#loved watching these 4 frames on my timeline

[hoodedjelly]

Sleep walk BTS post!

will go in depth with my process and put better quality drawings in here!

Before any of this i was listening to several fiddauthor/ford playlists to hear a song that really got my brain moving. Funny enough i didn't get Sleep walk from one of the 100+ song playlists i was listening to, it was in my oc playlist (thats a mad scientist who would've thought). Originally i wanted to make a fiddauthor animatic (who knows maybe i will), but THIS SONG just caught my brain in a way i couldn't refuse.

So i technically started working on it the late night of September 27, exactly a week ago! which yes yes i hear you all in unison go "WHAT???" to that, and all I have to say to that is.... I have untreated adhd and lots of caffeine in my system! (honestly felt like ford sometimes while workin on that animatic)

Started it off with some notes, then thumbnails. I had my tbob AND J3 open next to me stood up with clips for reference (prob looked a little insane looking back but its fine)

now for the rough animatic! i did this in Adobe animate 2022 (i'll get back to that later) the only thing that really got changed was i wanted to add the diner scene from j3. i realize now that it messed up the timeline i was going for with the animatic but i like to think things are out of order because of the state ford is in, things start to merge together.

After i sat with this rough animatic for a bit, i wasn't sure if i was going to make it in Adobe animate (what i usually do) or make it all in Clip Studio Paint. I wanted this animatic to be way more visually interesting then i usually do, so CSP it is. But! i only have CSP Pro, so i had to draw and export every single new frame from this animatic.

it was a little tedious at first (again never done an animatic like this before) but i got used to it! I edited it all together in CapCut and thats really it!

The missing J3 pages from TBOB spoke to me in a way that im not fully comfortable talking about to my followers. I put a lot of myself in this animatic then i'd want to realize, it's very important to me. The night when i uploaded it i was literally shaking with anxiety (and caffeine-) but the overwhelming support for it is really amazing, thank you so much! if you have any more questions please ask away i love talking about the art process.

Below im going to talk about the code and put HD backgrounds!

thank you for dyemro on here for cracking the code first! now i can talk about my insane little thought process about it

So i never planned to add a code until halfway through with the animatic. i was watching ThatGFFan videos and him talking about gravity falls codes got my brain cooking. i wanted something sweet and simple (i realize with dyemro's post it wasn't as simple as i thought, give me some slack it's my first time). like what you should with making codes you start at the end. And i wanted something that was a nice send off for drawing ford be fucking miserable for 1 minute and 30 seconds.

so i got this. (honestly every time i look at this drawing after finishing the animatic it makes me real emotional)

There are 4 codes in this whole animatic 0:02, 0:15, 0:30, and 0:58

wanted the first one to be REAL noticeable so people can stop and be like "wait... theres stuff in here". people usually think to use the bill symbols, but no! from the description theres a little hint to use the Author symbols

doing that code it leads to: imgu r.com /a/uZa iVfu (and if you know that double line a under a letter means capitalization + im a dumb dumb that used a code image that didn't have a Z so thats just a normal Z)

it makes a LINK! > imgur.com/a/uZaiVfu <

now enough of that boring stuff, heres some HD screenshots and backgrounds of my fav parts

[mephistopheleswasrobbed]

So, since Peaceful Property is supposedly not a BL this gives me the opportunity to go full Pepe Silvia on it.

Therfore, allow me to present all of my evidence that Peaceful Property/On Sale is gay, actually:

1

In a clear parallel both Home and Peach in their introcuctory scene punch another person because they're scared of ghosts.

Home punches his (at that point about-to-be-) ex girlfriend.

Peach punches Best, his ex friend/colleague. Or is he? Because as so eloquently pointet out by respectthepetty here, Best is a little shady and Pangpang doesn't seem to like him. So until we get evidence to the contrary, I'm choosing to theorise that there was something between them, even just a one-sided crush.

Which means that we begin the show with both our main boys literally punching their respective romantic past in the face.

2

When their landady comes to collect the overdue rent, Pangpang assures her that a billionaire will fall in love with her handsome brother any day now.

While she is saying that, the camera focuses in on a news report speaking of the death of a wealty man

Attention is drawn to the fact that someone will inherit that wealth (emphasised by showing the dead guys oppulent mansion),

and then we see Home, looking like the epitome of stupid rich within that mansion.

Thus the show draws a clear line from Pangpangs satement about a billionaire falling in love with Peach, to Home about to become said a billionaire.

3

After realising that he's going to be even richer than he already was Home videocalls his friend in the US

Two men, sitting next to each other on a video call? They must obviously be a couple. Which means Home has gay friends (good ones at that, seeing how this Dustin Trust is the first one Home calls after receiving the news). Also one of them calls Home "Thai boy" and that's also pretty gay. This is admittedly not my strongest argument but we're in "not a BL" territory so I'll take everything.

4

He doesn't know why at this point but Home is clearly drawn to Peach from their first meeting, coming back TWICE to assure him they will see each other again.

5

More to the point, we see Home interact with Kan a total of five times in the first episode. When they're first introduced, at the will reading, when she tells him about the houses, at the Fan Singsing exorcism and back at the mansion after the real exorcism. The first three happen before Home and Peach meet for the first time and Home is flirty towards Kan in all three of them.

However in the last two encounters, after meeting Peach, he makes no further attempts at flirting with her.

Now, I'm sure this will change in the next episode, but for now I'm taking it as evidence that his attention has shiftet.

6

Pangpang tells Home to trust her brother and he gets a Look.

When he asks Peach a question and doesn't get an answer quickly enough, he tries to kick him which is kinda cute and also somewhat reminicent of schoolboy-with-a-crush behaviour.

Now, I'm not sure this is anything but throughout this whole scene Peach is framed between Best and Home. And I'm choosing to read it as Peach being currently at a stage between his past (Best) and his future (Home, and also Pangpang next to Home). This tracks insofar as Best is left of Peach and (at least in the culture I'm familiar with, not sure if it's different in Thailand) one would usually draw a timeline from left (past) to right (future).

(The previous picture already demonstrates this point but I think the green light reflection over Peach's eyes looks cool so I'm including this one, too)

After the sucessful exorcism Pangpang hypes up her brother. She and Best celebrate with Peach while Home stays behind them and looks at Peach contemplatively.

And this, my friends, is the moment he falls. Followed by the realisation that he likes him now, although whether he's aware that he like likes him remains to be seen.

7

Home then goes home (hah) and procedes to watch edits of his newfound crush, alone in the dark.

This, along with some ghost talk with Kan, makes him remember a conversation with his grandfather where said man told him to figure out the meaning of "home" before he can help him sell houses. Peach is helping him start to realise the true meaning of his own name.

8

The next time we see Home he's just casually laying in Peach's bed, watching him.

How long has he been there? How long was he going to just watch Peach if he hadn't turned around? What made him decide to just hop in bed with and stare at Peach in the first place? Who knows. (Well gay thoughts for the last question obvs) Whatever the answer, this is not very my-feelings-are-purely-platonic behaviour.

9

Now Peach is punching Home. If the first two punches were there to signal the end of two relationships, this third on is here to mark the start of a new one. Puncher + puncher = luuve (and more punching)

10

Of course Home had to come convince Peach to team up with him right away even though it is the middle of the night. Because he's excited about this and he can't wait. Ahh, puppy love.

And then he rises his eyebrows at Peach suggestively and we end on them standing across from each other, a bed in their middle.

Because that's where they'll end up. (Although maybe not this specific one. Not sure how Pangpang would feel about that.)

And that's all for this episode.

I realise that this has been quite Home-focused, but that is simply because Home has fallen first. Peach is too busy worrying about ghosts and rent money to be falling in love. For now.

[saturdaysky]

First Lines

I was tagged by @mithrilwren to post the first lines of my last ten fics! What a fun trip down memory lane this was.

1) fray (Ludinus/Essek; feelbad manipulation + an intentional gap between wants and needs)

"Such a fanciful tradition," he chides, watching the light play on Thelyss' bright braids. The candlelight of his bedchambers paints them fetchingly gold. Thelyss sits with a prim tiredness on the bed, holding still while Ludinus slips the buttons of his high collar back into place. They have begun to take all of their meetings here, in recent months.

2) discretion, written with @mllekurtz (Caleb/Essek; power dynamics and clothing)

“You wore this to the court today.” The words do not feel quite real coming out of his mouth.

