#i don't know which of the elephants this guy needs naming for

[gcballet]

Had a realisation about two of the ornaments in my bedroom and now I need three more elephants

[sednas]

as always, the baji one is longer because I am still in love with him

༘♡ ft. draken, mikey, mitsuya, chifuyu, baji, ran, hanma x gn!reader

✶࿐ tw: cry cry cry cry cry

draken is the kind of guy who would pull you into a bear hug as soon as he sees the tears in the corner of your eyes

he's warm and big, providing a much needed sense of security

you would drown in his scent and his oversized hoodie as you keep crying

"you're okay, I'm here, nothing's going to hurt you now." is the kind of thing he would say, insisting on the fact that he will protect you

♡

mikey would hold your hand through your whole crying session

he'd give your hand a soft squeeze every now and then, to let you know that he's still here

if you tell him why you're crying he will already think of a way to fix your problem

but he wouldn't mind sitting in silence until you're done crying either, he's a patient man, even more so when it comes to you

he would probably cry once he's alone too, because he absolutely hates it when you're sad

♡

mitsuya wouldn't want to overstep and would wait until you want to talk about it

but if you keep crying, he'll start to worry and end up touching you anyway

he would start by softly touching your hair until his hand is behind the back of your head and then he would pull you closer so you can cry on his shoulder

he will make you something to eat or run you a bath once you finally stop crying

♡

baji hates to see you cry, it's something that makes him physically angry at the world because why someone as nice as you would deserve such pain?

baji is the best hugger out there, his back rubs are amazing

he would lay down on his bed with you and start rubbing your back

he's the kind of guy who would try to make you laugh or at least try to make you think about something else

at some point he would invent a dumb game where you have to guess which animal he's thinking about by the way he's tracing its name behind your back

a few minutes go by and you're suddenly laughing because you guessed it was an elephant while he was in fact thinking of an alligator

♡

he tells you that you suck at this game and you gently bite on his chin as a comeback and you can't even remember why you were crying a few seconds ago

chifuyu would cry with you, maybe not as hard as you but he would shed a few tears

actually, he would get a bit overwhelmed seeing you so sad and he wouldn't know what to do for the first few minutes

but if you ask him to hold you he would react within a second

"of course, please don't cry, just tell me what's going on."

it's okay if you don't answer him, he'll hold you the whole time

by the end of your crying session he makes sure you've calm down and you do the same because he looks as moved as you

♡

ran would first make sure you are not physically injured before doing anything else

once he's sure you're not hurt he would pull you into his arms, wrapping them behind your back

"why are you crying uh?" he would ask in his usual deep voice, like he's not really concerned

but his hands are slightly shaking, and if it's a person who caused your sadness, he's already ready to cut off their throat

♡

hanma would let you stain his shirt with your tears for as long as you need it

he would laugh at anybody else crying but you are the only exception

he would play with your hair until you stop crying or he would start smoking with you still in his arms

he would stay silent for the most part, simply humming whenever he hears a strangled sob coming from you

but in the end he would want to know the reason why you were crying

he wants to say a quick hello to the one who made you sad

tokyo revengers masterlist

[gabrielapazlima]

THE LOGO THEORY

(part 2)

so lets see the rest of what we have,is a little more compliceted than last time...

soo a LOT of ppl are thinking that simon smokes is suppose to be crafty's contrapart because: two mystical animals and shy girl x popular guy...

is valid in some way...BUT

Crafty's main personality trait is not her shyness,like look at her name,CRAFTcorn,she is about creativity and seeing the world though another point of view...NONE of simon's main characterists are oppositing crafty's main and most crucial trait..so...why bubba?

Very simple actually,bubba is the typical nerd dude that always loves to share his knowldge w other critters,thats his main things- what is the most common opposing trait of a nerd in most medias?....oh sure a JOCK-

the popular dude,the rich and "cool" guy- that all the girls fall in love and always love to bully nerds...

do i need to say more...

ALSO elephants are know for spill water though their nose while dragons are know for spill fire though their mouth...

this one is also kinda hard to explain but also no....lets see

poe's wholw thing is being a grumpy and kinda dramatic emo bird,they like to do their own monotome emo stuff.... kickin for other side,his whole thing according w the logbook is about having fun and being a chill cool dude,being kinda of a laidback....they kinda the "chill guy x the grumpy one" dynamic imo

i don't think i need to say more....junk food x heathly food....this one is VERY oblivious....

so we only have maggie mako,the shark left,which is (following the logo theory) meant to contrast crafty in some way...i think she might be REALLY destructive to opposite crafty's creating nature..

lets see tomorrow...

[pianocat939]

hearing you out on the yan pavitr

YES PLEASE- ok I'm gonna start out this new thing where I separate things for romantic + platonic so people can scroll to different sections. (I'm such a good business person- /j)

I will copy and paste some of the headcanons because they apply both ways. So don't bother reading both unless if you want to because for the most part they're the same (with some light editing)

Tw: hardly any tbh-, delusional softie, uh- and breaking in

Yandere Pavitr Prabhakar

Type: Delusional + Clingy (This is really fucking obv ngl)

Romantic

Listen- He literally gives off so much delusional that I can't even tell you why he's delusional because it's literally written all over him omg. Now, the thing he is delusional about is you love him back. It's not in a malicious way; he genuinely thinks you love him.

He's not in any sort of way problematic or concerning with his actions/intentions. He'll be all caring and constantly giving you support. He's the type of guy who wakes up at five in the morning to go buy you a bouquet of flowers to greet you with when you get up.

If you try to push him away or express that you don't love him he just believes you're a troubled person and need more support in your life. Which means more affection from him. He is your therapist. He will be whether you like it or not because he is a softie and will continue to be a softie.

The only time I can see him getting the slightest bit aggressive is if he gets jealous. I'm not entirely sure yet because we haven't seen too much of any trauma or negative backstory to him (Uncle Ben's death canon event doesn't fucking count). I think he's about a medium level when it comes to how easily he gets jealous. Even then I don't think he would outwardly hurt anyone unless they've overstepped a boundary of his. He'll give them a slight threat or tie them up in webs for a while.

Now if anyone hurts you? Bro is going crazy- he will do everything to make the person surrender or maybe even die (if they've caused him enough anger) He'll worry so much if you get hurt. I wouldn't say he would overreact, but he definitely worries.

He is physically affectionate 100%. He will sneak in your window at night for snuggles. Imagine yourself standing at your window one night, knowing he'll come. He arrives and is about to slip inside when you frown and tell him no. He is going to give you the most heartbreaking face known to mankind.

He WILL call you embarrassing/cringe affectionate names. You can't convince me he doesn't.

"Jasmine flower! Look at the stuffie I got you!" *proceeds to hold up giant elephant stuffie*

Platonic

He literally gives off so much delusional that I can't even tell you why he's delusional because it's literally written all over him omg. Now, the thing he is delusional about is he thinks you wanna be friends with him. It's not in a malicious way; he genuinely thinks you guys are besties and constantly hang out. (tbh I feel anyone would be friends with him???)

He's not in any sort of way problematic or concerning with his actions/intentions. He'll be all caring and constantly giving you support. He's the type of guy who wakes up at five in the morning to go buy you your favourite drink or line up for a limited edition product.

If you try to push him away or express that you don't wanna be friends with him, he just believes you're a troubled person and need more support in your life. Which means more affection and suggesting hangouts or giving gifts from him. He is your therapist. He will be whether you like it or not, because he is a softie and will continue to be a softie.

The only time I can see him getting the slightest bit aggressive is if he gets jealous. I'm not entirely sure yet because we haven't seen too much of any trauma or negative backstory to him (Uncle Ben's death canon event doesn't fucking count). I think he's about a medium level when it comes to how easily he gets jealous. Even then I don't think he would outwardly hurt anyone unless they've overstepped a boundary of his. He'll give them a slight threat or tie them up in webs for a while.

Now if anyone hurts you? Bro is going crazy- he will do everything to make the person surrender or maybe even die (if they've caused him enough anger) He'll worry so much if you get hurt. I wouldn't say he would overreact, but he definitely worries.

He is a clinger 100%. He will sneak in your window at night for a hug and to talk about random things (he giggles a lot). Imagine yourself standing at your window one night, knowing he'll come. He arrives and is about to slip inside when you frown and tell him no. He is going to give you the most heartbreaking face known to mankind.

He WILL call you embarrassing/cringe affectionate names. You can't convince me he doesn't. Like Pookie Bear or just cringe names to call your best friend platonically cuz it's funny.

"My rat! Look! I have- WEBS!" *proceeds to shoot webs like it's a discovery even though he's known for six months*

——————————————————

That's all I got for now-

I still don't like Gwen.

- Celina

[lsunstreakerl]

Feeding Pebble:

[Search History Verse]

Messages between [you] and [Chéri 💖]

Max: hey schat, can you do me a favor

Charles: yes of course

Max: can you feed Pebble for me

Charles: who is Pebble

Charles: do we have a new pet?

Max: Pebble is my sourdough starter

Charles: ...

Charles: .........

Charles: you know I hate that thing

Max: don't say it where she can hear you please

Charles: STOP TALKING ABOUT IT LIKE ITS ALIVE

Max: but it is alive

Max: that's why I need you to feed it

Max: I want to make bread later

Charles: maaaaaax

Charles: can't you feed it when you get home?

Charles: please?

Max: :(

Max: :((

Charles: please don't start with the frowny faces

Max: :(((

Charles: FINE

Charles: I will feed your creepy bread thing

Charles: never let it be said I do not love you

Max: :)

Charles is armed and ready. He's wearing the stupid gag gift apron Valtteri had gifted him last year, that says 'Blow the Chef!' In fancy cursive across the front. It's pattered with little dicks. He'd laughed so hard he cried when he opened it as his white elephant gift at the Christmas party, because none of them even cook their own food anyways.

Since then, it's been banished to the very depths of their hall closet, but he'd brought it out today, for this very specific warfare.

He does not want to get eaten by Max's creepy parasite bread thing. It's clearly infected his beloved boyfriend's brain, because it makes him feed it and water it and name it fucking Pebble, but it will not get Charles. He refuses.

He has oven mitts over both hands, and he's dragged a pair of goggles from their "work sponsored box of tricks" he and Max keep in their office. They're Redbull branded, from some kind of snowsports collab, but it's not like anyone's around to see it anyways.

He approaches the jar that's invaded their kitchen counter, uses a pair of tongs to gingerly lift the lid.

It pops and bubbles, and Charles feels his stomach roll. He hates this thing.

Next comes a salad spoon, which is 100% getting thrown away after this, as he scoops out a huge chunk of it, flinging both the starter and spoon into the trash bin.

He leans over to check his directions from Max again, reaching for the flour, dumping what is probably close to the right amount into the jar.

Pebble gurgles. Charles gags.

He grabs the water he'd set out, pouring it from as high up as possible while also leaning back as far as his body allows, squinting his eyes just in case Pebble is unsatisfied and decides to expand and eat him.

As soon as the water is in the jar, he's grabbing a stirring spoon, the longest one they have. He's only doing this for exactly the three minutes Max has instructed, because he feels like the white guy in a horror movie who's about to die.

Done.

The spoon also gets chucked into the bin, and he's slamming the jar shut, shoving it back to its corner of the counter.

He watches it tensely for a moment, the way it moves and pops inside the jar.

He fucking hates Pebble, stupid little yeasty homewrecker, taking so much of Max's time and attention, all while being ugly.

Messages between [you] and [Chéri 💖]

Charles: I fed the thing

Max: thank you <3

Charles: never ask me to do that again

Charles: I thought I was going to die

Charles: or it was going to explode

Max: but you like the bread I make with it?

Charles: that's different

Max: oh of course

Max: I appreciate you doing that

Charles: thank you

Charles: I was very brave

Max: I'm sure you were, schat

[epicbuddieficrecs]

Weekly Recap | April 8th-14th 2024

Managed to put it out slightly earlier this time! 😆 This is still long af and there are still too many fics left in my ao3 inbox but maybe the mini hiatus will allow me to catch up!

