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colorseeingchick · 3 years ago

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Cheer You Up, Calm you Down (Oikawa, Hanamaki, Matsukawa)

Life is full of ups and downs! And the downs can come in all forms. But no matter what it is and how you seek to be comforted, these boys will have your back.'

A/N: This is part 3 in the series! All the boys are given different Y/Ns with different personalities and specific scenarios. They can all be read as either platonic or romantic - you decide

Warnings: Language; mentions of stalking in Mattsun's

Oikawa Tooru: With a Baddie Y/N

That bitch.

Honestly, this was not what you needed on a Tuesday morning. And before you had even had caffeine? Unacceptable.

Hate comments on your posts were something you were used to. Now, at no point did you think they were right in any way. You’re the embodiment of ‘bad bitch’ energy, and nothing anybody said would convince you otherwise. But what really gets under your skin is when your cousin comments passive aggressive BS to try and get up in your business.

And you were patient, too. You let it slide the first, like, seven times. But when she dropped a “if you’re a pick me that’s desperate for a boyfriend, you can just say that” under a carefree selfie of yours, you lost your cool.

You are many things, but being a ‘pick-me’ and ‘desperate’ were not among them. You pride yourself on your independence and self-assured aura. So that type of slander on your feed was where you drew the line.

Instantly, you text your best friend.

You: Bitches really do be tryna start shit.

Oikawa: It's me I’m bitches

Lol but seriously what’s happening

You: [image attached] lol

Oikawa: ??? excuse me

Who tf are they and what’s their problem?

You: She’s my cousin and idk she hates me for some unknown reason

Have you not seen her comment before?

Oikawa: No I usually just stare at your pretty pictures I don’t bother with the weirdos in your comments

But I guess I should start

Block her b

You: I CAN’T she’s literally my cousin

Knowing her she would tattle like the brat she is to my mom

I’m literally SO MAD why tf is she coming at me like this??? like?

Oikawa: what are we, 3?

But also ok I get that

How are you feeling tho

You: eh.

Oikawa: you wanna talk about it?

You: Like, idk.

I’m not desperate. I don’t think I come off that way at least, yk? That’s just not my vibe and the thought that someone thinks that I am is like…. Idk it makes me feel a lil sucky. Cuz I worked up to the self confidence I have. And I don't want to be in a public relationship rn but I don’t like the idea of coming off as desperate at allllll ugh WHY TF IS SHE COMING AT ME

Sorry that was a lot lol

Oikawa: first off-

Ur fine lol

You’re not desperate. You could literally be with any man, woman, person you wanted, you're that hot. You’d only date the worthy so don’t let ANYONE tell you off for having standards and just being confident and sharing your confidence

Cannot believe some irrelevant side character managed to make my lovely Y/N all bothered. Smh. Lemme see a pic of this girl.

You: [image attached] here’s her insta

Oikawa: LMAO

Babe

She’s so jealous

She literally WISHES she was you omg

I mean I also wanna be you ur hot

But yeah I think this is definitely coming from a place of insecurity and projection. She can’t get on your level, so she’s tryna just drag you down to her level, yk?

If I ever see this girl in person tho, that won’t end well

For her.

I’ll be fine

Uh also check insta :)

Unsure of what Oikawa is talking about, you swipe over to instagram. You pause, a smile growing over your face in confusion and amusement as you see what the Seijoh boys had posted.

Matsukawa had posted a pic of you two from one of your shopping adventures. He had it captioned ��Can’t be a pick-me when they’re literally the one who gets to do the picking- gottem.”

Hanamaki had posted an iconic selfie of the two of you, captioning it “The only time Y/N and 'desperate' should be in the same sentence is when I’m telling Y/N how desperate I am for them 🥵.” You laugh at that one.

Iwa posted your favorite pic of you two - when you had gone to the gym and took a pre-workout mirror snap, his arms wrapped around your shoulders. He opted for no caption, but it said a lot.

You: AYO WHAT IS THIS

Oikawa: Ur unbothered nature is always so admirable and should stay that way. So I had the boys do the dirty work ;)

You: With insta posts?

Oikawa: Ye ok SO

I checked and found out she follows all 4 of us LOL who woulda known. So she’ll see them. A lil shade never hurt anybody~

You: Y’all are too much.

Oikawa: I woulda posted literally a collage of all our pics together but, I don’t want my fangirls to get on your ass. You’re dealing with enough rn

You: Tooooo much Tooru

Oikawa: You love me though ;)

You: Yes I do

my petty king <3

Oikawa: hehe I like the sound of that

Hanamaki Takahiro: With a fuming Y/N

You stared at your phone in disbelief.

Hey, so I already have 2 roommates and most apartments can’t house more than 3 people ~ so I can’t room with you anymore. Sorry.

Complete, and UTTER bullshit. Every bit of it. It was only 2 days prior that you’d talked to them about your plan to be roommates, which you’d been planning for for over a year. And you knew for a fact that apartments with more than 3 people were definitely in existence.

But you weren’t going to waste a bit more of your time on someone like that. “Ah, okay,” you text back.

Thanks for being so understanding :)

Tsk. Please.

You’re fuming at the texts, doing everything you can to mitigate your impulsive desires to go off on them, when you hear a triple knock at your door. You swing it open to see Hanamaki leaning against your doorway. He looks so relaxed with his hands buried deep into his pockets, a coy smirk playing on his lips.

“Heya you ready to go to-” he pauses, scanning your face, his eyebrows furrowing. “-what. Who died.”

You scoff at his brash remark, ready to slam the door on him, but he catches it.

“Was it your cat? I know you don’t have a cat but still.”

You chuck your phone over to Makki before you jump onto your bed.

“Read it.”

“I’ll read it, but on the way.”

“On the way where?”

“You forgot? We’re meeting with Mattsun and his girl. His best friends can’t be pulling up late AND in a bad mood, so I’m gonna deal with both at the same time.”

“At the same time?”

“Double homicide.”

You roll your eyes at the dumb reference. “Fine.”

As you both walk out of your freshman dorm, Makki’s one hand stays in his pocket while the other holds your phone. Once outside, he extends your phone back to you so you can unlock it, and it’s only a minute later that Makki stops in his tracks.

“What,” you ask.

“What typa bullshit is this?”

“That’s what I’m saying!!”

“Haven’t y’all been planning to room together since the beginning of this year?”

“Yeah.”

“Bullshit!!!”

“Aren’t you supposed to be making me feel better?”

“Fuck that, I’m just as mad as you are.” He sighs and checks your phone again - now for the time. “Shit. I really don’t wanna be late again... Mattsun is gonna kill me.” He grabs your hand and begins to tug you along, and you can’t help but laugh at the way he’s storming down the sidewalk. “Listen to me. They ain’t all that great anyways. You’re like, top tier roommate material. Finding a better roommate and a better housing situation will be a cakewalk for you.”

That reassurance really was what you needed just now. You couldn’t help but wonder if you weren’t likable enough to live with, or what the matter was. But knowing that fun and chill Makki deemed you a good roommate felt nice. But that didn’t change the fact that-

“I still don’t like being snaked.”

“I don’t like it either. Fuck them. But you probably dodged a bullet.” Makki huffs as he squeezes your hand, signaling you to stop. He puts your phone in his free pocket and pulls out his phone at the same time (he evidently forgot that letting go of your hand is also an option). As his thumb taps away at google maps, he scans the area before starting up again, “if they’re a snake, you wouldn’t wanna be living with them. They at least revealed their true colors sooner than later. Just take the high ground and cut them off now. It’s clean for you and it’ll bite them in the ass sooner than later.”

As Makki finally guides you to the restaurant front door, he stops abruptly before turning towards you. “You okay for now?”

“I’ll be fine. I’m still salty, but a lot less mad now.”

“Good. Stay less mad. Cuz if you get really mad in there again, it’s over for the both of us.”

“Why both?”

“Cuz if you get mad, I’ll get mad with you. And that won’t be a good first impression on Mattsun’s girl, will it?”

“I don’t know - we’re already 20 minutes late, I don’t know how much worse we could make it.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault we got lost!”

It definitely was his fault. But it’s your turn to grab his hand and tug him into the restaurant, laughing.

Matsukawa Issei: With a Y/N who hides their feelings

The tiles in your kitchen are icy, stinging the bottom of your feet as you gently pace in circles, the ringer of your phone vibrating in your ears until you hear him pick up.

“Hey, what’s up?” His deep voice feels a little muddled over the phone, but the warmth is ever present. You sigh in relief a little just at the sound of it.

“Mattsun.”

“That is my name, yeah.”

You dryly chuckle, “Hello, I need to talk to you.”

“I figured- that’s usually why you make a phone call.” You swear you can almost hear the smirk on his face.

“I’m kinda pissed off right now.”

“Mkay. What pissed you off?”

And so you tell your story. You were talking to this guy a few months ago, 5 months ago maybe? And he started to show a lot of red flags so you cut him off and thought that it was the end of it. You kept ghosting him whenever he texted you, and it was all fine until he had joined the club you were in. He kept tryna insult you, attack you, do anything to get a reaction out of you, and he would text you after every attempt. But you’d never respond. That seemed to be the best option.

That was until one day he sent you a picture of your address. He’d somehow gotten your mail, and he sent a picture of the mailing address with your name on top, which you just shrugged off as a mistake on the end of the postal office.

You were just mad that he’d not stopped texting you and attacking you, and you didn’t know what else to do about it at this point. You just felt like ranting, is all you said.

“...Y/N what the fuck.”

“He’s so annoying, right?”

“How long ago did this happen?”

“It’s been a couple of days.”

“Did he say anything with the text when he sent you your address?”

“No, it was just a picture of my mail.”

“...Y/N, where are you right now?” It was hidden, but you could hear the panic in his voice.

“I’m...I’m home right now.”

“Do you feel safe?”

One thing you always had to hand to Matsukawa was that, although he looked half asleep and sometimes played dumb, he was very vigilant. He knew what was up. And he just so happened to exactly know the question that you’d been trying to avoid.

“Not really…. No.”

“You should’ve called earlier, Y/N. Are your parent’s home?”

“...no, it’s just me.”

“Then I’m coming over right now. You stay put.”

"Okay," Your voice betrays you and reveals your stress.

"Hey," He calls out before hanging up, "You're gonna be alright, okay? "

“Thank you, Mattsun.”

“I’ll be there in 5.”

When you open the door, you see the concern glistening in Mattsun’s eyes. “Can I come in?” He tugs his shoes off before stepping inside, shutting and locking the door behind him. Opening his arms, he walks towards you before protectively wrapping his arms around your back.

“Why didn’t you say anything till now, sweetheart?”

Your heart stutters at the nickname. You knew he only called you anything endearing when he was really worried.

“I didn’t want to…”

“Worry me?”

“That, and I didn’t really wanna accept it, I think. It’s a bit weird, right?”

“More than a bit weird. I don’t wanna freak you out but I also have to be real with you… he has your address now. Which he didn’t have before. And he let you know he has it, but didn’t say anything else….”

“I know. It’s weird. And I’m kinda scared, too. Maybe I’m just being paranoid-”

“Noooo. Don’t start that.” Mattsun cuts you off, holding your shoulders. “ I’m so fucking tired of watching people I love feel stupid because they’re afraid. Afraid of people who made them feel unsafe. That shit doesn’t add up.” Mattsun drops to your height, his large hand gently holding your neck. “Your feelings are valid, sweetheart. He’s a creep, and it’s okay to be afraid of him.” Grabbing his hand, you tug his grip around your back and lean into his chest. “Thank you, Mattsun.”

