#and also look up some of the commentary from other people. I'd love to hear what other people are saying and thinking about this show

[thegreatbluecat72]

mutuals I would like to make an announcement. I'm finally getting into arcane

[midwestgp]

Hello! After a good few weeks of combing through lots of data, I have coherent numbers for your viewing pleasure. This whole thing birthed from the hypothesis that past BTS fans now liked Charles and quickly grew from there. I am happy to say that many of my suspicions were confirmed and some surprises arose along the way. Thank you to everyone who participated and took the time to relive some great or not-so-great memories. Enjoy!

Some Notes Before Hand:

Combing through this data was a bit challenging. I tried to find data points that most fans would find interesting. To help give myself some sort of a guide I chose one of the top subjects in each category and analyzed the data attached to them. I will probably look back into this stuff more in the future, but trying to find points for everyone is a wild goose chase. That being said, if you notice something I do not, please let me know! I want to hear what you all think that's why I made this :)

Favorite Drivers (current grid):

So this was a bit surprising, but I think it was caused mainly by my wording. According to this graph, out of 346 users, Oscar Piastri is currently the most popular driver by a long shot. While I do think Oscar is very well loved, I do not think this is true at all. Because I allowed participants to choose more than one driver it became less of a true ranking and more "these are the drivers people think most positively of currently". I think if I asked everyone to pick one person Oscar would not be at the top and more likely around the 3rd-5th range. Other than Oscar it is also important to note my audience certainly had an effect on the results. Things are probably skewed slightly towards other drivers than they are realistically, but I still think this is pretty close.

For the future keep the numbers up here in mind and our top three, Oscar, Charles and Max, will be important. All pipelines are based off and cross referenced with this data set.

Drivers on Past Grids:

No surprises here! I did not do any pipelines attached to any of the data on this graph so this question was just for fun.

Anime and Manga:

Sports anime! Competition! Yippee! This is about exactly what I thought would happen. It makes perfect sense that the sports anime is popular in the sport community. Also, it was really fun reading some of your less than enthusiastic previous fandom experiences and memories.

Pipelines:

31/69 Haikyuu!! fans said that Max was one of their favorite drivers.

Also chances are that if you watched Haikyuu!! you also watched My Hero Academia because 29/69 Haikyuu!! fans also clicked My Hero Academia.

Max was the most popular person in this category as a whole and that does not shock me even slightly.

Favorite Characters:

Izuku Midoriya and Bakugou Katsuki from My Hero Academia

Tobio Kageyama from Haikyuu!!

Russia from Hetalia

L from Death Note

Levi Ackerman from Attack On Titan

Saiki K. from The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.

Literature:

I probably have the least commentary on this section. A lot of the books I love don't have dedicated fan bases attached to them (I wish they did) so I needed help when making this question. I have no clue what a lot of these are but I'm glad that you all enjoyed them.

Pipelines:

My Hypothesis for this was "are past Harry Potter fans more likely to like drivers with British accents?"

100/152 Harry Potter fans said that either Lando, Lewis, George or Alex was one of their favorite drivers. Considering that none of these drivers are in our top three I'd say I was correct.

Favorite Characters:

Draco from Harry Potter

Newt from The Maze Runner

Kili from The Hobbit

Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice

Percy Jackson from Percy Jackson

Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games

Alice Cullen from Twilight

Comics, Cartoons, Graphic Novels:

I was not previously aware of the amount of comic and graphic novel fans in Flblur! I thought at first that these numbers were coming from MCU and DCU fans (some them surely but that's besides the point), but after consulting my council (princess george cord) I quickly learned that there are a lot of comic fans.

Pipelines:

When looking at the Marvel Comics numbers, this was one of the most diverse sections when comparing it to favorite drivers. This group leaned more towards the middle of the pack rather than our top three.

That being said Max and Lewis were our most popular contenders here. 36/93 Marvel Comics fans liked Max and 33/93 Marvel Comics fans liked Lewis.

I personally feel like this makes a ton of sense.

Favorite Characters:

Lance, Keith, Shiro and Pidge from Voltron: Legendary Defender

Zuko and Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender

Dipper and Mable Pines from Gravity Falls

Garnet from Steven Universe

Tony Stark, Peter Parker, Bucky Barnes and Deadpool from Marvel Comics

Fluttershy from My Little Pony

Fandom RPF (no music):

Looking at this section now, my labels could be a bit confusing. Chances are if you are a fan of a person in the Minecraft RPF category they also probably fit into both the YouTuber RPF and Streamer RPF categories. I made these separate from each other based on if I felt they had enough history and content to overpower other names who would fall in there. Phandom has so much history at this point that if I bunched it in with Youtuber RPF it would kind of feel disrespectful (and I wasn't even involved in it). Anyways, I decided to focus on Minecraft RPF for the pipeline in this section just because I felt like I could analyze it more closely even though it isn't the top spot.

Pipelines:

So my hypothesis for this section was that the fans of Minecraft RPF would generally be more attracted to the younger people on the grid, like 2019 rookies and onward.

Something stood out very quickly and it was the amount of Logan and Oscar fans. The numbers aren't staggering or anything, but there's certainly a pipeline here.

23/62 Logan fans like Minecraft RPF and 49/197 Oscar fans liked Minecraft RPF. As a pairing, 16 Minecraft RPF fans liked both. Now this probably doesn't seem like a lot, but if you compare it with Lando's numbers (because Lando and Oscar is Oscar's most popular pairing) its kinda clear there's something different here. Only 18/88 Lando fans were previously Minecraft RPF fans.

Favorite People:

Dan and Phil

Technoblade

Ranboo

Markiplier

Smosh

Movie and Film:

It is not shock the amount of Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars and DC Universe fans there are in F1blur. I was a bit surprised by the lack of spread overall though, though who am I too judge I would really only attach myself to like two of these. Originally I did not want to look at the MCU in for this sections pipeline because I looked at the comics earlier, but the results were surprisingly different.

Pipelines:

Ok, so previously in the Marvel Comics section the two most popular people were Max and Lewis. Here things are a bit different though Max and Lewis and still popular.

The standouts here this time are Alex and Yuki! 41/88 Alex fans liked the MCU and 46/73 Yuki fans liked the MCU.

It is also worth mentioning that 93/167 Oscar fans liked the MCU too.

Favorite Characters:

Loki, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Black Widow and Peter Parker from the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Poe, Finn, Luke Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi and the Clones from Star Wars.

Merlin from Kingsman

Q from the James Bond Franchise

Music and Band RPF (no kpop):

I mean, it's what is says on the tin. One Direction being the most popular band in F1blur makes perfect sense, no comment. It also makes sense that Panic! At The Disco, My Chemical Romance, Twenty One Pilots and Fall Out Boy are so similar in numbers. I am kind of curious on how people interact with fandom spaces with some of these artists, but those are questions for another time.

Pipelines:

Although I did not poll anything to do with shipping, I am going to talk about it here. It did not shock me that Charles and Max were popular here.

53/143 Charles fans were One Direction fans and 51/130 Max fans were One Direction fans too.

28/108 One Direction Fans chose both Max and Charles. I am sort of pointing at possible Larry and Lestappen connections. Yeah.

Also lots of George and Lewis fans here.

Favorite People:

Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles from One Direction

Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance

George Harrison from The Beatles

Luke Hemmings from Five Seconds of Summer

Kpop:

This is our smallest yes category...I will admit, I was shocked by the lack of Kpop fans from the poll. I assumed that because a lot of my F1 friends and moots were previous Kpop people that this would be similar for everyone else. I now see I am wrong. I am a little sad about it to be honest. Anyways, BTS was the most popular and no one bats an eye. Though I predicted EXO and Blackpink would have placed higher.

Pipelines:

I wanted to focus on Charles for this one because him and BTS is why I did this whole thing.

Would it surprise you if 1/5 Charles fans were also BTS fans? Because it's real and I think that's amazing.

I crave to know what this fraction of the Charles fandom thinks about Jungkook because I know it's not normal :).