As you can see I'm still enjoying podfics and I am happy to report that listening to Coma-Verse made me cry as much if not more as reading it 🙃 You can also looks forward to part 2 of my "BFF fic rec" series which will cover seasons 4 and 5, coming soon!

Enjoy! 😃

Complete

and with each one, i'm a little more free series by honestlydarkprincess/ @honestlydarkprincess (Post-S7E4, Coming Out):

settle (<1K | General): Buck comes out to Chimney. so let the words slip out of your mouth (1,7K | General): Buck comes out to Eddie.

kiss him once for me by 42hrb/ @exhuastedpigeon (S7E5 Spec, Jealous Eddie | <1K | General): Eddie was perfectly happy and accepting about Buck’s sexuality, in fact, he liked to think he was the ideal picture of a best friend when Buck had told him. So, nothing changed between them. Or at least, nothing changed until he sees Buck and Tommy kiss.

when we're barely awake in the heat of the day's weight by trysetmeonfire/ @try-set-me-on-fire (BuckTommy | 1K | Mature): Buck wakes up at Tommy’s place and they have a conversation about taking up space

like an empty bottle takes the rain by glorious_spoon/ @glorious-spoon (Post-S7E4, Sexuality Crisis | 1,2K | General): "I was wondering. You and Tommy—how did you know?" There's a soft intake of breath. "That I was into guys? Or that I was into him?" "Either." Eddie shrugs tightly. "Both."

Yes, Daddy by Tizniz/ @tizniz (PWP, Daddy Kink | 1,7K | Explicit): And really, the shit eating smirk that graces Buck’s too pink lips should have been Eddie’s warning. But he’s so used to his best friend’s antics that he’s become immune to them. Or, well he thought he had. “Yes, Daddy.”

don't stand a ghost of a chance (with you) by extasiswings/ @extasiswings (Post-S7E5, BuckTommy Breakup | 1,7K | Teen): Tommy isn’t stupid. He knows the score from the beginning. But. He’s only so strong. And Evan is both hot as hell and supremely adorable. So Tommy kisses him, and asks him out, and tells himself that maybe he’s just been reading the signs wrong. Maybe Evan and Eddie really are just…very…close friends. He’s imagining things. They’re friends—or maybe Evan has a crush—but that’s fine. Evan asked Tommy out. So Eddie is…a nonissue. Tommy tells himself that right up until he can’t anymore.

don't want to be a fool for you by fallingthorns/ @fallingthorns (Bachelor party, Madney Wedding Spec | 1,8K | Teen): Or, at both the bachelor party and the wedding reception, Buck looks at Eddie.

let’s get lost between the lines by wafflesofdoom/ @capseycartwright (BuckTommy, Post-S7E5 | 2K | General): “You handled that well,” Tommy said, as they left the restaurant and stepped out into this cool evening air. His words were soft, and gentle – genuine, even. As though he really meant it. Buck was baffled, frankly. “I handled that with as much grace as an elephant doing ballet,” Buck glared at his - his date? - incredulously. “Tommy, did you hit your head? Are you concussed? Do I need to take you to the emergency room?” or, after the eddie shaped hiccup of their first date, buck and tommy walk and talk - about coming out and why buck deserves a nice boyfriend.

good luck, babe by hattalove/ @hattalove (Outsider POV, Social Media fic, S7E5, BuckTommy Date | 2K | Teen): sometimes, when you've had a bad week, all you want is a romantic evening out with your wife over terrible pizza, and what you get instead is some kind of intricate gay ritual happening two tables away from you.

say my name and everything just stops by bellabrady (BuckTommy, Endgame Buddie, Getting Together | 3K | Not Rated): Or: Buck accidentally moans Eddie's name while making out with Tommy and it leads to some realizations.

behaving myself. by dylaesthetics (Secret Relationship | 3K | Teen): OR it’s just a regular day at fire station one-eighteen. No one’s acting weird. Nothing���s out of the ordinary. Everything's the same as it's always been. Right?

even for a phoenix (i’m getting tired) by hobbitprincess (Post-S5E18, Hurt Buck | 3K | Mature) : “You’re gonna be fine,” says Eddie again, and Buck hates that he can parse out the slight waver that wasn’t there the first time. Buck doesn’t have the heart to disagree with him, even if they both know it isn’t true.

This Old Love Has Me Bound by allyasavedtheday/ @littlespoonevan (Post-S7E4 | 3K | Teen): In an attempt to better understand his newfound bisexuality, Buck tries to figure out if he ever missed any signs with guys before. The universe keeps interrupting every time he's about to think about Eddie.

so much to say that's subject-sore by hattalove/ @hattalove (BuckTommy, Buddie Endgame | 3K | Teen): in which buck is convinced he's having commitment issues, tommy is there to hold his hand, and the tiramisu won't eat itself.

I get drunk on jealousy by heartbeatdiaz/ @loserdiaz (FWB BuckTommy, Endgame Buddie | 5K | Explicit): Eddie calls Buck in the middle of the night at a not so covenient time, words are said, feelings are revealed and Buck's strenght is tested.

shoot another shot (try to stop the feeling) by withmeornotatall/ @chronicowboy (Bachelor Party Spec, BuckTommy, Endgame Buddie | 5K | General): "He just. He won't let me in, Tommy. It's terrifying. I don't know how to help him because he's refusing to even admit there's something wrong." Buck scrubs a hand down his face. "I'm not crazy, am I? I'm not making things up? He's not himself, right?" (OR: eddie gets drunk and cuts a little too loose, buck tries to pick up the pieces and ends up getting more than he bargained for, and tommy is just happy he got to be with buck at least for a little while)

Threes Not A Crowd by Tizniz/ @tizniz (Buck/Tommy/Eddie, PWP | 5K | Explicit): Follow up to Buck's Boyfriends in which Buck's boyfriends take care of him. Incredibly well. (Part 2 of Buck's Boyfriends)

🔥 To Build A Nest (To Build A Home) by Kwills91/ @kwills91 (Post-S5E14, Getting Together | 9K | Teen): Five times Buck shows his love for Eddie via pebbling and the one time Eddie uses those pebbles to build a nest.

don't go breaking my heart. by dylaesthetics (S7E6 Spec, Madney Wedding, Getting Together | 13K | Teen): Coming to terms with being bisexual and being in love with his best friend is not how Buck expected to spend the month or so leading up to his sister’s wedding. But then again, life has shown time and time again that he has been put on this planet to suffer. - OR Buck can’t take it anymore and kisses Eddie in the middle of his sister’s wedding reception. He’s never been known for making good decisions. (Part 2 of heaven is you.)

🔥 Test Drive by ElvenSorceress/ @elvensorceress (PWP, Buck/Tommy/Eddie, Buddie Endgame | 28K | Explicit): In which Buck wants his boyfriend to give his best friend a queer awakening like he had. For no particular reason at all. While he also has the most inopportune "Oh" moment ever.

WIP

Both Bermuda and Golden (Lost but Doing Just Fine) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (PWP, Threesome, BuckTommyEddie | 4/6 | 20K | Explicit): In which everyone has two hands and two holes and is keeping their options fluid. (Or: a collection of threesome fics.)

🔥 Things We're All Too Young to Know by Daisies_and_Briar / @cal-daisies-and-briars (Canon S1-S6, S7 Spec | 125/? | 389K | Mature): This is a love story. Even if it doesn’t always look like it. Even if it doesn’t always feel like it. A look back on Eddie and Buck's lives up to now, and what led them to each other, interpreted from the current 9-1-1 canon.

What’s Your Order? by JJK/ @trenchcoatsandtimetravel (Post-S7E5, BuckTommy | 2K | Teen): 5 Times Buck Guessed Tommy’s Coffee Order + 1 Time He Didn’t Have To

🔥 Any Other Way by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Canon Divergent, S2 | 8/18 | 45K | Mature): In a switcheroo alternate universe, Buck spends young adulthood in the military, while Eddie, who has no idea Christopher exists, spends his twenties messing around, finally enjoying freedom away from his family’s expectations. When they both end up in Los Angeles, at the 118, some things are different, and others will be the same in any universe.

🔥 Cowboy With a One Track Mind by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Canon Divergence, Not A Firefighter Buck | 1/4 | 6K | Mature): Spin-off Sequel to Evan Buckley & the Coma-Verse of Madness - Chapter 7 (Land): Grieving and tortured, Evan Buckley has been living alone in Montana in a remote cabin for nearly a decade. After an incident that leaves him missing six months of his life, and suddenly in connection with a group of strangers from Los Angeles, Evan must decide whether to remain in his self-imposed exile, or take a chance at life again.

Podfics

🔥 [podfic] wedding bells by All_I_Ask/ @alliaskisthepossibilityoflove for renecdote/ @renecdote (Friends to Fiances | 10-20 min | General): The background noise of the movie and the warm weight of his best friend against his side is lulling Eddie towards a nap when Buck breaks the silence. “Do you want to get married?” “Sure,” Eddie answers sleepily. “Fall wedding?” “What?” Buck frowns, and Eddie realises: oh, he meant do I want to get married generally not to him specifically. Then Buck is asking, “Why fall?”

🔥 [podfic] do you love me? all you gotta do is say yes by All_I_Ask/ @alliaskisthepossibilityoflove for fleetinghearts/ @shitouttabuck (Outsider POV, Friends to Fiances | 30-45 min | Teen): or, two boy best friends and an ex lover walk into a grocery store. everyone is on their normalest behaviour.

OK with being OK [Podfic] by blackglass/ @blackestglass // fic by S_lycopersicum/ @slycopersicum-in-disguise (Post-S5, Coming Out | 10-20 min | Teen): Buck was about 10 minutes away from the firehouse when his phone pinged. "Message from Eddie Diaz," Hildy's too-smooth voice announced, and Buck laughed at how Eddie's face would scrunch at Hildy knowing his business. "Wait in your car when you get here. I need to talk to you before we go in" Oh shit.

🔥 [Podfic] rainbows have nothing to hide by slipofthetongue/ @burnthatbridge for hattalove/ @hattalove (Getting Together | 20-30 min | Teen): how is eddie diaz like kermit the frog? let buck and christopher count the ways. (Part 1 of the kermit verse)

🔥 [Podfic] Before the Night Fades by slipofthetongue/ @burnthatbridge // fic by MilenaDaniels/ @milenadaniels (Post-S4E14: Survivors, Outsider POV | 45-60 min | Teen): “I have a bottle of champagne, four champagne flutes, one engagement ring to go into one of those champagne flutes, and a note to deliver it all to table 34 with dessert,” Tomas explains, wide-eyed, throwing his hand back to the prep station where said champagne is waiting on ice next to four flutes and a small ring box. “Okay?” “Okay so there’s two men and two women and I have no idea who’s getting proposed to. I’m not even 100% on who came with who." --- Or, EddieAna and BuckTaylor double date and it ruins everyone's night.

🔥[Podfic] Close My Eyes and Stumble (Right Into Your Love) by Ceewelsh/ @mayonnaisetoffees // fic by HMSLusitania/ @hmslusitania (Canon Divergent, S1, Dispatcher Eddie | 2.5-3h | Mature): Eddie's PTSD is just that little bit worse and when he moves to Los Angeles, instead of joining the LAFD, he joins dispatch. Which is all good and fine, except for this one firefighter he keeps ending up talking to.

🔥[Podfic] i did, i did, i do by Ceewelsh/ @mayonnaisetoffees // fic by @hattalove (Canon Divergent | 30-45min | Teen): or the one in which, a couple of weeks after meeting each other, buck and eddie fell in love, broke up, and then forgot to fall out of it.

🔥The Evolution of Buddie [Podfics] by MistMarauder/ @gracieryder for InsaneJuliann/ @marvelingjules (Post-Shooting, Getting Together, Eddie Coming Out, Warning: Homophobia)

[Podfic] Someone Told Me Not to Cry (It's a Lie) (20-30min | Teen): Eddie's fine, he is. Really. He keeps telling himself that until he accidentally calls Buck in the middle of the night after a nightmare.

