#is this a great gifset. no. am i tired? very

[starscelly]

"fuckin' rights!"

dal@lak 02.07.25

[fluffystevefest]

This was a very special day because we celebrated Steve's 106th (or 40th) birthday! 🎂 Thank you so much to everyone who shared their creations or showed their love and support. Every day feels like a birthday with likes, kudos, reblogs, shares, and comments! 💙

THEME ★ BIRTHDAY

Perfect by @sleeplessmidnight26 ★ Fic: 3.3k, E ★ Pairing: Steve/Tony, Steve/Brock ★ Steve Rogers and Tony Stark have been friends all their life. They know each other and can stand to be apart. When Steve’s boyfriend stands him up on his birthday, Tony comes in to make sure his best friend has a good birthday.

Birthday Traditions by @capsicle13 ★ Fic: 1.5k, G ★ Pairing: Steve/Tony, Steve & Peter ★ When Steve was younger, his mother always took him up to the rooftop to watch the firework display for his birthday. Steve keeps that tradition alive by taking his son to the top of Avengers tower so they can watch the fireworks together.

A Vital Mission by @polizwrites ★ Fic: 339, G ★ Pairing: Steve & Natasha ★ When Natasha interrupts a meeting with General Ross,  Steve assumes it’s for something very important.  He’s not wrong.

Double Date by @buckys-wintersoldier ★ Fic: 2.5k ★ Pairing: Steve/Reader ★ Challenge: Vitaray Chamber ★ Your best friend, Bucky, introduces you to one of his friends.

Star-spangled man with a plan by @holylulusworld ★ Fic ★ Pairing: Steve/Reader ★ It’s Steve’s birthday.

Happy Birthday Cap! ☕️ by @askstevella ★ Fic ★ Pairing: Steve/OC ★ 7:45 in the morning the alarm rang loud and clear. July 4th. His eyes fluttered open, taking a deep breath. A soft smile stayed on his face, and just he lay there in peace. It was silent from what he could imagine. He can only imagine how today could be going for him. He turned his face ready to meet the sleeping face of his beautiful wife.

Fluffy Steve Fest Rec List: July 4: Birthday by @ephemeralbutterfly ★ Rec list ★ Pairing: Multi ★ Hello everyone! I am doing daily themed rec lists for @fluffystevefest. The fics are related (some more loosely than others) to the daily prompts. The number of fics for any given day and prompt varies, but I have at least one fic for each day. There's also a wide variety of fic types and ratings, so I hope there will be something for everyone. The lists are vertically long, so I've put them behind a cut. Today's fics are a grab bag. Happy birthday, Steve!

Happy 106th (or 40th?) birthday to Steve Rogers, who has the sweetest smile 🥰 by @meidui ★ Gifset ★ Pairing: None ★

PROMPT ★ AGING

by time's grace by @cinderellasfella ★ Fic: 764, G ★ Pairing: Steve/Thor ★ “Does it not trouble you?” Thor asks, the question slipping out before he knows it. Steve looks to him in curiosity, his face still flush with good food and drink. “Does what not trouble me?” he asks. They've all migrated out to the tower balcony as the party winds down, watching as bursts of red, white and blue light up the city skyline. They also light up Steve's face. Illuminating crow's feet around his eyes that Thor knows weren't there this time last year.

Becoming Older by @darthbloodorange ★ Fic: 300, G ★ Pairing: Steve/Clint ★ Challenge: Vitaray Chamber ★ Steve isn't aging. Clint tires to help... or at least lighten things up a bit.

happy birthday, steve rogers! ♡ by @soliloquent-stark ★ Gif ★ Pairing: None ★

birthday boy's gorgeous side profile through the years by @soliloquent-stark ★ Gifset ★ Pairing: None ★

PROMPT ★ WISHES

Birthday Picnics and Wishes by @darthbloodorange ★ Fic: 400, G ★ Pairing: Steve/Bucky ★ Steve and Bucky picnic in a secluded field to escape the 4th of July fireworks for Steve's birthday.

PROMPT ★ DANCING

Birthday Clubbing by @darthbloodorange ★ Moodboard ★ Pairing: Steve/Bucky ★ When people look at him, they don't exactly think of 'Captain America', which is great for nights like tonight. He's glad the future still had places for people like him to meet. And many more of them, too. Steve decides to try out a new club hosting a costume party for the 4th of July. He intended to spend the night celebrating his birthday without all the unnecessary fanfare being Captain America brought. He didn't intend to get into a fight defending someone from a guy who'd had too much to drink. The bouncer's face, upon realising he didn't need to step in to help Steve, was the second greatest moment of the night. The guy taking him outback to tend his injuries, giving them a chance to get to know each other, was the first.

PROMPT ★ PARTY

Miami Nights by @thebrooklynnway ★ Moodboard & fic: 3.3k, E ★ Pairing: Steve/Bucky ★ Bucky’s wrapping up Clint’s latest ink when a captivating fragrance wafts through the air. He knows that scent—the soft, subtle fragrance of spiced caramelized apples. It’s been ten years since he’s smelled it, ten years since walking away from it and starting a new life here in the Magic City.

A Really Great Day by @darthbloodorange ★ Fic: 600, G ★ Pairing: Steve & Avengers ★ Challenge: Switcheroo ★ Steve has a good day with his new friends.

Day 4: Bashes of ALL Kind by @mercurial-chuckles ★ Fic ★ Pairing: Steve/Reader ★ You are all set to go to the Fourth of July celebrations at Tony and Pepper's when you realize you have two flat tires. You have forever harbored love for Steve, thinking it was one side. Your dumbassery tags along when you talk to him. So, you try to keep the interactions minimal. When you are at the party you overhear something and come to know he beat an agent to a pulp. Wondering why? Read to know :D

OTHER CREATIONS

Fluffy Steve Fest Rec List Day 4 - Birthday Comedy by @bulkyphrase ★ Rec list ★ Pairing: Multi ★ It's @fluffystevefest day 4 - Happy birthday Steve! The theme for Thursday is Birthday, but, like yesterday, you're getting something completely different—comedy! Please enjoy this not at all birthday-themed list of some of my favorite funny fluffy fics.

[areseebee]

The imitating-the-head-movement thing is soo great, tbh, I wonder if he was directed to or if he did that on his own. There's some really brilliant "little acting" in this show that's just so very good. I rewatched the S2 finale, and that scene with Cathy (not her eyebrows!), when she has that discussion with Ma Mary, he's full on beaming at his mother's pathetic claims about how much she's missed him, face completely dropping at Mary's "well you did dump him here quite a long time ago!", the way he says "Mum's had a lot going on" - that was sooo nailing the abandoned child in denial about their parent's lack of affection, brilliant, but also Mary's reaction!! When her eyes stay on James for a second before going back to Cathy going on about her business, you can literally watch Ma Mary's heart break for him! Considering there's some quite silly slapsticky comedy and over the top physical stuff in there as well, in some moments we really get to see how much *serious* acting talent there's assembled in this cast! ("Serious" acting talend in addition to comic acting talent, which is obvious in practically every scene I mean)

[this ask is referencing my tags on this reblog of a gifset of james in 3x07 as he watches his erin fancam footage]

yes, totally agree! there's some really, really top tier "little acting" from the entire cast (face acting, i think it's called? idk, don't quote me on that, i am not a trained actor).

in the same vein as the "little acting," the background acting in derry girls is just so excellent. i remember an interview with one of the main cast members where they talk about how tiring some of the long filming days would be because, even if they didn't many lines, they are always in the scene, reacting or doing something in the background. orla/louisa harland gets a lot of recognition for their/her background antics, but i think james/dylan llewellyn is really, really excellent with his background acting too. and, imo, it leads to a really rich text to work with as a fic writer and makes the show endlessly layered and rewatchable. i still feel like i pick up on new things when i revisit the show.

mine and @derrygirlstrash's fic, making moves, is grounded in only a look that erin gives james in the dark when the gang is sneaking into the protestant boys' room in 2x01. she's concerned about how she "doesn't have any moves," looks back at james anxiously, he very clearly notices, and then his next line is about how "boys like girls who are confident." like! why was she looking at him? had they talked about this together before? he's so quick to reassure her, to make sure she's not worried. boom - we wrote a fic about it.

or in 3x03, when james is about to sneeze on the train and erin is looking at him encouragingly, hoping she'll get to hear about his "hopes and dreams," and michelle is looking between the two of them like she suspects something, like whatever is about to happen needs to be stopped. did michelle really just happen on them kissing in 3x04 or had she been watching them for a while, seeing this develop right in front of her eyes and try to interrupt it? because i think it's fun, my headcanon is the latter and it's based literally on that one look in 3x03 alone. i'm not gonna write it, but someone give me a "5 times michelle suspected" fic!

there's just so much there if you've got an eye to it, so many spaces for fun ideas. it's the way i like to write and think about fic - to find those spaces in a source material, to find those opportunities within it to really explore what else could be there and to better understand who the characters are to themselves and to each other. imo not all source material has those spaces, but derry girls has it in spades.

[thefudge]

Hi Dr. Fudge! Firstly, how are you? Secondly, have you watched The Gilded Age or The Buccaneers? What do you think??

hiya, i'm good! trying to catch up with the gilded age, actually, lol. i'm two episodes behind. but i'm very fond of it! for all of julian fellowes' foibles, he knows how to reel me in every time! i think the great charm of that show, for me, is the way it always makes a mountain out of an anthill, like every little occasion becomes a pretext for melodrama. the show does try to look at heavier topics, and it doesn't always succeed in conveying that seriousness, but it still somehow works? like, you'd think the mix of frivolous and deep topics would be jarring, but somehow, the frothy flimsiness of certain stories creates an interesting contrast with some harsh realities. overall, i'm a fan!

as for the buccaneers, i haven't tried it yet but....ok, the trailer and the gifsets make it look kind of obnoxious and girl-power-y to me (i got the sense that the show is trying to spin the very tired narrative that the fin-de-siecle american girls were somehow 21st century girlboss feminists coming to save england from the patriarchy, but that could just be a surface impression). but then! i did see that they've actually included some sapphic pairings? and now i am intrigued.... is it worth watching? lemme know if you're enjoying it.

[heartstringsduet]

Hi Michelle! I have three Nice Ask Week asks for you! ☺️

1) when did you join the 911ls fandom and what about the show/characters made your brain go ‘this is fandom material for me right there!’ ?

2. Which of TK’s and Carlos’ outfits (you can choose one from canon or come up with your own answer) do you think is the other’s favorite? You can add a least favorite too if you want!

3. I saw that you sent an ask about Tarlos kinks, so here’s one for you! (You can choose not to answer if you don’t want ofc): do you think one of them has a kink that the other knows about but doesn’t share? If so, which, did they have a conversation about it, and is it something they engage in once in a while anyway or something that’s just a hard (or well, not hard) no for the other?

