#im very into shows that can portray beautiful story telling.

[spicybylerpolls]

Well, unknown hero agent man / pen symbolism anon, i hope you're reading this, cos you hit the nail on the head! this kind of symbolic storytelling is not only a fine art of cinema (being lost these days a little sadly, what with the whole netflix speedy turnover etc), but exactly what (good) films of the horror genre aim to do.

horror has long been a way to creatively tell 'normal' dramatic stories through subtext and symbolism. not sure if this is still a way around traditional censorship but im sure it began that way. films like the exorcist, the shining, rosemary's baby... all classics that are filled with subtext. its also an exciting way to talk about things that might seem trite or too bleak when portrayed as a 'straight' drama (this is the term meaning 'non-genre based' or 'non-musical' lmao). So you could say that ST is NOT straight, in more ways than one 😉

but much of this will go over casual viewers heads, so its finding the balance between making a story believable on the surface (another dimension exists! scary government men trying to kill us!) and subtextually (the UD as a metaphor for trauma/AIDS/closeted homosexuality/abuse etc) if viewers are clever enough to see/feel it. i say feel because much of storyviewing is instinctive instead of analytical.

so ST incorporates both - not just metaphorical, vague storytelling, but also real issues too. but it goes one step further, and actually has characters talk explicitly about reading deeper into stuff (murray's behind the curtain speech). it's a very meta show, even for a genre piece, which is why it astounds me that some people think it's not that deep lol. and some people think that only literature can be deep, but never tv or movies - which is an insult to anyone who has ever been passionate about cinema tbh. It's a statement that would probably rip the heart out of the duffers' chests and stomp on it. these guys are super nerds who have dedicated their adult lives to this passion project. as finn said, 'most people make it then just cash in - im so glad they still care'.

I'm sorry you don't feel comfortable talking about the beauty of this storytelling on your main. it really does surprise me that the fandom is so censorship obsessed because sexual metaphors have long existed in visual media, and especially in horror films. there used to be a long post about byler and a potential sex scene at lover's lake on here, but the user disappeared and the post went missing. it was about all the sexual imagery in ST, with a focus on byler in s4. i especially loved how they mentioned mike's introduction, where he was just in underwear: it is both appropriate for the setting, but also gets the audience used to him as a growing lad with a body and draws attention to those uncomfortable, potentially sexual aspects of being a teen. i mean, he was in tiny pants for god's sake. did we need to see that? why did we see it? etc etc

hilariously, they also referenced the always sunny in philadelphia scene where a character is in a therapist office talking about a pen being a dick. he then puts it in his mouth and chews the pen lmoao

i think you'd enjoy @therainscene's rod symbolism post too. I'm personally hoping for some explicit sex scenes with byler, because the show so far has arguably been telling that story metaphorically already for 4 seasons, and bringing it out of the subtext could be a storytelling device in itself. bringing byler's secrets into the light. after all, this is a period piece that aims to shed light on a bygone era. its not a propaganda piece that needs to remain coded; the reasons for staying secretive still exist for mike and will in the 80s, but times have changed since then for us as a global audience, and more importantly, the aspirational message has changed. what message would the duffs want to send to viewers that are still bigoted? clearly one of the beauty of homosexuality, seeing as will, our fav gay boy, has been the darling sympathetic victim of the show since s1e1. the show needs to remain true to both the 80s while also having a strong message for this decade in order for modern audiences to be able to gain something from watching this story; in order for there to be a reason the show exists at all.

so to answer your question, i had never picked up on the pen symbolism until now, but i immediately agree, not least because 1) it must have a meaning that connects to byler's conversation otherwise why does it just interrupt them with no reason? (from a storytelling pov), and 2) because of the always sunny scene lolllll

thanks for the discourse! if you stick around into s5, im sure we will be able to start discussing this on our mains. it'll be a new era and there might even be gifs/pics of byler to accompany our 'spicy' discourse haha!

Amazing/fascinating points! Thanks for adding to the discussion!

[kimkhimhant]

I love the instinctual gravitation towards warmth it's one of my favourite pieces of fiction,, I'm curious what inspired you to write it/how did you come up with the premise

(no pressure to answer <3)

ahhhh hi thank you so much for the question and for reading TIGTW! i'm so glad you enjoyed it!!

honestly, there were a few things that inspired the particular plot, and all of it had to do with my own analysis of Kim as a character. if you hadn't noticed, i kind of obsess over him.

gonna start with two canon moments that influenced the direction of the story a lot:

this first one: kim staring at his empty hand after chay gets up, after kim himself was unable to say i love you. i think its a beautiful moment for kim's character – the emptiness and visceral loss. he didn't commit any physical harm, but it still manages to mirror the common trope of a character staring at the blood on their hands after killing someone. and the second one: we only see this scene on reflection and not when it happens chronologically, and it's so briefly shown we don't know what happens before or after, but in this moment, Kim looks wrecked. he's sitting there listening to Chay sing his love song in the studio, and he can't handle it. he looks like he's about to have a panic attack, and he gets up and leaves, and we don't know what happens next.

So TIGTW starts with that scene. the "what happens next."

So that kinda sets the stage for what aspects of canon most inspired me lol. I guess the main inspiration for the premise beyond that is personal experience and projection. We see very little of Kim as a character beyond what he shows to other characters in the show. (maybe that's intentional to the story-telling. we know as little about him as the other characters. we get only a couple brief scenes of him alone, either investigating, or playing the guitar/writing while daydreaming about Chay and smiling). but what we do see is someone who's very isolated and who flounders in the face of affection, but seems desperate for those little moments of warmth he gets with Chay. so in comes projection: here's an isolated and lonely boy with a fucked up family and a childhood that likely lacked a lot of emotional warmth – let's give him all the problems that hit closest to home for me.

An opioid high feels like a jacked up version of love and joy and warmth. Kim can't get those feelings anywhere else, but... he could get them here. He's scared of emotional attachment, he's scared of being Known, but a feeling of love and safety that he's in control of, that he can enjoy in private? he'd cling to it.

Im gonna be honest, I didn't have a full plot when i started writing it. I'd only planned up to chapter 11: Kim spiralling after fucking things up with Chay, and then getting shot saving Chay because he was under the influence, and this being the turning point for him getting clean. Everything after that was just the natural progression that seemed to make the most sense for his continued recovery. because i really really wanted to portray a real recovery process, that wasn't just: oh, he has love now, he has Chay and his brothers and he decided to get clean now and that's that. he's sober and recovered and happy and the story is over. because that's not how it works. by the time i finished the main story, i had about a dozen different updated outlines, because it developed more and more with every chapter i wrote lol.

i guess the short version of this answer would be: i saw myself in him, and i wanted to give him healing and a happy ending, no matter how long it takes for him to get there.

sorry for the huge tangent, and thank you again for reading and your continued interest in the story! it means a lot to me, especially because the story itself is so important to me.

[r0b0t1me]

Hi r0b0 I hope you are doing well! I've been following you for quite a time now and I uh, it's hard when I can't use my voice, but I wanted to give you my gratitude and say you have really inspired me to look into making comic art. I wanted to say thank you very much, as well as others, but mostly you I am very thankful for. This happened when I read your comic AU of the bad future timeline that focused on both Leo and Mikey, more of Mikey though. I appreciate the way you portrayed Mikey in this comic, not bad, or evil, but a character with so much bottled anger, guilt, and grief and projecting it to the one person he is/was closest to and trusted the most. the way you guided the story through your art and paneling touched me in a way that I started to cry, your line-art gives the stories/ comics a beautiful rough, dynamic type storytelling, even if it's just simple. But how you do it is very influential, and you make the reader feel as if they are a part of that story too. I love how you gave attention to bad future timeline Mikey progressing as the days of the continuous war affect/ alter him a bit as well as the de*th of his brothers. I hope I can achieve this amazing way of telling stories like you do, I have been motivated to creating a comic of a piece of fan work for rottmnt. I cry every time I open the post with the piece in it and I'm also getting emotional just typing this, just, thank you very, very much it means a lot to me, please stay safe and take care of yourself

wh. wha. this is so sweet... so unbelievably sweet....... im so glad my intentions for mikey showed so clearly and that i can motivate anyone to work on their own comics....... best of luck to you!!!!!!

