#imagine if i actually invested this much time and energy thinking about productive things

[pharawee]

Meanwhile, I'm over here spending entirely too much time thinking about the fact that sneezing is an involuntary reflex unique to the body rather than the self, so the only reason why Joe should be sneezing at that very moment in his shiny new body is because Joe the model has the same quirk in his nervous system. 🤔

[astercontrol]

Ever think about how amazing it is that we got a character like the Bit in TRON 1982?

I mean, yeah, having some cute little robot or animal side characters was, and still is, very typical of movies in that genre.

But, look at the Bit.

It's based on a computer science concept, of course: the simplest unit of data in a computer, a single 1 or 0 indicating yes or no. And it's anthropomorphized just enough to get actual computer nerds confused about what exactly it is supposed to be. Clearly you'd need lots more than one bit, to create a programmed entity that behaved the way a Bit does!

Is it the mystical energy of Programmer Spirits that animates it beyond what should be possible-- as it does for the Programs themselves, who also aren't nearly complex enough to be alive on their own? Or is a Bit something else, like an external subroutine of a program, which is called a Bit simply because of the way it communicates?

Who knows? Who cares? It's a Bit! It's adorable!

And yet… this same level of anthropomorphizing is very unusual for Disney, and for the whole genre, in a whole different way.

Though it's much more animate than one could reasonably imagine for an actual bit… the Bit is much less anthropomorphic than any creature playing any comparable role in any comparable movie I can think of.

It has no eyes, no mouth, no words except a synthesized Yes and No. It expresses itself only by shifting appearance between three faceless geometric shapes.

And yes, we love it! Yes, we adore the heck out of that sassy little thing! Yes, we will absolutely look at this object that resembles no person or animal in existence, and we will find enough cuteness to scream over!

We are the weird nerdy audience that you sucked in with the promise of a movie about computer programs being alive, and YES we are invested enough to take this ALL the way!

But I haven't seen any other movie do this, ever since.

And even the original Tron movie wasn't GOING to do it, at first.

Now, every other time I've looked at the early development of ideas in a movie, I've seen a pattern of "Less Relatable being reworked into More Relatable." Any creature design that looks "too weird," "too unfamiliar," "too alien," will evolve over the course of edits, until it satisfies the developers' expectations for being something audiences can relate to.

In other words… looking at the early concept art and the final product, I am certain any other movie I can think of would've adapted the Bit in the exact opposite direction.

Same with the MCP.

Whether it's a villain or an adorable little sidekick, the fans who became captivated by the classic Tron movie are an audience eager and ready to see life and personality in something utterly alien, something that resembles no actual life in the world we know.

And yet, I'm sure this wasn't even the goal of any of the character designers.

When you look at the early design of the Programs, you see them follow a more typical pattern, starting out more robotic, less humanoid, less "Relatable," and progressing toward recognizable humanity.

That movie, I'm pretty sure, was an exception to the rule not because of any philosophy about what would resonate with audiences... but simply because of the constraints of the medium.

The Bit and the MCP became more simple, more geometric, because that was easier to computer-animate.

Programs became more humanoid because that was easier for human actors to play.

A big, huge chunk of what made this movie relatable in a gloriously weird way, to gloriously weird audiences who may have had serious trouble relating to lots of other media, is just a serendipitous side-effect of the wild experiment that it was.

...I wish movies would take risks like that more often.

Really.

[herejusttosufferalong]

“Lukola has been on my mind since May 16. It has ruined my sleeping schedule (I'm from SEA, I wake up at 3 AM to check Twitter for updates) and I have been distracted that sometimes I can't work productively”

So, here's the deal. People get obsessed with celebrities for different reasons. Celebrities often represent qualities or lifestyles that we look up to and admire. They're talented, successful, and seem to have these amazing lives. It's only natural to become fascinated by their world.

Now, when it comes to shipping celebrities together, it's like creating a little fantasy romance in your head. It can be fun to imagine your favorite stars as a couple and it gives you a sense of excitement and escape from reality. It's like playing matchmaker with famous people.

But here's the thing. Getting too obsessed with this fantasy world can have some downsides. For example

* Unrealistic Expectations: When you ship celebrities, you're basically creating a relationship in your imagination. You start idealizing them and their potential connection, which can lead to disappointment in real life. It's important to remember that celebrities have their own lives and relationships, and they don't owe us anything.

* Losing Touch with Reality: If you spend too much time obsessing over celebrities and their relationships, it can take you away from your own life. You might start neglecting your own responsibilities and relationships, which isn't good for your overall well-being.

* Sleep and Mental Health: Losing sleep over a celebrity obsession is a sign that things might be going too far. Lack of sleep can mess with your mood, concentration, and mental health. It's important to prioritize your own well-being and get the rest you need instead of staying up all night thinking about celebrities.

* Avoiding Real Relationships: Focusing too much on a celebrity fantasy can make it hard for you to form and maintain real relationships. It's important to invest in connections with people who are actually a part of your life, rather than fixating on a celebrity who doesn't even know you exist.

So, while it's totally fine to have fun with celebrity fandom and enjoy imagining their relationships, it's important to find a healthy balance. Don't let it take over your life or interfere with your real-world connections and responsibilities. Remember, your own happiness and well-being should always come first.

Here's what you can do: First, recognize that this relationship is one-sided and not genuine. Then, set boundaries by limiting your time and energy spent on following their every move. Diversify your interests by exploring new hobbies and activities outside of the celebrity world. Focus on nurturing your real relationships and spending time with loved ones. You can still support the celebrity by following their work, attending events, or purchasing their merchandise, but do it in moderation. Be mindful of social media and limit your exposure to celebrity-related content. Lastly, focus on your own self-development and pursue your passions. Remember, finding a balance is key. By following these steps, you can break free from the parasocial relationship while still showing your support in a healthier way.

.

[dearfuturehusbandblog]

Playing The Numbers

Dear Future Husband, 

I hate money. 

I mean, obviously I don’t hate what money can get for me, I just hate dealing with it, calculating it, and, well, dealing with it. Did I mention dealing with it?

I’ve had a business idea for a while (several actually, but one in particular) and since I’ve been having some weird stuff happening at work recently, I’ve been putting more time towards the research and development of said business. 

And everything is money. 

That probably sounds stupid, because it’s a business, so of course it’s about money - net profit is the end goal, so you have to be serious about your expenses and find every possible way to bring in as much cash as you can, or else what was the point in opening the business in the first place?

But at the same time, money is exhausting. 

Itemizing everything that would be an expense so I can know how much to get for a start-up business loan is insane. 

The business is kind of a hybrid of service and product. Without actually detailing what I’m working on, I’ll use this as an example: 

Imagine you have a bar that also offers games. So you could go to just buy some beers and hang out or you could go and learn a new game or join a game.

So you’ve got the drinks and snacks, which are products, and you charge a sitting fee so people can come and play the games. 

In this case, you have no idea how popular this will be, right? So you have to guesstimate how many people you think you could get in everyday, maybe more on the weekends and holidays, for party rental, etc. Maybe you even offer classes so people can learn new games. 

And you also have to calculate how much of everything you need, so which brands of alcohol are you going to buy, what quantity of each do you need (well, no idea who’s going to order what, and do you even have a stock room big enough to have enough of all the things?), you also need the cups and the glasses and the snacks (which snacks? how many of each?) and the bowls and the coasters and the napkins and the towels and cleaning supplies and purchase all the games and then maybe you invest in a 3d printer in case game pieces go missing and you want to print some replacements, etc. 

That doesn’t even include the initial setup of the place, which will most likely have to be redone if the location wasn’t previously a bar or had party rooms, and even if it was a bar before, is it oriented the way you want? 

So I’ve been itemizing. So. Many. Things. 

Maybe too many things, but thorough is better, no? 

At this point, based on pure speculation for how popular my business is going to be (because honestly, who even knows?) my guesstimation is that between “sitting fee” (also membership for people who want to come in regularly and want to save a bit on the “sitting fee”) and “classes” and “party rental” and “drinks and snacks” I can bring in around $400,000 a year in gross profits. 

That seems impressive. 

As someone who grew up pretty much dirt poor and has never had more than like $1,500 in my bank, and even THAT is a rarity, I can’t even fathom bringing in close to half a million dollars. 

But then you have to calculate expenses. 

And between lease, payroll, internet, phone, insurance, security, pos system, marketing, bookkeeping, office supplies, food supplies, cleaning supplies, etc, I’m at around $250,000 in expenses without even including loan payback.

And that also doesn’t include renovation of the space, which would depend on location, but still probably have to come out of my pocket. 

And I know not all businesses make money the first year. And I know there’s an initial investment of a lot of money that becomes less as time goes on (spending thousands on games but then the games belong to you, so your investment in future games will be less out of pocket annually), but also... 

I need to make money. 

Some people have the freedom to start and close businesses on a whim, but if I put my time and energy into something like this, I need it to be successful because I literally cannot afford anything else. 

I was trying to guesstimate how much money I personally would make from an endeavor such as this, and I conservatively chose $60,000. 

First of all, that’s so much money!

Second of all, that’s not enough money. 

So let’s discuss why that is. 

Let’s start with taxes:

I played with the calculations myself and then used a tax calculator from Forbes and got a different amount in the same price range. Because I could be doing it wrong, let’s use the Forbes amounts. 

On a salary of $60,000 a year*, I’d be paying around $5,968 to federal taxes and $2,534 to state taxes. 

That leaves me with $51,498. 

First things first, 10% to tzedaka. That’s $5,149.80 right off the bat.

That leaves me with $46,448.

As soon as I can afford it, I’m moving out of my current situation. I don’t know if I could buy a place right away, but I need space to breathe, so I would look for somewhere to rent in the meantime. Rent in my area has been around $2000/mo lately and going up. So let’s guesstimate $26,000/yr just for rental. (And that’s hoping it’s furnished. If not, I’ll have to pay more to furnish the place.)

That leaves me with $20,348. 

Then we have to include utilities. At the very least heat/ac, which in my area is conservatively $2200 annually. 

That leaves me with $18,148.

Let’s talk kosher food. Right now I pay a large chunk of the grocery bill and it comes to at least $200/wk. I should probably be rebudgetting and adjusting this, but in the meantime, that’s around $10,400/year just for food for the family. If I lived on my own, I’d guesstimate cutting that at least in half, if not by thirds. So, let’s be go wide here, just to be on the safe side and put it at $5,000 annually.

That leaves me with $13,148.

When it comes to cars, I would need a new one. By new, that means new to me, not actually brand spankin’ new. A lot of places I’ve been looking show that a car lease would be around $475/mo plus a deposit for a car that isn’t even new. Most have contracts for 2+ years, so I’m looking at a minimum of 24 months on a contract. So for one year, that’s still around $5,800.

That leaves me with $7,348.

I have credit cards to pay off that I’m appalled to say have gotten ridiculously high, and although I could do higher payments than usual without paying off the full amount, I would get some major peace of mind. Regardless, if I just paid about $75/mo to each one for the first year, that’s $3,600,

That leaves me with $3,748.

Not to mention if I start making that much per year, my student loans wouldn’t be deferrable anymore and I’d have to start paying those. 

And I haven’t even factored in insurance. 

This doesn’t include regular toiletries, cleaning supplies, gas, the moving costs to get all my stuff to a new place and/or furnish it with things I don’t have like couches and kitchen utensils... just basic other living expenses. 

And without a safety net, I’d be stuck, so I can’t even take that $3,000 and invest it in anything.

$60,000 a year and I’m still barely making it. 

That’s insane!

Like, it doesn’t even make sense! 

And the thing is, that it’s easy to say “so just don’t _____ for the first year” but let’s play out those scenarios:

Don’t get a new car.

Ok, so I’m either stuck still sharing a vehicle with MotherLivelyHeart (which is an absolute joke - have I told that story?) or I have to uber/lyft all the time, which is also not cost effective. Add to that, I can only share the vehicle if I live in the same general area as MotherLivelyHeart, and that would depend on finding a place within reasonable distance. 

Don’t get a new place.

Ok, so I’m stuck in the same position I am right now, with MotherLivelyHeart breathing down my neck all the time. If I’m running a business like this one, I will not be able to function if I’m still living with my mother. She always has “ideas” and feels like my ideas are part hers too, so if I’m making money here, she has to insert herself somehow to make money also. Everything is an idea for money and I need to be able to breathe. I need space. I need the nagging to stop. I need the micromanaging to stop. I need to be self-sufficient.**

Don’t get a new place by yourself - find a roommate.

At the moment, I’m so done with living with people. I don’t want to be beholden to anyone and I don’t want anyone being beholden to me. I don’t want them to be inviting strangers into my space, and I don’t want to have to deal with the dynamics of “who’s been drinking my milk” or “who’s stuff is in the washer when I need it” or “whose turn is it to take out the garbage” or “who didn’t refill the toilet paper” etc. I just need space, especially if I’m running a full time business at the same time. If I were getting married, that would be different, but that’s not even an option while I’m dealing with a startup, so... yeah, no. 

And these may seem like excuses, but I know myself and I know that any of those living situations put me in a position of being extra-stressed. And if I’m stressed, I’ll implode and stop going out and stop showing up and stop doing what the business needs and it’ll close, making me not only a public failure, but also still broke. 

So it’s exhausting. 

I know I need a mentor and I’ve been looking for someone who could guide me, but even something like the Jewish Women Entrepreneurs charge money to be a part of their little gang, when all I need is someone to guide me through this whole thing who has experience and expertise and will help me avoid major pitfalls I can’t even see because I’ve never done this before and don’t even know what to look for. (Is it a vine or a snake? Not a clue.)

So it’s a lot. 

But the money isn’t. 

Which is insane! (I think I’ve mentioned that already...)

And I know that the net profits are technically also mine and that I wouldn’t even be on the payroll as an employee per se, but at the same time, I need to be able to reinvest most of those profits back into the business and I want to be able to put myself on a reasonable pay scale. 

But it’s no wonder people are complaining about inflation and tuition costs and everything. At $60,000 a year, I, as a single person, would barely be making it. And these are with conservative numbers! Odds are some of the taxes would be higher, gas prices fluctuate, I might have to pay for water wherever I live, etc. 

