#best return on investment franchise

[elaneducationloans]

Check out the best digital marketing strategies for study abroad franchise businesses to help you stay ahead of the competition and differentiate your brand. By using these suggestions, you can increase local traffic and reach a larger audience, both of which will eventually increase revenue.

[washmarts-blog]

Low investment and high profit franchise in India

In the dynamic and fast-growing Indian market, aspiring entrepreneurs often seek opportunities that require minimal initial investment but offer high returns. Low investment and high profit franchises provide an attractive pathway for individuals looking to start their own businesses without the hefty financial burden typically associated with new ventures.

https://washmart.in/low-investment-and-high-profit-franchise-in-india/

[sstrwbrryccke]

— sweetly spoiled | sub choi soobin

tags: rich reader x sugarbaby+broke soobin, financial dominance, gn reader, this was super fluffy until the end, porn with feelings, anal sex (can be interpreted as pegging), overstimulation, window sex, cum eating, hair pulling

not proofread 😭

you’re a hardworking rags to riches, new money type of billionaire. it started from taking over a failing business to investing into real estate and now a multibillion franchise. through sheer hardwork, will and a keen eye, you were one of the youngest billionaires in the world. you were rich beyond belief, rich but lonely. suffering from the many losses of your family members wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t as if you could make genuine friends in this industry.

meeting him was a total coincidence, you were picking up some late night snacks at a convenience store- just because you’re rich now doesn’t mean you forgot your roots, the convenience store was quick and cheap after all. there you spotted him, tall yet nervous at the cashier, fumbling in his pocket for money to pay for the ramen cup. money which he seems to not have, he sighed, about to return the item before you stepped in to buy it for him. financial dominance at its best, really. when you glanced his direction, met with his shocked face, the first thing you noticed was how seriously cute he was, a man that was 100% your type. wide bunny eyes with pretty pink lips, when he beamed a smile at your kind action, you felt your heart flutter. but that was all it was, a random encounter with a very pretty stranger. he thanked you and you waved him off, the two of you parting ways.

☆★☆

and to be honest, he didn’t come up on your mind that much after, you were a busy business person after all. hours of paperwork and meetings filled your mind as the weeks passed. but one day, your assistant called in sick, and you felt maybe that was your sign to take a rest for the day too. but left alone in your penthouse apartment seemed to only perpetuate how spacious your living space really was. even your personal butler had taken a vacation. so huge, alone, isolated and quiet. when the ticking of the clock was too much, you decided to take a walk to escape the mundanity of your solitude. but he caught your eye again, wearing plain clothing and crouched next to the door of a cafe? you approached him, curious. the sudden shade made him glance up, his eyes instantly lighting up in recognition.

“oh! it’s you!”

he seemed happy to see you, and you instinctively smiled along too.

“what are you doing here?”

he seemed sheepish at the question, craning his head and shaking his hair with an exasperated gasp. it was cute, he was cute.

“i just got fired from the cafe.”

it was such an unexpected and ridiculous answer, you heard yourself snicker. he was embarrassed, lips pouted.

“how?”

“i let a few stray cats and dogs in.”

you snicker again, he instantly shot up to defend himself. reminding you how tall he was.

“it was raining!”

the two of you end up talking, and you invite him to another cafe to chat. of course you paid for everything, you insisted. he was shy at first, very thankful and grateful for your hospitality. what an obedient and well-mannered boy. eventually, through more talking and prodding, he opened up. he was called soobin, and soobin’s adorable looks matched his personality. he was endearing in every way that word could mean. he ranted about his university and disastrous job history, and he really really had a penchant for being broke. seriously, how was it possible for someone to be this financially unfortunate? every time he tried to earn a living, something prevented him, like god’s divine will if you were religious. first job at a restaurant? broke 20 plates in one go. second job as a waiter? the restaurant got struck by lighting and went bankrupt. the list goes on.

when he finished, he was sheepish again at your shocked face, sipping on his mocha awkwardly. you pitied him, honestly, you could tell he was innocent to the qualms of the world, and you really wanted to take him under your wing…

except, what was stopping you?

“uh… sorry for ranting. i normally don’t talk this much.”

he meekly commented, suddenly all shy, back to a very introverted mumble. you just shook your head at him.

“i’m listening to you willingly, aren’t i?”

your tone was stern, he instinctively straightened his back as if preparing for you to reveal something big to him, maybe you were going to shoo him away? you took a moment to stare at him, observing his features. looking at him closer just made him so much more attractive, and you could listen to him talk for hours, even if he didn’t talk. just his presence had soothed you of all your troubles.

“soobin, do you want to be my sugar baby?”

he blinked at you. and you thought you would have to explain the concept to him until his face darkened a deep red, fingers fiddling together. maybe he wasn’t as innocent as you thought he was, maybe you should’ve expected it, but it only made your desire arouse more. there was a moment of silence as you let him contemplate the choice.

“so?”

you break his train of thoughts, and he jolts up, shoulders tightly bunched together as his wide bunny-like eyes lowers. he whispers something you couldn’t hear.

“……that.”

“use your voice, soobin.”

“does that mean we do that?”

slightly taken aback by his question, so that was what he was thinking. he was secretly a pervert, wasn’t he? you grin at him, leaning forward.

“someone’s getting his hopes up, isn’t he?”

to your surprise again, he nods obediently, and your grin widened. being alone wasn’t so bad after all.

☆★☆

it took him awhile to get used to the sugar-baby lifestyle. and for some reason, he was more endearing after becoming your sugar-baby. despite how broke he was, he really wasn’t the type to thirst for money. even being awful at receiving gifts sometimes. he had already been so thankful at you covering his living costs, so anything extra made him jittery and blush, profusely thanking you. not to mention, sex with soobin was beyond wonderful, he was just as obedient in bed as he was in his daily life. you found out later he gave his virginity to you, and that honestly made you turned on and ready for 10 more rounds.

you learned more about soobin’s hobbies too, and one thing you note is how much of a nerd he was. when you give him a very hefty and large allowance, he mostly uses the money for games, mangas and anime subscriptions. even though you insist many times that you give him enough money to buy all of that and way more. he seems to be more than satisfied with just those items.

gradually though, he really takes over your life with his presence, and it was only more apparent when he moved into your penthouse apartment. (even though you offered him a separate apartment, you learned he was a rather clingy person) you found yourself buying more shelves to display his manga collections, catching up to his favourite animes when you have time so you guys can watch together on movie night. he’s an introvert to the core, so he often prefers to stay in the penthouse rather than go out. not that you mind, it was nice to spend the night cuddling with him after long day at work, plus you dote on him extensively, if soobin wanted to stay in, you were going to let him stay in.

and you didn’t know life could get this happy until you entered to the smell of freshly baked goods, a smiling soobin poking his head out from the kitchen. god, who needs michelin star chefs when you have a cute bunny boy? and damn was it was the best cinnamon roll you’ve ever had in your entire existence.

eventually, your work finds out about soobin too, it first manifested in drifting rumors of a mysterious partner you had. then it became plain obvious when you straight-up brought soobin to your office one day. it was a bizzare sight, a man dressed in a hoodie sitting in a room full of men and women in suits. he mentioned he was curious about your work, and next thing he knew, he was in your limousine driving to the high skyrise building.

another time you brought him to those socialite parties, which was really just a fancy name for ‘rich people getting drunk asf’. he was so adorable, muttering to you about how nervous he was as you adjust his bowtie. he wore a grey asymmetrical suit jacket, you had it tailor made for him. you would hold him by the waist and kiss his worries away, reassuring him. and just as you thought, it went great. though soobin wasn’t talkative at all, just smiling beside you as you’re approached by another acquaintance. you two had fun though, you would snake your hand around his waist and whisper to him while gesturing to another rich nepo baby.

“and that one over there, that blonde hair? oh yeah, definitely a wig.”

“stop- that’s mean!”

but he was giggling with you, his eyes creasing into sweet crescent moons. the night passed smoothly, and the two of you retreat back to the penthouse apartment again. there you sat on the bed, freshly showered. soobin comes out from his shower as well, wrapped in a towel. he seemed embarrassed again, at how scantily dressed he was.

“stop hiding yourself, i’ve literally seen you naked soobin.”