3) growing sunlight (Caleb/Essek; a post-canon homecoming)

Caleb shuts the door against the afternoon sun, sealing them into comfortable privacy. The curtains on his windows are likewise shut, but light seeps through them anyway, casting the room in a warm, muted glow. Dimmed daylight will gather here for hours; like a little bubble of sunset just for us, supplies his mind. He is too glad to resist whimsy. Essek's visits always make him so.

4) if only for a moment (Caleb/Essek; time travel, grief, love, a leave-taking)

It was supposed to be five minutes into the future, but Caleb is pretty sure he fucked that one up. The lurch in his stomach tells him so, as does the treacle-like quality of his perception, and the way the spell writhes in his mind.

5) the end; to hold the sun (Caleb/Essek; a Calamity AU set minutes before the city falls from the sky)

It is done. It is done.

6) brothers (Beau & Essek talk about their estranged brothers; canon-with-a-twist AU)

Essek's shoulders are tense in a way that's gonna ache later, his frame drawn tight against the endless blue sky above the bay. He leans on the salt-crusted railing and stares out at the armada gathered for the peace talks. "I am still a Thelyss," he whispers in Undercommon. "They cannot take that from us." To Beau's ears, it sounds like a prayer.

7) sanctuary, a claiming (Caleb/Essek; werewolf/witch dark fairytale AU)

The night is red. Above the Wildwood, Catha’s gentle silver eye has waned into sleep at the end of its long cycle, leaving only the ruddy gaze of its sister to light the forest. Tomorrow, Catha will wax anew into wakefulness, but tonight, when magic is strong and bloody in the air, Ruidus’ dark creatures come out to play.

8) a shape made by our hands (Caleb/Essek; in a decaying timeline, Caleb meets Essek as a child.)

The spell is almost up. He’s gotten what he came to this timeline for, and when he returns to his own, this reality will decay into nothingness like an echo. The clock ticks unrelentingly in Caleb’s head; he estimates he has at least an hour. Maybe two, maybe less; time magic is an inexact science, as it turns out.

9) fulcrum (Caleb & Trent review proper torture techniques)

He is deep in the bowels of the sanatorium and has been for three days. Caleb is doing his best not to let that fact peel him out of his head.

10) poisoning the well (Caleb character study, ft. Trent's incessant, inescapable praises)

There is the splish-splash-splash as the Nein travel through the drenched Aeorian tunnel, and then Ikithon’s voice slithers into his head, parting the layers of Caleb's privacy with ease and blotting out all other sound.

I tag @mllekurtz @ariadne-mouse @chronurgy @burningdarkfire @annundriel and anyone else who wants to do it! Tag me in, I'd love to see your first lines.

[mybreadsmybutters]

top 10 men?

LONG long list with extensive explanations under cut. you are forewarned.

1. aidan gallagher. continually charmed and enchanted by whatever is deeply wrong with him and the weird fucked up shit he has going on with his clinically insane dad. he wrote rpf about HIMSELF. who is doing it like him. who COULD do it like him. he needs to come out as gay immediately. at least bisexual. to improve his image. he even makes BAD terrible music. incredible guy all around. i watch his content the way people watch isis beheading videos.

2. my real life actual grandpap. he is so definitely in hell one of the worst people ever. his number one political philosophy was being a hater and fighting anyone who looked at him wrong. i miss him everyday. perhaps the most insane person i will ever meet in my entire life.

3. idk if you wanted real men but the rest of this list is probably gonna be fictional characters due to the fact that i know about ten people. anyways number three is my beloved best friend seasons 1-3 five hargreeves of the umbrella academy. WHAT a character. what if you were a cis guy who could time travel and definitely liked killing people but also were obsessive and crazy and also had a fucked up weird thing with the woman who dragged you out of the apocalypse after you spent 50 years alone and also your body wasn’t your own because your dna got swapped with that of the most prolific murderers of all time and also you were stuck in the body of a child that might’ve been You at some point and everyone is patronizing and doesn’t believe you AND you watch your family die over and over again across every timeline as you constantly fail the ones you love. what a guy. five hargreeves you will never be replicated. also homewrecked his brother with the woman whose parents he murdered like 4 timelines back and then immediately convinced everyone to kill themselves but he did that in season 4 so i dont Really count it but it was still awesome. he’s experiencing types of body dysphoria that i cannot ever fathom i projected onto this guy so hard as a little in denial 13 year old. also when i was 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 and 21 he just kind of lives in the back of my mind perpetually.

4. JOE GOLDBERG FROM HIT FRANCHISE YOU. oh man i love that fucking freak and his mommy issues and the fake woke feminist facade and nightmares in the suburbs and the Knight in Shining Armor carried out to its most horrific prolific potential UGH. i want to pin him on my wall and frame him in glass like a butterfly. he means everything to me. EVERYTHING. so many neurotic tendencies and problematic behaviors spawned from exposure to his character at a critical age. wow i love that guy forever.

5. stefan salvatore vampire diaries. first ever vampire with a binge eating disorder (kills people pathologically) THAT is intentionally narratively framed as an addiction. ALSO in some weird fucked up forced-fated-cursed love triangle forever when his soulmate is clearly just his brother. my number one favorite vampire forever. did i mention he has no sense of humor. oh MAN i love that guy.

6. FICTIONAL ANIME BOY LIGHT YAGAMI. I LOVE SERIAL KILLERS WITH AN ABSOLUTELY FUCKED MORAL COMPASS WHO HAVE A WEIRD THING WITH THE DETECTIVE INVESTIGATING THEM. also see the entire death note musical. where is the justice when the guilty all go free… what would it be if i saw the world like him like a synonym… he is ensouled in the same way JD heathers is

7. fictional anime boy kusuke saiki… man where do i even begin. he’s blonde. he’s a sadomasochist. started world war 3 in an alternate timeline. weird fucked up thing with his brother that is ambiguously sexual. holds a gun at one point. wears a labcoat. wears his hair in a PONYTAIL at one point. foundational to my adolescent sexual awakening. also the entirely fanonical dynamic he has with fellow anime boy makoto teruhashi is world changing to me.

8. mildly famous comedian gianmarco soresi who i am parasocial with. i hope to be as mentally weird about things and be an attention whore and obsessive weirdo when i am 35 too. also first ever visibly gay straight man i think which is just endlessly fascinating to watch.

9. CHARLIE DAY

10. perhaps my most controversial and vaguely revealing choice for this list but one i stand by… porn star and tik tok influencer noahwaybabes. voice of a generation. also i think he’s so stupid hot like in a way that pisses me off. also i find him vaguely annoying but i think that’s because he’s funny and hot which is a REALLY unfair combination. also because he just is annoying due to being a tik tok influencer. probably steals off twitter but i dont use twitter so i dont care.

HONORABLE MENTIONS!!!

youtuber pyrocynical who was not included in this list due to the fact that i hate him and he sucks.

jd heathers who JUST barely did not make it on. im sorry that annoying tik tok influencer who i jerk off to sometimes won out but when it comes down to brass tacks i thought including even more fictional characters would make me seem like a huger massiver loser than the other option

[phoenixspencer]

Hello! I love your gifs! How do you make yours so clear and high quality/What's your process? <3

Hi!! Thank you so much!! I've never really had to explain out my process to anyone and I don't know how much detail you need, but I'll try my best and try to be as thorough as possible just in case!!

For my D:BH gifs, the process starts out with recording my own game play. I have a gaming computer that already had the GeForce Experience app downloaded, so I use that to record my game play. It records at 1920 × 1080p, 60 frames per second, so the files can get... rather large 😅 The video of my playthrough of the Russian Roulette chapter (~11 minutes long) was just under 4 GB. So its not light...

From there, I figure out what in particular I want to gif (for the timestamp roulette series, I let a random number generator figure out whereabouts I'm looking). Once I know that, I open up VLC and use it to isolate that particular shot + a little more on either end.

After I have the shot(s) I want to gif isolated, I open up Photoshop. I use "File" > "Import" > "Video Frames to Layers" and choose the video I want. You can do this straight from the video of your playthough, but I find that the shorter the video is, the easier it is to work with in this step. I trim my video more, to about a click or two outside of the specific shot I want. Like so:

From there I delete any extraneous frames from the "timeline" section that comes up.

Then is cropping: my go-to crop uses the "W x H x Resolution" option - I put 540 px in the first box, 300 px in the second and leave the third blank.