[onlyjaeyun]

hi zadie my love! the issues of people saying your romanticizing certain behaviors need to also understand that this smau is for a MATURE audience i mean you literally make it so clear you do not want minors to interact. so many TV shows, movies, even books (all fiction btw!!!) are targeted for a mature audience so that people can understand what certain behaviors may be portrayed and it is up to the viewer/reader if they still want to indulge in the piece of art. you can understand not everything will align w your beliefs or be your cup of tea but there shouldn’t be people telling you that ur “romanticizing” and that you should “set a good example” bc you’re actually not responsible for that. your work is fiction, your work is also coming from a person in uni who writes in her free time. you are not putting out fiction for every person in the world to read and you do not have to put out work to fit every person in the audiences criteria!!! it makes me so upset that people can bash you when all they have to do is click off!!

i have a friend who’s jay bias and i recommended her ur jay smau and then she told me she’s not a fan of the daddy/little girl theme and that was it. she didn’t have to personally tell you she wasn’t a fan. she knows you’re a beautiful writer (bc i share some of my favorite parts of the CH smau to her) and that’s all that needs to be known.

also it’s very clear from the beginning of the smau that it is very topic heavy with many difficult themes even them calling out each others parental trauma from literally the first few chapters .. so if someone chooses to progress with the story they are aware and should take caution if something may trigger them

i want you to know that many people enjoy your work, especially me. if there’s a theme ppl don’t enjoy then they can click off or ignore it?! they shouldn’t tell you how to write your story.

i love you zadie and i truly hope people would leave you alone abt this stuff :(

- 🍇

firstly, thank you so, so much for this baby. i really appreciate you and hope you know how much your words mean to me. i absolutely agree with you and have received quite a few other asks which have also helped me come to a conclusion since i did beat myself up a little yesterday so again, thank you so much for this.

honestly you basically said everything i was thinking so im not gonna add anything and just end this discussion here because imma also gonna make a separate post regarding this particular topic.

i just wanna thank everyone who sent me a message regarding this situation and hope you guys know if it wasn't for all of your reassurance and support i woukd have easily lost motivation by now. so thank you so, so much for always having my back and doing the rational thinking when my people pleaser brain is doing the most. i love and appreciate you all so so so much🩷🧸🫧

[pastara-cell]

DAY 13 💪💪💪

Jomies headcanons! (Maria included, 10 head canons for each of em! I’ll try not to do repeats of past head-canons I’ve shared)

——————-

Lets start off with good ol jakey boy!

-Jake definitely has imposter syndrome, 100%

-His pink tips are natural!! Like how people’s hair colour may fade when they get older, his pink tips are actually just the last bit of pink hair thats faded out as he’s gotten older. He had a full head of pink hair in his baby photos!

-I have adhd and I’m officially diagnosing him with it, mhm, yup. Its canon now/silly

-shakes his leg under his desk to stim

-really likes mac n cheese. Like, REALLY likes mac n cheese. Would eat it every day if his mum didn’t force him to have variety in his diet

-He has Eczema, As well as being super reactive to rashes. Avoid poison oak at all costs

-Is a big dog person, but used to own two canaries when he was younger named Jimmy and Lizzie (/ref)

-His favourite colour is Yellow!!

-freezes up when overstimulated

-He does makeup occasionally, golden shimmer eyeliner i’m looking at you

Next is Liam!!!

-he’s a scene kid at heart

-Based on @lettuce-theory ‘s first theory, I’m a whole-hearted believer that Liam did NOT, amd will not forgive Jake after the drake fight.

-Liam and Stacy are great friends on Instagram (gachagram, was it?) and stacy constantly dms him to stop liking her mums pictures. He does it purely to piss her off and plays along with the bit, even with the jomies, so well that he’s convinced everyone except for stacy that he’s actually got a thing for her mum

-His yee yee haircut is quite beautiful, he just never fucking styles it so his bangs part farther apart than drew and jake after episode 10.

-guys. He doesn’t have brown hair…He’s just a really dark red head.

-The most chill guy ever, you could tell him you murdered someone and he’d just be like “…So…You need me to help you hide the body? Orr….”

-Has an older sister, Doesn’t really remember her. She ran away when Liam was 4. He doesn’t really feel anything towards her, but he looks a lot like her. He thought for a while, after he learned about it, that he was his parent’s replacement for his sister, so his parents often reassure him that they love home for being him, and that he’ll always be their liam. Unless he deadnames 👍

-As you can probably tell by the last headcanon, his parents are wonderful people trying their best to keep liam happy and stay stable. They’re middle class, both teach at the local community college, and have a small, nice house. They’re supportive of everything he likes and does. They do miss their daughter, but they’ve put it behind them and do their hardest to focus on liam

-I suppose the last two are more or so just random character story bits I made up, not headcanons, so actual headcanon: He has a calcium deficiency 100%

-he rollerdisco-skates guys you can trust me im his yee yee ass haircut

Then Drew Ofc

-He’s left handed! (pretty sure this is canon because Dosh said so and everything that dosh says is canon, but take that with a grain of salt cause I may be wrong)

-he stops henry, liam, and jake very often to fix their shirt collars or pull down their sleeves. Just a pet peeve of his

-Drew goes to country clubs, He tried bringing henry and liam, but they got kicked out for running next to the pool and knocking a lady in. Jake, on the other hand, is beloved by all the elderly women, who sit around and listen to him talk about whatever. Drew has to drag him away

-small waist, (Put this in my drafts and came back and rosypenguin’s thing came up, Good to know other people agree LOL) but is incredibly insecure about it, cause yknow, slight internalised misogyny.

-Not gonna diagnose him with anything, Especially BPF since I don’t know how to properly portray it accurately to peoples with BPD’s experiences, however, I think he shows a lot of signs of BPD from my research

-has definitely had/is having sal thoughts. In the past, they were more intrusive, but after the drakeup and with what happened with zoey, I think he’s really hanging onto Drew and Henry at the moment.

-He has indeed taken a drink or two out of his parents alcohol cabinet while henry and liam and jake were over. Drew’s clingy when he’s tipsy, but he has terrible full-body migraines during hangover, so he hasn’t done it in a while

-had a bayblade collection when he was younger. Keeps it in his closet now, but he’s super fucking proud of it

-Completely immune to poison ivy, poison oak, And poison sumac.

-Used to be apart of a boyscouts troop, left after he figured out he wasn’t allergic to poison oak by accidentally eating it

Henry my BOYYYY

-Rewatches the entire original Pokémon series atleast 3 times a month

-His teeth were so crooked as a child that he couldn’t talk. He had headgear (Braces that go all around your head) on up until 7th grade, he started in 3rd grade.

-Bruises super easily on ththe slightest taps. Has had to explain to cps multiple times that his parents are not mistreating him

-wanted to learn how to skateboard, could indeed not skateboard

-listens to the living tombstone, Ghost and pals, and Jack stauber

-Had a raging fnaf phase when he was an early teenager

-Adhd as well, Very visibly shakes and gets overwhelmed

-can quite literally read liams mind, same with liam reading his, they finish eachothers thoughts.

-His love for lettuce is genuine, because he grows his own lettuce in his backyard. Lots of lettuce.

-His eyes are actually NOT light green, they’re continuously shifting through every visible colour on the spectrum

Lia!!

-like jake, MASSIVE imposter syndrome.

-Regrets leaving hailey, too deep in to go back.

-she’s got a lovely tenor singing voice, But doesn’t sing. She’s not interested in it

-Can do card tricks

-Half of her skirts are stolen from Zoey, which zoey doesn’t mind as long as they get washed properly

-She listens to Olivia rodrigo 100%. Sour album specifically

-Her favourite colour is purple!

-Her favourite flowers are alliums and lilacs, although she hates the smell of both

-Very frequent user of bath and body works’s cherry blossom fragrance

-other than olivia rodrigo, she listens to Pink pony club and ONLY pink pony club. No other songs

Zoey >:)

-her pink tips are not natural, they’re dyed by Maria!

-Her family Is rather middle class, but they’re still not always there. She has two older sisters who give her advice on high school. She greatly misinterprets that advice

-she’s into crystal/gem collecting, mostly because they’re pretty!

-She and drew once bought a couple geodes and spent 3 hours breaking em all open as a date, she’ll never admit it, but it was her favourite one.

-Got the gold digger mindset from social media (probably TikTok and instagram), as well as misinterpreted advice from her older sisters (such as “High school is hard, you dont have to spend it in one relationship.”)

-However, despite getting the mindset from social media, she was too deep rooted in it to feel anything but sorry for herself when she was caught, not for drew. She knew it was wrong

-Does love Lia and Maria though, and very often would take them on girls days with drew’s credit card. This included spa days, and grabbing coffee, and probablya bit(LOT) of shopping

-her favourite character in mean girls is Gretchen

-Her favourite drink is Shirley temples!!

-Went through a horse phase as a child

Maria!!

-Canadian!!! 🇨🇦 🍁!! Moved to the US when she was 8.

-She used to live in Québec, so they can speak french canadian!

-Dyes zoey’s hair tips pink for her, uses the leftover pink dye on her own hair! Her hair is light enough that it tints the bottom pink ^^

-Befriended Zoey in Preschool, but they’re just friends, not best friends.

-Big believer in Rosianity

-Tomboy!

