#i will probably add more but these are my most anticipated for this season

[apparently-artless]

Fall Anime 2024 Watchlist

Natsume Yuujinchou Season 7

Dandadan

Youkai Gakkou no Sensei Hajimemashita!

Kamonohashi Ron no Kindan Suiri Season 2

Ao no Exorcist: Yuki no Hate-hen

Blue Lock vs. U-20 Japan

Raise wa Tanin ga Ii

Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Kyoto Douran

Houkago Shounen Hanako-kun Part 2

Shangri-La Frontier: Kusoge Hunter, Kamige ni Idoman to su Season 2

Ranma ½ (2024)

Ao no Hako

[alex-rp]

Maya Le Tissier x Reader

(A/N: This is my first time writing. It’s basically just setting up a potential series to see how it goes. I welcome any feedback, good or bad. Thank you for taking the time!)

(Warnings: none)

You’ve just signed for United, and who better than to show you the ropes than the new club captain.

You were incredibly sought after by Man United. They fought tooth and nail to sign you from your previous team. Now here you were, taking a chance back in England. You’re an England international, so you knew a few of the girls, but had been playing abroad for a few seasons where you had really shown your talents.

The media was all over this story, as were your new teammates. They’d heard about you, seen you play and some even played against you… but now they were all welcoming you to Carrington for your first training session. Your head was spinning with a mixture of excitement and nerves. It was always scary to join a new club, though the thrill was indescribable.

You’re shaken from your thoughts when a calm sounding voice asks for you. “Y/N? Are you okay?” It’s your new captain, Maya. You were already grateful it was Maya. You’d met her before through the England set up and she’d always been such a positive presence. However, you’ve always been drawn to her in a way that you would describe as a high school crush kind of vibe. It had never mattered as you spent most of your time halfway across Europe, but now you were going to be playing together. “Yes! Sorry, I’m just a little nervous” you smile to her, to which she smiles back. “As expected, but I’ll look after you”. Those words were just enough to both calm you down and make you more nervous. “Thank you” you reply a little tentatively, which is unlike you.

You aren’t sure if it’s the nerves of it all, or just the move as a whole, but your first training session doesn’t go to plan. There’s a lot of things running through your mind. You had only arrived in Manchester a few days prior to sign your contract, booking a hotel for the week in hopes that you’d find somewhere to live quickly. The pressure you were under to do well was significantly greater than at any of your previous clubs due to the few United had paid to sign you, and the anticipation from the media. You’d performed well with nerves before, but everything had gone wrong today, which you partly think is to do with the presence of a certain someone.

The girls all give you a little sympathy hug or a smile to reassure you it wasn’t the end of the world, but not your captain. Once everyone has cleared out of the locker room, Maya comes to sit with you. “What’s on your mind?” She asks you calmly. “I’ve seen you, I’ve played with you, I know that’s not you” she adds. Something about how she presents herself has always made you trust her and it’s probably why you have a soft spot for her. You want to open up to her, tell her everything… but you’re very aware you can’t. “I don’t really know. Maybe it’s moving here with nowhere to live, or if it’s the fact the media have painted me as the best player in the world… I don’t know” you start to explain. Maya doesn’t interrupt, but looks to you to carry on. You sigh and do so. “I just want to do well I guess” you shrug and avoid Maya’s eyes. You couldn’t.

She rests her hand gently on your thigh, making you fight the blush you hope wasn’t visible. “I already know you want to be here, so we just need to get you settled in” she smiles before you see an idea pop into her head. “Would it help if you came to live with us? Lucia has just been transferred so there’s a room if you want it” She gives you a look. It doesn’t even take a moment of thinking before you nod. “Yes. Please. I think it’ll help” you smile, gratefully. Maybe you should have thought about it more so the idea of actually living with Maya would have registered in your mind, but in the moment you just agree. It does give you a chance to spend time with your teammates and it might not be as bad as it seems, right?“Don’t be nervous” she tells you, as if reading your mind. “We’re lucky to have you. And I told you, I’ll look after you�� Maya adds, with a friendly wink. She really does mean that she’ll look after you, you just have to learn to grow out of your feelings. For the sake of the team, if anything…

[romance-club-daily]

Why do many find the HS universe disappointing? I LIKE IT (no shade to those who don’t like it). Astrea’s broken heart being a part of the universe is mind-blowing! It adds such depth and complexity to the characters. Like, they could’ve kept the spoiler after Diamond Rush (which I’m patiently waiting on, lol)

I look at it as an exciting evolution of the story. It opens up new possibilities for character development and plot twists that we might not have anticipated. It feels like the author(s) is inviting us to explore a more expansive universe, where the stakes are higher and the stories can take unexpected turns. I’m excited to see where this journey leads us next!

I wish I could agree with you anon, but I can't, not for now (at least).

Ranting incoming! Sorry in advance! I have some points and you can feel free to disagree with me too.

Everything you brought up as an argument could work precisely because Astrea's Broken Heart (ABH) is not from the same universe as Heaven's Secret (HS).

I'm not against stories that are set in the same universe, given the post on the connections between contemporary and mundane stories that I pointed out a few days ago (7 Brothers, Garden of Eden, The One, Vying for Versailles and Elite Tag). I think these are easier because the lore is grounded in reality, nothing supernatural or anything like that. The connection between Chasing You (CY) and HS doesn't bother me either, precisely because CY is a story with completely different themes, the HS plot wouldn't directly affect the CY plot (they all die in the 1st apocalypse?. Probably. Nobody cares because that's not what the story is about). And honestly, it seemed more like an easter egg than something really thought out.

But ABH deals with precisely the same theme as HS (the same mythology in this case), except that before we learnt about the joining of universes, the way this theme was being dealt with was different from what we had seen in HS and was, in my opinion, a breath of fresh air compared to HS. The way the hierarchies were beginning to be dealt with, the interaction of the then angels with the Father, the characters' relationship with the subject and so on. New things (and better in my opinion).

But as soon as you say that this story takes place in a universe of an already established story (which already has 2 stories, 3 in fact), things start to go wrong. Because in order to subjugate a story to a universe, things start to become limited at certain points. There are things you can't do, and if the aim is to keep the universe cohesive in the writing, adding lore here and there like the issue of angels in Heaven's Secret Requiem (HSR) is valid and doesn't affect the story, but what about Mikael being the Father's right hand (because they call him Father), Raphael being that important to Him, but in the HS universe there's no mention of them, or the treatment isn't even the same?

The Beast also seems to be an important figure in ABH, a supreme evil. But putting it in HS is going to be what? Because we know that evil is the Shepamalum, the first Satan presented in HS1 was a minion and honestly, hell looked more like a corporation with a CEO taking part every quarter of a year? Is the beast going to be Satan #546465? Will it be antichrist #7894646? Or will it be Shepamalum? Or demon Larry who made a revolution calling for better working conditions and decided to sacrifice some people as a form of rebellion?

Jokes aside, I can't see how a story that's just starting its second season suddenly (because I don't know to what extent this was planned inside, but as an audience we only know about it now - another problem) has to subjugate itself to an existing universe with its most important hierarchies and lores that have already been established. The number of plot holes is going to increase a lot.

Which brings us to the point of how this was passed on to the public. How do you announce something important like that after the second season of a story, already established, and via Facebook of all places???????? Like?

I have theories. Firstly, the two stories were released on the same day. HSR as a direct spin-off. nice. ABH as something completely new, interesting, unusual. ok. Announcing two spin-offs of the same book, on the same day, would be insane and the accusations of capitalising on every drop of HS's popularity would be off the charts (we've only had that with the HSR part, but it would probably be worse). But doing it afterwards, the way it's being done, isn't much better, the backlash is there and I think it's fair.

They probably waited to see if the book was going to be a success on its own, so that they could talk about it and people wouldn't get too outraged (from the reactions it didn't do much good). They could have done this much more organically. This month's update would finally introduce us to the agency's superiors, and what better way to announce that a story is part of an existing universe than by mentioning existing characters! They could take advantage of this and introduce already known characters, or just mention them by name. It would be much more organic and we would see the connection in the story, not in a random Facebook advert.

Another point is that it could be that they didn't want to create a story of similar mythologies that rival each other. HS has its own fanbase, ABH is also creating its own, the way it's constructed is different, and I think the latter is better. Then, to avoid problems, they put everything in the same universe and that was that. But I don't really believe that because Alice herself (HS) is Elena's (ABH) editor in the story. Which leads me to wonder, was this planned from the start or did they see the potential later and change their minds in the middle of the first season? How serious is this for them to announce it on Facebook and not in the story itself? They had to have the guts to admit it on launch day, why hide it?