“nope, who knows when you’re going to get horny and attack me.”

he shook his head teasingly, his wet hair tousling around. you raise an eyebrow, standing up to walk to him and he instantly starts laughing and apologising while backing away, knowing that once you take action you weren’t going to stop.

“hey i was joking!! i was jokin- AHHH!!”

you go for his hips where he was the most ticklish, and it didn’t take a lot of wrestling until he was under you, huffing and giggly. cheeks red, puffy eyes beautifully curved with his smile, his dimples in full show. touching your knee was something hard, as well, and you smirk at him.

“and i’m the horny one?”

with just the right amount of teasing and edging, you get him squirming and moaning, begging softly for you to touch him more. you haul him up, and he seems to wake up from his submissive daze when he realises you brought him right up to the massive windows of the penthouse. naked and exposed, leg spread embarrassingly far apart as you make him bend over- using the glass as support.

“w-what if people see.”

“let them.”

you whisper in his ear and he visibly shivers. you thumb at his lubed pink hole, dipping in and then dipping out, he becomes more and more desperate with each passing second. when it was clear you were going to keep playing with his rim, he softly whines, glancing behind him to look at you. bunny eyes wide and pleading.

“use your words soobin.”

“mmm… please.”

“continue.”

he gulps, nervous. he was so turned on he felt like he could come with any type of friction.

“spoil me please.”

oh, and you were going to spoil him alright. he was your pretty prince and you would genuinely buy him the earth if he wanted to. hurray to capitalism and this pretty boy. you kiss his nape as you insert a finger. he squirms and clenches his thighs, trying his hardest to hold it in because you hadn’t given him permission yet.

you insert another finger and begin to pump them in and out, purposefully hitting his prostate to push him over the edge. he comes without a warning and he sputters, his thighs trembling.

“s-sorry! sorry! i didnt mean to! im sorry!”

he begs profusely, legs still feeling the aftershocks of his orgasm. but you weren’t done with him just yet, he chokes down his words when you continue to finger his prostate, overstimulating him and making him squeal out in both pain and pleasure. he comes again, very close to the first one, and the white substance spurts onto the window.

“messy baby, you’re making so much trouble for the cleaners. bend down and clean that.”

he knew very well that you had cleaners who wouldn’t even blink an eye when wiping cum off the window. but he obeys as he always has. his weak legs was going to give up on him anyways, so he bent down kneeling on all fours, ass in the air as he awkwardly licked the salty cum off the window. doesn’t mean the work was over for you though, because you join him, aligning your length with his hole as you push into him. he moans loud at the sudden intrusion, arms giving up on him as he slips down on the floor, perking his ass up further.

“did i tell you to stop? keep going.”

he whines, trying to support himself but failing, so you give him a helping hand, your hand gripping the back of his hair and you pull his head back until he’s craning his neck. you swipe a finger at the remaining cum, bringing it to his mouth, feeding it to him, making him swallow.

the whole process was so arousing, it only took a few more thrusts until he was coming again. this time though, the overstimulation was too much and soon enough he was sobbing and crying. you chuckle, he was such a baby, but maybe it was your fault for spoiling him so much. you gently embrace him, thrusting into him softly until you orgasmed as well.

you pull out and coo at him. his body trembling and spasming. you use a wet towel to wipe down the both of you, until he refused you movement by hugging you tightly. it takes a moment to get back to bed, especially with an oversized koala clinging to you. but the two of you flop down, and you take the moment to caress his face. he was sleepy, but registered your soft touches with a satisfied smile.

“want to go shopping tomorrow?”

he hums, shuffling closer to you until his face was in the crook of your neck.

“mm i just want to stay in.”

you snicker. and you have never felt so much warmth in your heart.

[iam93percentstardust]

one of the things that really bothers me about modern franchises, and in particular over the last 5 years or so, is their refusal to commit. what i mean here when i say this is that it's not uncommon for a major franchise to make a decision, whether about the plot or the characters, that should have had huge, world-changing consequences... and then just never address that again or worse, immediately go back and undo it. and i'm gonna pick on star wars and the mcu here because those are the two big franchises i'm into at the moment (and i think they're kind of the worst at this), but i don't want you to walk away from this thinking that this is solely a disney thing. i've seen this happen with game of thrones and supernatural and plenty of other non-disney franchises. spoilers ahead, you've been warned:

in ant-man & the wasp quantumania, scott and hope make the life-altering decision to stay behind in the quantum realm and defeat kang instead of going through the portal to return to their world. this should have been a huge meta decision for the mcu, and when i first saw it in theaters, my immediate thought was wow, what is this going to mean for the mcu going forward? are we going to get a movie/miniseries about scott and hope helping to rebuild the quantum realm? how are cassie, janet, and hank going to react to the losses of their loved ones (in some cases, for the second time)? is cassie going to become the "first" young avenger because she has to take her father's place among the team lineup (and i only say first because as of this moment, none of the other young avengers introduced to the franchise are official avengers yet)? except nope, because less than 2 minutes later, cassie had fixed the portal that had broken way back at the beginning of the movie and brought scott and hope back.

and it felt like such a cheat. i was so disappointed in that theater, not as someone who was invested in these characters on a personal level (because yay, cassie gets her dad back!), but as someone who has spent years investing themselves in the story of the mcu. what was the point of wasting screentime on scott and hope accepting their new lives in the quantum realm if it was just going to immediately be undone? the entire scene could have been cut to scott and hope making it back bare seconds before the portal closed and it would have had the same emotional impact. there was nothing added by making scott and hope (and us) think that there was no way back only to rip the rug out from under us and go "gotcha! you really thought we were gonna give this movie a sad ending? haha! you're so dumb!"

and this isn't the first time the mcu has done this. one of the biggest complaints about endgame was the decision to set it five years in the future with no consideration for how that would actually change the setting of the mcu. characters were brought back to the exact place they disappeared from with no consideration for how things might have changed in the interim five years (like planes that weren't in the air anymore, buildings no longer standing, even just something as simple as a chair being unoccupied). and then the mcu didn't even really have the courage to address how this would have shaped the world other than a few jokes and making the bad guys in the falcon and the winter soldier people who cared about how the world had screwed them over during the blip.

and things like this happen over and over and over again. the accords are put into place in civil war, but by the time we get to she-hulk, they're gone with no explanation because, as best as i can tell, the writers didn't want to have to deal with the worldbuilding that went into the accords. gamora is killed in infinity war, but heaven forbid quill not have an emotional investment in a film he appears for maybe 10 minutes in so now she's back in endgame. steve got to go live in the past with his ex-girlfriend (which is in itself a refusal to commit after the mcu both gave her a different husband and had the woman herself tell him to move on) but we need to establish that messing with timelines is bad because that's what the entire next phase hinges on so actually his ending was predestined and it's only everyone else who can't change time. whoever took this entire town and also wanda hostage and forced them to live out a sitcom fantasy is bad and needs to be stopped but wait, it's actually wanda and she can't be the bad guy yet, we need her for doctor strange 2, so actually everyone's going to defend her now and say that no one else could ever possibly understand her grief. thor has decided to accept responsibility as king of asgard, but we can't use him for any more movies if he's stuck in asgard, so actually he's decided to pass it on to someone whose entire leadership capability is developed offscreen. i could list more examples but this is making me angry, so let's move on to star wars instead.

with star wars, i look at first the oft-quoted meme, "somehow palpatine has returned." yeah, i shouldn't really need to go into detail on how that counts as a refusal to commit but. the last jedi was a study in how johnson refused to commit to anything that abrams had laid down in the force awakens, but rise of skywalker was almost like abrams had looked at the franchise and said "screw you for taking it away from me, i'm going to come up with the most bullshit stuff just to spite you for doing that in the first place. and i'm going to start by undoing the most important plot point of the first trilogy: the emperor dies." and yeah, disney's kind of tried to salvage this by dropping hints into the bad batch and the mandalorian about cloning, but that only really works if you're watching the franchise chronologically and not considering that both of those series came out after rise of skywalker.

