#and I still haven’t really gotten to talk to back about the new episode

[jeoncopi]

[1] EAGER DAYS | JJK

are you ready to witness what's like to have a very yearning, domestically soft, vulnerable, silly yet playful and hot military boyfriend?

welcome to military jungkook's episodes!

—this entire series are based during jungkook's current state. as I'll be writing with each irl update. so this series might last until jungkook's finally free (Imao).

IMPORTANT: each episode won't be necessarily correlated to one another but some episodes could have light references to previous actions, feelings or situations.

BE AWARE OF: 18+ CONTENT.

pair: jungkook x reader

word count: 1.1k

what’s in here?: cutely and reassuring banter.

[more espisodes]

EPISODE 1. “piercings? OUT!”

It’s early in the morning, you both haven’t eat.

Jungkook wakes up first, just like he has been doing it for a couple of days as he said that everything is for him to be able to accustom and get ready for his future new morning routine.

he’s been already so dedicated, using eunwoo’s gifted military watch too. — he didn’t liked thinking too much about going there but somehow, he had to if he wanted to mentally prepare. mostly when he really, really didn’t wanted to go.

he sighs as he’s brushing his teeth. so sleepy..

“okay, I’ll take them out now.” he murmurs to himself as he open his mouth, slender fingers touching his lips as he removes one of his lip piercings. “okay.. there’s one.” continuing by repeating the same process for the other one. “and.. last one.”

he takes a good look at himself in the mirror. fingers slightly rubbing his bottom lip. ‘the scar doesn’t look too bad’. he pushes the inside of his bottom lip with his tongue, having a better look at the size of the little holes. ‘yep, not too bad.’

stepping out of the bathroom as soon as he heards a sound that looks like it’s coming from the kitchen, ‘babe’. crosses his mind.

all he can see is your back as soon as you ask, “all good?” taking several steps closer to him when your body finally turns to face him and he could already get a whiff of the very tempting leftover pizza from last night that you were already heating. the smell quickly floating all over the place.

“yeah,” he responds without further ado.

your hands travel over his face into a cup as you inspected his face, slightly moving it from side to side. “your skin has gotten better.” you smile. “oh.” pausing, you start caressing your anular finger onto his bottom lip.

“oh.” he mimics your response in agreement. bambi eyes only examinating your every facial expression while yours are just so focused on his lips.

“it’s not that bad..” reassuring him, you mutter more to yourself but jungkook can still heard you very clearly.

“I thought the same.” barely managing to talk since you keep looking and touching his lips.

“I like it though.” leaving a peck on his lips. “you look sort of weird though.” you chuckle.

he does too. a sort of shy smile drawing his lips as he rubs the back of his head with his left arm, feeling a bit embarrassed without one solid reason. “it’s been a while..”

you then mirror him with a warm smile. “it really has been..” you pause. “it sort of looks like a vampire has now bitten your lip though..” you joke. “should I be jealous?” arching one eyebrow in a funny way.

jungkook laugh. “you’re so obsessed with vampires, I’m telling you.” while taking your hands off his face. he places them behind your back as he hugs you. sort of trapping you into his big body. snuggling his face into your neck sniffing you as if he was a dog and it makes you laugh.

“leave me alone!” raising your voice in between laughs. you finally detached your body from his. “you’re crazy.”

he boyishly smiles, crossing both his arms on his chest as he quickly point his chin up when he says, “you smell good.” with the tone of his voice being very playful and sultry..

he continues, this time leaning majority of his weight onto the dinner table with his right hand while his left one anxiously caresses one side of his neck, very slowly. “I’m..” he pauses. “..kinda scared of shaving my entire hair, if I’m being honest.” he confesses. “this is just step one,” referring to his piercings. “but step two..”

you listen as the pizza is finally heated. placing them with both plates on the table. your gaze lingering at him as you both comfortably seat.

“it’s hard” you respond, sympathizing with him.

“It is.” he re-affirms. “but it’s just hair, right?”

“eung. it’s not like you have a choice anyways..”

“wow. you really do help.” he jokes around at your unhelpful answer. he chuckles about it as soon as he sees your worried face. “all good babe.” being light hearted with a soft smile, he continues. “I do know.” answering to you. then he breathes, “I’m thinking of doing it myself.”

you didn’t say a thing for a few seconds. “I wouldn’t be surprised to be honest.”

he chuckles. “I am that predictable?”

“I mean.. sometimes.” you tease.

jungkook rolls his eyes. “ha.” he tsk with a bitter smirk on his lips. it makes you laugh.

“too lazy to book a date for it?” you genuinely ask, referring to the hair salon.

“mm.. not really. I just thought that I won’t ever have this opportunity ever again, you know?” he pauses. “it’s not like I could go bald just any other day.” he chuckles.

agreeing with him, “you’re right.” you respond. “I’ve heard that they shave it for you once you’re there so..” he repeatedly nods his head very cutely, making his whole luscious hair bounce.

you smile. he’s so cute.

“but I’ve also heard that you can continuing shaving your hair as long as you’re there, you know?”

jungkook laughs at your words. “babe, do you really think I’ll do this TWICE?” as his hand dramatically points at his chest when he speaks. making you both laugh.

“I’ll leave my short hair if that’s the case, but I won’t give being bald a second chance..”

“why? you don’t even know if you’ll look bad.” you pause. “maybe it’s refreshing, you’ll never know.” you tease, “maybe you’ll fall in love with your bald head, life can bring many surprises.”

jungkook only sides eyed you while he takes a bite at his pizza slice. “tsk. no.” cheeks full. “I like my hair the way it is, thanks.”

making you laugh. “okay then.” pausing. “given this situation, I’ll trust your skills.” doing a fake half reverence to him with your pizza as you take a bite.

“you should trust me!” cutely demanding, he says with a pout on his lips.

you laugh again. “I said I do!”

[themusingsofacurlyhairednerd]

Heavy

Summary: Reader's having a depressive episode and needs some comfort from her mate

Content Warnings: Depression

Author's Note: I should be finishing my Vamp!Rhys fic but I got sad and wrote this instead

------------------------------------------------------

Velaris is beautiful at night, from the glittering stars overhead, to the soft gurgle of the Sidra rushing over time worn stones beneath the city’s many intricate bridges. The music makes the whole city feel full of light and laughter, couples often dancing and humming in the streets. It’s one of your favorite places to be.

Usually.

Tonight it’s just… there. Though you stand in the heart of it, everything moves around you, never quite touching you. It’s as if you’re suddenly a stranger in the place you love the most, the emotional distance between you palpable.

You jam your hands in your pockets and keep walking, though you’re not really sure where you’re going, your body moving on autopilot. It’s been like that for a couple weeks now, if you’re honest, you’ll be half way through the day sometimes before you realize you’re not sure how or when you even got out of bed, or gotten dressed. Did you even eat? Kiss your mate good morning? Rhys has been working long hours in Illyria lately, most nights you’re already asleep before he’s even tumbling into bed, but, now that you’re thinking about it, that could also be because you’ve been going to sleep earlier too.

You frown at your boots as you walk, trying to remember when this happened. It’s not new, you’ve had bouts of this since you were a teenager, but they’ve been better thanks to regular sessions with Madja and some other healers. Art therapy in the Rainbow has helped too. Usually you can tell when you’re starting to slip into the darker places in your head, but it crept up on you this time.

By the time your mindless wanderings bring you back to the Townhouse, the light from your upstairs bedroom is already on, meaning Rhys somehow finished his business and beat you home. You’d only planned to grab some takeout so you wouldn’t have to cook, and yet, here you stand, hands as empty as your stomach.

The door opens before you can even reach for your key, soft light spilling out into the entryway. “There you are!” Rhys says by way of greeting, as if he’d been waiting by the door for you. Your mate leans in to place a quick peck on your lips as he guides you inside.

“Did you go to Rita’s with Mor?”

He should be able to tell you hadn’t, since you’re wearing the same sweatpants you had been for a week, but then again, he also hasn’t been home enough to know you haven’t changed out of them. 

“No I…” you hate talking about this stuff, hate feeling like you’re burdening anybody with the weight you feel pressing down on your chest. “Uh, went to get dinner.”

Rhys stares down at your empty hands, eyebrows raised teasingly. “Did you forget to bring it back?”

You run a hand over your eyes. Cauldron they’re so heavy! Why is everything always so heavy? Your whole body feels like it’s made of bricks, just the effort to kick off your boots feels like it takes every single drop of energy you have left. “Sorry.” Even speaking feels like too much.

Rhys frowns, “Darling, are you ok?”

“Just tired,” you say, avoiding his eyes now. 

He steps forward, placing a knuckle under your chin and tilting your face towards him. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m tired,” you repeat, but your eyes are watering now. 

He stills, violet eyes roaming over you, assessing for the first time tonight how you look, the dark circles under your eyes. He knows you haven’t had trouble sleeping, he’s barely been able to wake you when he comes home at night. “It’s getting bad again, isn’t it?”

“I’m sorry,” you whisper, tears falling in earnest now.

Rhys’s features soften as he lifts you into his arms, the bond flooding with warmth and understanding as he says, “It’s not your fault. You can’t help it.”

You rest your head on his shoulder as he carries you upstairs. “I thought I was doing better… but everything just feels heavy again.”

He kisses your forehead gently as he climbs into bed and settles you down against his chest. Twisting, his wings unfurl so he can curl one around you, cocooning you in the warmth of his body. “What can I do to help?”

You wrap an arm around his waist as you settle your face against his chest, his heartbeat steady and even beneath you. Madja had said once that this was helpful if you got overly anxious, the steadiness of his breathing helping yours level out, and it helps now too, gives you something to focus on. It’s grounding and you let your breathing sync up, your chest rising and falling against his own. Madja hadn’t been able to stress enough how important it was to find something to ground you in the present when you got like this, lest your thoughts start to spiral deeper and deeper into the dark.

“Just need you to hold me for a little while,” you say.

Rhys pulls your favorite blanket up over the two of you before wrapping an arm around your waist. “I love you,” and the bond floods with more warmth than you think you deserve, but it doesn’t let up when those thoughts sneak in. “I’ll do anything you need me to.”

You place a gentle kiss to his chest. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he replies, fingers tracing shapes in your back. “No one has all good days.”

“But nothing even happened,” you protest. “I just woke up one morning and it was just so heavy to be awake.”

He kisses your temple. “We can see Madja in the morning, if you need, but you can’t beat yourself up. You have no control over it.”

You press your temple into his chest and breath in the jasmine and citrus scent of him. “I hate it.”

He places another kiss to the top of your head. You know he hates it too, hates that it’s a battle he can’t fight for you, no matter how much he wants to. “It will pass.”

Rhys is warm, his presence soothing, the darkness that seeps from his skin on the days he hasn’t had the time to expel enough of it, drifting over your body in soothing motions. This is safe and quite and peaceful. Your body starts to settle more and more as time goes on.

“Do you really believe that?” You whisper. “That it’ll pass?”

“Yes,” he says. “It has before, and it will again.” Knowing he’s had the experience himself, you’re inclined to believe he’s right.

“I’m glad you’re with me,” you admit. 

Rhys holds you a little tighter, “Till all the stars fall from the sky, my love.” He holds you all night, whispering all the things he loves about you as you start to fall asleep.

You let yourself fall into it, hoping tomorrow will be better.