After that, I have an action in Photoshop that does the next steps for me (to make things quicker), but what it does is sets the frame rate (which will have to be done again after saving the gif because Photoshop hates everyone apparently), converts all the layers into a single object, and sharpens the gif. I've only been gif-ing for about a year and a half, and before that I had exactly zero experience with Photoshop at all, so all the numbers from these steps are still the same as the numbers I pulled from the tutorial I used when trying to figure everything out. For those, you can look at this absolutely AMAZING tutorial, by hayaosmiyazaki, specifically steps 7. gif speed and 8. sharpening.

From there, I start adjusting the colors. From what I've noticed, I seem to do a good bit less color adjustment than some, or maybe even most, other gif makers. It's honestly all about personal preference, so play around with it and find what you like! I personally like to stick as close as possible to the original colors, while still brightening the image up enough to make it clearer and more legible. So, for a majority of my gifs, I only apply an "Exposure" layer, a "Brightness/Contrast" layer, and a "Hue/Saturation" layer (from the "Layer" > "New Adjustment Layer" menu.) The numbers here change dependent upon the lighting in the shot.

For example, here's a before and after of this shot I just did so I could type this out and make sure I got every step 😅 For this one, I did Exposure +1.0 (no change to Offset or Gamma Correction), Brightness +20, Contrast +10, and Saturation +5 (no change to Hue or Lightness).

Once I'm satisfied with my coloring, I go to "File" > "Export" > "Save for Web (Legacy)". I watch the gif there to make sure it looks how I want, maybe go back and do a few tweaks to the coloring if I'm not quite happy, check the file size and then save it!

Tumblr's maximum file size is 10MB so if your gif is over that, you won't be able to use it on tumblr - in order to fix that, you may have to delete a few more frames. Or you can crop it to so there's less pixels in the "Save for Web" pop-up by changing the numbers in the "Image Size" section

And now, once I have my gif named and saved. I go back to "File" > "Open" and open up that gif. From there, I go to the little three lines icon in the top right corner of my "Timeline" section, click "Select All Frames" and then click the three dots on one of the frames and change the frame delay. For my DBH gifs, I do 0.02 seconds cause it looks best to me. Depending on how many frames per second your recording software does/what you personally like speed wise, this may be different for you. This is also different for gifs from live action or other media (for those, I prefer 0.05 seconds - it looks the most realistic to me.)

Then, I just save again, overriding the file from before I changed the speed, and voila! That's my process!

I hope this helps; if you have any more questions, my ask box is always open!! And again, thank you so so much 🥰 I'm so glad you like my gifs!!

[gayofthefae]

I feel like what people don't understand is there's a difference between not seeing Byler and not seeing Mike's feelings for Will. We've got another season for that, baby. But the outcome is looking to be Byler. I mean for the outcome to be Byler he could DEVELOP his feelings in season 5 episode 7 it does not matter the outcome will be the same. It's a ship but it's also a prediction. It doesn't have to have ramped up yet like that.

Much of us made this prediction based on pattern recognition, arc analysis, recognizing that the show treats and frames them the way they do the other couples then were motivated to watch Mike more closely with that future in mind, at least that's what I did.

"I think Mike is straight" or "I don't think we were supposed to see that he had feelings for Will this season, I just don't think they put that in there", I agree! I DON'T think this is his season for it to be shown! That would have taken away attention from Will! I think it is built for a rewatch, or rather, to only be seen through a knowing lens - which includes people who used that lens on their first watch because of their own predictions. I don't think it's supposed to be visible this season either! Same page! But that is not that same as saying they will not end up together.

Honestly, none of us know his timeline of self awareness - and we won't until season 5. When I first predicted Byler it was season 4 episode 2 and to my knowledge, Mike and El were still very sturdy and I had no clue how they were gonna execute it, but how they execute it or convince the audience that Mike isn't in love with El isn't my job. I trust that the professional writers, of which I am not, are smarter than me in that sense and have come up with things I couldn't fathom in that regard, so I couldn't tell you how they'll do it. I can, however, tell you that they will.

It's based in trajectory, so it isn't disproven by visibility. Predicting a twist reveal can't be disproven by the fact that it "doesn't seem like it's true". That is the definition of the words "twist reveal".

[hikennosabo]

#tristampparty day 7, episode 7: wolfwood

this is another episode i've watched multiple times, but mostly just the first half for Livio Reasons. once again... LET'S GOOOOO

i've seen ppl say this is razlo at the start of the episode... i wonder... he is more razlo-like in his movements, and he starts yelling a lot... but his expressions are still livio-like, i think... i mean he is more expressive BUT he's not grinning like razlo usually does? sigh... see the problem is that we ALSO have a level of EoM brainwashing (and whatever the fuck else is going on) on top of everything which throws a wrench in trying to figure things out. I Just Wanna See My Boy.

i love vash holding his gun backwards and using it as a bludgeon and i love going frame by frame to get cool screencaps like this 💖

wolfwood vial count: 4

at the very least, by the time of this next scene, it's definitely livio and not razlo because he's mumbling about "catching up" again which is a livio thing

when i saw the corresponding manga panel for this my brain neurons activated so hard LOL i wonder even more how orange will adapt razlo... since originally livio was trying to catch up with razlo. which i love and think is super interesting. so what is orange planning? ...is livio even aware razlo exists at this point...?

oh also livio looks a bit older here. which once again has me wondering about the timeline. the way the experiments were presented with rollo and nicholas, it looked like they were just on that table forever. as in there were no breaks in between. so... when is this? how long is it between livio volunteering himself for EoM and the experiments on him taking place?

i think it's cute that nico bumps into him :(

let's take ibuprofen together

i wonder who these people are... i thought they might be the EoM soldiers that razlo killed, but those aren't EoM uniforms... it looks like the prison uniform wolfwood was wearing... wolfwood tried to run away, so it makes sense that he wouldn't be the only one, although the phrasing "stand in our way" more implies they tried to stop the operation altogether. but... hmm... they just had regular goons as guards at the time of wolfwood's escape attempt. livio is special... would they really give him a job like guard duty?

CHAPEL JUMPSCARE

razlo sweetiepie there you are!!! mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah

HE'S SUCH A FUCKING DRAMA QUEEN HE'S SO FUNNY

since zazie is the one talking, our attention is drawn to them, so i'm glad i paused on this because the fact that legato is also looking up at wolfwood and smirking is so funny to me. EYES ON THE ROAD BESTIE!!!!

this line is always so funny to me. shonen protagonist ass

i love the scene of vash at the spaceship controls, the animation when he's working the keyboard is so smooth. hmmm, it also reminds me of wolfwood's introduction episode in 98... serves the same narrative purpose of Vash Knowing Things He Shouldn't about spaceships

i love that wolfwood thinks shooting the base of the cannon will do anything. like that's the first thing he tries. shoot first ask questions later i guess

going frame by frame on scenes of legato because i'm unwell... his eyebrows are surprisingly thick! and his eye color is grey... it was gold in 98... oh, i just noticed his eyelashes are light blue!! cute!!

i just think this is a handsome angle for him. his facial features are so pretty and delicate

this is why he buckled his seatbelt :)

... i need to stop posting legato pictures

no because what the hell is this

wolfwood vial count: 5

episode 5 had me asking about the wind... legato asks zazie if they were the one who caused the sandstorm (which they deny)... could it be... is it possible...?

my dumb ass watching this for the first time: damn it's so sad that livio is dead and now they're even gonna use his corpse for nefarious purposes :(

vash's plant markings are so pretty fr <3 orange was big brained for this too

everyone always points out the episode title card being a gut punch but THIS was an unexpected one:

this is how wolfwood is credited this episode and because i'm insane i immediately had to go back and check - this is also how he's credited in episodes 5 and 6: as "nicholas d. wolfwood/nicholas the punisher". in episode 4, he's only listed as "nicholas d. wolfwood". haha ouch!

this post ended up being a little less substantial than expected LOL but we'll soon be getting into the episodes that really give me psychic damage so :^) looking forward to it!!

[earl-grey-teacake]

I am in a predicament involving the Baby!Loscar. I am between having them be turned into babies and being adopted as babies. So I am taking input and putting in a poll. The poll is not the final decision maker but rather a way for me to see what’s popular. If you have input or suggestions please send them my way!!!

I probably should’ve figured this out beforehand but I did not. 😅

Turned into a baby

Pro:

Already established relationships between all parties. Alex and George already know Logan. Lando and Carlos already have established habits with Oscar. Oscar and Logan already have an established friendship and a budding crush.

Everyone from the drivers to the team get a surprise and are scrambling on how to address this to the media.

Lot of first-time parent anxiety. Alex, George, Lando, and Carlos are not ready for to take care of children but right now, they don’t really have a choice.