I hope your weekend and offline time is treating you well!! 🪻🌞

Hiii. Sorry I was slowly making it through the nice ask questions. And I think I owe you one but I will surprise you with one once I think of it <33 1) 911 LS HIT me at the legit best time to join a fandom. I was just back on Tumblr for Glee and then saw a gifset and thought...two hot guys don't mind if I watch a mind-numbing show rn. To be honest, I don't like procedurals. I can watch a single season and be so into it and then lose interest because the characters usually stagnate and the formula grows tiring. If 911 LS focused even like 10 percent more on rescues than characters I wouldn't be that big of a fan. But the characters shine even in the ridiculous setting and yet even through some writing CHOICES. I also love the fandom. Maybe I'm lucky to just block everything I hate early and then the very great people remain on dash but I LOVE THIS FANDOM. I LOVE IT!! <3 So many genuinely nice and just passionate people. I also am mentally not always the stablest but I'm genuinely happy to have a little void to vomit some things into sometimes or friends to talk about silly and heavy stuff with. SORRY. No one will read this to the end. I waffle. i love you all. 2) Okay here is TK's top Carlos outfits:

He CANT TALK WHEN CARLOS IS IN YOGA CLOTHES (relatable)

From this episode forth you just KNOW TK said somethign about button ups and Carlos went: cool let me rile you up in every color imaginable. cowboy dad core it is.

TK's formal firefighter suit. Don't need to explain do I?

Yoga equivalent. Hot jock!TK gets railed that night.

his first date outfit. Carlos sees that shirt with that top button undone and he forgets to breathe. Bonus for BOTH:

3. Kink question: Ugh I have SUCH a hard time with this because I guess for most relationships if not a straight-up kink, there likely are some slight mismatching in what a person might be into while the other isn't. I think for them they are pretty compatible in most regards and though they aren't always the best communicators in other things, this I think they are open about and explore together. I could see MOST kinks working in some capacity, but maybe something like TK being into humiliation and feminization and roleplay whereas Carlos doesn't really like it would make more sense to me. But he would try anyway. He is a giver but he ofc has his own limits but I think he'd enjoy things TK enjoys at least to some degree. Carlos doesn't necessarily strike me as kinky beside my firm belief of their subtle D/s dynamics but I can also see him be VERY kinky. This is such an unsatisying answer but my writer brain instantly goes: Okay but...I CAN MAKE THAT KINK WORK FOR THEM!

[tenpintsof-sundrop]

I disagree with your post because I’m a reader. I can’t block the tags, I want the x reader tags to be filled with x reader fics so I can go and read it, and I want the general tags to be general fandom posts pictures and gifs.

Proper tagging is a legitimate complaint, going to a general fandom tag and seeing only fics when I don’t want to read is annoying.

Then your complaint should be with Tumblr's search system and the fact that they input an algorithm (and with the new post type that they input), not with people who write and post fanfiction.

I have never seen this complaint about fan art. I have never seen this complaint about memes or discussion posts. I have never seen people ask to get fan art off of "general fandom tags". General fandom tags are for posts about that fandom. That means fanfiction. Because GASP fanfiction - including x reader fanfiction - is a part of fandom. So it is a part of "general fandom tags". It belongs there.

If you want to complain that someone tags fanfiction with a character that it's not about- fine. That is annoying. If you want to complain when someone only uses the general fandom tag and doesn't tag their fic with "(character) x reader" or (fandom name) fanfiction" so that you can block the tags - that is also annoying and you should either block that person or ask them to add tags to it so that you can block their posts better.

The major problem came when Tumblr input the post type that combined all post types together, meaning that all post formats are now technically one.

And I am not the only person who had a problem with this - gif editors also have a major problem with this. Because before, you could choose to specifically post something as a text post or a gif post, etc. and that meant that filtering posts by type actually meant something. So if you wanted to view text posts (which, on fandom tags is primarily fanfiction) then you could filter by the text post type. But if you wanted to view gifsets, then you could filter by the gif text post type.

Now that all post types are lumped into one, fanfiction that has any photos or images on it, even if it just an image divider, automatically comes up when filtering by the photo type. (And this switch to all post types being in one was largely due to the large influx of mobile only users that surged during the pandemic in 2020, so... thanks for that.)

(This also means that any photo with a text caption comes up when you filter by text... which is so fucking tiring.)

Your true annoyance is with Tumblr's search format, not with writers.

If you want to look for gifs from a certain fandom - go to gif makers' blogs. Follow great gifmakers when you find them. That is how I always find and reblog awesome gifsets. I learned to stop looking in the tags years ago. Tumblr's search system has been hell since they ditched chronological order.

Also, since you claim to be a "reader" - you are part of the problem in your own search results because Tumblr does use some algorithmic tools to tune your search results, including posts you have interacted with in the past and tags you might follow (so if you follow x reader tags, then you are more likely to get x reader fics higher in your search results).

I am generally pissed off by the notion that the onus is always on fanfiction writers - especially if our work is considered "cringe" or lesser - to stay quietly in our own quiet corralled off little corner until we are called upon to serve people with our work for free, and we usually will not be thanked for doing so. And we are constantly getting shit on for not 'tagging correctly' (the whole 'surprise watersports' meme still makes me grind my teeth) - as if we aren't welcome in The General Fandom when we make up a very large percentage of it.

I am just so tired of being told that as a writer who contributes to fandom in every way and has for years - I am an annoyance and I still don't belong at the fucking table. And my writing is (supposedly) the cheap TV dinner of all literature when in reality it is a five star meal at a restaurant that so few people even bother to book a reservation at.

Fanfiction - yes, even the cringey het x reader ones - does belong in general fandom tags. Fanfiction writers are a part of fandom, whether people like it or not.

[notebookmusical]

Hi! How are you? I hope you're having a good week. this will probably be a shorter ask and I might forget some stuff. I have not watched the Bonnie and Clyde proshot yet either. I have been so horrible at watching stuff lately especially when musicals can be pretty long lol. It sucks..but I'm excited cuz I haven't seen it in a long time, and my sister isn't very familiar with the show at all besides a few songs. I also just think watching pro shots will help me remember the musical more..plot wise and the more you watch it cuz bootlegs aren't really good quality lol. Idk why but I think they changed Waitress being shown on PBS so not sure when I'll watch it either..but I just wanna say I love your recent gifsets of the show and all of your gifsets of course! Anyway I really don't care about him being too old..I like that he came back for them and I also like that he was in the original and how he said it meant a lot to him to revisit them. Obviously I'm a little biased lol and I do agree with you technically but not a problem for me when watching a show. I think I saw someone say they walked out of the Outsiders cuz the character looked way too old and that was the stupidest thing ever lol. They were all older in the movie too, same with Moulin Rouge, so not a big deal. I could agree with Aaron being old just because they had younger people play that part in comparison but if he still loves doing it, then that's great. He seems to be the favorite but I have not really seen any others to compare. I still hope you enjoy seeing the show though and he has a lot of energy that night and stage doors too! By the way, what's your opinion on an actor that doesn't stage door often or takes a lot of time off performing or misses a lot of shows? I don't really know what the standard is for this so I'm just curious..even if understudies are always appreciated!

So at least your reasons make sense for walking out of the show! I just hope it wasn't a show you really wanted to see. I've fallen asleep in a movie theater but not at a show. I think my sister might have fallen asleep for a song when we saw Hadestown but that was because she was tired, which makes sense. When I used to see shows with my mom, it definitely happened to her lol. I hope you don't get too tired in between or during shows or anything!!! But I've still never walked out of a show and don't think I would, except for your reasons cuz shows are expensive. I can't really say I've gone in a show completely blind. The only times I can think of was when I saw Head over Heels and The Color Purple. The Color Purple..I saw the movie but didn't know any songs except I'm Here. Head Over Heels I knew was a jukebox musical with Go Gos songs so I knew some of the music but knew nothing about plot. I'll have to ask my sister if she can think of more. Omg I still haven't seen Oklahoma either..not even the movie but I do technically know some stuff about it now lol. I'd say I'm familiar with most musicals so it would be hard to think of something I could be completely blind for but it seems like a fun thing to do..since I enjoy most musicals. But I guess I'm the same as you for Stereophonic and Oh Mary if that counts and I hope you enjoy CATS. I'd wanna know what that environment is like and with that kinda show. I've watched plenty of bootlegs not knowing anything though!

I am excited for the Outsiders tour and will be happy to see the show and staging. However this is the first time in a long time where I've loved the OBC of a show so much so it's hard to imagine the tour cast which I'm sure will still be great. I just think everybody is perfect in their roles and they all have amazing chemistry with each other that makes the show really believable so I'm sad I can't see them. I also have a bit of a crush on the lead haha and love his voice so much...the understudies do not compare lol. This is all very subjective though cuz I've seen people say they prefer the understudy more. I guess because he does not have a typical Broadway voice or he has a specific style of singing or quality to his voice which I personally love. Maybe I've just listened to the cast album too much then lol. But the show will still be great. They just announced Grant Gustin who is having a baby, replacement for Water For Elephants which is Kyle Selig from Mean Girls. I am interested in how he will sing in the role and this is also a show I've seen people say they like the understudy more or would prefer someone else in the role. I just wonder why that is..is it the style of music or type of show? I'm also nervous who they would get for Gatsby replacements too. It's just something interesting to think about. I will send more in part 2 before this gets too long!

hello friend!!! i am okay! how are you? happy concert week!! i'm so excited for you to go to your concert and i can't wait to hear about it! 🤍

i am also really bad at watching things! i'm currently watching interview with the vampire, which just got uploaded onto netflix, and a bunch of my friends absolutely love it so i'm really excited to get further into the series. i just finished episode one and i might be able to get through the entire first season before i go to new york, but knowing who i am as a person i think it's pretty unlikely. maybe someday i'll watch the proshot of b&c! who knows when though! they did change waitress being shown on PBS but i'm not sure why :( i hope you get to watch it sometime soon 🤍 and thank you for your kind words!! i've been having fun giffing again (although i haven't giffed in like three weeks now) :)

and haha that's so fair! i know a lot of people who aren't bothered by stuff like that but i definitely am! i don't think i'll be stage dooring any shows (which is fine) while i'm there! i used to stagedoor and i have such fond memories of stagedoor but this time i'm trying to see more friends and i'm already packing in so much theatre that any stagedoor time i have is rather limited :(

i have so many conflicting thoughts about stagedoor. i think it could be lovely! it could be so great for people to connect with actors, but i think it often leads to boundaries being crossed — as many lovely, positive, kind stories i've heard at stagedoor, i've also heard of people stalking actors, or harassing them. i would never fault someone for not stagedooring, especially given the current wave of covid. but also, stagedoor isn't in their job description! and after a long day i'm sure many of them just want to get home! i think that taking time off work is also something everyone's entitled to and it's not always our business to know why — it could be illness, it could be personal stuff, it could be anything. i do think that when an actor is calling out constantly though and it's a poorly kept secret that he's out partying then that's different 😭

and no! the shows were the wizard of oz (which i do love dearly) and cats haha. here's a secret: i almost fell asleep the first time i saw hadestown (first preview on broadway). which i do think was because of sheer exhaustion (red eye flight where i did not sleep much) but... you know! i'll be sure to give you a cunty cats review <3333

i hope the outsiders tours near you/tours to a place that's convenient for you to get to and also during a date you can make it!! and i saw that about kyle selig!! i have a soft spot for kyle; i loved him in october sky & pippin (for the like three weeks he was in it) and mean girls obviously. and sometimes understudy performances just click better with people! my friend just saw water for elephants and said it was fun, but not great so i think it's just the show 😭 but that's okay! i will see you in part two!

