#like I was watching A video that was relatively spoiler free

[harufallinwonderland]

I’ll be honest I’m cursed that I get spoiled on a lot of shows I watch but honestly it hardly effects me cause now when A traitor character is spoiled to me it no longer goes to “who is it” and now to “HOW THE FUCK WHY THE FUCK HUH THE FUG”

[pearl-blue-musings]

I had some thoughts…(spoilers for 2.3 update)

The Charmony Festival comes to a close, and the craziness of Penacony has begun to calm down. You watch as Aventurine interacts with Boothill via video call as you stand a few feet away from him. Clockie Studios Theme Park is relatively abandoned as most guests are in the central part of Golden Hour for the festival. The two of you needed somewhere private for him to interact without the potential of being overheard. After all, he did cause a big rift in the screen at the park and tried to get himself killed in a very flashy and public way.

You hear him chuckle as the broadcast ends. His boots click on the ground near you, alerting you of his closeness. He wraps a confident arm around your shoulder, briefly getting distracted by his phone buzzing. His eyebrows furrow as the messages flood in from a group chat. “Hmmm,” he ponders aloud. Aventurine’s touch isn’t romantic by any means, something you’ve come adjusted to since you realized your harbored feelings. His poker face and heartbeat give nothing away and you fear you may never know his true feelings. Of course the two of you have bonded over the course of his career and this trip, but he is still too much of a mystery to you.

You sigh deeply before indulging him. “Are you gonna tell me why your phone is blowing up?” You feel him chuckle next to you as he shows you the thread. Something about a bomb or multiple bombs on the Feldspar? His tone suggests there’s something eating at him but it’ll be pulling teeth for you to get the answer.

“Something about a bomb and Miss Sparkle. Although she is a Masked Fool, she’s been somewhat helpful in this trip I must admit.” You roll your eyes and remove his arm from your body. You miss the way he pouts slightly as he tries to catch up to you. The rift zig zags with specks of red and black flying all around. An uncomfortable feeling settles in your stomach as you crane your neck upwards. Your hands hold your arms and squeeze tightly. This man, your higher up, the one who holds your heart, tried getting himself killed in a dream all for the IPC’s gain. Was life not sacred? He was willing to do the unthinkable, and sure he lived, but he was willing to potentially die and that just-

“Something on your mind?” His purple and blue eyes travel to where your eyes are looking and he sighs. He can tell you’ve got some bad thoughts in mind and wants to calm whatever thoughts you have. Hi huffs and rests his elbow on your shoulder. “You shouldn’t concern yourself too much with the past. I’m here now aren’t I?”

You merely shake your head and try to escape his lingering touch. Your eyes gaze to the ground before shutting them lightly. “Look, I get that I hid some of my intentions with this mission. And maybe,” he extends, “I shouldn’t have flirted too much with the trailblazer to get what I want but everything worked how I wanted.” He tries again to touch you but you shrug him off.

You sigh and stop in your place. “It’s not that, although the flirting…w-whatever.” Your hand finds purchase on the back of your neck as you finally turn to him. “Why do you gamble your life away like that?”

Aventurine’s smile softens, finally happy that you’re facing him again. “I guess I’m just lucky. You know that. I’ve never lost.” He steps toward you and tries to hold your free hand. “You know that better than anyone,” he whispers.

“And that’s exactly why I care so much! Someone needs to care about your life even if you don’t! What about,” you heave as your voice gets louder. “What about the people that care about you, Aventurine? The ones that don’t want you to bet your life? The ones that want you to live!”

Aventurine is taken aback at your emotional display. He knows he can’t hide too much of himself from you. He lets his eyebrows furrow slightly with the frown settling on his face. The last time someone scolded him about this was his sister and then she…

You continue in your tirade. “I know you didn’t tell me because you didn’t want me to worry. But I also know how incredibly lucky you are! But, aeons Kakavasha, why do you let everyone use you to the point where you’re going to die?”

Kakavasha.

His real name slipped so effortlessly from your lips. And never had he heard the name sound so beautiful and cared for ever in his life. The fear and anxiety in your gaze starts to pierce the layers of his facade. The Sigonian stays silent as he lets your emotions take over.

“You’re, you’re way too important to me and others a-and you gamble your life away like it’s nothing! I know you’re blessed but…” you begin to pace back and forth in front of him, frustration eminent from the tension in your muscles. “You’ve made it out of insane predicaments but damn it!” Tears that had been held back finally release and it’s like a damn has finally burst.

Kakavasha gently steps toward you to cup your face. You don’t resist his touch as you lean into his embrace, shoulders shaking from your crying. He pulls you into his chest for a tight hug, breathing calmly to help bring your elevated heart rate down. Resting his chin on the top of your head, he softly confesses, “it’s been a while since someone other than family has taken a true interest in me. I’m not used to someone genuinely caring for me. And not trying to exploit or use me for something.” He shakes his head with a gasp from feeling your arms around his body.

He sighs again. “You just want me…for me. And that scares me.” His voice lowers to barely a whisper from his admittance. His shoulders relax and you can feel him melt into the hug. “I forget I don’t have to keep being Aventurine around you. Thank you.”

At that moment, fireworks erupts in the sky illuminating it in a myriad of colors. Your face is awestruck as the gorgeous colors dance across the sky. Kakavasha chuckles as he realized what Sparkle had actually done. He lifts his chin off of you, takes his pointer finger and thumb to lift your chin. Soft lips kiss yours as the fireworks display continues on. You kiss him back reverently, wrapping your arms around his neck to bring him closer. A deep and warm feeling settled in his heart as it dawns on him what is happening.

He loves you, another human being. Someone who saw him for him; all of him. Sure he couldn’t be at the negotiations with Old Oti, but somehow he thinks this is where he was supposed to be.

[phoenixeclipse-lmkau]

ISAT is In Stars And Time, if you have the time, watch "So, You're Stuck in a Time Loop!" by youtuber JelloApocalypse, its goes deep enough that you should have gotten the gist of the game without getting spoiled on the ending.

also very sorry that i haven't been crumbing, its crunchtime for me irl and i am ALMOST FREE, so i cant write my crumbs right now :(

also who cares if what you write isn't canon, its great to read all the same. off shoots and what-ifs are always interesting to read.

also, before i send, one last angst crumb:

what if reader was too late in the forest? if the wolf got to landing an injury on one or both of the cubs? knocking one out or perhaps fatally injuring them? imagine how the conscious/surviving cub would react to seeing reader running in to fend off the wolf too late? and imagine them seeing reader attempting to patch up injuries, not knowing if its too late or not.

if they return to their original forms in diyu, well, i guess that would be an easy way to break the curse? sun wukong already escaped once, he could probably do it again. so easy curse break, unless it reapplies itself the moment he leave diyu. would be terrible luck tho, to be a monkey cub all alone far away from the group, unless he was lucky to pop out near them.

i like my angst as much as i like my timeloops, haha.

also feel free to slice my asks if it makes your life easier, i don't mind if you jump back and forth or only answer some, or take longer to answer some than others.

Okay so the ideas of “In Stars and Time” are so cool! I really like what I have seen, personally I don’t care about spoilers so you don’t have to worry about spoiling anything for me! The video was a really fun watch, though with how much it jumped around it was rather confusing, but didn’t really give too many spoilers. Had some fun laughs during it.

OKIE!! I love angst so onto it!!

If one of the cubs get hurt to the point Reader has to worriedly patch them up, she would do so when they get to the village. Carefully wrapping them in cloth as she applies pressure to make sure the bleeding stops.

Throughout their lives neither Wukong nor Macaque have ever had to have someone take care of them like this. Someone frantically taking care of them, and fussing over their injuries and making sure that they are getting better.

For them to wake up or see Reader take care of their mate would send them spiraling in instincts for better or for worse- Their VERY selfish nature would more than likely to go almost full Yandere pretty quickly after that. Of course that would mean they’d have to break the curse (Not that they aren’t going to go Yandere they definitely will be going Yandere in this au, it is a Yandere au after all. They don’t like it when- Ah spoilers hehe~)

Now if one of the cubs are sent to Diyu. If one of the cubs is sent to Diyu then they would undoubtedly return to their regular forms, not only one but both would actually.

The curse that holds the two of them actually breaks if they are separated as is was a curse set to the both of them at the same time with the same spell. So if this were to happen there would be no more curse. (Whoever was sent to the Diyu would cause absolute devastation there though as they break out)

In this AU the DIYU had only captured Wukong the first time, however I know that in JTTW both of them end up in the DIYU during their fight. So we know that they can both end up there, personally in my au Macaque and Wukong are relatively equal in power. Each having their own skills that they are better in of course.

But basically if one were to die, then they would revert back to their Warlord Form, which would definitely freak Reader out. And she would get captured A LOT faster, at this point they wouldn’t kill her, they don’t see her as wife material quite yet but since they won’t kill her it would still happen.

Reader would end up on Flower Fruit Mountain starting off as a servant, one who the cubs of the mountain really like.

And it wouldn’t take too long for the warlords to fall in love with her when she’s always by them, as afraid as she is of them.

If this were to happen they’d find her fear cute at first, so it wouldn’t be as soft of a love story at first (I use soft because it’s the only word I can think of, Wukong and Macaque try to be soft but we all know court-napping isn’t actually soft)

Ba: “What is this woman doing here my king?”

Wukong: “She is going to be a servant.”

Ba: “You both seem to like this new servant you brought in.”

Wukong and Macaque: *both with bruises from getting into a fight with each other and finally admitting they like Reader to each other* “… Yeah, we do.”

Ma: “Go on dear, you wished to see the flowers didn’t you.”

Reader: “No-No I need to get my work done. I don’t want the Kings to be mad at me.”

Ma: *Thinking* ‘You don’t see how they will NEVER be mad at you, do you.’

I loved this ask!! Thank you for sending it, and I hope that you love this!

Comments, reblogs and likes always welcome!

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi! I'm a big fan of your blog! The past few weeks, I've been reading almost exclusively fics from your rec lists. It's very great! I was curious if you have seen Sherlock The Musical? Its fantastic, super catchy, and free to watch on youtube! I highly recommend, especially if you like musicals :D

Oh also, the musical is the one that came out in 2022. The official recording of the whole musical is on youtube, as well as the whole soundtrack! You can listen to the soundtrack on Spotify too! My favorite song is probably Elementary. If you're listening to the music, you can listen up to A Different Story relatively spoiler free. It's a super great story. Set in the original timeline of the books. It's a super fun time and not enough people know about it. Sherlock and John have such great chemistry in it!!! XD

Hi Lovely!!!

Sorry for the delay in this one, got sent when I took a break and completely missed it!!!

