#it's a super common and excellent trope

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Thailand is back in charge

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

June 2024 Week 2

Ongoing Series - Thai

Wandee Goodday (Sat YT) ep 7 of 12 - There is so much to love about this pair. But one of the things I truly adore is what great communicators they are about what they want & need as friends & as lovers. As boyfriends? Not so much. But the way they can (and do and did) communicate speaks well to their ability to communicate in the future, once they have resolved the inevitable doom the BL gods will reign down upon us over the next 3-4 eps. I guess what I am say is... these two are gonna be awesome husbands.

The break up was sad but inevitable.

Yay for a crying kiss. I do so love a crying kiss! 

Can we talk about the fact that all that tension was worth it?

Excellent kiss all round from GreatInn. Possibly one of the best of the year. Their only issue in winning this category in 2024 is that they're up against OffGun, TayNew, and JimmySea, not to mention BillyBabe... and MosBank coming soon. But I gotta say, for a new pair? Fantastic work boys.

My Stand-In (Fri iQIYI) ep 8 of 12 - I literally spent this whole show saying “Oh, Poor Joe!” Which is now the actual name of his character: Poor Joe. He's like the country music sad sack. How much is this narrative gonna keep kicking him while he's down?  

Sunset X Vibes (Sat iQIYI) ep 1 of 12 - Star Hunter + MosBank + a beloved familiar face? You ready? Let's go. I got a lot to say.

Unexpected supernatural historical paranormal mythological Sign-esk elements happening in our dream sequence opening. I’m not mad about it. But I do think it’s going to be mishandled in the dubious hands of Star Hunter. My BLabies, no matter what else, with Star Hunter we can rest assured there will be chaos and narrative mess. And now, lucky us, there will be a supernatural mess. But at least it will be sexy and high heat.

Honestly, I'm not worried about MosBank and I know what to expect from Star Hunter,. So we're all on the same page.

Meanwhile, enter a cute side couple (normal for this studio). WAIT a second I know that face! That's Tenon of PitchBank fame (side couple, and only good thing about, Golden Blood). I’m sad to see his pair busted, but delighted to see him pop up again in a BL.

Tenon appreciation time: He kisses beautifully everyone, and he is a killer eye-emoter. We are in for a real treat with this actor. (Especially if we get to a place in the narrative where he pines. OH PLEASE MAKE HIM PINE.)

Okay back to the show. I love Tenon but I also LOVE his infiltrating, wicked smart, younger brother character. This role is great for him. I adore an industrial spy. I enjoy a rich boy pretending to be an intern in his family's company (yes it's a trope, just not common in BL). Excellent work Thailand. No notes.

In conclusion?

It’s a cheesy silly office BL and I am enjoying it immensely because I have no expectations. So don't burst my bubble. Star Hunter is bound to do that on its own without tumblr's help.

We Are Cute (Weds iQIYI) ep 11 of 16 - Oh my God they are all so cute! I love the beginning bit when Peem was feeling down and Phum tried to cheer him up. Ridiculously charming. All the sides were super adorbs too. The actual name of this show is "We Are Cute". Meanwhile, Kluen = the only boy in a BL ever to take his unfinished drink with him? I like him even more now. 

My Love Mix-Up Th (Fri YT) ep 2 of 12 - New take on the umbrella trope to be trapped under a parasol together. NO SINGING. Honestly? I am not loving this as much as I really wanted to love it. It's the middle of the rankings for good reason. I do like the idea of historical Cinderfella BL though. Why isn't that what I'm watching? The play with in a play is a dangerous trope to deploy, it only distracts my with attractive possibilities. 

Love Sea (Sun iQIYI) ep 2 of 10 - I'm gonna try to cycle back to ending this rap-up week on Saturdays, which means the recap for this episode will be in next week's weekly (so to speak). Meanwhile, I am doing a Trash watch on this show. Hopefully that will get updated tomorrow.

Knock Knock Boys (Thurs Gaga) ep 4 of 12 - It’s fun enough. Kind of a pulpy lark. Best + Seng = a surprisingly good match.

Only Boo! (Sun YT) ep 10 of 12 - Good kiss from the sides. No surprises there. The main’s kissing was fine too, I guess. I like that they had a genuine struggle with being an idol and not being able to date. It’s nice to see that depicted on screen in a BL. I wish we had a bit more of a montage around the rise & success of Moo's boy group. But I understand the money in play for this kind of show prohibits that. All in all? It’s fine. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

At 25:00 in Akasaka AKA 25 Ji Akasaka de (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 9 of 10 - Oof. This ep was painful. So much awkward desperation and confusion. Oh Japan, must you?

Crazy to be in a place and time where there is no other noted non-Thai BLs airing. Not even from Korea. What is going on? Are we in 2020 all over again? Please no.

It's airing but...

The Last Time (Thai Fri YT?) - Convoluted story of loss and possible reincarnation or something. Can't find it.

OMG Vampire (Thai Sun ???) 10 eps - I can't find it. Comments from last week suggest this is not my thing anyway, but Lee Long Shi very much IS my thing. I've put the search on hold for a bit and y'all can let me know if it's worth tracking down. Also, who knew Frank & Big could kiss like that? Not me.

ARGH could Monster Next Door please just start airing. I am SO tired of waiting for Big to lead out a BL. It should have happened years ago. *grumbles in chronic second lead syndrome*

In case you missed it

Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru 2 AKA Aki wa Haru to Gohan wo Tabetai 2 Haime! (Japan movie) - Continues the (frankly) lackadaisical story from part 1 ans was meant to drop yesterday. We thought maybe Gaga, but nothing so far.

The Time of Fever AKA Unintentional Love Story 2 (Korea movie) trailer released to Korean theaters 5/25. HoTae & DongHee, side couple from Unintentional Love Story are back! Same actors, same character names. I love them. Devastated this hasn't had international distribution.

As others see us: NuNew's 'Awful' Performance in BABYMONSTER's 'SHEESH' Goes Viral - I don't like BL being noticed by Kpop stans. I flipping LOATHE this song and I'm not wild about Babym. This is all 'round uncomfortable making and I want it to stop.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

June Releases Still Coming

6/26 The Rebound (Thai Weds Gaga) - MeenPing are back in their 3rd BL together, a basketball based romance (Meen was a national basketball player, so yay for that). I like this pair better than most (I still do miss Meen with Est but Est has a fantastic looking new BL coming from GMMTV so yeah...) Anyway I'm up for a sports romance starring a man who, yah know, actually played that sport so... I'm game (pun intended).

6/26 I Hear the Sunspot AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru (Japan Weds Gaga) 10 eps - A new series adaptation of beloved yaoi I Hear the Sunspot (first adaptation was feature film Silhouette of Your Voice 2017).

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Forget "boyfriends but they don't realize it." These two are married but they don't realize it.

Praise be, he didn't leave his full drink behind. BEST BOY.

It was a great make out sesh.

THAT LIP BITE.

All round excellent ep this week, We Are Cuties.

Top tier flirting banker from the fuck buddies though. Man, their innuendo is on point. And I do mean that point. (Wandee Goodday)

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity

@rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in it's infinite wisdom doesn't like too many tags.