[strangeswift]

The end of the year is near! Give a shoutout to your favorite blogs and tag them to spread positivity before the year ends! (from: a secret anon)

This list is gonna be hella incomplete but my excuse is I am very sick and my brain is literally cooking itself <3 if i forgot u I still love u I promise. Also these got aggressive which i also blame on my high fever

@elekinetic is the best in the world, the only screenwriter ever. Read their scripts in their pinned post or i will kill you. Also she has edits that are fucking amazing, watch the brutal edit or else you suck. And. Check out her playlists too. And you guys don't even appreciate her enough because she's the best and sometimes i want to grab you all by your faces and say APPRECIATE ELLA MORE! Like. Her scripts are actually insane. insane. INSANE. Anyway whatever read them now.

@eightieslesbian makes the best gifsets in the world and she is literally everything to me so if you are NOT following her then you and i have a problem which can only be resolved by you following her. She has a link to her work in her description so check it out and reblog them all ok.

@finalgirlbyers sierra loveqbrl madcleradin finalgirlbyers is the blog ever and you need to follow her immediately or else you will have bad luck for 7 years. Every take is based, every post a slay.

@astrobei is the fanfic writer of all time ever and you should read not all the prayers immediately because it is my favorite fanfiction of all time and i am not exaggerating. It is emotionally devastating but you should read it anyway and if u don't just know that i am mentally kicking your shins so hard SO hard

@andiwriteordie hmmm the best? The best. Her fics are just 💖💘💞❤️ and she is literally so smart, comes up with the best ideas. The CEO of Taylor Swift x Byler. If you thought it was me, you're wrong. It's her. But I'm like.. idk the CFO or maybe her assistant

@quinnick best friend moot. Check him out on ao3 and at @nickquin for art things. And follow him. He is fun, the nicest sweetest person ever, has great takes. Follow him or else i hate u

@ratt-duffer CHECK OUT RATT'S FUCKING ANALYSES AND EDITS THEY ARE SO GOOD im tired of u people you all suck, ratt deserves more appreciation

@chiquitablanquita is an amazing writer and amazing person. Check her out on AO3, Things I Can't Say is soo fucking amazing and she just put out the first chapter of her Spidey Will fic!!

I probably forgot many people plus i am lazy and tired rn ok <3 byeee

[afro-elf]

fine, i’ll elaborate on my thoughts about tylor sift but they will be disorganized

disclaimer: i know a few people will read this and be like “op is a hozier fan can she really talk about the cultural obsession with mediocre white art?” and the answer is yes because a) i’m black and i have an english degree so can do whatever i fucking want, b) hozier is a better artist than taylor objectively, like his mediocre tracks would be considered her great ones, and c) the comparison of taylor to hozier is part of the problem Genuinely because i don’t even think white people like half the music they listen to, they just don’t wanna be left behind, we’ll get into this later. i’m sorry to everyone who is tired of hearing about him but hozier will be returning later in this post jsfglsjlgldsjlfd

second note: read this

i don’t just dislike taylor because she’s white. i don’t dislike taylor because she’s a woman. i don’t dislike her because she writes mean and petty lyrics about past relationships and people who wronged her. i don’t dislike taylor because her public circle of friends is almost exclusively blonde white celebrities with their own laundry lists of issues that includes ryan reynolds and blake lively who are poster children for white privilege and pseudo-excellence if i’ve ever seen them. i dislike taylor because the amalgamation of all of those things is so exemplary of a huge problem i have with the music industry in general but also like american society

fuck it, numbered list!

1. taylor swift consistently releases the same mediocre album but in different colors. every album is the same lyrically and tonally. her body of work rarely goes very far above “good for taylor swift”. folklore as both title and musical aesthetic is irrelevant to the actual content of the album, which is just every taylor swift album except set to folk pop and with a bit more cussing, congrats for baby’s first swear. i’ve seen folklore compared to much better bodies of work and even propped up by stans as album of the year, a distinction that rina sawayama and chloe x halle will be battling it out for if there is any justice in the world at all. the fact that she is allowed to do this and still be considered great when this is something that even white male artists are butchered critically for... astounds me. like we all know how well received all of coldplay’s similar sounding albums are.... Come on. 

2. i don’t think taylor or her work is particularly feminist and yet for some reason every time she frowns an army of white women brings her kleenex. i’m not saying taylor’s anger has always been unjustified, but her feminism to me has always felt like “i can do whatever a man can do” feminism, which is utterly fucking useless to me as a black woman. it’s only useful to her because as a wealthy, white, straight, cis white woman her ONLY obstacle in life is her gender. and if she just didn’t have that tricky little bitch then maybe people would take her seriously. like, just think about her music video for the man... what was the thesis of that? what was the point of that? with all of her privileges she’d just be gaining a single extra privilege. she’s a blonde blue eyed thin white girl, the world kisses her feet. i have no interest in proving myself any better or any worse than white men, they are not the standard for how a person should be treated, they’re cautionary tales, and white women are too. i think taylor capitalizes off of white woman victimhood, and it’s all over her writing style. even when she’s trying to be empowered, like in mad woman for example, there is this tone to it of victimization, poking the bear, unleashing the beast if you will. she invokes the imagery of salem witches and even more boldly chooses a noose to write about in the song which is..... surely going to be a white tumblr staple for many gifsets to come but holy shit is it hollow. she also tends to come back to teenage memories in her music and she’s thirty. i don’t think about being seventeen unless i’m being held at gunpoint but she seems to think about it All The Time. and part of this is to keep herself young, at least in her music, which only further ingrains this image of fragile teeny bopper taylor into the mind of the listener, fueling her victim image. this imagery and language means nothing because the world always rallies around taylor. even when she was the butt of jokes for not being beyonce (which she is not and never can be) and writing about her exes (which she does), she was largely supported by the industry and by critics. look at how many fucking awards she has!

3. folk and indie and alternative music is in a moment of transition, where musicians of color are getting the chance to really speak about how they’ve been treated in these overwhelmingly white circles and create their own standards and their own voices. and for taylor swift to swoop in with aaron dessner and jack antonoff fantano and almost reassert that mid-2010s indie sound as The Sound of folk pop in the popular consciousness.... it makes me violent! it! makes! me! violent! 

4. back to hozier! finally, i wanna talk about white standom, fandom, bandom, and womandom. i often see these very superficial comparisons between hozier and taylor (and hozier and florence and hozier and stevie nicks and hozier and whatever other white woman in fashion) and they frustrate me for more than one reason. i know that hozier has met taylor and said she’s cool, which is nice of him and he’s a nice man, but i’m not a nice man so i’m going to just say it: none of the people who have made those posts have listened to more than four hozier songs and it shows. the reason why this matters is because these posts catch on and create an image and preconception of hozier’s music that is divorced from reality and divorced from his influences and most importantly divorced from the deliberate and reverent blackness of his musical style. hozier has his white male privilege in the industry for sure but he’s not as towering of a giant as taylor and taylor’s music is an unsalted chicken, plain oatmeal, white paint drying on a white wall, a stick of unflavored gum. her music is so white it told me that its dad is a cop. i am, as a black hozier fan, exhausted with having to share space with white women who don’t know why hozier’s music kicks me in my lungs sometimes and think that taylor mentioning a tree ONCE in her 3 minute acoustic guitar slog about whatever suburb is the same when it simply is not. i swear some of you are pretending to love taylor because your friends love her and you don’t wanna be left out of the hot new musical discourse but she’s only the hot new musical discourse CONSTANTLY because she’s a white woman, she’s almost the Perfect white woman. like if someone asked me to describe a white woman, it would be taylor swift. her position at the top of the musical pyramid among people who eclipse her musically, vocally, and lyrically is only allowed because she’s The Perfect White Woman. she’s an ideal. white girls relate to her immediately because of it and now we have this unshakable mob of unbearable white women who think that the world has wronged someone who literally wrote fanfiction about the rich oil heiress white woman who owned her rhode island mansion before her aklghlghdhlgs it drives me fucking NUTS 

anyway that’s all. if you made it this far, listen to adia victoria, kaia kater, samantha crain, valerie june, kelsey lu, corinne bailey rae, brittany howard, kimya dawson, japanese breakfast, cold specks, left at london, rhiannon giddens, aisha badru, shea diamond, nadine shah, xenia rubinos, karen o, mirel wagner.... Anyone

[panelshowsource]

I throughly enjoyed the new taskmaster episode, maybe it's because of the lack of enthusiasm in the dark void of my current life, maybe because it is good indeed, or even both who knows? I like all the contestants so far, especially my beloved Alan, and I think the series is going to be a good one

let's talk about it!!!

i'm really optimistic about the series based on the first episode! i'll start off with some actual observations and slowly derail into just...all of my thoughts, probably:

victoria coren mitchell

the contestants have a bit of an older average age, interestingly! if you think back to some of the 40-something+ contestants (richard osman, bob, mel, hugh, noel, rhod, mark watson, liza, etc.), they all 1) didn't try too hard and sacrifice comedy in the meantime, and 2) had great, comfortable rapports with greg. their seniority in the industry gives them the confidence to dick about, challenge greg, question the format, flub on purpose or cheat and get away with it — and all without trying too hard. plus, a lot of these comedians know greg and alex from being in the same business for a while. so i've alwaaays loved the more mature contestants, and this season the youngest is 35! i'm so excited about that!! you can tell from the first episode alone they're mostly gonna laugh at themselves, which i love??

on the whole, the tasks weren't overly complicated — BLESS

is there a studio audience or did the editing team just NAIL the laugh track? IT'S SO MUCH BETTER WITH LAUGHS. the dry echoes of s10 (which i just rewatched) fucking scarred me oml i'm so happy with this

i think desiree dressed a little flamboyantly for the recorded tasks, but i'm actually so happy no one wore a totally ridiculous outfit for the duration of the series. it's kind of an worn gag at this point (kudos to the first contestant or two to do it, and phil wang's cock which i'll probably never forget). victoria's outfit? the long skirt with the boots and her lil gloves? so cute ogdkjfghflkdhzk

not to call victoria out but did we not all predict exactly how she was going to be? mocking/question the tasks while also being the most competitive one there? the way MORE THAN ONCE she didn't even digest all of the information on the card to do the tasks correctly yet clearly cared enough to feel a little demoralised at botching them... so victoria. WHICH WAS VERY CUTE ;_:

why is alan already so tired omg LMAO let my man take a nap and get a bonus point for no reason, he's already been through enough IN LIFE!!! also unrelated but his skin is beautiful

guz is the only contestant i wasn't really familiar with before the series but he's already...so funny. i'm CACKLING when he breaks out the pure pakistani accent and his comedic beats are gold. can't yet decide if he's an affable weirdo (à la paul chowdhry) or a lowkey nutcase (mel giedroyc) but i cannot WAIT to find out

"you may buy the tools you need with time" is not shakespeare yes i googled it

guz's fit in the studio was sick. i also love that alan's look was exactly hugh dennis', sean lock's...just. that classic 50yo button-down and kicks. which warms my heart for some reason

greg has had quite a few crushes throughout the series, i'd gander morgana is next on his list but i won't be surprised if it ends up being guz... the absolute slut that man is smh

not to put pressure on myself to make a gifset but to the people who requested it i clocked many alex breaking character moments and they have been DULY noted.......

do you want to hear how fucking delusional i am... i have been contemplating getting a second ear piercing for a couple of years and when i saw victoria laying on the car creeper and clocked her second hole i was like "okay i need to do it"

the hold she has on me...embarrassing

for the live task, i tried to play along by picking a cool hobby, a fun animal, and a famous person, and what immediately popped into my head was "ice skating, emu, david mitchell"... psychologist followers, please analyse me

victoria doing an otter at the end? cosmic hermione energy (a thesis for another time)

more cutesie greg & alex socks~ some things never change AND SHOULDN'T

let me stop here because it's 2:45am and i know i'll have some asks in the ol' inbox tomorrow! and we can talk more!!! anyone who hasn't seen it, it's already up on my drive so please enjoy!