[legally-allowed-to-slime]

Can’t even lie man I’ve been offline all day and i immediately went to your blog to read your takes on the session and Pearl n gem n co. after watching some wild life. Thanks for having the best takes lol

genuinely, it’s an honour. crazy to me that anyone would come to this blog for good takes, they never make any sense and i’m always suspiciously resentful towards c!scott. i’ll take this opportunity to lay out my gempearl thoughts as well

first of all, it drives me insane the way pearl usually goes along with whatever scott and cleo says, but the only thing she consistently, and has repeatedly, contradicted them on is that she’s been antagonising gem. in fact at the start of the session scott poked her about it again and she laid out a short monologue to assert that his claims were invalid. funnily enough she goes back on this a few seconds later saying that “i’ll make her have a reason to hold that grudge” which honestly is not helping her case. however if gem can make vague threats about impulse i don’t see why pearl can’t do the same. women’s wrongs and all that.

and then after that scott tells impulse and pearl to apologise to gem and joel. again, it’s a bit odd to me how they keep harping on this bit, but every time they do, all they do is scold impulse for rightfully constantly accusing gem over the cows, and then impulse apologises, yet pearl is still implicated (for NOTHING). pearl did protest this point earlier that she was “just existing”, scott counters that “i don’t know what you’ve done but you’ve annoyed her”, so “keep your distance”.

and to think that the argument only happened because scott made a throwaway comment about a “request” he had for pearl if she wanted a life from him. i feel like he meant it as a funny aside and expected pearl to just shut up and take it, but pearl never shuts up and takes it so that’s the problem there.

also, on secret life: pearl argues that she was right to ally with scar, which like, okay, fair enough, but scott says that “it takes time” and that “look we’re together” i’m not sure why he’s under the perception that GGG is in anyway functional or healthy considering he himself is trashtalking impulse and pearl with gem geminitay (ok sorry i’m just salty over him being buddy buddy with gem). at one point cleo goes “we have to be enablers” (lowkey incorrect because pearl hasn’t done anything, you can’t enable someone to just do nothing, but i appreciate the sentiment) and pearl just starts. throwing eggs at the ground. really funny out of context.

now for the actual gempearl interaction (we get like one and a half per episode i’m actually starving). they’re so obsessed with each other. trust me i said so. pearl beelining to gem to say “hi gem! :D” and gem beelining to pearl to punch her and say “go home pearl” oh they make me ill i feel like they’re just constantly on each other’s minds. the problem is that we haven’t gotten a good gempearl interaction because when they’re near each other their allies are also hanging around, so it always ends up with gem getting glazed by scott or pearl getting distracted by bigb or something like that. it’s such a pity because gem specifically went to find the 4Gs’ base but she went to the old one instead of the new one where pearl was hanging around so we could have potentially gotten a 1 on 1 shiny duo interaction this session (i’m not sure about the timeline there) but we DIDN’T because gem’s not talked to the 4Gs enough to know that they moved bases. grrr.

and then gem drops the anger for a bit to encourage pearl to kill grian. i have NO idea what that’s about, i feel like she’s just into bloodthirst in general but what it does remind me of is her trying to convince pearl to kill the ender dragon in SL, coincidentally, when pearl was impulse’s butler. and now she’s encouraging pearl to carry out what impulse wants. i don’t know. maybe her type is murderers and she’s trying to give pearl a chance. or something

anyway as for the other half an interaction where gem finds etho pearl and cleo at her base, gem reverts back to loudly disparaging pearl within earshot. i feel like she’s nailed “ex who really wants you to know that you’re exes”, and pearl getting so indignant about it she can’t even form a sentence for a few seconds is great actually. might be a reach but whether on hermitcraft or life series, pearl tends to stumble over her words a lot when directly challenged by gem, which is probably just because she’s thinking hard on what to say and is sleep deprived half the time. but i find it pretty telling that pearl doesn’t say anything back to gem and just. leaves. it’s very obvious she’s still down bad for gem in a way but gem is intentionally making it very hard for pearl to remain so.

last paragraph. when joel visits pearl at their new base, joel is happy that pearl called his build a car and said she liked it (pearl likes cars fork found in kitchen). so joel and pearl are on good terms, which i expect would lead to interesting dynamics but at the same time joel would definitely follow gem’s lead over maintain that friendship but still his perception of pearl now is positive. so that’s intriguing

song of the day is down bad by taylor swift. trust me guys they want each other so bad

[crow-hoards-things]

The Bad Batch Series Finale

FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a vent post. I’m angry and hurt. After I get this out of my system I’ll be more open to discussing the positives of the episode.

Warnings: Ranting, Spoilers

Hooo boy. Okay. I am… less than satisfied?

Quick rundown since I haven’t posted much of anything Bad Batch related: Tech is my favorite Batch member, immediately followed by Crosshair. I’m also a HUGE Republic Commando Nerd (read all the books, played the game, despised Bad Batch as a whole initially because I felt the commandos were being unfairly ignored, can sing + translate Vode An, etc.) and Scorch was my favorite Delta. The Bad Batch grew on me shortly after Season 1 finished up, and I immediately latched onto Tech when I began watching. He’s the reason I watched the first two seasons. (Crosshair + delusions about Tech were the combined force behind watching the final season)

NOW, onto my actual thoughts on the episode, in no semblance of order because my brain is still trying to process, Ft. Cry count:

�� Wish Tech was here. He would’ve loved the Zillo being freed.

• “‘Cause I’d do the same thing” no you wouldn’t. Fives would’ve. The you I fell in love with would’ve yelled at Fives about it being a terrible idea and then promptly gone along with it anyway. That said it was a really cute moment and I loved his nonchalant little “come on” afterwards.

• C: “Echo or Omega?” W&H: “Omega” THEY KNOW THEIR GIRL SO WELL

• When Hemlock went to get the operatives I got excited thinking maybe, just maybe we’d get Tech back.

• CROSSHAIR LOST HIS FREAKING HAND!?!? WHAT THE HECK!?! I will never stop being salty about this. He’s been through enough. [Near Tears]

• Rampart sucks

• Nala Se got to blow stuff up and I appreciate that even if I don’t really like her

• I’m glad Wrecker’s okay. He had me scared for a bit. Hunter, conversely, never really did? He’s Omega’s Dad, he had to survive.

• Did anybody else see that one operative whose helmet seemingly had goggles built into it? We had a lingering shot on his helmet for a few seconds and they looked like a red version of Tech’s goggles.

• SCORCH IS DEAD AND YOU’D BETTER BELIEVE I’M MAD ABOUT IT! [First shedding of tears]

• HECK YEAH, HEMLOCK IS DEAD!!! [Tears of relief combined with grief over Scorch]

• I’m so glad Omega hugged Crosshair first. I fully expected her to just run to Hunter, and Crosshair needed that hug.

• Echo’s goodbye was disrespectful. 0/10. He’s family and they don’t even care that he’s leaving???

• SOMEONE IS MISSING FROM OUR NICE LITTLE GROUP SHOT!

• I never really got super invested in the dynamic between Omega and Hunter, but the ending between them was cute I guess.

• We were robbed. We could’ve gotten Crosshair and Wrecker as old men and we were robbed.

• Tech is dead. Like, seriously, really and truly, dead. As a delusional “Tech’s alive guys, trust me” fan, it feels like he just died all over again. I’ll talk more about this later because I’m not over it. [Que sob-fest]

alright, circling back around to my main gripes, in order of appearance:

#1. Scorch.

I hate how they handled him. At first when he showed up I got super excited. That was my boy! In the Bad Batch show!! He’s making an appearance!!! Maybe they’ll do something with the Delta boys!!

Even as the episodes went on and I started to suspect where his path was leading, I consistently would go “Scorch!!! <3” every episode, because that is my boy and I love him dearly.

The levels of offended I am on Scorch’s behalf are not within my ability to express with words. The complete and utter disrespect he was shown over his time on the show is appalling. Why bring him in if you’re going to drain him of all his personality, make him have zero plot relevance, and then murder him?! They could easily have made a new clone for that, as seen by the number of operatives who exist and got 0.5 minutes of screen time.

But no. They brought in a beloved character with 10 seconds of canonical screen time prior, stripped him of everything that made him lovable, didn’t even have him DO ANYTHING, and then murdered him. It feels like a spit in the face and a kick to the gut all at once.

I will mourn. I’ve already cried and I’ll probably cry again. But right now I’m angry and I think Scorch deserves to have people be angry about how he was treated.

#2. Tech

Yes. I admit to having been a “trust me guys, Tech’s alive” person. I will also admit that at the end of episode 13 I wanted him to stay dead because I had zero faith they could satisfactorily bring him back.

My gripe is not with him staying dead. Yes, it feels like losing him all over again. Yes, I will mourn him again. Yes. That sucks. It’s not what’s making me mad.

What makes me mad is how his death was handled.

• It served ZERO purpose narratively other than to up the stakes and make us worry about whether anyone else would die (Spoiler alert: They didn’t. Tech was the only one who died) • Nobody mourned him. No one seemed affected by his death at all. No one cared. I don’t care what anyone says, that will NEVER be okay. • The first actual mention of Tech *dying* was in the finale. Sure, we’ve had name drops and goggle appearances, but actually talking about what happened? One line. One. Freaking. Line.

I feel like I’ve been slapped in the face, you know? He deserved better and so did we. He was a part of that family and they couldn’t even be bothered to address the responses to his death. He was beloved by many of us and they couldn’t even respect him or his fans enough to treat his death like something to be mourned.

That’s wrong, no matter how you look at it.

[tzyuki]

[ 김규빈 ] ONE & ONLY ꒰ K.GV x F!READER

023. #DittoSzn | smau + written (520 wrds)

IN WHICH ✶ — Rumors about Y/n pursuing a Zerobaseone member backstage at music bank start floating around the media after she and ZB1 member, Kim Gyuvin are seen talking behind in one of the episodes of ‘Eunchaes Star Diary’. Some netizens believe it and some don’t, some hated her for touching his shoulder and some didn’t care. Y/n went live to debunk the rumors, saying she wasn’t interested in a relationship at the time. The thing was, the rumors were true. She secretly was pursing Kim Gyuvin, or at least she wanted to. Ever since she first saw him backstage at M Countdown when ‘Love Killa’ team got to perform she was starstruck. She saw him at the vending machine and wished him luck in ‘Boys Planet’. She actually never had watched an episode of the survival show at all, she said it would be too painful for her, but that was the night she started to watch and most importantly, vote for Kim Gyuvin.

“Y/N WE DIED YOU’RE GONNA HAVE TO WIN FOR US.” Gyuvin and Wonyoung both died in the game. They were playing fortnite and had gotten rushed by a team while the match was almost over, leaving only Y/n alive. “I CAN’T CLUTCH I CAN’T CLUTCH.” Y/n shouted a new English word she had learned from one of her foreign friends.

“I’m so sorry guys.” Y/n groaned as a “YOU PLACED #4” flashed on her screen. “It’s okay, Y/n.” Gyuvin patted the girl's head. Y/n and Gyuvin himself were surprised at this gesture. “Next round, it's okay.” Wonyoung assured the girl.

“Y/n stay next to me, if you stay next to me you won’t die.” Gyuvin said as the three loaded into the game. “Gyuvin-ah, what about Wonyoung?” Y/n asked, Wonyoung nodded her head in agreement.

“Wonyoung can hold her own! She’s actually pretty good!” Gyuvin complimented the girl. “Thank you, Gyuvin-ssi.” Wonyoung said.

