#and a lot of them are theater and performance stuff

[semi-entropy]

image base of a poster for the government inspector

[poptartmochi]

very lalalala day... I must savor it before I go to the trenches tomorrow

[sojutrait]

✧lot download! the augstein school of performing arts✧ info below cut

YAHOIE i finished this ehehe

info

50x40 britechester commons lot

includes a theater, dressing room, cafeteria, orchestra practice room, and dance studio (and bathrooms ofc)

**cc included (ty cc creators mwah)

standard tou, don’t reupload or claim as ur own all that jazz

tag me if u use it in anything id love to see it!!

** only cc not included is stuff from these sets bc unmerging them fawks up the textures, yall know the vibes but!!!! dont forget to grab these!!

chateau pt 1

chateau pt 2

chateau pt 3

berlin pt 2

download // mediafire

[copperbadge]

Hey Sam! Since it's currently AO3 donation time, I'm wondering what your thoughts are on it? I'm asking because you've written RPF and it's one of many "anti-AO3/anti-AO3 donations" people's favourite things to bring up when they're complaining about AO3 getting so many donations that it continuously obtains an excess of its donation goal whenever donation time rolls around? (Wow, how many times can I say "donation" in an ask?) Sorry if this question bothers you! I don't mean to offend or annoy.

Hey anon! Sorry it took a while to get to this, I don't even know if the drive is still going on, but the question came in while I was traveling and I didn't really have the time for stuff that wasn't travel-related. In any case, let's dig in! (I am not offended, no worries.)

So really there are two issues here and as much as some people who are critical of AO3 want to conflate them, they are different. While some criticism of AO3 may be valid, rhetoric against AO3 tends to misinterpret both in separate ways.

First there's the issue of what AO3 hosts -- RPF, yes, but more broadly, varied content that some people find distasteful or think should be illegal, which is a misunderstanding of the purpose of the archive and more broadly a dangerous attitude towards the concept of freedom of expression.

Second, there's the issue of AO3 generally outpacing its fundraising goals while not allowing monetization, which is a misunderstanding of the legal status of AO3 and to an extent a misunderstanding of philanthropy as a whole.

The longer I watch debates about content go on, the more I come to the conclusion that I was fortunate to have a teacher who really wanted to instill in us an understanding of free speech not as a policy but as an ongoing dialogue. It's not only that freedom of expression "protects you from the government, not the Justin" as the meme goes, but also that freedom of expression is not a static thing. It's an ongoing process of identifying what we find harmful in society and what we want to do about it.

Should the freedom to shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater be restricted? Should the freedom to yell slurs at drag performers? Should the freedom to teach prepubescent kids about gender, sexuality, and/or safe sex? Should the freedom to wear a leather puppy hood at Pride? Who gets to say, and why?

I was nine when my teacher did a unit on freedom of speech and the intersection of "harm prevention" and "censorship", which is (and should be) a discussion, not a set of ironclad rules. This ambiguity has thus been with me for over thirty years, and I'm comfortable with the ambiguity, with the process; I'm not sure a lot of people critical of AO3's content truly are. Perhaps some can't be, especially those affected by hate speech, but RPF is not hate speech. It's just fiction. Or is fiction "just fiction"? This is a question society as a whole is grappling with, although fandom seems to be a little out ahead of society in terms of how explicitly we discuss it.

The idea that prose can incite violence or cause harm is both valid to examine (witness the rise of fascism on the radio in the 20s, on Facebook and Twitter in the past ten years; they're very similar processes) and a very slippery slope. Because again: who decides what harm is, and what causes it, and what we do about it? Our values align us with certain beliefs, but those are only our values, not universal truths. So AO3 is part of the ongoing question of harm and benefit both to society and individuals.

AO3 itself, however, has a fairly defined policy that it is not meant to police content; it is an archive, not a bookstore or a school board. AO3 refines its TOS and policies as necessary, but the goal is always open access and as much freedom of expression as possible, and if that's uncomfortable for some people then that's a discussion we have to have; ignoring it won't make it go away. But it has to be a discussion, it can't be a unilateral change to the archive's TOS or a series of snaps and clapbacks, and I don't see a lot of people ready to move beyond flinging insults. Perhaps because they were taught a much more binary view of freedom of expression than I was.

So, self-evidently, I support AO3 and I don't have a problem with RPF. Whether other people do is something we're going to have to get to grips with, and that's likely to be a process that is still going on when most of us are dust. I'd rather have a century of ambiguity than a wrong answer tomorrow, anyway.

But whether AO3 hosts RPF is truly a separate issue from its donation drives, because it's a criticism some people level at the site which exists whether it's fundraising or not. So people can criticize AO3's open policy and they can give it as a reason not to support the site, but it's just one aspect of the archive and the fundraising as a whole should be examined separately.

I think AO3's fundraisers are deeply misunderstood (sometimes on purpose) because even people who are anticapitalist get a little crazy when money gets involved, and this is, to fandom, a lot of money -- a few hundred thousand, reliably, every fundraiser. To me, a fundraiser that pulls in three hundred grand is almost quaint; my current nonprofit pulls in better than ten million a year and my previous employer had an endowment of several billion dollars. At my old job I didn't even bother researching people who couldn't give us a hundred grand.

On the other hand, AO3 is an extreme and astounding outlier in the nonprofit world, because basically it's the only one of its kind to work the way it does. It is entirely volunteer-run on the operational side (ie: tag wranglers, coders, lawyers, etc) and has no fundraising staff (gift officers, researchers, outreach officers) as far as I'm aware. To pull in three hundred grand from individual one-time donations, without any paid staff and without even a volunteer fundraising officer? That's insane. That doesn't happen. Except at AO3.

What people misunderstand, however, is the basic status of a nonprofit, which is a legal status, not simply a social one. (I'm adding in some corrections here since it gets complicated and the terminology can be important!) The Organization for Transformative Works, the parent of AO3, is a nonprofit, which indicates how it was incorporated as an organization; additionally it is registered federally as tax-exempt, which carries certain perks, like not paying sales tax, and certain duties, like making their financials transparent to a certain extent. (Religious nonprofits are exempt from the transparency requirement.) If you're interested in more about nonprofits and tax-exempt status a reader dropped a great article here.

Nonprofits, unlike for-profit companies, cannot pay a share of their income to stakeholders. Nonprofits don't have financial stakeholders, only donors. They can have employees and pay them a salary -- that's me, for example -- but if a nonprofit pulls in $10M in donations, my salary is paid from that, I don't get a percentage and nobody else does either. That's what it means to be a nonprofit -- the money above operational costs goes back into the organization. The donations we (and AO3) receive must be plowed under and used for outreach, server maintenance, further fundraising, services expansion, et cetera. You can see this in the 990 forms on Guidestar or ProPublica, or in their more accessible breakdowns on Charity Navigator. Nonprofits that do not put the majority of their income towards service provision tend to get audited and lose their nonprofit status. So nobody's getting paid from all that money, and the overage that isn't spent goes into what is basically a savings account in the name of the nonprofit. (I'm vastly simplifying but that's the gist.) Using that money for personal purposes is illegal. It's called "private inurement" and there's a good article here about it. The money belongs to the OTW as a concept, not to anyone in or of the OTW.

So the biggest misunderstanding that I see in people who are mad at AO3 fundraisers is that "they" are getting all this money (who "they" are is never clearly stated but I'm pretty sure people think @astolat has a special wifi router that runs on burning hundred dollar bills) while "we" can't monetize our fanfic. But "they" get nothing -- nobody even earns a salary from AO3 -- and you can easily prove that by looking at the 990 forms they file with the government, which are required to be made public. You can see the most recently available 990, from 2020, here at Guidestar. Page seven will show you the "highest compensated" employees, all of whom are earning zero dollars or nonmonetary perks (that's the three columns on the right).

Either AO3 is entirely volunteer-run or someone's Doing A Real Fraud. The money the OTW spends is documented (that's page 10 and 11 primarily) and while they may pay for, say, the travel and lodging expenses of a lawyer going to DC to defend a freedom-of-expression case, they don't pay the lawyer for their time, or give them a cut of the income.

Despite what you've read, the reason "we" can't monetize our fanfics on AO3 has nothing to do with the site being the product of volunteer handiwork or AO3 having it in their terms of service or it being considered gauche by some to do so; it's because

IT'S ILLEGAL.

I cannot say this loudly enough: It is against the law for a nonprofit to be used by its staff, volunteers, or beneficiaries to earn direct profit from the services provided by the nonprofit.

You can be paid to work at one, but you cannot side-hustle by selling your handmade friendship bracelets for personal gain on the nonprofit's website. If the nonprofit knowingly allows monetization of its services, it can lose nonprofit status, be fined, be hit with back taxes, and a lot of other unpleasant bullshit can go down, including prosecution of those involved for fraud. If you put a ko-fi link on your fanfic, you are breaking the law, and if AO3 allows it, they are too.

