#it has a similar vibe to those gothic posts

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

FINALLY I'VE FINISHED MY FIRST BATMAN CHARACTER REF SHEET!!!!!!! Ignore the fact that Gentleman Ghost didn't even originate as a Batman character okay I just had the clearest idea of what I wanted this one to look like- either way, now that I actually have the format for these set up, it should be a lot easier to make the rest! I'll probably post them as I finish, maybe saving a couple so I can post them alongside other relavent characters Idk.

Main inspirations + HC voice under the cut:

Alright, getting this out of the way now, some of my inspos are gonna be kinda weird pulls. GG doesn't have the WEIRDEST ones, but I do feel like at least the Scooby Doo one is kinda random- anyways here are some explanations :)

Batman the Brave & the Bold(Cartoon): I love everything about this version of him omfg- I don't have my versions backstory completely worked out yet, but I know I really wanna take the deal with a demon for immortality aspect from this version. It's a really cool idea that I think I could def do smthn fun with. I also really like his overall demeanor in this version! He truly lives up to the Gentleman part of his name, which I know is definitely true for other versions of the character, but the way he's written and voiced in this show gets that politeness across in such a fun way. Also I love the way his cape is animated it's so fun-

Hawkman(1986): Okay, so I'm not really a Hawkman fan? I thought he was pretty fun in DC Superhero Girls, but that and the Harley Quinn Show are kinda the only things with him in them I've interacted with in a meaningful way. That being said though, I saw a bunch of panels from this specific run in the GG tag, and decided I might as well read the parts with GG at the very least since they seemed pretty fun, and MAN I love how he's written in those comics sm- he's so sassy lmao. Sassy Gentleman Ghost my beloved. He's also just overall really funny and has a great presence. I definitely wanna integrate some aspects of his personality in this into my version, and if I were to ever expand my silly little take on the Batman mythos to include other DC heroes, I would def wanna give him a similar dynamic with the Hawks to what they have going on in these comics.

Batman the Brave and the Bold(comic, 2023): He's only in like, one story in one issue, but omfg I love that story so much- I just love the idea that he would go out of his way to protect his descendants the way he does in that story. Also his design is so cool- I love that they actually made him look like a ghost in this comic, what with the blue lineart and the constant unearthly glow. One of my biggest pet peeves with how a lot of people draw him is that he doesn't usually look like an actual ghost, but I think this comic does a really good job with that.

Scooby Doo, Where Are You?(1969): I just love the idea of him coming across like an old Scooby Doo villain. In the hypothetical show I've been writing in my brain(because I'm insane), his introduction would be a full on homage to the long history Batman and Scooby Doo have had together, with the whole thing being set up like an old episode of Scooby Doo and Gentleman Ghost being basically an old Scooby Doo villain along the lines of the Phantom or the Ghost of Elias Kingston. That kinda cheesy but genuinely spooky energy, a filter over his voice to make it sound like he's straight out of Where Are You, all that good stuff. Make this guy Scooby Doo coded.

His backstory(which I will not be sharing) is also inspired by the broad strokes of his comic ones, but not really any specific version of it.

Headcannon voice: Anthony Warlow(Jekyll & Hyde: the Gothic Musical Thriller) or Alex Rochon(the Amazing Digital Circus). I don't really have an explanation for either of these I just think the vibes fit-

[amageish]

People seemed to like my post chronicling the queer history of Felicia Hardy, so I'm going to do something similar to that... Let's chat about the queer history of Marvel's unwitting power couple, Ellie Phimister and her girlfriend Yuki Ohara.

Let's dive in!

Content Warning: This summary will include discussion of anti-mutant hate crimes and genocide, as that is part of Ellie's comic book story.

Like a lot of queer X-Men stories, this one begins with queercoding in the 80s.

While Jim Shooter famously prohibited any queer storytelling in Marvel Comics during his tenure as Editor-in-Chief of the company and, on top of that, the Comics Code Authority also banned it, Chris Claremont, the architect of the X-Men as we know them today, never really followed those rules - and neither did his editors, artists, and co-writers. There are so many queer-coded relationships throughout his runs on the X-Men and the modern X-Men stories are still playing catch-up to this day, canonizing the intentions of him and his collaborators one character at a time. Mystique and Destiny are probably his most famous pairing nowadays, as that is canon now, but he also wrote the Juggernaut as being with Black Tom Cassidy, Kate Pryde as being bisexual for most women she encounters in her life, and, the topic for today, Storm being in a romantic relationship with the Japanese assassin Yukio.

Yukio is, to put it mildly, a risk-taker. She runs through life with seemingly no self-preservation instincts whatsoever and, for some reason, always gets by nonetheless. She and Storm have a fling while Storm is in Japan (Uncanny X-Men 172-173) and this leads directly into Storm's famous punk era, which certainly does recontextualize some of the vibes of her having suddenly gotten a mohawk and a taste for leather.

Their later reunion in Uncanny X-Men 311-313 is extra funny to me - both because of the narration textually referring to them as "more then friends" and because of Yukio justifying her daredevil attitude by suggesting it would have been "politically incorrect" of the villain to have attacked them in public.

These two "kindred spirits" hang out for a bit, but Yukio is ultimately a Wolverine character and not a larger X-Men team member, so they naturally split off as time goes on. Their last appearance together was during the 2014 Death of Wolverine event - though their affair was mentioned by an angry Kitty during the Storm flashback mini earlier this year.

That said, Yukio is obviously a Sapphic and I guess when the team behind the movie Deadpool 2 decided to give their version of Negasonic Teenage Warhead a girlfriend, they looked at the list of queer-coded characters and decided she was the right one for them...

Now, as for Ellie...

Eloise Phimister AKA Negasonic Teenage Warhead debuted in Grant Morrison's New X-Men, but her name was not said on-panel until after she was already dead. She was one of Emma Frost's students, a gothic woman with telepathic powers that foretold the death of her and her classmates at Genosha... and yet she died nonetheless.

This is a very tragic character. She has a silly name, but that is part of the heartbreak of this moment. Ellie is a child who died as a result of a genocidal desire to kill all mutants. Her silly name emphasizes her youth... which makes it REALLY tonally dissonant when it played for comedy from here-on-out.

She was briefly brought back by the camp gay villain Selene when she revived horrific versions of many deceased mutants as part of X-Force... and then she was revived for real with a new design fter the release of the first Deadpool movie. She maintains her precognitive abilities and future-sight here, but otherwise... Well, she's now a comedy character in a Deadpool book. She also can warp reality now, partially as an explanation for why she looks/acts different then her first appearances.

She paled around with Deadpool for a bit, but didn't do anything explicitly queer in the comics until 2022 (good god) where she kissed an unnamed woman, causing Wolverine to wonder if she'll one day lead a X-Men team that is exclusively made up of her multiple girlfriends. This comment is also a subtle not to the implied status quo of the Krakoa era, where Wolverine himself has two partners - dating both Jean Grey and Scott Summers.

This is a funny moment, though I do wonder why it took so long for her to be queer in the comics - Marvel comic books are generally the most queer media Marvel puts out, so I do wonder if it was something specifically about her being a Deadpool character that caused people to hesitate to greenlight queer stories about her.

Finally, in 2023, Ellie got her first solo series in the form of an Infinity Comic.

This series uses the increasingly-popular approach of having "fate" be a stand-in for "the concept of being a loyal adaptation in a multimedia landscape," as she is fated to kiss a girl named Yuki Ohara or else the fabric of reality as we know it will be destroyed.

While Deadpool is only in it for a bit, it is a very meta narrative, with a lot of commentary on the way that female characters are written in comics in general and female reality-warpers specifically, with Ellie having a lot of anxiety about the risk of her becoming like Jean Grey or Scarlet Witch - not helped by the TVA chasing her down and declaring her a threat. However, in the end, she meets her girlfriend-to-be and pauses time itself to get know her properly before having their universe-saving kiss. Good for them!

Since then, she has appeared exactly once - in a Pride issue fashion show - but I imagine she and her girlfriend Yuki are just in a little reality-warp bubble, hidden away as Fall of X finishes up.

Synergy is a dirty word in the comics landscape, but I personally like Ellie and her romance with Yuki - and I'm very relieved that they introduced a new, younger Yuki O. based on the movie for her to date instead of just retconning the established Yukio into becoming Eloise's girlfriend... Storm doesn't deserve to have her girl stolen away like that!

Also, Yuki has a giant mech and electricity powers. Maybe a little cliche for a Japanese character's powerset, but it is badass...