So as not to be too long-winded, and to summarise my opinion, I don't think it's an advantage for ABH because it limits the development of the lore too much, since what is going to be dealt with already exists in a certain way, the plot and the development of the plot worry me within this universe. On the other hand, it's advantageous for HS because the popularity of ABH joins it. I don't like the decision at first, I'm going to continue treating them as separate things. I really hope that they have a plan up their sleeve that is spectacular, that things work out and no story is harmed in the process, because ABH has become one of my favourite books. And I must emphasise that I also don't like the way they're trying to squeeze every last drop out of HS, the way it's been done has its ups and downs, HSR was a good decision, HS2 not so much. As well as having other stories that deserve continuation and an exploration of the universe (such as Moonborn with the werewolf and vampire clans, Sails in the Fog with other pirates, Heart of Trespia with the unexplored lands beyond the sea…).

I guess, that's what I think about it. And sorry for the long text again!

[mantisgodsart]

[Tonight I dreamed of teeth and claws and what felt like a million grasping hands chasing me through an endless field. The air smelled of sulphur and acid, and I could tell something was watching me, far beneath the moss and earth.

I woke to find I had been shedding wing scales in my sleep, and that apparently one of my primary containment chambers was registering a foreign presence within it. The only thing there when I checked, however, was Mal, who is supposed to be there - and certainly not supposed to be registering as an intruder.

I hope I don't have to update containment over this. Rescribing every little knot in the weave every time I need to strengthen or add to it gets tiring, when you have to do it multiple times a month. Maybe I should start looking for an apprentice again, if only so I don't have to maintain the entire laboratory myself.

There's an old joke about this sort of thing, charmsmiths only getting an apprentice when they need to make sure someone's take down notes about the experiment that kills them. I'd like to think it's more simply making sure that my knowledge doesn't die with me...]

One of the two left over from @bug-oc Round 1, Mal from @sushiikando gets a post all to their own, just like a Round 2 contestant! This is both because zey're a big/complicated design and because we... really aren't gonna be done Pola any time soon. Which is probably what we get for making a comic, even a short comic, while in the time of summer where we actively struggle to think. Oh, well. We'll get it done eventually.

More details under cut, as usual - despite our enthusiasm for walls of text, we don't particularly want to completely obliterate your dashboard. We're getting kicked in the dick by fatigue right now, so further ones might take a bit - we've got Maria sketched out, and Pola's comic only really needs painting and accompanying story, so all fates willing, it shouldn't be too too much of a holdup. There's an abundance of things that we would LOVE to be doing right now, but heat does awful things to our brain, we're still feeling off from being sick, and with tourism season in swing to boot even with our current medication it's an uphill battle to get ourself to do anything at the moment. Hopefully, this clears up soon. For now, we're still very much alive.

First things first - wow, this one took a few drafts. Although not really an originally anticipated difficulty, the lack of reference of just what Mal looks like under that coat made a lot of our original ideas fall a bit flat unless we wanted to make something up from whole cloth. Marigold's transmutations don't include clothes by default, since actively incorporating inanimate objects into an animate body is both difficult and much, much fussier than usual when you're using Marigold's particular methods.

We tried a few initial designs that stopped at that point, then tried at incorporating the coat into the design more properly a la the more "abstract" brews, but after a few fell flat, we sort of... just started throwing spaghetti at the wall, so to speak, and spaghetti stuck. The body patterns here are, for the most part, entirely made up. Maybe the patterns distorted, maybe they didn't - we don't know what's under the coat and we will likely never learn. It's probably fine.

Our primary inspiration here is eastern dragons, particularly the mythos of the koi who climbed the waterfall - the colors and patterns of Mal's design reminded us of koi patterns on first glance, and after a few drafts, we started running with the concept, using both Mal's wings and the shape of the lab coat for "fins". Runaway To The Stars's Bug Ferrets also provided some inspiration (particularly in the face - if you click the link, those mandibles might start looking very familiar).

We also took some amount of inspiration from theveryworstthing's REMwolf series, particularly Laika and The Morriss Dragon, though a lot of the particularly body-horror-y and sillhouette-breaking effects we might have wanted to include in a more detailed piece got nixed by a lack of time. We cannot take the duration of the entire tournament to draw one Round 1 contestant, unfortunately. Even if we wish we could've gotten a bit more detailed, and we very much would've liked to tinker with working in some design elements akin to Sea Legs or Guard Dog or Biology Lab, we're very nearly a full month overdue by now. We have other contestants to paint, and so we must move on.

...fuck, this took a while. Thank you for being patient with us while our brain's scaffolding falls to pieces! We dearly appreciate it. Hope you have an excellent summer!

[sonkitty]

The Sideburns Scheme Post #77

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

Crowley, Good Omens 2, Episode 5, The Ball, wrong

...

Sideburns Check

The sideburns are still long and the same length as when Crowley spoke to Maggie. They are not the longest-length that happens around Gabriel when humans aren't around.

This scene puts Crowley close to his own car that's helping this supernatural zone take shape. There is now more fog and fewer humans shown to be passing in the street. In fact, there is at least one demon shown to the camera's right when Crowley says the name of the coffee shop. Otherwise, the few humans around are understood to be walking and passing through the area.

There is likely a second demon standing in the street and facing the bookshop as Nina enters since I think Nina is supposed to be the next-to-last human to enter the ball.

...

Brighter Red Streak Check

The more saturated red streak of hair is at its most noticeable point in the story, in my opinion, in this scene. It is strongest when Crowley is telling Nina, with urgency, to get to the meeting.

That's also when Nina shifts from finding Crowley weird and mildly irritating in that moment to finding his demeanor scary.

...

Hairstyle Changes

The curl in the front and top is taller and more centered, creating a pocket of hair in the process, at least for the earlier part of the scene. The more saturated red streak of hair is more vibrant. I'm not sure its ever stronger in the whole season.

...

Earthly Objects

(For reference: Earthly Objects)

Crowley says the name of the coffee shop and with the word "name" as a hint that's the point he wants to earn. That's point #1.

Nina has a question for asking Crowley what he wants. That's point #2.

She has a self-touch, like Maggie did. She actually uses both arms, but it's her left hand that is visibly placed on her waist and makes a pocket. Interestingly, that's the opposite hand Maggie used.

After that, Nina at least says the name, "Lindsay," and has a self-mouth touch for 2 points. Crowley also has a self-mouth touch in the cut where the two of them are last seen together for point #3.

...

Time to pay attention to the pockets.

The Tied Hands do not retie.

The Belt Head might get an Overhead Light when Crowley points to the bookshop and says, "Just to remind you about the..." If so, it's presumably helped along by the self-made pocket of hair, especially since it's only the top part of the Belt Head that is visible.

There is a human wearing white who visually walks behind Crowley, but the way Crowley's ears and lights line up over the course of the scene still don't amount to an Overhead Light for his actual head, as best I can tell. That's because the lights are to Crowley's right. He doesn't do anything to properly switch them from how I've played other scenes. Crowley does at least get the flames of the coffee shop wall above, behind, and to the left of his left ear. That's most clearly shown during and after he convinces Nina to go to the bookshop.

While Crowley has been known to frequently have self-made pockets, the main two I can find is the one he makes with his hair and another little self-made pocket he makes with his legs and the lower interior window frame of his car.

...

Story Commentary

The fog is still setting in. There are still a few humans.

Crowley senses something is wrong. As he mentions that to Nina, he adds that lots of things are wrong right now, but right now, this wrong he senses is coming in waves, like a hangover.

To our knowledge as the audience, this wrongness is probably the demons arriving, possibly with a "creeping sense of unease."

Crowley's actions up to this point have indicated he anticipates their arrival, at least on a layered level. He's not touching any earthly objects here, just as he wasn't touching any when Nina questioned him earlier about his relationship with Aziraphale.

Since Crowley mentions a hangover, it's worth recalling that he did drink wine earlier and is using a substantial amount of power in making this shift into a supernatural zone happen.

When he says a lot of things are wrong, he could be referring to his more layered awareness within the games.

This moment also shows what I meant that Crowley and Aziraphale aren't really asking the humans to attend. Whatever it takes to get the invited human to the ball? It's going to be done. In this case, Crowley shows a sense of urgency that's strong enough for Nina to abide by him flat out telling her to go. She gets scared of him.

Honestly, she might not have even been able to leave since she accepted the invitation on camera in Crowley's presence with his touches happening, and the supernatural zone is already taking shape. Crowley both escorts and dismisses other humans from the space later, as a way to allow them to leave.

...

Nina

Something very interesting in the Earthly Objects game happens.

I am very unsure of the below, but here is my current play in trying to understand this scene within Earthly Objects as a game.

When Nina arrives, she touches a threshold. More specifically, she has four left hand fingers on the door. The middle finger touches the push plate. The index, ring, and fingertips touch the door panel though the ring finger is aligned just below the edge of the push plate. As she continues to enter, her right arm is shown to be crossed under her left arm. Her left thumb eventually appears and is shown to not be touching the door.

Her left hand lets go of the door, and her body obscures the touch her right hand still has on the door. She says, "I'm going mad."

Now let's take a look at how Crowley touches this same threshold later in episode 6 as the Single of The Pocket Trick. I won't cover everything about it because it's a lot.