[Podfic] Just Bros being Bros (45-60min | Teen): It's totally normal to kiss your best friend on the cheek. Eddie has no idea why everyone keeps giving him looks and thinking there's more there.

[Podfic] I was Sinking (Somehow I Forgot) (45-60min | Teen): Eddie tries to figure out just what he may or may not be feeling for Buck. Really, it only leaves him with more questions than any actual answers. His mind keeps twisting around, unable to let him settle with any certainty.

[Podfic] Ready to Suffer, Ready to Hope (S3E18 | 45-60min | Teen): Buck's the one hurting this time, and Eddie wants to help, but he's not sure how, or if he even can. Maybe, he was wrong before. Maybe everyone was. Because clearly, Buck's not as over Abby as everyone seemed to think.

[Podfic] Hard to Learn to Love (45-60min | Teen): Buck's helping Eddie fix Abuela's porch. Eddie's pretty sure he's possibly going to do something stupid, because he can't stop thinking about how much he wants to kiss his best friend.

[Podfic] Someday (Gonna be Free) (45-60min | Teen): Karen points out to Eddie that maybe, his ideas of what a relationship has to look like are something he needs to reassess. She lends him a book, and before Eddie knows it, he's having one epiphany after another.

[Podfic] Bittersweet Triumph (1-1.5h | Teen): Eddie's parents drop by for an unexpected visit. The only thing Eddie can think to do is damage control. Eventually they'd leave, right? Eventually, he could relax again. But he's quickly reaching a breaking point, and he's not sure what'll be on the other side of it.

[Podfic] Pivotal Moment (1-1.5h | Teen): Eddie's stood up to his parents, but of course it can't be that easy. They're still in his house, and Eddie's just waiting for the other shoe to drop. He's frustrated, angry, scared even - and worried about so much at once he can't relax. It's not only leaving Eddie on edge, but Buck seems more and more tense, too.

[Podfic] Hello My Old Heart (1-1.5h | Teen): Eddie needs to check his parents have left - and either way, there's a lot he needs to work through about their visit. Good thing he has family, friends, and Buck to help him figure it all out. And maybe, it's time for him to start showing his hand more, with them all.

[Podfic] Unlearning Lonely After So Long (1-1.5h | Teen): It's the next morning, Buck's still there and making breakfast, and Eddie's realizing that while yeah, the list of things he needs to talk about - with Buck and others - definitely doesn't fill him with anything close to happiness, the rest of it? It's a kind of happiness he hasn't felt in a while.

[Podfic] The More Things Stay the Same (Getting Together | 30-45min | Teen): Eddie's realizing that, now that he's dating Buck, it's not that much different from before, really - except for the increased touching and kissing. That's new. Maybe that's why no one's caught on yet, and they're able to keep it to themselves for now.

🔥 Evan Buckley & The Coma-Verse of Madness by Daisies_and_Briars [Podfic]/@cal-daisies-and-briars by Rhea314 (Rhea)/ @rhea314 (Coma AU, Multiverse | 7-10h | Teen): After being struck by lightning on a call, Buck experiences a plethora of alternate realities showing him different directions his life could have taken. Fighting hard to get home, Buck learns what, or who, is important to him in every lifetime.

Re-Read

🔥 Ace of Hearts by glorious_spoon/ @glorious-spoon (Post-S6, Getting Together | 9K | Teen): "I've been wondering…" Maddie pauses, watches Buck make a face like he's bracing to be smacked. "What happened with Eddie? You two were dancing around it for so long, and then… what, it just didn't work out? Was the date really that bad?" She's expecting another wince, or even for him to duck out of the conversation entirely, but instead Buck is staring at her like she's grown a second head. "Maddie. I've never been on a date with Eddie." Or: the poker game was a date. It takes Buck a while to catch on, though.

🔥 all good things come to an end (but it's not the end) by wafflesofdoom/ @capseycartwright (Pre-S4, Quarantine, Friends with Benefits | 10K | Explicit): “Okay, hear me out,” Buck said. "What if we have sex?” Eddie could be forgiven for choking on his own breath, given how out of the blue Buck's suggestion was. “What?” “You’re my best friend," Buck gestured vaguely. "And in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re living through an actual plague right now, so neither of us is actually getting any. So who better to have sex with than each other?" - or, craving intimacy during quarantine, buck and eddie strike up a friends with benefits situation. because it couldn't possibly go wrong.

[eyesore-boi]

MY EDGE OF SLEEP THOUGHTS

Usually I don't really do review posts, but I figured I should here since we need to get the word out more and I have things to s a y -

And yeah i know it technically already made it top 10...but it's going down again...sooo.....chop chop we gotta punch judge judy in the face again :]

SPOILER WARNING BELOW, OF COURSE, FOR BOTH THE TEOS SHOW A N D ORGINAL PODCAST, SO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

Mainly this is gonna be talking about all the changes they made in the story and my thoughts on them, comparing the podcast to the show, but most of them are actually pretty positive! So, with that said, let's start with one of the biggest changes, that being:

The Maniac: So I know some people are kinda on the fence bout this, but me personally I don't mind that they cut out The Maniac! I get some people liked how their was a bit of a threat at the hospital while they were trying to figure things out, and Dave having the big risk of loosing his balls (tho i love the reference they did with the radio that was great XD), but...I kinda think that went against the point of this apocalypse, of it being a literal silent killer and not being like how the end of the world is seen in movies of chaos and violence, so having the Maniac out gave the group more time to process the situation at hand. That and how it allowed them to talk more and really show the character connections, like the talk Katie and Dave had after he recalled when he carved the triangle on his chest (more on that later)! And sides, least to me, I always kinda thought the Maniac was...a liiiitle tacked on? Like, with the story always kinda relating to Dave and his nightmares, having the Maniac just be some, well, crazy fucked up guy kinda felt outta place. Like maaaaybe they could've related him directly to being on the elephant's side (the sticker on his van doesn't count, that was just foreshadowing), like he was an elephant follower and he was following Dave even before shit went down, but with him just being some guy doing fucked up things, felt just like a tacked on extra threat. (Also I always kinda found it a little unlikely Dave was so easily able to go on and do a buncha other stuff after being literally shot, but eeeh is fiiine i guess-) With that said though, with the Maniac's absence, it does lead me tooooo

Ruth: I actually really liked Ruth's addition a lot! Was refreshing to see one other person in the survivor group, even if you know from the get-go she probably wasn't gonna make it, but that's good for the story! To show us another person's perspective whose out of the loop, how everyone else around her is struggling to keep it a secret, and how she took the place of the Maniac's for the MRI scan was much more impactful, having more weight to the situation since she was innocent and just found out when she sleeps, she dies, and seeing how hard of was on Linda to do, just mwuah amazing acting all around, but again more on that later-

The Dream People: Another change that I actually like, and even prefer! Tbh in the podcast I kinda felt like the whale people/dream warriors were...kinda vauge on what exactly they are? I know they were probably gonna explain that more in Season 2, but i feel like they didn't really...explain enough? Like they were just some higher people/power, nearing a deus-ex-machina, the old man and his son (forgot their names sorry) kinda broke up the story for me whenever we cut back to them (tho i do love the cigarette bit between him and Dave, sad that didn't make it into the show), and i was fine with that but eeeh coulda been handled a little better, and it was in the show! I like it a lot better that little Davey was always dreaming about them alongside the nightmares, since to Dave (and to the viewers seeing this story for the first time) he wasn't really sure on who or what to trust, which only adds more to the mystery of it all! I also like how their home base is more clear and giving slight cult vibes, but hopefully with good intentions (again we'll see in Season 2), so looking forward to learning more about them, even if this time I'm a bit more satisfied on how they're presented!

Mateo: HE LIVED!!! :DD I was actually really suprised that Mateo survived the plane crash! And I don't think i mind that too much, tho i kinda prefer the podcast ver a liiitle more since it added a bit more to the hopelessness of the situation that literally half of the party was dead, but eh more people living the better! Plus I do think Mateo was pretty fun in the show, I liked him and Dave's friendship a lot, especially with him being with Dave when shit went down at the party rather then going home to play video games pantsless, and i liked how we saw him stand up for Dave for being weird, true bros (i also really like the hug Dave gave him when he agreed to fly for them, that was really nice), so I'm sure there's more of him to explore with his veteran background and stuff, so can't wait to see more of him for Season 2! ....maybe then he won't be so lucky oh god- :'D

The Moobles: So probably, like others, the moment I heard that TEOS was gonna get a TV show, there was one scene on particular that I immediately thought of that I was excited to actually see, and that was the fucking Moobles scene- So was I disappointed that we didn't exactly get that scene? ...Yeah, a little bit, but I do understand why we didn't get it, and what we got instead still served the same purpose well! For one, I'd understand why that scene would be a lot for a +14 rated show, even if there is some pretty good gore throughout the series, bit i get multiple self-stabbings can kinda cross the line, but another reason is...I just don't think they had the budget for it. Like- How would they do the Moobles? CGI? Puppets? Either way I'd love to see it, but I knew it'd be pretty pricey, so I get why the Moobles had to be cut, wish they least had a small reference like the Maniac did (maybe the Moobles playing on TV somewhere or a display case showing the "toy" would be cool), but hey, if we can only experience that horrifying scene in podcast form, well, I wouldn't mind at all! Still fucking horrific in sound form and I love it :'D And sides, I actually prefer the new change for Dave's scar this time around! Tho I like the viciousness of having slash marks all over his chest, i think the single triangle scar fits much more with the stories and is great forshadowing of what's to come, giving a more concrete, direct link between what Dave has gone/going through and the killing sleep going on rather than just the warning the Whale gave him before shit went down! And the scene of him cutting in the injury was still pretty unsettling even if not downright horrific like Moobles-

The Clock: The clock was....n e w - I do like the visual of it tho, since at first it seemed like it stopped and ticked back each time a person fell asleep, but i do wonder...why is that? Is time literally going back each time a person dies? Or is it symbolic of just someone's time being up? If that's the case, then why does sometimes it ticks back a single tick, while others it goes back several? (Think an example of that was when Ruth was bout to die but i think i may be missremembering) I still like the addition tho, just wish it was a l i t t l e more clear, that's all :']

Katie: So even if there are some slight changes to her (like how she doesn't have the cast anymore, which i kinda get, they kinda really brushed over that after Dave talked to her about it once in the podcast, so i get why it was cut), I really liked where they went with her! Course may be a l i t t l e bias since we knew Lio as Lady, and for both roles they absolutely crushed it, but- It was great seeing more details about Katie! Like implying more and more that she had a drug problem in the past and using her rehab advice on Dave was very fitting, and though it was sad knowing she wasn't going to make it in the end, still loved all her scenes! Especially the incredibly tense scene where Dave has to run miles to get to her house to make sure she doesn't sleep, passing by empty streets and sleeping bodies, and Katie (reasonably) hitting Dave on the head when he broke into her house, ooohoho that was good- And i remembered at first i was slightly surprised that Katie died in the plane rather than locking herself in the car, and at first i thought "Oh it's just to make it more impactful, for Dave to fly with his ex's corpse right next to him, so close to safety, yeah that's screwed up :/" ....then the ending cliffhanger shots were shown and ohohOHOHOHO THE SHOT OF KATIE IN THE WATER STARING DOWN THE CAMERA WITH TRAINGLE EYES, IMPLYING SHE'S GONNA BE A H U G E THREAT IN SEASON 2, OHOHO LOVE THAT SHIT-

The Dream Chamber: A new addition/change that I don't mind tooooo much, but i am a little confused on. In the podcast, little Dave's treatment was to be isolated away from society for 18 months with just him and his mom, nothing else as to not be used against him in his nightmares. And while here i can understand a little why they cut that (i mean each ep is only 20 mins so chop chop), the Dream Chamber scene was pretty interesting! The doctor was weird but i think that was the point (never trust a man with a bowl cut wig) since i remember there was one shot where there was an elephant ceremic (i think) in his office, and when talking about the chamber he had these strange flashes, one including a whale dying in a graveyard, so i think that's implying he's on the elephant's side and was only going to harm Dave more, thus why the Dream People made little Davey stab him in the neck (which i was s h o c k e d on when i saw, btw), but my problem is...we kinda never really go back to Dave's past after that? In the podcast, it was proven that the therapy worked for Dave so he could live out his life as a normal person until the Moobles happened, but here...we don't really know what happens after? Did the doctor die when he got stabbed? I don't think so since there'd have to be some legal trouble braught up because of that, and nobody mentions the doctor dying after that, sides it was just like...a kid stabbing him, so yeah it'd be pretty painful but maaaybe not that deadly. Did Dave get better after that? Probably not, probably is just prescribed more pills once he was old enough, but...in both podcast and in show it's braught up the concern that if he doesn't get the nightmare fixed soon when he was young, it'd lead to huge developmental issues, but Dave seems...mostly normal when older, nightmares and triangle carving aside. He still has a social life, albeit a small one, got a girlfriend, and even a job, so...did the treatment work? A little unclear, kinda wished they just just stuck with the cabin therapy, but it's an easy lookover, and maybe they'll elaborate more in season 2, so we'll just hafta see!

