#lucas should be bad at japanese

[str8upspam]

Guys I keep thinking about what a missed opportunity it was for Lucas to be fluent in japanese

Like imagine if he was still studying it and wasn't fluent

And he just constantly calls Kaito his bf to distinguish between him and mc

Like "yes this is my male friend kaito and this is my female friend mc"

Tbh I'm not good at japanese so idk how well it would work

[romeolucci]

What the ghouls from the same house think about each other

It’s one of the questions that appeared in the latest B’s-log magazine issue. I decided to share this one because it’s fun.

DISCLAIMER: I’m not a translator, so please take this with a huge grain of salt because I don’t speak let alone read Japanese very well. I mostly used machine translation and some of the little knowledge I have to get through this. I added the original Japanese script if you wanna read that on your own.

Jin, Tohma, Ren and Subaru didn’t receive the question unfortunately

Frostheim

Lucas: “Ever since I transferred to this school, Kaito has been my first friend and has always been very kind to me. I'm also grateful to Ishibashi-san for all his help. As for Kamurai-san, I hope he'll just fulfill his duties...”

「この学園へ転校してきた日から、魁斗は俺の初め ての友人として、ずっと仲良くしてくれている。そ れに磴さんにも、とてもお世話になっているよ。あ とは、冠氷さんが責務さえ果たしてくれれば良いん だけど･･････」

Kaito: “Hmm... To be honest, the captain and vice-captain seem like people way above the clouds... Rumor has it that the two of them are in collusion with the school and are doing terrible things. What? Luca? ...I've never heard of such a faceless bastard.”

「ん~………………寮長と副寮長は、正直雲の上の人って感 じだしな〜………………噂では、ふたりとも学園と癒着して、 えげつないことやってるって聞いたことあるけど。え? ルカ? ………………あんな顔面無双野郎なんか知らね」

*I’m really not sure what あんな顔面無双野郎 means.

Vagastorm

Alan: “We're just half-baked people who happened to have powers. But they're willing to die and crawl back up... they have the potential.”

「俺たちは、たまたま力を持っただけの半端もんだ。 だが、死ぬ気で這い上がる･･････あいつらには、その 素質がある」

Leo: “No matter how you look at it, our captain is a complete loser. As for Sho-chan... I guess he's my slave♡”

「誰がどう見ても、うちの寮長サマはポンコツでし ��よ。え~、翔ちゃんはね･･････オレの奴隷、かな♡」

Sho: “Ahh... Leo and I are just old friends. We've been hanging out since middle school. Mido-senpai... I don't really know what he's thinking. He's a man of few words, right?”

「あー…………………玲音とはただの腐れ縁な。中坊の頃か ら、なんとなくつるんでるっつうか。御堂センパイ は･･････何考えてっかよくわかんねぇわ。あいつ、言 葉が足りねぇタイプじゃん?」

Jabberwock

Haru: “Both Ren and Towa have good bodies, so if they could put that into use and work, they'd be a lot more reliable than they are now...huh? What's that sound...Hey Towa! Wait a sec!!”

「蓮も叶空も、せっかくええガタイ持っとるけぇ、 そいつ活かして働いてくれりゃ、今よりずっと頼も しいんじゃがのう･･････ん?この音は･･････おい叶空! ちょ~~~待て~~~~~~~!!」

Towa: ~~~~♪~~~~!!

Sinostra

Taiga: “That Lulu gets so angry every day, I don't know how he never gets tired of it... Ah? Shinjo? Who’s that?”

「ルルのやつ、毎日あんなキレまくって、よく飽き ねぇよな~･･･････あ〜? シンジョ? 誰だそれ」

Romeo: “I’m disgusted by my boss. No matter how many times I say the same thing, it's WEFCP. What? It's "waste of effort", "fist-clenching" and "pressing". As for Shinjo, I'm going to give him a thorough training from now on, and we'll see how he turns out.”

「うちのボスには呆れる。なんべん同じこと言った って、N・U・Oだからさぁ。は?「暖簾に」「腕」「押し」 だよ。まぁ針条に関しては、これからみっちり教育して、 どう化けるかってとこだねぇ」

*I tried my best to translate Romeo’s abbreviation but it’s still bad I’m sorry…

Ritsu: "I have concluded that it is futile to try to change the tyrannical behavior of our Sinostra’s captain, Taiga Hoshibami, and vice-captain, Romeo Scorpius Lucci. From now on, I will defend them and definitely obtain the 'Laurel Crown'."

「我がシノストラ寮長の星喰大我、および副寮長 のロミオ・スコーピウス・ルッチについて、その横暴 な素行を改めることは不毛という結論です。今後は、 私が彼らを弁護��ることで、必ず『栄冠賞』を手に入 れてみせます」

Hotarubi

Haku: “Another difficult question. Hmm... Subaru-san is simply great. However, his tendency to take on too much is his only flaw. Zenji-san... Well, you see, being with him makes me feel energized. I'm grateful for that.”

「また難しい質問ですこと。うーん･･････昴流さんは とにかく出来が良い。ただ、何かと抱え込みすぎる のが玉に瑕だな。善治さんは･･････まあ、あれだ、一 緒にいると元気になる。ありがたいことですよ」

Zenji: “If I had to describe Subaru-kun in one word, it would be...heart of glass...but in contrast, I can't help but worry about Haku-kun's lack of enthusiasm. As my manager, I would say he should be a bit more considerate.”

「昴流クンを一言で表すならば･･････ハート・オブ・グ ラス･･････それに引き替え、伯玖クンのスコドンぶり には気を揉まずにはいられないよ。ボクのマネージ ャーならば、もう少し気が利くべきだと言っている のだがねえ」

*Zenji says “hāto obu gurasu”, I’m not sure, but I think he means to say heart of gold? lmao

Obscuary

Edward: These two are young and strong, I'm so envious of them. When I was their age... Oops, it was so long ago that I’ve completely forgotten."

「ふたりとも、若くて体力もあって羨ましい限りだよ。 俺があの子たちと同じ年頃の時は･･････おっと。もう 随分昔のことだから、すっかり忘れてしまったな」

Rui: “Ed-san has no ability to live on his own, so he's really a pain to look after. At this point, I’m in charge of nursing care... and then what about Lyca-kun... Huh? I'm taking care of the kids... What do those two think of me!?”

「エドさんは生活力なさすぎて、ほんと世話が焼け るんよね。もはや介護っしょあれ･･････そんでライカ くんは~･･･････あれ? こっちは子供の世話だ･･････あ のふたり、俺ちゃんをなんだと思ってんの!?」

Lyca: “They're that moth-eaten Casanova and that blond gigolo. I'm human, so why am I not in the same place as Suba-kun and the others!!”

「色魔ジジイと金髪ジゴロだろ。おれは人間なのに、 なんでスバくんたちと同じとこじゃねーんだよ!!」

Mortkranken

Yuri: “You're talking about Jiro-kun, who is both Yuri Isami's assistant and patient? He's still in training. He still lacks knowledge, skills, experience, and culture. It'll probably take another 100 years for him to become a doctor at my level.”

「この衣佐美佑理の助手であり、患者でもある次郎 くんのことです? 彼は研修中の身ですからね。ま だまだ、知識も技術も経験も教養も足りていません。 僕レベルの医師になるまで、あと100年は必要でしょう」

Jiro: “Oh, the only ghoul in my house is Yuri. He's my doctor. If it weren't for Yuri, I'd probably be dead by now. Well, I'm grateful.”

「はあ、同じ寮のグールは、佑理しかいませんけど。 俺の主治医ですね。佑理がいなければ、俺、今頃死 んでるらしいんで。まあ、感謝してます」

If a professional sees this, feel free to translate it yourself

[spacefinch]

Pokespe Dexholders and what I think of their names:

Red: No complaints here. But I do have to remind myself that he’s a different person than the nonverbal game Red.

Blue/Green (m): Solid name right there.

Blue/Green (f): Also a good name.

Yellow: I like it!

Gold: It works to distinguish him from Ethan, so that’s good.

Silver: Good name.

Crystal/Crys: Our first name that is ACTUALLY a remotely normal sounding name in the English language. Good for her.

Ruby: Honestly, I first thought that this character would be May’s manga counterpart. But no. Turns out Ruby is Brendan’s manga counterpart.

Sapphire: The actual manga counterpart of May.

Emerald: We are now getting into the “why would someone name their child that” territory.

Diamond/Dia: At least he has a nickname.

Pearl: What is so wrong with the name “Barry?”

Platinum Berlitz: I hate this name. Who would look at their daughter and decide “Platinum” is a good name? If you ask me, she’s the one who should have been named Pearl. If I had my way, the Sinnoh Dexholders would be named Diamond (Lucas), Pearl (Dawn), and Barry.

Black: This could have been his last name, but no.

White: Again, this is better suited as a surname than a given name.

Blake: Well at least this one is an actual first name.

Whitley: I sometimes confuse this one for Whitney, but it’s okay.

X: Very mysterious. I like it.

Y (Yvonne Gabena): Not bad.

Sun: Neutral on this one.

Moon: This one’s also okay.

Henry Sword: I like his Japanese name better (Soudo).

Casey Shield: I like the name “Schilly” better, but I cannot remember her full Japanese name.

Scarlet Koito: Not much of an opinion. But at least she has a full name.

Violet Lang: Same situation as Ruby.

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (June 25-July 8, 2023)

I picked a bad time to skip a week lol

Ultraman Blazar, the 35th entry in the Ultra Series, has made the scene. Episode 1 throws us right into a battle between humanity and a space monster. Blazar's the pushy type, all but forcing Gento to transform, but he doesn't speak Japanese—just yowls. For now, that makes him the show's central mystery. The show's defense team, SKaRD, won't actually form until the next episode, at which point we should have a better sense of it. But I'm intrigued so far.

Free streaming TV service Pluto TV has added a Godzilla channel. It boasts, or should soon boast, all of the Japanese Godzilla films minus King Kong vs. Godzilla and Shin Godzilla, plus Rodan, all the Mothra movies, The War of the Gargantuas, Godzilla (1998), and Godzilla: The Series. A Blu-ray.com user has composed a detailed rundown of the versions of the films used—short version, nothing we haven't seen before apart from a few small changes.

I got to see Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken before its official June 30 release date thanks to Regal's Monday Mystery Movie series. I guess I didn't retain much memory of the trailer, because it surprised me how early in the film the title character first grew into a kaiju. I can't give it an especially enthusiastic recommendation—comparisons to Luca and Turning Red are inevitable and don't flatter Ruby at all. But I get a kick out of seeing kaiju in such alien territory as a hyperactive animated kids' movie, and they continue to show off their flexibility as metaphors (Ruby is plainly neurodivergent). 7 outta 10.

Nimona dropped on Netflix the same day, and that's one anyone reading this column should sprint to watch. It saves its kaiju for the third act, and I've held off on posting much about that part of the story yet, but trust me, Ishiro Honda would be proud.

After years of lackluster Gorgo home video releases, Vinegar Syndrome seems poised to finally do it right in 4K Ultra HD. (If you're like me and don't have a way to watch such discs yet, don't worry, it comes with a Blu-ray.) New scan, new audio commentary, special features both new and old, and a killer cover. For those unfamiliar with the company, note that this release is "only available on [the Vinegar Syndrome] website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them."

Every episode of Chibi Godzilla Raids Again is now subtitled, a fine excuse to get acquainted with one of the Reiwa era's biggest surprises. No stakes, no budget, just a bunch of Toho's biggest stars acting like a bunch of fools.

There's always more Godzilla toy news than this column can hope to cover, but a few highlights:

Bandai's ever-expanding Movie Monster Series will release Gamera 1965, Gyaos 1967, and Battra larva later this month. The defunct Daiei Kaiju Series last offered a Showa Gamera in 2006, and never covered any of his foes from that era; here's hoping Gyaos is the first of many.

Hiya Toys now has the license to produce figures from the Toho Godzilla films, not just the Monsterverse.

Super7 will be selling ReAction figures of Godzilla chomping some helpless people on a subway train at San Diego Comic Con. They just get it (and hopefully the many of us who aren't going will have some way of getting it that doesn't involve scalpers).

The new unit in Godzilla Battle Line is Monster X/Keizer Ghidorah. The former evolves into the latter after his first death. Keizer is a heavy hitter with a twist: he regains 20% of his health with every defeated foe. Great against swarms, but you don't see too many of those these days.