No, I have never seen Sherlock the Musical, though I THINK I've heard of it??? Just found it on YouTube as you suggested and WOW I am amazed the whole thing is on there for free OFFICIALLY! That's fantastic. Music seems catchy when I skimmed through the video, so I might have to give it a watch. Thank you so much for sharing Lovely!!!!

🎶 [FULL SOUNDTRACK ALBUM ON SPOTIFY] 🎶

🎶 [FULL SOUNDTRACK ALBUM ON YOUTUBE] 🎶

[muppetsbunker]

Hi, hello! It's Theory Hour!

As the update has arrived, I've decided to compile the transcripts for the hidden videos and audio for ease of access & reference use. You're free to spread the link around and if you've discovered anything else that isn't here - feel free to tell me!

Spoiler warning for anyone who hadn't seen these things yet as this update is still relatively fresh. Everything will be underneath the read more below:

While I was copy-and-pasting things, I discovered a pattern in each script:

They all end with the character speaking to Wally and we don't hear any answers from him. Hence, the tab titles saying 'answer.' Or something like that.

For example:

Julie and Frank's dialogue in /6-14-jf:

Poppy and Howdy's dialogue in /1-14-ph:

They're all asking Wally, who is star of the show (sorry, Sally) and face, to help them out with something they have trouble with. It might lean into Wally learning about things, as Welcome Home is/was a children's show & aside from how Frank was pissed off at Barnaby near the end of one script...

I think these dialogues might be from Wally's point of view. He's watching, they see him, they ask or talk to him. In a way, Wally's distant and doesn't partake in much conversation between his neighbors. It's like he has to be invited in.

Maybe, that's what the theme of isolation is hinting at?

I'd like to talk with folks about this! :)

[sirensleepingsoundly]

Hellfire and Spitfire (pt.2)

CW: spoilers(duh), regular fluff, story addition, sexual content, angst, unrequited, enemies to lovers, only one bed (sort of), angry kissing, aggressive seggs, slapping, choking, hair pulling, blood, filth, hand/ring fetish, size kink.

Word Count: 1.9k

The next morning was absolutely hectic.

The news of what happened hit fast. Mom told you at breakfast that someone was found supposedly murdered at the trailer park in Forest Hills. Nancy somehow already knew. Of course, you realized, she’d be investigating for the paper. Murder makes for good headlines. Mike had already left for California early this morning. You racked your brain for who it might’ve been before making the decision to just go check on your friends in person.

Steve and Robin would be an easy stop since they both had work. You felt like your body was lined with lead the whole walk to Family Video. Part of you felt sick at the idea that Steve might be hurt. In an attempt to get rid of the thought, you twisted and fidgeted with your hands on the way there, chewing at the skin around your nails.

The door jingled when you walked in and you sighed in relief at the sight of your friends sitting bored at the counter. Despite it being almost noon on a Saturday, the store was relatively empty, with a few patrons scattered amongst the aisles.

“Hey Y/N. Come to rent one of our many new and amazing tapes?” Robin smiled without her eyes as she pitched to you. As much as she loved being able to watch movies for free, Robin was not amazing with people. It shocked you when she told you she had gotten a job as a video store clerk, as much of the job is giving personal recommendations and reviews to curious customers.

“Oh yes absolutely. Anything with full frontal nudity? I’m not picky on chicks or dicks.” You said, just loud enough to make another customer look at you funnily. An older gentleman glared at you over his glasses.

Steve seemed to finally notice your presence and waved with his fingers, his chin resting on his palm. The simple action made you smile softly, and you tried to quell the butterflies in your stomach before you threw up.

“What’s going on? Last time I had to drag you here just to keep me company while I did inventory. You almost killed me with your little death stare.” Steve seemed genuinely perturbed at the memory of you pretending to “force choke” him.

“You guys haven’t seen the news? You work in a video store for Christ’s sake, there’s t.v.s everywhere.” You snatched the remote from off the counter, ignoring a disgruntled “Hey!” from Robin as you switched the channel to a local news station.

“We're in the Forest Hills trailer park in east Roane County. We don't have a lot of details now, but we can confirm that the body of a Hawkins High student was discovered early this morning. Police have not released the name...”

“Holy shit. Any ideas on who it is?” Steve looked at you for an response, and your heart fluttered as you looked back at him. He was wearing one of his signature polo shirts, but with a signature Family Video vest on top of it. While Robin’s vest had pins and buttons all over, Steve’s was empty. You wondered why that was.

“I didn’t even know it was a student until now. I only came in because I knew you guys worked today and I wanted to make sure the both of you were still alive. I mean who else is gonna drive me to school?” You added that last part with a laugh, a poor attempt to ease tension.

“You could always catch a ride with Eddie. Doesn’t he drive your brother to school sometimes too?” Steve joked. Of course, you didn’t find him very funny.

“Munson The Freak? I would really rather walk every morning. Why on earth would I want to risk being caught getting out of the druggie van?” You crossed your arms and leant your elbows onto the countertop. Robin smiled a little and continued stacking her tapes. The only reason you didn’t drive Mike was because of your lack of a car. And drivers license. You hated that he ever rode in that van. Who knows what Eddie did in there? Or who? You ignored the way you felt at the thought of Eddie Munson with some girl in the back of his van.

Just as you opened your mouth to talk someone burst through the front door, the bell jingling frantically as it basically smacked into the wall. Dustin and Max come barreling toward you until they hit the desk.

“Hey Steve. How many phones do you have?” Dustin skipped pleasantries to ask.

“Two. Why?” Steve answered, but Robin chimed in correcting that it’s actually three counting their boss’ phone.

Dustin threw his bag and himself over the counter, knocking over the stack of tapes Robin had been working on. The kids filled all of you in on what they knew, including their plans for the phones. They had it in their heads that not only was Chrissy Cunningham the victim, but that Eddie Munson, whose trailer she apparently died in, was not her killer.

“Hold on, what? Chrissy Cunningham went to Eddie Munson’s trailer after the game to buy drugs?” You asked incredulously.

“Yes, and we need-“

“Bullshit.”

“Y/N this is serious, Eddie’s not guilty.” Dustin said, clearly frustrated.

“How do you know that? She died in his trailer. His uncle works nights. They would’ve been alone.” You prodded slightly, knowing that even Steve, who usually trusted Dustin with his life, was also skeptical.

“Look, guys, I know Eddie. He may seem like a weirdo to you but he wouldn’t do this. He couldn’t have.” Dustin’s eyes held a certain look you only remember seeing when it came to Dart, his pet demodog a few years ago.

You decided against admitting that you actually knew Eddie pretty well too. At least you knew Eds, from middle school. He had always been a metal head, constantly bugging you to listen to new songs by his favorite bands. You’d shared popsicles together and skinned your knees on the same dirt roads. But after what happened with your mom, and then being adopted by the Wheelers, you and Eddie slowly drifted apart. He started dealing around freshman year, and you started focusing on your grades. He became Eddie “The Freak” Munson, and you became Y/N Wheeler. You had always figured the two of you just grew separately as people. And despite everything you kind of missed him.

You conceded, rolling your eyes and skimming the list of names and numbers he handed you. You recognized a few from Hellfire but you knew this was going to take a little while.

For the next hour, Robin, Max, and Dustin used the phones to call each of Eddie’s friends and possible contacts to see if they knew where he is. By the end of the list, your leads had dwindled down to a single name, Reefer Rick, who Eddie supposedly bought his drugs from. The moniker made you want to laugh before you were reminded that this was a manhunt for a non-murderer. When nobody could think of his actual name, Robin had the idea to check rentals and returns for any Ricks. Finally you found Rick Lipton, who had rented Fast Times and three separate Cheech and Chong movies, and his address.

“2121 Holland Road.”

“That’s out by Lovers Lake.”

The five of you piled into Steve’s car and the music he’d had on was blasting through the stereo as he peeled out of the parking lot and onto the street.

You pulled up to Rick’s house, the two kids and you packed into the backseat. You start by knocking on the front door, Dustin opting to yell Eddie’s name to the open area around the house. Steve reminded him Eddie is in hiding, to which he responded by banging on the door yelling “Reefer Rick!” instead. You felt the urge to roll your eyes again, but refrained when you noticed the panicked look on Max’s face. She hadn’t been the same after Billy died at Starcourt last year. And you worried about her often, but anytime you asked she shrugged you off and told you she’s fine.

When nobody answered, the group migrated to a boathouse behind the original building. The gang continued calling out for Eddie, while Steve grabbed an oar off the wall and used it to poke the inside of the small boat hanging in the center of the room.

“What are you doing?” Dustin looked at Steve, confused.

“He might be in there.” Steve answered, still jabbing at the contents of the boat, which were covered in a blue tarp.

“So take the tarp off.”

“If you’re so brave, you take the tarp off.” The squabbling made you shake your head. Steve could be childish when it came to these kids. He was devoted to their protection, so much so it made him sound like a mom sometimes. You liked him more for it.

Steve turned around to argue with Dustin about their previous excursions and lack of caution In dangerous situations when Eddie jumped out of the boat and pinned Steve against the wall, holding him there with a busted bottle to his throat.

“Eddie! Eddie! It’s me! It’s Dustin! This is Steve.” Dustin inched closer to the two of them, but Eddie only dug the bottle further into Steve’s neck. Your heart dropped into your ass at the thought that Eddie might actually be a murderer, and he currently had a weapon to your best friend and childhood crush’s throat.

“Eddie, these are my friends. You know Robin from band. This is my friend Max. You know, the one who never wants to play D&D? And that’s Y/N, you’ve got classes with her. Eddie, we're on your side. I swear on my mother.”

The others and yourself agreed and swore on Dustin’s mother. He faltered for a moment, but finally dropped the bottle and sat down with his head between his knees. He looked like he might be crying, but he was just hyperventilating, pulling his hands through his hair.

“We want to know what happened.”

“You won’t believe me.” Eddie sniffled a little. And you felt a little guilty for it but you almost enjoyed seeing him this way, crying and afraid.

Max spoke up, “Try us.”

Eddie spent the better half of an hour giving all of you a detailed play by play of everything that happened the night prior. Chrissy Cunningham had in fact gone to him to buy drugs, only to wind up some kind of possessed and killed.

“I didn’t know what to do, so I… I ran away. I left her there.” After a long pause Eddie scoffed. “You all think I’m crazy, right?”

“No. We don’t think you’re crazy.”

“Don’t bullshit me, man! I know how this sounds!” Eddie punched the side of the boat with a fist full of ring clad fingers.

It was only during his outburst you finally realized how much jewelry Eddie wore. A necklace with a guitar pick, a belt chain, at least five rings, and like you had guessed yesterday, a tongue piercing. Probably the wrong time to notice this stuff, you know, but… something about the way he twists his rings on his fingers when he’s nervous and plays with his top lip with his tongue is almost… attractive? You literally shake the thought out of your head and turn your attention to Dustin, who’s explaining the town “curse.”