The Elephant: For me personally, i think the elephant monster face is kinda hit or miss under the right circumstances, like the first scene with the nightmare about Dave's mom turning into one, that one was real spooky and the flashing lights actually aided to it in my opinion, but...when it's just in broad daylight and on any person....yeaaah i can kiiiinda tell it's just a mask, hell i think it is the same one being re-used, but eh i think it's fine, just kinda wish they got a bit more creative with the elephant imagery to make it more eldritch and stuff like with the Whale, like that one shot of the Elephant being barely seen on the static on the TV at the party, that was cool, but it's fiiiine it served it's purpose well enough-

Baby Dave: Okay not too much of a tangent on the actual show, just something i thought up on, but...fellas. Markiplier community. More specifically, MCU community. We have an irl face for baby Dave. Ergo, we have a face for baby Mark. Ergo....we have a face for baby Actor, Damien, and William...I am expecting fanart soon and quick 🔫👁

Linda: I really loved Linda in the show! Eve did an amazing job getting across how intense and high strung Linda was, probably even better since we can see how stressed she is! Seeing her actual break down over Brit's death was great, to show she still is deeply disturbed and broken about the whole situation, and i think that was especially needed when she did the MRI on Ruth since in that scene she is crying, but with the knowledge she experienced the same thing with Brit, you can tell this isn't easy for her, but she is willing to do anything to figure out what is going on so the small group of people she barely knows can live. Also, MORE LINDA LORE OOOOO- Was not expecting that, for her to work in a secret government project before, but think it fits well! Explains why she's a little intense and weird, plus let's the audience know this truly can't be some government weapon since she knows of all the gov weapons in the works, so that was really cool to learn of her!

OST: MARKUS E. PLIER. AMAZON. QRCODE. S O M E O N E. YOU BETTER DROP THAT OST SOON CAUSE I W A N T - But for real i l o v e d the soundtrack throughout the series, it all fit the vibes perfectly, keeping things tense at tense scenes and heartfelt at heartfelt scenes, and those beats just mhmhmh- Also i adore the intro, soft, old music being used in a creepy morbid context with visual seeming out of place but once you watch the whole series it makes sense ohohoho gimmie that shit anyday- Speaking of...

Visuals: Touched upon this a bit earlier with the Elephant and the gore, but i liked the visuals a lot! Course i knew it wasn't gonna be movie level stuff or anything (some shots of the Whale are a b i t imposed at time but it's fine), but i feel like they knew what they were able to do, and did it to the best of their ability, and they did! I do love the gore, even if a little small, the brain cutting scene was amazing, very spooky, the funeral hallucination at the end was crazy with everyone bleeding out of their eyes and ears looked real good and intense, and the final shots with all the bodies waking up with triangles in their eyes oohohoohohohooo i loved that shit so damn much i am so hype for more p l e a s e -

And, finally, last but certainly not least, Dave: As to a suprise to nobody, least to those already in the Markiplier Fandom, Mark's acting was on fucking point. In every scene he was in, whatever he needed to sell, he sold it perfectly. Whether that be in distressed and concerned, confused and scared, angry and in dispair, he did it all perfectly, I fucking loved it. Like fuck- The scene where Katie dies, the desperation in his voice as he pleads for Linda to give her more adrenline, as if that'd fix it, having to be pulled back in his anguish, f u c k - And the scene before when he carves the triangle into his chest, waking up just in time to give an almost dazed, dead look to Katie as he asks sluggishly "what's wrong?", adding to the horror of his self mutilation. GOOD SHIT GOOD SHIT- My only "complaint" i guess is that i wished he had a few more lines/scenes with dialog, but maybe that's just wishful thinking since i'm so used to him talking on and on and on and on both in the podcast and just in the channel in general, but even then i couldn't be happier with his performance!!

Infact, everyone did fucking incredible! If you're reading this and you still haven't watched TEOS yet...what the hell are you doing go watch we gotta beat the crap outta Judge Judy BUT also go watch for the incredible acting, special effects, soundtrack, story, just EVERYTHING that is Edge of Sleep! It is definitely worth your time, it's only 2 hours so it's super easy to binge, and tho i am a little pissed like everyone else that Amazon/QRCode/Hollywood execs are tryna bury this thing so Mark/other well deserved YouTubers can't have their work be put more out there, well...we're showing them now, aren't we? >:]

TLDR: This is the best sleedge i've had in my life so go watch so you can sleedge yourself. Alright bye. *backflips then dies*

[donotbelasagne]

sorry to hear you're struggling man :( sending you love and happiness!! here's a question that I think about a LOT. if jeremy dyson's 'tlog but everyone wakes up with a tail' idea from apocalypse had actually been made, what kind of tails do you think the characters would have?

Yes!! I made notes during a work meeting lmao

Gonna be honest with you, did this purely on memory which means there's slightly more Reece characters than Steve/Mark, because apparently I don't remember their names (and I didn't want to go "that guy that bothers disabled people").

Chinnery - monkey. It would have a live of its own and it would fuck things up real time.

Judee - Horse. I mean. Look at her. Look. At. Her. Horse (girl) through and through.

Edward - hyena. Bit shit, bit cool. Maniacal laugh.

Tubbs - squirrel. She would throw it over her shoulder and pretend it was a scarf/pet.

Pauline - Badger. Neat, beautiful and stinky :)

Micky - goldfish. He'd be so happy with it as well.

Ross - chinchilla. Not truly a rat, but quite rat like. He would be so not happy with it as well.

Charlie - zebra. Gay version of a horse tbh

Stella - mermaid. No I will not take any questions at this time. Does it replace her legs? Does it need water to survive? Not telling you.

Barbara - Lion. She deserves it.

Harvey - lizard. Because toads don't have tails.

Val - chameleon. Like a lizard, but cooler.

Benjamin - wet cat. Doesn't matter what state he is in, tail always wet cat.

Pops - hippo. When he shits, it gets everywhere.

Bernice - dragon. Because I say so.

Herr Lipp - mouse. Prove me wrong.

Papa Lazarou - shark. Took me ages to come up with this one and I'm still not very happy with it.

Cave guide (can't remember his name soz) - donkey. I actually wrote donkey for multiple Mark characters, so I guess that's just his energy.

Hilary - cow. It would make him cry tears of joy.

Ollie - Peacock. Imagine how fucking annoying that would make him.

Tony - elephant. Purely and solely because he has a massive cock.

Lisgoe - chihuahua. Look at him lmao

Brian - giraffe.

Let me know if I've forgotten any big ones, because I've put zero thought into this. It was a great experience.

[antiscorbutic]

welcome to my polar explorers sideblog !

books n things ive read / some thoughts etc (updated frequently)

> Endurance - Caroline Alexander

what I started with. v good read imo pretty succinct and flows nicely. not too hero-worshippy iirc, nice pictures

> The Worst Journey in the World - Apsley Cherry-Garrard

I read (listened to) the audiobook narrated by Simon Vance and really liked it! tbh I wasn't super deep in to all this when I started it and was kind of shocked at how readable it was. my favorite part is birdie's letter about the land crabs.

also in general it's really nice to get an actual pov account -- the secondary books are lovely for helping muddle through sources and stuff but I get annoyed with how much time is spent on the Famous bits and not the unglorious monotony, which i love hearing about. I gotta read some actual diaries

> Madhouse at the End of the Earth - julian sancton

JESUS I did not know anything about the belgica going in AND I'd just watched aliens (1986) and WHY are there narrative parallels this shouldn't be real??? also amundsen is a real freak (<- value neutral)

> Endurance (2024)

uhhh sorry kids I hated this. I know it's based on the guys book but like the parallel heroic narrative thing was so icky to me. also the AI voices were giving "we didn't want to pay voice actors" and!!! fucking pointless to end it when you find the ship I want to know about the ship!!!!!!!!!! I wanted to watch a doc about the ship not about some people who found the ship. tragic for me

> Shackleton (2002) - TV miniseries with Kenneth Branagh

actually loved this. there was clearly so much attention and care put in to little historical details and even with all the silly dramatic Kenneth monologues i really enjoyed it

> The Great White Silence (1924) - Herbert Ponting

fucking WILD that as a card carrying member of the attention-span-ruined tiktok generation that as soon as I found this I was GLUED to the screen for the full like 2.5 hours or however long it is. seriously jumpscared by the cat's racial slur of a name (as ever) but honestly it's a good reminder of the colonial context we're in here so I kind of appreciate it. anyway absolutely mind boggling to see this early footage of the adelie penguins etc when I grew up watching them in planet earth and have always kind of taken their existence for granted. and I think the telling of the actual polar journey was pretty touching for being obviously like the same 15 seconds of footage of a miniature

> Endurance - Alfred Lansing

eh I didn't need to read both this and the caroline alexander book. it was fine. I always wish they'd spend more time on the elephant island castaways and less time on the small boat journey. I get that that's the like, famous impressive part, but I'm here to be reminded of the horror that it is to be alive day after day and I think more time should be spent on that monotony. also he didn't talk about the post-expedition AT ALL and I need my little "where they are after the reality TV series ended" title cards

> Amundsen (2019)

didn't finish it. too much back-at-home drama not enough being on the ice

> The Last Place on Earth (1985)

I haven't read the scott v amundsen book it's based on but jesus whoever wrote that must have fucking hated scott. I'm not saying they're wrong necessarily I'm no expert i AM saying hes wrong fuck this guy!!!! but holy shit did scott look like an incompetent asshole even compared with all the other incompetent assholes. needed more screen time of young hugh grant as cherry

> basically any bbc special about explorers

PLEASE correct me if I'm missing anything but lord I stg every one of these is the worst pro imperialism hero worship bullshit of all time. "james cook was a really nice guy actually" are you fucking kidding me

> empire of ice and stone - buddy levy

this is my first arctic account and I have. a lot of thoughts and feelings about the way arctic expeditions interact w indigenous people that I don't want to get into here. truly baffled by the number of polar bears they interacted with. also fuck stefansson so much like okay fine you left the ship but go find it again??? fucking rescue them?????

> in the kingdom of ice - Hampton sides

okay this might be my favorite modern account I've read. I love how much context is provided ... like I have Thoughts and Feelings about John Muir but his diaries being included and GOD Emma's letters being interspersed was fucking devastating. definitely the most emotional I've gotten. and all the interludes to explain the geography of a region and what its called now or in russian and even all of the many chapters about bennett added so much for me. AND giving full accounts of each group after they split the party without one getting only briefly summarized in favor of the other but also without making the timeline confusing???? -- I say this all even though hampton committed what to me is the cardinal sin of these books: skipping time that's "boring". a whole year of monotony??? julian sancton only you understand me

> labyrinth of ice - buddy levy

augh. OUAGHE. oughe!!!! I am devastated. good book :(

> alone on the ice - david roberts

not my favorite .... the author is clearly bitter that mawson is not as famous and heroic to history as someone like shackleton. also I really think he should have stuck to a linear narrative structure instead of jumping around. zero mention of possible cannibalism

not historical but overlaps / scratched a similar itch:

> outlaw ocean - ian urbina

modern investigative journalism on lawlessness on the high seas. fucking hard to read because it's largely about like, human trafficking. even the "light" stories are still rough. really, really good read though and i liked hearing about recent trawling and whaling in the south and thinking about it in relation to historical whaling etc

> frozen planet (2011)

I mean I'm a huge sucker for any attenborough nature doc esp the planet earth extended universe but this was also specifically produced around the 100th anniversary of amundsen & scott reaching the pole and I love to think about the boys seeing the penguins and seals etc for the first time .... wonderful stuff

> the thing 1982

I think I'm probably the last person to watch this one so I don't think I can add much commentary but as someone who has seen approx. 3 horror movies and two were alien and aliens I did not think it was as scary as it could have been. I do like a horrible Beast though so maybe that's on me

currently in progress!!!!!!!!!