For starters, he has a visible pocket touch with his right hand that has four fingers in the pocket with the thumb outside the pocket. Crowley also places four left hand fingers on the door. For him, it's the index finger instead of the middle finger that touches the push plate. Both the index finger and middle finger are touching each other at the lower edge of the push plate. The middle, ring, and pinky fingertips are on the door panel. As Crowley continues to enter, his right arm is shown to be crossed under his left arm. He's using his Pocket Chain with the car window behind him for the touch, especially with the thumb and its shadow on the astragal. The cut itself does not show the door actually closing. He is still touching the door by the end of the cut.

He had his mouth open but no dialogue during the touch.

Other humans have touched doors during Good Omens 2. I haven't tracked every touch, and I don't have it in me to go back and check them as I draft this post because it won't change my point about what follows from Nina's touch.

For whatever reason, in this instance here, Nina's threshold touch is treated like a mistake that must be corrected. It's like the game wants to overcompensate.

Here is my current breakdown of trying to understand what happened.

Nina's touch cannot count as an earthly object touch because three fingertips on the door panel is a threshold-only touch. But it's not a Threshold Trick or part of one. It's something she did in a heated moment of fear. Crowley's threshold touches are very particular about how they are done.

Nina says, "I'm going mad," for point #1. The game treats statements like this one, a statement of place, as a "Hello."

But, instead of having Nina go into an interaction set, she'll get her own points #2 and #3 later, as dialogue points, because the other characters she encounters are earning 3 points in one collective duo set and 3 solo sets. All of these characters will be touching earthly objects.

Mutt is holding a glass of champagne and a book as he says Nina's name. That's point #1 for the book and #2 for the name. He's not talking to Nina. He's talking to his spouse because his sentence began, "Why, my dear, it is Nina..." His spouse has a line of dialogue toward Nina while also holding a glass of champagne. That's point #3. I'm guessing Mutt's touch on the book for counts for him to make it different from the touch his spouse earns.

Nina doesn't respond verbally to them.

Justine is holding a glass of champagne and has a self-touch with her left hand for point #1. Her self-touch probably counts to make what she touches being herself instead of the glass of champagne. That way, it's, again, different from what Mutt's spouse was touching. Justine says, "bonsoir" as a "Hello" equivalent for point #2 with a question about it being a fine night for dancing, no? for point #3.

Nina finally earns her own second two points with the name "Justine" as point #2 and the question, "Justine, what's going on?" for point #3.

Mr. Arnold has a touch on the piano for point #1 and sitting on a stool for point #2. He says Nina's name for point #3.

Gabriel is holding a tray for point #1. He says "Hello" for point #2. He asks a question about Nina trying one of the tiny little dinners for point #3.

That's 15 points total.

It mostly seems to end here since Aziraphale shows up shortly, and he and Nina proceed into at least one standard interaction set with him touching a bookcase for point #1, saying Nina's name for point #2, and Nina asking why she doesn't feel upset for point #3.

After that, I can't figure out any remaining sets for the scene. Mr. Brown earns at least two points with "Excellent eventide to you, Mistress Nina," as a Hello and a name. Since his hands aren't shown, I don't know if his newspaper touch counts. I would think so otherwise since he wasn't holding it earlier when he entered the bookshop.

...

As for why the human guests are talking weird, I go with the general theory of it being Aziraphale's influence on the space with his wish to have this ball happen this way. His power is influencing the humans. Aziraphale wants the humans safe from the demon invasion, but he also wants to dance with Crowley and celebrate their connection.

...

That's it for this post. Sometimes I edit my posts, FYI.

...

Main post:

The Sideburns Scheme

[galvanizedfriend]

S5 rewriting which season five? what are you re-writing? I have questions many questions

Hi! Thanks for your ask! 😊 Also, apologies beforehand because this is me right now:

I have a toxic trait and that's wanting to rewrite the show. 🫠 I once had a convo with @definedareasofuncertainty about what TVD would've been like if The Originals had never happened, and we started imagining what season 5 of TVD would've been like in that scenario. We unearthed an interview where Julie Plec 🤢 said that the baby plot was always going to be a part of the story anyway, they just didn't know whether they'd actually get the green light from the network to move forward with the spin off. So then we started thinking what TVD would've been like with the magical mystery baby in it, and the S5 rewriting was born. 😂

So it's not what dream S5 would've like for me, but rather a more realistic take on what the show could've been like. Because hear me out.

When you think about it, there are certain aspects of TVD S5 that suggest that Klaus was always meant to be a part of it, which explains why S5 is so bad tbh. Everything feels so very pointless. It's the most forgettable season of TVD, and that's saying a lot, considering how bad some of the other seasons were, because the entire thing is just fillers. If you consider the idea that the Travelers abhored vampires, thought they were abominations and wanted to free the earth from them, then it would make sense for them to want to get rid of the Originals instead of just going for a bunch of teenagers who are at the very base of the supernatural food chain. And if you add in someone pregnant with a mystical anti-Christ, then it makes even more sense that the Travelers would want to obliterate Mystic Falls and everyone in it to make sure the baby wouldn't be born. The whole 'we know what's coming, this child will be the end of magic as we know it' makes much more sense with Travelers than regular witches because how would they know that? The whole concept of Travelers just makes more sense to me if we put them up against the Originals. Even the Augustine society plot makes more sense with Originals thrown in. I'm sure Wes knew exactly who Klaus was and would be dying to get an introduction, not to mention the idea that they would've probably had close relations to Mikael when trying to create the ripper virus.

And it also kinda justifies the choice of Hayley as the mother figure, something that never made any sense to me. It's because she was completely expendable. She was barely an extra on the show, so it would be very easy to get rid of her. And in my head, she would definitely be dead by the end of the season. Where the witches caused her death in TO, it would've been the Travelers, except in TVD she wouldn probably not come back as a hybrid, she would've just stayed dead. She wasn't that important to the plot throughout S1 of TO, just carrying the baby around, which to me means that she was never meant to be a central point, but suddenly she had way more screen time than they'd anticipated she would get (also because Claire Holt decided to leave the show), so then they had to figure out how to write her as a lead.

Anyway, the source of all of this are the voices in my head, so take it with a grain of salt. 😂 I just think there are CLUES about the fact they did mean to write those two storylines as one at some point.

And that leads me to the fact that everything pointed towards Klaus and Caroline being together in S5. That part wasn't even subtle, S4 was a huge build up to them becoming a thing. And I think it would start with them kissing in that last scene of S4, Klaus showing up to save the day and Caroline's ass and gifting her with allowing Tyler to come back to town (I'm sure that would've been a greater discussion between them if he had stayed on the show for the final episodes prior to that, plus it would be more meaningful if Klaus was actually in town 😂 What was he going to do to stop Tyler anyway if he wasn't even there anymore?).

So in my rewrite they'd start the season by showing the two of them had spent a hot secret summer together. Then school starts and Caroline sort of expects things to go back to normal because it's convenient to her and how she excused herself in her guilty head, by rationalizing it all as a summer fling. She's leaving for college, where she will be rooming with her two best friends, and Tyler is expected to join them at some point even though she hasn't had any responses from him all summer, and in her mind, Klaus doesn't fit into that. There's no way to reconcile a romance with the big baddie and still lead the normal-ish life she expects to have. Klaus is obviously pissed off because he knows Caroline is in denial, and there's also the fact he's way too proud to be someone's dirty secret. Meanwhile Caroline is miserable and faced with the harsh truth she'd been denying all summer which is that she likes Klaus a lot more than she expected to but she's terrified of what everyone would think of her (and I personally think the next step in Caroline's TVD development would really be to let go of how much other people's opinions mattered to her. She had been on this journey since S1, of 'trying to become a better person' by shaping herself to meet other people's expectations, and it was about time she realized that she shouldn't have to change who she is in order to be liked or accepted, she shouldn't have to beg to be anyone's priority, which then leads back to Klaus and the fact he always admired her big personality, flaws and all, and the fact she gets to be 100% herself around him is a huge part of why she feels so much more at ease with him than she did with Tyler, for instance, but I digress).

While they are caught in this crossfire of sorts, him sulking in MF and her pretending not to sulk in Whitmore and having to deal with the mysterious new roommate's death and all, Elijah shows up with someone he just rescued from the hands of an angry witch mob in New Orleans: pregnant Hayley. And that's where the two plots would come together.

Obviously the whole baby thing would've been a much smaller plot within the whole of S5 than it ever was in TO, for obvious reasons. But it would be a point of contention between Klaus and Caroline and it would tie in the several different running storylines of the season at the end. I'm thinking Caroline would probably be the one trying to save Hayley and the baby from the siege of Mystic Falls at the end. And obviously, by the time we get there, with Tyler having come back and tried to kill Hayley, and revealed the secret to the whole town, etc, etc, Caroline will have come to terms with how she feels for Klaus and the two of them will be unapologetically together.