“I tried to wake her man it was like she was in a trance or something.”

“Or a spell?”

“Or a curse.”

“Vecna’s curse.”

You and Steve ask at the same time,“Who’s Vecna?” Both boys answer you.

“An undead creature of great power.”

“A spell caster.”

“A dark wizard.”

| Pt.1 | Pt.2 | Pt.3 | Pt.4 | Pt.5 | Pt.6 | Pt.7 |

[thewatcherreviews]

Hell House LLC (Spoiler-free review)

TL;DR

Movie Warnings: Sexual harassment (A male character uncomfortably pursues a female character in a few scenes, she is implied to be uncomfortable)

IMDb rating: 6.4/10

My rating: 8/10

Worth it?: Yes!

Full and SPOILER-FREE review under the cut

I have always had a soft spot for found footage horror. Creep was one of my first horror movies, and one of (if not the first) that I liked. I wanted to watch Hell House LLC the moment I saw it- I like campy haunt attractions and found footage. It's the kind of movie I should've jumped on the moment I saw it- and I didn't. I neglected to watch it until I signed up for Tubi and saw it there.

Hell House is a mockumentary about a group of friends (or coworkers) who make haunted houses every year. This year, they're making a haunt in an abandoned hotel in the town of Abbadon (no, it's not worrying that it's named after a demon- I promise). In the beginning of the movie, we see news footage telling us that on opening night, 15 people died, including most of the haunt crew. The rest of the movie is mostly camera footage documenting the setup of the haunt and their stay in the abandoned hotel. Things start to go wrong- props begin moving when they're not looking and they discover that the basement has a pentagram drawn on the wall and a bible sitting on the floor. Then they hear a rumor from an actor who lives in the area. The movie continues to hint that something bad happened on opening night, and the police are hiding what really went down.

I went into Hell House with relatively low expectations. Having three sequels doesn't make it a good series. The plot is cliche. I was very pleasantly surprised by it. The acting and effects were great, the dialogue felt natural, it felt very real. The characters really felt like a group of friends messing around. The clips were connected enough to have a clear story, but not so connected that it broke the immersion that comes with found footage.

I wouldn't say it's a particularly scary movie. There's a couple moments that might startle the weak-hearted, but it's not in-your-face gore or corny jumpscares. It's relatively subtle, like a scary figure in the back of a shot, or turning a corner and something is there that isn't supposed to be there. It does a decent job of building up action, working its way from a mundane home video to something much more freaky.

One of the few reasons that I took points off was... the characters. I didn't like the characters. I either found them annoying, or they were extremely forgettable. A few of them also acted a little strangely towards the two female characters and it's visibly uncomfortable, but I think it's added in to feel more like real guys with only two women in their group. It is unfortunate, but it is realistic. The other reason I took away points was because it was very predictable. There's not much I can say, but I knew what was happening pretty early on.

Overall, I think Hell House LLC is a good movie for a Halloween party with friends or if you're just looking for something a little eerie. It's a fun movie, not profound or disturbing, just fun to watch. I would definitely recommend it, even as a beginner found footage horror because it just isn't that scary.

[tokkiheart]

The Beauty Inside (2015) Review & General Thoughts

That’s right, I’m reviewing a K-Movie and not a K-Drama.

As a disclaimer, I haven’t seen the original American web-series from 2012 nor the K-Drama that resulted from this movie, so I’m reviewing this movie as it’s own entity and not on how good of a remake/adaptation it is.

As always, this is going to be spoiler free!

Genre(s)

Romance • Fantasy • Melodrama • Drama

Ratings

Rated PG on Viki, rated as 13+ on MDL, rated PG-14 on tubi and YouTube

Where To Watch/How To Watch

Viki • iQIYI • Prime Video • tubi • YouTube • Kocowa+ • Prime Video • Freevee • Rent for $3.99 or Buy for $6.99 on Apple TV • Pluto TV

(You can watch it FOR FREE on Tubi, Youtube, Freevee and Pluto TV with ads, as well as, of course, your favorite illegal streaming site of choice)

Note: I live in the United States, so the only platforms that I have access to and know for sure currently have this movie available in the region are the ones listed, but it’s possible other regions have apps that have this.

Synopsis

This movie is about Woo Jin, a man who designs furniture for a living. An unusual man, Woo Jin wakes up every morning with a new body, which can be any age, gender, race or nationality.

Accustomed to his supernatural “illness,” he lives a relatively solitary existence aside from his childhood best friend who he works with and occasionally visiting his mother.

When he meets Yi Soo one day at a furniture store, he instantly falls in love with her. After visiting her as different people for several days, he eventually musters up the courage to ask her out. Staying up for three days in a row in order to stay in the same body, he dates her and she ends up falling in love with him.

Review

This movie is really good! If you’ve been sitting on this movie wondering if you should watch it, I’m going to have to tell you that it’s very much worth watching (and doing so again and again!)

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, so much so that I wound up rewatching it immediately after finishing the first watch of it!

All of the actors who played Kim Woo Jin did a truly great job of creating a consistent character for him, which really must have been challenging considering all the actors who play him only do so for such an incredibly brief window of time. The only one who lasts more than a day is Park Seo Joon.

Han Hyo Joo was AMAZING, she absolutely nailed her role and it’s so easy to see why Woo Jin fell in love with her character. I feel like this movie really allowed her to show off her various talents as an actor because she had great chemistry with each of the different Woo Jin, she spoke in three different languages (Korean, Japanese, and English) that she is proficient in, and did a fantastic job of making her character come to life and be someone the audience can sympathize with and fall in love with too.

The OST is really good (in my opinion) and nothing really felt too out of place or anything.

I love the message(s) of this movie, which boil down to “love is love” and loving someone for who they are on the inside and not based on their outward appearances. It’s nothing particularly novel, but it was certainly tackled in novel way!

General Thoughts

This movie went to theaters in my country on my birthday eight years ago and I really wish I had been into K-Dramas and stuff back then because I soo would have watched this and would have thoroughly enjoyed it. It might even have been one of those things that made me realize that I’m bi lol

Anyway, this movie had a lot of cute, sweet moments and I always love a couple who bond over a shared love of something (furniture, in this case). There were so many scenes that made my bi heart flutter!

For being technically a heterosexual movie, this is incredibly bisexual/pansexual and I’m quite sure it was fully intentional to be LGBTQIA+ because the font coloring for the movie is rainbow:

Which, I loved by the way. Love a good rainbow gradient colored font. But also they didn’t at all shy away from having some GL scenes in there! Han Hyo Joo really had such amazing chemistry with all of the actors in the role of Woo Jin, which helped make it that much more believable that they were all the same character.

As for the OST, I definitely came away from this movie wanting to hear “True Romance” by Citizens! over and over again:

Advice(?)

Definitely make sure to grab some tissues, there’s some scenes in this movie that will definitely make you cry!

Additionally, once the credits roll, don’t go away! This movie actually has a mid-credits scene, no spoilers, but it’s a nice little wrap up and worth sitting through the credits a little longer for!

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

Intro Post

Hello! My name is Space. I use they/he/xe pronouns and I’m 20. My main is @spacetrashpile , and this is my side account focused on mcyt.

SMPs I Watch/Post About: Empires SMP, Traffic SMPs, Hermitcraft SMP, Bloodlines SMP, Afterlife/New Life SMP, Deceit SMP, 100 Days Minecraft Multiverse

I WILL NOT BE TAGGING LIFE SERIES SPOILERS THIS SEASON. i'm gonna be real i have simply gotten really lazy about it. i may tag spoilers for the final session, but i may not.

I will be talking about/making content about ships here. If that's not your thing feel free to hang out elsewhere.

AO3 Account(s): spacetrashpile (there is one mcyt fic here) and witherhusbandspropaganda (there are more mcyt fics here)

All types of art can be found in the “my art” tag. “My writing” will include particularly wordy text posts and fic, “my edits” will include video edits, and “analysis post” will include particularly wordy posts that are about analyzing things rather than more artsy writing. Theoretically. I’m bad at consistency.

Banner from @/etoilesbienne

Banner by @/mcybree. Text is from the time Scott Smajor himself found my (at the time) 13 or so note post about my aro headcannons about his character and told me I was wrong (post here). This is funny enough on its own, but it becomes my greatest achievement when this fact makes more people start truthing Scott characters as aro.

Also, I play in a fan Life Series called Beast Life! It's super fun so I post about it here relatively frequently, and if you'd like to watch it so you can know what I'm talking about, you can! @fishiecomics and @moch-ila post edited down videos, and I have my unedited POVs of all four seasons available in those links. (Fair warning, my season 1 POV is real janky. I've gotten better at filming and more interesting as seasons have gone on, but I am not perfect and every season tends to have at least one notable technical difficulty.) One day I'll edit my POV. Maybe. I also recommend just going into the beastlife or beast life smp tags. Good art in there.

[meirimerens]

здрасте!!! after seeing your gorgeous pathologic art for a while and watching a (relatively spoiler free) video essay on the game, i finally looked into getting it for myself, but i don’t have a pc </3 i say all of that to ask if you watched a youtuber/streamer play it and if you did, who you’d recommend for those trying to get into the game?

Hiiii Yes I Did I've been watching lets players instead of Playing myself for years at this point and i love i do. I did it for patho before i realized like I Gotta Do It. being honest with you darling I just hopped on the first lets plays I could find with my limited knowledge of the game... I rember watching Keith Ballard's in their entirety, as well as bits (of varying sizes) of SulMatul's and Laila Dyer's (as far as recall all have the 3 routes of P1 done and P2 as well) like back and forth, sometimes picking up in another's where the other has stopped just to see what the other option was)... one of them and I cannot remember who has a relatively Poor Sound so you'd have to like. Turn the volume up to hear them talk, and then turn it down to not get eardrums blasted by the sound of the pouring rain... all these 3 + my own playthroughs kinda merge into one in my mind so. At this point I can't tell you which one I recommend the most because I forgor..... you'll have to find out for yourself. Any choice is right... etc.

[rainbowpacifiers]

A3! Act 12 spoilers - Sakuya’s journey + past (chapters 11-41)

Wanted to share the parts about Sakuya travelling to his hometown, so major spoilers for chapters 11 to 41 (though I will mostly skip the other members’ individual chapters, which is why this spans so many chapters lol). Will also be including some CGs / screenshots. THE HARUGUMI FEELS!!! 

Update: If you’ve read this before this update, I added another paragraph and screenshot at the bottom. 

So, Izumi has all members leave the dorm because they get forced to shut down activities through the efforts of Amadate Keiju (Hyakka’s founder, a member of the Fleur awards board of directors as well as the person who inspired Sakuya to get into acting). The Spring troupe members extend invitations to Sakuya to stay with each of them (so sweet!! ;___;), but he declines because Kasumi has offered a place to him. Sakuya plans on sleeping over for one night before going on a journey to his roots. 