I hope we see more comic book stuff with these two eventually... There is potential there that is as of yet untapped - especially as they are probably two of Marvel's most notable queers by virtue of being in wildly popular movies, even if their comic queerness is a relatively modern thing.

[oneforthemunny]

Always wanted to ask, how does each Eddie's house/apartment look like; where do you envision each of them living?

dom!eddie i picture living in a trailer sorta similar to wayne's. less stuff if that makes sense, since he hasn't lived there as long??? very boy decorated. mismatch, hand-me-down furniture. he tries to make it homey and tapes pictures of you and him on the wall lol. no frame, just packing tape and it's sweet and a little funny. quilts on the bed he got from wayne, posters in his room- maybe the living room. not a throw pillow in sight until you move in lol. probably like one plate, one fork, one spoon, one knife type vibe lol. very boy coded.

janitor!eddie i picture the same vibe as before (i'll call dom!eddie the default) until he moves in with you. i think it would be a small home. two bedrooms (technically three if you count the small 'office' space that you turned into a room). no garage, but he built a covering for you. it's very homey. he built shelves in the living room for all your books (i fuckin' lost the book blurb if anyone has it lol). lots of pictures on the wall, over the mantle. really just a very homey cozy vibe, and i'll leave how that looks up to you :)

older!eddie also has a house. it's not huge by any means, bigger than average. like a one story, three or four bedroom, two and a half bath kinda vibe. he got it after the divorce and he could afford it. he wanted brielle to have her own space and have some extra room for the hopeful future, and he's glad he did. probably very bare minimum as well before you moved in. like a nicer couch- no throw pillows, maybe one throw brielle bought at target, like one of those cheap ones from the $5 section lol. pictures of brielle in frames, but that's the only decor. not even a doormat. two flat ass pillows on the bed, but in nice sheets. a toothbrush holder, hand soap, and no towel on the bathroom. has a music room with his guitar and stuff, garage full of tools to do oil changes and stuff if he needs to. one half broken plastic laundry basket, and candles brielle brings home from bath and body works lol. please tell me you're getting the vibe lol.

mafia!eddie is a 180 entirely. ENTIRELY. mansion. he built it so it's new, but he wanted it to look gothic and ominous as fuck. like very unapproachable. dark exterior, steel gates at the front of the property. he bought land out in the middle of the woods in hawkins, off the beaten path for sure so you wouldn't see the entrance unless you were looking for it type? lots of dark red oriental carpets, red sheets, mahogany wood, chandeliers that are kinda dramatic and dark. all the furniture looks victorian but dark. i think it's mentioned in curiosity killed the cat that he was going for a vibe that was "a mix between dracula and the godfather" lol. large book shelves, candle opera lighting, dark grand stair well, bear skin rug (with the head bc he thought it looked sick). large, tall windows but all the glass is one way glass so it looks even freakier from the outside. very gothic victorian chic.

rockstar!eddie ok so pre-kids- he had a home in malibu, a penthouse in la. owns a couple different properties bc why not. he hired someone to decorate, but really it's like he put weird shit in there lol. like very rockstar- bachelor pad coded. like there's a fifty thousand dollar imported couch... next to light sabers on the wall that he won at a bidding bc they were used in a movie. bedroom is very... interesting lol. def has a waterbed in at least one room. has a bed post with clips for his... activities lol. probably a hook for a sex swing too. then a whole music memorabilia type room. plaques, his achievements, but also things he's collected.

tamed rockstar!eddie with kids- he lets nb decorate mainly but he also adds a few things. he designs the sex dungeon and it does in fact look like a dungeon. dramatic ass lighting, literal chain cuffs on the wall, a bed that with thick posts, mirror on the ceiling, a whole wall of toys. it's so him, like his mind. then he also has a studio in his basement. really, it started bc when he started having kids, he didn't want to leave his house. didn't want to drive into the city to record, so had one put there bc why not? he's got the $$ lol. he also gets the flowers pressed from their three weddings, the baby showers, any really big achievement- he'll get a bouquet made and pressed and preserved. nb always hangs them and decorates with them, and it makes him so proud lol.

bouncer!eddie lives in an apartment. it's very sketch, very cheap. like one bedroom, one bath, tiny ass kitchen and little living room. he literally just lives there. no personal touches beside a tv, a boombox. mattress on the ground, card table and folding chairs, leftover box as a nightstand, towel as a bath mat. he mainly stays at your place so he's not too worried about it, but the first time you come in, you're a little horrified.

cowboy!eddie- i know this is going to sound cliche but if you've ever seen the ranch on netflix lol. that's what i picture. like that wooden, ranch style house. a little older, i think it's been renovated since it was built like forever ago. small screened in porch, wooden dutch doors. a sun room in the back of the house with some house plants. an older couch and recliner, a wooden heater stove in the living room- it was apart of the original design of the house so he kept it, even with the ac/heating unit. patterned quilts on the bed, old school floral sheets that came with the house lol. really, he didn't do much to it besides add a few of his things when he moved in, because it was his grandparent's home before his.

modern!eddie had an apartment close to the park for a very small time. roomed with gareth, and then once he started staying with you, he didn't stay there anymore. probably didn't have a bed, but a futon they put in one of the rooms and had all their gaming stuff in it. he's victim of the striped, blue comforter that's faded as hell. has a rick and morty poster he put on the wall with thumb tacks. tv on the ground with his gaming stuff, wires everywhere. a closet that has shit spilling out of it. very messy lol.

[ericksensensen]

I'm cooking I will be posting the traditional version of the designs but these are just to ramble about the design choices and why I decided to swap them rather than information about the characters, I will not do this for all of them, only a few, I will post the finished, fully detailed designs on the next week in schedule form

Sorry they look kind of blurry, it's not the camera, it's the grafito getting fucked up when I but my shoulder over it

I believe it's rather obvious that Adam's suit was designed after Beetlejuice, I was going to take more reference on Dewey from School of rock but this one seems more recognizable and I think it fits better since, well, they're dead I added the little spikes on the shoulders because of Adam's outfit for the last episode Also piercings, because I can't believe he doesn't have them in canon I refuse to believe he wouldn't pierce his ears You can't see it yet but his eyes aren't going to be yellow, instead they're going to be blue like Emily's

The why I decided to swap him with Charlie is pretty obvious, they're opposites Also I just like to put Adam through hell both in the swap au, in the Benefactor au and in the Adamsapple fic I'm writing

Lute is also obviously designed after Vaggie's outfit, except that the colors of it are more to resemble Adam and her gothic style She didn't lose her eye, (V)Agatha ended up cutting her arm (details will not be explained yet but it was not intentional), so they gave her a replacement, but because hell isn't as refined as Heaven, the closest thing Adam could get was the sin of Lust to give her one of the best they had (Note. I have yet to decide who will be Ozzie), she normally wears her glove over it but only in front of anyone that isn't Adam, after episode 3 she stops using it in the hotel, being more comfortable around the cast Couldn't see her wearing a bow, so I put it in her back and around the hips Also long hair because she wanted to be separated of her excorcist status (as they all probably have a short hair), put it in a ponytail because she's always ready to throw hands for Adam

Why she is swaped with Vaggie is obvious Also I changed my mind they are dating in the swap au (Adam needs her gothic gf but they have to sort some issues before kissing)

Oh oh, you are gonna love this one

Why are they swapped? Because it's funny, because I have seen people swapping EVERYONE with Alastor except for Pentious which is pretty surprising honestly

I took most of Pentious eyes in the design since they originally serve the purpose of showing how much he distrust others, they disappear once he gets to heaven because now he has learned how to trust and care about those around him Even tho swap Pentious would obviously still be pretty distrusting, he would not be as paranoic, the eyes would come out on his full demon form I gave him a monocle just because I liked how it looked, he was supposed to have glasses like Alastor but he looked like a grandpa and I want him to have a more "Big brother" kind of vibe towards Adam rather tan fatherly (Since Emily is more like his big sister, not a mother) His hat takes the place of Alastor's cane, he's protective over it, it's the source of his power after all, it does not show Pentious true emotions Speaking off, since canon Alastor is always smiling, swap Pentious always has his hood up, never letting it down, he shows other emotions with his face but his hood represents him always having his guard up

Alastor is more pathetic Listen I am not sorry for taking away his bob cut, I don't know how you all can simp for that man with that hair, I gave him something similar but it goes all the way back, no bob cut Glasses, because we all love to give this man glasses His cane takes the place of Pent's hat, it shows his genuine emotions Not getting into details, but Alastor doesn't smiles as much as canon just like Pentious not always has his hood up, he does drop the smile and the more comfortable he gets with the cast the more he drops it for a normal, neutral expression Yes, he goes to heaven but his angelical form will be revealed later

Pentious is still an inventor, Alastor is still a Radio host

This one is simple, I tried to turn Keekee into a dog, not only because of Adam but it was mainly because Alastor canonically HATES dogs, so the idea of this fucking dog getting attached to Alastor and him petting her lovingly on episode 7 was an opportunity I could not pass up

Yeeyee is still female I just didn't trust myself to draw the eyelashes because she is a lot smaller than you think, and I didn't want to fuck her up and end up erasing most of her

I was also just going to put a giant mouth instead of an eye but it looked disturbing, so no

Yeeyee because the k on Keekee obviously comes from Key so I took the last letter to change it but still have it make sense

The key is also still in progress, I don't know how to draw keys

[snifferish]

Sneafie Book Review: "Where the Dark Stands Still" by A.B. Porenek

Alright gamers that's right I'm posting book reviews on my tumblr, BOO! Jumpscare! Anyways I'm a spoiler free kinda guy here we go.