“No problem." He muffles into your hair, holding you for a bit. "Now let’s go.”

“Where?”

“We’re gonna buy you a knife. And some pepper spray. If he even dares try and come up to you anywhere, make his life absolute hell.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“But don’t worry too much. If me, Iwa, Oikawa, or Makki are around, you won’t even have to lift a finger. We’ll beat the shit out of him ourselves.”

Notes:

Mattsun's and Makki's are the exact situations I'm going through rn lmao.

Y/N's cousin from Oikawa's proceeded to unfollow all of the Seijoh boys and delete her comment from Y/N's post. Dubs.

I don't know if anyone remembers that "damn, Double homicide" tiktok audio but that's what I was referencing in Makki's.

Mattsun told Makki and Y/N a time that was 15 minutes early because he knew they would never be on time.

But they were late anways. Mattsun was gonna be mad at Y/N and Makki - but then he saw the way they held hands and said nothing.

Mattsun and Iwa saw Y/N's stalker in the city and threatened him till he cried :) (God I wish this was true lmao)

Oikawa's Y/N is inspired by my best friend.

OIkawa was gonna post but then

Lemme know how the characterizations were on this one!

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haikyuuwaifu · 4 years ago

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Daddy Issues

Genre: Drama, Crack, Fluff, NSFW

Warnings: Swearing

Iwazumi x Reader

Masterlist

INTRODUCTION: WHORE HOUSE| Y/N’S FAN CLUB

Y/N’S FANCLUB

-Y/N and Kenma have a friendship like *Will & Grace* there are literally ZERO boundaries. Kuroo has known them so long that at this point he doesn’t even bat an eye when they’re being weird. Like no joke, Y/N talks about her and Kenma making a baby LIT all the time and he’s just like; cool beans fam.

-Keiji is a sassy B word, but because he has soft features everyone makes the assumption that he is a bottom. MANS is not a bottom...and that cake he’s talking about belongs to our resident Bokuto ;) He’s seen him around Oikawa and Tokyo before.

-Yachi is Y/N’s left hand to Kenma’s right hand. She’s got ya girls back.Also loves picking on Tooru. Also over guys only dating her for clout and monies.

-Kiyoko and Ryunosuke have been together FOREVER. Since their marriage other models have been trying to bad mouth her. Too bad she’s got the greatest support team full of baddies who DO NOT GIVE A FUCK about blacklisting a bitch. Uh uh no sir, not today.

-Kenma, Ceo, Streamer, Sassy Right hand of Y/N. Kuroo always threatens to take away Kenma’s Y/N time when he’s being lazy about running a multi-billion dollar company. Too bad those threats never work lmao.

-Kuroo really do be looking after everyone. He makes sure all his models are taken care of and his two favorites remember to actually eat and sleep between their shenanigans. Sometimes he and Osamu make plans to just leave it all behind.

-If Osamu isn’t putting out his brothers fires; he’s putting out Y/N’s fires. If he had to choose though, he’d put out Y/N’s.

-Issei just vibes, and he has also noticed Tooru’s friend Makki ;) too bad he thinks Makki only fucks old ladies :p

-Don’t ask how, but Ushijima has a recording of Y/N calling Oikawa terrible names. He threatens to delete it when he gets TOO out of hand. LMAO

-Kenma is the #1 love in Y/N’s love and that’s the fucking tea <3 Kuroo can switch from grumpy grandpa to Momager at the drop of a hat( We love the duality)

-Y/N calls Kenma Money Bags cause he’s rich and she finds it hilarious. There is tons of speculation LITERALLY all the time from the gossip columns. They love stirring the pot.

-Honestly it’s just crazy shit nearly every day lol

@dabilove27 @lia-faerie-queen @bbymilkbread @elianetsantana

#iwazumi scenarios #iwazumi imagines #iwazumi x reader #iwazumi hajime #haikyuu #haikyuu concepts #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu smau #smau

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bbytetsu · 4 years ago

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@inloveinc omg the replies were being weird HERE WE GO....

- storm (from marvel) (shes such a baddie!!)

- kim possible or shego

- i was the white queen from alice in wonderland from 2 years ago, my friends all did disney villains if u wanna do a group thing!! (i loved cruella de vil and maleficient too)

- nancy wheeler from stranger things (i have a crush on her lmfaoooo)

- WINX CLUB!! 💘💘

- the main character from kill bill (i forgot her name YIKES)

- any atla characters tbh!! would b so cute in a group. ty lee or mai or azula fire nation has so many bad bitches!! suki would b so cute too

- kiki from kiki’s delivery service

- whoever megan fox was in jennifer’s body

#ang

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splendidshinobi · 4 years ago

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FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST 2003 LIVE REACT: EPISODES 21-25

almost halfway done lads how we feelin'

episode 21: the red glow

ah yes barry

"i'm alphonse elric!!!!!" yes u r baby!!!

who just popped over the wall

scar im assuming

"i kill therefore i am".....barry spouting descartes rn

it was scar haha

hi greed

thought i saw you earlier

WHY DID THEY DRAW HIS ARMS THAT LONG

ope he found the chimera crew...

jerry jewell's evil laugh gets me every time lmao he's so great

ed has deep philosophical talks bro

also ed is chaotic but his personal morals are unshakeable

who are these prison guards gonna release

oh hey kimblee

oh hey squad

ed take out ur pokeball

um wth is that

OH MY GOD TUCKER WHAT

I THOUGHT IT WAS A GIANT YODA OR A SWAMP MONSTER

he looks FUCKKEDDDD

bro of all the things i was not expecting him

oof ishval flashbacks

young scar why is your hair brown

why is it white now

WHY IS HE NAKED

whos her

lust 1.0 im assuming

ew omg tucker is literally so fuckin nasty lookin idk

idk why but he's worse than rod reiss titan for me

wait a damn minute

wait a damn fucking minute

goddamnit

what is GOIN ON

i need tucker to stop whispering he sounds like fucking voldemort on the back of quirrells head

jesus

episode 22: created human

hughes' pajamas look like armin's futon from aot junior high

the bad place???? was that greed's prison gluttony was lookin at?

im still shook af over tucker and tbh its been like 24 hours since i watched episode 21

STOP WHISPERING TUCKER

driving me up a wall

my poor son looks so tired :(

those moral principles at it again

bradley.......

ewww the way tucker walks STOP

hi envy!!!!!

so all of those prisoner guys gonna get flattened by some alchemy

hey kimblee!!!

so did greed escape with the homies???? cause i feel like he would have made his presence known already....

i feel like im missing a lot because im a ding dong

musty prison kimblee is kinda...hot....physically speaking..oops..personality wise obviously there's MUCH to work on

so envy knows hohenheim

ED BABY

he won't do it

oh no alphonse

oh god memory implants

al's identity crisis CONTINUES

they wanna become humans??? huh....doesnt really make sense for their characters...(maybe envy but more on that at 11)

is ed gonna kill these guys for al

some1!!!!!! hold!!!!! me!!!! im so stressed

is he pretending to do it and he's got another plan up his sleeve!!!!????

honestly he's so depressed i cant even tell

those unshakable moral principles at work again i see

the red water can turn ed into a god???? wtf ed doesnt want to be a god he wants to punch god

oh theres the greed squad! i found them!!! is kimblee joining up with them

maria girly!!!!!!!

THE HOMUNCULI IN THEIR STUPID UNIFORMS I--

who's the lady. i need 2 know.

episode 23: fullmetal heart

alphonse is destroyed again

poor kid

"edward sir" brosh pls!!!

oh excuse me--- ***Bloch

The Ross Slap™

winry <3

pinako takes no prisoners

ed didnt you JUST tell brosh and ross they might be right that you needed to trust adults with more shit and now youre blowing off hughes

ed's DRAWINGS im-

hi sig hi izumi!!!

al is so sad over there in that corner

poor baby son

sometimes i feel like hughes and mustang are ed and al's divorced dads

the little arakawa avatar cows in the back im CRYING!!!!!!!

“bean”

snappy al

ooffffffff

omg hughes plz

elicia is precious though we love her

"dad's friend the bookworm" omg sheska

awwww gracia made edward a cake!!!!!!!

god catch me cryin in the club

CONGRATULATIONS

"whatever" al im crying he's so sad

AL MADE BROSH OR WHOEVER CARRY HIS DESTROYED ARMOR TO THE ROOF IM ACTUALLY YELLING

"you goof"

yes winry you are correct boy is a goof

sir you are being so dramatic

give that baby a hug

"so called brother"

so we all know that was a knife through the heart for ed

al just jumped off a FUCKING ROOF and ED TRIED TO FOLLOW

so im crying

i liked this better when they HAD A CONVERSATION ABOUT AL'S FEARS AND MADE THE FUCK UP

episode 24: bonding memories

guess we're gonna play w my emotions again

sometimes like....one bit characters talk...like villager b ya know? and im like who are you i know that voice

so the nasty military has come to ruin some lives again

and barry for some reason

aww poor al

youre real you are!!!!!!

i just feel like people would know people that wear sunglasses in the rain would be ishvalan

but what do i know

obviously they dont have the white hair thing in this version

poor ed is so sad

these boys need a hug

let me just *pulls out adoption papers*

well if scar doesnt have queen mei to adopt in 03, he’s got this little toothless boy

dont lie al you do care

ew i dont like her

the drama of this boy

so the nasty military has come to ruin some lives again part 2

apparently they are *mercenaries??? excuse me

i have some questions regarding this kid’s mom

well you know i can see why this kid feels this way about his mom

it does look like she ran off...

al and scar dream team up

HEY ED!!! HEY WINRY!!!

bout time

yall gonna have this talk now????

barry STOPPPPPP

brotherhood barry is the true king there i said it

damn scar you baddie

barry like....you already knew him

anyway

WHAT THE HELL

NO RICKKK!!!!!!

someone save this boy!!!!

oh good his mom “saved” him

ah damn thats pretty tragic

she didnt know they were right in front of her

well my questions were answered

so she attacks with grape fanta. thats one way to do it

ed looks like such an angry gremlin right now this is a heartwarming moment sir please

why are ed and scar being so civil right now this is so weird

bye scar

we’ll see him again

see you later scar

episode 25: words of farewell

maes who let you buy that awful pink suit

gracia please it better not have been you

mustang ew please

dont open the door lookin like that

what the hell are you doing in here

so hughes WASNT in ishval here?

i think that takes a lot away from his character but anyway

bradley hangs around like a creep at every possible instant

why would bradley care about ishvalan refugees like hughes cmon

“unspeakable crimes” BRADLEY YOU LITERALLY CANNOT TALK

juliet douglas is this lady’s name

only took me 1000 episodes to figure that out

ED AND AL??? NOT DEALING WITH DANGEROUS THINGS??????? dont make me laugh assholes theyre lying thru their teeth

izumi time lets go

wow we’re still going to rush valley? wasnt really expecting that tbh

elicia i LOVE you!!!!!

ew kimblee “hi”

how did he lightning himself like that

if i were ishvalan i would not go to the south....yet ANOTHER war torn region of amestris but ok

okay

an amestrian desert biker gang rolled up to wreak havoc

HUGHES AHAHAHA

tbh i wouldnt want to tell roy anything either stupid bitch

anyway

um why do i feel like its hughes’ death episode

he would not be shown tucking elicia in to bed otherwise

please im not ready to be hurt again

oh no

yeah he just learned something about our girl juliet

ive been waiting for this information

he’s gonna die before we learn anything helpful

yupppppp

hey lust figured you’d show up sooner or later

i too wish i could look that sexy pulling a kunai out of my forehead

SLOTH????????

did girly just say SLOTH

i- nothing about her seems particularly slothy but ok

u know what!!!!!!!!!!!!