—

“CUT! That’s a wrap, good job everyone. Thank you.” The director yelled. “Y/n and Gyuvin, good chemistry today! Thank you for coming to set Wonyoung.” The director and Wonyoung bowed to each other.

Y/n walked over to her dressing room. “Unnie, can I keep this? Or can you get me one?” Y/n held up a tube of lip gloss her stylist has recently started to use on her. “I have an extra package of it in my car, let me go get it for you.” Her stylist walked out of her dressing room.

A few seconds later she heard two knocks on her door. “Unnie, why are you knocking?” Y/n chuckled as she turned her back to the door, surprised to see Kim Gyuvin and not her stylist.

“Oh…Hi, Gyuvin. Do you need something?” Y/n turned back to her mirror, taking her earrings off. “I wanted to ask you if you were busy after. Want to go get food?”

“Oh—Sorry, Gyuvin. I already have plans.” Y/n sighed as she looked at the man through the mirror. “Oh—Okay, well—what are you doing? We haven’t had a good talk in a while!” Gyuvin tried to bring the mood in the atmosphere up.

“I’m getting dinner with Jae—Jiu. I’m getting dinner with Jiu.” Y/n hoped Gyuvin didn’t hear her switch her sentence up. “Oh, fun! Uhm—Listen, about the other day. I’m so sorry about flipping out on you, there’s no excuse for that. I was just truly being really disrespectful and rude to you. I’m really sorry.” Gyuvin said in a pleading tone.

“You’re fine, I don’t care. Stuff happens, I forgive and forget.” Y/n said in a weird tone, Gyuvin was unable to read how she felt. “Ah, okay, okay. I still really am sorry, is there anything I could do to make it up to you?”

“I really don’t care anymore, I’m cool, you’re cool, we’re cool? Okay?” Y/n stood up and grabbed her bag that was resting on the couch. “Have a good day, Gyuvin. Tell the guys I say hi.” Y/n patted his shoulder before walking past him.

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[lemotmo]

I know last season was a bit of a oddball with it being the first season on the network, and short season right after a delay due to the strike, so the promo was in full force for season 7.

But and idk if you’ve discussed this with Ali any or not, and if you have and want to share, I welcome her thoughts too, but I’m curious if you yourself, think it’s weird how we’re about a week away from the premiere and we’re still missing some of the major promo stuff all the other abc shows have gotten? Like we still haven’t gotten a new season 8 character poster. We still haven’t gotten an actual trailer.

And I know some people are like “oh well if buddie is happening then they probably think the ratings are going to be high enough they don’t need to worry about it” and I kinda get that but I also kinda hate that thought process too? Because Fox took that approach with the show. A lot. They took the mindset of they could skimp on promo stuff because they ratings would be high so why bother, and we all saw how by the end of their run on that network, how badly everything snowballed to the point their flagship show of the network was ending its run with barely a whisper, no promo at all of any kind, barely any cast engagement, new episodes were ending without any next week previews, the series finale got like no announcement.

And obviously ABC is not Fox. They are in fact a world better class act than them. But that doesn’t mean they can’t make mistakes or even similar mistakes and with the state of things in Hollywood right now and all the budget cuts and layoffs happening, I really really don’t wanna see our show which was finally getting the promotion and recognition it deserves last season, have that trickle down to barely anything because they get in the mindset of oh the ratings were amazing, they will continue to be amazing, let’s save some money and cut back on that.

Well, Ali and I did talk about this. Here's some of her thoughts on this:

"All I can think is that episode 1 gives something away that they don't want out until the episode airs. And frankly at this point dropping no trailer is generating plenty of talking. So all I can figure is that whatever episode one reveals they feel confident enough word of mouth will generate the PR they want. There's no other reason for not even allowing a clip to be shown.

But I have no idea what they would want to give away about the season in the first episode.

But between no trailer (and every other ABC show officially has one now), no clips being released, no BTS content, and journalists offering to live tweet along with the episode, all makes it sound like something fairly big is revealed right at the start of the season."

I agree with her on this. It's very odd and unusual for an ABC show to have no trailer and no more big promo. The fact that Peter was on Jimmy Kimmel and we didn't even get a sneak peek? That is bizarre.

The cast also keep giving the same vague answers about their storylines. They tell us nothing concrete.

There has to be a reason for this. They are trying to keep something big under wraps. What that might be? Who knows at this point? But this is about more than just a bee-nado, that's for sure. Who knows? Maybe our first speculations were right and we'll get that AU arc after all.

But you know, maybe they'll start throwing trailers at us this weekend. Only time will tell.

[nineevees]

general thoughts on the wk “our blue and green world” special (for funsies)

they had me in the beginning, by the end they completely lost me tho lolol

!! SPOILER WARNING FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN THE EPISODE YET !!

things i liked:

the intro was!! very good!! loved how they started in space and then gradually zoomed into earth, that was really fun :D

always excited to see how the background of the final shot changes in these specials !!

right away i am so glad they finally color corrected everything i couldn’t stand how bright everything was in season 6 T_T

chris being able to just effortlessly fold his t-shirts into a stack made me laugh lol

i don’t care if anyone says the song sounded flat as hell. the disbelief i had when it first came on. “what is this music what is goin- IS THIS A SONG??” the pure, unadulterated joy i experienced from it. it may be cringe but it has set me free.

idk. i’m just glad to see all these characters back after the hiatus :D

the resplendent quetzal is!! so cool!! so pretty!! i’d love an episode just dedicated to it

saw someone say this already but common aviva W for inventing two creature power discs at once !! it’s her world we are simply all living in it

BLUE WHALES ARE AS BIG AS TWO BRONTOSAURUSES?? waow

i think ever since i’ve gotten past the age of. elementary school. martin’s nicknames for animals have been kind of hit-or-miss for me? (though it might just depend on who’s writing the script i dunno) but i liked kablooey!! (kabluey?) it’s a very cute name :D

zach remembered that he has hacker bots he can use (which are. arguably his best invention?? i’m pretty sure?? i get why they don’t use them every single time zach shows up bc that would get old quickly but it establishes that despite being a whiny man-child who couldn’t tell a walrus from a wombat or a wallaby, he can still be a threat to the wk team)

indri lemur my beloved 🫶🫶

and everyone’s been talking about that so um. let me throw my hat into the ring then.

i can see the intention behind trying to redeem paisley, but it just. doesn’t really match with what’s been established by her character?

the entire special hit me with subsequent punches of “wow this is a kid’s show and i am NOT the target demographic” when they were talking about the water cycle and explaining global warming. so it makes sense, in a sort of wish-fulfillment kind of way that they’d try and redeem the villain whose goal is arguably the most realistic out of the main four.

zach’s main gimmick is using wild animals for his own technology. donita uses wild animals for fashion. gourmand cooks and eats wild animals. yes, the latter two can and do happen in real life (not… really sure about zach’s but that’s not the point). but paisley’s gimmick was never about harming animals, but destroying the environment they live in, in order to build things for humans instead. she’s the kind of person who you’d most likely encounter in real life. redeeming paisley has nothing to do with her character (a businesswoman who finds nature “yucky” as seen in the spirit bear and Asian elephant episodes), instead her general gimmick. wouldn’t it be nice if we could get the people destroying animals’ homes to truly see how beautiful nature can be? so much so that they stop trying to destroy it and instead attempt to help preserve it?

(this is just a personal nitpick but paisley’s new design absolutely is NOT working for me srry)

after i watched the special i had some ideas abt how it potentially could have gone instead?:

don’t redeem paisley at all: again, i get the general idea of why they did this but also. it doesn’t?? line up with her character at all?? the way she was acting in the beginning was fine and perfectly in character for her. she just wants nature out of the way in order to complete her plans, and she has no time for zach being overly concerned with the wild kratts. you could argue that her knowing that dolphins and whales weren’t fish but mammals was foreshadowing to her redemption, but like… paisley’s not dumb?? donita has also corrected zach on not knowing his animals in the past so unless you’re also going to argue for a possible donita redemption in the future then. yeah. i dunno. the other villains didn’t need a redemption to make the special they were in interesting, i don’t see how this one should be any different.

another redemption fake-out, but do it much earlier in the story: i have. my own gripes about how the plot of this special went but we’ll save that for later. have paisley initially be dismissive of the wild kratts’s presence, but once she learns that the kratt brothers are arguing and that aviva, koki, and jimmy are spending all of their time trying to get them to make up, pounce on that opportunity. have her go all over-the-top (like she did in her canon redemption) and trick the wild kratts into thinking she’s turned good, only for her to turn on them in the second half. this might be too similar to “a creature christmas” though. this one would take up more of the plot if that’s any consolation?

give a hint to a paisley redemption arc, but don’t make her do a complete 180 right away: if they’re adamant on redeeming paisley (again, i see the general idea behind this gimmick-wise), then they could still do it and make it fit with her character. remember that paisley’s intentions are not to harm animals, but their environment (which is not any better, making that clear). she can still have her awed-by-coral moment, but maybe. tone it down?? she can have second thoughts about going with the plan, but have zach or rex* encourage her to continue. she steels her resolve, but remembers the coral, and hesitates. and the kratt brothers use that last-minute hesitation to defeat zach’s zachbots and paisley’s pavers. have paisley question why she couldn’t go through with it as she and zach leave madagascar. you could have aviva or one of the other wild kratts theorize that paisley has started to have a change of heart after seeing what nature is capable of, if left to thrive. but again: don’t redeem her right away. hint at it, and then explore it whenever she appears as the main antagonist in an episode of season 7.

*i’m admittedly not caught up on all of wk, but like. did paisley fire rex or something. WHERE WAS HE THIS ENTIRE SPECIAL??

as for the plot point of the kratt brothers fighting… yeah that definitely could have gone better.

(again, minor nitpick but jimmy saying that this was the first time he’s seen the brothers fight,, then implied that it happened every single laundry day,, but also he’s definitely seen them fight before? or had disagreements at least?? isn’t that the premise of at least two different episodes not counting this special. this script is also Not My Favorite. not sure how to explain it but some of the dialogue seems a little awkward?)

ik that the brothers get into danger 24/7 but i feel like. martin should be a little bit concerned that chris was getting squeezed to death by a green anaconda?? like you don’t have to make him overtly worried to the point of apologizing, but you could at least. make him look at chris with concern? i get that the point is that “oh no the brothers are fighting so they won’t help each other when one’s in danger” but. martin your brother is dying STOP SMILING NONCHALANTLY.

the resolution between the brothers was. kind of rushed? all it took was chris complimenting martin (“nice one, bro!”) and then activating some creature powers and then everything was fine. is. is that all it took?

if you liked it then that’s 100% fine !! i’m glad you enjoyed it :D it just wasn’t for me

just my personal preference but i think i would have preferred it if we spent more time with the brothers solo (martin at sea and chris in the rainforest) and have them come to their realizations that the planet needs both blues and greens to thrive separately. like martin sees the planktonic soup and acknowledges that the creatures who live in the ocean need a little green to survive. or chris sees how important rivers are in the amazon and remembers how the rivers will eventually flow into the ocean. and both of the brothers remember their adventures with each other (or aviva, koki, and jimmy remind them). they can still be stubborn and not forgive each other, but i’d like them to at least like. acknowledge each other’s pov and respect it.

or: do something with aviva trying to program two creature power suits at once (the brothers are both in madagascar at this point). like, what if there was a creature power suit malfunction where martin is a blue whale at first, but then turns into an indri. and chris starts our as an indri but then his suit malfunctions and he becomes a blue whale. the bros swap places, with martin going on land and chris going to sea, and then they realize that the other had a point - the land is home to so many wonderful creatures and so are the oceans. and how both are connected and make the earth their home. boom, reconciliation.

also another personal preference thing, i really wish they spent more time with kablooey/kabluey and mambiky (?). i’m here for cool creatures and i wanna see more of the cool creatures !! is that so much to ask for !!

also also. i think the indri-conda was born bc someone saw the pun potential and to that i say. no comment.

i still have. a lot of thoughts but i think i’ll just leave it there for now. ik i criticized it a lot but i did genuinely enjoy the special :D i’m happy to have the brothers back from hiatus and can’t wait to watch the other episodes !!