This week I read Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Porenek, this is a Young Adult Fantasy novel that leans slightly into the gothic genre. It's got a lot of Polish Folklore, It's kind of a beauty and the beast retelling? The author and the marketing has compared it to Howl's Moving Castle, which is why I originally took interest in it.

Personally, I gave this a four star rating, but on the Sneaf'o'meter of precision I'd say 73%

Let's get into the good and the everything else.

First off, If you like fun prose and description, this is for you. The Author's range of being able to describe something so beautiful and then transition to something grotesque and everywhere in between is wonderful. This ability comes into play frequently with how she describes the house in the story (which is sentient).

The magic system in this??????? Spectacular, I loved the concept. I've seen things similar to it, but it was so simple yet meaningful (AHH!). Probably my favorite part.

Another really prominent point in the marketing is the amount of Polish Folklore. There's a few specific spirits and demons referenced that are apart of it. I'm no expert on Polish folklore that's for sure, so I can't say whether it was truthful, or what the Author directly took from it. However I can say it was refreshing, new and I learned things :)

Okay sooo... Welcome to a segment called, why not five stars? I hesitate to say something is "bad" about about this book because I think it's really just preference at this point.

The exposition was normally paced but around the exposition into rising action area I felt like It was stalled. Really the book was just giving vibes left and right which is totally cool to some people, but because some information was withheld to certain points I felt like I was missing a lot of the foundation for the conflict and by the time I understood the conflict I was just like ahh, okay.

The romance plot within the story is pretty big, and to me it felt, okay. Just okay. I'll admit I'm a stinky gay that holds heterosexual romances to high standards so maybe that's why I wasn't so into it??? Again! I was so excited, I was thinking yes, it's like Howl's Moving Castle! and I just didn't get that. However, a lot of people who read this and reviewed it did get those vibes, so... not sure. Also, I think pet names just aren't my thing.... It's not usually something I find appealing in romance storylines.

Ultimately, I still really enjoyed this book. This is Porenek's debut novel, and I think it's very promising! Her writing style is excellent and I imagine she can only get better.

Also, this doesn't effect my rating at all, but I am begging fantasy Authors of all kinds to considering adding pronunciation guides. There where times I had access to my computer and I could look it up, but even then I don't know if google is telling me the right way to say it.

if you've read this I'd love to know your thoughts and if youre going to read it, well same, basically, do tell.

[catch-me-hello]

내 안에 음악이 있어요. (I got the music in me.)

OK, so it turns out that BTS was a gateway drug, and I’ve been overdosing on boyband K-pop for the past several days.  I’m late to the party, as always, but that turns out to be an advantage, since now I have approximately eight billion new (to me) songs to listen to and create a new playlist for my power walks.

And I do mean POWER walks.  I’ve been listening to the same old playlists for years, and this new music is driving me so hard on these walks, I could plow right through a tree.  I’ve learned a lot about K-pop.  For example:

It’s not just fluffy dance pop.  I found dramatic, almost gothic rock.  I found sophisti-pop.  I found wild, primal music that makes you want to build a campfire in the woods and dance around it in a pagan ceremony.  I found aggressive and infectious rap/hip-hop.  Just like American popular music, K-pop is all over the map.

The “pop” in K-pop could also be short for “population,” as some of these boybands have enough members to start a new country.  I don’t know how anyone gets paid.  With some bands, the number of members varies from video to video, depending on who got fired because of a scandal or is refusing to show up because they’re suing the label or just overslept on the day of shooting.   The largest group I found online is Neo Culture Technology (NCT) with 23 members.  The group Seventeen was supposed to have seventeen members, but by the time they had their debut, they only had thirteen members, so they just went with it and didn’t bother changing the name.  I’ve been told this actually happens a lot in K-pop.

K-pop bands have a huge linguistic advantage in songwriting.  They switch back and forth between Korean and English in the same song, sometimes in the same lyric.  If they can’t find a word to rhyme in Korean, they just switch to English and find the rhyme there.  I have to be honest – I think that’s brilliant. Throw in the fact that some of these bands also sing in Japanese or Mandarin, and if you can’t find a rhyme for your Korean lyric in three other languages, then the problem is you.

As for the bands themselves, here are my favorites so far:

EXO This is the group that started it all for me.  Some variations of this group are called EXO M, EXO-CBX, EXO-SC or EXO K, but I don’t know why because I don’t care.  I randomly clicked on their video for “MAMA” and was gobsmacked.  So dramatic and powerful.  It what the original cast of Jesus Christ Superstar would sound like if they made a K-pop song.  Yes, it’s got a great dance beat, but it’s a stomping dance beat that could cause an earthquake.  When I’m out walking and that song comes on, I feel like I could speed-walk all the way to the Florida Keys.  

I started watching all their other videos, and they have a song with a similar vibe called “Monster” that I have listened to, by conservative estimate, 58 billion times in the past two weeks.  I have been watching Netflix and realized that I haven’t listened to “Monster” in almost an hour, so I have PUT MY SHOW ON PAUSE so I can pick up my phone and listen to it again before resuming the show.  

EXO also has more upbeat dance pop songs, but they don’t let up on the intensity with those.  They have songs like “Call Me Baby” and “Love Me Right” that may be lighter in tone, but the music is still powerful enough to fuel every car running on the planet at the same time.  

The only bummer about this group is they take themselves a bit too seriously.  The original video for “MAMA” has a nearly two-minute Lord of the Rings-style intro with a Morgan Freeman-style narrator saying things like, “When the skies and the grounds were one, the legends through their twelve forces nurtured the tree of life.”  While CGI footage of trees and lightning and storms play on the screen, the narrator drones on about a red force and evil and the overturning of time, and it is so bewildering that even the group’s most passionate fans have edited and re-posted the video with the words “WITHOUT NARRATION” in the title.  

Their concert video on YouTube (recorded in Japan) takes that opening narration and blows it up into something that a coked-up David Lynch would tell them to tone down.  Before the band takes the stage, the audience is subject to an opening video that runs a full seven minutes.  The narrator is a child’s voice this time.  The individual band members are shown superimposed over scenes of CGI-created tornados whirling ten feet away while their hair just ruffles slightly.  Their images are inserted into old photographs, as if they have been with us since the dawn of time.  The child’s voice implies that mankind is awful, and this band is here to save us from ourselves, presumably through the messages of their hit songs “Cream Soda” and “Ko Ko Bop.”

As the video goes on, we see band members levitating over a lake, walking across a desert in a monk’s robe, standing on glaciers, surviving direct lightning strikes, and for some incomprehensible reason, comforting a bewildered-looking Caucasian child who appears to be locked in a basement.  The child narrator mercifully ends the video with “And now, it’s time to tell you where they are,” which is surprising because I assumed the band was stuck in traffic, which is why they were showing us this video. 

I couldn’t help laughing at this pomposity, most likely because I’m a cynical adult and not one of the devoted fans in the crowd screaming through the whole concert video intro.  And honestly, I kid this band because I love them.  Their concert was certainly worth the seven-minute wait.  Mankind is still terrible, and the band members still haven’t saved us from ourselves, but at least they’re giving us some amazing music to enjoy while we wait for the earth to crash directly into the sun. 

Other bands keeping us dancing until the apocalypse…

2pm Here is our sophisti-pop.  My favorite of their songs I’ve heard so far is “Make It,” and it’s jazzy and cool and playful and I love it so much.  

This song also features what I initially thought was a lyrical glitch suggesting that English is not their first language, and I found it adorable.   It’s in the second verse, where they sing about the things they want to do to sweep a beautiful woman off her feet:

Coffee, shopping, driving, LP, cooking, wine, are you down?