Okay, that was a sidebar, but in some ways not, because it gets to the heart of the real complaints about AO3 fundraising, which is that people in fandom are sick or unhoused or in some form of need and other people in fandom are giving to AO3, a fan site that is financially stable, instead of giving to peoples' gofundmes or dropping money in their Ko-Fi or Paypal. And while it is a legitimate grievance that there are people who are in such desperate need while we live in an era of unprecedented abundance, that's not AO3's fault. AO3 doesn't solicit actively, there's no unasked-for mailings or calls from a gift officer. They just put a banner up on their website, and people give. (Again, this is incredibly outlier behavior in the nonprofit world, I'd do a case study on it but the conclusion would just be "shit's real, yo.") You might as well be mad that people give to their local food bank instead of someone's ko-fi.

You cannot lay at AO3's feet the fact that people want to give to AO3 instead of to your fundraiser. That's a choice individuals have made, and while you can engage with them in terms of why they made the philanthropic choices they did, to blame an organization they supported rather than the person who made the choice to give is not only incorrect but futile, and unlikely to win anyone over to supporting you. We know from research that guilt is not a tremendous motivator of philanthropy.

It is also not necessarily a binary choice; just because AO3 gets a hundred grand in $5 donations doesn't mean most of the people giving don't also give $5 elsewhere. I support the OTW on occasion, and I also fundraise for UNICEF and the Chicago Parks Foundation and BAGLY and others, in addition to giving monthly to several nonprofits that I have longterm relationships with -- my alma mater, the animal rescue where I got the Cryptids, my shul. And I give, occasionally and anonymously, to fundraisers that pass through Radio Free Monday, which are mainly individuals in need, because I was once in need and now I pay it forward. These are the choices I have made. Nobody twisted my arm. I respond poorly to someone making the attempt to do so by attacking places I've given.

I think the upshot is, after all of this that I've written, that we cannot begin to come to grips with questions of institutional inequality in philanthropy, or freedom of expression and censorship, until people actually understand what's going on, and too few do. So all I can do is try and explain, and hopefully create a forum for people to learn and grow when it comes to charitable giving.

Archive Of Our Own and the Organization for Transformative Works are products of our community and as that community changes, we will necessarily continue to re-evaluate what aspects of it mean and how AO3/OTW express the community sentiment. I hope that the ongoing discussion of support for AO3 also leads to people learning more about their philanthropic options. But criticizing AO3 for fundraising by attacking it for fulfilling one of its stated purposes is silly, and attempting to guilt people into giving in the ways one thinks they should give rather than how they do give is just going to make one extremely unlikable.

As members of this community, we have to be a part of the push and pull, but it's difficult to do that competently in ignorance. So, I do my best to be knowledgeable and to educate my readers, and I hope others will do the same.

[scarefox]

Haven't watched anything KristSingto recently but he's right

You can think of fanservice what you want. But the moment you want to police or censor it, it turns into something really problematic. And this stance comes from 2 or even 3 different oppinioned sides but they ironically melt into the same outcome.

But at the end of the day most people forget / ignore, regardless of anything, fanservice still helps normalising public queer affection. And let's be real, most of the stuff in those stage and event shows are that... a show or even a performance! Do you protest at your local theater when they have queer characters kissing? Do you notice how this sounds in a sentence? Yes actors are real people and not characters but especially BL actors & idols still perform stage shows and kind of have a public enertainer persona. You notice how different they are on stage vs. in their personal live streams + nowadays most actors are even very honest about just doing fs for show & fun and often genuine (platonic) affection towards their acting partner but don't pretend to be actual dating (and the ones who do will most likely not lightheartedly come out with it like that... apparently there are exceptions but I have not enough insight on them to judge). You should watch some serious interviews or live stream (translations) of your favs now and then maybe to learn more about them and the industry, they are more than just pretty faces... Actors in just my bubble who talked open about the fanservice topic as far as legally possible at least: JamesSu, Perth Nakhun and I guess we can count Pavel and Nut as well.

What fans make out of it is a whole different story.... and one of the reasons people want to shut down fanservice as a whole. But imagine how lighthearted, fun and easy going this whole thing could be if we didn't had all these toxic naive fans who think every interaction is proof of actors dating (or worse: cheating) in RL. That mindset of "we are BL fans of course we are delulu" is not a joke anymore among some of them. They srsly take pride in that... babes you are part of the problem, stop encouraging it!

Then on the other side, being critical of some of the practices of the industry is one thing but it should not lead into backwards queer censoring... but that's what some are swaying to with their "real people queerbait" agenda or getting the cringes when (samesex) people interact romantically or erotically during live events (that's a bit of a you thing my dears. not necessarily in a queerphobic way but in a purity / shy way and that is a you problem to deal with not anyone elses problem)....

And a lot of people don't even understand or get what most people criticise about fanservice and just jump onto the ban-fanservice train. Without understanding the nuances nor the actual industry circumstances. Like one main argument here isn't even true. Lot of people assume actors get forced into fs. Which is not true (source: one of Perth Nakhuns Q&A vids, the 2. vid i think). BL actors usually know what they get into by entering the industry, decide with eo how much they want to do. Now that can still cause internal personal conflicts like one going over board or not playing enough but that's human miscommunication. Or companies can still be bastards but it's unfair to generalise it over the whole industry when we nowadays have companies who give their actors that freedom.

There are still some points to criticise, definitely. Like I personally dislike how MCs and sponsors sometimes treat actors during events or how fans scream at every little move or glance like crazy.... But the topic is a bit more nuanced (as always in this world) than how most people look at it. I just mean it really always sticks out when you talk with people about their reasons why they are anti fanservice that they just repeat after another with no sources or without actual up to date information or only look at it from one side.

I personally am in the middle. I only like fs when the actors have fun with it and are transparent about it. In the end it comes down to actors consent what they want to give to the audience (reason why it annoys me when people write "i feel like i am interrupting something here / am intuding their privacy" the actors consented! they want you to watch if you want to see it! consent babes! it is fine)

(when i see someone coming in with "but Krist is a homophobe" I will bite you. I am not even his fan and already researched what happened back then when I first saw those accusations when I got into BL 2021ish. It is really not that hard to look up the source and reports of people who were live pressent at the time to understand what went down back then. Ya know instead of believing rumors that twist and lie for rage bait)

[sepublic]

The Owl House Ending Anniversary Livestream

            These are the notes I’ve taken from The Owl House anniversary stream, just the stuff related to the show (though there was a hilarious anecdote from Sarah about having a theater light shine on her bald spot while attending an acting school);

For the finale, the VAs (and Dana and Eden) got to record voice work together for the first time since the covid lockdown. Sarah scream-cried and sobbed right after finishing the final lines for Luz. The recording occurred a few months before the finale aired.

            Zeno revealed that anime dub voice directors usually want a different direction for voice acting than with western animation, but when Zeno did a take for Hunter that he thought might’ve sounded too anime, everyone else was in full approval. From there, Zeno approached Hunter as the “anime emo boy” or “Sasuke” of the show, going for an “eastern anime edgy feel.” Sarah thought this fit given how much Hunter is trying; Zeno feels Hunter wears his emotions on his sleeves no matter how cool he tries to be.

Hunter would 100% be an anime fan and be obsessed with anime conventions in the human realm. Eden mentioned that Dana took a lot of anime inspiration when doing segments such as fight scenes or character power-ups, with Luz’s Titan form being based on Pokemon evolution.

            When voicing Lilith, Cissy would pull from her memories of her aunt Kim in translating the “fun, goofy” energy, and she normally does this for other fun aunt/maternal roles. Elizabeth Grullon brought in parts of her culture and ancestry when doing Camila, as per the advice of her late mentor Ken Washington.

            If the VAs could hang out with their characters for one day: Eden would take Boscha to therapy, and all of the VAs agreed, with Zeno ready to pay for Hunter’s (“The credit card will NOT decline”). Cissy would have a ride on Mike Socks. Elizabeth would visit the Demon Realm with Camila, get some drinks in her, make some arroz con pollo and tostones, put on some salsa music, and just vibe out. Sarah would also visit the Demon Realm with Luz, and wherever Luz likes to hang out; Maybe a beach day.

            Cissy thinks Lilith would go full-nerd when visiting the human realm, having a notebook and pen and going mad as she’s scribbling everything down. She’d stop people on the street to ask if they’ve had apple blood, and be an absolute menace, people would be freaking out.

            Pulling from themselves, Avi thinks Raine would meet things with a little bit of caution, having lots of disinfectant wipes, and eventually get comfortable, freely exploring without inhibition.