Kasumi tells Sakuya he can stay with them forever (lol), but Sakuya has made up his mind, so Kasumi gives him stuff that will help him on his travels. Sakuya mentions that the other members were worried he might get homesick because this will be the first time for him since entering the troupe to be apart from the others for so long. But he wonders if there isn’t anything he could do to assure the others that he’s doing well. Kasumi suggests he send postcards to them, so Sakuya makes a call to the director (who’s staying alone in the dorms) and asks for everyone’s addresses.

Sakuya visits his aunt / relatives who paid for his school fees to thank them. Sakuya came to Tokyo after getting into Hanagaku, where he came to stay with the Yoshinagas. He wanted to do his best to be “acknowledged as a member of the family”, but his aunt made it clear that they only thought of him as a lodger. Sakuya felt lonely then, but he still thought that he had to express his thanks. Sakuya has been sending them money each month to pay them back for the expenses for the private school, but his aunt is doubtful that he earned it himself and calls it an inconvenience. She’s disappointed that Sakuya didn’t choose to attend a university after they spent so much money on his high school education. 

We find out that Izumi offered to back him up if he wanted to go to university (even if just a little). Izumi feels glad to have attended university, where she learned a lot and met all kinds of people. But for Sakuya, that place is Mankai Company, so he was fine with not going to university. He told Izumi that he needed to save up money to pay back the Yoshinagas, which would also enable him to pursue acting more freely (it’s not just about being in their debt financially - Sakuya thinks that them making it possible for him to attend Hanagaku also made it possible for him to come to Tokyo, spend time with Masumi and Banri at school and visit Veludo Way, which is how he ended up joining Mankai. That’s what he’s thankful for). 

Sakuya has chosen his way of life. His aunt tells him that he’s been paying them too much and returns the rest. The Yoshinagas only did the bare minimum, so there’s no need for him to feel so grateful. Sakuya hands her a flyer to their next performance and asks if he could send them tickets. His aunt has no interest in acting, but whether he wants to send them tickets is up to him. 

Sakuya travels to Hokkaido, where he used to live as a kid (he dreams of it twice before chapter 11) and sends each of the Mankai Company members picture postcards of the place where he used to take walks with his parents. While there, he also visits his old school, the one where the fire broke out and the actions of the theater members (the pirate/Amadate Keiju) inspired him to become an actor. In an earlier chapter, we found out that this was Amadate-san’s last tour as an actor. Sakuya meets Amadate Kabuto there (Hyakka’s top actor and Amadate-san’s adoptive son), who’s been trying to help Mankai Company take down his father.*

Sakuya finds out that Kabuto came to watch a recording of that pirate performance and is invited along. Sakuya thinks Kabuto came to watch the recording for sentimental reasons, but Kabuto explains that he wanted to confirm whether his father was responsible for the fire that broke out then (since he was also responsible for the one at the Mankai Theater). It caused Hyakka to become famous and be nominated for the Fleur Awards. Sakuya is shocked, but now, Kabuto is certain that the fire was an accident.

Sakuya heads to his old address where the old apartment building he used to live in still stands. Sakuya’s family used to live in apartment 101, but because 102 is the only apartment with a nameplate and he came all this way, Sakuya rings the doorbell there. It’s the landlord, who’s already lived there 15 years ago and remembers the Sakumas. He invites Sakuya in and tells him of Sakuya’s parents, how much they loved him and of the time when they explained the meaning behind Sakuya’s name.

Together with his last name, it becomes “sakura saku” - cherry blossoms bloom. Basically, Hokkaido is famous for having their cherry blossoms bloom last in Japan. When the long winters are over, they are a symbol of hope that spring has come through all over Japan. And like the cherry blossom, a special flower that everyone in this town is looking forward to blooming, they wanted Sakuya, even if he would be a late bloomer, to be able to bloom his dream in full bloom at the end. That was their dream.

Sakuya is overcome with emotion and while visiting the cape where he used to take walks with his parents, calls the director because he needs to talk to someone. He tells her that the landlord is letting him stay in the old apartment he used to live in and that the landlord also told him a lot about his parents. He tells her of finding out about his name and of finally, actually getting confirmation that he really used to live here, together with his parents. He tells her that he’s grateful to his parents for his name and that he is able to be an actor and meet people that he loves because of the name his parents gave him. He tells her that he didn’t think there would be anyone (left) who’d remember him or his parents and that he was lonely and upset that his parents left him behind. But all that is left is the gratitude he feels toward his parents. For him and his life, spring has come. Izumi, too, is thankful for having met Sakuya. She asks him to thank his parents for letting them (Mankai) meet Sakuya. 

At the same time, the other troupe members receive the postcards Sakuya sent them from his hometown. Chikage, realising Sakuya is homesick, calls for a family meeting (Citron was about to put in a call too, and Itaru was already checking his free days, but Chikage beat them to it lol). Together, the other 5 Harugumi members decide to fly to Hokkaido to pick up Sakuya. While in their rental car, they realise that they had no idea that Sakuya was from Hokkaido and that he doesn’t talk much about the time when he went from relative to relative. But he’ll always listen happily to stories about other people’s families - which actually makes it harder to talk about (for Itaru). 

They arrive at Sakuya’s old apartment but are met with the landlord instead. He tells them that Sakuya’s out for a walk and praises him for being a good kid. He’s glad that Sakuya has good friends. They tell him that they are Sakuya’s family.

They head to the cape, but don’t see him anywhere. An employee at a nearby store tells them that they just missed him. They enjoy the beautiful view and talk about how Sakuya used to walk here with his parents. The landlord has told them that Sakuya cried when it was decided that he would have to leave this place after his parents’ deaths. Tsuzuru can’t remember ever having seen Sakuya’s crying face; even when he was crying, all that remains in Chikage’s memories is Sakuya’s accompanying smile. But should Sakuya want to cry, Citron wants him to do it to his heart’s content. They call out to Sakuya’s parents:

Citron: Sakuya’s dad! Mom! Thank you for giving birth to Sakuya!  Tsuzuru: Your son is growing up splendidly! Itaru: Don’t worry about what comes next! (basically telling his parents that they will take care of him)  Masumi: He has a lot of family now. Chikage: Please come and see him anytime. 

They finally meet up with Sakuya at his apartment building. Their visit comes as a surprise to Sakuya, who promptly proceeds to break out in tears when Masumi welcomes him home. Sakuya’s place to come home to is the place where the 5 of them are, says Citron. Sakuya cries happily when Chikage tells him that they came to pick him up. 

The Spring troupe members stay the night in the cramped apartment and while everyone’s sleeping, Sakuya talks to his parents (in his head), telling them that the people currently sleeping there are his precious family and that thanks to them, he was able to find the place where he belongs and that he no longer feels lonely. He is glad that he was able to introduce them to his parents. 

_______________________

HARUGUMIIIII!!! ˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅ )‧º·˚ I cried!! It was so sad and sweet! There might be more after that, but I haven’t continued reading yet. 

*Spoilers for act 12 plot: Before everyone left the dorms, Kabuto made contact with Syu and Reni and insisted on handing incriminating information on his father to Izumi personally. Izumi invited him to their dress rehearsal (so Kabuto wouldn’t get suspected), but Amadate-san still found out about it and had Mankai Theater burned down, thus making it impossible for Kabuto to hand over the data. Consequently, Kabuto left Tokyo to go into hiding and headed to Hokkaido.  After he and Sakuya have watched the video, Kabuto hands over a USB with the incriminating information he has gathered and tells Sakuya to give it to Izumi and to not let anyone know that they met. After meeting up with the other Spring troupe members, Sakuya tells them about meeting Kabuto here and hands over the USB for Chikage to go through. 

[jazy3]

Free Guy Review

!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

If you haven’t seen the movie Free Guy (2021) stop reading right now! Drop what you’re doing and go get yourself a ticket! You’ll thank me later!

I loved this movie! I saw it this weekend for the second time because it’s that good! I first saw the trailer on YouTube a while back and then when theatres reopened a few weeks ago I saw the trailer again and my interest was piqued. I had high hopes for this movie based on the fun looking trailer, the premise, the cast, and the sense of fun and escapism that the movie seemed to embody and it did not disappoint. It’s always nice when you have high hopes for something and it meets or exceeds your expectations.