In a broader sense I also think this would offer a good chance to explore Elijah's character and his relationship with Katherine and everything she meant to him. The fact he wasn't there when she dies (and Klaus was) was just baffling to me. We see him him giving up on her in a 1 minute scene and that's it. Bringing him back to MF under these circumstances would create a much broader opportunity to explore what is his character's eternal conflict of family duty x self satisfaction, where he would realize that in order to keep the whole home situation in control, and mantain Hayley hidden and as secret, he'd have to stay away from Katherine, and then eventually she would die, and he would realize he'd once again missed a chance of being happy for the sake of his family while Klaus gives fuck all to fatherhood and all that.

I ALSO think it would've been so much fun if Caroline would invite Klaus instead of Katherine to help cure Stefan's PTSD. Klaus would have the time of his life tbh. And this is 100% my wishful thinking, but Klefan is real in my heart and it was about time the show incorporated that into its canon (although I very much doubt they'd ever do it, the cowards).

I'm so sorry for how long and rambly this is. 🥲

[taylorrepdetective]

Any guesses for season 2?  Living full time in KC?  Going to all the games?  Engagement?

As I’ve said before, I believe season 2 is the most likely scenario. I believe this because it has been so successful and I don’t see a reason for her to mess with success. And I see few signs of a change. And if season 2 does happen, a big part of it will be the constant anticipation for an engagement ( and pregnancy unfortunately.) Every appearance she makes at a game would involve the GP looking at her hands and speculating about Travis asking or them announcing it publicly in some way. This would be huge publicity for both of them, and for the NFL and Chiefs. Viewership and scuttlebutt will continue to be high. I haven’t paid too much attention this off season, but I believe KC will be the favorite to go to the SB again, so that’s another chance for huge, huge publicity for her. But it is a bit of a “been there done that” situation, so that should be kept in mind. I do not know what her next big project is (re-recording, TS12, documentary, hyping herself up as a director, or something else) but if she does have something (I think we can assume a re-recording by March, so that counts) this is her promo for it, just like she used it last year for eras tour movie, 1989 tv, and TTPD. Even if she has nothing specific to promote, there’s always her brand and the perception that she likes men, along with keeping her actual private life private. For him, he has his game show and the Ryan Murphy show to promote. Plus he’s trying to do a huge podcast deal and trying to get more similar gigs, especially a movie deal.

So, short term: she goes to games (possibly as early as this Thursday - romantically flying straight from London.) She will appear to spend the bulk of the next 2 months in KC. When he has extra days off they may do something outside of kc✅. I think he’ll have a few days after this Thursday’s game✅. I don’t have the energy to look up if his bye week coincides with a tour stop, but I looked in the past, and I don’t think it does. Basically similar to last year except he probably won’t make it to a show. She’ll probably go the VMAs.

However, while I think the above is most likely, I can see several different paths that would add something more fun and interesting (for me - I have been mostly bored by travlor since January.) For example I believe that whenever the breakup is planned (tomorrow or 4 years from now) she will do it in a hilarious and well thought-out way that I am really looking forward to. I think she’ll try to top her announcing the toe breakup by switching out Invisible String and then officially announcing it at midnight, Easter, London time, on Matty’s birthday, followed by all her friends unfollowing him one by one. I won’t dare try to predict the details, except I know I will love it. And that could be tomorrow or it could be ~October, if she doesn’t plan to do the full Super Bowl thing again. Again it could also be in 4 years or even never. I do not actually know anything.

Other interesting things that could happen include releasing the rep vault and we all lose our minds. She could come out as bi. She could get engaged. There’s the election, which I assume she’ll back Harris in some way✅, but I don’t know if he’ll be involved. I do not know any of this actually. It’s all guesses. But my guess have been very good since November so there’s no reason for me to doubt I’m mostly right.

There are a few clues I’ve been watching, some stuff that started in May, that tells me a break up in the near term could happen, and if it does happen, I will let you know what those clues were. And there’re few other things I’m watching for to add to that. But I don’t really see a breakup before October to be likely. Always possible, but unlikely.

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

I'm looking at the forecast for JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX, and I also saw how low the attendance was at my cinema job yesterday, and... It got me thinking again about where big comic book/superhero movies are at in the post-COVID outbreak world...

And how JOKER 2 - along with films like QUANTUMANIA, SHAZAM 2, THE MARVELS, and THE FLASH - sorta fit a weird group of pictures that probably would've made boffo bucks in 2019 but not now. Backwash, you could say, from a bygone era that's only like five years ago...

Meanwhile, we saw the recent successes of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 and ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE, superhero movies that were more than just your usual garden variety superhero movie. They had some kind of vision or passion or spunk behind them. DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE is, I feel, the anomaly to this, as I felt it to be a fairly vision-less movie. Just a big budget parade of your favorite characters and action bits and lots of cameos, but done well enough with a sense of fun that kept audiences coming back after it made over $211m on its domestic opening weekend. I certainly had a fun time with it, but I wouldn't say it's anything other than "here's some fan favorites and some bloody action."

And then smack-dab in the middle of all this is MADAME WEB, which by all accounts was hacked to pieces in post-production much like how MORBIUS was. A film that could've stood out amongst the superhero pack as a period piece (2003 as a period piece, that's frightening to me lol), but ended up being molded into your usual schlop with lots of noticeable ADR.

Then you have two other Sony Spider-Man-adjacent movies this year, out within two months of one another. VENOM: THE LAST DANCE, out in a few weeks from now, should do good business because of the campy buddy comedy appeal of these particular movies. KRAVEN THE HUNTER, which was delayed multiple times, I have no idea. That might get a little lost in the Christmas season feeding frenzy. I have no idea how much further these Sony movies will go, outside of the VENOM movies. Remember how they wanted to do an EL MUERTO movie and then it got canned?

It seems like it's all a slow, prolonged sea change in comic book movies. I think they'll still get made, but something will have to change... as even a sequel to JOKER - which prided itself on resembling a '70s/'80s New Hollywood Scorsese-esque project - isn't cutting it. The idea of the new one being like a classic musical and a courtroom drama sounds really cool on paper, but in 2024, it's just not enough. The first one seems to be of a specific time, and belongs only to that time, it could be argued. A Trump-era slog about a "misunderstood" lonely guy who eventually ends up killing people, that devolves into a cacophony of violence... Its most controversial aspects were outside of the movie itself. I remember all the pre-release worry about the film possibly being a rallying cry to shooters... It came out and nothing happened, but it got tons of people to flock to the movie. It just hit at the right time, the noise around it created an appeal of sorts. It being this R-rated gritty street level movie and not your usual comic book movie.

But in 2024, now it's just "Eh, a new JOKER movie?" Add in the extreme genre shift, and a chunk of the audience was alienated.

Next year... CAPTAIN AMERICA 4... Looks - to me - like the most anticipated movie of 2015, honestly. THUNDERBOLTS* also looks too little, too late and also kinda just... There... James Gunn's SUPERMAN could really go either way, it could pull a MAN OF STEEL, or it could really break out. Maybe a BATMAN BEGINS-esque performance is in the cards here, where it opens kinda okayish because of a general fatigue w/ constant superhero movies (not to mention Henry Cavill's Kal-El not being that far behind) but has great legs. FANTASTIC FOUR Again, maybe this new take does the same? Maybe it's just more MCU fluff that gets a handful of fans on opening weekend and just fades away afterwards. There's an untitled Sony Spider-Man adjacent movie set for summer 2025 as well, but I wouldn't be surprised if that gets nerfed from the schedule. By now I think we'd know what it is, unless it's some kind of surprise project. Still, you'd know about it because it'd be filming or wrapped up by now. Speaking of which, BLADE is definitely not out next year, I'm surprised Disney and Marvel haven't changed its release or removed it from the calendar. We'll have to see where it all goes...

Ya know what comic book movie sticks out among all these 2025 entries?

DOG MAN!

Which I expect to be a respectable success for DreamWorks, come this winter. Its animation and visuals were outsourced to Jellyfish, much in the same way CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS was to Mikros. Jellyfish got SPIRIT UNTAMED out for $30m, I'd imagine this didn't cost anything more than that. Plus it's well after SPIRIT's timeframe, which was when vaccines were still rolling out, and this new movie is based on the Dav Pilkey CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS universe so it should do pretty okay. But to me, this is probably the most distinct CBM of next year, in a sea of big budget spectacle. A little cartoon movie about half man/half dog from a comic book written by fictional children that plays out in the way a comic drawn up by a kid would.

Leave it to animation to save the day here, lol. We need something to hold us over in comic book movies until BEYOND THE SPIDER-VERSE, whenever they decide to release that.

2026 is home to what looks like the usual array of late 2010s CBM backwash... AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY with Robert Downey Jr. returning to the MCU, possibly a fourth Tom Holland Spider-Man movie, two other untitled MCU movies (BLADE will likely take one of those slots)

There's also Gunn/Safran-verse DC's SUPERGIRL, but we gotta see what SUPERMAN looks like, first, before I can say whether their new DC shared universe feels like it belongs in the past decade or not...