            Eden imagines Boscha would thrive in the human world, since there’s so many gullible people she could trick into being her followers. She’d either use the third eye for attention, or grow bangs/wear a beanie to hide it. Cissy joked that Boscha would run for president and win in a landslide, which is a bad idea because she’d have too much power at her fingertips.

            When it comes to Camila exploring the demon realm once everything’s cooled down, Elizabeth thinks she’d be a bit skeptical, but eventually relax, have some apple blood, kick back and make some friends… And then be ready to go back. Not an overnight stay, just a brief visit.

            Cissy was proudest of her performance as Lilith was “Why were you so easy to curse?!” in Agony of a Witch. For Zeno it was Thanks to Them, he felt it was a closed circle for Hunter; He enjoyed balancing various Hunter elements like the Golden Guard role, and the catharsis with Luz right afterwards. He’s glad it was vulnerable and open, wanting his performance to be honest and realistic. For Elizabeth it was Camila reacting to various Demon Realm segments such as Belos, or preparing to fight Kikimora.

Eden liked Boscha’s arc in For the Future, how it came full-circle when she helped the resistance because she didn’t mean real harm and just wanted things to go back to normal. For Sarah it was the ending of Yesterday’s Lie where Luz promises to stay in the human realm, she found it heartbreaking how it was Luz’s two worlds colliding; Sarah couldn’t wait to see the episode in its entirety. Raine was Avi’s first voice-acting role for animation, and they summoned the ‘guttural response’ to free themselves when doing the possession scene with Belos in the finale.

Luz’s favorite human realm drink is coffee or matcha due to her ADHD, the caffeine can help her focus, “turn Demon Realm,” but is also helpful for a nap. Sarah often brings large drinks into the studio, and described her performance as Luz as a cold brew, plus a giant gallon of water, plus some tea with honey after she’s done screaming.

            Hunter would like Red Bulls and go crazy with the energy. He’d apply Demon Realm mentality by believing Red Bull’s “gives you wings” advertisements, and write a letter to management demanding a refund when this doesn’t literally happen.

            Camila would love café bustelo, it’s a big Latina drink and was introduced to Elizabeth by her mom. The 4pm kind brings you to life and it’s the time for tias to gossip.

            Boscha is either a giant slurpee girl, or popping boba, because her third eye gives Boscha an inclination towards eye aesthetics. Plus Boscha could spit boba at people through her straw, which led to Sarah joking about Luz and Hunter walking in bespeckled with boba (“No Hunter, they do not give you wings”).

            Lilith would like pina colada, she’d think it’s the cool thing that everyone drinks, what with there being a whole song about it. Then she’d drink it and go on a tangent about how her mom never loved her, and Luz would ask her in concern how many she’s had. Lilith would collect several of the parachutes in her hair.

            Raine has a sensitive stomach, so they’re into kombucha and brew their own.

            (Fun fact; The group realized the eclipse was happening during the livestream and had a discussion over how to protect your eyes when watching it!)

            Rebecca Rose herself sent a question, asking what they think a palisman would taste like. They joked that Matthew Rhys was NOT here, and Dana apparently headcanons that palismen essence tastes like gushers. Zeno and Sarah joked that Belos has a sweet tooth and he’s obsessed because he left the human realm before they invented gushers. It never even occurred to Eden that palisman essence would have a flavor, it’d just be an energy boost, like pipe tobacco (and Sarah added this was appropriate because palismen are made of wood). Yesterday was Rebecca’s birthday and the VAs wished her a happy one.

            Zeno’s favorite quality about Hunter is his loyalty and dedication; When he sets his sights on something, he’s pretty relentless. He has a really deep well of complexity in him, half is angst but the other half is real heart.

            Elizabeth loves how Camila loves her kid so much that she’s willing to step past herself and her own limitations, her own fears and comfort zone, to connect with and support Luz. Sarah noted it’s like Camila is learning to be a kid again with her arc.

            Boscha doesn’t have a ton of great character traits, but she’s a strong athlete, doesn’t give up, and is powerful; Eden admires that about her, she’s badass. Everything else about her though…

            Sarah likes how Luz doesn’t have an ego; Yes she’s unapologetically herself and doesn’t know any other way, but when she messes up, she has no problem taking the blame and apologizing. She’ll own up to things and fix them. Though it was misguided, Luz was even willing to let go of everything she loved to make up for letting down the Demon Realm and protect everyone. It’s not easy to put aside your own wants and needs sometimes and apologize, accepting that you’re wrong.

            Lilith had a lot of faults, but her willingness to admit her own wrongdoing and go into the depths of her soul to figure out how to be better; Such as being a better auntie/sister, forgiving her parents, etc. She had a lot of growing up to do, and Cissy felt Dana gave Lilith such a beautiful way to go about that.

            Avi was glad to see Raine have stage fright and awkwardness/shyness in public and with social settings, but they can transform by stepping into this fierce protector/hero role, and find that confidence. It’s a multi-faceted character, a full human experience, and felt genuine to Avi.

            When asked if Boscha ever said sorry to Willow and Luz, Eden joked that love means never having to say sorry; Boscha probably skipped over that. Assumed she already said it at some point, the others just have bad memory. I’m sure they know, I helped them. I didn’t kill them and they’re still alive, so clearly…!

            The hardest episode to record was Thanks to Them for Zeno, the VAs had to take a break. It was already cathartic and then Hunter didn’t even get a break afterwards, plus Zeno had the knowledge of the show ending. For Elizabeth it was the finale due to the sadness of the show being over, but otherwise there was nothing hard for her because the experience was a dream come true; She was in pure joy when in the booth. Even when Camila was crying or saying goodbye, it was still fun for Elizabeth. But when she herself is saying goodbye, that’s when it’s hard for her.

            Eden also agreed on the finale due to how long it was (and she accounted for her role as voice director as well), mentioning how the episode was the culmination of so much, there was a lot of ground to cover, etc. It was so emotional how everyone brought so much, saying goodbye together as a cast. Not to mention the catharsis/closure of stamping Belos to death together.

            Sarah concurred, it was meta saying goodbye to the show and each other. But she also found Reaching Out hard, due to Luz’s complex emotions, her coming in and out a lot. She’s dealing with a great loss, and Sarah wanted to honor that grief, but also had Luz masking it, popping up, acting out, and needed to choose how/when to let that emotion come out. The grief wasn’t super-fresh, it comes in waves, and it was in that state where some are in shock or others cry; You never know when it’ll strike, when it’ll put you on edge. So Reaching Out was hard to map out for Sarah, especially with Luz just popping up to do one weird thing and then going away. It was a lot of fun, and workwise it was a lot of pressure to get it right.

            Cissy also had the finale, with the switch from Lilith making amends to being terrible again in the dream sequence being jarring. There was also Agony of a Witch, as the landing needed to be stuck to make the episode work; But Eden and Dana were there for the recording session to help.

            Avi had Follies at the Coven Day Parade, when Eda and Raine had their duel. Avi really had to tap into being angry and mad at someone they care so much about.

            If Elizabeth could give advice to any character, it’s for Boscha to go to therapy. Sarah tells Lilith to stand still and feel her feelings, you poor beautiful witch. Avi tells everyone to not be so hard on yourself. Cissy, to all (especially teenagers): It gets better, you think you know everything and you think you have the weight of your world on your hands (and tbf that was the case), but it gets better. Eden would tell Hunter to take a day off, take a nap. Zeno would tell everyone to do the same, it’s okay to let go. Eden would also advise Eda to lay off the law-breaking, Sarah said not to start her day with apple blood (save it for happy hour).

            Sarah’s favorite Hooty moment was the tea party, and how he would be haunted by his actions forever in Adventures in the Elements. Cissy loved Hooty and Lilith’s friendship, “No witch is an island!” Eden loves the first appearance of Port-a-Hooty, it had her in stitches the first time she saw it; There was sheer terror knowing he could travel. Sarah loved Hooty’s off-screen attack by Amity. For Zeno, it was two guards struggling to describe Hooty. Elizabeth concurred with everyone, and Avi liked it when Hooty just ate things and sometimes ruined a situation because of it. Cissy brought up Hooty’s skeleton bathing.

[rhondafromhr]

I normally don’t like social media/youtuber AUs but I just came up with a really unhinged one that I feel compelled to subject y’all to.

So, Stephanie’s a podcast girlie. She started one to rebel against the constant pressure to stay out of the public eye and not do anything to make her dad look bad by saying a bunch of things she know will enrage the public (like “peanuts the pocket squirrel is overrated”) and having controversial guests. As it took off, she really started to enjoy the financial independence and attention/validation it brought her, eventually moving to LA to do it full-time.