[missbrunettebarbie]

Top 5 characters you'd like to see gender-swapped

I assume this is because of the genderbent!Kirigan gifset? I honestly don't really want genderbents, but sometimes I am curious how a story would look like with a female character in the male lead's role. So, the following aren't really genderbents as much as...types of fenale characters I would like to see.

1. The Darkling - Since I assume, he started the whole mess. The revolutionary hero turned villain is...a narrative I could do without, as Daenerys Targaryen's last season on GOT proved. But I like the idea of an older, cunning, devious woman seducing the young naive heroine. I want a General Aleksandra Kirigan, who builds armies and wants to dethrone kings and has a very inconvinient crush on the silly girl that turned against her.

2. Lucifer Morningstar - Any version of Lucifer actually. If you want to have a heretic take why not go the extra mile and turn the rebellious angel into a woman. I want the rage, the bitterness at being tossed aside and forgotten from a female POV. Also just imagine how much female!Lucifer would change the dynamic with Eve in the garden. Both of them put in secondary roles wrt God/Adam. Both of them wanting more than they were taught to want. Eating the apple, defying God, forever banished for their great mistake!

3. Patrick Jane - Jane is a hybrid of two types of characters "hero obsessed with revenge for his family" and "eccentric and arrogant man, but very good at his job" aka the Gregory House-type as I like to call it. And these types are almost always male. I cannot think of a single exception for the former and can only come up with Beth Harmon as a female!House character. For once I would love a "She's self-centered and has no respect for anyone or anything, but she's the best at what she does" narrative or a "She wants revenge for hee husband's and children's murder" narrative. They don't have to come together, but I am tired of only guys being put in these roles.

4. Angel(us) - Totally my OC's,-Juliet's- fault. It made me realize that we have Angel, Stefan Salvatore, Edward Cullen etc, but no vampire woman has had her story told yet. Idk if I will ever do it with Juliet, despite the fact that I have some ideas for an anthology of short stories maybe (how she got herself turned into a vampire, her on-off relationship with her sire, her figuring out vampire politics till finally we have Juliet picking up every stray that crosses her path, Bruce Wayne style). But anyway, the point is I want a female vampire whose story is hers and hers alone.

5. Dad Bruce Wayne - Surprisingly, I don't even mean a female Batman. As I said, I want the Bruce Wayne that picks up kids left and right and be celebrated by the fandon for it. Where are my "mom energy" characters, huh?

[its-all-ineffable]

Star Wars and me

So...up until recently, I'd never seen Star Wars. This was a point of pride for me, because I was - and still am - sick and tired of being told (by the toxic fanboys, not the kind and awesome fans) that I was not a 'proper sci-fi' fan because I'd never seen any Star Wars film and that was a blight upon humanity.

But a friend (@fanboy-sloth you tricky minx!😘) pushed me headfirst into The Mandalorian, insisting I didn't have to watch any other Star Wars stuff, just that, cause it was so good. And it was, it is, and I adore that show. But because I liked it, I decided it was time to try the movies. So a few months ago I watched all 9 movies. I have since re-watched them:

The Prequels - they were...not very good. My least favourite trilogy. The over-use of CGI that is not the best makes me sick, and of course, the plots are largely predictable because of the original movies. Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi was iconic though, and Hayden Christensen & Natalie Portman are both very pretty to look at and adorable as Anakin and Padme. The first one of them was my favourite, but I wasn't too impressed with them.

The Originals - Okay, these were, in my opinion, beautiful trash. What I mean by this is, they are enjoyable, fun , campy and not high-brow, intelligent(??ya know what I mean?) movies. I'd been led to believe these were the most serious, badass, amazing films ever. In reality, they were fun, campy adventures that I rather enjoyed if I didn't take them all that seriously. I didn't find them to be amazing, but I enjoyed them, especially the last one with the Ewoks which had me laughing so much. Also, C-3P0, R2-D2 and Leia are all awesome! Wasn't a fan of Han, and I hated Yoda tbh. Luke was pretty cool though, and Chewie of course!

The Sequels - These were my favourites (likely because of Oscar Isaac and John Boyega tbh). They were much more my speed, and I really liked the first one of them. After Moon Knight and understanding the hype for Oscar, these movies satisfied a craving. (Also, yes, I ship Stormpilot, so what?!) I found them funny, interesting and more enjoyable than the others, and where a lot of people were cross - e.g. Luke throwing the lightsaber away - I just found humour and/or enjoyment. They felt a little disjointed and didn't always make great choices, but I liked ALL the central characters (which I didn't in the others) and found Poe, Finn, Rey, BB-8, Rose, Leia, Luke, Han and Chewie amazing in these. There could've been more done with the Ben Solo/Kylo Ren thing, and Rose too, but they were my faves.

In conclusion; no, I'm not a Star Wars fan. I wouldn't label myself as such anyway. However, I like these movies well enough, especially the sequel ones, so if you see me reblogging gifsets and art and such....just smile and don't call me out on it? Please? This franchise is not really a fandom for me, but I do like it and want to engage with some of the content.

[vxlkyrie]

through my lens

pairing: spencer reid x reader

genre: fluff (god so much fluff), friends to lovers!au

warning: mentions of alcohol, cursing

word count: 4.8k

summary: spencer comes up with the best birthday gift a girl could ask for – along with the best confession

a/n: hey y’all, it’s been a hot minute. i apologize for going m.i.a. for a bit and only reblogging fics and gifsets. i’ve been trying to give myself a little break from writing after finishing my classes for the semester, and then i found myself having writer’s block. but now i’ve found the motivation to write again! i’ve gotten into criminal minds during this quarantine, and became whipped for reid. so why not start writing for him? hopefully i can write more for him. and with that said, i hope you guys enjoy this fluff-filled oneshot!

everyone in the bau had their hobbies. spencer loves to read, penelope knits, hotch golfs on weekends – just to name a few. 

when you weren’t creating profiles and catching unsubs, you were roaming around d.c. taking photos of literally everything. a rose bush, your lunch at the cafe down the street from your apartment, the beautiful cotton candy sunset. you were seen always taking a picture, whether it was with a dslr, a polaroid, or simply your phone. you also took pictures of the bau team whenever you all decide to hang out. 

a night at the club? pictures of emily, jj, and penelope drunk off their asses while grinding on each other. 

dinner after successfully closing a case? pictures of derek and spencer having a mini food fight and hotch trying to stop them. 

christmas sleepover at rossi’s mansion? pictures of rossi cooking and the ladies making cookies. 

jj’s wedding? pictures of the blushing bride and groom and everyone slow dancing with each other (until derek pulled your camera out of your hand and forced you to dance with everyone). 

let’s just say you have a wall filled with polaroids of your second family.

photography has been a passion of yours for the longest time. although, when you first started in the bau, you felt like a burden you stated taking pictures of the team in their happiest moments. but over the years, everyone assured you that it was fine and even encouraged you to continue, which made your heart flutter. 

but what made your heart flutter even more is when a certain doctor asks you for tips on how to get into photography.

“hey y/n!” a male voice greeted you while you were working on paperwork. you snapped your head up to see spencer giving you a small smile as he leaned on your desk.

you became close with the doctor shortly after you joined the unit. probably because you two were around the same age, but also probably because of the similar interests you two had. 

he would come over to your apartment frequently for movie nights and whenever he just wanted to unwind after a case and didn’t feel like going back to his place. 

the first time he slept over, you had to apologize for the lack of literature books on your shelves that were filled with scrapbooks instead. he told you it was no problem and found himself getting lost in one of your scrapbooks.

“no way! is that y/n in high school?” he practically squealed.

“what?!” your eyes widened as you ran towards spencer and attempted to get the embarrassing scrapbook out of his hand, only for him to lift it high into the air and out of your reach.

“why didn’t you tell me you wore glasses? you looked so cute!” he laughed as he looked up at the scrapbook that he held above his head.

“i looked horrible! give it back!” you whined.

“only if you can reach it.” he smirked.

“fuck you. you just had to be 6′1.” you pouted as the doctor continued to go through the rest of your scrapbooks (he especially enjoyed going through the scrapbook that was filled with pictures of the team).

and even though you complained the entire time he went through your collection, you couldn’t help the butterflies in your stomach as your feelings for spencer grew.

“what’s up, doc?” you beamed back.

“nothing much. i just wanted to ask you something.” he said as he fumbled with his hands.

“yeah, what is it?” you asked politely.

“i-i want to learn more about photography, and i was hoping you could help me?” he answered softly as a tint of pink spread across his cheeks

god help me, he’s so cute.

“yeah of course!” you chuckled. spencer’s eyes lit up with joy as he smiled wider. “what do you need help with?”

“well, the basics, and what kind of camera to use. although, i’ve heard digital cameras have been getting more expensive these days. maybe it’s because more people are getting into photography. i’ve seen a lot of websites that garcia showed me where people are starting photography businesses and i- i’m rambling again, aren’t i?” spencer scratched the back of his neck. 

you weren’t one to cut spencer off while he’s talking. mostly because he looked so attractive while doing it, and it still baffles you how that’s possible.

“it’s fine spence,” you softly smile at him, which caused his heart to speed up a little. “and honestly, using your phone is a great start into learning basic photography.”

“really?” he quirked an eyebrow.

“yeah, give me your phone,” you asked, holding out your hand. he pulled it out and handed it to you. “i know you’re like a technophobe, but this little guy is pretty useful, especially when it comes to photography.” you explained as you opened the camera app, showing him the different features on it. “now here’s a grid. ever heard of rule of thirds?”

spencer shooked his head, which surprised you.

“oh really? well basically...” you started to speak.

spencer started zoning out. he already knew what the rule was, but he just wanted an excuse to stare at you.

the resident genius has been in love with you ever since you joined the unit. and his feelings grew even more after finding out you both have a love for halloween and science fiction. but of course, he never acted on it. the poor boy was already shy enough, and after being rejected several times, he especially doesn’t want to ruin his friendship with you.

oh y/n, if only you knew...

“so overall, it’s a great way to line up your photos,” you finished explaining, turning your head to see spencer spacing out. “you okay spencer?” you waved a hand over his face.

“w-what? oh yeah, i’m fine. rule of thirds is my best friend when taking pictures. got it.” he blinked, making you chuckle.

“hey pretty boy, we’re being summoned by garcia.” a deep voice said as a hand slapped over spencer’s shoulder.

“hi derek!” you smiled.

“hey sugar,” he winked. “come on reid, let’s go.” derek turned to spencer. spencer nodded at the older man and started to walk.

“thanks again y/n!” he yelled over his shoulder.

“of course! if you need anything, just let me know!” you yelled back as you continued working on your paperwork.

“anything?” derek whispered, teasing spencer as they made their way to penelope’s office.

“stop. she was just teaching me some stuff about photography.”

“you are such a sucker for her. just tell her you like her already. we all know you both are in love with each other.” derek rolled his eyes.

“she’s not in love with me.”