-Uses She/they pronouns

-Can skateboard, learned it just because she wanted to rub it in henry’s face (he hates it)

-Listens to Chappel Roan 🔥🔥🔥

-has drew saved as ‘My wive’s boyfriend’ in her phone. Zoey doesn’t question it

[llycaons]

ep14 (pt1): oh boy romantic montage time

wwx as a teenager is genuinely more compassionate than he's portrayed as

aw shit mention of the oath

I've often been confused by this sequence. if they showed wwx actually entering the shell instead of suddenly cutting to him inside this big red cavern, I think it would have made more sense

also I've often complained that animals don't have large rooms in their bodies like that but I just realized....oh yeah it's an ancient twisted monster. animal biology need not apply so 🤡

honestly I found this fight scene very drawn-out and uninteresting. the special effects for the fight were somewhat awkward and I was kind of bored. this was good though

wyb does 'devastated' very well

I'm kind of missing the donhua ngl. I like cql the best but the donghua was just so focused and clever and creative with the story

wwx is all kinds of fucked up after this fight....not just from his concerning readiness to die but probably also from connecting with this cursed fucking sword. he seems really out of it, and seems to be in a drowsy sort of honesty when he's like 'oh lan zhan...I didn't think I'd be able to meet you again' which is a very...nitimate thing to say? bc later when lwj gives him spiritual energy and he's a little more himself

he sees lwj all lit up and helping him and he starts complaining about how 'boring' it is. face your feelings, wwx! stop avoiding them! you think lwj is beautiful and unique and special and you like him a lot!

it's also. I feel like wwx doesn't feel like he even has the right to have an attachment outside of the jiangs? in some scenes he's really enthusiastic about himself and lwj being partners but in others he hastily denies it in order to smooth things over with jc, so jc doesn't feel abandoned. oof. we'll get to that

okay the top one is the viki and the bottom one is the youtube version which I remember! why are the translations the opposite of each other! also the youtube version is literally higher quality im so mad

god damn I love the lyrics to wuji. they almost don't matter, since they never come up after this and they're not relevant to the song's significance within the narrative, but they're perfect. it's about the struggles of a lifetime, about grief and joy, the ups and downs of being in the world, of reputation lost and gained. vague and poetic, and achingly relevant. that last line about sharing a tune together at the horizon....that's the finale, isn't it? just beautifully put together and a powerful reflection of the story itself, wwx's rise and fall and the pains and joys he's going to face. cannot believe a 16 yr old wrote that. tho if it was anyone, it would be lwj wouldn't it

lwj is ALWAYS the one leaving without saying goodbye! no wonder wwx lost faith! in this context the gusu situation is a little urgent but like. he couldn't have left a note?

I've read a few fics where they sleep together in the cave and 1. nasty and 2. that would make him just leaving after so much worse 😭 I do not endorse the first time cave sex headcanon. I still don't think it would realistically happen until ep 43. too early here, and after sunshot wwx is terrified of anyone touching him because they'll be able to tell he's lost his core. so as fun as angsty sunshot hookups are, I simply cannot see it. tho that would technically also be a factor in ep43, I don't think wwx cares as much by then if lwj knows

aw shit good job jzx

jc is yelling at wwx AGAIN and complaining about not being recognized for his efforts. my dude he just woke up from a week-long fevered sleep chill out. also can jzx stop crowding him? it's like these idiots have no idea how to treat sick people ALSO. why did jc have to run for help? they had a ton of people there. couldn't they have removed the boulders themselves? huh, maybe the wens were hanging around and all they could do was flee

wwx and ljw have such main character energy that wen chao KNEW they stayed behind to kill the false xuanwu...okay

the shidis are learning archery and jyl is just...standing there. okay! couldn't have had her like, reading or doing crafts. nope. just standing there. probably looking out for her returning brothers but like. come on

I really love that jfm personally goes to teach the little disciples. he's gentle and encouraging, and provides a reassuring and secure presence, and I'm sure his students love him. despite his flaws I'm very fond of him esp here

oh wwx, fainting again. first of many

this detail is legit so freaking cute. and wwx's warm smile upon seeing it and knowing he's home 🥰 this supports my 'wwx is a hopeless romantic' agenda. I did laugh when the donghua gave one of them huge boobs but the wx subtext in that show was so potent I can't really accuse them of straightwashing. more evidence for him being bi is all

good for you, jc

see, here he's trying to make jc feel better by calling lwj boring and jc just - lashes out. wwx tries this entire scene to deflect praise onto jc and diminish his accomplishments and to support jc and jc just treats him like shit. no wonder their relationship is so terrible later if jc treats him like this just bc he's mad. can't he see that wwx has no more control over this situation than jc does? he's just the acceptable target in jc's eyes bc jc can't be mad at his parents!

like wen chao was trying to murder mm and string up her body to attract the monster which they were going to be expected to fight without weapons. what the fuck was he supposed to do? and he's not even the one who started the fight! AND if he hadn't stayed behind, how could everyone else has escaped? I didn't see jc offering any other solutions! jesus

it sucks that jfm is implying that jc doesn't have the right temperament to lead the clan, but he's literally the only person in authority to push back against jc's treatment of wwx this arc. and he's literally right that you shouldn't speak from anger. it's not what a leader should do, it's not fair or just, it doesn't allow you to speak wisely or carefully, and it's not something that will lead anywhere good. but after this arc all jc does is lead from anger and bitterness!

it's also so twisted that wwx feels responsible for this and tries to defend jc as 'he's just mad and venting' which he says is fine here but later in the story he bitterly complains about. like I know he loves and misses LP as an adult but this entire situation was absolutely noxious for everyone involved. ppl talk about jyl being parentified but wwx felt obligated to do the same for jc as well and put aside all his own needs and emotions for jc's as soon as this shit starts up. he acts like the undeserving servant as soon as he feels like he needs to I feel dizzy

[jewishdainix]

So I'm watching tje one piece live action and I just realised I havnt liveblogged it till now? Insane anyway im like four episodes in and here are my thoughts so far (also i havnt watched the original anime or read the manga if anyones curious):

- I abseloutly ADORE Luffy. His actor is great and everything about him really puts me in his hopeful and cheery mood. A lot of moments where hes acting stupid would usually be very annoying to me but with him its endeaeing. Like for exemple when hes telling Kaya theyre pirates EVERYTHING he does is the classic idiot trope that would make me so annoyed at him but with him im just smiling the entire time. His speaking intonation is very fun to listen to and some of it stuck to me lol.

- Nami's very very awsome. I cant wait to learn more about her deal/backstory but so far the way her actress portrays her emotions is soooo good and you can like see her conflicting emotions at some points and stuff. Her smile is one of the most beautiful things I have seen like ever.

- I actually dont have much to say about Zoro yet. The episode Im on now seems to have some of his backstory so im excited for that!!!

- Uspop became a very quick fave of mine. I love him sooooo much. Same thing that I really like with how you can see Nami's emotions is with him. I got invested really quickly in his and kaya's characters and story. And also he and kaya's crushes on eachother are adorable.

- my god this show is so aspec

- I love the clothing and like set design I guess? Its colourful and lively and cartoony yet also alive!!! It has the colour and the aestehtic and the haircoolours that of animation but also the textures of real life! Its not necciserally realistic but very fitting for the tone!!! I wish this is how real life looked like tbh it just seems so fun

[atherix]

OHHOHO *cracks knuckles* time to invoke brainrot 😌

Why choose? Why force yourself to come between these wonderful ideas. You can think of both! Brainrot both! Let them flourish. Whats stopping you really :] aside from countless other projects but thats besides the point

Nothing like the need to prove yourself, and show everyone you're more then the shadows cast by your predecessors huh :D But can you imagine the absolute dismissal of talent he gets here? No one believes he's earned his role, no one gives him the benefit of the doubt. Rumors and grudges held in higher regard then scar himself <3 *looks at scars self worth issues in your other aus* im sure that works out great :D

And hey, im gonna have to vote for the biggest critic and 'give him a chance' if only for drama and character development, because im a sucker for these messy gays <33

When i tell you i speed-ran this ohmygod

-🍂

Ah my beautiful 🍂 anon, being absolutely none of my self control ❤️

Don't tempt me I will make as many AUs as my brain can handle 👀

But yes. The struggle. The self worth issues. The desire to prove he's more than his father's son 👀 also if he's new to the movie scene. Probably some folks would feel pretty bitter about being passed up 👀

Add a little more angst to the mix, little Scar used to love watching the movies from the Hotguy franchise. His father maybe wasn't home a lot, and maybe he was pretty distant with Scar. So maybe Scar liked to watch the movies his father was in, because Hotguy was everything his father really wasn't. Hotguy was the kind of dad to his movie children that Scar's father never was to him, and Scar looked at Hotguy and liked to think, "that's my dad." Because Hotguy was the ideal father on screen that Scar always wanted but never had, because his father was always too busy for him.

And these movies have shaped Scar to be the man he is today; kind and optimistic, giving and the best father figure any child could ever want or need. Gentle but protective when necessary, willing to step in when someone needs help. Of course he knows Hotguy wasn't real, but by god was Hotguy so important to him.

So when he found out they were making a reboot, with a new story and new characters to better reflect the modern age (for example, Hotguy in the 80s worked alone, but now Cuteguy has been added in as both a sidekick and sort of love interest for Hotguy) he decided to try out for the part. He was already a small-time actor, having been in commercials and web series, and he's a very good shot with a bow. And the casting directors? Well, how could they not absolutely fall for the charms and talents of this man who is not only a good actor and skilled with a bow, but also lives his entire life by the values the original Hotguy portrayed; honesty, loyalty, kindness, helpful and loving?

Honestly, the fact that he looks like the original actor is a bonus.

