#i hope there’s an overlapping audience for this

[t4toro]

tvxq (ot4) as mcr eras ^^

bullets era

revenge era

black parade era

danger days era

[heartorbit]

i think they would get along

[padam-in-padamm]

okay so. I've had dnd on the brain for the past few weeks, so naturally I've had some thoughts about a joker out fantasy/dnd au, assigning them all races and classes and subclasses (and making some moodboards for them)

I am still very much a beginner when it comes to dnd and most of my knowledge comes from scouring the internet rather than having any actual experience, so this is 90% based on vibes, but here we go!

Bojan: human bard

I mean come on, this guy was born to be an entertainer. I couldn't see him as any other class, naturally charming anyone he comes across and inspiring his friends to keep going. I feel like he'd be college of eloquence, just to really ramp up those charisma skills, and the Universal Speech feature is perfect for him. I could also see him multiclassing in swashbuckler rogue just for fun, those vibes are very fitting for him as well. Poor guy rolled terribly on Constitution though so he keeps getting sick

Kris: half-elf wizard

Look at that man and tell me he isn't an elf. The wizard mechanics just scream Kris to me, I think he'd love the organizational aspect of it all. School of divination subclass would be perfect for the guy who loves to make plans and to-do lists and to be on top of things. Also I could see him having the noble background, or at least his family being notable and famous in some way, his dad being a former adventurer who Bojan used to idolize or something to that effect

Jan: tiefling rogue

Sneaky and quiet and fades into the background, but also very good at what he does. I admit this one was the most based on vibes rather than rational thought, but idc it works for me, and it gives him a very fun vibe contrast with the class I gave Nace. As for subclass I could see him being an arcane trickster, that also gives him some ability overlap with Kris the same way they have overlapping roles in the band as guitarists

Jure: tabaxi fighter

Yeah Jure being a tabaxi is non-negotiable for me. As for his class, this one I was the least sure about - I definitely see him being a martial class rather than a spellcaster, but I'm not sure if a fighter specifically works best. I could also see him being (or multiclassing as) a barbarian or ranger, something with more thematic ties to nature. Either way Strength is his highest stat, but he's also not a brainless fighter, I could see Battle Master working for him as a subclass. Also I'm assigning him the two-weapon fighting style, let him smack monsters with two swords or axes like drumsticks

Nace: human cleric

The token healer of the party, but I actually think it works really well for him. He wanted to be a vet after all, and I think he'd be very comfortable protecting and supporting his friends. Him having the highest Wisdom in the party works well with him being the oldest and most experienced of the bunch. Life domain for sure, and I'm having fun imagining his holy symbol being a turtle, because longevity and good health and protection or something

[hopelessnecromanticc]

Touchstarved locked tomb au

[fionnaskyborn]

and TODAY ON "Songs Fionna can't listen to without them fucking her up immensely and remind her why she doesn't listen to them very often every time she listens to them", we have:

[sootsz]

qsmp has accidentally stumbled into a psychology experiment that would make the stanford prison experiment sob in fear. they’ve gotten a bunch of cc’s, and tens of thousands of viewers, to be deeply emotionally connected to pixel eggs. in doing so they’ve presented a problem:

how the fuck do you get outta this

the eggs were obviously never intended to be permanent (logging on every day to do tasks isn’t feasible to upkeep forever) and they were even given a vague limit of When Mama Dragon Comes Back (and then, of course, the “6 days til they die” thing). now you’ve made it so quackity (and his team) have a big ol dilemma, where two things are true: 1) they can’t keep the eggs forever since it’s not sustainable 2) you can’t take away the eggs without, oopsies, emotionally damaging your friends that you invited to have fun on your server.

turns out, when you give a group of humans all their own fully-realized individual who presents as a (weak, vulnerable) child that is in need of care from them, whatever instinct has kept us alive for generations goes “!!!!!” which is both really cool and compassionate, but also kinda concerning!

because, well: not sustainable! and if the eggs aren’t sustainable, what’s the alternative? killing them?? no! just look at jaiden’s reaction to bobby “losing” a life, even when it wasn’t his last one. or bad’s genuinely heart wrenching reaction to dapper losing a life. or how quiet and angry phil got after chayanne and tallulah had a “nightmare,” before it was resolved. that’s not acting. that’s real. what the hell will they do if the eggs actually die? from what i see, the cc’s are taking the “6 days til death” thing as something that’s avoidable. a threat that can be overcome. and for their sake, i hope it is.

ever played a dnd game where you actually feel insulted bc of smth someone’s pc did? yeah. that x20 because there’s SO much overlap between “streamer persona” and “literally just who they are”. and this level of roleplay character bleeding is cool, but i hope the eggs are handled carefully, or all those involved might end up actually hurt.

there’s also the whole added element of fans, many of whom only tune into the streams for egg content. the plot is very egg-centric. the roleplaying and characterization that the cc’s are doing is all centered around the eggs in one way or another. it’s been going on for a month, but it does not feel at all resolved, and plot-wise it would completely mess up so many plot threads happening if the eggs were all to go (charlie’s unresolved deal with lil j, quackity’s goal to bond with tallulah, the trial, etc etc) so if you take away the eggs, you risk messing up the whole vibe they’ve got going on, and facing backlash from fans who are also emotionally compromised by pixel eggs

we inherently want to protect the cute and vulnerable, and by god are these eggs cute and so very fragile. (then, there’s another layer of people’s own issues that they project onto the eggs. be it desire for paternity, some kind of maternal instinct, or, even in the matter of chayanne, using chayanne as a sort of way to cope with loss by making connections between chayanne and technoblade. which is beautiful and very sweet but would give chayanne dying some additional emotionally charged elements which i think should be avoided at all costs). there’s a reason that movies and other media generally do not kill named children characters—audiences really hate it. it’s taboo for good reason.

which leads us to

schrodinger’s egg: until sunday, they r both alive and dead. and this is both good and bad. god help us all

[iridessence]

so I recently got booked for a burlesque show in nola that has a really great concept— each performer does two sets. in the first one it’s a classic burlesque act (think rhinestones, big hair, glamour, often vintage), the whole shebang. But after the first set is intermission and they (the producers) set up an x pole and the second set takes the audience to the strip club. the performers are able to interpret strip club as they see fit and in fact there is a lot of overlap— many of the burlesque people I know did or still do work at the clubs, so it’s not far off from them, but maybe the crowd is a little different.

anyway, I have not done club work ever, mainly because it’s just not seemed like a gig I could get based on my body and i imagine a lot of club runners aren’t interested unless they personally find you at least somewhat fuckable. but i had an opportunity to play around with what it might be like if i could work at a club, and i still brought a little glamour to it, but mainly i went for more of an ldr stripper fantasy and well… it was a glorious time.