Believe it or not (many are still in denial), but Pacific Rim turns 10 on Wednesday. Thankfully, per this Tweet from director Guillermo del Toro, the effective start of the Kaiju Renaissance (and one of my all-time favorite films) won't go unrecognized on its first big anniversary. I'm guessing a cast reunion?

More translations from Noah Oskow await on Toho Kingdom, these a collection of synopses of early versions of Godzilla vs. Mothra, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, and Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla from the Toho DVDs. Much of this has been translated in greater detail already, but the later drafts are interesting.

[pathesisa]

the marketing strategy for wayv members is so wrong and i will try to explain: (this is not hating towards any members i love all of them)

1 - the first member is xiaojun, sm pushing xiaojun into korean market after that man left was a wrong move, he is not the most marketable member for korean people. he is mcing for 1 year and he is the wayv member who gets korean promo only (bare minimum compare to other units) but it doesn't work, never saw him in the brand reputation list; ten and winwin are the only members who made it to the list. anyways xiaojun is a vocalist who should be sent in singing programs korea already has kibum, bambam kind of male idols who have the same career strategy and are obsessed with gg groups yes short viral moments are good but being labeled as this would be bad for his future career because no one gaf about kibums albums in korea they only interesting his entertainer side, xiaojun is most versatile nct vocalist he needs to market himself as a singer more, if he wants korean fame he should sing in korean but even korean singers won't charting there so i think the best market for xiaojun is mainland, my boy is more talented than any chinese mainstream artist rn. he is just talented and needs to focus on his talents more than his entertainer side because it's shadowing his talents. i really want xiaojun release covers every week, i need his angelic voice. [someone asked about his visual, yes his visual is good and my top 3 in the whole nct but he is short and has a big head (idk why this is a beauty standard) which doesn't fit in korea and chinese beauty standards]

2- second one is winwin and probably most complicated member and i'm scared yunqis will attack me, please he and xiaojun are my biases don't attack me. winwin didn't set his foot in korea for months but being on the reputation list proves he is the most marketable member for korea, if i'm not wrong he fits kbs %90 or something, but he never makes friends there, never saw him with any korean idol outside nct members, he makes himself stuck in nct circle in korea, korean people loves handsome boyfriendable cute k-idols and winwin is perfect example for this but unfortunately ww never gaf about korean market all obsessed is chinese market. i went to nct nation at japan he got the most cheers, he was the only member trended on japan twitter, he went viral 3 times he went to japan which is even no wayv and any wayv member trended here because winwin become so popular after he made into japanese national news about his and satomi ishihara similarity, not even have to mention nct life osaka.he is the most popular member in indonesia but only went here 1 time. second most popular member in thailand. ph has his biggest fanbase he never went there. this dude has a terrible career plan, all he wants become popular in mainland china, he need to open his eyes. his manager probably hates him because it's not hard to make an overseas schedule for him.

3- hendery. he is the least interesting wayv member if we have to be honest. he doesn't know how to be a private. after that man left the company he had the most potential to shine but xiaojun handled the post-lucas era better than him. i don't like his and winwin's rap parts in wayv songs, even yangyang's these raps ruining wayv's songs for being pop perfection for me. i dont see a singer or rapper future for him, wukong was a terrible experience. but you know what he has big potential among all wayv members to become popular, he is so an entertainer. he should be sent with winwin into those variety shows instead of that man, he would be x2 big in the mainland rn. i mean with 0 promotions he is the 3rd most popular member in china, having bigger fanbases than xiaojun, kun, and yangyang who have more gigs in their bags. he is so popular in indonesia, i remember he went viral there every day after a hendery fic adapted to an indo-drama. he should consider acting in movies, wong kar wai needs to open his eyes.

4- yangyang.. a big wasted potential. he would be more popular than any chinese idol in korea if he debuted in a korean group.. he is so baby. he is so marketable there, hip-hop alt culture is so popular nowadays he could probably be friends with everyone. but the company made him mark 2.0, with no originality not saying he is the less talented because yangyang is the most talented member in wayv (yes more talented than ten) but the marketing strategy killed his all hype there. this man outrapping the top 2 nct rapper (ijbol) with his 3rd language with ease, but if marketing is wrong you will start 1-0 behind. the other marketing fault is making him ten's sidekick in variety shows, this is why his fanbase never grows. all yangyang stans also love ten they have very common fandoms he needs to promote with different people, 10velys will never let yangyang shine in a show there ten is also there. yall he needs to hang out with some korean dudes outside the nct members and do some collabs, trust me is would benefit him more than those tenyang contents. everyone thinks yangyang is benefiting ten in tenyang collabs but all yangyang get is overshadowed by ten because ten has a huge fanbase. being a duo with ten was the worst thing in his career now all he gets from these, annoying shippers and a hateful fanbase who hates him because they think he is using ten's opportunities. send him in a show as mentor than watched him. my talanted boy!

5- maybe he is not the most popular in any country but he has the biggest potential for his future after wayv because he is friends with every composer, and producer, improving himself, and growing his friend circle. he is the best with these. the friends that winwin, xiaojun, or yangyang made into the industry will never benefit them in the future but having producer friends means you have secured your position. instead of being hyped for 4-5 years and then being forgotten after new idols debuted, i will always prefer people like kun who have stable careers because he will still have the same fanbase even after 10 years. this is why i think he has the best strategy in wayv and dont want quick viral moments like didi line of wayv (hendery, xiaojun, yangyang), all people know him as the member who can do 20 things.

6- ten lee.. ace of the aces. being compared to with the ten lee would be biggest achivement for those nct members yall trying to believe us they are more taleted than him lol. wayv was the biggest miastake for his career. this dude want int fame, being 2000s popstar. relasing a fully english song without thai or chinese version just proving my point. he really dgaf about these markets. he should be debuted as a soloist at the first day now we probably would compare him with the taemin but now people only calling him taemin 2.0 and it's so sad. i think he and winwin really loves wayv because both of them have better chances outside the group but they are still with them. his album is doing so good and break some records and surpassed big soloist like taeyeon, seulgi etc. in spotify numbers. the company need to already start to organize his 2nd album even before wayv album sorry not sorry.

[succubunsvent2]

ppl also forget that the npcs aren’t just ocs, they’re characters the entire community can draw and are sometimes required to draw for certain prompts, god forbid someone wants representation in a group of characters meant for community use. If they are just ocs, then they should not have the npc label then. (I also think the designs themselves on the masterlist account should be put under the admin user ownership instead of just yves and Luca, seeing their usernames just sparks an anxiety in me when I go looking for npc refs, especially since yves has complained about the free art they got once of one of their buns(?) so yeah) also it took them forever to implement a fat npc. almost every npc has the same body type and a majority of them are white or light skinned, this would not be a problem if they just brought in more diverse skin tones and not making white think 307!! Velveteen is the darkest npc bun we’ve got so far, and don’t even get me started on how you can’t draw them with different hair texture (they would look so damn cute with curls!!). I want my hair texture represented + others so girlies like me can have an npc to relate to, and Luca for gods sake color the fucking palms in. Signed a fellow poc who has had bad experiences drawing gift art for succubun community members and is resigned to only drawing npcs until I get my myo slot. ✌🏾

ps. If Luca is worried they’ll misrepresent a race they depict, there are plenty of poc artists and guides to learn from, just do your research and get it peer reviewed if necessary. It’s really not that hard. They have Japanese and asian theming with parts of the lore and npcs, they are fully capable of adding more npcs with darker skin tones than tan, and this event seems like it would’ve been a perfect opportunity imo.

srry for rant lmao hope ur having a good day mod!! 🫶🏾💞

🐰

[twatkcox]

[The Keihancarl Diaries: October 21, 2023]

Hi everyone, Keihancarl here once again. And I bet this weekend’s gonna be awesome.

xxxxxxxxxx

The Ozine Fest Halloween Special, held at the Fairview Terraces, will be the third anime/cosplay event I attended for this year, after the Pinoy Otaku Festival 2023: Shizen (Robinsons Novaliches) last May and the Best Of Anime 2023: The Reunion (SMX Convention Center Manila) last September. I never got to visit Coshabatsu, which was also held at the Fairview Terraces a few months ago.

Anyway, my awesome weekend should begin with a post-birthday celebration, with a cup of caramel macchiato iced coffee, cinnamon roll, and bloody velvet cupcake from Cafe Luca. I was initially planning to have a slice of Basque burnt cheesecake, but I changed my mind at the last minute.

I managed to take a lot of selfies, as well as food photos. I even took a couple of videos of the fork cutting a piece of the bloody velvet cupcake (one of the Halloween items).

I then uploaded the first batch of photos to my Instagram accounts. At that point, I was probably enjoying myself too much, knowing that I’d be attending the Halloween-themed anime/cosplay event later.

I only stay for about an hour since I need to get to the Ozine Fest. It was already 4:00 PM when I left the cafe.

Next stop, Fairview Terraces. I immediately headed to the event center to check some of the booths and bought a few souvenirs, including a couple of anime pins, a small Pochita plushie, and a book by Sskait (yup, he had a booth at the event).

As it is a Halloween-themed anime/cosplay event, the cosplay competitions are, of course, Halloween-related. There are also some mini-games as well. And there’s the trick or treat.

By the time I got there, the Worst Nightmare Cosplay Competition was about to begin. Seeing that most of the booths took up the event center, there’s very little space left in front of the stage. Not only that but some of the booths are located in the eastern hallway near Owndays.

From the second floor of the mall, the event center looked incredibly crowded.

Back at the event area, I had a few selfies with some of the cosplayers.

At the fountain area, I took some more selfies. The wacky ones.

The first day of the event ended as soon as the winners were announced. It was almost 7:00 PM, but the stage was empty. But the booths remained open until about closing time, I assume.

I then head to SM Fairview and visit a couple of bookshops. I managed to buy a second-hand manga at Booksale (Bodacious Space Pirates) that was on the shelf for almost four years. I remember seeing that book a lot of times whenever I passed by that branch, but it seems like no one bought it nor it was pulled out. But on that day, I finally decided to pick it up, and that was that.

I only checked the lower and upper ground levels and had dinner at Bonchon Chicken at the mall’s second level. I checked the department store after that (there’s a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf branch inside the department store aside from the one at the Parkway) and bought a couple of items at the supermarket before going home.

I must have spent a lot of money on these items, but they all serve as awesome souvenirs from the event. The manga, however, was bought outside the venue and may not be considered one of the souvenirs from the event, but I decided to include it anyway.

I'll definitely read the comic book very soon. Wish I also bought the eggplant plushie as well.

xxxxxxxxxx

That day was really special to me since that was the first time I celebrated my birthday at my favorite hangout place post-pandemic. I bought some awesome souvenirs from the Ozine event too. I never got to eat out at a Japanese restaurant (which I did a week later) or shop for some clothes to replace the ones in my wardrobe (I only bought a Shoyo Hinata shirt at the department store a week later as well). The small Pochita plushie and the recent book from Sskait serve as my birthday presents to myself. Too bad I never got to visit the second day of the event, but I somehow managed to squeeze almost everything in one day.

And that’s how my post-birthday celebration/first time at an Ozine event went. Hopefully, I can plan my next mall-hopping trip by November, as soon as I can procure some potential additions to my wardrobe.

xxxxxxxxxx

Most of the pics are from my Instagram account, @kcox_105. The Ozine Fest haul and the pages from the Sskait comic were exclusively uploaded to my Threads account of the same name.

[kanansdume]

@fanthropology

I think you're viewing the Jedi in the fandom way rather than the canon way, so I'm going to present to you a different interpretation of the films that's more in line with what Lucas actually wrote.

The Jedi do not "fall," they have a genocide committed against them by someone who's been planning it for literal decades and someone who once counted himself among them but betrays them for personal gain. That is in no way a fall. Popular fandom likes to interpret the films as the Jedi having deserved what happened to them or at least contributing to their own genocide in some way shape or form, but that's not actually the story Lucas is trying to convey. The loss of the Jedi is a consequence of the fall of two other entities in the story: Anakin, and the Republic/Senate.

