#comic critique saturday

[transbookoftheday]

Elle Campbell Wins Their Weekend by Ben Kahn

Ferris Bueller's Day Off meets Gamer Girl for middle grade in this hilarious, heartfelt story about a non-binary kid trying to figure out who they are at home, at school, and in the fandom that changed their life.

All Elle Campbell wants to do is meet their hero, non-binary icon Nuri Grena. Well, okay, they'd like a bit more than that -- they'd like to learn how to do cat eye makeup, for queen bee Casey to stop critiquing their outfits, and for the finale of Elle's favorite show to have been less terrible. But meeting Nuri means the most of all.

So when Elle learns that Nuri is coming to town for book signing on Saturday, Elle is thrilled. It's the perfect chance to meet their hero! Elle's never been happier since they came out as non-binary, but they have a lot of questions -- questions only Nuri can answer.

But Elle's dreams are dashed when an altercation with a surly substitute teacher lands Elle in Saturday detention. Elle is ready to give up until their two best friends come up with a plan to bust them out of school. A plan so outrageous, it just might work.

Yet that's just step one. The kids also have to make their way across town with no money, no phones... and no driver's licenses. But they refuse to give up -- even if that means "borrowing" scooters from elementary school loan sharks, or winning a laser tag tournament with a cash prize.

Comic-author Ben Kahn makes their middle grade debut with this zany, heartfelt love letter to friendship, John Hughes movies, and the power of accepting who you are . . . even when there's no set map for where you're going.

[davekat-sucks]

I think the Solar Sands idea has the right idea but the wrong vision. The start of his video talks about the flaws and problems in modern cinema using IPs that have been in film for decades now, when originality should be viewed independent of the quality of an IPs existence in the market.

This sure works well as a video by appealing to the consensus that modern remakes and sequels suck, but what if I actually like the Star Wars sequels? I can like the Star Wars sequels and think they were unnecessary, it’s not a contradiction of opinion! I want new ideas because I feel like it, not out of some crusade for art, because objectively everything crafted by humans is art, even the bottom of the barrel pop culture schlok like superhero comics, anime, tokusatsu, and Saturday Morning Cartoons. Even if all the new IPs that came out and were unoriginal and crappy there is at least a challenge put up by a person to try a different direction and make new characters and a story for others to critique and react to!

Also I just personally don’t like the “punk” segments he was doing between each chapter, because it’s so fake to me.

You started your YouTube channel critiquing bad DeviantArt and used thumbnails with characters from popular indie and mainstream media. You are a consumer like the rest of us, suck it up, bite your tongue and watch Transformers One.

If you like Star Wars sequels, that's on you. If someone likes modern Disney, that's on them. Of course, it may not save them from critique or people who are ready to mock them for supporting and liking shitty stuff. But hey, people will dislike something in a medium. Majority of Western audiences hate loli while Japan tolerates it as an an example. And I also think it varies on the original IP itself it does try to push the challenge to try and stand out, but often times, it would not land as right. I mean, look at Disney's Wish. All the concept ideas as seen in the artbook and the original music for At All Costs, were scrapped in favor for safe play and modernization. The same Disney that had brought similar childhood wonder and magic that reached to not only kids, but adults. Why step back from 2D animation? Why step back from making musicals? Why step back from telling an actual decent story? Part of it comes from company not letting the creator's have their freedom to make the work they want. Another could be the creator's themselves, not knowing how to adapt the restrictions placed on them or if they tried, the execution of it may not end up as great. Look in Hazbin Hotel when it was brought upon Amazon. It's a bit of a double-edged sword going on with the media these days. I just want to enjoy what I like and happy to critique when there is something wrong in a work. Be artistically, narratively, business, or morally standpoint. There is also some bad fans within people that defend it blindly. That's what more people hate and I think SolarSands forgot to relay this. People who just throw money at the company and never question its flaws. Stuff you see like modern Pokemon games and people defending it.

[indieyuugure]

Hello,

I have recently come across your comics and they are absolutely amazing! I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions though. Number 1: Who is your favorite turtle? Question 2: 2012 version or Rise? Personally I prefer Rise and Donnie. No pressure about the questions! Thank you for spending time on making this awesome comic! I look forward to Saturdays!

Sincerely,

A random TMNT/ROTTMNT Nerd on tumblr, AhsokaTanoFan25

Aw, thank you! I’m happy to hear you like them!

My favorite turtles is Leonardo. I’ve liked him since I was little, and I still love him now. I think he’s written as an oldest child really well, and I can relate to him a lot! My favorite version of him is the 2012 iteration, I love his design and his personality in that one.

Oof, choosing between Rise and 2012 is kinda hard, but I think I’m gonna have to say Rise. Rottmnt is an objectively good show. You can sit down and watch basically any episode and know it’s gonna be hilarious with a funny plot and gorgeous animation.

With 2012 I feel like the episodes are very hit or miss. Some episodes are really good! I’ll watch them again again, but some are…absolutely terrible, especially the filler episodes. I think like too many of the episodes end up falling somewhere in the middle, not atrocious, but also not anything remarkable. I’m not trying to burn or critique the show! I love that show a lot! My favorite turtles is from that show, I just think that when compared to Rise it’s kind of lack luster.

Good Question! :]

[scooby-review]

Scooby-Doo Where Are You? S1 - E1-4

1. What A Night for a Knight

Scooby Doo Where are You? was a show born from Hanna Barbera’s need to regain the saturday morning cartoon market. Following complaints of their violent cartoons, they sought out a new show that would remedy the public's disdain for their cartoons, which ended up being The Archies Show, a low risk show given its nature and popularity in comics already. Not to mention that the concept is simply a hit as far as making money is concerned - releasing a cartoon with bubblegum pop songs alongside is a sure fire way to rake in money, and of course, it did. 

Following the success of The Archies Show, a new cartoon was created in a similar vein, one which started off as a horror inspired cartoon of a band solving mysteries in their spare time evolved into Scooby-Doo following mandates of making the show more accessible to its demographic. Yet what remains is still a grungy show, the backgrounds and score alone conjure an eerie tone, not to mention the villains which are spins on classical monsters and, usually within season one at least, ghosts. Comedy was blended with the horror aesthetic, creating a striking show that spawned oh so many imitators by Hanna Barbera themselves. 

This first episode acts as a glorified pilot with aspects of the show being incomplete and messy. To list a few, Shaggy is the leader in this episode, Fred is unnamed and the roles of each member is slightly or completely off. Yet, they nail the formula of these mysteries, which is rarely shaken up in any meaningful way. 

The episode follows the gang researching the disappearance of an archeologist who was transporting a set of armour to a museum. Each episode of this iteration of the show can be summarised in a single sentence, on a basic level, once you’ve seen one episode of the show, you know them all. This isn’t a critique from my perspective, the show has a simple formula that I’ll delve into in a later episode where it’s more prevalent, but this works entirely in its favour. Every mystery has its own flair, each monster unique even if just in design, each setting deviates from the last, with this season being surprisingly varied. 

The museum is a great setting, it allows for a vast variety of props and background pieces, although, I hope it’s revisited at another point in the franchise at least, which I’m certain it will be. Given how cheaply produced the episodes are, I feel the setting is not used to its potential - it’s sound, sure, but there’s so much more in these walls.

While discussing the setting, it’s a better time than any to discuss the backgrounds. Painted by the Ex-Disney artist Walt Peregoy, every location is lavish, they are filled with a wide berth of character feeling creepy and homely at the same time. They develop the world and give it a familiar flair; without the backgrounds and score, the show simply wouldn’t carry the same aesthetic it does and would be remembered in a completely different way. 

Despite the beautiful backgrounds, the animation doesn’t harbour the same quality. Being blunt, the animation is the result of the show being produced so cheap, resulting in countless animation errors and a generally clunky appearance. For the time, it has its charm, which maybe is nostalgia talking, I think I’ve seen Where are You? the most. One such animation error I love is in one scene we see Fred reach for something in the Mystery Machine, his arm extending on and on. 

Beyond the growing pains and technical side of things, I do really love this episode. It has a simple mystery, as does most of this series, again the low budget means there’s a lack of side characters, therefore, if you see one, you know they play some role in the mystery, usually as the villain. But this never stops the show from being entertaining. Again, the characters are all out of whack here, their dynamic slightly off, but the small pieces they do give are fun, such as Shaggy being the best gymnast in school and proceeding to dive into a window. 

Plus, I do love the villain of The Black Knight. As we will see, many of the villains are silent stalking characters in the vein of slasher killers that would eventually rule the 80s. Scooby got there first, using hulking costumes for the first two episodes, alongside other general disguises, most of which aren’t driven by horror at all, instead slapping the word ‘ghost’ around the name and calling it a day. But this silly trope works for me, it’s certainly done to enhance the horror aesthetic, but I’m happy to eat it up regardless! 

The episode is fun and messy, and that’s all I wanted! With a fun art forgery motive, I had a great time here! 

I’ll be ranking every episode, season, show and villain as I go! I’ll attach the scores at the end with a final ranking post when I finish the season!

2. A Clue for Scooby-Doo

I love this one for just how different it is in comparison to the rest of the season. 

A Clue for Scooby-Doo follows the gang encountering the ghost of sea diver, Captain Cutler, who died at sea when his boat was wrecked and is now back for revenge. 

The villain in this episode stands out a bunch, the old scuba diving suit is already creepy, yet it grows even more interesting and unique with the lime glowing aura he carries with him, it’s a nice little design motif throughout the episode, seen in his footprints and the seaweed. 