There are so many unpredictable contingencies and at the end of the day, I’d still be barely scraping by, despite making significantly more than I do currently.

I know some of these expenses would go away after the first year (like furniture  and kitchen utensils are usually a one-time buy), but at the end of the day I’d still be paying almost 1/6 of my take-home in taxes and 10% of that to tzedaka (which would be very exciting because it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to consistently pay 10% of my salary to tzedaka). And still around 55% of my salary to a roof over my head and food on my table. 

And what would that mean for my employees!?

I want to pay a livable wage, especially if I can find trustworthy people who will be full time employees at this joint, and I know their expenses are none of my business, but if I manage to find someone able to work for $50,000 a year, is that even a livable wage!? And if I pay them less, will they have to find other jobs to supplement what I’m paying them? And if they’re stressed with multiple jobs, are they the best employees? Would I have to look for college kids who are living at home to work for me? Do I even want to deal with that population of GenZ in the work place? 

I know I’m an over-thinker.

I know I stress about the wrong things at the wrong times and all that, but these are genuine concerns of mine. 

And this is just the research phase! 

I don’t even have an official location or full business plan or appointments for financing or any of that!

But this is all still an investment of time and energy and I need to know that the outcome will be worth it. 

I’m hoping it’s all rainbows and sunshine at the other end, but I know better and I need to be at least partially prepared. 

It’s also crazy to be making huge plans like this while there’s so much global uncertainty and we’re also supposed to believe that Moshiach is coming today!

Like, why would I be investing time and energy into something here when we’re all going to fly to Israel on the wings of an eagle and live happily ever after there?

And all this as a single woman in my 30s. 

My family knows about this business idea, as do a couple of my friends, but I don’t do well when there’s pressure from other people. I can’t handle the expectations and assumptions, so I haven’t told anyone I’ve been doing this kind of work lately. 

I just kind of want to do it and then let people know. 

So I’m really alone in this. 

It would be so amazing to have a partner to bounce ideas off of. It would be so amazing to have a partner to work with. Someone who I could trust with everything from my heart to my money. 

But I don’t. 

And it’s possible that going through this process will make me enough to be self-sufficient and put me in a better mental health space to be able to open myself up to the possibility of marriage. But all of that is conjecture. I just kind of have to do it. 

I just wish I had some kind of decent support system to help me through this right now. It’s very lonely and very stressful and this is before anything is even officially in the works. I can’t imagine how much better/worse it’ll be. 

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

-LivelyHeart

-----------------

*This would come out to about $5000 a month, or $1250 a week. Guesstimating I’ll be working about 60hrs a week, that comes to just under $21/hr. Not a terrible salary, but if I work more hours than that, the $/hr goes down. 70hrs of work/wk puts me at just under $18/hr. 

**The crazy thing is, I still do majority of the shopping and cooking. I can have an insane week at work and come home every single day and still have to “forage” for food in the fridge and pantry. Despite living with two other people, if I cook, I cook for everyone, if they cook, they cook for themselves. I cook for myself, I clean for myself, I put gas in the car, I pay for oil changes and repairs... the only benefit to living here is not having to pay rent, though MotherLivelyHeart has initiated conversations previously inferring I should be paying rent despite paying the electric bill, which has been going up. Unrelated, but kind of related, have we discussed how when it’s humid outside, it rains in my room? I’ll have to look back at previous posts to see, because that’s a whole story. And it’s been on-going for like 4-5 years.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

May 2021 Wk 3

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

It’s a cray cray Friday when Vietnam gets its eng subs up before GMMTV Thailand. What alter-reality are we in? Well, the Vietnamese offerings are better right now anyway. (Oooo, feel that burn.) 

Ongoing Series - Thai

Top Secret Together Ep 2 - pulping it up in the best possible way. Sure sound and production values are pants, and in classic Thai fashion the editing in post is exacerbating (rather than fixing) pacing issues, but it’s still CUTE AF. I don’t even mind the added university storyline, because they’ve got good chemistry (and a confident gay fresher after a panicked gay hazer is an old favorite... what can I say, SOTUS was my first love). We aren’t spending too much time with any one couple, so it’s weighted a lot better than Brothers was, but also character development is slow. 

Siew Sum Noi Ep 2 - Unfortunately, it’s just too hard to find, plus no subs. I’m dropping it in the hopes it comes back on my radar some day. 

Y-Destiny Ep 8 - (Thurs) It’s rough having a ghost boyfriend, half your friends are scared, the other half think you’re crazy, and kissing shortens your lifespan. This was a cute couple even if I wasn’t wild about the surrounding story. 

Close Friend Ep 5: (Dear My Star/JimmyTommy) - about high school penpals. It had to rely entirely on voice over work as the actors only meet face to face at the end. It’s a good thing they are appealing screen presences on their own, with good vocal control. It’s hard to imagine any other BL pair carrying this kinda plot. It’s by far my favorite of the series so far, and I’m not even a big JimmyTommy fan. 

Fish Upon The Sky Ep 7 - no subs. Do we care? Not really. Because we have... 

Nitiman Ep 3 - currently my favorite out of Thailand. It’s the university Thai BL i’ve been waiting for since... when was the last good one? My Engineer? Yowza. Anyway we got: head on my shoulder, baby is a floppy drunk (but still wants to be in control), proximity alert, boyfriend’s closet, seme gets seriously jelly, and a cute twist on feeding him. There’s something fun and complex about Jin’s character. He’s not a panicked bi. He knows exactly what’s going on, he just hasn’t decided if he wants Bb or not. He clearly enjoys being looked after, the compliments, and the attention, but he’s not sure if he’s going to like what happens if he gives in. I like that twist on the usual tsundere uke archetype a lot, cautious rather than willfully obtuse or freaked out. We can see Jin realizing in stages: I like this person, I like that they like me, I like the romantic attentiveness. But in the background is... do I actually want to f*k him? It’s a dynamic we don’t often see on BL. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 10 fin - the most ridiculous show using BLs worst tropes in a sort of weird smoothie of bitter greens and too ripe banana. The ending was the sappiest cheesiest thing ever, like cheese syrup tapped from the cheese tree. So of course I loved it, but I’m pretty sure I giggled through all the bits meant to be profound. Because, in the end, to tolerate this show at all, you just can’t take ANY of it seriously. RECOMMENDED (with some SERIOUS reservations and trigger warnings.) Full review here. 

Be Loved in House: I Do (Taiwan) Ep 1-2 - I don’t mind a damaged seme character but this one is a bit weird for me. Like creepy Cheese in the Trap level weird. On the bright side, the story has given our tsundere uke good motivation for his angst and great existing friendships, loyalty, and likability. Plus I’m invested in the cafe owner/innocent puppy side dishes. So if it’s only the seme character I’m not jiving with, and he’s the most established actor, it should all turn out fine. I believe in you, Taiwanese BL. 

Papa & Daddy (Taiwan) Ep 6 fin - speaking of belief. This such a good show but they gave us a cliffhanger ending. Now we must hope against hope for season two. That’s never guaranteed with Taiwan tho. So, I’m docking a few points and saying, RECOMMENDED so long as you realize it’s a cliffhanger. 

Love is Science? (Taiwan) Ep 1-9 (BL subplot) - this is a good het romance, but the fact that the BL subplot is a beautifully acted disaster bi + confident gay means you’re hearing about it whether you want to or not. Plus they just added in some GL! Come on! I gotta support Taiwan normalizing queer to this extent. They are fighting the good fight and if I also have to watch a career lady and her much younger softest straight boi get it on, too? Twist my arm with that service sub subtext. Go on Taiwan, TWIST IT. It’s on Viki. Join the revolution.   * Incidentally if you actually like the D/s het dynamic of this show, I highly recommend Japanese Kimi wa Petto - career woman keeps a hot young dancer boy as a pet. Oh yes, an actual pet, that IS the pitch. Never doubt Japan when kink is on the line. It’s also on Viki. Go get your kink on, thank me later. (If it helps: That was not a request.)  

Most Peaceful Place 2 (Vietnam) Ep 2 (AKA 5) - love triangles aren’t my thing, but if you’re gonna do it short form, by all means bring in the lead’s other BL pairing so the chemistry is on point. Now I've no idea who I want him to end up with. Can’t they just be in a poly triad? 

My Lascivious Boss (Vietnam) Ep 7 - I’m still enjoying it a lot. It’s still unabashedly queer and the tension is ramping up. We now have secret identity, blackmail, femme fatale, faen fatale, and incoming seme confrontation. Best of all, the series is still airing, which makes it longer than any other Vietnamese BL I’ve seen (aside from Tein Bromance - which is just too weird to count). 

Gossip - Thai BL 

SEVEN PROJECT TEASERS

No one is entirely sure what Studio Wabi Sabi’s Seven Project/7Project will entail. 

It might be like Close Friend (1 episode per couple, no linking), 

or Y-Destiny (2 episodes per couple, loosely linked), 

or The En of Love (4 episodes per couple, linked but independent consecutive stories). 

They’re giving the couple’s arcs separate titles. So each one would be what? Seven Project: Once Upon a Time or the like? We’re in Taiwanese title territory people and NO ONE WANTS TO GO THERE. Anygay... 

Once Upon a Time is the BounPrem (og UWMA) anchor story, and seems to be the most dramatic and likely saddest. These two can handle most of what’s thrown at them at this juncture, so it should be good. 

Vs Love is a BoomPeak (og Make it Right) university vehicle. Since I thought Boom was done with our nonsense, I couldn’t be more thrilled and surprised this pair is doing another show together. I don’t think either of them are the greatest actors but I find Peak very endearing and Boom charismatic on screen, so I’ll watch. 

Would You be My Love is the hotly anticipated SantaEarth launch. They’re a (cultivated) IRL ship and Earth is an established BL actor. They have great chemistry and high energy so this could be lots of fun. 

We are also getting a GL from this series from established BL actresses Samantha and Pineare. Nothing teased yet on that, but I’m looking forward to this installment the most. Also curious to see how the ladies handle the branding and promo side, not to mention the culture. (Thailand variety shows gonna force *girls* to play the Pepero game?) 

Secret Crush on You upcoming Thai BL with no release date, co-produced by and featuring (but NOT staring) Saint and directed by Cheewin (sigh) with all fresh faces. (Previously known as Stalker the series.) It looks like pure pulp and I’m not wild about the plot but could be better than expected as it’s adapted from a novel. Cheewin is an okay director when he has an actual story to follow. 

Don’t Say No the series. Coming from the producers of TharnType this is the JaFirst vehicle many have been waiting for. Friends to lovers + a good boy/bad boy pairing on a sports romance foundation. It’s basketball so they tapped Meen as well (he’s semi-pro). The bad news? You get one guess as to who is writing the darn thing? Yep it’s MAME. So, ya know, expect some slam dunk kidnapping, a light dribbling of rape, and me turning into a basketcase. AKA... 

Will I have to live blog this series in order to survive it? That seems to be the only way I can. So probably. Which means the bad sports puns will continue. Look, if I’m suffering, SO ARE YOU! 

Rumors of a new YinWar vehicle The Best Story (mini series) coming in July. Also rumors that their previously announced Love Mechanics (full length series) has either been delayed, is facing money issues, or is moving studios, or all three. 

Breaking News 

DELAYED (I’m talking these three off the watch list until we get new airing dates) 

Love Area’s release was pushed out but it got a trailer. 

Golden Blood was supposed to drop Weds but comments in MDL report that it is delayed due to C19.  

Love’s Outlet (Taiwan) is supposed to have started a 50 episode run (only 3-5 min each, what utter nonsense). Sadly, this delay is due to a surge in cases in Taiwan which was doing so well, but also doesn’t have many inoculations. 

Bad Buddy has started workshopping at GMMTV actual. 

Kang Insoo’s BTS for Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding is SO FLIPPING CUTE. You have to watch it. Trust me, I don’t rec behind the scenes stuff often. 

Next Week Looks Like This: 

Some shows may be listed later than actual air date for International accessibility reasons.

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

[most-like-a-marshfire]

Another thing I've been thinking about - or how singing is accidentally really spiritual and how this might work in Motherland Fort Salem.

So in my last post I talked about face shapes.

Another thing that really influences the colour of the sounds one can produce, as well as the intensity, is age. And this makes me a little excited in relation to MFS because Alder has the power to vary her age.

Disclaimer: you might have already noticed in my previous post that the perspective that I'm using in regards to singing is a classical one. That's what I was trained in and I think that there are a lot of merits to looking at singing from that vantage point. I would argue that classical singing is at the same time the most technically challenging kind of singing - it has to be; classical singing is supposed to reliably fill concert halls just with your voice without ruining your health after a week, no microphones - and the way of singing where you need to understand your voice so well that you can then, using this knowledge, protect it better from overuse.

Also - and this is the way it was for me but I think this happens generally in the classical approach - classical singing allows you to go to your lesson and then you and your teacher try to figure out what your voice is like exactly, what your weaknesses and strengths are and then how to allow all your different potential to shine. We think a lot about face shapes, voice projection and breath support - and age.

The colour of your voice changes naturally as you age, and I'm not speaking of the voice change in puberty, I'm speaking of the maturation of your voice in your 40s.

For sopranos in the classical world (I'm a soprano so this is what I know) this change is quite important, very, very generally one can say:

- children: naturally have a lot of higher frequencies in their voices, they can be very light and aethereal and bright. They usually don't have a lot of natural vibrato, so their sound is slimmer, sometimes flute-like. I'm thinking of a young Jean-Baptiste Maunier:

He starts singing at around 1.25.

-young sopranos (ca. 14/5 to 35) - (usually) lyrical sopranos: retain much of the brightness and lightness of the child voice but - see voice change - they have a lot more natural vibrato and their voice is a little darker than a child's voice. A really nice example of the kind of sound I'm talking about here is this recording by Lucia Popp:

She sounds like a bell, it's quite extraordinary.