Favorite People:

Kim Namjoon (RM), Min Yoongi (Suga) and Jeon Jungkook from BTS

Bangchan and Lee Know from Stray Kidz

Jennie from Blackpink

TV Shows:

This was our biggest yes category! The TV section has such a nice spread and it was one of the most fun sections to study in my opinion. I am not super into any TV Show fandoms so I also learned a lot here. These series are topics I will see in the trending tab, but know literal zero about. I am glad that you all seem to love these shows because that makes total sense since F1 is also TV.

Pipelines:

Ok so I don't know much about Sherlock. When trying to find a pipeline here I just took a lot of numbers from each driver and waited for something to stick.

Imagine my shock when the standout was Fernando! 23/71 Fernando fans also chose Sherlock. Thats about 32%. Middle aged men for the win.

Favorite Characters:

Stiles Stilinski from Teen Wolf

Steve Harrington and Robin Buckley from Stranger Things

Sam and Dean Winchester and Castiel from Supernatural

Hannibal Lector from Hannibal

The 10th, 11th and 12th Doctors from Doctor Who

Aziraphale and Crowley from Good Omens

Sherlock Holmes from Sherlock

Theater:

Ah yes... theater. If I could go back and redo this I would LOVE to know what extracurriculars everyone did in school because I think that would pair with all this so well. Again, it is not surprising that Hamilton is the fan favorite. Romance, competition, war, betrayal, it has it all and so does F1 (and Heathers too now that I think about it).

Pipelines:

I was practically flabbergasted by this section because it was immediately apparent that Hamilton fans go crazy for Oscar.

Out of the 91 people that said they were Hamilton fans... 74 of them also said they liked Oscar.

I do not know why this is. I thought George and Lewis were gonna be the stand outs here and they weren't. I'm a little bit confused, but at least you all sorta agree on something.

Favorite Characters:

Lafayette, John Laurens and Angelica Schuyler from Hamilton

JD and Veronica from Heathers

Enjolras and Grantaire from Les Misérables

Video Games:

Last Category, woo! Ok since I already focused on Minecraft and yapped on that a lot we are going to instead look at Detroit: Become Human. This section had the best spread overall which was nice to see. I knew the most about this section so I thought is was funny seeing how high Five Nights at Freddy's was. Though I forgot to add some of my own favorite games sadly. There's also probably a lot more pipelines here than I realize and I am sorry that I can't look into more of them.

Pipelines:

I knew coming in that Detroit: Become Human was going to be popular though I was surprised it beat out Five Night's At Freddy's.

I was not surprised though it find that George and Lewis were very popular amongst these fans.

16/43 Detroit: Become Human fans were fans of George and/or Lewis, the vast majority being both.

Favorite Characters:

Zelda and Link from The Legend of Zelda

Ghost and Soap from Call of Duty

Zagreus from Hades

Connor from Detroit: Become Human

Ganyu from Genshin Impact

Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil

Change In Pace: About You

So after asking all these fandom based questions I wanted to ask two about each individual: age and time spent watching. I think it's important to also study how time effects people in fandom and the fandom space as well.

Age:

For this section I looked at the average number of drivers picked during the first question. I predicted that the older you were, the less drivers you would say were your favorite and I was correct.

Below 18: 4.07 range: 1-10

18-22: 3.44 range: 1-9

23-25: 3.38 range: 1-13

26-29: 3.42 range: 1-10

30-35: 3.26 range: 1-6

36+: 2.53 range: 1-5

Time Watching F1:

I did the same analysis here as I did with the age question, so the longer you've been watching the less drivers you would say were your favorite. I was surprised by the amount of people who have been watching for less than a year (not that there's anything wrong with that). Also "My Whole Life" is a separate category because I figure it is at least 15+ and it has the added idea that F1 might be more than just a hobby to you. Finally, the orange and red are 10+(10 votes) and 15+ years (9 votes).

Less Than A Year: 3.58 , range: 1-10

1 Year: 3.62 , range: 1-11

2 Years: 3.34 , range: 1-13

3 Years: 3 , range: 1-7

4 Years: 4.19 , range: 1-9

5+ Years: 3.52 , range: 1-7

10+ Years: 3.7 , range: 2-7

15+ Years: 2.77 , range: 1-6

My Whole Life: 2.92 , range: 1-8

The End and Final Thoughts:

I am tired. This took probably 50-60 hours to do. I don't want to type anything or count Oscar's name ever again. Besides that, this was a lot of fun. Thank you to everyone who took part in this survey. Many of you left very nice and funny messages for me. Thank you to everyone who caught errors and let me know. Thank you to the wonderful people of princess George cord for their support and help. And thank you to anyone who actually reads this. I am very hungry.

If anyone notices any errors or inconsistencies please tell me and I will try my best to fix them. I am no scholar, but I really did try my best to make this as true as possible.

P.S - Thank you to Game Theory for being my background noise for the majority of this.

Midwestgp (koyya) <3

[ren-rambles-often]

I finally watched Code Geass but before I get to my short rant about the show and the ship you can pretty much guess this is about…. Let me just say….

This show peaked at the pseudo incest brocon subplot, I'm taking no arguments!

Fine, fine, that's definitely not entirely true but Rolo's death had me pausing the show and staring at the screen like for what reason?! Let the boy be hopelessly obsessed goddammit 😭😭😭

Now I've gotten that out of my system…

Guess who's the character I hate most?

shocker I know/sarc

I haven't hated one half of my otp ship in a piece of media this much since that one Episode Nagi panel of Reo's heart getting destroyed by Nagi's dumbass (Reo my love love I'd treat you so much better)

Suzaku's case is worse by several degrees because his idiocy and attitude only continued to stoke the flames of my annoyance for the whole two fucking seasons until like the three or two episodes at the end cause oh my fucking God I cried.

(That shit was a wild ride enough nothing is making me watch any spin offs or side stories I care that little)

From the first moment he entered that Lancelot suit and agreed to help the side that attempted to silence him by murder, I clocked his ass and marked him as the dumbest bitch to ever exist but we love a protective loyal dog Top don't we ladies?

"I want to change the system from the inside-" bitch shut up these are colonizers you ain't changing nothing 😭

Even after they they tried pining the murder on him to sentence him to death AGAIN!! BOY WENT BACK.

AND!

He refused Zero?!

HUH?!?

Now I'm not a particularly patriotic person (I hate my county so so much) but if we got neo colonized, No matter what merits I would never be friendly or cooperative with the other side.

Suzaku stopped his country fighting back (valid reason or not I don't remember, he killed his dad and that meant surrender ig) and proceeded to kiss up to brits, fall in love with one of them, and further hinder every attempt of his own people fighting back because 'Violence wrong' but it's okay when he does it because some made up ideal told him being subservient would make a change. And it did….just for him tho, all other 11s? no one cares.

And it didn't even matter because Lulu's methods were always the ones that brought things closer!

I know it's a kind of a commentary on something, I ain't stupid but I was still pissed.

Literally had me gritting my teeth almost every time he stepped on screen, especially when he went pseudo emo after becoming a knight of round or whatever.

Bottom line, he frustrated me as much as he did Lelouch but I still wanted to see them FUCK.

The last couple of episodes where genuinely the best things I've ever watched and a brilliant end to the series. I wouldn't say I grew to enjoy all the characters but God did the plot threads keep me going.

Trust I understood very little about the gate shit and the killing God aspect but when you're having a fun time everything just looks good.

To sum up SuzaLulu…

Giving me friends to enemies to lovers (correct me not I won't hear you) All mixed together with the palpable hatred and vitriol they held toward each other is just too much.

And Lelouch as a bottom is literally my type >.< psycho, pretty, and bad at sports (also having a natural inclination to dominate others)??? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP!!!