But no one else on the set knows this. All they know is so-and-so got passed up for this guy who's never been on a movie set before. All they know is Scar has the same last name as the original actor. All they see is a legacy casting.

And oh man, Grian? Grian is cast as the new role of Cuteguy (sorry I refuse to call him Cuteboy lmao) and he is not happy to act alongside Scar, who he thinks definitely shouldn't have gotten the lead role. (Grian auditioned for Cuteguy but definitely thinks someone else should have gotten Hotguy)

Mumbo (who plays a scientist who gets kidnapped by the bad guys, played by Doc and Ren), on the other hand, has seen the webseries Scar was in and knows Scar is a good actor. While he definitely thinks Scar's father had something to do with it, he's much more willing to give the guy a chance to prove himself than Grian is.

Just. Mmmmm so many thoughts.

I love some good drama and angst and character development and an "Oh shit I was wrong" moment mmmm <3

[softestofangel]

your top 10 9 favourite shows can say a lot about your personality.

tagged by @foxhenri thank you ♡

tagging: @joanna-lannister @und0miels @nataliamaximoff @bennsolos @misswitchh @moth-cozy @rorygilmoore @laurensgraham @miseryblossom @vienrosa @spacesquidink

[mejomonster]

Checking out Thai Cherry Magic

1. Got absolute whiplash seeing Square Enix in the opening credits immediatley before Tay and New about to kiss. (This says a lot about me and feelings on square enix and queerness, i think in actuality they just published the original cherry magic manga so thats why their logo was there)

2. Opening had a distinct thai bl romcom feel, which i think is a good thing. Theyre doing an adaptation, so it should feel adapted (im not being clear ToT apologies). What i mean is like, they wanted to tell the story Again. So its cool theyve decided to make this version unique in some ways. Like... New's characters house is distinctly different from what Adachis was, he talks about his own birthday tradition different from Adachis, and. Im not sure how to describe this but like... on first impression this feels like its going to be more realisric than the japanese drama.

But thats not exactly the right point. Like? The thing about the japanese drama: it WAS realistic when it came to: portraying anxiety and self critique (painfully realistic to adult experience), it was realistic when it came to illusions of our assumptions of people versus the reality, and it was realistic when it came to the positive outcomes we can experience through trying to connect and befriend people (like adachi got closer to workplace and other friends from the mindreading allowing him to risk it). So cherry magic japakese drama very much was realistic in some key ways that mattered. If this thai drama adaptation does good, then it will likely also feel realistic in those ways.

I mean more like... the japanese drama had a bit of a polished nature visually, fairly typical of japanese romcoms (see Kieta Hatsukoi for an example, versus My Beautiful Man who leaned away from that kind of polish and felt more Regular life - for a show anyway). Like Adachi is a mess, but he looks like a polished actor (and kurosawa Really Did). While this Thai drama looks polished too... it is slightly less so, more grounded looking. By this I mean like... think of Theory of Love, it had film lighting everything was beautiful all the time. (Or Bad Buddy which at least at the college was very bright colors/romcom polish). New's opening in Cherry Magic looks more like Dangerous Romance, or He's Coming to Me. Its still bright visually, that kind of cheerful lighting and welcoming colorfulness of thai romcoms. But his house has peeling paint, he rides a regular normal looking boat, he walks down a crowded sidewalk. It looks like real life as one can imagine (Bad Buddy looks more polished than real life, especially at the school, as does Theory of Love in contrast... and Cherry Magic japan is also that kind of standard romcom polish). I dont know. Maybe the thai version will look more artificial-polish later. But i hope it sticks to this as it currently is. Because its giving it a more Grounded romcom feeling, which i personally like.

3. At least News opening, he feels hes playing This new character. I expect similiarities to the jdrama adachi but not a one to one matchup. Since it is a bit different of a portrayal, im really excited. Because this story might feel new in some ways and that'll be interesting to see!

[boleynns]

bundle of anon ask replies

ask #1: i firmly believe that otto had daemon followed or was spying on daemon through myaria who is now working as the mistress of whispers which is why she paid the young boy who snitched to otto, consequently through pure coincidence he saw rhaenyra and daemon almost doing it but daemon had no say in it…i mean otto was rlly dreading saying the news to vaserys, and cmon do u rlly think daemon targeryan king of the narrow sea would geniunly work with otto in any way shape or form, no yall

Definitely agree, ain't no way in hell Daemon would work with Otto. I do think he meant, whether pre-meditated or on a whim in the moment, for them to be seen and identified in the brothel, but don't think his "plan" went any further than "maybe someone will say something to someone".

ask #2: can i say im mad annoyed about that after show segment on ep 4? i truly believe that without that the drama around this episode would’ve been way less lol

Yeah, I think the Inside the Episode stuff definitely fanned the flames unnecessarily, but I will say that it seems clear that they are still very much trying to keep the locals thinking that Daemon is still a threat to Rhaenyra -- and if they had just said "Daemon is super into Rhaenyra, and feelings are scary, and despite his best efforts he cares too much about her to follow through" that really would be telling the audience exactly which direction his character is going to go.

ask #3: I don't have the link for leaks so what episode is the sex scene supposed to be in? 😩

I think Episode 7, from the leaks I have!

ask #4: can i be insufferable about house of dragon for a min can i also like a min? to be honest….There’s some things from the behind the scenes that the directors said that actually kinda made me rlly nerveous cause i don’t want them to paint daemon as this devil horrible man who intends to corrupt daenyra all for the throne?? we’ve seen tahts not true it’s not who he is so why r they painting him in this light?😭😭 like how one of them said in the after scenes “he wants to get back at his brother so rhaenyra becomes the apple of his eye” Bro or how they said portraying rhaenyra as not the perpetrator and this as abuse was rlly important??😭😭 MF ABUSE??? WDYM and these are straight quotes from them i do see some light at the end of the tunnel when he said that “daemon is using rhaenyra as a way to get at her father…his impotence in this scene is a reflection of the fact that he thinks what he is doing isn’t right” this could mean that initially he was doing it to get back at her father but he realized that wasn’t right due to his feelings for her you can still use someone u love to your advantage, i’m not gonna be delusional and say daemon already loves her tbh.. but i do think he is incredibly drawn to her so much so that he doesn’t understand it himself they’re also incredibly beautiful parallels between the two like rhaenyra walking alongside daemon in the beginning of the episode while while he went to face with vaserys was actually chefs kiss it was beautiful it was cinema

I kind of addressed this above, but I am just not worried about this within the story itself. They want to keep general audiences thinking that Daemon might be a threat to Rhaenyra, but once we get to the Inside the Episodes post-time jump they will also absolutely be able to point to like countless moments to say that, in retrospect, Daemon has always treated Rhaenyra very differently than everyone else and his feelings for her always trumped any power grab. So ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[drivingsideways]

Hey talk to me about your top three favourite kdrama women. What makes them special? What's a fic you would like to write about any one of them?

Mystery anon! :D What a lovely ask. 

I’m going to cheat a bit and divide my answer into characters I loved a lot, but do not want to write fic about, because I think the canon gives me what I need; and characters that I loved a lot but NEED TO BE RESCUED ZOMG.  (My fic writing impulses are 50% spite and 50% fix-it )

Caveat being that I’ve still watched only maybe a dozen kdramas, so I’m pretty limited in my knowledge!

Characters that I love a lot, but have very zero fic impulses toward:

Han Yeo-jin from Stranger/Secret Forest: What a delight! What an iconique character! Is there anyone like her? NO. LSY-nim gives us a delightfully complex character, and Bae Doona knocks it out of the park in every single scene, so I’m just happy to be along for the ride. I think what makes Yeo-jin special for me is the intrinsic place of empathy that she operates from.  I think “righteous” is a word that often comes with negative connotations (self-righteous, for eg), but I do think she’s one of the most righteous-in-the-good-way characters I’ve watched in kdrama or any drama. I’m tired of stories that portray goodness as “boring” , as unworthy of narrative breadth or depth, and I love that Han Yeo-jin comes to us like a breath of fresh air in our particular dystopian narratives hellscape. She’s good, but never naive. She’s righteous but never cruel in her moral certainties.  I think that LSY nim, in the second season especially, gave Yeo-jin the kind of arc that character deserved when she’s forced to really dig deep into herself to figure out how she’s going to live in the world in the face of a deeply cutting, deeply personal disillusionment, and I’m really hoping for an S3 to see how that plays out further. 

Goo Hae-ryung from Rookie Historian: Ok, I will admit this may be rose tinted glasses view due to this show being my gateway drug into kdrama, but c’mon! She’s a reader! and a Thinker! And loves her wine! She’s plucky! She’s cute! She’s got a wry sense of humour! She’s got principles! She’s got a solid common sense to her that somehow doesn’t get in the way of her dreaming BIG! Oh dear, doesn’t she sound like the Mary-est of Mary Sues? Good for her.gif,  I say! Anyways, Shin Se-kyung is unutterably charming in this (AS IN EVERY SHOW OMG GIRL) and I just have a huge fondness for free-spirited heroines who get to tramp through the narrative changing the world as they do! 