Free Guy is just such a fun and joyous movie. Never taking itself too seriously, packed with lots of heart, cool cameos, full of gaming and pop culture references, and it’s fueled by a unique concept that is well executed. There are just so many things I loved about this movie! It was a ton of fun to watch and the actors clearly had a blast making it. During the movie I kept trying to figure out where I knew most of the actors from but couldn’t place them. When I got home, I googled it and I instantly realized why. The roles are just so different and the actors embody their characters so completely you lose yourself in the film and get completely sucked in. I was honestly so surprised when I figured out what I knew most of the actors from because the roles that they’re known for are so different from their characters in the movie. Their appearances, established ages, and even the accents are so different that I literally did a double take, but that’s what makes the movie so good! Because the main actors obviously didn’t need the paycheque they were just there to have fun and it shows. I think if the situation had been different and the actors involved had been desperate for money or took the role for some other reason it wouldn’t have worked. The film would have come off as cheesy, forced, cringeworthy, or just plain bad. Free Guy is none of those things. The film stars Ryan Reynolds as ‘Guy’ a bank teller in a video game called Free City, Jodie Comer whose best known for playing Villanelle in Killing Eve as programmer Millie Rusk and her avatar Molotov Girl, Joe Keery whose best known for playing Steve Harrington in Stranger Things as programmer Walter ‘Keys’ McKey, and Taika Waititi whose best known for playing Viago in What We Do in the Shadows as the Head of Soonami Studios and the film’s main antagonist and villain Antwan. Rounding out the cast are Utkarsh Ambudka as programmer Mouser and Lil Rel Howery as Guy’s best friend and bank security guard Buddy. In a nutshell, Free Guy is about a bank teller named Guy who finds out he’s a non-playable background character (NPC) in an open-world Grand Theft Auto style video game called Free City. Guy becomes the hero of his own story after meeting Millie, the girl of his dreams, and winning fans all over the world by racking up points by being the good guy and helping others. After leveling up and helping Millie escape a dangerous situation in the game, Guy wins her over and she falls for him thinking that he’s another player. But when the world that Guy knows and all of the people in it are threatened, he teams up with Millie to save his friends before it’s too late. In the real world, Millie enlists the help of her former programming partner and best friend Keys in a race against time to stop their code and all of the sentient characters from Free City from being deleted by Antwan the developer who stole their code when the game’s sequel launches. I love that the movie had a unique premise and didn’t overcomplicate things. There are so many movies that I’ve gone to see over the last few years with such excitement only to be disappointed. For example, I loved Wreck It Ralph, but was so disappointed by its sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet. The trailers made it seem like it would take the premise of the first movie and move things into the online gaming world, and I was excited for that. Instead, the sequel left the premise of the first movie behind entirely and way over complicated the plot and the end result was extremely cheesy and disappointing. Free Guy’s strength is that it’s a self-aware movie made by self-aware people who are excellent at what they do. The movie doesn't take itself too seriously, nor should it, and that allows the story to flow and the characters to feel real and genuine. The movie achieves that perfect balance between being entertaining and telling a cohesive and important story because while the movie never takes itself too seriously the people behind it are serious about what they do. This was very clearly a passion project for all involved, especially Ryan Reynolds, and it shows! As he’s spoken about in interviews and on Twitter, Reynolds called on a lot of his friends to be in Free Guy and help him out and the end result was fantastic! I loved all of the cameos! The Chris Evans cameo was by far the funniest and the Alex Trebek cameo got me right in the feels. When I saw the movie in theatres me and everyone else in the theatre gave a collective “awww” when he appeared on screen. Enlisting real YouTubers to show up as fictional versions of themselves to talk about Blue Shirt Guy’s popularity was a nice touch and you’ve also got blink and you miss it voice cameos by John Krasinski, Dwyane The Rock Johnson, Hugh Jackman, and Tina Fey. Channing Tatum appears as the avatar of player Revenjamin Buttons which for the most part was hilarious. One of my few criticisms of the film is that they went a bit overboard the avatar’s antics as Guy and Buddy are attempting to leave and it got bit a cringeworthy. But I know other people found it hilarious so to each their own. I love all of the little details and references in the movie. Just listing them all would be a post in itself. If you’re someone that loves pop culture references and Easter Eggs this is the movie for you. The characters are fun and believable, and you get attached to them quickly. The actors commit completely to their roles which is makes the humour, romance, and heartfelt emotion of the film work. You buy it. 100%. Something that I absolutely loved was that the characters felt realistic and that the dialogue, attire, and settings for each character really felt authentic. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched a movie or TV show and walked away thinking, “The person who wrote that clearly never meet a kid, teenager, or twenty something in their life! That was so unrealistic.” The slang’s all wrong. The dialogue is so eloquent everyone sounds like they did Shakespeare in the Park last summer. You walk away thinking, “What the hell was that? No one talks that way!” What I loved about the characters in Free Guy is that they felt like real people you could actually run into or walk past on the street. I’ve read in interviews that in addition to the written dialogue the cast did a lot of ad-libbing and improvisation and the end result is both hilarious and relatable. The dialogue feels real because it is. The big exception to this of course is Antwan who is altogether off the wall and ridiculous. Antwan is such an outrageous, absurd, vulgar, and cartoonish character. He’s so fun to watch and the actors clearly had a lot of fun with his scenes! I’ve read that a lot of his lines with Keys and Mouser were improvised and I believe it. When he goes all Jack Nicholson on the servers? Lord. He’s such a great villain to watch. The characters that are established to be in their twenties like Millie, Keys, Mouser, and the other employees at Soonami Studios talk, act, and dress like they’re in their twenties. The actors that are in their forties are styled to look like they’re in their thirties and honestly, they’re in such great shape it works! I mean I was honestly shocked to find out Taika Waititi’s real age. I love how the costuming really fits each character and allows you to learn more about them. Keys’ clothing is your typical gamer chic which makes because as we learn from his interview with Millie coding is his life and what gets him up in the morning. From Mouser’s clothing we learn that he’s a sports fan, but also isn’t afraid to take risks like with that blazer ensemble he wears in his final scene at Millie’s apartment.

Millie’s clothing shows the contrast between her and her avatar Molotov Girl, and Antwan’s ridiculous coat enhances the overall wackiness of his character. Guy’s clothing tells us something too. He wears the same thing every day until he meets Millie in the game at which point, he starts deviated from his Free City programming and chooses a different blue shirt. I also really love that they put thought into why Keys needs to wear glasses. Something I noticed on rewatch is that Keys is far sighted which is why he has his glasses on when he’s looking at his laptop or computer and sometimes when’s talking to other people, but not when he goes to see Millie at her apartment or when he goes to get them coffee at the end of the movie. Another interesting aspect of Keys’ character that I noticed on rewatch is self-confidence is really something he struggles with in contrast to Millie and Mouser who are very confident. Millie is a genius programmer and Mouser is excellent at what he does, and they are both very confident in their coding abilities, but Keys isn’t despite being every bit the genius that Millie is. At the beginning of the movie when they first notice the issue with Guy Mouser jokes that Keys needs to be better at his job. In response Keys meekly says he thinks he’s pretty good at his job and trails off at the end. Mouser is just joking around, but because Keys lacks self-confidence comments like that hit him hard. Mouser is moving towards his own desk as he talks so he doesn’t notice how self-deprecating and uneasy Keys’ response is. In the interview from the indie games conference that Millie plays for Keys at his apartment, he brushes off the interviewers comment that he’s a genius and says Millie is the real genius because she created the AI engine and he just wrote the code to make it work. Later on, when Keys helps Millie get into the stash house, she calls him a genius and he tells her that as he’s currently sitting on a toilet stealing user code he doesn’t exactly feel like one. Millie responds offhandedly that he never does, but luckily, she knows better. When Keys realizes that Millie was right, and that Antwan did steal their code and their game worked he tells Millie they need to celebrate because once everyone sees their build she’ll be celebrated and she could win a noble prize. Both Millie and Keys are geniuses in their own right. The game wouldn’t have worked without both of their skills and Guy wouldn’t have come to life without both of them working together. Millie’s AI engine made his sentience possible, but Keys is the one who gave him hopes and dreams so that when he met Millie in the game, he came alive. When done right the settings we see tell the story just as much as the characters do and I love how realistic the settings in Free Guy look. The floor at Soonami Studios where Keys and Mouser work looks like a real office and I love that the desks have clutter and personal effects on them like real cubicles do and that they show Keys taking a box of his stuff with him as he leaves. The lobby with the moving water videos and Antwan’s massive but largely empty office fits perfectly with the obnoxious, zany, and over the top character that he is. I also love the contrast between Keys and Millie’s apartments and how those settings tell us a lot about each character and where they are in their lives when the film starts. When Keys comes home from work to find that Millie has broken in, we see that he lives in a stylish one bedroom apartment with an open concept kitchen full of stainless steel appliances, a large living room centred around an expensive wall mounted TV and entertainment system, with his computer and gaming station set up in the corner. On the walls we see artful clusters of black picture frames, through a partially open door we see a bedroom off to the side, the apartment is full of black and white furniture including a plush couch and nice lamps, and features a textured silver accent wall. All of which makes the fact that Millie managed to break in even more impressive because it is clearly an expensive apartment in a nice building. Keys’ style is minimalist and upper scale and based on what we learn about the events that took place before the start of the movie this indicates that Keys got the apartment and all of the nice stuff in it using the money he received when Antwan bought his and Millie’s game. In contrast, Millie lives in a bachelor apartment and spends her time in coffee shops ordering one single black coffee over four hours. This tells us that she kept her original apartment that she had from before the game was sold and is living off the money she got from the sale while she spends all of her time trying to find the proof she needs to win her lawsuit. When we see Millie’s place, we find that it’s cozy, full of plants, throw rugs, quilts, and comfy furniture. She’s got a bike in the corner, you can see her bed from the centre of the room where she’s got her computer and gaming station set up adjacent to the coffee table and the rest of the living room furniture. Her kitchen is smaller and full of wooden cabinets and her bathroom door has DIY multicoloured square panels on it. Keys and Millie’s apartments are very different and through these settings we see the contrast between where these characters are in their lives, their wealth, and their personal style. The song ‘Fantasy’ by Mariah Carey is featured heavily in the film and is guaranteed to get stuck in your head in the best way! Jodie Comer’s cover of it is amazing! It fits the moment where Guy makes it to the island that is Millie and Keys’ original build and shows it to the world perfectly. This movie made me appreciate Mariah Carey’s music in a whole new way and I can’t be the only way. After watching the movie, I went looking for the song on Apple Music, wound up listening to the Mariah Carey Essentials Playlist, and I’ve become obsessed. I knew some of her hits, but after listening to her music more I get why people love her so much. Her five octave vocal range is amazing, and her music is just so fun to listen to. The film has a really great soundtrack overall and I’ve had many of its song on repeat since I saw it. Something I really loved about this movie and the reveal at the end that Keys is in love with Millie and is desperate for her to notice, but she’s been oblivious the whole time is that they don’t do the supposedly nice nerdy guy whose really a jerk trope. So many movies do this where you have a nerdy male character whose unluckily love, looked over, or his love is unrequited, and we’re supposed to root for him because he’s a quote “nice guy”. But really, he’s not. He’s a jerk who feels slighted because a woman in his life doesn’t love him back or notice him and he feels as if she owes him something. The scene at Millie’s place where Millie tells Keys he looks cute when he brags, and Mouser encourages him to tell Millie how he feels is super frustrating to watch but it’s so important to Keys’ character. He asks Millie out for coffee and when she turns him down to jump back into the game, he doesn’t make a big deal about it even though Mouser wants him to. Instead he gets up and goes and gets her a coffee anyway. She goes to tell him her order, oblivious to the fact that he’s memorized it, he tells her he remembers, and goes to get the coffee anyway much to Mouser’s and the audience’s dismay. This is big because Keys clearly doesn’t want to be walking down the street by himself to get coffee. He wants to be getting coffee with Millie so that he can tell her how he feels to see if she might feel the same way, but when she turns him down he goes and gets the coffee anyway because he truly loves and cares about her and he values their friendship enough to put his own feelings aside and suffer in silence rather than lose her and what they’ve built. So, he takes the opportunity to get some air rather than continue to sit there in disappointment. Which is why he’s so confused when Millie runs after him and calls out to him from across the street. He doesn’t understand what she’s doing there. She turned down his offer to get a coffee and he already knows her order so why is she there? I love that they chose to make that scene non-verbal. I think if Millie had come out and made some big declaration of love it would have felt cheesy and overdone. But her running after him and silently communicating through her smile and body language that she understood and that she felt the same way was perfect. It was subtle and beautiful and perfectly acted. It also felt realistic to the characters because in real life when you’ve known someone a really long time and you’ve spent a lot of time with them you don’t always need words to convey what you mean. What Millie wanted to express in that scene was so big and so all-encompassing she couldn’t find the words to say everything that she wanted to say so she didn’t. She just stood there and smiled knowing that being the genius that he is he would understand. It’s like Keys says in their interview, words will fail you, but code never does. His coding worked and now she understands so rather than try and say it all and fail she just looks at him and smiles to show him that she finally gets it. She finally understands what he’s been trying to say to her all this time. And you can see the exact moment Keys realizes why she’s there. The moment where he goes from being confused as to what she wants to realizing that she saw the video and she knows how he feels and that she wouldn’t be standing there smiling at him like that if she didn’t feel the same way. When I watched the scene the first time around, I was anxiously clutching my nachos the entire time because when Keys ran towards her my immediate thought was, “Oh my god he’s gonna get hit by a car and they’re never gonna get to be together! Oh my god!” But then he didn’t get hit by a car and Millie ran out to meet him and for the first time in their relationship she met him halfway and they kissed and it was beautiful! I think because Free City had so much violence in it that’s where my mind went and I’m very glad they didn’t go that route. One of my only criticisms about the movie is that I wish they had stayed on Millie and Keys just a little bit longer. They kiss and embrace and then very quickly they cut to black. I wish they’d linger on that moment just a little bit longer because I love those characters so much and in the scene that follows where Guy and Buddy are reunited we see them hug and then walk away together to start their new lives and I wish we’d gotten just a bit more time with Millie and Keys. I also really loved the parallel between the different kinds of relationships within the movie and how platonic relationships are just as important as romantic ones. The reveal at the end about Guy being Keys’ creation and a love letter to Millie and her realizing she’s been loving Keys vicariously through Guy and them finally coming together and being on the same page is beautiful because from the very beginning the movie is full of clues, hints, and foreshadowing that all comes together at the end. Meanwhile, we see the friendship between Guy and Buddy and how important that friendship is to him because it’s something that he created on his own. His love for Millie is born out of the programming that Keys gave him, but his friendship with Buddy is something that Guy created all on his own of his own volition. Which is part of what makes Buddy’s death on the bridge so tragic. I cried when Buddy disappeared. Reynolds and Howery play their characters with such sincerity that his death pacts an emotional punch you don’t expect. I love that the security guards at Soonami are so moved by Buddy’s heroism and are so captivated by what’s happening with the live stream that Millie is able to sneak past them into the server room and stop Antwan from destroying what’s left of the game. Something else I noticed on rewatch is that during the final battle after Millie gets booted from the game and Guy has to fight Dude on his own the glasses he’s wearing are very similar to the ones Keys wears in the movie which I thought was a cool nod to Guy being Keys’ creation. This really is a movie in which you find something new every time you watch it. For instance, the second time around I noticed that the foreshadowing that Keys is in love with Millie, but she’s oblivious to it because she’s so focused on the game was really well done. In the video from the indie game conference that Millie plays for Keys at his apartment when asked by the interviewer about their chemistry Millie responds first and says that their friends, their relationship is completely platonic, and laughs off the idea that they have chemistry. In contrast Keys falters and is silent and then eventually says meekly that they’re just friends. Millie is looking ahead at the interviewer and to the side away from Keys as she’s laughing and so she doesn’t see Keys’ reaction. At the end of the apartment scene after Millie breaks in to ask Keys for his help, he tells Millie he cares about her and he almost says something else. It feels like he’s about to say, ‘I love you’ but then he catches himself and instead tells her that she needs to leave. When Keys visits Millie’s apartment to tell her that she was right and they’re sitting on the couch he reaches out and puts his hand on her knee and then snatches it back when he realizes he’s gotten too close. He wants so desperately to be closer to her and in his excitement, he gets closer than he normally would before realizing that putting his hand on her knee in that close proximity is not a platonic gesture. Millie is so caught up in the realization that Guy, the person she’s fallen in love with, is an AI and not a real person that she doesn’t notice. My heart broke for Keys in that scene as he realized that Millie had fallen for Guy and kissed him and was so upset about it and meanwhile, he was right in front of her desperate for her to see how much he cares. It must have just wrecked him to go home that night and realize that Guy was based on the lovelorn character he created and that Millie had fallen in love with his creation while at the same time being so oblivious to his real world affection for her. In the scene at Millie’s apartment after they’ve gotten the server from Antwan and Mouser encourages Keys to say something, I noticed on rewatch just how weak and meager Keys’ attempt to ask Millie out is. He stumbles his way through asking her to get a coffee and trails off at the end so it’s no wonder Millie doesn’t clue in that he’s trying to ask her out. And in Keys’ defence he sent her a whole video confessing his feelings for her and all of the little things he loves about her and then told her to watch it and he has no idea if she did or not. We the audience know that Millie only saw half of it, but Keys has no idea if she saw none of it, part of it, or all of it. He knows she got Guy to remember, but she’s also sending him mixed messages. One minute she’s saying he’s cute when he brags and the next, she’s turning him down for coffee to talk to Guy. From the outside it’s so obvious that Keys is in love with Millie, but she doesn’t see it because she’s always looking the other way, not paying attention, so caught up in the game, and too focused on their work to see what’s right in front of her. On rewatch one of the big things I noticed is that Keys is always on the edge of telling Millie how he really feels but he always stops himself because she brushes him or the idea off and because he’s scared of what will become of their work and their friendship if she doesn’t feel the same way. It’s a huge leap. If Millie doesn’t feel the same way it’s going to make their relationship incredibly awkward and could potentially destroy their partnership so Keys decides it’s better not to say anything or only hint at how he feels rather than run the risk of ruining everything. Something else I noticed on rewatch is that in the interview they give Keys says he thinks of himself as an author and that code is what gets him up in the morning and that he loves the ones and zeros of binary because words can fail you and let you down but code never does. At the end of the movie when Millie goes to talk to Guy in Free Life he tells her that he loves her and while he knows that’s his programming he’s realized that he’s a love letter to her and that somewhere out there in the real world is the author. Such a great callback. All in all, I can definitely say that Free Guy has been my favourite movie so far this year! Definitely my favourite movie of the summer. I went to see it twice in theatres and I’ve never done that for any other movie before. I’ll rewatch them at home sure, but I’ve never actually paid money to see something twice on my own. I’m very excited to see the sequel and my hope is that it will be just as good as the first.  Until next time.