[daily-crowley]

TELL ME ABT YOUR OTHER HYPERFIXATIONS!! Mine are currently Loki, ofmd, good omens, and Hozier :D

THANK YOU FOR ASKING, THIS IS GOING TO BE LONG!

There’s a few hyperfixations of mine I’m always talking about but right now there’s 3 main ones.

1. The Boys

2. Invincible

3. Peacemaker

The Boys is the main one; I loved it since it came out back in 2019. I moved on sometime after S3 ended and I found another hyperfixation but now new content is coming out with S4 so I’m back on my The Boys bullshit. I’m a Butchlander shipper, BILLY BUTCHER AND HOMELANDER CONSUME MY THOUGHTS. I AM BEYOND OBSESSED WITH THOSE TWO! I need them to kiss…. And-and more. Anthony Starr and Karl Urban are my current celebrity crushes that I’m only able to think about. If you follow me in insta it’s just been The Boys 24/7 that I’ve talked about since new content started dropping thanks to S4. HOMELANDER IS MY BABYGIRL I WILL DEFEND HIM I DON’T CARE FOR HIS CRIMES I DON’T CARE IF I’M SUPPOSE TO HATE HIM, I LOVE HIM. BILLY BUTCHER MY GOTH BOYFRIEND I WILL DIE IF YOU DIE. HE CANT DIE, HE JUST CAN’T. S4 teaser was insane, so much was going on, Black Noir is back?! And Jeffrey Dean Morgan is joining the cast! AND TEAMING UP WITH BUTCHER?! They said that trailer was just a scratch on the surface of what happens, wasn’t even a trailer just a teaser but it had so much going on WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT’T JUST A SMALL TASTE OF S4?! I’m scared but excited. I’m nervous but excited (Billy if you fucking die on me- that’s what I’m most worried about)

Invincible is my other current hyperfixation, S1 was so good and I can’t wait for S2 to continue. They should’ve dropped all the episodes at once that way I don’t have to wait but whatever. Vigilante is my little meow meow from Peacemaker. I love Adrian so much, hate that I gotta wait till like 2025-2026 for S2 possibly.

My other interests that I talk about all the time (not currently much though thanks to The Boys) are:

• NATM/JedTavius

• Venom/SymBrock

• SamBucky/Marvel in general

• FNAF

• Who Framed Roger Rabbit

• Maleficent

• The Simpsons

Night at The Museum came out when I was 7, I’m 24 now, I haven’t moved on. It was my first hyperfixation and ship before I even knew what that all meant. I’ve written like 30 JedTavius fics. I’m a Venom fan first and a Spider-Man hater second. I will defend Venom at all times and Eddie and him are definitely in love. When the FNAF film came out it brought me back to my FNAF phase, Foxy’s my favourite with Bonnie being second. I watched the film about 20 times. Then in November I started a personal rewatch challenge on Insta where I watched it all month long. Meaning I’ve probably watched it at least 50 times and I still haven’t gotten sick of it (also I love the Josh Hutcherson whistle meme. I don’t care how much people hate it I think it’s funny.) I’m a huge Marvel fan, I literally grew up with the comics, I’m not kidding those were read to me as my bedtime stories. My favourite characters are Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes as a result I ship them. I never shipped Stucky, that never made sense to me whilst Sam and Bucky have so much chemistry. Sam Wilson is everything to me, I adore SamCap he’s MY Captain America (still love Steve though!) Roger Rabbit is my favourite fictional character of all time, my biggest comfort character. Growing up I really tried to base my personality off of him, the world might be obsessed with Jessica Rabbit but I’m obsessed with Roger. People need to draw, edit, and cosplay him as much as they do Jessica. I’ve been a huge Simpsons fan since I was like 10 and my mother dropped me off at my aunts house and she left leaving me alone with my cousin who was watching The Simpsons and it took off from there. Nelson Muntz is my funky little son and they need to make Nelisa canon. Maleficent is my favourite Disney character (actually like quite a bit of Disney, second favourite character being Donald Duck) I based a lot of my style around her, and I have a lot of Maleficent collectibles. I absolutely love the Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent films (totally ship her with Diaval).

There’s a few other things that I really, really love. I’m also a huge horror fan my favourite being Chucky/Child’s Play as well as Killer Klowns from Outer Space, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (not 3D), Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc. Sanrio, Kuromi is my favourite second is Pochacco, I really love animated films and cartoons. IT, Monster High, and more. I’m also a collector of all these things.

So there you have it. Those are all my hyperfixation and fandom’s that I’m in. Right now especially those first 3 that I talked about (seriously can you tell I really like The Boys? Lol)

[legendary-defender-of-fandoms]

Reasons why Technically Technology Technician Bad Batch the Third Isn’t Dead

Maintenance Clone 99 didn’t sacrifice himself when he died. He was shot while trying to get more ammo for Echo & Fives during the Battle of Tipoca City. It was tragic, unfair, and heartwrenching, but not a sacrifice. So naming a sacrifice plan after him makes no sense.

No corpse, no proof of death. Goggles with an intact strap are not a corpse. And isn’t it weird that the goggles were on Tech’s face under his helmet, but Hemlocke just found them at the crash site with the band intact? They couldn’t just fall off his head, which means either Hemlocke removed them from Tech’s head or Tech left them as proof of death as part of his plan.

No one at Disney or Star Wars will say “Tech is dead.” They’ll talk about his sacrifice, or say “he doesn’t come back this episode,” but they won’t outright say he’s dead. They keep saying “it’s complicated,” which makes no sense if he’s really dead. It’s only complicated if he’s alive.

Tech would definitely sacrifice himself to save his family, and he knew his odds of surviving were slim, but he would still do everything in his power to increase his own odds of survival once he knew the others wouldn’t fall with him. It’s easier to save one than five.

No clone death has ever gotten this much social media focus from the official platforms. Not Gregor, not Mayday, not even Jesse.

Tech’s death is getting more “we sure miss hims” and “relive his adventures” than the deaths of Han Solo, Leia Organa, and LUKE F*CKING SKYWALKER!!!! No way Disney would spend more social media time mourning a clone from one of the spin-off animated series than the OG hero trio unless the death wasn’t real.

Star Wars has always been the antithesis of nihilism & grimdark. I’m not saying it’s all sunshine & rainbows, but the core of Star Wars has always been the power of hope. Even in stories where everything goes to shit, Star Wars will always try to end on a hopeful note. And if the Bad Batch loses a member for good, there is no hope.

Tech has a lot of unresolved plot threads. His relationship with Phee, finding something to do besides nerf nugget deliveries or hiding from the Empire, reconciling with Crosshair. We need closure.

Disney loves the theme they composed for the Bad Batch. They love playing it when the brothers fight together. And they ONLY play it for the brothers & the end credits (sorry, Omega) We haven’t heard it in-show since the last time all five brothers were together on Kamino, and I have no doubt they’ll bring it back once more in the last season. But to do that, they need all five brothers.

Tech didn’t have an “Uh Oh” arc before the season 2 finale. Echo’s rescue in Season 7 of The Clone Wars was his “Uh Oh” arc, Wrecker kept taking head trauma that led to migraines & his chip activating, Hunter got yeeted out a ship, fell into a mountain, and got shot by Cad Bane, and Crosshair has been nothing but “Uh Oh” arcs ever since Order 66. Now it’s Tech’s turn.

Star Wars loves repeating patterns, and with The Bad Batch getting only three seasons it’s the perfect setup to mirror the original trilogy. Not necessarily in actions, but in emotional beats. Tech in Season 2 follows similar emotional beats as Han (complicated relationship with a smuggler, struggling with emotions, betrayed by a shifty ally, etc.), culminating with both men being cut off from their found family in a dramatic confrontation with the Empire. Leia got Han back, and I knew Omega will get Tech back.

Saw’s insurgents mucked up the plan to track Hemlock’s personal ship back to Mount Tantiss to find & rescue Crosshair and the other clones. The team needed a new way to track Hemlocke, and a new infiltration plan. What better way to get behind enemy lines than to fake your death, steal a proto-Stormtrooper uniform, and pretend to be a normal soldier? Especially since Tech looks the least like a Fett clone, so if he does take off the helmet no one will recognize him.

Omega coined “The Tech Turn” as the name of a certain flying technique that only Tech uses. It’s something only the two of them know. And it feels like a plant, like in Season 3 there will be a scene where Omega sees a Stormtrooper pull off The Tech Turn in a shuttle, or Omega will hijack a shuttle & someone will tell her to do The Tech Turn to get rid of some proto TIE fighters on her tail.

There are a ton of Star Wars characters who have died onscreen just to show up several installments later. Maul, Ventress, Gregor, Echo, Palpatine, Boba Fett, Fennec Shand. Heck, Artoo’s died onscreen TWICE and been fixed up good as new before the end credits, and Chewie was totally blown up by the First Order until he suddenly wasn’t. So Tech returning isn’t unprecedented.

Star Wars doesn’t tease. They don’t leverage the possibility of seeing certain characters to get more seasons or new movies. Young Justice does that will Wally West - they “killed” him in Season 2, and use the promise of his return to get fans coming back only to say “Whoops, no Wally this season. Guess we’ll have to be greenlit for another season in order to see if he comes back.” Star Wars doesn’t play dirty like that. Star Wars always delivers. If all of this attention is suggesting Tech is alive, then Tech will be back in season 3.

Tech is the first canonically autistic Star Wars character. Star Wars won’t invoke the “bury your neurodivergents” trope. They’ve been getting better at inclusivity in recent years (mostly in writing, but there are baby steps being made in the TV shows).

[commenter2]

"Cabin Fever" review

Here is my review on episode 4 of Murder Drones. A camping, slasher flick themed episode! Let’s see if Uzi and the other will survive.

Again Glitch Productions, please make a longer intro theme.

Now at first I wondered why the Drones would think bringing a bunch of teen Drones to the surface is a good idea given how dangerous it is for them, when I realized that they only know of the 3 Disassembly Drones and since Uzi killed J, and N and V are good (or controlled in V’s case) logically there really isn’t anything for them to be afraid of about the surface…until J 2.0, Tessa, and potentially other Disassembly Drones appear, likely in this episode.

Given their robots, the idea of vehicles being animal like makes a bit of sense while still being funny. Does that make the pods N and the other DDs came in birds XD

So these must be the new cannon fodder I MEAN characters for the episode. We have a stoner, female nerd, the jock/bully and his girlfriend, and the self-centered jerk. I wonder how they will change as the series goes on…XD

THAD AND LIZZY ARE HOLDING HANDS! BLASPHAMY! Though I do see it adding tension to the love triangle/quadrangle ideas I’ve talked about in the past.

Uzi’s backpack has wings, making her a bit like a Disassembly Drone. Foreshadowing? :3

Uzi’s mom is strangely happy about the core blowing up. Also what Khan said seems to confirm my theory from my last episode review about how this 3rd drone type was able to blend in with the Worker Drones.