- older sopranos (ca. from late 30s on) - lyrical sopranos can become dramatic sopranos: some lyrical sopranos gain sufficient dark colours and weight in their voice to be able to sing what is called "dramatic repertoire", i.e. pieces that we usually associate with 'operatic divas'. These older sopranos are able to sing pieces that require both more vibrato as well as more volume and fullness of sound - you can't sing Wagner satisfactorily, you might not even make it through his operas, if you are not a dramatic soprano. Funnily enough, the recording by Lucia Popp that I've just mentioned is actually a miscasting - the Queen of the Night is a dramatic soprano, her arias are intense, passionate and somewhat violent, you need a dramatic soprano for this. (Lucia Popp's recording is very beautiful but aesthetically, and for this role in the opera, it's not right).

A fitting Queen of the Night would be someone like Diana Damrau:

Now what has that got to do with Motherland Fort Salem.

The witches are not classically trained (and frankly, the workings don't make sense mechanically, sound production does not work the way it's envisioned there) but that aside they do use their voices and the development I've described for classical singers happens to everyone - if you sing or not, classical singers are just really attuned to noticing and using this changing of the voice.

Age-wise, Alder would be in the age bracket for a dramatic soprano; which is interesting to me because Alder is depicted as being able to wield powerful, momentous kinds of magic; and in the classical singing world this power to raise a storm and make the sea boil is very much dramatic soprano. Not saying that a lyrical soprano couldn't do it but it wouldn't have the same energy and power.

I think this might be quite a nice counterweight to 'witches must be young and sexy' (which we thankfully don't have in MFS). If it's about singing and power, the middle-aged witches are MOST definitely the most powerful hands down. They'll need to have taken care of their voices in their youths and trained properly but if they have; well, dramatic sopranos are terrifying.

So, if this was applied to MFS the shape of the face would not be the only thing the trainees would be paying attention to. They would also be very invested in taking care of themselves and in making the best out of their already existing vocal talent. To be fair, having only dramatic soprano types would be a little boring (I'm actually more of a sucker for warm, lyrical sopranos), but then again, I suppose workings don't actually have to only be about war, violence and destruction (and sorry dramatic sopranos but this is you).

Also (caution: bad joke): you do need to be a certain age to fully understand the weight of your actions (hence, for weightier actions, older age and weightier voice is more effective). To wreak destruction, you must understand it. This is the burden, pain, and wisdom of age. (Cue Alder being really powerful, no surprise.)

If I were Alder, I would let my age vary depending on what kind of working she has to perform - for all the powerful, aggressive stuff, her age is perfect. But for more subtle workings, or more serene and peaceful workings, her voice would sound better younger. And now isn't it interesting that Khalida, head of the Tarim, a pacifist witch clan, seems really old but is in a child's body with a child's voice.

I like to imagine two things:

- child Alder - because sometimes you need other kinds of workings, too - walking around Fort Salem, her biddies in tow, and giving dubiously looking recruits or recruits who dare squat down and ask her if she is lost an absolute death glare.

- and child Alder and her biddies standing in a field, under a sky full of stars and singing long lost seeds of her family. And any nosy recruits who whisper: what is she doing there? - are shushed. "She is capturing the light of the stars, ephemeral and bright."

[mostlysignssomeportents]

We promised this vaccine waiver 20 years ago

The world’s 125 poorest countries (2.5b people) have received zero covid vaccine doses to date. The 85 poorest countries project vaccination in 2023/24. This is vaccine apartheid.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/21/wait-your-turn/#vaccine-apartheid

It’s not that poor countries can’t make their own vaccines. The Global South has a lot of vaccine production capacity. The problem is Big Pharma, which refuses to transfer the patents and know-how to repurpose those facilities for mRNA production.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IhL-aGt5dEOVegy4eksgs4T6vDl6L6NbY_YJdvDonBI/edit#gid=0

South Africa and India have petitioned the WTO for a vaccine waiver. We should all want this: first, because it is monstrous to doom millions to die in order to preserve the regulatory privileges of a handful of hugely profitable, heavily subsidized pharma companies.

But second, even if you don’t care about being monstrous, a waiver is needed to ensure all our survival: the longer and wider the virus circulates, the more mutations we’ll get, with the mounting risk of a more virulent, more lethal, more vaccine-resistant strain.

The pharma industry has an army of high-paid lobbyists (including Howard Dean), and volunteer simps (like Bill Gates) who are pushing the story that a waiver is unfair and counterproductive, a betrayal of the fundamental patent bargain.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/15/how-to-rob-a-bank/#roll-the-dice

They say that the pharma companies committed their capital to vaccine research because we, the people of the world, had promised them exclusive rights to those discoveries (notwithstanding that we also paid for the vast majority of that R&D).

If we alter the deal now, how can pharma trust us next time?

Of all the lies told by the pharma industry about the pandemic, this is the most insidious. Because that’s not how the global patent system works at all.

Gen Xers and their elders will remember the summer of 1999 and the Battle of Seattle, where anti-globalization activists fought for weeks to block the signing of the WTO agreement and its chapter on IP, the TRIPS agreement.

The WTO agreement fundamentally changed the way global patents worked.

Prior to the WTO, it was common for poor countries to completely ignore the patents issued by rich countries (unless the World Bank or a former colonial power coerced them into recognizing these claims).

That’s because countries that are net importers of finished goods have no reason to honor their suppliers’ claims — doing so merely burdens their own struggling manufacturers by forcing them to pay rent to rich foreigners.

This creates drag on local development, ensuring that importer countries stay importers, never becoming self-sufficient.

Ignoring other countries’ exclusive rights regimes — copyright, patent, trademark, etc — is a tried-and-true method to gain self-sufficiency.

That’s why the Framers of the US Constitution decided that America would ignore foreign patents and copyrights, a policy that persisted for over a century, only ending once the US became a net exporter of ideas and inventions, and thus stood to gain more than it lost.

Not just the US, of course. Many European nations spent a century or two a-pirating while their developed their capacity. The Dutch, for example, abolished patents during much of the 19th and 20th centuries.

It doesn’t make sense for a poor country to pay a rich country for rent on ideas. At least, it doesn’t make sense from the perspective of the poor countries.

It’s easy to see what rich countries get out of the deal.

That’s where the WTO (and specifically TRIPS) came in.

TRIPS proposed a bargain to poor countries: if you pay rent on rich countries’ ideas (by recognizing their patents, trademarks and copyrights), we’ll engineer the system so that you become the favored manufacturing contractors for rich countries.

This creates jobs in the short term, and, long term, it builds capacity, by teaching people how to build and operate complex systems.

It’s a form of “technology transfer” that replaces the old adversarial system of rent-collectors and tenant states with global cooperation.

This was a dubious proposition, but the WTO threw in a sweetener: a provision for emergengy waivers. These meant that if there was ever a situation where honoring foreign patents would result in domestic mass-death, those offshore obligations would be immediately suspended.

Think about that for a second. The pharma industry wants you to think that a vaccine waiver reneges on the bargain the world made with it.

But that was never the bargain.

The bargain the Global South struck was, “We will pay rent on rich countries’ ideas. In exchange, we’ll get capacity-building help. In case of emergency, all bets are off: not only will we get access to ideas for free, the WTO will use its might to force tech transfer.”

That’s the bargain pharma signed up for. The claim that a waiver reneges on the deal is truly Orwellian, a heads-I-win-tails-you-lose proposition where poor countries pay rent on ideas and get NOTHING in return — save death and the option to pay yet more rent.

“The TRIPS Intellectual Property Waiver Proposal: Creating the Right Incentives in Patent Law and Politics to end the COVID-19 Pandemic” is a preprint of an LSE Legal Studies Working Paper by a group of Anglo-Irish legal and poli sci scholars.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3851737

First published yesterday, it delves into a detailed account of this dynamic, and opens with a devastating argument:

If the pharma companies are right and poor countries truly don’t have the capacity to build vaccine factories, then the WTO is a failure.

The whole point was to build capacity.

If it’s not there, then all the rents the poor world paid all century were a lethally squandered opportunity — they should have followed in the footsteps of America and the Netherlands and ignored the rent demanded by wealthy lands.

The authors describe how pharma gamed the system in the WTO decades. For example, companies devote enormous energy to patenting small variations on their processes and products, allowing them to extend the life of their patents long beyond the 20 years they’re promised.

This produces some genuinely hideous outcomes. In Patrick Radden Keefe’s EMPIRE OF PAIN, the author documents how the Sackler family contemplated seeking regulatory approval to prescribe Oxycontin to children in order to extend the life of their patents.

https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/patrick-radden-keefe-empire-of-pain-interview/amp

It’s hard to imagine how we’ll survive the pandemic crisis without a waiver. COVAX, the “voluntary” system that lets billionaires, corporations and rich countries offer vaccine doses to poor countries as charity, is a total disaster.

COVAX has only raised pledges of 20% of the needed doses — and it isn’t delivering on those pledges.

The system isn’t just failing by accident — the pharma companies are actively sabotaging it.

C-TAP, the WTO’s own scheme for pooling vaccine production know-how, has failed, largely because companies like Pfizer and Biontech have forced NDAs on their contractors that prevent them from participating in the program.

https://contracts.justia.com/companies/maravai-lifesciences-holdings-inc-11469/contract/137780/

The pharma companies have refused to license for mRNA vaccines for production in both in the rich world (Canada, Israel and Denmark) and the poor world (Bangladesh).

The deals pharma struck with the global south don’t just bump the world’s poorest to the back of the line — they also charge the poorest people the highest prices for vaccines. Astrazeneca is charging South Africa twice the going rate in the EU.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/22/south-africa-paying-more-than-double-eu-price-for-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine

This price-gouging is papered over with misleading claims of charity — for example, Moderna says it won’t extract profit from Brazilians Fiocruz until the pandemic ends — but the agreement allows Moderna to declare the pandemic over in July.

https://www.ft.com/content/c474f9e1-8807-4e57-9c79-6f4af145b68671O

Pharma’s claims of acting in the public interest are pure fantasy.

Pfizer says it makes a 20% profit by selling vaccines it makes for $3/dose at $19.50/dose (“the pandemic price”) — and promises that this price will go up to $175/dose for boosters.

https://s21.q4cdn.com/317678438/files/doc_financials/2020/q4/PFE-USQ_Transcript_2021-02-02.pdf

The very idea of pharma patents is surprisingly new. France instituted pharma patents in 1960; Ireland, 1964; Germany, 1968; Japan, 1976. Pharma demanded these patents to produce the “incentive” to invest, but the bulk of basic pharma R&D is still publicly funded.

Take the Astrazeneca vaccine, developed at Oxford. Between 97.1 and 99% of the funding for that research came from public sources, not Astrazeneca’s profits.

https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.08.21255103

The WTO agreement promised the Global South that in a global pandemic, the same might that was used to coerce them into passing laws enforcing rich countries’ patents would be brought to bear on rich countries to force them to help make medicine where it’s needed.

The pharma shills who claim that waiving the patents on mRNA vaccines actually have a point: pharma companies have gamed the patent system so that much of the know-how is never disclosed in patent filings, and the filings themselves are sealed for 18 months.

In the face of this sabotage, the WTO could order rich member states to uphold their obligations by forcing their companies to transfer patents AND trade secrets to poor countries — just as the US forced pharma companies to pool their research on pennicillin during WWII.

That would be the fair thing to do. The right thing to do. The rational thing to do — if we want to ensure the continuation of our civilization and even our species in the face of new mutant strains.

The WTO claimed that poor countries that honored the TRIPS would become tech exporters, building their own domestic capacity. Twenty years later, they’re still importers — and on track to stay that way forever (or until we’re all killed by covid).

The US has no standing to complain about a TRIPS waver. A country that built its fortune and capacity by refusing to pay rent to rich nations for their ideas deserves the same treatment once it becomes rich itself.

[cursestothemoon]

Lmao I’m so stupid, it’s supposed to be wash day lol. As a black girl I like to imagine the reactions to wash day. Especially the weasleys

don't worry about it! i’d love to write this 

also im going to be combining it with another ask i got 

omg hey shawty uhh... gained up the courage to request sumn else for you :>

its a bit stupid but NSJSJDJSJSB but could you do something like fred weasley with a black gorl or sumn-- and if you need a house then hufflepuff pls :>

alright we’re doing ALL THE WEASLEYS with a black girl and what wash day would look like with them around

and just a usual disclaimer: i am white 😌

Bill Weasley

first off i like to think you guys met after Hogwarts 

idk why it just makes sense 

let me tell you BILL WEASLEY loves when your hair is in braids

pLEASE

all kinds of braids

he loves it so much 

he thinks its so beautiful 

he also thinks youre always beautiful duh 🙄

but something about braids he just ❤️👄❤️

ok Bill Weasley during wash day is so fantastic 

because he will sit with you 

and watch you 

and try so hard to learn your routine and steps 

and when you ask why he’ll hit you with 

“When we have kids I’ll need to know how to take care of their beautiful hair 🙄”

and he says it so naturally 

he will also help with detangling 

gOD 

could you imagine just sitting with him, your back to his chest

both of you are detangling your hair 

🥺

Charlie Weasley

ok so Charlie

i love Charlie so much 

anyway

YOU ARE LITERALLY HIS GODDESS 

HE WILL WORSHIP YOU

HE LOVES YOU SO MUCH

THIS IS SUCH A POWER COUPLE I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH 

i don’t think Charlie has any one style he prefers over another 

he will loses his mind over however you wear your hair 

wash days with Charlie are so cute 

he will make sure he sets aside his whole day to be with you during wash day 

i think he’d just like to keep you company 

even if you’d want his help detangling or anything else 

if not thats cool to its your hair babe your rules 

he’d rather just sit with you and talk 

i also imagine Charlie Weasley as a very large man 

big

i think i’ve said this before but Henry Cavill

Henry Cavill but ginger

and he doesn't want to hurt you

but he still knows your routine by heart 

sTOP CAN YOU JUST IMAGINE GOING THROUGH WASH DAY

YOU ARE ALMOST DONE TWISTING YOUR HAIR WITH THE LEAVE IN CONDITIONER 

and Charlie is just watching you with the stupidest smile on his face because he just loves you so much

Percy Weasley 

i know ive said this before 

but literally caNNOT CONNECT TO PERCY

LITERALLY WHO IS PERCY WEASLEY 

WHAT IS PERCY WEASLEY

W H Y IS PERCY WEASLEY 

ok so 

i feel like percy, as a very political person, would be very into black history and learning all about it 

percy weasley goes to protests.