There's these tricks, remember.

[bethanydelleman]

I'm usually pretty diligent about keeping my Kdrama obsession on my sideblog, but everyone, you need to hear about Queen of Tears.

You know the super common trope of mysterious, work-obsessed, emotionally-constipated rich guy falls for a "poor" (usually middle class), spunky, every-girl? (what Pride & Prejudice is commonly mistaken for) Kdramas LOVE that trope. They love it to death. And because their format is almost always 12-16 episode miniseries and then done, you end with a marriage and "happily ever after".

Queen of Tears is set three years later and the Happily Ever After Couple is headed for divorce. Turns out that even true love can't overcome terrible communication and awful families. Maybe acts of service done in secret isn't a great love language. Their Destined, Soul-Mates relationship has crumbled and it's all due to very logical fall-out from trauma and their personalities. It is excellent. It's also gender-swapped for extra fun.

I love it to death and more people need to know it exists.

[fauxkaren]

When the Phone Rings - 10/10

What a delight of a drama! The chemistry between the leads was INSANE. While it was only 12 episodes, it didn't feel overly short. The plot kept it moving and never felt like it was dragging. Sure there were some pretty standard K-drama tropes but it felt elevated in a lot of ways as the show explored themes of communication (or lack thereof...). I was perched every week waiting for new episodes and absolutely would watch again.

This show is the story of two people in an arranged marriage. They are both from powerful families. Sa-eon is the son of a politician and is currently working as spokesperson for the president. Hee-joo is selectively mute after surviving a car accident as a child which killed her younger brother and works as a sign language interpreter. For three years they barely communicate and live as strangers, essentially. Everything changes when Hee-joo is kidnapped one night and the kidnapper makes a threatening phone call to Sa-eon. Hee-joo escapes unharmed but from then on, the kidnapper calls every night at 10 PM. From that point on, things unravel as long held secrets are revealed.

The TENSION between the leads was DELICIOUS. Full on kicking my legs in the air as they circled each other and their feelings for each other. Just... amazing. And like yeah, there were some pretty common tropes but they felt like they fit within the show and weren't just put in there because it was easy or expected. The second leads were also super likable and helped flesh out the main story. The show also know when to reveal things to the audience and to the characters so nothing felt like to dragged out beyond what was necessary. So yeah, well written, well paced, well acted. All around a great show anchored by two excellent leads!

[mikuni14]

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo - Ep 7-8

There have certainly been many smart words written about the finale, I've managed to read only one post so far (and I totally agree with it), I've got a busy end of the week and don't really have time to read more. So I'll quickly list what I particularly liked about the finale:

as far as I can tell, the series probably wrapped up all the threads. Some things may be a bit incomprehensible, but I think that may have been the creators' intention, so that we could guess many things rather than be told specifically by the series. Like, for example, the reasons why JuYeong stayed and took care of DoHoe's father. There could be several such reasons and each one is good (and each one could be wrong lol). Such a wrap-up of threads, a satisfying finale and leaving viewers with a sense of closure is not that common in BL series, especially those that aspire to be more serious, we all know that 🤷‍♀️ so I really appreciate it!

the actors are excellent, I really liked, for example, how looking at DoHoe's body, figure, face, one could clearly deduce his current condition. This zombie-like rigidity, apathy versus ease, a broad smile, uncontrollable bursts of laughter... it was just 👌

I liked this juxtaposition of the oppressive, homophobic, obedience-enforcing and punishing version of religion, with the positive version of religion, i.e. "and the truth shall set you free" :) Because yes, truth, honesty, liberated DoHoe, made him feel free at last, made him feel at peace

I liked this "simple, ordinary" ending in general, where the answer turned out to be a simple, ordinary truth and honesty. Even if it involves pain, loss of something, consequences. And how even these consequences cannot overshadow the overwhelming sense of freedom and peace that is immediately visible in DoHoe. I like the lack of a sugary-sweet ending: DoHoe suffers the consequences of his lies, although as viewers we root for him and want him not to be punished at all

I absolutely love JuYeon's unconditional feelings, how he helps DoHoe over and over again, just like HyeonHo, who, even when rejected, after a difficult conversation, is still ready to help DoHoe

just like the unconditional standing by the child, even at their own expense

JuYeong, when he is serious and so matter-of-fact, when he sees reality for what it is, not believing DoHoe's "mean" but also empty words about breaking up. How many such situations have we seen, when one rejects the other for Noble Motives, or Out of Fear, or for some other Bullshit Reason, when due to an irritating lack of communication the other leaves hurt and then, frustrated, we watch them suffer for several episodes convinced of their unrequited love 😬 JuYeong is not like that, he knows DoHe, he believes in his love, he doesn't believe DoHoe's words because he knows him - this knowledge of the other person, their past, their personality is something I love in my romances, and what makes me believe in love watched on screen as a viewer. Personally, I can't stand this trope when someone is pretending or saying something ooc for them and the other person just buys it. I always ask then: do you even know who you love? Because it's so obvious ooc for them! 😤Super happy that JuYeong is like "I'm not going anywhere and I don't think you actually mean it"

I love how they talk about themselves, their relationship, their life together, their future together, like a real couple, real people 🥰

I love JuYeong because he educated himself in various, sometimes serious, sometimes funny topics 🤩 I often hear men people complaining that they can't handle various things because their parents / school / no one taught them, while Google and books in the library are free. JuYeong asks the internet how to live and how to be a perfect little boyfriend for his pookie and the internet answers him lmao, this is just so simple and perfect. JuYeong is the best!

teddy-bear pajamas! (I will put a gif of them later, love it so much!)

HyeonHo is so fiiiiiine

(apologies for the screenshot from the gray pages but I can't make them on Gaga)

To sum up: I won't hide the fact that whether it's my own fault, or the fault of the subtitles, or the plot, or the aura of depressiveness, but episodes 4-7 were incomprehensible and chaotic for me in some parts, overly complicated at times with conversations full of ambiguities and understatements to the point of being incomprehensible (but I also completely buy the fact that I'm just too stupid to catch all the nuances lol). Overall, the series is very good, although unlike Where Your Eyes Linger, I can only watch it once. The series showed the long-term effects of domestic violence very well, realistically but with respect for the victims, without sugarcoating, without idealizing the victims. It also showed struggling with traumas, which is not always successful, it also shows how important unconditional support is, but also coming face to face with the unpleasant consequences of untreated traumas. It shows the value of love, friendship, honesty, doing what is right, without irritating moralizing. The series had a very realistic vibe, I was able to imagine all of DoHoe's feelings, and the actor convincingly played him as a lost kid, tangled in his own guilt, traumas, lies, yearning for love and hope - even though he is an adult.

The only tiny reservation I have about the series is that I would like more of JuYeong, who has also suffered so much, but from the beginning he has been a strong,leading force in their relationship and is often "the adult one". However, his type of personality, his openness, courage, honesty and straightforwardness are responsible for the fact that he copes relatively better with difficult situations. So it's not really any complaint, more an observation ;)

But apart from that, this series is really good aaaand has a good, happy ending, yay!💖

[danthediamondminecart]

So all this questions are very random and these have been renting free in my head for a while. I don't know why on earth was I so nervous to ask the questions but here I am.