Khan: Your mom was a catch!

Uzi.EXE has stopped working XD

Khan’s room has various door designs XD

If the idea of Khan immediately proposing to Uzi’s mom after she told him to make doors doesn’t become canon, we should boycott the show!

This singularity thing will be cool to learn about later. One quick prediction I have is that it’s some kind of electrical hive mind system that connects all machinery, and it’s a part of robots like Uzi and others. It also seems to give them visions. That or some kind of BATDR like vibe given some of the drawings.

If you can ignore the the cool S drawings (a difficult challenge, I know) you'll noticed that Khan is 3 for 3 of being a better father then he was in the pilot.

Seeing the teacher wearing a stereotypical tropical outfit may seem odd given its snowing, but I bet this kind of weather is pleasant for robots trying to relax. Same with the nerd robot making a cross symbol but Uzi did mention a robo Jesus in the pilot.

We better get camp counselor N and V plushies in the future!

WOAH! Poor robot guy. I feel bad for whoever has to tell his parents.

The book the nerd girl is carrying is called “Final Girl” XD

Nice to see Thad and Lizzy being nice to N and V WAIT DID Lizzy just pickpocket the dead drone’s watch!

Sad to see how the others are scared of Uzi to a point they would befriend robots that were killing them some time ago, or seconds in V case.

Cool to see that Uzi seems to have gotten use to her powers.

At 4:51 you can see that mystery human girl from N’s dream from episode 2.

It is funny seeing the other drones trying to use the canoes on a frozen lake and again having fun with N and V given they use to be afraid of them.

Since we haven’t seen N or V overheat yet, but see Uzi and Doll do so (more Uzi) does this mean the 3rd drone type overheat faster?

Bitch move V, scratching Uzi’s screen..face..whatever. It’s a good thing Uzi can heal herselWAIT A MINUTE!!!

A green bug! AND IT “TALKS”. It also seems to think Uzi is her mom. This plus how it seems to be a key to a lab, makes me wonder what the future of this series holds.

Even in the distant future audio to text features still suck.

Doll is back.

Where is Thad in the crowd?

Uzi has the power to turn inorganic matter into living things! This is some big Internecion Cube shit here. Fitting since Murder Drones and Internecion Cube are both made by Liam Vicker. It also seems to give us the main reason why the DDs are there, as robots like those could be very dangerous if they were to attack humanity. Heck Uzi seems to have caused a big problem without even trying! Also that thing she made looks like that image in the pile of papers near the dead drone where she found the green bug.

Now we get to the slasher stereotypes, starting with the couple going somewhere to make out.

Uzi is turning! Also totally called the backpack as foreshadowing!

While N is trying to turn on the computer, you can see a pair of red eyes (likely Dolls) behind him!

From analyzing the visions N sees, it looks like a robot went rouge and ate something organic, a severed organic arm was being held on by some lab equipment, and a giant black hole (likely the singularity) is near a house that looks like the one from N’s dream and the season 1 trailer. This gives me a small theory but more on that at the end.

Uzi’s unpopularity actually saved her from being exposed to the others. It would be funny if it wasn’t a bit sad.

Wait is Uzi’s tail organic? IT IS, and she has human arms on her wings! This is a nice change for the usual DD design and it reminds me of what J’s backup systems did in episode 2. This gives me hope that we will see different designed DDs later on in the series like I have been hoping will happen for some time now.

Lizzy is sassy even on the verge of death XD

The freefalling scene is a great moment. We get to see N’s caring side as well as some good Uzi X N content.

V is jealous :3. Please writers, gives us a love quadrangle. I mean if you can make me want to see one (and I usually hate that trope) then it has to be good.

Oh…Lizzy is alive…that’s good, I guess.

V likes the idea of being a diva.

So vehicles aren’t animals, there just hot-wired and when it acts up, they need to be treated like animals.

There’s Thad! I was wondering what happened to him.

It’s interesting to see V cover for Uzi. It also makes me wonder if at some point, because of V’s actions, the drone society will try and kick out N and V (maybe Uzi as well) for all the killings V have done…. Only for them to want them back when J and the other new DDs appear.

Uzi and N technically held hands!

Can’t wait to see what is on that tape. Actually Zombie Drones sounds like another nod to Internecion Cube.

That was an intense episode, as all slasher films are. I mean we now learn that if Uzi loses control she turns into a monster and why it seems the DDs were sent to the planet, we have a new “character/plot device" in the form of the robotic bug, N stumbling upon a tape that will likely explain everything, and we see V being jealous of how close Uzi and N are which I think could make her start to remember his life before she became a DD.

Only time will tell on what will happen next but I have some new theories based on what we saw.

After seeing Uzi’s ability to turn inorganic things into organic, I have this new theory that Doll is the mystery human girl we saw in this episode. See there was this old theory that went over the possibility of the drones being originally human or used human parts and something like this seems to be true, especially after seeing the lab machinery holding a human body part in N's visions. Maybe Doll’s mother was originally that girl in the flashback who use to own J, V, and N but died which made her father want her back as a robot. However, the inorganic and organic components resulted in their dangerous powers and had to be taken out, but failed and the the girl was able to escape where she had a robot daughter of her own AKA Doll. Also after seeing Uzi turn inorganic into organic matter, maybe Doll could do something similar but on a bigger scale as she could make herself look very much like a human.

I also have this theory that whatever gives Uzi and Doll their powers, its being used slightly for the DD’s. I mean thinking back to episode 2, that heart thing that came out of J gives me a similar vibe to the techno-organic substance Uzi was making in the episode. For all we know after the exoplanet incident, the tech behind it was perfected on Earth and they gave it to N and the other DDs to give them a fighting chance against the 3rd kind of drones. It would explain how they can make all those weapons and regenerate quickly.

What did you think of the episode? What did you like about it and do you have any theories of your own about the series?

[theforgottenmcrmy]

live reactions to house of the dragon season 2, episode 8

I’ve already seen spoilers because of the leaks but I’m determined to forget what I’ve seen and pretend like it was all fever dream, so let’s go

spoilers below the cut

Just remembered that since is the finale, the official score for this season should hopefully be available on Spotify and such soon, right?🤞🏻

I can’t believe it’s the season finale already. Where the heck does time go🥲 wish we would’ve gotten ten episodes at least

Aw, a monkey🥹

Tyland (and Jason) Lannister being uncomfortable just about whenever he’s on screen brings me more joy than it should.

You know what would solve a lot of problems? Having an on call therapist in the Red Keep. Or just one on call for Aemond alone.

Make a mental note to check Larys’s math later

So if Aegon thinks Sunfyre is dead, does that mean Sunfyre is really dead or that Aegon just *thinks* he’s dead? (Still hoping for a Sunfyre return🥲🤞🏻)

Larys is projecting himself onto Aegon big time…

“Aegon, the Realm’s Delight” if you don’t stfu-

As much as I understand Rhaena setting off on her own, I’m also realizing that she just kinda left her younger brothers alone…

Jacaerys is better than me. I’d have Ulf’s tongue (or feet) then and there. Such a lack of respect for the freaking heir to the throne. Gross.

And the balls to say they are “cut from the same cloth?” For fuck’s sake, even Alicent, the freaking QUEEN at the time, had the sense to be more subtle. A newly raised up Ulf should be kissing the ground Jacaerys walks on to make sure he keeps his new standing for longer than a day.

Also, raised up dragon rider or no- that is no reason or right to be talking that informally to a prince of the realm. Ever.

GAG HIM, JACE👏🏻

So Daeron is younger than Jace, interesting…

Corlys having a better understanding of Aemond than his own mother had (until it was too late)😭😂

“The Queen Who Never Was” staaaaaahp😭😭😭💔💔💔 🚢

I was low key hoping Daemon was gonna gaslight Broome into thinking Harrenhal was totally normal and not haunted😂

Broome, you scumbag

Ser Simon, please be loyal to the Queen🤞🏻

Helaena: “I was happier before I was queen” Alicent (internally) “girl me too😭”

Aemond, someone ought to cut off your arm for grabbing your freaking queen like that

I’m so glad Alicent is finally stepping up a parent and trying to protect Helaena. It’s a shame it’s (quite literally) too late in the large scale, but still.

GWAYNE FIGURED ALL THAT OUT? BY SEEING THEM FOR LITERALLY ONE MOMENT? Damn, we live an observant king🖤

“Do not think I have no shame in me, ser” Bitch, everyone thinks that about you ser crispy

Cole realizing just how inconsequential he is in the grand scheme of things…

I feel for See Gwayne here. What the heck do you do? Your supposed leader just basically voiced that he expects them all to die… what kind of motivation is that?

Tyland getting his ass beat😭😂😂😂

Wait, why do I kind of ship these two?👀😅

I love these two so much🥲🖤 Baela reminding Jace of his worth. Saying things as plainly they are.

Also, why hasn’t anyone gone looking for Rhaena? Surely there were some armed men tasked with traveling with her and her brothers. They haven’t noticed one of their charges has suddenly gone missing?🤨

Nahhhh, I ship these two for real now, what the hell😂

What?!?! The plot thickens 😂

Now Ulf’s behavior is lacking in front the of Queen? Someone get him out of here rn-

“There will be time enough to see which one of us is a coward-“ ADAMM!!! you FORESHADOWER!!!

Not Rhaenyra trying to gentle parent Ulf-

Ser Simon, I knew you were a real one🖤

Daemon, you probably should’ve just gone back to sleep like😅

Wait a minute, ALYS might be the therapist everyone needs…. And if Aemond is in major need of a therapist👀-

DAENERYS?!?!????🔥🔥🔥

Helaena?!?!

Aemond being vulnerable for probably the first time this season

“Will you burn me, as you did Aegon?”🤭👀👀👀

“I could have you killed” is such a long freaking way from the kid who would have married her in a heartbeat if he’d been told to.

Caraxes seeing Syrax🥲🖤🖤🖤

Didn’t think about this, but imagine being a foot soldier from the Riverlands (probably not knowing which dragon is which, which you might possibly know if you lived in King’s Landing at least) and seeing some dragons descend upon you during a war. I’d be running and hiding too like😅 just in case they weren’t friendly ya know

Daemon looks happy to see her🥲

“Winter is coming” CHILLS

More chills… this is so fucking reminiscent of Jon’s “the King in the North” scene 😭🖤🖤🖤

These two, joking around and whatnot🥲🖤 this reunion is what I didn’t know my heart needed

THE MUSIC- it’s the same as the last scene of season 1 episode 1, but with more of a flair🖤🖤🖤

Alyn sees this for what it is- Corlys having a “come to Jesus” moment now that most of his immediate options for heirs are now gone… Corlys deserves this, tbh

“Rhaenyra the Cruel” thinking about the small folk at every turn

Girrrrrrrl what the fuck-

Book Alicent would never, but if she had Book Rhaenyra would’ve had her struck down then and there😅

Alicent, still never missing an opportunity to slut shame Rhaenyra. Even when she is literally begging at her doorstep😒

Yes Rhaenyra, throw her previous words right back at her👏🏻

Except Rhaenyra wouldn’t just have to have Aegon’s head, but Aemond’s, and Daeron’s…

The impossible choice: season 2 version

“History will paint you a villain” um, yeah

This music👀👀👀 piano? You know how many times we’ve gotten piano on a got/hotd score? Pretty sure less than a handful

God I hate Ulf

TESSARION 💙💙💙

This rendition of the various house’s themes?!?!?!?!?! CHEF’s KISSES 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

Otto, where the heck have you been, Loca?!?!

