#idk how true that is but i saw a youtube comment

[brrrkdslek]

BLEAURGHHH

𖡎 youtube compilation of atinys favourite vlive moments of m/n taking care of his drunken members

𖡎 ateez x 9th member! male! reader

𖡎 ot9 au, after wanteez ep. 19, 20, 21, zb1 n xikers r mentioned!

𖡎 drunken behaviour(LMAO), suggestive(kinda idk)

𖡎 ignore the title😭 it'll make sense afterwards

clip 1 — mingki's heartbroken era💔

the phone wobbled as you set it some place high so the atinys could witness the dead bodies that sprayed across the dormitory living room. you sweatdropped internally.

atiny1: LMAOOO ARE THEY DEAD???😭😭

atiny69: HAHHA WHAT HAPPENED BAE⁉️⁉️🤭

you scratched your head, "yeah... well, i dunno how this happened either..." suddenly, a wild mingi knocks you to the ground in a bear hug, "ah- mingi, get off! you're so heavy-" you shut up immediately as you heard soft sniffling coming from the male as he clung onto the leg of your pants.

"mingi...?" you slowly lifted the boy up and cupped his cheeks as his eyes were filled with tears, you cooed at him, "awh, what's wrong my princess?"

atiny1: WHAT🫣

atiny2: PRINCESS!?!?!?!?ASLFAENALJ

atiny3: MNGKI FOR LIFE🫂

atiny1: I BELIEVE IN MNGKI👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨

atiny2: MNGKI MNGKI MNGKI

atinky69: KISSKISSKISS PLSPLPSLPSL

atiny127: GYATT🕺🏻🕺🏻🕺🏻🕺🏻

atiny1: ???😭

mingi sniffled and mumbled incoherently, "hey, hey, hey, slow down. shhh, i'm here..." you press your forehead against his as he sniffled and hiccupped.

atiny1117: AWWHHHHH NO WAY THEY STRAIGHT🥶

atiny2: LMAOOOO

atiny1: STOP U GUYS R RUINGIN THE MOMENT LMFAO

you cradled the larger male in your lap as mingi buried his head into your stomach, "what's bothering you, love?"

atiny3: they make me so happy :(((

atiny127: REAL🍆🍑💦

atiny69: WHAT😰

"do you hate me...?" you were so shocked you had to look into the camera to make sure you heard it right. "w-what? what are you talking about, mings?"

atiny1: WE HEARD THAT TOO OML🥺🥺🥺

atiny666: what'd i miss

atiny1117: WAAAAA😭

"during w-wanteez today,,, you- you didn't wanna sit next to me, uhhhh-" mingi began crying again upon the upsetting reminder of his heartbreak as you had to physically hold yourself back from laughing.

it's not that you didn't want to sit next to mingi, it was just the way he acted when he's drunk. it's confirmed when he screamed in yeosang's face during the games so yes, you were terrified of drunken mingi.

atiny3: AHAHA HES SO CUTE

atiny69: [image] ME RN LMAOAO

atiny666: THIS IS SO FUNNY WHAT😭😭

atiny1: WHERRE THE CLIPPERS AT⁉️⁉️🙃

"o-oh honey... i don't hate you," mingi looks up at you with glossy eyes, "you don't...?" you squish his cheeks and press your noses together, "of course i don't, in fact i love you a lot, princess." mingi doesn't reply and only giggles as he gets sleepier.

atiny2: HIS CHEEKS ARE RED IM DEADDDD

atiny127: im convinced the entirety of ateez is just m/n's harem😭

atiny69: mans melting😮‍💨

atiny1117: [image]

clip 2 — MOMMY MN🥵🥵

you sighed as you came back into view of the camera in your black tank top, muscular arms proudly flexing with each move you made. it was true when atinys said that your face doesn't match your body.

atiny69: MOMMY OMFG

atiny1: [image]

atiny127: HIS ARMS???A;S,C;V/LEAV(*)??/😳

you giggled at the comments, "you guys think i'm a mother...?" scratching your head, you pick up a hairtie from behind the camera and tied your hair into a high bun, and went back to the dead members on the ground.

san smirked as he saw you walk near him, "yahhhh, noona's so pre-pretty...!" he spoke loudly between hiccups as his grin only widened. "keep quiet, san. it's late already." the male jutted out his bottom lip before mumbling a quiet 'sorry'.

atiny666: he only listens to mother🤞🏻

atiny3: hes jus like me😋

you coo before kissing the male's cheek as he giggled and pressed his hand against the spot you kissed, staring at you like a high school girl would to their senior crush. you wrap san's arms around your neck as your right arm goes under his thighs while your left supports his back.

atiny1: WAIT IS HE GONAA-

atiny1117: HE CAN PICK SAN UP???

atiny2: AHHH MOMMY😩😩😩

in your squatted position, you huffed a few times before successfully carrying san upwards as he giggled and nuzzled into your neck, making you stumble slightly before pecking his forehead.

you turn to the camera, "i'll tuck him in first, be right back!" you quietly jog into san and wooyoung's shared room as you plop the male onto his bed and tuck him in.

atiny1: NUUUU I WANNA SEE THO😭

atiny127: u so thirsty for what😐

atiny3: REAL cuz he can carry the entirety of ateez

atiny69: HE ALSO CARRIES THE INDUSTRY🕺🏻🕺🏻

atiny1117: WE ONLY SPIT FAX AHHHH😍🤞🏻

atiny2: [image]

san whined and made grabby hands towards yo, "nuuu! noona sleep w-with me tonight,,, pleaseee!" he did the best puppy eyes he could and you hesitated for a moment before smacking his forehead, "don't be dumb, san. i won't sleep with you when you smell like alcohol."

san's expression resembled that of a kicked puppy as you felt your heart clench, regretting your words immediately. "oh, san that's not what i-" before you could finish, san throws up.

in bed, onto his sheets and his shirt. you mumble a string of curses as he falls right back to sleep. you weren't gonna get any sleep tonight, you were sure.

clip 3 — mother at work!!🫶🏻

when you came back in view after like 10 minutes, you were drenched in sweat and panting hard. you said nothing as you glanced to the camera before taking out a bottle of wine from the fridge.

atiny2: ???😭

atiny666: mother is tired🤕🤞🏻

atiny1: i wonder what happened :(

sitting down you pop open the cork and pour a large amount into the glass that stood right in front of the camera. sighing you took a large gulp of half of the glass before groaning, setting it aside.

you coughed, "okay, so san threw up just now and i had to move him to wooyoung's bed and clean up his shirt and sheets," you covered your face, "it was so damn gross, oh my god..."

atiny3: LMFAOOO😭

atiny69: ITS ALWAYS SAN☠️

atiny1117: god bless mother☹️🙏🏻

atiny127: doing gods work fr

you laughed the tiredness off, "yeah, it's always san and wooyoung actually. but i think it's really special, they mean a lot to each other." you took a sit from the glass and swirl the liquid around.

your attention was turned back to the rest of the drunken members when you heard wooyoung groan and whine on the ground. "so cold..." he rolls on his side and hugs his forearms.

atiny2: SO CUTE🥺

atiny143: IM BACK😗

atiny666: ☹️☹️☹️

atiny1117: [image]

walking over, you squat down and hug wooyoung against your chest as his lips curl into a smile and cracks his eyes open, "noona...!" he buries his head in the crook of your neck and wraps his arms around your middle.

"missed 'chu...." he hiccupped as you exhaled from your nose, stroking his hair softly as he hums in satisfaction. "let's get you to bed, young-ah." he nuzzles his face further into your neck in response.

atiny143: OH MY GOD

atiny2: im dead yall🪦

atiny127: I CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE

atiny666: [image]

picking his up bridal style, you toss wooyoung upwards a few times as he giggles and kisses your face nonstop. "young-ah, stop- i can't see," you stumble backwards a bit as he nuzzles his cheek with yours, giggling like a maniac. "i'm gonna fall-"

just like you said, you fell. with wooyoung still in your arms, you twisted forward on instinct and slipped again. before you landed, your arm instinctively came up and wrapped it around wooyoung's head.

you landed on your side as wooyoung knocked himself out. you sat up with your hair flying in all directions and forearms slightly bruised at the impact. you looks straight into the camera but not saying a thing.

atiny1117: DID THE CLIPPERS GET THAT????

atiny127: m/n shielding wooyoungs head🥹

atiny1: IS WOOYOUNG SLEPING😭

atiny69: M/N RISKING HIS LIFE JUST FOR WOOYOUNG TO FALL BACK ASLEEP LMFAOAOAO

atiny143: is he drooling??☠️

you turn to look at wooyoung, who had drool seeping from the corner of his mouth as he snored softly. you covered your mouth and snorted before picking him up again, "okay, i'm really gonna tuck him in now."

atinys bid you goodbye for the second time as you walked out of view towards his and san's shared room. you sweatdropped internally as you realise they might be uncomfortable at the small space.