The story isn't ABOUT the Jedi at all, but people constantly believe that it is. The Jedi reap the consequences of the story, and they represent a lot of things that are lost when certain characters make their choices, but it's not actually THEIR story. Their actions do not cause anything to happen, really. They're representative of the galaxy's hope, of the best that the galaxy has to offer, the light that still exists within the people that seems like it's rapidly diminishing. And when they are destroyed, that hope is nearly destroyed with them. This is why Luke and Leia are so important down the line, they are representative of that hope coming BACK, it's literally in the title of episode 4.

You could absolutely argue that Western culture should be looking at the downfall of the Republic and the Senate in particular as potentially mirroring some of our own political problems irl, sure. Because the Senate is the entity ACTUALLY being corrupted, that's ACTUALLY full of complacent entitled assholes, and whose actions DO end up engineering their own downfall into an Empire (they're literally the ones who vote in Palaptine and then continue to let him stay in power beyond his allotted terms and keep voting for him to have more executive powers and then allow him to get away with the Jedi's genocide). And that's definitely a comparison I think Lucas WANTS you to make, you're just looking at the wrong group for this comparison by looking at the Jedi instead.

George Lucas was a Buddhist Methodist, so while there are absolutely orientalist issues within Star Wars that we can critique and call out, the Buddhist values he chose to put into his themes in Star Wars are entirely valid.

However, if you want to see what a more "Eastern" take on Star Wars might look like, feel free to hop on over to Star Wars: Visions, especially season 1. If you're unaware, Visions is a show where multiple animation studios make short stories utilizing Star Wars worldbuilding but without being required to stick to canon continuity in any way shape or form (so they can make a story about Jedi or lightsabers that completely breaks canon and it doesn't matter). The first season had each episode done by a different Japanese animation studio. The second season went a little more global and brought in animation studios from places like Chile, South Africa, Ireland, UK, Korea, and India. While they're not beholden to following canon, you CAN generally see how Star Wars might look if written from a different perspective. It's honestly some of my favorite "Star Wars" content to date, it's really refreshing and interesting to see all these different takes and interpretations of the content.

Something you will probably notice if you do watch Visions, though, is that the Jedi are never portrayed as the bad guys. They're never a corrupt terrible group of people that nobody likes. The Japanese studios in particular tended to represent the Jedi as really heroic characters, much the same way canon does. There's also a lot of similar themes within the Visions episodes to what we get in the Lucas films.

Which brings us to attachment and letting go.

For one, the Jedi aren't like... holding a gun to anybody's head telling them to do anything. And the Jedi are NOT a capitalistic organization by any means. The Jedi are a cultural religious group that holds its members to certain standards because that's... how people work. Think of something as basic as "the Golden Rule," treat people how you want to be treated, something I got told about when I was likely no more than 5 years old. We all hold each other to certain standards of behavior and get taught these standards when we're very young by adults who enforce it, that's pretty normal. And even with that, the only people we see the Jedi enforcing this with are their own members (or people asking to become a member of the Order), and it's not even really ENFORCING so much as encouraging.

Because Lucas considers the Jedi intergalactic therapists. What they do is represent a good healthy way to live and encourage others to live similarly by example. Non-attachment is a Buddhist concept that actually also exists in Western psychology and is absolutely recommended by therapists as a really healthy way to live. Would you argue that it's bad that all the films I mentioned in my first post are sending messages about "letting go" because it's a capitalist force (Hollywood) telling us how to live our lives? Because if you wouldn't, I'd argue you don't actually have that much of an issue with either the concept or other people encouraging you to do something that's probably going to be good for you in the long run.

The thing that occurs to me after reading all of these posts discussing fans' lack of familiarity with Eastern values and philosophies as part of the reason why the Jedi are so misunderstood and hated, is that it doesn't seem that unfamiliar at all actually.

Once I understood the general concept behind non-attachment, it started to become apparent just about everywhere. Star Wars obviously takes it to certain extremes to make a very insistent point (don't burn down the entire world and/or murder children in order to save just one person), but the basic idea of letting go is in SO MUCH Western media.

It isn't always about letting go of a person, either. Sometimes it's letting go of a selfish ambition, or a dream the character is clinging to because they've had it since they were a child, or a place. There is SO MUCH "letting go of fear and not letting it control you" or recognizing that being brave or courageous doesn't mean not being scared.

Think about Princess Diaries which literally states out loud that "bravery doesn't mean the absence of fear, but merely that something else is more important."

Think about Tangled where the characters both have to give up their prior "dreams" to save each other selflessly and it's that selflessness that allows them to succeed. The Princess and the Frog has a similar concept.

Think about the recent Dungeons and Dragons movie where the main character's desire to bring back his dead wife inadvertently causes harm to his daughter and he has to let go of his attachment to her by the end of the film in order to repair his relationship with his child and save his friend.

Once you understand the message being sent by the Jedi's values and philosophies, you'll literally see it just about everywhere in Western media. Their values aren't so far from our own, they're honestly quite similar. The messages Star Wars is sending through the Jedi are messages that a LOT of other Western media has been sending for ages, it's just packaging it a little differently with some slightly unfamiliar wording.

[p0plotte]

Wanderer of The Stars

Inarticulation - Rio Romeo

——•——

The pure white of life and joy that gleamed in the sun oh so bright colored the almost ethereal wings of a boy. A boy of white. Skin pale yet still colored, hair and lashes white as fresh snow. The ruffles of his wings fluttered gently against the breeze of air sweeping by, Black and red horns so terribly out of place.

The body of the albino oni approached another of his kind, a candle in one hand, his other shielding the flame from the breeze. He stared at the small boy whomst slowly rose from his resting place.

“Asmodeus, any word of Lady Mingxia’s whereabouts?” He spoke rather softly, fitting for his appearance. “She is the only one who can contact Lord Nephele.”

The candle that illuminated the dark, starry skied room had caused the small oni to stir. Though small, he was one of the oldest oni’s. The talisman on his forehead hung almost majestically, lighting up with a gold hint to the Japanese lettering as the candle light got closer.

“Luca?..”

He rubbed his eyes sleepily, yawning - almost like a child. Once a zombie, he had now been repurposed for the god. Told that he could repay his debt of bad omens by god if he protected the mortal realm.. if he were to be the people’s Symbol of Purity.

“No.1?” He frowned, “Last I heard she was in the city of Shinjuku. No.4 has been sent to watch over her temple while she watches over the humans.”

”No.4?”

The angelic yokai froze. He shook his head slowly. That explained.. a lot. Quite a lot, actually.

Luca watched as the flame of his candle flickered out at a carry in the breeze. He turned in the direction in which the new wind current came from, eyes widening at the sight.

“N-number.. 4?..”

“What’s this I hear about Lady Mingxia and Lord Nephele?”

Approaching painfully slowly was the man himself, blond strands of hair straying in the direction of the wind. In between each finger a dice cube- then in between his middle finger and pointer finger an.. eyeball. A human, rotting eyeball..

“Surely you aren't concerned about my control over no.1’s temple, right?” He brought up a hand to play with the eye, bouncing it up and down in his hand like a juggling ball, “It would be a real shame if we began to distrust one another, wouldn’t you two agree?”

He could feel the way his fingers twitched as the other stepped closer, duo colored irises shaky. He took one step back from Ciel, and one step towards Number Two.

“N..No.. I dont! I simply need to talk to them about t-the.. influx of demons as of recent! There’s no need for you to worry..”

He was lying through his teeth. Fists clenched, wings stuttering in movent, palms sweaty. When had he even gotten here? Number Two should have been aware of his presence the moment he entered his mountain domain.. so.. just where exactly had Number Four come from?

“Luca, Luca! Number Five.. relax.”

*He spread his fingers out and let the dice fall, each rolling to a different number. The eyeball seemed almost glued to his touch though- as it never moved from his palm.*

“Luca Archivisté, Number Five, Pacifism! You go by all of those don't you?” Ciel grinned, stepping closer as the other took a step back, “I need you to remember that you are my subordinate! Don't go running your mouth on things you can't wrap your head around, got it?”

His once innocent smile turned into a malicious grin, fading from in front of the other to right behind him. He held the yokai by the waist, the other hand gently caressing his cheek. Seeing the sheer panic in his fellow Oni’s eyes made him almost giddy with delight.

“I-“

“Number Four! With all due respect, this is *my* domain. I am your superior here. I’m going to have to ask you to take your hands off Archivisté, or things could get ugly.”

Asmo stomped his foot against the ground to grab the other two’s attention. Seriously.. he didn't need this amount of tension rising in a place which was meant for rest. And it seemed like Number Four was the root of the problem here.

“Get. Out.”

——•——

[insertawkwardpeacesignshere]

Books Read in 2022

You Will Get Through This Night by Daniel Howell // January 1st

Sun, Moon, Star by Kurt Vonnegut // January 2nd

The Bad Guys in They're Bee-Hind You! by Aaron Blabey // January 5th

The Bad Guys: Episode 1 by Aaron Blabey // January 6th

The Bad Guys: Episode 2: Mission Unpluckable by Aaron Blabey // January 6th

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi // January 6th

The Bad Guys: Episode 3: The Furball Strikes Back by Aaron Blabey // January 7th

The Bad Guys: Episode 4: Attack of the Zittens by Aaron Blabey // January 7th

The Bad Guys: Episode 5: Intergalactic Gas by Aaron Blabey // January 8th

The Bad Guys in Aliens Vs Bad Guys (The Bad Guys #6) by Aaron Blabey // January 8th

The Bad Guys in Do-You-Think He-Saurus? (The Bad Guys #7) by Aaron Blabey // January 8th

The Bad Guys: Episode 8: Superbad by Aaron Blabey //January 8th

The Bad Guys: Episode 9: The Big Bad Wolf by Aaron Blabey // January 8th

The Bad Guys in the Baddest Day Ever (The Bad Guys #10) by Aaron Blabey // January 9th

The Bad Guys in the Dawn of the Underworld (The Bad Guys #11) by Aaron Blabey // January 9th

The Bad Guys in The One (The Bad Guys #12) by Aaron Blabey // January 9th

The Bad Guys in Cut to the Chase (The Bad Guys #13) by Aaron Blabey // January 9th

Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi // January 10th

Timekeeper by Tara Sim // January 15th

Leonard Cohen: On A Wire by Philippe Girard // January 16th

Out in Central Pennsylvania: The History of an LGBTQ Community by Barry Loveland and William Burton // January 18th

Minecraft: Guide to Creative (2017 Edition) by Stephanie Milton // January 19th

What to Do When I’m Gone: A Mother’s Wisdom to Her Daughter by Suzy Hopkins and Hallie Bateman (Illustrator) // January 22nd

Will and Whit by Laura Lee Gulledge // January 24th

How to Be Ace: A Memoir of Growing Up Asexual by Rebecca Burgess // January 24th

The Stinky Cheese Man: And Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (Illustrator) // January 26th

Heartstopper: Volume Four by Alice Oseman // January 31st (reread)

Heartstopper: The Mini-Comics by Alice Oseman // January 31st

Nick and Charlie (Solitaire #1.5) by Alice Oseman // February 1st

Blankets by Craig Thompson // February 2nd

Ultimate Minecraft Master Builder by Jonathan Green and Juliet Stanley // February 3rd

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie // February 3rd

The Art of Encanto // February 5th

Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke // February 5th

Lore Olympus: Season 1 by Rachel Smythe (likely Volumes 1-4) // February 6th

The Art of The Mitchells Vs The Machines by Ramin Zahed // February 9th

The Art of Luca by Pixar, Enrico Casarosa, and Daniela Strijleva // February 9th

Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche by Haruki Murakami // February 15th

Drama by Raina Telgemeier // February 16th

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone // February 16th

Becoming Unbecoming by Una // February 17th

This Winter (Solitaire #0.5) by Alice Oseman // February 17th

Solitaire by Alice Oseman // February 19th

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman // February 20th

Heartstopper: Volume 1 by Alice Oseman // February 21st (reread)

Heartstopper: Volume 2 by Alice Oseman // February 21st (reread)

Heartstopper: Volume 3 by Alice Oseman // February 21st (reread)

Heartstopper: Volume 4 by Alice Oseman // February 21st (reread)

On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden // February 24th

The Witch Boy (The Witch Boy #1) by Molly Knox Ostertag // February 26th

The Hidden Witch (The Witch Boy #2) by Molly Knox Ostertag // February 28th

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell // February 28th

The Midwinter With (The Witch Boy #3) by Molly Knox Ostertag // February 28th

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett // March 4th

shades of lovers by Catarine Hancock // March 5th

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen // March 8th

Loveless by Alice Oseman // March 11th

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell, and Henry Cole (illustrator) // March 15th