and then there's the mandalorian, my sweet summer child, who is, in my opinion, the worst at backtracking their plot points. i'm not entirely convinced that any of the higher ups for this show really knew what they were doing when they started working on it and i'm not convinced that they know what they're doing now. yeah, there's the tie-in to the last season of clone wars, but the mandalorian has managed to walk back pretty much every single major plot point it's had. din is this legendary warrior who can't be beat, but no one will watch this show if he defeats everyone too early, so he's constantly getting beat up (tbf, sometimes some of the fights he loses makes sense like the krayt dragon and the mudhorn, but a lot of them don't. at all). moff gideon is dead, no wait no he's not, now he's imprisoned, no wait no he's not, now he's definitely dead, you can totally believe us this time guys. grogu can use the force and must be placed with the jedi, but wait, the only person still actively teaching the way of the jedi is luke and all of his students will be brutally murdered ten years from now, and we can't have that, everyone will be mad at us for killing off such a cute character and no one will buy baby yoda dolls (and also we have to set up luke's character degradation from hopeful, believes-in-love cinnamon roll to "i'm going to kill my nephew") so in between seasons let's have grogu decide to go back to din (and don't even get me started on how frustrating it is that a casual mandalorian watcher also had to watch book of boba fett to understand why grogu is back). din has the darksaber now which makes him king of mandalore, that's totally going to be important and what the entire series has been building up to, right? wrong! he might have spent the first two seasons making connections, learning about the world outside his sheltered upbringing, and demonstrating the various qualities that would make for a good leader, but the entire third season will be about din realizing that actually he's super unworthy and the darksaber should actually go to someone who... saw an animal in the water.

and it's really, really frustrating as a viewer! because how am i supposed to get invested in any of these plot decisions when they almost always get reversed? why should i care that mj and ned have forgotten peter when ant-man 3 has shown me that they'll remember him the next time they're all on screen together? why should i care that tech is dead when half of the last season of clone wars was about how echo was actually alive? if none of these decisions have any permanence, then where are the emotional stakes? why should i watch your movie if all you're going to tell me is that nothing matters?

[lyinginbedmon]

Oh lordy is there bad things going down across the VTuber space right now so I’m gonna try and unpack them for ease of comprehension.

Real quick: A VTuber is essentially just a regular livestreamer but instead of a facecam they have a custom model (usually made of layered images but also often a full 3D object) that tracks their face and such. Big tiddy anime girl representation to say the least but it’s a very creative space.

Next: Silvervale, Silver for short. Silver is one such big tiddy anime (wolf) girl, who is part of a corporate group of VTubers called VShojo. I probably don’t need to describe much more for the purposes of this post.

Hogwarts Legacy is a video game based in the bigotry-entrenched universe of the Harry Potter franchise by notorious face-of-transphobia Joanne K. Rowling. Since its announcement in 2018, trans individuals and groups have quite rightly highlighted numerous ethical and moral problems with the game ranging from the inherent bigotry of the setting, to the involvement of literal far-right YouTubers in its development, to just the basic stuff like its success greenlighting further instalments all while Rowling pockets royalties to (expressly) further fund her anti-trans projects (which includes her writing Literally being read into record to quash things like the Equality Act).

The general advice, which would be true regardless of your actual thoughts on the game or franchise, was to just not play it. That way Rowling makes less money, fewer future games are made, and nobody gets hurt as a result. You end your day $60 better off that you can spend on some other big game that isn’t basically radioactive.

To say the Video Gamers did not take that advice well would be an understatement, but things get really ugly when a streamer who otherwise professes to creating a calm and friendly atmosphere, who makes claims to being an ally, gives in and plays the Wizard Game. I’m not going to say that people haven’t been harassed for playing it, almost certainly someone has, but I just don’t have the data to be certain that it goes much further than just posting “trans rights” in chat.

Enter Silvervale. Despite half a decade of advance warning that she shouldn’t play this game, she played it anyway. Live on camera. The community she’d fostered for years didn’t take this well either, and the stream ended early amid purported harassment from the chat. Silver wasn’t the first VTuber to play the Wizard Game, but she was one of the first English-speaking ones.

Things could have just quietly ended there, but Silver then returned to streaming with more of the game and a statement that she had been “harassed” by “freaks and degenerates” on Twitter. Not her best choice of words, but the damage was done.

Because of the 5-year leadup to the Wizard Game releasing, the right-wing mob had already noticed the controversy around it and had made Huge investments into buying and promoting the game as well as spewing vitriol against anyone who even slightly suggested that doing so was in poor taste. They naturally then flocked to Silver’s defense and, following her unfortunate description of “marginalised people making their discomfort known as they had declared they would Years in advance” using language straight from 1930s Germany, started directly attacking any streamer who voiced their intent not to play the game however detailed their reasoning.

As a brief aside, there’s some confusion over how Silver’s chat moderation is set up, seemingly blocking such phrases as “trans rights are human rights”. Some say it’s an overzealous automod, others that her moderators are actually blocking the phrases, it’s unclear and not hugely worth focusing on here. But I mention it because it’s one of the common points made as people state their side on this issue.

This has essentially made Silver the face of transphobic bigotry in the VTuber community, whether or not she actually considers herself aligned with such bigots. Multiple smaller and independent trans VTubers have completely stopped streaming because of the bile being spewed at them by people with the likes of #IStandWithSilver in their bios. The overlaps between accounts on social media posting in her defense and numerous far-right hate movements is as undeniable as it is unpleasant to catalogue.

And boy that’s just the foundation of this whole sorry affair.

Another VTuber who is part of the same company as Silver, VShojo, is Apricot (more commonly called Froot). Froot not only decided to vocally not play the Wizard Game, but to post a tweet saying that she would personally donate to UK trans children’s charity Mermaids for every like the tweet received. She added that her brother is trans and she supports him immensely.

So the bigots that leapt to Silver’s defense very predictably started calling Froot a paedophile and child groomer, which is more or less what they label every pro-trans individual ever these days. Froot had to lock replies on her charity post and her post about her brother as a result, though the tweets remain up.

Most recently, a third peer in VShojo called Ironmouse came to Silver’s defense specifically in opposition to the alleged harassment she received which, again, anyone could have seen coming in the last 5 years by googling the Steam page for this game.

And honestly, at this point, whatever actually happened to Silver in that first stream is completely irrelevant because she’s become the rallying cry of people who actively want to exterminate the entire trans community from cradle to grave and literally beyond. And so much of it could be resolved or at least get the wind out of its sails if she took 5 minutes to just apologise for and disavow everything that happened in her name after she decided to keep playing the Wizard Game.

But, and I say this with no disrespect to Silver, I’m not holding my breath.

[twig-tea]

TWIG! Friend! I couldn't help but notice your tags in my excitement post about getting to La Pluie -- I see that you and I are YYY mutuals. :) Let's call YYY... say... zany or offbeat -- off the beaten path of the usual romance-dominated field of Thai BLs. What are some other "zanier" BLs (not just Thailand, but everywhere in Asia) that you love and would recommend for an off-the-wall experience? And, why?

@waitmyturtles I'm so sorry you sent this a million years ago and then I kept letting it languish. And it's extra rude because I love this question! It's so hard to add something like YYY to a rec list without a billion caveats, so this is a great chance to shout out some of the series & shorts that don't get as much attention. A few of these I know you've seen but I have to include them for completeness.

First, for the sake of other people reading this, as Turtles has written about, Cheewin brings his own kind of zaniness to almost everything he works on; my faves of his other than YYY are Make It Right and Secret Crush on You (the exception is Bed Friend, which is not in any way zany but I still liked it).

Also going to mention that since Turtles asked for off the beaten path zany, I won't be mentioning any of the popular comedies (in case you're wondering why I Became the Lead in A BL Drama or Man Who Defies the World of BL aren't on this list).

Alright now that's out of the way, let's get into the other recs!

Zany lesser-known BLs other than YYY

Ossan's Love Franchise (Japanese, 2016-2024, GagaOOLala)

It is... less true now that this series is lesser-known than it was when I started writing this draft (in uh... August 2023) but I shall persist! The franchise details alone for this series are complete crack:

A 2016 45-minute short [skippable imo];

The 2018 original series which builds the short into a zany 7-episode comedy series about a man in his late 20s who suddenly finds himself the love interest of his older boss (in his ~50s) and his coworker/roommate (in his mid-20s);

The sequel film Ossan's Love: Love or Dead (2019)which turns into an action film halfway through for no clear reason but also remains a romantic comedy in which the mains from the original season decide if they want to stay together

The AU season Ossan's Love: In the Sky (2019) which has the same characters of the lead and his boss from S1 and the short, but this time they work in an airport and all of the surrounding cast is different and leads to a very confusing love rhombus. Incredible 10/10 no notes [people hate this because they like the mains from S1 & the film but I loved the mess]

The sequel season to S1 and the film, Ossan's Love Returns (2024) which you can absolutely watch in isolation and is about the main couple re-establishing their relationship and their found family friend group after being long distance for a few years.

