about to blow up.

"Jihoon hyung! Why do you have to be so mean?" He whines then he stands up from the table and walks away. Now I'm only left with Soonyoung and Jihoon. Everyone else left.

"Okay, here is the plan. You get one week to look over it, watch as many romantic movies as you can, even the most cringy ones. Write over the dialogues and then it is ready. I think plot-wise it's pretty good," compliments Jihoon and I thank him with a nod. Soonyoung, who has been sitting in the armchair slowly stands up and walks over to us. He puts his hands on the table and leans over with a serious face.

"Not to ruin the mood, but I think even after watching ten million romantic movies, emotionless Wonwoo will not be able to write any sweet cheesy love dialogues. He is just incapable of human emotions," teases Soonyoung while holding his poker face. I pick up my pen and throw it at him.

"Just because you haven't seen me cry in front of all of you that doesn't mean I don't have emotions," I say with a sharp voice and Soonyoung shakes his head.

"It's not about crying though but have you ever been in love?" He suddenly asks and I gulp. 

"I don't know…"

"You see Jihoon, a writer should have experience in life. I think Wonwoo is good at writing crime stories and such but when it comes to emotions…"

"Okay cut it out, I trust Wonwoo," sighs Jihoon as he interrupts Soonyoung and he firmly closes the script. 

"Besides, you said I can write crime stories well, but I have never been a detective before," I shrug. 

"We just don't know that. Every night you disappear from seven until ten. What are you doing then?"

"I'm in the library damn it! I work there and I study there."

"We don't have witnesses to that," shrugs Soonyoung and he makes me want to hit him.

"Okay Soonyoung I think you should leave, I still have things to talk about with Wonwoo…"

"I live here for god's sake!" Soonyoung shouts then he takes out some milk from the fridge and disappears into his room.

"He is like this with me because I always annoy him so now he feels good that he can do the same with me," I sigh and I take the script from Jihoon to look over his notes.

The sun is slowly setting and we are getting closer to seven. I have to leave soon.

"Do you think it will work out?"

Jihoon looks down at the table and sighs. He thinks for a few seconds and then raises his head to look at me.

"I don't know… I can't predict it. It's all new for me too. It's not like producing songs, this is more complicated," he says and I nod. Although it's quite funny how easy song producing is for him, but I agree that this project seems to be more challenging than we thought it would be. We have been working on it for more than a month now… and we have until June to finish up everything. It should sound long but when we think about the whole process, those months will go by too quickly. But in our dictionary the words 'give up' don't exist.

"I have a present for you, though…" says Jihoon and puts a set of keys on the table. "I figured it would be good for you to watch some movies on the big screen. I have a high school friend who works at the local cinema and I borrowed this key from him. Every night you can go in the cinema, go to the screening room #10, they barely use that one, and on the computer, they have a selection of movies and then the whole room is yours," says cheerfully Jihoon and I just can't believe all the connections he has. I take the keys in my hand and I’m speechless for a second. 

“So I should just go into the room and watch some romance movies?” 

“I guess that might help...” He shrugs then he suddenly stands up. “I should leave now, you have to go to work soon.” 

Every night at the library is the same. The building is located in the middle of the campus. It’s five floors tall and filled with thousands of books. They are mostly scholarly books for studying and research but there is a section on the fifth floor that is for recently published fictional books and classic literature. I spent most of my time there when I was a freshman, sometimes even fell asleep there. That’s when the main librarian offered me to work there. 

The job itself is easy. I have to help students find books either on the shelves as a physical copy or online in the university’s database. Then I have to organize the books that are dropped down at the main desk after the loan time is over. And when I’m done with all of these I either study or borrow a book from the fifth floor and read for fun. 

But these days I spend most of my free time even at my job by working on the script. I have fifty pages so far and I feel that I’m close to the end, but the others keep find problems with the dialogues. I don’t know what can be the problem because I read a lot of books that have romance in it... but it’s just not working out for me. 

Tonight I’m thinking about the boys’ words. I have to fall in love in order to be able to write more emotion filled conversations between two characters. As if that would be so easy... I’m good at writing deep, meaningful words and interesting scenarios but when it comes to emotions, I get stuck. 

“Wonwoo, what are you thinking about?” A sudden voice stops me from my chain of thoughts. I look up from the blank paper I have been staring at for minutes to see my boss standing by the desk. I quickly stand up and bow to greet her. 

“Sorry, I was just thinking about the script, you know the one I told you about,” I say with a weak voice and she smiles warmly at me. She takes the paper but there is a sudden disappointment in her eyes when she sees it’s completely blank. 

“Oh, but you haven’t written anything yet,” she observes and then she puts back down the paper. 

“It’s not going so well...” I confess then I sink back in my chair with a deep sigh. 

“I understand it but please try to continue your work without a problem,” she says then she points at the stack of unorganized books that are waiting for me. I say sorry and as she leaves I get up from the desk. I put all the books in the small cart that helps me push these heavy research materials back to their right spot. 