Con:

Time frame I can write for is quite limited because at some point they have to turn back. They are still driving for F1 and will have to turn back at some point. Also, Logan and Oscar are 4 months apart and in terms of child development, 4 months is a lot.

There is less focus on taking care of them as babies compared to waiting for them to turn back. People will find the babies cute but they are also waiting for them to turn back so things can go back to normal so there isn’t a lot of time for fluff.

Have to address how media and their actual families would take it. The media will absolutely notice if 2 rookie drivers suddenly disappear. Oscar and Logan also already have parents which might make the whole situation difficult.

Adopted as babies

Pro:

Established couples with a baby thrown in. Galex and Carlando’s relationships are established and they willingly/ semi-willingly chose to adopt a baby.

Cute watching parents trying to balance their job with their babies who will eventually walk in their footsteps. They travel and have full-time jobs as drivers and are struggling how to fit a baby into the mix. Also allows for Teams and Drivers to step in and help. Logan and Oscar get a lot of uncles.

Also first-time parent anxiety. Sure they chose to adopt a baby but they are also first-time parents trying their best. Their anxiety is just different then if they were suddenly told to adopt a baby.

Con:

Lots of deviation from current day since the timeline will be a bit off

Since they are babies, some of their behaviors may deviate from present day. Logan gets a lot of parental support and he isn’t as much of an outsider in F1 because of his family.

The relationship between Logan and Oscar are not pre-established but rather something that is built through proximity and early childhood friendship and possibly, fate. (Maybe a con for some, may not be a con for others.)

If you have suggestions, input, or comments, please sent them my way. I would love to hear what you think.❤️ If you have any questions, just send an ask or a comment and I will happily answer them.

[thewertsearch]

Ask Comp 13/4 - 2

Yup! The Alpha timeline offers a novel solution to the problem of Sylladex capacity. If the Captcha index only needs to be consistent in the Alpha timeline, then it doesn't have to worry about reserving index space for every possible item.

If this is how things work, then the Sylladex isn't predestined, per se - it's enforced. Everyone has a finite set of objects that they're allowed to captchalogue, and if you pick up anything else, your index is invalidated - and your timeline is pruned.

You could still call it predestination, if you were so inclined, but that's only partially accurate. It's more that you're coerced into 'choosing' one particular destination - or else.

I'm loving these voice headcanons. Scratch as Emperor Belos is inspired.

What the hell? That's amazing.

Based on my (admittedly limited) experience with web administration, it's not all that surprising, either. Hacks like this are shockingly common.

No worries! The vast majority of followers don't actually interact with these posts' notes, but I still assume they're reading them. Just a quirk of Tumblr's norms.

My best guess is that the drones would arrive when the troll is on the cusp of adulthood, shortly before they leave Alternia. That would give them as much time as possible to form potent relationships - which would, in turn, give the Empire the most potent wrigglers.

I still think it would motivate younger trolls, though. I mean, if all single people are executed at eighteen, you might feel a little pressure to enter the dating game early.

Never forget the Der-sayer incident.

Rereading it, Karkat scans as sad, angry, resigned, confused, lonely, and trying to bottle up an avalanche of "FRESH RAGE."

I think we're both half right, here - he's drowning in a tide of pretty much every negative emotion imaginable.

Thank you!! We triple-checked, and it seems like Tumblr ate the first half of this ask :(

Much appreciated, though!! I love that metaphor for coming up with scattershot theories.

Oh, that makes sense. Can't believe I missed a Hussie pun, but that one was a little harder to notice.

This makes it sound like the universe is tethering her to life, just as she tethers it. What is up with this lady?

That's true! I'm pretty sure it's both.

I'd always imagined Equius as being pretty tall. They're all the same height in sprite art though, so I think it's another case of sprite art being non-representative.

I'm withholding judgement on the Meowrails until we get more interactions between them. Their early conversations were a little worrying, but it's possible that Hussie hadn't fully fleshed out the concept of Moirallegiance at the time. We'll see how they interact now that how their quadrant works has been expanded on.

[ Problem sleuth is still hosted there😁- C ]

It still seems to work for me!

Oh, fun! I guess John's birthday does sort of fall into a half-pattern with the others.

Still, it would have made more sense for him to be in a line with the other Players - his Chumhandle doesn't match theirs, either, so maybe John's just a weird case.

Thank you! I feel like this sort of analysis can only really be applied to fictional characters, though. Everything a character says or does is the result of a deliberate choice made by a writer, and I can use my knowledge of that fact to frame my analysis.

In real life, though, people just say shit - often for no reason, or for reasons they don't understand themselves. People are a lot more complicated than even the most well-written character, and understanding them requires a whole different skillset!

Someone also posted Hussie's author comment about this. It's been years since I watched the movie - and if I recall correctly, it was also pretty meta itself. Maybe I need to watch it again, as reading material for Homestuck.

ferretlady97 submitted: talking about the book commentary reminded me of something i was gonna send you when the troll black queen took off her ring but forgot "Note that when she takes the ring off six orbs are filled. Three players from the blue team have entered the session, and three from the red team. Aradia was the second of the blue team to enter. Nepeta was third. Aradia's entry is when the frog mutations took effect on the ring-wearer. And then an interval passed before Nepeta's entry. Which means the queen actually spent a decent amount of time looking like a frog, deliberating whether or not she could put up with this for an entire game session. Ultimately, she couldn't hang in there. But this does imply she at least tried." i just think it's funny thanks for your time

The language used here - the fact that she couldn't 'put up' with her transformation into a frog, and couldn't 'hang in there' - seems to imply that doing so harms her in some way.

All the frog symbolism is still a closed book to me. What exactly does Bilious Slick represent or symbolize that Derse hates so much?

[ you got another ask about LOLCAT but it has classpect spoilers so I'm saving it for later - C ]

I suppose that could work - but then again, it seems that 25% of all Lands have some association with water, so it can't always represent Life. I do want to come back to this later, though, when the Classes and Aspects are better defined.

Send away! It'll be a while until I use them, though.

I appreciate it! That's a minimum bound that I'd have to pick up the pace to reach, at this point.

Hey, what can I say? I'm here for a good time, and a long time. >:)

I keep forgetting that LOSS is a references to a fanfic. I associate it more with you, the LOSS Anon!

If she can't, she's definitely phrasing things in a misleading way, trying to imply that she can. The Tavros scene is arguable, but I really can't think of any other way to interpret how she talks about the Consorts, unless she's straight up lying - and she really doesn't do that much.

Vriska 100%s the game, but skips all the cutscenes?

...yeah, I can see it. Every side quest is another chance to win!!!!!!!! >::::)

[maladaptive-ninja-returns]

It’s The Avengers (04x07)

Loki x Reader Avengers The Office AU (Slowwwwww Burn)

Season 4 Episode 07: My Ride or Die

Series Summary: Living in the Avengers facility post-apocalypse in a better timeline   Tony Stark has decided to capture every moment by pulling The Office on the Avengers. All of the housemates are pretty used to the idea except for you, who had just come here to finish her degree, and the newest member- Loki.

Warnings: that there is no fluff content...just an ominous sound of some mystery

Word Count: I know it’s a small chapter but I wanted to wish @tarithenurse a happy birthday and thought of putting this up as a birthday gift? I hope you like it Tari. I love you!

MASTERLIST in bio, darlings. Tags are open (check bio)

The camera recorded the silence looming in the private jet with all the Avengers present in that small space. One could hear the clinking of ice with the glass that Ned held in his hand with his pinky out. Half of them slept; Pepper and Tony enjoying a cat nap while holding hands, Bucky snoring in his seat at the back, Wanda dozing off on Vision's shoulder, Bruce murmuring something in his sleep while Natasha softly patted his head with what one would dare say was a hint of a soft smile. Scott and Pietro were out cold, never even budging when the jet hit a little ten-second turbulence. Clint slept like a 'dad'. Arms crossed, head bobbing in and out of sleep, popping his eyes open at any foreign sound.

The other half were busy in their own world. Peter and Ned were sipping their ice water with their headphones on, binging the latest episodes of One Piece. Vision watched Cocomelon. Natasha put on a crime documentary. Steve kept looking out of the window and clicking pictures of whichever cloud he fancied. Sam was lost in his copy of They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall.  And you. You were reading something on your phone. The null expression on your face was not giving away anything. Nada. Zilch. Loki sat next to you, finally getting to adjust his legs, sliding down in his seat and letting out a big sigh before closing his eyes. The camera seemed to settle just there, with you and Loki in the frame, as if waiting for something. You would wriggle your nose, take a deep breath in between and adjust yourself in your seat, scratch an itch on your arm or neck, but you never looked up from your phone. The camera panned in a little. Loki's arm, supporting his chin, went limp and fell in his lap. His head kept shifting to his right to fall on your shoulder eventually. Your body jerked just the slightest. You looked away from your phone and into the camera lens with eyes a bit surprised. You did not move even an inch, frozen in that position in your seat, your face looking like it was trying its best not to scream. Or cry.