I think this one is so fun because of how much is going on: you have the gang going scuba diving into underwater caves, a man called Ebeneezer Shark, Mrs Cutler who looks like a witch for some reason, a weird plot twist to the villain and an ongoing mouse joke that I can’t say I understand but hell if I don’t love it! With so much going on, it’s impossible not to be entertained. The worst episodes of Where are You? follow a single thread of the mystery and then lead to some wacky hijinx before petering out, but here everything simply keeps building and building, it’s perfect! 

This episode also holds the infamous blonde shaggy! I’ll point out my favourite animation errors as we go, I think this one is so well known because of how impossible it is to miss. 

We see the villain's motive here being that he was intending on selling the boats he stole. Until episode seven, every motive is ruled by greed and a desire for money. More recently the show has been described as having anti-capitalist messaging as a result of this. Every time, the villain is stealing for money, the teenagers are the ones to undercut this system, showing when this is the case. The mysteries aren’t grand cases of murder or varied crimes, but theft. Yet, we never learn enough about the villains to know if they’re rich. The show boasts a moral compass of black and white - stealing is wrong. There’s never a reason for the theft, money rules all, and since no other reason is given, we can assume the rich, or well off, are stealing from others. This paints the left leaning politics we see people associate with the show, and I think it matches given the gang's hippie affiliation. 

Good always prevails over the human evil within the show, dulled down to a completely understandable level. Simply, people who are money hungry are bad if they go about it in the wrong way. 

Also, I love how in this iteration of the show there’s no self awareness or questioning if the ghosts are real or not. Here, they are until proven otherwise. Of course, the scepticism works, especially for Velma and when the series get more developed, i.e Mystery Incorporated, however, I appreciate the earliest corners of the franchise playing everything straight constantly. The fear is that the ghosts may be real, this is the standard for every episode. 

3. Hassle in the Castle

Hassle in the Castle, alongside A Night of Fright is No Delight, often feel like the baseline Scooby-Doo episodes, taking place in vast castles or mansions that are filled with traps. 

After the gang finds themselves lost in the fog, they end up on a Haunted Isle where a ghost is haunting an old, abandoned castle. This plot is the most basic possible for the show, stripping it down to its essentials and core elements, and I love it so much. 

Starting with the villain, the Phantom is literally just a sheet ghost. Every episode so far has followed a ghost of some kind, but this is the most basic form of it. In contrast to what has come before, the Phantom talks and has a more fluid design than the rigid villains from before. What stands out most is his laugh however, an iconic shriek that makes him instantly recognisable! Despite the bland design, he carries so many iconic poses which can actually be seen on the model sheet, it illustrates to me the difference between creating him and the other two, their designs are instantly recognisable, they are simple archetypical suits, whereas the Phantom juxtaposes this, brought to life and characterised through a voice and a menagerie of iconic poses. 

I think this episode is the funniest yet. I was giggling the whole time! Here we see a single location episode, and everything here lands for me. I think the silly haunted hijinks are so fun, things like the weird ass ghost sandwich joke and the talking skull, they’re so fun and ultimately still make no sense come the explanation at the end. This being that the culprit is a trained magician, using wires and special effects. Sure. Yet, this silliness makes it so much better, it’s creepy in the moment and gets the show's best blend of its horror and comedy genre. 

Speaking of genres, I hate the laugh track, it’s the most basic level of hand holding a show can do, but I think it’s done in this show to please censors, to aid in proving the show not to be too scary with creepy moments played for laughs thanks to the canned laughter. 

Also, the gangs characterisation is stronger here, I love the little details we learn about them and the way their friendships are expanded on. We rarely see them beyond these moments in their mysteries, so it’s nice when they feel like actual friends! Plus here we see Shaggy in peril, his body cut in half during a magic trick, something we rarely see but a concept I love! Having the gang in more direct danger, than Daphne being trapped without consequence, is really great! 

Overall, just a perfect episode - definitely the one I would recommend people watching most! It’s everything Where are You? should be! 

4. Mine Your Own Business

I bloody love this mouse gag. 

Mine Your Own Business follows the gang lost in a desert (This comes along because Shaggy was holding the map upside down?) and stumbling upon Gold City, a ghost town. When they check into the nearby inn, they learn of a ghostly miner scaring everyone off. 

Personally, I hate desert settings, I find them boring! This episode is no different, it’s fine, sure, but if you find the setting and villain of an episode boring there’s not usually loads more to love!

The episode's monster, Miner Forty-Niner is a play on the term given to a prospector during the California Gold Rush of 1849, which the whole episode is inspired by. This being where gold was found in California which saw flocks of fortune seekers arriving in the state. This idea is paralleled in the character of Hank (the miner), who is attempting to scare everyone away in order to purchase the land for cheap, not for gold, but for oil, giving it a contemporary spin. In the episode Fred describes oil as liquid gold, again showing the shift in what makes people money, from riches to necessities, yet the people who collect it sell it off for high prices, it creates a poor market ruled by the few that can exploit the many. 

Beyond that, the villains dumb. Like he doesn’t change his costume? He places a mask on, wears his everyday clothes and then adds some height with stilts. Yet, this stupid man, Hank, honestly deserves this wealth! Because the only other person in the village, Big Ben doesn’t realise that his friend who dresses the same as the miner, is the miner. The nuance in the mystery here is supposed to be that Big Ben is the correct height for the miner while Hank is wearing the correct clothes, but in this case I feel the mystery works better if Big Ben is the villain! The visual clues are therefore red herrings. 

Yet, I kind of love Big Ben? He’s the first side character whose stood out to me, but I found his reaction to the whole thing really funny, he was giving republican uncle. 

Despite not loving this one as much as the others, I do think the episode is an interesting case study into how the show creates its creepy atmosphere, this being through isolation. There’s something deeply terrifying about being nearly alone. We have the knowledge someone wants rid of the gang, the reasoning doesn’t matter when we know this! This allows the show to benefit off of its cheap budget, the style and atmosphere however then leads to a less satisfying mystery - there's a trade off here, but it’s one I’m more than willing to accept most of the time. Almost every episode is in this format, and it works well for a while! I think they get their mileage from the isolation while also sprinkling in other horror tropes and ways to add to the atmosphere. 

And finally, I love Shaggy! He’s my favourite member of the gang so far in this iteration! I just find him to be the best characterised, and I love the detail of his imitation ability and the way he’s able to throw his voice, it lends itself to escaping problems in the plot but also it’s simply funny and an interesting character trait that gives him more depth. I also really love his relationship with Fred and how excited, at least for this version of the characters, they are to stay in the same room during their hotel stay. 

While not my favourite episode, that really comes down to my personal preferences and I completely understand why people like this one! Most of the things I’ve detailed have shown the gold streaks within what I found to be a bland, dry episode!

Episode Rankings: 

Hassle in the Castle

A Clue for Scooby-Doo

What a Night For a Knight!

Mine Your Own Business

Monster Rankings: 

Phantom

Ghost of Captain Cutler 

Black Knight

Miner Forty-Niner 

Thanks for reading!

Next Review: SDWaY S1 E5-8

[thekingofwinterblog]

Maybe this is just a flight of fancy - but your post about Kuma just made me think about how One Piece just abandoned it's more dialectical, for a lack of a better word, direction - instead of a tyrant being somebody who in the irony of history leads to revolutionary change, ala Napoleon, Nobunga, Cromwell or even Ghenghis Khann - he instead must be just a martyr - and not a Jesus, because a Jesus turns tables over and is not allways "nice", but just a caricature of some "Nietschean" "slave morality".

This can just be seen with how Luffy more and more turns from the amoral (not imoral) free spirit that never wants to be a hero and just liberates the world by his self consiousnes dominating the stagnatn oppresion, into a generic saviour, destined by literal prophecies that are fulfilled to the T, and not just by the end of history more abstractly - like hell somebody noticed how "the will of D" was basically overshadowed with the Nika stuff - from smiling because you are content and know that history will redeem everything, to just smiling because it is the magic system in a very boring and surface level way...

So yeah, even if my ideas may sound strange I'll finish that I agree - Kuma was kinda changed from a charachter that was introguing into one that may be more sympathic but ultimately less interesting - a mirror to the Gorosei, who were a human yet poignat critique of real politiks turning people into monster, who go against their compasion, that did destroy Ohara even thought they didnt want to out of a twisted "duty", into the saturday morning literal demons that call people "insects" - and as the devil that tortures souls in hell isn't really evil, so isn't an anti-semitic caricature that has a paralyzing stare - as "evil" as King Geedorah or Godzilla, just a rubber monster, not the evil in all our hearts...

Eh, i agree with some, disagree with some of the other things.

One thing i do disagree with, is the idea that the gorosei being pure evil is a problem. It's not, it's only a problem if all of them are the exact same in personality as Saturn.

The problem with Saturn is not the fact that he's pure evil, and like the rest of the celestial dragons he has a god complex, it's that he's boring.

He's just an evil asshole, who is pure evil, and frankly, his actual main purpose seems to be introducing the magic system that his side has hoarded for themselves, so that we'll have had a taste of it by the time the final conflict takes place.

The problem with Saturn is that there isnt much to him. What glimpses we see from the rest of his circle is that the rest of the gorosei have actual real opinions on the world that is in some part based on good intentions, or at least an appeal to the greater good. By contrast Saturn is just a Celestial Dragon with actual power behind him. no more, no less.

and there are ways to make that sort of characters compelling.

the youtuber Lowart, during his retrospective on the archie sonic comic breaks down pretty well how the Brotherhood of guardians from that franchise are quite frankly assholes... but it's the most extreme member of this extreme group, Locke, who is the most compelling character of the bunch, speciffically because he has been molded by his groups century's long ideology into becoming who he is. the logical end result, of a long line of extremism, who believes that the ends justify the means at any cost... and then explores how this completely ruined his, his wife's and his sons lives.