Grace has a fundamentalist channel (not unlike Girl Defined) where she basically just spouts purity culture bullshit. She’s controversial and while she does have a decent amount of people following her unironically, most of her views are hate watches and she gets a lot of her engagement from commentary channels dunking on her. One of those channels is run by none other than Peter Spankoffski - most of his content is nerdy/science based stuff and that’s his real passion, but he needs to make rent and the videos about Grace are what get views and money.

Stephanie decides that having them both on her podcast would make for one hell of an episode and they agree to do it. She asks questions she knows will get them riled up and cause arguments. It escalates to an all-out screaming match at some points, but the second the cameras are off Grace completely switches up, just totally calm and unbothered. Then she hits on Stephanie, which really confuses the other two. It turns out she’s a grifter - she hasn’t bought into the things she preaches on her channel in a long time, but she keeps it up for the money and because she’s been doing it for so long she doesn’t know what else she would do. Steph and Pete both get it so they’re just like “oh, cool, respect.” Pete invites them to a party hosted by his friend Ruth - an aspiring actress and popular lifestyle vlogger. Her real dream is live theater, but she has a lot of anxiety and she’s way more comfortable talking to a camera and posting online than performing in front of a crowd. The few roles she has gotten have been less about her talent and more about using her following to sell tickets, which is a big insecurity of hers.

At the party, they run into Max, who has one of those awful prank channels where he’s an absolute menace to the public and Richie, his camera man (they met and became unlikely friends in college. They started the channel when Max got an injury that kept him from playing football and had a crisis over what to do with his life). Richie can’t believe this is what he’s using his film degree for and he constantly tries to get Max to pivot to more serious content. The six all get to talking and realize they all grew up in Hatchetfield (Max went to Sycamore in this universe. He was still a literal monster and bullied everyone there, but Hatchetfield High was safe). They talk for hours about all the strange occurrences they noticed back home and the fact that they all suspect some sinister, supernatural forces are at work there. Eventually, they decide to travel back there, investigate and exploit their findings for content in the most epic collab the world’s ever seen.

[phefics]

This just came to my mind while I was studying for my psychology exam - but what do you think THG would be like if they were dating a reader who is a theatre performer? Like them picking the reader up from rehearsals that ran overtime, watching their performances and listening to them talk about their crazy (and sometimes kinda weird) rehearsal memories?

I hope this makes sense because I am not too great with explaining things

this is so cute, not weird at all!! you didn't specify the guys so i'm gonna do all the characters i write for. hope you like!! xo

coryo is supportive, mostly because he likes the idea of dating someone who could be famous one day. he brags about your talents to people at school/work, and comes to every show, sits in the front row, and brings you roses. he admires your dedication, even when it means staying late to run scenes or crazy rehearsal stories.

finnick loves to watch you perform. he's been caught trying to sneak into your rehearsals before, and given you a sheepish grin as he's escorted out of the theater. he's just so captivated by you. as someone who has spent a lot of his life performing against his will, he loves to watch you flourish doing something you love. he loves hearing about cast drama, like straight up will make popcorn to listen to the gossip.

gale isn't super into theater but will be supportive! he likes that you have a hobby you're so passionate about, even if he doesn't understand. he tries to make every show when he isn't busy with work, and has terrible theater ettiquette the first time and keeps cheering every time you're on stage, so you have to explain that he can't do that, lol. he also picks you up from rehearsals because he won't let you walk home late at night, ever.

haymitch isn't very into the arts, in general - he's just never had an urge to consume it or have a hobby of his own. but seeing you feel so passionate about it and have so much fun opens him up to the idea a lot, and i can see him definitely going to your shows and finding the beauty in live theater.

johanna would be a stage crew girly, so i think she would participate in your theatre stuff (if it was local/small, i don't think she would pursue it as a career) and she does the lights or sound. definitely ignores directions so she can put the spotlight on you even when you aren't talking in a scene.

katniss is very supportive, but i don't see her being into theatre at all - she'll go to your shows but doesn't really vibe with it, so she's there to support you but wouldn't go if you weren't involved. if you are in a musical production, though, she will get the songs stuck in her head and whistle/sing them around the house.

lucy gray is probably also involved in theatre!! or, she at least totally understands your passion as well as your workload. if you do musical theatre, she helps you practice your songs and learns them on guitar so she can play them for you. she is always cheering so loud in the audience - she is so supportive and loving.

peeta would probably get involved in your production behind the scenes, painting sets. he is so supportive and i could even see him joining the show if you convinced him he'd be good - he's clearly a very charming actor and would probably find it fun. if he doesn't join you, though, he is in the front row of every single performance with flowers.

sejanus is the most supportive boyfriend ever, i swear. he will singlehandeldly fund your local theatre just so you can participate. he takes time off of work to go to every single show, and has flowers sent to you backstage. he helps you rehearse at home, always being a bit goofy and over-the-top when he reads the lines.

tigris would probably be involved as well, designing and altering costumes!! she loves to design and sew and having that outlet that benefits the community as well as her partner would make her really happy.

[hanaybuns]

so a while back i learned that there was an episode of osomatsu kun where chibita and osomatsu compete to be prima donnas in iyami's ballet and it got me thinking: what if osomatsu continued and all the brothers became dancers?

so i came up with different types of dance i thought they would get into, but then i found out that theres already an official art with them as dancers!

so I'm gonna compare my hcs with what the staff came up with

(I'll add gifs for how i think they would dance)

Osomatsu:

ok so ballerino oso is extremely disciplined when it comes to ballet, but nothing else in his life.

he's a very charismatic and energetic dancer, he takes up roles like basilio from don quixote and romeo

he used to make perverted comments about the girls costumes in high school and he got reprimanded so badly that his instructor threatened to drop him. he never made a comment like that again.

he still gets in trouble for sneaking drinks and fatty food after performing though

he loves taking up upbeat roles, but his instructor challenges him to channel his emotions into darker roles, he understands that osomatsu has always been a troubled person.

when he gets angry with his brothers, instead of shutting down like he does in the anime, he goes to the studio and practices for days.

the ballerinas in his company warn new students about him "yeah he's a pervert and lazy, but he's a decent guy on stage so don't worry about dancing with him"

Karamatsu:

ballroom, the drama, the emotion, the chemistry, the ROMANCE THE SPARKLEEESSSSS karamatsu loves ballroom dancing.

He specializes in latin ballroom dancing, but can do standard as well

his instructors get mad at him because he loooves to improvise and give his partner an extra twirl and an extra lift when he can

he always ends up falling in love with his partner, he can't help it! "heh, dance and love are the same" he says.

his parters always end up almost crushing on him back, but recoil when they interact with him outside the studio

they're put off by him and his painfulness, but ultimately love dancing with karamatsu. his energy is infectious and always makes for a great show

they get annoyed with him sometimes though, he tends to like to steal the show

he will always find a way to incorporate blue sequins or glitter into his dance wear, his choreographer will literally monitor him until the day of the competition and somehow an hour before it starts he's covered his suit sequined stars (i couldn't find good gifs for him but the couples in this video are exactly how i imagine it)

Choromatsu:

ohhh choro is a tap dancer, and a pretentious one at that

he wanted to be the one to do ballet because it demands a lot of discipline, but ultimately he wasn't athletic enough

he loves tap though and he'll physically fight anyone who makes fun of tap

he mostly does solo choreo because he gets nervous dancing with girls

oh, but if it's group choreo he'll be that guy that'll correct people if they're making a mistake

when people started getting mad at him, he started doing that thing that theater kids do "choreographer, it's supposed to be your left foot on that beat right? ok thanks, just making sure" and looks at you

the people in his studio think he's annoying, but ultimately respect him as a dancer

he works extremely hard, he'll practice every single day and make sure every beat is perfect

he makes his own tap choreo to nyaa chan songs and does them at her concerts

wow it's so much harder to find good tap dancing gifs that you would think, just watch this

k so this post is getting right long, i'll cut it off here and continue later. but keep in mind that these are MY head canons and I will cover the official stuff too

[ahfrickenfrick]

dsmp as a play? hold my fucking shit, I’ve been thinking about this for TWO YEARS (as someone who did theater for like 12 years)

I absolutely adore the idea of some people seeing the audience and interacting with them and some don’t.

Especially the people who talk to chat a lot during the lore. (Techno, Phil, Tommy, etc.) but I also adore the thought that they gradually become more aware of the audience.