Half Hour Later- On the Airport A shriek of 'Oh My Fu****g God!' came out of the ladies' washroom and a minute later you walked out from that direction, refreshed. Your legs did seem a little wobbly though.  The camera pans out and zooms in on a very shaken Steve standing in the back with a hint of worry.

The SUVs all had their dashboard cameras recording the avengers getting in. The vehicle you were in had Scott, Loki, Peter and Sam- who was still buried in his book. All three cars left the airport for a scenic view back home. Your face was stuck on the window, smiling at something only you knew.  "Oh-" your eyes caught something outside, "a big wheel!" Everyone turned in the direction you were looking. "Must be a local fair," Ned chimed in, looking at the big wheel and balloons floating in the air. You hummed. "I've never been to one of those." Without wasting a second, Scott leaned forward and switched a button. "Hey, Tony. Y/N says she's never been to a local fair."  A screech of tires came from the front before the cars in front started to turn towards the fairgrounds.  "Everybody go stretch their legs. We'll leave in about an hour or so." Tony had not finished talking when the camera caught Scott running past him. "I call dibs on the bumper car driver seat!!" he yelled, still running straight for the gate. You, Peter, Ned, Bucky, Pietro and Wanda looked at each other for barely a second before dashing in Scott's direction, giggling and screaming. The camera focused back on Tony, who was disappointed but not surprised.  "Oh, come on! That's not fair!!!" the camera could hear Scott yell in the background.  Tony looked straight at the camera while Natasha joined him. "Tony, I don't think they know they have to buy tickets."

Inside the Fair Grounds The grounds were relatively quiet, giving the people present there a sight to remember- the avengers walking about casually, wondering which game to play first.  You squealed, running towards a stall with toy guns kept on the counter and three sections made at the back. One with balloons, the other made of moving animated targets and the last one a pinwheel with a bunch of heroes and villains painted on them. "I want to try this one," you stated excitedly, taking the toy rifle in your palms. "What do I win and how do I win it?" The camera saw Loki and Clint follow you towards the stall, standing behind you as the man at the counter explained you'll win a stuffed animal for making seven shots out of ten. You nodded with sheer thrill before tilting your head a little. "And how do I shoot from this?"  The camera saw Clint breathe in to start with his in-built instruction manual to help teach you a thing or two about guns.  "Aw, let me teach you, babygirl." A voice came from next to you, beating Clint to it. A well-built white boy with a snarky smile showing unsettlingly white teeth took a step towards you and grabbed the rifle from your hands. "Just know that you're learning from the best marksman here," he chuckled and moved closer to you. You looked in confusion towards Clint, mouthing 'best marksman?'. Before he could plant himself behind you, the camera caught Loki grabbing the back of your shirt and pulling you away from the boy and towards himself, letting Clint gladly take your place. "Come," Clint declared with a smile, wrapping his hands around the rifle and never looking away from that boy's stunned face, "I'll be your baby girl."

The Roller Coaster "I'll pay you seven dollars to whoever rides this coaster with me," Ned declared at the entry gate of the ride. Scott high-fived him and walked in with Bucky right behind him. Sam followed, the book still in his hand as he seated himself in between the two.  "I'll take it!" you announced. "Woah!" Peter tried to stop you. "I thought you suffered from nausea whenever you got on one of these." You nodded and smiled. "But I need seven dollars to visit the ghost house and buy a laser pointer." Peter blinked and stared at you with disbelief before looking at the camera. 

Peter: You are the daughter of a Billionaire, Y/N!! *raises his hands in disbelief* The camera pans out to show you standing right behind him. Y/N: *whispers close to Peter's ear* Tell that to my traumatised childhood  *Peter lets out a shrill scream before jumping away from you*

Four Hours Later Your cackle filled the Facility grounds as everyone walked through the concrete path to get to the building. "Yeah, I think Bucky enjoyed the Pendulum the most," Natasha declared. The camera cut to the footage of Bucky screaming in the pendulum, calling out for Steve as the teens sitting next to him looked at him in awkward silence. Everyone burst out laughing. "No-" Clint tried to complete his sentence through chuckles- "but he got nothing on Scott in the haunted house." Another footage plays of Scott jumping into Vision's arms when the Nun from the Conjuring franchise jumps out at him. The ant-man proceeds to cry for a few seconds. "Should we go back, Scott?" Vision asks. "No," Scott wails, "keep walking. I want that candy at the end of this house." The guffaws and giggles echoed through the night sky. Javier's camera noticed you pressing an inevitable smile as you looked at the God walk at the very back of the pack, smiling with the others. "Now, now, Natasha. That does not mean we'll forget you almost burned down the Chilli Station," Loki purred and everyone else howled. Wanda nodded and high-fived Loki for reminding everyone of that incident.  The camera caught your smile again.

You: How was today? *tilt your head* *smirk* Surprising. The footage of Loki falling asleep on your shoulder plays. Thrilling too, I'd say...

The frame cuts to Loki sitting next to you on the roller coaster and letting out curses the moment your ride reached the top of the track. "You okay?" you ask him in a whisper.  He is breathless at this point. "Loki?" You put your hand on his knee, jerking him out of a trance. "Huh? Yeah. I'm fine. It's just that I forgot how much I despise heights and...and falling down." Without giving it much thought, you shook his sweaty hand away from the support in front of him and wrapped your fingers around his. "Hey...I'm here with you. If at any point you feel like it's not going well just teleport your way to the ground. Easy as-" "And leave you in this death machine alone? I'd rather die," the God objected in a single breath, stopping yours for a moment there.  The rest of the ride seemed to go in slow motion as everyone screamed and cried around you, as Loki cursed the Norns and the Midgardians; and you just looked at the face of the entity who made sure to rest a hand at your end of the cart to prevent you from falling off (if that ever were to happen).

And...um...it was beautiful too *you licked your lips*

Javier's camera saw you waste fifty dollars on the rifle game to finally win the biggest plushie on that counter- Ice Bear from Bare Bears- and sneak to the back of the stalls and text someone.  A few seconds later, Loki came to your spot, only to be handed the Ice Bear to him. "Hug him, you'll feel better," you advised, pushing the plush into his arms before running away to join Wanda for a ring toss game. Loki stood there, perplexed.

The frame came back to you sitting in the recording room trying to hold back moisture in your eyes by smiling and cursing a bit. You: *rubbing your face with your hands* I can't hold it in, Javi. I have got too much love bubbling inside me now. *inhale* *lock eyes with the camera* I'm...I'm gonna confess my feelings to him, Javier. A sound comes from behind the camera. The lens captures your expression going from a tender lovestruck fool to a concerned friend. "What's wrong?" you seemed to be looking behind the camera in Javier's direction, tilting your head to get a better look at him. A sniff can be heard now. You are slowly getting up from your seat, brows furrowed with concern. "Javi, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Late Night Snores of tired Avengers could be heard from the dorms to the Lounge. Friday's lounge clock tick sweetly on the wall while one single camera sat on the kitchenette island and recorded Sam sitting on the sofa turning to the last page of the book. His bloodshot eyes bore into the final page, reading the lines over and over again till he seemed to absorb whatever emotions they were meant to tickle in him. Closing the book, he gently kept it on the coffee table and brought his palms to his lips, sitting there like that for the next three minutes before finally letting out a crackled, "Holy f*****g shit!"

