#meaning ive been thinking abt it and getting through it p fast lol

[saeiken]

i <3 trans ppl

[dandyshucks]

hii!! can i hear u talk more abt ggg 🤔 ive seen a bunch of ur recent posts abt it but i dont know anything so id love to hear like a rundown of the game and ur ship in it !! :o

YES omg okay so I can’t talk too much about things because spoilers but i can talk some (...a lot apparently) about it for sure :3 

so the premise of the game is that you are the new “godp.oke” which means you’re the human that goes around delivering messages for the gods with your handy-dandy “megapon” (a megaphone that sucks up dialogue and spits it back out at ppl). the megapon and nodding/shaking your head are the two ways of communicating w characters in the game! you have to go around solving mysteries before the apocalyptic rift opens up and ends the world - the rift opens every 33 years and the gods close it before it opens too much (and have the chance to appoint a human to become a new god in the process), but this year the gods seem to be in disarray after King, the previous godp.oke, sent all the gods nasty letters and ditched the job - and the rift is only opening wider and wider… it’s up to you and Ins.pek.ta and his biz.zyboys to solve the mystery and save the day!

(actually in reality, you’re on vacation LOL and the megapon falls from the sky and lands in your hands, so you’ve been thrust into the role somewhat unwillingly ^^;; BUT THAT’S NEITHER HERE NOR THERE)

IT’S SUCH A FUN GAME. if you like story games and interesting characters, it is definitely worth a play (shaking everyone by the shoulders PLEASE PLAY THIS GAME)!! the art is fun, the characters are AWESOME, and the character dynamics are fascinating…. I love it all so much :D during both of the friend playthroughs I’ve been following along with, I couldn’t stop saying “oh i love this character” to … almost every single character that showed up HFDSJKL, they’re all just so charming and interesting and well-designed both visually and in terms of personality/quirks/etc …. I LOVE THIS GAAAAMEEEEE.

it took me about eight hours to play through, and I was going fairly slowly because I wanted to explore a lot of dialogue options! not a long game by any means!!

also here’s a short trailer-type animation that i think really showcases the fun personality and dynamics of the game really well !!!

OKAY SHIP RAMBLING UNDER THE CUT BECAUSE I'M EMBARRASSED AT HOW LONG THIS IS ALREADY

I’ve been exploring about a 50/50 balance of pre-game/in-game timeline and post-game timeline for my ship :3 I cannot talk about post-game because I fear it would spoil things LOL, so I’ve only been letting myself share pre/in-game timeline stuff!! I’ll start sharing post-game stuff on or after valentines day though, I’ve decided! I cannot keep my mouth shut forever FHDSGJKL

so my ship is my self-insert (Junebug… again) and Ins.pek.ta (and uhmm maybe there’s some characters in the mix too idk yet dsfjkl this game is… so good. so good. i love these characters so much. i just haven’t decided on the “canon” of my ship yet LOL). I think what happened is that Junebug saw the biz.zyboys pre-game but never worked up the courage to join, and then they ended up in Buz.zhuzz for art reasons (they tried going to Hob.byhoo but got too anxious LOL) and met up with the biz.zyboys pre-game when they’d been gathering for the Rift parties that were going to take place (before everything went to shit). They made fast friends with P and Gr (it’s hard to not make friends with P honestly), and remain kind of nervous around the rest of the biz.zyboys. P ofc invites them to join the biz.zyboys and Junebug thinks about it but before they can really come to any sort of decision then everything goes to shit and they don’t really get a chance to make a decision. 

beforeeee everything goes to hell though, Ins.pek.ta meets Junebug (I am diverting from canon a little bit bc I don’t think Ins.pek.ta actually interacts w the biz.zyboys much fdsjkl) when Junebug is being introduced to the rest of the biz.zyboys, and they’re like. terrified of him LMAO. P has hyped up S.pek so much that this is the most nerve-wracking experience of their LIFE for them. and then there’s a lot of shenanigans and everything yayyy and feelings develop and they start actually interacting romantically juuust before everything goes to shit and then the Rift stuff happens oops but post-game has more stuff BUT I CAN’T TALK ABOUT IT BECAUSE. SPOILERS. 

anyways the pre/in-game ship is mostly a lot of S.pek trying to be so niceys and get on my good side and me being so so so scared (accurate to life tbh) and eventually i warm up to him and just. a lot of fun and silly shenanigans tbh. this worldbuild is so fun and it's got so much to play around in dsfjkl I am having the time of my life messing with building of this ship honestly !!!