I know this is my Grammar OCD talking, but I love how they give us a series of gerund verbs and then throw in the nouns “coffee” and “wine.”  But what’s even weirder is the “LP” part.  When I first heard it, I thought he was saying “helping” and just chalked it up to him looking for a 2-syllable word to scan in English.  But all the lyric sites say it’s “LP.”  I searched all over Google, and the closest I could find is that South Korea has a lot of LP bars, which are trendy places to drink while listening to vinyl albums.  (And as it turns out, at least two of the band members are fluent in English, so they knew what they were doing.)

Fun fact about one guy in the group, Nichkhun.  He was born and raised in California to Thai Chinese parents and didn’t learn Korean until several years later when he got recruited into K-pop.  The K-pop machine even recruits in the United States.

Monsta X My God with this group.  When I first heard their song “Alligator,” I thought I was listening to EXO.  But no.  Monsta X is EXO without the long-winded intros and with the most incredible dancing I’ve ever seen.  

I didn’t know bodies could move that way.  They jump high and spin and move in unison in a way that human beings should not be able to do without slamming into each other.  The choreography is precise but feels spontaneous.  The aggressively sexual lyrics are a perfect match for the way they move.  “Alligator” and “Hero” are two of their songs that I have also paused Netflix shows to listen to when I’m going through withdrawal.  When their wild pagan-sounding “Follow” comes up on the playlist during my power walks, I take up the entire sidewalk.  All the space is MINE.  If you don’t like it, I will set you on fire.

RIIZE So I click randomly on a K-pop YouTube suggestion, and the first lyric I hear is “If you want something to play with, get a guitar,” and I do a spit-take with my root beer.   This is not the usual intro I get from K-pop idols.  It’s not about girls.  It’s about the love of music.  

I mean, later it’s about girls. They sing about how they love dancing with a girl, but a solid 90% of the song is about being in love with music and how it makes them feel to play it.  But what I love most, besides that opening line, are the layered harmonies that are absolute heaven.  It’s a dream.  The whole song is playful and fun and refreshingly innocent, and I want it playing on an endless loop at my funeral because  no one will be able to stay sad for long.

CRAVITY The song I love most so far is called “Adrenaline.”  It’s filled with the same joy of RIIZE’s “Get a Guitar” in a way that makes me think of the Jackson Five.   It’s summer and happiness and love.  “Break All The Rules” is more rock-sounding but still joyful and fun.  These guys are just fun.  ‘Nuff said.

This is just the beginning.  As I subscribe to more and more band and label channels on YouTube, I’m seeing music videos that are just blowing my mind.  The title of this blog, “Catch Me Hello,” comes from “Love Song” by BigBang, one of the most beautifully painful songs I’ve ever heard.  I’ve been missing out on so much.  I can’t wait to find more of what I’ve been missing and build up my K-pop power-walking playlist.

Speaking of which, apologies in advance if you see me out walking and I slam right into you.  K-pop is a serious drug.

[grimoire-of-geekery]

Penny Dreadful #6: The Vampire Bat

Hey there, everyone!

I know, it's been a while since I posted anything new that wasn't just a reblog. It's not been a huge priority, to be honest.

That being said, I've been feeling the Hallows season this year very deeply, and I'm all immersed in my love for Gothic mystery and romance, and so I've decided to share something with y'all!

Now, this spread is a prediction spread that kind of came along unexpectedly. I was sitting around chatting with my daughter, we were talking about witchcraft and Gothic things (and of course playing with tarot cards), and it sort of prompted a Google search for "vampire" spreads.

We looked and looked, but didn't find anything particularly nice-looking. Pretty much standard stuff- spreads that were standard that had been reskinned to say "vampire," or spreads that were basically just clunky piles of vertical cards. Which, honestly, astonished me. People have been taken with the glamour of vampires for a while now, and I'm shocked there aren't more representations of vampire vibes in the tarot spread world, especially considering how many goth-themed tarot decks are out there.

Anyway, I hope this spread is something new, and I haven't just seen it somewhere and filed it in my mind, then regurgitated it elsewhere. Even if the layout has been used by other folks, I hope the end result is something unique.

Now, this reads very similar to my Memento Mori spread, with a few small differences. It's a prediction spread, but in true Penny Dreadful fashion, I designed this spread with the understanding that some futures we just don't want.

The spread is read thus:

The first card is read as the vampire who is coming to your door. This card represents the basic situation coming.

The second and third card are read together as the wind which carries that future to you. You can think of these cards as a description of the surrounding forces around the coming situation.

The fourth and fifth card are also read together, as that which connects the outside forces of cards 2 and 3 to the central card. Sometimes they refer to motives or wishes, sometimes to obligations or concerns, but they represent the central card's link to those forces.

Now, this spread isn't just for predictions. Like the vampire of folklore, the future can be horrible and deadly. Fortunately, there's one feature for this spread that allows us to keep it away, just like one might do with a vampire.

If you wish this fate to turn away from you, you can reassemble the cards into a warding symbol of some kind, something which keeps away evil. For Christians, you might use a cross, while Wiccans might use a pentacle- holy symbols are traditional wards after all. For myself, I prefer laying them in a pattern like the one on the right in the image below.

It's a five-petaled bloom, reminiscent of the wild mountain rose, which like garlic is a traditional herb used to prevent vampires from bothering you. In specific, it's said that the wild mountain rose keeps vampires in their coffins. So, I use that one to prevent the fate from even leaving its birthing place.

If, however, you'd like the fate as predicted to come your way... simply tell the cards that you invite it in. Perhaps leave your window open at night?

Hey, what could go wrong?

[prince-rowan-of-the-forest]

Rambling about Hell's Belles AU!Janus for a sec because I can and I love him

So Janus is... Unique.

In the fact that he has had so many lifetimes, so much experiences. He's seen the universe grow, change and evolve, he's experienced evolution first hand.

In his first life, he was a neanderthal, he's had about 30-50 lifetimes over his existance, the vast majority of which he either cannot remember at all, are very fuzzy, or he only remembers a few, specific memories.

Lives I know he has had specifically:

- His first life, as a neanderthal. Pretty uneventful tbh

- A life during which he was burned as a witch. Since this lifetime he's had a burn-scar esque birthmark all down the left side of his body.

- a lifetime in which he actually practiced 'witchcraft' which directly followed the "burned as a witch" one. In this lifetime he was male, and never persecuted for it.

- He lived a life doing something similar to snake charming. (I'm not sure where this one fits into the timeline)

- A lifetime spent writing gothic fiction in the early 1800s

- A lifetime as a working class woman in Victorian England

- A lifetime as an upper class man in Victorian England (these two really gave them a hard dose of perspective on class and gender inequality)

- A life during which they died on the titanic, in every lifetime since they have been 'inexplicably' wary of the ocean and boats/sailing.

- their final and most recent lifetime with Patton, Elliott and Sam, which I described in another post.

They've had their paradise since the very beginning and because of that it's very expensive. It started off as just a forest with a comfortable cave home, plenty food and resources (all a neanderthal could want, lol) and it evolved with their soul as they lived more lifetimes. (They have spent a collectively LONG time in therapy too, but there's only been a few lifetimes where they've actually been sent there, and they reincarnated from those very quickly)

With at least three lifetimes taking place in 18-19th century England, their soul got very attached to parts of that style of dress and gothic architecture, which is well reflected in their soul's appearance and their paradise.

Don't worry just me having thoughts about my guy i love them

The pronoun vibes switched halfway through writing this help lol

@twoalpacas @awitchbravestheverge @goldnskyart @anxious-mess19 @doteddestroyer

[silverandebony]

i'm sorry. TAGGING SASKATCHEWAN CANADA AS KANSAS SOUTHERN GOTHIC AND APPALACHIA????

TAGGING SASKATCHEWAN CANADA AS KANSAS SOUTHERN GOTHIC AND APPALACHIA*

*i misremembered and the one tagged with appalachia&appalachian gothic isn't Explicitly saskatchewan (all of the pictures with location captions are apparently from saskatchewan so i'd be inclined to guess it probably is too, but there's no way to know for sure). so who knows!! i don't know what appalachia looks like! maybe it IS appalachia! in which case why is it also tagged saskatchewan

[Image ids: three cropped screenshots of 'regional gothic' style tumblr picture posts and their tags. The first picture is a truck at an empty intersection with a hazy yellow sky; the second is part of a building mural depicting a nature scene with canada geese captioned 'rural saskatchewan'; the third is of the edge of a town on a foggy day, with old, short buildings fading into the mist, captioned 'uranium city, sk'. Tags common across all three posts are: ethel cain, southern gothic, regional gothic, rural gothic, midwestern gothic, kansas, and midwest. Two of them are tagged with 'gibson girl'. Additionally, the truck picture is tagged with appalachia, appalachian gothic, twin peaks, and hayden anhedonia; the mural picture is tagged with small town usa, small town, small town america, small town canada, great plains, prairies, prairie, and prairiecore; and the foggy town is tagged with 'ghost town, liminal, liminal spaces, and foggy day.