sighing, you place wooyoung down next to a knocked-out san before tucking the two in. you felt your heart swell as you watch the two instinctively curl into their usual position; wooyoung tucked under san's chin as the other had his arms wrapped around wooyoung's head.

you giggled and took your phone out, snapping a quick picture, you peck both of their foreheads and turn off the dimly lit table lamp before closing the door quietly as to not disturb their slumber.

clip 4 — late night drinks with the mothers🫡

sighing, you pour more wine into your glass while massaging your temple with the other hand.

atiny1117: nuuu stop drinking mamas☹️

atiny69: stay healthy :(

atiny1: stay strong babes!!

atiny666: i just came back from twitter and i cannot begin to explain how ridiculous it is that m/n gets so much backlash for standing up for his members

atiny127: REAL i saw so many articles on it like leave them alone wtf🫠

you smiled gently as you read the comments, "yeah, i've seen all those articles and honestly i don't care." you take another sip of your wine, "i expected something like this to happen way back. and if this is what'll happen to me for protecting my members i'll take it."

as you swirl the glass, you saw from the phone that seonghwa had emerged from his slumber behind you. turning around, you snap your finger to catch his attention. "m/n? why aren't you in bed- is that wine!?" the elder quickly snatches the glass from your hand.

atiny2: NOOO LET HIM DRINK😡😡

atiny666: honestly why are they both up at ass oclock??

you roll your eyes and lean onto the table, "c'mon hyung, i'm not 17 anymore. i can drink if i want to." seonghwa looks into the glass, "it's been 5 years already... i still remember when we were just trainees." the two laughs before you offer another seat for the male.

taking out another glass, you pour into it before clanking the glass with the one in seonghwa's hand, "cheers to us." seonghwa sighed before smiling gently, "cheers to us."

atiny69: THE MOTHERS ARE TOGETHER OMG😩😩

atiny1: hwa looks so handsome here🥺

atiny666: its been so long :(

atiny143: im actually a new atiny and i wanna ask if m/n has trained in other companies before?

skimming through the question, you smiled at the memory of your past. "yes, i was a trainee in yuehua." seonghwa's eyes widen as he swallows the wine, "wait, really? you've never talked about that before." you squeeze his cheek, "yes i have. you just weren't paying attention, hyung."

"anyways, i don't know how i joined but i was really confident in my singing and vocals so i thought it'd be fun to try it out and see if i could get some critiques. who knew i actually passed the audition?" you laughed and smacked seonghwa's arm jokingly.

"i was a trainee there since i was 16, but afterwards i became a vocal trainer there and trained a lot of younger trainees' vocals." seonghwa made an 'o' with his lips, "woah, that's so cool!"

atiny1: wait, does that mean you know the members of zb1???

atiny666: SLAYYY KING

atiny143: i heard yuehua is so strict i cant believe u even became a trainer oml😭😭😭

you perked up, "yes! i actually do know them- well, not all of them. i'm specifically closer to ricky and zhang hao since i was their trainer for like a few months." seonghwa stood up and grabbed the wine bottle before pouring more into the two glasses.

"i actually did congratulate them on their win! i was so proud when i heard that they successfully debuted, i'm so proud!" you put a hand on your chest as you remember jumping on your bed while the two were on call with you telling you nice things.

atiny1: KING SHIT🕺🏻

atiny666: hes so caring to others too🥹

atiny69: ilysm m/n!!!

atiny143: when did u join kq tho?

you perked up, "ah, i was actually jongho's senior since high school so when he got in he told me about it obviously." you smiled at the memory, "it was when i was a vocal trainer at yuehwa then so he told me to go join him and so i did." you look over to seonghwa and grinned happily, "and i'm so grateful i did."

atiny2: HE CARRIED THE INDUSTRY!!!

atiny127: hes literally carrying 5th gen

atiny1117: MY KING SO TALENTED ILYSM :(

you leaned on seonghwa's shoulder as you felt your heart swell at all the nice comments. so many years of hardwork and you were finally getting the credit you deserved. "yeah i agree with our atinys,"

you tilt your head up as seonghwa smiles fondly at you, "i think you're amazing and just so, so talented." seonghwa's smile falters as he sees your expression remain unchanging, "d-did i say something wrong...?"

atiny1117: is bae ok...?

atiny1: is he getting emotional?

atiny69: M/N BAE☹️☹️☹️

seonghwa's eyes go wide upon seeing tears forming in your eyes, sclera turning red as you inhaled shaky breaths, "...really?" seonghwa blinks, "huh?" you sniffle before taking a sip from your glass, "do you really think i'm amazing?"

seonghwa didn't even notice he was holding his breath as his eyes soften and he pinches your cheek, "of course! you're amazing," you smile gently, "you work so hard all the time and you deserve the world, love."

you blink back a few tears as seonghwa pulls you in for a heartwarming hug, kissing your head and whispering words of praises in your ear.

atiny666: IM SOBBING SO HARD RN

atiny2: [image]

atiny143: WAAAAAAAA🥹

clip 5 — dinner for breakfast😵🔥

you groaned as you finish sweeping the floors finally. throwing yourself back on the chair, you whine at the hardness as seonghwa softly snored on the couch. you smiled before tossing the entire wine bottle down your throat, finishing it with a rumbly groan.

atiny127: HELP HE JUST TOSSED THAT SHIT😮‍💨

atiny2: is he ok🤕

atiny666: [image]

atiny1117: does he suck dick like that

atiny1: WHAT SID YOU SAY😭😭😭

glancing at the screen, you notice the view rising little by little as you turn to check the clock. damn, one in the morning? you rub your tired eyes as you got up and threw the wine bottle away, taking a pan out of the cabinet.

you said nothing as you poured some oil over the pan, moving the pan in a circular motion for the oil to spread. afterwards, you take out whatever leftovers you had from the fridge and threw the random foods into the pan, adding a few spices here and there.

as you tossed the pan up and down, hongjoong emerged from his room and did a small stretch before sitting down on the chair, blinking in surprise at the screen before him before waving to the camera. "heyyy, why're you guys up at one??"

atiny2: waiting for u beautiful😫

atiny2018: IM HERE WHERE IS HONG😍

atiny1117: barefaced joong🥹🫶🏻

atiny666: whyre U up at 1!?🤨

you crane your neck backwards to see a sleepy hongjoong waddle towards you. "hyung, if you're sleepy you can go back to bed. i'll leave some food for you." hongjoong only hums as he rests his chin on your shoulder, barely able to reach your height.

seonghwa giggles in the corner. the tiny leader blinks, "why're we eating yesterday's dinner for breakfast?" you shrug, "i dunno, it's all we have." hongjoong groans before throwing his tired self onto seonghwa, who had just finished setting up the plates.

atiny69: MATZ🥹🥹🥹

atiny1: i can never get enough of them

atiny1117: which one?🤭

atiny1: GIRL ALL OF THEM😫

from the screen, the atinys could see the smoke coming from the hot pan. as you finish frying the noodles, you shove it near the camera for them to see your handiwork. "see, aren't i such a good cook?"

hongjoong groans, "can you shut up and bring it over already? i'm starving." seonghwa and you snort, "i think somebody's in a mood today." hongjoong turns to glare at the older, "am not." "are too." "am not!" "are too!"

you blink as you take a seat in-between the two, hoping to stop their childish fighting, but of course they don't. they just repeat the same phrase as you scoop up some of the noodles and place it in your bowl. although you had this last night, you were still ready to devour it whole.

atiny666: LMAOOO M/N SITTING THERE LIKE😭😭

atiny2018: i stan my unbothered king🫶🏻

atiny143: left ear: am not, right ear: are too☠️☠️

atiny1117: m/n is such a mood honestly😍

atiny127: REAL our king deserves more dicks

atiny2: whats with you and dicks???

atiny127: im a proud atiny!!!!

atiny69: you mean youre gay?

atiny1117: we are lgbtq😈🔥🔥🔥

hongjoong interups seonghwa with a loud gasp as half of the noodles vanish, resting securely inside your stomach. "what the hell! you just eat half of the pan, are you kidding me??" you bit back a laugh as you her hongjoong's stomach growled. seonghwa only ignored him and puts noodles in his own bowl.

hongjoong groans and rolls his eyes before filling his own bowl with the rest of the food. your cheeks puffed up at the amount of food that filled into your cheeks, you only closed your eyes and hummed at the warm feeling invading your tummy.

clip 6 — jjong's m/n🥹

you set the phone on the desk of your bedroom, taking a few steps back to sit on the edge of your bed. you open the curtains to see the sky still pitch-black as you stared at the still bustling streets.

atiny1: HES SO SHDNSH😍

atiny69: side profile🤭

atiny143: CLIPPERS GET THAT🥹

suddenly jongho enters after a knock on your door. "yes?" you stop breathing when you see tears prickling at the corner of his eyes. "hey jjong, c'mere what's going on?" he rubbed his eyes and sat next to you, not noticing the camera and your eyes dart from the camera to him continuously, hesitating on if you should tell him or not.

atiny3: NOOO HES SAD

atiny2018: JJONG☹️☹️☹️

atiny127: WAAAAAA M/N TAKE CARE PLS😔

as he sat down, he looked at you once and then burst out crying onto your shoulder. you deadpanned to the camera and the atinys could feel your panic right then. "hey, hey- jjong look at me first." you cup his cheeks and tilt his face up, heart clenching at the sight of dried tears on his cheeks. you ran your fingers across his cheeks gently, lulling to a sleepy state.