You also have another animated entry with the MUTANT MAYHEM sequel, the first one - from last year - being a great and fresh new spin on the TMNT property. And THE BATMAN - PART II, the first one got a very strong response back in 2022. I would say THE BATMAN and MUTANT MAYHEM are of this new post-ENDGAME superhero movie era, the first SPIDER-VERSE arguably kicked that off in late 2018 before ENDGAME was released.

Again, it's a real "we'll have to see". Tracking this stuff can be fascinating for me.

[cha-faile]

This show!! oh my god this show....

Interviewer: “Were you a fan of the books, familiar with them? Did you have to do an intensive deep dive into them? You can be honest.” Ayla Ruby: “All 15 books.” Brian Shows (s02 vfx producer): “I read all of them 19 times. No, I was not involved with the books prior. Andy has more knowledge on that from the historic perspective. My part when I got into it was to watch season one just prior to starting, and then obviously we get into the scripts, and then we get into the video with the different professionals who really know the books. We were using them as resources right, it’s a great tool. But I wasn’t involved prior.” source

Interviewer: “Again, being in your position, you hear stories about like, oh, guys that like to hide Easter eggs or calls to certain things. Do you ever sneak any stuff in there for you?” Brian Shows: “He [Andy Scrase] does. But he really does pay attention to the books as much as we can. We definitely find things and we add things to it to give people and fans something to look for. So yeah, he definitely does. I’m not sure he’ll say exactly what he puts in but he definitely does.” Interviewer: “We’ll pry it out of him, it’s fine.” Brian Shows: “By all means. Good luck.” source

(interviewer) Ayla Ruby: “It’s funny you said Lanfear because there’s such a passion for that character with the fans. Did you guys anticipate that that people would be-” (executive producer) Marigo Kehoe: “Yes.” Ayla Ruby: “You knew?” Marigo Kehoe: “Yeah, yeah. Yeah. We knew. We knew. And Natasha’s just playing her so brilliantly. I hope you agree. I mean, I just think… And she’s having such a ball playing her, that the enthusiasm is… I just love the way she kind of… It’s kind of she… Which, again, we talked with visual effects earnestly about how she uses the One Power. And she’s so wonderfully dismissive and it’s great.” source

(s02 vfx supervisor) Andy Scrase: "“But I’m really, really lucky in the fact that there’s just so many different creative challenges in the show that it’s certainly not boring. It’s probably one of the most satisfying projects I’ve ever worked on.” source

Andy Scrase: “I knew of the books, I had not read the books. However, obviously, I’m working my way through the books. And I think the size and scope of Wheel of Time hit home with me almost instantaneously when I had the audiobook and saw that it ran for something like 26 hours or something like this. So I knew there was obviously going to be a lot of material there, and there certainly is. Robert Jordan goes into a lot of description and it’s a really interesting story to look at, this repeating of ages and things like the Age of Legends and stuff like this.” source

Interviewer: “You said you joined in season two, how does it feel to join a team that was already working together, and try to bring your own flare to something that was already being done? You had to maintain what was done season one, but also…” (vfx producer) Brian Shows: “Yeah, I think Andy will speak to that too, more in-depth, but it’s a very welcoming team and I think that starts with Rafe [Judkins], all the way down. It’s a very collaborative team, so I don’t think there was any issue stepping in and helping out when we got to the ground. So from Rafe, to the producers, to the cast, to all the department heads, it was very easy, easy to jump into. It’s probably the best project I’ve ever worked on, in that type of environment. It really is a good group of people, a quality group of people, which is not so common.” “Well, not just that, but industry-wise, when you have it from the top down where it’s just a really great environment, you just want to keep doing it. So that’s why we did season two and we’re actually doing season three too.” source

Brian Shows: “Honestly, I never actually looked at any feedback in 27 years. Just because typically there’s people who are going to love it and there’s people who are not going to like it. As long as you know that you put your best foot forward with the time and budget that you could possibly do, put out the best quality product, then to me that’s all that really matters. But this time I heard so much about the fans, I was intrigued. So I did watch and read, and I watched some of the shows, and I did read some of the Twitterverse out there, and most of it was pretty good with respect to our part. So it’s good.” Interviewer: “That has to be difficult hearing feedback from people who don’t quite understand what your job is.” Brian Shows: “Some of the feedback is fun because I like how the fans will go down these rabbit holes of, ‘This is what they meant by…’ And they zoom in and you see the smallest thing, and you’re like, ‘Well that had nothing to do with it. But I love the fact that you read into it that far, right, amazing.'” “And then they go through and then they take the blur off to see what was in the background. Like, ‘I saw those boots once before.’ You’re like, ‘Okay, you did.'” source

(so2 vfx supervisor) Andy Scrase: “[Channeling is] such an important and unique magic system to the show. And I had certain challenges where there was a certain look established for season one. And when I joined the show, that was kind of one of my first priorities was the channeling and what I could do to improve that. There’s a big expectation on it. There’s a lot of intricacies. We’re taking threads and weaving them and things like this. So I think that where I am with the channeling is kind of a very good starting point and everyone seems to have reacted quite positively with it, with this idea. Because as I’ve said, I’ve been very literal with the interpretation of threads of power, but the colors, bringing those in was a really important decision I felt because, it’s a way of describing the different elements that they use, especially in weaves.” “It’s very important to the fan base, as I found out from doing my early research, and then just talking about it to Rafe [Judkins], we came to the decision that we could do it. But I think we always needed to be a little bit careful that it didn’t become too overbearing and too saturated. And I think even in the books, it’s described as being tinged with color. So I think there isn’t anything I’d say that I haven’t done before, it’s in the books. But it’s more a case of working what we have now even closer towards how some things are described. And I think the channeling is one of those. I’m really excited about how we go on and develop that and bring more nuances to it and more levels of detail and subtlety. Yeah.” source

It's a good place to work. They read the books. They adjust what they put into the show based on book fan and show fan feedback. ahhhhhhh my heart

[bettsfic]

2023 WIP cleanout

a couple years ago i did a major WIP cleanout and it was very satisfying, and i've been bummed out lately so i'm doing it again to cheer myself up.

i have about 200k worth of unposted/unfinished fic, and i'd like to make a decent dent in that. when i listed out my WIPs i was surprised to find that most of them i'd written past the 50% mark and for whatever reason, the fic went an unanticipated direction. instead of fixing it, i moved on. the problem is that usually the unanticipated direction is something cool and that i want to pursue, but would make the fic longer and more complicated than i want it to be, and more work than i want to put into it. once i get enough distance from a fic, it's a lot easier to see how to get it back on track.

there are many things i set down and never think about again, but if it sticks in my head for longer than a couple months, then i know i need to come back to it eventually.

so this is my accountability thread! and i'm going to lay out the steps i took to triage these fics and get them posted, in case it helps anyone struggling with the same problem.

here are the things on my WIP cleanout list:

(Organic Chemistry isn't on this list because i'm actively working on it, albeit slowly)

Wind of the New World

Annie/Finnick, The Hunger Games (ASE epilogue)

started August 2020

this one is what inspired the cleanout, and as of yesterday it is DONE and POSTED. for the longest time it sat at about 7k when i knew it would be 10k, and i couldn't make myself write the last 3k because somehow it turned into a threesome fic with Gale and it took me a loooong time to let go of that idea. also, it required a lot of canon knowledge, which faded the longer i kept it on the backburner.

to finish it, i:

killed a few darlings (Finnick's crush on Gale)

down drafted the scenes i hadn't yet written

reread ASE while taking notes

rewatched Mockingjay 2 while taking notes

transcribed several scenes of Mockingjay 2

made a punch list of things i wanted to fix/rearrange/expand on

up drafted, dental drafted, and posted

completing it took about 15 hours across 3 days.

Stray

Lumine/Razor, Genshin Impact

started April 2021

this is an alternate beginning to genshin where the traveler finds Razor instead of Paimon. it stalled out at 5k because i wanted it to be rated M and i also wanted the characters to get all the way to Liyue, but both of those things were far more work than i wanted to put into it. so now it'll be rated G and end when they reach Mondstadt. i don't anticipate it will be more than 7k.

Before the Suns Rise

Anakin/Padme/Obi-Wan, Star Wars

started June 2022

this one is nearly 45k and about 95% done. i set it down because 1) i got to the threesome part and writing threesomes is hard, 2) i hadn't watched the Clone Wars or Rebels yet and so i was self-conscious about my knowledge of canon, and 3) i got distracted by Lemon.

another thing that a lot of these WIPs have in common is that they're very closely tied to canon and therefore have Plot and even though i can do Plot, i find it exhausting and a little tedious.

this is a post-Vader, alt-OWK timeline fic. in the 20+ star wars fics i've written, only 5 of them are in any way related to canon, and they're all one-shots. so this one is going to be hard.

i anticipate it'll only take 5k to finish, for a total of 50k and 14 chapters.