I wore a baby pink powder puff bra, a marabou cuff robe and a pink g-string to nail the vibes because it’s either that or like, a rose bikini i did not have or an American flag sling shot which I couldn’t stomach for a lot of reasons right now. i wanted to wear makeup that felt appropriate to both my vintage burlesque set and a strip club mood so i went with a cut-crease eye look and just changed my lip from red to pinky-mauve between sets. basically hair was the high pony in my icon, and naturally I danced to a couple ldr tracks and just felt very sexy. One of my cast mates said I was giving high-end gentlemen club stripper that the other girls secretly hate because when she comes in, she’s going to make all the money, and that gave me a good laugh.

In general, there was just so much great support from the other burlesque buddies in the crowd passing through from other shows— and a couple of them fan girled over LDR and her Americana stripper bullshit with me. Bunch of audience members also said they thought the shift between sets and moods was really cool. The producer said later that they cried because the whole show was everything they hoped for… a great night indeed.

[wilwheaton]

the scorpion doesn’t care who it stings

I posted this on my Facebook four days ago, and it seems to have taken on a life of its own for a minute.

I thought I’d repost it, here:

I can not fathom the emptiness, the insecurity, the insatiable need for attention and validation, the staggering arrogance, the malevolence and total void of human experience that is Elon Musk.

He's the richest man on the planet. You can't go anywhere or do anything without interacting with something he's part of in some way. There are literal millions of people who uncritically worship him, in spite of overwhelming evidence that he's a douchebag. Some number of them will come after me, as they come after anyone who points at their naked emperor. They'll spend entire days going after me and people like me, slavishly serving a man who does not even know they exist. They are his army of fools, uncritically serving his every whim. And it still isn't enough.

He can have any material thing he wants, and he will *never* be happy or satisfied. He has no real friends. Every single person around him is either a viper, a parasite, or both.

So what does he do? He bullies and threatens and harasses and trolls and behaves like the weak, scared, insecure child he has always been. That's a tragedy for him, but it's dangerous for us. He doesn't care what he destroys or who he hurts as he chases this existential thing he cannot ever have.

You know the saying "hurt people hurt people"? He's a hurt person who is hurting our society, making people I care about less safe. The consequences of this one man's midlife crisis are global, and that terrifies me.

In a comment, about an hour later, I added:

You know what's really interesting is the tiny number of people who are attacking and harassing me are either typical right wing idiots who all spew the same garbage from behind their wraparound sunglasses, or these weird nerds who are DESPERATE to justify how toxic and cruel and destructive Elon Musk is. Like, nerds, listen to Old Man Wheaton, please. 

Don't hitch your wagon to Elon Musk. There are countless people who are amazing and genuinely good, who do all the things we wish we could do. Stop defending this piece of shit who would push you into a volcano without even learning your name, if it would save him half a second on his way to his next shitpost on $8Chan (formerly known as Twitter).He doesn't stand up to anyone. He doesn't stand up FOR anyone. He is not your champion. He's angry and chaotic and destructive, and you have to understand that the scorpion doesn't care who it stings.

Finally, I want to add two things: 1) It’s interesting to me that a lot of the people who came to my post to be dicks used a lot of MAGA language. It reminds me of this thing my friend says about concerts: the audience looks like the band. Of course there’s substantial overlap between the angry, hateful, terrified, cowards who support Trump and the same who Stan Elon Musk, and it’s real interesting to see it in action.

2) I haven’t used Twitter for years. I quit before it was popular (lol) because it was better for my mental health. I logged in once when my book was published, and I deleted all my tweets when he announced he was buying Twitter. When he took over and immediately amplified a conspiracy theorist, I made my account private. In a perfect world, I would delete my account entirely. But I have to keep it for reasons I hope I don’t have to explain. After I posted this on Facebook, it made its way around Twitter (still is, four days later, which is ... a thing that is happening) and when people went to look at my account, they saw that it was closed. As much of a fucking manbaby Elon Musk clearly is, he didn’t do anything to my account. In fact, the only reason he even knows I exist (if he does) is through a vanity search of his name. I locked my account on my own, and so should you.

I am only on:

Tumblr

Facebook (itswilwheaton)

Instagram (itswilwheaton)

and my blog that I’ve been neglecting for too long at wilwheaton.net.

I’ve had a Reddit account since 2006, predating user-created subs! I’m u/wil there.

Okay that’s all. Thanks for listening. Please choose to be kind.

[spectralreplica]

Uhhhhhhhh Sburb AU!! This was more of an excuse to classpect and make sprites, so don’t ask me questions about plot details because I put like zero thought into it. Tsumugi probably had something to do with setting up the session, and she’s hiding her real title and the fact it’s not her first session. Baby Kiibo is a robot baby because I thought that was the funniest option.

Drawing with anti-aliasing off really brings me back...

Classpect thoughts under the cut if you really want:

Immediate caveat: I mention speculative stuff here like unconfirmed active/passive class pairs and inversion theory. If you don’t like those things or otherwise disagree with the titles I gave people that’s fine but just know I’m not super interested in debating about it and won’t reply.

So, to start out with I wanted to make the 8 of them a session, so I needed no overlaps in class or aspect and one Time + one Space. I also wanted to have Kaito and Kokichi as opposing aspects. In general, I think of a Title as kind of the end of your assigned character arc, so depending on your level of maturity/introspection at the start, it can seem either really obvious or really unintuitive. I tried to base them off of the hypothetical chapter 6/survivor versions of characters, since those (plus maybe the chapter 5 deaths) of the ones that get a full arc in DR canon.

Immediately Tsumugi seemed like a deadringer for Space, not so much because of the literal physics-related stuff but because of its associations with creation/narratives and setting things up for other people to act. I made her Sylph of Space here, but that's a facade. She's actually a Muse of Space who participated in past session(s) and wants to watch how things play out.

Based on the Extended Zodiac description, Kaito or Kaede has to be time, but Kokichi CANNOT be Space by any stretch of the imagination. I made her Heir of Time with the interpretation of Heir as someone who invites change/influences of/through their aspect. Time is also associated with music and death, which is both fitting and a little mean. (I can also see Kaede as Breath outside of having to have someone be Time.)