Lee Ji-an from My Ahjussi: I’ve never had my heart broken more OR restored by any single character. IU is *phenomenal * in this, I think she really stepped up to what the script demanded from her. Ji-an’s weariness, her fear and vulnerability, her prickliness, her anger and her bitterness, and how, despite everything, she fights : GOD. Just. Again, what I love about the writing in this show is that it’s deeply empathetic without being cloyingly sentimental. I think a less, hmm, imaginative writer/PD might have focused on the Lee Ji-an the victim, and while the show definitely tells you in no uncertain terms that she is one,  of both circumstances and a cruel society, I think it refuses to take away her agency over her own life.(Lee Ji-an when we meet her is too busy hanging onto life by tooth and claw to indulge in self-pity, but we also see the toll it takes on her not to be able to say “this is too heavy a burden for me to carry myself and it isn’t my fault”; the show I think approaches Dong-hoon from the opposite side- his emotional isolation is partly a result of his own choices, but he doesn’t see it yet, and so his journey is also about letting people in and sharing the burden, but also recovering his own agency over his life. It’s an interestingly gender-bent arc, which is one of the things I love about this show. )

Ok, can I please add one more?

Hwang Han-joo from Melo is my Nature: She just felt SO real to me. She’s someone who doesn’t have the spectacular brilliance of either Jin-joo or Eun-jung, and struggles with accepting her limitations but not allowing herself to be defeated by them? I love her struggles as a mother, as a working woman in a sexist industry, a woman who’s perhaps having to rethink and reimagine what she wants from romance. I love that she’s a little silly, a lot kind, and an optimist, and just. I just think she’s the bravest of the three, tbh, and I LOVE HER AND I WOULD WATCH A SPIN OFF ABOUT JUST HER (i shouldn’t have faves among the three i know, BUT I DO, IT’S HER, IT’S HER.)

Ok! On to the next section! And I’m going to cheat again because I can’t stop at three. SORRY. NOT SORRY. 

Characters I love and SHOULD write fic for if I weren’t such a tired and lazy bunny:  

Song Sa-hui from Rookie Historian: Oh, girl, girl, GIRL. I love how she fights to snatch her freedom from the jaws of the patriarchy. I love that she unapologetically centers herself while doing that, because she knows that nobody else will.  I love that she’s prickly and calculating. I love that she’s smart and knowledgeable. I am SO HAPPY that she got to carve out a little bit of freedom for herself, even if it also is exile to some degree. She *should * be Emperor Jin’s Prime Minister and steering the ship of state, while also carrying on a tumultous affair with Queen Min Woo-hee, while ALSO commiserating with Emperor Jin about his boyfriend Historian Min Woo-won’s regrettable tendency towards Principles (TM) and masochism-but-not-in-the-fun-way. (This takes up much of his time which is why Song Sa-hui is running the country, of course. It works out well for all concerned, well, except her dad, of course.)

Song Ga-gyeong from Search:WWW: What’s NOT to love about our brilliant, beautiful, emotionally tortured gay icon? Nothing, absolutely nothing. I loved how the show allowed her to be flawed and make bad decisions, and then allowed her to make better decisions and regain control of her life. What I do need to do, of course, is see the CANON LOVE STORY between her and Cha Hyeon through to the end. It must, of course, include at least one baseball game, a lot of tequila and messy beach kisses. 

Oh Ji-hwa from Beyond Evil: Oh boy, this year’s runaway hit cleared the extremely low bar for standard crime/ thriller shows by leaving more than one of its female characters breathing and with all limbs intact, and got called feminist for it BUT it didn’t do justice to any of them in any meaningful way and that never hurt more than in the way they sidelined Kim Shin-rok’s talent by not giving Oh Ji-hwa anything much to do. She’s a tough as nails cop, a loving sister, a devoted but unsentimental friend-and by rights SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE HEROINE OF THIS SHOW. My secret fic fantasy is to rewrite the show entirely by making her , and the two other female characters in non-antagonist roles- Yoo Jae-yi and Im Sun-nyeo- as the central characters, as they investigate a serial killer who targets women.  It’s the only acceptable version of this done-to-death (ha!) genre, I have no idea what the Baeksang jury and tumblr fandom is smoking when they hype the show so much, I want none of it. 

Jung Sun-ah from The Devil Judge: I love her rage, her spite, her passionate defense of women, her style, her sexiness, her rage, her rage, her brilliance, her tenaciousness, her smartness, her clothes, her refusal to hate herself for everything she is and chooses to be, her ambition, her comfort wielding power, her EVERYTHING. Dead, her? NOT IF I HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT. Here’s what *really * happened at the end of canon- she gets out of the building by planting that lady-like but still deadly gun against Kang Yo-han’s temple and making him lead her through his own “secret escape route” or whatever the fuck it was the show wanted us to believe. From there on out, it’s all sunshine and beaches, and scheming and waiting for the right moment to strike again-though of course, this time around, she also has to reckon with vigilant, tenacious cop Soo-hyun -another character who REALLY didn’t die for manpain reasons and had the good sense to leave her gay best friend to follow his psychopath boyfriend to Switzerland or wherever it is that star crossed lovers in kdrama land meet up on the regs these days- anyways, Soo-hyun and her are in this catch-me-if-you-can epic transnational honest and cute cop-and-beautiful sexy villain chase and yes, they WILL kiss (and more) AND IT WILL BE GLORIOUS. 

*whew *

Thanks for coming to my TEDTalk.

[spiritclusters]

Fic Review-1

This is going to be an ongoing series where I read, review, and generally fan about SPN fics that I've read. Because it's one of the deepest desires of my soul to discuss fics in detail with people, and fan and generally just be a nerd, like you would with a original story Unfortunally, I really, really want to do this with the authors, but I'm shy and reclusive, and don't feel comfortable doing so. So instead, I'm going to make a giant tumblr post to describe how much I love their work.

So, no crit in these reviews, just love

*If you have a recommendation for a SPN fic (gen, preferably), your own or someone else's that you want me to read and "review", please leave and ask or DM me. (<20k for now).

Today's victim: Karma's Gonna Come Collect Your Debt

Set: S13

Parings: gen

Length: 35k

Main character: Written to be Sam, but I would also argue Dean.

Summary:

Sam is dead. Dean isn’t processing.

And then Sam is not dead, Lucifer is there, and they’re suddenly on a deadline- thirty one hours before their single way home literally ceases to exist. Jack needs to be kept away from Lucifer, Sam needs to be kept away from Lucifer, they need to get thirty three people through a rift miles away, and that’s not even mentioning the fucking war currently being waged all over this- literally -godforsaken planet.

But Sam is alive, (alive, alive, Dean’s brother is alive), albeit having one continuous panic attack. This is fine.

(It is so, so not.)

(EVERYTHING BELOW THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS!)

Reasons You Should Read This:

You know those writers that actually manage to take trauma into account, while pushing forward the story and not allowing this to get buried? this is one of those.

Sam and Lucifer content is just. mm. It's horrible, and it's treated like it's horrible.

Dean's anxiety is actually shown

Dean is traumatized by what happened to Sam by the vampires. his brother's throat gets ripped open, and Dean isn't like "oh, we're okay" after Sam walks up alive again, he spends the entire fic stressed about it

The pacing is lovely, no detail is spared

Lucifer shows up at the camp and no one goes "he's in chains, ergo, he's no longer a problem." He is the Devil, and he is treated as the untrustworthy, snake-like creature he is.

Cas isn't powerless, and he's not stupid.

Mary isn't amazing, but she actually tries to have some form of a bond. Sort of.

LUCIFER TORTURING SAM FOR 180+ YEARS IS NOT IGNORED!

Gabriel isn't useless or just there to please fans, he actually does something

The Cage is talked about.

Jack learns about the Cage

Upon learning about the Cage, Jack decides he doesn't want to talk to Lucifer anymore.

Dean is not ignorant to what Lucifer's presence is doing to Sam, or what it has done to Sam in the past. The fic implies that while Sam probably doesn't talk about it to Dean (Because PTSD and it makes sense), Sam isn't unaffected by what happened to him.

Dean is overly paranoid about anywhere he goes, trying to make sure that it's safe. (Such a small detail, but it always, always pleases me to read it)

Dean and Sam actually have a bond, and it's so very present and so very, very enjoyable.

Sam kills Lucifer

No Michael possession!

Protective!Dean

Sam speaks Enochian, which always gets a win for me.

++My Analysis of the fic:

Writing style and why it works:

The writing is very authentic to how I think Dean's brain works. It's anxiety riddled, fast with worry, and clearly shows the depth of how much hunting has affected him. Dean's brain isn't...smooth is the only word I can think of for this, it's not point A to B like other characters are and that makes sense. The writing focuses deeply on reactions, the way words are spoken, and physical sensations. Especially for Dean, there's little to 0 regard on how he's feeling. Which is something I totally see Dean doing.

But the reason that this frantic, almost skittering writing works is because this is a situation that you'd be thinking like that. Lines cut out because Dean, trauma riddled, doesn't want to think about something. There's jumping and processing and "well, crap" moments. My favorite thing about this author's writing style? they are very much into show not tell, which allows the readers to draw their own conclusions, but also makes it a much more enjoyable experience.