Patronage

Seungho/Nakyum, Painter of the Night

started October 2021

this is my Patreon AU that's over 10k already. in it, Seungho is married to Jihwa (and cheating on him with Nakyum) and i wanted to write the whole thing through to their divorce (and Seungho Getting A Real Job), but that is just. a lot. so i'm going to write only to Seungho finally giving in to his feelings for Nakyum, with the knowledge that after season 4 is finished, i may want to continue it as a series and write the latter half as i'd intended.

i'll probably only add 1-2k, for a total of 12k.

In Water Falling

Ahsoka/Rex, Star Wars

started November 2022

this was the first rexsoka fic i started working on when i finished Clone Wars. i got about 10k in, scrapped it, wrote another 15k, scrapped it, and then started focusing on Organic Chemistry. also, i just got very frustrated with it. to fix this one, i think i need to lower my expectations of it, rearrange some plot points, and write the final 2-3 scenes.

maybe 3-4k more? hopefully it'll cap out under 20k.

There & Here

Chishiya/OFC, Alice in Borderland

started February 2023

in my defense, i set this one down, like. a week ago. there's nothing i'm stalled out on; i just have to finish it.

currently 25k, hopefully only 5k more, capping out under 30k. it's 4 chapters.

things i intend to finish later:

Good Bones - this is my Emergency Fic that i'm saving for when i'm too blocked to write anything else

Bomb Time - this is a BOSAS fix-it. i definitely want to finish it, but i'm going to wait until the film comes out in November, so i don't have to reread the book to remember what's going on

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Long-ass confession about thinking through changing up my collection

I have 3 various V0lks SD dolls and I think my hobby will be turning more towards this direction in the future as I think of selling off my collection of smaller non-V0lks sized dolls. I started in the hobby some years ago with much less room for dolls - so I decided to get a number of less expensive smaller dolls with non-standard measurements and although I have enjoyed sewing and making some items for them, I always enjoy sewing for the SD size more, and now I also have room to comfortably display more SD size dolls. The biggest problem though has been that I really don’t have much fun at all hunting the right size and style of shoes, eyes and wigs and other props and things for the smaller dolls to complete any new looks or the dioramas I had wanted to make, and often these things also take forever to ship, don’t look right or or fit right and so now I also have a drawer full of things that just weren’t quite suitable so that’s really just money wasted. I actually put those smaller dolls away in their boxes last year and so far I have not missed them in 9 months so I’m thinking it’s time to sell them. 

By contrast, I have my V0lks dolls out all the time and it is always exciting to anticipate the Volks releases via photos and announcements in V0lks News. I look forward to to making a seasonal order for one or more beautiful new V0lks outfits, some shoes, maybe a wig or other accessories several times per year and it is so nice to have everything arrive quickly, packaged beautifully, fitting perfectly and the items always looking lovely on my dolls so much that I usually want to set up a photo shoot right away so my photography has also progressed a lot. That adds a lot of fun to my hobby enjoyment overall and I’m finding out that for me, it’s worth the extra expense now that I have really thought about it. It even makes me want to sew more for them to add to their wardrobes and to photograph them more in casual everyday snapshots.

A few of my doll friends aren’t as interested in my almost-all V0lks focus now but I have also met some new people who also really love these dolls the most, and that’s fun because they also get excited for the news and releases.So I’ll get ready to sell the other dolls at reasonable cost and in enough time for people to hopefully be able to use layaway to buy them for Christmas, and also list everything that doesn’t fit one of my V0lks dolls - just have a big clean-out sale, then trade or give away smaller things if they do not sell and save that money towards eventually buying at least 2 more Vplks dolls in new sizes, either searching second hand or buying them one at a time as they become available via online FCS or by lottery. I know the dolls and items that I sell will probably not raise such a good amount of cash even compared to what I spent but honestly, I feel like I am better served to cut the losses and have a fewer amount of dolls that I really enjoy a lot to make a nicer collection right now and then only buying those types of dolls in the future that I know I can enjoy more easily to buy things for from now on. 

Why this long confession here? Well, I do get tired of reading mean confession posts about others. But mostly because I know a lot of bjd hobbyists consider people who mostly have V0lks dolls to sometimes be some kind of elitist brand snob (and to be fair some really are, that’s true) but for me, I guess confessing my process about how I arrived at my current decisions might help someone else also think on their own collection in a way that may allow them to let go of less-loved dolls without guilt about the sunk cost and also to help give themselves permission to change their ideas about how they want to approach the hobby according to what makes them happy - even if it means considering very different dolls right in the middle of their doll journey, regardless of what anyone else might think. 

~Anonymous

[valentyn-the-mad]

for the most recent question list: 11, 14, 17.

Get ready for some rambling and maybe introspective bullshit my friend

11. what do you consider to be romance?

I think "romance" is pretty open-ended as a concept and really depends on the people involved - probably the reason it's asking about personal definitions - but that to me means there's a lot of wiggle room even in my personal opinions. I think for me at a basic level romance involves a clear partnership, being able to rely on each other for mundane stuff as well as in a crisis, ideally some physical attraction, and being able to be confident that you can trust them even with the stupid unpleasant embarrassing parts of yourself and your life and they're not going to judge you for it, but take it as part of the experience that is being with another person. Friendship, trust, reliability, and some smooching probably, with someone who's inclined to think you're really neat and has the same wants out of the package.

14. what’s something you’ve always wanted to do but maybe been to scared to do?

This is even more embarrassing than my answer about romance tbh because I have a ton of things I would love to do, but I am scared of like.... everything. All the time. Not to get into it but I grew up basically always being primed for the outside world to be scary, inheriting a lot of my parents' unconscious fears and nervous issues, and so my self-confidence has always been kind of lacking since I was young. I've been working on figuring that out, and I am WAY better than I was as a teen or anything, but I still catch myself being scared to do like normal mundane stuff for no real reason?? And having to fortify myself to do it anyway. I do it, but it's not easy.

So my answer is like.... anything lmao. I really want to get used to going places and doing things alone and like, meeting new people and doing activities that I'm not 100% sure will pan out. Literally just experiencing more life around me because I've kind of become even more reclusive than I used to [pandemic definitely did me dirty here] but I wanna like. Be brave enough to just go meet people and do like an art group or something and exist in a public space where I can maybe get outside my bubble and make new connections.

17. name 3 things that make you happy

Right now I am experiencing the autumn transition and it is like, clearing some bad vibes out of me or something. Right now off the top of my head 3 amazing things:

Big pot of soup made from scratch. My go-to is beef broth or vegetable stock, garlic onion and herb seasonings, lots of root vegetables [parsnips and potatoes are my heroes], beef cubed and dusted in corn starch and seared before putting in the pot. Simmer it all a long time. Add faro for some grain boost. It's a banger every time.

My cats - obviously pets are an easy one but these noisy idiots are always making trouble but they also love to cuddle with each other as well as me so after work ending up in a cat pile on the couch counts for more than you could ever anticipate.

Going to someplace like a thrift store or big department store and looking at the ugly art pieces or furniture for sale and finding like the most tacky or cursed item and talking with my accompanying friends about where to put it in the house or how to redesign around it. Envisioning like the worst home makeover for hideous but fun items. About 20% of the time we end up buying something.

[duckduckhjonk]

*very loud clap of my hands*

RIGHT

*very loud cracking of my knuckles*

so tonight marks a special occasion, I finished season one of Inanimate Insanity as part of my tumblr live reactions. Very important day indeed. Now its time for my season review.

I guess if you haven't seen season 1 spoilers?? also its long so it goes under the read more. Also please note I'm just some random critter on the internet, I might not have gods greatest reading comprehension. If I say something wrong, please be respectful but do correct me!

I think the show started off very rocky to say the least. I think it was originally like "We're bfdi but edgy" with all the censored swearing and jabs at what would probably be 'dark' humour. Not really a fan of that bit, like- at all. I think most of what they tried to do early on landed very poorly. I think the way they originally tackled Paint Brush being non-binary was done awfully. I know in the later seasons it is properly discussed, but this is just going through the first season.

But, I think they recovered decently. I think that this season managed to turn that around and make it into genuinely an interesting show. I felt myself getting closer to the screen in anticipation and excitement during some of the later episodes. They ditched the dark/edgy humour and made a good show. I think that was smart and really good.

The characters are very fun. I definitely have some favourites. Those being Paper, Paint Brush, Bow, Balloon, Taco, and Marshmallow, but of them all I absolutely adore Paper. But I also think Bomb stood out a lot. He's a very solid character to me. I don't see a lot of characters with a stutter a lot, and originally I don't think it was done in a goodhearted way, but I didn't see a lot of it being used as the butt of the joke very often. Of course there were times it was, but it wasn't as common as I was expecting I suppose. I also think I'd like to talk about Apple a bit? I thought she was a very decent character, being a little stupid, but iconic I suppose. Although my biggest complaint with her was she was very much written off towards the end with her elimination. While the rest of the eliminated contestants came back and did things, she only got snippets???