As I’m going through different aisles, I feel something is not right. I keep hearing crying noises but the problem with that the sound is just too familiar. I try to look for the source of the sound and follow it. That’s when I see Junhui hiding away in one of the small study rooms. The lights are off but I can recognize him by the way he sits and lowers down his head on the table. I have seen him like this a couple of times... 

“Hey, what’s going on?” I ask him which makes him jump a little. I leave the cart behind and I go towards the tiny windowless room. In fact, there is not even a door on it. It’s really just for people to feel a bit more secluded when they want to get ready for the exams. 

“Ah, Wonwoo. I’m just- I’m,” he is trying to look for the right words but they don’t come out well. I sit down on a chair next to him and pat his back a little. Around him, there are some Chinese textbooks laid out on the table. He was tutoring again. 

“Did someone insult you again?” I ask, feeling my head starting to boil. Junhui silently nods and wipes away his tears. Usually, the others don’t really know when something like this happens. The only reason why Junhui shares his concerns with me because not once I found him like this in the library. “Those bastards. I told you, you should tell Seungcheol and he will beat them up for you.” 

“I don’t want anyone to get beaten up because of me,” He says and closes all the books and shoves them in his backpack. “I’m fine. I can take it. I’m just a bit more sensitive because I haven’t seen my family for almost a year,” Junhui hurridly stands up and leaves the room. I want to say something to him, but the right words don’t come out. Again... those damn emotions. 

When I turn on the lights to see if there is any trash in the room that should be taken out, I see a piece of paper lying on the floor. There is Korean and Chinese writing on it. The Chinese one I can’t understand but the Korean one is pretty clear, “Stupid Communist”. 

I feel even more down after this situation. I finish packing the books back to the shelves and then my shift is finally over. I’m ready to head back to the dorm but when I want to put my phone in my jeans pocket, that’s when I find the keys that Jihoon gave me. I decide to visit the cinema even though I feel like just going home and playing some games until I fall asleep. 

It takes me fifteen minutes from the campus to get to the local cinema. For my luck, it starts to rain and the cold wind doesn’t make the situation any better. I finally reach the cinema but I have no idea where I should go in. I send a short text to Jihoon and I’m worried what if he is in his studio. Because if so, then there is no way he would answer his phone. But fortunately, he texts me back after three minutes. 

“Look for the back door” says the text message. The building itself is not so modern compared to the buildings around it. It seems pretty old and it’s hard to imagine that there are at least ten screening rooms inside. I go around the building and at the back, there is a little grass filled yard where they have huge trashcans and some garbage caught up in the bushes. I find the door and try one of the keys inside the hole. After a few tries, one of them finally works. I open the door and find myself in a dark hallway. I decide to not turn on any lights, just the flashlight on my phone. I don’t want anyone to find me there. 

I pass by a couple of doors but none of them are labeled as screening rooms. Just a bunch of staff rooms and empty rooms with traces of popcorn on the carpet floor. The whole atmosphere feels like as if it has been so long since any human entered this building. But when I hear some muffled voices from upstairs and even farther a movie is playing, the building feels less abandoned. 

I’m close to giving up the search when I notice a bigger and fancier double door. Above the frame, there is a small plate placed on the wall that says Screening Room #10. I slowly take out the keys to not make any sounds and the first key I try opens the door right away. 

Inside it’s pitch black dark and smells moldy. I put up my phone high to light up the room. It looks like an ordinary cinema room with about fifteen aisles and a huge screen at the front. I guess to put in some movies, I have to go up the stairs and get into the back room. 

I trip a few times before I get up then I try the keys again. Next time for sure I should label which one of them opens which door to make my journey easier. When the door klicks open, that’s when I notice a person standing behind the computer. I realize it’s a girl and she has headphones on. Her back is to me so I don’t know what to do. I should run or I could talk to her... but then she would ask me why I’m here. 

As I’m thinking about what should I do next, suddenly the screen lights up and the typical Fox Searchlight Pictures intro starts following other company intros. I’m still frozen in the door but when the girl starts to move, I suddenly jump to the upper seat and down in the aisle. I shuffle back while I’m crouching so she won’t notice me. I don’t know where I could find an escape route other than the one I came in. So I just stay low between the seats. 

For my luck, when she comes out from the room, she sits down only a few seats from my hiding spot. If she would look to her right, she would immediately see my stupid-self crouching down, looking scared as hell like a creepy cockroach. But she is entirely focused on the movie. I don’t know what movie is it. I can’t make it out from the beginning. 

I try to observe the girl if I know her or not. She seems like she is around my age. She is wearing a light colored sweater, perhaps yellow, it’s hard to make it out from my position. She is wearing a denim skirt and black tights with sneakers. I can’t really see her face but I can tell she is wearing glasses. Her hair doesn’t seem so dark colored, probably dyed to some lighter shade. 