[yourlocalegotisticalqueerishere]

Character ask thingie, a Legend of your choosing but you must answer ALL the questions

This is DERANGED. But I respect it, and I will do it (the questions for this ask game are here, feel free to send an ask in)

I am of course going to pick Zari Tarazi, because why the hell not

1. My first impression of them

I was deeply confused because I first watched Legends out of order and out of context, but I did love her pretty much immediately

2. When I think I truly started to like them (or dislike them)

Immediately

3. A song that reminds me of them

IT GIRL by Aliyah's Interlude

4. How many people I ship them with

Let me count real quick... 3 or 4 (don't ask questions)

5. My favourite ship of them

I really like her and Charlie

6. My least favourite ship of them

Her and John. It's fine I guess, but I'm not that bothered

7. A quote of them that you remember

"I was just doing a runway turn ☺️"

8. Your favourite outfit of them

Yeah I'm not picking, when she looks good, she looks good

9. Your least favourite outfit of them

When she got high in season 7 (real rock bottom for her)

10. Describe the character in one sentence

Icon of all time, but severely down to earth beneath it all

11. What's the first thing you think about when thinking about the character?

How vibrant she is

12. Sexuality hc

I don't think she uses labels, but I don't think she's straight

13. Your favourite friendship they have

Her and Ava will always be so brilliant

14. Best storyline they had

Her moving away from her very vapid persona and becoming more grounded. That or the Speakeasy episode

15. Worst storyline they had

Why did she give up the totem like who asked for that

16. A childhood headcanon

She was really into Scooby Doo before she was famous

17. What do you think their first word was?

Probably Mama

18. How do you think they were as a kid?

Deeply kind

19. The most random ship you've seen people have them with

... No comment ( @sideguitars you will pay for your crimes) (just kidding)

20. A weird headcanon

She reads classic novels in her downtime

21. When do you think they were at their happiest?

When her Z1 and Behrad were all in the timeline at the end of S5 after he came back to life and the world was saved, but before B started like dying and stuff

22. When do you think they were at their lowest?

Right after she found out Behrad died

23. Future headcanon

She does a deep dive into the totems history in her family

24. What do you think is a secret that they have never told anyone?

Probably that she has major stage fright

25. When do you think they acted the most ooc

Giving up the totem at the end of S7 (seriously who asked for this)

26. When do you think they were being "themselves" the most

After Behrad died and her determination to bring him back cancelled out her persona for a while. She was still on her girlboss shit, but she had focus and drive, and no time for bullshit

27. If they could meet a character from another show/movie/etc, who would be the most fun for them to meet?

Daphne Blake. They'd break the slay-ometer

28. The most unnecessary thing they ever did?

Give up the totem (I'm so upset about this, can you tell?)

29. How do you think they would be as a parent?

I don't think that's for her, but if she was one she'd be the parent who says "you can be anything you want to be" and makes it happen

30. The funniest scene they had?

In S5 when z1 is trying to hack the loom and z2 just. Unplugs it. The popping into frame, the pause before she does it, her little fucking smile, the contrast with Z1. Perfection.

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up with Old GMMTV: SOTUS Edition

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. First official Old GMMTV Challenge review up: SOTUS.]

[NOTE, March 23, 2024: I want to note, from the future!, that my thoughts on Krist Perawat, his acting, and his career trajectory regarding his personal controversies, have changed quite a bit since the publication of this 2023 post. There is excellent commentary out there about the detrimental impact of fandom behavior on Krist and his reputation over the years that I’ve been influenced by, and his comeback to BL in Be My Favorite was a risk that I supported. I have a lot of nostalgia for SOTUS and SOTUS S now, and their impact on the Thai BL genre since their airings.]

I spent a lot of the weekend wrapping my head around the MANY thoughts I have about SOTUS -- but first, I want to say that the FEEDBACK I received on questions that I posted throughout my watch of the show really heartened me. THANK YOU, THANK YOU (!!!) to EVERYONE who made helpful comments on my posts (here, here, here, here, especially here, and here). All of you helping to set me up for how I understand the historical timeline of the development of BLs in Thailand was absolutely necessary for the lenses in which I ultimately watched the show.

And I think there’s a number of perspectives I ended up adopting over the course of my watch. It might help me to write this piece if I list out those lenses now:

- Lens #1: WHY, OH MY GOD, WHY WAS KRIST CAST IN THIS ROLE - Lens #2: People had to have enjoyed this in 2016 because there was nothing else like it available at the time, despite Krust - Lens #3: Maybe the first two points are related - Lens #4: Singto is reaching remarkable-level here - Lens #5: Maybe all of these points will help me understand why many fans still think of this show fondly, despite the subsequent Krust/KrustSingto drama and possibly questionable points made on sexuality and sexual preferences.

More than anything else, I think it helped me to watch this show while recognizing that I’m an #old. Being early middle-aged (early, I tell ya) helps me, literally everyday, to remember that history guides me to understand the world in which I view it now. So to watch a show from 2016, which is long-ago or not-that-long-ago, depending on your frame of reference, means that I was watching history. And history is.... a reflection of that one, singular moment in time, with the context of past events, people, and places influencing that moment in time. 

I went out of order on the Old GMMTV Challenge because I was too eagerly curious about Singto to watch Love Sick first, and wait on SOTUS (as I’m planning to reward myself after this journey with a big old watch party of He’s Coming to Me, running back to my snuggly Ohm/Nanon rabbithole). 

But as well, speaking of Bad Buddy: I also felt like I really wanted to get SOTUS under my belt after a number of separate and FABULOUS conversations about how Bad Buddy had purposefully relied on a BL framework (citing @miscellar), and how Aof and his team, plus Nanon and Ohm themselves, had set out essentially to create a critical meta-BL, complete with embedded reflection on BL tropes -- exactly the sorts of tropes that were borne out of SOTUS. (Here and here are two links to said fabulous conversations.)

I probably think about Bad Buddy at least once a day by way of how deeply layered it was a drama, so: to SOTUS I needed to go, to understand the tropes framework that @miscellar and others opined on, and for me to undergo a learning experience about how exactly today’s BLs are influenced by the ones that started the genre in Thailand. 

Considering the lenses I listed above, I’ll say this: at the age I was at in 2016, and knowing that, as an Asian, I’ve always had a craving for shows by Asians, set in Asia, within Asian family and social systems, about issues of acceptance and equity felt by Asians: I predict that, save for Krust’s performance, I would have been CRAZY for SOTUS as a new kind of show that I wanted and needed to watch.

During my excellent conversations with the Tumblr family, I came to understand that SOTUS was Thailand’s first true BL. It centered on a same-sex attraction-to-relationship, established various levels of perspectives and commentaries on power dynamics, and set up a number of important tropes -- pink milk, university settings, engineering-as-gay, the gay-for-you motif, side couples and best friends, etc. -- that we then saw and see repeated in subsequent BLs.

Where I was at in 2016 -- I would have eaten it almost all of it up.

Now? Now, I get to see all the problematic factors about it, through the lens of history.

So I want to be fair about the commentary this show receives NOW, because one thing I heard repeated in the feedback I received over the past couple weeks, in part, was about nostalgia. Reflecting particularly on Singto’s performance as Kongpob -- I mean, with a slightly more sophisticated, mature, well-rounded, better-written script, his performance would have been totally groundbreaking.

But I THINK, both from a 2016-lens and from a now-lens, that the script was terribly choppy. I don’t think the script did justice for the risks this show was otherwise willing to take. And I think, again, that’s because SOTUS is a product of its time, where there were no precedents for how to otherwise tell Kong’s story -- and that SOTUS was breaking the ground that the current crop of GMMTV’s screenwriters and directors are now tending. In essence: GMMTV was experimenting with HOW to tell the CENTERED story of a same-sex relationship, and we saw that unfold in SOTUS’s real time. 

Besides the choppy script, this show ultimately did not achieve creative groundbreaking status, for me, because of Krist. Not to be hyperbolic, but he’s one of the worst actors I’ve seen in an Asian drama, and I’ve watched some bad KBS daytime shit. If someone tells me that Krust has been great in certain cishet shows, that’s fine, but I’m not running to them (and now I’m SO disappointed about The Jungle, which I was otherwise looking forward to this year). And this feeling is not at all inclusive of his actual problematic homophobic behavior. He was just terrible in SOTUS. 

We know and have seen tsundere leads. We all love our biases who have played tsundere leads. The problem with Krust is that he had zero reactivity and chemistry to an excellent Singto, regardless of the script, regardless of his acting methodology, if he had any to begin with. 

So I have to think: did GMMTV cast him because, maybe, he was having trouble getting other projects that would have required, say, acting? And GMMTV was like, well, this guy’s under contract, let’s throw him a bone with this experimental show we’re doing, and see how it goes?

I am tending to think that that’s possibly what happened. And maybe, even, GMMTV could not have predicted how FANTASTIC Singto would be -- and, therefore, how wide the divide would have been between their performances. And, how much GMMTV was risking by putting this mismatched pair together for what ultimately was groundbreaking material.

GMMTV couldn’t have predicted the future, right? Hollywood tries with its predictive models, but this was new ground for this company.

Where the choppy script and Krust’s terrible acting really fails the show is, as I mentioned earlier, the issue that I bring up about power dynamics. Krust as Arthit was going to do something in this show that was rare at that moment: Arthit was going to move from a socially majority position to a minority position by falling in love with Kongpob.