By contrast saturn is just an asshole, who does assholish things, because he is an asshole.

also as for him being an antisemetic charicature, his devil fruit is clearly a gyuki-oni, a demonic, bovine spider monster from japanese legends.

They really do look like that. they have been a part of Japanese folklore LONG before they even knew jews existed.

By sharp contrast, to saturn, while Imu hasnt been fleshed out in full yet, it's very clear that the monarch of the world has a much more distinct personality, with hopes, dreams, and has very distinct reasons to hate the people he/she does... but you also get the sense that Imu is a very lonely individual, who despite hard words, very clearly misses Lili, and seems to see Vivi as some form of getting to do things over again.

In other words, an actual character, as opposed to Saturn's Im fucking evil guys! look at me! im EVIL!!!

No in terms of good and evil, the larger problem is that the world government's opposition has lost as lot of their greyness as the story went on.

Dragon was a man who's actions was portrayed as a lot more grey than Kuma, a man who didnt mind his son becoming a pirate so long as he actually went out to see how the world was for himself, who talked nonchelantly with his subordinate about having brutually toppled a regime in a coup in their quest to destroy the world government.

There was a sense that he was on the right side of this war... but that he had no problems with shedding blood to get the war done.

Now this trait hasnt exactly been removed, but the way the manga portrays Dragon and his faction's actions has. Now rather than a bloody conflict with lots of intentional civil wars, post time skip it's portrayed more by relatively bloodless coups that doesnt kill that many people.

just look at kuma's flashback, where the king of sorbet was removed twice, and came back a third time, all because dragon didnt have him executed the first time.

The fact is, Oda did not need to make this conflict one of black and white, and it didnt have to become that, even as we saw the true, irredeemable evil at the WG's top.

I think the single biggest showcase of what a bad idea this was, is that Oda could have used the revolutionary army's raid on mariejois as a massacre, where they freed the slave, but also put as many world nobles to the sword as possible. as it is, it makes no sense for them not to do so while at the heart of their enemy's homebase, other than that this would have made them look very, very brutal.

and yeah, im not a fan of nika, or how it overshadows The Will of D.

The powerset of gear 5 is actually great, but It did not need some grandiose backstory that connects Luffy directly with the previous great figure.

I disagree though that luffy himself has become some savior hero. On the contrary, luffy's main storyline post timeskip is how he keeps dedicating himself to assassination plots against his political rivals, on his way to become pirate king.

That is the actions of a pirate, not a hero.

The problem is the fact that due to Nika, now he is entangled to become the next joy boy, not due to his own, personal qualities, but instead due to the devil fruit he ate... which is so much less compelling, and in turn makes Whitebeard denouncing Blackbeard as not able to suceed roger despite his name, as much less compelling.

[kevinsreviewcatalogue]

Review: The People's Joker (2022)

Just because I left Fort Lauderdale, and with it Popcorn Frights, behind when I moved to Boston last year doesn't mean I have to give up on horror festivals. And just as I managed to sneak in a trip to the Telluride Horror Show amidst my adventures in Utah back in 2022, so too did I find that -- where else? -- Salem, Massachusetts hosted the annual Salem Horror Show in April and May. Tonight was the first night, and they screened one of the festival's token non-horror films in The People's Joker, a queer Batman spoof made without any official approval from DC Comics or Warner Bros. (They originally had a screening of Hocus Pocus planned with Kathy Najimy as a special guest, but Najimy had to cancel at the last minute.) How was it?

The People's Joker (2022)

Not rated

<Originally posted at https://kevinsreviewcatalogue.blogspot.com/2024/04/salem-horror-fest-week-1-day-1-peoples.html>

Score: 4 out of 5

The People's Joker exists in a place very similar to that enjoyed by Escape from Tomorrow. In both cases, you have independent filmmakers making unlicensed, unauthorized use of American pop iconography, Disney in the case of Escape from Tomorrow and DC Comics in the case of this film, as a way of satirizing and critiquing it with a particular focus on its corporate ownership and its role in the modern economy. Unlike Disney, which permitted the release of Escape from Tomorrow, DC Comics and Warner Bros. actively tried to clamp down on this film, which was ultimately saved by fair use laws protecting parodies like this. And of the two, I'd argue that this film pulls off what it was trying to do a lot better. While both films are elevated by a particular psychedelic edge and punk-rock attitude, Escape from Tomorrow was too incoherent to really stick the landing or even really convey what it was trying to say, while The People's Joker manages to successfully pull off being not only a dark parody of Batman in which the Joker is the hero, but also a hilarious comedy in its own right, a queer coming-out story, a satire of the entertainment industry (especially stand-up and sketch comedy), and a film that manages to get its message across loud and clear. For obvious reasons, I don't expect this to be more than a cult classic, but it's one I enjoyed and do not regret watching.

In this take on Batman's most iconic villain, one that's most obviously based on the movie Joker but draws on many versions of the character (as well as elements of Harley Quinn), the Joker is now a trans woman who leaves her disapproving mother in Smallville, Kansas for Gotham City in the hopes of becoming a comedian like her idol, UCB Live star Ra's al Ghul. There, upon being exposed to the gatekeeping and hypocrisy of the world of mainstream standup comedy, which here serves largely to prop up a corporate-run dystopia even as it still claims the legacy of those who once spoke truth to power, she starts her own underground "anti-comedy" troupe in an abandoned carnival that comes to be comprised of many of Batman's traditional baddies from the comics. (Her trademark gag is inviting people onstage to tell the world their saddest experiences and then huffing Smilex and laughing her ass off at their misery, because after all, this is still the Joker we're talking about.) This eventually puts her on a collision course with Batman himself, who's depicted as not only the jackbooted thug that more cynical deconstructions of superhero comics have framed him as, but also a perverted closet case on top of it. (Let's just say, this film gets a lot of mileage out of all those jokes you've heard about his relationship with his sidekick Robin.)

The film ain't exactly subtle in what it's saying. UCB Live is a clear-cut parody of Saturday Night Live, right down to the fact that Lorne Michaels is a character in the film, and moreover, its initialism is lifted straight from the famed Chicago comedy troupe the Upright Citizens Brigade that played such a major role in the development of standup and sketch comedy in the '90s and '00s, including producing multiple SNL stars. And while the film never names him so directly, you also get the sense that its writer, director, and star Vera Drew really isn't a fan of Joe Rogan or the standup circle he's built around himself, either. The Joker's introduction to UCB Live's casting has her body being scanned and her being deemed a potential comedy superstar because she has a small penis and is therefore mistaken for the kind of insecure man who the industry is built upon. Her comic idol Ra's starred in a Borat-like film whose main joke was making fun of foreigners. The whole reason Batman, an avatar of the elite if ever there was one (being the CEO of Wayne Enterprises and all), comes after her is because she directly criticizes and threatens the ruling class in a way that the corporate, sanitized world of UCB Live merely pretends to. Drew is somebody who clearly has experience with comedy and the people who inhabit it, and is very much writing that experience into the meat of the story, a metaphorical representation of an entertainment industry that, in her view, only cloaks itself in populism and progressive language enough that it can fend off criticism without actually making any meaningful changes.

Much of this is told through a mix of a riotous and raunchy comedy and the Joker's romance with her fellow comic Jason Todd, aka "Mr. J", a trans man who's envisioned here as a mix of Robin and the edgelord Jared Leto version of the Joker from the DC Extended Universe. The gags came flying at a mile a minute, and often had me busting my gut in laughter. The whole cast is game for the material, with Drew making the Joker a compelling anti-hero not just as a comic presence but also as somebody whose journey from a Midwestern girl-trapped-in-a-boy's-body to a flamboyant Clown Princess of Crime was one that I found myself genuinely invested in. Kane Distler as Mr. J was also an interesting presence, somebody whose relationship with the Joker starts promisingly only for him to turn emotionally abusive and self-centered (complete with a "gaslighting" pun that had me cracking up), indicating that, when he transitioned, he wound up embracing the most noxious forms of hypermasculinity. And as for the style of the film, Drew goes for an exaggerated feel that combines live-action filmmaking, highly stylized CGI, what appears to be a mannequin representing Poison Ivy, and very crude animation both 2D and 3D to create a feeling that reminded me of watching Adult Swim or surfing Newgrounds back in the 2000s. There clearly wasn't much of a budget here, so Drew instead leaned on creativity, both her own and the dozens of artists worldwide who each contributed to the film. It was as unique a film to watch as it was an entertaining comedy, one that demonstrated a lot of talent and commitment on the part of everybody involved.

The Bottom Line

There's no way in hell that The People's Joker is ever getting a wide release, but if it plays near you, I highly recommend seeking it out, as a twisted, countercultural sendup of everything from superheroes to mainstream comedy to who gets to call themselves "the counterculture".

[dk-wren]

Rogers: The Musical First Impressions

Just finished watching a recording of Rogers: The Musical, which I am so happy to finally say, is currently running at the Hyperion Theatre inside Disney's California Adventure theme park on select days through Aug. 31st!

While subject to change, Rogers: The Musical will typically run from Tuesday to Saturday, with performances at 12:30, 2:00, 4:00, and 5:30

Here is a link to the recording I watched, but there are already plenty of videos of the whole show to choose from. Just thought I'd include it since my thoughts may be specific to what I saw in this video.

Summary of Final thoughts: I was very excited about this musical actually becoming a real thing and being developed more. Additionally, I was super interested to see if Disney tried to develop it as a serious musical or leaned more into the satire and comedy of "Save the City." Bottom line, I had so much fun watching it and thoroughly enjoyed it. I am a huge theatre fan, so definitely have a few critiques, but given its constraints, for a first production, really great.