So moving onto Kaito and Kokichi, I was considering Hope vs Rage (belief vs doubt, possibility vs restrictions), but 1) Rage is defined partially by hatred of lies despite otherwise sounding Kokichi-ish (that alone could be interesting, with the possibility of a negative/reverse title or else giving him Hope and Kaito Rage for the unexpected swerve........) 2) I really wanted to give Hope to Kiibo. So instead I went with Heart and Mind (emotion vs logic, intuition vs planning, identity/motivation vs action/decisiveness).

Kokichi is Thief of Mind for taking away other people's decisions for his own purposes but also for generally "stealing" things (e.g., the Mastermind Role, narrative importance in general, along with literal items) through his own cleverness. Vs Kaito, a Knight of Heart, who uses his constructed identity as a weapon to face challenges. I'm also a fan of inversion theory, so I think at low points they'd both trend towards Page of Heart (grows powerful late in the narrative based on his own ego/identity) and Rogue of Mind (taking choices/agency/logic away from people for their own good), respectively.

I always wanted Kiibo to be Hope since 1) Ult. Hope Robot 2) big on possibilities/faith but can be a little self-centered. I went with Bard at least partially to make a "guess we know whether he has a dick or not now!" joke, but I also think "inviting destruction through Hope, inviting destruction of (false) hope" is pretty spot on for chapter 6 Kiibo. Like, as the camera/audience surrogate, he's been forced into passively leading the others to despair, not to mention how the audience takes him over to destroy the hope of ending the show. But Kiibo ends up reversing this and helping destroy the audience's faith in Danganronpa, destroying the whole academy in accordance with the vote. (Sidenote: I wonder if Kiibo gets taken over by Horrorterrors and goes grimdark? Or if he's just really, really susceptible to orders from his Exile)

Shuichi, Page of Void, was another one that immediately came to mind. Like, "starts off weak but becomes really strong/important by the end" is Shuichi's thing! Also, counterpart to Kaito's Knight. And Void is all about secrets, mystery, etc. From the Extended Zodiac: "Where others might be compelled to go out and seek answers, the Void-bound lean more toward casting doubt on what is already considered understood. They don't take much on faith and would rather live in a state of confusion- than believe something that might be untrue or bow to intellectual authority... At their best, Void-bound are wise, intuitive, and vibrant. At their worst, they can be dismissive, indecisive and apathetic." 

I had considering Light, for seeking out knowledge/truth, but Shuichi's character arc ends on "fuck you, I refuse to play. You all get nothing more from us" and learning to live with ambiguity, so I think he's way more Void. But, again, inversion would be Thief of Light, so selfishly taking away knowledge/importance from others.

Speaking of Light, I made Miu Mage of Light. Mage is like, active Seer, seeking out knowledge for yourself (vs advising others) and Light is luck, knowledge, and also importance/plot relevance. As an inventor, Miu keeps innovating and figuring things out, plus she's very motivated by her own importance to the world. She wants to be seen more than anything else and loves being smarter than those around her. Also: "At their best, the Light-bound are resourceful and driven. At their worst they can be fussy, pedantic, and insensitive." Inversion is Heir of Void, so "inviting change via hiding things" or "changing what's kept secret", which suits Miu when plotting murder.

Finally, Maki is Prince of Blood. Blood is trust, bonds, relationships, stubbornness, duty, obligation (vs freedom, change, choices) so "someone who breaks bonds/destroys relationships" but also "someone who destroys using/motivated by duty/relationships". Like, Maki is inherently a fracture point in the group because of her talent and then directly breaks the group apart and sabotages her relationships with the others in chapter 5, but also she's deeply motivated by her bonds to others in all of her destructive actions (protectiveness for orphanage/friend, love for Kaito). This sound super negative, but I think this is also the Maki who commits to destroying the institution of Danganronpa in chapter 6. Sometimes you have to be decisive and cut bad relationships out of your life.

Inversion would be Sylph of Breath, so "healing via change" or "encouraging growth towards freedom", which you can argue is sort of the way Kaito wants her to go? But she just doesn't. Idk, for better or worse, I think Maki is very aware of who she is and how people related to her, so even at her worst she's true to herself, vs, say, Kaito or Kokichi, who act "ooc".

[markrosewater]

Good afternoon. I'd like to share a perspective on UB and competitive Magic.

In a previous answer, you had said that UB cards were something customizable, that you didn't have to play with them if they don't appeal to you. And that's true! What that doesn't take into account is competitive meta and the necessity of various cards. I think The One Ring is a good example; for a massive majority of Modern decks, you can significantly improve almost every deck with copies of The One Ring. If you're running an artifact-oriented deck or a control deck, you are actively hindering your deck by not playing it.

So for an audience that has been invested in formats like Modern who are faced with this power, what are they supposed to do? Personally I don't mind when my opponents play UB cards, but for players who do mind that, if they're in the same Venn overlap, they can't exactly tell an opponent in a high-stakes match to please play something else out of principle.

Thank you for listening, by the way, to all these various voices. I know that Marvel and comics mean as much to you as Magic does, and I also know you're going to get a lot of players who aren't going to be as kind in their opposition to UB. There's little middle ground at this point in Magic's present for how UB has impacted the game, but I hope that we as a player base can maintain an open perspective of personal wants vs. the larger schema.

I believe when you play competitively you accept that you'll be playing with people that are prioritizing efficiency of mechanics over creative execution.

[musicfranchisetournament]

propaganda under the cut !!

ensemble stars :

what can I say. it's the no.1 highest earning joseimuke of recent times for a reason. i wouldn't say it was the founding father of male idol franchises but it's undoubtedly important for them and the popularization of them. the characters are enjoyable and the story writing is (sometimes) done pretty nicely. when the songs hit well they hit GOOD. with a cast of over 50 characters you're pretty bound to find someone you'll enjoy, you know. there's a nice variation on unit archetypes that is great for music variation :]

There's just soo much happening in this goddamn idol thing I hope it loses bleehh

Idol game except the plot is NOT what you would expect of an idol game. Notably : murder, the War, vampires, and a guy who lives in the vents.

"oh it's just a silly little idol game" and then the silly little idol game has some of the craziest lore you've seen

milgram :

it's very cool and interesting !! idk !