especially after the war when he had the whole moment of realization with the ministry 

the thought of racism literally boils this mans bloOD 

im not saying the other weasleys don't care, they do very much so, but I can see Percy being just super involved 

like Charlie I don’t think he’d have a favorite hair style on you 

thats actually a lie

twists or locks will make him weak in the knees 

alsO THE HISTORY AND MEANING BEHIND CERTAIN STYLES HE LOVES TO LEARN ABOUT

ok wash days with ole’ perce

will sit with you and read 

likes to keep you company 

but also he’s a busy guy so hes doing something for work

or just reading 

pERCY KNITS 

im sorry but he does and he knits while you go through your wash day routine 

George Weasley

George Weasley. 

honestly im gonna start yelling again

THIS COUPLE 

GOD TIER 

THERE IS LITERALLY NO REASON FOR YOU GUYS TO BE SUCH ✨BADDIES✨ TOGETHER ✋🏻

George Weasley will go to BLACK OWNED SALONS AND HAIR STYLISTS to learn how to do a few styles 

just have it under his belt

just in case 

and he won’t even do it as a “look what i did 😏”

no you won’t even know until one day it like comes up 

and he’s like yeah why wouldn’t i 

he is also very invested in black history 

wash days with Georgie are so much fun 

he’s bouncing around 

has music playing

is asking you questions 

you guys are just having so much fun 

he will also take a day off work if it lands on a day where he has to go into the shop

he loves being with you during wash days 

he calls it ‘wash day bonding time’

hes a dork

Fred Weasley

you guys met in school

i just know it

also much like Bill

something about box braids really gets him going

he thinks they look SO GOOD 

and one think Fred literally cannot wrap his mind around

something that grinDS HIS GEARS

cultural appropriation 

if someone out in public is appropriating a culture he WILL say something 

but only if he is sure its cultural appropriation

he just cANNOT STAND IT 

and i think this is regardless of who is dating, its just something that genuinely irks him 

ok we all know Fred is a giant ball of energy 

and ANYTHING excites him

you could say you’re going to the grocery store 

aND HE IS BUZZING AROUND BECAUSE SOMETHING IS HAPPENING AND THATS SO EXCITING

so wash day is the same 

hes jumping around

hes excited 

hes asking questions

he’s doing so much 

he cannot sit still

he tries for the first ten or so minutes

but then he’s up

bringing snacks 

feeding you snacks if you have hair product on your hands 

fred would be dancing around

he would make it so much fun 

little kisses here and there

he also has to smell every single product 

every

single

one 

he also remembers the products you use and pays attention to when their running bit low and will go buy you more 

idk stan fred weasley or whatever ✋🏻🙄

Ron Weasley

alright 

R O N

hes a lot like Charlie i think

aLSO RON LOVES YOUR NATURAL HAIR 

the other weasleys do too

bUT RON LOVES IT SO MUCH

ANY HAIRSTYLE WITH YOUR NATURAL HAIR HE IS HERE FOR

ok wash days with Ron are so fun

he’s just gossiping 

he tells you all the drama thats going on

this man can talk for hours and he can get so pETTY 

so wash day is definitely gossip day

he will sit with snacks as he watches you 

and talks about people at work

or people at Hogwarts 

“bABE did you hear about who that Slytherin bloke is dating?”

he also likes to smell all the products 

or asks what they do 

it would be so wholesome 

Ginny Weasley

OK GINNY 

i love ginny so much 

i think you guys met after school to be completely honest 

early twenties 

she has no favorite hair style on you she thinks you look beautiful regardless 

like george she will learn how to do a few protective hairstyles 

because she loves you so much and wants to understand as best she can and one of the ways she does that is learning about your hair, what to do, what not to do, and how to care for it 

stop if you were ok with her practicing on you it would be so cute 🥺

but she doesn’t expect you to be ok with it, like she isnt going to be pushy about it 

she is very much a believer that it is YOUR hair YOUR rules 

like everyone should be. 

wash day with Ginny is so much fun

she's smelling things 

asking questions

writing down the routine 

she is mesmerized 

because your hair is so bEAUTIFUL 

and she develops this new appreciation for black people (men, women, and non-binary- all of you babes) and their hair and the pride and care that goes into it 

when your arms get tired because you’re holding them up for so long she’ll give you shoulder rubs 🥺

little kisses 

and they are so random 

she also enjoys feeding you snacks while you go through your routine 

regardless of if you something in/on your hands or not

i am a ginny weasley siMP

tags:

@amourtentiaa

@vsawyer1989​

@lifeofkaze

@siriusement

@georgeweasleysbabe

[tiecladartist]

Okay, spoilers beneath the cut because I have some issues with Rise of the Titans.

Tales of Arcadia is one of my favorite series ever. It handled the "Kid is the chosen one" situation brilliantly, every character had depth (even characters like Steve, Eli, the teachers, etc). Theme was expertly handled with each part of the series. Destiny, heroism and sacrifice for Trollhunters; Family, duty and home for 3-Below; Legacy, prejudice and family (again) for Wizards. Every season brought me to tears, made me laugh, made me fear for the safety of the characters and want good things for them after watching them sacrifice over and over again. It is a comfort show for me and always will be.

Now, the movie...

So, I don't think it was bad. I also don't think it was good, unfortunately. The animation took a bit of getting used to after bingeing everything else leading up to this, but I can't deny it was incredibly beautiful. It was especially nice to see places other than Arcadia and Akiridion-5. It started off strong with the train fight, and admittedly there were a lot of scenes I quite liked during the movie. But, just the scenes. I liked moments, but overall it didn't come together quite as well as the shows did.

The biggest factor is likely time. I doubt making this a movie was the initial plan since I know production companies enjoy snubbing out strong series for various reasons. Honestly, I was surprised we got an "ending" at all based on the trends of recent shows being forced to wrap things up prematurely. Even Wizards felt rushed compared to the others and as a result a lot of interesting concepts were brushed over quickly. I mean, I for one would've loved to see more Camelot "filler" shenanigans since those less plot-heavy episodes that we had throughout Trollhunters and 3-Below helped us explore the characters and grow to love them, and we didn't get quite as much of that with Douxie, Archie, Lancelot, Charlemagne, etc. But I digress, this post is supposed to be about the movie, not Wizards.

So yeah, I think Rise of the Titans should've been a show rather than a movie. We could have more time before Nari is captured, focusing on the "where are they now" of all the characters after the year we skipped. Jim gets to cook and eat human food after losing that passion when becoming a troll, adjusting to being human again! Maybe him and Toby talk about Barbara and Stickler being together and how it's kinda weird (Toby could compare it to having conflicting feelings over his Nana dating an alien). Krel and Aja have a call about how it is being the Queen and Steve interrupts because he misses Aja. Perhaps we hear Eli in the background doing something related to the "Secret weapon" and the call gets cut off quickly because this leads to a small disaster on Aja's end that she needs to go fix. Claire is practicing her magic with the help of Zoe while Douxie is off with Nari. NARI AND DOUXIE INTERACT WITH EACHOTHER AND WE ACTUALLY GET TO SEE IT! (Like, I know that they were travelling together for a year and that that is why Douxie is sad when Nari dies, but it didn't impact at all outside of empathy because there was no emotional investment on my end towards their friendship). But yeah, we get to see what's going on with everyone, and then perhaps this first episode ends with the reveal of them being ready for a plan of sorts (luring the arcane order and cutting off their magic. That wouldn't be revealed though). Cut to the Arcane Order in their super secret clubhouse saying they're close to finding Nari and you get a decent cliffhanger.

Episode 2 would start with the train fight and go fairly the same way. We see Jim struggling with fighting with no armor. Or perhaps he has akiridion armor, but it's too rigid or keeps malfunctioning (doesn't fit, so to speak). Only difference is that Jim's arc wouldn't be about whether or not he's still the trollhunter, because we've been through that already and he knows. I could get having moments of doubt, but his full on denial was kinda out of place after everything he went through. Instead, it could be that he feels useless due to now being a burden in a fight. Or perhaps instead he's wrestling with guilt. He's blaming himself since the arcane order got the seals due to them trying to rescue him. Maybe both? Maybe he even misses his troll body and feels that he's too weak now. Yes, he's still the trollhunter, amulet or not, but he's feeling less and less capable of answering this particular call, and that bothers him. He doesn't want to be a burden after all. Fight ends with the train crash, arrest, Douxie swapping with Nari, all the same.

Now, this is where things would go very very differently. Have more time before Douxie and Nari switch back. Let the Arcane order monologue a little more. They want to reset the world because the balance has been shifted? Cool! Tell me more! Did they used to try to get along with the humans? Did they try diplomacy in the past only to fail due to the stubborn humans, and that's why they've decided to take drastic measures? Or if not, explore why they believe they're the ones allowed to decide the balance is off. Is it because they're powerful? Or how long they've been on Earth? Did they reset it in the past and thus know through experience? I don't mind not knowing, since not everything needs to be spelled out for the audience, but there was potential to make them characters rather than obstacles, and it wasn't really utilized to its full potential. Allow Douxie to pick their brains a little instead of immediately swapping him and Nari back and only succeeding in delaying things a few more hours. Hell, if it was a TV show I honestly would've had one or two episodes before doing that while we address how that initial failure (and the fact that magical creatures/aliens were revealed to the world) affected everyone.

Maybe I'll go through and like, actually plot out episodes and stuff, but since I only just finished watching, here's just some various things I'd change:

-Get rid of that whole Steve pregnancy. That was just out of place and rather than the "comedy" breaking the tension, it shattered it completely and distracted from everything. If you wanna explore his father-based character arc, maybe have him and Aja discussing the fact that now that she's queen, she'll need heirs. And maybe Steve isn't sure he could be a good dad due to his history with paternal figures. You could even have it that he's taking care of Nari while her and Douxie are switched, and that leads to a situation where he helps her out and realizes he may be a better dad than expected. Or perhaps Blinky gives him paternal advice. Or Strickler. Or even BARBARA AND JIM like, Steve couldn't be worse than Jim's dad, and letting Steve and Jim bond over that would be nice. There was so much potential, but instead, Steve was reduced to an out of place running gag instead of getting a resolution to his character arc. And hey, if you wanna keep the whole male akiridions give birth thing that's cool, but it's gotta be done in moments where it won't distract. Or, you could even have it be that it means Aja and Steve need to adopt because uh... she's inorganic and he's organic? His body likely isn't actually built for akiridion childbirth despite the movie glossing over this fact? And maybe Steve has mixed feelings about someone else being the dad of his kids, but Coach and him talk about how Coach isn't his biological dad, but that doesn't mean he loves Steve any less.

-GIVE DOUXIE MORE SCREEN TIME! Seriously, had this been a show he would have the most potential for character growth out of everyone. His series was the shortest, so really all he got was a confidence boost and moving past needing Merlin's approval. But there was so much to explore with him still. What was up with that extreme burst of magic after Merlin's death that was never brought up again? How has he been mentally handling singlehandedly guarding Nari against the Arcane order for a year? Once he and Nari switch back, does he feel guilt over not being able to protect her? "Merlin wouldn't have failed like that. He kept her safe for thousands of years, I lasted a little over one". Perhaps, in his constant desire to prove himself to the people he cares about, he takes risky moves to try and save Nari again and make up for his mistakes, similar to how Jim was acting in the movie. Eventually, when he and Nari meet up again when trying to break her controlled state, Douxie is apologizing and talking about how he wants to make things right. He sees Nari as a friend; as family, just as much as Archie, and he doesn't want to lose her like he lost Merlin. He doesn't want to lose anyone else (which would make Archie getting stuck in the other Trollmarket, and Nari's sacrifice even more painful later on if that still happened).

-Krel, Eli and Stewart also needed more time. I get it was a movie, so time was short, but still. Krel's entire thing is that he grew to see Earth as his true home, and we didn't get to address the fact that he was immediately at risk of losing it at all. Not to mention the sheer amount of stuff he'd built for everyone. Like, could you imagine an episode where, to break up the tension (in a proper way, not a weird pregnancy way), in the midst of everyone trying to figure out how to stop the titans, Krel has overworked himself fixing and managing everyone's tech. He has to spend a day resting and disasters ensue as no one knows how to fix any of the stuff he usually manages. Like the tech keeping Camelot afloat, for example. Stewart and Eli could be the ones that end up stepping up to fill the Krel sized gap for the day.

-And I know that these fillers would lower the tension a bit, but like, having the titans need to charge up after awakening (like, absorbing elemental energy or something), or perhaps making the Arcane Order have to collect certain things to break the seals in the first place that they had on their fortress but lost when that was destroyed , or any other kinda obstacle to give time between the train fight and the Titans waking up would give time for less plot-heavy, more character focused episodes. And even after the titans wake up, they were moving super slowly and walking across the planet. It's not like they'd be short on time despite the movie making it seem like walking from china to america was a short jog at most.

-Don't give Toby the amulet. Don't get me wrong, I love Toby very much and literally bawled out loud at his sacrifice scene. But like, it made no sense to give him the amulet? Jim doing everything again with years of Trollhunter experience would help solve a lot of problems from his first go around (and I'm not fully on board with the whole time reset in the first place. Resetting to the start of the movie, or even just the fight with Bellroc would be better). Jim knows the burdens of being a trollhunter first hand, and you really think he'd be okay dumping all that on Tobes? Toby, the guy completely content with being the wingman and helping the people he cares about. Toby, the guy who never worried about not having a grand destiny up until the movie. The guy who in his biggest dreams was a Duke, not a king. I think Toby was well aware of how important moral support is and wouldn't see it as a lame superpower. But even if he did, in a tv show they could explore that in a way where he comes to learn just how much that moral support does for his friends. And if you still want his moment of glorious sacrifice (because I count that as one of the well done moments), then do that! But rather than going back in time to save everyone, make it so they sacrifice the stone to turn back time a bit. Risk their victory to try saving Toby. Have them fight Bellroc together instead of it being just Jim, because it's trollhunters, not trollhunter. It always has been, always will.