ENVY HEYYY

DUMBASS ROY JUST HAAAAAD TO LEAVE

haha famous last words

oof it hurts every time

not the FUNERAL scene no!

time for me to go

peace out homies im dead inside

yes my brigadier general

NOT THE RAIN

COME ONNNNNN

hughes is sneezing six feet under

was ed supposed to be looking at hughes’ ghost

um....right

#carol watches fma03 #carol's remaining brain cells #fullmetal alchemist #fma 03 #zoo wee freaking mama #thoughts i have THOUGHTS

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skullsnsunbeams · 5 years ago

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Please enjoy the first part of my commentary of Outer Banks. I'm going to post eps. 6 through 10 in a second post so as to keep within the text limit. Disclaimer: I started this show because I wanted to see what all the hype was; I won't lie, I thought it was dumb and cliche throughout most of it. However, since I've finished I can safely say that I NEED A SECOND SEASON BC HOLY FUCK BRO. Don't come at me for MY OPINIONS, & also, most of what I say is in the spur of the moment. If you wanna come talk to me about the show I will GLADLY DO SO

Ep 1:

• Ragtag group of friends, including a girl that the 3 other guys wanna bang, and she's also a rich girl but she "doesn't fit in" with that crowd so she hangs with the down and out guys

• "Kid from the wrong side of the tracks falls for rich girl"

• A 27 year old playing a teenager, the usual

• One of the main guys in this is HOT

• In a basic white dude way

• He's the asshole bad boy of the show and I want him to BRB THERE'S A FIGHT

• I bet he's a genuine good guy tho

• HE'S A DUMBASS SO NOW I'M IN LOVE

• ADINA PORTER

• The main protagonist looks like james from BTR

• His face is too small for his head

• His best friend (JJ?) moaned about 20 minutes in and I haven't been the same since

• I have to watch ep 2 to decide if I'm gonna genuinely enjoy this or hate watch

Ep. 2

• I'm getting Flight 29 Down vibes

• The narration is kinda, too much? Like if I need to be guided by it, that means the writers didn't do such a good job

• "wHaT dO yOu KnOw AbOuT tHe CoMpAsS!?"

• This Sarah chick is fucking annoying

• Annoying rich bitch wants attention and she's fucking so fucking CLICHE

• This little sister is FUCKING AGGRAVATING

• We got our sleezy bad guys, ofc

• "Ratter" ooof course that's his name

• THEY'RE STEALING SHIT

• HE JUST KILLED A CHICKEN

• I'm literally crying right now AHAHAHAH fuck

• Sarah's douche bf has HIGHLIGHTS

• His name is Topper which I ironic bc he's def a bottom

• SO FUCKING CLICHE AND I HATE IT SO MUCH AND I'M SO ANGRY ABOUT IT???

• THIS KID HAS A HACKEY SACK WHAT KINDA 2000s MOVIE IS THIS

• Why is this so dramatic

• Like for whaaaaat

• There was ONE kiss and now I wanna make out with someone wtf quarantine is killing me

• John B. is growing on me

• Curse me being for a White Man's Whore

• Oh no Ward is HOT

• Please let him turn out to be a decent man bc I don't trust rich white men as far as I can throw em

• John B runs weird????

• OHP THERE'S OUR BADDIES

• Cue Poppy's Voicemail

• My mom just came in and asked me to tone it down but I told her it's not in my nature and she said " *sigh* I know"

• FUCK THE POLICE

• don't give it to her John B

• ACAB

• I knew he wouldn't be able to give it up, we wouldn't have a show then!

• "Back in the friend zone" I'm hollering

• A snake!

• "Stop barking at the snakes" JJ IS SO DUMB

• And now Kie is going into the grave

Ep. 3

• There would be spiders everywhere realistically

• THESE DUDES ARE EVERYWHERE BRO

• Ah it's just grave diggers

• JJ. Is so. Dumb.

• Fuck bro I'm cryin

• Pope is an angel

• Sarah needs to shut up

• Her sister also needs to shut up

• TO THE BIG KAHUNA

• Is JJ wearing a shark tooth necklace

• ONLY 900 FEET

• Dumb idiot bitch is vomiting too calmly

• This kid, Rafe? Annoying and useless

• Sarah's brother???

• HE BOUGHT A MOTORCYCLE WITH THE GENERATOR MONEY WHAT A PRIVILEGED CUNT

• He's a drug dealer, ofc he is

• ANOTHER CLICHE

• Creepy security guard. Wonderful.

• Always gotta help the young pretty girl

• JJ lying about being abused, or is he really? Either way it's lowkey smart

• HE'S LYING. HIS FAKE CRYING? BELIEVABLE. KUDOS TO YOU, JJ

• That is a human hand

• They're gonna get hurt lmao

• Yayo? Tf is yayo? Some slang for coke?

• I googled it, it's Spanish slang for cocaine lmaoooo I'm dumb

• TOPPER SAID I LOVE YOU AND SARAH DIDN'T SAY IT BACK

• Mmmmmm love when guys get MAD because she took back her yes!!!

• "Tastes like bananas"

• I don't like this kid but I feel bad that he was pressured into this

• POPE LIKES KIE

• Dead bodies oh yeah

• AND THE THUNDER ROLLS

• Ofc Rafe is causing problems

• I think Topper isn't so bad and may just be a product of his environment

• Nevermind FUCK HIM FOR HURTING POPE

• Those surfing shots are cool

• Little fishies

• Pope is so cute and adorable

• THAT'S A BIG STORM

• Uh uh, no thank you

• They're gonna lose the camera

• Do you ever have anxiety

• Oh shiiiit there she is

Ep. 4

• John B has pretty freckles

• "On what grounds?" "On solid grounds, on holy grounds" (ON THE GROUNDS OF BROOKLYN, YOUR HONOR)

• Wait how old is he, even?

• HE DO BE RUNNIN

• Poor Jorge

• That was a very fake jump

• "That's not ideal" he's such a goob

• "Why is this my fault?" "Because it usually is." Oof

• Rafe just said Pope needs to take some personal responsibility. IS HE LISTENING TO HIMSELF? THE IRONY

• This bitch.....is putting rubbing alcohol on the wound? Not peroxide?

• He slapped her hand I'm crying

• I'm sorry but bitches need to mind their business

• I S2G IF THEY HURT POPE I WILL END THEM

• This is so messy

• Why did I think she was gonna flash the guy

• Rafe def likes Kie

• "It might go down tonight" I love this over dramatic shit

• Ward was poor once too, wah wah

• John B is going crazy

• Well the sharks didn't do shit

• Ofc they're going shopping

• "I'll sugar mama you"

• This is actually funny, but I can feel the tension

• "You almost killed him HAHAHAHAH" shut the fuck up you pussy bitch

• Aw he shook the librarian's hand what a good bub

• Of course the stupid rich mom wants to press charges

• FUCK THIS IS BULLSHIT

• JJ I LOVE YOU

• YOU'RE DUMB BUT I LOVE YOU

Ep. 5

• So there was a kiss. Nice.

• JJ's dad is gonna beat his ass and Susan is gonna feel bad

• YUP THERE IT IS. THAT'S A LOT OF BLOOD.

• I wanna hug JJ so bad

• Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

• DIRTY COPS

• AW THAT HUG, THAT SMOOCH. I LOVE JJ AND POPE

• I hope Rafe d*es

• The dude who plays Topper is a good actor

• JJ IS SO DUMB I LOVE HIM

• Denmark Tanny was a G

• John B do B lyin

• Ward knows, ofc he fucking knows

• A SAFE BEHIND THE PAINTING

• OH MY GOD WARD WAS THE ONE WHO KILLED THOSE GUYS

• ahhhh drinking and driving love it

• Topper is about to do some moronic shit

• She's not there, she did the pillows under the covers trick

• OH NO IT'S HER SISTER

• "I'm not a jealous guy" sure

• He's spilling his heart out rn

• HE'S LYING TO KIE'S FACE

• Ofc Wheezie snitched, again

• Topper looks like he's gonna murder someone

• BRO HE JUST FELL????

• Did your "short fuse" make you murder those dudes?

• He's gonna be a KOOK

• UH UH, WARD IS SUS

#emily rambles #emily watches #outer banks #obx #outer banks spoilers #obx spoilers #netflix outer banks #outer banks netflix #netflix original #netflix original series #obx liveblog #obx lb #sorta

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sarasfm · 5 years ago

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Sarauniya “ Sara ” Davies, 24, pansexual, cisfemale, ISFP Enneagram 9w1; Pisces sun, Sagittarius moon, Pisces rising 1st year Advanced Encryption Major; did not go to a spy prep hs

Imma keep it real with you, chief, I have absolutely no idea what’s going on. I mean, obviously, I know what espionage is ; I’ve read books and articles, and I’ve seen Spy Kids and all the Charlies Angels and James Bond movies, but I genuinely think I need a minute to wrap my head around everything. Make that two weeks, because what’s this I hear about two murders ? I literally just got sent here to be safe, I — I’m sorry, I’m freaking out. Give me five seconds, and we can start again, because I promise I can totally pretend this is all normal. @gallagherintro

full name: sarauniya “ sara ” davies

dormitory room: 105

birthday: 20 march 1995

soundtrack: “ go gina ” by sza

favorite dish: efo riro

aesthetic: when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of light reflecting from her earrings, eyeglasses perched on top of her head, and a caviar iphone always in her hands

Bio Points

her mom’s a nigerian baddie billionaire & her dad’s a soft academic brit

she grew up between london and abuja where their family’s business is based. it’s a trading enterprise, the largest industrial conglomerate in sub-saharan africa

she’s the eldest of three siblings, was raised to be prim & proper and groomed to run their family’s business. her family’s not pushy though and they’re really cool. very healthy dynamic so she doesn’t mind ; she loves her fam and would do it w a smile !

Coding is her Passion though. total dork. stayed up all the time just sleuthing and being an internet geek since she was a youngin’

loves education and is the type who would willingly stay in school to learn. has a degree in economics from harvard and was almost done with her mba when her littlest sister got abducted ! was it about business ? money ? who knows ! the sister’s fine now but her family sure is Scared especially since sara’s alone in the big bad united states

her mom made some calls and went “ gimbiya, look, u aint safe n we sorry. we’ll work something out to make sure u get ur mba degree somehow but shit is wild so we gotta get u somewhere near that’s safe asap. u like studying & ur a geek with computers right ? cool beans, go back to school & welcome to gallagher, babe ”

she enters gallagher in the middle of the spring semester very overwhelmed & inwardly ignoring how unhappy she is about having to be here bc she is not & does not want to be a spy. she just tryna distract herself by looking at this entire thing as a weird vacation where she can do stuff she wasn’t able to before because it’s literally detached from the world. she is mostly probably in way over her head, but let’s see !