I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman // March 16th

Minecraft: Wither Without You Volume 2 by Kristen Gudsnuk // March 17th

Cemetery of Mind by Dambudzo Marechera // March 17th

Prom House by Chelsea Mueller // March 19th

The Tea Dragon Society (Tea Dragon #1) by Kay O’Neill // March 19th

Sheets by Brenna Thummler // March 21st

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado // March 24th

Heartstopper: Volume 1 by Alice Oseman // March 25th (reread)

Heartstopper: Volume 2 by Alice Oseman // March 25th (reread)

Heartstopper: Volume 3 by Alice Oseman // March 25th (reread)

Heartstopper: Volume 4 by Alice Oseman // March 25th (reread)

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee // March 26th

The Tea Dragon Festival (The Tea Dragon Society #2) by Kay O’Neill // March 27th

The Tea Dragon Tapestry (The Tea Dragon Society #3) by Kay O’Neill // March 27th

As I Descended by Robin Talley // March 31st

Coraline by Neil Gaiman and adopted and illustrated by P. Craig Russell // April 3rd

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle // April 5th

Five, Six, Seven, Nate! by Tim Federle // April 7th

Nate Expectations by Tim Federle // April 8th

Home Body by Rupi Kaur // April 9th

Rewire Your Anxious Brain: How to Use the Neuroscience of Fear to End Anxiety, Panic, and Worry by Elizabeth M. Karle and Catherine M. Pittman // April 11th

Chainbreaker by Tara Sim // April 18th

Heartstopper: Volume 1 by Alice Oseman // April 18th (reread)

Heartstopper: Volume 2 by Alice Oseman // April 18th (reread)

Heartstopper: Volume 3 by Alice Oseman // April 18th (reread)

Heartstopper: Volume 4 by Alice Oseman // April 18th (reread)

Minecraft Volume 1 (Graphic Novel) by Sarah Graley, Sfé R. Monster, and John J Hill // April 21st

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing From Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo // April 25th

Heartstopper: Volume 4 by Alice Oseman // April 25th (reread)

This Was Our Pact by Ryan Andrews // April 26th

Monet: Itinerant of Light by Salva Rubio with Efa (illustrator) // April 28th

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy // April 29th

Minecraft Volume 2 (Graphic Novel) by Sarah Graley and Sfé R. Monster // April 29th

Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden // April 29th

This is Our Rainbow: 16 Stories of Her, Him, Them, And Us edited by Katherine Locke and Nicole Melleby (contributions also by Eric Bell, Lisa Jenn Bigelow, Ashley Herring Blake, Lisa Bunker, Alex Gino, Justina Ireland, Shing Yin Khor, Mariama J. Lockington, Marieke Nijkamp, Claribel A. Ortega, Mark Oshiro, Molly Knox Ostertag, Aisa Salazar, and AJ Sass) // May 1st

The Mermaid, The Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall // May 4th

Everything Is Beautiful, and I'm Not Afraid: A Baopu Collection by Yao Xiao // May 5th

Heartstopper: Volume 1 by Alice Oseman // May 5th (reread)

Cheshire Crossing by Sarah Andersen and Andy Weir // May 5th

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli // May 7th

Broxo by Zack Giallongo // May 7th

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo // May 9th

The League of Super Feminists by Mirion Malle // May 9th

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown // May 11th

Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y Davis // May 14th

Paper Girls (Volume 1) by Brian K. Vaughan // May 15th

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger // May 16th

Everyone in this Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily R Austin // May 17th

As The Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman // May 17th

The Prom: A Novel Based on the Hit Broadway Musical by Saundra Mitchell with Bob Martin, Chad Beguelin, and Matthew Sklar // May 18th

Spring Awakening: A Children’s Tragedy by Frank Wedekind and translated by Jonathan Franzen // May 20th

Always Human (Season 1) by Ari North // May 20th

The House with a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs // May 22nd

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli // May 23rd

When Stars Are Scattered by Omar Mohamed and Victoria Jamieson // May 23rd

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe // May 23rd

Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel // May 24th

Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical With by Julie Abe // May 27th

The Tea Dragon Society (Tea Dragon #1) by Kay O’Neill // May 27th (reread)

Always Human (Season 2) by Ari North // May 27th

What Kind of Woman: Poems by Kate Baer // May 27th

Strangelands #1 by Magdalene Visaggio with Darcie Little Badger and Guillermo Sanna (Illustrator) // May 27th

Soft Science by Franny Choi // May 29th

Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz // May 30th

Child of the Moon by Jessica Semaan // May 31st (reread)

Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall // May 31st

Check Please! Book #1: Hockey by Ngozi Ukazu // June 2nd

Check Please! Book #2: Sticks & Scones by Ngozi Ukazu // June 3rd

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green // June 4th (reread)

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens // June 8th

Ever After by Olivia Vieweg // June 9th

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender // June 10th

Spinning by Tillie Walden // June 10th

The Awakening Storm (City of Dragons #1) by Jaimal Yogis // June 19th

Honor Girl: A Graphic Memoir by Maggie Thrash // June 20th

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones // June 22nd

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow // June 24th

The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser // June 25th

Ms. Marvel, Volume 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona (artist) and Ian Herring (colorist) // June 25th

In the Dark: The Science of What Happens At Night by Lisa Deresti Betik and Josh Holinaty (illustrator) // June 25th

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls // June 27th

Circe by Madeline Miller // June 28th

Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour // June 30th

Displacement by Kiku Hughes // July 2nd

In A Blink by Kiki Thorpe with Jana Christy (illustrator) // July 4th

The Space Between by Kiki Thorpe with Jana Christy (illustrator) // July 4th

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games #0) by Suzanne Collins // July 6th

A Dandelion Wish by Kiki Thorpe with Jana Christy (illustrator) // July 7th

She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen // July 8th

A Diary of the Plague Year: An Illustrated Chronicle of 2020 by Elise Engler // July 9th

Open Wide and Say Arrrgh! (The Bad Guys #15) by Aaron Blabey // July 13th

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing From Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo // July 14th (reread)

OCDaniel by Wesley King // July 16th

From the Mist by Kiki Thorpe with Jana Christy (illustrator) // July 17th

Wedding Wings by Kiki Thorpe with Jana Christy (illustrator) // July 17th

The Woods Beyond by Kiki Thorpe with Jana Christy (illustrator) // July 17th

Overthinking About You: Dating With Anxiety, OCD, and Depression by Allison Raskin // July 18th

The Poppy War (The Poppy War #1) by R. F. Kuang // July 18th

Educated by Tara Westover // July 25th

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley // August 2nd (reread, for school)

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston // August 11th (reread)

Catastrophic Care: How American Health Care Killed My Father- And How We Can Fix It by David Goldhill // August 14th

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren // August 16th

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong // August 20th

Bingo Love by Tee Franklin // August 22nd

The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall // August 23rd

Man’s Search For Meaning by V.E. Frankl // August 25th

Sophocles I: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles // August 26th

She Gets the Girl by Rachel Lippincott and Alyson Derrick // August 27th

Jaws by Peter Benchley // August 28th

The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness by Susannah Cahalan // August 28th

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei // August 28th

Redesigning the American Lawn: A Search for Environmental Harmony by F. Herbert Bormann, Diana Balmori, and Gordon T. Geballe // August 29th

Next to Normal by Brian Yorkey // August 31st

The Universe in the Rearview Mirror: How Hidden Symmetries Shape Reality Dave Goldberg // September 1st

Love Poems by Various // September 2nd

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green // September 4th

Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear by Michael J. O’Loughlin // September 6th

Love is a Revolution by Renée Watson // September 7th

Love From A to Z by S.K. Ali // September 10th

Comet Fever by Donald Gropman // September 10th

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy // September 14th

Alone in Space: A Collection by Tillie Walden // September 14th

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky // September 15th

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid // September 16th

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare // September 19th

Minecraft: Wither Without You Volume 3 (Graphic Novel) by Kristen Gudsnuk // September 20th

Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris // September 22nd

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo // September 25th (reread)

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun // September 30th

Jerusalem: Or on Religious Power and Judaism by Moses Mendelssohn // October 1st

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Volume 1: The Crucible by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa // October 2nd

The Baby-Sitter’s Club Graphix #1: Kristy’s Great Idea by Ann M. Martin // October 2nd

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain // October 2nd

Just Roll With It by Lee Durfey-Lavoie and Veronica Agarwal // October 2nd

The Sun Will Come Out by Joanne Levy // October 9th

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed the World by Erik Larson // October 11th

Café Con Lychee by Emery Lee // October 14th

Bacchae by Euripides // October 17th

Never Been Kissed by Timothy Janovsky // October 18th

A Scatter of Light by Malinda Lo // October 21st

Heartstopper: Volume 2 by Alice Oseman //October 22nd (reread)

America’s National Parks by Alexa Ward and Mike Lowery (Illustrator) // October 23rd

Frog and Toad CD Audio Collection by Arnold Lobel // October 24th

The Golden Hour by Niki Smith // October 27th

May the Best Man Win by Z. R. Ellor // October 28th

Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe // October 29th (reread)

Heartstopper: Volume Four by Alice Oseman // October 30th (reread)

On Tyranny Graphic Edition: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder // November 5th

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas // November 6th

Long Live the Pumpkin Queen: Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas by Shea Ernshaw // November 7th

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon // November 8th

Queer Eye: Love Yourself. Love Your Life by Antoni Porowski (I’m assuming they’re all credited but antoni is just first cause alphabet) // November 9th

Kiss Her Once For Me by Alison Cochrun // November 12th

The Unseen Body: A Doctor’s Journey Through the Hidden Wonders of Human Anatomy by Jonathan Reisman // November 14th

Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi (editor) // November 16th

A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger // November 20th

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston // November 22nd

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: Illustrated Collector’s Edition by Omar Khayyámd and Edward Fitzgerald (Translator) // November 23rd

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu // November 24th

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller // November 24th

Compass South by Hope Larson // November 25th

Chemical Gardening for the Amateur: Gardening Without Soil Made Easy by Charles H. Connors // November 26th

Beloved by Toni Morrison // November 27th

Skulduggery Pleasant (Skulduggery Pleasant #1) by Derek Landy // November 28th

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Toulane by Kate DiCamillo // November 28th

Holes by Louis Sachar // November 29th

Playing With Fire (Skulduggery Pleasant #2) by Derek Landy // December 9th

Bob by Wendy Mass // December 10th

Jerusalem: Or on Religious Power and Judaism by Moses Mendelssohn // December 12th (reread)

Heartstopper: Volume Two by Alice Oseman // December 14th (reread)

Heartstopper: Volume Three by Alice Oseman // December 15th (reread)

Heartstopper: Volume Four by Alice Oseman // December 15th (reread)

The Family Roe: An American Story by Joshua Prather // December 16th

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares (Dash & Lily, #1) by Rachel Cohn and David Leviathan // December 20th

The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily (Dash & Lily, #2) by Rachel Cohn and David Leviathan // December 21st

Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily (Dash & Lily, #3) by Rachel Cohn and David Leviathan // December 21st

Junie B., First Grader: Toothless Wonder by Barbara Park // December 22nd

Heartstopper: Volume Three by Alice Oseman // December 24th (reread)

The Art of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh // December 24th

Frizzy by Claribel A. Ortega // December 24th

Eight Days: A Story of Haiti by Edwidge Danticat // December 25th

Dear God. Dear Bones. Dear Yellow. by Noor Hindi // December 26th

The Accursed Vampire by Madeline McGrane // December 26th

Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries Who Shaped Our History…and Our Future by Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl (Illustrator) // December 28th

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski // December 31st

The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho // December 31st

Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov // December 31st

The Tea Dragon Society by Kay O’Neill // December 31st (reread)

The Tea Dragon Festival by Kay O’Neill // December 31st (reread)

The Tea Dragon Tapestry by Kay O’Neill // December 31st (reread)

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson // December 31st (reread)

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week #88

Glorious summer on the Côte d'Azur: La Piscine (The Swimming Pool), a 1969 psychological thriller, starring Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, and a very young Jane Birkin. A throwback to Delon’s breakthrough role as Tom Ripley in ‘Purple Noon’ 10 years earlier, where he also kills his same best friend Maurice Ronet in the Riviera’s sexy waters. First watch.