End id.]

I also went back to the blog to see if those posts were still there so I could take better screenshots (they weren't; hooray reporting things for spam) but upon further scrolling I realized that every tagged post. Every. Single. Post. With Tags. all of them. Are tagged with southern gothic and kansas and saskatchewan. THESE ARE NOT THE SAME. WHY ARE YOU USING ALL OF THEM THESE ARE NOT THE SAME

*coughs* anyway. Among all of these, in all their spammy mistagged glory, there is one I would like to give a special shout out to, for in my opinion being the most wildly tagged:

[Image id: another screenshot of a tumblr picture post. This one is a picture of a small motel with a rundown fence in the foreground. A colour filter has been used to make the picture look washed out and fit the regional gothic vibes. This picture has been tagged with: gibson girl, americana, appalachian gothic, midwest gothic, preacher's daughter, regional gothic, rural gothic, southern gothic, hayden anhedonia, ethel cain, nebraska, kansas, motelcore, appalachia, southern aesthetic, saskatchewan, alberta.

end id.]

Take a moment to appreciate it. Bask in its questionable glory. Allow yourself the time to question why?

I think it's the 'alberta' tag that really makes it for me here. The 'nebraska' as well. The latter I assume is from the title of one of Ethel Cain's songs, which would explain... to some degree... how it got there. Why 'alberta' though? Why this picture, out of all of them? Is it actually from Alberta? (It could be; I've seen similar looking things) If it's from Alberta, why is it also tagged 'saskatchewan'? 'kansas'? 'appalachia'? 'southern gothic'? Do not each of these preclude all others? If it's Saskatchewan or Albertan, why is it tagged 'americana'?? Is it for views??? If you want it seen, it's already got the tags! Regional and rural gothic are fine! They'll probably get you a lot more views than tagging something with a Canadian province ever will! I just. I don't understand. why. why have you done this. please stop. i'm begging skfjjsjfjj

in conclusion: tumblr has tagging etiquette and i am begging the young aesthetic bloggers to take a moment to learn it. it will save you so much being reported for spam and having your posts and or possibly your entire blog taken down because of it. And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a blog to go report specifically because of this

[encrucijada]

catholicism gothic and the butterfly labyrinth for the title tag pls!!!

catholicism gothic as a concept sprung out during escapril of last year when i wrote the "poem" for the prompt act of creation and captioned it as "catolicismo gótico" as a play of things like southern gothic or small town gothic and the like. it was just some imagery i put together and added some "gothic" elements to (see: blood). here's the thing it's on my 2022 escapril collection

i really liked the imagery! and imagery is 90% of what motivates my writing so i decided i wanted to write something with that vibe. something was intentionally working with the imagery of latinoamerican catholicism but just, make it "gothic". basically write some dark magical realism. the problem was i had no characters or any actual plot, just the ~vibe~. now i still don't have any of that but i... might try to write a chapbook with it?? there are many things i could do with catholicism gothic because it's an aesthetic it's not really a story. the chapbook is about this group of cousins who find a fallen angel in their property's pond one day and decide to lock it away in the basement (or maybe the attic i haven't decided). but i could also do away with the angel plot and simply write a novel about rotten family vibes and just make the images of la virgen cry blood sometimes. many possibilities! i could write them all!

this is all i have for the chapbook so far lmao

as for the butterfly labyrinth, it is the title of my the maze runner ripoff. i love the concept of the maze runner. unethical human experimentation?? set during a post-apocalypse?? awesome. 10/10. if only the books were like... good. i read them all in high school and loved them. then i tried to reread them and never have i fallen out of love so aggressively in my life lmao. the writing was so bad, the dialogue was bad. i think i liked the books because i read them in spanish so when i tried to do the same in english and it was cringe i swore revenge. now: the movies?? i Love the movies. still do, probably always will. the feel and imagery of the movies is amazing. i love the post-apcalyptic outside world contrasted with the sleek look of the w.c.k.d. objectively they're probably not that good but i Love them.

so. with all that in mind i decided i wanted to write a the maze runner ripoff. you know how after the hunger games came out there was a teen dystopia craze? this is going to be my addition to that once that trend comes back. the butterfly labyrinth has a similar set up: scientists are experimenting on kids to find the cure to a virus. except because it's me and i hate zombies (cranks are just zombies lite, i do not like them) i decided to make the virus more... fantasy. so what the virus does is turn people into strange hybrid monsters. they are still locked away in a labyrinth but now the monsters aren't synthetic and made by the scientists (the way grievers are), they are the very same kids of the experiment, except it's those who have succumbed to the virus and turned. so the experiment revolves around examining three groups: the immune, the not immune who aren't infected, and the not immune who are infected and have turned into monsters.

no snippets for this because i haven't done any writing. but if i was to properly commit i would probably make it a duology? one where they are inside the experiment and one after they escape it. oh and it's called "butterfly labyrinth" because the process of transofmation is called metamorphosis.

[honourablejester]

I vibe with the thaumaturge so much:

“The world is full of the unexplainable: ancient magic, dead gods, and even stranger things. In response, you've scavenged the best parts of every magical tradition and built up a collection of esoterica—a broken holy relic here, a sprig of mistletoe there—that you can use to best any creature by exploiting their weaknesses and vulnerabilities. The mystic implement you carry is both badge and weapon, its symbolic weight helping you bargain with and subdue the supernatural. Every path to power has its restrictions and costs, but you turn them all to your advantage. You're a thaumaturge, and you work wonders.”

They fit a particular sort of occult archetype that 5e really struggles with, the sort of ritualistic, vampire hunting, bell-book-and-candle sort of character that was so at home in pulpy gothic stories. They’re not a spellcaster, they don’t wield the raw forces of creation, by their own power or by the gift of others, they just scrounge broken scraps of power and build a tool kit, an arsenal, from them. It’s all salt lines and stolen relics and pockets full of silver bullets. I love them so much.

(In 5e, to get this sort of vibe, I’ve actually spoken before on how I’d go for a fey wanderer ranger rather than a warlock. Thaumaturge fits that martial, pragmatic, spooky, well-spoken sort of vibe, but it’s purpose built for it, whereas the ranger useage is probably not intentional).

I also love the symbolism of the thaumaturge implements so much. The implements are specific objects, beyond your general kit of scavenged bits and bobs that are your esoterica, that you use to define your build, and they have so many archetypes. For a start, they quite literally have the bell (bell), book (tome) and candle (lantern) implements, along with mirror, chalice, amulet, wand, and weapon. You choose three of them over the course of your career, though only your first will be fully unlocked. So if you want to play a border guardian led by the light of a ghostly lantern, or an occult infiltrator and terrifying combatant with a mirror self, or an occult scholar guided by the knowledge stored in eldritch tomes, you can do that.

This class is so strongly built around objects, ritual and symbolism, and I enjoy it so much. They’re the rag-and-bone prophets, the sleight of hand street magicians, the Victorian spiritualists, the down and dirty vampire hunters. I’ve doodled around with a witch gnoll thaumaturge before, and I just … I love their whole vibe.

I do also enjoy oracles, though they’re much more on the cosmic horror side than the gothic milieu the thaumaturge hangs around in. Very much ‘things man was not meant to know’, where you’ve tapped some vast cosmic mystery and physically and psychologically paid the price for it. You have eschewed the guidance of the gods to grapple with universe on your own terms, and it cost you, but you did grapple with it, and you did win power from it, and from your own understanding, not the dribs and drabs fed to you by powerful beings. Maybe it’ll kill you, sure, but even if it does, you did all this yourself, on your own terms, and that is worth something. You wield powers similar to those granted by gods, and you do so by your own merits alone.

Basically, if you came to the warlock class to play blasphemous hubris and defiance of the gods, PF2e’s oracle has you covered. Trust me.

The different mysteries add a bit of extra flavour on top of this, which particular part of the universe you grabbed with your bare hands and naked mind and tried to master, whether it was death itself (bones), the vast forces that move the stars (cosmos), the untapped well of knowledge that lies behind the world (lore), or the very flow of time (time).