That’s a big deal. That happens in two of my most dearest BLs, Old Fashion Cupcake and Cherry Magic, and many others, of course. The Asian collectivist perspective plays huge parts in both shows, unconsciously, that lead to the uke leads considering taking up with their semes. And it happens to Arthit, too. In the Asian collectivist perspective -- you, as a uke, respond empathically, and maybe even try to meet your seme where your seme is at. 

I think the only times that I saw Krust at least trying to show up in this show was by way of this power dynamic move, to attempt to respond to Kong/Singto emotionally. There was a little eye contact. There was a little instinctual responsiveness. But otherwise, there was really a lot of dead air and dead space, leveraged by an only-okay soundtrack that left Krust and Singto struggling to act in essential silence, with Krust barely scraping by on attempting to communicate his struggle in his developing attraction to Kong. 

I’m just wondering to myself: how much do I blame the actual show itself -- like the script, the director, the writers, etc. -- about how it ended up this way? I think I ultimately have a sympathetic heart about it, again, because of the history, and my betting (based on everything that everyone here on Tumblr has taught me about) that again, this was a kind of experiment for GMMTV, without the company knowing how HUGE KrustSingto would become. 

Other points about the show that I want to quickly capture before I wrap up on Kong/Singto:

- The hazing, while concerning, didn’t make me swerve, as it was clear from the start that it was sanctioned by their school. I want to say that this kind of hazing is important to many Asian school social systems, but I know things have changed a ton since I was a kid. As with almost all social and family systems, the hazing, I think, offered another commentary on power dynamics that I think was reflected throughout the show. I thought the hazing was actually an interesting mirror to what Kong and Arthit were struggling with individually, between themselves.

- I LOVED THE SIDE CHARACTERS. M, Wad, Prae, May. They were fun, well-written, and WELL-ACTED.

I want to wrap this up with a reflection on Singto/Kong and his acting vis à vis the script. 

Going back to the 2016 moment-in-time frame: I know I would have gone crazy for him seven years ago. Forget about it. Mans totally rose to the occasion of what this show was doing. I think the script ultimately failed to truly capture what he was willing to throw. (And that leads me to not being surprised that he was then subsequently paired with various leads in future shows, probably to try to capture a magic that he clearly demonstrated in SOTUS.)

In particular: I did NOT think the script did Kong justice by keeping the revelation about his budding attraction to Arthit until episode 11 (I *think* it was episode 11, but I could be wrong, and I’m not going back to fact-check, ha). I want to think that that’s one of the (many) kinds of mistakes that GMMTV is correcting for now. The comments about wives, the insistent “you like me”s -- they were non-contextual for much of the show, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE Krust could not catch a damn ball. That’s what ultimately broke me about this show. And I think that demonstrated a lack of fluency about how GMMTV could write scripts on same-sex attraction. 

As well, as I wrote in this post -- the post-Arthit-coming-out discussion between Kong and M threw me. M asks Kong -- “do you like men?”

And Kong had SUCH a specific answer. To me, as I wrote previously: his answer was, I definitely don’t like men. I’m definitely not gay. I just like Arthit.

My guess is, for Thailand’s first full-fledged BL in 2016 -- this dialogue HAD to be written this way. To enter into the kind of territory we see NOW, as we saw in Moonlight Chicken -- where we see one man’s (Jim’s) struggle with IDENTIFYING himself as gay, AND presenting another man AS HIS boyfriend -- we had to START somewhere. That somewhere was SOTUS, in almost total opposite territory, where the concept of the admission-of-gay could not be contemplated.

@bengiyo’s comments in the last post I linked above, in particular, collide in part with @absolutebl‘s analysis on the Asian collectivist vision. However, I can’t help but compare this issue, again, to what we recently saw in Moonlight Chicken...where conversations about Jim, about Li Ming, and with Wen, a fully out and identified queer man, all touched upon individual identity.

That’s where we are -- that’s where we CAN be -- now, in 2023, and in the near future. SOTUS was important for me to watch to understand how we ended up here, now, for what was okay and was not okay, in 2016. 

It’s okay, now, to appreciate collectivism WHILE ALSO identifying oneself as queer/gay. At least, it’s okay in fantasy BL-land. (Again, I’d peep @bengiyo’s comments about how that may not be reflective of what domestic Thai queer audiences may be feeling about these shows.) 

I have a lot more understanding to undertake regarding how Asian queer audiences see this. But at least from the perspective of this first-generation Asian American -- to see the progression of history as the doors slowly open, from dramas to Asian (and other) audiences regarding how one can identify oneself, safely and happily -- that’s a big deal, and I see how SOTUS was a harbinger of things to come. 

Singto was simply up to the task to break ground in this show, and it’s such a shame that he was let down, in my opinion, by his co-star. The subsequent history of that pairing breaks my heart, because I think it taints a lot of what SOTUS ended up bringing to the table. I’m glad we have Aof and Bad Buddy, now, to serve in part as a reflection for what SOTUS did, and how BLs and BL tropes could age, be manipulated, and be IMPROVED and developed upon, over the course of time. But the actual history of KrustSingto messes me up a lot in regards to how I might feel nostalgic, myself, for SOTUS, as I learn more about classic BLs.

It’s a confusing mindspace to be in, to move backwards in time to understand how things have developed -- but I gain such a bigger appreciation for the shows I’ve fallen in love with now, over these recent months, for where they came from.

[I want to give HUGE thanks to @absolutebl, @bengiyo, @nieves-de-sugui, @respectthepetty, @miscellar (especially for all the BBS context), @lurkingshan, @wen-kexing-apologist, @shortpplfedup, @clairificusrex, @dribs-and-drabbles, and everyone else who made comments in my SOTUS watch posts. All of you are my historians. More than the fun of writing these reviews is interacting and conversing with the Tumblr fam.]

(Love Sick is on deck. If anyone is following this journey, I’ll be fast-forwarding through the second season, ha -- I can’t commit to 36 lakorn-length episodes. I also have a HUGE and lengthy wedding trip coming up in a couple weeks. So the conclusion of this project will be delayed, but definitely know that I’ll be posting thoughts here and there as I plod through.)

[jamie-fanfan118]

My wild speculation of how they will adapt the rest of the comic / Solitaire

Okay, it’s time for my heartstopper obsessed brain to get out all the baseless speculation for season 3… Major Spoiler alert for the Heartstopper comics and Solitaire (and maybe Radio Silence)!!! Also trigger waring for ED and self-harm.

So season two introduced the plot line about Charlie’s mental health with him telling Nick (in two scenes that made me tear up) about needing to control his eating and self-harming. This will obviously be a big part of the next season, but the question remains open about how they are going to do this.

In the comics the timeline is basically like this: paris trip -> Nick telling Charlie about his research into Eds during their friend groups trip to the Beach -> Nick’s holiday and Charlie getting worse because he is arguing with his mom -> Nick’s mom telling him that love can’t cure mental illness -> Nick’s birthday and him getting Charlie to talk to his parents (best scene in the comic btw)

The comic then fast forward with the following happening during the time skip: Charlie not getting an appointment with a psychiatrist -> Tori finding Charlie bleeding in the bathroom (with Charlie’s note on the cake card for Tori) -> Charlie going to a mental health ward -> Charlie coming back and the events of the short story this winter

And then the events of Solitaire take place. Of the things that happen in that book the heartstopper comic basically only mentions two things: Charlie’s self-harm attempt after his fight with Nick and Tori being friends with Micheal Holden. From that point on the comic does it’s own storyline till present (ending probably some time before the short story Nick and Chalie)

So where does that leave the Heartstopper TV show? I think they can basically do the following:

Season 3 will cover the 5th part of the comic (including the beach scene, Nick’s holiday and ending with Charlie talking to his parents.). Let’s say they add plots for the other characters like they did in season 2 and it just about fits. Then season 4 can cleanly make the same time skip the comic did. I’m guessing they would use Nick’s and Charlie’s diaries as a framing device and simply adept the flashbacks of the comic and maybe the full story of this winter.

So far so good, but the big known-unknown in this is the whole plot of solitaire. The comic sort of skirts around the plot of solitaire and simply explains the parts that are relevant to Charlie (with the notable exception of Ben getting outed and targeted by solitaire). Adding to this the comic also has a much lighter tone than solitaire (e.g. they skip showing Tori finding Charlie in the kitchen). (As much as I would kind of love it) clearly the TV show can’t simply pivot to adapting solitaire for a season.