The focus on time, especially given these circumstances, was a beautiful detail to add. It kept a sense of pressure on the writing, because everyone knows that we are on a time limit.

There's also a deep sense of secrecy between Sam, Dean and Cas and the others in the story. They have and share information between the three of them that no one else has, and that makes sense because they have been working together for years.

But because, Sam and Dean especially, they are aware of each other, the characters don't feel like strangers. They know each other, and have been living with each other for a long, long time, and you can clearly see that with how attuned they are to each other. It was beautiful.

Character portrayal:

One of my favorite things about how the characters are portrayed here is that Sam is visibly uncomfortable in Lucifer's presence. Sam was disgusted by Lucifer, and when we're told that because Sam still has residual grace left in him and he can kill Lucifer, Sam is horrified. Sam is allowed to be as trauma riddled as someone who went through that would be. It's beautiful.

I also really appreciate how Dean is allowed to be freaked out about Sam literally getting his throat ripped out. Dean is allowed to not be this perfect fearless older brother. Dean is human here. He's a person with struggles who is concerned about Sam and others, but Dean still feels distinct.

I will also forever appreciate how the characters interact here. Everything is so subtle. If they're soft, it's not blatant, if they hate each other, then it's angry staring, but nothing feels explicit, and I love that.

Small details that make me go "mm.":

Dean always checking the "safety" of a room when they enter.

Mary not knowing about the Cage or John telling Dean to kill Sam

Sam's body language when he's around Lucifer

Upon 1 (one) glance at lucifer, Sam is completely aware that the chains have no effect on Lucifer and tells Dean

(pale face, frantic eyes, mouth open in an agonized scream)

Dean not knowing Maggie's name

Favorite scene and why:

This was hard, but man, the scene where Sam and Dean lay down to get some rest after Sam comes back to camp with Lucifer, and they just...don't sleep. There's something about this scene that just is so...deeply and utterly horrifying. Because Sam and Dean are supposed to be safe, right?

Sam's alive, Dean's alive, they're close to each other, neither of them are injured. They're fine.

And yet.

Yet...they're not. And you can feel that. Dean is tense and not-sleeping, and Sam is tense and not-sleeping. And there's something just so deeply haunting about that scene and I just. My love. <3

Favorite quotes:

“No,” Jack shook his head. “Why do they hate you?”

“It’s in me Dean, oh, god-” (“I’ve got demon blood in me Dean, this disease pumping through my veins-”) Dean shuts his eyes against the unwanted memory that had risen unbidden to the forefront of his mind. He firmly shoves it away.

"And now Sam was somewhere. Probably having a panic attack. Dean needed to find him."

"Sam, I know you will, I know you can, this isn’t me doubting you I swear. But, man, you don’t have to. You shouldn’t have to"

He hadn’t, not since the Cage. Maybe he couldn’t.

Because Dean will make time, damnit, because Sam shouldn’t have to f--ing schedule his panic attacks-

Dean can’t see it, but he knows his brother well enough to read the tightness in his shoulders and shifts in his elbows under the jacket that tell him Sam’s pressing into his palm scar again.

Because Sam never got angry anymore... not since the Cage.

“Heyyyyy Cassie! You’re back! Thank Dad.” Dean turned to see Gabriel trotting up to them, a scowling Lucifer in tow. “Take im’, please, he’s all yours.” He said, motioning to the Devil behind him."

Over all, I think that the story is beautiful. please be sure to leave a kudos and a comment if you read, because this author is dear to my heart and deserves them.

link once more

Author tag or link: @widowronin, Огромное спасибо! :D

[starryfreckles]

Flavie and Ayumi Live (26 mai 2020 on YouTube francetv slash) 

Translation/Summary -

(I apologise in advance for the typos. i didnt really read this over tbh)

Interviewer: Where are you at the moment?

Flav: I’m at home, in my room

Ayumi: I’m at my country house in my room. [Her friend joined her there when deconfinement happen and now they’re living their best life. There’s sun and everything is good]

Flav is chilling “la vida loca” she says

Is it not too frustrating to live this 6th season in confinement and SKAM France has a reputation of having very involved fans and with the screenings?

A: Yes, its very frustrating but then again it’s something that I haven’t really lived the projections with the fans so I dont know what it does. But just the feedback of social media is incredible. Its a good preview at what can happen in a live screening.

F: Yea I agree. It is frustrating but seeing everyone on social media is kind of reassuring and comforting and like Ayumi said, we dont know that [the screenings] so its not that frustrating.

what kind of reactions have you guys had on social media?

[flav and ayumi arguing who goes first. Its the cutest thing ever. Flav always wants ayumi to go first]

A: Just love and positivity. On my end is really incredible. I thank everyone. It’s really just incredible.

F: Its so wonderful. At night, I really try to read all the dms on instagram and even if I cant respond to everyone, know that I read everything and I translate everything that isn’t in French. If I  were to reply to everyone, it would take a long time so that’s not possible. I dont speak all the languages of the world so I copy and paste is translate to understand.

-video cuts out-

I: we were talking about fan reactions so let’s continue. Have you gotten any that made you surprised, laugh, smile, made you emotional, etc?

A: what is beautiful is that ive gotten many messages from girls and boys who said that they had similar a similar relationship to Lola and Maya in the sense that one helps the other more because of addiction problems. And that’s always nice to hear that they just wanted to thank skam for writing and portraying this kind of story. And of course the reaction of la mif. It’s true the character Jo has been loved by fans. She is so funny and so great and she’s [actress who plays jo, louise] really like that in real life. Like literally from A to Z

Flav agrees.

A: “Louise just played Louise” and it’s just so funny. And everyone online says they want to be friends with jo becuase she made this joke pr did that but she’s really like that.

F: she’s always joking

A: and she just comes up with stuff on the spot

I: we really just can’t wait to see La Mif reunite and see how they are in real life because they are just awesome on screen.

Flav and ayumi agree

I: Maya’s arrival to the season that was a little intense, let’s not lie, is like a ray of light. What does that do to you for having that role of the character who brings light and wonder? (This is kinda hard to translate)

A: its incredible to bring that kind of message, like you said, this light. She is totally this kind of girl that I would love to be friend with. It’s hard to explain. It’s just so beautiful. Maybe flav has something to say.

F: it’s true that you and La Mif brought a light for everyone. Even me when I see my family and close ones they say that they are so funny and new and that they felt my pain [as lola] even if its a show and its feels weird to see you like that because you’re close to us but seeing them [lola + la mif] is a good mix. And ayumi you bring so much like when your face lights up when Lola comes up the stairs its incredible.

A: its a chemical reaction. Its incredible. But flav I saw you on screen and everything that you brought, what David saw. And we lived it but for us it seems natural and on screen and rediscovered the characters and the chemistry at the same time as everyone else.

Flav and Ayumi saying that they havent seen the whole thing before hand and are constantly check their phone for new clips. They have the notifications for the YouTube channel.

F: we at least have the hours for the clips AT LEASTT and thankfully

A: which flav sent me because I didnt have them and she left me panicked for 2 weeks and then she finally sent them over.

F: its great. They’re on my fridge and I cross off each day with my parents and we are one it. My dad everyday is like there’s a clip. So funny.

I: Just so we’re on the same page, there’s a clip today right?

I: [fan question] what do you love the most and the least in the character you play?

A: flav please start

F: I love her “who the fuck are you talking to me like that” and her fuck you attitude. I love that she shows off that nothing moves her but deep down not really, like everyone I guess. I love that about her and she’s so natural. I love her, I really love her. Something negative. That’s hard.

I: you are a very happy, bubbly person. Is there not her depressed, dark side that bothers you?

F: well lola is just full of emotions where we’re going to see everything. But really what I dont like is her fashion sense.

A: im dead. But I was going to say the same thing

F: maya’s fashion sense? You are crazy. And also girl it’s your clothes they used as costumes

A: no no but people have made edits with you know the big pink coat or my outfit at the supermarket and its there that I realised how ridiculous even if they not really.

F: well I think theyre great. Love the pink coat

A: ill send it to you with fedex. I dont have it but ill send it to you.

F: when we were doing costume fittings I told the costume designer that it was simple and that I would be stealing all of these looks. Im going to take a suitcase, im going to take ayumi’s clothes, put them in my suitcase and go back to Vance with them. And I took nothing from lola by the way. She just doesn’t have a style. She doesn’t neglect herself but its her I dont care attitude, again.

A; I love maya’s engagement and her will towards everything and everyone. Shes a teenager but that’s beautiful to be engaged in many causes. She just really wants everyone, her friends, to be well and happy. But otherwise things I dont like outside of her clothes I dont know. Clothes is like the best answer

F: you forgot about her makeup. The makeup artist did her eyeliner and dots under the eyes and I was there like do the same thing with me!

A: that is really the best thing in all of humanity. It was so cool.

F: honestly. The makeup artist gave everything on you but on me she went in the morning like poof poof ‘well that’s it honey, there’s nothing else I can do for you’

A: you forgot the drama hair!