And now, if you are interested, here is my long list of more in depth first impressions/thoughts:

Even based solely on what's been adapted in the MCU, there's still a lot of history that could be covered in a musical about Steve Rogers, which this musical does attempt to cover. So, the pacing is pretty quick.

It's kinda like a slideshow where you see the snapshots, but not the details. The only times it felt like I had a break to just sit and be in the moment was during the songs/musical numbers. Now, I don't think I can necessarily say this is a negative since it is only a 35 minute musical. I just had to sorta shift my expectations.

Building off of that, for a 35 minute, theme park musical, I'd say it's pretty darn good. It had less base material compared to Aladdin or Frozen (the previous two musicals staged in the Hyperion Theatre) that could easily translate to the stage, which allowed this creative team to have a lot of freedom in how to adapt this story for the stage. And, honestly, I really enjoyed their choices.

It's Disney and it's their theme parks. Avengers Campus is literally steps away from this theatre, so they absolutely could have gone all in in designing beautifully elaborate costumes, specifically the super hero suites. But they didn't, and I kinda liked it. Part of the decision for the actors' costumes to look more like everyday clothing likely comes from the design choices made for "Save the City" when it appeared in Hawkeye, but also, if the Captain America walk-around costume was to be the one used in this musical, I feel it would actually look a little out of place. I enjoyed how the costumes weren't one-to-one reproductions, but rather representations of each character and their signature look. You can still clearly tell who is who, but it matches the more minimalist style of the stage design too.

Loved The Starkettes! In terms of costuming, loved how their looks changed between the 40s/USO look and the modern day/business look to reflect the setting. I'm debating if I want to refer to them as the narrators or the chorus, but either way, loved their interactions with the Marvel characters and responses to certain lines in the show.

At least from this video, the projections and digital backdrops looked well done. Loved how there was not an emphasis on making like Times Square look hyper-realistic.

I don't think I'd say the digital backgrounds looked cartoonish, especially in a bad way, but there definitely is an aspect to them that's meant to be stylized. Again, this then compliments the design choices of like 3 comic book covers and that whole sequence about Steve fighting in WWII.

I could be wrong, but Rogers seems to have a smaller cast than Aladdin or Frozen. Absolutely loved their performances, but sometimes it felt like the stage was a little too big or too bare for the size of the ensemble/cast (could also be due to having minimal set pieces). - This is meant as an observation not as a critique

During the scene in which Steve and Peggy are chatting about going dancing before he crashes the plane into the ice, that conversation was translated into a song. And in my head, I was like YES!!! That's how you do a musical adaptation. You take those iconic and emotionally charged lines and put them to music.

Like I said at the very beginning, there's a lot that could be covered in a musical about Steve Rogers, so I kinda appreciated how there was like a mini reprise or continuation of "Save the City" as announcements came about attacks in different locations, which corresponds to all or most of the movies Captain America has been in. It reminded me of "Drive" from The Lightning Thief of quickly condensing a bunch of events/locations into the span of a few minutes, something the musical needed given its runtime.

This way, it acknowledges those events rather than completely ignoring them, but doesn't spend a whole lot of time with each one. The way I interpreted it too, when Cap sings the very last "I can do this all day," it then feels kinda somber in that he is reflecting on having to continuously fight in all these battles, with the expectation of always "saving the city." Plus, I thought it was a great transition to the next song, which in all honesty, I could not tell from the video if it was meant to be pre-serum or old Steve.

Loved how everyone came back out in the end for the finale (it's like memory lane)

Hoping to see it in person. This recording just confirmed to me that I am going to have a good time. Literally, big smile on my face, quietly cheering and whooping throughout the show, I'm just so excited to (hopefully) go to the theatre for a purely fun/good time.

[corinnetheanime]

So top goal is to get Page 1 finished by this Saturday. Thankfully got good progress and my mind forgot that it was Wednesday tonight, not Thursday. XD So far, can safely say Page 1 is a little over halfway done.

I’m definitely studying a lot on comic storyboarding and composition to make sure I’m doing this right. I’m not a professional comic artist at all (the closest comparison is probably my experience in illustrating a children’s book a couple years ago), but I know my skills will continue to improve from here. As long as I can keep up this art mojo, I might be able to do a page every 1-2 weeks.

Story-wise, will be drafting up to Chapter 10 this month if possible. Thankfully a few phans are willing to beta-read the scripts to make sure I’m conveying information properly to the audience. Having more pairs of eyes read over and critique my work helps a lot because I will miss a lot of stuff no matter how many times I read it. Writing in a script format is a lot different (and probably more challenging) than writing in story format.

Mastering subtext is hard. XD

Anyway, just a heads up. Hope everyone is having a blessed day/night! ❤️❤️

[tyrannosaurus-trainwreck]

"The internet" didn't exist in a modern-recognizable form yet. My unsuspecting 7th-grade English teacher had us do a creative writing exercise and then trade with a random classmate for critique. I should mention that he hadn't told us about that part ahead of time, and also that it should be obvious from just that that he was not equipped to handle what was about to happen.

I wrote a fanfic of Andre Norton's Beastmaster series, because my parents let me watch the baffling 1982 movie adaptation at way too young an age and I lost my tiny tweenager mind when I discovered that a) they were also books and b) the local library system had them. The novels followed the adventures of a demobbed special forces soldier named Hosteen Storm on a human-colonized alien planet.

The boy I traded with had written a fanfic of The X-Men, haphazardly available on the magazine rack at the local grocery stores and as a Saturday morning cartoon. Unsurprisingly, it prominently featured the mutant Ororo Munroe, aka Storm.

I was vaguely aware of the X-Men as a thing. My surprise critique partner was not even slightly aware of the 1959 science fiction novel or its 1962 sequel.

We gave each other the most useless writing feedback in the history of useless writing feedback.

I can't remember exactly what I wrote for him, but I'm sure 99% of my points would have been answered by having watched more than one and a half episodes of the show, because his story otherwise seemed very straightforward--superheroes did superhero things with their superhero powers, and Sentinels, which I vaguely recalled being the evil mutant-hating robots that were just allowed to fucking run around unattended, tried to kill them. It probably would have been a banger if I hadn't been so in the dark on the source material that I somehow arrived at the conclusion that Danger Room was a heretofore unguessed-at and cartoonishly overpowered X-Man that the whole team ganged up on for obscure superhero reasons.

What he wrote for me was short, sweet, and to the point: He corrected all my hes for Storm to shes and then informed me that Storm did not talk to animals, she controlled the weather, and that she lived at the X-Mansion, not in the desert, and that there were no aliens in the X-Men*.

When we read each other's feedback, we accepted it with all the grace of 7th graders being given an unexpected critique on a mandatory assignment from a classmate we didn't know well or particularly like who was also possibly the biggest dumbass on the face of the planet for not knowing that Storm was a weather-controlling girl/not realizing that this story was about a completely different goddamn character.

Him: The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee, the team first appearing in The X-Men #1 (September 1963).[1] Although initially cancelled in 1970 due to low sales, following its 1975 revival and subsequent direction under writer Chris Claremont--

Me:

The teacher: By Talos, this can't be happening!

There were blood-feuds being born in other corners of the room as feral children ripped into each other over beloved original work, but that I think he at least understood. There wasn't a serious teacher shortage at the time, so I assume the guy teaching our English class had sat through at least one undergraduate creative writing class with critique sessions. People being mean, missing the point entirely, or taking fair critique way too personally were things he'd presumably witnessed at some point.

I don't think he'd ever seen two people get into a passionate and mutually-incomprehensible argument about genetically-altered lifeforms, psionic bonds, and weather-control powers. He definitely had no idea how to moderate that argument, and I suspect all he heard was us making nerd-child noises at each other at a steadily rising pitch and volume, like tree-frogs competing for territory after a hard rain.

Anyway, nobody in the room knew what "fanfic" was, but that didn't stop us from inflicting it on each other in person, for a grade.

*I like to think his love of the series was long-lasting and deep enough for him to feel a pang of remorse at how wrong he'd been on this point when he hit the storyline where not only were there aliens in the X-Men, but Professor X fucked one of them.

Poll Tuesday

I feel like I’m exposing myself a little bit with this bc my introduction to fic is soo random I think, but whatever your answer please tell me the story! I wanna know haha

[theartfulmegalodon]

The scripts for my slow burn supernatural gay romance comic River & Ash have been posted up to the halfway point. (That's 15 of 30 issues!) There's never been a better time to start reading them!

Start Reading Now!

When I resume posting them this coming Saturday, I will be uploading each new issue once a month as I write them. I would very much appreciate new readers, and I am always happy to hear comments and critique!

[permanentclawgrip]

okay this was originally part of my roommate rant post but imma do it separately because its more of a critique of a mindset:

I do not understand rapid completionist collecting culture

i know what youre saying, "eve, what the fuck are you talking about that makes no sense" let me explain

theres probably a proper term for it but I've noticed a worrying trend specifically in online spaces recently of rapid completionist collecting culture. basically a subculture of wider collectors which focuses on the attainment of a "complete collection" as fast as possible and often with a disregard for the actual content of what they are collecting. i have seen posts about this in comic collecting forums. ive seen similar kinds of posts on video game forums. my experience with it has been through my roommate though, who i will kind of vaguepost about (nothing new for this blog tho).