Again, this musiccccc🖤🖤🖤

So when Rhaenyra takes the capital and finds out Aegon’s gone (even though Alicent didn’t know about it), THAT will be the final nail in the coffin, right? That will be the final betrayal?

What?!?! That’s IT?!?!?

I mean, I didn’t want to end on the Battle of the Gullet (which I’m guessing will be episode 1 or 2 next season) but I wanted it to end on SOMETHING

This definitely feels like it should have been the second to last episode of the season, not the very last one.

Only another two year long wait to go🥲💔🖤

[corporatefrog]

↳˗ˏˋ loose change ˊˎ˗ ↴

level 2 - my 43 year old roommate and me

featuring: yn officially meeting the single mother they'll be staying with during their time in South Park

notes: you KNOW i had to get the moms in this. they're so underutilized

series masterlist

previous level | next level

38…40…42…

My car slowed to a crawl as I scanned the street. I had rented a room in a woman’s house to save money during my trip. She seemed kind from the email’s we’d shared after I responded to her listing on Facebook. Apparently her son had moved out a few years prior and the house felt empty with no one else staying there. 

44…46!

The house was a blinding green that didn’t seem that eye-burning in the pictures I saw online. My eyes squinted to avoid damaging my retinas with the color. You could barely make out the number above the door. I pulled my car into the driveway, triple checking the number was correct before putting my car in park. Nothing would be more embarrassing than pulling into the wrong house and standing in their driveway like the biggest idiot in the world. I’d get chased out of town by self-hatred before I could even start my job. 

The front door opened as I was pulling my bags out of my car. I turned to see the woman I’d be staying with walking towards me with a smile. Her brown hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, blue shirt tucked into her red pants.

“Yn, it’s so nice to finally meet you.” 

—

Name: Liane Cartman

Age: 45

Status: Single Mother

Fun Fact: Since her son moved out, Liane has gotten really into rock climbing!

—

“Liane! Nice to finally meet you too!” I exclaimed, pushing down my exhaustion as I turned to face the woman. Sleep can wait until I’ve given a good first impression to my technical landlord. She grabbed my hand in both of hers, giving it a shake before letting go. Liane reached past me and lifted my bags before I could protest, talking over her shoulder as she walked back to the door.

“How was the drive? The mountains are always troublesome if you haven’t driven the roads before.” 

I speedwalked to reach her, “Oh, it wasn’t too bad! I found a podcast called Walk the Walk with-”

“With Jimmy Valmer!” Liane finished for me, opening the door while still carrying my bag, “Jimmy is such a sweetheart! He used to hang out with the boys all the time.” 

Upon entering the house, the smell of cedar covered my senses as though I’d walked into a warm fall night. The tv played an episode of Seinfeld while a cup of coffee sat still steaming on the end table. To my right, a picture of Liane and a young boy standing in front of Mount Rushmore hung on the wall. That must be her son! You can definitely see the resemblance between the two. I wonder if he’s as kind as his mother? 

Liane had started on this story about one time when her son and his friends held a competition to find a new friend for their group after one of them had gotten ill and how Jimmy had been one of the boys in the competition. Weird way to cope with sickness but you know I did weird stuff when I was 10 too.

Yeah, like wearing green lipstick to school everyday. 

Okay, fuck you?

“You’ll be staying upstairs in Eric’s old room. He doesn’t come visit much which is why I thought it would be best to rent out the room.” She said, beginning up the stairs still holding my suitcase. I feel bad that she’s carrying my suitcase but I can’t seem to get a word in between her stories about her son, his friends, or the town in general. I understand though. When you’ve been living alone for a while though, it feels different to have someone else in your space again. 

Liane led me to a room with deep purple walls and the brown hardwood floor that covered the rest of the house. The dark atmosphere was lightened by a large window beside the bed. Morning rays filtered through the window, casting light on the dust which lingered in the air from the room’s months of disuse.

The mattress creaked slightly as Liane placed my bag on the bed.

She turned to me with her kind smile, “I hope this room will work well for you.” She said, gesturing abstractly to the room around us. I assured her it was perfect, fighting back the exhaustion pulling at my eyelids as I thanked her again for her hospitality. 

Liane waved off the thanks as though I were doing her a favor. She began to head towards the door, saying I probably needed a few hours of “beauty sleep” (which was right. I began to wonder if the rays of light were actually beginning to wave around or if I was beginning to hallucinate from exhaustion) but stopped halfway through the doorway. 

“I forgot to mention! Some friends of mine are coming over for our Wednesday Wine Night tonight if you’d like to join us! No need to accept the offer, I just thought I’d extend the invitation. Their sons are all around your age so I’m sure they’d love to meet you.” She said before bidding me goodbye and leaving the room, shutting the door behind her. 

I let out a sigh as silence fell over the room. 

I did it. I really did it. I moved to an entirely new town and I’m living with a stranger for the next three months. All because my boss told me to. This is another level of follower. 

Bro you live in a capitalist society. Buying gas with your Speedway rewards card makes you a follower. 

Too exhausted to ignore my own snarky thoughts, I fell backwards onto the bed. My head immediately sunk into the pillows as the mattress cradled me like a newborn baby. It felt like I’d died and gone to bed heaven. It was the comfiest mattress I’d ever laid on. What kind of person gives up a bed like this to live alone? 

A kid who’s mother is so infuriating he cannot stand the thought of living with her for another second. 

That doesn’t make me feel any better. What if the kid is the asshole? Kids can be assholes too. 

Then he would’ve taken the mattress out of spite. Because he’s an asshole. 

I’m not listening to you anymore.

My eyes traced the sun rays that streaked across the ceiling, mind wandering as exhaustion gripped at my consciousness. I’m finally here. I wonder what’s going to happen over these next few months. The endless possibilities swirled through my head. If I can get in with this arcade and help it grow, my boss will have to give me a full time position after this internship. Then I’ll become super rich and be able to buy a lighthouse on the Canadian coast to live out the rest of my life in peace. 

Either that or we go broke and burn in a hellish ball of failure.

Thank you, inner voice. Thank you so much for that thought.

No problem.

Deciding sleeping on these hopeful thoughts might benefit me more than dwelling on the possible negatives, I continued to let my thoughts wander into the potential lives I could live in South Park until sleep overtook me as the world around me woke up.

taglist [reply to be added]:@n0tangeliccc , @valstarroz , @kenanonsthoughts , @axteroiid , @hand-writxen , @that-kid-fromtheplayground  , @woahnotmecryingoverafanfiction, @h3artilly, @sula0kin, @ryenwritess

[dyinggoosenoises]

1-25 new years ask game

yesssss

1. Song of the year?

Good As It Gets by Little Hurt

2. Album of the year?

I don’t really listen to albums

3. Favorite musical artist / group you started listening to this year?

Noah Kahan

4. Movie of the year?

uhhh I don’t watch many movies but probably Nimona

5. TV show of the year?

Young Royals :]]

6. Episode of tv or webisode that defined the year for you?

hm I’m not really sure what this question is asking

7. Favorite actor of the year?

Ruby Cruz 😌😌

8. Game of the year?

Board game or video game? I don’t really play board games unless it’s with my family so my favourite video game was Tears of The Kingdom

9. Best month for you this year?

August for so many reasons

10. Something that made you cry this year?

I cried a lot but the worst was probably when I threw up a ton on our trip to Europe and sobbed for like an hour straight

11. Something you want to do again next year?

Uhh go to winter camp with pathfinders

12. Talk about a new friend you made this year

I became friends with this girl from pathfinders and now we’re pretty close!

13. How was your birthday this year?

It was fun! I invited some friends over and we hung out

14. Favorite book you read this year?

My current read, Gwen & Art Are Not In Love

15. What's a bad habit you picked up this year?

I didn’t pick it up this year, but my nail biting has definitely gotten worse

16. Post a picture from the beginning of the year

I don’t actually have many pictures of myself so this one is from May lol (this is my favourite dress literally ever btw)

(also this photo is from right after I tripped and scraped my elbow really badly so you can see the bandage)

17. Post a picture from the end of the year

The most recent photo of myself that I have is the absolute worst quality but oh well

18. A memorable meal this year?

Umm idk my mum’s beef stew??

19. What're you excited about for next year?

Going on a trip with pathfinders to Toronto!

20. What's something you learned this year?

I learned that I am not in fact a girl

21. What’s something new about your place of residence (room, home, or general location) now vs the start of the year?

I got a new window in my room, and we redid the upstairs floors to hardwood instead of carpet

22. Favorite place you visited this year?

Ireland and Scotland (and England) definitely, I’ve got some really pretty pictures from there

23. If you could send a message to yourself back on the first day of the year, what would it be?

I’d tell myself that it’s okay to still be figuring myself out

24. Did you keep any New Year’s Resolutions?

I didn’t have any in the first place

25. Did you create any characters (in games, art, or writing) this year? Describe one

I already described Ozzy and Micha when I answered this the other time so instead I’m gonna tell you about Claire. She’s my pjo OC and she’s a daughter of Iris. She’s 23 and she basically adopted Ozzy. She works a part time job while getting her degree in New Rome, and is slowly falling in love with a non binary classmate that I haven’t named yet

[bohemian-nights]

It still blows my mind how Chris, the showrunner of the first 2 Bridgerton seasons, isn’t held accountable for any of that writing. The contrast between how he’s treated and given so much grace versus how they treat Shonda and Jess, the new showrunner. I’m just sitting her like, do they not see this? Mind you, Shonda isn’t even our showrunner. She doesn’t even write for the show. I’m not saying she’s not involved at all but…. if they’re going to blame Jess for a season that hasn’t happened yet and writing they haven’t seen yet, why wasn’t Chris blamed for the first two seasons? Why is he given so much grace? As if he was being controlled by the “evil” Shonda Rhimes? Am I crazy or is this fandom really weird about all of that? Why is Chris seen as the guy who should save us from the writing of future seasons? Why should he come back? What evidence is there that he could do better? I’m just so lost. It’s just blatant misogyny and racism and the fans don’t know how to be normal with their criticisms. The way Shonda is blamed for the marketing and not Netflix who’s really in charge of all of that. It’s insane. It’s interesting… They’re making me defend this woman who I’m not even that fond of myself like. But there’s just an obvious bias that I cannot stay quiet about. It’s a bit much. It’s not even subtle.

Shonda is definitely used as a scapegoat for obvious reason. With Jess, I want to give her a chance. Chris definitely shouldn’t be held up to a high regard after season 2. However, I think people are pissed at Jess because Benedict’s season was skipped and because of all the “leaks” that have come about.

Due to what happened yesterday the fandoms morals is at an all time low.

I don’t think half of what was “leaked” has any truth in it(specifically talking about yesterday), but since we have no actual way of verifying things until both part 1 and part 2 drop, people are reacting to what has been put out there.

Now if people are upset about the show being split into two parts, yeah that’s definitely not Jess or Shonda’s fault.

That’s Netflix trying to get more money out of one of their biggest cash cows cause they did the same thing with Strangers Things and The Crown. It’s a really stupid model and they either need to go back to releasing all of the episodes at once or spacing them out weekly.

In turns of where the fault lies with Shondaland, it’s I trying to hide the last two episodes for no good reason(well I suppose it’s to create hype, but all they’ve done is piss people off). With that move they’ve opened up Pandora’s box to allow trolls to run wild and play with peoples emotions.