1.) I am more of a new fan so first one is gonna be simple question. So, when did you start the TMA au and what is full form of "TMA". Since you have been posting arts of it I thought it would be good for me to just catch up with the context.

2.) I can NOT be the only one who thinks PinkLeaf and TanqR are like human versions of Yin-Yang☯️. Now I know this is not a question but I still wanted to know if there was anyone else who thought of this way. Everything from their personality and even their colour palette, it is the complete polar opposite of each other. Even their uhh... roles (look I forgot the word), it is the complete opposite. PinkLeaf is an angel and TanqR is a demon. The two common things they have is that they are from Robloxia and they both have been a competitor of RB Battles.

3.) When are we getting TanqR's backstory? Like this guy is a literal man of mystery. I really need to know it to clear my questions from the BLSMP like, "Is he different from other demons? (If there WAS other demons that actually exist) or is he like every single demon we know.", "What does he mean 'I am more use to the cold'? Is he from a cold frosty place or something?", "Why did he have a mental breakdown when he broke the deal? Did anything like this ever happen to him in the past?".

4.) I feel like all these questions will be related with TanqR and PinkLeaf but speaking towards the TanqR's side, why does he hate PinkLeaf so much? I know this will be one of the classic 'A Demon hates An Angel' thing but is this really the reason or is there anything else about it or am I questioning the very obvious answer ever.

5.) And last but not least, What's PinkLeaf's relationship with IBella? I know I know, another very obvious answer, but still, I am still curious to know the very obvious answer that everyone knows.

Ok, that's all my questions! ':D

Lotsa Tanqr and Pink questions, lets go!! And don't be afraid to ask me questions, I love talking about my RBB headcanons bc I barely get to talk about em lol

Q1) TMA stands for The Magnus Archives! The Magnus Archives is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill and licensed under a creative commons attribution non-comme Ahem. The Magnus Archives is a horror podcast! I love TMA because of the way it treats fear and the supernatural - it has a super interesting taxonomy and the worldbuilding is great. I'f you're like me though, you might not like the main cast much, lol. I'd recommend listening to it if you're able to handle the content! (I'm sure Episode 6 will put people who are too young off). The TMA AU is me taking that excellent worldbuilding and throwing the RBBers into that world. To see what they do.

Q2) I actually have a different opinion - Tanqr and KreekCraft are the opposites. They're the perfect example of the Red Oni Blue Oni trope (a trope that I absolutely love), where Kreek is the loud, overzealous, vaguely insane one, and Tanqr is the sarcastic, laid-back and controlled one, but both are confident victors with a love for contest. Their colour schemes even match! Though interestingly, they do the opposite of what their 'oni' normally does - Kreek is the Red Oni, but he specialises in puzzles and intelligence, Tanqr is the Blue Oni but he specialises in combat and fighting. It's a fun dynamic that I love exploring, as you can tell by the fact that I almost always have them butting heads in some way no matter the AU. To me, PinkLeaf is the Purple (or, well, Pink) Oni - the one in the middle, the third party. He's not loud like the other two, he's got a different playstyle, but...he's still equally competitive, he's still equally as ready to win as the other two.

Q3) Maybe one day - but not during BLSMP. BLSMP focuses on the present, on the there and now, backstories (aside from what's relevant, like the previous life games and RB Battles Season 2) won't be delved into at all. But I have written him a backstory! I encourage you to refer back to this post for more information on him. To answer your more specific questions:

A little personality wise - his brutality and bloodlust isn't a common factor between demons, that's a Tanqr thing. Otherwise, no.

Yes, other demons exist. Hoopie and Rainway are two of them.

He just prefers cold temperatures! See the post I linked for details.

Demons value deals as their main form of commerce and often their morality revolves around them. So Tanqr basically just broke important demon code, even if it was by accident. (He would be forgiven for that, but because he's not spent enough time around other demons, he doesn't know that.)

He's never broken a deal before, if that's what your asking. He sticks to the words of his deals - loopholes or not.

Q4) As per this shitpost - Tanqr doesn't hate Pink because he's an angel. He has no problem with them. He hates PinkLeaf because he's a little bitc--

Okay, but in all seriousness, they hate each other because they're both scared of / annoyed by each other. Tanqr hates anyone he sees as a 'threat' to his standing and position - so Kreek and Pink both fall into this category, due to being able to match and surpass his skill in certain areas.

Q5) Close friends! Bella pushes Pink to do things he'd not normally do due to his cowardice, Pink pulls Bella back from doing anything stupid due to her recklessness. Of course Bella has recently becoeme good friends with Kreek too, and Kreek and Pink don't mesh that well together, but they try for Bella's sake.

Thank you for asking!!

[yuukei-yikes]

WAITT okay. ok. saw the pearl&rose ask and want to propose: amethyst and rose (ayano is still rose. kano is amethyst).

1) amethysts shapeshifting tendencies and playful nature

2) shes always so self conscious about being useful to the group she feels like the "loser" or "late bloomer" of the gems right next to Steven

3) consequence of feeling like a loser she idolizes everyone else in the group and doesn't value herself very much

don't know how this would loop back to shintaro being Greg :( i think he would make an excellent Greg :(

anyway. uhh yeah. amethyst Kano. this would make kido either Garnet or sapphire I think. im kind of losing the plot of my own ask but. yeah. oughbh gem au good

YAAAAA!! UR RIGHT. also kano also has that whole "defective" thing going on too. idk if uve read the novels but he literally talks about ever since he found out what defective meant, he knows that was exactly the word to define him. common thoughts for 7 year olds💗 ALSO amethyst and kano literally do the same trope of *turns into ur dead girlfriend to torment you* sometimes i saw the amethyst hate for doing that to greg and i was like god these people could never handle cringe fail receding hairline prince kano shuuya

honestly im not that into assigning characters to make a super direct steven universe au cause. idk the dynamics feel very specific and different. again maybe because im kinda crazy abt steven universe so its difficult for me to separate it entirely for an au. same with kagepro like i could never take another media and be like oh kagepro au. what. no. kagepro is kagepro u cant kagepro other characters what are u doing. my datefriend likes outer science and has it assigned for an amphibia character in its au and yeah it fits but im also like THATS THE SNAKE OF CLEARING EYES KILLING THE MEKAKUSHI DAN!!! anyways what was i talking about

oh yeah. ok so thats why its more fun to call it gem au and just apply random shit from the show without assigning characters. i dont actually even have hcs i just said those on the go but sure i can do some more.

i think kano would be in that pink diamond shit with the pretending to be another gem thing. he could also be a little silly like a spinel too why not. jester thang. drift away is a kano song btw. *kicks rock* ayano would have healing properties and start going a little crazy like steven in su future when his emotion powers start to act as ptsd like that was so awesome. i think seto could have some of the future vision type of stuff instead of the mind reading... and maybe kido is an off color high class gem. yaaay! mary is probably a rare/unique gem thats op as hell.