My roommate, who we'll call Adam (not his real name) for the sake of brevity, has a real strange relationship with these cultures. I first noticed it soon after i moved in with him, when he decided to watch every publicly available tv show and movie that marvel has made,,, ever,,, including every ,,, single ,,, saturday ,,, morning ,,, cartoon. this small feat took months. all catalogued in a nice tidy spreadsheet noting the runtime of them, the episode count of the shows, which storylines were adapted (iirc), and his overall rating (again iirc). this was not a months long project because oh he only watched an episode or two a day, no not at all. i would leave for work with some x-men cartoon playing in our living room and come home to fantastic 4 playing instead. every day. hours upon hours. it was not a simple, "oh one day ill watch them all eventually". it was a dedicated marathon of back to back to back marvel. it honestly completely burnt me out on all things superhero just being in proximity to it.

so what is there to take from this? "let people like stuff!" "its just a show why are you so mad?" well its hard to put my finger on it to be honest without sounding pretentious or hyperbolic. ill try my best...

in just a second...

first lets get pretentious!

i personally find this style of engaging with content to be very shallow. ive always kind of had a bone to pick with background watching, having a show on while doing some other task, but this is different. while background watching is annoying imo, most of the time people are doing so with shows that are kind of built for that (think sitcoms or light dramas) where you can kind of tune in and tune out on a whim and the point is more on the other activity that the show is the background stimulation for (i.e. homework, sewing, cooking, hanging with friends, etc.). in short, when background watching, the point is not to really watch the show. so that should be the polar opposite to what my friend was doing, right? nope! all these stats and all this time, just to usually be playing destiny or scrolling through DiscussingFilms' twitter posts for most of it. this is a recipe for not really getting anything from these shows.

secondly, the binge model is kind of horrible for story engagement or thematic understanding. there are very few stories in long form media which adapt well to binging. it has been discussed before, so im not going to re-litigate those arguments here, but suffice to say that binging is bad actually. pair that with these shows mostly being background fodder and it just strikes me as profoundly pointless.

Maybe I just have different wants from my media than others, but i usually like my media to have a point beyond just "it looks cool" or "it belongs to an ip i like". spin offs dont really excite me unless theres a reason for it to exist beyond just "hey look at this cool side character! guess what? theyre a main character now!" yes a lot of good stuff has come from "spin off" series (look at puss in boots: the last wish as just one example), but their mere existence will never excite me. i prefer to really watch movies or tv shows that im interested in: dim the lights, grab some popcorn, and set aside time to really engross myself in every detail. its not for every show and it is a little time consuming, but the depth in every piece of art that you learn to see is so worth it. but maybe thats not everyone priority.

okay now lets get hyperbolic!

im not going to sugar coat this and itll sound weird, but i see a lot of similarities between this kind of hyper obsessive yet shallow fixation and some very very disgusting subcultures online. and i dont mean that because i dont understand them. i mean that because i am sadly referencing many of the boys and young men who fall down the alt-right pipeline through porn fixation. if you do not know what i am talking about, youll have to trust me on this because i do not think that anyone should look these things up on their own because good god every trigger warning possible applies if you look at some of these peoples accounts. they make my stomach churn and i am pretty resilient to things. basically for those who dont know, what im referring to is a subculture of predominantly young men who become obsessed with porn and porn stars to the point that it is all they can think about. if this is giving hints of incels, it should because the venn diagram is actually just a smaller circle within a larger circle. their obsession and incel nature leads them to the expected political and social beliefs: misogyny, transphobia, grooming, forced marriage, etc. truly some of the worst humans.

now is this a leap? admittedly yes. but i dont think the comparison isnt without merit. the initial actions are the same and both lead to heavy levels of social isolation. sure you have your in group that understands every reference you make, but beyond them, you become stunted. that social isolation is the most dangerous fuel for a man to have.

overall thesis

i could write at length about this topic (and who knows i might one day) but ill keep it brief for now. in short, this trend of hyper obsessive binging that ive seen is extremely confusing to me at best and potentially dangerous at worst. i wish i had a way to break people's habits with this kind of thing but sadly i do not know how.

[manifestoonmoralmanlove]

Help I’m being harassed by the #1 sexeist man! Review

Sorry I had this mostly finished on the backburner for awhile but Soulless grabbed my attention pretty hard.  BUT NOW THIS IS FINISHED! I hope you enjoy!

Summarize

So the story is as follows…Takato is an actor who was voted Japan’s sexiest man for a few years in a row. However his title is usurped by this dude named Junta that he’s working on a new movie with.  Takato is salty about this but is professional about it and just kinda harbors secret bitter feelings.  He is polite to and gives advice to Junta when asked.  Junta invites him out to drinks, Takato doesn’t want to but everyone within a 5 mile radius swoops in to pressure him into it so he caves.

GOD WHY IS THAT A THING? That for sure happened in Love Stage and I’m sure I’ve seen that trope elsewhere.  Where not just a 3rd party will pressure a reluctant uke but like a fucking horde of strangers with nothing to gain from it just crawl out from under the fucking floor boards like little hack-handy roaches to advance this shitty plot.

ANYWAY!

Junta gets Takato drunk, films embarrassing stuff that he threatens to blackmail him with, and a fucking horror scene of a rape ensues.  Like, not dissimilar from Junjou in the fact that the atmosphere is drawn as oppressive, the uke is riddled with very palatable fear, the seme wears crazed expressions, and behaves violently.  Hell, Takato manages to shove him off and tries to lock himself in the bathroom for his own safety but Junta rips the door off its fucking hinges. Takato PLEADS like BEGS for him not to but he is violently raped against the wall while Takato cries saying OUT LOUD that THIS IS RAPE!  Afterwards he’s crying and shaking, talking out loud about how he’s frightened if others find out and feeling humiliated.

Junta picks him up and is like, “Man I guess I got carried away, but like REAL TALK I have a crush on you. The rape was kinda bad I guess, but it’s not my fault cause I literally cannot control any of my actions. I can prove I like you by having gentle sex with you in the bed.”

Takato agrees to this.

I BEG YOUR FUCKING PARDON?!

The implication here is that Junta just looked SO SWEET! But like also it wasn’t gentle sex at all and Junta is going to continue to blackmail him. HAR HAR!

Like here is a hot fucking take authors and fans of this particular type of garbage… that kind of writing does not make this more consensual and okay.

Like if you threw a dude in a pit full of scorpions, and he is being stung by a thousand stingers and the poison is slowly and painfully shutting down all of his bodily functions and it’s all really gruesome…but then someone asks if he wants to be saved and the dude in the pit goes from screaming in agony to saying, “Actually I like it down here.”

Does that mean being pushed into that pit, and what he went through in that pit is okay? NO

What does him suddenly wanting to marry all of those 1000 scorpions mean?

IT MEANS YOU’RE A FUCKING HACK WRITER WILLFULLY CONTRIBUTING TO RAPE CULTURE FOR A QUICK BUCK YOU HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Like you can have your stories where a rapist is redeemed from his awful actions, but more often than not I see these fucking outrageous hairpin fucking turns in writing.  

I mean, Junta does apologize?  Which is better than some semes but honestly I’d rather him not even bother because he’s not sincere.  He apologizes all the time for the sex acts he puts Takato through but goes on to blackmail him, hurts him, abducts him, and threatens him to his face with more rape. LIKE NOT EXACTLY FEELING AS IF YOU TOTES CARE ABOUT HOW HE FEELS ABOUT ALL THIS, BOYO!

The next chapter while they’re being filmed for the show Takato throws him against the wall and hijacks the dialog to make it sound sexually threatening.  Takato IN HIS MIND ADMITS “DAMN HE’S ACTUALLY USING ENOUGH FORCE TO HURT ME!!!!”  So after this shot, Takato gives Junta some advice and makes no shit, this fucking face…                        

And that…face, (improperly attached to what I presume is a series of straws coated in plaster masquerading as a neck)  gives Junta that GOTTA RAPE NOW BONER!

So that’s what happens, he just violently drags off a kicking and screaming Takato in the middle of shooting and no one bats a fucking eye. SEEMS LEGIT!  What’s baffling to me is they don’t even draw a sex scene for this.

MY BRO, WHAT IS EVEN THE FUCKING POINT THAN OF ALL THESE RAPE SCENERIOS IF THERE AREN’T HIDEOUS MELTING FACES AND WACKY INFLATABLE TUBE MAN BODIES TO GO WITH IT!?

But afterwards Junta says the classic creepy shit, “Give up already and become mine. I have no intention of giving you to someone else.” WE KNOW THE DRILL!

Takato looks up at Junta and goes, “Yeah guess I love this dude.”

AND LIKE FOR WHAT? FOR HUH? WHAT’S GOING ON HERE!?!!??!?!?!?!?

But also, are you fucking joking here? Like I’m not into the 10 volumes of “Am I gay or not?” bullshit we get in yaoi. But, depending on the pace and characterization, there’s nothing wrong with dragging out the love being 100% mutual. Here’s it’s in chapter fucking 2.  Even Junjou went at a slower pace than that.  When I read that I couldn’t help feeling like, “WELL WHAT’S THE CONFLICT IN THE NEXT 3 AND A HALF VOLUMES GOING TO BE?”

Which, admittedly is unfair, there can be lots of relationship conflict outside of mutually expressed love…However for a rapist/tsundere dynamic? That’s usually at least 75% of the conflict.  But oh, maybe this means we’re going to get different kinds of drama!  So even while it’s not good, we’re going to get something different!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

It’s utter NOT-CONFLICT is what we end up with.  3 different chapters are, “I haven’t seen much of him, that must mean he’s bored of me. Wah! Oh it turns out he was just busy. Oh that’s good.”  PAGING FUCKING JUNJOU WITH THAT SUPER FUN, ENGAGING, AND INTERESTING CONFLICT HARDY FUCKING HAR!

Then we take a hard right into sorta worst rapist territory.  What do you mean by SORTA worst rapist Faps?