Like Niki for example, she doesn’t talk to the audience or like make them feel involved with her until she’s burning down l’mantree

I want Connor to be in the audience audibly reacting to everything on stage, maybe he even throws popcorn when like Wilbur presses the button and Charlie is just chilling observing everything and becoming more and more aware of the show

Whenever Eret is on stage it’s soft music playing, building up the more they are on until the betrayal happens, subtle and not really noticeable

a Technoblade monologue being performed to the audience, it’s articulate, it’s attention holding, the lighting is dramatic, and Tommy is to the side trying to figure out who tf he’s talking to

Pogtopia Wilbur gets a little more ragged every time he comes on stage, the lighting gets more and more eerie, and it’s the same lighting used in the control room.

DONT GET ME STARTED ON EXILE OH MY FUCK

I think Tommy would talk to the audience more during exile, becoming more aware of them the longer he’s alone. Maybe Dream catches him talking to the audience and takes away his tools again, but they are the only consistent thing in his life, so he continues talking to them.

THE YHINGS I WOULD DO TO DESIGN ERETS COSTUMES

The EGG DUDES, slowly through scenes they grow more and more obvious, maybe it starts out with a simple rose that grows vines and AHSHWKDJDI

SAM NOOK. Making Sam Nook a hand puppet that the actor who plays Awesamdude uses.

There are definitely so many like sad and angsty stuff to put in but like im just thinking about funny stuff.

Tubbo constantly looks at the Audience and gives them the Jim from the Office stare™️, but only until he becomes president and then he suddenly stops doing it.

Ranboo would also be really interesting, cause they talk to themselves a LOT, like their character specifically. Maybe when they aren’t talking they are watching the audience, pulling out their notebook to take notes.

God have you guys looked at stage fighting? Like genuine good stage fighting? Imagine that with the dsmp. I’m so normal about this and everything

When Techno goes into retirement he literally gets off the stage and joins the audience, tsking at stuff and writing shit down in a book, but never getting involved until he gets pulled back in.

DOING THR SCAR MAKEUP WOULD BR SO COOL SNDKEEJR

Anyways yes im ranting and not really sober rn so i hope this makes sense

[noondefensesquad]

omg you saw it too!! Can you give us a detailed review too pretty please? But if you prefer not to, I totally understand!!

unfortunately my memory sucks and i saw it over a week ago at this point so i'll try my best 😅

i was sitting in row N so closer to the back and there were two people with ipads taking notes on things to change which was cool because im nosy. however, they didn't make a lot of notations and from what i could read, it mostly had to do with lighting so i don't expect much to change when i go see it again in a few weeks.

i love jamie's work and have seen his productions before but was still taken aback by the darkness at the beginning of the play. you can see tom on the screens (i loved the usage of cameras and screens so they could have full use of the theater) as he's backstage and the heavy breathing put me on edge because i was like

then tom sat at the front of the stage and cried and because he is also such a pretty crier and maybe that's my own weird kink i had the biggest smile on my face. however, the girls in front of me were about to cry with him 😂 tell me this didnt do something for you!

but when fran came out, the people around me sat up. she's phenomenal and i want more people to talk about her performance because she's the star of the show. the way she delivers her lines is so funny and they have a great balance of making it feel current while delivering the original iambic penameter.

then as soon as fran and tom came face to face, the audience audibly reacted. not loud enough to be distracting but enough that you know they were into it. i was in love

lots of shakespeare stuff happened, tom took off that sweatshirt and came out in that vest and multiple people gasped. you can see his abs through the shirt 🫠 and when the nurse squeezes his arm and basically says juliet i get it, that line got a huge laugh. my internal monologue was just

this is a married man this is a married man this is a married man

and then intermission came and i talked to the people around me and this was the conversation

fran is so pretty, talented, funny, amazing, we love her

tom's haircut

tom's arms 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

is zendaya the jealous type or would she say yes that's my man (i had to pretend to be very normal about this conversation and said absolutely the jealous type i have no sources 👀)

how do we get to the stagedoor in time to see them (the amount of texts i got about those videos because i am RIGHT THERE with the most in love expression on my face)

the chemistry is unbelievable and we didn't want the show to be over

somehow we made it to the end of the play and i'll be honest, the second half is my least favorite part of the play so it was also my least favorite to watch. i love how silly and romantic the first half can be and the second half is more doom and gloom. i will say, when this exchange happens

"will you speak well of him that killed your cousin?"

"shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?"

my friend and i audibly said "oop" and that got laughs in our section. the best thing about this play was their delivery and when i read r&j, i couldve never imagined how much fun it could be coming from jamie.

anyway, at the end, we rushed out to the stage door and it was insane to see how the street cleared when tom left. and security was the best. really such sweet guys and if you see them being mean to people, they spend the whole time giving instruction is the friendliest way so those people deserved it.

the we got to speak with fran who is the sweetest and signed my customized r&j book with her face on the cover and my programme

can't wait to go see it again in a few weeks. i wish i could have every second imprinted on my brain

[pencileraser1]

dead poets society theater au headcanons

so for context, i'm a stagehand, i've worked for events as well as in community theater, so this is mostly based off of that. doing my part to add dps to the dps tag, and this was what i could come up with

ok they're all involved in a small community theater production of the tempest over the summer

neil is an actor, he's playing ariel, this is one of the first roles he's landed. he'd done theater in school as puck, which didn't go so well, but it's been a while since then. he's graduated college recently after studying medicine and is finally somehow at a point where his father has less control over him. despite this, he's somewhat unsure what he wants to do now, if he wants to continue with medicine cause it's what he knows, or try to make it in theater.

todd is the assistant stage manager, he was really unsure about taking the job, but the stage manager, cameron, who he was pretty good friends with, and who he'd worked on a crew with before, specifically wanted him. despite this, he's worried that he's too anxious and not assertive enough to do it

cameron is the stage manager, and a bit of a hardass, which means the crew loves him and a decent chunk of the actors hate him. he's good at his job, he's very organized and really good at getting shit done and people together, but he'll also chew you out if you fuck up

meeks and pitts are lights and sound respectively, they've worked on a ton of shows together before and are pretty close. every show they work together, they bring a bag of snacks with them for the crew to eat during performances

charlie is the prop master, and a stagehand. he has a knack for finding weirdly useful shit in random places, and is brilliant at constructing props. despite this cameron is constantly having to bug him to get his stuff finished on time. he and cameron have a sort of love/hate relationship, they clash really bad at times but they both understand that the show would not be as good if either of them weren't there

keating is the director! he works really well with newer actors, i'd imagine he's pretty similar to peter weir in a lot of ways. he can take a little too long to reach deadlines, as getting the show perfect is a lot more important to him, which annoys cameron a bit

knox is also an actor, he's playing ferdinand and is convinced that he and chris, who plays miranda, are destined to be together or something. chris doesn't see him like that though

chris is miranda, she was originally interested in the tech/design aspect of theater, but a while back they needed more actors, and she ended up volunteering. she started as crew when ginny first started acting, because ginny was nervous to do it alone

ginny is iris, she has more free time this show since her role is smaller, but is always at rehearsal whenever chris is there, so she ends up sitting around and watching a lot. she quickly becomes friends with neil, who is similarly always around todd

anytime he's not busy, neil is hanging around todd. he's started doing parts of todds job for him, getting batteries, taping doors, sweeping the stage, doing other miscellaneous errands. he spends so much time with todd that he somehow ends up as crew in the program in addition to ariel. he starts getting to the theater early when the crew shows up just to spend more time with todd. cameron has started treating him as an extra stagehand

[neoflect]

sharing some of my disorganized jojo musical thoughts now that ive had a week to sit on it and ive rewatched it several times over. i intended to wait to publish something like this until a subtitled version was available, but im not seeing any indication that thats happening any time soon so for now youll have to deal with my loose interpretations from my extremely rudimentary and rusty japanese… so take what i have to say about the finer points of characterization with a grain of salt. gratuitous spoilers below obviously, both for the original source material and the changes made in the stage production

my feelings are OVERWHELMINGLY positive. of course there are things i can criticize or that i would have personally done differently but oh man… i have literally not thought about anything besides this fucking show for a week. im 100% confident in saying this is a better adaptation of the source material than the tv anime. sorry to the davidpro staff, i respect their hard work and their love for jojo and their dedication to what is by any metric a pretty difficult property to adapt off of the page, but i dont know if i can ever forgive them for leaving half of the first episode’s storyboard on the cutting room floor in order to fit a standard half-hour tv slot, especially considering that what they cut is some of the really crucial character-building stuff. happily those scenes are not only reproduced in the stage version, some of them are expanded upon!