“you have an iq of 187 and for what? you don’t have to be a genius to know that she feels the same way.” derek said as he opened the door.

-

“ah my lovelies are here!” penelope said as she hugged derek and spencer.

“what’s up baby girl?” the formal asked.

“i’ve already told emily, jj, hotch, and rossi this, but i am planning a surprise birthday party for y/n at rossi’s place!” she clapped joyfully.

“isn’t her birthday like a month away?” spencer raised an eyebrow.

“i don’t even think she remembers that her birthday’s coming up soon.” derek added.

“which makes this even easier,” penelope smiled. “the week of her birthday, we will be going over to rossi’s house after work and we will help decorate. the night of the party, spencer, you will be driving her to rossi’s. just say that we’re all meeting up to go to a club or something.” she quickly said.

“i guess that’s possible.” the younger boy slowly nodded.

“are you sure she isn’t gonna be suspicious that reid’s willing to go to a club?” derek asked.

“hey!”

“he’s a genius, he’ll come up with some excuse,” penelope said. “okay great. let’s go team! now get out please.”

spencer slowly walked down the hall that lead back to the bullpen.

what am i gonna get her this year? i already got her the whole star wars saga collection. this gift has to be more sentimental. 

he bit his lip in deep thought.

then suddenly, a light bulb flickered on above his head.

that’s it!

-

a month passes by quickly when you're working on cases mostly every day. 

there were a few times where you would have the day off or at least the night off after a long day at work. you spent those times with the bau, whether it was having a night in with the girls, checking out the costume stores with spencer (who cares if it’s nowhere near october?), or even a spontaneous night out at the karaoke bar.

the rest of the team have managed to sneak around during the week of your birthday, gathering party decorations and gifts, making sure everything is set up correctly before the big day.

spencer worked very hard on his gift for you, adding the finishing touches as he stored it in a closet that was filled with the rest of the team’s gifts.

set up for y/n’s birthday party – check.

and in a blink of an eye, it was your birthday and the night of party. the team was flying back from a case that took several days, and you want nothing more than to knock out on your bed.

“the night is still young! let’s all go out!” emily exclaimed as you all gathered your belongings in the bullpen. derek nodded his head in agreement, catching on to emily’s little scheme.

“hell yeah, i’m in!” jj responded. “how about you, y/n?”

“i don’t know guys, i’m pretty tired.” you yawned.

“come on y/n, you have to come with us.” emily pouted.

“what’s happening?” penelope walked in.

“we’re gonna hit the clubs, you in?”

“definitely. spence, you coming?” penelope looked at him as if she had telepathically sent him a message. spencer widened his eyes.

“u-uh, yeah. i’m in.” he gave a small smile.

“look y/n, even reid’s coming! you love clubbing with us. it’s gonna be a great time!” jj said as she held your arms. you sighed.

“fine. i’ll meet you guys in like two hours, okay?”

the ladies cheered in victory.

“perfect! let’s pregame at rossi’s and then we’ll all go together.” emily said.

“great! spencer, do you mind driving me to my apartment?” you said as you turned towards him. he shook his head in response and you both headed towards the parking lot.

get y/n to come over to rossi’s – check.

-

after you got ready, spencer drove to rossi’s mansion as you sang to throwbacks.

he changed into a simple black dress shirt and jeans (and of course, his converse) while you wore a black off-the-shoulder mini dress and heels. your makeup was flawless as well as your curled hair.

spencer couldn’t help but think you looked beautiful in this moment, and can’t wait for the surprise he and the team had in store for you.

soon, you two were parked in rossi’s huge driveway.

“she’s here!” spencer texted penelope as soon as he put the car in park. he ran over to your side of the car and opened the door for you.

“what a gentleman! thank you, kind sir.” you smiled and reach out for spencer’s hand as he helped you out of your seat. you two walked to the front door to see rossi standing with a huge grin on his face.

“hey rossi!” you greeted while hugging him. he grabbed your hand and opened the door and slowly let you in, with spencer trailing not too far behind. “where is everyone?” you asked as he led you to the dark living room.

“surprise!” many voices shouted. your eyes widened as the lights turned on, only to see your closest friends and everyone from the bau and their families smiling at you. even the kids were there.

there were balloons that floated onto the ceiling. foil curtains that filled up rossi’s wall (he wasn’t a big fan of it, but he was willing to hang it up because it was all for you). tables filled with drinks, food, and gifts. and don’t forget the banner that hung across the threshold leading to the backyard that read ‘happy birthday y/n!’

you felt yourself tearing up.

“oh my god!” you patted around your eye area. “i love you all, but goddamnit you almost made me ruin my mascara!” you yelled jokingly, earning laughs from everyone (even hotch).

“happy birthday!” rossi said as he hugged you and kissed your cheeks. everyone gathered around you to hug you, take pictures with you, and say their happy birthday’s.

“happy birthday, sugar.” derek hugged you.

“i honestly forgot that it was today.” you laughed as he joined you.

even spencer gave you a bear hug and a kiss on the forehead, which made your face heat up.

“happy birthday y/n.” he smiled at you.

you were in euphoria as the party went on. you were dancing with your best friends and the bau ladies (and derek) as music blasted throughout the backyard. everyone was occupied, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves, even spencer, who was having a beer while conversing with hotch.

“so when are you gonna tell y/n you like her?” he asked spencer who was looking at you like you’re the only thing in the world. spencer turned his head towards his boss.

“soon.” he smiled, sounding very determined.

“as much as i love seeing you guys dance your asses off, it’s time for the birthday girl to blow out her candles.” rossi announced.

everyone gathered around the table as you walked towards the table, seeing a beautifully decorated cake with lit candles placed in front of you. they all sang happy birthday (with hotch recording everything), making you smile from ear to ear while trying not to tear up again. soon, you blew out your candles, followed by cheers. rossi helped cut the cake and distributed it to everyone.

“as soon as everyone gets their slice, please go to the living room so y/n can open her gifts!” he shouted. everyone obeyed and started to walked back inside. spencer’s eyes widened.

shit. 

“you okay, kid?” derek asked, approaching spencer.

“uh, yeah?” he answered, clearing his throat as an attempt to try to hide his panicked expression.

“what’s got you nervous?”

“i-i didn’t know she was gonna open her gifts in front of everyone.” spencer practically whispered.

“why? what’d you get her?” derek smirked.

“i guess you’ll see.” spencer sighed.

-

everyone sat in the living room, facing you as you opened your gifts. every time you opened one, your heart melts even more.

when you opened rossi’s gift, you thought you were gonna pass out.

“rossi, i cannot take this!” you exclaimed as you held a box that contained a new camera. “this must’ve costed you a fortune!” you tried to give rossi the box, but he simply shook his head.

“you’re like a daughter to me, y/n. of course i had to spoil my child!” he said as everyone laughed around him.

“i can assure you buying that camera certainly did not put a dent in his bank account.” emily quipped. you thanked rossi with a hug and continued to open more gifts in your seat between spencer and emily.

you were curious when you lifted a slightly heavy bag from hotch. you gasped as soon as you looked inside to see a brand new laptop sitting inside.

“hotch, you shouldn’t have!”

“i know you recently broke your laptop, so i figured why not save you the trouble of getting one. you also deserve it after being such a great addition to the team.” he said, giving you a small smile as you hugged him.

emily bought you a ton of polaroid film and sd cards, as well as a bottle of wine – the key to a girl’s heart.

“these are exactly what i needed, thank you babe.” you kissed her cheek.

jj and will bought you a vinyl player along with a few vinyls from your favorite artists. they also added a few drawings of you that henry made that had ‘auntie y/n’ written on all of them.

“i am definitely putting these on my fridge.” you said as you lightly ruffled the little guy’s hair.

derek got you a pair of headphones (from the same brand as his) so you didn’t have to borrow his during the plane ride home.

“now we can both listen to our own music with our own headphones.” he teased, hugging you as you chuckled.

penelope’s gift had you screaming. you opened the box and moved the tissue paper to see a whole lingerie set laid out. spencer’s eyes widened as derek whistled, while hotch and rossi where trying not to laugh their asses off. jj immediately placed her hands over henry’s eyes.

“how did you get my size right?!”

“i have my ways.” she winked at you.

you had one more gift to open – spencer’s gift.

“you don’t have to open mine.” spencer whispered to you. you raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“why not? i opened everyone’s.”

“it’s not as good as everyone else’s.”

“spence, it doesn’t matter how expensive a gift is. you could literally give me a fake plant and i will love it until the day that i die.” you smiled at him, causing his face to slightly heat up.

“well, prepare to be disappointed because i definitely did not get you a fake plant.” he said. you scoffed.

“come on spence, how bad could it be?” you said as you pulled out an object from the gift bag. you curiously looked at it.

is it a book?

“what is it?” you asked spencer.

“well, o-open it.” spencer shyly said.

you turn the cover to see a collage of pictures. it was a small scrapbook. you examined the pictures only to realize they were picture of you. you started blushing as you flipped through the pages and recalled where several of the pictures have been taken. you didn’t even realize spencer was taking pictures of you half of the time.

-

you were having a sleepover with the girls, drinking and crying over captain america. you heard a knock on the door.

“must be the pizza guy, i’ll get it!” you stood up. you opened the door to see spencer standing there.

“hey y/n! ready to watch the new season of doctor who?” he clenched his messenger bag in excitement as he entered your apartment, shocked to see his coworkers sitting on the couch while the tv played.

“that was tonight? oh spencer, i’m so sorry. i completely forgot.” you said, feeling guilty.

“oh, that’s fine. we can always watch doctor who another time.” he reassured.

“how about you join us spencer?” penelope chirped in.

“i don’t want to intrude on your sleepover.” spencer shook his hands in front of him.

“yeah, come join us! you’re already here, and i think you left some of your pajamas somewhere.” you raised your eyebrows at him with a pleading smile on your face.

how could he resist when you’re looking at him like that?

“fine.” he gave in as the girls cheered.

as soon as he knew it, he was listening in on the gossip as the girls did each other’s nails. you laughed as you smeared a green substance on your face.

“what’s that on your face y/n?” spencer asked, earning a few giggles from emily and jj.

“it’s a facial, spence. it’s good for your skin. you want to try it?” you asked as you held out the container towards him. he nodded. “you want me to put it on for you?” he nodded again.

spencer tried his hardest not to blush while your fingers brushed against his face. he could smell the faint scent of mint from the facial along with the lavender from your shampoo.

“okay, and we’re done. wait for half an hour and then wash it off.” you said as you both took a seat on your couch.

once you started paying attention to the movie, spencer stole glances in your direction, watching you react to the movie. he couldn’t help but pull out his phone and snapped a picture of you (thank god his phone was on silent).

he smiled to himself one more time before putting his focus back onto the movie.

-

“spencer, what are we doing here? it’s july!” you said as you two entered the costume shop.

“it’s never too early to plan your halloween costume, y/n.” he laughed as you looked at the masks that hung from the wall. he busied himself, browsing through different costumes.

should i be frankenstein? maybe i should go for steampunk this year?

“check this out spence!” your muffled voice caught his attention. he looked to see you dancing around while wearing one of the masks. 

spencer laughed at you while you continued to dance in the middle of the aisle. he took out his phone and took a photo of you, not caring that your arms turned out blurry while you were flailing your arms around.