SUCH a unique concept. I love it so much. Delivering insight into characters crimes and psyches through music?! Genius. And the music all slaps too. The VAs are all super talented, the voices all sound different from one another, and even when a character's music style switches between T1 and T2 to reflect their mental state, there are still things making it obvious it's the same character. Also the VA for Haruka (best character in MILGRAM) is the guy who voiced Linhardt (best character in hit turn-based strategy RPG Fire Emblem: Three Houses for the Nintendo Switch) in the JP soooo. Awesome and based, Fire Emblem fans vote for this one. (Also I think there's other overlap of VAs with Fire Emblem but like Natsuki Hanae has been in everything so of course there is)

genuinely so sooo interesting to me from a standpoint. not only is a franchise that runs and happens in direct response to what the fans decide to do with it but also the songs and mvs are sooo good and it's such a nice thing to see coming off of deco, feeling like a passion project with all the different song style and experimentation going on in them. ive been there since the beginnings and its a great feeling to see just how much everyone involved in the project be it art, music etc has improved. the moral experiment point of it is something very curious to follow for me and see people discussing their votes or takes on things as to why they voted for x thing or another is nice! the deco song remixes that always come with the characters album release are (mostly) fire too. milgram my best friend milgram

The songs are absolute bangers!! And each character is so compelling and it's really interesting to see how the audience's votes impact the story and the characters!

[magpod-confessions]

(look at me go, not asking anonymously for once lol)

“the web is underrated” “the buried is underrated” “the dark is the most underrated” 

yes. you are right, i agree. but they are all underrated. none of the fears get the attention they deserve.

-the dark and the end are almost completely forgotten about due to their perceived simplicity.

-the buried, the flesh, the hunt, etc are so unexplored, no one bothers to look any deeper into them.

-the desolation is not just fire, but no one ever tries to represent it some other way.

-don’t get me started on the whole spiral-distortion thing (perhaps i will make this a future confession bc oh boy do i have a lot to say).

with all of them people seem to be scared of diverging from the explicit canon representations.

no one seems to care about the fears anymore. THE fears. you know, the one thing that makes tma so special? i’ve lost count of the number of times i’ve seen someone say “after listening to tma i can never look at things the same. i always categorise them by the entities”

that’s all they are treated as, categories. perhaps this is an odd way to describe horrific manifestations of our deepest fears, but i think they are beautiful concepts. i could spend hours thinking about each one and the ways they bleed into one another, i probably have. 

yeah, at this point smirke’s 14 are old news, but there are always new angles to explore. we saw that in season 5 of tma, and we are seeing it now in tmagp (though the fears are of course different). why did we stop talking about that? (i wasn’t actually on tumblr when tma was happening so idk. maybe no one ever cared) 

talk about the fears, put your ideas for unconventional statements or avatar or whatever out there, there’s an audience (me at least). say stuff about how different fears crossover, or some new aspect of one. “but surely people would have already said this at some point” respectfully, i don’t give a shit. if i come across mutliple posts analysing a similar aspect of the vast, i’m going to be fucking overjoyed. because much of the fears is up to intepretation, they have slightly different meanings to different people, so every single person’s interpretation adds value and adds something unique. i see a little of this, but not enough.

we should keep discussing the fears. i don’t know why we ever stopped.

(sorry this is so long and rambling, i hope you can see the points i’m trying to make.)

🗣️ i’d love to hear your thoughts on this

Literally this. Agree with all of it

Some things:

The Desolation can be natural disasters, including floods, storms and earthquakes. Water is just as destructive as fire

The Dark can be not knowing something. It overlaps with the eye yes, but it still counts

The Corruption is shown to be a response to loneliness, not the opposite of it. Its being so lonely you seek out community, no matter how dangerous it may be. Every single corruption statement has references to loneliness

The Spiral says its a liar, but its never done that, only changing your perception of reality to make what it says true. It is delusion not manipulation

The Slaughter is never portrayed outside of war, which is strange because sheer unhinged violence has so much variety

[unboundndd]

Hi everyone >:3

The Yone lover anon is here again!!!

OMG PARANOIA IS SO AGKSHSKABSHSHJSJSKS *convulses*

I have been analyzing every detail of the video clip and I have seen the statuses and tweets from the official platforms, it is always a pleasure to see our favorite swordsman interact <3

Well, getting to the point, I have already asked for this request but I wanted to see your execution cause, wow girl, I love your writing, it is exquisite :')

The request is this: Maybe a Yone x fangirl!reader?

Buuut, but but!! That their first face-to-face meeting was a surprise, I explain, she and Yone had met on Discord and had been interacting a little, when the two agreed to meet then she gets a BIG surprise, I hope I make myself understood

Sorry for the amount of text, I have expanded here

Anyway, I hope you take care of yourself and enjoy the new content that is coming out as much as I do

-🍄

Omg hi 🍄 anon!! ♡ Thank you so so much for your very inspirational Yone musings, I hope that me spacing out on the wordlbuilding a bit will not influence the pure fangirling that is going on in our heads!

In this universe Yone strikes me as someone who actually knows a lot about technology and i'm sorry... he produces music for rythm games. And yes he does those extremely complicated and highly detailed songs that are like the hardest charts in the game.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- Yone's career as a producer and DJ has not been the easiest one, the genres that fascinated him the most were usually not appreciated by a wider audience. The busy notes of electronic samples overlapping one another weren't designed to appaise the need for easy listening music in convenience stores or to climb the charts by becoming viral on social media, in fact the most recognition Yone's music had gotten before heartsteel was in the small niche of rythm game players.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- It was never the big game developers that contacted him, they had collaborations with world renouned producers and famous idols that voiced their characters. On the other hand smaller studios would often ask him to make one or two tracks for their games, which Yone would gladly accept to do. Despite the limited reach the producer was still proud of his work, always buying a copy of the games where his music appeared and keeping in touch with the communities that formed around them with a discord account that would't reveal who he really was.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- You were just a casual player of one of those games, sometimes coming into its dedicated discord servers to chat with like minded people. When people asked you about your favorite songs in the game you would most likely reply with one of the songs Yone produced, often going into detail about what made them resonate with you so much and what made them so unique in your opinion.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- Under the guise of anonymity Yone would sometimes join the conversation, asking questions and indirectly getting some feedback from you, even finding it helpful with his writer's block sometimes. It was enough for the man to send you a DM to discuss more of your shared music tastes, hoping you'd reply.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- Your discussions quickly settled into a developing friendship, you knew the man had an extensive knowledge in music theory as he would sometimes ramble about it with you and he also told you that because of a new job offer he would become more and more busy as time went on. You'd still keep recommending songs to each other but the conversations would be less and less, you missed your friend but you knew that his work was more important than chatting about music.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- That was until Heartsteel's debut was announced with a small teaser, showing all the members and a small snippet of their new single. You immediately recognized the familiar electronic sound of the songs that made you and Yone bond in the first place, the nostalgic feeling making you smile. You decided to send a link of the teaser to him, asking for thoughts and sharing the hype about the new band.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- Yone had never felt so guilty yet glad that he never revealed that he had produced those rythm game songs to you. You were so familiar with his style that you spotted it immediately, you could've uncovered that he was actually part of the band! He tried to stop himself from asking more of what you thought of the members, thought of him, but quickly surrendered to the fact that hearing you gush about how much you liked his music gave him even more reasons to keep going.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- When he asked who your favorite member was he almost spit water on his midi keyboard, causing Aphelios to turn around to see if he was alright. Yone composed himelf quickly, yet the message you wrote kept resonating in his mind. "Oh I'm totally in love with Yone, looking at him and his interactions on twitter he sounds like a bit of a band mom and I find it really endearing! He looks like a really calm person who surrounds himself with a ton of unhinged friends! Too bad he hasn't revealed his voice yet! "