Of course the dream scenario would be season 3 -> solitaire movie adaption -> season 4 😍

But I think that is somewhat unlikely since it would slow down the production of the show and also make it confusing for people who just watch the show.

I’m kind of sad to say this but I think they will simply cut the plot of solitaire and put a few of the more interesting pieces into the show. For example, in season 4 they could have a b-plot of Tori meeting Micheal without the context of the actual solitaire group and that leading to a toned-down version of the scene of Tori finding Charlie in the kitchen.

They kind of already started this in season 2 with the Ben Hope plot. Charlie is basically done with Ben. We don’t really need the solitaire-scenes of Ben confronting Charlie at school or Ben getting beat up at the party. The story with Imogen is also clearly similar to the story with Ben and Becky in the book.

This way you can still have all the parts of Solitaire that are needed for Nick and Charlie’s arc and also a different version of Tori’s arc as a b-plot. Ironically Solitaire without the actual group Solitaire… and no Higgs burring down. Even Tori as Wendy Adams meeting Francis as Doctor who girl is kind of questionable.

Yeah, so basically that is 3 days of my disorganized thoughts about the future seasons. I have no doubt that Alice and the whole team will do a great job on future seasons. What do you think about how they will adept the rest of the comic?

[leothil]

if the writers planned the whole season out in advance then eddie and marisol makes even less sense because they literally didn't even have a moment or an interaction in the episode she appeared in and she was largely forgettable. And please don't sit there and suggest that Natalia Ms Buck's death was so cool is the couch he's been searching for since the premiere cause that makes even less sense.

Okay listen, I get that you're worried about your preferred ship, but you're drawing some really weird conclusions completely based in internal agony.

We still don't know if Marisol is back to date Eddie or not. We'll know more tonight (or tomorrow, in my case), and if she is there to date Eddie, then we'll see how it's presented and can start speculating with some actual canon to back it up. And yes, the writers always plan for season-long arcs and stories from the very beginning of starting to put together a season. Scripts for specific episodes aren't written until later, of course, but the big themes and stories are brainstormed and agreed upon at an early stage. For example, Juan Carlos Coto said this after 6x02:

[Image ID: a tweet from Juan Carlos Coto @ brasstab posted 7:02 AM Sep 27, 2022 (UTC+2 time zone). The tweet reads: "when the idea for this ending hit us in the writers' room, we knew we had a season #911onFox" /end ID]

This could be hinting at several things - Buck's upset over Levi and the happiness convention and Bathena never getting to go on their honeymoon being two of them. We'll know more once we see the last two episodes.

But my point is, being worried about potential new love interests simply seems very unnecessary to me, because the way their stories this season have been framed, there's been so much pointing to buddie. Remember how in 6A people were complaining that we got the initial Buckley-Diaz dinner in 6x01 and then very few buddie-on-their-own scenes the rest of the half-season while we got much more Hen/Buck and Chimney/Eddie content? It seems very obvious, to me at least, that they gave us that not just to deepen those on-screen relationships (which are so great!), but also so we'd be able to contrast those interactions to the many Buck/Eddie/Christopher scenes we got in the beginning of 6B. That's what the writers do, and what they are so good at: they see the whole picture, and know how to reach both forwards and backwards in the show's timeline to make us react to what we're seeing on the screen.

I've been watching seasons 2-4 with my sister while s6 has aired, and we all love to talk about the shift in buddie's dynamic between season 2 and 3 (which is huge! Don't get me wrong!), but let me tell you, the difference to s6 is also much bigger than I think a lot of people realise. (I actually feel like this second shift really started in s5, but I'll have more thoughts on that once I've gotten to rewatch it.)

And lastly, if you think I'd suggest that Natalia is Buck's endgame, I don't know who you've been following on here, but it sure isn't me.

[seoafin]

ngl part of the the reason i was drawn into jjk was bcs i can see a part of hxh in it (it was only up to hidden inventory when i first started it), mainly the power system and how the system failed children, but like togashi executed it better in the entirety of chimera ant arc for me dgfvfdgdfhgh. THE MAIN 4 ARE SO PRECIOUS TO ME, TOGASHI DID THEM SO GOOD

nanami is one of the characters who rly shone for me (rip king) bcs!! childhood or being a child shldnt be a /luxury/ for these folks!! chrollo's determination in rebranding himself after what happened to sarasa and geto convincing himself up to jjk0 timeline after he did what he did…i luv these girlfailures,,, theres probably more points but these are the ones thats on top of my head

i've been liking the animation stylistic choice sm,, the brightness when the characters are in frames (the summer colours) and the change to murky green tone in the background when stsg was confronting those ppl…i wonder if the animation would slowly lose the bright colour as we move closer to the day of geto defecting/ the shibuya arc

CRAWLING FROM THE DEAD BC I FOUND TIME TO SIT DOWN AND WATCH THE JJK S2 AND THE FIRST THING I THOUGHT ABT WAS RIPVERSE, U RLY WENT OFF WITH THAT BC FOR SOME REASON I WAS LIKE "oh the way of how they speak (how the seiyus voiced the charcter to be specific) is exactly how morgan portrayed them in ripverse" ITS BEEN SO LONG MORGAN HOW ARE YOU, I HOPE EVERYTHING IS SWELL MWAH AND WISH U LUCK ON THIS TRIP TO JPN <3333 - 🐱 anon 

HIIIIIIIIIIII!!!! it's so nice to see you back you've been dead on ur main <33333 but yeah jjk definitely took cursed energy from nen like be so real rn 😭😭😭

i rlly love the bold colors of the animation!!! i think it makes the colors and characters pop but if they continue it into shibuya i wonder if it won't be too jarring....

BIGGEST COMPLIMENT EVERRRRR!!!!! every time u compliment me on my characterizations im giving u the biggest kiss. i hope you've been doing good these past months!!!! i think graduating is the biggest thing that's happened to me in ages lmfao but everything is GREAT!!!

[icharchivist]

dam, i had no idea there was so much plural stuff in your game. we keep winning lmao. i gotta pay better attention to your liveblogs! anywhi i hope you're enjoying your event stuff :] are ya winnin, son?

o7 always glad to share more of those!!!

tbh gbf has really a bit of everything so you can always find a bit of happiness here and there ;D

Aside from Ayer i really didn't look into the story of, i have read most of the stories the characters i mentioned were part of and intend on reading them still so they might come back in my liveblogs eventually! ;D so that'd be nice!

And thank you for the good wishes! as to how this current event is going it's

it's fine. it's fine.

The pitch of the event is that a being, Orologia, who can see any possible futures, is running simulations to try to figure out how to change our life and tragic backstory and the tragic backstory of many of our friends in order to make our journey easier for us. (because the all mighty god of this world, Bahamut, has apparently chosen us to become "The Singularity", and no one really knows what that means except that our destiny will either save or destroy the world).

It starts out with Orologia running thousands of simulations in which they (bc they're genderfluid, they change gender every few frames and depending on MC's gender) join us in childhood to be a parental figure for us, ending up seeing us as their baby, and ending up realizing that by being a good parent to the protagonist, they're basically dooming them to die.

So now Orologia is running simulations to not be in our life, but to figure out if they can make our life easier, for us and for our friends, and so the last part of the story was just seeing every possible ways our friends could have been heavily screwed over (there were a few situations of having to watch our friends kill each other), with the implication that currently, we're in the better timeline because Orologia put us on this path after seeing all our suffering.

The current event is 3 part long and the 3rd one is going to be released soonish, and Orologia has pushed themselves to their limits to give us the best possible future, and now feels like they're going to die. In our actual world, we never met them, but for them, they ran hundred of thousands simulations just to be sure we have the gentlest future possible, because to them, we're their baby and they'll do anything for us.

So we're currently all crushed because we just had to go from 1) we have the best parent ever, 2) any bit of happiness we could have had had to be withheld from us else we would die and trigger an apocalypse, 3) we watched all of our friends's "bad ends" in which they had to watch the ones they love die and turn into monsters themselves, 4) realize that our current timeline full of tragedy is "the best path" to make sure we're alive, 5) and the person who made all of this possible out of pure parental love for us is dying before we could even meet them.

All while the alt timeline taught us that some of our friends have fucked up secrets that they're just hiding from us because the world is a "nicer place" right now but now we're just "???????" at the reveals.

So. this is fun. We're fine. We're normal. Part 3 is going to kill us. This is fine.

o7 so. is this winning. We won a parent. We're about to lose them. This is fine? sobbing.