“that was fun,” you took off the masks. “anyways, what kind of costume are you going for this year?” you asked as your ran your fingers through your hair, trying to fix it.

spencer was too busy looking at you.

“spencer?” you said with confusion. “spence?”

he slightly shook his head.

fuck, she caught me staring.

“what? oh, i don’t know yet. how about you?” he asked back.

“hmmm, i’m not sure either. i might just play it safe and be a devil or something.” you said as you tried on headbands that had plastic horns glued onto them. you looked at the section next to the devil costumes and saw a bunch of angel costumes. you took one of the halos and placed it on spencer’s head, practically jumping to get it on him. “maybe you should be an angel this year.”

“you think so? why?” he asked, suddenly feeling shy.

“well, maybe cuz you are one?” you grinned.

spencer’s heart raced for hours afterwards.

-

“happy birthday to you! happy birthday to you! happy birthday dear emily! happy birthday to you!” the whole team sang as they raised their glasses to the girl of the hour. you couldn’t help but take pictures of everyone as they downed their drinks and hugged emily.

after the team found out it was the brunette’s birthday, you all collectively decided to spend the rest of the evening renting out a room at the karaoke bar to celebrate.

“thank you guys! i fucking love all of you!” emily yelled. you could tell she was tipsy. “now someone put something on, i want to get drunk and sing until my vocal chords explode!”

“well, actually, your vocal chords-” spencer started.

“shh, not right now spence. someone give me a microphone.” emily bit back. you patted your hand on spencer’s back.

after a few rounds of singing from everyone, you decided to do a number with the rest of the girls. you were in the zone, belting out notes you never thought you could do. but with a little bit of liquid courage, you channeled your inner whitney houston as you all sang ‘i wanna dance with somebody.’

hotch was recording (as always) as rossi and derek cheered you all on.

“let’s go baby girl!”

spencer was clapping along, watching you have the time of your life. he had the biggest smile on his face as he took pictures of you singing. he knew that he had it bad for you once you started dancing. but when he didn’t see coming was when you placed your hand on his and pulled him up to his feet.

“dance with me spencer!” you giggled as you whipped your head side to side. you definitely had too much to drink.

“come on pretty boy!” derek hollered. spencer started to pick up the rhythm and moved with you and the girls. the rest of the guys soon joined in and started dancing.

at times like this, spencer is grateful that he chose not to stay in.

-

as you flipped through the rest of the pages, you felt a few tears started to form in your eyes. you skimmed through the rest of the pictures. 

some of them were pictures of you sleeping. on the jet, on the couch in your pajamas during a movie marathon, on rossi’s bed in one of the guest rooms after having one too many glasses of wine.

some of them had spencer in it. once you taught him what selfies were, he took one with you every time the team flew out of state, or even if you two were just getting coffee before work.

there were some where you weren’t even paying attention and spencer was closer to the camera and made it look like he was squeezing your small head.

and there were even a few where you had your hand close to the camera. they were pictures of you when spencer would catch you off-guard. they weren’t the best pictures, but it felt right for him to print them out.

“spence, what are you doing?” you asked as you tried to push his phone away from your face.

“i’m just taking a picture of you!” he giggled.

“why? i look ugly!” you whined.

“no you don’t!” he blurted out as you playfully shoved his phone towards him as he continued taking pictures of you.

“sometimes, i really do hate you.” you joked, ignoring the fact that he said he doesn’t think you’re ugly.

you laughed at the pictures as your heart picked up its pace. aww’s were coming from everyone, making spencer blush an even deeper pink. you got to last page of the scrapbook. instead of seeing a page full of pictures, you saw a familiar handwriting that filled the page.

is this a letter?

“what does it say?” one of your friends asked.

you looked at spencer for permission to read it out loud. he hesitantly nodded. by the looks of it, everyone already knew why he made you a scrapbook, might as well go all the way.

you took a deep breath and started reading.

for the part-time photographer, full-time badass profiler:

dear y/n,

you have been a light in everyone’s life, especially mine. you brought happiness to a team during their darkest times, and you have always been there for me during mine. 

to the girl who is always seen taking pictures of everyone around her, you deserve to be photographed. 

through your lenses, i am one of the many people that fill up your scrapbooks and walls, but through my lens, you are the most beautiful person my camera has ever captured (and even then, these pictures don’t do you justice).

you are the kindest, brightest, and most breathtaking person i’ve ever met, and i am so lucky to have fallen in love with you.

happy birthday!

love, spencer.

you didn’t even notice the small pool of tears that sat over the letter. thank god the pages were protected. even penelope, emily, and jj were crying.

“oh, spencer.” you sighed as you pulled him in for a bone-crushing hug. he immediately hugged you back, placing his face in the crook of your neck. you pulled away to look at him.

“did you like it?” he whispered as he wiped away the stray tears on your face.

you smiled at him and leaned towards him, wrapping your arms around his neck and planting a kiss on his lips. he smiled as he kissed you back. loud cheers and applauds can be heard from around the room, but the only things you can hear are yours and spencer’s beating hearts.

“my man!” derek yelled. everyone pulled out their phones to capture this sweet moment.

you both pulled away from each other, not being able to wipe the stupid smiles off your faces.

“i’m guessing you liked it.” spencer quipped, making you laugh.

“i love it. and i love you too.” you grinned. 

spencer pulled you in for another kiss, until you hear several clicks. you turned to see everyone with their phones pointed at you two. you hid your face in his neck in embarrassment, spencer laughing as he held you.

“this is definitely going in the scrapbook.” he chuckled.

[ledamemangociana]

RANKING HAISUTE (or the ones i’ve seen so far)

not that anyone has asked me, but i’ve literally been so hyperfixated on these shows for MONTHS and although i’ve gotten my bestie into them now, it’s not like i can bombard them with all these deep-ish dives into these things and how much and why i love them, so i thought HEY why not just put it out into the ether coz DAMN i really wanna talk about them.

under the cut for length (HELLA LENGTH) and spoilers.

let me preface this first by saying i havent seen ALL the shows yet. i havent ever watched the first run of Itadaki No Keshiki, and i havent seen any of the new Karasuno cast shows yet, as by the time i had gotten hooked on these shows, the time to watch Strongest Challengers and Battle At The Garbage Dump on DMM.com had passed, and with my limited budget (i havent been able to work properly since literally mid-July last year), it’ll be a while before i can afford their twin pack DVD when it comes out next month. ALTHOUGH i am hoping to be able to download Fly High on DMM.com before the availability runs out in the middle of March, if i’ll actually have enough money for that.

additionally, i rank these from my least favorite to most favorite, but that does not mean that i hate or dislike any of them. in fact, i have little to zero negative things to say about any of these shows. i just happen to love some more than the others, and i think you’ll be able to tell by how long i go on about each show. i’ll TRY to keep things concise but im telling you now, i’ve already tried this once until an accidental button press erased everything i had written, and this will not be short. at all.

i’ll start first with the things i love about Haisute in general:

quite obviously, the projections. before i finally saw Haisute this year, i had only ever seen BNHA, KNY and Kuroshitsuji musicals, and while they have awesome set pieces, i had never seen video projections utilized the way Haisute does, and i think it’s so wonderful and creative, and so technically sound on everyone’s part. like, it has to be so precise with cast performance and blocking and sound and lights...like. dudes. shout-out to the tech staff of Haisute, y’all are amazing.

the acting performances in general. i dont think there’s a bad actor at all in any of these. some stiff-ish performances (Noah Ishikura as Lev, but mostly in SoE, which was his first time acting ever, so understandable), maybe, but even those actors do great when they’re having a pivotal moment, scene or dialogue. it’s hard to pick faves but somehow i do have them, lol - Kenta Suga as Hinata (obviously), Kentaro as Daichi, Hiroki Ino as Suga, Kousuke Asuma as Oikawa, literally ALL THREE BOKUTOS, literally BOTH AKAASHIS, Ami Saito as Yachi, Tatsunari Kimura as Kageyama, and my top two faves, Shori Kondo and Takato Nagata as KuroKen. for obvious reasons (see: my numerous gifsets that i still have so much to add to alkdjf).

the music is WONDERFUL. the varieties across shows, teams and characters while still maintaining the main themes are just so good. it’s easier for them to be highlighted to since there isnt any singing, and so many moments are told through the music rather than the music accompanying the moment imo.

the choreography is gold af. im sad we lose HIDALI after Tokyo Battle, but im sure the rest of the shows still keep that amazing spark. but i juST. HIDALI’s choreography is iconic. i’ll talk abt it a bit more in some of the entries in the list.

OKAY, now on to the rankings.

7. View from the Top (2nd Run) so again, I DONT HATE ANY OF THESE SHOWS. the reason this is at the bottom of my list is mostly because of what it doesnt have through no fault of its own, rather than anything that it does. i personally love watching character growth and evolution, so for the most part, the first story in anything that has multiple follow-ups tend to be my least favorite part, and i come to enjoy them more as a “look how far we’ve come” thing. that being said, i do think this was such an awesome show to kick-off what has become an iconic 2.5D franchise. so much of it feels like the transition from potential to kinetic energy. a little show that could, and then did. i do think i enjoy this more with a nostalgic sort of fondness than i do with a “look how cool this thing is!” feeling, but again, that’s coz i enjoy watching things changing rather than at the start. what definitely stands out to me here is that i came to it this as only my fourth 2.5D franchise, and the ones i’d watched before this were so different in staging and execution, and that really had me hooked. also, this franchise honestly is one of the best casting in any show i’ve ever seen in my life, like wtf, i havent seen a badly cast actor at all, even for the side characters i dont really pay that much attention to otherwise. you cant help but be sucked into the bright light that is Kenta Suga, and Kousuke Asuma has to be the most Oikawa Oikawa to ever Oikawa anything Oikawa. Tatsunari, Ryotaro and Justin absolutely jumped right out of the manga and anime and onto the stage as Kags, Tsukki and Asahi. and GAWD do i love me some Kentaro and Hiroki as DaiSuga. i went in a big fan and simp of Hiroki Ino and Sugawara, so for the first couple of watches, i was heavily focused on Ino!Suga, but by the third rewatch, Ken-chan came around a corner and smacked me in the face with a 2x4 wrapped in barbed wire. when that man smiles, i just get murdered.