His dramatic ass had me gripped and his personality contrasted so beautifully with Suzaku's dumbass that while I did want to be sad about that redhead he might have liked dying….girl bye 👋 make way for the gay 🏳️‍🌈

(Srsly tho, I was sad for a sec, it was a very shocking scene to say the least but Rolo pulled such a Brocon move I was laughing for a solid minute.)

I very much didn't want to be like most other yaoi shippers that watched this shit when they were ten and went for the very obvious but still delicious low hanging fruit yaoi but I see enemies to lovers mixed with tragic yaoi and an undeniably fun story and brain stops functioning lmaooo. Turns out I'm very much like other fujins ;p

Closing thoughts: Umm…If you're going to defend Suzaku in the replies…go for it I'm down to listen but he'll forever be my bitch. I love Lelouch but Light is better, Orange x Lelouch is underratedand C.C. and Kallen should have gotten married.

[ds9promenade]

Podcast episode discussing DS9 "Past Tense" & "Far Beyond the Stars"!

My friend Laura invited me onto their podcast to unpack Deep Space Nine episodes 3x11 & 12: "Past Tense" and 6x13: "Far Beyond the Stars," using them for a broader discussion on the role of science fiction in dreaming better futures into reality.

In our conversation, we:

compare the 2024 of "Past Tense" to our 2024

share our theories about historical events that may have inspired both episodes, as well as their relationship to other works of speculative/science fiction

point out and offer revisions for parts of "Past Tense" that somewhat undercut the story's intended messages about the evils of capitalism, ableism, police / military violence, and anti-homeless laws

gush about the artistry of the filming and acting in "Far Beyond" (Avery Brooks monologues my beloved)

and more — with a dash of humor as we go!

Give "Sanctified Imagination Far Beyond the Stars" a listen wherever you get podcasts — or read along with the transcript!

(CW: Christianity) — please do go in forewarned that Laura's Autistic Liberation Theology podcast centers around reinterpreting the Bible from a trans & disabled lens. If you skip to 44 minutes in you'll miss most of the religious commentary, except for when it makes sense to bring it up re: Joseph Sisko's 1950s incarnation as a street preacher.

If you are interested the full episode, some of the places we go in our winding conversation are:

Womanist midrash & sanctified imagination, which enact this call to imagine possibilities for the oppressed — to "make a way out of no way"

How Jesus's use of parables to teach about his envisioned "Kingdom of God" —where there's access for all, oppressors reformed and oppressed liberated, all needs met and all gifts celebrated — invites people to engage their sanctified imaginations to join in the work for a more just world, here and now

AutScape's & Crip Camp’s modeled possibilities for a fully accessible, disability-centered world

various directors / show writers who, through writing, discovered something new about themselves (think the Wachowski sisters & The Matrix, Dan Harmon and Community)

If you give it a listen (or read), I'd love to hear what you think! Did you connect with the concept of imagining better futures into reality? Any other Star Trek episodes you think encapsulate that well?

____

Transcript of the above audio clip:

Avery: I definitely think the writers of this episode were thinking about how When Deep Space Nine was coming out, people's response to seeing Sisko was, Yeah, is, you can't have a black space captain. A black man can't be the hero of Star Trek!

Which just shows, like, for the viewers, like, Yeah, we've come a long ways here in the 90s. But we still think it's ridiculous to imagine a black space captain and it's only just becoming possible now.

Laura: yeah the um, , editor of the magazine says "put it in a drawer for like a couple of decades and might be--" it's like, yeah, that's

Avery: Yeah.

Laura: inside joke.

Avery: At the end, when, um, Benny Russell breaks down after being fired and everything, the street preacher comes back and, Benny says, "Tell me, please, who am I?"

Don't you know?" "Tell me." "You're the dreamer and the dream."

Laura: ah, this is so amazing.

Avery: And, like, yeah, that fits on so many different layers with, uh, Benny Russell is dreaming Sisko and dreaming Deep Space nine, and also Sisko is dreaming him, and also breaking the fourth wall,

Laura: yeah, because they're, neither of them are real, they're both fiction and yet they're, yeah. real.

Avery: Yeah. Yeah. Breaking the fourth wall, the writers and Avery Brooks are the dreamers, and the dream. This is, this is what, people have been dreaming of, this even the possibility of this. And they're making it true.

Laura: and at the end, you see him looking out the window and seeing Benny Russell in the reflection of the glass and

Avery: it's such a good shot. It's so good. It like gives me chills

Laura: you Have to cast something into the space you're not there yet to-- that becomes you.

Avery: Yeah. dream yourself into being.

[tending-the-hearth]

ALRIGHT BESTIES BUCKLE UP FOR MY MUTANT MAYHEM COMMENTARY

i will kick this off by saying that Mutant Mayhem is quite honestly one of my favorite iterations of the turtles EVER, second only to the 2012 versions.

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR MUTANT MAYHEM (duh lmao)

the theme of having a family and a place to belong was established from the VERY beginning of the movie, so yeah, heartbreaking start lmao

Baxter's devotion to his children was just 😭😭

literally the best version of Splinter EVER i will not hear any arguments

I'd lay down my life for these boys in a heartbeat

the way Leo gets teased is SO perfectly how siblings tease each other, the little mocking tones and gestures is literally how my siblings and i act with each other

no bc Splinter having a history of being rejected by those around him and the boys being all he has and the one time he tries to go into a new environment it goes terribly and that's what leads him to never wanting the boys to leave 😭

but of course it's also SUCH a valid explanation for how he behaves like ofc he's going to try to keep his sons safe!!

the boys are so silly goofy kiddos i love them

"i dream of violence every night" "i think you have a problem" RAPH I LOVE YOU WITH MY WHOLE HEART

their excitement over the fight in the bike shop was so!!!! they're finally being heroes

Leo's little crush on April is literally the cutest thing wtf

the "bacon egg and cheese" moment was 100% some inside joke between the turtles' VAs, it was so random that it couldn't be anything else lmao

BUT i'm not complaining because that added so much to the boys!!

i love April, she's so realistically hesitant about the turtles, but also realizes that they can help with Superfly

also she has a list of questions she wants to ask the turtles, and one of the questions was "how many people has the red-banded turtle killed? does he need therapy?" and i cackled

the montage of them finding the different bosses!!!! and each turtle getting his own moment!!!

"why did you punch him, he told us everything!!!" Raph was in a silly goofy mood <3

Mondo has no thoughts. No brain.

The way the other mutants immediately started treating the boys like little brothers?????? my heart????

Bebop and Rocksteady being twins is my favorite thing

Mondo being truly heartbroken by the boys kicking him out of the van, he was so sad

Wingnut just trying to look out for her little brothers!!

THEY GOT FUCKING MILKED

Splinter literally not caring about anything else he just wants his boys safe!!

The other mutants turning against Superfly because they don't want to hurt the humans, they just want to be family!

Splinter realizing his mistake in sheltering his boys so much, and helping them destroy the device!!! growth!!!

His speech to the boys about how even if he doesn't like humans, the boys do, and he wants them to be able to be happy, so if helping the humans makes them happy, then he'll do everything he can to make sure that happens 😭😭😭

THE SHOT OF THEM ALL WALKING TOWARDS THE CITY AND APRIL THROWING RAPH THE ANTI-MUTAGEN GUN??? HELLO???

okay but the moment where all the news channels are reporting about the boys and their team being monsters, and it's just spinning around the boys as they realize they might never be accepted broke my heart

Leo stepping up as leader and recognizing his brothers' skills my beloved

WE GOT A SLO-MO COWABUNGA LINE

Splinter flashing between when he brought the boys to the surface for the first time and the humans chasing them away vs. the humans approaching him with concern and helping him to his feet 😭😭

THE HUMANS TEAMING UP TOGETHER WITH THE MUTANTS TO GET THE CARTRIDGE TO THE BOYS I'M FUCKING SOBBING

The mutants living together, they're a family your honor 😌

MIKEY LEAVING BEHIND HIS MASK

They got to go to school!!!!

and each of them finding their own group outside of their brothers!!

Donnie with his computer friends!

Mikey joining improve!!