"can you tell me what's going on bub?" jongho sniffled and pulled you in for another hug, this one tighter than the last. "i-i had a nightmare..." his voice got progressively softer as he finished his sentence, embarrassed at the fact a mere nightmare affected him so badly.

atiny2: guys i think he got a nightmare🤓

atiny69: SOBBING ON THE FUCKIGN GROUND

atiny1117: im gonna kms

atiny1: WAAAAA MAMA M/N☹️

you sighed before patting his head, you could read the boy like a book and you knew how embarrassing it is for him whenever he had nightmares. "there's nothing wrong with having nightmares jjong." he shook his head, "no! i feel bad,,, why am i having these dreams when everyone's treating me so nicely?"

he pulled away and frowned, "it feels like i hate them or something...!" you brush his hair back, "but you don't. these things happen and we shouldn't dwell on them." he looks down, "what did you even dream about?"

he blinks continuously as he tried to avert from your burning gaze, "i... it was about you and the members," you held his trembling hands as he spoke, "the members were telling me how i was holding them back and that i'm," he sniffled, "that i'm a disappointment. and hongjoong-hyung laughed and told me i'm not as good as i think i am..."

you didn't say anything, you only caressed the back of his palm, trying to soothe him. "and you... you told me you hated me and that you didn't want me anymore!" once again, jongho began to sob as you pulled him back your chest. "jjong..." you rest your chin on top of his head, "you know i love you a lot right?"

you felt him nod into you chest, "i'll never leave, even if you wanted me to." he smiled before bursting out crying.

atiny1: UR THE MAN M/N😭

atiny1117: THE CLIPPERS BETTER HAVE GOTTEN THAT OUHHH😭☹️

atiny143: [image]

atiny666: 🫂

suddenly, yeosang burst into the bedroom and you and jongho both turn to look at him, "i heard jongho's crying, are you okay?" jongho furrows his eyebrows, "how did you know i was crying?" you began to sweat as you gestured for yeosang to shut the fuck up, but the clueless will stay clueless. "it's on live."

upon hearing that, jongho shoved you onto the bed and scavenged the room for any hints of a camera. after a minute or two, jongho stares straight into the camera and take it out from behind the lamp. he glares at you for a moment before looking back into the camera, "the live's over, have a good day atinys."

the live has ended!

©BRRRKDSLEK 2023

[modtheartifex]

i wrote this into a youtube comment like moments ago, but i feel strongly enough that i will put it out here as well;

Lego Monkie Kid Season 5 does NOT have villains. it has characters that are antagonistic forces and layered with nuance on top of nuance.

not to say previous seasons didnt do this, but this season ABSOLUTELY is entirely filled with characters like this

lmk season 5 spoilers, as well as anything from previous seasons just in case cause idk. might get long too tbh oopsies JINNGFDOIJN

we have a few characters to consider for LMK s5's "villains".

we have Ne Zha's dad (i forget his name, ill probably call him pagoda man), nine headed dragon (consort, 10th king, xiangliu) and nuwa. we could theoretically consider thousand eyed demon, however hes only relevant in one episode so id hardly count that

pagoda man is the easiest to explain, he is an antagonistic force because hes trying to hold onto what little order there is left of the world, he is trying to be the duct tape keeping the sawed in half boat together, and hes trying to minimize risks. does that excuse how he treats ne zha? fuck no, but thats a whole different discussion and depending on your interpretation of how much of the chinese mythos you use for this work will vary. he is just like mk as mk himself points out, it doesnt have to be just pagoda man doing the work, theres people willing to help, and then he joins the heroes side for the end.

cool, great, now. what the fuck do i mean by nuwa?

this is where interpretation is strongest, where it is key. ill just be sharing my perspective. when i was first watching season 5 my partner pointed out to me that in chinese mythos chaos is a core element of the world, it is necessary. this, coupled with the fact that nuwa made mk to fix a cycle she created (which we also dont know how many cycles the world has gone through, it could be one, it could be two, it could be in the hundreds if not thousands, whos to say.) and to keep chaos out... she is keeping the world from being complete. her little cave without the outside world, without proper balance, her little people living blissfully apocalypse to apocalypse. "but theyll all die!" "theyll live again" nuwa says, smile on her face.

she is disconnected from her cave, her world her people, her creations, who knows how long shes been in the limbo, how well she can perceive time, how many times a sacrifice comes in, they get a few words exchanged before they just leave, her in the pillar, only getting glimpses when the cycle is ending of the world, only to be shut in again.

neat, ok, but xiangliu??? hes who was gestured at from the BEGINNING of season 4.

see. heres where we get into the GOOD shit.

this is why it is important to establish that we dont know how many cycles have happened. we do not know how long he has been stuck, how many times he has tried to fix the world over and over. he makes it clear in his ending dialogue, if only he knew how to fix it, that sharing the power of the stones was the key to his freedom. the fact that he goes from what most would consider the least important title to the most important one, his own name, the fact he states he was wukongs friend, his enemy, both, wukong just doesnt remember

that implies longentivity. that implies so many cycles and lifetimes lived inside this cycle, being aware of everything, being so damnably aware of what one considers true freedom, and having to sit at the precipice of that.

it is agony.

xiangliu for the majority of the season is the only one to call mk by his name. mk gets so often called child, kid, nicknames by the others, maybe mei refers to him as mk, but xiangliu has it be DELIBERATE. he altered the course of the cycle to give mk a life, to let him HAVE a life where nuwa didnt care for one, he WANTED mk to grow enough that he would be able to choose. because everything is about mks choice, his ability to choose it all matters on HIS. CHOICE.

the only time this falters is when xiangliu thinks he is trapped for good. he rushes at mk, one final chance at freedom seemingly taken from him. xiangliu never fights mk. he only fights the others when they start fighting him. when its just him and mk at the edge of the world, at the edge of chaos, he talks to mk. tells him what to expect, mentions a mysterious "he" now that mk has opened the cage. and he pushes mk back so he gets to go back to his life. so that mk can have choices still. xiangliu got what he wanted, so its only right mk gets what he wanted too. to live with his friends and let everyone live a life where they can figure something out.

that is why i do not think there are villains in lego monkie kid season 5. they are antagonists with layers of nuance, nuance we arent privy to for reason or another, be it episode count, length, screentime, or that were just not supposed to yet. season 5 does not have an obvious bad guy, a villain, because the nuance is right within our grasp.

thank you for reading this. fucking essay apparently oopsies JINNGFDIJN

[goldenpinof]

curious about your perspective – what do you think is the primary reason for the current comeback, and for the large scale of it (daily videos, new heavily marketed merch, etc)? are they trying to make up some monetary loss? is it true revitalized passion? the influence of the new management? lead-up to a major project/announcement? i'm guessing there's an element of at least the first three, but interested in your opinion as a noted non-cynical cynic (compliment btw)

under the cut because that's a lot. and it's not even all of my thoughts, unfortunately.

no one is gonna read it. but if you are, i'm sorry in advance.

ahaha. about merch. did you notice how they just continue to promote the calendar and the catboy sweater even though the initial release and promo had a deadline aka till December 1st? this is a fishy marketing right there. and i would love to know: why they did what they did (i'd assume they printed more calendars than people ordered by Dec 1st, but that's not our problem as customers. we shouldn't have been put into a framework in the 1st place if there was a chance for this shit to go south. this theory goes against the "pre-order" with a start of shipping in 2-3 weeks); why their managers allowed it (from a legal perspective); and why dnp didn't say anything. anyways.

i do think that Dan is trying to compensate for wad losses. and i know that he was "joking" about not making money or making negative money on tour. but i saw ticket sales a day before each show (only public information, not the inside official data from venues), it's still on my blog. and the sales didn't look good. so, how much of it was a joke? and compensating by making content that we and they enjoy isn't a bad thing, btw! i also think that he feels guilty for leaving us and the dnp brand behind for so long without actually giving us anything in return. thus so many comments on this 5-year hiatus and potential future ones. blame youtube originals, i know. not really his fault, but his choice of (the lack of) communication is his fault. and again, i always come back to wad. something fucking clicked in his head when he saw not as many people as he hoped for (or expected), how dedicated were some of those who still supported him during wad, and also he realised that without stronger managers he was not gonna make it solo. and he dragged Phil along because they do everything together and only then it works the best, and also dnpg's return in full force needed new energy for the amount of sponsorships they decided to do (i think, it's mainly Phil's pushing, because he is pro-sponsorships, they just need to be more careful with it on dnpg because Dan (hopefully) has principles when it comes to this. which is amazing. you go, girl!)