and idk if this is weird but ene with the lapis lazuli stuff. i guess she'd be more like peridot cause technology and etc but. lapis was stuck in a mirror and could only speak through recordings. come onnn... soooo ene.... she can have both the limb enhancers and the mirror horrors. hibiya and hiyori in the ruby and sapphire type of thing where the very high class gem runs away with the low class gem. dont think theyd be a fusion of luuuuv like them but i like hiyori giving up her privilege for their friendship heeheeee!!! also i KNOW haruka isnt konoha but being hit by the gem rejuvenator thing seems pretty similarrrrr!!!

shintaro should just be human. he's not cunty enough for gem stuff

[archerygun]

The ninth doctor is Northern (and why I think that’s cool)

So the ninth doctor was a very successful attempt at reintroducing Dr. Who to the British public, working under the assumption that they might never have seen the show before. And it was so successful that there was major upset when he left after one season. Even my grandma found herself watching Dr. Who with me and my mum because it’s!!!!! Christopher!!!!! Eccleston!!!!!

The reintroduction of the character of the doctor is straight up genius in my opinion and my brain will not shut up about it. They play off a trope in a lot of British media that I’m going to call the Big Friendly Northerner trope. Think characters like the BFG, Maurice Flitcroft in The Phantom of the Open, Kempton Bunton in The Duke, that one guy in the Railway Children movie (actually a lot of them). Characterised by stubbornness, childlike qualities, cheeriness, not always being the brightest in conventional settings but very practical/resourceful/excellent at what they do, a mix of comedically arrogant and heartbreakingly humble (to the point of seemingly not caring about themselves at all), etc. An ‘atlas complex’ or compulsive need to help and please everyone is also common but not necessary to fit the criteria.

They play off this trope for the character of the Ninth doctor with his chaotic all-over-the-place energy, parental qualities, childlike sense of wonder and cheery disposition.

And then they make it their own to give you more of an idea of the Doctor’s nature. His cheerful demeanour at times becomes almost sociopathic when he doesn’t react in the face of horrors (which definitely helps it sink in just how ancient the guy is). The ‘atlas complex’ is his years and years and years building up on him and his desire to protect life that cannot protect itself.

This is a genius way to introduce the Doctor back to British audiences who may not necessarily be familiar with the character but are certainly familiar with this trope (even if they can’t identify it).

And hey, it puts a big Northern guy with a thick accent as a godlike genius who’s constantly stated to be super smart and I am here for saying fuck you to the idea of who ‘smart’ is and what ‘smart’ looks like. Like fuck yeah Christopher Eccleston go play an alien genius with your thick accent fully intact, fuck yeah “Lots of planets have a North.” and having Northerners be part of sci-fi without needing a good explanation. (This honestly goes for having diversity in accent and dialect in general, always a Grade 9 from me). I just. It makes me happy. Gives me the feels.

God I have a lot of feels about this.

I love subversions/twists on this trope (see The Phantom of the Open and how they use it to make the suicide scene so much more heartbreaking).

And I mean hey it’s always good to see Northerners thriving in this country.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Conflicting Accounts

We're back, 1136 gave us a great one to really dig into. Let's start here because I try not to have anything super spoilery before the cut and well...I feel like the subtle revelation in this panel is really going to help us set the stage here. Remember we're still doing something a little strange here on Elbaf. Starting off with a big party like we'd normally see at the end of an arc.

Here, we have a brief moment between Luffy and Zoro as they move towards their plan at the end of the chapter. Or at least the main gang's part. We'll get back to that. But do you see the subtle wrinkle here that's important if you're reading between the lines a bit? Oda's confirming something that's really just common sense but it does make sense to highlight and we've even had an SBS question about it. It's a cousin to Robin and Saul. We've never seen Luffy really talking about Shanks a lot with the crew. But Zoro's brushing it off as something Luffy's brought up a lot. That could be helpful to remember, especially as we go into the rest of this chapter:

The most important thing to me is how we treat Nika. I've talked about Wano from the perspective of comparing it to Utena before, and this is one of the more general ways because it's a pretty common trope for anything theatrical in anime. A lot of slice of life stories use it too. A play that forecasts major themes as we go into the ending.

As Wano saw Oden, so does the world see Nika. It's not just some holy savior. Opinions about the nature of the deity are split. This is big, and so much more in line with our boy Luffy fitting his legacy. Because he has been a savior and a destroyer. Sometimes even both for the same place like we saw in Dressrosa. Pairs excellently with:

Loki reminding me a lot of the types of lore we got for Oden's early years. Honestly he seems like a much darker take on what Oden was to Wano. This time with no one really keeping him in check. Imagine if Sukiyaki just imprisoned him instead of exiling him from the capital. Though recall Sukiyaki did let Oden go to a prison camp for a while and he ended up thriving there.

We've really done a lot of work to show this clash with Loki's reputation and Luffy wanting to see him differently. With Oden it was easy, you didn't show up when he was anything but a lauded memory of better days. Loki's still putting that question of Luffy's motives to the test. If the bad guy got to him first and treated him like a friend what would he do to the country?

A question it looks like we're heading to an answer for. Luffy's going back to Loki, this time with Zoro and Nami in tow. Who'll hopefully keep him in check. I love this stuff with Road too. Zeus establishing the pecking order, Nami burning him for trying to buddy up. Great stuff. Always happy to see Nami being a sassy queen.

The stuff with Shivs and Gunko is cool too. Worth mentioning Road seems to be responsible for the agents going missing. An interesting parallel to York and Egghead. I feel like we've done a lot of great work to set up something cool here for this point in the story, so I'm definitely intrigued what the next few chapters look like. Especially when the stakes could well be Luffy unnecessarily dragging a friendly country with no real problems into some very big ones if he isn't careful.

[groenendaelfic]

ˏˋ°*♡➷ get to know me ༊*·˚

Thank you @sflow-er for the tag!

The aim of this tag game was to take your favorite movie, character, animal, drink, song, season, book, color and hobby and create a mood board.

I apologize for the super long delay. Was there a common tag everyone used? I was on a grief retreat mountain wondering about the meaning of life and so missed everyone's entries and I'd love to catch up.

Movie: Enter the Phoenix (2004) this movie is full of my favorite tropes. Secret & mistaken identity, power dynamics, competence kink, enemies to lovers friends, swords, loyalty. It also has a well written and portrayed out and proud queer lead. It didn't age super well, but it makes me nostalgic of the Hong Kong that once was, especially from a queer perspective, and remains my favorite comfort comedy.

Character: Methos from Highlander the Series. Wilhelm is my precious and my baby and I love him, but Methos has had an almost thirty year head start, okay? Maybe after season 3 and with some time to digest things will change, but for now it's still Methos all the way.