with the quick disclaimer that i’ve only managed to get my hands on the final 4/14 performance with shotaro arisawa and yoshihisa higashiyama, from what i’ve seen the casting is perfect. i’m sure there’s a rip of the 4/13 performance somewhere (i’ve seen clips) but i haven’t been able to find one… every single performer knocks it out of the fucking park, the cast chemistry is incredible and even the minor characters are loaded with charisma. and mamoru miyano… my god… mamoru miyano i owe you an apology. i was not familiar with your game. of course hes been killing it for decades at this point but i had soured on him a little bit recently because i felt like he was overcast in everything and i just didnt connect with his dnt reinhard at all, so when the casting was initially announced back in august i was underwhelmed, and of course my standards for the dio role in particular were astronomically high… i’ll go more into detail later in the post because i have so so many things to say about dio’s characterization here but mamoru miyano’s performance is like, life-changing. i had impossible expectations and he exceeded them.

sorry if im gushing. i am a hater by nature. its unusual for me to be so thoroughly pleased with something. im not even a musical theater guy. these are strange new feelings for me.

just to balance things out i’ll talk about a couple of the things that didn’t really work for me: first of all, the music is just ok. my initial draft of this post called the music “bad” but three additional viewings later i have warmed up to some of the songs. i don’t know if this is a shortcoming by dove attia as the composer or if it’s just me, as i said i’m not a musical guy and a lot of the genre conventions of musical theatre are not really the things i look for in music that i enjoy, but like… even at their worst they are serviceable. nothing here is sonically unpleasant to me. high points are “resolve of the ripple” (zeppeli’s hamon training song, a jazzy swing number - it’s simply catchy and fun to listen to) and the closer “phantom blood” (a sweeping ballad that reprises the earlier “light and darkness”/”golden spirit” leitmotifs into an epic duet between jonathan and dio as they join hands and walk off into the darkness together… made me cry! i wont lie! on every single one of my numerous viewings this one got me misty eyed!)

wait i forgot this is supposed to be the part where i’m being critical. ok my most loathed song in the musical is “dio’s world”. sorry dio nation. it doesn’t really work for me. i think this might be a case of my standards/expectations being too impossibly high because it’s not even really the worst song in the whole thing. and of course miyano eats it up so it’s not really his fault. i just find it kind of underwhelming… i find the melody a little grating, it’s kind of just a generic rock number, it’s just missing a particular je ne sais quoi…. the essence of dio isn’t there… lyrically though i am obsessed with the premise of dio recruiting his minions by selling himself as a kind of social revolutionary who is upending and inverting the brutal hierarchy of post-industrial victorian society with zombie blood magic. you win some you lose some.

the second sticking point for me is the costumes. they’re perfectly serviceable… adequate… but i mean when it comes to jojo “serviceable” and “adequate” costume design obviously falls well below what’s expected, right? a lot of the outfits have kind of a boxy, almost flat-looking kind of unflattering fit on the actors, which if i wanted to be generous i could attribute to the challenge of bridging the gap between these frail slender musical theater twinks and the two-meter-tall 250lb roided-out beefcakes theyre meant to be embodying. (bearing this discrepancy in mind a lot of the insane martial arts stuff in the second act doesn’t really land with the oomph that it should, but i also understand logistically why this kind of casting is not practical, and all things considered i think shotaro arisawa does a really incredible job of embodying jonathan joestar even though he kind of looks like i could snap him in half over my knee like a twig. he’s very cute. so i’m not mad about it.) of course, again, logistically, i understand that in a stage musical production, where actors only have minutes to complete costume changes, some sacrifices have to be made to the creative vision in the name of practicality. nevertheless this is jojos bizarre adventure!! i want to see some fucking baubles!!!!!!

which is all to say that… after carefully considering it for some weeks… i still have extremely mixed feelings about dio’s grink ass feather bathrobe look. it’s not that i dont think its something he could wear (the concept of dio lounging around in his gothic vampire palace doing re-animator style body horror experiments on the local wildlife in this “officer i have no idea what happened to my husband”-ass nightgown is nothing short of hysterical to me) but then he wears it into combat and i felt a little disappointed… it has the same unflattering fit issue as the other outfits in the show, and it is just such an un-araki-like design… where are the gaudy color combinations? the bizarre geometric patterns? the tease of an exposed boob/thigh/midriff? erina gets a stage-original dress design that i have fewer issues with because the excessive pleats and ruffles have more of an araki-esque sensibility, but every time i look at dio’s robe it feels like there’s something missing.  i’m going to choose to be nice about it because it’s not at all a deal breaker and, again, mamoru miyano devours the look. it’s fine. it’s always fun to have a new dio outfit. if anything, the fact that the blu-rays are being marketed as “2024 cast version” gives me hope for the possibility of a future production with a new vision for the costume design. (although the fact that this was such a difficult production - with stunts and pyrotechnics and moving setpieces - that its entire first week was cancelled indicates to me that the prospects for a future production from a different company are impossibly slim. i guess there’s always hope?)

in terms of the writing and the changes that were made from the original narrative, honestly i don’t really have an issue with anything that was cut. sorry if there are any diehard stans of Poco’s Unnamed Sister out there who are steamed that their favorite minor late phantom blood character got the axe, i kind of understand how you feel because i’ve been malding over david pro cutting the Danny Lore for eleven years, but i think it was the right choice and the story flows so much better. the real juicy meat at the core of phantom blood as a narrative and the thing that brings it head and shoulders above so much of the rest of jjba is the character-driven drama - that deliciously pulpy victorian gothic family tragedy - and the relationship between jonathan and dio. the musical beefs up the character drama and slims down the action-driven second half by trimming out the extraneous battles. the only real downside i see to this is that the absence of tompetty and his prophecy makes zeppeli’s arc and death feel INSANELY abrupt, but tbf that’s not a deal breaker for me. sorry zeppeli. you were born to die.

okay. okay. i think 1500 words into the post is enough fucking around so let’s talk about the real reason why you and i both know we’re here

musical dio is SO fucking sad. he’s positively wretched, you guys. he was born in a wet cardboard box all alone and forced to eat cement when he was six. he cries even more than he does in the source material and even when he’s not crying he frequently delivers his lines as though he is moments away from bursting into tears. back when the musical first opened i was snooping on the reactions on jpn twitter and one commenter said they could see miyano’s tears and snot from the nosebleeds even without opera glasses, a remark i initially assumed was hyperbole but that i now think probably was not. araki’s dio is certainly tortured and a deeply pathetic crybaby beneath all the cruelty and posturing, but changes in the musical and miyano’s embodiment of the character bring this pathos to the fore. he is literally haunted: dario’s ghost lingers, a manifestation of all of dio’s traumas and insecurities that emerges from the recesses of his memory to taunt him with the reminder that he will always be his father’s son, all the way up until the very minute that jonathan breaks down the door to his vampire lair. i am OBSESSED with this - not only for the obvious reason that i delight in dio’s suffering personally but also because kong kuwata is a delight and he fucking kills it every time. also lends itself to a category 10 leitmotif moment at the top of the second act when dio emerges from the charred ruins of the joestar estate singing dario’s theme and calling out to jonathan - if i had to pinpoint this is probably the moment when this musical stuck for me as the Real Deal. they Get It.

the first solo number in the show is dio’s disney princess I Want song (amazingly, simply titled “dio”) where he weeps for his late mother and his wretched lot in life, and then - in a creative decision that made me clap my hands and hoot and holler at my screen in real life - there is a reprise of this number (delivered, naturally, through tears) when dio is almost arrested for murder and decides to become a vampire instead. so there’s this amazing hopeful uplifting inspirational orchestral music accompanying the onstage action of dio ruthlessly slaying jonathan’s dad and then getting pumped full of lead by a bunch of cops. it is brilliant. 10/10 no notes. it’s moments like this that i think really sell the “softening” of dio in the stage version for me, even though i am historically Not A Fan of fanworks that take a similar angle - like, yes, he is sad, but specifically he is narcissistically obsessed with the spectacle of his own suffering, he is boiling over with bitterness and rage for everyone around him who (by his own estimation) could never hope to have suffered as much as he has. this sensitivity and self-pity he wallows in are not expressions of a guilty conscience or a desire to change - they’re entirely the opposite - every cruel and monstrous deed dio commits is always justified to himself because he is simply the saddest little boy who has ever existed. he has been done wrong by the world and so there is no limit to the depravity he may reasonably respond with. i’ve seen several commenters describe this as a drastically different interpretation of the character from araki’s dio (and someone told me on twitter that mamoru miyano himself has also said this, but i cba to go digging for an actual source so take it with a grain of salt?), but i… dont think thats the case! dio’s obsession with his own weakness and his self-perception as the eternal underdog (as compared to jonathan) are certainly more exaggerated in miyano’s performance, but i don’t think this is an angle to the character that’s been manufactured out of whole cloth. the genre conventions of the stage musical force the melodrama up to eleven and dio’s incredibly repressed angst is the most rich vein to mine for that. hair-trigger sadist dio is still here, it’s the same guy, he’s still killing people mercilessly, you’re just getting to see him sing a big ballad about his feelings instead of confining those to an internal monologue.

if anything, the exaggeration of dio’s pathetic/cowardly/crybaby traits combined with his megalomaniacal aspirations and bottomless well of cruelty is just right. it’s perfect. fucking around, finding out, and then trying to weasel his way out of the consequences with crocodile tears just so you don’t see him drawing his knife to cut you clean open… yeah. thats the stuff. thats my one true blorbo. sad to say i will love him for ten thousand years.

i think that might be all i have to say… or at least all i feel like saying here… most likely ill come back and edit this post later. i certainly have some additional thoughts and some more esoteric/controversial takes but they’re not suited for a public blog. real ones will understand. im keeping my eyes peeled for somebody to translate this thing but to be frank i am kind of enjoying this little corner of fandom as it is right now: just the asians and the true hardcore phantom blood phreaks. i have not had this much fun in jojo fandom in almost a fucking decade. as soon as somebody publishes an english version my timelines going to get flooded with all the most deeply annoying “kono dio da” “speedwagon waifu” reddit guys and 15 year olds and my suffering will proceed. unfortunately this is my lot in life and i am doomed to be here forever because dio put a worm in my brain

[i-am-totally-meh]

ORV X OG!CALE

More under the cut because this post is a bit of a long one!