i'm very suspicious of dnp's new management right now. so idk. i think, again, most of it comes from Phil, because Phil thrives on their gaming channel, and that's basically the only easy way to survive on youtube and make money right now (for him). i'm glad dnp separated dnpg from their solo careers at least on the management and content levels. it gives Phil the room to use dnpg as a brand to pitch and fund his ideas/projects if it's ever needed. and now, after we survived the hiatus, they can pause dnpg for a couple of months to focus on their solo projects without losing the majority of the audience because technically we would know the reason and also we grew a thicker skin.

i do think that Dan is using dnpg to later help himself with a stand-up special or tour or some sort of series (danisnotokay). i also think he will use it to promote wad dvd (which is good. i will be disappointed if he doesn't use dnpg. like, bitch, why are we even here then? those who went through wad with him, i mean). i wonder if Inter Talent (i'm separating their name intentionally at his point because they piss me off) was smart enough to announce Dan and Phil's signings 2 weeks after UTA announced Dan to just make us pay attention to Dan's solo career again. as a hint of something coming our way. you know what i mean? i wonder if it was intentional. like UTA made a huge announcement, Dan retweeted it and posted it on instagram stories. it was a big deal. meanwhile, dnpg began thriving again and our eyes were on Dan anyway, so of course we noticed that solo career was on the maps again. Inter Talent was basically silent as another representative of Dan (and Phil), despite having them on the website for at least a month. and now 2 weeks after UTA's announcement (which was on November 22, 2023) Inter Talent was like, "hello? do you remember we signed Dan? and also Phil, and their joint channel?" Dan said wad dvd is almost cooked. wouldn't it be genius to stir our interest up step by step? (a part of me still thinks that Inter Talent's social media managers are just slow as fuck though. also they don't even care to check facts about their clients. UTA didn't fuck the announcement up like that, btw. and i doubt Inter Talent realises how nosy dnp's audience is, and that we are very likely gonna notice and spread even this stupid announcement. maybe they are dumb and it's me who is a fucking genius planning steps to present wad dvd to the masses, ugh. when will Dan pay me, like for real.)

i'm surprised you don't think it's heavily connected to new projects. i would bet my kidney it does. Dan will fuck off the moment he needs to focus on danisnotokay or someone offers to sponsor another tour (which, please, someone do. i need to see him for professional reasons). the question is, fuck off for how long and if it's gonna be communicated thoroughly or not. i'm not saying he will leave for 6 months without giving us something in return to balance things out. no, no, no. i don't think he would dare. but 3-4 weeks, maybe 2 months? sure.

is it true revitalized passion? well. *nervous laughter* i'm gonna defend Phil like i'm a phillie, even tho i'm not. he wanted it just as much as we did. so i believe it's a true revitalized passion at least on his part. i hope he fights for it if it's necessary, i hope he asks us for help if needed. i hope he threatens Dan with an actual divorce and forever home if needed. like, bitch, if there's a chance to keep dnpg alive without Dan actually losing his will to live, we should use that chance. Dan's stubbornness and delulus are not the reason to kill the most fun and profitable thing they ever created aka dnp brand. let it exist, even if alongside solo projects, even if it's 2-3 videos a month. damn, even 1 video (i don't mean during pauses made specifically for the peaks of solo projects). i do think Dan enjoys the attention, money, and possibilities their returned audience can give him. he also enjoys working with Phil. he certainly does not enjoy promoting their videos. and he is lucky he has Phil for that. is it a true passion for the gaming channel and joint branding solemnly? i genuinely don't think so. now, this dnp brand puts Dan into a framework, unfortunately. and i understand his desire to grow as a "strong independent Dan", and i wish him the best. i will root for him no matter how much of a floppy-ding-dong it can potentially be. i want him to fulfill his dreams and have a team that will fight for his interests. and i hope to god, UTA and Inter Talent are the ones. don't fucking tempt me with your unprofessionalism. but do i think Dan's head and heart belong to dnpg or dnp brand? no. i'm happy that he is at least trying. a part of me doesn't even care about the reason. i'm curious, but in hindsight, it wouldn't matter or change anything.

other thoughts, because apparently i decided to vomit on a keyboard tonight:

i'm glad dnp took back a bit of control over the editing on dnpg. i hope they will try to edit more themselves when gamingmas is over. or they will teach their editors better. because man, we need to slow down with these cuts.

i do think that dnp brand will expand, and dnpg and merch aren't the only things we should expect. (twitch, podcast or liveshows, onlyfans or its equivalent, vlogging series not limited by ditl, and other things that i forgot). reaction videos are already a thing and it's very funny because it's what youtube wants, so Dan must feel amazing right now falling for it :)) it's good thought because it's fun and torture for all parties involved.

i think by these reaction videos they are trying to rewrite their internet history a little bit for those who are new. it's not gonna work with us but at least dnp can control the narrative in new people's heads (i wonder for how long though).

with new people, the phandom will become more generic and dnp will love that. it can actually help Dan with new projects i think. Phil as well, but we don't know shit about it right now.

i wonder if Dan returns to working with charities.

if they involve more phannies, not only artists, it's gonna be interesting.

in case i'm wrong, don't step on my neck, i don't know anything for a fact. half of it is alleged, the other half is wishful thinking <3

[fluffypotatey]

What introduced you to lmk? like some fanart or a tiktok edit

For me it was a nezha edit (it was a leak at the time, but obviously I didn't know it) and I loved its design so much that I decided to see lmk, previously I knew that the series existed since I really like everything that has to do with Sun Wukong (and the journey to the west and Nezha too of course)

my love of lmk was a slow burn that then sparked into an inferno

FOR YOU SEE

it began while i was watching OSP’s jttw summarized videos and listening to their podcast and there were some people asking Red if she watches the show (she hadn’t and prob still has not because her reason was by simply not watching it, she wouldn’t accidentally have their style influence her own. also ensuring that her summarized videos stayed original)

then i noticed some fanart of lmk on instagram (idk how that happened tbh maybe the algorithm took my interest in fanrtists of animated movies and shows to equal “hey you might like this too!”) but since i had no clue what lmk really was and was more loyal to jttw itself, i ignored it (tho one of the fanartists drew really good kung fu panda fanart so i saw lmk for about a month or too before i deleted my instagram)

and then i saw a lot of lmk in the comments of OSP’s video about the Six Eared Macaque chapter but ignored it still

and then tumblr polls happened

many polls were made. many ship dynamic polls were made

there was also the character of all time poll, of which i was a Sun Wukong activist and found some lmk fans who reblogged my propaganda thread

(during this time— April— I discovered Epic: the musical)

i found lmk once more in the sun/moon ship poll. it was merthur vs shadowpeach and i stayed true to my ship, Merthur, but i noticed one of my (then) mutual-in laws was very passionate about shadowpeach and i grew curious

i searched it up (beginning of May), somehow found a playlist with seasons 1-3 two days after i began my search, watched all of it in a day (it should be noted that i had been recovering from finals) and found myself hooked

I also felt cheated out of the shadowpeach ship because, through the eyes of my (then) mutual-in law, the ship seemed to be popular on tumblr. then all the shit i see on YouTube is spicynoodles and people arguing in the comments that shadowpeach are brothers

anyway

i found out very quickly that the show did scratch a special itch in my brain (it almost didn’t if i’m being honest. i was almost put off by MK and Mei’s personalities at first but figured i would wait if our since AHiB is only the show’s pilot) and now i wanted more

i went onto twitter bc i struggled to find fanart on tumblr

i realized there was a 4th season already out (also weird discord drama???? idk i only was there for the art) AND some nice metas to dip my toes in

i leave twitter and go to yt to find the 4th season (and also bc there was a whole thing on twt about new accounts getting called out for being “pro-shippers” so i decided to tap out) and then found out about Monkey King 2009 (which i watched to stave off the desire of s4 but this backfired bc i got obsessed with that one too and only 12 episodes are subtitled for it— edit: NOT ANYMORE!!!!)