-And if you're like "But if they don't go back then Strickler and Nomura stay dead!" Then how about they don't kill them for shock factor in the first place? Have Strickler badly injured instead, because by god Barbara deserves some happiness. And think of the potential scene of her treating his wounds, and the two of them think about how things have changed since that visit to trollmarket when they were both hurt. About how Strickler stuck around, and when Barbara thought she'd lost him it scared her. How she's sick of almost losing everyone she cares about. She could talk a bit about Jim's dad then too, and it could be revealed that Jim was outside because he was going to check on them, but stopped when he realized they were talking. And then later on, he asks about his dad, admitting he overheard, and we get that conversation they had in the movie. And if you keep the Nomura sacrifice, give her more of a moment ffs. Like, she deserved better! Have the death be a sacrifice to save someone else instead of just "oops I got caught and I'm in the sun now". Make it deliberate. Make it her decision after a life of serving others. Finally, she got to be the one in control of her fate, and she chose to protect the people she cared about.

There's so much more I could say about this and the potential that was killed by the lack of time, but this is getting long and I should probably try actually doing the work I need to do today.

Edit (Because this just popped in my head and I need to add it).

THEY WERE LITERALLY AROUND THE ROUND TABLE! THE NINTH CONFIGURATION (which like, screw that there are more than 9 heroes here to save the day) WERE THE NEW KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE. They were there to protect the world, and like... did the bond between Lancelot and Steve just not exist anymore? Did that get timeline erased too? Could you imagine Steve fighting to protect the world, doing his best to protect the people he cared about so that he never loses someone like he lost Lance again? He gets to keep his promise to carry on the legacy of the Knights even after they died. THE POTENTIAL WAS THERE!!! THE SET UP WAS THERE!!! BUT NO! WE GET MPREG STEVE INSTEAD!!

[sepublic]

Luz’s Online Experience?

           Talking a lot with @sterling-jay over the subject and discussing this; I noticed that Luz can be particularly persuasive and a powerful debater, specifically at the end of The First Day where she mercilessly gives Bump a peace of her mind until he finally concedes her genuine point. Coupled with her mentioning “Jerks online who want to debate” as one of her primary fears, and… I have to wonder if she honed her argumentative, debating skills from having to deal with those kinds of people as a kid, usually in online forums that she’d go to talk about her hyperfixation with other like-minded kids; Especially since the internet tends to be a place of solace for neurodivergent kids who can’t find others like them in their area.

           I’d see Luz as being SO passionate and into her argument as she brings up a bunch of brilliant points, and then she just gets shut down by a cruel remark (like some internet edgelord calling her “nerd”) and it HURTS so much, because Luz invested so much energy and effort, and yet clearly others don’t feel the same, despite apparently inviting her into discussion. Luz really seems like the type of kid who practiced her arguments and speech and really deliberately stewed over them during class and meals, getting distracted as she thought of the perfect rebuttal, usually within the shower; Because for someone like her, she just CAN’T let it go, because her hyperfixation is being trashed and she has to defend this, etc.

           And I think Luz was the kind of kid who easily fell for the kind of taunts and trolling that older people online would do, targeting neurodivergent kids who take things at face-value and are too literal and innocent to realize what’s up. I can imagine Luz getting into flame wars online, because some trolls deliberately aggravate Luz by trashing on her interests and saying dumb things, forcing Luz to go on the defensive as they mercilessly criticize what she likes in order to ruin the fun for her- And eventually Luz realized those people weren’t actually interested in debating her, just making Luz second-guess and doubt herself. So she learned not to bother engaging with those people and just shut them out- Hence why she defeats her fear by recognizing such people as not coming from a place of intellectual honesty, that they aren’t worth her time trying to convince because of this.

           That’s why it’s one of her primary fears, “Jerks online who want to debate”, because there’s always that one person on an internet forum who has to be “Um, actually” and deliberately try to ruin Luz’s fun and disprove her headcanons, all while acting so much smarter than Luz, all condescending and pretentious; Probably defaulting to that “Why are you so EMOTIONAL/triggered” response that’s frustrating and invalidating to Luz. And you know someone with a good heart like hers would NOT stand for that kind of talk on principle; And as the daughter of a nurse, she’d go into a spiel about how triggers are an actual medical term, only for Luz to be accused of “taking things too seriously” or “ruining jokes”.

          This kind of frustrating, constantly-being-egged-on harassment from others online- It could’ve really soured Luz’s experiences, making her feel even more lonely and unsupported… And it could’ve led to Luz explaining that it’s not worth one’s time trying to engage into argument and conflict, which she explains to King at the beginning of Once Upon a Swap- She’s been there, Luz knows how it feels, and she knows that it never ends well and is just playing into the aggressor’s game. And when Boscha bullies and harasses Willow during Wing it like Witches, it strikes a particular nerve with Luz, causing her to challenge Boscha; And for a less drastic example, this kind of unpleasant experience influences Luz to challenge Amity at the Covention, for King’s honor.

           It’s because Luz IS curious and genuinely thoughtful and willing to hear others out in a meaningfully critical sort of way, so she just HATES people who act like that, who come from a position of bad faith and aren’t interested in actually evaluating arguments. So she’s so passionately against the type of ableist trolls who make fun of people for being so invested into their hobbies and interests (because that’s “not a personality”). And it just culminates in Luz being somewhat cautious whenever people approach her online or in real life, because she’s not sure if they’re being genuine or not, if they’ll ever take her seriously, so what’s the point in being able to argue on her and others’ behalf?

          For a while, Luz could’ve been the kind of kid who has a brilliant argument, but it’s just… SO HARD for her emotions to not get riled up, to be made fun of as her voice wavers and her eyes water- Which means getting dismissed as unreasonable, ‘too emotional’, all that sorts of stuff. And so despite setting this situation up, Luz’s bullies manage to make it look like LUZ is the aggressor, that she’s the one throwing the first punch, when they were deliberately trying to emotionally trigger her into doing so. And as @sterling-jay suggested, that just leads to the word “Trigger” becoming an ACTUAL trigger for Luz, because of the way it was cruelly and inaccurately used against her in the past- And sometimes when people use it like that, it can launch Luz into a whole spiel about how that’s super-disrespectful to people with actual disorders and PTSD, only to be mocked for being so ‘emotional’.

           That means Luz having to learn to regulate her emotions, pretending to not actually care, to be more mature… Before she realizes that no, that’s also playing by their game, who cares what those trolls think? So Luz just blocks them out, ignores them, and continues to be who she is unapologetically, blocking anyone who tries to intrude on her fun without remorse. But what happened still happened, so Luz has a bunch of clever debating skills and rhetoric left over from those days when jerks online would drag her into flame wars for their own amusement. But on the Boiling Isles, especially Hexside… Luz might find an actual, genuine debate club in the Bard Track or someplace similar.

          She’d have an environment where people DO debate and argue on good faith, from a place of intellectual honesty- A place where people genuinely, critically think and reflect on their own and others’ takes! So Luz has this powerful, persuasive energy and debating skills that she’s built up over the years, but never had a chance to properly utilize in an environment where it would be taken and evaluated seriously; So like a lot of her passion and interests, curiosity and energy- Luz finds the opportunity to indulge and explore it in the Boiling Isles, channeling that skillset and ability into something good and productive… Like convincing a local principal to provide multi-track learning options for students, and not bend a knee to a corrupt system!

          And Luz’s fiery, righteous rage against injustice can come into play during a revolution against Belos’ dictatorship; Because she knows firsthand what it’s like to be frustrated by people who claim to argue on superior, academic merits, but are only really interested in just shutting you and your ideas down… Because no, Luz KNOWS that her and others’ ideas are worth listening to, and hearing out- And it’s just so validating to see people like Eda actually listen to Luz… To actually change their minds, or else explain their own thought processes in earnest, instead of just shutting the girl down because they said so.

          It’s this ability to really critically question things and evaluate if people are coming from a place of good, intellectual faith, that makes Luz ready to challenge all sorts of things, while mentoring and encouraging those who are in a similar spot to her childhood, but didn’t have any support- Until now. That yes, what you say IS valid, and if people can’t be bothered to explain themselves properly and/or take your argument into account- Then you shouldn’t have to listen to them, and at times; Just remove yourself from the situation entirely! Prioritize your own comfort and health, and don’t bother trying to play by the rules established by others who are trying to drag you down onto ‘their level’. Challenge the system, break its rules, and don’t bother vying for some kind of moral approval from others who don’t actually care about that kind of thing; And always remember, your emotions, your anger and grief, ARE valid…!

          ‘Calmness’ doesn’t necessarily indicate objectivity, it can be apathy operating from the comfortable status quo that is being upheld. And don’t fall for the trap of lowering yourself to their playing field, by assuming both sides have a point, because chances are; Both of you are operating from very disparate positions already. What others say may be coming from such bad faith, that they are not entitled to your ‘respect’, nor an actual platform to validate their terrible ideas. And don’t let yourself be blamed for making things ‘more contentious than they need to be’ when you lash out in self-defense; Because a lot of the times, the status quo that’s being disrupted is unjust and NEEDS to be changed, and it’s the one causing conflict by hurting people in the first place.

[sugar-petals]

Bts voice analysis anon here! I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to respond ❤ it made complete sense why yoongi is the deepest I kinda feel bad for him everytime he wants to sounds cheerful or speak in a way so people can hear him he strains his voice

lot to talk about, i’d like to expand on this. especially what his voice being the deepest means for bts’ songs. plus, where his undiscovered vocal talents are, and in what manner his voice will not strain.

that he’s very introverted contributes to what you say, but yoongi is certainly the odd one out voice-wise, such low baritones hardly sound upbeat. similar to how taehyung being the odd one out in the vocal line whose head voices are literal superpowers. i really respect him for singing with jin and jimin who can climb one octave higher than him, up to C#5! and with jk who has the best technique and breaks into the 6th octave if he goes on like that.

it’s very much like yoongi who probably has to mix their tracks back and forth to fit his parts with hobi (who is a tenor as a rapper! — very uncommon) and namjoon who raps in several modes. very low, very high, very impactfully. he’s the most full-bodied baritone in the group even if he’s only the third-deepest. the tone is just so rich. both hoseok and RM are extreme vocal chameleons on top of that. in speaking and in their music you can hear the difference to yoongi all the time. they don’t suddenly drop in pitch and they’re vocal acrobats.

hobi in particular, this guy can do anything. the sheer agility my god, he connects his registers. he can go up and down, impersonate and do a million effects, adlibs, you know the drill. it’s him who actually owns the “cheerful/loud and clear” brand you mention. which is good if not fantastic for yoongi’s production endeavours, the group mood, and how bts cannot be ignored — but tough for yoongi’s voice and comparison thinking, and when he tries to make a point in interviews. maybe it’s not bad that bts have to slow down sometimes to let yoongi speak, but his tone is drowned out (not intentionally of course) in other occasions and he wakes up hoarse often as we saw. which might sound hot, but it’s not good for him as you say.

to be clear. i wouldn’t chalk down his more monotonous and silent tone as a weakness, it’s just outside of bts’ other vocal variety. he makes up for it with speed and good lungs anyway. we just have to listen more closely to him in talks/episodes/conferences but i think he shouldn’t worry about it either or try to sound more enthusiastic, the fans love his soothing speech for its pure sake. he does change it regardless to be more poignant and blend in. it has pros and cons but it wears him out.

yoongi’s voice is under that strain not just in conversation but also in the studio if he wants to bring connection to the rap line parts instead of having 3 songs in 1. which usually ends up happening anyway. that’s also why the cyphers (!) switch genres mid-song so often: their voices are all strong in different registers! yoongi the lowest, joon midrange, and hoseok up high. 

that’s why cypher pt2 is a HUGE stunt and production masterpiece: hoseok’s part is tuned differently, then other instrumentals start with namjoon. and you can literally hear, okay alright a deep voice is coming! from there it just gets deeper and deeper until yoongi is just rapping over a bass guitar (every baritone’s best friend lmao!). god, please give yoongi a big bassline for his every part. “ugh” is the exact opposite: yoongi has to start too high and namjoon also has problems with the key, only hoseok can fully take off after 1:50 with perfect vocal stability. guess which song is autotuned: it’s not cypher pt2! a 3 in 1 song fuels the rapline in a way where they are most comfortable. it’s crazy how far apart they are among each other vocally and it has to be considered.

it’s a dilemma but also why bts’ rap line can tackle any song with at least one member suiting it. they complement each other, every register (except the rare whistle register, aka what mariah/ariana do) is covered. i think that contributed to bts’ fame, it’s so important. however usually, the song caters to hoseok since tenors are preferred in kpop music, or it caters to RM as he’s the central songwriting entity even if mind you, he always thinks about all the members and works closely with yoongi.

but even with joon’s support, it doesn’t work if yoongi is caught in his wish to be a tenor. we’ve seen how much the guy talks about wanting his range to become wider and how he even tried singing quite high for his standards on d-2. he goes as far as collabing only with sopranos to help him achieve that pitch. yoongi is invested to pretty much change his entire vocal type 🙁because the environment simps for high notes so bad (which is fair, falsetto is related to releasing certain happy hormones and highlights parts in songs, but still).