All this to say, yes, very much agree with this post. PF2e has a whole buffet of occult classes to play, depending on which flavour you want, which I do think provides a few more purpose built options than 5e. I also just really love PF2e’s occultism skill, which gives you a lot of skill feat options to add to your spookiness, and that’s before we get to a bunch of archetypes like the Exorcist, Eldritch Researcher, and Pact Binder to let you put some spookiness onto the class of your choice.

It's good for all things occult and spooky, is what I’m saying here. Heh.

"how do you play a warlock in Pathfinder 2e" - fortunately, and unfortunately, the answer is perhaps fivefold I'd argue, depending on WHAT precisely about the warlock you find appealing: witch, thaumaturge, magus, psychic or oracle.

The PF2E witch is a full spellcaster using intelligence - but they rely on a patron who gives them their spells via a special familiar. Definitely Pact of the Chain warlock vibes. However, way more powerful spellcasting then a 5e warlock, more equivalent to a wizard.

The thaumaturge has strong occult vibes, focused on "esoterica" - magical scraps and relics that empower special abilities. No patron, technically not spellcasting, but a Charisma-based occult magic user that looks sick as hell. Does seem a bit Hexbladey though, given armor and weapon proficiencies and capacity for melee combat.

The magus similarly is a strong melee combatant, with limited spellcasting much more akin to how the warlock pact slots work in 5e (though Intelligence based). They can use spells to empower their weapon strikes, and they can only cast at their highest two spell levels available (though unlike the warlock, these levels go all the way to 9)

If the thing you like most about the warlock is being able to build a mass murderer around a cantrip, the psychic might be right for you. One of their cool base class features is additional psychic-only cantrips, which you can then "amp" for more power and utility.

The oracle, like the thaumaturge, shares more flavor than mechanics with the warlock, and is probably the weakest case for equivalency in this post. They're charisma casters with divine spells, but unlike clerics their power isn't from a god, but rather a "mystery". One of their key features is a curse, which as it's strengthened provides both power and drawbacks. The curse mechanics feel very eldritch.

ANYWAY at first glance I was like "wtf no warlock, that seems like a missed opportunity" but no, Paizo was like "how do you like your warlock?" and served you up a buffet.

Visit Archives of Nethys if you're interested!

[elliepassmore]

Before the Devil Knows You’re Here release!

1836, Wisconsin. Catalina lives with her pa and brother in a ramshackle cabin on the edge of the wilderness. Mamá died years ago, and the harsh winters have brought the family to the brink of starvation. Catalina has replaced her poet's soul with an unyielding determination to keep Pa and her brother alive, period. When Pa takes suddenly ill, Catalina tries everything to revive him. But as soon as the illness claims him, a strange man appears—a man covered in bark, leaves growing from his head, and sap dripping from his eyes. Before Catalina can stop him, he scoops up her brother and disappears, leaving behind a bird with crimson wings. She can’t let this man—if that’s what he is—have her brother. With no idea where they’ve gone, she grabs Pa’s knife and Mamá’s jorongo and follows the bird. Along the way, she finds help from a young lumberjack, who has his own reasons for hunting the Man of Sap. As their journey takes them deeper into the woods, they encounter strange beasts and tormented spirits who share secrets of the past. The more they uncover about the Man of Sap, the more they learn how deeply Catalina’s fate is entwined with his, planted long ago in cursed seeds.

Bookshop.org

Barks & Noble

This is the perfect read for spooky season! It’s got Faustian bargains, Gothic themes, and folkloric people and creatures. The book has similar vibes to those regional American gothic posts, with cornfields and orchards and small rural towns. There’s a lot of symbolism in the story, from the apples to the poetry Catalina writes.

The story also focuses a lot on family. Catalina has a deep connection with her late mother and shares her love of poetry. She’s also willing to do anything for her younger brother, including diving into the mystical world of the American ‘wilderness.’

For more in-depth opinions, check out my review!

[monstaxdirtywonk]

Enhypen's ideal type (legal line) based on astrology

So I'm gonna talk about what I think their ideal types are best on their birth charts. I won't talk about Niki because I don't feel comfortable doing that, despite the fact that there's nothing explicit about this post lmao. I'm gonna use their love related planets aka Venus and Mars (although the last one is more sexual). Moon is an important placement for us in general when it comes to matters of the heart and their possible descendant based on their possible rising signs.

Heeseung

Lots of earth for this boy. Now typically our ideal partner can be signified by many placements although the most spot on would be the 7th house or descendant. Also if someone's into women or feminine people in general, Venus sign would help (moon too), for men/masculine people, Mars or Saturn.

For Heeseung both of those placements are in earth signs so he'd have a similar type no matter the gender.

His Venus is in Virgo, which would make him attracted to someone clean, that smells good and has a casual but meticulous style. He'd like someone organized that has their shit together and plan ahead of times.

His Mars suggests a partner that is goal oriented and hard working. Someone ambitious that sets expectations for themselves and others. A bit judgemental too lmao

Another placement that can signify the long term partner we like is Juno, an asteroid.

His is in Leo. So maybe along all this stability, he'd like a fiery addition. Someone to make him have fun and enjoy life to the fullest.

Although let's keep in mind that the Juno doesn't change frequently so it's kind of vague.

I think a possible rising sign for Heeseung would be Libra, which would put his descendant in Aries.

If that's the case, it'd go well with his Juno in another fire sign. A calculated, organized person that can be fun seeking and passionate too.

Jay

Here comes my bias so it's time for me to simp lmao.

His Venus is in Taurus, so he'd like someone fashionable (he is like that too), with expensive taste and elegant vibes.

I think he'd definitely appreciate someone mature because he is like that too, but also with a playful flair because of his Gemini Mars.

His Gemini Mars would love to debate, although with all the Taurus placements he has, good luck with that 😂

He is a bit stubborn ngl 🙈

Now he said he was born late at night (found it on twitter) or early in the morning I guess

That make his rising either in Sagittarius or Capricorn and his moon is definitely in cancer

If his rising is in Capricorn, he'd like someone with cancer qualities, nurturing and emotional (that'd fit his cancer moon too)

If it's in Sagittarius, his descendant would be in Gemini, so someone quirky, social and communicative.

Overall, someone classy and elegant, that can be chill but excited too, good at communication and curious.

Sunghoon

Sunghoon to me is a very interesting case and I've seen others point that out about him too 🙈

His sun and moon are in Sagittarius and Aquarius, which are signs that can be very independent, free spirited and not easily attached to others.

But then his Venus and Mars are in scorpio, which is pretty much the opossite of that.

I think he'd like a partner that's more intense than him, someone that acknowledge their emotions and is okay with them.

But not too soft, because he has the tendency to be harsh/blunt and that person would feel hurt for sure.

I'm thinking passionate intense, not emotionally intense. I'd say he'd do well with a fire dominant person, with fixed placements thrown in there too.

I think he'd like someone that does a darker concept well, either vampy or Gothic. It doesn't have to be full on, but a touch can work too.

I think his rising might be in Capricorn, which would make his 7th house cancer. But honestly idk how he'd work with a cancer dominant person.

I think he'd like someone more understanding and emotional than himself, but not to the extreme.

After all if the 7th house sign doesn't align with the chart as a whole, it still won't work.

But that's the cool part about astrology, it's all up to personal interpretation because each chart is unique.

Jake

Here comes the golden retriever boy!

He has a Scorpio stelium which I couldn't really see at first because he has a very bubbly, open personality that doesn't match the Scorpio nature (but who am I to speak, I have one too and I'm a cinnamon roll lmao).

But he also has a Libra Mars which is, again, looking for very different things.

I'd say regarding his ideal type, he'd like a good balance between devotion and care free nature which is kind of hard to have lmao

I feel like he'd look for that and not be satisfied with not finding it so he's gonna eventually choose between those two.

Based on the Scorpio stelium, there's more weight there.

I guess he'd like someone that he can be silly with, have light hearted conversations and act like a kid, but also be serious and mature together.

Someone more conventionally pretty/handsome too. Ngl a Libra Mars can be rather shallow because libra isn't a good sign for Mars and it can give the native its 'bad' traits.

Sunoo

That's a really interesting combination. Gemini Venus and Pisces Mars.

Someone interesting and one of a kind, that's really important to him

He seems like the least interested in looks, he goes for the vibe of someone and how they interact together.

Someone artistic and passionate on that field, that accepts their individuality and doesn't try to become part of that mass.