AND THEN I FIND SEASON 4

i watch it all and realize i have to wait for the s4 special, but i am more prepared for it (and now i feel more comfortable interacting with lmk tumblr) which leads to me making my own metas (this was spurred by my desire for more swk metas)

and thus i found and curated my lmk fandom experience on tumblr and satiated my brain with metas and fics and art until s4 special and then rinse and repeat until s5 :D

[fallmutual]

i saw the tv glow has gripped me by the throat so much that i am making my own post about it... so, random assortment of thoughts under the cut.

i think the only reason i associate it much with the substance is because i watched them very close together, but i keep thinking about a lot of the posts/reactions to both movies and how it shows one of the values of tragic movies. like, both of them end kind of hopelessly (or maybe more bittersweetly, in the case of tv glow) but i have seen so many people post about both these movies with the sentiment of it being a wake-up call for them. i just think that's so cool and powerful. and it makes me wonder if the same effect would be achieved if the endings were happier! perhaps not!

rewatched it recently and noticed that when owen comes across the downed power lines and where pages of the pink opaque tv guide are scattered, i believe he picks up a page that says "season 6, episode 1: escape from the midnight realm." and then later, maddy says that when she woke up as tara, it was the season 6 premiere!! just a cool detail i'm rotating in my head.

in tandem with the previous bullet point, i've seen people point out that the bar maddy and owen meet up in after all those years is one that exists in the pink opaque, and the pink opaque has a musical interlude each episode. then i think about the aspect ratio change in the scene where owen watches the final episode, and the world of the pink opaque suddenly fills the screen clearly while the world own is in (the midnight realm) has a smaller aspect ratio and becomes more fuzzy. the pink opaque is real! it's bleeding into the midnight realm! we are watching the season 6 premiere!

i keep thinking about the scene where owen revisits the pink opaque on streaming and it's this weird childish version. i think that could be read as nostalgia goggles coming off, but that wasn't how i saw it. i agree with other posts that say it's mr. melancholy's interference, especially because owen's breathing becomes more and more strained in that scene, the suffocation getting to him. though i've also been rotating in my head what it means thematically/metaphorically... he says he feels "embarrassed" watching it... at this point he's committed to having "become a man" (meaning both that he's pursuing his image of adulthood, but also that he's shutting away the isabel part of him). so he's suppressed his true identity, rejected it. maybe the show seeming childish and embarrassing represents his attitude toward that identity. the pink opaque as a tv show was always a view into what owen could be -- what's inside of him already -- and when he was younger, even though he was still scared, he could see that part of himself in the show. but then, when he's older, he sees that desire to transition as just embarrassing and childish.

there was also a youtube comment that makes me so, so sad that points out that when owen opens his chest, the tv is playing black-and-white shows, which are what comes on after the pink opaque. the commenter said this showed that it's too late for owen, that he missed his shot -- the show is over. but the director has said themself in interviews that it's not hopeless for owen! he's not completely there yet, but he's so much closer to crawling his way out of the grave! so, idk. maybe in that moment, he's missed his shot. but she just has to wait until next saturday. there is still time.

i've been listening to the soundtrack and just been going crazy over the song lyrics. some of the songs were written for the movie but not specifically about the movie, i'm pretty sure, but so many lyrics feel profoundly relevant and i think i'll just have to go song-by-song here.

i maybe shouldn't go line-by-line for all of "starburned and unkissed" because like 99% of it is so heartbreakingly relevant to the story. "wake up / distorted to the bone" like how tara and isabel wake up distorted, being turned into maddy and owen, who have forgotten their true selves. "this isn't how to be" echoing maddy saying "this isn't how life is supposed to feel" (it says "be" instead of "feel" in the movie's captions, but i swear she says "feel"). "a bitter little seed / in digital sand and / then you wake up" once again they are both trapped in this fake world they need to wake up from, and the way to wake up is to recognize the piece of true self still within them... and godddd of course the chorus "come home / the kettle's whistling / my heart's a ghost limb reaching / starburned and unkissed" is like. fuck dude. the fact that it plays over owen walking. like, come home, girl!!! your heart is there, it's still beating, and your hearts are reaching for each other across the psychic plane, like a ghost limb.

"claw machine" has obvious significance but to me it's especially in the bridge: "i think i was born bored / i think i was born blue / i think i was born wanting more / i think i was born already missing you." just feels so much about how owen and maddy were "born" into this world that is all Wrong, that isn't their real world, and separated from each other, but constantly, always drawn to each other. born missing each other because they already know each other, already need each other.

there's slightly less to say about the lyrics of "another season" except that the opening lines feel quite fitting for the end of the movie: "hey, nothing much, just / wrapping up another season." because of its placement in the movie it fills me with a lot of melancholy, but the song alone also feels like a bittersweet goodbye, with the past fading and someone so close to you eventually becoming just an acquaintance. but there's also the suggestion that things aren't over. and that feels like the whole movie, yknow?? season 5 is over. there's still a chance she can make it to season 6, that the show doesn't have to be over for her, that she can be herself. but it's possibility, it's not definite. there is still time!

anyway. top 10 doomed yuri of all time.

[its-just-hyper]

Man, today I want to rant about cringe culture. Im not gonna cover the points about children and neurodivergent people, those have been covered a million times already.

First of all, I want to preface this by saying I have always, ALWAYS been a very “cringey” person. My dynamic in all my relationships for as long as I can remember has been that I’m the “comic relief somewhat pathetic one” and that is self inflicted. My own mother told me that I was so obsessed with undertale that she “didn’t like talking to [me] and regrets not getting [me] tested for autism.”

I’ve been in countless cringe fandoms, including but not limited to mlp, fanfic/fandom culture, mha, animation memes, Henry stickmin, minecraft, Pokémon, the furry fandom, cosplay, sanders sides, dream smp, batim, Aphmau, and MANY others. Undertale has always been the really big thing for me, but recently fnaf has been the thing for me. Because of cringe culture, I hate myself for enjoying things. In order to talk about my interests, self deprecating ironic humor was super common from me.

This humor evolved from irony, to self deprivation, to despising myself for enjoying things considered “cringe” (example is Undertale, but many other things, too), all the way to feeling so much shame for liking anything at all that I distance myself from everything.

Genuinely, I had a meltdown because I like hollow knight. That isn’t even a “cringe” comunity!! It’s one of the chillest out there!!! And because I “like it too much” I made myself feel like shit preemptively.

This next section is a specific example, and this is a really difficult thing for me to admit candidly because of what I’ve already said.

I am in the gacha fnaf community. It’s something I enjoy, and I enjoy it separately from how i enjoy fnaf. SEPARATE FANDOMS, PEOPLE!! (Same with undertale and undertale aus, one is significantly less socially acceptable, and people leave it out of discussions in the other context, but not the other way around.)

I stumbled across a video by a large mainstream gachatuber focusing on and making fun of “gacha fnaf cringe”. All the clips shown were people self-insert shipping themselves with various aftons or animatronics. The only clip that wasn’t that formula, was a strange video about Ennard abusing Michael Afton. They didn’t even appear to be shipped together, it was just Mike getting beat up. Idk man.

After each clip, the YouTuber would say a snarky quip and move on, but the big thing that got to me was that they had never played fnaf, and had avoided it to the point that, on their entire time on the internet, never saw the purple guy sprite.

When someone made William a brunet man with glasses, the joke was about how “I did some research, and apparently William is just a purple blob. That’s not very close to the canon design, huh?”. When William was purple, the joke was about how “the designs are all so inconsistent in the whole community.”

This person but absolutely zero effort into research. At first that baffled me, but then I realized that it’s always true.

Have you ever met someone anti furry who’s given an accurate definition of what a furry even is? Probably not. Has anyone ever added any genuine commentary to a single cringe compilation, other than “wow that’s cringe, kys”??? Probably fucking not.

There are issues within the fnaf gacha community that (if any effort was used) they could have talked about, and had an insightful video. For example, plagiarism is rampant, and shipping in a fandom related to fnaf is inherently…. a very tricky subject, if you will.

Were either of those discussed? Nope. Just comments on how weird it is that William’s been called daddy in the fnaf games before. “Maybe that’s where they got these gross aus from” ((the alias is literally referring to William’s young daughter’s dialogue))

After seeing that bafflingly ignorant video, I went to their channel to see what other stuff they make. Many of the videos were along the lines of “reacting to [thing that is cringe] except I ROAST them!”.

It is truly so, so disgusting that cringe culture isn’t dead. Genuinely. I genuinely think it is the laziest form of content. It’s mean, and pathetic and honestly, what’s the point of it?

It’s not funny, it’s not insightful, it’s not kind, it’s just mean and quick.

Who do you think you’re helping?