Animal: Elephant. I also like cats and guinea pigs but elephants always made me feel safe (as a kid elephants where about as real to me as dinosaurs)

Drink: Assam tea. Never come near me with Darjeeling. In a pinch a strong espresso macchiato will do. Bonus points if there's some vanilla in there as well. (Ostfriesen Sonntagstee ftw, even if it's kinda tricky to get here)

Song: Sogno di Volare by Christopher Tin. I've had musical anhedonia since I was eleven so I don't really listen to music, but hearing this always brings be joy because it means I have hours of playing Civ ahead of me. Also the lyrics are cool.

Season: Summer all the way. You can be outside, the days are long and I've always associated that time with freedom and carefreeness.

Book: 琅琊榜 by 海晏. I adore this book. All the tropes from above (except not explicitly queer) and with bonus historical low fantasy elements and lots of elaborate politics. Also all the idioms and very well written. Better known by the title of the excellent tv series it inspired and which I never have the time to rewatch called Nirvana in Fire. (won because it's great and because the three defining book (series) of my youth turned out to be written by authors of varying degrees of horridness)

Color: light turquoise green. Is that what it's called? Anyway that color.

Hobbies: writing about power dynamics Wilmon fic

[rowarn]

sorry i wasn't specific with my ask! if you could just give me some ideas on how you get your inspo and word usage, that's mostly what i'm looking for! anything is appreciated though, thank youu. :))

RIGHT ON! its okay, i would have given random tips but i wasnt sure if there was something specific you were looking for!

my inspo largely comes from other media. tv shows, movies, edits, fucking character ai bots, other fics; literally anything that i enjoy i typically wind up using in my fics. its not for me personally but plenty of people get inspired by music! songs and music videos

other fics are excellent inspo bc u can see how readers respond to tropes that they've done. age gap, dilf, aus, and stuff like that. its also rlly great to see characterization. as long as you're not plagiarizing then emulating and learning from other writers who are doing the same thing you do or want to do is excellent. i love reading fics hehe

ik that sounds like super basic and boring but having a repertoire of existing tropes and stuff is super great!

as for word usage, it's all super subjective bc my tastes and stuff will not match up for everyone. but if u like how i write and want to emulate it then there are a few things i can say! i focus mostly on smut and dialogue.

first, it's important to have a good vocabulary. knowing synonyms to words you want to say is important. u don't want to have a paragraph that uses the same word over and over again, you want to break it up and make it mentally appealing to read. it won't be interesting to readers if you don't expand your vocab!

i am primarily a smut writer so that's where most of my focus is on intentional word usage. all my narration and plot is pretty basic i'd say. nothing incredibly special except for my dialogue which i put a lot of thought into.

i don't use metaphors that much. so, say, for smut u won't catch me using "globes" in reference to tits. i much prefer to just come out and say breasts, tits, chest.

i also don't use like Correct anatomy language. so i don't use penis, testicles, vagina or clitoris. i use.......porn language bc that's what im writing; cock, pussy, cunt, clit. just to keep it......erotic bc i personally (again, subjective) find correct anatomy language to be more off-putting than erotic.

smut is where it becomes difficult to use broad language. there's only so many words you can use for a dick. so don't be afraid to bust out some wattpad words u know? length, member, etc. ik they can sometimes be cringey and u don't like them but use them at the right time and using it sparingly and most ppl won't rlly notice. it breaks up reading the word cock and dick over and over and over again for 2k words.

for some examples,

for dicks u can use; dick, cock, member, shaft, length

for the puth u can do; pussy, cunt, folds, core, sex isn't bad

clit i use clit, bud, and nub mostly...but ppl use pearl or button, i don't but it doesn't bother me when i see it

i also don't use flowery language. i know in creative writing or whatever it's common to use poetic word usage but i find it to be more confusing than anything. i can't read rlly flowery fics bc the meaning of what im reading just genuinely gets lost. it's all lost on me. i'd say im a much more direct writer with my words and scenes? i utilize a fair bit of narration and exposition in my writing.

i find dialogue style to be quite important. if you read my stuff (like the fics, we dont look at my word vomit LMAOOO) you'll usually see i make the characters talk in specific ways.

simon cuts off his words "goin'" instead of "going", "somethin'" instead of "something", like that. i dont use a ton of language to depict his accent other than that, i leave the leg work mostly up to the readers bc they know what he sounds like. but some writers do like british slang, "wanker", "mate", "innit" LMAO i just don't and thats my choice. i choose to just cut his words off and call it a day. he has a more casual way of speaking in Taking What You Need as compared to konig in Experience.

konig, in Experience, has a specific way of talking as well that is opposite to simon. he doesn't use contractions. i did that intentionally bc i wanted him to have a more intimidating, professional, cold kind of way of talking. "do not do it" comes across different than "don't do it"!

i personally would say that a large part of my characterization comes across in dialogue and the style of dialogue i choose. i think that makes it more enjoyable for readers!

all in all, i basically just emulate what i personally like to see in writing. that's how i keep finding it enjoyable. i love giving fics for ppl to read but if i didn't write straight up what I wanted to see then the actual physical task of writing would be a lot worse.

idk how helpful this was since i basically just told u.....what i like to do LMAOOOO but i hope it gives u some kind of idea of what i focus on and how i get my writing to be the way it is?

EDIT: important that i also use inclusive language to the best of my abilities!

instead of saying like "your cheeks turned red" i use "you feel your cheeks heat up" or something along those lines since people with darker skin tones won't have their cheeks turn red when they blush!! but feeling your cheeks BURN is smthn we've all experienced.

i also try not to use any "running your hands through your hair" bc not everyone can do that! i can't even do that i have curly hair hehe. an alternative would be pushing a stray strand out of your face or tucking some behind your ear or something like that.

also, i don't mention nipple color or vagina color or anything !

[blueinkedfrost]

So you made some foolish decisions in your life. Maybe you were downright evil. And you definitely got punished for your actions and inactions, probably by the death penalty. Anyway, your father / emperor / other authority figure was so much worse than you.

Good news, hon. You're in an isekai. You get to live your life a second time with access to all the memories of your downfall. You can change your past and create a better future thanks to your excellent knowledge of all the cheat codes.

Now you're the better, more mature, well-informed version of yourself, you're super nice to the authority figure from the past timeline. He's nice to you as well. Hardly surprising, you're giving him everything that you know he wants. Congratulations! Did you tame the tyrant?

No. You bent over backward to appease him. Nobody can hold that advanced gymnastic position forever. Abusers don't change because their abuse victim is extra nice to them. Abusive people change because they choose to change. The logic, 'If only the victim had a different personality the abuse would never have happened' is victim blaming. He has altered nothing. Even if he doesn't abuse you this time, he will abuse other people.

Honey, congratulations on working hard to change your destiny, but you deserve so much better than that bullying shithead. Kick him in the delicates and run.

(Pronoun Note: People of any gender can abuse people of any gender - my gendered language here is due to common fictional tropes.)

[jennawynn]

Chronotrek TOS to series finale

oops, I did it again... I forgot to update. got lost in the sauce. or something.

Honestly, I thought I had been updating at least once a season, but I guess not. Also got distracted binging the entire series of The Expanse in about a week over the holidays. BUT I just finished the Original Series. So I guess we'll go broad strokes since the play by play is pointless.

TLDR: How fucking disappointing an end.