> Erebus - Michael Palin <- I have the ebook instead of the audiobook so I'm making my way through it slowly :-)

> ice ghosts - Paul watson

other things I have out from the library but haven't started:

> eight bears - Gloria dickie (not directly relevant but highly recommended to me)

> late Victorian holocausts - Mike Davis <- a little too academic for me to parse easily but Mike ily and I think it's healthy to read about other things happening around the same era

> left hand of darkness

> against the ice - Ejnar mikkelsen

> to the edges of the earth - Edward larson

^ huge s/o to @jesslovesboats's sad boat books lists btw for helping me find more sad boat books that my library has audiobooks of <3 (im very much an audiobook guy so while I'm frothing to read more diaries and shit I have a hard time with it. yet another tragedy for me personally)

[elderemorune]

Beautiful IF.

This evening, my wife and I went to see a movie. This isn't anything unusual, we love the theater, and will take any excuse we can to go when she has time. Last we were able to get out just the two of us, it was to see Lisa Frankenstein, which I wholly recommend by the way. It was great, feminist as fuck, and frankly (see what I did) fun as hell.

But that's not why I'm here tonight.

Tonight, we're here for John Krasinski's IF.

IF is a movie that's part of a rare genre. The Family Film. You know, the kind that came out when millennials were children, like The Addams Family, or Hocus Pocus. A movie made for everyone to enjoy.

Now this is probably confirmation bias, since most of the fandoms I'm in are serious business, or at least they think they are, and such most of what I watch is grim, dark, or otherwise edgy. I won't deny being an edge marquis, I've been one since middle school and I'm not stopping now!

This movie, simply put, is beautiful. As we start to see more and more art about fighting (or subliminally supporting) fascism, it's like we shy away from beauty and instead want to focus wholly on how dark things are for us. And with a constant barrage of messaging like that, it's hard to stay hopeful, easy to stay mad.

Then we get a movie like IF. It takes a look at life through the most hopeful lens it can, a kid's. I don't want to get too into the story because my roommate reads this and I want them to see this as blindly as they can, but I'll tell you this: IF wants you to know that it's okay to be a kid.

But what does that mean? To be a kid? Is it to engage in wild flights of fancy where you imagine great, impossible things like an elephant made of cotton candy? Is it using play to cope with hard times? To be innocent? What is innocence anyway?

IF isn't trying to answer those questions at all. All IF cares about is that you know that it's okay to be a kid, no matter what.

For a super spoiler-free quick rundown, IF follows the adventures of Bea as she tries to help place imaginary friends (IFs) with new kids and find a new sense of purpose. Imagine (heh) Foster's Home for Imaginary (heh) Friends, but age Mac up a year and have her partner be a big furry purple guy (Hey! Like Eduardo!) named... Blue? Is this possibly an... GASP! AN EASTER EGG RIGHT THERE?! The big difference is that imaginary friends can't really be seen by anyone, except Bea and this other guy, Calvin. We'll talk about him later.

So let's talk about the rest of the movie, because there's not much more I can say without spoilers.

Just look at this man. He's distinct. You know EXACTLY what he's about, who he is, everything you need, just from looking at him.

And the same holds true of every other IF that you see (and don't) on screen. The team that worked on them did an immaculate job, perfectly capturing a child's imagination and how they see the world around them in these funny lil guys. Like how Blue is purple because his kid was colorblind, so he looked blue TO HIS KID, and how the robot IF was the kind of thing that a kid fond of taking things apart might imagine as their friend. Their personalities are all so clear, and when they're on screen they really steal the show.

Speaking of theft, let's talk the casting. Cailey Fleming plays Bea and gosh is her performance just the tops. Her first onscreen part was as young Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (which I didn't watch because I just don't care much for Star Wars). This is the first place I've seen her work, and I one hundred percent believed she was actually John Krasinski's daughter.

Who, by the way, plays her dad. A lovable goofball who tries to find the fun in everything, he's sick (though we're never told with what) and is in New York for surgery. It's a big one, apparently, and there's a chance he won't wake up from the anesthesia, but he's determined to make it through. Really, what can I say about Krasinski's acting that fans of The Office haven't already said? This guy is the kind of dad I want to be when I eventually have kids.

Steve Carell voices Blue, the big purple IF on the poster. Sure, I guess if I had A critique of this movie, it's that it's another Steve Carell Funny Voice(TM) but fuck off, I had fun and it was clear he loved the project. I loved Blue, I thought he was funny and so sweet, and he was just so goddamned lovable that I genuinely had no notes.

Last, and he'd probably say least, Ryan Reynolds plays Calvin, a very handsome gentleman who can also see the IFs like Bea can. He started the effort to rehome IFs with new kids, but hasn't had much success at the time the movie starts. He's a bit of a curmudgeon, pessimistic that anything they do will work, and refers to his ability to see them as a curse, but he still does everything he can to help Bea place IFs in new homes. While still your typical wise-cracking Ryan Reynolds character, it was interesting to see him playing a character who's not about diving into things headfirst, instead giving us a more timid person who would really rather be asleep.

The cast all worked exceptionally well together. As I said, I came out of this movie truly believing that Fleming was Krasinski's daughter, and the chemistry between her and Reynolds was amazing. They really felt like friends, and I never once felt like their relationship was weird in any way. Carell and Fleming were also delightful together, with Blue serving as wonderful comedy relief.

Lastly, I guess is the score, right? I'm new to caring about this, so forgive me if I forget an important part.

Music was done by Michael Giacchino, who's score was frankly perfect. He captured the vibe perfectly, and I can honestly think of no higher praise for a film score. In particular, there was a scene that really hit me, and if the Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia hadn't been the song used, I'm not sure I'd have cried near as hard.

So that's it. IF. A beautiful movie, a poignant message, and something that I think everyone could benefit from seeing.

Because what IF it's right? And it IS okay to be a kid?

That means anything is possible, doesn't it? What IF you COULD have a cotton candy elephant? Or a small army of Bionicle robots who are fiercely loyal to you as you lead them across Mata Nui to expunge the darkness? (Don't tell me you didn't do this. If you had Bionicle, you did this.)

What IF?

[sunnysam-my]

Is Benedict Cumberbatch actually ableist/anti-autism?

Every now and then I hear people mentioning it. When I learned for the first time about what he said and done I was shocked. He may not be my favourite famous person or actor, but he's a well respected man who played many roles I'm fond of. I was deeply upset about this, but one question was lingering in my mind. What about the context? Did he actually said that? Did he still hold those negative opinions or was it just the times. On top of that, how much does non-actors understand what's like to be an actor. Oh, and let's not forget that all of those accusations came from written articles and interviews with him which create catchy biased headlines and commentary.

I happened to be an autistic and a disabled actor myself, so I dig deeper and here it is. Allow me to be the devil's advocate.

First I remind you all that in 2013 the terms like "low functioning" or other subtypes of autism were changed, so it's no suprise that the outdated terms were still being used.

Starting off in 2011 when Cumberbatch played Frankenstein's 'Creature' and Frankenstein. I've seen some people confused whether he played Victor Frankenstein, the mad scientist, or the 'Creature', Frankenstein's creation who wasn't even given a name. He played both, exchanging it with the other actor, Jonny Lee Miller. This isn't as uncommon as people think, although it's not popular either.

Benedict mentioned that the he went with Jonny to see how autistic people act. He also did his own research into stroke survivors as well in general people who had to re-learn how to use their bodies. That's because that's the research they needed to accurately portray a character freshly born in a body of adult and immediately abounded by his creator, who is trying to learn how he and people work.

The part of this video that's important to this conversation is from 00:00 to 01:20.

I recommend also watching this video for a better inside of the character if you don't know the book. This is important because the Creature being autistic coded is not a bad a thing. He is not a monster. You missed the whole point of the play and book.

The Creature is a child in a adult body. The tragedy of "Frankenstein" is that all he wants is to be loved and cared for, but because of his deformations, scary physical appearance and mental disability everyone fears him and threats him as an 'it', a scary dangerous monster. IF YOU THINK THE CREATURE IS A MONSTER YOU ARE BEING ABLEIST.

Clips of The Creature being born are shown while the actors look mildly embarrassed watching themselves on screen. Madeline: I wanted to talk about the immense physicality of this show – you are both learning to walk as adults and it really comes through in those clips and how did you go about doing that? Jonny: We worked with a movement coach Toby Sedgwick, the incredible Toby Sedgwick. We started work the 3 of us (Danny, Benedict and Jonny) and also with Toby and Nick before the rest of the company joined us and it was sort of like a going back to school process really for me and Benedict. We worked on movement in various ways. Movement techniques of using different materials and different substances and it was quite embarrassing and quite a great way to get to know each other and to sort of drop everything immediately… Benedict: Like our clothes! Straight away. Jonny: Two guys pretending to be oil and glass who don’t really know each other very well at all. There’s a lot of water in there as well. Benedict: We talked a lot about about what we were doing as far as the world that influenced Danny and Nick in terms of wanting to do this project. We went to two extraordinary schools for autistic children and there is an element of the movement that reflects that but also as Jonny was saying it’s an evolution of a man who is fully formed so it’s an evolution with a fully grown body, it’s as if a man is born again as an elephant. Sort of backwards. It’s about not knowing anything about what they’ve got but being capable of doing much more than a child so it was about how to stagger that progression and having certain barriers to being fully evolved with certain autistic movements. Madeline: You do see the development of the Creature as he moves on and gets older and learns. […]

Unfortunately the link to the website this transcript was on no longer works, it was taken over, however you can view it using the Wayback Machine.

So, no, in this situation he absolutely was not ableist. That was just actors doing their job, making no offensive comments. And again The Creature is not a monster! He's practically mentally disabled with a development disorder if you tried to diagnose him like a real person. The entire history is about him fighting for his right to be alive and happy despite of how weirdly he looks or behaves.

Two other similar takes on this (Twiter/X) (Carrd)

In the 2014 interview for the Irish Times about his role in "The Imitation Game" as Alan Turing and other achievements he commented further about the role in Frankenstein.

For his award-winning turn in Danny Boyle's Frankenstein, he studied autism so that he might grasp how a fully formed man, with no infancy or childhood to reference, might behave.

“I went to schools and met people, some of whom are very high functioning on the autistic spectrum. I met a 17-year-old who had the mental age of a one and a half year old. Everything was just about bodily functions. Smell. Sexual arousal. Shitting. Whatever. So when I hear people use diagnostic labels casually – Sherlock is autistic, Turing is autistic – it really upsets me.”

He pauses for a nanosecond, then continues to talk: “And it upsets me those 17-year-olds were coming to the end of their care. Because after that they’re supposed to head into employment and earn revenue for their government. Ha. Because from early on you’re empiricised in that Orwellian sense.”

He smiles: “Sorry. I’m getting political.”

A lot of people leave out the last part, which is incredible frustrating considering he talks about a very real problem disabled people experience. As soon as we turn 18 we are suddenly supposed to figure everything out on our own and be useful to society or we'll be thrown out. It's ironic how people who accused him of being ableist here got this negative part so spread out, but not the really important part. The part where he cares for that 17-year-old who society would rather ignore, because they just didn't fit that perfect picture. The part he brings attention to an awful thing that happens every day.