Other Information

Nicknames: Sara (to everyone), gimbiya (to family, means princess in Hausa)

Languages: English (native), Hausa (native), Arabic (C1), French (B2)

Strengths: is money a strength ? also coding. and being the sweetest. and a general smartypants but that’s in a university setting & gallagher probably doesnt give a fuck

Relationship History: only has one (1) experience. ( well,,, 2 if a three-second drunken kiss w kass counts ) his name’s royce and they’ve known each other since their bougie secondary school back in britain. started dating at sixteen and went to harvard together. they’re long term as fuck. he’s like her best friend and their families adore the couple & each other. got engaged last september and sara broke it off before leaving for gallagher, oof. she deadass milked the opportunity but lbr she wasnt rlly Feeling It so she’s kinda glad for the ‘valid reason’ to appear bc it rlly wasn’t Love for sara so boy bye

Physical appearance: 1.76m, 55kg, long black hair, slim and toned build

Classes: GEN 105, GEN 206, AE 101, AT 101, PE 101

Personality

the sweetest. v charming & sensitive to others & curious about things. enthusiastic too ! loves adventures & is very passionate. queen of empathy.

she’s not stuck up even tho she loaded. she doesnt rlly talk abt her family having 12B or the fact that she’s an ivy league girl, bc she’s just generally very uwu

easily stressed and flustered and overwhelmed ! man, gallagher’s gonna shook this goddamn academic dork to her core for the love of god someone pls get the aed ready

rlly fun !!! can be a lil unpredictable bc it b lyk dat for rich girls. loves her independence which she hasn’t maximized bc of her ex fiancé & responsibilities but it’s chill so chill totally chill, no ounce of further longing exists in the crevices of this girl’s heart

she is so not good with confrontation and is so allergic to conflict ok. she will sweep discomfort under a rug and lie on it ‘til it’s flat which makes her a queen of repression & conforming

is she easily overwhelmed & stressed ? yes, but she’ll try not to show it so much. it’s all mostly an internal monologue so don’t underestimate her pls. she’s v smart and competent. can be so competitive ( albeit mostly inwardly ) and a boss ass business bitch like her business momma bc that’s what she’s been training for altho she is still generally a soft bab so ... yeah, if u would be so kind as to Estimate her, that’d be grand

she needs to always be on top of her game. maybe not the best in the class, but definitely pushes herself to be her best, so a lot of late nights studying & won’t settle for bad grades ever. gonna be rough in gallagher bc she is not spy material ok, she’s just a pretty rich geek behind a computer

just imagine her as the nice girl in ur ap classes who’s a lil awkward & just so happens to be super hot & stinking rich

Fun Facts

has a six-month old rescue pup named sooty ! who kinda looks like a sheparnese

has a tendency to ramble if she’s comfy w u enough or mayhaps if it’s too much man

is v diligent w keeping a journal & does it everyday

likes to dance ! not super good but she likes it. hits da clubs for dat shit

is a lil instagram famous bc she’s a gorgeous rich harvard girl & all that jazz. queen of selfies & of looking hot but doesn’t actually get to play around rip ffff

doesn’t drink much bc she is an extreme lightweight and 2 is her tap out limit

if she’s had more than 2 drinks, she is Very Honest but still very ramble-y

she is physically active but mostly just runs and does yoga. knows very basic self-defense. is not sporty, definitely not a fighter, may god have mercy on her soul

isnt a virgin but is not sexually experienced lmao lbr she kinda Itching to get out there

don’t ask me what her accent is because i have no clue it’s all over the place

Established Connections — just bc i think y’all would like to know

kassandra sutton — internet friends ! loves kass to bits. have known each other since sara was 14. when kass was 18, sara took her on a grad trip to montreal and became a lil lowkey into her. doesn’t help that kass drunk kissed her & doesn’t remember lmfao. poor sara told her then-bf & they had a lil fight but they made up bc sara didn’t talk to kass for months. eventually they became friends again & now sara’s in gallagher w no idea that kass is a mf sutton & honestly, my girl is just very shook w everything

Possible Connections

crushes — she does not know how to flirt. she is ,,,, p pathetic tbh but a real heckin cutie. will be super nice to ur bab ok

flirtationships — sara and i r gonna continue to keep it real w u chieves, her ex fiancé royce was vanilla and bland as fuck. can u believe she has not been single in a decade ? ? someone give her love & attention & fluster this soft innocent child. get her Experienced but also dont hurt her

enemies/angst !!! — or maybe do ! maybe hurt her. maybe obliterate her. maybe smash her poor heart to pieces, because tbh i would love that. so someone pls for the love all things holy and divine, someone hurt her !!!!

fwb — probably just one (1) bc she’s still a romantic ? and she’s probably gonna want something exclusive even if it’s no strings attached and will surely want to ,.,. get to know them a little bit more first ,,, at least ideally , idk , maybe impulse & thirst gets the better of her one of these days who knows lets find out !

friends !!! — sara will love u ok. she may be a lil easily flustered but she’s doesn’t rlly give up on ppl quickly. as i’ve said, queen of empathy. probs feels v sorry for majority of the gallagher & georgetown kids bc, .,.,., this environment just screams highkey Trauma to her and she’s valid bc she’s right

mentors !!! — she hates feeling dumb ok she Always has to be on top of her game, so u can bet ur ass after her first meetings in her classes she goes to ppl going “ hey could u help me out w working out ? boxing ? firing a gun ? literally everything & anything ? ”

anything & everything — meaning just come @ me & let’s talk about it uwu

( did i just create georgina’s antithesis ? fuck yes, and i am sooo excited to have a child that’s not always plotting & scheming & being mean like y’all have no idea ;_; nywy, that was long bc shutting up and brevity are things i do not possess. whats up it’s ur og flower garden girl rose here aka bugleweed aka fiancée of many and lover of all, and i am open to anything and everything ! just drop an IM or hit dat like & ill slide in ur dmz w love, plots & sanitized hands x )

#gallagher:intro

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theyearoftheking · 5 years ago

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Book Sixteen: The Talisman

If there were ever the time to lose yourself in a dense, chonky fantasy novel... this is the time. I don’t want to admit how many hours were spent cuddling with my dogs and reading The Talisman this week. It was my favorite way to escape the insanity of the world right now.

To be clear, I don’t believe social distancing, and the cancelling of the entire world is insane. I’m speaking more to the people with their bunkers full of toilet paper and canned pears; stocking up on ammo, preparing to fight their governments. Just... stop. Color some pictures with your kid. Rake your yards. Have a beer and play Scrabble with your spouse. Crack open a book. Live your damn life without fear of what could happen next week!

Ok, rant over. But seriously, keep washing those hands and social distancing yourselves.

This was my second read of The Talisman, and it remains one of my all-time favorite books. Not just Steve books, but book-books in general. Like with The Stand, I’m going to give the most abridged, bastardized review ever... because there’s just too much to cram into one post. And I’m not ambitious enough to stretch it into two.

Jack Sawyer (fun fact, the names of two of my favorite humans... Jack was my Grandfather, and Sawyer is my daughter) finds himself chilling at The Alhambra Inn and Gardens in New Hampshire with his mother, Queen of the B movies, Lily Sawyer. They’re on the run from the incessantly ringing phone, and constant calls from “Uncle” Morgan Sloat, who was Jack’s dead dad’s business partner. Spoiler: Uncle Morgan is a bad man.

A word about The Alhambra... what initially pulled me into this book was the fact the old, abandoned hotel, beach, boardwalk and amusement park reminded me SO MUCH of Old Orchard Beach, Maine. When Steve (and Pete. I call him Pete) are describing the horses on the carousel, and the rickety old boardwalk, “This is where the world ends, right?”

All the nostalgic feels of summers spend in OOB on the beach. Reading these pages, I could almost feel the crunchy beach towels, smell clam strips and fried dough, taste the cocktails I smuggle into my not-at-all suspicious Yeti mug... ALL THE FEELS!!

And now a word about Lily Sawyer. One of the most memorable details about Lily is her “elementary martini,” which I will now describe for anyone who might need a cocktail during these challenging times. I’m pretending to be a homeschooling mom, so I’m going to take a hard pass. But we have Facetime Cocktail Time with friends tonight, so I might have to have one then.

“Ice in a glass. Olive on ice. Tanqueray gin over olive... Then, you take a bottle of vermouth- any brand- and hold it against the glass. Then you put the vermouth back on the shelf and bring the glass to me.”

Lily is spending a lot of time in bed, avoiding the phone, and fighting some kind of illness, which leaves Jack to his own devices. One day while Jack is out exploring, he makes the acquaintance of one Speedy Parker, the maintenance man at the amusement park. Speedy refers to Jack as, “Travelin’ Jack” which is what Jack’s dad used to call him when he was younger. But it’s more than just a cute nickname, it refers to the fact Jack can travel between our world, and The Territories, a Game of Thrones-esque medieval world. Speedy explains Laura DeLoessian, the Queen of the Territories is dying, and only Jack can save her by rescuing The Talisman. Laura is Lily Sawyer’s doppelganger, and if Jack saves Laura, he can also save his sick mother. Jack’s reluctant, but knows he has no other choice. Speedy hands him a vial of mysterious traveling juice that allows Jack to travel between worlds, and he’s off.

The journey is a long one, and filled with some of the best characters ever, as well as some of the worst baddies. And all their Territories doppelgangers. I’m not going to lie, it’s a lot of people to keep track of. No shade if you need to develop a spreadsheet to keep track of everyone. The OCD freak in me immediately regrets NOT creating a spreadsheet...

My hands-down favorite character (other than Jack Sawyer) is Wolf, a well, Wolf, that Jack meets in The Territories. When they are under attack from Morgan Sloat’s Territories Twin, Jack flips him and Wolf into our world. Wolf does not adjust well. He hates the way everything smells, he can’t be in a confined space, and oh! I forgot to mention... he’s also a werewolf. I’ll talk more about Wolf’s character arch later on when I get to Sunshine Gardener.

Everyone loves an evil character, and The Talisman has no shortage of them. My favorite Talisman baddies included Smokey Updike and Sunshine Gardener,

Smokey owns Updike’s Oatley Tap, and hires Jack to come and work for him. Jack is on the move across the country, and needs some cash in his pocket for food and shoes... because he’s been wearing them out an alarming rate. Walking across the country will do that to you. But the fact Smokey would hire a CHILD to haul beer kegs, and mop up vomit in bathrooms pretty much tells you what kind of winner he really is. To add to his charm, he has Jack sleep on a concrete floor, slaps him around, and deducts room and board from the meager amount he pays him every week. And he threatens Jack with calling the cops and reporting him as a runaway if he tries to leave. Jack can’t have that happen. His evil Uncle Morgan knows he’s flipping between worlds, and doesn’t want Jack to get The Talisman, so he’s in pursuit of his quasi-nephew. Sooo basically Smokey’s got Jack as an indentured servant. He’s charming. One night, Jack can’t take the vomit coated floors anymore, and takes off into the night, with the help of Speedy’s traveling juice. Adios, Oatley!

Sunshine Gardener... there’s a villain who makes Smokey look like someone’s cuddly uncle. Sunshine is a televangelist who also runs Sunlight Home for wayward boys. Sunshine has a sweet deal going: local cops pick up runaway boys, and the judge sentences them to a stay at Sunlight Home. They get paid under the table for adding to the flock, and Sunshine gets to write it off on his taxes every year. Or something like that. He’s obsessed with Jack, and swears they’ve met before (they have. In The Territories. But Jack isn’t about to tell him that). He (and his little band of assholes) proceed to torture Jack, and try to get the truth out of him. Jack resists. Eventually, he and Wolf are caught in the bathrooms, trying to flip over to The Territories. They put Wolf in a coffin-like box in the backyard, where he eventually transforms into a werewolf and kills (almost) everyone in a bloody rage, before he’s shot. I’m not ashamed to admit I cried as Wolf died in Jack’s arms, telling him, “I...kept...my...herd...safe...”