Talking more about my faves for a moment. Paper, god I love him. From the bottom of the barrel to the top of the game with him. He became evil, he stopped being evil, he survived isolation, he's a soggy wet cat to me. I love him. I think both him and Bomb were fucked over by OJ. Segway into talking about that guy. OJ, our winner. I have very mixed feelings about him. On one hand, he absolutely is a prick, he's a little dramatic, but on the other hand, he absolutely does feel like Main Guy. He suffers a lot from that Protagonist Syndrome that I think some of these cartoon survivor shows have. Although I don't entirely hate him. He turned out well.

As for everyone's favourite food, I feel a little bad for Taco. She played the game and played it well. Feigning ignorance is not something easily done. If it wasn't for me being a spoiler-seeker and having seen it already, she very easily could have fooled me. She was very much for the most part what Rocky is/was but honestly, 20 times better. I loved her shouting, her auurrrr noise, the lemon spitting. I think that while she's back she should spit a lemon at someone. Please if the movie cares about its fans-

With all of this, I'm actually really looking forward to starting season 2. I'm hoping to be caught up by the time the movie/finale for season 2 comes out so I can possibly add this to my list of object shows to live review. I'm cutting this here because 1) my joints are starting to hurt and 2) if anyone wants more in depth reviews of each character feel free to hop into my inbox and ask, I would love to go more in depth, even with the ones I mentioned here individually. and also 3) its midnight. I'm an eepy guy.

thank you all who are here for accompanying me on this journey :3

[reikurusu]

The Buddy Daddies x Taylor Swift Playlist No One Asked For

I feel like there are a lot of Taylor Swift songs that fit Buddy Daddies! Be it the show in general, KazuRei’s relationship (most songs can be interpreted as both platonic and romantic imo), their relationship with Miri,…

So I decided to make a list!

And since there were more songs than I had initially anticipated, I put the list under a cut. You can find the songs (with link) below, as well as why I think they fit Buddy Daddies! Seriously, this got pretty long… You’ve been warned!

PS: Feel free to add more songs that you think fit! :) Or if you agree with songs I picked but have a more insightful explanation as to why certain songs fit, go ahead!

PPS: You know Kazuki has T-Swift on while cooking. He says it’s because Miri listens to her, but we all know Miri (and Rei, by extension and reluctantly) started listening because of Kazu!

FEARLESS (TAYLOR’S VERSION)

Change: “Because these things will change Can you feel it now? These walls that they put up to hold us back will fall down” I feel like this one is fairly obvious! The concept of change is very present in Buddy Daddies, especially in the second half of the season. And listening to the lyrics of this song, it just really fits Kazuki and Rei’s outlook on things in my opinion! Also: “You can walk away, say we don’t need this But there’s something in your eyes Says we can beat this” Is this not literally Rei and Kazuki’s conversation in ep11, when Kazuki wants to give up Miri to keep her safe, while Rei wants to take care of her and protect her like that? This song is such a KazuRei song, guys, like damn!

The Best Day “I don’t know why all the trees change in the fall But I know you’re not scared of anything at all Don’t know if Snow White’s house is near or far away But I know I had the best day with you today” Literally Miri to her Papas and her Mama! Obviously not everything fits, but if we’d gotten a version of the show in which Misaki survived and took care of Miri along with Kazuki and Rei, this would’ve been so perfect!! I guess it’s the perfect song for a fix it fic?

SPEAK NOW

Long Live "Long live the walls we crashed through How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you” I feel like this one has a similar vibe as Change. How Rei and Kazuki overcame so many obstacles on their way to a happy family with Miri. It’s once again a song that carries a lot of hope in my opinion, hope that no matter what you go through, it’ll be all right in the end. Which obviously is very fitting to Buddy Daddies.

Innocent "It’s alright, just wait and see Your string of lights is still bright to me Oh, who you are is not where you’ve been” This could be about either Kazuki or Rei, or one of them towards the other. How the dark part of the world they belong to shouldn’t define who they are as a person (kind of like, just because you do bad things, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person, if that makes sense). And how their younger selves (child, teenager, doesn’t really matter) probably had a completely different idea of how their life would turn out (maybe Rei less than Kazuki considering how he grew up…) EITHER WAY, it fits and it’s giving me feels!

RED (TAYLOR’S VERSION)

Forever Winter “Too young to know it gets better I’ll be summer sun for you forever” I feel like this fits Kazuki when he first met Rei. How Rei was a shell of a person and Kazuki did everything he could to gradually bring the real Rei out (or part of the real Rei because we all know Miri helped a lot with that as well). “He says he doesn’t believe anything much he hears these days I say, “Believe in one thing, I won’t go away"” Just… Is this not Kazuki taking care of Rei? T_T

Run "There’s been this hole in my heart This thing was a shot in the dark Say you’ll never let ‘em tear us apart And I’ll hold onto you while we run” I think this one definitely fits more when you view KazuRei as romantic. But I think the sentiment of the song just really fits them wanting to live their own life instead of having to continue to do what the organization wants them to do.

1989

Bad Blood “Now we got problems And I don’t think we can solve ’em” Aka the song that should’ve played during KazuRei’s raid in ep 12!! I think this is just their overall view of the organization by the end of the series. It’s just an epic song and imagining Kazuki and Rei killing Ogino and all the others with this song blasting… Good shit.

I Know Places “They are the hunters, we are the foxes And we run” It’s kinda hard to explain this one, because it’s more as if the vibe of the song fits the show? If that makes sense? There are lyrics that do fit, of course, mainly the feeling Rei and Kazuki must’ve had knowing the organization was after them, but the feeling of tension and being chased, hunted,… Idk, it fits to me.

This Love “These hands had to let it go free, and This love came back to me” At first I figured this could be seen as a KazuRei song, but while listening to it to see if it could really fit, I realised it could definitely be seen as the love Kazuki and Rei have for Miri? How they had to give her up, how they got her back, how she was the reason they managed to change, how they would never have guessed how much taking care of her would mean to them when they first met Miri,… Just listen to it with all of that in mind and tell me it doesn’t fit!

Wonderland “We found Wonderland You and I got lost in it And we pretended it could last forever” Aka the song that started this all. I was just randomly listening to this one and my brainrotted mind went “hey, Buddy Daddies” and it works so well!! If you think of “Wonderland” as Rei and Kazuki’s life with Miri, how they were completely enthralled by her and how they lost what they had,… "But there were strangers watching And whispers turned to talking And talking turned to screams” This is literally when they found out that the organization was after them and Miri. Aaahhh!! I’m normal about this song in combination with BD! It fits so well!! This song also inspired one of my earlier BD gifsets, which you can find here!

REPUTATION

Dancing With Our Hands Tied “My, my love had been frozen Deep blue, but you painted me golden” This is again a more romantic KazuRei song (the lyric above really feels like Kazuki after Yuzuko’s death). It’s about two people trying to stay together even though others want to tear them apart. This again really fits with the story of Buddy Daddies, with Shigeki wanting to separate Rei from Kazuki (and Miri obviously, but let’s just look at it from a romantic pov this time). Like “I'm a mess, but I'm the mess that you wanted” Does this not sum them up?

Delicate “Dark jeans and your Nikes, look at you Oh, damn, never seen that color blue” Again a more romatic song for Rei and Kazuki, maybe a bit more from Kazu’s POV? (Especially the lyrics I quoted because is that not Kazuki seeing Rei for the first time in Yadorigi). I think this really fits the relationship between Kazuki and Rei before they know what’s going on between them. They’re partners in their jobs, sure, but sometimes, there are these moments... And it’s confusing and what’s going on and all that. Also, there’s this amazing male cover of this song, so if you want to picture it even more, be sure to listen to it! (He has more covers of songs listed here, so I’d really recommend listening to them!)

Look What You Made Me Do “But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time Honey, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time I got a list of names, and yours is in red, underlined” Obviously this song has strong Bad Blood vibes so it would be also be perfect during Kazuki and Rei’s raid on the Suwa mansion! Okay, now I’m imagining Unhinged Kazuki having his phone on full volume blasting this song while killing a bunch of guys. Rei is so tired of him... Okay, nevermind that tangent, but the song is a vibe and it also fits because if Shigeki would’ve just let Rei be happy with Kazuki and Miri, none of it would’ve happened. Look what you made them do, Shigeki. Look at it!!

LOVER

Daylight "I don’t wanna look at anything else now that I saw you I don’t wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you I’ve been sleeping so long in a 20-year dark night And now I see daylight” I think this one can be interpreted in many ways! A combination of Rei and Kazuki towards each other, in both a romantic as well as a platonic way. But I can definitely see it as Rei and Kazuki towards Miri as well. How she was the reason for the changes they made and how happy they are that they managed to change because of her! How they finally managed to get a soft life after everything they went through! Also special shout-out to @toripar who’s pointed out how well this song fits them!

FOLKLORE

Seven “And I’ve been meaning to tell you I think your house is haunted Your dad is always mad and that must be why And I think you should come live with Me and we can be pirates” Okay, so to be honest, most of this song doesn’t really fit I guess, but holy crap, the lyrics I quoted above?? Is that not Kazuki at Rei? Jfc!! I literally just added this song for those lyrics!