F: oh my god. She would pour oils and everything you want on my head. “You could like cook French fries”

A: flavie says that but you know she can wear whatever she wants and still look good

F: awe I love you

I: Did the age difference between you hinder your ability to be friends?

A: no not at all. What do you think flav?

F: not at all. Im just the baby of the group, im the youngest but we all so dumb together that we don’t realise

A: exactly. We all act like we’re 7

F: all of us together is horrible. The whole mif. Intolerable.

I: how was youre guy’s first meet?

F: ok let me tell you from my point of view because its quite funny.

A: she was so annoying. She looked at me all weird. she was not cool No that’s not true at all. She was adorable. Trop cute

F: I arrive to the production offices and im with David signing contracts and he says don’t move I have a surprise. And im like oh no what has he brought me a croissant or something and he brings back ayumi. So we start talking for like 10 minutes and I did not who she was actually. And I was like who tf is this. I did not know. And im one point im like so she’s the one who plays Maya? It was so funny. It was cool. And then he brought Maxence

A: from my point of view, flavie was so shy and locked off. And I knew who she was and I was honoured and thrill. She was so small and closed off. But honestly NOT AT ALL. i quickly understood the next day that flavie is a bomb! You understand ?

F: at first maybe you were like “I just want to protect this little thing.”

I: so what was the first scene that you guys filmed together?

Ayumi makes it clear that it’s a scene that hasn’t been released yet. And Flavie can’t remember what it is.

A: flav, you are putting our whole relationship in question!

F: I just dont know!

A: ok but the second scene we did together was the scene of Saturday morning after the first urban party

F: OHHH you right! I remember now!

I: but that’s a great scene that fans loved because of the chemistry and people loved it. How did you create that complexity? Was it the writing or did you try to meet up on your own?

F: honestly, not that much because the problem is that I live in Vance. We really tried to see each other but trains made it difficult to see each other just us two, but it still worked somehow. We worked a lot with David but not so much just us too and yet we still manage to create something really strong and powerful.

A: in between scenes we also just talked all the freaking time. And by the time David said action, it was like we just finishing our conversation in the scene.

F: every morning we were always happy to see each other and we didn’t see each other that much but that honestly wasn’t a problem at all.

I: in the YouTube comments, everyone is slightly making fun of flavie for living so “far”

A: [also starts making fun of flavie] oh yea yea basically 45 minutes.

F: BY TRAIN! By car its like 2 hours and a half, so sorry.

A: you don’t even have a driver license! So you have to take the train!

F: alright I almost have my drivers license! Soon supposedly! And don’t worry ill come pick you up in my ride!

Ayumi makes more fun of Flavie for her hours of driving and her basically driving illegally (in France you can only drive at 18 and flav is 17)

I: what was the most difficult scene to film for you?

F: well im not gonna answer. I can’t answer

A: honestly I dont have any. Oh wait yes yes yes! I just remembered. Flav you do know! It’s the scene where I tell you that ive missed you.

F: oh right! You were sick right!

A: yea I had shrimp for lunch. Bad shrimp and in the scene im in process of dying. I have never been in more pain and discomfort.

F: and I was like why is she angry at me? What did I do?

A: and flav is like are you okay and thank god you were there flav because she was telling me breathe and take it slow. It was the difficult

F: for me the most difficult that we’ve seen is was hard because of weather conditions. It was so cold on the whole set but it was the one where we were around the fire and jo sees eliott for the first time, the first urbex party. We were getting fire embers in our eyes so we were all crying and complaining. It was awful. Louise was actually crying so so hard.

A: it was so funny. Louise was actually crying and was joking at the same time whilst crying. We were laughing so hard.

The say that night was still a lot of fun and then they all went to Quentin’s apartment [actor who plays sekou] and the ambiance on set is better than on screen. It was a lot of fun

A: la mif always has a great time, messing around

F: David would say “FOCUS FOCUS”

I: it was mid November, and we all know skam france shooting is very intense and fast. So David was like a police officers. We cant wait to see the behind the scenes. David in the comments says thank you to all the extras who were there until 4am

F:  oh yea honestly. Thank you– just thank you

A: oh yea flav thanks for that. Its great.

I: we know there’s a clip today with a reunion. And fans are expecting a kiss. Are we getting that moment today?

(Silence)

A: listen if there is a kiss, it will happen at a perfect moment

I: there is a lot of pressure on this kiss becuase there are so many people from the LGBTQ+ community who are saying that this kind of relationship is rarely seen on screen. Do you feel the need to do good?

F: its so well written and directed that we do want to do really well. Ok your turn

A: the want to do good, of crows but its already something we want to do. We are not forcing ourselves, because its already there.

They say that its sad for the time being that they have to continue to fight for rights in the LGBTQ community and Ayumi says that with SKAM its all going to change. They always get lovely messages thanking them.

They talk about the ship name and how fans have decided that is going to be Mayla. Ayumi is happy that its Mayla. Flav wanted Loyla. Ayumi says it was their first “fight” and they weren’t agreeing. Even la mif voted on the ship. It was heavily debated.

I: Are we right to have so much faith in Mayla or are you going to break our hearts?

F: for that you’ll have to keep watching

A: well said flav

F: l’amour gange toujours

I: what is next for you two?

F: not much. Im seeing friends at a distant. Stay safe. I was starting to miss my social life. Not going out too much because I really dont want to get “this vicious/awful thing” so yea “la vida loca”

F: project wise everything is on pause but im on a good path. Crossing my fingers. If it happens it happens. Its destiny

A: its destiny. Same thing. There was a movie that stopped before quarantine and won’t start again but there are castings. Until filming starts again, we are all waiting.

I: it’s funny, everything something is said, it gets translated in the comments in five or six languages. Have you taken something from your character and have you left them something?

A: her joy to live at everything. And give her my body to just exist

F: what I took, well nothing. I gave her 7kg more. Well actually I took from her 7kg. That’s it!

I: who forgets their lines the most?

F: ME! But you too kinda. You just talk SOOO fast you start to stutter

A: I talk too fast and then I stutter and it was so cold that that doesn’t help. So in front of flavie, she really made fun of me.

F: I didnt always forget but sometimes when its really long I forgot.

[hajime-isayama-official]

i found a post i think you wrote about snk and nazism and i wanted to hear more from you if thats okay? is it definite hes a fascist nazi supporter? i dont want to believe it but. and he still made eldians the victims right? so it shows no matter what or why the marleyans should not have done what they did. and anyone with promarley views are bad guys right?

i think i just dont want to believe it can be taken in the pronazi way because this story means alot to me and i dont know what to do. but i think a both sides are wrong thing doesnt work here because of how they showed it with nazi and holocaust imagery. showing suffering people as just as bad doesnt work. but i understand bad people can come from anywhere. at the same time we support eldians for being the holocaust victims right? im confused now. im sorry for the bother. please help?

No problem, It's always good to look at your favorite stories critically, if you have the energy! That said my point of view is just one of many.

I think it's pretty evident by some things yams has said that his viewpoint is a questionable at best. For example a tweet about how korea had it best under japanese imperial rule (spoiler: they didn't) and his statement of how admirable the ww1 admiral he based pixis on was (another spoiler: he wasn't). Also the combination of German ww1/ww2 military inspiration and the norse mythology inspo are hardly coincidential imo. So I simply don't trust that dude, which might taint my pov. I think he isn't necessarily a nazi supporter in an active sense of running around yelling "Sieg heil", but imo his work is tone deaf at best in quite some regards.

I think especially now, so late in the manga it shows that the story is about getting rid of oppressive hatred, which is a great message! But the way this is done is still pretty... oof. Yes, Marley is bad, but they are not the enemy in the way the story is built. They are a plot device. Eren or by extension Ymir are the enemies (in the sense of that those who are portrayed as the people we are supposed to be rooting for are fighting against him). And that Halucigenica thing, whatever is up with that lol So we're not fighting fascism, we're fight the one who wants to fight fire with fire but who's still from "our own" (in a very interesting sense as Eren was also introduced as the protagonist).

The enemy is basically their own heritage, therefore the problem is not Marley, they are just a symptom, a byproduct if you will. We don't have any prominent characters that have promarley views that could serve as bad guys (correct me if I'm wrong) except the warriors, who are also not the bad guys at this point because they joined forces with Mikasa and friends. Plus they are also Eldian, so actual Marlean people only get very little place in the story in general.

If Ymir lifts the curse of the titans the message we get is that the way to undo oppressive hatred is to denounce your heritage. It says it was actually the Eldian's fault that they were mass murdered and the way this won't happen is if they stop being Eldian alltogether. If the plot ends and ymir doesn't lift the curse we probably get a story of unity through a common enemy which is also horrible, cause that would mean the victims need to forgive their opressors, simply for peace's sake. But that's of course speculation, cause we don't yet know what the last chapter will bring. But in regards to the eldian/Marley conflict I kinda don't see a good way to resolve it (tho i might stand corrected)

Jewish people have pointed out how they feel that the connection of jewish coded characters with the titans is pretty antisemitic. On the other hand some have also said they don't think so. As a gentile I'm not one to weight in on that, but as a German, who's been sensitized to white supremacy dog whistles I definitely see where they are coming from in pointing out antisemitic undertones of the series (see my pinned post).