Yep, I’m bawling all over again. The concept of keeping the herd safe is so important right now. I want to kill these asshole kids on spring break, wanting to live their best life ever. Stop it, you entitled little bitches! Help to keep your herd safe! Social distancing won’t kill you! As my little family is tucked in with a refrigerator and freezer full of food, board games and books on the shelves, and a full wine cellar, all I can think about is keeping my herd safe. Ain’t nothing bringing me out of my house! Except my asshole beagle, who needs two walks a day, to prevent her from eating my dresser.

Ultimately, Jack outsmarts his Uncle Morgan, gets The Talisman, this glowing ball of light from The Black Hotel; all the baddies get theirs, and Jack heals both his mother and Laura. And they all live happily ever after. Well, until Black House. But that’s a long ways off.

The entire book is brilliant, and exactly the escape I needed. Steve and Pete are a lethal combination; they successfully weave together horror and fantasy, making you feel Jack’s struggle as if it were your own. You can tell they’re both students of the great Ray Bradbury, they write about the echos between worlds, which mirrored A Sound of Thunder. “...it suggested that just by being over here he could be doing something terrible in the other world. Starting World War III? No, probably not. He hadn’t assassinated any kings lately, young or old. But how much had it taken to set up the echo?”

Also, their author photo cracks me up. It looks like an IBM promotional shot from the 1980′s or something.

There were no Wisconsin references, but the book was one, big, underlying Dark Tower reference. There was talk of trains (Blaine, y’all!). Jake and his friend Richard refer to each other as chums (lobstrosities... shudder!). A building named Rainbird Towers collapses (collapsing towers. Duh). I can’t wait to get to the other books in the series.

Total Wisconsin Mentions: 14

Total Dark Tower References: 10

Book Grade: A+

Rebecca’s Definitive Ranking of Stephen King Books

The Talisman: A+

Different Seasons: A+

The Shining: A-

The Stand: A-

The Dead Zone: B+

‘Salem’s Lot: B+

Carrie: B+

Creepshow: B+

Cycle of the Werewolf: B-

Danse Macabre: B-

The Gunslinger: C+

Pet Sematary: C+

Firestarter: C+

Cujo: C-

Nightshift: C-

Christine: D

Next up is Skeleton Crew. We all know how I feel about short stories, but it might be a nice palate cleanser after the denseness (is that a word? Spellcheck didn’t flag it, so we’re going to go with YES) that was The Talisman.

Long Days & Pleasant Nights, Rebecca

#the talisman #stephen king #constant readers #peter straub #coronavirus #dark tower #black house #escape reads

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viv-my-nrg · 4 years ago

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V!V shares “MY NRG”

On May 21, 2021 emerging Chicago-based recording artist Viv Badynee, aka V!V, kindly graced our eardrums with the release of her new single “MY NRG”.

Viv wrote “MY NRG” in collaboration with her producer CBVB (who happens to be her dad). He explains, “Viv wanted to make a track that had an early 80s electro-funk vibe blended with a contemporary bedroom pop R&B type thing. For a reference she pointed to Notorious B.I.G.’s ‘Big Poppa’ with that brilliant Isley Brothers sample. After spending some time with their 1983 LP ‘Between the Sheets’, I pulled out my trusty Roland JX-8P synth and started working on the instrumental.”

Speaking about “MY NRG,” Viv admits, “I had a solid lyrical concept, but I ran into a little writer's block. I remedied this by crowd-sourcing some of the lyrics by asking my closest friends, ‘what makes you feel like a bad ass bitch?!’ I got so much amazing baddie inspiration from that!" And thus a song was born.

“MY NRG” will become available at all digital service providers on Friday, May, 21, 2021.

STREAM: http://bit.ly/MY-NRG

DOWNLOAD: MP3

CREDITS Words/Voice | V!V Music | CBVB Images | Langdan & Delaney

SOCIAL

https://www.instagram.com/vivbadknee/

https://twitter.com/vivbadynee

https://www.tiktok.com/@madebyviv

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dayoung-remade · 7 years ago

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tea on all moon signs 👀 ,, and also i !! really !! love !! your !! blog !! my heart flips everytime u post ajhssjsjdj 😤💓💘💞💖❤

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flukeoffate · 7 years ago

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Governor Pryce Appreciation

(Contains spoilers for the Thrawn Novel)

There has been a few anti-Pryce posts on my dash this week and My thoughts on her spiraled out of control. I just wanted to throw my two cents in without making a mess of those posts. This is in no way meant to attack other people’s opinions, just studying what I like and dislike and considering reasons for the various reactions she gets.

(Extremely long character examination essay that I may have spent the better part of three or four hours on under the cut.)

I like Pryce. And I admit, the more I thought about her story and personality while writing this, I have maybe even grown to love her.

Is she a likeable person? Well, by the time of Rebels: no. Definitely not. But how many villains are likeable within the time of their introductory story? Few, I think. What I believe makes a villain likeable is their backstory, and also how charismatic they are during their screentime.

I want to examine some famous Star Wars villains. IMO there are very few Star Wars villains that are interesting until you dig deeper into their characters.

Unpopular opinion time: Vader and Tarkin are stupidly boring characters in A New Hope. They show up, kill some people, then lose a battle. We don’t know about Vader being Anakin Skywalker. He just looks cool. And Tarkin-well, I frankly think his interest came more from Peter Cushing’s acting more than the character itself. It is no secret that I’m a huge Hux fan, but the thing that drew me to him initially was his screaming speech. Other than being the ‘Tarkin’ of TFA, (and I use this description begrudgingly for the comparison) Hux doesn’t do much more than Tarkin ever did. All three of these guys are boring cardboard villains until you delve into their histories. Vader=Anakin? Holy shit, tell me more! Tarkin is classy AF and came from Space Australia? Sign me the fuck up! Hux has an abusive father and the weight of the First Order’s future on his shoulders? Damn, that is something to examine!

Pryce has the same problem as the above three: when they are introduced, they are already fully formed villains. You don’t see their developement. It’s done. Their story is pretty much over. No development is expected within their initial debut, their sob stories are not the focus of the plot. Like the aforementioned three, Pryce is 2D boring until you read her backstory. Why is she singled out as terrible compared to the others?

Well, without playing the gender card, I want to say it’s because she doesn’t display the charisma of the others. She is cold, doesn’t look flashy, and lacks charisma in Rebels. She just has one thing going for her: a generally evil and contemptuous thirst for authority and control. It’s standard and boring. I will grant that.

Where I differ from a lot of readers: I think she is a fantastic villain after reading the Thrawn book.

The most popular villains are either someone who has characteristics that you either identify with, or you aspire to have. And the more I think about Pryce, the more I realize that her story is actually very relatable, at least to me.

Pryce starts out as a member of a prominent family with a profitable mining company. She has aspirations of getting away from her backwater planet. Fuck, a lot of people have that urge. It’s not an evil trait in itself. When it the mine is forcibly taken from her family (more specifically her parents are threatened) she vows revenge, and it catipults her into motion. She gets out of there and to Coruscant. Ok, pretty basic. A lot of people hold grudges, it’s not super villain stuff yet. It’s a pretty simple vendetta focused on destroying one obviously corrupt and dislikable government official. (Which, seeing as the entirety of Star Wars is based on fighting evil and corruption, I find it ironic that her initial motive has come under scrutiny.)

All things considered, Pryce is pretty crafty in her plans. Sure, she can be devious. She has the makings of a good spy if she were properly trained. But for the most part, her plan revolves around using the established system against her enemies. THAT is a direct parallel to Thrawn himself. He makes his plans work through ingenuity and finding loopholes. But where Thrawn lacks the ability to manipulate the politics of the system, she can. But more importantly, she grows: she isn’t perfect at navigating the political system to start. It takes a fall from grace to lead her there.

And here we come to the crux of her relatability: her biggest downfall was betrayal from those she trusted the most. People she worked with, people who claimed she was their friend, people who claimed the friendship was genuine even after their schemes had been revealed.

I have had ‘friends’ betray me. Let me tell you it is a mind-blowing and traumatic experience. My therapist actively made me recognize my ex-friend drama as a real traumatic event that should not be trivialized.

And Pryce faces trauma. She was betrayed in the worst of ways, systematically and over a period of years. Pryce was physically, emotionally, and professionally assaulted. When she was drugged during ascension week and threatened? Holy shit, that is the kind of scenario associated with kidnapping and rape. And it was used as blackmail. You don’t shrug something like that off. I felt genuine disgust and fear for her in that scene. Then later, her ‘friends’ involve her in a plot that mixes her up with SAME PERSON who attacked her? Holy shit, wonderful way to reinforce that trauma. And then her friends bring her deeper into their plot by actually endangering her in order to manufacture more trust. And that same plot was made to FRAME Pryce in the event of a take down. She could have been imprisoned or worse, all because of her ‘friends’.

But you know what? Pryce overcame all of this. She fought any fear and pushed it down. She took control of the situation with grace and dignity. She knew what she wanted and how to get it. She manipulated her attackers, destroyed them with cleverly obtained evidence, and took them down with the law at her side. And she never forgives them.

I think that is something people don’t like. That she doesn’t forgive.

Frankly, she doesn’t owe her ‘friends’ a goddamn thing. They are as brutal and manipulative as Pryce becomes. They don’t get a free pass on this for being on the “right” side of things. They are horrible people. Good on Pryce for letting them rot. They fucking deserve it.

I often find myself wishing I could do the same to the people who hurt me. I’m glad she got the opportunity and took it. I would not have the same courage. Fuck all that nonsense about forgiveness being the brave thing to do. In my experience, forgiveness is a lip service phrase followed by a societal pressure to ‘be nice’. Fuck that. I want to be angry. I want them to suffer. But I don’t follow through—because revenge is seen as a negative trait, especially for a woman. There is a reason women resort to sneaky tactics for revenge: it is unbecoming to outwardly express our rage.

Pryce is never shown to have more than a few friends. All of them betrayed her trust.

I relate to that. Viscerally.

You know who has not betrayed her?

Her parents.

We don’t have the full scope of their relationship, but from the getgo we see that Pryce is ready to pounce on anyone threatening her parents. That is a constant through the book. And her parents obviously love her at least as much as any parent should be expected. They are concerned for her wellbeing, and are generally in touch with her. And by the end of the book, she isn’t the same person who vowed to ruin a corrupt official. She has taken up her mantle of anger and distrust. She discovers that she is ready, willing, and able to kill for her family and damn the casualties. She doesn’t care about other people. Other people never cared about her. Her life has proven to her one truth: trust no one. Beyond her parents, she has no love for anyone. The times she tried were a disaster.

There is a tragedy in that. I have experienced betrayal. But I have also had true friendship. We have no indication she ever had the good with the bad. I’m pretty sure that if I can pity Hux for having a shitty childhood, I can pity her for the events that left her so jaded.

So, yes. I like Pryce. I think she has damn good reasons for being the way she is. Do I condone her actions at Batonn? Hell no. Do I hate how she affects Thrawn? Yes. But Batonn is her Anakin to Darth Vader moment, the point where she truly goes to ‘the dark side’. I’m glad to have been given the opportunity to see it unfold. She can continue to be the frigid flat villain in Rebels, because now we know where she comes from. Rewatching Rebels shows her in a new light just as much as it changes how we see Thrawn. And we might see her comments now and think: you evil bitch! But damn, if that doesn’t make me like her more. Before the book, she was a generic Imperial baddie. Now I actually have an emotional response to back it up, and that is WAYYYYY more interesting.

I think the one big thing that prevents her from getting more love is that she doesn’t have the traits that fans typically like to explore in fanfic. She is closed off, and has no real big candidate for shipping purposes. And she doesn’t have any meaningful commonality with the heroes in Rebels beyond being the Governor of Lothal and therefore the enemy. She doesn’t have a specific vendetta driving her actions, she is just doing her job. By the time Rebels takes place, Pryce is not making impressive plans of destruction and she is done with any self reflection that might garner sympathy. But I don’t think she needs it. The book is enough.