This Is Me Trying “Pulled the car off the road to the lookout Could've followed my fears all the way down” The sentiment in this one really fits both Kazuki and Rei. I know not all the lyrics make sense, but the feeling of trying your best despite all the crap you’ve gone through/are going through really fits both our boys. They both went through crap, but try to be better every day. For Miri, for themselves, for each other.

EVERMORE

Tolerate it “You assume I’m fine, but what would you do if I I break free and leave us in ruins? Took this dagger in me and removed it? Gain the weight of you then lose it Believe me, I could do it” THIS IS LITERALLY A REI SONG?? Just picture Rei and his father’s relationship while listening to it! I feel like it especially fits younger Rei, from before he left his father to live on his own. How even back then, Rei knew that this wasn’t how a father should act towards their son. I know some things don’t add up, like the idolisation of the other person in the song, which is something Rei didn’t do obviously. The way Shigeki only saw Rei as a cog in the machine that is the organization, how Rei had to accept everything his father said and did…  But on the other hand, maybe he once did idiolize his father, when he was younger and didn’t know better yet? Because that’s how it goes in the Suwa family? Either way, it’s a Rei song!

Cowboy Like Me “And the skeletons in both our closets Plotted hard to fuck this up” Two people doing their sketchy jobs, meeting one another through said jobs and falling in love? Do I need to say more? Obviously a more romantic song, but I guess in some way it can be interpreted as platonic as well.

Right Where You Left Me “Everybody moved on I, I stayed there Dust collected on my pinned-up hair They expected me to find somewhere Some perspective, but I sat and stared Right where you left me” This one doesn’t really fit, to be honest, but the part above just really feels like Kazuki after Yuzuko’s death. That’s the only reason I added this song.

It’s Time To Go “15 years, 15 million tears Begging 'til my knees bled I gave it my all, he gave me nothing at all Then wondered why I left Now he sits on his throne in his palace of bones Praying to his greed He's got my past frozen behind glass But I've got me” Again, a song that for the most part doesn’t fit the show, but I just wanted to point out these lyrics because this is literally the relationship between Rei and his father.

MIDNIGHTS

You’re On Your Own, Kid “I looked around in a blood-soaked gown And I saw something they can’t take away 'Cause there were pages turned with the bridges burned Everything you lose is a step you take" So for this song it’s mainly the bridge and the ending that fits Buddy Daddies. I feel like there are so many references to Rei and Kazuki, how they did everything they could to protect Miri and their little family, how Rei cut ties with his father, how they let go of their pasts and their traumas to live happily with Miri and each other! I know this may sound like an exaggeration, but I sometimes tear up during this part just thinking of Buddy Daddies (this being one of my favourite TS songs is probably a reason as well). I might even try to edit a video with this last part of the song…

The Great War “My hand was the one you reached for All throughout the Great War” This is a bit 50/50, but it still fits in a way. I know that the original meaning of the song doesn’t really make sense in the situation, but if you regard "The Great War” (which in the song means an argument) as Kazuki and Rei’s battle to leave the organization and live their life with Miri, it works. Also just the symbolisms of fighting and war and blood and everything that’s mentioned fit with Rei and Kazuki’s jobs.

Bigger Than The Whole Sky “Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye You were bigger than the whole sky You were more than just a short time" I feel like this song really fits how Kazuki and Rei must’ve felt after giving Miri back to Misaki. But besides that, I like to picture that there is a deeper meaning to the song as well: The song often repeats the lyrics “I’m never gonna meet what could’ve been, would’ve been, what should’ve been you”. And like I said before, this really fits Kazuki and Rei giving Miri up, but I think it also fits Rei and Kazuki giving up the versions of themselves they’d hoped they could’ve become when they started to take care of Miri, bringing back the whole plotline of change. A while ago, I decided to make a fanvid with this song and the show. If you want to watch it, you can find it here. Feel free to let me know what you think! I’m really happy with how it turned out, even if it is kinda angsty and sad.

If you managed to get to this point and read everything, HOLY CRAP! Thanks for the dedication and for reading my ramblings!! I hope you enjoyed them! <3

~ Charlotte

[theoristprinceblog]

!SPOILERS FOR INANIMATE INSANITY!

im highly aware that i am late, yesterday was so busy for me but i managed to watch the new inanimate insanity episode as it was uploaded.

this episode has to be the best of this season by far, i was at the edge of my seat anticipating the entire time! ill begin with the floor, i theorized about the floor many times before the episode, and had a few theories about "the red spot".. one of them was correct! and that was very exciting! the floor is a very chaotic yet interesting character, hes unpredictable but only to a point.. floory never truly goes out of bounds, thats why this episode stood out to me the most! floory finally cracking and breaking from those chains, the island is nothing without him.

moving on to my next component, cabby! this episode was...not the greatest for her... but we learned a lot about her during it! cabby has such an interesting structure ive always wanted to know more about, being an object with wheels for legs, ive always wondered how she would bend/lean, she has proven herself worthy! her alliance with paintbrush was short but sweet! she set them off understandably but it was cute to see ... cabby is holding onto the last thinkers and now that paintbrush is gone... perhaps cabby will join the other side against yinyang. i have nothing to back that up, but its an idea!

next up, candle and silver spoon! their relationship grew a lot in this episode despite us not getting to see very many interactions. with their alliance being so close and candle having him under her control... eventually they will outnumber the rest and win the game. their strategy is the same as oj and papers in season one, if stay allies until the end, one of you will participate in the finale. when mephone4 asked everyone to verbally agree to leave the island... candle said "no", meaning she has no legal obligation to do so. mayhap even if silver leaves... candle will not. candle seems to be a subconscious replacement for mepad, being the all-knowing purple companion... mephone4 may not want her gone at all.

and paintbrush, oh boy, this one is a very tough egg to crack! they may be extremely easy to read, but not easy to write about! nonetheless... i have many thoughts, lets get to it. paintbrush had a large role this episode, the constant callbacks to lightbulb and baxter.. even the blimp was shaped like lightbulb! i called their elimination being foreshadowed and was pretty upset, but after some deep consideration i realized throughout the season they have been the least willing to participate, they just dont want to! they interact with other contestants but thats it. going back to inanimate island is the right idea for them, and i hope they can greet baxter with a smile when they return.

and last, but not least! bot!! i am probably most happy with this, bot is such a well done character and im so happy theyve finally found who they want to be! this episode gave them so much love and they deserved it.. if bot wins the show, im not sure what they would do with their prize money! probably distribute it... or use it to pay for reprogramming.. i want them to stay in the game longer, but i respectfully dont want them to win the show, theyve already won my heart! besides, fan and test tube are back at the hotel waiting for them.. hopefully they get to see eachother again. nothing personal!

well this ends my analysis on this episode, an AMAZING episode! if i missed anything, or you have anything to add.. note it!

[heartfucksmouth]

just crying silently while holding a finally-sleeping baby (20 lbs and 2.5 feet tall baby) who refused to nap longer than 30 mins today and has emotional tantrums like a 2 yr old, complete with throwing their bodies backwards and biting lolol this poor kiddo just wants to be a big people

I think I'm just crying bc I'm so tired and feeling a lot of conflicting emotions about literally everything in life. like why does the world continue to spiral out in flames and I feel like I'm in survival mode when all I've wanted to do for 4 years is actually LIVE and THRIVE and, now, raise my child to be a good human but everything is isolating and a fucking battle to get done and I feel lonely and I can't even spend time with my partner or focus on myself I feel like time is constantly running out, money is running out, kindness is running out, and my brain cells can't even function anymore.

like. being a mom and being ill is really fucking hard. as if that's a surprise, but I'm so overwhelmed anticipating the next 3 months bc I've got 10 more appointments this month alone, plus an endoscopy and my pre-op is in MAY and I'm gonna have fucking hip surgery while I have a 1 year old who will probably definitely be walking lmao

also the world is on fire, did I say that? myles hours got cut at ups bc they're greedy fucks and we simultaneously lost our food stamps bc he made too much money during holiday season and I've been waiting over a month for my new application to get filed and I'm basically living on coffee smoothies electrolytes and whatever his mom cooks for dinner. at least I can kind of feed my kid tho even tho he wants solid food already bc on the inside he's a 30 yr old and WIC only pays for formula + purees.

day by day. hour by hour. it's all I can do. I'm so. fuvking. sick of burning out 2 days after I finally recover. I have so much more to say but no energy to form words anymore.

parenting is so fucking triggering it's wild. today wasn't even all that bad, either, but everything reminds me of my past right now. and I continue having to mask and play nice with a literal energy vampire that we live with sooooo

editing to add that I am still extremely obsessed with my son , he's beautiful and his laughter is like a drug I've never experienced and he looks like a literal cherub when he sleeps but holy shit let's start being honest about parenting too. this world doesn't make ANYTHING easy for most people...