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- Of course all of this didn't go past Aphelios, Kayn, Sett, K'Sante and even Alune. They realized he was spending more time than normal on his phone, reading your thoughts on the new promotional materials that were being posted. Kayn was the one who confronted him first and could not stop laughing when he realized Yone had started to develop some feelings for you, scrolling trough the messages the younger man could also see that you were starting to feel the same way for him.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- As much as the Kayn was amused at the absurdity of Yone falling for his online friend turned fangirl, he alsoknew he had to help his fellow bandmate, barging into the common room to tell everyone what was going on and fill Ezreal in as he was oblivous to the whole ordeal. It took all of them a good half hour to concoct a plan to make a meeting between you and Yone happen, then another half hour was needed to convince the producer that this was indeed a good idea and that you would not take it as badly as he imagined.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- When Yone said he wanted to voice chat with you out of the blue you were a bit confused but excited. You were happy to hear his voice after one year of being friends and made sure to reserve a few hours just for him, as you went about your day your mind started to wander a bit about what it would sound like and if your conversations would flow just as smoothly as they did via text.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- You were starting to feel a bit nervous when you picked up the call, timidly muttering a "hello?" and waiting for any sort of reply. "Oh Hello, it's nice to finally be able to associate a voice to the person." You could not help but squeal a little on the inside, who would have known that his voice sounded so rich and felt so mature? The two of you talked for a while about how long overdue your call was and how time had flown since you first met, it truly didn't feel like your first conversation at all.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- You finally gave into the curiosity and asked him if there was any particular reason for Yone to have wanted to voice chat now and his reply almost left you speechless. "So... I'm know that you're very excited about the debut of Heartsteel, one of my coworkers managed to get two VIP tickets and backstage access. The thing is that the person they bought the other ticket for cancelled last minute and they gave it to me." A carefully crafted lie exited Yone's lips, all to give you an excuse to go meet him.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- You couldn't help but feel a slight pang of jealousy for how lucky your friend was but you wanted to be supportive and expressed your joy for him and how excited he must have been. "Wait, you've got it all wrong. I wasn't planning on keeping the ticket." You froze for a second, all sorts of possibilities racing trough your mind. Then you heard it the notification of a discord message from Yone, he had just sent you the ticket. "Wait... so you want me to go?" You heard him chuckle as you were slowly realizing what this would imply, your heart couldn't race more than this. "You deserve to go and see them, you've kept an eye on them for a long time now. I don't want to impose it onto you so think about it for a while and let me know, will you?" Useless to say that you spent a very long amount of time asking him if he was sure about it and then thanking him profusely, this truly was one of your dreams come true.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- During the day of the debut concert the Heartsteel's members grand plan was put into motion: security was well aware that as soon as your ticket number was checked in they would have been able to identify you. Security notified their manager Alune and gave her a detailed description of your looks, she too felt happy about what was going on in Yone's life and told him and the other boys to concentrate on the performance while she took care of things in the background and made sure to give you and the producer ample time to talk.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- You had the time of your life at the concert, seeing how much energy and stage presence Heartsteel had in real life made their music video pale in comparison. The stage felt electric and once it was over you couldn't help but feel dizzy and overloaded but also oh so happy, seeing Yone and Aphelios playing alongside the other members was the highlight of the concert for you.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- So many things were going to your mind when you were queued up for the small meet and greet that was beeing held backstage, you were one of the last people and when it was your turn you couldn't help but feel like Sett, Kayn and Ezreal were all treating you like they somehow knew you already... and they were all hiding something. You felt their gazes following you as you finally approached Yone and even he looked like something was amiss.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- You tried to ignore the feeling, you were about to meet the artist that managed to capture your attention so easily and always kept you wanting for more. You would not let this special occasion be ruined by your gut feeling! You took a few steps and prepared to greet him, hopefully having enough time to tell him how good his performance was and how much you enjoyed rooting for his success. Before you could even say a word he anticipated you and for a second you thought you had misheard everything he said.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- "Wait... how do you know my discord username?" You heard a few of Heartsteel's members chuckle, you did not realize how quiet the room had become as you were the last of their fans there, the laughter was interrupted by Yone speaking again. "Cut her some slack everyone, it's normal for her to be confused right now." Yone could see your eyes widen in realization you recognized his voice, he was your online friend! The one who would always listen to your rambles about the latest chart topping songs and give you his insight on what would make them so popular, the man who somehow knew your taste better than you at this point and was able to always give you spot on recommendations... ·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- The grounding touch of his hand on your shoulder snapped you back into reality, you blinked at him in disbelief and confusion... and then realized about how much you fangirled about him while being unaware of who you were talking to. "There must be many questions running trough your head right now and I don't blame you if you're angry at me for never revealing who I really was. If I hadn't been under such a strict NDA at the time maybe things could have been different..." ·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·- You gave the man a reassuring smile, you understood why he did what he did and suddenly him asking you what you thought of all the new trailers and promotional materials made sense. You were kind of honored to have been able to give feedback -although unknowingly- to a talented artist such as him. "Maybe I could clear some things up for you over dinner... I was too nervous to eat anything before the concert." You gave him a quick nod and he motioned you to follow him, you saw him gather his laptop and headphones and haistly put them in a sleek looking backpack and then taking out the keys to his car. The rest of your time spent backstage was a blur, his hand around your back was swiftly guiding you through the various areas and muttering to security guards that you were with him if they happened to enquire about you. Once in his car he could finally drop the persona and relax a bit more, the Yone you had met online was starting to show himself more and more. "Do you have any particular preferences for food?" He asked while making his way through the still packed streets of the city. "Mmh... I think I'll leave the choice to you, after all you just performend in front of thousands of people on an empty stomach." You replied, smiling at how kind he was being to you even though he must have been starving for hours. "Fine, I saw a ramen small ramen place on my way here before the concert. It will give us enough privacy for me to finally make things up to you."