It's truly excellent comedy, and gets better every outing; there are some barriers that might prevent some enjoying the earlier seasons but the most recent one is really delightful. You can hear me talk more about this series with @bengiyo and @shortpplfedup on The Conversation podcast!

Diary of Tootsies (Thai, 2017, grey/Netflix (for the movie))

I love Diary of Tootsies and the follow-ups so much. SO much. One of the best laughs of my life was the opening to the movie, and I cannot be in a long car ride without thinking about the purse incident in s1. This show doesn't get a lot of BL fandom attention because the romance arcs are not typical for BL (but that's one of the things I love about them). And the friendship in this series is truly what sells it. Season 1 is self-contained, a lot of people dislike the romance plot of S2; I really like the arc across s2 to the movie (as established above, I tend to be less invested in a particular ship across a franchise or multiple franchises). The movie plot is all about reconciling who you thought you wanted and who you are with (amongst all kinds of shenanigans).

HeHe and He (Hong Kong, 2018-ongoing, YouTube)

This mockumentary sitcom-style series does tackle some serious topics and is also absolutely hilarious nonsense across its 3 seasons. The very simple premise is that a gay guy ("hehe" is slang for gay) and a straight guy who are old friends become roommates when the gay friend breaks up with his longterm boyfriend and needs a place to stay, and hijinks ensue. They do direct-to-camera confessionals spliced in with scenes from their lives. I love this show so much, and it would actually be high up in my indie BL rankings if it were completed. I lose it at least once an episode. It's very queer (if you want a show that tackles everything from hookups to turning everything into a joke to being so, so mean to each other while also loving each other dearly to even chemsex, look no further), and I am in love with all of the wacky characters that have formed a love-hate found family that is deeply relatable. The creators posted a video a few months ago saying they're struggling to end it in a way that they're happy with so I'm not sure we'll ever get an ending for the show. But if you like comedy and queer content it's worth a watch even incomplete! I've been very patiently following this project since 2018 and it's legitimately one of my favourite shows.

Rainbow Prince the Series (Filippino, 2022, YouTube)

This is a musical; it is a lot of campy nonsense. There is royalty, political intrigue, a dog, kidnappings, and so. much. singing. The songs are surprisingly catchy and it's all extremely good fun. Also a lot of the dialogue is very clearly improvised.

Hey! First Love (Vietnamese, 2019, YouTube)

This series of shorts are mostly just silly fluff. The very tenuous plot is that these shorts are slice-of-life moments from a young established couple, but it's all really just excuses for Vietnamese comedy and BL romance tropes. If you haven't watched anything from Vietnam, this is a very low-stakes commitment (I think it's under 30 minutes of content all told; there are 4 "episodes" which are spliced together shorts, each of which has a tiny plot but there is not much of an overarching narrative, and then a Q&A with the actors at the end) and gives you a sense of the Vietnamese sense of humour. Both of these actors have gone on to continue to be in other Vietnamese BLs, so if you have watched Vietnamese BL you may recognize them! The production quality on this is charmingly low.

Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (India, 2019, Amazon Prime)

This film was such a joy to experience in a live theatre. Billed "the first Gay Bollywood RomCom", this movie was a riot of chaos, dance numbers, shenanigans, hilarity, and cuteness. I loved the way this film incorporated the very real legal change to decriminalize homosexuality in its story. Arguably not "BL" as it very much fits in the bollywood tradition not the BL tradition, but OP did ask for all of Asia!

Like Love (China, 2014-15, grey)

And no I don't mean censored--this is from before China started censoring its BLs. This show has kisses as shown in the gif, and even (poorly cropped) sex scenes. It also is super bizarre. I was so confused by this show, the characterization, the fourth wall breaks, and how disjointed it was so I went to read the source material and...it turns out it's one of the most perfect adaptations I've ever seen, the book is in fact exactly like this. The characters are caricatures, there is no bridging between scenes, and the plot is the most absurd take on 'loserfail no-thoughts-head-empty character who doesn't admit he's gay but still ends up in a dedicated and loving relationship with a rich handsome domineering man ' I've ever seen. It's a bewildering experience. Note the sound quality on this one is suuuper miserable. I like s2 way more than s1 (s1 is getting together and includes a lot of the bullying-teasing and I'm-not-gay-I-just-need-him-to-pay-attention-to-me stuff, s2 is the honeymoon phase + getting the homophobic parents on board) but S1 is definitely the zanier of the two. That being said, if you wanted, I think you can dive right in to s2 (there's a direct-to-camera explanation of what happened in s1 at the start of it). Note that they set up a cliffhanger at the end of 2 in anticipation of s3 which was going to be made in 2016 but was cancelled because of the political changes in China in 2016 (this is one of the reasons I went to read the source material; they do get a happy ending in the books).

This is an extremely silly but also touching franchise with a lot of tropes I don't love, but also a lot of things I do (and just neat to see some stuff so early in BL: Underwater kiss? Helicopter ride? Femme fatale becomes friend of the faen? Supportive grandparent? It's all here). There are some fantastic speeches in s2 about supporting your gay children; I liked how in this the kids didn't give up on their parents but try to reconcile their filial piety with their dedication to each other. If you do watch S1, highly recommended you watch the series version rather than the film. For "S2"/the follow-up film, make sure you look for the uncensored film version.

The Lover Room 709 Cut (Korean/Japanese, 2016, grey)

This starts extremely silly, plays with BL tropes, and gets a little bit serious at the end but is mostly just full of puns and innuendos. Includes one of the most hilarious takes on kabedon, and egregious use of the soundtrack from Brokeback Mountain. Also: fart jokes. Folks worried it was going to stay teasing the audience but it does commit and we do get an actual resolution that is satisfying. I admit I've never seen the whole series (which includes stories of 3 other couples in the apartment building) but the BL cut is readily available if you search. Make sure you look for the deleted scene with the lotion application--this scene walked so IFYLITA could run (I'm kidding, but it's very funny seeing this scene now and thinking about that one).

The Boy Next Door (Korean, 2018, YouTube)

This is another older series playing with censorship (similar to The Lover) in which the two characters end up in BL romance tropes but are not actually in love...or are they? The shenanigans are very fun. This one is left more ambiguous than The Lover, which is one of the reasons it's further down the list.

Go! Go! G-Boys (Taiwan, 2006, grey)

I debated between this and another quirky comedy from Taiwan in the early 2000s, Formula 17, but while that's unequivocally a better movie, this one is lesser known and more zany, so it technically better fits the bill for this ask (but if you haven't, go watch Formula 17!). The plot is a bit cringe--straight boy signs up to gay beauty contest to pay off his girlfriend's debts (accompanied by his gay childhood friend who is in love with him) and finds his truth. Meanwhile a homophobic police officer has also infiltrated the contest for investigative purposes. Amongst all that admittedly not great setup, however, are several bizarre sequences including the incredible Lord of the Rings recreation scene (complete with Gatchaman of course), a killer soundtrack, a random delivery of poultry, someone slapping a cake, and, most absurdly unbelievable at all: police taking harassing death threats to the gay contest seriously. It does a great job of setting up what should be a dramatic scene and then immediately undercutting the tension with something absurd. It's not narratively good, but it is a fun ride! And yes, there is a happy ending. Stick around for a fourth wall break (literally) after the credits.

Something Crunchy Crunchy (Korean, 2018, GagaOOLala)

Extremely bizarre little musical short in which snacks are anthropomorphized as hot guys and they sing songs about being eaten and wanting to be eaten. Played entirely sincerely, but the concept is screamingly funny. Fascinating. Also, kind of poly?

Dom (Korean, 2016, GagaOOLala)

Another hilarious and weird Korean short, this time in which we see the protagonist's sex life from the perspective of the condom boxes that are anthropomorphized and given personalities based on their brands.

And since we can't leave out the ladies,

A few zany GLs:

Lily Fever (Korean, 2015, YouTube)

I wrote about this one a little in my GL rec list; it is absolutely bonkers nonsense. There is not really a plot, it's a fever dream of a show. Chaos! Not so much a romance as an excuse to see cute girls flirt and make out.