[madame-mimsy]

Theory Behind the Reward Tier Levels in Janus’ Corridor.

Has someone done this, already? Probably. But nothing says mental exhaustion like procrastinating on schoolwork by over analyzing the levels of tiers in Janus’ Corridor of Stored Rewards.

So with the release of the amazing art by James von Hollen (@ignoreitforever on Instagram) of each of the tiers (and the honestly delightfully terrifying images of Janus ripping through a wall like the Shining), I’ve had some thoughts on what the levels mean in relation to them because I am a Fander and we cannot leave well enough alone gdi.

See, at first I liked the idea going around that Janus was just giving tiers based on people he liked, as he’s stated that he prefers Remus over the others in livestreams. But the thing is, he obviously does NOT like Virgil, so that doesn’t quite fit to me. And the idea that it’s just giving preferential treatment to the Dark Sides made sense to me, until the new images came out and we had padlocks galore.

Instead, my theory is that each tier is based on how deep into the secrets he’s promised in his Corridor you go. The further along the more he WANTS to keep them secret, and thus the more money it takes, meta-wise, to pry those secrets loose, and why there is no Janus level tier. There’s no way he’d want to reveal everything he knows, no matter the amount. He (Janus) even got downright angry when people tried bugging him for spoilers in streams.

So instead he has the tiers listed by how willing he is to make that Side “public” or not. (Longwinded theory under the cut)

So first we have the Logan tier: the Federal Education Budget 

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From the Snake’s Own Mouth:

“Ohhh, so you decided to share with us? Then, I suppose I can share with you.”

Honestly, this startled me because of the fact that it looks so arcane and mystical, which doesn’t match how I imagine Logan at all. My friend @onnastik​ pointed out that the creature on the right, surrounded by sigils, is the demon Baur, who among other things is said to “teach natural and moral philosophy, (and) logic...” which fits the bill pretty perfectly. 

Speaking of a bill, the name for the tier fits Logan perfectly, too, to me. The Federal Education Budget is not only the budget used in the American system to make sure kids have free education until the highschool level, but is also part of the college loan system. It signifies public education, and that’s why I feel that Logan is the lowest, and thus most accessible, tier. Janus considers him bland, safe for public consumption, and maybe even wants to put up a front of logical intelligence first and foremost, to make even the broadest view of Thomas seem as intelligent as possible. 

And look at how much the basic tier gives! That’s a huge amount for just the lowest tier, and gives you plenty to enjoy. That fits the ideal of something like a broad education system, and gives a very open feel. Logan’s tier is literally an “Open Book” of all sorts of delights.

And with that horrible pun, we move to Patton’s tier:  The Monthly Allowance.

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From the Snake’s Own Mouth:

“That not enough for you? Fine. I'll give you everything from that last tier, PLUS...”

For all that it is creepy as heck, the fact that Patton’s tier is also a pun is perfect. The candles heat must surely make this... heartwarming. And the addition of blooper reels in the rewards, and the commentary, feel more personal than Logan’s open tier. Which is why I don’t think Patton was the first tier.

Patton wears his heart on his sleeve too much for Janus’ tastes, I bet. All of those emotions just out there where anyone could see? Those bloopers that showcase how imperfect Thomas and the crew are? Yikes. That is definitely something a certain snek wouldn’t want to be the most public option, though, at the same time, Patton’s gentle qualities and general love of the fandom also mean he’s a good symbol to push closer to the front of the Corridor, and doesn’t need to be as hidden as some of the others.

Also the fact that Patton’s tier has a sticker as a reward is absolutely perfect and you can’t tell me otherwise. Can’t you just imagine him going “Thank you so much, kiddo! Let’s watch some bloopers and play with sticker books! I’ll get the cocoa”? He’s the good goofy dad and stickers are fun. Bloopers and being silly are fun. It’s perfect for the sweet lad.

Then we have the illustrious Roman’s tier: A Prince’s Ransom.

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From the Snake’s Own Mouth:

“You want more? Really?? … You can only half tell, but I’m blushing over the fact that we’re worth this much to you. How about, everything in that last tier AND...”

Hooo boi there’s suddenly a lot more to unpack here. This is in no way an insult to the lovely Crew as a whole, but doesn’t it feel like this tier has more bribery going on than the last two? More self-centered reasons to join? It’s not just your name in the credits like Patton offered: it’s your name as a writer. That T-shirt (which I 100% leaped at when I saw this because holy heck it’s so pretty), and of course the mysterious Writer’s Room.

This tier feels very creative as well: look at all the stuff about influencing the show, the art of the shirt, etc. This is all about being showy and creative like our wonderful prince. But it’s not the first tier, even though Thomas is very much a creator. Why? Why is the tier for the showiest, flashiest Side just randomly tucked in the middle, not even the highest for show?