With characters like Kallus, you could see than he had a sort of joy for the hunt in the first seasons. Then you learned more about his personality and he grew. Pryce doesn’t get the same treatment. Some people love Phasma for being an absolutely cold monster with no emotion. But Pryce isn’t cold or monsterous enough to have the same level of ‘wtf?’ that makes Phasma interesting (again, adding to the list of boring characters that are only great with their backstory considered...) Most of us can’t relate to the sheer heartlessness of Phasma and are compelled by it. Both Pryce and Phasma are self centered and power hungry individuals. But where Phasma has no conscience or hint or moral code, Pryce does have the capacity for such things, and that make readers see her selfishness as a negative trait to be hated instead of studied.

Maybe people find Pryce’s motivations too easy—a lot of us have friends who aren’t friends, and love our parents. Maybe her relatability is so common that we forget that these still qualify as three dimensional traits. Maybe we are afraid to admit that we have anything in common with her.

Pryce is a good character. I liked her parts in Thrawn. I was scared for her when she was drugged. I felt her loneliness when she couldn’t confide in her friends. I laughed my ass off at the unemployment office scene. I felt her shock and sorrow when she realized no one could be trusted. I envy her tenacity and bold resolve. I don’t have half her courage.

I like Pryce.

#arihnda pryce #governor pryce #pryce appreciation #anti-pryce #pryce love #tw: rape #a strong comparison but I felt it needed to be addressed in this so the R word stayed in.

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abiteofnat · 7 years ago

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NYC? NYFEEDME...

Because if there’s one thing NYC is good at, it’s making sure my bottomless pit of a stomach is consistently full of something tastyyy. As well as beautiful. They are the epitome of making food into an art and waste no time or money with creative executions of something as simple as “cookie dough” (more on that later). A couple weeks ago I went to NYC as a part of a) finding a smart-kid college for my smart-kid sister and b) due to a standing family vacation reservation that fit in nicely to part “a” so after my donut-filled Syracuse excursion we bopped on down to Midtown! There was the glitz n’ fake glamour of NYC just blocks away in Times Square, but we tucked away in the 1 Hotel on 6th which has become a second home of sorts. While it’s strangely organic and it all smells like wood and hemp, it’s a literal oasis from the trashbag-lined streets and taxis honking and honking (and honking). Do NOT get me wrong, I ADORE New York. I live for the salty street pretzels and the iced coffee at every deli and the need to just live it up there constantly. But I’m a Chicago girl, midwestern to the bone and Jesus I thought I might have a better fate in store but it appears I’m baseball and cheese fries until I die.

Give me ten days in that wild city though and I will make them my bitch! Since I’d only ever spent 48 hours at a time in NYC many times a year in the past few years, and still managed to consume most of the island I was concerned as to how I would fare. I’d say thankfully we as a family eat pretty healthy and my one friend I stayed with is a ~vegan~ and the other one is a marathon runner with a taste for really really good carbs, so damage was light. I’ve rounded up my tippity-top spots for grub worth taking one to one million photos of and I hope you get to go try them all, because I’m a creature of habit and rarely wine n dine somewhere once so I’ll see you around!

1. BLUESTONE LANE!

This cafe was one of my sister’s finds, and still one of my favorites to look back on! Elise isn’t usually one to choose where we dine, but we all needed coffee and a breakfast that wasn’t bagels on bagels (which would be my choice if it was my turn to choose breakfast) and she pointed us to a little funky-chic cafe called Bluestone Lane, an Australian chain dotted across NYC. The location we went to was on 5th Ave (2 E 90th ST for the exact address) and was attached to a gorgeous old church, the seating within some of the re-done structure with tables spilling out onto the scenic sidewalk. Bluestone offers a “reasonably” priced, health-oriented menu that’s somewhat Cali and somewhat NYC-foodie-on-a-mission-for-THE-PIC. I was beyond thrilled to get to shoot this food- we ate at a table right inside the doors between the beautiful stone walls which meant natural, warm light and perfect people watching.

What we ate: the BIRCHER MUESLI STOLE THE SHOW. With creamy oats, crisp apples, quinoa for texture and health benefits, and seasonal berries + fruits it was a killer combo of filling and still light in the stomach. The homemade banana bread (gluten free!) with ricotta and fruit is a great sharing plate which is exactly what we did, and added something sweet and heavier to everyone’s meals. The avocado smash was beautifully composed “On Balthazar toast with tahini, heirloom cherry tomatoes, feta, sunflower sprouts & e.v.o.o” (from website) and could have been the full meal if we came an hour later. For a breakfast/brunch/lunch date, this is the place. You want to sip their scrumptious espresso and fragrant, rich chai over the colorful food and chat forever in these walls. And guess what? The Guggenheim Museum is right next door, which is exactly where we went after this meal. How perfect is that?

2. DOUGH!

So my mom loves donuts. As in donuts are worth twenty minutes to find parking for, legit anger if they are sold out, real old school donut appreciation level of love. This is something I love deeply about her and why I can always count on a “yes” upon a donut excursion request, and while in NYC it’s a m u s t to go to Dough. These big ole fluffy fuckers are too good to skip, and given there’s plenty of flashy, over-the-top donuts to be found on Instagram I can’t praise Dough enough. These are bigger than your hand but weigh less than a baby bunny, and the flavors do nothing but enhance the sweet, airy dough you can watch being hand-fried in the back baking room through a glass wall. My favorite one to date is the Blood Orange donut coated in the prettiest pink glaze and donning a dried orange slice, and it’s tangy and flavorful and citrusy without being sickeningly sweet.

The other front runners are the chocolate-hazelnut and the lemon poppyseed which tastes like a much less buttery version of lemon poppyseed pound cake and instead would make a lovely breakfast pastry. While Dough is small and there isn’t much open seating since it’s ~always~ full of people eating a donut with fork and knife, my family grouped up by the window and shared donuts with chocolaty fingers and smiles galore. Can’t frown when you’re eating a donut unless you’re a miserable person!

There she is, the Blood Orange baddie calling my name. I’ll be back, my sweet.

3. TOBY’S ESTATE COFFEE

What’s a family vacation in my family without copious coffee??? Seeing as donuts and 3 p.m. always call for caffeine, we wandered around the Flatiron District where Dough is located and found this little coffee shop that’s Brooklyn originated and very very cute. They take coffee seriously so don’t expect grande sizes, but do expect major taste. Bonus? It’s attached to a boutique bookstore so you can sip and shop (but do NOT SPILL). I got a mocha and it was rich, delicious, and also very expensive. That’s what good espresso (cough cough not Starbucks) will cost you.

4. DŌ, Cookie Dough Confections

That’s right, another “dough”! There’s a theme here of trendy sweet treats and this one certainly takes the... dough. Made famous through social media and the 2017 “need” for colorful and unique foodie experiences, DŌ offers a variety of cookie dough flavors all entirely safe to eat either in a cup or a cone quite like an ice cream store! I turned 22 during our trip and this was my pick for birthday breakfast because what adult doesn’t want to turn 22 while eating a scoop of oatmeal and M&M cookie dough that comes in a PINK CONE?!?!? I may be getting old and gross, but my stomach is still a dessert-driven child. I literally only eat my vegetables so we can get to the real stuff.

We came at a great time- given the fact it’s such a destination spot there can be up to a 2+ hour wait (!!!) so we got there bright n’ early at 10 a.m. and there were enough people to feel cool but not too many people that I was like weneedtoleaverightnowfuckthedough. Mom got the chocolate chip dough on a chocolate chip cone, Elise got the plain ole sugar cookie, and my dad nibbled on a little of it all which was impressive since his sweet tooth is nonexistent. I guess when you don’t have a birthday cake there are no candles, right? NAH. THIS PLACE HAS IT ALL. We got some candles and stuck em right in there.

And the fact we had leftovers to eat during intermission at “Kinky Boots” on Broadway that night when we were taking a break from salivating over Brendan Urie? PERFECTO. Brendan and DŌ. A winning combo and making me feel real good about 22 so far.

5. SANCTUARY T!

HA as if the birthday eating ended there. I planned weeks and weeks ahead to have dinner at Sanctuary T on my birthday, as it’s one of my absolute favorite restaurants in the world, and my mom dragged her heels for a while asking if I was “entirely sure I did not want to try somewhere NEW and FRESH” and I stayed strong because Sanc T is my bliss. She regretted that resistance when we sat down in the fucking cute Free People photoshoot setting of this place and got a rose on happy hour, and when the food was brought to the table I pondered how is this place not on every foodie list because it’s all just so GOOD. The truffle-Caesar kale salad is incredible, as the kale is crunchy and earthy which plays off the strong smooth linger of the truffle dressing, and the fish tacos are fried to perfection and topped with pickled root veggies. The fries (also on happy hour!) come with -surprise- truffle aioli, and they are the best fries in NYC. I’m just going to go ahead and make that claim. The burrata was thick but silky and on homemade bread with some olive oil it was straight s-e-x. Slippery and salty and best with an alcoholic drink in arm’s reach.

There’s nothing bad on this menu. Nothing. So go H A M and eat it allllllll up. It’s in SoHo so it’s a great area to walk around before or after dinner, with amazing classic New York architecture and picturesque streets. Make sure to hit up the Brandy Melville nearby and scoot over to MarieBelle for after-dinner hot chocolate and sweets.

That will do it for part one of “Natalie Eats NYC”, part two will be up in a couple days!!! While I can write forever, I don’t think y’all want to read forever. So I’ve chunked it up.

Until next time, Happy Eating!

-Natalie

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marvelandponder · 8 years ago

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I Feel Partially Responsible

One of the most satisfying moments of season 6 was when Queen Chrysalis bitch-slapped Starlight Glimmer’s offer of redemption. We would’ve accepted it, I guess, but we’ve had… a number of reformed villains. A very large number.

And admittedly, I’ve talked about this a lot (I’m surprised people aren’t sick of me yet), and I’m definitely not the only one, but the reason we’ve had so many redemptions and the reason I won’t shut up about it are one in the same.

This fandom loves us some reformed, tragic characters.

Go back about 5 years, and Luna was worshiped. Well, Woona was. Or the socially awkward, gamer Luna that became a thing after Luna Eclipsed.

And Luna’s far from the only character who got a boost in popularity once they joined the light side. Some of the characters we’ve responded to the most happen to be reformed characters—and you can argue the amount of reformed villains skews whatever that statistic is, but that’s my point.

It might not just be that we have a lot of reformed characters because the show staff likes reforming them, but maybe, at least in part, because we’ve responded so well to the characters who have been reformed. Well, I mean, for the most part.

But this the best of the best. Or, I guess, the best of the worst, you could say.

Important Note: I didn’t do this on purpose, but after starting my list, I remembered our good friends at WatchPony. And lo and behold, one quick search on their channel brought me to their Top 10 Reformed Villains in MLP. Damn my unoriginality!

But I still had enough to say about my choices, so I did my best to limit the overlap between these their list and my list (although there are two choices that are the same number). I thought it’d be best to warn you ahead of time: WatchPony did it first and you should absolutely support them.

In fact, maybe this’ll make it more interesting.

If you want, you can watch their list or read mine, and then watch/read the other. Comparing the order and the reasons behind them could be fun, I hope!

Or not. Just so long as you know I’m at least trying to differentiate and add some value to an idea that’s already been done (and done well).