Legend of Yunqian (China, 2020, grey)

I debated including this one because only the middle is really the zany part, it's sandwiched with more serious xianxia drama. But in the middle of this miniseries is an extremely cute interlude in which xianxia characters time travel to present day for ~reasons. It's censored but there is very little uncertainty about feelings, and manages to be absolutely charming. Worth the short runtime for this kitten quickcut (subbed "Whomst?!" in the show for ultimate comedy). Warning for character death (but it's ok because time travel to reincarnated character!) Subtitled by the indispensable @douqi7s [see their pinned post for links].

BetCin (Filippino, 2022, WeTV)

A lesbian couple with a YouTube following decide to break up but then find out there's a contest for couples, and they decide to pretend to still be together to try and win the contest rather than tell their fans they've broken up. This series does some really interesting things by starting with a breakup and then looking at how two people who are no longer dating manage BGP while also managing their feelings. There's a lot going on in this show, and the hijinks definitely ensue!

Perfect One Night Stand (Korean, 2020, GagaOOLala)

This is a cute Strongberry GL short in which a friend agrees to help her other friend find a girl to have sex with before the day is over; they go through several quirky candidates looking for the titular perfect one night stand.

[oodlyenough]

oblig dual destinies post

i finished the base game of dual destinies today, as in, everything but the dlc case. but the dlc case i assume is kind of a, er, side adventure that won't change much about my opinion of the main narrative, so here we go. spoilers for the first 5 cases

well that wasn't very good was it

things i did like

number one top spot MVP honourable mention goes to aura blackquill. aura is a great character, extremely my type of character, and her story was pretty interesting. every time aura was on screen i was having a good time. i cannot believe they hid the best, canon ace attorney toxic yuri in its worst game (that i've played so far). obviously wish we saw more of aura, more of aurametis, and more of aura with athena, but what we did get was honestly pretty good and much, much more explicit than i ever expected this franchise to get. i am a dog being tricked into taking a pill because it was hidden in a spoon of peanut butter.

i also liked athena. i was predisposed to like her because all the major female characters in this franchise start with a buff for me, but i did think her over the top exuberant competitive go-getter attitude coupled with the PTSD flashback sprites were a pretty good combo. i think she was unequivocally the star of this game, and i think we should have played her for a lot more of it. her power is goofy as all hell and mood matrix isn't a great minigame, but, well, uh, it's dual destinies i have to adjust my expectations somewhere.

i like that phoenix got his badge back. i can critique all the ways it played out, because you can critique just about everything in this game to the moon(rock) and back, but like. fundamentally. i like this choice and i'm glad it happened. i also like that we got to see edgeworth and pearl and got a letter from maya. it seems obvious this is the franchise trying to course correct after a rough reception to aa4, but frankly i don't really care, because i do think aa4 fucked up there. i liked aa4 and i think it was a better game than this; i also think it's quite a bummer of a game and in many places a middle finger to fans of the trilogy, so, i'll take the olive branches DD is offering me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

fullbright started off annoying to me but i did warm to him. there's one bit in case 3 where he and athena just cheer "in justice we trust!!!" back and forth that made me laugh. i thought the idea of the big bad being the friendly cop was pretty good. more on that later.

turnabout academy was dumb as hell (affectionate) and i liked it and the npcs were mostly really fun and/or funny. i love you aa5 klavier you hot washed up mess. somehow dual destinies made me more invested in klavier than aa4 did.

things i did not like

where do i start

jk, actually, the first place to start is Why The Hell Can't I Play This Game. writing and characterization and everything aside, this game is SO disinterested in being a game. i can't click stuff. characters autonomously solve puzzles on my behalf without even giving me a second to think of them. the minigames are reduced. investigation days are dull because i can't click anything. it weakens the characterization of the player and the companion character because you don't get their inane chatter. characters don't react to evidence being presented in interesting ways.

the attention to detail and love that went in to so many facets of the trilogy that made it so beloved are just not present here. i don't know what the issue was, rushed dev time or what was going on, but the wrong corners were cut. i made a separate post aout this example because it's so galling: in 1-4 if you try to present the photo of gregory's body to edgeworth, you get custom dialogue where maya intervenes and tells phoenix off for trying to show miles his dead dad. in 5-5 if you present photos of aura's murder to athena she reacts with the same generic disinterest dialogue she gives every other piece of evidence.

the characterization of the returning characters, ie not the ones new to dual destinies like athena and co, is at best watered down and one-note, and at worst out of character. i said i was happy to see edgeworth, and i stand by that overall; but his behaviour in the trial in 5-5 is like madlib edgeworth dialogue, half-hearted fanfic rather than anything to convince you it's a character who lived through the trilogy. phoenix is dumbed down and it's particularly noticeable coming off of aa4, where NPC phoenix was a fucking galaxybrained 5D chess puppeteer who was always one step ahead of everyone, and now he's like, incapable of making basic deductions. all dual destinies phoenix knows is eat hot chip be bisexual and bluff. boring, weak writing. he barely even reacts to trucy being kidnapped. perhaps because trucy is no longer a character and instead is just one extended "teen girl says the word panties" joke.

apollo... lmao... i hate to say it but i don't think apollo should've been in this game. i think his fans would be right to say that he deserved a sequel and that was what was set up by aa4, but all he does in this game is compete for the spotlight with athena, and lose. athena's story is the main story of this game and it is hindered by the detours DD has to take to include apollo; apollo, meanwhile, doesn't even really get anything of substance. we see him mourn a friend we never met and go off on a sidequest we don't partake in. the rift between the WAA would be really interesting if they... wrote it better, or let it sit longer, or let any character react to it for longer than ten seconds.

which gets to the most frustrating thing about this game: there are a lot of pretty good ideas here, hidden under layers of uninteractive "gameplay" and clunky writing that misses its emotional beats. the dark age of the law is a hilarious term but the justice system in AA IS super mega fucked up and that's a fine subject for the game to tackle, until they start pretending it's somehow *new* and that for some reason a prosecutor being convicted of murder was the final straw (ignore all the OTHER prosecutors who were convicted of murder in the golden age). the finale case you can practically FEEL capcom breathing down its shoulder, desperate to right the ship of the IP, scrambling to put together pieces that worked in the past.

but despite athena's backstory being probably the most compelling part of the game, it's hard to shake the feeling that we're getting a remix of turnabout goodbyes, except, well, worse. and that feeling is exacerbated by phoenix and edgeworth, who lived that case, never having or expressing any feelings to suggest they ... lived that case. on paper, edgeworth prosecuting a child who killed a parent by mistake is really interesting! but DD doesn't do anything with it. i actually really like fullbright being the phantom, and if i hadn't been spoiled by fandom, i think i would've been surprised. but that twist is undermined by the reveal that actually the character we knew was ... um... an amorphous shapeshifting blob with no independent identity, there's no sense of real betrayal between him and blackquill bc he's not a real person and blackquill was lying about trusting him so like ... who cares...

in conclusion

i see a lot of the shared DNA with investigations 1, and i have a lot of the same complaints. fun new characters, albeit underwritten; disappointing characterization from returning characters; in aai i found the puzzles frustrating, whereas here they felt nonexistent. at least aai1 had really cute pixel art and let me click stuff, though. shrek meme they don't even have investigating.

i am saying aai1, because i haven't played aai2 yet, and fandom swears up and down it's way better. but i have to be honest. what are the odds that of the four ace attorney games this guy wrote, three of them suck and one is a banger... i guess i'll find out in september when the port comes out :P or maybe when i play SOJ next i'll love it too. stay tuned

[in-g-major]