Well……

There’s a new actor Takato is working with and this new actor, and the new actor’s coding as a bad guy is about as subtle as a punch to the mouth. So new actor gets Takato drunk enough for him to pass out, gives him a hickey and ????????????

2 things happen in these situations in yaoi typically

1.)    SOMEHOW the seme MAGICS his way there beats up the worst rapist

2.)    This happens after the uke and seme have a fight. So uke realizes how mean he was for not being 100% down with all the seme’s shitty behavior cause there is a worst rapist out there. He runs crying to the seme apologizing and conflict solved.

We sorta get the 2nd here…but not in a straight-forward way.  For one there is no fight beforehand to set up any kind of relationship development.  What happens is that Takato wakes up mortified at the possibility he was raped while he was asleep.  He staggers around both in denial and utter shame.  Seme shows up and like only adds to this panic by yanking him around, forcefully washing his body, and screaming that his SLUTTY, SLUTTY FACE MANIPULATES MEN into raping him.  The seme tells him that they don’t have to have sex.  Which good, but I mean the scene is not framed as if Takato is doing this out of kindness but almost as a dare. The implication being if Takato doesn’t consent that he is the OTHER MAN’S BOY NOW and they should just break up. So there is implicit pressure there, but he does seem to initial consent.  Yet during the sex Takato internally cries about how much he hates it because his boyfriend is hate fucking him but he can’t say NO because than his boyfriend will hate him more.

LIKE FUCKING BIG YIKES MY FRIEND! IT’S SUPER UNCOMFORTABLE!

Which like, I could see a post-assault sex scene full of the emotional intensity of the anger, guilt, shame, fear all intermingling within both of them working well. (Not that post assault consensual sex is much of a thing.)  That they’re trying not to think of what Takato went through but it’s eating at both of them.  THAT COULD BE A REALLY INTENSE, WELL DONE SCENE!  However this is framed like seme ~taking back what’s his~ in a really cold, pissed-off way that’s AT BEST really insensitive to what the uke just went through and his current emotional state.  While Takato ~letting him~ cause he’s afraid his bf hates him for getting raped by someone not him.  Junta also disappears without a word, making Takato fear that YEP HIS BF DON’T WANT HIM CAUSE HE’S DAMAGED GOODS NOW!

But who has to apologize? THE UKE!

Also it turns out Takato was not raped cause worst rapist couldn’t get it up after Takato said his bf’s name in his sleep.  This is framed as better not cause of what the uke went through, but he didn’t really CHEAT so Junta can forgive him.

LIKE REALLY MY DUDE? YOU STARTED THIS OFF WRITTEN TAKATO MORE REALISTICALLY DEALING WITH THE DENIAL, DISGUST, AND SHAME OF ASSUALT AND INSTEAD JUST DEGRADED INTO THE SAME VICTIM-BLAMING HORSESHIT! GET FUCKED!

So the resolution is that the relationship is fixed and Junta threatens and blackmails the rapist. Which, I’m glad he didn’t get off scot-free but those interactions felt less like protecting the safety of Takato and more like, HE’S MY PROPERTY NO TOUCHY!

So from here we take a big turn.

Most of the 3rd volume is a big back-track to the beginning of their relationship before it was romantic or sexual.  And boy howdy it feels like a retcon for the fuck awful pace of the 1st volume.

Basically it’s about how Junta became obsessed with Takato while working on a movie cause idk he’s pretty and he accidently heard Takato say something shitty about him once. While I wouldn’t call this good the fact that they actually let this blooming of affection take place makes it the best chapters so far.

Like at the end Junta resolves himself to let his feelings be known and to start a romantic relationship with Takato.  Without the context, that felt like almost sweet? That he’s accepted his gay feelings and wants to share his life with Takato.  However if you REMEMBER THE CONEXT it means that Junta planned to drug, blackmail, and rape Takato WHICH YANNO REALLY TAKES A SHIT ON YOUR CUTE LITTLE FEATHERS BLOWING IN A BREEZE TO GO WITH HIS CUTSY MONOLOG YOU SHIT-SUCKER!

But lordy the next chapter comes along which is a retelling of this prequel from Takato perspective. The only saving grace here is that it’s not nearly as long as Junta’s.  Basically Takato realizes that Junta is OUT for him, and has a fucking frightened panic attack in his car afterwards. He’s literally shaking and monologing about how scary the situation and Junta are.  And this isn’t me even inferring words in Takato’s head, he repeats scary over and over.  Takato even decides to over book himself so he’ll have fewer chances to interact with Junta. So he does the classic ~pass-out from overwork~ thing so Junta can save him and from here we immediately transition to,

Oh now it’s modern day and they’re banging…..okay????? VOLUME ENDS

The next plot point comes down to this:

Paparazzi are OUT TO GET THEM! There is a photo leaked that isn’t really suggestive at all and Takato pretty much loses his job for it. However Takato finds out there is a much more damning picture of him and Junta, so he decides to break up with Junta, and like…just literally do whatever the paparazzi wants in order to protect Junta. But like, what’s the point of hiding it from Junta? And if this dude is going to blackmail you, what are you going to do to make sure their demands end or don’t get to the point that they’re unfeasible to continue giving in to them?

HAHA OH WELL!

Takato doesn’t even get to see the paparazzi again, his producer finds out and sexually assaults him to PROVE A POINT!

AND BOY HOWDY I’M WAY INTO THAT TROPE! LOOKING AT YOU OURAN HOST CLUB!

Cause HAHA nobody could literally want anything out of a wealthy, well-connected actor other than gay rape amirite?

Meanwhile Junta is cultivating a rumor that he’s having an affair with an actress.  Cause of fucking course Junta figured that the only reason his boyfriend (whom is often upset at how shitty he gets treated by him) is an elaborate ploy to protect him from the paparazzi.  But you know OF COURSE we see the actress and Junta flirting a bunch to stir the pot in a private setting but like…they only need to be seen on an outside date once.  This means that he’s fucking lying if he says that he only did it to SAVE BOTH OF THEM FROM THE PAPARAZZI.  He was getting a kick out of it, which I think you could argue that he was being unfaithful or in the very least being a fucking dick about it.

But, Junta goes on TV and says that he’s not having an affair with the actress or with Takato but he is moving in with Takato.

Yeah nothing dispels rumors of an intimate relationship like the announcement that they’re MOVING IN TOGETHER!  Now, as I understand it, the housing market is very different in Japan from the west and therefore it’s less of a huge TELL of an intimate relationship if two people move in together.  But even if that’s the case, saying you’re moving in with someone you’re accused of having an affair with…is not helping my friend.

However it is phrased this way, and immediately the entirety of the media believes this whole-heartedly, and the paparazzi guy (despite having a much more damning picture he hasn’t released) is like, “Wowzers he’s so smart, he has BEAT ME! I’m giving up being paparazzi.  That man CHANGED MY LIFE FOR THE BETTER! HOW COULD I EVER THANK HIM!?”  Even the fucking company that hired this paparazzi guy is like, “WELL I’M TAKING MY BUSINESS IN A NEW BETTER DIRECTION! THAT JUNTA GUY SURE, SHOWED ME!!!!”

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING!? You might as well have every criminal in Japan throw their hands up going, “WELL GOLLY!  DID YOU SEE HOW GREAT THE ACTUAL RAPIST AND ABUSER JUNTA IS? BEST NEVER DO A BAD THING EVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

GO EAT EVERY DICK!!!!

That’s pretty much the end up to this point.  I mean, there are some odds and ends chapters here and there but they’re pretty much excuses for sex chapters. And like, even though those are pretty rapey, I kinda respect them more than when you attempts to interject some semblance of relationship drama, cause holy hell that paparazzi shit ugh.

Though if you’ll allow a side rant from me about how the story treats sexual assault. According to the author it comes in a lot of flavors and most of them are awful.

For one: if it’s a hunky guy who loves you: Rape is great.

For two: if it’s a hunky guy but you already have a rapist errr boyfriend: You’re cheating.

For three: if you’re being obnoxiously sexually harassed by your superior….BUT YOUR PRODUCER IS AN OLDER EFFEMINATE GAY MAN: It’s hilarious and harmless and helps cement your Marty-stuness.

For four: if a woman is being groomed by a superior: It’s a bad thing that should be stopped.

3 and 4 happen within the same chapter but the author is so oblivious at the hypocrisy of the framing it’s absurd.

Story

Okay so the story is a mess. The relationship progression goes way too fast for it to make sense, and negates a lot of the drama you could have had.  It’s possible that the editors wanted sex ASAP for some kinda quota, and that’s not necessarily bad. But it really burns my biscuits when people think, “Oh that means lead with rape and that they’ll be in mutual love by chapter 2.”  

Sure most tsundere stories have a bit more lead up until the uke can confess he likes the seme back but this is not the right way to break that mold. The hairpin turn makes no sense and neuters a lot of potential conflict.

It puts the comic in a pacing hole to start and the rest of the story does little to mitigate this. I think there was an attempt to rectify this by going back to the story BEFORE they were a couple.  However that was horrible botched as well.  It brings the pacing to a screeching halt with a volume of Junta being like “OH NO HE’S HOTTTTTTTTTTT” despite the time devoted they do very little to give them an actual relationship or investment in his personality. It’s all a one-sided pining boner for hideous wiggle mouth.

The content of the writing is just embarrassing too.  I can be a more forgiving in the sex-excuse side chapters.  But like there’s a side chapter when Junta is magiked into a child and for like what? So we can coo, that the author drawing a small snowman with a poorly defined face and pretending it’s a child is super adorable?

So we can excuse the shitty way Junta behaves?  Is anybody weirded out that 3 year old Junta is more thoughtful and respectful than his adult-self?  YOU CAN’T EVEN WRITE HOW CHILDREN BEHAVE YOU STUPID SIMP! UGH!!!!