... he actually can’t, unless he wants to damage his throat. that’s the last thing we want. a listener can get the serotonin from a very deep voice equally if they got good taste.

thing is. you cannot morph yourself into a different vocal type and shift your range to the opposite of your comfort zone unless you’re whitney houston. even one in a million tenors like baekhyun can’t make themselves a baritone. his lowest notes are less clear no matter how hard he practices, even if his chest voice is almost operatic and his technique excels. meanwhile, chanyeol (who’s a lyric baritone and exo’s deepest voice) effortlessly hits them without (!!) that kind of decade-long training. have baekhyun or jimin been called bad singers for not being able to cover the other end of the spectrum? nope. so: why would yoongi be a bad vocalist who needs autotune. with lessons, oh man, he could do a lot and many things he dreams of. he has a very unique timbre and enough musical knowledge to do so.

so, we see the magic of your natural supported range. it’s simply given to you. imagine that: if you know you’re not a tenor, you could sort of outsing jungkook — obviously not by technique, but projection— as long as the song is tailored to you and the notes are low enough. yep, jk’s lower register is not extremely forward. each note is perfectly sung because he’s jk, but his power vocals are settled much higher. joon/tae/yoongi would sound much fuller with huge oomph in those lines. that’s where yoongi would be much more clear-sounding to us. a lot of baritone rappers in kpop would be damn good singers. 

that’s why it’s good how a lot of rappers produce solos on their own so they can try it out. 

you just have to respect that your range usually (not always) goes in one direction. once yoongi rightfully decides to abandon his high note fantasy and goes lower just for fun, we are not safe anymore lmao! exception for range: female singers have an advantage there. trained mezzo-sopranos have great access to the head voice and lower registers since they’re in the perfect middle of the scale. but the guys, forget it, even the baritenors. yoongi’s fullest voice will always be coming from a chesty depth and we love him for it. guy just needs to realize.

that’s why his real challenge is rather somehow tweaking the rap parts so his voice finds good resonance like in “혼술” or even “ddaeng”. where his voice is strong, relaxed, and full and flowing. ddaeng — “boy with luv”, too— is ironically in a very high pitch and again caters to hobi’s tone the most, but: yoongi just scales down to his own octave and it still fits, so — great key choice and musicality! and adaptation. it’s not easy to do. you can tell he plays piano.

he either becomes less easy on the ear or has to autotune himself entirely if he works against his voice. or: goes on a track way outside his supported range (dynamite, WOW). it’s a shame. “daechwita” and “agust d” are such a case: both go into the head voice where your resonance should show the most aka the chorus. there are aggressive belts/snarls/shouts that make more sense for higher, trained voices. yoongi is most famous for raps that are literally designed to fuck up his vocal cords 😷that he’s so skilled as a rapper prevents him from that to a degree, but it’s still not healthy. he adapts a lot to bts’ overall delivery but he doesn’t have to, in fact: he could go in the other direction and it would work even better.

the reason for the title track issue: they are the most energetic. in k-pop, energetic means amping up the pitch. and that’s probably a logical choice and a natural human association. if you make a baritone kpop track with a lot of energy, it probably becomes pretty creepy, uneasy, film noir. but i think that’s exactly yoongi’s thing: to unsettle and critique and rage. i think it could work out. lil nas x is a baritone pulling it off. he achieves energetic title tracks, he honors his vocal type well imo. his live singing is cool af, i need this so hard in the rap landscape. so, it’s not impossible to do.

the trick is probably setting everything to minor key. surprise... yoongi’s challenging title tracks are all in major key. boy with luv: minor key, interesting. the former are extremely difficult for him to do so hats off. “shadow” is more suitable for his baritone as is “burn it”. it needs a very heavy, dark track. which is why it’s good that yoongi has that kind of public image. a baritone’s best genre is not super light and whimsical. that’s why all of our baritone faves are not main vocalists but main rappers. kai, taehyung, jaehyun: low voices in vocal lines are soldiers.

---

now a note on yoongi’s best method of singing since it reflects his voice type and brings out the fullness of it. as in, how does it crack and strain less? guess why “사람” is yoongi’s favorite d-2 song to sing. it’s ALL his comfortable range and the singing — very beautifully done —  is in mixed register (= head + chest)! which imo might be his secret weapon. it allows him to do what he longs to do successfuly without going extremely high. bingo.

because: even with baritones, the golden middle is still important. they’re not as deep as a bass, after all. that’s why their voices are so honey-laced in the mixed range and it sounds amazing. heaven, their timbre sounds so seductive. so, it’s wonderful when they find their middle and dare to sing. 

i wish yoongi gets/makes more tracks aimed at just that. in “outro tear” he has to go both too low and too high so it takes a lot of production effort to patch it together. the rapline is doing god’s work to make all their voices sound cohesive without being trained singers. it’s always a trade-off and risk, an immense balance act. “paldogangsan” is hard on yoongi’s voice but works as a whole plus it caters to namjoon to carry the song’s message. the cyphers are chopped up and not chart-friendly but each member is in their comfort zone. 

PS: i said bts’ rap line covers all registers except one. i think that jin is the one to complete bts’ entire spectrum coming from the vocal line. i’m no whistle note expert but dionysus went pretty high up there, i think he might be able to do it. it’s very impressive, even jungkook and jimin probably don’t have access to that register. so, another point for bts being a very ‘complete’ group.

[sillybub]

Coricopat and Tantomile!

Coricopat

OTP: Probably Coricopat/Mistoffelees! I don't really ship Coricopat with anybody, but I do quite like this ship. They can get up to magic shit and be little weirdo cryptids together. If you catch them chanting to a furby in the middle of a ring of candles, mind your business

BROTP: Coricopat & Tantomile, of course! Aside from that, I like to imagine that Cori is close friends with Demeter and Bombalurina, actually. They like doing yoga and wellness exercises together and also go out for the cat equivalent of mimosas.

NOTP: Coricopat/Tantomile for obvious reasons.

Although, I actually learned that recent Shiki productions play them (or, as they're known in Japan, Cassandra and Tumblebrutus) as a couple, which I think is an interesting take that I don't actually dislike as an alternative to them being twins. I still can't find myself being very interested in them being lovers as opposed to siblings, though.

MEHTP: Coricopat/Mungojerrie. Mostly because I hard hc Jerrie as aroace, but I'm already much more invested in Tantoteazer, and shipping Coricojerrie for me has the same energy as a lazy direct-to-DVD sequel.

Rairpair: Hear me out: Coricopat/Tugger. When I write them in Jellicle Chats, they have a very intense no-homo bromance, and I haven't confirmed this the canon of that fic yet but they have absolutely explored eachother's bodies before. I just like the dynamic of Tugger being an impulsive and chaotic person who causes problems on purpose being enabled by Coricopat, who is just as unhinged as he is, but in a more subtle and pseudo-intellectual way.

Tantomile

OTP: Tantoteazer!! I love this ship dynamic so much!! Tantomile is so calm and cool and thoughtful all the time, and Rumple "Head Empty No Thoughts" Teazer is her polar opposite. You'd never expect them to get along so well, but Teazer brings a refreshing amount of spontaneity and zest into Tanto's life. And Teazer just admires the hell out of Tanto for being so smart and capable, but she isn't smart enough to ever think to be intimidated by her.

BROTP: Tantomile & Coricopat. Unlike her brother, I think that she has a harder time getting close to other cats, so he and Teazer are the two cats she considers closest to her. That being said, she LOVES spending time with Sillabub, but their relationship is more that of a mentor and mentee than best friends. She helps Sillabub foster her magical powers, and the two of them like to sit quietly and watch the stars together, and talk about life and other philosophical things.

NOTP: Again, Tantomile/Coricopat. I think this would even be in the context of the Shiki productions, where they aren't siblings. They're already similar enough in personality and role that this pairing is just very boring to me.

MEHTP: Tantomile/Cassandra. Due to the way I personally characterize Cassandra as very narcissistic and condescending, I would more label Tantomile and Cassandra's relationship as frenemies. They both have interest and skill in the occult, and have respect for eachother in that regard, but they don't actually get along well.

Rairpair: Tantomile/Bombalurina. I think Bombalurina has a great confidence that spills over into other people. She's aggressive, but it always comes from a place of love and protectiveness. Tantomile just feels...very safe around her.

[thefanficmonster]

Death’s Tales

The Curator (The Dark Pictures Anthology) x Reader (Female)

Warnings: None (Maybe slight spoilers and slight mentions of death)

Genre: Dark Theme, slight Angst

Summary: This isn’t Y/N’s first visit to the Curator’s repository. She’s visited two times so far and deep down she knows she’ll keep coming back. Stories have a way of trapping you in the place where they live. But then again, it’s nice to have some good company for when you are introduced to those stories. Someone to laugh with during all the humorous parts. And also someone to offer you tissues when you are going through the thick of the lives written on the pages of the many books.

Requested by Anon! Hi there! Thank you so much for your request! Sorry it took so long to write, though I hope the fic makes up for the wait. I hope I captured what you had in mind. Please, enjoy. Love, Vy ❤❤❤

“Hello? You here?!“ Y/N calls out as she walks into familiar room. She immediately gets the feeling that she’s in the presence of a more intense power than she could explain - the power of all the timeless stories currently surrounding her. This is by no means her first tango with the deathless death turned into words written on thin, delicate pages for people to enjoy. She has always had an odd connection to each and every story she reads, so this place was the ultimate trap when she first wandered in, expectations low and head held high. She underestimated the repository, however, it didn’t take long for it to turn the tables on her with all it has to offer. In less than an hour, she had her nose buried in a book, her expectations exceeded by miles and her mind transported to a different place and time.

“Where else would I be?” The distinct voice she’s gotten so used to hearing replies from somewhere near by, “You know I rarely leave this place.”

 “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that’s a sad way to be spending your time. But man, if I could stay here all my life I would.“ She struts into the room where the reply came from.

He is indeed there, standing by one of the many shelves, a candleholder with lit handles in one hand, browsing the shelf’s contents with the other. He chuckles at her statement, brushing it off completely, “I was waiting for you. Have a seat, I’ll pick a story for you.”

She gets comfortable, unwrapping her scarf and shrugging off her jacket. Sitting down in one of the leather chairs opposite his desk, she crosses her legs and waits expectantly.

“Ah, there we go. ‘House Of Ashes’, how does that sound to you?” He pulls out a book, holding it under the candlelight for Y/N to see the cover with the title engraved in the, what seems to be, leather surface.

She frowns, scrunching her nose, “You know what, no. I’m tired of these sad and scary stories laced with death. I can’t live knowing I gave those characters a bad fate. I know it’s redo-able, but I can’t help but feel shitty afterwards.” She shifts in her seat, “First all those people left stranded on that boat! Then I was tricked into sympathizing and emotionally investing into characters that were nothing more than the product of a broken mind!” She gives him a glare that’s looking through him more than at him, “I think I deserve a different story this time. Something lighter.”

The older man chuckles. “I was gonna have you choose between this one and this other oldie I have,” he points at the desk where another book is already sitting, “it’s a longer story, I might have mentioned it before.” Y/N reads the title ‘The Impatient’ engraved in the olive green cover of the large book, “But that’s not in any way lighter either. I would even say it’s among the more depressive ones.“ He pauses for a second, returning ‘House Of Ashes’ in its spot, “Perhaps I could find a story of a less melancholic premise.”

“Wait.“ She lifts her hand, putting his actions to a halt, “Why don’t we change it up for once? How about you tell me a story instead of reading me one?“

He’s very clearly taken aback by this. “I’m afraid an old man like myself doesn’t have a lot to share. Especially not when I’ve spent a rather big chunk of my life in this very place, doing this very thing.”

Y/N shakes her head, “Quite the contrary, mister Curator. I believe you have way more stories than all the people my age combined.” She smirks, “Don’t worry, I won’t tattle if you have some dirt on your name. What is it? Robbery? Fraud? Murder?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Y/N. I am not that interesting.“ He chuckles, settling in his chair. “But I believe I could tell you the story of the only time I helped someone directly rather than through the riddles you hate so much.“

She’s clearly pleased with the outcome of her protest. She gives him a smile, “I’m all ears.“

He can’t help but shake his head at her child-like enthusiasm for something so simple. He’s determined to make it worth her while, so he digs through the contents of his brain, looking for the most interesting memories he has stored there - the ones that would entertain her. Eventually, he comes up with one.

“Have I ever mentioned my dear friend Alan to you, by any chance?“

Y/N thinks for a moment before nodding, “Yeah, but as usual, you were very vague.”

He chuckles, “I know you hate not being given details, so I’m gonna make sure not to leave anything out.” He absentmindedly picks up the pen on his desk, twirling it between his fingers, “Well, a brief introduction to our character Alan: he’s a psychiatrist. A year or two younger than me. He’s from Calgary. I met him in my mid-thirties, when I was still what some would consider young.” He smiles at the pleasant memory.

Y/N fakes shock, placing a hand over her chest, “You mean to tell me there was time when you, the Curator, were young? You can’t be serious. I refuse to believe that.”

“I was. And I was quite handsome, mind you.“ He takes out his wallet, opening it and handing it to Y/N. On the right, covered by a thin layer of clear plastic is a black and white photo of two men in their early to mid forties.

“You’re the one on the left, right?” She asks, staring at the photo wide eyes, looking up at him for confirmation. He nods in response. “Wow, I honestly wouldn’t have recognized you.” 

“Understandably so. Time has really taken a toll on me.“ He actually looks saddened when he says that. She can tell that was less a joke and more the truth.

“I wouldn’t say so.“ She tells him sincerely, a small genuine smile on her lips.

He returns her smile, his eyes becoming a bit livelier. “Him and I are still friends till this day. He’s a walking book of stories, I’m sure you’d like him if you ever get the chance to meet him. You see, he has spoken to me about all his patients, never once naming one of them. Until this on young man had come into his office. He was struggling with issues medicine in and of itself couldn’t completely fix. His name was Joshua. The boy was having a really tough time dealing with the loss of his sisters.” He sighs at the memory, “Alan told me he tried everything. He tried all things his years of practice and work have taught him but the boy was slowly sinking further and further down into the void of his mind.“

His voice is way different from his usual narrator tone. You can hear the weight of the events he’s reciting in every syllable that leaves his lips. She is now an accomplice, exactly like if she were there when it all happened.

“It was troubling my friend to the brink of madness, I couldn’t just stand aside and watch that. Also that kind young man, Joshua, deserved a lot better than what life was giving him. Every branch that poor boy held onto snapped. Everything he ever tried to make of himself crumbled. I admired him for the fact that he kept trying and seeking a way to succeed. What he failed to see was the obvious need for help he had. He was longing for a helping hand but no one noticed, or they simply didn’t care. Except this one girl. Her name was Samantha. She saw right through his act. But he never allowed her helping hand to reach him. He never wanted to be a weight on her shoulders. Never wanted to be nor the bump in her road nor the baggage she carried while walking it. So, I stepped in. I taught him the importance of having someone by your side, and taught her the importance of never giving up on someone who means a lot to you. Luckily for themselves and for Alan and I, they listened.“

“Forget about Alan, I want to meet Joshua and Samantha. I want to meet them and give them a big hug.“ Y/N says, her mind wandering to the images she has compiled. A broken boy and a girl with the strength to carry both her and his world in her arms. She can quite see their face, but she can picture their auras, their energies. They feel so real to her, and all just from the Curator’s words alone.