I think this doesn't have to be a reason to drop the series. I also follow it through, because it's a huge part of my live and i wanna know how it ends. It does have beautiful characters and dynamics. Some parts of the story telling are greatly done. And as I said this is simply my view on it.

[caffiine]

A BRIEF PAUSE

From my regularly scheduled content. I’ve got some shit to say, y’all (forewarning for spicy language and spoilers)

I thought about making this post on my fandom subblog but this show and this relationship have been TOO important to me for the past 8 years to not give it its proper place in my life. strap in bc im not sure how long this mf is about to be.

When i started this DUMB show at age 19 tortured soul “empath” dark academia me thought sam winchester was going to be my favourite character. and don’t @ me, i love sam now in his own right (and we deserve some SAILEEN PEOPLE). but after literally less than 5 episodes i KNEW dean’s character and his arc were going to be amazing and beautiful and he immediately became my favourite brother. The nuances of his character i.e. his shell vs his true self were so evident to me even in the first couple seasons. in my humble opinion, he had the most growth of the two brothers.

They all deserve to be happy, but for whatever FUCKING reason dean has the HARDEST TIME OF ANYONE being happy in this show. I know it’s his character. I know it was written that way. But FFS.  I kept wondering when they were going to wrap up his emotional arc and stop torturing the poor dude.

then in season 4 they introduced castiel and 1) I thought the new concept of angels as assholes was super cool and 2) I hardcore SIMPED over misha collins (still do). I watched benignly as cas and dean began to form this relationship that seemed pretty special. I started watching the show when it was in its eighth season and I binged the shit out of it for two weeks until I was caught up. By the time I was caught up I was CERTAIN there were some feelings between them and I LOVED it. I am bisexual and I was ECSTATIC for a potential queer relationship between two masculine-portrayed dudes. I went on tumblr to express my newfound theory, only to find out that this was a real THING. “Destiel” was already an idea that had absolutely and intensely BLOSSOMED in the fandom  for several seasons already. So many others saw what I saw and saw the potential of emotionally tortured/constipated “daddy’s blunt instrument” dean and the unfeeling daddy’s boy cas “crack in his chassis” Winchester being allowed to be happy together. I felt validated and hopeful. For a while.

Then it was season after season of hopefulness for them to be finally happy with each other while still fighting the ills of their world with sam and the other new members of their family that were added along the way, only to constantly have that hope seemingly teased away at the end every single time. By season 11 and the introduction of amara (not bashing, eventually loved her character and her development too) I gave up. I lost hope. I stopped watching the show. I didn’t want to keep watching my two favourite characters continuously abused by the story they were thrown into.

I know not everyone likes destiel, not everyone thought it was real. That’s chill, idc. Stories are so often meant to be (and sometimes inadvertently) left up to interpretation by the person experiencing and consuming them. It’s what’s so amazing about books and shows and movies that are able to make us feel so intensely about them and their characters. And I felt SO strongly about dean and cas. It was honestly really upsetting to me, the way the show was going with their relationship.

A while later season 13 had been going on and I started seeing some things pop up on my dash. Hopeful things. I did a bit of research and accidentally saw THE SCENE from season 12 and I couldn’t help myself. I restarted it. I watched the whole thing from the beginning again AND introduced it to my boyfriend I think partially as a way to ensure I wasn’t imagining shit (it took him awhile and a lot of me internally screaming during many scenes but by season 9 he was like “uh are they in gay love”). Fast forward to me finally catching up as season 14 was starting. I was still hopeful, somehow. And it happened AGAIN. Season 14 and the beginnings of 15 made me so sad. I HATED what they did with their relationship. I HATED the way it ended. I HATED the way dean treated cas and everyone around him. It felt like the show was taking his whole character arc back to day 1. I didn’t understand. I kept watching for a couple episodes after the big argument and cas left but the luster was gone and eventually I just stopped.

I love this show. It has meant so much to me as a story. So many of the characters are/were very dear to me. I know it’s a running joke with this show about character deaths and homophobia but the strength of the bond I felt was between cas and dean gave me a lot of hope. But it wasn’t enough. I felt betrayed one too many times. And for those of you who kept watching, for whatever reason, I don’t hold it against you. It’s still a beautiful and interesting story without cas and dean’s relationship. But I just personally couldn’t do it anymore.

I hadn’t planned on watching the rest of season 15 when it came back after pandemic hiatus, at least not for awhile. So imagine my FUCKING surprise when I was doom scrolling through twitter during election week on Thursday and I see supernatural trending right along with election shit.

What.

I couldn’t stop myself, I looked and literally SCREAMED and made my boyfriend spill his wine all over our couch. I didn’t know exactly what happened as I hadn’t seen the episode but APPARENTLY all my emotions and feelings had been at least partially vindicated. So I BOUGHT season 15 so I could finish watching where I had left off. I watched 8 episodes in less than 24hrs (don’t judge me there’s a quarantine) and I LIKED them. And it might’ve been bc I knew what was about to happen in 15 x18 but I really felt like the show was getting STRONGER as it neared its finish.

I was so excited for 15x19. I read so many posts from fellow fans, destiel and antis alike. There really weren’t a lot of bad emotions running around. Everyone seemed hopeful and excited like me.

I probably don’t need to go over 15x19 emotions but im going to anyway. I was disappointed. I was confused. I was angry. we are in season 15. The last season ever for this show that has had a HUGE following of fans who have loved it, sometimes unconditionally, sometimes even though it wasn’t the best (and sometimes less than good). A season and show that had just announced YES. CAS LOVES DEAN. ITS REAL. And I shouldn’t have to go over the nuances of why we would expect more after this, with two episodes to go before the show is done forever.

But I will bc im mad af.

Like I said in the beginning. Dean’s character arc has been incredible. His emotional growth – as subtle as it might’ve seemed – has been amazing. And dean has always been an emotional, loving person. he just felt like he wasn’t because the world made him feel that way. And that’s sad, y’all. Dean deserves to realize he DESERVES happiness. And in 15x18, we were finally heading basically directly there. With destiel, yes, but even if you’re anti, what cas said to dean about who he is and why he loves him obviously struck a fucking chord with dean. It obviously changed the way he viewed himself (RE: “that’s not who I am, that’s not who we are”).

But for WHATEVER reason that’s ALL we got in 15x19. One fucking SENTENCE about dean realizing maybe he’s not just built to kill people. And then jack leaves without a single mention of Eileen or cas or Charlie or literally anyone they ever cared about and dean rode off into the sunset alone with his brother while we watched a fucking FIVE MINUTE MONTAGE that made me want to hurl my own body into the sun they were driving toward. And cas is STILL DEAD.

BUT THERE’S STILL ONE EPISODE LEFT AND FUCK ME IF I HAVENT BEEN PAINTING ON MY CLOWN MAKEUP ALL WEEK. SO WHAT DO I WANT????

ONE: DEAN DESERVES HAPPINESS. REAL HAPPINESS. What the FUCK supernatural??? Wasn’t this the whole point of his arc??? And don’t get me wrong I REALLY want that happiness to come from Cas and a real spoken relationship of some sort between them bc it also ties in with my second point but tbh just PLEASE let dean be happy. Dean is a loving person and does everything for love as we JUST FOUND OUT. Dean would NOT be happy with everyone he’s ever loved gone for the rest of his life. I just don’t believe that’s fucking true. h elp him pls.

TWO: CAS DESERVES HAPPINESS. I know we got this whole speech about “happiness isn’t in the having it’s simply in being”  but like. Really. Castiel was supposed to be a throwaway character no one was supposed to care about. But we all cared SO MUCH that he lasted 11 SEASONS longer than intended and became a main character and an integral part of the story. Cas has arguably sacrificed more than anyone on this show. His last act was to sacrifice his life to save the man he loved. He knew where he was going. He knew he was finally going to be able to tell dean he loved him and then immediately be taken by the empty where we know now thanks to season 15 that everyone in there just gets to dream forever about their regrets and sadness. HOW IS THAT FAIR. HOW IS THAT A GOOD ENDING FOR CAS. HOW DO YOU EXPECT ANYONE – CHARACTERS AND FANS ALIKE –TO BE HAPPY ABOUT THAT. Its messed up, supernatural. Y’all KNOW it is and I hope to HIGH HEAVENS this is going to be corrected in 15x20.

THREE: give sam Eileen back. 

Well that’s all I’ve got in me, folks. I’m absolutely and intensely dreading Thursday. Im scared and nervous and obviously still angry that this is absolutely going to be the opposite of what they promised – another “game of thrones” ending. Some of y’all are giving me hope with your posts about maybe they’re trying to keep the ending a surprise and maybe cas is coming back and how can they not and why else would they have done the second to last episode like that and I hope yall are right.

Either way, im glad I am not alone with my feelings. Thanks yall for the experience of this fandom and show. Let’s stick together on Thursday, no matter our differences.

 PS stop calling jensen ackles a homophobe or ill hex you.