ATLA Unpacked: Ty Lee's Potential

One of the many things we missed out on from ATLA Book 3 was a Ty Lee character arc. Of Azula's trio she's ultimately the least explored and most auxiliary, which is sad. The possibilities were certainly there: a girl who seems too good-natured for the ruthlessness of the Fire Nation, coerced into helping Azula, seemingly naive about what her nation is doing or perhaps too timid to voice her concerns. Gee, all that sure rings a bell doesn't it? So, here are some things that I think could have been done w/ Ty Lee given what we know about her. 1. Friendship with Zuko and eventual Redemption Arc Canon screwed this one up during "The Beach," but there's no reason it had to be that way. Ty Lee should have been the person Zuko warmed up to the most given that they're both more caring people than Mai and Azula. With Ty Lee and Zuko, you have two sheltered and privileged teenagers who don't quite fit the mold of what Fire Nation children are *supposed* to be. As a result, Zuko is banished and Ty Lee leaves her aristocratic home life behind. Zuko's banishment and journey across the world helps him realize that the Fire Nation's war is wrong. Ty Lee, who was part of a traveling Fire Nation circus and eventually traveled the Earth Kingdom with Azula, could have easily come to the same realization. We never even get her perspective on the war in canon! Just imagine Ty Lee and Zuko bonding over martial arts, theater, and collecting pretty sea shells. They bring out each other's best qualities and motivate each other's redemption. 2. Standing up to Azula This has been commented on before, but Mai being the one who defies Azula instead of Ty Lee during "The Boiling Rock" is not a satisfying emotional climax. Mai happily left her boring life behind in "Return to Omashu" as soon as Azula gave her an opportunity, and she openly defied Azula's orders with no fear of retribution at least once. What Azula represented for Mai wasn't fear. Azula was the metaphorical "devil" on Mai's shoulder, distracting her from her lack of emotional fulfillment with fun and thrills. The one who was genuinely afraid of Azula, and abandoned her passion out of that fear, was Ty Lee. Ty Lee standing up to Azula and emerging victorious is far more emotionally and narratively satisfying given their dynamic. It also gives Mai a more character appropriate choice to make in the situation. Which leads me to my third point 3. Mai and Ty Lee marsreds made a fantastic commentary I read years ago. I'll link it in the comments, but her point was that throwing Mai into an awkward and uninteresting relationship with Zuko took the focus away from her relationships with Azula and Ty Lee and made her character arc about a boy. It's a pretty damning commentary on the sexism that seeped into the way ATLA's female characters were written, and how that became the norm for the franchise by the time of the comics. Anyway, a hugely missed opportunity for Ty Lee and Mai was their relationship with each other. Even though I am pro MaiLee, I won't make this ship heavy. Ultimately the writing has to come first, but Mai and Ty Lee do have a fun and touching dynamic. Ty Lee is even more playful and affectionate with Mai than she usually is, and Mai shows genuine care and empathy for Ty Lee. When they reunite in Omashu, Mai asks Ty Lee what happened with her joining the circus. Then, during "The Beach," Mai is the only one who stands up for Ty Lee, telling Zuko to back off and figuring out the root of Ty Lee's desire for attention. We never see Mai this invested in someone else's feelings and well-being with anyone else. The character appropriate choice for Mai in "The Boiling Rock" wasn't betraying Azula for teen love. It was choosing between the friend who encouraged her better self (Ty Lee) or the friend who kept her from growing as a person (Azula).

[enhashoutout]

Always You Series Teaser

Now that it was passing period, the halls of Hogwarts were bustling with students trying to get to their next destination. Chloe stood with the Golden Trio in the hall, discussing the Divination class they had all just stepped out of. The trio were discussing how bogus the class was while Chloe being the mediator tried to validate her friends' feelings but also defend the class and Professor Trelawney.

"I'm not saying you have to like the class or can't have your own opinions on the subject. I'm just saying that calling Professor Trelawney names and-" before Chloe could finish her sentence, she heard a tiny clinking on the floor. She turned around to see a ring on the floor, picking it up and seeing the initials "M.R." on the band. Chloe looked around, spotting the trio of new Slytherin Boys walking away. "Riddle! Wait!" she shouted to get his attention, catching everyone else's in the process.

Mattheo, Theodore, and Lorenzo turned around at the sound of someone calling out for Mattheo. Chloe held up the ring to him, "You dropped this."

Mattheo smirked at the girl, taking the ring from her hands. "Thanks Hufflepuff. Run along back to your friends, people are staring," he said as the trio turned back around and began walking away.

Before Chloe could walk back to her friends, they were already behind her, Hermione grabbing onto Chloe's arm. "Chloe!" hissed Hermione.

"What?!" she answered back confused by Hermione's tone.

"If you forgot, that's you know who's son," Ron whisper yelled at her.

"Just stay away from him Chloe," said Harry.

"He's bad news," chimed Hermione.

"That's rude to judge someone based off their reputation without getting to know them guys. Besides, I wasn't even doing anything! I was just returning his ring! He dropped it on the floor behind me," she exclaimed.

Hermione shook her head. "It's always you Chloe, always trying to see the best in people."

Without another word, Hermione pulled the other 3 along to their next class; the 4 being unaware that a certain curly haired Slytherin boy heard them.

Oop... She's writing something that isn't High&Low for once! But still no K-pop stories even though she named herself enhashoutout lol.

This is a small teaser of an upcoming series I am working on. I got sucked into the Slytherin Boys blackhole about a year ago but never really thought anything about it too much because I'm actually more of a Harry and Cedric stan rather than Draco; but Mattheo Riddle, Theodore Lott, and Lorenzo Berkshire have my whole heart. How am I so invested in fan-made characters within a fictional franchise? NO IDEA! But here we are.

My hyper fixations kind of all sit on a spinning wheel and they take turns coming back to consume my brain. It's Fall time now so my Harry Potter hyper fixation came back as it does every Fall and Winter season but this year it's Slytherin Boys edition. So here I am with a series about Mattheo Riddle. He may or may not be my favorite now because I finally started Deadly Class and I love Marcus played by Benjamin Wadsworth who is Mattheo's fan casted face claim so... (Does anyone want a Deadly Class series also? I would be happy to write it lol)

© This work is copyrighted by enhashoutout. I only post my work on this Tumblr account. I do not allow people to repost or translate my work without my permission. If you do see anyone doing so, please let me know. Writers work hard on their stories, please don't be a crappy human and take our work. ♡

[popculturebuffet]

Warner Bros has now announced a lot of new revivals and reboots now.

First are two more Adventure Time series. "“Side Quests” takes the franchise back to a kid’s show, marking a return to early days with kid Finn and best buddy Jake fighting monsters on epic quests in an episodic series, eschewing the long story arcs of later “Adventure Times.” “Side Quests” looks set in the same world as the early original repeating characters such as villain The Ice King. Nate Cash, a creative (2012-13) and then supervising director (Season 5) on “Adventure Time,” figures as the series creator."

And Heyo BMO which is "The first-ever “Adventure Time” pre-school series. “In the fantastical Land of Ooo, the little robot BMO is on a new adventure. Now settled in a new neighborhood with new friends, BMO approaches each challenge he faces with his unique brand of enthusiasm and curiosity in a quest to learn and fill his database,” the description runs. Adam Muto, “Adventure Time” showrunner from mid-Season 5, returns as the main creative talent alongside Ashlyn Anstee, a storyboard artist on “Distant Lands.”"

Next is an Adventure Time movie (after several years of rumors) with Rebecca Sugar and Patrick McHale helming it.

Regular Show will have a new series with JG Quintel returning to run it and featuring new characters with some characters from the original series, though it's unknown if Mordecai and Rigby will be involved this time.

The Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends revival is called Foster’s Funtime for Imaginary Friends. Aimed at preschoolers, "a now-young group of preschool imaginary friends learns from an immature elder friend, Bloo, who, as in the original, still unintentionally gets things wrong. McCracken has promised the same fast pace but a fun, simpler structure and less cynical humor. Only Bloo and Madame Foster return."

And a new Scooby Doo series called Go Go Mystery Machine. "“While visiting Japan on the ultimate foodie adventure, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo unwittingly unleash hundreds of mischievous mythical monsters that are now causing trouble all over the country,” the description runs.  Scooby turns to his uncle, Daisuke-Doo, and magical friend Etsuko and gadget wiz Toshiro to help solve the mystery and catch the monsters. "

Thoughts on the news of all these new reboots and revivals?

Source here: https://variety.com/2024/tv/global/regular-show-fosters-adventure-time-scooby-doo-1236034978/

Okay next time just link the article, but yeah there's a LOT in this to unpack and i'm thankful to know all this happened. Starting with the Adventure Time Pile, while these were likely already in the works on some level I wouldn't be suprised if they were waiting to see if Fionna and Cake was a success before announcing them. And honestly.. i'm all for them.