The same year he said, as written in Metro:

Many are drawing parallels between Turing and Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes, suggesting he’s specializing in characters who exist somewhere on the autism spectrum. But Cumberbatch wants them to cut out that nonsense. “Though Sherlock is an immediate comparison, they’re so different. Sherlock is a sociopathic show-off, and Alan was anything but that,” Cumberbatch tells Metro. “I don’t think he was on the spectrum. I think a lot of people are very lazy with that.” It’s a suggestion Cumberbatch has heard raised again and again, and he’s frankly had enough of it. “I think it’s a really dangerous thing to toy with that,” he says. “People talk about me doing that quite a lot and that being a good thing for people who are on the spectrum, which is great. But I don’t go into a job going, ‘Is this autism? Is this Asperger’s? Is this some other form of slight learning difficulty or disability?’ I’m very wary of that, because I’ve met people with those conditions. It’s a real struggle all the time. Then these people pop up in my work and they’re sort of brilliant, and they on some levels almost offer false hope for the people who are going through the reality of it.”

What Cumberbatch is actually saying in both of those is that he is sick of people seeing a genius played by him and immediately stereotype him as autistic, ignoring the fact that it's a very broad disability. Because that's what autism is, a disability. Fun fact, you can have autistic or ADHD traits/symptoms, but you won't get diagnosed if they aren't disabling you on daily basis. The lowest level of autism is "requiring support". There is nothing wrong with admitting your autism is making you disabled. There's nothing wrong with being disabled.

He isn't trying to play a autistic character, he just plays what he thinks is right. People see the geniuses he plays and immediately go "😮🫵 Autistic!" and compare them despite how different they are.

However, the way he says it stinks of that "You can't headcanon everyone autistic, that's a serious condition!" mindset that's oh so present in neurotypicals. I can only assume that what he was trying to say is that it's not good to portray disabilities as superpower, without mentioning the struggles they come with, but even if that was the intention it was poorly phrased. It did come out as disrespectful and in my personal opinion we can be truly mad at that, because we're not something to pity or describe so… oddly?, like that comment about the 17 year old.

I disagree with Turing not being autistic irl, more specifically with thinking people's reasons to say that are lazy, unless he was talking about Sherlock or the movie version of Turing there, in which case, eh 50/50. For example, here's a great article about exactly that, it compares the real life Alan and the movie version and if it is even good to 'diagnose' historical figures. However the movie version makes him more socially awkward, so this could be just being upset as people took another fictonal white, awkward genius and slapped "autistic" on that. It's funny how when characters like this are canonically autistic then it's a stereotype, but when it's a headcanons then suddenly it's okay and you shouldn't disagree with it. Sheldon from Big Bang theory is a great example of that.

To quote another article about how Turing in the move was changed:

The Imitation Game isn’t a plea for greater tolerance of homosexuals, but of people on the autistic spectrum. Its cause is neurodiversity, not sexual diversity. That’s why Turing is portrayed as someone who struggles with ordinary human interaction. He’s literal-minded to a fault and is incapable of understanding jokes. He’s nothing like the real Alan Turing, who was warm, charming and funny; instead, he’s exactly like the main character in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. To make a point, the filmmakers have invented a largely fictional character — a mathematical genius with Asperger’s syndrome. It’s as if they decided that presenting Turing as a victim of the persecution of homosexuals is old hat. So instead, he’s portrayed as a martyr to another, more fashionable cause. His crime isn’t being gay, but failing to be neurotypical.

Now, I’m all for giving more respect to people on the autistic spectrum — my half-brother Christopher is on the autistic spectrum — but not because they’re ‘special’. The Imitation Game commits a similar error to Rain Man, which seems to argue that Dustin Hoffman’s character should be valued and cherished not because he’s a human being with the same needs as the rest of us but because he’s exceptional with numbers. It’s patronising nonsense, and as an argument for neuro-diversity doesn’t bear scrutiny. It won’t surprise you to learn that Christopher isn’t any good at maths.

You can say that I'm being too biased towards the Benedict here, but I think it's only right to give the man a benefit of a doubt, especially how people jumped him after Frankenstein, and say "Hey, was that a horribly phrased thought? Hell yeah, but the meaning could not be so simple as people think." You're assuming the worse here, and I do understand why, considering how we're usually treated, but maybe let's try to assume positively too. At least let's try to be neutral.

I'm not going to dictate if he's ableist or not, that's up to you to decide how you feel, I just hope you can make an educated opinion and that this helped clear anyone's mind, because it did for me.

Oh, and also, this doesn't mean he's a good person now, because he's been a dick to so many people and had horrible opinions on so many topics. This is purely about the ableist accusations.

[ceiling-karasu]

Watched Black Cat Detective and started thinking about Squirrel and Hedgehog as well.

It's been a few days so I have lots of thoughts and rambling. I'll start off by saying that since the main villain of Black Cat Detective is named the 'one eared mouse,' and we already have one of those in this fandom, I'll be calling him Lǎobǎn (no idea if there is already a fan nickname for this guy).

Putting these two together in a room would be fun, but I think Oegwipali is way smarter, to be honest, especially since he is a trained soldier. I'm not sure they would get along.

I would not do a Squirrel and Hedgehog and Black Cat Detective crossover in The Rod That Blocks the Lightning, though, since on is a North Korean cartoon and the other is strictly Chinese. I would be interested in doing a cross over in another, less serious, AU, though, since it is pretty similar with the violence and some other themes.

I watched the original series, then the reboot, and then the movie. Animation wise it does have that 'these kinds of thing happen in the first few episodes' issues, but it is only five episodes so they don't get ironed out. Still entertaining! It was pretty interesting, although I think the movie takes place in a different continuity. The series takes place in a forest with its own 'Forest Law,' and the movie is set in a massive futuristic city with space faring technology.

(I think the giant hairdrier is a leg section of what is a science museum of futuristic space vehicles).

It is about as violent as people say it is, especially for the time period and the fact that it was made for children. I thought it really could not be that bad, that the FH spike impalement scene was wild, but no, an eagle really does beat a bunch of children and eat one alive on screen. Said child is never seen again. The police even know what is going to happen.

Also, are the 'rats that eat cats' supposed to be vampires? Those are some wet slurping sounds, and then the talk of drinking blood later...

I really wish that had been expanded upon. It would make for a fun murder mystery AU.

Definitely a police propaganda cartoon, but maybe (maybe?) not as much racism as we previously thought. The cats in the first episode do not jump to the assumption that the mice stole all the food immediately, and actual detective work is shown throughout the series. I think I saw a mouse living in a village normally in a later episode, and the cats don't even blink an eye at her presence. But when they do figure out who committed the crimes, they do not hesitate to brutally beat the mice half to death and shoot limbs off, if not shoot them dead, with absolutely no mercy. They are overly enthusiastic in sprinting forwards with their batons to beat criminals unconscious in general. At one point there's a stun baton, and they deliberately use it in sensitive areas for extra effect.

Then again, later, a criminal elephant trying to murder a group of cops later is simply tranquilized, so make of that what you will. Although, honestly, the elephant is referred to as a citizen of the forest, and the mice are not. Which would actually rival Flower Hill's xenophobia on the matter, and they don't even have a war going on. Maybe. They have tanks in the forest in the reboot outro?

We noticed a weird issue with the clinking of shackles and chains on arrested prisoners being one of the loudest and crispest sounds in the audio.

There's also the fact that Black Cat will reveal to the public that a prisoner committed a terrible crime, but declare them innocent based on the fact that the crime was 'only in their nature' and they couldn't help it. Which is a very strange thing to say, feels weird, and also suggests that the mice trying to steal and kill everyone were making a choice which is why (according to whatever lesson is being taught here) they 'need' to be punished so brutally and killed without mercy (the elephant and company needed a mineral in the laterite bricks they were stealing, so they were 'only ' sentenced to heavy labor so to speak).

They start talking about using interpol to track down Lǎobǎn at one point.

Which means I think it would be pretty interesting if Lǎobǎn managed to escape to Flower Hill or something like that, and the cats were the Special Forces of the Rabbit Village police. Or the surviving mice could end up with the Weasel Unit and used a propaganda tools of 'this is why we hate Flower Hill, look what they did to your fellows' type thing.

Now as for the movie:

I'll be honest, there was no English release of the movie, so I watched it raw in Chinese while discussing it with rei-does-stuff and sah-headcanons. Maybe we can make a post of our live-blogging with each other later.

There's a Tumblr user named ernestelm who made a review on it, but it is one of those things where none of us would have bothered getting into Squirrel and Hedgehog if we listened without taking a look ourselves.

I'll have to rewatch the movie frame by frame with a deepl translator, but what I get is that a gorilla gets betrayed and floats off into space, and comes back with telekinesis and fireball magic he learned out there and wants revenge.

Either way, he needs some sort of special green star gravity device so he can kidnap people in a museum, and enlists the help of Lǎobǎn for some reason (in case he gets captured or because he might be a local?). Except a pig kid sees this all happening, and Black Cat realizes that this kid has seen too much, and takes him into police custody for his own safety. Amazingly, he tells the parents he has to take the kid with him, from what I can tell.

It makes sense that the police would have Black Cat take care of the kid, since he has apparently always had a way with children.

Side note: What is this character? We think it's a fennec fox? The ears don't look right enough to be a cat. I'm not even sure it's a living person, it might be a computer program. Black Cat sure does give commands into an electronic watch a lot.

ernestelm is completely right about the duck/goose, though. I watched one of the most entertaining animations I've ever seen with meteors damaging a prison complex for six minutes, and then got hit with THAT voice. Maybe he is actually useful, I don't know yet, I'll need the translator. Not one of the police officers hesitates to follow his orders and start a musical number, which turns out of be a legitimate distraction, which means the singing was police protocol intended to confuse a target. Everyone keeps forgetting he can fly at crucial moments?

And why do unimportant characters have a different animation style near the end?

(What is this? Why is it like this it looks like The Amazing World of Gumball?? Also reminds me of Pleasant Goat but these are not goats)

Black Cat Detective is just a slight bit expressionless as well. It would have been nice to see him actually in trouble or in distress like the original, instead of the calm to cocky attitude the whole time. Oh no, he's falling from very high up. Luckily the kid who hero worships the police enough to have studied their flying bikes, and whose father is a pilot, has been hanging around on said bike for just such an occasion. No peril at all.

The real question in the movie is this;

They just casually happen to have a containment unit for the gorilla? Are superpowers and magic just a thing in the Black Cat Detective movie universe, and common enough that they have protocols for this? So many questions.

The city, plus the casual power containment unit, reminds me of Loonatics Unleashed, honestly. Someone could easily make a crossover out of this.

Funny enough, the three of us found that this cat police officer looks a lot like Geumsaegi or Commander Darami.

There's always the idea that Black Cat Detective takes place in the same universe as Squirrel and Hedgehog. The amount of firepower these police officers have is far too much if they are not expecting a war to happen, even if they are referenced as a more elite unit. The implication is very interesting.

Now, if I get to writing the Clever Raccoon Dog PSA fun series, which I headcanon as taking place in Flower Hill because it might be canon (they are both SEK anyway), I would most definitely have the main characters visit and do a ride along with Black Cat Detective (preferably in the cartoon series universe. They are fine with criminals being beaten up, heck they do it themselves!) for a chapter or two. It sounds like it would be fun!

The other one would take place in the movie universe. Maybe a kind of Jimmy Olsen situation with a mouse reporter who keeps getting into trouble, and Black Cat or other people in the police force have to keep saving him. Although, we still have that pig kid who wants to be a police officer, if I understand correctly. It actually sounds better if I just used the pig child continuously getting into situations and needing to be rescued by the police, all the while trying to balance school into the equation. Maybe he becomes a young deputy.

[missheavenfield1215]

Opinion on the meaning of the songs in Beetlejuice The Musical

Songs centered on Beetlejuice and Lydia

I've noticed that Lydia and Beetlejuice's songs are intrinsically related to the name and being invisible, I think it's pretty obvious, but I've also found some other things.