Raph joining wrestling!!

April and Leo looking into TCRI!! Leopril truthers rise up!!

And the final mid-credits scene leading into the TV show with the hint towards TCRI still kicking AND AND AND

THE SHREDDER TEASE AT THE END??? HOLY SHIT??? HE LOOKS SO COOL???

There were also so many little background things that made me emotional, like the LGBTQIA+ flyers on the school poster board, the trans flag pinned next to the flyers, the little scribbles on the lockers and April's helmet, the details were just so so perfect. there honestly wasn't a single thing i didn't love about the movie!!!

GO SEE IT WHEN YOU CAN

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Jimin's documentary is what I've been wanting from bts for YEARS. I'm so glad they released such raw material. Jimin's musicality is insane, and it seems like the producers were 100% aware of that because of how much they relied on jimin and his creativity. I think it was during the commentary that he mentioned what he felt the first time pdogg approved one of his ideas, and then he called himself an idea bank!! He's usually so hard on himself, it's refreshing to hear that even though there's always a place for improvement, he knows how good he is. Another thing I enjoyed was listening to the previous versions of the songs that made it into the album and the one that was supposed to be the title track and finally got scrapped. I think I liked the alone and set me free pt.2 demos a bit more than the final product. I feel like that intrinsic grittiness and unpolished quality of an unfinished product was really fitting, and in the case of smf2 I kinda feel like it ended up overproduced... I guess, if that makes sense. Anyways, I really, really appreciate the route Jimin decided to take for his solo career, I truly hope we get to see more of that before he leaves, and when he comes back I'd love for him to get the chance to continue showing his artistry as a soloist. And regarding army shading jimin and trying to undermine him lol... what else is new? I remember namjoon once said that army would not like to see what it looks like behind the scenes when they were recording and stuff and I guess he was right. I know they hated to see how reality goes against the narratives the company has been feeding them for a decade. The supposed geniuses in the band have yet to release something as good as like crazy and they know it.

I was trying to catch some of the things Jimin said during his live watching and I was so pleasantly surprised to see how confident he was. Like, yes. He is an idea bank. That's the best way to put it because during the production, he kept coming up with stuff on the spot. I think PDogg and the rest of the marching band were so open to this because they knew how Jimin worked. That's why I keep saying that having a small team with people that know each other so well worked perfectly for Jimin and his first album.

There's no way of knowing exactly what RM said about what happens behind the scenes during pre-recordings and if it's close to what we've seen now in the documentary, but what I took from that is that in real life, people having to work on something is not all sunshines and rainbows or fun like when they recorded the ITS song. The audience gets to see the nicer, aesthetized version a lot of the times.

I'll refrain from commenting on the rapline releases now, but I'll do say about Like Crazy is that out of all the so-called "Chapter 2" songs, it is in my view the only one which is artistically compelling, intricate, well produced, tells a story, it's part of a bigger conceptual album, but also has the potential to be commercially succesful as well, which is the mark of a good pop song.

[fabbyf1]

Hiiiii so I might be completely wrong with this one, but I think you’ve once mentioned that you went to the Austrian GP?

If the answer is no, pls ignore this ask, I’ll be embarrassed

If the answer is yes, would you mind giving some insights to a first time GP-visitor who is only mildly anxious about it?🥺🥺

Did you have GA? Did you camp there? If yes to either pls share some helpful insights 👉🏼👈🏼

Also what can I expect from stuff like the fan zone? What’s the food and drink situation like? Were you able to hear on track commentary? Do I have to run and hide because things are scary and everyone is going to hate me?🙃

BESTIEEEEE I would love to answer these questions for you.

YES, i went to the 2022 Austrian GP!! (shoutout to the gayest lestappen celebration ever.)

i drove to the track every day, so i did not camp. there were plenty of parking lots (big grass fields) with free parking. there were TONS of signs on the highway and on the local backroads directing you to the track. i had no problems finding it, even on the first day. i stayed at an airbnb about 45 minutes away (because it was GORGEOUS) and i never had any issues or sat in too much traffic getting there each morning.

i sat in the T3 grandstand, which was a fucking HIKE. a HIKE bestie. my calves are still burning. it's hard to tell from watching the race, but that shit is way up at the top of a hill, and the parking lots are all down at the bottom near the pit straight. there was no way around hiking that bitch every day lmfao.

there was a big screen right near me, but they don't play the sky commentary on it. every race i've been to there's been a local commentary instead. so in this case, it was german commentary. so if you don't speak german, you won't know what's happening. (pov you're me trying to translate what i could to my Texan bestie because she was LOST lmfao. don't worry guys, i got this.) the cell service wasn't great, but you'll have to keep in mind that my lil American phone was data-roaming and literally trying it's best lmfao. so it might be different if you have a European plan. not sure how that works. but if you have data, you could pull up the sky commentary to listen to and that would be helpful in knowing what's going on.

i'd say the biggest drawback to going to ANY race is that... it's really hard to know what's happening. even if you can fully understand the commentary. it's not the same as watching it on tv. it's not a bad thing! you just... might be a little lost sometime and miss a lot of the on-track action. it's fun to watch the race afterward and see everything you missed.

the food and drink situation was pretty good! there were lots of different stands selling all sorts of food. everything i ate there was really yummy. it was all pretty reasonably priced, from what i can remember. our tickets said no outside food or drink, but i brought a reusable water bottle with me every day and they never stopped me at security.

please drink LOTS of water. more than you think you need. especially if you're drinking alcohol. and wear LOTS of sunscreen. the sun was insane.

there were lots of reports of fans (specifically female fans) being harassed during my race. which is honestly... so fucking disgusting. and i'm so sorry that happened to people. but thankfully, i never ran into any problems. everyone i met there was really nice and everyone in the grandstands seemed to look after each other. and it's not just because i'm a max fan either... i have a very obvious Lewis tattoo on my forearm that lots of people commented on lmfao.

but as your Cool Aunt, i would say... regardless of your gender or your appearance: be cautious, don't get too drunk, keep your eyes open, and always have an escape route in your mind. but that's my advice for anyone leaving their house though, lmfao, not just a gp.

i think you're going to have a great time, bestie. i loved that weekend so much. idk if you're a local or have been to Austria before, but if it's your first time there, i hope you enjoy it. it's one of the prettiest places i've ever visited. i can't wait to go back one day.

[needlesandnilbogs]

i missed the ask game you reblogged so i don't know exactly how it works, but—i'd love to hear your director's commentary on one of the HSAU fics (especially one of the ones featuring Theater Kid Vibes) :)

(you're good, it's basically what you said! pick a fic and I ramble about it like directors commentary)

the problem this presents is that there's not that much commentary on the high school au stuff? 99% of the ones that deal with either theater or high school emotions were written in a fleeting moment of inspiration or trying to put an emotion I was actively feeling into words, so there's not much to *say* about them and some of what there is is doxxing lol

I could talk a little bit about the context of the initial idea, which I proposed on discord and then threw the first chapter of the first fic (in snips) into the chat over the next week or two, though:

It was the summer after my junior year, less than a month after I'd found my way to the murderbot diaries 2.0 server. I'd gotten shut out from the spring play tech crew in February, only the second opportunity for high school theater I'd had because of COVID, and was still mad about it, because the meeting had started a full five minutes early and I'd been 2 minutes late and there were too many seniors and everything (this led to a separate original universe that sometimes I think about still, but that's another story.)

My little brother was in a performance of Pirates of Penzance, the first performance a local kids theater company had been able to muster following COVID shut-downs. We'd just been to see it the night before, and I was deeply missing tech crew, especially since I'd been mistaken for a techie the night before (I WAS ALMOST EIGHTEEN. THE TECH CREW WAS 12. I DID NOT LOOK 12.)