6. Start of the Giant i honestly had a hard time picking between this and InK for the bottom spot, not because i hate this (AGAIN, I DONT HATE ANY OF THESE SHOWS), but because of how this show feels to me. ultimately, i picked this one to win over InK because of how much character progression is shown between these two shows. stating the obvious, KAZUMA KAWAHARA. HOO BOY. and big, BIG shout-outs to Kouhei Shiota for portraying Tanaka’s emotional roller-coaster so excellently to stride alongside Ennoshita’s big journey and Kazuma’s powerhouse performance. i also wanna spotlight how much more comfortable Tatsuya Kageyama was in his second go-around as Kags, and how well Keita Tanaka and Naoki Tanaka came in as new(old)!Daichi and new!Suga. it took me a while to get to this show because i was so sad to lose Ken-chan and Hiroki after SoE, and i thought i just would not be able to love DaiSuga the same way. turns out that that’s a good thing, because they do play similar but different DaiSugas to Kentaro and Hiroki. it possibly also helped to know that KT wasn’t entirely new, and to have known of Naoki from BNHA (with Hiroki!), although i hadnt known it was him until i started the show up at last, lol. Kentaro got to play a captain who was warm and very much one of the boys, someone who was growing into the role of a captain of a team that had a very real chance of going farther than it had in a while, while KT got to play a Daichi who, fittingly, was more established as a pillar of the group (and im sure the storytelling of this show helped with that), more of that Dadchi that we know and love. Hiroki got to play a gentle but mischeivous Suga who was all about watching over and taking care of the team, watching and waiting for his turn while understanding that Kags was their best chance, while Naoki got to play a more active, more athletic Suga who was becoming more active the closer the team got to Nationals. their performances stood out not just coz they were new, but because of the theme of this story in particular, about captains and leading, so i thought it was quite a nice way to welcome them into the fold. i also of course enjoyed Johzenji and Wakunan, maybe Johzenji more than Wakunan. i saw someone say they’re a bit like Fukurodani and Nekoma lite, and i can totally see and agree with that. this show also feels a bit like Revival lite, in that it’s got a fun first half and then a more action-packed second match with an emotional gutpunch at the end. but ultimately, this is lower on my list because, through no major fault of its own, it felt like a filler show, considering what was coming after this. it felt a bit like “lets’ get on with this story so we can get on to the last hurrah that everyone is looking forward to.” of all the side teams to have been portrayed in the Engeki story, i feel like i remember johzenji and wakunan less. again, that’s not really anyone’s fault, it’s just where this show was positioned in the timeline and what it was ultimately representing. as a parting thought tho, i just wanna shout-out the new lighting scheme they did for this show, especially coming from SoE where there was a lot of darkness or back-lighting. this show is brighter lit in general than most of the shows that came before it, and idky exactly but i do appreciate that a lot.

5. Winners And Losers objectively, this is probably one of the top 3 shows in all of Haisute’s history. but it’s lower on my list because it is the most taxing to watch and rewatch, not because it’s too slow or anything like that, but because it really just is such a tiring story, and i think that’s deliberate on the part of the writers and directors. this was Karasuno’s first major loss, and it was against an opponent they thought they knew, so of course the lead-up had to be a big deal. it’s also a story that revolves quite a bit around kageyama reaching a turning point and learning a few lessons that would ultimately change him, so the story had to also execute that change happening not just in Kageyama but around him. add to that the fact that this was Tatsunari’s goodbye performance (as well as Shohei’s as Noya, but then he doesn’t really get a big emotional moment here) and it’s just heavy on the emotions all around. the comedic distraction of ShoriTaka as Tetsuko and Kenko was honestly quite welcome, lmao. quick little shout-out to Kousuke Asuma and Allen Kohatsu as IwaOi, since they got to really show off the different sides to both those characters in this, and they just are stellar in general. that bit at the end of one of their flashbacks where Iwa-chan tells Oikawa that he’s not the only one fighting, there’s six people in that team, and Oikawa breaks into laughter as Kousuke strips off the flashback jacket, and Iwa’s like “uuuhhh did i hit you too hard, or?” UGH, i love that bit, that almost creepy laugh from Kousuke and the way he comes out of it to say “suddenly im not so upset” is just SO good. im also so happy to see Hiroki get his due as Suga when he finally gets to step up to the plate - or net, as it were - and basically pinch-hit for Kags. he plays senpai!Suga so sweetly, like you really can’t help but love him coz he’s so caring. i also did not expect to be hit right in the feels with the switch back from him to Kageyama, but that bit where he says “it’s frustrating, but hinata’s expression when he’s hitting my sets is different from when it’s yours” really got me. and then when he had to leave the court, asahi and daichi send a fist bump his way, and he gives just this tiny fist bump wave that’s both tired and disappointed and sad, and it’s juST! it hurts me everytime. and before this gets long, im gonna just spotlight the last 10-15 minutes of the show, right after Karasuno loses. Kenta absolutely nails Hinata’s expression in the manga, that wide-eyed disbelief and shock. and then when Daichi tells him not to apologize because he didn’t miss, when Daichi just walks over and hugs him, good gawd. (sidebar, but i’m so glad i got to see that bit with both Ken-chan here and KT in Strongest Team.) and the way Hinata couldn’t move after thanking the audience, not even after Ukai called him back, so Daichi had to actually go get him? my heart was in PIECES. and then the fuggin dinner scene. LORD ABOVE. like, if you dont love Kenta Suga as Hinata, this is the scene that should convince you you’re wrong.

4. The Strongest Team this is right smack dab in the middle of the list because it’s probably the best staged show of all the seven that i’ve seen, but it also hurts me so much for all the obvious reasons. this is the one i’ve rewatched the least, and everytime i rewatch it, i cry as if it’s the first time im watching it. the whole show absolutely feels like a tribute to the Karasuno cast and all the growth they’ve had and contributed to Haisute over their three years with the show, and the entire thing feels so fond, if that makes any sense. everyone on the team gets a big emotional moment, and it’s so sweet to see them each paid tribute. aside from them, i gotta AGAIN shout-out kousuke as oikawa. i like aoba josai enough, i like oikawa enough as a character, but that moment when kousuke absolutely broke down in the locker room after losing to karasuno broke my heart, even more so knowing that he absolutely felt all that gratitude because he wasnt sure he’d be able to come back to the show coz of his hip injury. i think one little moment that doesnt get as talked about as it should is just after he and Iwaizumi have that short convo of always being each other’s partners even after they’ve moved on to different schools. they do their fist bump, and then Iwa walks away, but Kousuke/Oikawa is still absolutely in tears, and as Iwa walks off, he just kind of reaches out and lets out a pained “Iwa-chan!” that’s just barely audible, and that jUST. GETS ME EVERYTIME. hell, im feeling a little heartstring pull right now just thinking about it. i also wanna shout-out Shiratorizawa because Engeki made me actually care about them. like, okay - i dont hate Shiratorizawa, at all. but watching the anime, despite having an entire season be around them, i just never really latched onto them. i like Ushiwaka enough, and i just...dont like Tendou (sue me). but Engeki Haikyuu has a habit of spotlighting other teams and characters enough to make you actually think about them and care about them, and Shiratorizawa was the biggest example of that for me. their theme is awesome, it’s this big, deep, heavy thing that feels as big and broad as the players look. and i could feel their almost militaristic teamwork when the coach is on them, and it’s so good. speaking of Coach Washijo, shout-out to that flashback scene to his younger days. Kenta looked absolutely risible in the wig and giant eyebrows, but i think it was an important touch to have the person playing Hinata be the person playing younger Washijo, because their inner conflicts are basically the same, and Washijo comes to appreciate Hinata’s efforts because of it, so i thought that was a nice touch. (still dont like Tendou tho, sue me.) i gotta end this entry coz it’s getting long, so im just gonna quickly list my favorite scenes/moments:

Yamaguchi’s pinch serve, and bringing out the spear. Kairi Miura wields that spear like he’s been doing it all his life.

Tsukki’s big “GODDAMMIT I THINK I LOVE VOLLEYBALL NOW” moment. the expression on ryotaro’s face right at the end of that scene, where he’s basically saying “it’s just a club, AND YET!” uuuggggghhhh, please i love it. also, shout-out to when Hinata pointed at him and just said “...nice.” like...that always feels like only half Hinata and Tsukki, and more half-Kenta and his best friend Ryotaro, just like the “Tsukki! that one was worth a 100 points!” line that absolutely gets Ryotaro so that on the live cam he had to turn his head away before he meant to for the next bit.

that moment in the last-ish set of the match where everyone is just DESPERATE to win, so it becomes this frantic rally and volley where everyone just starts to grunt and yell louder and louder, and people are running back and forth and jumping and diving, and it’s just this cacophony of sound and blur of movement that just seems to stretch on and on, until finally Shiratorizawa just yells “SHUT UP! WE’RE STRONGER!” and knocks all of Karasuno down. WHEW. that bit is just. WHEW. i almost always forget to breathe at that point. and then the waterworks get turned on as Ukai tearfully tells them to get back up, because volleyball is a sport where you HAVE to look up. LORDDDDD.

the bit towards the end of the match, after tsukki returns from his injury, where they absolutely acted out Ushiwaka pushing Hinata and Tsukki to the floor and holding their heads down. when i first watched it, i gasped because that is straight out of the anime and manga, and then when the rest of Karasuno came in to pull Ushi off, i just turned into a giant sobbing mess.

the graduation curtain call, obviously, but in particular, the bit that will ALWAYS, WITHOUT FAIL, destroy me is when Kenta says “this show was so tiring and tough sometimes, but when i look back, all i can remember are the good times, the best times.” GODDAMMIT IM TEARING UP BADLY RN JUST THINKING ABOUT THAT BIT.

3. Summer Of Evolution this is where the lines between the rankings get a little bit blurred, because i love these top three equally for the most part, but i had to choose a number two (i absolutely know what my number one is), and when i really think about it, SoE just gets edged out by my number two, but barely. i think what i love the most about this show is that this, more than any of the other shows, really portrays these characters as high school kids. and that’s not just because part of the story is set in the school and it’s actually showing the school sometimes, but coz they’re going through and portraying teenage experiences and emotions. most of the other shows portray the team in matches, so we’re seeing them more as volleyball players than teenagers or students, but we get to finally see that here, and it’s really refreshing. other than that, im gonna try to just list some of my highlights and favorites again coz i dont wanna keep going too long:

im so glad to finally have girls on the show, and not just in a “YAY FEMINISM! GIRL POWER! WHOO!” kind of way. kiyoko has always felt like an inextricable part of the team for me, so it was bittersweet to have such a great Karasuno cast but without a Kiyoko, so i was REALLY happy to finally get her here! and for a first time actor ever, Shizune was so awesome! she absolutely has that gentle strength that Kiyoko has, and the way she’s been written in absolutely does feel like she’s always been there. i do wish she got more to do with the third year boys, but all in all, it’s SO good to have an actual Kiyoko who absolutely looks like she came out of the manga.

im also just so DAMN happy about Yachi and her portrayal here. i think ami saito is so dang perfect, and yachi is such a fun addition that fits right in with the chaotic fun of Karasuno. one thing that i REALLY love, though, is how she gets to just act. before Haisute, my only experience of female characters and actors on a 2.5D stage is with Uraraka (and two or three other female students) in BNHA and Elizabeth in Kuroshitsuji, and those characters are your typical cutesy girls, and their movements and body language are so typically girly, you know what i mean, those softer arms and smaller movements, looser fingers, these little “Kyaa~” things, those things. but Kiyoko, Yachi and Saeko arent like that, so that’s not how they’re portrayed here. Ami as Yachi is just as loud and expressive and active as the Karasuno boys, bar actually playing in a match. also, her chemistry with Kenta is SO GOOD. i dont really ship YachiHina, i think they’re cute friends, but BOY DID THESE TWO MAKE ME RETHINK THAT. ami’s Yachi with Kenta’s Hinata made me think “YOU KNOW WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THESE TWO GO ON A CHAPERONED DATE.” they’re adorable. a particular fave of mine is when hinata climbs a tree to help a baby bird back into its nest and he asks Yachi if she wants to climb up too, and also after Yachi finishes making the Hinata poster, she jumps onto the back of Hinata’s bike and they ride off-stage together. PLEASE IT’S SO CUTE.

also: SAEKO NEE-SAN PLEASE STEP ON ME.

OH HI FUKURODANI. they are such good chaos boys, i love them. i dont have much to say about them here just yet, but WOW im so glad to have them onstage at last.  