Personally for me though, I’m reserving judgement until, I find out what they have done with Franchael and who is playing Sophie Beckett.

The show would be idiotic to try to place a Black woman in a role intended for a beloved male character. Bridgerton has established that gay people do not have a happy ending. so after what they did with Lady Danbury in QC, turning Mariana biracial when they know she has to die, doing that spinoff on QC which while beautiful was yet another tragic love story, it would be a slap in the face to Black fans to never give a Black woman a happy ending like every other woman is allowed on this show.

Our only representation on this show cannot be more pain and misery. It can’t be a relationship that must be lived out in secrecy.

You shouldn’t market your show to Black women(cause this show is heavily marketed to black people) say your subverting expectations and providing representation when you’re doing the same old same old.

For Bridgerton to be Shondaland production the fact that we haven’t gotten a Black female lead is disturbing to me.

Shonda is not involved in the day to day operations, but it’s obvious she’s involved in the big decision making like who are they going to cast in a lead role or who’s season is going to be next.

So if Sophie isn’t Black and Masali is somehow playing Michael and that’s our only representation then yeah it’s fuck you to Shonda, Jess, and everyone else involved in this mess.

Again I don’t think that Shondaland is that idiotic to do that. Mainly because even if they don’t care about Black women, Franchael fans damn sure will be mad about having their story ruined and it would be because just like with Benophie their story is gender specific, but I reserve judgement until I see things with my own eyes.

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up, Ep 5: The First 3x3 Death Match Performance

Welcome back to your favorite recap series that you’re currently looking at: My Build Up Recaps! In the previous one, we covered all the setup for the next round of performances, the 3x3 Death Match. In this one, we’ll finish off episode 5. We’ll check in with the judges and see a performance. Let’s go!

(By the way, I am not going to spoil who is in any of the performances above the read more link, post elimination, so that if you’re behind on the show, my page will always be safe to visit.) 

It’s performance day --  time for some banter between the judges.

Alas, Seungkwan from Seventeen won't be here today since he was a one day judge. I’ll miss him, and I’ll miss Team Pledis. 

Both the female judges are dressed to the nines. Solar looks especially gorgeous in a black dress with gathered spaghetti straps and perfectly wavy hair, kind of a Veronica Lake look. 

Wendy has gotten extensions since we saw her last, and she looks beautiful in an off the shoulder ruffly white dress. 

Meanwhile, the male judges showed up in whatever they found on the chair next to their beds.

What is Baekho wearing?? Does it say Fart? It can’t say Fart. What does it say and why does it say Fart? What is happening? He still looks hot, though. 

The guest judge arrives, and it's Lim Seulong of 2am.

I admit, I'm not really a fan of 2am -- not to say I dislike them, just that I don't know them. Originally they were part of a group called One Day, which split into two halves, 2am and 2pm. You may know of 2pm as the original performers of “My House” of Boys Planet fame. Unlike their poppy, dancey brother group, 2am is a vocal group that mostly sings ballads. 

Seulong says that he's been watching the show and knows how talented the guys are. He seems especially impressed that they can dance and rap as well as sing. VCG says, “well you can dance too,” and Seulong reminds him that 2am is a ballad group. But the MNET editors have dug up some past footage of Seolong in a real 2nd generation looking outfit, dancing uncomfortably. The judges laugh together about how bad balladeers can be at dancing, which reminds them that apparently recently VCG was seen somewhere dancing to Baggy Jeans by NCT. “I think you dance the most of anyone here,” teases Baekho, and everyone laughs.

Dahee comes out and introduces herself, and everyone claps and cheers for her. Backstage, some of the guys -- led by Woong -- do a cheer for her. 

You guys, I don’t know WHAT Dahee is wearing. I mean, I’m here for it, I’m here for whatever she does. But it appears to be a thin, long sleeved white shirt under a pink spaghetti strap corset dress with large external pockets, made out of textured fabric or jacquard. Or maybe it’s not a dress? Maybe it’s a top and a skirt combo? What are those long white things hanging down? Is she wearing only one earring? What is happening? Still here for it though. 

Everyone applauds the guest judge Seulong, and then Dahee reminds us all that this is the Triple Death Match, in case we haven’t been having nightmares about it for weeks. Dahee says, “The judges will watch both teams perform and then pick the team of three that is well built. All winners will survive and all losers will be disqualified.” This seems to be news to Solar, who gasps and says, “Ohmo!”

Allow me to theorize here: Though Dahee doesn’t say anything about this,  I think the judges will save one person from the 15 losing contestants. Otherwise, they’ll have 15 remaining guys, and then what? Have them perform as 5 groups of three, or 3 groups of five? Doesn’t make sense. But if the judges save one person, then they’d have 16, which is is four groups of four, and I think that’s ideal. So, I’m holding on to that idea for now. I guess we’ll find out. 

The judges talk about how high the stakes are, and that they’re looking for harmony among the teams. That gives them all an excuse to flatter/tease Solar about how amazing Mamamoo’s harmony is. “They even greet in harmony,” Baekho exclaims, and Solar is obviously pretty flattered. It’s cute. 

Mama, mama, moooooo…

Dahee asks the judges what they’ll be looking for.  Eunkwang says that, unlike the first two rounds when he evaluated everyone separately, this time he’s going to judge the team as a combined whole. 

Jay, Wumuti, and Hayoon, backstage, bring their fingers together to symbolize their union.

Based on how they’re dressed, I wonder if they’re going to sing Blooming Day by Exo-CBX.

Guest judge Seulong talks about how important it is for a team to really get along and sing as one entity on stage, because whenever 2am had fights with one another, it led to poor performances. This does seem to match up with what we frequently see on Produce/Planet style shows -- the team that gets along better often wins. Jaehwan adds,  “So, you guys listening in the green room, if you’re not getting along, make your amends before you come to the stage.”

Backstage, Wumuti turns to Jay and says, “We’ll just have to hide it well.” 

Ok, I know I said the guys got dressed in whatever they found on the chair by their bed, but I take it back: Jaehwan has been raiding Park Jihoo’s closet and stealing the ugly clothes he wore for the Nitro comeback. 

I will never stop being angry about the clothing in this video. I’ll be recapping Boys Planet season 53 and still complaining about this. 

Why is he wearing a leather vest and a bolo tie? I guess a better question is, what else did you expect from Jaehwan but utter chaos? 

Dahee says the death match starts… NOW! Everyone is nervous, including me! Including you!!!

The first teams up are Jeup’s team and Bain’s team. Oh no! This is the match up I’m most sad about. 

Jeup’s team comes out looking great in suits and ties. 

Jeup has a dapper three piece pinstriped suit on that looks great, and Seunghun has altered the shade of his hair a smidge, I think -- it looks much nicer. Choi Suhwan has decided for some reason not to wear a tie, and I wish he had, but they still look great overall. My guess of their song, based on their outfit, is Hey Mama by EXO-CBX. That would be a great choice, too, btw. 

Bain’s team comes out looking… I don’t know, like motorcycle cowboys. 

Bitsaeon has on a shiny leather suit with I think no shirt underneath, just a red tie. Bain’s hair is darker, which suits him better, and he has shiny pants and a short sleeved blazer with a wide lapelled white shirt and a bolo tie. Why? Why this? And Minseo is wearing shiny leather pants, a shiny leather vest, and a big cross necklace over his white shirt. Maybe they’re doing Unforgiven by Le Sserafim? Or Cowboy by f(x)? I mean obviously it’s not Cowboy by f(x). But imagine if it was. I can’t think of any other Kpop song with a slightly “country” edge besides Bad News by Kiss of Life, which they wouldn’t be doing. So my official guess is Unforgiven.

Sunyoul is like, “this feels like the semi-finals!”  

Everyone has these huge reactions to the match up, which is silly since they’ve known who would be matched up since their encounter with the Moodboard of Doom.

We head into flashback most. First, we're reminded of how well everyone did in the previous mission. Referring to the stacked matchup, Wumuti says, “We made this happen. I feel bad.” And then we get a flashback to the whole Moodboard of Doom moment, which was like, five minutes ago in this same episode. Yeah, we didn't have time to watch Lee Hwanhee sing but we did have time to watch clips of stuff we already saw, and time to watch Wumuti move things around on the Moodboard *twice*. 

Anyway, we get it, it was smart of Jay’s team to make sure that for sure one of those two teams would be eliminated. But I'm still sad about losing either of these teams. 

Neither team is happy about the match up, but they both promise to do their best, and nod at each other respectfully. 

Jeup is already nervous, because he knows how important song choice is going to be here. Strong agree! 

We get a flashback-within-a-flashback montage of Jeup’s experience so far. He was praised by judges, but not chosen as top tier. He got a standing ovation, but his team came in fifth. He’s disappointed at not doing even better than he has been. “Now I need to show something else,” he interviews, as his cheekbones shine in the stage lights cheerfully. “If not I might get eliminated.” 

He, his cheekbones, and his s w e a t e r all are extremely stressed out, but he’s thinking clearly enough to suggest a song that might work: Prayer (I’ll be Your Man) by BtoB. You might remember the song from when Stray Kids covered it on Kingdom (they swapped songs with BtoB).

Anyway, Jeup explains that it’s a risky decision to tackle Eunkwang’s song, but “in order to win, I wanted to pick one of the judges and do a face-to-face match.” I get it -- you can’t play it safe here because there is no safe. It’s win or go home. So a “nice” performance won’t do; you’ve got to shoot for the moon. I’m not a huge fan of the song -- it’s a “I’ll never let you go” kind of dealie that actually kind of sounds like IPV to me but like, I get it, it’s “romantic” because it’s in the form of a song. I’ll let you read the lyrics and decide for yourself.

Oh, Seunghun is wearing a s w e a t e r too! Nice. Suhwan, you’re dead to me. Dead! Imagine. A sweatshirt. ::grumbles::

They’re meeting in… a basement? A carpeted basement with wheely office chairs, but no table…? I feel like I’ve seen this room in my dreams. My boring, boring dreams. No, but seriously, we can tell in another scene that they’re at Suhwan’s agency, Lynna. The editors blur the name out but it’s still perfectly visible. The editors also sporadically blur out a logo on Jeup’s hat, and it makes me feel like I’m having a stroke. 

Anyway, the guys are worried about the high-speed rap section, and with good reason -- it doesn’t sound like you can leave it out of the song, and also it sounds like it would be challenging to do, partly just because it’s so fast, and partly because a lot of it is straight up in English. (Peniel, one of their members, is American and mostly just rapped in English for his entire tenure with BtoB.)  

They pretend to debate who is going to rap, even though it’s clear they already know and are just recreating this discussion for the cameras. Jeup says that his own rapping is bad -- they’d kick him off the stage. Seunghun says, as if it has just occurred to him, “Shall I try it?” He says he used to listen to the song a lot and sing along, so he already knows it, and he can practice a lot. They try it through once, and he struggles a bit, but promises to get better.

Wow, Seunghun looks great. He must be glad he got his braces off.

Seunghun vows to work really hard, because he wants to pull his weight in the team while the other two hit those high notes. We see a montage of him practicing, and he is really getting into it, to the point that he’s wearing beanies down over his eyes.

This is what a rapper looks like!

We also see him working with his CIX teammates to help improve his rapping. And it really works! 

Jeup is wearing glasses and I thought you might like to see. 