I was going into senior year and busy thinking about college applications and worrying about that, too, and somehow that percolated overnight into the idea of mb as a senior year tech crew member, probably on lights, which was what I *wanted* to do (partially because I was jealous of @clustxr doing actual proper lighting design for their school and part bc I did costumes for junior year fall play and didn't ever want to do that again) and also what made some thematic sense

ART as sci-oly kid like one of my best friends at the time also made thematic sense and was relevant to me, same with acadeca/student council kid Mensah (who I then made the stage manager bc the stage manager my junior year had very Mensah vibes). I still can't explain why I made Three be a band kid, but I stand by that decision lol

I threw the idea out there, spitballed with other people for a while, then ended up writing about it, and the rest is history!

[copaceticjillybean]

👑 where to begin?

That's always the hardest part, of course. It’s easy to recognize when you like something, but identifying what you like specifically can be harder to pin down. Especially when it comes to people, and compliments made to said people. Thankfully - for you - this wasn’t much of a problem. I love the way you write. Not just Jillian, who is wonderful, but just how you write in general. That first reply you did for that starter I wrote on discord, with Jillian dressed to impress / to kill had me hooked, and I was already hooked from the get-go just from reading your threads in my dash, especially those with Skye and Jo. When I saw your blog for the very first time and saw that “1950s slang” link on your pinned post, part of me [worried] that your dialogue might be annoying to read, just because accents have always been difficult in my experience. Easy to overdo. But I think you’ve mastered it for Jillian, it never feels overdone. She feels exactly like a character from that time period would from the depictions I've seen of the 1950/60s in other media. Smooth dialogue and lovely descriptions, with plenty of silly posts in-between. Your response to the asks I send in always blow me away, and the dash commentary and IC reblogs you've done for some of the stuff I've written mean that there’s plenty of opportunity to write more threads together if you’d be down. I’d just want to ask you in advance before I start with them. So. 9.8 out of 10! Only reason it’s not a full 10 is because I’m evil, and just wish there was more Jillian art. But that's the only thing I can think of. Roleplaying is for writing, and yours is wonderful. You’re the best, TT :3

ooc: NANO HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME FEEL ALL THE FEELS SO MUUUUCH! My gosh dude, I seriously don't even know how to take in all this praise- I genuinely feel so flattered that you find Jillian to be such an enjoyable character, and even moreso that you enjoy how I write her! It's been a long time, since I made up a whole new OC, or at least one that I'd be portraying heavily and that wouldn't be used as a way to elevate a more fleshed out and older OC. I'm talking YEARS. And I admit, I was always nervous about how she'd be received, especially since I originally was inspired by Rosie from Hazbin Hotel, and he been nervous that Jillian would be too similar to her and that'd turn people off. I also had been nervous about writing her accent phonetically, since I've never really done that with a character that I'd be using to such a degree. So to hear that not only does Jillian convey a character from her time period well but that her accent isn't obnoxious or overdone as well...that seriously makes me feel so happy and relieved. Nano, you have been such a joy to see on dash! You are always so bright and kind, and Parak is such an interesting and well-thought out character. And I am SO on board for our asks and things turning into threads- you are so super fun to write with! And hey, I canNOT be upset with a 9.8/10! That's a grade worthy of going up on my fridge! X'3 But anyways, thank you so very very much Nano- I'm genuinely so blown away by all this in the best way, and I look forward to us writing together for a long time to come!!! :D -Mun TNTPig :@3

[goldenpinof]

Why do you think dnp’s views have dropped so much lately? Its odd because the fandom is actually relatively alive atm

i'm not really good at analysing such things. not enough data, i guess.

i think the core phandom is alive (although, could be more alive, imo). but not everyone came back, and those who did... i feel like half of them looked at things for a month or two, and left again. we're not even on 2018 level, there's a lack of engagement within the phandom, and i don't think we will ever come back to at least 2018. there were changes made, in dnpg content. and i'm not sure if people like it, or are interested in it. i'm not talking about gay stuff, btw.

also, phandom grew up. it's hard to keep up with so much content. people have job, families, other hobbies. we kinda had to find other hobbies during the hiatus, you know. October-December were fun and, dare i say, nostalgic. spooky week and gamingmas — that's what we knew before the hiatus. there was some interest in "how is it now, 5 years later?" but after that... idk, i have my thoughts on why people aren't watching dnpg videos immediately, or why they are skipping some altogether. but i can't say that what i think is based on something solid. not enough data. and making polls, asking if people watch every video, how long it takes to watch a new video, do they participate in the phandom, etc. — i feel like tumblr isn't the right place because those who are the target audience for these questions aren't actually here 😂

anyway. my main point is. the core phandom is here, casual viewers stopped showing up, youtube algorithm doesn't bring new people at all (unless it's the actual gameplay like Poppy and It Takes Two, or generally popular video topics like TikTok compilations or react videos). dnpg clickbait titles work 50/50. i feel like, even the outsiders know what titles are clickbait and what aren't. to be fucking real with you, i think "Dan and Phil are BROTHERS?" is hilarious. i'd click on the video exactly because it's clickbaity and because i want to hear commentary on that. the lore is so deep, it's fucking exciting. but, do others find it the same as i do? do casual viewers even know? like, if not, then this title is just a game ad. and the video is so poorly edited that returning to it would be painful. speaking of ads. people might be tired of them. and if they see that the video is clearly an ad (Dragon City or Brothers) they don't even click on it. people seem also tired of the sims, which is interesting to me. is it because the wedding is done, so now it's boring? idk.

i'd love to see the stats on the TikTok video. it's so different from everything else. like, it's the least dnpg video ever. it's literally the ap video, but it performed better not only because of the algorithm but also because it's on dnpg. i wonder if it made anyone subscribe to dnpg. every time i go to the channel, i see this video and i'm like, "wow! you really are here, with almost 500k views, something that even 2024 sims videos can't get. good for you, mf."

[lavvythejackalope]

Megamind Commentary

The announcement of the new Megamind sequel got me thinking again about one of my favorite superhero trope movies. The sequel itself looks like trash, which is very tragic, but not really what I'm on about at this moment.

I love Megamind, I love a lot of things about it. But what's interesting to me is Tighten as a 'Twist Villain.' I've seen commentaries about what a surprise it was that Hal became the primary antagonist of the film... pretty strictly from amab creators. I wondered if it was really that surprising, however, to afab viewers like myself. I'm not the type to pick up on story beats quickly. I usually need a couple watches to really fully comprehend the intentions in a film.

I never thought Hal was going to be anything but trouble. As soon as he got Metromans powers I knew it was only a matter of time. To me, who, again, tends to be slow on the uptake, this was not a twist. It was an inevitability. And I guess this leads me to wonder if other afab people also got that impression right off the bat?

I have no doubt that MANY, if not most, afab people recognized the warning signs from the very first scene that Hal appears in. Hell, the very first lines we get from his character display two things,

A) He doesn't ACTUALLY like Roxanne. She finishes reading the lines that SHE WROTE for the Metroman celebration, her earnest true feelings on the matter, and Hal immediately derides it.

B) That is UNTIL Roxy corrects him that no, SHE wrote that, and he immediately backpedals, displaying how disingenuous he is.

That is literally the very first thing we see of him. I think anyone who has had to live for a week in our society as a person perceived to be femme would recognize Hal as a dangerous type of person from this interaction alone. But maybe I'm wrong? I'm just shocked at how many people seemed to be very genuinely surprised that Hal turned out to be the real villain. Was it clear to anyone else that he was a bad egg from the get go?? Or am I just outta my head? I'd actually really love to hear some other perspectives on this.

Anyhow thank you for comin to my TED talk.

[youhideastar]

I know you don’t write hockey fics anymore and I totally get why!! Buuutttt if you’re willing, I LOVE the scene in To Be Seen As All Right we’re Sid overhears his As giving a speech to the new guy. Seriously, fav scene ever. Would you be willing to do a directors cut of that?

Awww, thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed that scene from To Be Seen Aright, and sure, I'd be happy to do a director's commentary for it. 💛

So the whole point of this scene is for Sid to overhear the guys saying that he's "hardcore" and describing the kind of submissive that he thinks he is. Everything else is just frosting on the cake.