[lenaariewrld]

C.05 — the concert thing (w)

ON THE AIR — childe x reader smau

| SYNOPSIS;; Teyvat University’s popular radio personality, Y/n L/n, has only one gripe with her life. Her classmate, neighbour, and all-around nuisance in her life, Tartaglia. Their rivalry extends just past academics and, to her horror, into her work. He becomes the music director and co-host for her radio show, working alongside her most nights and forcing himself even deeper into her life. But is he really trying to just be friends, or is there an ulterior motive to his actions?

| WC: 2.6k

previous! ~ masterlist ! ~ next!

~

You and Ganyu stand on the sidewalk as Cyno parks his car and pays for the spot –estimating the amount of time the three of you will be there– while the both of you lean against each other casually. You had snatched one of Cyno’s jackets before leaving the house and now used it to cover you and Ganyu, your arms snaked around her shoulders and your chin on her hair. The air outside was slightly chilly with the wind, but still warm from the summer heat. At least it wasn’t balmy and humid anymore. For that, you were grateful. The pleasant moments ends when Cyno joins the two of you, looping one of his arms each with you and leading the way to the bar.

A small line was already forming when the three of you walked closer, full of excited young adults ready to have a memorable night or anxiously waiting to see Childe and his band perform. You recognize a few of the people in the line, waving to classmates or to people who greet you with an excitable call of your name. This bar was pretty popular for university students, so you aren’t surprised that people who also know about your show are here. You’re just surprised about the overlap between yours and Childe’s audience. As Cyno skirts his way to the front, you overhear a couple conversations. You don’t resist the urge to roll your eyes when you hear a couple girls whispering about him and how attractive they find him.

It was annoying, but you knew the man had charm. That you couldn’t necessarily deny.

It just didn’t work on you.

With a flash of Cyno’s student ID and the newspaper’s lanyard he wore, all three of you get accepted into the bar. Immediately, you and Ganyu beeline it to find an empty table far enough away from the stage to avoid anyone from that group recognizing your presence. Cyno goes to get drinks, meanwhile. The first thing you noticed upon setting your bag down and tucking your friend’s jacket over your legs was the atmosphere. The bar was crowded, expected for a Friday night. 

The lights are dimmed enough to add a sense of intimacy between people’s conversations and to provide contrast to the bright stage lights that have been set up on the far end of the bar, directly opposite from the bar where some very worn-looking bartenders dash left and right to make a million drinks. You pity them, hoping they get tipped well enough to deal with this particular chaos.

A couple minutes pass before Cyno returns, three drinks delicately balanced in his hands. A virgin drink for Ganyu, and two colorful (and probably very boozy) cocktails for the two of you. You clink your glass with him. “So, what all do you need for this paper?” You ask, willing to help where you can since you had nothing better to do. Even if you were dragged here.

“A couple pictures of the performance, some comments from the band members, and maybe a video to replay while I’m writing later so I don’t leave out any details.” The white-haired man tells you, counting off on his fingers. You sip from the little bendy straw in your glass, humming thoughtfully. “I was hoping I could catch Thoma afterwards and get something from him since he’s the only one I know–”

“And can tolerate?” You finish with a cheeky grin. Cyno nods, a smile pulling at his lips as well. You chuckle and lean your elbows on the table. “Me and Ganyu can record the set if you want to focus on everything else,” You offer.

Ganyu reaches over and gently takes the strawberry set on the rim of your glass. “We have a pretty good spot to watch, so if we record it, you definitely won’t miss anything,” She adds, matter-of-factly before eating the red fruit. You nod along, sliding the toothpick of fruits from Cyno’s drink her way as well.

“Thanks, guys,” He smiles, appreciative of your combined efforts to make this night go as quickly as possible. He turns his head as the lights on stage brighten. “They’re starting. I’m gonna go find a good vantage spot,” With that, your friend dismisses himself and disappears in the crowd as Childe and his bandmates shuffle onto stage. They’re loud and over the top, but they draw everyone in as they find their spots and introduce themselves. Admittedly, they even draw your attention in.

“Thank you all for coming to see us! And for those who didn’t, but may be interested; we are Vapriize,” Childe says into the mic, his hands adjusting his grip on the bass in his hands. The lead singer, a short little blue-haired guy named Scara, clears his throat and begins speaking next but you stopped paying attention by that point. Soon enough, they start to play and the music fills the bar.

You listen as Ganyu sets up her phone and begins recording, making sure to hold it high enough to see the entire stage of people’s heads. Oddly enough, as you listen, you find yourself enjoying the songs as the set progresses. It’s not the typical kind of grungy “I fuck girls and I know I’m hot” kind of music you expected.

Though it is a pop-rock type of instrumental, the lyrics imply a heavy heartbreak, with the lead singer passionately pleading whoever the song is about to give any crumb of attention, even if its just listening to the song, rather than leaving point blank. It was a raw desperation you knew well, something that resonated in your chest. The next couple songs are similar, lamenting how though the past relationship is over, the lead singer still finds pieces of her in every aspect of his life. Or about how apparent he’s made her effect on him and now without her absence it’s like he’s transparent. It sits uncomfortably in your gut, the way you relate to the songs, making your stomach sink further to your feet.

You down your drink and dismiss yourself to get another one, tapping Ganyu’s shoulder to alert her you’ll be right back. More music plays. You find yourself humming along once you sit down again, your well-manicured nails tapping on your cocktail glass, your chin propped on your hand, and your body swaying slightly to the music. At some point, Ganyu finds your hand and laces your fingers together, keeping the both of you grounded through the haze of the bar. During a quiet moment, she leans over to check on you.

“Are you enjoying this even a little bit?” She asks, raising her brows just slightly, a tiny wrinkle in between them. You smile and reach out to smooth it away.

“Maybe a little bit, but it’s hard not to be with you guys around,” You admit with a shrug. Cyno briefly shows up to your table once the set ends nearly an hour later, dropping off his camera and notepad.