Side Quests sounds like a fun idea, a way to introduce new viewers to Finn and Jake and get them invested in the old series, while giving fans a nostaligia hit, as well as giving kids who may not be ready for Fionna and Cake yet a show. I do hope this means younger than where we started with adventure time as it'd be intresting to see some of the cast in a diffrent place in their lives, but I suspect it'll be likely set during season 1 or 2. Either way not a bad idea, could be nothing, could be a lot of fun. A way to have more finn and jake without undermining what they've built.

BMO's show sounds like a lot of fun and i'm glad to see after all the other preschool cancelations Warner's stillt rying in that regard. Probably not something i'll watch but a good idea regardless.

Finally the movie. HOLY SHIT i'm so pumped for this. The other two projects have my intrest, this one has my attention. Bringing back Rebecca for a full movie that may likely answer what the fuck happened to jake (I doubt it but I can dream can't I?), and finally follows up on the heroes themselves directly, I can't wait.

Fosters Funtime: While I do hope Frankie and Herriman show up eventually, I do love this concept and the teaser animation. It looks really creative and loose and the idea of having Bloo be the deliberate bad exmaple in a pre school show is genius. This one I may check out.

Regular Show 2: Regular Harder: THis one... was a bit of a relief as I figured something like this was in the works as JG Quintel was WAY too fucking calm after what Warner did to Close Enough. So my guess was he had something in the works with warner and thus couldn't speak out like the many other creators who got screwed over. I wouldn't of put it past warner to try and revive regular show without him.

This won't fill the hole in my heart that close enough left.. but it'll help and I like that it sounds like a soft reboot: Mordecai and Rigby are probably gone outside of eithe ra supporting role for Rigbone or a guest spot down the way, but it'll likely take place at the park and follow the next generation of park workers, along with Benson and Skips. It'd be intresting to see what the gen z version of park slackers would be like, and ther'es plenty of room to have other characters intersect. I also hope they give CJ actual closure. That last part's a pipe dream but I can hope can't I?

Go-Go Mystery Machine!: This one i'm fucking HYPED for. It's the first children's scooby doo show in a while since the pre school show got scraped and given I've struggled to get through any of velma and the netflix show is probably a ways away, this sounds like a fun format break: an anime take on 13 ghost that still feels unqiue and fresh and gets into japanese mythology, somewhere Scooby Doo really hasn't gone. Pumped for this

Lovey Dovey: Not a reboot.. but still sounds like a LOT of fun: a lovesick wedding dove trying to find his true love ends up with a crowd of pidgeons who want to fuck a big bird stand in. It's goofy, looks nicely looney tunes, and seems like a great concept.

All in all not a bad crop. I'm not a fan of Warner's reliance on IP.. but it's good projects all around.

[blueikeproductions]

I know you've said a few times that the most logical step for Transformers would be a new anime, but I don't think that's true. Don't get me wrong, a new TF anime would be cool, but there just isn't a big enough market over there to justify it. With how interlinked Hasbro and Takara are with the franchise, it'd have to be a joint collab like the Unicron Trilogy, and the issue with that is Transformers is not nearly as popular in Japan as it was back then. And even back then, it was only relatively niche compared to the West. There hasn't been a completed Japanese dub of a Transformers show since Animated, and I'm pretty sure the Earthspark dub is a web-exclusive. Why would Takara invest in a full-blown anime when they can't even get the existing shows to land over there?

Yeah that’s the tricky part.

Prime & Cyberverse utterly tanked, RiD15 seemed to do better (and honestly looking back the Starscream arc was pry the best place to stop anyway), and I have no idea how well EarthSpark is doing down there. I get the impression Japan doesn’t care much though.

Mostly I think an anime would do well in general after Bravern sorta reignited an interest in super robots, and anime is really the only thing doing well right now anyway, so it would make sense to try an anime again to capitalize on the new boom.

The problem is beyond returning to stuff like Optimus having a Super Mode, I don’t really know what you’d DO as a hook for toys.

Going by trends, it would probably be based on the 13 Primes’ relics, being collected by the Autobots & Decepticons and the relics having a Mini-Con/Cyber Key style power up, functionally being a spiritual successor to the Unicron Trilogy with bits of RiD01 included like its own relic hunt, Side Burn, Scourge and Sky-Byte.

Really I’m only focusing on how western kids would approach it because unless it’s anime or older cartoons, they largely don’t care. I don’t know if TF can really be saved in Japan and Prime & Cyberverse’s offering didn’t help at all. One was too serious, one was too Lol Random, I think RiD and Cyberverse are lucking out being a happy medium, though it’s no guarantee EarthSpark is gonna continue past its first season down their either, or even finish its season for that matter.

[hottakehoulihan]

Doppelgängerin

Characters behave recognizably canonically: Original characters. Not abandoned incomplete: Regular updates; 9 chapters in 5 months. Engaging (Funny/cool/thoughtful/feels): Cool/thoughtful/feels. Do I recommend it: I think so. I'd like more. Curbstomp, Cuddles, Crack, Cyoot, Concept: Concept.

Premise: Capes have trauma. Our protag is very much not an exception; her internal dialog hates her and wants her depressed and actively suicidal. Also her own computer equipment refuses to stop misgendering her, and her boss/colleagues/friends may or may not be as awful as she thinks because she can't trust her own judgement.

Because all the characters you'll read are original, you'll need to pay a bit more attention than with most fanfic. I think it's worth it.

She's a trapped-fortress style tinker (of mixed utility when you're working for law enforcement) and is doing her best. ...and her friends do seem to love her. Unfortunately, there's no time to relax and get over and through this stuff; cape shenanigans are happening, portals are opening, and powerful villains and semi-trustworthy allies are acting up all over the place.

The author is very ambitious. The thread title (by virtue of the non-English title complete with difficult-to-type umlaut) is difficult to locate via search engine (easier if you search the author's name) and the prose requires an attentive reading to keep up with what's going on and who all the characters are; when I return to the story, I'll be picking it up at chapter 1 and reading it through again by necessity. ...and it did complete chapter 9 on a bit of a cliffhanger (I'm very invested)

I love this sort of thing.

Rogue Squadron is my favorite Star Wars movie concept because it took an increasingly-bland franchise and added real original characters who are mostly having their victories and tragedies on the side, in the universe, but not engaged with The Major Drama.

(I played in a TTRPG Star Wars game where our players decided we didn't want to get involved with the rebellion thanks we were having more fun just doing some smuggling. Eventually circumstances forced us to get involved, but I think it's almost a shame tha we weren't allowed to not be in The Epic Struggle)

Setanta (a post GM fanfic I review elsewhere) is also OC protag-and-companions (though many canon characters show up in it) and I quite love it and look forward to an eventual reread (I think it was complete.)

So this is quite exactly a thing I want more of. I want more stories like this. I want stories set back when Hero was around, but in places like Zimbabwe and Saskatchewan, Manila and Myanmar. And Peoria.

So this difficult-to-type-and-spell Doppelgangerin story (linked in the first word) is exactly, IMHO, needed to more fully flesh out and develop the wormfic body of works.

Please consider giving it a read and some "likes" so this obscure story (I'm not sure I'd have heard of it if not for this ask) continues and inspires more.

(Or write that sort of thing! ...I should practice what I preach.)

[eaglesnick]

Private Sector Good, Public Sector Bad?

The reigning ideological economic theory within the Conservative Party is, and has been ever since Margaret Thatcher came to power, that “markets know best”

This was made abundantly clear when Kwasi Kwateng, the Chancellor of Liz Truss’s short-lived government, dismissed anything resembling a “planned economy”. Rather, growth and economic success depended on:

“…the power of our treasured free-market economy to leverage private capital and unleash Britain’s unique entrepreneurial spirit to grow new industries." (The Conversation: 13/04/22)

The key words here are “to leverage private capital”. What this means in ordinary speech is to encourage private investors to participate financially in “projects that benefit the economy, society or the environment”.  This has resulted in private investors running (and in many cases, owning) most of our public utilities and services. But rather than “benefit the economy, society and environment" these private investors have devastated it.

Over the next few blogs I intend to look at various British/English public utilities and services and to see how they have fared under the private sector.  First up are the railways.

Britain’s railways are organised within a mishmash of private and public ownership, and has been described as “broken" and no longer fit for purpose.