I loved Luca Guadagnino’s 2016 remake of this ‘A Bigger Splash’, with Dakota Johnson in the Jane Birkin role, but I find this original even more wistful and ambiguous. 7/10. (Photo Above).

🍿 

The Burglars, a 1971 crime noir starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. The genial opening scene with score by Ennio Morricone, and the initial part of a meticulous jewellery heist were very promising, but the movie quickly turn ridiculous. 60′s aesthetics of long car chases in Athens were not enough to offset the unfortunate story. The American version, where all the French and Italian spoke in Engrish, was jarring.

🍿 

First watch: Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1924 Michael, an early gay cinema classic. An unscrupulous young model exploits the love of his older benefactor, artist Benjamin Christensen. If it were to be remade today, Michael will surely be played by Timothée Chalamet.

🍿 

The Wild Pear Tree (2018) my 4th masterpiece by Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, by now one of my all time favorite authors. Stunningly beautiful story about a young aspiring novelist who returns to his impoverished village. Highly recommended - 8/10.

🍿

I haven’t seen too many ballet movies, and even fewer films about transsexuals, but the Cannes-winner Belgian film Girl (2018) is the best of the lot in my mind. It’s an incredible story of a 15-year-old trans girl who pushes herself too hard to become a professional ballerina, while at the same time undergoing gender reassignment. Brilliant on every level, with one truly-shocking scene at the end. There was some push back at the androgynous male actor who played the young girl, but it was a very difficult role, and he deserved all the accolades he received. 9/10

🍿

2 by (new to me) Derek Cianfrance (who later wrote ‘Sound of Metal’) - both starring Ryan Gosling:

🍿 Sins are passed down through the generations from fathers to sons in the tragic, gripping story The place beyond the pines. It starts when laconic bad boy Gosling, who works as a Wall of Death stunt rider carnie, discovers that he has a 1-year-old son with a former fling. The story goes from there in various unexpected directions, and I don’t want to give out any spoilers, as this movie should be seen ‘cold’.

Star-studded, emotionally-charged and challenging narrative - The surprise discovery of the week!

🍿 In his sad Blue Valentine, hopelessly romantic Ryan Gosling falls for Michelle Williams, and after a life together as a family, they drift apart. Subtle, beautiful and heartbreaking. It also had some innovative end credits.

(All I have left of his is the period piece ‘The Light Between Oceans’, which received generally bad reviews). 

🍿

What do you get when you combine Erik Satie and Japanese soft-core from the ‘Roman Porno’ period of the 1970′s? Aroused by Gymnopedies (2016), a strange meta-film about film-making a-la ‘Boogie Nights’. It tells of a has-been art director with insatiable sexual apatite (and a comatose wife) who reaches a dead end in his career, financial and personal life, and now has to resort to directing very cheap porn flicks. While at the same time many young women around him still desire him and are willing to do anything for him. A depressing black comedy. 4/10.

🍿

Another womanizing arthouse director struggling with his behavior toward his female fans is Right Now, Wrong Then, my 9th by Hong Sang-soo. It’s brilliantly divided into two equal halves. The first part is similar to his other films: A famous “Director” meets the pretty Kim Min-hee by chance in a temple, invites her for coffee, then to Soju, and in the course of a day and night tries to seduce her by getting them both drunk. It doesn’t go well, and truthfully, that regular Sang-soo story line is getting banal and tiring, like a standard Woody Allen plot. But then, the whole first hour repeats itself from the beginning, a-la-Groundhog Day, and this time, he's honest with her, and their feelings for each other turn genuine and bittersweet. 7/10. 

🍿

I was looking forward to see the original Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, but actually did not enjoy it as much as I should have. Yes, it was cutesy, and going for the heartwarming, clever touch, but the one-trick gimmick would have been better if it stayed a much shorter piece. It went self-referential 'meta’ too quickly. 🍿

Ingrid Bergman X 2: 

🍿 George Cukor’s 1944’s Gaslight, the film from which the phrase 'gaslighting’ was derived. A cruel and duplicitous husband isolates and psychologically tortures his young wife by manipulating her to question her reality. An unpleasant and ugly story of misogyny and domestic abuse. Part of the 1940′s cycle of 'Don't Trust Your Husband' films. Also, the film debut of 17-year-old Angela Lansbury.

🍿 Ingrid Bergman’s last role in Ingmar Bergman’s last film (not television productions), Autumn Sonata. The tortured relationship between self-centered world-famous pianist and her unloved, neglected daughter is hard to re-watch. The affected story was acted like a stage play and Ingrid Bergman looked as if she was still playing Golda Meir. The dubbing of the acting into English was a criminal act - This process should be illegal, and punishable by castration!

🍿

Two men emerge from the sea onto the beach carrying a large wooden wardrobe with a mirror on its front in Roman Polański’s 1958 short silent film Two Men and a Wardrobe. 25-year-young Polanski himself plays (again!) one of the thugs.

🍿 

“Money is like Christ. It blesses you if you share it. Money enlightens those who use it to open the flower of the world and damn those that glorify it.”

Because I found Jodorowsky's The Dance of Reality (2013) so extraordinary last week, I had to watch it again. It still scores 10/10 in my book. The element of ‘Heart’ appears in it again and again, but what does it mean? 

🍿 

Tim Robinson X 2:

🍿 Laughing again with the absurd sketch comedy I Think You Should Leave. The humor is different, embarrassingly weird, awkward and sophomore: People behave badly, like a person who farts in a crowded elevator, and then blame it on others. The only immature running theme is scatological, and even though he is obsessed with ‘shit’, he keep calling them instead ‘mud pies’ and farts.

🍿 So I checked out his previous Comedy Central series, Detroiters, which he created together with buddy Sam Richardson (whom I will always remember as the TSA agent in ‘We’re The Millers’). It’s a combination of stupid ‘Mad Men’ in Detroit with the bromance of ‘Dumb and Dumber’. Same cringe-worthy toilet-obsessed humor as his later show, but more structured and less polished. 4/10.

🍿

The only bad injuns... Don Siegel’s western Flaming Star, considered today as one of Elvis Presley 'better’ Hollywood movie. Elvis plays a biracial hero, half-white and half-Kiowa-Indian, in a tragic story about race and prejudices of 1950s America.

Wikipedia Fun Fact: The Andy Warhol silkscreens made of the Elvis publicity shots from the movie generated $380 million dollars (!) when they were sold.

🍿

...They say i'm crazy, just a little bit out of whack, cuz they always like to act like me, now they call me a maniac...

The 1980 comedy Stir Crazy starts with a lovely song, sung by the lovable Gene Wilder, but quickly turns into an outdated, unfunny prison break yarn with a paper-thin plot. At least, Sidney Poitier who directed it, became the first black actor to earn a million dollars for a single film for it. 2/10.

🍿

Know thy enemy: 2,000 Mules is an election-denial agitprop piece about the 2020 ‘ballot harvesting‘, made on the cheap by convicted felon and conspiracy theorist Dinesh D'Souza. As I remove myself more and more from following American politics, this was a little look back to see what I am missing: Grift masked as political discourse. Terrible on every level. 1/10.

Don’t kink-shame: I also watched Leni Riefenstahl’s propaganda spectacle ‘Triumph des Willens', to learn what the Nazis were seeing, when Hitler consolidated his power.

🍿

(My complete movie list is here)

[rulimaquina]

Buddy I didn't call you a Nazi, I showed you that the Stormtroopers are based on the Nazi Stormtroopers, it's literally their namesake. You're calling me a Nazi like that's somehow an argument.

Aniseya's Coven was breaking the law, raising children in the ways of the dark side, an incredibly harmful thing that is described by the creator of the whole franchise as a cancer. They even tried to hide said children when asked if they had them, and only confessed because Sol found them. You can't leave when they're raising children to use a source of power that will consume and kill them- the same way it literally did to the clan for using a power they couldn't handle.

Aniseya's Coven didn't "deserve to get shot", they didn't get shot. They killed themselves- EXCEPT for the leader, who Sol killed because he thought she was gonna attack him.

But I will agree everything the Jedi did in the Acolyte is bad, because The Acolyte is a bad, sith asskissing show that drops bullshit lines "the Jedi try to control the incontrollable, emotions" when even a properly raised 7 years old child can control their emotions, and tries to pretend that qualifies as Jedi criticism (it doesn't). I thank the universe it got cancelled.

Groups that have denied the Jedi something and didn't get genocided or oppressed:

1. The Nightsisters.

2. The Nightbrothers.

3. The Singing Mountain Clan.

4. The Spider Clan.

5. The Mandalorians.

6. The Melida.

7. The Daan.

8. The people of Serenno.

9. The Trade Federation.

10. The people of Mustafar.

Palptine's Empire was based on the Sith Empire, an Empire that lasted for many, many more years than Palpatine's and managed to destroy and oppress many more cultures, wiping many out of existence completely. So even if we don't talk about Palpatine, the sith have always represented the fascist oppressors.

Do you want some ACTUAL JEDI CRITICISM? here it is: the Jedi were stupid to let Yoda be in charge for as long as he was, dude was an old stubborn frog of a being who the rest of the council didn't agree with half of the time. They should have retired him. Yoda himself said it to Luke: YODA was too old and too stubborn to see that the old way wasn't the only way. THAT DOESN'T MAKE HIM CHRISTIAN. THERE'S MANY STUBBORN OLD BITCHES WHO AREN'T CHRISTIAN.

The Jedi culture and code was inspired by multiple religions. George Lucas consulted Joseph Campbell on the story. The idea was to incorporate concepts from Campbell's book, "The Hero With a Thousand Faces". Campbell had spent time in Asia examining myths, traditions, and ceremonies of Buddhism, Shinto, Hinduism, and so on. He writes in "Saki and Satori" about his time in Japanese zendos, trying to understand the ceremonies. He speaks about Star Wars a bit here and there in the interview series "The Power of Myth".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgdP0fQJUiw

Also you still haven't named a single culture that the Jedi have slaughtered or genocided for disagreeing with them.

ALSO WHO HAVE I SLAUGHTERED BUDDY??? PLEASE, TELL ME, I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW

order 66 was NOT a genocide. you can only genocide people & cultures, you can’t genocide a systemically deified super-religion that wants everyone in existence to either agree with them & exist their way or burn in hell for eternity. any decent ppl who went down with the purge forfeit their lives down the drain along with their family, home & very sense of self. they. had. it. fucking. coming.

from an indigenous person, fuck y’all for even comparing order 66 to genocide & talking all over survivors of real genocides to save face for your evangelical faith & the people you think are good guys. you are not about to disrespect the continent-sized OCEANS of blood that make up our ancestors & loved ones who were lost to real genocide. fuck off.

[saturnznct]

nct 127 react to their child getting a bad grade

➸ request from anon: how would 127 react to their child bringing home a bad grade?

➸ note: this took so long to write omg but i hope you like it!! i tried to make a variety of situations here so i hope that i did well and represented each one correctly !!

➸ word count: 2121 words

➸ eunbi; aged 5, jude; aged 14, akane; aged 14, amelia & alissa; aged 14, kyungmin; aged 13, jaesang; aged 15, lucas; aged 4, dalgun; aged 14

nct masterlist

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⋆✦⋆ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Lee Taeyong:

‘Hello beautiful,’ Taeyong greets you as he walks through the door, pecking your cheek.

‘Hi Yongie,’ you grin, ‘how was work?’

‘Okay, kind of stressful.. we recorded some of the new album but the normal sound tech was sick-‘

‘Oh no,’ you pout.

‘Where’s Eunbi?’ Taeyong asks, looking around the entrance of your house for your daughter, ‘she always runs down the stairs when she hears the door open.’

‘She’s a bit upset,’ you warn, ‘got her report card back and she hasn’t done as well as she hoped.’

Taeyong sighs. Eunbi is always like this, a bit of a perfectionist while also wallowing when things don’t exactly go her way.

‘I’ll go and speak to her, ok? You should sit down and rest, and I’ll come to bed once I speak to her,’ Taeyong affectionately rubs your bump which held your growing twins.

‘M’kay,’ you hum, yawning while making your way to your bedroom.

‘Bee?’ Taeyong asks, poking his head around the door to see Eunbi hunched over a book.

‘Oh.. hi daddy,’ she mutters, ‘I’m just reading.’