NEKOMA IS BACK THANK GAWD I LOVE NEKOMA. of all the teams portrayed, i think nekoma is the one that feels the most connected together (AHA!). like, even when they have a new character and/or cast member, the new ones never really stand out as new, they feel like they’ve always been there. this play really showcases the teams at their most casual so we dont get to see as much of their excellent teamwork and connection as we do in past and future shows, but you really get a sense of their family dynamic and just GOD I LOVE THEM SO MUCH, and honestly dont get me started on ShoriTaka, i will literally never stop

shout-out to Tatsuya Kageyama, he had big shoes to fill not just in terms of character but also as an actor, since this is his first show ever. much like with KT and Naoki as DaiSuga, it does feel like he plays a similar enough Kageyama without just mimicing Tacchu. this is also the right Kags arc to introduce a new Kageyama actor with as well, since there’s a big change after that loss to Aoba Josai and Oikawa, so i think the writing of the show also absolutely helped Kage-chan ease into his role, and helped the audience ease into this new Kageyama. overall, i think he did an awesome job, and we’re really fortunate to have had two awesome Kageyamas before gen 1/1.5 changed to gen 2.

i also just noticed/realized that the backstage video for SoE starts with the introduction of Kage-chan and Fucchi as new cast members, and ends with the farewell to Ken-chan and Hiroki as graduating members, and i know that’s just natural coz the first time the Karasuno cast met the two new members was at the photoshoot for visuals, but also what a nice little circle of life there.

COMING INTO THE HOMESTRETCH NOW, if you’ve made it this far, thank you SO MUCH, im sorry, i really just have a tendency to ramble, and like i said, i dont really have anyone or an opportunity to talk this deep about these shows to, so thanks so much for your time.

2. Karasuno, Revival! WHEW okay, so idk if this is Unpopular Opinion or controversial coz objectively it is the best show so far, and i’ve put it only at number 2. BUT LISTEN: before i saw Tokyo Battle, this was absolutely my number 1 favorite. the Dateko match is so good and so fun to watch, and honestly, that rap battle gives me so much life im almost immortal now. i LOVE that they also got to show ikejiri (THANK YOU KENTA SUGA) and ken-chan as daichi got his moments because of it, and it gave us “katou tou shinakya, katenai!” as an iconic quote and theme for the show, we got a fantastic moment for Asahi that was paid off from the previous show, also honestly “otchita kyougo, tobenai garasu” is just gonna be stuck in your head forever for a while. we also got Kousuke and Allen’s excellent IwaOi back, bringing with them their “Iwa-chan, are you my mom” dynamic (and gawd the cackle i let out when Iwa yeets a volleyball at Oikawa, or that turn and yell that makes Oikawa yelp as he exits off stage lkasdjf), which is always a plus. but! BUT!! best thING FOR ME???? NEKOMA, BABY!! like im sorry, im biased, but i fuggin LOVE nekoma, kuroo is my favorite character in the entire series, and Haisute really gave them a fantastic story and dynamic, because again, there’s so much you can do on stage that you sometimes cant do in anime or manga, so they were really able to highlight Nekoma’s famous teamwork, especially when centered around Kenma. more on that later, but like. it was just such a JOY to watch Karasuno, still kind of scattered puzzle pieces at this point trying to figure out how to best go together to create one big picture, go up against the smooth teamwork of Nekoma, and learn and grow from it. also they honestly have the best team theme music and team dance, fite me. also thank you Haisute for making KuroDai so painfully real lakdsfj

1. Tokyo Battle okay okaY OKAY OKAY OKAY. i think there are some people who actually like this the least coz it’s just too different from the rest of the shows that came before it - no Karasuno, less projections, different music style, aesthetically different stage, etc. B U T. aside from me just being biased because Nekoma are my favorite team, i actually think many of those differences are what makes this show my favorite one. first of all, the music is LIT AF. the themes for each team are so distinct, they really help play up the animal motifs that are played up the most in this show than in any of the others. secondly, THAT CHOREOGRAPHY THO. good gawd. HIDALI said “it’s our last Haisute, let’s go out with a bang” and they really fuggin did. Fukurodani absolutely is TOKYO PARTY TIME, they got to really play up their party birds schtick and i love it. Nohebi i cannot HELP but love because i love snakes, but also, with Nohebi’s cast, you can tell the choreographers were so happy to finally have an actual technical dancer. they had yuu fukuzawa doing the most and then some in playing up the snake theme, and it’s literally so hypnotic to watch his pops, locks and isolations. he’s also just such an AWESOME daisho, and it helps that nohebi are written to be cunning and sneaky. i also love that he and Kuroo seem to actually have a lot of untold history, and i kind of wish we could get a bit more elaboration on that, coz Yuu’s and Shori’s chemistry as frenemy team captains is SO GOOD. and then of course. NEKOMA, BABY!! so okay. kenma absolutely should be the lead of this show, and he is, BUT he’s also, to a certain extent, inextricable from Kuroo and the rest of the team, so that you dont always get that feeling of Kenma being in the spotlight the same way Hinata is (for understandable reasons since Nekoma arent even really the main characters of the story as a whole), and i think that’s important because, again, Nekoma is all about that teamwork and connection. like, Kenma is the lead because he thinks for Nekoma, and Nekoma acts accordingly, instead of how it is usually where the story is showing Hinata’s perspective alone. it also feels like that in terms of the actors. like, technically Takato is zachou, and he is, but also several times in the curtain call speeches, the cast members refer to or mention both Takato and Shori together. even Takato says that when he had spoken to Kenta about how nervous he was about taking up the zachou mantle from him, Kenta had said “if it’s you and shori, you’ll be fine.” they are a unit, and it really comes across in their portrayals of Kuroo and Kenma as well, and even if you love nothing else about this show, you literally cannot help but love that about them. i think the show does a great job revolving the Nekoma team dynamic around that too without making it the ONLY thing that keeps Nekoma together. the star of the show is absolutely the theme of “connection” (more than the other theme of promises), and if you’ve seen the show and you dont cry at the “Tsunage” section as Nekoma wins the match against Nohebi, then are you really watching the show lmao.

OKAY OKAY I’VE REALLY RAMBLED ON, and if you made it all the way here, THANK YOU AND IM SORRY. but also, there’s still a lot of things i wanna talk about that i didnt talk about here coz im mostly a scatterbrain and live half my life radiating BDE - Bokuto Dumbass Energy. so if you’re also ridiculously obsessed with these shows and wanna talk about it, my inbox is open. someone come hyperfixate with me while i make SO MANY MORE GIFSETS OHMYGOD ALL THE GIFSETS geezas crust when i get to Tokyo Battle i will be insufferable.

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Spoilers Ahead For IPYTM EP 4!

Well, it happened.

So, they broke up. Wow, that was surprising. Yes, of course it was the right decision, but man it is not common to see in BL’s. A lot of BL relationships are rocky at times, or they take breaks that aren’t really breaks until they kiss and make up, but rarely do we see the words ‘break up’ actually used and there being a scene specifically for it. I didn’t expect them to go in so deep with it. Now, I want to say this because I’ve been thinking this for the last couple episodes, the acting isn’t great this season. No, it’s not bad, and man, does it sure carry a lot of the scenes without development, but it does fall flat a lot more often here then it did in ITSAY. There are moments when it is still and especially tired. I’m talking specifically about PP and Billkin here, since their performances are the focal point of the series. I don’t hate it, but it does make some scenes uncomfortable, and I’ve noticed during certain emotional scenes they sort of just make the same expressions over and over with it feeling really fake at some points (like when Oh-aew cries to his friends at the end of the episode). I’m by no means bashing any one, really, I just wish they gave this all more time. It’s obvious they were tried and so much had to go into getting into the headspace for this show, it’s clear it took a toll on them. I wish they had more time to rest, things must’ve been non stop for them since ITSAY with not only IPYTM to film but also interviews, brand deals, the documentary, photoshoots, etc. Hope they rest well soon. Now, for the episode.  Well, just as I said last time, not sure how I feel about Jai. He obvious feels guilty when he hears Teh talk about how he feels for Jai in the aftermath of talking with Oh-aew, but it doesn’t redeem him all the way because he still intentionally made Teh think they had a spark of something together not just with the kiss but everything else, like talking about his ex or taking him down to that view, period, and well, it’s not a very good thing to do, manipulating someone’s feelings so they’d act how you want them to in your play. Anyway, Jai is complicated, but seems to be mostly a background character in the story again with the end of the episode.  Judging from the gifs I’d seen, I really expected more of angry break up scene, but it was very hushed and vulnerable, even when Oh-aew was telling Teh to leave him alone and how he didn’t want to see him anymore. I like the choice not to include music till a certain point, it definitely helps because this is one of the most crucial as well as one of the better acted scenes of the series. I think PP and Billkin thrive best in scenes like this where there is a lot beneath the surface they try to hide or hold back, allows them to now go full in ugly crying but also strays from just sitting normally. I like the responsibility given to Teh and his actions here. We know he knows he messed up, but also that things are more complicated than just admititng that or just giving up what he felt for Jai. What he did was undoubtedly wrong, but nothing is ever just that simple, so there is a struggle on both ends. We see a lot of call backs this episode to things from the first episode clothing wise, etc. It stands to prove how big a part of each others lives they were and still are. The bed reminds them of night together, when they think about school work they think if the other is doing well, break ups aren’t easy, we all know that. Thought it was a bit of a weird place to put Teh’s roommate as an actual character, but, whatever, I like him. Towards the end of the episode we get  another look into an independence storyline, this time not just with Oh-aew, but also with Teh, them both trying to build a foundation without one another. Teh in acting without Oh-aew’s support and Oh-aew in agreeing with his friends to forget Teh. They’re both trying to find a life without one another after not having thought about it in years, but in the end, I think it’s better for them to be apart. I am worried seeing the preview though, cause it looks an awful lot like we may see them together again or reconsiling in some way, by the set up to have Oh-aew be helping Teh in work, presumably before a performance of some sort, which always leads to a heart to heart with pressed time where they may or may not have to choose between one thing or another. No matter what, an hour isn’t enough to cover anything new developing between them, but there would be no purpose filling an episode with just their solo lives, not really. So, hoping we get a Oh-aew centered episode after these last two (though this one was sort of split), and not having too high of hopes because no matter what, one episode just isn’t enough. I know there will be some beautiful shots though, so I’ll enjoy the gifsets.  And, for those wondering, it is past 7 AM now and I am tired, so if this is lazy, sorry I’ll organize better for the last one since there isn’t anything to wait for after that one.

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Hiiii, guys! I'm alive, just awfully busy atm, so haven't really had the time to be on here much or to create. Have a lot of work, am due another research paper in November, and our flat is a mess (making small adjustments to most of the rooms. The leaking basins are fixed at last, tho, prevail!). But! On AO3 you can find the second part (chapter 3) of my Peaky Blinders fic for which I have to make a proper header yet and post it on tumblr after, but seeing forward to that this weekend. I see myself maybe making a matching gifset, will see how my computer will cooperate. I'm very, very tired and not in a great place mentally, though trying to take at least small chunks of time each day to do the things I enjoy, so hopefully I'll be posting more writing soon. Hope you guys are doing good and are healthy! Hit me up in the dms if you're in a mood for a chat! (will probably not be replying straight away, but totally WILL reply eventually)