He'd also appreciate style a lot, but not in the way Jay does. For Jay it'd be someone conventionally classy, while Sunoo would look for someone that portray who they are through fashion.

His rising sign is either cancer or Pisces imo, which means that he looks for someone with Capricorn or Virgo traits as well.

Unique, experimental and intellectual but with a grounded personality too.

Jungwon

His Venus is in Aries and his Mars is in Taurus. They are kind of switched aren't they? (Taurus is ruled by Venus and Aries is ruled by Mars)

Most in the Fandom think that he has a Scorpio rising, if that's the case, his 7th house would be in Taurus, so overall he'd be more attracted to Taurus qualities.

I feel like I'm feeding the shippers right now with Jay's Taurus stelium lmao

He'd like someone stable, loyal and practical. To give him a sense of security because he likes that 🥺

But someone more active and dynamic than that, who can keep him on his toes, motivate and encourage him to do better.

A go getter attitude that doesn't stray too far from home.

Regarding style, possibly something casual/elegant with intense colors. Especially red.

(For astrology ships dm me 5$)

[sinfullyrosey]

I Rank TWST Characters Based on Whether or Not I Find Them Physically Attractive or Not (Not Clickbait)

Eventually I’ll collect the braincells to finish one of my many x reader fic drafts and post it. But for now, watch me shallowly judge TWST characters and rank them based on my own specific tastes. Yes, you are free to judge and share your own thoughts. I love being told I’m wrong.~ uwu

All characters are 18+

Explanations under the read more. Yes, there is a method to my madness.

‘Cause the tier list didn’t include them, Neige is in Tier 5 and Che’nya is in Tier 4.

And good lord I ended up rambling way more then intended. I should have just said I find them pretty or ugly and called it a day. Guess that single exhausted braincell really was working overtime for this.

Tier 1 - My Own Personal Tastes

Says it right there on the tin. The loves of my life jk jk

Honestly, I don’t even know where to start with these? I just find these boys really pretty and attractive... I tend to lean towards males with longer hair (Jamil & Idia) and animalistic traits like sharp teeth or ears (Jack, Idia, & Jade). I especially love Jade and Idia’s smiles, both are so creepy, but I’m the weirdo that’s into that. I also have a thing for body marks like freckles and moles (Azul) and actually find some short guys to be cute (Riddle). There’s also the elephant in the room that is my monster lover self that’s into a wide range of non-human creatures; Jack being a wolf beastman, Jade being an eel mermaid, Azul being a cecaelia, and even Jamil having serpent traits and Idia being not entirely human what with his Hades-inspired undead aesthetic.

Most of it just boils down to aesthetics  in their design and the fact that most of them, aside for Riddle, has some kind of in-human quality to them. There are other factors at play, but those are the main ones.

Tier 2 - They’re Attractive, But Lack Spice

Basically, I also find them to be very attractive, but they don’t quite hit those specific tastes when it comes to their overall design. Usually it’s because they either lack something or a certain trait throws off the whole design for me. Like Kalim sharing many traits I like in Jamil, but having other traits that hold him back (having shorter hair, having too much going on with his design, having a more childish demeanor, etc.). Epel is very pretty in a superficial way, and I’ve always loved characters with lavender hair, but he looks too young at times and is working on becoming more manly, which will ruin his more delicate features in my opinion.

Silver is like an older version of Epel, but with silver hair and a knightly aesthetic, but he also always looks to angry, which makes him unapproachable. Ruggie is pretty cute to me with a roughish edge (and I just want to pet his adorable ears, please), but I can’t get past how malnourished his design makes him look sometimes due to the oversized clothes. Sebek has a very unique design, being half-human, half-fae, but similar to Silver, he usually looks so angry and stern. He has a beautifully mirthful smile and I just wish they’d show off his chompers more!

Tier 3 - They Have Their Moments

They’re only attractive in very specific instances that usually heighten certain physical traits of theirs. This can include a wardrobe change, a certain facial expression, a scenario, etc. I don’t quite find them attractive on their own, but rather, only when it’s in tandem with something else. Malleus looked best in the trailer for the game when he’s floating out of his coffin. He looked dark, mysterious, yet dangerously alluring. But in game, he kind of resembles a rat, what with his weird mullet hair. Rook and Floyd both pull off the dangerous predatory, yet attractive vibe, but ultimately are only portrayed as quirkily scary in the game (i.e. they kind of look like creeps/psychos). Lilia has his whole Gothic punk thing going on, which is fine, especially when he acts more wild and playful. However, I kind of wish he had a “true form” where he actually looked older/was taller, instead of looking younger than the rest of the cast. Yeah, it’s funny in theory, but doesn’t give him much attractive points.

Tier 4 - Average Joe

On a surface level, they would be considered attractive to some, but ultimately don’t have anything that really separates them from others. For me, it’s that one or two traits ended up holding them back from breaking the mold, or they have traits that tend to be overused and thus, makes me feel like I’ve seen them before in other characters.

If Leona was darker skinned and his overall design really leaned into the feral lion look, he would be higher. If Divus had more canine-features like fangs or something, he’d be higher. Deuce looks like a generic anime protagonist, but a good color scheme going. Che’nya is just another Disney cheshire neko boy with a quirky design. Sam needs a rework on his color scheme and should have more skull face paint (yes, even more so than the original JPN ver.) And as for Vil, I really think they should have given him a different hairstyle. I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand his hair color and style. It reminds me of an onion.

Tier 5 - Not My Thing, but They’re Not Ugly

I don’t find them ugly, but I really do not care for how they look. Nothing about their designs are appealing to me in that way, but I can see why others would. Cater, Ace, and Trey don’t have anything with their design that stands out to me. The closest thing was Ace’s Ghost Wedding attire and slicked back hair, but it was only a one time thing, hence why he’s not in Tier 3. As for Prof. Trein, for an older gentleman, he still looks fairly good. He has a refined look to him and is well kempt, but I’m not into older dude’s like that, so no. Neige is cute and definitely captures Snow White’s vibe, but his outfit is just all over the place to me and contrast so much.

Tier 6 - ew

They’re just ugly. I’m sorry, but they’re just so unappealing to me why do some people find them attractive I just-?! Crowley is so weird looking to me, which is disappointing ‘cause I love bird-related designs and he had the potential but ended up looking like an unkempt, Gothic carnival reject, instead! Yes, I’ve seen the fanart with his mask off and I still find him unattractive. As for Vargas, I’ve just never been into the muscley type of men with the strong chiseled face.

Other

Grim and Lucius are literal cats and and I can’t see Ortho as anything but a little brother (yes, I’m aware he’s around the 1st years age). He probably would fit under Tier 2 if he wasn’t so baby.

[byjillianmaria]

@sodaliteskull was inspired to make a meta dump for her WIP (which you can find here, it is sincerely cool), and like an inspiration ouroboros, I was inspired by that post to go more in-depth on why I picked these media specifically! (And if you reblogged a version with slightly different media, I changed my mind on a few! Don't worry about it!) So, some rambling under the cut.

SONGS

Music is a huge inspiration while I write! I've been mildly obsessed with the 8 track playlist I made for this WIP, and while honestly all eight of those tracks have influence on how this book is shaping up, I'll confine my rambling to the three songs I chose for this graphic :P

Sowing Seeds by The Crane Wives - When I think "Midwest Gothic," I think Crane Wives. This song brings in a lot of farming imagery, which is obviously relevant to a book set in a corn field, but there's also a sinister undercurrent to a lot of the lyrics. Also, when I realized I wanted to give The Poet a concrete physical goal to move toward, I borrowed the imagery of a signal tower from this song!

Work Song by Hozier - Listen. This is a book that explores themes of mythology and devotion. It would be insane not to put a Hozier song on the playlist. I picked Work Song specifically because it takes a lot of musical cues from African spirituals, which is a genre that also influences Americana music as a whole, which is sort of the musical equivalent of the Vibe I'm going for with this WIP. And, lyrically, it's about literally wanting to cheat death to be by your lover... that's Orpheus-coded.

Cosmic American by Anaïs Mitchell - Anaïs Mitchell wrote Hadestown, which we'll talk about later, but Cosmic American is from her solo work. It actually features on two of her albums, but I picked the acoustic version from Xoa because that's my favorite. It keeps in line with the Americana theme, and it paints a picture of a love that's wistful, lonely, and a little haunting. In the playlist, I have it at the very end... This is the song that would play over the credits in the movie. Asking, at the end of it all, "Do you blame me? Do you blame me?"

BOOKS

I wouldn't consider any of these comp titles, necessarily... but I do think you can feel their influence in this WIP quite a bit.