When the apocalypse first started, Cale did not think he was going to survive because he did not like the idea of killing someone. However, Ron came to save the day! Ron got his kill and made sure Vicross got his before ordering him to protect Cale much to Vicross' dismay. Ron basically subdued multiple people who looked like they were going to kill the Henituse family and brought them for others to kill. (He mainly does this because he sees this as a good time to repay a favor and later stays because he sees there is some stability still in the Henituse territory.) This allows the Henituse family to survive.

Cale was honestly surprised he made it even if he didn't really have to do anything other than kick down and stomp onto his morals. Now, as time continues on, surviving with his family and the scary duo of Ron and Vicross becomes easier, and they start to see through his trashy mask.

Because would trash repeatedly check up on them and donate coins when they are running low? No, trash wouldn't, but Cale does. Cale starts to hunt monsters with Vicross for food (someone help him, he's terrified but not of the monsters.)

So, the relationships of the family are still strained, but there is a lot less awkwardness. Who knew that all it would take was the end of the world for some improvements. Moving on, on one of their monster hunting trips, they ran into Rok Soo, who was becoming quite popular as a hero. However Cale’s problem was that this dude looked just like him!

There are a lot more run-ins between Cale and Rok Soo before they start talking. Later, when things are becoming even more dangerous, Cale decides to make a deal with the man who was becoming closer and closer to a God each day. Cale said he would do everything and anything for Rok Soo if Rok Soo kept his family safe and happy, Rok Soo had agreed because he needed to Cale act as him.

This later becomes a very common occurrence, Cale would travel places while acting as Rok Soo to confuse the enemy on Rok Soo's whereabouts. This has even worked against the constellations before. Cale helping out Rok Soo so much was beginning to bring up his fame too, his fame as a hero.

He didn't know how to feel about that, but he does know that he has begun to like his lookalike. And that he has gotten very used to having extensions in his hair.

This is why he was rather sad to see his friend become a constellation, but him becoming a constellation was to save their world so he doesn't dwell on it.

With everything over, Cale thought he would go back to being an alcoholic but he was scouted by a group who was trying to revive the arts after the devastating apocalypse. This included dancing and painting, but more importantly, theater. Cale’s acting as Rok Soo has made the group try and bring him into the theater world.

Cale, with nothing better to do, agrees and becomes known as a famous actor. He normally gets casted as Rok Soo (even when he is a character in the play, they cast him as Rok Soo)

He thinks the best part of his new job as an actor is that his family attends all of his plays. He had sent out an invite at first with little hope, but when he saw their faces in the crowd- he didn't know how to describe the feeling.

That's the end of that! And now I give you a very large collection of drawings.

Cale after his performance, it's a bit messy but I was very out of my element here!

Next, we have Cale and Rok Soo hanging out.

Cale was meant to say, "Yep! But only you can tell." Or something along those lines.

And lastly is Cale when this all started.

That's all I got! While I'm here I would just like to thank the people who have left comments on my stuff, it really makes me smile and I always want to reply and say thank you but I don't want to sound like a bot! I always worry about things like that, but I'm trying to get better at it.

[dollsonmain]

Alright, just got back from Son's performance in "Possessions".

It was basically The Exorcist.

I didn't like it because it's super GOD GOD JESUS GOD SATAN and I just don't care for that kind of. Thing. I wouldn't go watch that on purpose if my son weren't in it.

The kids did alright, though.

The worst part was two women talking through the entire second half. I couldn't figure out who it was exactly or I would have gotten up and confronted them. That's fucking rude.

One boy I couldn't understand. I think he has a speech impediment (r's are w's), and he was talking too fast and too garbled. I have no idea what that part of the story was.

Son's delivery was awkward, but that's normal for him. He was speech delayed and has never talked "normally". Being a character that could be portrayed as pompous (a bishop), the weirdness kind of worked. At one point all the other characters are talking at once and he's supposed to slam his staff on the floor, making a loud BANG that stops the conversation, but they only had a plastic Halloween costume staff and it kind of went "dink" and bounced off the floor.

If I'd been consulted at literally any point, I'd have gotten them a wooden broomstick or a wooden closet rod and made them a good, wooden staff that could be slammed on the floor. But I'm not involved at all.

Kids forgetting their lines all over the place.

But it was, despite much of it cut out for time, obviously a difficult piece even to someone that was not and is not "into" theater. There was a lot of dialogue with little prompting from other characters to remind actors what their next lines should be, like one of Son's scenes was his character talking to another on the phone, but you can't hear the other character. Stuff like that.

The lead character, who's name I've already forgotten, did great. She really nailed it. It was a physically exhausting role, being possessed and all, and it was obvious she was wearing out as the performance went on, but she continued to do great.

Afterward, That Guy said that the theater teacher had told the kids before the show that he chose a piece for them that was too difficult, having chosen one that had never been performed by an amateur troupe before, and now he can see why. I have questioned his play choices since the beginning. They've all been kind of similar. A lot of standing around monologuing, a lot of repetitive scenes, a lot of scenes where action is paused for a related monologue. He certainly has a type, and that type is tedious.

I'm sure it didn't help that he kept making changes. Like, the kids were struggling to remember their lines, set direction, stage direction, etc. and then he'd change something. He'd omit a scene. He'd give a different mood or feel for a part that had already been practiced a while, he was making changes right up until last night. He did the same thing last year with Charlie Foster, completely changing set direction after they'd made it to state with the previous performance, and I think that cost them placing at state.

Anyway I think he sets the kids up for failure, but they power through anyway and do the best they can, which is pretty dang good for a bunch of inexperienced kids.

[jujumin-translates]

[A3!] Sakuya Sakuma | [SSR++] Guiding Stella | Bear Costume

Izumi: I was just starting to get a little hungry. Thanks, I can’t wait to eat it!

Juza: Yea.

Sakuya: …Huh?

Juza: Oh, Sakuya.

Sakuya: Weren’t you going out, Juza-kun?

Juza: Just got back. I… went out to get some taiyaki. Ya want some too, Sakuya?

Sakuya: Wah, it looks really good!

Sakuya: But didn’t you get it because you wanted to eat it, Juza-kun? Are you sure?

Juza: S’okay, I got it for everyone to eat.

Izumi: He just gave me some to eat too… This taiyaki is filled with red bean paste and really tasty!

Sakuya: Wahh, that sounds so good.

Sakuya: Since you insist, I’ll have some too. Thank you, Juza-kun.

Juza: No problem.

Sakuya: Mhmm…! It really is tasty! The sweetness of the red bean paste is perfect!

Juza: The dough’s real good too.

Izumi: (Sharing delicious taiyaki with the two of them really makes for a great snack time.)

Sakuya: …Ah, right! That reminds me, Juza-kun, Director, I’ve got something I want to ask you.

Juza: What is it?

Izumi: Something wrong?

Sakuya: I’m playing a role in a comedy play for my next guest performance.

Juza: A comedy, huh? Comedy performed by Sakuya… Sounds interestin’.

Izumi: Yeah! It’s pretty unusual for you to do a comedy, so it seems like it’d be something nice for you, Sakuya-kun.

Sakuya: Thank you so much. I’ve been thinking about getting some advice from Summer Troupe to get a better grasp on comedy.

Sakuya: Actually, I’m also supposed to play the role of a bear.

Izumi: You’re supposed to be a bear?

Juza: So you’re playin’ the role of a cute bear?

Sakuya: Uhh, something like that. I’m going to be performing in a bear costume, so I guess I’ll be a cute bear… Maybe?

