#i just need you to know that since Day 1 of watching TOH i've had SUCH a visceral reaction to Eda's voice

[happytapirstudio]

i need you to know that this is the shit i'm hearing every time Eda opens her mouth

[negrowhat]

The Thumb Kiss Trope

Recently (like yesterday) I rewatched Wedding Plan and in ep 3 a thumb kiss was featured that was kind of glossed over by us all. Ever since then (like the past 12 hrs) I've been thinking about how I need more of this trope in my life. It's such a good trope and so under-used.

Sure we have different variations of a barrier kiss; My School President used that trope as a running gag up until the last ep. And we see people place their full hands between their lips. TinCan had a really cute kind of transfer kiss featuring Can's hand in Love By Chance, but nothing hits like the Thumb Kiss trope for me.

So why is the Thumb kiss such a vibe for me? Because it's the flimsiest of barriers to prevent a real kiss. It highlights the tension between the two characters, they both seem to be very interested, but it just isn't the right time for a real kiss yet. In my mind that thumb is a bookmark for the real kiss that is coming soon.

DON'T WORRY I HAVE EXAMPLES!

SoloGui from Oxygen the Series. We get their thumb kiss in ep 4. There are a couple reasons Solo does not kiss Gui in that moment; he didn't have permission, he didn't want to push Gui too much, and mainly because he was under the weather. But he couldn't just let the moment pass without a brief romantic interaction. At this point in the series, Solo is really just trying to gauge Gui's interest in him so he can figure out how to proceed.

Of course Gui responds like it's a real kiss, he kisses Solo's thumb too and then they both pull away. In the novel version, Gui is actually disappointed about Solo's thumb being there because he wanted it to be a real kiss (he's never kissed anyone before despite being a popular campus moon). BY THE WAY Nut Supanut from Pit Babe stars in Oxygen and it's a really cute, lowkey series with good communication. I highly recommend it, ALSO THE SIDE COUPLE IN THAT SERIES IS TOP TIER!

NueaToh from Secret Crush on You. Their thumb kiss happens in ep 2. It's not so secret that Toh is in love with P'Nuea, but we soon discover that Nuea is also kind of enamored with Toh. He goes out of his way to hire Toh as a photographer for his sister's birthday party (btw she's a fan of Toh's photography) and anyways, Toh and his bestie Jao are hanging out with Nuea and his friends and they play that good ole King's card game (you know the one! It's the only time we see cards in these series) and Nuea and Toh are dared to kiss.

We know Toh wants to and so does Nuea but Nuea doesn't want to turn his first kiss with his crush into a party game so he literally smirks at Toh and pushes his thumb between their lips. Nuea knows Toh likes him and he's sure Toh would be fine with their first kiss happening any kind of way, but Nuea wants to make sure Toh knows he's kissing him on purpose so he's going to wait.

ALSO half the cast of the Sign are in SCOY and I HIGHLY recommend the series to anyone who hasn't watched it, Billy is PHENOMENAL as Nuea. Saint produced SCOY as well and it's a good mix of cringe, spice, and pretty much all the characters are queer. I just hope you don't mind stalking as part of the plot (I can explain more if you're interested! I promise it's not that bad)

LomNuea from Wedding Plan. Sailom and Namnuea are vibing from Day 1 but Sailom and his fiancée Yiwa have contracted Nuea to plan their upcoming wedding. To Nuea, Sailom is going behind Yiwa's back to pursue him and he's having mixed feelings about that. Sailom is actually just a man in love with his wedding planner and trying to find the best way to explain a delicate situation without sounding selfish or manipulative.

Their thumb kiss happens in ep 3 and at this point Lom is trying his hardest to keep his intense feelings in check. He's parked outside of Nuea's apartment preparing to drop him off and he thinks Nuea is sleeping. He apologizes and places his thumb on Nuea's lips and kisses his thumb. When he pulls back Nuea is wide awake and Sailom declares that he's going to kiss him and they do kiss. Namnuea kisses him back.

Their situation is a little different because they have kissed already but it was a quick and playful kiss and Lom kissed him because he was trying to calm Nuea down (I can't explain it but it does work) and by ep 3 they are both very aware of the other's feelings. This is one of the moments where Namnuea gives in to his feelings for Sailom, which he immediately regrets.

One could argue that's what this particular scene visually represents. Sailom has a clear understanding of how he feels about Namnuea, which is why we can see him so clearly. Meanwhile Nuea is shrouded in darkness, he still needs some clarity.

I tried to go down my list of watched BLs to figure out if any other ones featured The Thumb Kiss and I couldn't find anymore which is TRAGIC. It's such a fun trope. I scream every time I see it and I wish it was featured more. I need more of this specific trope.