Soon enough, her eyelids start giving out, her eyes fluttering closed. She’s fighting to the best of her ability to stay awake, see this story to its end, but the Curator’s storytelling and the dark, candlelit room aren’t helping her with the battle. Her mind is drifting further and further into the land where the story she’s being told will keep expanding with elements added by her imagination. She’s certain she’ll dream of this tale.

“Oh you’re already clocking out, huh?“ The Curator chuckles, pausing his story mid-sentence.

“Can’t help it.“ Y/N mumbles, already more than half asleep, “Just tell me how it ends, you’ll fill in the gaps when I wake up.“

“Well, it hasn’t ended yet. I can tell you where it’s at at the moment.“ She hums approvingly, “It’s been five years since I stepped in and now they are happily married. They have a little one on the way. A little girl, I believe.“

A lazy smile forms on her face. “That’s nice.” the words leave her lips in the form of a sleepy sigh moments before she has been dragged into the deepest crevasses of her mind and imagination.

The Curator calmly and quietly gets up, taking his jacket from the coatrack. He drapes it over the girl asleep in the armchair on the other side of his desk. Little does this college student know, he has seen both her past and future. He has met her in several different periods of her life. She’s been like her own personal guardian angel. In her past-lives too.

Guardian angel of death.

He was lucky to have met Alan before that curse was bestowed upon him - making the psychiatrist the only man he could interact with without bringing him a sooner than anticipated and inevitable demise. He wasn’t completely honest with Y/N about the time frame of meeting the other man, but that was not an important piece of information. She could do without it. He used the only hall-pass he had to do his old friend a favor - settle the storms that raged between Joshua and Samantha. And now, he’s locked away from the world, waiting for souls to come to him instead of the other way around.

Nowadays, he just stays hidden from people and only meets with those who wander into his repository. It’s always the same pattern: they come in, not really sure how they ended up there; He coaches them through a story they think they have some sort of impact on; and then they leave and never come back.

Color the man surprised when he saw her walk in the first time. It took him no time to connect the dots, he’d recognize her anywhere. She wasn’t clueless like the others, she actually seemed like she was looking for the place. He spent the next week or so feeling like he had failed the only purpose he had - to keep her safe. That was until she showed up again, even cheerier than the first time. That’s when he knew he shouldn’t fear for her, for she was a phenomenon beyond his understanding. A soul never in death’s reach.

“I hope you never get to see the same fate as everyone else who meets me.“ He whispers, looking down at her sleeping form.

He knows she’s special. After all, he never has never met anyone more than once.

[anxiouslyfred]

Investor Presentation

Summary: Virgil has dreaded meeting his soulmate because of how much fear they must feel from him, and today is going to be worse than usual because he’s got to present in front of the investors of the company he works for. It doesn’t help when small things keep going wrong.

Warnings: panic attack

/\/\

Virgil dreaded meeting his soulmate. He'd always dreaded it, certain that whomever they were must be fed up and worn out of having all his fears dancing through them constantly. He's scared of yelling, of crowds, of doing presentations, of so many things and worries about even more so the emotions he shares with his soulmate could only be annoying or upsetting to them.

Back when he was in school the only way Virgil could ever make friends or get through group projects was convincing himself as much as he could that it was reversed. That his emotions were the confidence, the simmering anger and flooding excitement that bubbled in the back of his head while the fear and need to escape that took over his senses actually belonged to his soulmate. The belief would never last for long, but imagining it helped at least. It got him through the interviews for his current job even.

Hopefully Virgil would be able to convince himself the emotions were the wrong way around today too. He needed all the confidence and energy he could to manage the presentation this afternoon. When his team leader had asked that he do it, Virgil had thought it would be fine, but with every thing he'd learnt since then his fear that this would be what got him fired had grown. After all, it was a presentation for the company investors to explain what their team did and how a new system would change their roles, both the predicted positives and his concerns for the functionality that might be lost while adapting to it.

Virgil knew it all perfectly and was completely confident in that, and not at all wanting to hide in the supply cupboard until the meeting would have been cancelled.

/Over to a Company Investor\

Remus was excited today. He'd only recently thought that perhaps he could try his hand at investing, and of course followed that by putting all his available funds into the first company that caught his interest and was open for investors. He hadn't thought that came with attending meeting and having a say in what happened but couldn't be more thrilled to join in.

Besides this company specialised in comfort items and stim toys so maybe whenever Remus found his soulmate he could help them. He could comfort them from whatever has them so scared so constantly through their life.

That was Remus's hope at least.

“Hello, can you just sign in here, and I'll lead you through to the meeting room the investors are all gathering in.” The man who'd opened the door was already carrying a thick folder alongside his laptop so just nodded towards the sign in desk.

Remus followed him through curiously, wondering if anyone would actually check the sign in sheet. He never included the right contact details on the sheet and sometimes got rather interesting responses when it was realised. Part of his mind was also distracted by growing nerves coming from his soulmate and the concentration on lying to themself. He'd wondered for a while what that lie was.

While thinking that he'd been led to a large meeting room that his guide was now holding the door open to. “I've been told you're the last of our investors to arrive so I'll leave you a while to get a drink and get settled before the meeting starts.” The man nodded, but placed the folder and laptop down near the front of the room before disappearing out of a side door quickly.

“And you must be Remus Nastys. I'm the manager of the company, Oliver Leband. Please have a seat or get a drink and some of the cakes we've provided for the meeting. Did Virgil introduce himself while bringing you through?” A relaxed man in a suit quickly came over, holding out a hand to shake although he blinked and immediately tried pulling it back when Remus essentially threw their arms up and down rapidly.

“Was that who the fellow was? He seemed to have rather a lot to carry and distracting him.” Remus glanced back towards the door Virgil had disappeared through. He didn't care for introductions either, if someone didn't want to introduce themself it just gave him more opportunities for nicknames.

Oliver nodded, “Yes, once of the best analysts we have. He's very thorough and was asked to give today's presentation.” He explained. “This will be your first investors meeting so can I ask what drew you to the company?”

“The products.” Remus readily replied, now hurrying away towards the cake, but certain he was being followed. The manager had that energy of learning everything he could about people's motives. “My soulmate seems to be anxious or scared a lot of the time, and I thought if I had stock in a company like this maybe I can help them whenever we meet.”

“A noble decision and one I'm sure plenty of my staff would agree with. Here we employ a lot of people who use stim toys and comfort objects to get them through the day, and often they've expressed additional pride in making the products more accessible for the people who need them.” Remus tuned out then, ignoring the clearly often repeated pitch in favour of getting a sliver of everything on the table onto his plate. It would be ungodly sweet which sounded perfect if everyone in this meeting was going to be so money focused.

Before Remus could confirm that by talking to anyone else a shot of anxiety almost enough to pause his breathing came from his soulmate and the door opened as Virgil came back in.

“Good Afternoon our esteemed investors and the leaders of our company. Welcome to today's meeting. Please allow me a few moments to ensure the technology is set up correctly for our presentation.” Virgil's confidence felt like a lie to Remus but he couldn't figure out how. It looked almost identical to how he felt when confident, minus the too wide for people to be comfortable smile.

With the meeting soon to be beginning Remus was free to watch as the smile Virgil had wore while introducing fell at the knot of wires he found while trying to link the laptop to the projector. The was another spike of anxiety at that point too and Remus was one step away from declaring them soulmates and stepping in. Over the years he'd learnt to wait for multiple evidences since declaring soulmates on the first had just caused a lot of arguments with people he'd only recently met.

Eventually though Virgil got the projector set up and working without any more emotional changes noticeably coming from either him or Remus's soulmate so there wouldn't be any interruption from Remus just yet.

“Good Afternoon Everyone. I welcome you to our offices. I am Virgil Fry, one of the product analysts of the company. Today I've been asked to give you all a presentation on the new programme that's being brought in for my team, along with the benefits it has for our-” Everything fell silent as not only the projector turned off but all the lights in the room as well. There were still large windows covering one wall so it was still pretty bright in there.

Remus watched as Virgil collapsed behind the desk, clearly panicking at the same time time the feelings from his soulmate went into panic attack levels. He'd had to describe the feelings multiple times to understand that was likely what was happening but was thankful he had.

Now that meant he could move around the table while Oliver checked on the other investors and kept the room calm to Virgil's side.

“Yo, can you breathe for me?” He asked, reaching out with one hand but pulling his arm back as soon as the other flinched and shook his head. “Okay, that's fine. How about you tell me 5 things you can feel?” It was one of the grounding exercises Remus had managed to memorise by imagining all the weird or specific answers you could give that would confuse people into being quiet.

“The certainty that I'm going to get fired for this mess up as soon as Oliver turns around.” Virgil muttered, head hidden in his knees.

“I doubt he's going to fire someone who's likely the soulmate of an investor, but that's a good start. Come on, 4 more things you can feel?” Remus commented when nothing more was added.

The comment had Virgil's eyes shooting up to look at him and hitting his head on the desk in the move. “Um, definitely feel the desk just there and the legs are digging into my back at a weird angle. That's 2 more right?” He mumbled.

“So 2 more things you can feel and then you can decide if we're finishing this grounding technique.” Remus encouraged, but reached out to start checking his head for any bumps automatically.

“The fingers of a random investor in my hair? And my nails digging into my knees. Why are you trying to help me?” Virgil wasn't moving away from the touch so Remus took it as permission to carry on while shrugging.

He grinned, meeting the presentors eyes for a moment. “Well when I've literally been able to match the emotions from my soulmate to your reactions since you came back in, I'm kind of going with, we're soulmates and I wanna look after you. Currently torn between stealing that folder to take over the presentation for you or claiming the soulmate rights to take you home so we can talk for longer.”

For a moment it looked like Virgil was going to argue before he paused. Instead a hand reached out and Remus thought he was about to get a hug, perking up a little, only to get shoved backwards. As he blinked up in complete shock he felt humour make it's way through the anxiety at the back of his head.

“Well my soulmate felt shocked at the same time so yeah, I think I can believe we're soulmates, but you're not doing either of those things. We're getting the emergency generator on and then figuring out what Oliver wants to do with this disruption.” Virgil didn't give time for him to respond, already jumping up and heading out from the desk.

When Remus got up to follow him, Virgil was already muttering to his manager in one corner, getting a nod before grabbing Remus's hand and leaving the room. “So we're likely soulmates and you're taller than me. That means you're flipping the switch on the generator. Oliver is going to reschedule the meeting now since I can't be away from the team, especially if work has been lost with this power cut. He's given permission for you to stick around and learn more about how I work for today.”

Remus could only nod along, feeling the nerves behind Virgil trying to make the decisions for the day, and fear he guessed was over how he might react to it. “Sounds like fun. Can I even have a go at doing it for you?”

“Literally only if you're prepared for me to correct you the second you do something other than the bits I show you.” Virgil cautioned, but at least seemed calmer than before now.

It wasn't as safe as Remus was hoping to make his soulmate feel, but calmer he could work with for now.

[hopeswriting]

Modern AU (Adult!)Arcobaleno on socials media though. While Flames and mafia are definitely still a thing.

Now I’m by no means well acquainted to all the different popular socials media, but here’s my humble take:

Reborn on Instagram.

He only has pictures of Leon first and foremost, with him in the background in one of his ridiculous but very well-made cosplay. Leon of course also wears the same cosplay as him.

He never shows his full face in any of the pictures, but just enough his followers know he’s handsome as fuck.

The artists/photoshoppers among them regularly put the pieces together to see how he could look like, but in a funny-and-obviously-purposefully-wrong way only.

Reborn loves them and saves them all.

------

Once in a blue moon he does post a picture of himself where you can see him clearly all dressed up and fancy, and then immediately deletes it.

But only after he’s sure it has been seen, so he can watch his followers lose their shit while drinking a nice espresso.

They try hard, but so far none of them managed to save any of the pictures before he deletes them.

------

Often there’s what suspiciously looks like blood stains on their clothes and straight up dead bodies lying in the background, but Reborn went so passive-aggressive with the few who dared to ask, everyone is too afraid to ask now.

Anyone who badmouths Leon in any way is instantly blocked. But only after Reborn ripped them a new one AND let his followers do it too.

*

Skull on Twitter and Snapchat.

He tweets the most random, out of nowhere, highly worrying things, that always sent his followers in a frenzy trying to figure out why the fuck he would think of any of this in the first place??

“aren’t you ever tried of your solid, rigid, restrictive bones? don’t you want to just be Luffy from One Piece, a rubber being that can shape themself in whatever way they wish?”

or:

“nobody ever tells you this, but the stress of picking apart melted leather from your burnt skin before it heals is VERY worth the adrenaline of making fire your BITCH”

or:

“is it REALLY illegal if you break in and eat the food but leave money behind??”

------

That’s just his Twitter only followers though.

The ones on Snapchat have the privilege to watch him stumble head first step by step to his tweets, and are actually very involved and active spectators that keep him out of jail, or killing himself, or killing someone else.

Skull, recording a video, halfway stuck in between two buildings: What’s up guys, there're these guys following me and trying to kill me, quick tell me what bones to break so I can fit in there.

see also:

Skull, riding his bike, both of them suspiciously wet, holding a lighter in his hand: You guys ready for this sick fire stunt I came up with?? If everything goes well I should only get second to third degree burns, let’s do this!!!

see also:

A picture of Skull lying on a roof, his arms full of snacks and his mouth stuffed with food, with police cars in the background, that says: send tips to make sure there’s always food in your fridge for when you need it the most. #midnightsnack #snitchesgetstitches #justsaying

see also:

A picture of Skull crouched in front of a body, posing, that says: don’t worry guys we’re just faking, but hypothetically, if you were to hide a body as quick as possible from here without being seen, what would you do? #hypotheticallyseriousanswersonly #hypotheticallythecopsaremaybeontheirway #quickanswersappreciated

*

Verde on Facebook.

He creates a public group with only him as member that’s basically his scientific diary.

It’s not really to invite intellectual challenging debates (though he’d be all for it if someone smart enough showed up), but he figures it’s in his best interest to make the world a less dumb place if he can.