But also the arc on the paparazzi just ended in a total train-wreck of awful writing no question.

Sexual politics:

They’re fucking atrocious here.

1.)    The first scene is framed as a brutal rape but 30 seconds later its fine and they’re in love.

2.)    The handling of the ~worst rapist~ trope with big buckets of victim blaming and as if Takato was ~cheating~ is horrendous.

3.)    The worst rapist is also a sex worker.  So we’re framing sex workers as bad people and sex work as a bad thing. BUT GOLLY KEEP DRAWING GRAPHIC SEX SCENCES!

4.)    The sexually predator producer of Junta being framed as harmless cause he’s effeminate is god fucking awful.  It’s also this bizarre homophobic double standard that this man (and by extension his gay brother) are a joke because they behave stereotypically gay and aren’t ashamed of being effeminate.  MEN ARE ONLY HOT IF THEY ACT LIKE PREDATORS IN A MANLY WAY, OR ARE ASHAMED OF ANY SEXUAL SUBMISSIVE OR EFFEMINATE TRAITS THEY HAVE! I LOVE WATCHING MAN ON MAN SEX BUT SO HELP ME GOD IF THEY’RE ~GAY ABOUT IT!~

5.)    They ~sorta~ take sexual harassment seriously when a female actor is being groomed. Like they joke about it but also DO SOMETHING TO STOP IT really fucking muddles what we’re supposed to think about sexual abuse at all here.

6.)    Takato’s producer sexually assaults him to ~prove a point~ that Takato is putting himself in situations where rape COULD happen.  The fuck is this horseshit! “These men could do the very bad thing of raping you. Let me demonstrate what that bad thing looks like cause I’m sure you’re UNAWARE!” THE FUCK!?  Also this sexual assault is framed more seriously than Junta’s producer because this producer is coded as MORE ATTRACTIVE and less openly QUEER! ONCE AGAIN I EXCLAIM! THE FUCK!?

7.)    Takato OPENLY describes Junta as scary and calls his acts stalking, kidnapping, bullying, blackmail, threats, and rape.  He also tries to actively avoid his boyfriend at times, yet are we not to take ANY of this seriously?  Are we not to take this seriously cause this behavior is acceptable when the one dolling it out is attractive and charming?  Are we not to take it seriously because we can’t except Takato to be honest about how he feels about any of this?  I don’t believe in given a blanket free-pass when Takato doesn’t consistently express desire in Junta’s abusive tendencies.  Like maybe you can argue some of the sex is consensual but can you argue that Takato is into the blackmail, when he never mentions he likes it? Can you argue he’s into the non-stop attention when he SOMETIMES BEGRUDINGLY admits he enjoys it?  If so does just that get a blanket pass?

JUST UGH! YOU’VE GUYS HAVE PROBABLY HEARD THIS RANT FROM ME BEFORE I FUCKING HATE TSUNDERE SEXUAL POLITICS!

 Characters

Takato

Okay so Takato. What’s this dude’s deal?  

Okay let’s start with some boring basics:  He’s a hard-working actor who strives to be professional.  He’s a perfectionist, who seems to easily and joyfully take on the role of mentor/protector. He does seem to take himself too seriously at times. He appears to subtly prod at people who have wronged him or others rather than confront them directly. He’s also shown to be a tsundere with a submissive streak.

There’s nothing bad on its face about this characterization.  However Takato is described as an intelligent professional actor, with years of experience.  Yet his handling of the paparazzi thing is pretty much he goes to shit and opens him up to more rape cause lol hot.  I could maybe understand this characterization if the paparazzi thing really hit Takato on a personal level and he made some irrational choices due to feeling as if he was being attacked or that he was going to permanently lose his job.

However he is shown as calm, as he’s making these choices and openly states that he will gladly give up a career he worked so hard for if it would save Junta’s career. Did he not, even for a second consider he could save both of them?  This is not consistent with his characterization and it exists to put Junta on a pedestal he does not deserve.

SPEAKING OF…

Junta

So…this fucking guy. Junta is a young up and coming actor with early success.  He’s shown to be an impulsive, passionate person who relies heavily on an ~angelic charm.~  He has no shame in using calculated, underhanded methods in order to achieve his goals.  He is shown as impatient, has a temper, and is openly disrespectful to his partner.

Yet the world fawns over him with praise for how attractive, charming, and ~resourceful~ he is.  He is described as having a few low wage jobs out of high school and therefore he’s an expert in EVERYTHING FOREVER!

I believe they were trying to humorously contrast Junta having a sweet, innocent angelic charm, with the reality of him being an aggressive a-hole.  However they do not frame the aggressive a-hole side of him as bad but rather as HOT.  Like I GET THAT on some level but since he’s a manipulative, abusive, rapist, it just reminds me of all the REAL LIFE INDIVIDUALS who put on a good face for the public but to their partner they’re monsters.

Art

I legit hate this fucking art. Like straight up and down, I have a hard time even reading it on a visual level.  Like the anatomy is OKAY and the backgrounds are OKAY but a lot of it is less than okay. The worst culprits are the character designs, the necks, and the expressions.  

I am so done with mediocre artists churning out, not only same-faced characters compared to their own art, but characters that are basically same-faced compared to the main-stream.  The only thing unique here is that Junta has dark hair underneath his lighter brown hair. OH GOLLY!  It’s so fucking bland and Junta’s got best seme in the Chil Chil awards and I’m so salty about that I could give the dead sea a run for its money. UGH!

The necks are super long, thin, twisty, sharp angels, and with her sad attempts at tendons it looks as if they’re constantly tense.  And in worst case scenarios they don’t look as if they’re attached to even half of the chin. Yeesh!

The expressions…fucking lord.  In the best of times, the facial spacing is just bad, with eyes and mouths off center, and ears too low.  The author has no concept of how lips/faces work so all the kisses are REAL BAD. It’s either just like…triangles smashed at each other, no lips involved, or they’re like 1 foot apart layering their tongues on each other like they’re building a fucking sandwich.

The worst of times is Takato’s sex faces.  THEY MAKE ME WANT TO VOMIT-SCREAM!

Basically he squints and his eyes get so watery it looks as if they replaced his eyeballs with just well…water.  You can’t make out pupils, irises, NOTHING!  But the mouths are the pinnacle of puke-inducing.  They’re these enormous squigglies with no rhyme or reason, just oozing saliva like a breach in a dam. At best they’re cartoonish in an unerotic way. THESE SQUIGGLES! I CAN’T STAND THEM!  YUCK!

TL;DR

Poorly drawn and written Rapist/Tsundere garbage.  While it doesn’t hit EVERY little overplayed trope, it’s still pretty cliché.  Just, it’s similar and up there with Junjou in the shitty department if you ask me.

[spider-jaysart]

DC Ship headcanons:

Dickkory

Dick just loves styling Kory's hair in many different styles, it entertains him and it's a fun way to pass some time, Kory always falls in love with the end results. He also starts to do it for Mar'i too in the future when they have her.

Dick and Kory always have cooking nights on Tuesday and Saturday nights, where they'll both make a delicious meal together while dancing to some fun music playing in the background. It's always usually a mess when their done, with a piles of used up and stained pots and pans and mixing bowls, with flour all over the island table and kitchen walls, unused spilled sugar on the floor along with some sauce drops, leftover pieces of cut up vegetables on the cutting boards. They both work together to clean it all up which tires them out afterwards, but they still do it again every week

Dick loves kory's hugs

Kory loves hearing Dick read poems to her, it's something she loves very much

BBRae

BB will always try to make Raven laugh even when she's upset, determined to keep her happy always giving her a smile on her face

Raven likes to fall asleep next to Beast boy while watching a show or a movie, she feels at peace when sleeping like this

When Raven's not home sometimes Beast boy likes to play with Raven's cloak (though he always puts it back neatly before she comes back)

They both have matching bunny slippers, except Raven's is light purple while Beast boys is light green. Also Beast boy was the one who bought the slippers

Timkon

Tim just loves cuddles with Kon, it just really gives him a lot of comfort and it helps him sleep a lot better just being next to Kon

Tim and Kon like to go to this skating park in Metropolis where they like to show off their rad skills in front of all the other skaters, they are very popular over there

Kon always brings Tim coffee when he visits him at the mansion

Tim and Kon like to binge watch all of Tim's favorite animes on weekends in Tim's room with a bunch of snacks to munch on

They like to have dancing competitions, though it always ends with Kon being the winner

Damijon

Jon and Damian are almost always wearing each others shirts or hoodies, it's called boyfriend privelage

Damian's a critique when it comes to movies (obviously), Jon just loves to listen to him rant on their movie nights about everything in the movie that just doesn't make any sense at all, he gets a laugh out of it hearing how bad and unlogical the whole thing is

Damian loves Jon's laugh

Jon likes to sing to Damian sometimes, sometimes he'll write some of his own songs and sing them to him as well

When Jon and Damian had started dating they went to a carnival in Jump City that Dick and Kory went to on they're first date. They had a lot of fun going on most of the rides and playing the games there. Though Damian won most of them, winning Jon a giant Superman plushie and a red beanie with the Superman symbol on it. Jon loves the beanie the most, he wears it a lot, especially when he's around Damian

Jon loves to surprise hug attack Damian, sometimes Damian just can't dodge them quick enough. Jon's hugs don't bother him anyways, he actually enjoys them now that he's more used to them

(Dick and Kory went to a carnival one time together on a date in a Valentine's special called my crummy valentine in one of the Teen titans go! comics, a comic series that's connected to the og tt series)

By the way I also have 2 other DC headcanons lists that I posted about the Batfam and the Superfam, so please check those out too as well in the links below if you have time.