Juza: Costume, huh? Sounds like somethin’ that’d suit ya, Sakuya.

Sakuya: That’s why I was wondering if I could borrow the bear costume that you wore before, Juza-kun.

Juza: Sure thing, it ain’t really mine, so ya can use it whenever ya want.

Sakuya: Thank you! I still thought I’d get your permission, just in case.

Izumi: But considering that costume fit Juza-kun perfectly, don’t you think it’d be a little big for you, Sakuya-kun?

Sakuya: It’s just for practice, so it’ll be okay, even if it’s a little big!

Izumi: Gotcha.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Choose!

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Option 1: Sakuya-kun’s bear seems like it’d be peaceful.

Izumi: A bear played by you sounds like it’d be kind of peaceful, Sakuya-kun.

Sakuya: You think so?

Izumi: Of course, it depends on the scene and the way you act, but I think you can still sort of sense the vibes of the person wearing the costume when it comes to that kind of thing.

Izumi: But since it’s supposed to be a comedy, it made me think that you might be playing the kind of bear you’d want to squish like a stuffed animal.

Sakuya: I’m a little flustered, but… I’m glad you think so. Thank you so much!

Sakuya: I hope I can put on a performance that can give everyone a real sense of peace.

Izumi: (Sakuya-kun seems so enthusiastic about it, I think I’ll go and see his performance too.)

Option 2: There are just some funny things that can only be done in a costume.

Izumi: There are just some funny things that can only be done in a costume.

Sakuya: Yeah! I think it makes comical movements stand out even more.

Juza: Yea. It’s a lil’ harder to see small movements, but they make the big movements stand out a lot more.

Sakuya: Exactly! It seems like the kind of thing where it’d be good to make use of your whole body. I wanna practice while keeping that kinda thing in mind.

Izumi: (Sakuya-kun and Juza-kun always seem so earnest and happy while they talk about theater.)

Izumi: (They really have a positive influence on each other.)

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Izumi: Ah, right. I think that costume might be in the storage room, but it might be in a hard-to-find place.

Izumi: We’ve had to put a lot of stuff in the storage room lately…

Sakuya: I’ll look for it, so don’t worry! I’ll go get it as soon as I can.

Juza: But it might be stacked on top of a shelf or somethin’. Could be buried under somethin’ too, so I’ll come with.

Sakuya: Thank you, Juza-kun! Alright, let’s go to the storage room then.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Juza: Glad we found it right away.

Sakuya: Me too! Alright, now let me just…

*Fabric rustles*

Sakuya: How does it look…? Do I have it on properly?

Juza: It’s pretty big. ‘N the head’s kinda tilted too, but… Is the weight ‘n visibility okay?

Sakuya: The head is a little heavy, but… I think it’ll be okay.

Juza: Gotcha. But don’t push yourself, ‘kay?

Sakuya: Yeah, I’ll be careful.

Sakuya: That reminds me, it might be a bear costume this time, but other animal costumes are really cute too.

Juza: Ya think so…?

Sakuya: Alright, I wanna take the costume to my room, but I think I’ll get used to walking in it first.

Juza: Gotcha. You’re not gonna have a real feel for it right off the bat, so watch your step.

· ❀ —– ٠ ❀ ٠ —– ❀ ·

Sakuya: Alright… Uwhoa…! Sorry I had to ask you to help, Juza-kun.

Juza: It ain’t a problem. Aight, does your bear role got any lines on stage or somethin’?

Sakuya: No, I don’t have any lines, I’ve just gotta ad-lib. That’s why I wanna practice even more than usual.

Sakuya: Right! Since you’re like the veteran of this bear costume, do you have any advice for me, Juza-kun?

Juza: Advice…

Juza: Right… They say beaarrr.

Sakuya: Huh, really? I never knew they said beaarrr! Thanks so much, Juza-kun! I’m glad you told me that!

Sakuya: Alright, I’ll give it a shot. …Beaarrr!

Sakuya: Umm, how was that?

Juza: Bears are big ‘n strong. So maybe ya could be a lil’ more majestic in the way ya say it ‘n in the way ya move or somethin’.

Sakuya: I see! Okay, I’ll give it another shot then!

Sakuya: Beaarrr~!!

Juza: Yea, I think there was more power in that one than before.

Tenma: …

Tenma: Juza-san and by the sound of your voice, I’m guessing… Sakuya? The hell are you two doing…?

Sakuya: Ah, Tenma-kun! Actually, for my upcoming guest performance…

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Tenma: Got it… Wait, that costume… Isn’t that one of the ones Autumn Troupe had put away in the storage room?

Tenma: The hem is too long, so you look more like a bear cub when you wear it, Sakuya.

Sakuya: Ahaha, it is kinda big, isn’t it? But it’s still good practice to get a feel for what it’s like to wear a costume like this.

Tenma: I getcha. Good luck with your next guest performance. I’ll come to see it too if I’ve got time

Sakuya: Thanks! I’ll do my best!

*Tenma walks away*

Sakuya: Alright, one more time… Beaarrr--!!

Tenma: …Not like there’s something really happening or anything, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this…

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Sakuya: Hmm, I learned a lot from Juza-kun, but it’s still kinda hard to play a bear…

Sakuya: I feel like I don’t seem strong enough…

Citron: If it is okay for you to ad-lib, I think it is okay to be a Sakuya-like bear. There are bears like that too!

Sakuya: Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’ll try my best to play a me-like bear!

Sakuya: … Yawn…

Citron: Sakuya, are you getting sleepy from all of your costume practice? We can talk about it tomorrow. Today, it is time to go night-night.

Sakuya: Right. Thank you for your advice, Citron-san. Okay, goodnight.

Citron: Goodest of nights, Sakuya.

*Lights turn off*

· ❀ —– ٠ ❀ ٠ —– ❀ ·

Sakuya: Mnnh… Huh…?

Sakuya: This is…?

Bear: Beaarrr--!!

Sakuya: UWHOA!?

Sakuya: What? … Huh… Juza-kun?

Bear: !

Sakuya: You’re Juza-kun, right?

Bear: …

Sakuya: Ehehe, I knew it. Ah, maybe you’re here to give me some guidance with my acting?

Bear: …?

Sakuya: I knew it! Thanks!

Sakuya: Ah, right. Since I don’t know much about this forest, could you tell me more about it? Why don’t we take a walk together?

Bear: …Sure.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Sakuya: There’s a river running through here. And there are so many flowers blooming too. This really is a lovely forest.

Bear: …Yea.

Rabbit: …

Sakuya: Ah.

Bear: ! The hell are you doin’ here…?

Rabbit: Hah? The hell are YOU doin’ here? This is my turf.

Bear: This place belongs to no one.

Rabbit: HAGH!? …Huh? Ain’t that a human?

Sakuya: Umm, Banri-kun, right?

Rabbit: …

Sakuya: (I didn’t get an answer from Juza-kun earlier either… Are they not allowed to answer to their names?)

Rabbit: Whatever, I don’t give a shit about humans, so get the hell outta here.

Bear: Shut up, YOU get the hell outta here.

Rabbit: The fuck!? Who the hell do you think you are!?

Sakuya: Whoa, whoa, don’t fight, guys…!

Tanuki: Ah! They’re fighting again!

Squirrel: Ugh, not again. Y’all never learn, do ya?

Wolf: Alright, c’mon, calm down you two.

Lion: Tch, I take my eyes off of you for a second and this is what happens?

Rabbit: It’s his fault for comin’ at me first!

Bear: Pretty sure that you’re the one who came at ME first. Quit tryin’ blame others.

Rabbit: Which one of us is blamin’ the other!? Quit fuckin’ around! You wanna go!?

Bear: Come at me.

Sakuya: Oh gosh, w-what do I do…!? C’mon, stop fighting, you two!! 

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Sakuya: Hah…!

Sakuya: J-Just a dream, huh… Those were the Autumn Troupe animals just now, right…?

Sakuya: Haah… Maybe that was because of my costume practice. …It’s still night, so I guess I should go back to sleep…

Sakuya: …

Sakuya: (I can’t sleep for some reason… I had a dream about a bear, so maybe that means I’m anxious about my bear performance.)

Sakuya: (...Okay. I’ve just gotta go gently and quietly so I don’t wake Citron-san up…)

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Sakuya: Alright, there… I might wake someone up if I turn on the lights, so I’ll just go on practicing like this.

Sakuya: I walk like this, right? And then I raise my arms wide, and…

Sakuya: (...Huh. There’s someone’s shadow over there…)

Tenma: Haah, I’m exhausted…

Sakuya: (Ah, it’s Tenma-kun…! Did he just get home?)

Sakuya: Ten--...

Tenma: Hm?

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Tenma: GYAAAGH--!!