1922 by Stephen King - If there's one thing Stephen King does really well, it's violent, upsetting imagery. That's on full display in 1922, especially in his descriptions of the wife's ghost when she appears. You can definitely see shades of him in some of the more violent scenes in this book. I also think the rural setting of this novella has also crept into some of the descriptions you're gonna find here.

Her Body And Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado - This surreal sapphic horror collection has haunted me ever since I read it. And I think its influence on this WIP should be obvious from the moment that I said the words "surreal sapphic horror." The Husband Stitch, which she actually has free to read here, is a feminist retelling of that old folk tale about the woman with the ribbon around her neck, which is a story I also reference in Behind You. You can definitely see her approach's influence in how I write it.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid - A psychological horror novel that gets progressively stranger as it goes on. This one does a lot of strange things with its narration, and while I don't think any part of Behind You will ever get quite as esoteric as this one, it definitely made me think about how I wanted to approach the voice of this WIP in a different light. Some of the early scenes, on the remote farm, also have a certain energy to them that, similar to 1922, have probably left their mark here.

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield - God, the prose in this novel is just beautiful. I would not be so vain as to say that Behind You could hold a candle to it, but I will say that I found it very inspiring. I loved how this book approached relationships, and grief, and queerness. I think you'll hear the heartbeat of all that under the floorboards of Behind You, if slightly twisted to fit the specific theme and narrative needs of this book, specifically.

MUSICALS

I am and have always been a huge musical nerd... of course, that's going to show up in my influences.

Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell - Hadestown is probably my favorite piece of media of all time, and probably the reason I want to write an Orpheus and Eurydice retelling with Americana influences in the first place, haha. Of course, there are some pretty critical differences... Hadestown is, at its core, a very hopeful piece in which the focus is more on the meta significance of the fact that we keep retelling this story, while Behind You focuses on the horror that would actually come from being trapped in that cycle. But these two things are very much in conversation with each other. Also, I borrowed the concept of Eurydice being a drifter-type character from here... although in Behind You, The Poet choses to travel with The Muse, while in Hadestown, Eurydice chooses to settle with Orpheus. Diametric, but not opposed?

The Ninth Hour by Kate Douglas and Shayfer James - This is another musical that focuses on a cycle caused by mythology (Beowulf, this time), and unlike Hadestown, plays it as more of a straight tragedy. I also really like how neither character is really good or bad... they're playing the roles that they were given, and that tension and hopelessness is really palpable. I also just really love how... pretentious this is? I realize that sounds like I'm insulting it, but it's not. I've also been referring to Behind You as pretentious even in my earliest notes and that's part of why I love it so much. It's charmingly pretentious.

PLAYS

Both of these are represented by those little white boxes in the graphic... those little snippets of dialogue are very significant!

Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl - I don't really think Behind You has all that much in common with Eurydice, other than retelling the same myth! Eurydice has more of an absurdist slant, almost a dark humor (in my opinion), and it's serving a very different thematic purpose than I am. But that specific exchange between Orpheus and Eurydice captures the truth of them in a way I'm taking tens of thousands of words to do. Their love is obvious. It is inevitable. It is.

Oresteia by Robert Icke - This version of Oresteia absolutely haunts me. And this line of dialogue (spoken by Clytemnestra) is just... the epitome of tragedy. "This was always going to happen. She's been dead since the beginning." The first chapter of Behind You literally takes place in a graveyard, so I trust you'll understand why that specifically stuck out to me. There's something so haunting about this entire sequence that, I think, gets to the root of what makes tragedies... well, tragic. They're both cosmically ordained and horrifically preventable.

Everything else here are just photos added for flavor... and, in the center is, of course, a painting of Orpheus and Eurydice, since that's the myth I'm retelling! And that's about the end of it. If you read to the end of this, holy shit I love you. Would love for you to ramble about your WIP inspos in this fashion because I kinda sorta live for it.

Behind You “meta dump!” A little collage of inspirations for my WIP.

This trend is going around Twitter right now, so I thought it would be fun to bring here!

[remythologise]

You mentioned C-Dramas / K-Dramas that scratch that homophobic gay drama itch and, well, I'm shamefully a sucker for those tropes. Could you share which of those mirror that type of media?

LITERALLY SO SO SO SO SO GLAD YOU ASKED. ABSOLUTELY BLESSED ASK ANON THANK YOU.

Will say that it’s really not exactly the same vibe because you will get a SHARP CONCENTRATED DOSE of even more homoerotic shenanigans in the following shows, they are much more intentional (to varying degrees, although I feel undeniably so in every instance) than the western instances BUT it will scratch that itch because none of these shows have “canon” gay romance. This is very hard to explain properly because some of it is very canon, just censored. But I will use my old terminology — it is unmarketable gay media. To me. Despite at least four of these being created and marketed TO appeal to fujo trash like myself… it is unmarketable gay media TO ME!!! Sorry you’ll just have to take my advice that Vibes on censored gay dramas are Tremendous.

I will say because literally all of these dramas have the central relationship ‘censored’ in various ways do not go in expecting a Happy Gay Ending, though most (not all.) of these do have about as happy an ending as they could under the But-Not-TOO-Gay Circumstances. (Much like. Supernatural or House M.D. Shall we say. Journey not the destination…) ALL of the following shows are on Netflix, though it’s probably a better viewing experience with the subs to watch on Viki.

IMO you should also watch the shows in the following order. Also I could harp on about these shows for YEARS but I tried to keep it brief (I could talk more.)

THE DEVIL JUDGE — girl I love this show so much I don’t know what to do with myself. It is SUCH camp fun everyone is so gay in it (despite the canon het romance). I don’t even KNOW how to adequately describe this show it’s literally What If There Was A Dystopian Korea (Basically The Same Korea) And They Made A Reality TV Show For The High Court But Also It’s Mostly A Gay Gothic Romance Complete With Old British Mansion. 11/10 had such a fun time. THIS SHOW IS SO UNDERRATED ON THIS WEBSITE COMPARED TO—

BEYOND EVIL — VERY similar in cat-and-mouse homoerotic vibes to the Devil Judge but Up To Eleven on the cat-and-mouse thing. Literally was awarded best drama and actor award of that year. It’s not just a gay show, it’s also a VERY good show! A detective from a small town and a detective from the city get paired up to Solve A String Of Murders. Both of them think the other is suspicious/untrustworthy. 12/10 would yell ‘KISS’ at my TV until my voice was hoarse again.

THE UNTAMED — someone on anon told me to watch this show in like 2019 and it took me THREEEE YEARRRSSSS to watch it. I really struggled to adapt to the CDrama tone/format at the beginning but I’m SOOOO glad I did. You really have to get into it and flow with it but once you’re in you’re IN you are LOCKED into What If Game of Thrones Was Camp and Gay and Actually Good. SUCH good writing, character, relationship and world building. I laughed, I cried, 13/10 this show has been popular enough that you have all heard of it!

WORD OF HONOR — So you watched the Untamed and this was the thing everyone was recommending to watch next but wasn’t ‘as good’ as the Untamed. Well. Wasn’t as good TO YOU. I’M HAVING A BALL ON THIS BITCH! Literally of all these shows this one is my favourite PURELY because I love these stupid flirting assholes so much. Shut up. Sorry this post is incoherent. The plot is not as good as the Untamed but the banter/relationship is even more in focus and just chef’s kiss dynamic to ME. So 14/10 gay it probably was the biggest reason gay-vibes drama is now banned in China. Girl I am not literally not joking. All the danmei is in unreleased development hell. Help.

GUARDIAN — For the true die-hards (not on Netflix/Viki and got purged from the legal internet but can be found. In places.) SO YOU WATCHED WORD OF HONOR AND YOU’RE LIKE GOD THAT ENDING RIPPED OUT MY ASSHOLE EMOTIONALLY WHAT IF I FOUND AN ENDING THAT WAS QUALITATIVELY WORSE. DO I HAVE ANOTHER PRIEST (AUTHOR OF WORD OF HONOR) ADAPTATION FOR YOU. Production values ZERO acting values MIDDLING gay values FUN AND SEXY. This show is literally what if Torchwood was better and worse at the same time. The reason the string of danmei adaptions started I believe, because this one was so popular. I haven’t watched all of this yet I’m savouring it. Don’t look at me.

HEAVEN’S OFFICIAL BLESSING — not quite the same vibes as what you’re going for with this ask (not a live action; very much an anime and not finished yet) but would be remiss not to mention the VERY PRETTY AND GREAT adaptation of the series by the same author of the Untamed. Also on Netflix.