‘Mama told me that you’re disappointed with some of your grades.’

‘It’s just… in maths. I try so hard but I always get Ds in all of the tests.’

‘I’ll tell you what Bee… how about we get you a tutor? They can come over and help you with your maths.’

‘Really?’ Eunbi asks, eyes widening slightly, ’that would be nice.’

‘Yeah, Bee, me and mama will sort it out for you. Please don’t worry too much, ok? You’re only young, you have time to get better.’

’Thank you dad.’

‘You’re welcome Bee. Remember, I love you.’

Johnny Suh:

‘Oh God, oh no,’ Jude mutters to himself as he hears his father ascending the stairs, getting closer and closer to his room.

It was close to his exams, about five or six months away, and in order to prepare him and his classmates for them, they had all gone through a series of mock exams.

Jude had failed all of his science exams.

‘Hey buddy,’ Johnny greets, ‘did you get your mock exam results today?’

‘….yes,’ Jude murmurs, trying to avoid his father’s gaze.

‘How did you do?’

‘Uh…’

‘You can tell me…’

‘I passed most of them.. except science. I failed miserably.’

‘Miserably?’

‘I don’t even want to tell you how bad I failed.’

Johnny sighs deeply, flopping his tired body down onto the bottom of Jude’s bed.

‘What are you gonna do about it?’ Johnny asks.

‘Revise…’

‘Good man,’ Johnny claps him on the back, trying his hardest to be an encouraging supportive dad, albeit being a bit awkward.

‘I’m sorry,’ Jude mumbles.

‘As long as your grades improve, then we can just consider this a one off.’

Nakamoto Yuta:

It was a rare day, in the sense that Yuta’s only responsibility was to pick up Akane from school. It was nearing summer, so both you and Yuta were waiting for the day your oldest daughter came home with the slip of card.

Yuta sees the way Akane’s face lights up when she notices his car, schoolbag flying behind her as she runs.

‘Dad!’ She yells, hugging him across the console.

‘Hi angel,’ he grins, ‘how was your day?’

‘It was okay,’ she shrugs, ‘I got my report card and...’

‘Can I see?’

‘Uh-‘ Akane fishes the card out from the front pocket of her bag, pursing her lips anxiously as she hands it to Yuta.

‘An A in art!’ He exclaims, ‘I’m so proud. I guess all those copic markers and paints were worth it… an A in Japanese as well-‘

‘Did you not see my biology grade?’ Akane cuts in, surprised that her father isn’t scolding her for the D grade.

‘Well… I’d like it if you could study a little more, well I guess that’s what I’m supposed to say, but I’m not mad at you, if that’s what you thought.’

‘Oh. I was worried you would be.’

’I’ve told you this time and time again. Your grades don’t define you. They’re just stupid letters. I know you’re one of the most talented kids among your class.’

‘Really?’

‘Of course you are Kans… come on, I’ll treat you to some ice cream.’

Jung Jaehyun:

You should’ve known. Having twins meant that no matter what, they would always be compared by someone, whether it’s consciously or not.

Alissa and Amelia were incredibly similar, both pretty and girly, but they also had some differences. One being that Amelia was far more academic, opting to spend time studying over going out with friends like Alissa.

So naturally, when Amelia did better than Alissa in the end of year exams, you weren’t sure who to talk to first.

‘Ah well done Ahyoung!’ Jaehyun’s mother praised Amelia, who smiled happily, ’straight As!’

‘I swear to God, if one more person feels the need to talk about how great Amelia is I may throttle them,’ Alissa grumbles, folding her arms tightly and rolling her eyes.

‘Just endure it,’ Jaehyun reassures her, ‘you know your grandma will shut up about it eventually.’

You can tell that she’s extremely bothered by the attention on Amelia, but you decide to leave her be for now as to not to cause a scene or make Amelia feel bad.

But later, you and Jaehyun both gently knock on her bedroom door, opening it after she gives you her blessing.

‘Hi Lissa,’ you smile, ‘how are you feeling?’

‘I’m okay…’ she shrugs, ‘it’s just hard not being as naturally good at everything like she is.’

‘You’re both great at different things,’ Jaehyun responds, ‘you still passed all of your exams, you did really well, and we’re both going to let you both have equally nice treats each.’

Alissa sniffs.

‘And if you really really want to up your grades, you could spend some more time studying,’ you suggest, ‘we’ll help you in anyway that you need us to.’

’Thank you mumma/momma,’ Alissa murmurs, allowing you both to give her loving hugs.

‘Come on, love, get dressed,’ Jaehyun says, ‘we’re going to go and have a nice celebratory dinner, no grades or exams mentioned.’

‘Is it a buffet?’

You laugh at Alissa’s bluntness, ‘yes, it is a buffet.’

Kim Doyoung:

Doyoung expected better from Kyungmin. He’d hoped that his previous bad grades had inspired him to make more effort this time, but no.

Ds and Fs across the board.

‘Kyungmin, I really don’t know what you want me to do anymore. I know that you can do better than this.’

Kyungmin stays silent, seemingly deciding to just take your lectures.

‘I don’t know what I need to do to make you want to study,’ you sigh in defeat, ‘I don’t want to force you, but…’

For the first time you see tears begin to form in Kyungmin’s eyes, and suddenly he’s cowering under your gaze.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘I do so terribly in the exams because I can’t read the words…’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I can’t read them… they’re just a blur and the letters like move around.’

You and Doyoung exchange a look.

‘Kyungmin… I’m sorry that we never noticed you struggling.’

‘I never mentioned it,’ he shrugs, evading eye contact.

‘I wish you had…’ you mumble, feeling a wave of guilt over the fact that your son was clearly suffering and you had no idea.

‘I’m sorry,’ Doyoung says, leaning down and engaging his son in a loving hug, ‘we’ll make an appointment for you, and you can talk to us about it a it more if you want okay?’

‘Yeah, I would like that. Thank you, Dad. I’m sorry I didn’t mention it earlier.’

‘It’s okay Kyungmin. I’m just glad that we can help you now.’

Kim Jungwoo:

‘Kim Jaesang,’ Jungwoo announces, a bit like a game show host. He’s holding Jaesang’s report card in between his fingers, while both you and your oldest son wait for him to read out his grades.

‘You got a B in computing.’

‘Really?’ Jaesang’s eyes widen, clearly surprised.

‘That’s so great!’ You praise, knowing how much he struggled to get that grade in such a difficult subject.

‘All that studying actually paid off,’ Jaesang sighs in relief, a faint smile spreading across his face.

‘But you got a D in English.’

‘Oh,’ Jaesang’s smile drops, causing your own face to soften at his sadness.

‘It’s okay, Jae,’ you rub his back, ‘you’ve worked so hard this term.’

‘I know… I just don’t want to disappoint either of you. Especially since-‘

‘No, Jae,’ Jungwoo interrupts, ‘don’t say that. You haven’t disappointed us at all. We’re just happy that you tried your best.’

‘Really?’ He squeaks, surprised.

You see him flush pink when you wrap your arms around him, pulling him so that this head is laying in your neck.

‘We’re incredibly proud of you, Jaesang… you work so hard, we couldn’t have asked for a better son.’

Jungwoo nods, joining in your hug on the other side.

‘Tell you what buddy, I’ll let you get a new game. Whatever you want.’

‘Thank you, Dad. I love you both so much.’

‘We love you too,’ you mumble, kissing his cheek, much to his embarrassment.

‘Mum/Mom, stop it!’

Mark Lee:

‘It’s okay, it’s okay, Lu, calm down.’

It’s not the first time your son has come home from school in hysterics. Only Mark is at home, having already picked Lucas up from school.

The one year-old Noah looks concerned from his playmat, put carries on trying to fit his entire first in his mouth anyway.

Mark is crouching down, holding the sobbing Lucas in his arms.

‘The mean kid… he said that I was stupid.’

‘But you’re not,’ Mark insists, rubbing his back in a soothing rhythm, heart shattering at Lucas’ words.

‘Just because I got a D in the science test.’

‘I know that you tried your best,’ Mark replies, ‘I really struggled with science too.’

‘Really?’ Lucas lisps, tears still falling quickly down his face.

‘Yeah, Lu. And you won’t be the only one who didn’t do well. This just means that when the next test comes around, you can study really really hard so you can show him who’s boss.’

Lucas giggles.

‘I’ll study real hard,’ he nods, ‘would you help me though?’

‘I’ll always be here to help you.’

Lee Donghyuck:

‘Eh, I don’t care.’

‘Donghyuck!’ you cry, making him jump.

‘What?’ he squeaks, seemingly surprised at your objection.

Your oldest, Dalgun, sits on the couch between you, shoulders hunched over while you both bicker.

In short, he got a bad grade in one of his classes, and you and Donghyuck have different ways of dealing with it.

‘You shouldn’t be encouraging him!’ You argue, ‘you’re supposed to inspire him to do better!’

‘It’s only a start of year maths test!’

‘Mum/Mom. I promise I’ll do much better next time.’

‘You’d better do better next time, Lee Dalgun. Anyway, I’m going to go and take a shower, then I’ll start on dinner for you and your sister.’

You get up, still completely stone faced, leaving the room and heading up the stairs, making soft thudding noises.

‘I was shit at maths too,’ Donghyuck announces once you’re out of earshot.

‘Don’t sweat it kid,’ he claps him on the back, ‘you’re still young, you have time. A little bit of studying wouldn’t hurt though.’

‘I will, Dad.’

[idw-sonic-fan-blog]

The Mandates

Just wanted to share my thoughts on the pro-ported mandates because they cast a shadow on this comic.

“Game characters cannot have relatives unless they were estabilished in the game canon, i.e. Cream and her mother.”

This one is understandable and you can blame Penders for this. Mind you that most licensed comics of gaming franchises don’t actually delve too much in personal family relationships or expand on them. So this is expected and honestly Sega should have put the screws on Archie decades ago about this.

“Game characters can not die. There are workarounds for this, such as being Mistaken for Dying or "Mistaken For Dead”

Again. Yes. Not a big deal.

“Game characters cannot have wardrobe changes unless approved. Chao Races and Badnik Bases has some characters (mainly the female game characters) wear different clothes for extreme conditions. Male characters remain the same.”

This is a useless rule but whatever. I mean Sega, you are the ones putting bad wardrobe choices on the characters so again it’s whatever.

“Sonic can't be shown getting too emotional (i.e;cry)”

This is one that it complained about because it really wouldn’t matter unless it is called attention to. A lot of superheroes don’t cry. But that doesn’t prohibit them from expressing themselves. IDW Sonic has been sad. He has been pissed. He has been furious.

Is this not too emotional?

Is he not expressing himself appropriately?

I don’t even know why this is brought up. When in this comic has Sonic not been expressive or displaying the appropriate amount of emotion? When did Sonic needing to cry be necessary?

“Game characters cannot enter in a relationship.”

Oh GOD YES. Don’t threaten me with a good time.

“All major Character Development must be approved by SEGA.”

Yeah, of course. Let me remind you that Penders and Archie ruined any strand of trust Sega could have in comic media. They played loose at first and all of the sudden, they are involved in a lawsuit about characters in a Sonic comic that they didn’t even know about. They probably lost a video game business relationship because of it. If they want to be involved in the comics, fine. That means that they are now forced to World Build. They have to invest in it now and not just be like Lucas Films and let anybody do anything with their flagship title.

“Much like the post-reboot of the Archie comic, the words "Mobius" is banned—the planet is simply called "Sonic's World". Unlike the Post-Boot, which allowed the names "Mobian" and "Mobini", anything related to Mobius is banned in this comic.”

…Of course but how about you throw the writer’s a bone and I don’t know, name the fucking planet. If it is not Earth, give it a name.

“Sonic must always win at the end. Even if he and his friends are at the losing end in an overarching story (the Metal Virus arc, for example), they must come out on top when it concludes.”

I don’t even get this rule and the knee jerk hatred for it. Why even have it? Why even share the existence of this rule? Archie Sonic didn’t really lose too bad. It’s more on how you frame a victory. The fact of the matter is that Eggman is still actively trying to conquer the planet. Sonic stops him but Eggman still has control of land and has military installations all over.

This rule is offset by this. While Sonic can’t lose, Sonic can’t completely win.