Also more headcanons lists to come.

[fansplaining]

The schedule is official, which means we can announce the details of our panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con! 💫 Here’s the blurb:

Over the past decade, fans and creators have had more access to each other than ever before—and sometimes, the results have been painful. How can creators take in fan feedback without altering their work in a reactionary way? How can fans express good-faith critique without placing demands on creators? Featuring panelists who spend time on both sides of the fan/creator divide: Sarah Kuhn (the Heroine Complex series, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra) Javier Grillo-Marxuach (Lost, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance), Britta Lundin (Riverdale, Betty), Justin Bolger (StarWars.com, Fantasy Fight Games), and Flourish Klink (Fansplaining), moderated by Elizabeth Minkel (Fansplaining).

If you’re coming to SDCC, we’d love to see you there! We’ll likely meet up afterwards at the Marriott pool bar—our traditional spot, but v convenient given our panel location and time this year—but need to confirm those details. That’s wholly outside, and as you likely already know if you’re attending, proof of vax/negative test + mask wearing will be mandatory inside the con.

[Flier alt-text: Sparkly, outer-space-esque background in magenta/purple. Text in white at the top reads: Fansplaining @ SDCC 2022: Listening to the Fans. Breaking down the complicated conversations between creators and fans—featuring panelists who have been on both sides of the divide. Fan logo in the center bottom with a list of panelists on one side: Sarah Kuhn, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Britta Lundin, Justin Bolger, Flourish Klink, Moderated by Elizabeth Minkel. Panel details on the other side: Saturday, July 23rd, 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM, Grand 10 & 11, Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina Text beneath details reads: (Outdoor) Fansplaining meetup afterwards TBD!]

[moralesispunk]

Oh Christmas Tree

Frankie x Gn! Reader

Day one of my 12 Days of Christmas

Summary: It is the first Christmas since you and Frankie have moved in together and you can’t wait to decorate your new home

Warnings: pure fluff, established relationship, a few kisses, reader celebrates Christmas and is excited about decorating 

It was the first Christmas since you and Frankie had moved in together and as soon as the calendar turned to December you couldn’t wait to bring the decorations out.

It wasn’t a surprise to Frankie just how much you loved Christmas; he had seen the extent of your decorating and excitement the previous two Christmases you had shared together while dating. You will never forget the way his eyes grew comically wide when he stepped into your decorated apartment for the first time those few years ago, taking in all the bright fairy lights and massive Christmas tree in the corner. 

The way you had decorated for Christmas had been the opposite of his apartment at the time. That wasn’t to say he didn’t love the season because he did; he loved the Christmas flavours the coffee shop near his apartment brought out the day after Thanksgiving, he loved going to Christmas markets and feeling warm when surrounded by people rather than his usual nerves, above all he loved the way the streets were covered in different lights at night as he drove home from work, the large waving Santa that went up every year in the house across from his work bringing an especially wide grin to his face. It was just that years of living alone meant he didn’t see the point in decorating, the Christmas tree he bought growing smaller and smaller until he gave up bringing one home for the past five years.

You had tried to convince him last year and the year before to get one but he was happy to help decorate yours considering you had spent more time in your apartment than his. That meant that this year would be the first Christmas in five years where Frankie would have a proper, fully decorated, Christmas tree in his home and because of that you had taken it upon yourself to turn it into a whole ordeal. He couldn’t say no to you when you looked up at him with those wide, excited eyes as you explained how you wanted to buy some new decorations - ones that would be both yours and his - and how this weekend you would spend the Saturday buying and decorating the tree.

Frankie had woken before you on Saturday, pouring two coffees in to-go mugs for when you trudged tiredly - but with excitement in your eyes - down the stairs. You were wrapped up as much as he was, joking about how he looked like the perfect lumberjack for chopping down your tree with his flannel, jacket and gloves. 

Once you were in the truck with the sun only just peeking over the horizon you were on directions and music, blasting Christmas songs through the radio and singing along as you led him to the Christmas tree vendor. It felt like one of those “movie magic” moments - one Frankie never thought he would experience in life. He watched as you bounced in the seat, skipping to the next song before the first had finished because you couldn’t wait, leaning against him when he was on a straight and singing loudly, not stopping even when you mixed the lyrics up. He couldn’t stop the smile that broke out across his face when your eyes lit up as the rows upon rows of trees came into sight.

With the truck in park, you met in front of it and took your hand in his before leading him through the rows of trees. He had to bite back a laugh at how your face fell seriously while you critiqued the trees - this one too big, this one too small, this one with branches too sparse. Finally you stopped dead in your tracks, Frankie having to widen his stance and settle his hands on your hips so not to crash into the back of you.

“This one,” you gasped, letting Frankie’s hand go to walk around the tree.

He could see in your eyes that you had found the tree for your first Christmas together, it was almost as though the tree was already perfectly decorated with bright lights and staring back at you from the way your eyes sparkled.

“This one,” he repeated, standing behind you and resting his chin on your shoulder. 

It was a lot easier bringing the tree back to the car and into the house now you had Frankie to help. He moved it around until it was standing perfectly in the spot you had cleared out earlier, the smell of fresh leaves already filling the room. There was only just enough room for the angel at the top, the big, green tree now dominating the rest of the room.

“Right,” you clapped your hands, “decorations.”

You had explained to Frankie how there were two types of tree decorators, a concept that had obviously passed Frankie by for almost forty years now - ones who need a perfectly decorated tree and ones who collect their decorations over the years. You, apparently, fell into the latter and had explained how excited you were to start almost from fresh and collect baubles and Christmas trinkets for your new home. You hadn’t missed the way that confession made Frankie’s eyes soften, the thought of you growing old together, collecting decorations every winter and then when you start a family putting all the messily glued together ones they make in school amongst the rest.

You had kept some of your decorations, the ones that meant most to you, and filled the rest of the space with green and red baubles. It took a few hours, every so often taking Frankie’s hand and dancing around the room with him to whatever Christmas song was playing through the speaker. Eventually you put the last decoration on the tree, and Frankie lifted you up to put the angel on the top.

“I think that’s us,” you smiled, putting your hands on your hips and stepping back.

“I got us one more decoration,” Frankie said, pressing a kiss to your temple and quickly leaving you standing in the middle of the room as he ran upstairs.

You turned back to the tree, a wave of contentment washing over you as you stared at your and Frankie’s first Christmas tree in your house. The sound of his footsteps coming down the stairs had you turning back to the door.

Whenever Frankie had a surprise for you there was a sense of mischievousness that took over him, appearing ten years younger with the bright smile that he tried so hard to bite back with his hands hiding whatever was your surprise behind his back. He wordlessly held a small white box out to you, sitting on the couch when you took it from him.

You sat beside him, legs tucked under you as you excitedly untied the bow and opened the box. Inside was a small house with a piece of ribbon attached to the top and at the bottom there was an engraving with the day you first moved in together.

“Frankie, I love it,” you sighed, tears stinging at your eyes when you finally looked up at him.

“Yeah?” He looked up at you through his lashes, a lopsided smirk on his face.

“Yeah,” you leaned forward pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

He gently held the back of your head, holding you against him as he deepened the kiss and you moved onto his lap. His hands rubbed up and down your side, pulling you tighter against him as his mouth explored yours. After a moment when both of you were breathless you finally pulled away, your forehead resting against his and biting your bottom lip.

“Shall we put it on the tree?”

He nodded against you, tapping your hip twice as you stood up. You took a moment looking at the tree, searching for the perfect spot to put your first real decoration together. Eventually you found a spot, almost perfectly in the centre of the tree, and carefully placed the decoration on the branch.

“Now it’s perfect,” you turned to Frankie, your arms wrapping around his waist and burying your head into his chest.

He hummed a noise of contentment as he kissed the top of your head, suddenly unable to trust his voice from the happiness that had settled deep inside his chest, spreading throughout his body until he felt nothing but safe and warm with you in his arms, in your house.

A slow song came through the speaker, an old voice singing about spending Christmas time with their love, and Frankie couldn’t stop the way his body began to sway to the music. His hand found yours, bringing it up to his lips and pressing a soft kiss against the back of your hand before settling it over his heart. His other hand kept you tight against him while resting on the bottom of your back and your hand stayed wrapped around his waist.

He began to hum along to the music, his cheek pressed against your head and feet slowly moving you around in a circle. When you looked up at him he could see the glassy look from tears threatening to spill over and felt his eyes stinging in the same way, your head tilting up and his down to meet in the middle.

The kiss was soft, gentle as you kissed as though you had the rest of your lives to do nothing else. When you broke apart his forehead rested against yours, your bodies still swaying to the music.

“I love you,” you whispered.

“I love you,” he said and you leaned your cheek against his chest. He kissed the top of your head before murmuring against you, “so much.” 

You spent the rest of your night like that, even after the music ended, dancing in each other’s arms with the flashing lights from the tree lowly lighting up the room.

//

tags

@phoenixhalliwell @asta-lily @hb8301 @princess76179 @sarahjkl82-blog @spideysimpossiblegirl @blackmarketmummy @bison-writes  @queridopascal @sfr99 @rosiefridayrogersunday @tintinn16 @pilothusband @voteforpedro09  @dihra-vesa @frankiecatfish @wild-at-heart-kept-in-cage @mamacitapascal @transias @peoniarose @pjkimrn @fangirl-316 @niki-xie @potted--ivy @phandoz @janebby @dobbyjen @agingerindenial @mishasminion360 @hb8301 @blub-senpai @mashomasho @adriiibell @darnitdraco @dragonsondragons @mysteriouslyfuzzypeach @ayrusss @lovesbiggerthanpride @girlofchaos

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