“Gotta piss,” Is his only explanation before he darts off to the bathrooms. You laugh. Reaching over, you slide his possessions closer to you, taking care not to spill anything on the paper of your friend’s notepad. You glance over what he’s written so far, but you’re stumped by the chaos of his notes and the jumbled lines on the paper. It looks like nonsense, but you know Cyno’s process is one that works. You’ve read his completed works in the newspaper everytime a new issue comes out.

You tense as an all-too-familiar voice greets you. “Well, I didn’t expect to see you here… and dressed so pretty.” Childe slides into the third unoccupied seat at the little table, his chin propping onto his hand in a mirror of your position. You frown, crossing your arms instead. “Is it for me?” He continues, cocking his head to the side and raises his brow, his eyes darting over you. You make a gagging noise and dramatically turn away to cover your mouth.

“No it’s not. It’s for myself,” Your voice is cold as you speak to him, your glare biting. You refuse to break eye contact or back down. You were never one to be intimidated, and much less one to be so easily swooned by cheap words and bad pick-up lines. It helped when you also despised the person they came from. And you hate Childe. You hate his stupid smug face, and his perfectly tousled hair with the little blonde streak in the front. You hate the mischievous glint in his deep blue eyes, or the creases at the corners when he smiles. And you hate the way his voice purrs your name, slipping from his tongue like honey while he sidles ever so closer to your body.

“Mm, why are you here, Y/n?” He asks, watching the way you chug your second drink of the night, avoiding any chance to continue the conversation. “I thought you wanted nothing to do with me?” His voice is teasing, irritatingly so, but it’s also… softer. You notice his eyes darting around your face, some look in his eyes that for once isn’t mischief or malice. But one you definitely can’t place. You also notice he’s not looking over the rest of your body anymore, caring less about the revealing cut of your dress than the way your expression morphs.

He noticed you frowned less deeply when you were tipsy, your cheeks flushed all pink and your eyes blinking slowly. You looked more like an angry cat than anything. You looked… cute.

When you clear your throat, you notice Childe seem to break out of whatever trance he was in, his shoulders squaring a little more. “My friend needs to be here for his newspaper and I’m offering moral support.”

“Newspaper? Are they writing something about us?~” He hums.

“It’s not like it’s by choice. Your band is about as interesting to see as a flea circus,” You retort, chuckling into your cocktail as you take another dangerous gulp. The liquor burns your throat but it soothes the urge to gag whenever Tartaglia so much as opens his mouth.

“We’re plenty interesting,” Childe pretends to pout dramatically, tilting his head to the side like a wounded puppy. You’d find it charming how easily he could switch if it weren’t for the fact he used this ability to get on every single one of your nerves. “I saw you enjoying yourself for a few of our songs, even you little boytoy was bopping around,” He casts a glance around the bar.

“He’s not my boytoy,” You scoff, “Just because I have a friend who’s a guy doesn’t mean either of us wants to sleep together. Some of us are capable of viewing women as people, unlike you,” You spit the words as you turn your head away, hoping and praying Cyno finds you again so you can shoo Childe off for good.

“I can see plenty of women as people. Just not demons like you,” He laughs as if sharing a funny joke.

“Shut up, you ass,” You huff, moving to get up. Your cocktail no longer does the trick of helping you forget who you’re talking to or why it was so irritating to be around him. Childe moves to grab your wrist.

“Hey, hey, I’m not trying to hurt your feelings–”

“You have no effect on my feelings, Tartaglia,” You spit, teeth bared. “Let me go. I’m tired of talking to an un-empathetic loser,”

“You don’t have to be a bitch, you were the one who made the first joke,” Childe retorts, but he does as you say and lets go of your wrist, but now you were getting annoyed, your hands on your hips as you scoff yet again. His audacity was really something to behold.

“You’re the asshole who tried to force a conversation with me, don’t act like a saint,”

“I’m being friendly, Y/n,” He defends. You throw your hands up, exasperated at the excuse he doesn’t entirely seem to believe either. He’s stood up just like you are at this point, the both of you sizing each other up despite the fact that he easily clears you in height and strength.

“You’re being a fuckboy,” You seethe through gritted teeth, your eyes narrowed. Ganyu grabs bother bag and Cyno’s stuff from the chairs, urging you to evacuate the situation though you don’t entirely hear her, too focused on the annoying ginger right in front of you.

“Fuck you, Y/n,”

“Fuck you, too,” You declare, snatching your things off the table and taking Ganyu’s hand. “Let’s go,” You tell her and storm off without another word to the man. You’re still fuming as every second passes, carving your way through the crowd of people and towards the exit. You can find Cyno later, or even send him a text about where you are. For now, you just needed to get out of there.

You hated that you were worked up. But even worse, you hated that you felt a pang of disappointment in your chest, the conversation between you and Tartaglia having felt pretty naturally before you both exploded. God, that fact alone only made you more angry.

As soon as the fresh night air hits your face, you slow down and turn to Ganyu. “I’m sorry for… that,” You tell her, guilt evident on your face. She squeezes your hand.

“It’s not your fault, he came out of nowhere,” She assures, the both of you walking down the sidewalk to a less populated spot right outside the bar. You lean against the gritty brick and dig around in your purse for your lighter and pack, handing Ganyu your phone so she can text Cyno about where the two of you are.

After retrieving and lighting your cigarette, you place everything neatly back in your bag, inhaling deeply through the stick of nicotine. You manage to get a few drags in before the door to the bar bursts open, Cyno emerging with a tall, relaxed blonde following behind him. You recognize Thoma from the couple of time you had visited the newspaper staff a couple years ago, back when you had been trying out different things for your major. He looked better now. Well-built, more sure of himself. He waves to you and Ganyu as the two men approach, forming a loose group circle.

“How are you? What happened?” Cyno asked, eyeing the cigarette between your pointer and middle finger. You hold it out for him to take, letting him take a drag while you explained how Childe had come up to you and Ganyu and the conversation that had happened. “Dick,” Cyno mutters around the cig, blowing the smoke away from any of your faces before handing it back to you. “Sorry, I know he’s sorta your friend,” He then apologises to Thoma.

“Oh, I know he can be an ass, though,” Thoma waves his hand dismissively, chuckling as he shoves his hands in his pockets. You chuckle, giving him a nod of respect.

You, Cyno, and Ganyu all catch up with Thoma as you relax again and finish your little vice. The conversation remains light-hearted and easy, none of you daring to breach any uncomfortable topics while the night was so nice and peaceful. The buzzing of bugs in your ears and the fuzzy feeling of the nicotine and liquor in your system helping to calm you down. By the time you all call it a night, you feel less shitty.