“Characters and material from other licensed properties (Sonic the Comic, Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics), Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM)', Sonic Underground, the OVA, Sonic X and the Paramount films cannot be used. This rule extends to characters and redesigns done by the current writers. The only exception is Sticks from Sonic Boom, and that's because she was created by SEGA themselves and showed up in non-Boom media, but any ideas regarding her use still need to be okayed by SEGA.”

First off I am glad that Sticks was spared by this rule and I look forward to her eventual inclusion. Second, again, this is not much of a big deal as it was expected. Sorry Freedom Fighter fans but honestly deal.

“Male characters, sans Eggman, can't wear pants, which was also a thing in the Post-Reboot, albeit never explicitly stated. The inverse is also true; female characters have to have some form of lower clothing.”

Okay this is a pedantic rule. It is so weird with how precise it is. Like…huh?

“Classic characters such as Mighty, Ray, Nack/Fang, Bean, and Bark won't appear in non-Classic issues, as Sega doesn't want Classic and Modern Sonic to mix.”

One of the most bullshit mandates fueled by the nostalgia boner fans created. Like this is stupid because Archie Modern Sonic has added more character and depth to all of these mentioned characters than any of the Sega Sonic games they appeared in which only amounts to 1 or 2 at most. Why neuter your own potential stories with this stupid limitation?

“According to Ian Flynn, a specific incident involving Shadow's characterization when he's exposed to the Zombot infection was written in a specific way because of Sega mandating that he be written as an "overconfident asshole rival" character, similar to Vegeta. He later followed up with an explanation that out of every character, Shadow has the most mandates and notes attached to how he's portrayed. According to the podcast, Sega says that Team Dark is no longer a thing. The three members are not a team and they have never worked for G.U.N.; Shadow also doesn't even consider them friends.”

This is my opinion is the worst rule. First it’s contradictory to the character Sega introduced us to. Stop trying to be like Dragon Ball for once and actually be your own thing. It’s one thing if we are changing it because Shadow was unpopular because of his personality. But no one likes this Shadow. People miss the somber but reserved Hedgehog that continued to fight in spite of the world betraying him. Hothead Shadow is a cheap Knuckles. And I don’t even understand why Shadow even has so many mandates when he wasn’t the most egregious offender. Knuckles was.

Also, Team Dark aren’t a thing and Shadow doesn’t even consider them to be his friends. First off that doesn’t even fly in your own games. Who outside of Sonic does Shadow interact the most? Rouge. They have teamed up and were a packaged duo since their inception. When Shadow appeared, Rouge appeared right next to him. If Rouge was in a game, so was Shadow.

Team Dark or just Rouge has fought alongside Shadow in every game they appeared in. Who else does Shadow talk to if not Rouge?

“Sega has stated to Flynn that only male hedgehogs are allowed to go Super with the Chaos Emeralds.”

Except in Sonic Mania.

“Ian isn't allowed to directly reference a game, since the comic is supposed to be its own thing.”

Okay. Not only is this rule stupid. But it’s untrue.

This references the end of Sonic Forces.

The first page of comic.

It has referenced Sonic Adventure, SA2, Sonic Generations , and Sonic Unleashed.

This referencing Shadow the Hedgehog.

I don’t believe this rule exists and even if it did, it is dumbest rule since the whole point of this comic is to base it off the games more. The dumbest rule.

“Knuckles is not allowed to leave Angel Island unless he has a very good reason to.”

For decades, people have complained that Knuckles routinely leaves the island. For decades. Now does this mean Sega is going to 1. Use Knuckles and 2. Amplify the importance of Angel Island and the Master Emerald? No. Again, this criticism should be levied at Sega because they often conveniently forget Knuckles purpose and just hand wave it instead of giving Knuckles more to do on the island like I don’t know, have other entities invested in attacking him.

In summary, here is what I think is going on. Do I think most of these mandates are real? Yes. Given what happened to Archie, I do think Sega is doing some brand alignment. I think they got the clamps on.

But what I think is going on is a Japanese cultural thing called Power Harassment. It is normalized abuse of power. Sega of Japan is normally laxxed about their brands. They don’t mind blatant rip-offs of their mascot nor do they get stiff about fandom creations or mods. The comic division, however, is getting tough love because not only did it cost them a publishing deal, but ruined a relationship with a high end developer. So the IDW writers and staff are being subjected to intentionally hypocritical rules and strict mandates that they know don’t make sense until they’ve shown to be obedient.

A lot of the mandates aren’t strict. But some are so asinine that I don’t think they aren’t aware with how stupid they sound imposing those rules. Like Shadow is the most narratively complete Sonic character and yet, Sega puts this tight mandate as if Archie Shadow was the most egregious thing. Archie Shadow was overpowered. He wasn’t out of character like Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails were. They can’t be that stupid or be that intentionally dense. So they want to see if the writing crew can follow orders. That’s it.

But that’s just my take.

[lixiehugs]

Luca in I-LAND EP.4

a/n : italics are in languages other than korean (will be specified)

After the Fire performance, Luca goes up to Jungwon. “Sorry, about the slow-mo thing. I should’ve held you up better, I don’t know what happened.” - Luca. “It’s okay, noona. I think my foot was off, or something.” - Jungwon.

Bitna is the first I-LANDER score to be revealed. She is in sixth place. 

After the scores of the I-LANDERs are revealed, Luca is nervous because her name wasn’t in the top six.

Chaewon goes with Taeyong and Sunoo in the purple room. 

“Sunoo hyung, you were really amazing,” Taeyong says, sitting down on one of the beds. 

“Why do I feel like I might be eliminated even though that I’m in the top six?” Sunoo asks. 

“I think they wouldn’t pick you after seeing your score. We’re going to be separated,” Chaewon rests her hand on her forehead in faux distress. 

“I don’t want to be separated from you!” Sunoo whines. 

“Honestly, I thought Heeseung hyung and K hyung would be the top one and two. But I’m a little surprised about Taki getting in there,” Taeyong says. 

“He got seventy-five, right?” Sunoo asks. 

“Yes.”

“But K hyung has the exemption card.”

“He might not use it, though, because it will send the next person away.” Chaewon reminds. Taki then comes into the room. 

“How are you?” Taki asks. 

“You’re amazing!” Sunoo tells him. 

“Let’s stop the time. Stop, stop!” Taki says. 

“Who should I choose?” Chaewon asks, mostly to herself. 

“I realized we’re all GROUNDERs here,” Sunoo pipes up. 

“I don’t want to dress in black again!” Taeyong groans.

Luca goes with Jungwon and Geonu into the blue room. 

“I think I’m more nervous because they showed the scores,” Jungwon states as he walks into the room. 

“Me, too.” Luca agrees. 

“If I got one of the highest scores, I wouldn’t be this nervous.”

“None of us were mentioned in the top six. Ah, I’m really nervous about it,” Luca says in her interview.

“In thinking about every individual person, I know all of them are good people, so it was a harder decision to make.” Bitna says in her voiceover.

When the eliminations start to be announced, Chaewon looks so surprised and upset when Taeyong’s name is announced. She is really close to him, so knowing that he will have to leave is hard for her. 

Luca and Chaewon are completely and utterly shocked when Sunoo’s name is called. He placed fifth out of thirteen, and the others still voted for him. Chaewon looks like she might cry.

“Honestly, I really felt like I was going to be sent away,” Chaewon says in her voiceover.

When Jungwon’s name is called, Luca puts her head down. She can’t help but feel slightly responsible for it since she was the one holding him up when he did the slow-motion move in the performance.

As the fallen I-LANDERs stand up to leave, Chaewon starts to cry. “Why are you crying?” Sunoo asks her. Chaewon hugs Sunoo before going over to Bitna. Bitna hugs her to calm her down. 

Luca first goes and hugs Sunoo. “It doesn’t make any sense that you’re going. They are all just intimidated by you because you’re good,” Luca says as she hugs him. Sunoo laughs. “Thank you, noona,” Sunoo responds. “You will be back, I’m sure of it,” Luca promises. 

She then goes and hugs Jungwon. “I’m really sorry. This is my fault. I should be the one going, not you,” Luca apologizes, trying not to cry. “Don’t feel bad, noona. This just wasn’t the best I could’ve done. It’s not all on you,” Jungwon replies.

When K saves Jungwon from elimination and ends up eliminating Taki, Luca looks down again. She hated witnessing such a sad moment, it made her want to cry. 

Chaewon just looks even more heartbroken and she hugs Bitna tighter. Bitna also looks really sad.

Luca goes up to Taki after he hugs K. “Come back quick, alright? I’ll be waiting for you,” Luca says in Japanese while hugging Taki.

When the egg gate opens to reveal the four new I-LANDERs, Luca looks for Hanbin first. When he isn’t there, Luca is sad for a second before her frown is replaced with a grin as she runs over to Jake, hugging him.

All three of the girls are very excited when hearing the challenge for the week. Chaewon and Luca both perk up at the vocal challenge for three people. They all cheer for the dance performance.

“Any recommendations for the vocal representatives?” Seon asks. 

“I recommend Chaewon, Geonu hyung, Luca noona, and Heeseung hyung,” Sunghoon suggests. 

“Me!” Geonu raises his hand in the air. Everyone looks at him. “I’m confident I can do well if you’ll let me.”

“That’s so cool!” Chaewon mumbles, inspired by his confidence. 

“I like that attitude!” Jay exclaims. 

“I want to do it so badly, and I’m confident that I can do it great,” Geonu states. 

“Wa, that’s cool,” Bitna mutters, also liking his confidence. 

“I agree with him!” Sunghoon runs his hand through his hair. 

“That’s great!” Chaewon nods. 

“Geonu can dance, as well,” Youngbin adds. 

“But Heeseung, do you want to sing?” K questions. 

“It’s hard to choose what he should do,” Jay says. 

“Right, he’s good at everything,” Youngbin comments, making the girls smile. 

“Heeseung hyung should do the vocal representative…” Jungwon suggests. 

“I was thinking that, too,” Jay agrees. 

“I want to tell you that if I can just do my best, then we’ll get good results,” Heeseung speaks, his voice dripping with confidence. 

“And for the last?” Seon asks. Chaewon just looks around and looks too shy to participate. Luca raises her hand. 

“Luca?” K asks. 

“I think that I could do well with this song. And I can work well with Heeseung and Geonu and we can all get good results,” Luca states. 

“It’s decided, then. Heeseung, Geonu, and Luca are our vocal representatives,” Seon confirms.

The next morning, while everyone is asleep, Luca practices Butterfly with Heeseung and Geonu.

After showing the vocal and dance representatives practicing, it cuts to Bitna and Chaewon taking a nap together, curled up in one of the beds in the green room. 

“I’m going to catch up on my rest since I’m not doing anything this week,” Bitna says in her voiceover.

After Rain watches the practice vocal representative performance, “You’re all really good at controlling your vocal strength, and I want to applaud you for that. Luca, I noticed that the way that you dance is very clean, it looks great. Good job, all of you,” Rain tells the three of them.

“Heeseung is really stressed about the performance right now. And he needs to understand that this is a group effort between him, me, and Geonu. I just don’t want him to carry all of the weight from the performance alone,” Luca says in her solo interview.

“Heeseung, you’re going to tire your voice out. Relax.” Luca puts her hands on his shoulders, trying to stop Heeseung from singing over and over again. 

“They’re usually not the type to get nervous, but I could see they were really nervous and felt the huge responsibility,” Chaewon says about Heeseung, Luca, and Geonu in her voiceover.

“I think Luca really got to show off her vocals this time. I think this was her best performance yet,” Rain says after the Butterfly performance is finished.

[junicai]

Relationship with NCT Dream

➣ MARK ☾ mari

½ of the best friend crew

honestly at the beginning, mark and aria weren’t very close, having only really seen each other in passing or with johnny

but after being dropped into training together the two quickly became fast friends, and now they’re borderline inseparable

you thought you knew pain? watch aria’s reaction to mark’s graduation from dream :)

mark’s the reason why aria felt confident enough to pitch some of her lyric ideas to the team, after staying up until 4am to help her make some edits so she was as confident as possible

kinda just, rests his head on her shoulder? and wraps his arms around her waist when he’s tired

mari being confused in foreigner: ???

aria said once in a vlive that she finds mark really comforting to be around - when she feels stressed or worried about something she’ll go to mark’s room and just sit on his bed for a while

aria is so close with his parents - “ahh, how’s my favourite child” “i’m doing great mom.” “no not you, how’s aria?” “wh-hu-MOM?”

you’d swear sometimes mark is younger than her, considering the pout he puts on and how much he whines when they’re not on the same team together for promotions

mark big protecc boi but also little small cuddly boi

they’re so soft for each other ( ╥ω╥ )

in one of the fancams for mark’s solo stage during superm, someone zoomed into aria singing along with him in the wings and dancing to herself with the Proudest Smile™

he’s! so! proud! of! her! constantly! she could be walking and he’d be like “omg get it”

when aria refuses to get up and make herself food (this happens way too often, she just gets into the groove of her work and doesn’t want to move) mark gets her to by threatening to do it himself

consistently caught by czennies just standing behind her and holding her hand in crowded areas - airports, waiting rooms, etc.