[cyvonix]

(this is a copy paste of a youtube comment I tried to make on one of your epilogue videos but got auto-deleted for IDFK what reason sorry I'm so rambly lol) You seem confused about the canonicity of Caliborn sucking those four into the juju remember: we saw what happened in Caliborn's masterpiece. we already know that John, Rose, Dave, and Jade are the four ancient heroes that are trapped within the house since we saw it happen it is "canon" (aka a page on homestuck dot com) Just because it is an interpretation of the future from Caliborn's perspective doesn't make any less true, relevant or, essential it's just played through a weird medium since he is an unreliable narrator. Whereas whats happening here with adult John taking the kids from the doomed timeline and showing us exactly what happened, sure it's true and maybe even relevant but it is far from essential to understanding the story and themes of Homestuck making it a part of the "dubious canon" (kind of like how the Star Wars expanded universe does a lot with bit characters expanding their backstories to create a lore but in the end Greedo exists to be shot by Han Solo and that is his Role) the ending of Homestuck was all about rejecting your assigned role and living your life in peace to spite whatever entity wants you to be your "alpha timeline self" in this case Lord English. This is why his death isn't on screen, by killing him you give him what he wants as Lord of All time and therefore predestination. IDK if this is making sense anymore but this is close to how I conceptualize the use of canon and stories in Homestuck and hopefully sheds some light on why the epilogues are "dubious" and why Homestuck had a purposefully unsatisfying ending.

Oh it absolutely does make sense, I think that's a very interesting analysis. I don't always feel fully equipped to think of it on that level but I adore how much meaty shit one can pull from just about any aspect of HS on both a textual and metatextual level

(also I have no idea why that would've happened to the YT comment ??? I've certainly never enabled anything to do that so I'll have to check it out)

[ddreamteamies]

Idk if you saw the internet anarchist video, but just from that video people have flooded to George's comment section and saying they're subbing to him. It is truly interesting to see how videos from people can change people's tune. I don't like how the guy said that sapnap and Drean threw him under the bus, but the rest of his video was pretty good.

I'm just glad that at least on youtube he'll be fine and I hope when dteam start their new era they can just move on with their lives without the rest of the people who showed their true colors.

i have seen people talking about it but i haven’t had time to watch it and idk if i want to tbh

i really appreciate outsider opinions a lot because they’re usually the most unbiased but i think i’m at a point where i’m very comfortable with my opinion on things and i wanna forget all of what happened LMAOO

but i’m really glad people are realizing it wasn’t just as black and white as caiti was trying to make it. and i certainly don’t think sapnap or dream threw george under the bus lmao where did he get to that conclusion

[mzannthropy]

IDK if I sent you the right post,but it was one theorizing that Eddie would've gotten Camila pregnant since she hadn't had the twins yet. I hate that ship, I saw a theory in a YouTube comment that Eddie took advantage of Camila's emotions. Anyway,Eddie was kinda a creep towards Camila and I like to pretend she rejected him. (and that Billy never cheated at all,that Daisy got over him, because the show ruined so much. I hate daisybilly and Emila so much, I started shipping Daisy and Eddie.)

They can theorise all they want, it's a moot point, since she didn't get pregnant. I'm pretty sure I can come up with a number of theories contradicting theirs. In a story narrated in this way, any Watsonian interpretation can be applied. (For example I can say that Camila and Billy did have more kids, they just didn't participate in the documentary. Who's to say that's not true?)

I don't know how anyone who likes Camila would want to pair her with Eddie. If Camila wanted to be with Eddie, she'd be with him. Case closed. I said it before, but to me he's a bit of a loser. He should have left the band and moved back to Pittsburgh to get over Camila. But clearly it was more important to him to be a member The Six, and he must have realised that Billy was a charismatic frontman. Which, fine, but then he should have sucked it up. Seeing your ask made me remember (and it's the time of year) Andrew Lincoln's storyline from Love Actually. You know, Keira Knightley and the cue cards. Eddie's a less extreme version of it. At least, Andrew's character said "enough" as he walked away from her house.

I'm not that big a shipper in general, but Daisy and Eddie--go for it, yeah. They could bump into each other by accident somewhere after they've worked their personal issues out. What I've been thinking about Eddie these past few days is that he got into a heavy metal band. Or, a complete opposite, at the start of a new decade, electronic music! Imagine him giving an interview years later saying "I was quite surprised myself about how much it spoke to me" and he laughs.

[leebtwxx]

just wanted to copy paste this masterpiece of an analysis i wrote in a youtube comment section in case comment algorithm doesn't give it any recognition

because it's so damn good and so damn long it just deserves it. even though i don't get much recognition from tumblr algorithm either, i still think it deserves a mention.

i posted this comment under @leeshyd531 btw. and the video was from twoallnighters, being a dub of a comic called 'undertale: post-neutral route' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdTYynYqeSg). i highly suggest giving it a watch before reading this post, because obviously, it's gonna have spoilers, and trust me fellas, this is a pretty damn good twist!

but without any further ado, enjoy my analysis! other than some edits at the beginning to fit the context of this post a little,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i commented this in a reply to another person in another comment, but it's so damn good and basically such a good soul trait analysis that i wanted to give it a moment of spotlight (and also for easy access for screenshotting [or well, since this is too long for my computer screen, i'll probs just copy paste this instead], this is so good that i am literally gonna screenshot this and put it up on my tumblr because i'm just that proud of myself for this analysis), so here goes:

for context, the comment i replied in mentioned how frisk likely didn't kill criminals worthy of murder, and the person of interest i replied to said that since there were two justice souls and a bravery soul, this must be right or something like that because they're 'good' traits (though they did also mention how with patience it could make sense for a criminal because the patience to commit crimes at the right time and stuff). they were wrong with the other statement, however, because the only inherently 'good' trait is kindness, and even that could be influenced by factors like substance abuse and mental illness, causing them to become unpredictable, put other lives in danger (like that of a child) without intending to. of course, if they were a parent, a kindness soul would likely not want to endanger their own child and at least try to quit harder substances, but you never know.

also, in response to the response about the justice and bravery souls, justice can be corruption/vengeance (a good example of this is undertale yellow genocide route!), bravery is not necessarily an inherently 'good' trait (with the only inherently 'good' trait being kindness [even integrity souls can be morally questionable, it's more about sticking to one's own morals than necessarily 'doing the right thing'], but even then a kindness soul could be kind and delusional, causing them to maybe commit crimes while abusing substances, for example? idk-) and could actually be very similar to perseverance souls in the nature of motivations. i honestly always saw bravery souls as either impulsive, extroverted people or people who suffered through a lot in life but kept their heads up and remained fearless (but then again, the latter could also just end up become perseverance souls instead).

but yeah, moving on to how the souls as criminals would be in general, i see patience as the true criminal masterminds out of all 7 soul traits. determination souls can be ruthless if it's to get their goal (like we see with frisk in this comic), bravery souls have probably pulled the craziest mastermind plans, justice souls get the best revenge, kindness souls are usually just mentally ill and not bad on purpose (because c'mon, they're kindness souls!), integrity souls are like criminals/assassins with moral codes (these ones are more likely to be hitmen who don't go after children, for example), and perseverance souls are stubborn af, but maybe not quite as ruthless with their goals as determined ones. still, i think patience souls are the best criminal masterminds because it's usually a lack of patience that brings intelligent criminal masterminds down.

[jayflrt]

Yoiiiiiiii! Great minds think alike😙

But I’ve actually been wanting to talk about this for a couple of days. I recently saw a YouTube Short that listed the most hated trainees in survival shows. Seon represented for I-Land, but K and Ni-ki were mentioned in the comments. A LOT. And I saw one comment that didn’t have any replies, so I couldn’t fact check it quite well (it’s been so long since I watched I-Land and I didn’t know if what EJ said has been outside of I-Land so—), but it made the comparison of Ni-ki being the most hated because of what he did to Taki and EJ because of what he did to Daniel. I was very scared that this is going to be true but like I said, I could not fact check it exactly. But now that I know that it’s true, I have very complicated feelings.

I started to watch I-Land a long time ago, after I became a fan of ENHYPEN, and I’m honestly so fucking glad I did. I don’t know if I would be as big of an ENGENE if I watched the show first. Ik that a big contributor of that would’ve been M Snake’s evil editing and that they were just desperate kids fighting a life or death situation, but I still have so much trouble separating the two.

I didn’t even finish the show. I can’t remember exactly to what point I stopped watching. An episode or two after the second part started?

This is why I… strongly disliked (?) K for a very long time. I could not, for the life of me, get over the DNA unit and how he treated Ni-ki (it was especially bad since Ni-ki was pretty much my bias and I had grown to really love him). So even when &TEAM debuted, I could not look at him the same way (mind you, I didn’t watch &AUDITION at the time either. But I did start to watch it maybe a couple of months ago but then I stopped watching it🙃). But then I did end up giving him a second chance (and it was really strange).

But now finding out what Euijoo did is really messing with me and now I can’t look at HIM the same way😩 And it sucks because I loved him a lot— I LOVE him a lot… idk.

It’s honestly so crazy how this talk started on your account while this was happening in my brain lol.