The movie starts very quietly but then suddenly a woman speaks up in English, which makes me jump. The girl still doesn’t notice me. The woman in the movie keeps talking and I make it out that her accent is more British than American. After a while, I guess the scene changes, and children are singing. It kind of creeps me out, especially because I don’t see what’s going on. My legs are starting to go numb and I really don’t know what to do. 

When the children stop singing suddenly my phone starts to ring. This brings an end to my hideaway spot. As soon as I try to decline Soonyoung’s call the girl stands up with a slight scream. 

“Who the hell are you?” She shouts at me over the dialogue in the movie. I finally stand up, feeling my back bones crack a little. 

“I can explain, just give me a second,” I say and I start to go closer to her so I don’t have to shout over the movie but she is keeping her distance. 

“Don’t come closer, you creeper!” She shouts again then she runs into the back room. I try to go after her but she closes the door on me. The door has a glass window so I get the chance to look into her eyes. I can see she is scared and I feel so pathetic. But I can also see some kind of realization in her eyes. Does she know me? 

“You!” She mouths. “How did you get in here?” She asks as she opens the door. In the back, I can hear children talking and playing in the movie. 

“I got these keys from my friend,” I raise them up so she can see them. 

“From what friend?”

“Someone...” 

“Come on, I need to know!” She yells and I shake a little. She is a bit more fierce than I thought she would be. 

“Lee Jihoon,” I answer quickly and she looks confused again. 

“Why would he have keys to the screening room?” She asks but this sounds more like a question to herself, not to me. 

“I don’t know, he said he has a friend in here and he said people don’t really use this room so I can come and watch any movies. I didn’t expect anyone to be here,” I confess and the girl sighs. 

“Listen here Jeon Wonwoo, this is my place here, okay? I come here every second day for various reasons. I don’t why your friend Lee Jihoon or his friend think no one is using the screening room. I am using it! So please leave now,” she says with a firm voice and I feel like I don’t have another choice. I start to slowly walk away and while I can, I take a look at the screen. It is really a movie I haven’t seen before but I can’t really make it out if I know anyone in it. 

“By the way, how do you know my name?” I ask her but she is not behind me anymore. She closed the door and went back to the computer. I can see her rewinding the movie to watch what she missed. I decide to not bother her because I don’t want to get into trouble, so I just leave. 

When I get back to our dorm room, I find Mingyu in our kitchen while Jihoon is sitting on the counter. Junhui and Joshua’s room door is closed so I assume they might be sleeping already. I can hear Soonyoung singing in the bathroom so he is home too. I wonder why did he call me. 

“You are back so early,” Jihoon says as he looks at his watch. 

“I met a girl,” I sigh and I drop myself down on the couch. Both of them look at me as if I said I met with a ghost. 

“Wow hyung, that was really quick. When we told you to fall in love, I didn’t think you will take it this seriously,” says Mingyu and I don’t know if he is serious or just teasing me. 

“It’s not like that. There was a girl in the screening room. And she chased me out. Well, not literally but she told me to get lost basically,” I say while I stretch out on the couch. Jihoon looks surprised, so he didn’t know about it. 

“Okay, that’s weird. My friend said nobody uses it,” replies Jihoon and he takes out his phone. I guess he is calling his friend. 

“Do you want some ramen?” Suddenly asks Mingyu as he is standing by the couch. I look up at him and silently nod. 

“It was so weird though...” I say as I follow him into the kitchen. “The girl knew my name... it felt like she knows me and maybe even Jihoon. It’s just so weird.” 

“Well, you are not really the popular type so I wonder too why does she know you. But wait, are you sure she wasn’t just a ghost?” He asks and I roll my eyes. 

“I don’t believe in ghosts and she seemed pretty real to me.” 

“Or maybe she really was a ghost,” Jihoon suddenly says. “My friend has no idea what kind of girl you are talking about. He doesn’t know anyone who goes there. Especially not a girl...” announces Jihoon. My head is slowly starting to ache. 

“But I’m pretty sure she was real...” 

“Oh did Wonwoo get an imaginary girlfriend?” Soonyoung, with a towel wrapped around him, appears in the kitchen. Of course, he cannot miss the chance to tease me. 

“She is not my girlfriend and she is not imaginary!” I shout which makes him take a few steps back. 

“Okay, calm down Romeo. But I think it’s quite funny how no one knows about her.” 

“Wait and see... day after tomorrow I’m going to go back,” I declare even surprising myself but I try not to show it. “And you are coming with me!” I point at half-naked Soonyoung who looks at me with a puzzled expression. 

“Listen Wonwoo, I’m not really into ghost hunting,” he says while holding his hands up in protest. 

“She is real and I will prove it to all of you, but you are coming with me as another witness!” I say again and Soonyoung sighs. Mingyu and Jihoon in the background are just laughing at us. 

“But wait, why the day after tomorrow?” Soonyoung asks suddenly. I calm myself down before I answer. 

“She said she is there every other day. So she won’t be there tomorrow...” I explain and I can still see the doubt in his eyes. “Just wait and see, wait and see.” 

Chapter 2.