Jeup is leading the team in this endeavor, and his team is working hard. I wish they weren’t going up against my other favorite team. Sigh. 

We cut back to the performance stage. Eunkwang says he isn’t really on board with them doing the song, because he feels like it’s a bit boring without dancing.  (Here’s a live performance of BtoB doing the song, if you’re curious how it looked on stage.) The judges all seem to want them to do well.

Solar gets into the praying spirit.

The performance begins. 

Full version without reactions 

My thoughts:

They did a really good job. This isn’t a song I particularly like -- I’ve never been a fan of this kind of super-serious-rapping-over-a-ballad thing that you sometimes get in kpop (and western pop). It’s just not my thing. But I can still tell that they did really good job. 

Seunghun has really mastered the art of the soft, gruff intro notes. I don’t really speak Korean, but I trust everyone else who says his pronunciation in the rap was good, and it sounded good in terms of tone and rhythm to my untutored ears.  He strained a bit on the high notes, though, making faces that shows how hard he’s working to hit those notes, and his vocal color isn’t quite as pretty as the others. When Jeup harmonized first with him and then with Suhwan, the transition was stark -- it sounded much nicer with Suhwan. That said, he did a good job, a better job than I would have guessed. I believe that rapping is a subset of vocal skills, and that if you can rap well, you have half the skills of a good vocalist (at least), so good for Seunghun for getting this mastered. 

Suhwan was sort of the all-round guy in this performance, doing main vocals, harmonies, and a fair bit of rapping. He is so good at harmonies, I really have to give him props for that. There’s a moment when Jeup had the lead and it almost sounded like there was some sort of playback of harmonies, but no, it was just Suhwan singing more softly and sounding like a full on backup track. That isn’t easy to do. There were one or two slightly pitchy notes, but they wouldn’t have been noticeable to a casual listener, I don’t think. He also is obviously straining a tiny bit on high notes -- he hits them well, without closing his throat or anything, but I still feel like he’s hurting his voice when he hits them. That’s a minor quibble. Overall, excellent job. 

Jeup’s was the MVP here. As charming as I find his shoulders, I do sometimes not *love* his vocal color, but here it just works. He can match his tone to whoever is harmonizing, and true to his brand of Cheekbones N’ Chest Voice, he hits high notes without bothering with falsetto. He just is a vocal powerhouse. I don’t like this song much, but I think this was his best performance so far on the show. 

If this three became a vocal trio, and sang songs I *liked*, I’d certainly enjoy listening to them. 

The staging was good here, too. The suits worked, the dry ice fog worked, the background images of lightening and whatnot worked, it was all good. 

In the MNET edit, they go to a commercial right before the guys perform, so the editors obviously believed that this is compelling. 

When the guys start singing, the judges have faces that are tough to read. 

Eunkwang is definitely affected by this performance. Is he enjoying it? Not sure yet. 

Wendy is so engrossed she forgets to make a pretty face.

I mean she’s still pretty but you know what I mean.

I think Solar is engrossed? 

After one of Jeup’s effortless high notes, Solar and VCG both let out a WHOA! We also get a bunch of shots of the judges and the other contestants expressing surprised approval of Seunghun’s fast rapping.

When the guys fall to their knees, everyone reacts as if they never saw anything like this before in their lives. BtoB does the same thing in the original choreo! Sigh. Anyway.

Side note: We get this shot of some on-deck guys being surprised, and I was like, wait, who the fuck are these people?

 I only recognized Kim Seohyung at first, but then I realized that that’s Geonu on the left and Soomin on the right. I guess I really connected Soomin to his slightly frizzy/curly look and didn’t recognize him like this. I approve of the color change in Geonu’s hair, but I do wish he’d consider restyling it. He has a kind of round jaw line that makes him look a bit like Suho from Exo (that is a big compliment!) and I think he’d look better with a haircut a bit like this:

Is this just an excuse to put a picture of Suho in this unrelated recap? YOU be the judge!

I also think that Geonu could pull off the controlled mullet that Suho rocked in Hurdle. 

Are you ever just happy that Suho exists? Because I am. 

Basically Geonu needs to have his hair bigger on top to balance his rounder jaw. That’s my entirely unexpert opinion as someone whose hair is down to her mid-back at the moment because she so fears haircuts. 

Ok, back to the performance. Where was I? Oh yeah, the part where they fall to their knees. Everyone is so amazed by Seunghun’s rap that we have to have multiple instant replays. 

The judges say…

When the guys are done, Jaehwan is on his feet, while the others are just sort of quietly muttering, “Wow.” Baekho gets to his feet too, and VCG just sort of repeats, “Wow, that was so good. That was SOOO good.” Backstage, Inhyuk says that this is the first time a performance on this show gave him goosebumps. 

Backstage, poor Bain’s team is like, well, we’re screwed. 

The judges banter a bit, and tease Eunkwang that he shouldn’t even try to critique them -- he should just tell them they did a good job. Eunkwang agrees and says that he almost cried.

Dahee asks the judges for their feedback, and the trio looks anxious.

The three faces of terror. LTR: Jeup, Seunghun, Suhwan

Eunkwang goes first. The translation here is bad, so let me paraphrase as to what I think he was saying: “As I was watching, I almost cried. So thank you for doing such a great job. It’s harder to do it without choreography or anything like that, but you did great. If my group, BtoB, were to sing it like this, all stripped down and without choreography -- I don't think we could. Your youthful energy carried you through, and I found the performance refreshing.” 

Solar says, “We’ve seen many performances so far, and I liked this one the best. I think it was the most perfect performance so far. I got chills toward the end.  I have no words. It was really good.” And Baekho points out that Solar was so engrossed in the performance that she crumpled her note-taking paper without noticing.

Bain’s team backstage is like, well, we’re screwed. And BRP-unnie, watching on an airplane, is like, well, I’m screwed.

Jaehwan compliments Seunghun’s rapping, and everyone talks about what an all-rounder he is. 

VCG talks about how they can be moved even hearing lyrics in English (that they don’t understand) because of the song’s mood. Hey, man, us Western k-pop fans know that feeling well! He also compliments Jeup’s amazing high notes that he hits without using falsetto. Jeup really is an amazing singer.

Then Dahee announces the next team, whose performance we won’t see until next episode. 

They’re obviously pretty nervous after what they just saw. Bitsaeon compliments the other team but says that they came here to do their best, and that’s what they’re going to do. 

Baekho says, “This song isn’t easy, either!” Wendy says, “But I think it suits these three.”

What is the song? I still think it must be Unforgiven from the outfits… 

But we hear a tiny snippet of it before the episode ends and it’s just enough for me to identify the song as 

BAD NEWS BY KISS OF LIFE

I’m dead, I’m officially dead. I’ll have to save some of my talk about KIOF for the next post but omg I love them soooo much. 

Man, if Team Bit-bain is eliminated on Bad News, I’ll be bummed. But I’m so glad that Baekho and Wendy know the song and have an opinion about it. Kiss of Life is getting to be known! 

Ok anyway we’ll talk more about it in the next post, when one of these two amazing teams is going to be eliminated, and I have a theory as to which one and I’m already bummed about it. But that’s what we all signed up for when we decided to watch this show. 

See you in the next one! 

[trollprincess]

Watched the Teen Wolf movie.

… well, that happened.

I read a spoiler-free review a couple of days ago that was like, “You have to have seen the show before to know what’s going on,” but I’ve seen every episode, like, ten times at this point and I was still asking myself what the fuck was going on multiple times.

This feels like something Jeff Davis wrote on a napkin when he got bored and then didn’t edit. Like, it’s one thing to be like “Lydia left Stiles and he’s off ‘fighting his own fires’, whatever the hell that means.” You can’t get Dylan back, you can’t get him back. Whatever. But why the hell is Derek saying so many very, very dim things? That “your eyes!” line is funny, but it makes him sound like they put a Stiles line in his mouth. Melissa and Argent are in multiple scenes together and I literally had to stop myself and try to remember if they even *spoke* to one another. Are they together? Who the fuck knows? “Did you tell your mom?” doesn’t tell me shit. Maybe they are, maybe they’re not. There’s just so, SO much of this.

Addendum: I mean … Adrian? Really? Seriously?! What, did he get picked out of a hat?

Addendum, part two: Does Eli have a personality? He has no mom so he only has Derek who talks to him like he just met Eli yesterday, he’s on the lacrosse team but in Beacon Hills which guys aren’t, he has no friends that we see, all he does is steal Stiles’s jeep. Oh, and he’s got past trauma from seeing Derek wolf out, but JD can’t write people dealing with past trauma to save his life. That ending is hilarious because “teen” and “wolf” are literally the only two things I know about Eli. At all. I mean, he seems very nice, but it’s not enough to make me want to watch a new show about him. At least Scott had Stiles and lacrosse within that first episode.

So much of a two-and-a-half hour movie had me going, “Okay, that could have been written better.”

I said, “Well, that was A Choice,” out loud twice during the movie, which is two times too many.

Okay, I want to preface this by saying it is NOT a criticism. Crystal Reed is 38. She has had a little work done, which there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with. *However*, these actors are all notably older than they were during the show, which makes sense given they AND THEIR CHARACTERS have aged. So are we just handwaving Allison’s aging? I mean, she’s clearly physically *not* a teenager, but is Allison supposed to have come back as one? Okay, fine, we dangled some keys over the Nemeton and now Allison’s back? I just …

The fact that there are at least two characters who are like, “I haven’t used my powers at all in the last fifteen years!” is annoying as balls. I just have a hard time believing that overachiever Lydia is really going to let her banshee abilities slide. I feel like the Lydia I know, over the course of fifteen years, would have been able to send a dart into the bullseye through an open bar door from a block away from absurd amounts of practice. She might not have been fighting monsters the same way she had in high school, but STILL.

Jackson could have not been there and the flimsy plot would have still worked, and yet Colton was enjoying himself immensely in a way everyone but maybe Ian was not. Also, Jackson and Ethan are still together! Awww. Wish we could have gotten two and a half hours of that.

NGL, I laughed when Derek died. It was mostly because I could see the strings. Which I probably shouldn’t be able to, but I could see “well, he’s Superman now and we can’t bring him back for more movies and episodes” tugging that little plot point into position. To be fair, you can’t really have the character walk that plot point into existence when you’re writing him from minute one as if he banged his head off something.

Scott and Allison … just … can we stop for a second and go back to that question of where she’s at when she comes back? Because I feel like we’re going back to the issues with Malia when she returned from being in coyote form for years, except in that instant she lived those years. And it was still problematic for her to be having sex with Stiles and going to regular high school classes. Allison hasn’t been *alive* for fifteen years. She hasn’t even been a CORPSE. She’s been ash in an urn. And now she’s back after dying when she was a teenager, and it’s just back with Scott and everything’s normal? Come on. Come ON.

Meanwhile, Malia and Parrish. I’m fine with that. Provide that man as many fitted uniforms and fireproof underwear as he needs to rip and/or burn off.

I’m mad about Hikari, because I’m sure she’s great, but also it feels like they wrote Kira in and then when Arden wouldn’t do it they erased Kira and drew Hikari in but without giving her much to do as a person instead of a kitsune. (And if she and Liam were together together, then let them be? I don’t fucking know at this point.)

I know this sounds like I didn’t like the movie, and that’s because I didn’t, but also I appreciate it being so badly written because watching badly written things makes me throw things and shout “I can write better than that!”, and in this case I have a first draft inspired by Teen Wolf crossed with Yellowjackets which I can direct my annoyance at.