It finds his public, though there’s only a few comments because god forbid you say something dumb or inaccurate and Verde fucking annihilates you in the comment section.

But like, in a teacher way. Like he’s genuinely trying to make you know better but he’s just ruthless at it lmao.

Verde uses a fake name and a fake everything so there’s quickly a running joke along the lines of “Imagine if it’s really the genius scientist Verde running the group and you just outed yourself as a flat earther lol”.

------

But what gets the group really popular is the in depth flames theory involving weather of all things they have to assume he came up with it all on his own because they can’t figure out to save their lives what the hell he’s talking about?

And it makes them question their sanity sometimes because Verde talks about it like it’s the most obvious thing and in the context of just about every basic aspects of life.

Cue the conspirators and their hot new take of “the aliens were among us all along and hid themselves as the WEATHER!!!” that instantly turns into the new popular meme.

That, and the transcripts posts of Verde trying his theories that nine out of ten apparently involves very unwilling participants whose life are threatened and sometimes they straight up DIE???

------

They think both of these is just him fucking with them and it’s all fictional. They want to think it is anyway.

They’re not so sure, but everyone is too afraid to ask.

*

Colonnello on Snapchat.

70% of his content is about Lal because this man is so in love and it’s like he’s a guest on his own account lol.

There’s the “Pining Hard” content where it’s just him trying to seduce Lal, to romance her and asking her out, and Lal brushing all of it off more often than not.

His followers are very invested in this “old bickering married couple type of best friends in oblivious mutual pining” real live action slow burn fic, and cheers him hard whenever Lal reciprocates the tiniest bit.

------

They don’t know the two are already together.

They think Lal brushing him off or flirting back but in an unmistakably joking/”platonic” way is just her being oblivious and not taking Colonnello seriously.

When she would just rather flirt back off camera because it’s her private life thank you very much.

Colonnello never tells them because he assumes they all know and just choose to be in on the joke.

Lal finds it hilarious whenever she goes through his Snapchat (with his permission of course) to find numerous messages of encouragement, so she never says either.

------

But one day she kind of just steals a kiss from him while he’s recording because she wanted to, and his followers lose their shit.

Lal laughs herself to tears and laughs for days.

------

The other Lal’s related content is the “Lal’s loving hours”, where he just takes pictures of her/records her doing random shit---whether it's her making a disaster out of the kitchen, or wearing three pairs of socks because her feet are cold, or beating the shit out of someone---and him doing heart eyes at the camera.

------

Otherwise it’s just him living his life and letting them in on what happens.

There’s a lot of pictures because he’s handsome and he knows it and he likes the compliments aqsdfghj.

Or videos of him going on and on about how energy drinks are really the best drink ever while doing grocery.

Or ranting videos about how bullets wounds are such a pain to deal with and showing himself patching himself up to show how it’s done (thanks??!!??).

Or him watching series and roasting the characters for their dumb decisions.

Or him commenting in real time an assassination attempt on him in the middle of the night in his own fucking home because the fucker sure is ballsy (????!!!!!!???).

It’s very popular too because of how relatable it is.

Well, most of the time anyway.

*

Viper on Youtube.

They have a DIY type of channel, mostly about fashion---what they think about the new products/clothes they bought from their favorite brand, their thoughts on the new fashion trend, their makeup/skin care routine and favorite outfits for various circumstances, or they’re often on live while going shopping.

(I just really like Fashionista!Viper okay.)

They play videos games too, thinking they’re being very good while being very average to not say they straight up suck asdfghj.

Occasionally do reaction videos too.

------

Like Reborn they hardly ever show their face. Actually they don’t show it at all lol. They wear masks to do their videos because a hood is not very reliable.

How do they do their makeup videos then you ask?

They use "volunteer" as models of course.

And by volunteers I mean the Varia qsdftgyhjkl.

------

They also have another very peculiar brand of videos that is the most popular one on their channel. The titles of these videos include but are not limited to:

“A Due Payment Of Yours Is Late? How To Hunt Them For Sport”

“A Little Bitch Doesn’t Respect Your Pronouns/Chosen Name? Step By Step On How To Make Them Shut The Fuck Up Forever”

“How To Efficiently Remove Blood And Various Others Human Residue From Your Clothes”

“Faking Your Death And Taking On A New Identity: Step By Step Tutorial”

“How To Take Over Your Friends Brains And Watch Them Prank Themselves ft. The Varia”

*

Fon on Tumblr.

His blog becomes known as a shitpost blog or a blog run by a bot when really, everything he posts is about actual, very real events that happened in his life.

Except he vague posts every time because he really wants to keep his anonymity.

He posts about the hardships of learning more and more martial arts and staying at the top of the art, and sounds like some dangerous psychopath.

“The body is such a fragile thing, isn’t it? It tends to break quite easily unfortunately. You’d think I’d know that by then, but I really need to remember it more often so I can keep enjoying myself.”

He’s talking about how he always pushes himself too much in training and ends up injuring himself.

“Everyday I dispose of them and reasserts my superiority, and everyday they come back and it’s really hard to not hurt them beyond repair.”

He’s talking about how he’s often challenged by other martial artists who don’t like him being the best and how he always has to beat them up bloody for them to give up.

He also posts about his family's live except it’s the Hibari’s family live, and he doesn’t sound more sane of mind at all.

“I made the mistake of taking Kyo with me on my grocery trip and picked on his tell-tale signs of going through a bad day too late.

But fortunately the shop is still standing and no one was heavily injured.”

or:

“It’s so heartwarming to see Kyo make friends. The brown haired kid didn’t put much of a fight but the one with the pineapple haircut has potential.

He almost managed to stab him that one time, and I can’t wait to tease Kyo about it. He’s very cute when annoyed and embarrassed.”

or:

“Often I look back to the day Kyo got his tonfa and I am always infinitely grateful for this not-so-easy-to-kill-with weapon.

I would like for him to at least finish high school first.”

Yeah it’s very often about Kyoya lmao. And no one knows for sure what in the world a “Kyo” is supposed to be???

An actual human being is NOT the most popular theory qsdfghn.

*

Lal on TikTok.

I guess?? I’m kind of running out of ideas lol, and I know very little about TikTok.

But I’m thinking she makes a series of videos where she looks straight into the camera like she’s on The Office while some bullshit or the other happens in the background.

And it’s not even always her friends or coworkers or Colonnello (yeah he has a category of his own lmao).

As far as she is concerned everyone who chooses to be a fucking dumbass in her vicinity is asking for it aqsdfghj.

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Also has a “Doing paperwork” series, and the later at night she’s doing it, the more she’s absolutely fucking done with people not being able to do their job properly without collateral damage.

She dryly reads out loud the highlights of the reports and goes straight for their lives lol.

But as funny as it is, everyone is more interested in the very questionable out of context content of these reports???

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Also does workout videos, as in she demonstrates how to do this one or other exercise, and if these do particularly well it has nothing to do with how people want to look respectfully at her body, of course not.

ALSO has a “Colonnello’s Loving Hours” series because you better believe this woman is also so much in love.

She records him when he’s simply existing---whether he’s snuggling besides her while they’re watching TV, or dancing in the kitchen while cooking, or cleaning his guns---while looking at the camera with this tender, content expression on her face.

*

They become known as the Weather Lovers because boy, do these people like to go on about their favorite weather. Some shipping might even be involved??

It’s how their community introduces them to each other.

Cue even more chaos on their respective socials medias.

Viper’s video of their first meeting is the most popular one on their channel.

*

Yeah I know, I didn’t add the Sky Arco ladies, but I have no idea what they could do. Pinterest maybe? Or Vine? Dunno, they’re all yours guys lol.

[impatient14]

Not to be “annoying on main” but like most things here in the year 2020, a lot of the nuance and reason surrounding the fandom’s fight over Dean’s queerness is lost to the wily temptress that is extremity, and I want to throw some stuff out there in case anyone is thinking the same things and just needs to hear that someone else is too.

To my followers and anyone who dares look through my blog (honestly don’t recommend it), it’s obvious I’m someone who enjoys the Dean/Cas pairing. And when I say enjoy, I mean I absolutely get feral about a wide range of topics that involve their relationship, depiction, and reception. I’ve always kept my opinions within the confines of my blog, though, and I’ve never--not once in the decade of my life on Tumblr--gone into inboxes to send hate or even indirect someone with hate or drama on my blog. That shit just ain’t kosher.

That being said, some of the anti-destiel arguments out there have merit.

Like, for example, Destiel shippers not liking the show. Personally, I did like Supernatural originally, but I also recently recommended new watchers who came for Destiel to just watch certain episodes. I’ve stopped watching Supernatural several times throughout my Supernatural journey (which started in real time with season one), because the writing can be down right awful. There were lots of great examples of writing too, but it wasn’t consistent enough for me to keep watching in real time. So I'd watch a season behind on Netflix. At some point, things got bad enough (the bro-dependence, recycled or unimaginative plotlines, the terrible treatment and fridging of female characters) that I did keep coming back for Dean and Cas only (and honestly, it was sometimes only Castiel). 

Another worthy anti-destiel point for consideration is the fact that other than destiel shippers, a lot of people who watch Supernatural don’t care about Castiel. This seems to be correct. I’d wager to say that the vast majority of Supernatural watchers did not invest even a portion of time, energy, or emotions in Castiel that we did. That’s cool. I’ve been a casual viewer of a show and been blindsided by things that their fanon saw coming a mile away. Everyone has different perspectives, and the idea that Castiel isn’t integral to the plot when you remove the possibility of Destiel is absolutely correct.

However.

Why did they keep bringing him back? It’s true that he could easily be written out when his relationship with Dean is bro-ified, but his deaths never took until the end (and even then it didn’t). Sure, it could be “pandering,” but if only 1% of the Supernatural fandom ships destiel (as stated in one argument), it seems like a strange choice monetarily. Misha, as a series regular, wasn’t exactly giving out his services for free (eyyoo), so producers and the network wouldn’t give a second thought to the vitroil and threats creators and actors would get if Misha were written off. (Side note: I categorically *hate* the social media accessibility that lets people directly interact so negatively with creators to the point of dangerous conditions. It’s the most ugly and embarrassing side of fandom.)

It could be argued they kept bringing him back because they knew hellers and Cas lovers would continue to buy his Merch and what not, but I can’t imagine the small percentage of viewers who are invested enough in Castiel to buy his Merch would compensate for Misha’s annual salary. (But honestly, numbers aren’t my thing so *shrug*) But it could also be argued that the perceived destiel headache for creators, plus the retention of Misha’s salary, would be enough to get rid of him if not for a crucial role he plays in the show. Creators have repeatedly said that Cas’ whole character revolves around his relationship with Dean, so that means the writers felt that the Cas/Dean relationship was important to the fabric of the show--in whatever way you’d like to see it. Does that mean viewers have to see it that way? Definitely not. But that’s not the story the writers are telling you they’re writing--

Oh, that sounds familiar!

All the textual gay jokes, narrative devices, and creator interactions (not just Misha, but writers, producers, and other actors too) created the metaphorical pink elephant, not the shippers themselves. And to be told otherwise is some gaslighting bullshit. I agree some fans take it too far and freak out at the mere mention of a non-destiel reading, but the foundation for a destiel reading is based in text, not just in the shippers heads. The relationship between the Supernatural creators, actors, and fandom is undoubtedly toxic, which is why I think it makes it easier for them to deny various romantic interpretations of Dean and Castiel's relationship, but (and i hate to do it) in their defense, they definitely wrote enough into the text to justifiably claim Dean's a nohomodudebro. However, they've also written enough into the text to legitimately doubt (not definitively deny) his heterosexuality.

IMO (for the maybe two people wondering) Dean became bisexually coded in a very complicated conglomeration of a homophobic “its funny to be gay” kind of way, the chemistry between Jensen and Misha, countless production decisions, and Castiel’s growing and canonical love for Dean---which all makes the matter impossible to ignore. On more than one occasion the writers made choices that welcomed a destiel reading--not confirmed--but welcomed (which is, wait for it, queerbaiting!). I’d be shocked if no one read Dean as being queer coded and secretly in love with Castiel, who btw, is absolutely 100% romantically in love with Dean Winchester. The writers kept making decisions that fed hellers so well because Castiel is in love with Dean. It’s not just Misha who has confirmed it btw, but the writers themselves. You’re allowed to read it differently, just like destiel shippers read Dean differently than the writers have claimed, but you don’t get to tell other people they’re wrong--just like destiel shipping should never have gotten to the point were anyone who didn’t see destiel was reading the show wrong. However, the difference between saying Cas’ love is platonic and saying Dean’s love is queer is the difference between having zero textual evidence for a platonic reading of Cas’ love, and having lots of textual evidence for Dean’s heterosexuality. (Personally? My headcannon for Dean fluctuates between “so closeted he doesn’t even know he’s actually bisexual” and “very much aware he’s also into dudes but is pushing it down because : Winchester ™.” However, I’m more than happy to admit that my headcannon can’t be reasonably confirmed as fact. It can, however and like most headcannons within the destiel fandom, be comprehensively and intelligently argued to the point of exhaustion.)

The only reason to deny that 1.) it’s reasonable to read Dean as being queer-coded, not canonically bisexual, but queer-coded via textual and production decisions, and 2.) Castiel is romantically in love with Dean-- is if you’re someone who can’t give credit to the opposition just because they’re the opposition. Just because I hate Trump and think he’s the spawn of Putin’s asshole doesn’t mean I can’t admit he did *some* good work for criminal justice reform. The credibility of your argument goes to crap when you can’t admit when someone else has a good point- even if you don’t agree with their overarching theory or idea.

Obviously, the state of the Supernatural fandom is pretty much what it will be forever. Getting thousands of people to admit that its normal to find evidence to support an argument you don’t agree with (something philosophers do all the time because there is no such thing as truth and the world isn’t black and white and its shades of grey that make the rainbow bright and on and on and on), is definitely not in the cards for us. But, this is just me, throwing my altogether unnecessary opinion out there. 

(If you’re one of those people that like to troll people just for having an opinion and expressing it respectfully, please consider not doing that. I am but a baby in a trench coat.)