In the prologue we can find this sentence:

"You're invisible when you're sad"

And:

"Is it being greedy to need somebody to see me

And say my name?"

And in Dead Mom, we'll find this part

"I'll go insane if things don't change

Whatever it takes to make him say your name, Dead Mom!"

And in Invisible: Reprise:

"You're invisible when you're me"

And:

Can you...

See me?

Yeah

You can see me!

I'm gonna have a new best friend!!

We can know that they both feel invisible (obviously) and find in each other the validation they need. Also apparently saying that person's name automatically gives her visibility, like in the song Dead Mom, Lydia wants her father to say her mother's name, so that he stops treating her as if she doesn't exist. That brings me to mind that the personification of invisibility is Beetlejuice and his signature song is:

"Say My Name"

And the song in which the two collide, which I personally like to call, "the bonding song" is:

That Beautiful Sound

Both people who felt invisible, finally collide... And it's a great respite for the two of them. Both finally feel recognized by the other.

"Hey look at me! (we're looking at you girl)"

"I'm finally free (You're finally free girl!)"

"I was invisible (she was invisible)"

"But now they all see!!"

Only in that beautiful moment do they feel that they don't need anyone but each other, since their company is enough.

They both feel seen and valued by someone who understands the pain and suffering of being alone.

But that feeling of closeness between Beetlejuice and Lydia is cut off as abruptly as it began. And he could say that it was Lydia who broke his heart, because Beetlejuice immediately feels that she betrayed him by breaking off their friendship and abandoning him to find her mother.

I have a slight suspicion that Beetlejuice wanted Lydia to be his wife, because he was already perfectly happy with her and didn't want that happiness to be taken away from him again.

Now let's talk a little bit about the song:

The Whole Being Dead Thing Pt 3 & Good Old Fashioned Wedding

We all know that everything Beetlejuice did was to put Lydia up against the wall and force her to marry him... But there's something that baffles me a bit. Beetlejuice was ready in just a few seconds to force his only friend to marry him, revealing a sad truth. Beetlejuice is always ready to receive a "no" or maybe he's always ready to fight for his interests because it's very likely that a lot of people have failed him.

And after hearing the "ok, I'll do it, I'll marry you," he was so excited that he revealed something that my sister made me realize.

Not only was Beetlejuice considering Lydia as a good choice to marry, but she is the ONLY OPTION for him...

But everything would fall apart when Lydia would rather go to Netherworld than share her life with him.

But, up to this point, Lydia has already betrayed him twice, it's obvious that Beetlejuice's ego is in tatters, obviously she's hurt him a lot and if she's not the one marrying him, then no one would be...

So, as if it were a punishment, Beetlejuice, shattered by her second betrayal, threatened to kill everyone present.

On top of that, without Lydia, there was no longer anything to tie him down to anyone present, although I would like to point out that Delia was still an option.

(But I'll talk about that in another post)

Now, let's talk about the elephant in the room...

My Creepy Old Guy

Phew, I have several things to say about this song...

Contrary to what many think, I don't think this song is a mockery of Beetlebabes fans.

1- This song is a joke for the audience and a mockery of the cultures that continue to do this type of practice (marrying a minor to an adult man) It's also a joke that most women understood, as it's a reference to the sexual harassment we receive when we go out on the street just for existing, and the fact that Lydia finds this "cute and vile" is a very funny contradiction. It's also why we can find Lydia leading the song (and Beetlejuice's footsteps throughout the entire stage). If you notice, both Adam and Charles have only two sentences in the entire song, which allows the women to talk about the harassment they have received almost their entire lives.

2- They don't romanticize the wedding, we all know he's forcing it on her, just to get that "green card thing," It's very obvious that the song is a very funny irony... It turns out that Lydia "suddenly" has a crush on the guy she just met and who just forced her into a marriage she didn't want.

But there's some of what we're missing.

That "something" is that we're missing Beetlejuice's point of view in this scene...

What happens is that Beetlejuice really believed that Lydia was in love with him and for a moment he thought that he wasn't actually forcing her...

And that's what Lydia really wanted to do... And so she continued the charade:

"Everywhere, fellas would stare

Out on the street"

"And I felt used

Kinda confused"

"I would refuse to look in their eyes"

"But now I really love creepy old guys"

"We all do!"

I love Beetlejuice's reaction in this scene. Because immediately after listening to it, Beetlejuice gets excited to find out and his face is like:

No...

...fucking...

...way!!

REALLY?!

Then we have this part:

"They make me blush"

(Can't get enough)

"Now one of 'em loves me, wants to be mine"

(That's right)

"Marrying my own creepy old guy!"

At this point, Lydia assures that Beetlejuice loves her and that she does want to be with him, but he doesn't get it until he understands that they are referring to him.

(I'm a creepy old guy!!)

And when he gets it, he's really surprised and he's like:

Oh, my God... I'M THE CREEPY OLD GUY!

Then we have this part:

(I am older, but I'm glad I waited)

I would have loved to know what he meant in that part, until I remembered it... Beetlejuice is referring to the part where he stayed at the Deetz-Maitlands' house to make them victims of his wrath. But just before he can lash out at anyone, she appears... as if he was waiting for her... (Like a real wedding!!)

Now, I want to mention something... Beetlejuice's reactions are the whole song, they show him very moved... He truly believes that they love him.

And an honorable mention to Barbara for this reaction:

(He's like:)

Oh, my God... See?? She loves me! She loves meeee!!!!

Yes dear, whatever you say... 🙂😐

For obvious reasons, Charles would never agree to something like this, but he trusts his daughter and the plan... But still, he lets his true feelings be seen through a single sentence:

"Have you guys seen "Lolita"?"

"This is just like that, but fine"

For some who don't know, Lolita was a novel that became a movie. It is the story of a mentally ill man named Humbert who ruins his entire life by becoming obsessed with an underage girl named Dolores.

I have a slight suspicion that Charles wants to see Beetlejuice ruined in the same way that Humbert does.

Then we have this part:

"I know that on the outside he's disgusting"

"And even on the inside, he's disgusting"

"But I know that this time, I'm makin' it right"

Under Beetlejuice's eyes, this doesn't sound bad... It even sounds hopeful, meaning that even if he's unpleasant, she wants to get off to a good start with him.

After a while, we can finally hear him:

"I found me a wife"

"L'chaim to life"

"This is so normal!"

"I was ignored"

"But now, I'm adored!"

"'Cause I extorted, tortured, and lied"

"Give it up for my underage bride!"

This is a very sad thing... Beetlejuice has never been the object of love and affection, That's why he thinks the whole song is proof enough that they love him... And what breaks my heart is knowing that Beetlejuice said he would give all that for his wife... It also breaks my heart to know that Beetlejuice gave up all his trust with so little acceptance from everyone in the house...

He's genuinely enraptured by the way everyone in the house is treating him... It's not hate, it's not disgust, it's not anger. Everyone is being kind, generous, understanding and supportive and that touches him...

Everything is so perfect for him

Too perfect actually...

When Beetlejuice is brought to life, it is saturated with many MANY sensations, feelings, and sounds.

I personally believe that if Lydia had tried to calm him down instead of murdering him, he really wouldn't have killed anyone. And I like to think that from there, only she could reassure him and thus, he would be like a little puppy looking for the affection of his owner...

I think that, to calm him down, it would be enough just to touch him... Let us remember that he has been deprived of genuine contact and affection, so a single touch of her fingers and a few words would be enough to make him desist from any act of violence.

But, he was killed for not being able to control something he never had...

Which reminds me of this phrase:

"It's good to trust someone, but not trusting anyone is better"

Well, to finish, Beetlejuice was really deceived by Lydia, due to the conditions of both of them... The two of them were lonely and abandoned, so Beetlejuice was willing to believe Lydia whenever she approached him with "good intentions". Beetlejuice's appreciation for Lydia blinded him and he was hurt three times in a row in the same night for believing her.

That's all for now!

Thanks for reading my soliloquy! Bye!! 😘💕💖

[silvandar]

BG3 Durge run: casualty list, sunmary etc. Durge spoilers.

I absolutely loved this run. Durge is like playing a completely different game! The plot is fantastic, and the dialogues are hilarious and very clever.

My Durge looks almost exactly like this! Love this tattoo design.

Party: Durge fighter, Astarion, Shart, random hireling sorcerer. Picking Duergar was a Choice, their movement is dogshit and they keep getting stuck on jumps 😭

Act 1

Gale: maimed, presumed dead. Unless Mystra took pity on him.

The Grove: bloodbath. Stole everything that wasn't nailed down.

Wyll: dead

Goblin leaders: dead. Minthara tried to shiv me when i picked Astarion over her, should have rerolled just to see her romance scene but it was late and I was tired.

Karlach: dead. Attacked me on sight yelling about the Grove massacre, which was weird but cool. How did she knowwwwww.

Laezel: dead, because she tried to shiv me when i was sick. Otherwise we were besties 😭

Act 2

Oliver: squished

He Who Was: openly likes me, headcanon dating.

Last Light Inn: bloodbath

Jahira: dead

Isobel: dead

Yurgir: freed from contract because i couldn’t trick him into yeeting himself

Nightsong: dead

Shart: Dark Justiciar mode.

Durge plot: think I'm figuring it out. Orin is getting slapped later.

Daddy Thorm: dead. Surprisingly easy to kill when everyone has misty step and range.

Githyanki plot: pretty much ignored.

Romances: dating Astarion, flirting with Shart.

Durge has slayer form which everyone else in the camp thinks is gross, but Durge absolutely loves it.

Act 3

Picking and choosing quests is fun! I'm already level 8 so can easily ignore stuff that feels too "good" to be of interest.

Somehow my general terribleness has made me Chronically Single. So I had to bang drow beef without the offer of a foursome. Sigh. Choosing the "kinky" options was hilarious.

Kissed and made up with Gortash. He's a good guy really, very swauve. Looking forward to killing him later.

Ascended Astarion. Went at level 10, fight was surprisingly easy now I know the mechanics of the power boosts. Also having Turn Undead is big and clever. Watching Cazador scuttle like a cockroach was very cathartic.

Murder tribunal: Met Saravok, he was fun! Chatted about the old days, killed an elephant, bathed in some blood. Good times.

Nightsong redux: Robbed Lorroakan while he sulked about the Nightsong being dead. Astarion can now summon Ghouls. (Genuinely, just hopped on downstairs and cleaned out the vault. Not a single combat reaction from anyone. Bugged? Or just wizarding hubris? Didn't try to take anything from the main tower tho as I didn't need the robes or staff.)

House of Grief: Shart turned about 1/4 of the adds to our side, so it was a surprisingly easy fight. Shart is now God's Extra Special Princess.

Orin: died in 3 turns, just went Slayer on her and ripped her apart. Fun! Astarion has a new sword.

Saravok redux: Durge has a nice new sword and hat. Although he did one-shot me at one point. Don't know why I expected anything other than a fight, honestly.

Gortash: roasted by the Netherbrain. Saves me killing him I guess. Bit annoyed that I couldn't loot him.

Ignored Raphael and Orpheus completely. Gave the Emperor the Netherstones. Pretty much zero Githyanki plot on this run, as it seemed pointless with Laezel dead.

Netherbrain: much harder with only 2 sets of allies! Blinding the dragon helped, and for some reason the mage got stuck and glitched, so I consider the fight Cheesed By Accident.

Ending: murdered the Emperor, dominated the Netherbrain, turned my party into thralls, ruled the world as Bhaal's Chosen. Epic end scene, absolutely brilliant. IN BHAAL'S NAME!

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

Teknoir 1999 Rhythmic Noise / Experimental / Industrial / IDM

Oh boy! Here's a late 90s double-disc sampler from German label Hymen Records, whose name, yes, of course, is making reference to a part of the vagina! Founded in 1997 as a sub-label of Ant-Zen, Hymen bills itself as 'technoid noises for collapsing people,' which is a description that will make a whole lot more sense to you if you actually listen to this album.