I’m sorry for the long ass message, but I’ve been DYING to talk about this. It’s fr been eating me up😭😭😭😭 ENHYPEN and &TEAM are like my top two groups but I really really really wish I was blissfully ignorant of what they did in I-Land🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠

omg yeah :(( tbh riki had much different intentions and voted taki out because he felt like taki could improve first and then come back to iland, and he communicated that perfectly to taki too. so i don't get the riki hate for that reason because everyone had to vote four people out anyways and it's hard to gauge to be faced with something like that right off the bat 🥲 ej's intentions with voting daniel out were .. interesting LMFAOO but it was also a decision they were making as children who just were competing to debut so i guess he was looking out for himself :') sometimes u gotta put yourself first !! tbh the final 12 were all people who were very proactive about putting themselves out there and had the survival show mentality while still being able to bond and not see each other as threats, which is why i do think more trainees needed to be a lot more forward 😔

yeah im glad i watched the show after they debuted too !! mostly because of the voting stuff bc honestly i didn't know the members too well before i watched the show LOL so i was genuinely surprised when k didn't make it since he seemed to be a producer favorite for a while 😵‍💫 but yeah that whole thing between him and riki reeeeally put me off for dna and i think he got even worse for flicker unit :/ he redeemed himself a little later in that episode and from then on but im glad you like k now ! yeah it's probably way different seeing him in a fixed group where he's secure instead of on a survival show where he's fighting to debut 🥲 i think since he was oldest out of the final 12 it felt more bittersweet when he was eliminated 🚶‍♂️

i get why it bothers you !! but im sure for ej's case i don't think any of them took the voting to heart or anything :') daniel was still suuuper happy for ej once he got to go back to iland even though he was sent to ground !! and ej was hugging daniel when he made it into the final 12 so the voting is definitely dramatized to feel worse than it is

[uncertaininnit]

will u tell the class abt the tylenol murders

oh god oh geez okay YES! I had to instantly pause the YouTube video that I had playing in the corner of my screen as soon as I saw that I got this ask in my activity feed. the details like the year aren’t ingrained in my brain so I’m going to do a little googling to answer this question but most of it is stuff I remember and so some of it might not be 100% true but !! It’s really interesting

In September 1982, over the span of a week, 7 people living in the Chicago area died after taking Tylenol pills that were spiked with cyanide.

someone had gone to a pharmacy in chicago (it might have been two) and subtly replaced or spiked or whatever (idk how you deal with cyanide) the pills of at least 5 bottles of tylenol an out them back on the shelves completely normal looking.

this is the reason pretty much all food and medication you buy has a plastic seal on it to indicate if it’s been opened before. Before the Chicago Tylenol murders that wasn’t a thing pretty much at all

Nothing like this had ever happened before and there were a few copycat killers after the fact but as far as I’m aware they never caught the killer just because they didn’t have any kinds of precautions set for an event like that

after the deaths were all traced back to the spiked Tylenol, it was taken off of shelves nationwide and was really bad for Tylenol (duh). rival companies were accused of doing it to hurt Tylenol and I think there was also evidence against the Tylenol ceo? I would suggest watching the buzzfeed unsolved video (that’s where I first heard of this) for more info about the suspects and everything but that’s not really what I remember

I think at least one of the people who died was a child. An especially tragic story is (details here are probably a little wrong) a family was all together in one house and they were gathered for MAYBE a funeral I don’t know when one of them got a headache and went to take a Tylenol, and the like 2 minutes later passed out on the living room floor dead.

obviously not great for that to happen, imagine your uncle passed out dead on the floor of the living room. This might cause confusion and stress, leading to maybe someone developing a headache. And taking a Tylenol.

since they didn’t know the Tylenol was responsible, another family member took one and also died. That’s two deaths in the family within like 15 minutes.

I think it was someone from that same family who figured out that it was the Tylenol- since both of them had taken one and I think the second family member made a comment about it smelling like almonds (which is a common way to id cyanide, apparently it smells like almonds)

I feel like this isn’t as detailed as you were hoping bc I’m obviously not an expert but I think it’s so interesting !! It’s like how 9/11 led to the airport changes, but it’s much lesser known even though food that you have to remove seals from is way more regular than going to the airport.

It really is a great example of how literally everything and every rule of the world around us comes from mistakes. Learning from things and sometimes tragedies

[lastoneout]

So, I do think you have something of a point here, and it's made me kinda....narrow down the scope of why these comments are bothering me, so I'm going to try to explain myself a little better.

(Under the cut bcs my verbose ass cannot stop taking and this got long.)

My two main points originally and the ones I stand by the most are:

1) "This is a free pass to spend all of our time making fun of Somerton" is NOT the message of Hbomb or Todd's videos, and yet it seems like that's ALL people are taking away from it. I know I have taken part in that plenty, it was and still is funny, but the mockery has only gotten more vicious as the days have gone by and I'm hardly seeing any posts related to this topic about anything else anymore. It does seem like people are just dogpiling Somerton rather than actually engaging with what this is really about. (Also I know people are nuanced and can do both but like, I'm not seeing both anymore.)

2) The reason I made this post when I did was because while I hadn't seen any blatant fatphobia or ableism YET, I knew once people started tearing apart his appearance and tone it would get to that place VERY quickly(and from what I've heard, it did) and I was hoping to maybe help people readjust their focus back to what's actually important, bcs again, "making fun of Somerton is cool" isn't what we should be taking away from this.

And 3) is what I have been mulling over for the last few days as I read the notes that come in. I do agree that Somerton did kinda pitch his content as high-production value video essays and thus him just sitting in front of a camera and talking with cheap, ill-executee costumes/effects is really deceptive and disappointing(and he also apparently wore an offensive costume at one point though I don't know how true that is, but if it is I am NOT defending that at all). If he was going to sell himself as someone who made stuff on the level of like, Philosophy Tube, he should have actually put in more work.

However...idk I just don't like this...implication, I suppose, that video essays NEED to be high production value projects. There absolutely is a market for essays where people just sit around and talk that you can just have on in the background(hell I've seen youtubers complain about how they don't like that people just listen to their videos rather than actually watching them, and I can understand those arguments too even if I feel like it dodges into some abelism territory at times) so like, I don't fully believe Somerton was being stupid or careless here. We will never know for sure, but it's common knowledge that there are people who just want to listen, and intentionally or not he made essays for people who just want to listen. Like I saw people saying as much in the comments of videos about him, that one of the things they liked was how he was calm and didn't shout and spoke slowly and there weren't too many complex visuals. People LIKED that and I feel like it's weird to ignore that.

And like, I'm one of those people? Don't get me wrong I love that video essayists have turned their craft into something really visually stunning and complex, it really does add to the experience greatly and I'm glad that they can get creative and artistic in a way you wouldn't be able to in a written or purely spoken medium, but sometimes I just don't want to have to look at the screen, at least not the entire time. I have adhd, I basically have to be doing something else while listening or I won't absorb any information. I also have sensory issues and get migraines, so sometimes the loud, animated cadence is grating on my ears, or the visuals are overwhelming. So yeah while I love to see people basically making short films with incredible visuals and engaging performances, sometimes that's too much, and it was nice ngl to have people like Somerton and even iiluminaughtyii making essays that had visuals but were leaning more into the spoken side. It's good to have both.

Also the visuals sometimes make it hard for me to like, share them with people I think could benefit from the knowledge? My mom mentioned one of her friends was getting into Jordan Peterson and that she was kinda interested too which set off Red Flags for me, however since I'm busy and not great at summarizing things I wanted to send her a video essay about him, but the most informative one I found had really wild visuals and costumes and she just refused to watch it. Said it freaked her out. And that was frustrating bcs while I thought the visuals were fun and good, and I don't think the person who made that video should stop making them like that, I also think it's good for us to have essays where people just talk that we can share for educational purposes. And I can't deny that the incredibly high production value of some of the top video essayists on YouTube does occasionally make them inaccessible to people who could benefit from the knowledge. It doesn't mean they should stop, but it does mean there is a need for both.

Plus there are other essayists out there who DON'T have massive production values and yet still make incredibly engaging and interesting content. I mean youtuber Shaun doesnt do a whole lot more than talk into a mic over a nice painting and occasionally play clips or show pictures that help illustrate his point, and he's really well regarded and respected. I like that I can just have his videos on while I draw or w/e and not feel like I'm missing anything. And I follow a ton of video essayists who speak in monotone voices for various reasons, who stumble over their words, who have really thick accents, who don't wear costumes or make fancy visuals, who use "rant-sonas" over a simple clipshow of whatever they're talking about, and all of them make really engaging videos worth paying attention to. And yeah some of them do change it up when they get bigger budgets, experiment with lighting and costumes, and end up making really polished, flashy stuff, but they shouldn't HAVE to if they don't want to.

(And honestly, if someone is making earnest, well regarded content and their viewers DO give them $200k a year that's great! Aside from checking your sources, not plagiarizing, and making content you earnestly enjoy/believe in, I don't think there is a minimum production value you need to reach before it's fine that you make money off of it. Again, I doubt that's what people intend to say, but the whole "he took all that money and made visually boring videos" argument just makes me worry that we are giving people the idea that to make a living wage or any wage doing youtube you have to be making super polished, complex, visually interesting video essays. If you promise to put that work in and then don't, yeah that's shitty, but there is no minimum production value a person must put in to be worthy of respect or to share ideas that are worth sharing, and the idea that you must is part of how Somerton got away with his grift. People assumed bcs his videos were nice to look at and hit a certain level of production value that he must be telling the truth. Production value =/= good, unique content.)