Season 2-

Unlike much of TOS to new!Trek, T'Pring is spot on for appearance. Not that I think it's important or even a _good_ thing for most of them to be beholden to the original, but I was impressed by that. Though the whole 'property of the victor' thing is very squicky. I thought the Vulcans were 'evolved'. And then I guess he didn't gotta fuck after all.

By 2, Uhura's actually doing work. She's not just eye candy on the bridge. But then they have Jim say that finding a girl on the ship is losing an officer. Because women can't fucking exist without being partnered and can't be partnered and still work. This bullshit was actually still happening in the Navy when I was in. Men were unwilling to invest time and training in women because we'd just get married and get out to have babies anyway where a man is likely to stay in and retire. The men in my class in boot camp were told by their instructors that women join to find men, not because we actually wanted to serve or excel.

8- (Jim across the intercom) Scotty! Scotty! Stop getting your ass kicked and respond so I can tell you there's an intruder in your area! Scotty! Scotty, respond!

I hate this so much. Like when Jim and Uhura were in cells and the dude was obviously assaulting her and Jim kept shouting 'what's happening? are you ok? what's happening? what are you doing? are you ok?' like Jim, ffs, use some context clues, some deductive reasoning, and stop shouting for people to acknowledge you and DO SOMETHING.

Rainn Wilson was a good choice for Mudd in New!Trek though.

Why would they have to pay royalties? I thought this was post-currency? Post-scarcity? Is there still money?

9- This one was also squicky. So obsessed with gender. Body takeover, "love" that isn't recognized as such until it's wearing a pretty face. But of course one is a man and one is perceived as a woman so therefore let's change everything we thought so we can stay together and call it love.

10- Amanda's a pretty good reconstruction too, if aged down in New!Trek.

14- I wasn't expecting them to go the "Jack the Ripper is an immortal alien" route.

It always cracks me up when they cut to a super wide angle shot of a fight to sub in stunt doubles who are really obvious, though I suppose they wouldn't have been on a 60s tv.

19 Heeeey Dr. M'Benga!

This whole thing with the exotic witch women and how sexual she is and how she's dressed. Like that's not dumb enough, she lets herself get grappled more than once posturing with the phaser but defaulting to the dagger. Shoot one and they'd fall in line! But gotta keep reinforcing the idea that men are stronger than women.

21- Jim's look of indignation at Spock's statement that he would fit right in as a Nazi lmao

22- I don't know why I never realized that Trek is all (at least so far) in the Milky Way, that they don't even get as far as Andromeda.

26- so they can just. time travel. at will. what?

Season 3

3- hold up, roll that back. there's an ancient pregenitor superrace that seeded humanoids everywhere? This is the first I recall it being mentioned in Trek (though the trope or a version of it is also in the expanse, mass effect, etc.) "Preservers". Is it ever explored more? It's a surprise to Bones and maybe Spock too- certainly not common knowledge.

This is from before 3, but I really like the way Bones and Spock have this begrudgingly respectful relationship, like brothers. They tease and pick at each other, but have each others' backs against anything (besides Jim maybe)

4- Kirk can see the kid doing the thing. Fuckin' ground him.

Spock says fuck them kids.

Ugly = Bad was alive and well in the 60s.

5- And then they somehow have a discussion that Good =/= Beautiful in the very next episode.

Gen Obs- It feels like TOS spends more time on the bridge than other shows. The Bridge or the planet they're on. The other shows so far show more engine room, hallways, ready rooms, bunks, etc. Other places on the ship than just the bridge. They have them in TOS, but they seem underutilized. I don't have the data to back it up and couldn't find it (which was surprising to me).

Another obs- they overcommunicate for the audience's sake, but rarely with each other. Kirk never explains his thought process or orders to the people he leaves in command. When something planetside affects the ship, he doesn't tell them, he just says 'I'll take care of it down here'. His crew and his backup are often left in the dark.

13- There's so much in this one I don't like but the line about Kirk being into spanking made me smirk. Canonically in love with the Enterprise indeed.

14- Jim: Mr. Spock and I are brothers! Spock: Captain Kirk is speaking figuratively and with undue emotion Kirk: *offended face* Spock: However, what he says is logical and I do agree with it.

19 Kirk did seem to become more of a manwhore the longer the season went, no? Why did they all lose their shit so much around women? It's exhausting.

22- I love that Scotty gets to wear tartan/kilt in dress uniform.

heeeyyyy Kahless

24- And the disappointing end. In this idolized utopian setting, not only is it not permitted for a woman to be a starship captain, but then they "prove" that women are too emotional to command.

The last line of the whole series: "Her life could have been as rich as any woman's if only...."

Not as rich as any person's. And if only she'd been content to her 2nd class status and not pushed for equality. How fucking disappointing.

Everyone always points to 'the actresses WANTED to wear miniskirts because empowerment' when they talk about the sexism of the original series, and I tried to watch with that in mind, but that just feels like a smoke screen for the actual shitty sexist takes.

The show equates a woman with emotion and sexuality. She's a good officer right up until she falls in love (or someone falls in love with her), then she's just a woman- a liability and a pleasure object. They only use women in episodes that require someone to be or fall in love with them. Even Uhura and Chapel aren't completely immune, though they are the biggest exceptions and the only recurring female characters. Though of course Uhura's the comms officer (cause women talk) and Chapel's a nurse (not a doctor).

Like even if you remove the miniskirts and the gross inappropriate touching from the equation, there's still a lot of ick happening. They can imagine a future where the races are equal but not the sexes.

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Sometimes We Get Together With Friends and Play Catch-Up

Ok, so I didn't actually go through the all-too-common Greek and Roman mythology phase that lots of pre-teen kids and a startling number of future history majors do. I got caught in fairy tales and dragons, so I absolutely missed the Percy Jackson books as they were coming out. I just wasn't interested. Then I had a classmate in Continental Literature in undergrad and every sentence out of her mouth for that entire 16-week semester was "Well AHKSHUALLY, in Percy Jackson..." and at that point I you couldn't have gotten me to read those books at gunpoint.

A dear friend of mine also missed the Percy Jackson books, so we decided to read it together. Y'all...I have THOUGHTS. Let's talk Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

SPOILER WARNING. I will spoil this book, so if you haven't finished this almost 15-year-old children's book and care about spoilers, catch us on the flip side.

Ok, so first and foremost: I can absolutely see why these books are beloved. If you were a Greek mythology enthusiast between ages 9 and 13, I can absolutely see why you'd inhale this book. It's also quite well-written, even at the sentence level, which is not always the case with middle grade books, where plot can occasionally overtake writing style.

The characters and plot were also on point, with a lovely balance of plot action to development. Grover and Annabeth had great development and the tension to friendship balance with Percy was excellent.

I also absolutely love Sally going "yes, let's turn my dickhead, abusive husband into stone and then make fucking BANK selling him as a statue to the 'super-ugly neorealism' enthusiasts." That was just GOOD.