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

mark and aria were standing off to one side as the mc explained the rules of the game they were about to be playing. mark looked totally confused, and elbowed aria in her side before looking down and mouthing “what?” to her. aria opened her mouth, before closing it and looking down at the ground, muttering to herself, “결합… 結合….. le chéile…. le… le.. oh oh - combined! we have to put them together, markie.”and thus, a new confusion meme was born

➣ RENJUN ☾ renjaria

renjun and aria room together while she’s promoting with dream

they were so awkward around each other at the beginning :(

only really spoke in passing, or when they had to

it was renjun that broke the ice at first, asking if she wanted to go shopping for the dorm together

now it’s their thing

“no aria, we can’t get more ice-cream we’re all supposed to be on diets.” “but  ｡ﾟ･ (>﹏<) ･ﾟ｡ please”

he’s lowkey soft for her but he’d rather throw himself off the roof then tell her that

piano pals

he started teaching her how to properly play once he found her messing around on a keyboard in the studio one day

they actually argue quite a bit

not about big things, but about smaller things that push each other over the edge because of stress

the first time he yelled at her, aria spent the night in hyuck’s room 

hyuck yelled at renjun for making her cry 

now they’re probably the best pairing for talking through their emotions instead of blowing up on each other

they’re both quite opinionated people, and they’ve learnt to navigate that well so fights don’t happen as often

does that stop renjun from teasing aria an within an inch of her life? absolutely not

“i’ll kill you” “can you, reach?” “LISTEN HERE-”

he acts like he’s 10ft tall, excuse you sir you are barely 5′6″

renjun was her mandarin teacher for a while, but then kun kindly told her that her “introduction” was actually calling herself an idiot 

aria has a bad problem with saesangs go away bitches and renjun is iconic for going off on them for her because she doesn’t like to make a big deal out of it all 

he gets so angry on her behalf

that was actually a topic of one of their biggest arguments smh

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

aria was leaning on a pile of books to prop herself up as she leant forwards to try and hang a string of lights on her bedroom wall. renjun walked in, and immediately came to her aid, speaking with a teasing tone. “need a hand?” 

aria, without ceremony just elbowed him in the stomach and used his then folded up figure to push herself up higher. “yes, thank you!”

she got hate for that one, but it was all in good fun and renjun was laughing after it

➣ JENO ☾ nori

aria is his princess and everyone else can fight him

like they’re both doyoung’s children, but if it comes down to it he will lay down his life for her

and not even in a romantic way, just a “you’re too precious i have to protect you” kind of way

czennies thought he was in love with her for the entirety of nct 2018 promotions

this boy was hanging off of her at any given second, and there was an edited video of jeno “glaring” at lucas’ back when the taller boy walked away after hugging aria

it was faked, stan twt needs to chill out

he drags her to the gym 

he’s basically her big brother? but they’re the same age - its a weird dynamic but they make it work

they’re so LOUD together

not chaotic, but he makes her laugh so hard 

vlive 191030: “nono-ah makes my cheeks hurt so i can’t spend too long around him. my sides hurt too ~  ♡(｡- ω -)”

any and all fanfictions written about the two are definitely either coffee shop, university or library AUs

this man walks like a bodyguard around her - boy got the arm over the shoulder, tucked her head into him, covering her face, its a whole ordeal

dispatch released some pictures of aria one day and accidentally blurred out jeno’s face because they thought he was her bodyguard 

is so. so mindful of how long aria spends in the training rooms

like, yes everyone else expects her home before midnight (long story)

but jeno actively makes sure to ask people what time she left the dorm at, and texts her to remind her to take water breaks and to come home at a good time so she can sleep 

these two are the creators of so many iconic vlives - they have a bad habit of going live at 1 or 2 in the morning, just doing random things

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

“hi hi! so, nono and i- jeno stop it, stop it! - nono and i are walking down to the park to go feed the birds - yes we’re going to feed the bird- no! we are not going to feed the ducks, bread can kill the ducks! why did you bring brea-”

jeno pulled the camera from aria’s hands. “ari and i,” he looked at her purposefully, “are going back to the dorms because someone forgot to bring the bird seed, and apparently we can’t give bread to ducks anymore.”

*sounds of aria intermittently hitting and scolding jeno ensue*

➣ DONGHYUCK ☾ arichan

the other half of the best friend crew

absolute heathens to be around when they are together

donghyuck is the person aria is closest to, and someone she’d call her best friend (only when she was sure he wouldn’t hear her)

she calls him “the demon child i can’t get rid of” but will, and has definitely pouted when he ignored her for too long

generally aria is a pretty soft spoken person, but not with hyuck around - he brings out all her chaos energy (please pray for the patience of dotae)

the pair have a little tradition of kissing the back of each others’ hands before going on stage for good luck. they can’t even remember how it started, but now its an unnegotiable pre-show ritual

he’s so clingy with her absolutely everywhere its painfully adorable  (ಥ﹏ಥ)

interviews? hyuck has a hand on her knee, or if she’s wearing a skirt he’s tucked his hand in between their chairs so she can hold it discreetly. in the dorms? full body tackle onto the couch, where he proceeds to lay on top of her completely.

because of hyuck’s nickname being the sun, and aria always being around him, czennies gave her the nickname “moon” to go with him

fans thought that aria was older than hyuck for a good year and a half before she released her birthday on a vlive, because she’s normally the one tasked with reigning his chaotic energy in during promotions (that is, if she hasn’t already joined him)

but off-camera, aria is absolutely hyuck’s baby there is no disputing that. aria’s sad?he’s there with ice-cream and a blanket and a baseball bat.

the winnie the pooh character that is on aria’s bed was a gift from hyuck for her 17th birthday, after she made him watch seven episodes of the show on netflix with her one night

yes he complained, but he slapped her hand away when she went to change it to something else

a twitter thread of a czennie comparing their horoscopes together went viral when people realized that it was quite plausible that the pair were each others (platonic) soulmates

after an incident involving blueberries, donghyuck took it upon himself to check the ingredients of every. single. food item in their dorm to make sure it was ok for her to eat

hyuck clowns her for her irish accent, and aria curses him out in japanese

tldr: they cute or whatever

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT. 

donghyuck was doing a vlive in his bedroom, sitting and talking to czennies when aria opened the door to his room quietly. she didn’t say anything, just waved slightly with almost closed eyes before she crawled underneath his covers and tucked her plushie underneath her chin. hyuck didn’t even blink at it - so it must have been a regular occurrence.

➣ JAEMIN ☾ nari

jaemin highkey flusters her

not in a oo you’re so cute, cute boy make nerves go eeee

but he’ll wink at her and teasingly compliment her and now she looks like a firetruck this isn’t fair

he absolutely takes advantage of this where ever possible 

“riri, can i have some?” “no, i just made these you should have helped me (-_-)” “riri~ but you looked so cute making them i didn’t want to interrupt you~” *aria.exe has stopped responding*

but when aria isn’t trying to get her cheeks to stop being red, they’re really cute together 

you’d swear aria is older, by how much jaemin whines for her attention

the mighty battles between jaemin and hyuck

hyuck’s just biding his time for the rooftop fight

kinda panics around her when she’s crying, but is always the first to offer up a hug 

has a period tracker on his phone but no one knows about it 

he doesn’t like to coddle her because they’re so close in age, but that doesn’t stop him from getting protective in certain situations *cough cough the fansign cough cough*

jaemin and aria cuddling when they’re drunk? more likely than you’d think

he definitely professed his undying love for her at one point while being drunk, and chenle caught it on video 

“noona we’re playing that at your wedding” 

designated blanket/pillow hunter at award shows, and if he can’t find one then he usually just gives her his jacket

the amount of coffee these two consume should be illegal 

aria prefers to call him nana and he prefers to call her riri in the dorms, so when either of them get called by their first name by the other it means A: they’re on a schedule, or B: someone’s about to die

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT. 

nct dream on idol room were trying out jaemin’s death-in-a-cup (his coffee) and as the cup got passed around, aria grew more and more concerned with each face the members made. “jaemin if i die from this-”

he only smiled at her while passing over the cup. aria held it up to look at the black liquid skeptically, before sighing in resignation and bringing the cup to her lips to take a sip. 

and then another.

“wait this is good i like this”

➣ CHENLE ☾ leri

hide yo kids and hide yo wives because leri is entering the chat

*cue aria and chenle wearing 2000s rapper clothes with backwards baseball caps*

these two are so chaotically calm

its like the energy cancels out or something 

aria with hyuck is just so loud and obnoxious, and the same with chenle with jisung

so when you put those two together it just turns into le positive vibes

you ever meditated to those 132 hertz sounds? thats them in a sound 

aria will hold him like a baby kitten she’s expecting to try wriggle out of her grip at any moment and its comical because he’s a good head taller than her

aria definitely has a knack for making her groupmates’ parents fall in love with her

every two weeks or so she goes for dinner in chenle’s house upon his mother’s request

they have a mutual understanding of the mental toll it takes to be around the rest of the dreamies constantly

chenle and aria sitting peacefully, watching a cdrama: 

the dreamies, throttling each other: AAAAAAAAAAA

will never admit it but he misses her the most when she goes away to promote

he thinks of her as a big sister and the dorms feel empty without her there

aggressive proud hugs 

so aggressive, he legit tackles her

he had to tone it down after knocking her over once backstage and she narrowly missed clocking herself on a nearby soundboard 

“YAH ZHONG CHENLE YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFUL!”

he always gets a little bit anxious when they eat things outside of the dorms because he’s never seen her have an allergic reaction before and he’d like to keep it that way  (`皿´＃)

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT. 

chenle was particularly restless that day, constantly shuffling about in his seat to the point where renjun forcefully tossed an arm over his shoulders to hold him still while the vlive was still playing.

not one to be defeated, chenle then turned to press his lips to renjun’s cheek playfully, laughing when the older boy turned away in disgust. he turned to do the same to aria, coming closer to her cheek before aria turned her head to face his.

“AAA-” “EW CHENLE WHY”

➣ JISUNG ☾ jiri

oh god oh god oh god

if aria could take this boy and wrap him in a blanket and keep him in her pocket she would - no questions asked 

jisung knows she loves him the most out of dream sorry markhyuck and takes advantage of it every second

she used to coddle him a lot when he was smaller, but now that he’s older aria tries to rein it in as much as possible

that doesn’t mean it goes away completely though

“noona can you cook for me?” “of course jisungie! what do you want?” 

*jeno gobsmacked in the background* “you just told me you were too tired to cook tonight”

aria: big baby, must protect

jisung: tiny noona, must protect

jaemin and aria are really the only people jisung is ok with seeing him be super emotional - and he flip flops between the two depending on the reason why he’s emotional

self-esteem, feeling poopy side of it all? straight into aria’s bed, letting her roll him onto his side so she can tuck his head into her shoulder and covers the two of them with her duvet the way she used to do when he was shorter

this boy cannot curse around her unless he wants to get his ass Beat

dancing bros

they go so hard in their NCT Dance duet videos 

he keeps band-aids in his bag for her in exchange for her keeping an extra bottle of water in hers because jisung always forgets his own

jisung rests his elbow on her head a lot

but only briefly because the last time he stayed there for too long she stamped on his foot

tldr: aria is jisung’s emotional support gnome

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT. 

jisung and aria were doing the chicken leg battle (this one) to fight for first dibs on the rooms they were going to be sharing for the next week or so. just before they were about to start, mark started laughing and pointing at how high jisung’s leg came up on aria’s, with aria’s knee barely hitting jisung’s mid-thigh

“this is an unfair advantage! this is cheating!”