Because Janus doesn’t want Roman to be the first thing everyone sees. Our sweet boy is definitely eye-catching, but he can also be vain to the point of pompous, even annoying. And his fragile ego isn’t something that Janus likely wants to show off. Janus’ statement about “blushing” and “being worth that much to you” even feels like it matches that pride and ego. 

And that fragility is in the crown’s design, too. At first glance it seems fine. Very fantastic, with Roman’s sun symbol in lovely display. But a longer look reveals cracks, broken sections and fissures. And a slight, odd green shine, too. Hmm.

No, Roman couldn’t be made the first tier because of his pride, but his is also the last tier to not have any outright locks on it...

The Strange Dark Son’s tier: OK, Now You’re Making Me Feel Guilty...

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From the Snake’s Own Mouth:

“PLEASE, don’t give us any more money! I don’t know what we could possibly do with it! But alright… since I like you, you can have everything in the last tier, and I'LL THROW IN...”

“Now you’re making me feel guilty” is absolutely what I would expect Virgil to think about someone giving him money because they enjoyed Thomas’ content. He’d freak out, and want to make sure to do something equally nice in return, to say thank you. Hence the thank-you video. 

NGL I can also imagine him panicking and rushing around his room to pick up a random mug and just thrust it out at the gifter in return too, before hiding away in an anxious mess, but anyway. xD

The artwork for this seems to very much be in homage to the Annabelle Doll: a supposedly haunted ragdoll, kept locked in a case at an occult museum.

Something interesting about this doll’s story, though...

Wiki: “According to the Warrens, a student nurse was given the doll in 1970. They said that the doll behaved strangely, and that a psychic medium told the student that the doll was inhabited by the spirit of a deceased girl named "Annabelle". The student and her roommate tried to accept and nurture the spirit-possessed doll, but the doll reportedly exhibited malicious and frightening behavior.”

Huh. Who else do we know that when confronted with too much coddling responds by lashing out?

And this is the first tier with a lock. The glass is chipped (from inside or out?) but the lock is holding. The doll is inert and doesn’t seem likely to do anything unless disturbed, if it matches the original story. Which seems to fit Virgil relatively well. Sure, he’ll make you anxious (maybe those cracks are where the influence leeches free), but doesn’t seem intent on outright harm. Also the cracks and the creepy living doll cabinet as a whole made me think of spider webs and our boi’s Halloween decor, so I thought that was excellent, honestly.

This tier is hidden behind Roman’s shining pomp. It’s outright locked away, as if to keep it from seeing the light of day. The Dark Side tiers both seem this way: hidden from prying eyes by the splendor of the first few tiers.

And the most hidden one of all... Gross Profit.

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From the Snake’s Own Mouth:

“Oh you bougie rascal, you! Your generosity is seen and I truly thank you for it… but a few kind words from me aren't enough, I'm sure... so how about, you get everything from the last tier ALONG WITH...”

Firstly we have exclusive tier level gifts that Janus won’t even reveal. Meta-wise, this is likely more because the team has to decide what those gifts ARE, and how to safely ship them, but the way it sounds in the description not only feels super secretive, but also very much like Remus to me, as well. I’m pretty sure any and all gifts from him are a surprise in some way. Whether that is pleasant is debatable, but it’s still a surprise!

The highest tier also looks to have the highest security. Look at that sturdy, metal bound chest and huge padlock. Not only that but it also has chains wrapped around it to hold it shut, and even then, the contents are actively seeking to escape, like our delightful trashman would. Even the shuggoth-like appearance matches his presence as a shifting, terrifying and likely quite gloopy entity, capable of squeezing even where he’s not wanted.  Even the green fabric below looks stained with mud or blood or something equally as upsetting. The image does a great job of showing how hard it is to contain Intrusive Thoughts, as a whole, and is likely a main reason Janus drinks so much “juice” on his birthdays. 

Unlike the last image, this one is outright trying to break containment, and oddly, it almost seems like someone left a golden key in easy reach for just that purpose... A key which also looks rather oddly shaped, to me.

It’s hard to tell from the angle, but it doesn’t look like the eye is a simple circle, but that it has a point, like a heart almost. Or even the ornate letter D from the Corridor logo?

I can’t be sure of that, but what I can definitely be sure of is the sheer amount of lock, key, and chain symbolism our Snekky Fren has to his name.

While Janus has no tier, the entire SITE has his symbol, like a brand. 

Every post, the icon, the about page, it’s there. And the snake isn’t trapped by the lock, but guarding it. It looks to have a green highlight around where a chip is (hmm), but other than that, it looks quite solid, and well-guarded by watchful creatures that never blink.

The shape of the lock looks like it could be heart-shaped as well, like that golden key allowing the Remus tentacles to wriggle free.

They also do a heckin blep and honestly what could possibly be better? 

So yeah, that’s my way overly long ramble about the tier levels and what I think they mean. Maybe if I’m not too lazy I’ll do one on the pictures of Janus playing peekaboo with my nightmares on the about page. 

God but this art is amazing and y’all need to go preesh the artist holy heck. 

[onrainynights]

why you can't compare buddie to destiel (from someone who ships both)

this is kind of addressing the recent negativity in the buddie tag, but it's also a collection of my thoughts and reasoning for being buddie-positive despite my experiences with destiel and spn in general. the text of 911 is not really discussed at all, and this is relatively spoiler-free, so if you're thinking of watching 911 I encourage you to read it. if you haven't seen both shows it probably won't make perfect sense, but I wrote this with spn fans who haven't seen 911 in mind, since that's most of my followers (and also seems to be where much of the negativity was coming from) pretty long post under the cut to save your dash

I just want to prepare y'all for the fact that buddie could be the slow burn will they/won't they mlm romance we've been waiting for practically forever.

at this point it's not fair to call it queerbait because where their relationship is now fits the characters and their development. this is not like destiel, where there were many moments over the years that could've ended with them getting together and it would've made sense with the story. buddie right now is in this sweet, wholesome pre-relationship kind of place, which on its own is a compelling dynamic and so fun and good to see. a resolution of it right now would feel out of character—they both still have some development to do before that would feel natural. and so, I don't think we can really call it queerbaiting unless the characters get to that point and there is still no resolution.

also I'd like to point out the overall positivity from the cast when it comes to buddie. both Eddie's and Buck's actors have said (I'm paraphrasing cast statements in this post unless they are in quotations) positive things about the pairing, and Buck's actor has said that he likes the interpretation of Buck as queer, and he would be happy if the writers took his character in that direction. also Eddie's actor with "that's what they all say" when buddie was referred to as a "bromance". Jennifer Love Hewitt, who plays Buck's sister (another main character), is very supportive of buddie, saying she's "rooting for it", that it would be "amazing", she doesn't "see how it couldn't happen one day". this was in response to hearing that a fan insists Buck and Eddie will be a couple. She flat-out said "I think so, too." She jokes about buddie with Buck's and Eddie's actors all the time. Also, my favorite bit from the video of her saying all this, "Let's manifest it together!"

It's safe to say this is a VERY different environment to spn. I don't think I've ever seen a cast this positive about a show's main non-canon queer ship before. NEVER. I think it's safe to say that if/when buddie is canonized, the cast will be just as excited as the fans—at least JLH will be! Add into the fact that the show's PR seems to be leaning into bi buck and buddie right now, it's a VERY different vibe than spn had, definitely. There's no gaslighting of the fans here, at least not that I've seen. also, although 911 has a large casual viewership, I think it's safe to say the GA would not be upset by buddie—there are only 3 serious, long-term romantic relationships involving main characters in this show, and one of them is a lesbian marriage with two children. And yes, the characters are shown being lesbians, it's not just a stated fact; the audience is privy to their relationship (and their interactions with their adorable kids). I think it's safe to say that buddie would go over well with the fans, even the casual viewers (of which there are many). buddie doesn't seem to be a huge divider in fandom like destiel is, either. reactions generally seem to be either "I ship it" or "I don't care either way."

Also I'd like to point out that while yes, it's possible that buddie is only bait (which would be disappointing), there's a reason queerbaiting works. people WANT to be queerbaited, because it's nearly indistinguishable from a slow burn will they/won't they queer romance. queerbaiting allows fans to make theories, create fan content (including fic), and keeps them engaged with the dynamic and the show. fans who are vulnerable to queerbaiting want a slow burn will they/won't they queer romance, which is currently an almost completely untapped market. spn could've tapped it, but despite the huge fandom they did not. there are SO MANY people outside of spn fandom who want a slow burn mlm romance, one that keeps the audience guessing, one that's will they/won't they, one that is not guaranteed, and that is why queerbaiting works so well. the audience doesn't just want the payoff, they also want the build-up. the longer the build-up, the higher the payoff, and the suspense of the build-up is gone if you know from the start that the payoff is definitely coming. that's part of why malec from shadowhunters didn't fully tap this market—there was no question of if, only the question of when (which wasn't really a question either, given there was an episode in season 1 literally titled "malec" when they got together.) the characters were always queer, the show being an adaptation of a book series where they were in a relationship and eventually had children together.

this was why November 5th was such a big deal—fans were so far past the will they/won't they aspect of destiel, firmly believing that destiel would always end as a "won't they" and not a "will they" that when cas confessed his romantic love for dean, destiel trended on Twitter over the US election. you all know that story, but maybe not everyone reading this knows that after Nov. 5 there was a case of hundreds if not thousands of spn fans experiencing love sickness because of the confession scene. the payoff of making destiel fully canon (and reciprocated, in English) would've been huge. fans would've been throwing their money at the c/w.

which leads me to the possibility (this is not at all me saying that I think this happened or even is likely, just that it's one possibility that /could/ have happened) that buddie started as bait, that the writers never intended for them to be a couple, but saw fan reactions to buddie during season 2 and started to lean into it in season 3 (and 4 so far, but it just started so I don't want to make any generalized statements about it) possibly still as bait or maybe not deciding yet if they'll go anywhere with it. and then maybe they saw destiel trending on November 5th, realized just how BIG the market for a slow burn will they/won't they mlm romance is, and said "hey, we already have the foundations for one of those. why not go for it and draw in all those viewers who clearly want one so badly?"

if buddie goes canon, because the cast and PR have been so positive about it, unlike spn, and because of the text of the show itself, the show's creatives could VERY EASILY claim that they were never baiting, that it was all an intentional slow burn will they/won't they romance from the beginning, and most people would believe them; there isn't really any evidence to the contrary, although I am sure there would be at least a few fans convinced it started as queerbaiting, and there might not be any evidence to refute that, either.