I would also like to give this book major kudos for pulling off "everyman: for kids!" really well, in contrast to lots of chosen one and super special genius/jock/[insert category that only a limited number of kids can relate to here]. I think this would have spoken to so many more kids than other titles that were floating around in the early 2000s, and that is so, so important for kids' self-esteem and self-worth. I am never not grateful for books that made kids in a really challenging point in their lives feel seen and understood and perhaps even brave or strong or full of potential that they had the power to tap into.

So all that said, I think overall The Lightning Thief is a net positive for the world, and Rick Riordan has been a hella net positive for publishing and children's literature.

I do also have a pretty key issue with this book, and the issue is also just baffling to me. Rick Riordan rather famously said that

Percy was his way of telling his son, "Learning differences don't mean there's anything wrong with you. In fact, it is a mark of being very special indeed.” It was a message he says Haley “had no problem believing.” Seeing himself in fiction “empowered him,” Riordan adds. Since The Lightning Thief debuted in 2005, the story’s reach has moved well beyond Riordan’s child, the author’s work now sold in 37 countries. No matter where they live, Riordan notes, “It can be really empowering for kids to know that they are seen and understood. They may behave or process information differently in a classroom setting, but that doesn't mean they are flawed.”

Which is awesome and kids with neurodivergence and "learning differences" should feel seen and supported. This is great, I have no beef with this.

What I DO take issue with in this book is the truly baffling prejudice against physical disability and the reiteration of some genuinely harmful disability tropes, including a variation on disability drag.

Even in 2005, using "crippled" to describe people with physical disabilities was absolutely uncool, yet "crippled" is the terminology that is used throughout the book. Robert McRuer wouldn't publish his seminal Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability until 2006, so it wouldn't be realistic to expect Riordan to use "cripped" instead, but literally ANYTHING ELSE than crippled would be nice, because that word sets my teeth on edge. In this vein, we also get Annabeth leaning into the pervasive idea that disability and beauty cannot exist together, and the book does not check her or correct her, suggesting a tacit agreement. Here's Annabeth's contribution to disparaging physical disability:

There was literally no reason to connect what is implied to be an orthopedic disability with handsomeness or a lack thereof. The two have basically nothing to do with each other unless we're leaning into the moralizing about how disability is a visible sign of moral ugliness. That is an old, OLD disability trope, and we hate to see it because it moralizes bullshit beauty aesthetics and suggests that if you are physically disabled, you cannot be beautiful. Like, I cannot imagine being a physically disabled kid and reading this in a book and not being just absolutely crushed. Like...a pretty girl in a book has just said that she (and in a kid's mind, the leap to "and any other pretty girl" is less a leap and more the logical next step) will never find you handsome. That would be devastating.

Ok, so strictly speaking, "disability drag" is a term that describes the Hollywood predilection for casting abled actors to play disabled characters. That's not strictly what is happening in this book, but it's an easier shorthand than "character is faking a disability for [reasons]." The fact that Grover and Chiron are faking physical disabilities to "pass" for mortals is genuinely harmful.

PEOPLE IN THE REAL WORLD RIGHT NOW THINK THIS IS WHAT DISABLED PEOPLE IN THE REAL WORLD DO. AND THOSE ASSHOLES MAKES LAWS AND POLICIES THAT MAKE IT HARDER FOR DISABLED PEOPLE TO ACCESS EVERYTHING FROM EDUCATION TO MEDICAL CARE. Perpetuating the idea that disabled people are actually faking their disabilities to deceive others or game social systems does real harm. It also can lead physically disabled kids to wonder if they might actually be faking (and holy tits, do not make kids self-gaslight, that is so damaging) and/or push past their physical limits and HARM THEMSELVES to prove something to abled adults or peers, and disabled kids do not owe ANYONE proof.

Honestly, the way that Grover and Chiron were faking physical disabilities ruined the reading experience for me. Especially since Percy himself is over here at the beginning of the book calling Grover out for faking a disability because he walks awkwardly but can run faster than most kids. Like...this is just bullshit and harmful. Even though it is "explained" by the fact that Grover is a satyr, the fact that the book doesn't call Percy out for making the worst possible assumptions about a classmate's body isn't something you want kids thinking is acceptable. And I don't think that going "oh, he's a satyr" does anything to show that assuming that your classmates are lying about their physical disabilities or differences is KIND OF SHITTY.

It genuinely baffles me that Riordan has completely split the mind from the body in this book and made having ADHD and dyslexia a sign that you're a hero while simultaneously shaming physical disability. I literally cannot comprehend how this split makes logical sense. I am CONFUSED.

The friend I read this book with and I will be watching the new Percy Jackson series, so I'm curious to see how Disney is going to address this absolute contradiction that is inherently baked into the book.

[gunstreet]

In case you don’t follow me on twitter, here is my newest fic! In April, three of us challenged ourselves to write an “aliens made them do it” trope because none of us had done it before— we each chose a different iteration of Spirk (I wrote for TOS). Mine became somewhat of an idiots in love/locked room scenario, and I’m really happy with it.

You can check out the works for AOS and SNW in the collection here, which I encourage you to do because they’re excellent! We all ended up writing pieces of similar lengths and with a few common threads even though we didn’t discuss the details while writing, and I just think that’s super cool and sexy of us.

(TOS, 31K, explicit)

[gffa]

#a common fic trope is that there's a galaxy-wide blood test that everyone needs to take#but that's obviously not the case#given how rare force sensitives are (they're basically statistically non existent) it's not surprising from a practical standpoint#makes for some entertaining fics though (via @mrv3000) That's an excellent point, Jedi are about one in seven BILLION people, it really wouldn't make practical sense to have standardized blood tests for something that's that rare, doubly so when when there are usually some signs of Force-sensitivity after a couple of years they can rely on instead. But mostly I think that Jedi are just too much of an outlier to be something they would bother testing for (and I don't think the Jedi are that desperate to recruit everyone and anyone they can, so they wouldn't see a galaxy-wide test as useful), so even a very populated Mid-Rim world like Naboo with a rich family (ie, all the medical attention they could ask for at their hands) could have an extremely Force-sensitive child and nobody would have any idea if they chose not to say anything/Sheev didn't display any signs. It can be fun to speculate otherwise in fic, rock on with that! But I think canon pretty clearly points to it not being a thing, nobody ever says, "How could we have never found him??" and they wouldn't need Seekers in the first place, if galaxy-wide blood tests were in place, plus it's just. Seven BILLION tests to find ONE birth and the parents wouldn't even necessarily agree, it seems super wasteful.

Is there a straight answer as to why the Jedi didn’t find and raise Palpatine? I know they didn’t find Maul because Dathomir is largely restricted and Sidious found him first. But Palpatine was a noble on a Republic world. It would make some sense to find him.