Eavesdropping scenes are tough, because when you write in limited 3d person, like I pretty much always do, the temptation is to do them ALL THE TIME, because they're the only way your POV character is going to find out what other characters say about them when they're "not there." But if you do it too often, it becomes implausible - in real life, most of us rarely overhear other people talking about us. This is... maybe? the only eavesdropping scene in the whole fic (I can't think of any others but it's been a while since I wrote this!), for that reason. But it needs to exist, because the whole fic is about how Sid is perceived by others--it's in the title!--and he needs to know how he is perceived.

Every year, Sid holds his breath at the trade deadline, but this year, the team stays pretty much intact. They’re headed for the playoffs, which means additions rather than subtractions; in Pittsburgh’s case, a new defender from the Panthers.

Like I said, the purpose of the scene is the overhearing... but this also allowed me to cover a question readers might have (how does Sid handle traded players?) and cover an important real-life event in this season.

Sid’s not planning to lecture any new players about how to treat subs; it’s easier on them if they can just pick it up from the rest of the team, and if he does have to drop the hammer, it’s useful for the rest of the team to get a teachable moment out of it. He discovers, though, with Leopold, that the rest of the Pens’ leadership group has its own ideas.

The day after Leopold joins the team, Sid steps out of equipment room to hear his own name, coming from around the corner. He stops and tries to decide whether or not to walk away—in the end, his curiosity overcomes his good manners.

Damn, just noticed the missing "the" in the first sentence of that paragraph.

He hears Tanger speak first. “So, Sid is a sub.”

It’s a little harder for Sid to identify the second voice, but the very fact that it’s new to him tells him it must be Leopold who replies, dry as a bone, “I’ve heard that, yeah.”

“Right.” That’s Duper’s voice, softer than Tanger’s. “But there’s some stuff you should know, related to that.”

“Okay, shoot.” Leopold sounds a little nervous.

Ugh, so, eavesdropping scenes are like telephone conversation scenes - you're stuck describing things with only one sense: hearing. It means you spend a lot of time trying to describe people's tone of voice in a way that's not repetitive. It's a pain.

“First, you don’t give him any shit for it,” Tanger says fiercely. “You don’t call him a brat, you don’t expect him to look down when he talks to you: none of that shit. Or you will be killed. Probably by me.”

Doing a little drive-by worldbuilding here, establishing the kind of stuff that Sid has probably had to put up with on past teams.

Evenly, Leopold says, “Not a problem.”

“Good,” says Tanger. “Okay, second thing is, even if you’re not giving him shit, you don’t treat Sid like a sub. Ever. Not even in a nice way. It’s not that I’ll kill you if you do. It’s that Sid will bite your head off. Or worse, he’ll get all miserable and flinchy, in that way that, if someone made your sub look like that, you’d punch them, but Sid doesn’t have a dom to punch people for making him sad, so you’ll just end up wanting to punch yourself in the face. So don’t do it.”

This is a WALL of dialogue. It's not best practice to do this, imo: in real life, people don't usually make speeches. On the other hand, this is clearly a circumstance where the whole reason Tanger is talking to Leopold is to deliver a speech, so I think it works. But the problem is heightened by the fact that this is an eavesdropping scene: again, Sid can't see the speakers, so there's no opportunity to interrupt the dialogue with descriptions of, e.g., Tanger's facial expression or posture, so yeah. Just a wall of Tanger talking.

I can, however, show Sid's reactions:

That’s… pretty vivid. Probably too vivid not to come from personal experience, Sid thinks, somewhere between amused and appalled. He can’t argue with the “miserable and flinchy” description, although he hadn’t realized his reaction was that obvious.

“I’m not…” Leopold sounds confused. “I should pretend he’s a dom?”

This is the second "Leopold sounds [adjective]." in this scene. Eavesdropping scenes are the worrrrrrrst to write.

“No,” Duper says immediately, “it’s not—you can acknowledge that he’s a sub, you just can’t… get possessive over him, or hold his wrist, stuff like that. Or fight people on the ice for him – he will chew you out right there on the bench, it’s not pretty. And you cannot offer to dom him,” Duper adds, sounding dead serious. “Even if you really want to. And you will really want to, because Sid gets wound pretty tight sometimes, and also he’s a sweetheart. It’s a dangerous combination.”

Another speech, alas. But again: the whole reason Tanger and Duper are talking to Leopold is to deliver a speech to him, so it's okay. As for the content of what Duper is saying - if only they had stopped the conversation right here, I think that would actually have been really good for Sid, because, as I'm about to show, he's pleasantly surprised to hear what doms think of him. He's pretty much always thought that doms want to dom him for shitty reasons: to shut him up, to feel superior to him, or because they think he can't function without it. Here, he learns that they want to dom him because (a) he's sweet and (b) they think they can help with his stress. Not so bad!

A sweetheart? Sid thinks, turning pink. He’s not sure he likes that – but Duper didn’t say it in a condescending or belittling way. His tone was matter-of fact, like obviously Sid is a sweetheart and we know this and you will, too, once you get to know him. He’s still not sure he likes it—couldn’t Duper have said I was a badass? he thinks, crossly—but he supposes that if the team thinks that he’s kind and thoughtful, well… there are worse things.

Sid wishing Duper said he was a badass is so funny to me. I can just picture the little pissy face he'd be making while he thinks it. Awwww.

Leopold says slowly, “I could see that.”

Duper responds, “Right. But Sid does not need a dom – he can handle his shit just fine without one. Okay?”

“Sure. I got it. Is that it?”

And here's where the car crash happens. It was a struggle, actually, figuring out how to get Tanger to say this next thing, even though it's the whole point of this scene - like, how do I get one of Sid's teammates to tell someone else what they think about Sid's supposed sex life? In what context would that be relevant instead of shitty and disrespectful? This is what I finally settled on - that he'd be warning the new guy not to be shitty about Sid subbing for people outside the team. To be frank, I don't think that's totally convincing, and he doesn't actually need to talk about what Sid supposedly does in bed to get that larger point across to Leopold. But I really, really needed Sid to overhear a teammate saying he was hardcore and sounding admiring about him looking beat to hell. Sometimes you just do your best and hope that you can sell something with the strength of your writing even if you actually kind of think it's BS.

“Last thing,” Tanger says. “Sid does not need a dom. But every now and then, he’ll go find one anyway, and he’ll come back looking beat to hell or like he’s gone three rounds with a grizzly bear. That’s just how Sid rolls; he’s pretty hardcore,” Tanger adds in an admiring tone, before his voice goes sharp again. “Don’t be the shithead who takes it personally, talking like Sid should get it from us. It’s none of our business where Sid gets his fun. Got it?”

“Got it, yeah.”

Sid hurriedly takes off in the opposite direction as the conversation breaks up.

It's amazing how, in eavesdropping scenes, the eavesdropper can always tell when the conversation is about to break up, in time to absent themself. 😝 Unless you want the eavesdropper to get caught, but that's a different kind of scene, with a different purpose.

As he drives home, Sid tries to decide how to feel about what he just heard. At first, he thought it was a “this is how we treat subs” talk, of the kind that Sid gives when he has to… but it wasn’t that, not really. Tanger and Duper didn’t say anything about how to treat subs in general. This was specifically a “care and feeding of Sidney Crosby” talk, even though much of the advice—can you call it “advice” when it’s followed up by threats of bodily harm?—would apply to subs or switches on the team in general. But maybe Tanger and Duper think giving the “subs in general” speech is Sid’s area of expertise. Or maybe, he thinks cynically, they just don’t care. God knows there are plenty of doms who are happy to treat most subs like shit, but if someone looks funny at their sub, or their sibling, or their captain…

"Care and feeding of Sidney Crosby" still makes me laugh, as does the bit about whether it counts as advice when it's accompanied by threats.