“Goodnight, take care of yourself,” You say as you hug Thoma, squeezing him tight. He hugs you back, echoing a similar sentiment before you both part. The others give their own goodbyes and your two groups split off. Cyno leads you and Ganyu back to his car, taking back his things from the blue-haired woman with a grateful hum before climbing in and driving you all home.

You’re not sure what to make of this night but one thing is certain. You definitely, certainly, without a doubt, hate Childe. And co-hosting with him was going to be hell.

———

A/Ns: we getting into it!! i looooove writing banter (and getting to see the enemies are maybe-not-so-enemy's)!! as always, likes/reblogs/comments are appreciated in any form, and don't forget to get rest and take care of yourself <33

TAGLIST: @popiizpops

[lurkingshan]

shan do you feel like bl tumblr changed too much this past year? i dont know why it just seems like it did to me

This is such an interesting question! I don’t know what changes in particular are on your mind, but I do think the space feels qualitatively different and I mostly attribute that to the changing nature of the bl genre. I think there are a few things at play:

We are at the likely peak for the genre in terms of the volume of shows being produced. There is so much to watch and so many things airing simultaneously that almost no one can actually watch all of it, especially not live as it airs. People like @twig-tea are in their own category of human who can process 30 shows at once. I certainly cannot! I’m watching less than half of the current airing qls and I still find my watchlist ridiculously full.

Along with that volume comes a lot more variety in the style of shows being produced, and the shows are getting more experimental and trying out different formats as well as genre blending. This means there is more opportunity for people to narrow to the shows that are most to their taste and let those that are not pass them by.

Which means that in any given slice of time, bl tumblr is reacting to lots of different things, and there is not total overlap in most people’s watchlists. This creates natural divisions just in terms of what we’re actually consuming, and means we collectively have a more fractured and varied impression of the genre. The days of all of us gathering around the proverbial water cooler to discuss the same show on the same day are pretty much over; there are too many things airing on any given day for that kind of alignment.

I also think that as the genre expands, there are simply more people here now, including more folks who are interested in writing deeper meta analysis. When I started the La Pluie meta round up last year it was because no one was writing about that show and I hoped to inspire folks to put their thoughts out there; this is no longer necessary because any show that attracts an audience on here inspires lots of great writing.

And of course, with that larger mix of people, a giant buffet of choice in shows to consume, and wider variety in taste being catered to, there are inevitably more disagreements about what is worth our time and attention.

So all that to say, yes I agree things have changed, and I don’t know that’s it’s necessarily a good or bad thing. It’s just different. I do kind of miss the old days when we all got excited about the same handful of shows and talked about them all week, but it’s hard to be upset about the change when the cause is a glut of queer media speaking to such a variety of taste and preference. It’s a good problem to have.

[tremendouskoalachild]

what we know: The Acolyte was pitched sometime in early 2020. The Rise of Skywalker had just ended the movie saga. The Mandalorian, which kicked off disney+, had just finished its first season with great audience response. Lucasfilm was reorienting itself to streaming. Rayne Roberts loved the pitch, got Kathleen Kennedy who also loved it, and the show was greenlit.

the show premiered in summer 2024, after a generous marketing campaign (including a clip shown with The Phantom Menace rerelease, an original Victoria Monét song, and plenty of trailers and tv spots). multiple pieces of tie-in media were announced both before and during the show's airing (an Acolyte comic issue, a Kelnacca comic issue, a visual guide, an art reference book, two novels featurig show characters).

the high republic multimedia project (THR), in advanced development when the show was pitched and published continuously from early 2021, greatly influenced the show's development. the costuming is largely based on the look of THR, the show makes plenty of lore references, and includes a main character from the books in its main cast. THR material coming out in summer 2024 has "a century before The Acolyte" prominently on the cover, the upcoming show tie-ins are largely written by THR authors, and often feature other THR characters.

the show was expensive, with a long production period and a great focus on the technical aspects - building large elaborate sets, filming on location in Madeira, detailed stunt sequences with a lot of actor involvement, plenty of attention given to costumes, make-up and creature design. the cast included many high-profile actors. everything suggests the show had full confidence of lucasfilm.

what i'm gonna speculate: lucasfilm was playing the long game with this show, or hoping to. cancelling the show this early was unexpected.

in 2019 star wars was quite literally centered on the original trilogy. the seven decades or so around the OT contained all currently canon star wars media, even as the franchise was spoken of as one with 25,000 years of history. the following years would plug up even more empty spots on the timeline, with the projects often overlapping. this gave the writers much less creative freedom, which was the whole point of decanonizing all pre-2014 media aside from films and shows. over time, fans started clamoring for onscreen content set outside of the known eras, and there were more and more voices in and outside of the fandom exhausted with fanservice (the glup shitto phenomenon).

The Acolyte was set in a whole new era, as far as onscreen content goes, and its only legacy character was from children's and YA books most viewers wouldn't be familiar with. it was specifically introduced as a show you wouldn't need any homework for. it had actors prominent in entirely different contexts (Matrix. sitcom. Squid Game. YA. superhero movies. independent films. relationship dramas.) and the cast was pretty international.

the show had a lot specifically for established fans - you could say it was the most wide-reaching in its star wars references, incorporating elements from every trilogy, the animated shows, canon books, oldschool legends lore, video games. but i believe it was mostly meant to attract people who were not previously fans, and especially target demographics that were underrepresented in the fandom. draw in international audiences, young people who were around for other star wars properties but they never caught their interest, women who either weren't in the fandom or felt pushed away by the reaction to The Last Jedi.

lucasfilm execs definitely weren't planning for viewing numbers comparable to Obi-Wan Kenobi, or even Ahsoka, since those are characters people are already invested in. i think lucasfilm expected the show's audience to grow over a longer period, since plenty of people might check it out because it seems cool and they like an actor in it, and hopefully stick around to watch other star wars and become new fans of the franchise. the audience would get a chance to establish itself through new viewers watching it outside the couple weeks when it aired originally - it's a streaming platform, after all - and the show would have a solid fandom for its second season (which they were clearly planning to make).

these new fans would keep disney+ in order to check out other star wars shows and film, and keep buying star wars stuff over the hiatus. even if they were only into The Acolyte and their interest never expanded beyond that, there were many merchandising products and tie-in materials coming out. the comics and books would have connections to THR, hopefully getting an influx of readers before the initiative finishes next year and boosting sales of already published works. the THR readers who weren't interested in the show originally would see all their favorite authors writing stuff for it and check it out, too.

but then someone higher up decided to cancel it a month after airing so no i guess