ALRIGHT I'LL STOP THERE. HOPEFULLY I ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION FHSDGJKL. if i could talk about post-game stuff then i'd probably never shut up so it's best that i'm keeping my mouth zipped on that for now i guess HFSDJKL

[gayspock]

im literally like crichton at the end of the finale now (fr struggling to putwords together) but i was being patient and polite with d'argo and chiana but

rightso ifr am struggling with putting things into words tonight i feel fucking . braindead and have done for the past two nights

BUT this is one thing i can sorta express i think like

firstly: i totally dont buy the marriage thing sorry. i dont get why theyre rushing this relationship so much. i just dont fucking buy any bit of it & idc... LOL... LIKE-

im not even against-against them (or i wasnt). BUT i think chiana and d'argo could work if done right, ive said that. or at least theyd be an interesting exploration even if they didnt end up together-together. i can see a version of events and miscommunication, done right, where they do gravitate towards each other since theyre travelling in close quarters like that and they have the wrong expectations and theres fallout and such- but all the way up to marriage? i dont know... i do not see it... like

i can seeeee chiana maybe panicking and just. agreeing to marriage even if she doesnt actually yknow with d'argo but i dont see d'argo proposing this fast. like this is crazy..... give it more than like. half a season of fucking background work, holy shit, yknow? eve n if theyhave been through so much together, like... i think i heard they got married at some point but i seriously expected that to be like s4- bringing it up now?

and like

also

ok

soheres the thing

i dont know how old jothee is. sigh. + i think, even if we did have an exact number... WELL thatsa whole other ramble, but tbh one of my pet peeves in sci fi is people insisting that alien ages would always strictly correspond exactly to human ones wrt maturity (emotional and physical) which makes no damn sense like..they wouldnt even have to linearly correspond, or have the same structure, or same concepts (of adolesence, of being elderly, etc) and i mean they could, but its very much the same as like. only ever envisioning aliens as being strictly humanoid with face bumps like . i do nottt get it....

which i SAY because like. ewww!!! i strictly DONT want to be one of those ppl who is like "teehee, age doesnt matter, its arbitrarryyy to this alien culture [uses it as an excuse]" BUT i also dont want to be like one of those ppl who like "haha, well technicalllyyy this alien is 18 sooooo!<3" bc like . with the hypothetical extraterrestrial race yep! it does become completely arbitrary & banging on about it like that its like... ur completely losing sight of it, doing the math to try and check whether the fucker is legal, is completely, trying to gotcha "haha, its fine if i ship these two" &... missing the point ... of WHY weird age shit is wrong in the first place

bc its abt power dynamics... & its insaaaaane u have to point that out to people sometimes... but its like. p*dophilia is wrong bc young people are . extremely vulnerable. and do not have the power in that position; they are taken advantage of, and the are not capable of informed consent, and its sick in the head, yeah..

+ so WITH alien stuff. like fictitious species and things like that, yeah? its very much down to the precedent writers create, and what they construct and what they build...

andthats all to say iliterally. do not know what to fucking think of chiana necking with jothee because like....

literallyyyyyy. my honest 2 god truth. in my opinion? IF d'argo and chiana had never been a thingl; IF you wiped the slate clean, and never had even entertained it... chiana and jothee? they would actually make a HELL of a lot more sense to me.

like i always saw chiana as a very young adult. probs my ageish - maybe like a year or two younger?

and so i think jothee... again. shrugs. idk how luxons would age; fine, if he's technically younger in years, but like... FROM what ive seen of him, he reads like someone also of that age range, maybe a touch younger. but definitely close enough that i can see them very easily gravitating towards each other.

and again. like i think i said before, initially i read chiana and d'argo as more like... a parental dynamic, if literally anything? which is why i wasnt totally onboard with them to begin with- but was willing to, like, go with it because i understand that was my initial interpretation, not the canon gospel - and hey, if they can convince me otherwise then cool. i'm the one who misread it, yeah?

(bc also i will say like: ithink d'argo IS like a good example of being very alien in terms of age, in combination with him also being a bit off, i suppose, bc like... they say he's young multiple times in the show, and they say it was odd he went off and had kidsyoung- so like? to me... i again figure, like, a very young dad who just seems a hell of a lot older. i know guys likethat irl-plenty of them- who matured v fast even if theyre really still. a lot younger, in honesty. and i think thats fair enough.)

BUT YEAH. LIKE. ITS SO FUCKING.., EVEN THEN IT- IT JSUT KINDA FEELS .ughhg. RUHGHGH. like

in isolation. if we had one or the other i THINK it wouldnt be fucking weird. for the reasons i said. i really dont think it would; the writers could make the either or work. but like- both of them...? yeah no- thats what makes it strange, even if you do play fast and loose with how ages work here, bc its like.. that DOES feel like a really freaking. icky shift to me even if i dont think chiana is taking advantage of jotheee or d'argo is taking advantage of chiana necessarily. theres just a strange dissonance, here, and its like.. mmmnn. noo :(

bc like again i said. i dont find chiana and jothee that weird by themselves and thats whatkinda makes it a shame bc i do think they actually suit each other better and especially frustrating bc. i just fucking wish they hadnt done chiana and d'argo at all at this point, bc it hasnt really done much to give us anything at all. and, like i think d'argo and her just feel like an unfolding misunderstanding- and not in the "oh, we balance each other out; we will work towards it" kinda way, but just like a. these ppl dont fit and they tried it butits just not meant 2 be way and thats fineee i LIKE it when you explore stuff like that man but eek they really... ARENT taking the time to explore it in that way. are they. theyrejust kinda botching it and