Honourable Mentions

Wow, that pout

Nightmare Rarity

The Flim-Flam Brothers

Scorpan

Iron Will

Gloriosa Daisy

#10. Gilda

Here’s someone the fandom never thought they’d like! And for that, she gets extra points. It’s one thing to go from a decent baddie to a paragon of goodness, but to go from making Fluttershy cry and anatoginizng Pinkie Pie to decently decent? That’s impressive.

She also was the first to give us a sympathetic look into griffin culture—how they’ve been defined by their greed and scrupulousness because of the depression they’re in. Gilda herself has to work to leave the place, which makes it all the more heart warming to see her instead work to slowly make Griffinstone a friendlier place. Now that’s character progression!

#9. King Sombra (Comics)

Yeah… as with anything in the comics, you can debate if it’s canon all you want, but the golden rule for B-Canon is that it’s canon until proven otherwise, so, heck, I’m counting it!

This one’s especially awesome because you get not one but two of the more poignant redemptions! The Reflections arc Sombra and the main universe Siege of the Crystal Empire Sombra! That first one might seem like a load of bullcocky, but in the eyes of audience members, the first story is one of redemption, because to us his character goes from bad to good (to bad again).

The Good Sombra himself never changed from bad to good, I know, so it’s a technicality, but that’s why it’s low on the list. It’s a heartbreaking arc because we’re so new to this good version of Sombra, but I digress, that’s not the reason Comics! Sombra is on the list.

I actually think you couldn’t have the second Sombra redemption arc without the first—since they imply that there’s a sort of balance that needs to be struck with this parallel universe. Meaning, because the Good Sombra went bad at the end of the Reflections arc, the Sombra in the main universe had to go good to compensate.

So, yeah, it’s all relevant. Not just talking about it because I’m a sucker for that arc.

The actual redemption arc comes in the form of the story that continues from the Sombra Fiendship is Magic issue to the Siege of the Crystal Empire arc. The story overall may be a bit cluttered here and there, but in addition to giving us the scariest looking monsters they could have in a kids comic (with the silliest sounding name to offset it: Umbrum), it presented another genuinely likeable love story to seal the redemptive deal.

Each of Sombra’s better moments are times when he’s in love. Which, in hindsight, seems rather fitting, given that his origins are in the Crystal Empire, the empire of the Princess of Love.

So, here’s to the sweet-hearted Sombra: may his love always surpass his fear.

#8. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon

Double-whammy, you say? Cheating, you say? All of the above!

Technically putting two separate characters in one spot is unfair, but you can’t really talk about Silver Spoon’s redemption without Diamond Tiara’s. And if I were to separate them, Silver Spoon honestly wouldn’t make the list, so I thought it’d be more fun this way.

With that said, Silver Spoon has by far the funniest redemption on this list. She doesn’t go through some life-changing journey, or has any real foundation-shifting epiphany. Just a sassy, satisfying comeback that shows that she’s not just Diamond Tiara’s loyal follower no matter what. Just funny.

And then there’s Diamond Tiara herself. Loads of people have talked about her redemption before by this point, and in particular how it was generally likeable but would’ve been even more believable and interesting had we seen any flickers of doubt or moments of pause with her mom in prior episodes.

But, what can I say? If it’s done well enough, I’m a sucker for a good musical, and not only did the songs and scenes in between sell the emotions behind her turn-around, it honestly made me root for her. She should still make up for her past, but I can’t deny that it was the perfect bookend to that chapter of her and the CMCs’ lives. Way to go, DT. You made me cry (in a good way).

#7. Thorax and the Changelings

Now, okay, I get the reservation. We never saw Thorax himself be particularly evil, but he did grow up in a society that championed the stuff. He was taught certain values by the culture around him, and was even indoctrinated one way or another as a changeling soldier.

So his choice to find actual honest-to-goodness friendship counts as redemption to me. He’s rejecting evil when he can see that his doubts weren’t unfounded, that there should be another way for him, and ultimately, another way for his people.

He and Gabby both realized what they lacked in their culture through seeing Equestrians and their love, but with Thorax, he had to outright renounce the traditions and ideology of his culture. And he was so cute while doing it!

The changelings following suit shows us Thorax was likely far from the only one who ever had hesitation feeding the way they did. When the opportunity came about to survive and be morally upright, it seems like almost all of the changelings took it. Perhaps a fraction followed Chrysalis off-screen, I wouldn’t oppose a ret-con like that, but the point is, the chose to change under the guidance of a truly worthy King.

Hail to thee, King Thorax. Long may you reign!

#6. Sci-Twi/Equestria Girls Twilight

In true Jekyll and Hyde fashion, the pursuit of knowledge is not always the loftiest ideal, proved by this pick: Mightnight Sparkle.

There’s an argument to be made that because Twilight never intended harm to come to anyone until she got sucked into that glowing light, she was never really “evil,” per se. More a victim of circumstance.

But I don’t know. Her device grew more dangerous as time went on, but she didn’t care. And the less she cared (which in this movie meant the less was cared about), the more dangerous it got, until she couldn’t control it.

I mentioned Jekyll and Hyde not because of the Sci-Twi/Midnight comparison, but because the theme of that tragedy was, as the old saying goes, ‘the path to hell is paved with good intentions.’ Dr. Jekyll’s original intention with the potion was to rid himself of all his bad qualities, but as the story goes on, in the pursuit of science, he loses control more and more until the unthinkable. Just watch Ink Potts’ fantastic animatic of Pinkie in that story if you need a refresher. It was a choice to pursue that knowledge further and further, and that’s what doomed both the titular Mr. Hyde and our very own Sci-Twi.

Since losing that control and accepting Sunset Shimmer’s offer of actual love and friendship, the lonely Sci-Twi has gone on to still try to tackle problems on her own, even her P.T.S.D.

It’s why Twilight gets her big ‘Friendship is magic!’ realization at the end of the fourth movie. Isolation and the resulting obsessions are what made Twilight a villain, and it’s the acceptance that those things don’t have to be real anymore that lead her to make the right choices.

But hey, we already knew Twilight was better with her friendships, didn’t we?

#5. Starlight Glimmer

You knew we’d get to her eventually! As someone who likes Starlight and her delightfully questionable morals, I’ve very much enjoyed her character, both as a villain, and as struggling friendship student.

Although, I do get why there’s such a divide. I don’t pretend to know all the reasons, but I think the main reason—even more than ‘she was instantly forgiven at the end of season 5′ (because most of these redemptions weren’t earned until after the fact) or ‘she’s an actual sociopath/seems disingenuous— is that infamous backstory scene.

Even as someone who can forgive it, I understand. The execution made it seem like that small, if hurtful event was what made her into a full blown villain. When it feels like a character’s main motivation is a gross overreaction, it can be hard to relate to them. You start asking questions like ‘Why didn’t you just ___?!’ or ‘Seriously? That’s so irrational!’

Believe it or not, it’s not a fundamentally broken idea, just one that wasn’t executed well. I mean, yeah, there are logical inconsistencies with her backstory—she could’ve reached out to Sunburst. But I can think of another character who let a tiny event shape their entire world, and who subsequently let their emotions blind them to logical solutions to their problems.

Moon Dancer.

Moon Dancer swore off friendship entirely after Twilight didn’t show up at her party. And I think there are a few reasons why that one worked for so many more people than Starlight’s story did.

Yet both Moon Dancer and Starlight had somewhat of a breakdown to express that their decision was primarily based on emotions, not logic. Moon Dancer’s problems would’ve been solved as easily as Starlight’s, too—if she had gotten in contact with Twilight, somehow, they could’ve cleared things up. But why don’t we question that?

The big differences are how recent these events are, and the severity of their reaction.

Time-Order Moon Dancer: this small event was implied to be the last straw for her, after years of not having very many friends aside from Twilight Starlight: this event was the first straw, if you will, but we didn’t get to see the years in between or how things developed over time, gradually— hence, it feels like an instant overreaction, as if she went from 0 to 100

Severity Moon Dancer: Doesn’t want to be hurt again, becomes a complete shut-in, only ends up hurting herself Starlight: Doesn’t want to be hurt again, _________, cutie marks are to blame/mindset develops, is able justify to herself some messed up stuff

So this is where season 6 comes in, and why there’s still such a divide on this one issue (among others, I’m sure).

For a number of people, Starlight’s character lost a lot of believability because all of this seemed like such a huge overreaction. After losing that trust in her, it’s gotta be hard to give her a chance, even if you wanted to stay open-minded.

Whereas people who could overlook that momentarily, understand enough to shrug it off, or just empathize with her might’ve been able to see the things that season 6 helped contextualize.

Like, the season 6 premiere shows us the anxiety she had reuniting with Sunburst, especially since the whole, you know, dictator thing. That anxiety that she’d be rejected again seems to me to be part of the reason she isolated herself for a long time after losing Sunburst to his school.

And the whole Starlight relies on magic arc (especially in Every Little Thing She Does) shows us she doesn’t just have a fear of rejection, but a fear of failure. She copes by relying on something that came naturally to her, and overcomes that fear along with the fear of rejection once again, in the season 6 finale.

Having that outlined in such great detail throughout the season helps me fill in the blanks between the time Starlight was a child and lost her best friend, to the Starlight we met in the beginning of season 5.

I do wish her backstory was executed better to show that even though that one event was the catalyst, it’s in fact Starlight’s own actions that isolated her.

Really, the order seems to go like this after Sunburst leaves:

Starlight: Doesn’t want to be hurt again, becomes too afraid he’ll reject her to reach out to him and isolates herself, relies on her magic to gain approval, is still alone, becomes good at justifying things/blames cutie marks instead of Sunburst or herself, slowly develops an ideology so she won’t be alone anymore, goes too far because she’s really good at justifying things to herself, etc. etc.

That’s why I’ve really enjoyed Starlight’s redemption. Even though some parts of her development really could’ve been executed better, there’s enough there for me to see that she’s a surprisingly interesting and 3-dimensional character.

Plus, I just enjoy her snarky personality (she will always be Snarklight to me). Not gonna lie, that’s just fun.

Over the course of this past season, I grew to like the reformed Starlight more and more because her redemption has certainly been the most interesting. I think we can agree on that, no matter what tone of voice you use to say it: her redemption has been interesting.

#4. The Great and Powerful Trixie

And here we have a truly flawed character, whose short-comings are what make her so irresistibly adorable: The Great and Powerful The Humble and Penitent Trixie!

Right from the start, the self-proclaimed Great and Powerful Trixie constantly boasts that she’s the best around, but because the world around her seems to inevitably prove her wrong, or at the very least roll its eyes, her lack of self-awareness is… well, kinda endearing.

Her ego-driven claims aren’t taken seriously enough to be annoying—everyone seems to just shake their head at her—so that her continual drive to entertain and prove her over-evaluated self-worth is just fun to watch. There’s something adorably pathetic about that.

Which is why I think there’s a little bit of a lovable loser vibe to Trixie. Just a bit. Something about how she lives in her wagon, trips running away at the end of Magic Duel, or continually finds herself second to Twilight—I don’t know. I think there’s something about the fact that she’s so self-absorbed and not really aware of it that seems immature, but in a cute way. Kinda like a pouty, spoiled child, without ever crossing into irritating brat territory.

Not to say she’s too immature or incapable of growth. In fact, that’s when she gets even cuter! The line “Let’s be great and powerful together” is so ridiculously cute that I still don’t know what to do with myself. Even more than Twilight’s reluctant, but still warm accepting of Trixie’s apology (I always love how Twilight legitimately looks like she wants to tell Trixie no for a second), this was her big moment of character growth: realizing how much Starlight meant to her.