Anyway, Sid’s not sure he loves the implication that he’s so weird or difficult that his teammates need to be specifically warned about him… but it’s not like Duper or Tanger said anything that wasn’t true. And the stuff that they’d warned Leopold not to do is stuff that would make Sid miserable. If Leopold takes their warnings to heart, Sid will be a happier person.

It also probably works better coming from other doms than it would from him, especially since some of the stuff they’d talked about is stuff that would never have occurred to him. Are there seriously doms on the Penguins roster who are miffed that he’s been hooking up with doms outside the team? How does that even make sense? he asks himself, baffled. And he had no idea, before, that there was something specific about his personality that was making his teammates want to dom him. Apparently, nice but stressed is especially attractive? I do not understand doms at all, he thinks ruefully.

Watch me hang a lampshade on the fact that it doesn't necessarily make sense for his teammates to be upset that he's been hooking up with non-teammates.

Still, it’s nice to know that some of his lessons have finally sunk in, even if it took years of metaphorically beating his teammates over the head with a stick. Sid doesn’t need a dom, Tanger and Duper had said, and He can handle his shit just fine without one. You can’t offer to dom Sid, they’d warned, and also, It’s none of our business where Sid gets his fun.

Sid laughs to himself and says, under his breath, “They can be taught!”

I don't know whether "they can be taught!" is something that normal people actually say as, like... a thing. In my family, we say it with big vaudeville, Barnum-and-Bailey ringleader energy: "They CANNNN be TAUGHT!"

There’s another part of the conversation, though, that gives him a little thrill in the center of his chest when he thinks about it. Sid’s pretty hardcore, Tanger had said, and he’d sounded… approving. Maybe even impressed. Interrupting here to note: Sid rehashing this memory allows me to actually build it up more than I could get away with in the moment: it would have been weird for me to pile on all these adjectives while Sid was overhearing Tanger (like, how many adjectives in a row can you use for someone's tone of voice?), but I've now gotten "admiring," "approving," and "impressed." The reader will notice this. They have to, or the whole point of the scene will fail to land. It had felt really good… but more importantly, it had confirmed that Sid was right about what kind of submission makes a good sub, a sub that doms will respect. And it confirmed that, as far as his teammates are concerned, Sid is living up to that standard – that he’s proved himself.

That is sooo sad. Sid! No! But this is how it works: sometimes it's praise that hurts us more than criticism, by laying out the standard for what others think is "good," which we then hurt ourselves trying to meet. Think of all the people who say, "Have you lost weight? You look great!" Ouch.

All I have to do is not fuck it up, he concludes, ignoring a queasy little turn in the pit of his stomach at the thought. All I have to do is make sure that, if I scene with a dom again, they leave a lot of nasty-looking marks. Easy.

And if Sid doesn’t always like the process of getting those marks—if he still flinches sometimes at the sound of a belt buckle—that doesn’t matter. This is what’s expected of him. And Sid is all about exceeding expectations.

Double ouch.

That's the end - hope you enjoyed!

[syrupsyche]

⭐ i'd love to hear your director's commentary on how marius won the hand :D

THANK U for the ask!! You probably already read my dir. commentary on Ch. 5 and Ch. 6 of How Marius Won the Hand [...], so I'll jump back and do a commentary on Ch. 4 of the fic!

I confess: I had no idea what to name Courferre so I picked the two names I feel I've heard the most often when it came to fan-assigned names. And not to give any spoilers, but Courfeyrac's name will come into play again in the future!

Also not to pull a Hugo but I wanted to emphasize how pretty Cosette was lol. Needed to give her and Enjolras some physical similarities first (beauty, etc.) before some spiritual similarities later on in the story!

Cosette canonically loves to tease Marius! See:

Ten years later, with the love of Marius in her heart, she would have answered: “A pedant, and insufferable to the sight! You are right!” (4.3.7)

“Monsieur, you are handsome, you are good-looking, you are witty, you are not at all stupid, you are much more learned than I am, but I bid you defiance with this word: I love you!” (4.8.1)

“Don’t cough, sir; I will not have people cough on my domain without my permission. It’s very naughty to cough and to disturb me.” (4.8.1)

And so I needed Cosette to have her spunk here as well!

Ninny mention!! *cue cheers and applause* Wanted the Valjean reveal to be Hugo-esque ("omg who could this mysterious old man be 🤭") and I'm glad ppl noticed it! Also, Valjean hates Marius so much that I NEEDED to include it, though I suppose Ch. 6 is a lot more obvious with it.

Pilf wrote an excellent post about what Valjean's dynamics with the Amis would be like. Though the context in this fic is quite different (Courferre + Marius having to gain Valjean's favour) but I still think it fits! Courfeyrac would be far too Courfeyrac-ish to gain Valjean's immediate liking, in contrast to Cosette who would love Courf immediately (which only just worsens Courfeyrac's standing). Combeferre, however, is able to stick to safer topics! They're just Two Polite Men. This fic has also only just hinted at Enjolras' and Valjean's father/son dynamic so far but it's very close to Pilf's post on it too. They do not talk to each other at ALL; they will sit in silence together for hours and enjoy it. That's their father/son bonding time babey!

A call back to an earlier part of the chapter when Marius tried to make sure that "his palms were not slick with sweat". Mission failed!

I like to write Courferre stumbling over each other trying to impress Cosette. Idk I just feel like they have that sort of energy à la Tulio and Miguel from The Road to El Dorado.

I'm really glad ppl liked this scene ehe. How did Marius drink soup with a fork? Just part of his Pontmercying shenanigans I suppose.

Cosette being shocked at Enjolras taking her hand is the same energy as someone getting shocked when a particularly introverted cat suddenly comes up and sits on their lap. I hc that Enjolras isn't a very tactile person (which could be canonically derived from his only-two-kisses moment), so Cosette appreciates any physical displays of affection she can get!

I argue that the main thing Marius lacked in canon that could have given him a proper 'character development' was the belief that he could have a solid support system outside of bourgeois circles. He was so close to connecting with Les Amis de l'ABC but he ultimately fell back into a self-deprecating hole once his world views were challenged. In this fic I hope to get Marius to reconnect with Les Amis on a personal level first (via Cosette and Enjolras) before attempting to push him towards connecting with them politically (and he's already beginning to, in Ch. 5!).

And it's no surprise that the first person he reaches for when he realises that he DOES have actual friends is Courfeyrac! Writing this fic and rereading les mis letters has got me in my Courfius feels; Courf was such a good friend to Marius and (fic spoilers?) is definitely deserving of being his chief groomsman!

—

And that's it for my Ch. 4 analysis! Sorry for the late answer lol; immediately after reblogging the post I got thrown 5 different assignment deadlines.

If anyone wants any other fic analysis (or even an AU analysis as a whole!) feel free to ask! I'm only one message away from blabbering like an idiot <3.

[ingravinoveritas]

u know michael has spoken out against people bashing/speculating about his relationship and anna multiple times right? even blocking some “fans” for doing so

Hello, Anon. I'm guessing this is in response to this Anon, which I answered recently.

I'd first like to clarify one point, which is that I don't consider what I wrote to be "bashing" Michael's relationship. I've noticed that people seem to characterize any commentary that isn't enthusiastic, over-the-top praise as "bashing," which in turn leaves no room for nuanced conversation, which is what I was trying to do with that post, by responding to a question that I felt I could answer.

Second, there are only two instances I am aware of involving Michael speaking out about or blocking people for talking about his relationship with AL. One occurred four years ago and sounds as if he was under tremendous pressure/had no other choice. The other took place three years ago, and what I think often gets overlooked is that this was during lockdown, when Michael was already not in the best frame of mind. It was a time I seem to keep seeing folks on Twitter refer to as "feral Michael" (such as the incident where he had an interaction with a fan over the bees in his house), but that I think is more accurately described as "unhinged."