I think the Jedi's ability to find people is overstated by a lot of fandom, there's nothing in the canon that suggests for example that they do regular blood tests on kids and supplementary canon leans much more into the idea that they go by people calling them in or rumors they hear and then go check out. Dooku is a good example case here--in Dooku: Jedi Lost he was born to an extremely wealthy and noble family on Serenno and, at the time of his birth, the planet seems like it was still with the Republic. Yet there was nothing to tell the Jedi that Dooku was Force-sensitive until his bio-father contacted the Jedi to come get him. The Jedi seem to rely on parents contacting them first or rumors that they can go and investigate and inform the parents of what's happening with their child, that's why they have the role of Jedi Seekers, like Cere Junda was a Seeker before the events of Jedi: Fallen Order and Dooku: Jedi Lost has Dooku telling Ventress: "Like most of the Order, I was brought to the Temple by a Seeker, a Jedi who was tasked to scour the galaxy for Force-sensitive infants." So if Palpatine’s family never sent word to the Jedi and he wasn’t causing trouble with them as a child (to catch the attention of people outside the family), there was no way for the Jedi to know there was a Force-sensitive child there, to even have his name on their list of potential younglings, even on a Mid-Rim world in the Republic.  The Jedi don’t do regular blood screenings, like you can bet if they did, the Empire would have continued using that and Palpatine wouldn’t have needed to use the Inquisitors to hunt down rumors of Force-sensitive children, so they probably do miss a ton of Force-sensitive children, but that’s pretty in line with how the Jedi weren’t trying to recruit as many into their Order as they could, they made it a choice for the parents.

[consumeronionbulletin]

Her Private Life (2019)

This show was the caramel latte of rom-coms. Warm, safe, and sweet enough to rot your teeth if you take in too much. This wasn't quite a new favorite, but I still enjoyed it, and will probably watch the show again at some point.

What Worked

This show was carried by the cute factor of the OTP. It was mostly kind to the side characters, but didn't really give them nearly as much attention. Overall, the chemistry of the two leads, and the premise of the show was so good that you kind of didn't care when everyone else disappeared.

That being said, the show did a lot of smart, subtle things in the writing. It played it straight with a lot of common tropes, so when the show had the ML (**Spoilers**) actually figure out Seon-joo was a secret fan-girl in episode five (**End Spoilers**), it surprised me, and I was hooked from there. The entire dynamic in that arc, with the ML being teasing in one scene, and then secretly supportive in the next, was so good. The other relationship stuff they did was also excellent, but this was what made the show interesting and unique.

What Didn't Worked

The show was very strong overall, so there weren't a lot of missteps, but it did have a few weaknesses. The way it was filmed at the start, with moments where it almost leaned into anime, really showed the web novel origins of the show, and was very different from typical dramas. I liked this lens, but not everyone will.

Also, the amount of cute relationship stuff from the OTP could quickly turn a little too sweet. It wasn't not really a problem, just something to be aware of. There were times when I started rolling my eyes at the level of cute, and that's when I knew I should probably stop watching for awhile and pick the show up the next day.

(**Spoilers**) The childhood connection thing they did in the final arc of the episode bothered me a little. I understand why they did it, but it still felt a little lazy. I liked the way the arc (which had Young-sook be the one that dropped Ryan Gold off, and talked about a young child that died in a car accident) recontextualized the beginning of the show. The arc really did make me rethink Deok-mi's parents and their relationship. I just wish they had started laying the groundwork for that earlier. It felt like something they introduced at the last minute, which kept it from having the weight it should have (**End Spoilers**).

The Performances

Park Min-young as "secret fangirl" Sung Deok-mi. I think this is my favorite show of hers since Healer. On the other hand, it's also the only show of hers I've completely finished since Healer. She was adorable, and pulled off the humor and the cute stuff pretty well. The writing gave her alot to work with, though the show rarely tried to challenge her (other than the huge endurance challenge of being in pretty much every scene).

Kim Jae-wook as "perfect boyfriend" Ryan Gold / Heo Yoon-je. Some people have complained about him being too withdrawn and even a little wooden in this, but I think he was just following the brief. When the show called for him to open up and be all emotional, he did great. When it called for him to be funny, or cute, he did good with that as well. A solid performance, overall.

Ahn Bo-hyun as "the real director" Nam Eun-gi. I hated the stupid love triangle thing the writers pulled with him, but when they turned the angst down and let the character just breathe and hang out with the other characters, the character was fun to watch. Which shows how good an actor Ahn Bo-hyun could be when they gave him the chance.

Park Jin-joo as "super BFF" Lee Seon-joo. The only other show I've seen her in was It's Okay to Not Be Okay where she was fun, but quirky as heck. She did a great job here, even with the stupid "joke" Lesbian relationship they did in the first few episodes. Just funny and interesting and it made me want to see what else the actor could do.

Im Ji-kyu as "worst Oppa" Kang Seung-min. Not really a standout character from a writing standpoint and the acting wasn't bad, but not really memorable either.

Kim Mi-kyung as "knitting Oma" Go Young-sook. Kim Mi-kyung is a legend for a reason. This is exactly her kind of role and she did a great job. She played a quirky character really well, and when the writers did the "big reveal" at the end, she did a good job with that as well.

Maeng Sang-hoon as "rock enthusiast Appa" Sung Geun-ho. He played kind of joke character through most of it, but it was a funny joke. He handled the dramatic final arc well enough, but it was easy for him to slip into the background compared to all the other actors on the screen.

Kim Bo-ra as "stalker fangirl" Sindy / Kim Hyo-jin. The writers gave her a pretty good arc, and she did a fine job with it. She was funny and annoying when they needed her to be at the start, but it was nice to see the (mostly believable) development throughout the series.

Kim Sun-young as "worst boss and worst Oma" Uhm So-hye. Every time the character walked into the scene, I had a moment of dread. And it was a relief when she left, which proved that Kim Sun-young did a good job with the role she was given, I guess.

Jung Jae-won as "the idol" Cha Shi-an / Sian. Jung Jae-won is a full time rapper & songwriter, so I think this was a case where they knew the limits of the actor and wrote the character to match. He looked and acted the part of an idol very well, but tended to fade in the background alot of the time. So a good job, but not a standout.

Lee Il-hwa as "Missing Oma" Gong Eun-young / Lee Sol. The actor did a good job with what she was given, but I wish the writers had given the character a little more depth. Still, that wasn't really the kind of show they were doing.

Hong Seo-young as "perennial third wheel" Choi Da-in. Again, the actor was mostly okay, but she was given a very thin character who was mostly there to stir up drama. Just like with Nam Eun-gi, when they gave her scenes where she was able to breathe and hang out with the other characters, it was fun to watch, but those scenes were few and far between.

The Kids. The young tyke who played Seon-joo and Seung-min's son, and did alot of judo was cute. The other scenes with children were mostly pleasant, though again the show liked to lean hard into the cute factor at times. Overall, they did good.

Everyone Else. The office people where there, and were mostly funny, but had very little development. The coffeeshop temp / future rock star guy had a few fun moments, but didn't really stand out. The guest stars (like the author guy, Eun-gi's mom, the fangirls, etc.) had mostly good performances, though the show kind of forgot about some of that by the end of it as it focused on the drama part of it over the romcom stuff.

TL; DR:

A fun, sweet show with enough angst and drama to keep it interesting. If you like Park Min-young and Kim Jae-wook (which I did), you'll enjoy the show. Otherwise, you'll probably stop watching pretty quickly.