I guess this is maybe a little bit on me, I don't really think this is the argument anyone was trying to make, but it has been on my mind for a while, honestly ever since Hbomb's pathologic video, which while I love and have watched at least 100 times...does contain a joke where he pokes fun at people who only listen to his videos. It just seemed a little...mean to me, idk. (And also maybe a little exclusionary to people who have visual disabilities but mine are very mild so I don't feel comfortable speaking over actual blind people on that one.)

Also, and this one maybe IS just me, I don't like seeing people treat "dressing well" as like, a moral imperative? I grew up very poor, have been gnc my entire life(despite my attempts to conform) and I've been mocked relentlessly for not being able to put the "correct" amount of effort into my looks. I don't know what it means to "dress flatteringly" as so many people said Somerton was failing to do, I have only ever worn comfortable clothes and then been mocked because I look weird or ugly or made a fashion faux-pas somehow or whatever. And as for the fatphobia stuff, I'm not fat, but I know that people who aren't skinny/straight-sized are often held to a much higher standard of fashion, and it just set off those alarm bells. I understand why some people view Somerton's wardrobe as very important and something he should have "put more effort into" but I just don't like the implication that people must dress "correctly" or have a good haircut to be respected.

And part of the reason these comments about his appearance are harmful is bcs people like me, people who are disabled or fat or who can't present themselves to a correct standard of beauty or have specific haircuts, we can hear you when you guys say those things make Somerton less worthy of respect, and what we hear is that you guys are only letting us get away with these faux-pas because you like us, and should we ever do something wrong you'll turn and let us know you thought we were ugly the entire time and only didn't say anything bcs you were being "nice". Maybe that isn't the way it's intended, but that's what it's conveying.

So idk, this got really fucking long and is kinda me just rambling while I work through my thoughts on this, I'm not really trying to change anyone's mind exactly(other than the people who are using this as an excuse to being horrid and ableist and fatphobic y'all need to stop) but I am fine with continuing this discussion in a more nuanced and productive way, so if anyone wants to add on feel free. But yeah that's really the long and short of it I guess. Hope that helped clear things up a bit.

Okay I've seen enough people starting to make fun of the way James Somerton dresses and that I think before this goes where it always goes we all need to take a step back and remember that making fun of someone's appearance is not acceptable, even when they're a shitty person.

He doesn't suck because he wears "unflattering" clothes or doesn't have engaging facial expressions, he sucks because he's a thief and a grifter who made almost $200k a year by screwing over his audience and queer creators/authors. There's plenty of things to criticize, his looks should not be on the table.

[dullahandyke]

Between how long kh3 took to come out and the only game to focus on the passage of time being days, I always assume that the time between games is like. Months. But I just saw a YouTube comment (the most reliable of sources) that mathed it out using the destiny island kids and the school calendar and apparently kh2-ddd-kh3 all happened over one summer break. And like there's time-bending-between-worlds shenanigans going on but if that's true then fucking christ. Idk how riku does it, if I did alllll that shit to bring my boybestie out of a coma and then 6 weeks later he dissolved out of existence I would be on the news

[not-souleaterpost]

Lord Dunsany and the broken telephone of "fantasy"

So for my weekly post that nobody will care for, I'll again squeeze out some shit related to a topic I researched for the iceberg, but that doesnt really have anything to do with Soul Eater:

Lord Dunsany is often quted in some "deeplore" "well akshually" stuff to be the father of "modern fantasy", but did all the people who read him miss the point?

So I'll start by saying I wasnt ever into fantasy, it allways seemed kinda corny, only stuff I cared was LoTR cause I kinda grew up and around people were obssesed with it and DQ, cause of the DBZ bleed over and because I just like the slimes lol.

That may makes me disqualified about commenting, but eh, I dunno, I think my point will still stand, cause I will bring it back to Tolkien now:

Some people say he was inspired by Dunsanys "word building" to make his own overly convoluted mythology, but here lies my objection:

The two books I read of Dunsany about "the gods of Pegana" seem not really care about the "lore"

They seem to be written in the style as if they were some holy book, yet the names seem deliberately random and often the storys are either contradictory or mix up the details to make a point and to reflect that feeling of myths that arent organized by some obsessive nerd wiki for logical consistency.

Because in the end the books arent about "fantasy" (atleast the ones I have read), but as kinda didactic laments about the authors perceived nihilism and meaninglessnes/cruelty of the world.

Ok that may be reductive, cause there are many vivid and even beautiful or fascinating things described, but in the end you feel that tone of "Oh that is like fanfiction from the Bible book about how everythings is just meaningles vapor" tone.

Like in "the gods and time" there is a great short story about a prophet who sees the "true gods" and abondons the old ones for them with his followers, only to repeatedly then see even greater gods, only to lose more and more of his acolytes with each subsequent trip and in the end arive back at the old gods he rejected at the star - basically a commentary at the foly for the strive of knowledge or about how things are more simple at the end of it all than one trys to think.

But the important thing is that the "gods" of this short story dont really matter more than for the point they make in it - I would be surprised that for example the "mocking gods" have some specific lore, events and super powers etc like shit in Tolkiens stuff has, or in modern generic fantasy, where everyone is some world or warcraft charachter shooting magical auras.

Still, maybe Im ignorant, and in all the other storys there actually is that feeling of a shared mythology and "wordbuilding" besides the tone of "life's a bitch and then you die"

Anyways, what was the point of this all? I guess to say that it is kinda sad that an innovatitive form of literature gets reduced into the current state of "top ten word building tips!" videos on youtube.

Ok maybe thats to harsh, even I know how fun it is to come up with a setting and its own intrincitys, but still, I think one shouldnt limit oneself to that - its like watching DBZ for the power levels - when the point is that they dont matter.

But in the end, maybe this post just shows my own ignorance - maybe most fantasy does that already. Yet when I allways hear everybody praise some Brandon Sanderson guy, who seems to only care about "magic systems being consistent" and literally color codes his creatures to match emotions or some shit idk😂

And also, I wonder if Tolkien had actually finished more books if he hadnt noodled around with his silly lore matching, especially when it in the end still is contradictory😂🤷‍♂️

Anyways, sorry this kinda sounds more spitful than I wanted, guess its cause I saw some video where they talked about these books as if they were all about just creating some wacky fantasy world, which seemed strange to me after having read even just a small part of his whole work.

So: Yeah...Sorry

[saltheartgal]

I'm gonna be completely honest... Considering how many *very* visceral comments there are and how much bullying occurs whenever Rika is bought up, I can say for certain that there is a decent chuck of the fan base that actually do want to see her get abused or killed. Not even five minutes ago I saw a comment about wanting to see Rika get shot the face, in the past I've seen YouTube comments on the judge ending video cheering on that she gets 🍇 'd, on reddit I've seen Rika fans be told they are psycho and abusers for relating to her abuse and/or mental illness (mute and block are your best friends but unfortunately you still have to get exposed to triggering content ☹️). Being a Rika fan or even neutral on her is hell. I do understand and agree most people who are normal and well adjusted don't want her to suffer but to see her go to jail for her crimes, however, there is absolutely a portion of fans who literally just want misery porn for her. I absolutely agree that Cheritz was unprofessional and shouldn't spitefully put in triggering content but unfortunately the people they are portraying aren't a pretend strawman. These people are very real in my experience.

I feel like if they wanted to draw a line in the sand, stand their ground, and say "hey, this is our character and this is the kind of story we want to tell" there are better, more mature, professional ways of doing that. Like, maybe putting out a post saying they do not approve of the bullying and toxic mindsets that are common in the fandom. I would be all for it as a lot of this kind of behavior has soured my experience in the fandom. The literal theme of this game isn't that you should always forgive it's about not letting the anger consume you to the point of hurting others and yourself. A message that a lot people seem to hate for some reason even though they're the one who need it most. Too many people in this fandom get mad, throw common sense out the window, and lash out at others.

Sorry for being long winded but I often see "nobody wants ___" and that's simply not true. Idk, I just want to enjoy one of my fav otome without bad faith arguments of why the antagonist who embodies the majority of the games themes doesn't deserve redemption, rehabilitation, or a happy ending. This isn't directed at any person in particular but a common mindset I often see. I'm sorry if I come off bitter I just feel sad when I think about it. All the messed up, violent stuff I've seen is very upsetting 🥲

Judge ending rant

What the fuck was that? Cheritz, people want Rika to go to jail for her crimes. Nobody said she needs to marry her abuser! What the fuck? What is wrong with you?!