“The UK's train network is not only one of the worst in Europe, it is also one of the most expensive.” (euronews: 20/05/21

This is no surprise given its complex and chaotic structure.   The railway tracks and rail network are owned and operated by Network Rail, which is a “non-departmental public body of the Department for Transport, (DFT) with no shareholders"

 Non-departmental public bodies are a strange entity. They are national or regional bodies that work independently of government, are not staffed by civil servants, and yet are still accountable to government ministers. It is the Secretary of State for Transport who sets the strategic direction of the railways, allocating funding, and it is the secretary of state  who has to approve major investments in the railway system.

The companies that operate the trains are privately owned and are either awarded franchises from the DFT, or they are “open access” operators that provide passenger services on a particular route or network, but with no exclusive rights enjoyed by franchise holders.

To complicate matters further, the actual trains, passenger carriages and railway wagons, known collectively as “rolling stock”, are owned by the rolling stock leasing companies” (ROSCOs) who lease out their stock to the privately owned rail operating companies.

Freight train operators are totally separate from passenger trains, have no contracts with government but do need permission from Network Rail to run their services.

For year 2022/23 the railways received £11.9bn of government funding and Network Rail has secured £27.5 bn of government funding over the next five years. In short, we the taxpayer invest heavily in our rail network which the private passenger, rolling stock and freight companies use to make a profit.

A 2019 report by the TUC found that:

“Rail firms have paid over £1bn to shareholders in the last 6 years.” (TUC: 02/01/2019)

In 2022 Avanti West Coast received a taxpayer subsidy of £343m, despite having the worst punctuality record amongst train operators and paying out £12m to its shareholders. Avanti West Coast is owned by First Group, who also own Great Western Railway and South Western Railway. Great Western paid out the largest dividend in 2021/22, £33m, while South Western paid out  £13m. 

More recently:

“UK rail operator Govia awards $79m in dividends amid UK rail dissatisfaction.” (Railway Technology: 08/01/24)

Govia is largely foreign owned, the three largest shareholder companies being Australian, Spanish and French. In 2022 it was fined £23m “over financial irregularities" having failed to return £25m in taxpayer funding. Why on earth any government would want to go on subsidising such a company is beyond understanding, especially as the Transport Minister at the time said the company had:

“…committed an appalling breach of trust...behaviour was simply unacceptable and this penalty sends a clear message that the government, and taxpayers, will not stand for it." (BBC News: 17/03/22)

Clearly the minister (Grant Shapps) didn’t mean what he said as Govia is still operating trains two years later and still courting controversy

Turning to the train-leasing companies, we find:

“Profits of UK’s private train-leasing firms treble in a year. More than £400m paid in dividends in 2022-23 while rest of railway faced cuts and salary freezes.” (Guardian: 18/02/24)

These companies saw their profit margins rise to 41%, a profit that we as taxpayers and passengers pay for. It is estimated that "taxpayers are now effectively paying the £3.1bn spent last year on leasing trains.” To actually run a passenger rail service yet not own a single locomotive or passenger carriage is bazaar to say the very least.

Finding overall profit figures for freight train operators is a little more difficult but Colas Rail UK’s revenue in 2022 was £15,529m, up 17% on the previous year, an operating profit of £460m.

 Overall, taxpayer subsidies to the rail industry run at £6bn per year. However, these massive subsidies have not led to lower fares, an end to over-crowed trains, or an efficient service. According to TaxPayers Alliance 02/01/23) "rail subsidies cost taxpayers £1300 each by March 2023.” Meanwhile the private companies that operate the highly fragmented and disjointed system continue to reap profits and pay out dividends.

Maybe this would not be so bad if the British taxpayer subsidised dividend payouts went to British owned companies, but this is far from the case:

“According to the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union, 70% of Britain’s railways are now under foreign ownership to some degree.” (CityA.M.: 11/01/17)

The figure of 70% foreign ownership is disputed, not least because some companies have gone bust since 2017, with five lines now being effectively run by the government as “operators of last resort.”  As the 1993 Railways Act forbids the UK state from running the railways these lines are likely to be franchised out to private firms in the future.

“…many foreign state-owned enterprises of the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy and Hong Kong now run rail franchises in the UK." (The Standard: 11/05/23)

While other countries have no philosophical problem with running railways for the benefit of their citizens, and clearly have no qualms about investing state money in foreign ventures, the Conservative Party is ideologically opposed to state intervention in running UK public services and is vehemently opposed to setting up a UK sovereign wealth fund.

In summary, successive Tory governments have continued to pay taxpayers money into the coffers of private enterprise regardless of how efficient, honest or effective these firms are at providing an essential public service. Clearly, where the railways are concerned, they are not run to “benefit the economy, society and environment" but for the benefit and interests of private investors, in the mistaken Tory belief that private enterprise is always better than public stewardship despite evidence to the contrary.  

[danieljreboot]

The highest high note from the 2024 campaign has been their rebuilt offensive line.

One year ago, the Panthers had arguably the worst front five in the NFL. And the most glaring weaknesses on the group came on the inside, where there was a literal changing of the guards seemingly every week.

President of football operations and general manager Dan Morgan made a promise in the offseason to rebuild the middle of the unit, and ended up spending a lot of money in doing so. In free agency, Carolina signed former Miami Dolphins right guard Robert Hunt to a five-year, $100 million deal then former Seattle Seahawks left guard Damien Lewis to a four-year, $53 million contract.

The Panthers also added Yosh Nijman as a quality spot starter behind tackles Ikem Ekwonu and Taylor Moton, and moved former right guard Austin Corbett to the starting center position.

And now, with the team having an entire offensive line it can be proud of, Morgan's return on investment may already be one of the best this franchise has ever gotten.

[skipsayslip]

Finished playing the new dragon age. Just some thoughts:

First off I give it an 8 out 10. Which is pretty good and I would probably play it again.

PROS: The combat is super fun. The game play reminds me of Returnal and is a breath of fresh air compared to all the Dark souls like games being pumped in the market. I played on the standard mode and found just enough challenge where enemies felt rewarding but not impossible. There is harder difficulties and i would see those being crazy hard given some of the crazy abilities enemies have. (I recommend just pushing enemies of cliffs lol!) But I'm also not a hard-core gamer.

The story is interesting enough to keep me invested and the companions do grow on you after you get past some stilted dialogue and the story is really going. I think the final act truly does make up for SOME egregious writing and line delivery.

Solas is a good and complex villain. I like his dynamic with rook in the story and his bigger role overall. So much so I just wish he was a little more present. Especially against the other villains who are very one dimensioned of being evil for the sake of evil (not you Johanna your a mad scientist queen)

The environments were nice and going through them wasn't so much of a chore as compared with inquisition.

There's probably other things but those are the standouts

CONS: first thing i didn't like but eventually got used to was the character art style. Their head just look so small and everyone is just so smooth. Also I don't believe the characters emoted as well as in past games and that's sad considering technology is the best it's been for that. Neve suffers from this alot. I think combine this with some bad line reading or directing and it just looks and sounds like her character just doesn't care about what's happening.

The dialog can be very repetitive or just down right cringe sometimes also I hate when you might be in combat and companions are yelling at you to get out of the way or that enemies are at range. I see the 20 million projectiles coming my way I don't need you to tell me. Although I think with the latest pat h or at least in the last act of the game that has went away.

Some companions feel a little half baked. In the end I cared for them, even the ones I found a little annoying, but the journey to get there was tough. Some companions were just more compelling then others and I feel like the developers showed it. Some companions you get super late and the only interaction you get with them is when helping with their personal quests. (I just feel like I walkd the griffin so many freaking times and I didn't get to hangout with Manfred???) Just to slightly touch on the Taash thing. They eventually grew on me but dn was thier personal quest not done correctly. I didn't care they were non-binary (dragon age has a history of inclusion) it just felt so glaringly out of place amongst everything else I feel like they could have brought in the qunari culture in more and made it more fantasy like so I didn't stick out as much. Maybe less on the label and more on trying to be accepted by thier mother. I feel like Dorian's story in inquisition was a good template for that kind of story line and this one was weak and that sucks because non binary is NEVER seen in media.

Lastly the romances were very limited. I romance Emmerich and it was rewarding however I miss how you could just speak and smooch your romances in previous games. It was just very limiting.

Final thoughts is I would recommend the game and people should play it. I would be excited to see what comes next in the franchise.