She gone from a pitiable character who seemed like they were too narcissistic to ever change, to someone who would go to the ends of Equestria and back to support a friend. Now that’s a redemption!

#3. Discord

Speaking of, ‘beyond hope.’ Here’s a villain no one particularly expected to turn good. This was before most of these baddies got a second chance, too, so a redemption for a villain this beloved was a pretty big deal.

Especially because Discord was such a delightfully evil villain. He had so much fun with it and appreciated his own chaos so deeply that it was hard not to love to hate the guy. Or just love to love him!

So, like a lot of the contenders on this list, Discord’s redemption felt a bit rushed. The dude was so into causing disharmony and so infinitely powerful that he can snap most any problem away, not to mention being thousands of years old—seems like you could expand on his redemption for a whole season, if this were a serial show.

But all the things that made the initial moment of redemption feel rushed later were addressed in Discord’s backslide into being evil, which where his redemption really shows it’s value.

That whispered line delivery when Discord realizes he actually trusted Tirek to be his friend is so wonderful. And that moment (and his whole story in that two-parter) compliments another from the Luna and Discord Friends Forever comic. I bring this up too much, I think, but only because it’s one of the greatest moments of character development and commentary the comics have to offer, in my mind:

Discord feeling as though it’s inevitable that he’ll hurt the ones he cares about is a bit heart-wrenching. Until, of course, you realize Luna’s right: there’s more to what happened with Triek than just a backslide.

It’s a bit ironic. Here Discord’s afraid that there’s no stopping himself from eventually returning to his evil ways, but in fact, we saw that once he started caring about Fluttershy and the rest, he inevitably looked for friendship. Even if it was in the wrong place at the time.

Discord’s learning to let himself care about ponies. He can never fully change his chaotic, trouble-making nature, but he’s so extremely new to relationships. It really is like teaching a sociopath how to love, except less grim, because Discord is actually capable of learning. Slowly, and with baby-steps.

And learn he does. By the time we get to the season six finale, he will tear apart the fabric of reality (or in this case, go on an adventure where he can’t use magic) to make sure Fluttershy’s safe.

Reformed Discord has been a round longer than the evil Discord was in terms of screen-time, but his has always been an arc centered on trust. Fluttershy trusting him when he didn’t deserve it. Twilight and the girls constantly being skeptical, and Discord constantly giving them reasons to be skeptical. Even Discord struggling to trust himself, if this comic is to be believed.

But in fact, the point has never been to change Discord completely. After all, we as an audience fell in love with his mischievous nature, and delight whenever we get to see it pop up in fun ways. So, while he hasn’t changed in terms of his chaos, we can trust that he’s changed where it counts.

#2. Sunset Shimmer

Oh, pardon me. My bias is showing. I really love Sunset. For some reason, over the past year I became especially attached to her and now she tops my favourites list. It’s a problem (for my poor followers).

But, lucky for me, the fandom as a whole loves Sunset, too, so I can at least say there’s actual reasons to praise her redemption arc, instead of just shoving who I like at the top.

In the interest of keeping my bias to a minimum here, we’ll start by admitting that in the first Equestria Girls movie, Sunset was a really flat character. Pretty stereotypical, outside of an intriguing backstory that was unfortunately relegated to just brief exposition at the time.

Her turn-around seemed quite sudden, and everyone around her was pretty willing to forgive her, it seemed. So, not many people were huge Sunset fans after the first one, but it’s downright shocking how well the writers developed a stereotype of a villain in hindsight!

What I love most about Sunset’s arc is how it builds and builds. Each movie builds off the last, to the point that it feels like there’s a natural flow to her development.

Like, Rainbow Rocks is all about her guilt and the continuing distance between her and her new friends (and the school at large, of course). You can tell she’s really been humbled, which is both endearing and a great story-beat towards the end, where she finally realizes she has to speak up even though she’s not experienced in friendship.

Then there’s Friendship Games, where Sunset’s noticeably closer to the girls and is even the one they look to for advice. Now that’s she’s grown closer to them, though, she’s more protective, and we get to see that her anger problems didn’t just vanish when she was reformed. She’s also instrumental in giving Sci-Twi another chance because of how she’s grown since she was given her second chance.

And in Legend of Everfree, she not only takes on the mentor role, but demonstrates that she learned not to let her protectiveness blind her to people’s feelings. Plus, she’s just a bit goofier, and I think that just goes to show that she’s happier and more secure in her friendships. A healthier person overall.

Sunset’s not perfect even though she’s continually driven to improve herself, and I think more than anything, that’s what makes her such a fan-favourite. Her on-going struggles to be better.

#1. Princess Luna

Well, I think we all saw this one coming, but what can I say? She’s earned it.

The story of Nightmare Moon is like a classical tragedy, in a number of ways. The story of a hero whose hubris leads them to their own, often ironic, downfall. In Luna’s case, a deep, unrelenting loneliness spawned a jealousy and pride that would lead her to becoming Nightmare Moon—which isolated her on the moon for a 1000 years.

From that simple, yet powerful starting point, we start our series and our first ever redemption. It really did set the tone for the reformations to come, didn’t it? At the time, it was easy to accept that rainbow lasers had the power to instantly make a character good and that everyone around said character could forgive them on the spot.

Nightmare Moon and Luna were different entities, but it still didn’t change the fact that it was her fault.

But, like a lot of the redemptions to follow, Luna truly earned that forgiveness later.

By teaching and supporting others through her dream-walking, by adjusting to a time-period 1000 years ahead of the one she came from and learning to have fun with her subjects, and by letting go of her guilt and pain before it caused her to make the same mistake again, with the Tantabus.

By the very nature of being the less beloved, depressed, nocturnal sibling, she was bound to get some love (everyone loves an underdog, right?), but Princess Luna’s growth set the standard for what can be done with a redemption arc. And after all the stories we’ve gotten since, I for one am glad she got a second chance.

Want some MLP editorials? I’ve got the full list over here, and links to the most recent three right here for you:

IDW Comics, Top 10 Cutest Families, and Derpy Editorial

Year of the Pony

Header Image Only Possible Because of…

Nightmare Moon’s Castle by Drakizora Starlight Glimmer by DerAtrox Trixie by Reginault Gilda by AwesomeLuna Sunset by 8-Notes Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon by DashieSparkle Thorax by DashieSparkle Discord by DashieSparkle Princess Luna by DashieSparkle

A whole flock of talented vector artists! Go love them all, they all deserve it! And another special shout out to WatchPony and their awesome videos. They’re the real kings and queens of top 10s for MLP!

I Wanna Get Better

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yakigyoza-blog · 7 years ago

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The Resurrection (LOL) Of The Dumb, Fun Teen Slasher

Jessica Rothe as Tree Gelbman in Happy Death Day.

Universal Pictures

Tree Gelbman is not your typical final girl.

Final girls, those young female characters who have so often been the sole survivors of slasher movies, are usually also nice girls - in the sense that they're both sweet and well-behaved. They're resourceful and quite possibly plucky, and they don't drink and they don't have sex, and their reward for their unfussy wholesomeness is that they're allowed to survive the story and the climactic showdown with the big baddie.

Tree, the time-looping heroine of Happy Death Day played by Jessica Rothe, is none of these things. She is (as she'd probably cop to herself) a bit of a bitch - a flaky, catty, blonde sorority girl who helps enforce a harsh social hierarchy in which she occupies a prime perch. In a scene the film repeatedly returns to like a save point in a video game, she wakes up in a stranger's dorm room bed, irritatedly warns the guy (Israel Broussard) "not a word of this to anyone," and hoofs it, in last night's outfit, back to her sorority house, where she's grilled by frenemy Danielle (Rachel Matthews), not about whether she's okay, but about whether the guy she was with was of appropriate status.

Universal Pictures

Tree parties, she fucks, she's mean, and she has a habit of wandering into amusingly sinister locations by her vulnerable lonesome, often in a primed-to-get-gore-stained white dress. She's chosen an unforgivably annoying "it's your birthday" ringtone for her phone. She is - at least by the rules of the genre so memorably made explicit in Scream and deconstructed in The Cabin in the Woods - doomed. And indeed, she's murdered by a masked killer in a pedestrian underpass in Happy Death Day's first act, the kind of bloody end you might expect for a cheerleader type in this sort of horror film. Only she gets to come back, and to try to find a way to live on for another day.

Happy Death Day, which was directed by Christopher B. Landon and written by Scott Lobdell, is a welcome sign that the teen slasher might be returning to life (sorry) after getting pinned under the weight of the self-awareness that, on the plus side, did give us the meta humor of things like Scream and Cabin in the Woods. It's a product of Blumhouse Productions, which leveled up this year with Get Out and Split, two legit cultural breakthroughs as well as box office hits; the company also deserves some attention for what it's done to help resurrect (sorry) this shrieky, silly, and curiously satisfying subgenre for the smartphone generation. Blumhouse is behind, among other titles, 2014's improbably good desktop found footage feature Unfriended and 2015's improbably bad (but successful) theater found footage feature The Gallows. Happy Death Day falls somewhere between them quality-wise, eschewing the found footage concept for an equally high Groundhog DaymeetsHouse on Sorority Row one.

Universal Pictures

The result is something that's just the right amount of ridiculous, flipping between legit scares and horror comedy. Happy Death Day's highlight isn't a scene of dread, but a demented montage of Tree spying on suspects in order to solve her own murder like some inept, respawning Nancy Drew - only to get hunted down, again and again, by her dogged, baby-faced executioner. But the film doesn't just find a clever way to refresh a maybe-calcified genre. It also overturns some of the genre's more puritanical tendencies by focusing on the sort of character whose death would traditionally be presented as an extreme but deserved kind of comeuppance, because surviving these sorts of stories is a reward reserved for the nice, the pure, and - occasionally - the comic relief.

In that way, Happy Death Day represents a kind of reparation on behalf of conventional slasher fodder. Instead of moving on from Tree after she's snuffed out, the film stays with her as she runs through her fateful birthday again and again, looking for a way out. She isn't discardable: Her character gets filled out more and more as the day repeats, into a person with tragedy in her family life and a great deal of denial. She's someone who sought solace in becoming a particular form of campus socialite, remaking herself in the image of the pretty, shallow, demanding sorority queen. In moments of self-reflection, she admits to having become someone she doesn't think her mother would be proud of.

Rothe and Ruby Modine.

Universal Pictures

Tree isn't just a type. And neither is the roommate, Lori (Ruby Modine), who's placed in her immediate proximity for seemingly easy comparison. Lori works at a hospital, doesn't wear makeup, and kindly gifts Tree with a homemade cupcake that the birthday girl promptly discards (too carb-heavy). Lori, in fact, is the kind of character who, from the outside, has the markers of a standard final girl (she's even a brunette, in contrast to Tree), and the way that the film frees both her and Tree up from their expected destinies is witty and pointed. Because, really, why keep holding fast to the conservatism of those unspoken requirements for survival in these films, anyway?

Happy Death Day trades the moralism for a more palatable arc of self-improvement, with Tree peeling off the brittle veneer she's acquired as the movie rolls on, shedding the phony friends and the casual cruelty and reexamining the life she's made for herself. And though her self-examination - like the movie itself - is highly imperfect (in particular, in how it resolves the affair she's having with a married professor), her sense of liberation isn't. Tree doesn't make it to the end of Happy Death Day because she's somehow unspoiled or because she learns to clean up her act, but because she frees herself from the highly regimented persona she was using as armor. She's not good, but maybe she's better - and that's the kind of final girl revamp worth rooting for.

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