The distinction between the two is that "feral Michael" is the Michael who was on the GO press tour making cheeky comments about Aziraphale and Crowley and brazenly flirting with David and basically being the world's biggest Ineffable Husbands shipper. "Unhinged" Michael was the side of him we saw during the pandemic, and the very difficult time we were all having. He was clearly, visibly depressed and struggling (it was especially noticeable during the second season of Staged), and it was frustrating to see everyone ignore that, and seemingly still ignoring it three years later.

That being said, aside from the above mentioned incidents, I'm having a difficult time recalling Michael ever speaking about his relationship with Anna, let alone defending it. He's talked about her during paid interviews, where the interviewer prompts him to do so (such as in the PR pieces that were published in the Australian media ahead of him appearing in Amadeus a few months ago, and this interview promoting LTTC at the end of 2021), but he has not and does not bring her up unprompted. (Again, in sharp contrast to how he constantly brings up David in multiple interviews without the interviewer even saying a word.)

There were also multiple opportunities for Michael to talk about AL publicly on social media over the past few years, and yet he's seemingly chosen not to do that. He didn't promote LTTC with her (and in fact if you look at their tweets promoting the film side-by-side, there is a stark difference). He didn't mention her or their appearance together in that one episode of Sandman, and he didn't at all promote Staged 3, which was released with almost no advanced notice in November of last year and has barely been talked about since.

I have to admit something, Anon: I am disappointed. You could have come in here and said you disagreed with me, and that would've been absolutely fine. I'm always open to hearing other opinions and people who don't agree with me, and we could have had a discussion and shared opinions in a constructive way. But when you come in here without any receipts and make comments that sound a lot like barely veiled threats, I know that your aim is to intimidate and shut me down, because you want me to stop talking.

I believe that Michael is welcome to cultivate his online space, and so are we all. My intention is to keep a respectful dialogue going because I don't believe shutting people down is the answer. I'd love for you to be a part of that, Anon...but if you don't happen to like what I am writing, it costs nothing at all just to block me and move on.

[wandringaesthetic]

Regarding Hozier - Oak Mountain Amphitheatre 5/5/24

(setlist, journal, commentary)

Allison Russell opened and I need to give her a listen she has a very beautiful, soulful voice. Funky band and very lovely backing harmonies. A powerful, sunny presence, if a little corny, talking about harm reduction and voting and power.

Had a great time, didn't have a religious experience, though I've found this has as much or more to do with my state of mind as it does with the performance. Made me appreciate a lot of Unreal, Unearth more, which has been my least favorite of his albums (I think the theming makes it a little structurally awkward, and there are some songs on it (butchered tongue, eat your young) that I don't like listening to most of the time because of subject matter.) I realize there are many songs on that album I would still like to hear live (All Things End would be amazing, I think) though I was very happy to hear Francesca [I'D TELL THEM PUT ME BACK IN IT] It threatened to rain the whole time but never did more than sprinkle until we were in the car leaving. Distant lightning started on Nina Cried Power. Doors were supposed to be at 6:00 and we were let in about 6:40. There was a guy who works at the amphitheater in line ahead of us, who, from talking to some other employees, said the fire marshall was there and they were patching some things up for inspection (?? !? ???). The facilities are nice, the food sucks. We were seated right behind the VIP boxes.

I typed the setlist on my phone as the concert went on, and while I can sing along to most of Hozier's songs I don't know the titles of all of them, especially on Unreal, Unearth. So here's my raw notes with commentary from my more lucid Monday morning self in brackets

-De Selby [backdrop landscape with timelapse photography style spinning starry sky, very beautiful, very beautiful song]

-? Unreal unearth track with first order guy [Hux, Domhnall Gleeson] in the video [this is De Selby pt. 2]

-Jackie and Wilson 

-Too sweet [With this hitting #1 I thought perhaps I would be at this concert while it was still #1, a bit of serendipity since I bought these tickets months ago - alas, it's sunk down below most of the tracks on The Tortured Poets Department. Thanks, I hate it]

-Oh to be alone with h you (th God that heroin prays to) [Alone With You - I thought I didn't know the title of this one but I did]

-Dinner and Diatribes

-Francesca [I'D TELL THEM PUT ME BACK IN IT]

-It will come back [wasn't confident of the title of this one but I was correct]

-Cherry wine [Hozier solo - he looked up mid song to find that much of the amphitheatre had their phone lights out. He paused and put a hand to his heart and seemed to genuinely have a little moment]

-From Eden

-Wildflower and Barley (with Allison Russell)

-Like Real People Do

-Unknown nth (?) (see how it shines) [actually this was Abstract (Psychopomp)  I told you I did not know the titles of these. Also, now knowing that this is (in part) about an animal hit by a car is well 1) this is obvious and I feel very stupid 2) holy fuck]

- I don't know the title of this one still living roots consumed by the flame oooooooo [this is Would That I - always thought of this one as a sequel to Arsonist's Lullaby]

-Almost (sweet music) (with highlights on the band) [notably, part of the backdrop for this is pictures of records of all the song references/title drops that are in this. In case you did not Get It. Hozier will not be at peace if you do not Get It. To be fair there are a couple of them I would miss]

-Eat your young

-Movement

-Take me to church 

Encore:

nina cried power [with preceding commentary about the history of protest, about the American civil rights movement directly influencing civil rights movement in North Ireland, about boycotting apartheid south Africa, Free Palestine! about movements being seeing the truth as it is and saying that it should be better, etc. (extremely paraphrasing) This went over positively, which is always a nice thing to experience given location (ALABAMA) but the people queueing to buy Hozier tix (the show was sold out and IIRC was sold out in less than 24 hrs after it went on sale) are at least somewhat aware and approving of his politics. May not be gen. pop. but you'll never be alone.]

The being unknown angel to me [THIS is Unknown/nth]

Work song [with Allison Russell, who is notably Not A Coward and did not change the pronouns. I don't know what Allison Russell's sexuality is but she's at least an ally what with the rainbow coalition stuff. Phone flashlights out again.]

[risingsouls]

why do you think people hate on Goku so much? I'm sorry, it's just, he was like my idol growing up, one of my favorite characters, a kind and gentle man who fights for justice, a flawed but brave man who helps his friends, who saves the world when he can, what has he done wrong? Is it because of Super or...? (this is weird coming from a total stranger, I know, but I really like your takes and how you write! I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.)

[Truly? I don't get it either. Goku really is an amazing character, but I think it's just in short, Dragonball fans can't read (aka all they care about are the fight scenes and they don't really pay that much attention...and they'd rather make stupid jokes that meaningful commentary).

I have some hypotheses. One just being simply that he's the main character and a lot of people think he just had everything handed to him. Which...if you've actually read and watched the series, this isn't true (barring Super, but that's true of literally everyone in that portion of the series; that's another convo tho). People just love to hate the main character of any series, and they'll often make up asinine reasons to justify it, whether it's "he doesn't change! he's just static!" (untrue) to "he's too much of a goody two shoes!" But most of the reasons are pretty goofy that I've seen, at least for it to bring on outright HATRED of him like these people seem to have. Like if he's not your cup of tea, fine. But hating him for being too nice or always getting the dub or something? Brain dead.

The other specifically has to do with Vegeta Stans. These folks seem to feel that they MUST belittle and wreck Goku's character so that Vegeta looks better by comparison (which also seems to be what Super has done but again, another conversation). These guys will find ANY WAY to prop Vegeta up, and their favorite target for it is to pick on every little thing Goku does. From Vegeta "working harder" for what he has to the stupidest shit like trying to make Vegeta look like the better father/husband (spoiler: he definitely isn't), a Vegeta Stan will find the most miniscule reason to hate on Goku. Kinda like the whole bullying someone you're jealous of to bring them down to your level and make you feel better mentality.

In general, I do also believe Super and even TFS has done a lot of damage to Goku as a character in the fandom. I definitely agree with that. It's one thing for fans that were introduced to the series by Super hate on him, but it's even worse to see long time fans seem to forget what Goku should really be like. I do think more people appreciate Goku than actually hate him but, unfortunately, the loudest people are the haters of him.]