the point is that 911 is currently sitting on a gold mine. if they play their cards right, and execute buddie well, they will monopolize this market that old straight white men serving as network executives have failed so far to really tap into. they queerbait without the payoff, which gives the show a reputation among those in the market who haven't seen it, guaranteeing they will never watch it. shows in this vein: sherlock (huge reputation for queerbaiting and a finale fans didn't like) and spn (huge reputation for queerbaiting and a finale fans didn't like). spn got so, so close with cas's confession but then continued to gaslight its fans, and PR did not lean into destiel AT ALL. if 911 did buddie? the PR team would be all over it. it would be a moneymaker, big time, and Fox knows it. if buddie, or even just bi buck, went canon, tumblr would be all over it. viewership for the show, which is already impressive, would skyrocket. 911 would monopolize this market, because fans wary of queerbaiting would watch it with the knowledge that the payoff is there, and there really wouldn't be a competitor until other shows saw the success of buddie and followed suit with their own pairings, and given the fact that the market specifically wants /slow burn/ queer romances, that might take a couple years. that puts 911 in a really good position, where suddenly the fandom of the show, not just the GA, is very large and likely very dedicated to the show. the success of canon buddie might just change the landscape of TV in the coming years, showing execs that while queerbaiting does work, actually going through with it is really where the money is. 911 would not just monopolize the market for a while; it would pioneer it.

if buddie never goes canon, I would probably be a bit disappointed at the wasted potential, but unless the characters get to that point where canon buddie seems like the most logical outcome and they /don't/ go for it, I won't be truly upset because I don't think it's fair to claim its queerbaiting until then. I can't tell you how likely it is that buddie will be canon at some point, but it seems FAR more likely than destiel /ever/ did, and we ended up getting cas's confession in the end. I have hope, despite being hurt so badly by spn. 911 is a genuinely great show with some fantastic writing, and they don't leave chekov's gun unfired, unlike spn.

really, it comes down to this: if Jennifer Love Hewitt is allowed to clown for buddie, then so am I, and I'll enjoy this show—which is amazing even without canon buddie—while I apply my clown makeup.

[c-is-for-circinate]

do you have a favorite god to get boons from in hades? (mines is dionysus, he always manages to give me good boons like the bestie he is)

Dionysus is a super chill bro and I support you :)  He is a ton of fun to run into, and status effects are always clutch.  Some of his higher-level boons are awesome, too.  (Looking at you, Dionysus/Zeus duo boon that can just wipe out whole swathes of the field with a Festive Fog lightning storm.)  Also, he recently proposed we prank Orpheus together, and I died laughing.  (My friend​, who is not playing the game but is hearing me ramble about it A LOT on discord, looked up Zagreus on Wikipedia where I dare not yet tread for fear of spoilers several days ago, and they mentioned the whole “sometimes mythical Zagreus is conflated with Dionysus!  Have you met Dionysus yet?  Are you SURE you’re not also Dionysus?” a few times before that happened.  I am so proud of my booze bro for making that happen.)

Honorable mention also goes to Aphrodite, who comes with some really great status effects (I think she might have my favorite Aid, and that Aphrodite/Zeus duo boon that charges it up super fast makes it incredibly useful, just a constant spam of charm spells) and really fun interactions.  She was never my favorite Olympian as a kid (yes, of course I was a Greek myth kid, what do you take me for), but I appreciate how much she is exactly what she appears to be in this game, you know?  She’s a little shallow but she’s not ashamed of herself for it.  She’s free with affection and happy to share.  We all know she’s the kind of lady who loves watching some drama go down, and she is not above starting some shit, but she’s not actually making any pretenses about that and I appreciate that on her.  I legit believe she’s trying to help me get out of Hades because she thinks it’s just awful that anybody who counts as a real person should be stuck down there in that dark awful place (mortals don’t count as real people but, y’know, it’s the Greek gods, that’s sort of a given).  And, ok, maybe I have a little extra affection for any version of Aphrodite who’s not just “ooh, she’s a slutty mean shallow girl who likes to manipulate everybody to stroke her own ego, we’re so ~edgy~ for thinking she’s awful”.  They did a good job making an Aphrodite I can support, and I am glad for that.

Poseidon probably has the boons with my favorite effects (tidal dash is great and I love it), and Zeus, Athena, and Ares all have specific boons that I really enjoy in certain circumstances.  Favorite character, though, hands down, is ABSOLUTELY Artemis.

Some of this is definitely pre-existing bias--I was always somewhere between Artemis and Athena for favorite deity back during my time as a Greek myth kid, although I like her way more than Athena here.  Most of it is just that the way she’s written is so great.  She’s awkward!  She leaves me awkward voicemails because she doesn’t know what to say!  She’s not super comfortable around all of her loud, competitive, extroverted relatives with all their enormous personalities and equally enormous egos.  She is so obviously the sort of person who doesn’t entirely know what to do with herself when she doesn’t have a job to do, and, really, the world just makes so much more sense when she’s out in the woods on a hunt by herself taking things seriously and getting her work done.  She is explicitly hanging out with her family right now for the express purpose of working together to save me, and you can hear in her voice how it’s making her a little tense having them around all the time but she’s doing it anyway because this is important.  Her duo boon dialogue with Zeus!  Dad acting all indulgent about his odd daughter who won’t do the sensible thing and take a husband or at least a lover, for Olympus’s sake, and Artemis who is like, ‘really, you really don’t get why I would rather be out in the woods than committing myself to dealing with the sort of guys we have around our family’.  (The mention of preferring to be alone or with her nymph friends has big ace/lesbian crossover energy, and as a vaguely-aceish vaguely-lesbianish queer lady I am all about it.)  And yet she still invites us to come hunt with her once we get out of the Underworld up to Olympus.  Her safe alone space, away from her overwhelming family, and she’s willing to welcome Zagreus into it after she helps him get away from his family. 

The tricky thing about Artemis is that nearly all of her boons are crit-related, which officially makes them the boon set I am usually least interested in.  Part of this is absolutely math fallacies because math brain works very very hard at my actual job and does not want to come out and play during video game time, so it rebels against actually sitting down and calculating what percentage crit rate might do more good with my particular playstyle with various weapons than simply a flat damage increase from another boon.  Part of it’s the fact that I can see the impact of other boons, but not the increased critrate (because everything is always going much too fast to notice a single individual crit when it happens).  Part of it’s just how I tend to react to buffs and builds: law of large numbers aside, a flat bonus/effect applied to every single hit is always going to be more consistent and reliable than the crapshoot of a crit chance, and coming from a turn-based combat background, consistent and reliable is still a (possibly undeserving) priority to my game-strategy brain.

On the other hand, Artemis also has one of my favorite boons in the entire game in Support Fire--you know, the boon that fires off a bonus target-seeking arrow every single time you hit an enemy with your weapon in any way, or cast, even if you don’t hit anything.  It’s pretty good with sword/shield/spear.  It’s great with the fists, where you’re going to be multi-hitting anyway, and absolutely essential with the railgun if you’re me and can barely use the railgun.  Exit Wounds, where enemies take damage when they drop the cast, is also really great.  Both of those are boons with prereqs, so I’ll often hope for an Artemis boon early in the game (usually her cast boon or that boon that gives you a low crit chance on all damage, because that one doesn’t preclude putting other specific strike/flourish/dash boons on) to try and set myself up to get them later.  It tends to work pretty well, plus then I get to hang out with Artemis more, and that is always a winner.

(Yep, I sure did write a six-paragraph response to a two-line ask.  For everyone who’s followed me in the past couple of weeks--you MUST be aware by now that this is how I do.  You MUST have figured out what you signed up for.  I am not sorry.  (I’m a little sorry.))

[cautiouslittleninja]

//SPOILERS-ISH FOR WARIOWARE GET IT TOGETHER.//

//Don’t watch the video past the 25 minute mark if you haven’t beaten the game and want to remain unspoiled!//

//So, this lovely person uploaded many of clean voice clips from the newest WarioWare game! Including quips from Ana and Spitz that are...very unlikely to be heard in normal gameplay due to their 2p exclusivity status.

//Because I am running a blog about writing Ana, might as well share my ideas and observations inspired by this! (note, will be updating this when the in-game voice clips are uploaded!)

//I hope they’ll be an okay read, and if you wanna take inspiration by these ideas, feel free to! Lemme know if you use ‘em, okay? I love seeing more fan stuff for WarioWare!

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- Despite being described as the shy, quiet twin, Ana certainly has her excitable moments as she’s a bit...loud in some of her quips in this game. In Gold, her voice clips better matched the description of quiet and shy.  Ana probably shows a more outgoing side when around those she trusts, or is presented with a subject that she really really likes. I’d like to think she can appreciate socializing, but will need to recharge her batteries in (relative) solitude afterwards.

- Both twins are childish, but in their own ways. Though some may argue that Ana is more mature (justified by how the twins are portrayed in past games), I personally think they both have their mature and childish moments. They are kindergartners after all. Note that Kat’s a bit more polite than Ana when it comes to accepting gifts they don’t like.

- Ana remarked that she’s “so so good at eating” in Gold. Now in GiT, when she quits the game, she says needs a snack. Seems like she likes food a bit more than her twin. Kat on the other hand claims she needs a nap when she quits.

- Says ‘aw pickles’ and ‘carrot sticks’ when losing. This could either mean the child dislikes those foods to the point of using them as “swears” or that she likes them, similar to how Bandit of Bluey uses “biscuits” and “cheese and crackers” in place of swearing. 

- Could be the more adventurous of the two ninjas when it comes to trying new foods. I don’t think she’s that much of a picky eater, but there are probably foods that she’s adverse to, like spicy dishes.

- While Ana did join her sister in shouting “Bad Wario!”, seems like she wasn’t as angry as her sister was about the mistake due to her tone.

- Has taken on one of 5-Volt’s old quips (from Gold), which is “Gold Star!” Perhaps she admires the mom. It does help that 5-Volt is a splendid chef...and that the twins hung around 9-Volt since the first game.

- Definitely has a nasally voice like Bingo of Bluey. ...Wait is that the right term to describe her voice...? I know it sounds to me like a younger version of Stacy from Octodad (especially because they share same VA).

- ...Actually I’m just gonna say the twins are like Bluey and Bingo. Seriously, a caring, yet kinda bossy young girl who has a red haired, nature loving, timid, sensitive younger sibling feels a bit too familiar...though this could be a common dynamic between siblings. I could also be paying too much attention due to their similar ages.

- Sparkly things probably appeal to Ana. This does include coins but I don’t think it’s that farfetched she’d like other shiny objects and glitter. Maybe she likes shiny dresses too due to her love of the wedding dress!

- Very much apologetic. And still a bit of a crybaby, probably. Definitely not too focused on ninjutsu as much as her sister.

- “I’m a big ninja now!” reminds me a lot of the “I’m a big kid now!” saying from those pull up commercials...(though I feel like I heard some actual and fictional kids say something to those lines or at least sentiment...)

- Between the twin’s level up phrases, they certainly are excited to be big kids and prove themselves! I think that’s a common thing among little ones, but don’t take my word on it. Could just be a fiction exclusive thing.