[mdhwrites]

I know you've been asked this before, but still, now since toh has ended would you consider giving Arcane a chance? Not right away but maybe when feel like it. 👀

I promise it's not a bad show, I watched it after starting toh to pass the time. It's only 1 season for now and it has just 9 episodes, but these episodes are so packed! The world building is easy to grasp, the characters do interact, there's development, it has a diverse female cast and fighting scenes. There's at least 3 conflicts that interconnect at the end.

The thing about it that amazes me is that it does so much in such a little short time, 9 episodes only. I often compare it toh and wonder about how much toh could've done if they knew how to plan beforehand, because toh had all the time in the world in comparison. (I'm mentioning this because I'm also bitter about the shortening thing being thrown around to excuse the bad writing).

So I will 100% admit that Arcane sounds entirely up my alley. It's in a universe that has had literally over a decade to flesh out its lore and ideas, characters they've been working with for at least half the games life cycle, it has rave reviews, lesbians, the animation is GORGEOUS, I've actually heard surprisingly little analyzing the plot and that could be fun for me. I... just don't know why I haven't watched it. And it's not like I'm so busy as to not watch shows. I watch WAY too much Youtube and streams. That stuff is mostly mindless and pure entertainment and I can't make blogs or stories about it. But that might also be exactly why I don't watch much scripted content. See, I watch a lot of stuff while I'm on walks to have some noise going, or music while I think about writing ideas, or while I'm playing a game or the like. It's distraction. It's to turn off the part of my brain that's too wound up and emotional and analytical. Also a lot of media has the unfortunate problem of me going "What can I be inspired by this for?" Which if I was going full blast would be great! At 8k words a day, having things to distract me or keep my motor running would be almost necessary. And that's technically a conservative statement as when I first joined TOH, I did 200k words in 2 weeks. That's 15k a day. The fact that it took me months to burn out during that time period is a miracle. But when I'm depressed? Those ideas honestly hurt more than anything else. I still haven't done Amphibia blogs because I just can't get myself to bring my thoughts together independently on the subject for some reason despite the fact that I DO have things to talk about, whether that be talking about what sells the characters as family to me, what makes Sasha's introduction one of the best charismatic villains I've ever seen, how Hop Pop is showcase of fantasy trauma done right, why people CAN skip the first season and how insane that is and even for a more negative one: Why Marcy is so far easily the most awkward element of the show so far that I've seen. Not even bad but just not nearly as natural as the rest. And yes, while I'm still only at the First Temple, you can still send me Amphibia asks. It honestly helps my literal personality disorder to be responding to asks instead of making them myself.

I don't know. I wish I did. My head is a chaotic mess and I honestly just need to learn to calm down a lot more but my literal two main disciplines as a creator require my brain to be on. at maximum volume all the time. And it only gets worse when I go "Well what about Amphibia, or that TMNT series, or Molly Mcgee- Oh but you really ought to be looking for something new. Preferably something you can write for within its first week of airing. Even better if before then. Got to get that ENGAGEMENT after all! GROW YOUR COMMUNITY!" *sigh* And I don't want this to make you all feel bad. PLEASE let me know what you're interested in seeing me maybe talk about. I commonly forget about Arcane because it just flies under my radar for the most part for some reason. Just understand I'm slow to move. I'm trying to get better but I don't know when or if I'll ever be good at it. Edit: Because I feel like it, I do want to shout out a few channels I like to watch. Youtube: Noah Caldwell Gervais is one of the best video game essayists out there. When I talk about just putting on something to zen out to for a few hours... Well, I've watched his 8 hour Resident Evil Retrospective twice. He also has a great, dry sense of humor and great analytical skills. Todd in the Shadows is where I go for pop song reviews. Honestly, I'm pulled in more by his One Hit Wonderland Series and his Trainwreckords but it's also nice getting incite on modern pop music. If you're into animation, you NEED New Frame Plus in your life. Daniel Floyd is absolutely amazing at his job, he's ex-Pixar so that's not surprising, and pretty much all I know about animation comes from that channel. Absolutely phenomenal work. Twitch: CauseImDanJones is my favorite streamer period. Not only is his chill vibes immaculate, he has this insane talent to say the most bat shit crazy things and act like they're entirely normal. He never is an over the top streamer but he still manages some of that "WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?" energy those people have. JHobz296 is someone you likely know if you watch GDQ. For those who don't know him though: He's my go to for speedrun content. He does a lot of Kingdom Hearts speedruns, does a lot of Kingdom Hearts 2 Rando WAY better than I do and when he does variety, he keeps it laid back and casual. (I like chill streamers). Gilbot9000 is my last callout. He does a lot of fighting game streams and likes to throw it back old school, or play games with an old school vibe to them. He's a nice dude and a good friend of mine so I'd be remiss to not mention him.