Now, I didn't like most of what's served up on this thing; I'm not really a noisenik or a rhythmic noisenik, and I don't go for much in the way of industrial music, either. BUT, at the points when this album steers a little bit away from German avantgardist weirdness, and more towards genres that are a tad more conventional like IDM and breakbeat-based stuff, that's when I fully latch on to a solid handful of these tracks 😋.

But before we dive into all of that, we also need to address a certain elephant in the room when it comes to industrial music writ large; and that elephant is fascism. Now, I am certainly no fan of this purely rotten political ideology, but there is no doubt that because industrial music has a hard, abrasive, and martial quality to it, that it can definitely attract a certain goose-stepping type. And being that we're talking about Germany specifically here—where fascism once again appears to be rearing its very ugly head, as the once-fringe AfD party continues to gain seats in the Bundestag (German parliament), and vocal criticism of an apartheid state that is pretty clearly currently committing genocide is forcefully stifled—you have to wonder, are the people who are making this music sympathetic to fascism themselves?

And the answer to that question would appear to be a pretty full-throated "no," as evidenced by a wild track from Substanz T called "Industrial Music for Industrial People (Live)." On this tune, Substanz T loop up a quote from a guy who passionately says, "and if you don't like fascism, don't play industrial music." And so, taking clever heed of those words, with this track on an album that's surrounded by a whole lot of industrial music otherwise, Substanz T decide to play a diabolical brand of hardcore acid jungle instead, so as to say, "yeah, we're not fascists, man, so we're not gonna play industrial music for your ass. Here's this dance genre that a whole lot of black people have played a significant role in building instead, you fuckin' prick! 🖕🤘"

Gotta love it!

But while I certainly dig the messaging of that song itself, I don't think that that one is my absolute favorite here. And to be honest with you all, I don't know which of these is actually my favorite, because the front half of the second disc offers up a bunch of terrific choices, like the chilly and dub-brained IDM of Architect's "Pastgate," the sublimely splattery and drill n' bassy "Listen to the Call" by Beefcake, the Goldilocks-level-of-Gary-Numanesque-synths-crossed-with-bludgeoning-percussion that is Somatic Responses' "Oblique," and the sort of 80s retrofuturistic distorted nu-electro of Klangstabil's "Regelkreisauslöser." All seriously uniquely brilliant electronic tunes!

And this leads me to my final point, which feels like maybe the ten millionth time that I'm making it: No matter how bad or unfit to your own personal taste an album might seem, don't dump out of it until it's over, because you really might miss out on something remarkable. I say this so many times because it's happened to me so many times. Outside of that anti-fash Substanz T song, the first disc on this comp really did not end up bearing much fruit, and as a result, I *really* was not looking forward to having to endure the second disc. But had I decided to call it quits at that halfway point, I would've missed pretty much the entire cream of this release's crop, and that simply would've sucked, because there actually happen to be a whole bunch of unexpected marvels on that second disc! 🤩

Highlights:

CD1:

Not Breathing - "Kissy (Pre M.R.I. Mix)" Substanz T - "Industrial Music for Industrial People (Live)"

CD2:

Architect - "Pastgate" Bochumwelt - "La Pensée" Beefcake - "Listen to the Call" Somatic Responses - "Olblique" Klangstabil - "Regelkreisauslöser" Mother Destruction - "Odr"

[tabsters]

The Twelve Days of Zodiacs - Day 4

"On the fourth day of Christmas, my Zodiacs gave to me, Four wrapped presents, Three snowmen, Two bread rolls, And a snowball fight under a tree."

it should be noted that this story is in a modern AU, aka an AU where no magic exists. everyone is just normal and untraumatized! the modern AU names for the characters are listed below:

SGZ! Cancer: Maura SGZ! Sagittarius: Darius SGZ! Gemini twins: Solana and Luna SGZ! Leo: Liona SGZ! Hydra: Hydi and Draga SGZ! Centaurus: Russell (mentioned) SGZ! Leo Minor: Aslan (mentioned) SGZ! Auriga: Addie (mentioned)

tagging @mythicalmagical-monkeyman @hyperfixation-tangentopia @maiawhimsicalt and @sweet-star-cookie

next chapter is here!

"How do you know a firefighter as well?" Ciara asked as Cassie stood on tiptoe to knock on the door. "Wait, were you caught in a fire?! Did they save you?"

"No, nothing like that!" Cassie giggled. "She's a family friend, that's all. And she said she needed some help wrapping presents for the gift exchange at the fire station."

The door opened, and a tall, muscular woman opened the door. Her blonde hair was cropped, and her eyes were bright blue. "Cassie! Hi!"

"Hi Maura!" Cassie waved up at the woman, gesturing to Ciara. "This is Ciara! She's gonna help as well!" 

"How thoughtful!" The woman clapped Cassie on the back, gesturing her in. “We need all the help we can get. I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to take on the job of wrapping all the presents for White Elephant this year.”

“What’s White Elephant again?” A small voice shouted from inside the apartment. Ciara looked into the apartment, finding three girls sitting in the middle of the living room. Two looked to be twins, with matching blonde and blue hairstyles. The other one was taller, with long shaggy hair akin to a mane. The twins looked around seven, while the other girl looked about eight.

“Hi you three!” Cassie said, bending down to look at all of them. “Ciara, this is Solana, Luna, and Liona. Guys, this is my new friend Ciara.”

“Hi!!” The tallest girl—Liona—waved enthusiastically. “You’re here to help out with presents too?”

“Uh, yeah.” Ciara was spending a lot of time with kids lately. Perhaps Cassie was just a magnet for children, the kids being drawn in by her kindness and sincerity.

“We’re going to help too!” Solana—or was it Luna? They seemed to be identical twins—piped up. “By playing music!”

“I see!” Cassie nodded along. Ciara leaned over to her.

“Which twin is which?” She whispered as the twins scrambled to get their iPads out. “Sorry, I genuinely can’t tell.”

“The one wearing yellow is Solana,” Cassie whispered back. Maura ruffled Solana’s head as she walked by her to get the numerous unwrapped boxes. “And the one wearing blue is Luna.”

“Ah.” Now that Ciara looked closer, Solana was wearing a sun hair clip and Luna was wearing a moon hair clip. She couldn’t fault some on point theming.

“Where’s Papa?” Liona asked, pulling at Maura’s sleeve. “He said he would be here soon.”

“Your papa is out getting some more wrapping paper.” Maura struggled to dislodge a particularly misshapen box from the pile, and Cassie went to help her. “Because I severely underestimated how much I would need.”

“Are they all yours?” Ciara asked as she knelt to help secure the box. "The kids, I mean."

"Hm? Oh, no." For a second, Ciara feared she had gravely offended the woman, but Maura laughed and waved at the twins. "Only these two are my children. Liona's father is a good friend of mine, that's why he's coming to help out."

"I'm helping!" Liona said cheerfully, carrying three rolls of wrapping paper. "Ms. Kinloch, which paper do you think looks the prettiest?"

Maura surveys the three options before her. Ciara steps over the box to look as well, Cassie doing the same. There's red paper with candy canes, green paper with trees, and blue paper with snowflakes. 

"I think I rather like the blue paper," Maura says, taking the roll of wrapping paper from Liona. "You don't mind if I use it, do you?"

Liona giggles. "Use it! Use it!" 

Maura got to work wrapping the oddly shaped box—a large neck pillow—while Cassie worked on a box of blankets. Ciara took a stack of the entire Percy Jackson series. 

"Who likes Percy Jackson this much in your fire station?" Ciara asked, deftly securing the paper in place with tape. "This seems like a pretty expensive Christmas gift."

"It was my suggestion!" Luna exclaimed. "Everyone should read Percy Jackson!

"We watched the TV show!" Solana added. "We really liked the goat guy!" 

"Grover, right?" Cassie asked, pausing in her gift wrapping. "The satyr!" 

"Does he like eating grass, cause he's part goat?" Liona asked, now rearranging the bows and ribbons in various patterns. 

"Actually, that's kind of a thing in the books," Ciara said, briefly pausing to pull out her phone and search it up. "He eats tin cans and scrap metal."

"Ew! How do you even eat metal?" Solana made a disgusted face, sticking her tongue out.

"You chew it really hard," Luna declared, slapping a bow down on the finished neck pillow box.

"Should we rewatch the TV show?" Cassie asked, looking towards all three children. 

"Yeah! Let's!" All three children chorused, and so Maura made her way over to turn on the TV. The opening music of the Percy Jackson show began to play, and Ciara was reminded of the time she binged the entire TV show instead of doing her AP Psychology homework.

"Let's get to work, yeah?" Maura asked.

"Yeah!"

-

After an hour or so, a knock sounded at the door. "I'll get it!" Ciara shouted, seeing the hordes of wrapping paper and boxes blocking everyone else's way, and so she stood to open the door.

She opened the door to find a very tall, very mustached man. For a second, she almost thought he was a bear taken human form. 

"Uh, hello?" She asked timidly. The man nodded. 

"Hello," The man said, in a thick Scottish accent. "Is Maura in there?"

"Papa!" Liona shouted, tripping over a tape dispenser in order to make her way to her father. "There you are!" 

"Hello, dearest." The man picked up the girl, ruffling her hair. "You been good while I was away?"

"Uh huh!" Liona pointed towards the TV, right as Percy Jackson swung his sword to behead Medusa. "We've been watching the Percy Jackson show!" 

"I see." The man nodded, shifting his bag of wrapping paper to his other arm in order to carry his daughter. "Well, I'm here to help now. Russell needed some help with repairing one of the signs on the hiking trail, but I’m here now."

"Yay!" 

"Hi, Darius!" Maura said cheerfully from the floor. "Just in time, yeah?"

The man—Darius—dropped his bag of wrapping paper on the ground, gently setting his daughter down as well. "Got any room for another?"

"Yes, please," Maura sighed, looking towards the total amount of presents that she and the children had wrapped—four presents. Ciara looked at her pile—seven presents—and then looked at Cassie's pile—eleven presents.

“How do you do that so fast?” Ciara asked in amazement.

“Magic,” Cassie said, with jazz hands to accompany it.

“How are the snakes coming along?” Darius asked as he took out another roll of wrapping paper to replace the roll they had used up.

“That reminds me!” Maura went to stand up, before realizing that a box was nestled in her lap. “I forgot to feed them!”

“I’ve got you, no worries.” Darius lifted a terrarium from a kitchen shelf, setting it down on the kitchen countertop.

“You have snakes too?” Ciara asked, craning her neck to try and see the snakes. From what she could see, the snakes were a bright blue. “What are their names?”

“Hydi and Draga!” Luna said, standing up to look at the snakes. “They were a birthday gift for Mama!”

“They’re twins, just like us!” Solana put her hand in the terrarium, giggling when one of the snakes reached its head up to muzzle her hand.

“Well, we should be able to wrap this up soon, aye?” Darius said as he sat down. “We need to go pick up Aslan from his Cub Scouts activities soon.”

“Who’s Aslan?” Ciara asked, immediately thinking of the lion from the Narnia Chronicles.

“My little brother!” Liona waved her hands around excitedly. “He just started Cub Scouts!”

“Addie is a Cub Scouts member, right?” Solana asked, now rummaging through her pantry, presumably for snacks.

“Addie’s their older sister,” Cassie explained for Ciara’s benefit.

“No, she’s a Girl Scouts member! Cause she’s big!” Luna stretched her arms up, as if to demonstrate how big her sister is. “She’s fourteen!”

“Well, we best get to work, hm?” Darius expertly wrapped a present in a couple of swift movements. “Wouldn’t want to be late to either of their meetings.”

“Yeah!” The kids looked towards Ciara and Cassie. “You’re working hard, right?”

Ciara locked eyes with Cassie. They both nodded in determination. They still had a pile of presents to get through.

“Yeah!”

A detail that I didn’t get to include: I picture all the kids as being adopted. Also I 100% chose the name Aslan for Leo Minor as a Narnia reference.

check out @sweet-star-cookie's starglass zodiac lore if you liked this!! questions about my lore are greatly appreciated!!