BC MEANWHILE LIKE. IF WE WERE TO TALK "OH, WHO WOULD BE AN ACTUAL THRIVING COUPLE?" from what ive seen thus far... jothee and chiana have a lot in common that i could easily see them connecting with quite strongly andi think... with the both of them in another environment, it could be messy, but with the rest of the moya crew grounding them it could actually be really sweet for them to find sth in each other. but like any potential of that- yeah. no . its gross now. because of the kinda setup presented

whichis to say

I DONT FREAKIGNGGG LIKE IT WAHHHHHH I DONT LIKEEEE IT I DOJT LIKEEE ANY OF IT. >:(

[paperpeachy]

You have like… THE BEST fan interpretation of Mimi I’ve ever seen!!! I’ve been scrolling through your blog and she’s s,so pretty,,, I hope this is okay to ask but, how do you feel about the general headcanon that she’s a child? Yours looks so mature, it’s a nice change to see,,

omg hi anon!!! THANK u for the lovely compliment aaaaa honestly !! knowing ppl like my take on mimi means sm to me, she’s an important chara for me to get down EXACTLY the way i see her ❤❤❤ and yeas ! ofc i can talk abt it a bit! i actually have my own opinions on this so IM GLAD U ASKED!! (n im glad u think so 😌)

mimi’s a more challenging character when she’s depicted as an adult i think! she has origin stories that either way obvi indicate she didn’t have a good/normal upbringing. the fact that she can switch moods and faces so fast makes it seem like she’s juggling between doing her job and catching up w her lost childhood by acting like she’s still living it. especially since she’s so disingenuous abt it? “NYAAGHH!! YOU BROKE MY MOST FAVU VASE DOOFUSES!! YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT DUMMY GRR..!!!… ahem anyway u can earn rubees over there and ask me anything you need at my office there! ok get to work! thanx”

((i kinda talked more abt this ^ here!))

and i think she learnt v quick that this disposition can be put into use for whatever the count has planned for her, so she’s internalised a lot of it (in robo fashion 🤖) but like, even then she doesn’t sound that childish to me?? i feel like that gets mixed up w how polite she pretends to b sometimes. w the occasional ‘gee whiz, golly gee’ speech she has but. that’s mostly just paper mario vernacular- koops talks a bit like this too !

she’ll go from calling the heroes a bunch of meanie poo pee heads and then immediately go for the ‘are you gonna get your boyfriends to clean up this mess for you too? :)’ she’s so facetious abt it most the time, it’s hard to catch that thinly veiled bitterness but. it adds more to her character than just saying ‘she talks like a kid bc she is one’.

and like, by post-game, she isn’t even using her goofy ‘golly jeepers crimminy on a biscuit!’ speech much. she’s more lowkey after peach snaps her out of her ‘myehh ive lived my whole life like this, its not my fault waa!’ mentality. it all makes her such a flip floppy chara to analyse- which is good ! mimi’s entire backstory is based on how shrouded and unknown her identity is. we know the least about her and why she is.. who she is.

and like..just to back myself up here,  there is canon dialogue that p much state she’s not a child. interned warns merlee and mimi that x question might stir up childhood trauma, referring to them being kids as past tense. there’s another question he’ll open up implying he (and the audience) are interested in both of the ladies’ type of guy, to which mimi will flirt back at him w. and OFC the whole option of confessing your love to her is right there for mario and peach to try at so ye.. rlly makes it seem shes like, of age to hear these kinds of things from adult charas.

. i realise i sound kinda upfront here omg im sorry if i sound defensive LOL ! i obvi have no beef w anyone who portrays her (or any other chara) differently!! she’s a nice n easy candidate for the spooky child trope- but i do feel like i need to get my point across that i personally and firmly don’t see her as one, since i know the general hc of her being adult squicks som ppl out, esp the more mature way i draw her and the ships i have for her etc.

i hope i answered this eloquently, anon x! i feel like i contradicted myself a few times explaining this but that’s just bc mimi acts contradictory, in a sense :’) tldr: i don’t agree w the hc, but all pm charas are written in a way for us to have our own fun w them so ! we!!

[homestucky]

i know ive posted abt it before so sorry for being a broken record but like........... my focus these days is so bad, and i say these days like i can ever remember it being good...... if i try to pay attention to something for more than 1 whole minute my brain starts shrieking and blowing steam like an old timey kettle. ive spent the past 4 days ‘flat out’ working on this paper but the pace is still somehow so slow bcaus i cant even flippign. read the papers im meant to be writing about. like i will pull an all nighter for this and then write 1 page. i just feel like.... this must mean something, right?? or is this just what im like?? am i stupid?? idk what this means. maybe im just tired or not cut out for this. ive been toying with the idea of talking to my doctor about the idea of me having adhd bcaus i think itd explain a lot but there are also considerable parts of how ive heard it described that i dont relate to. and the idea of deciding i think i have it then going and getting told i dont is kind of the worst. it would be so comofrting to have some way for me to describe the experiences im having and be told hey theres a reason your brain is like this. so i almost dont wanna know if i dont, yknow.

also in the uk at least, im p sure a diagnosis condition is you have to have some indication that youve had it since childhood. so i assumed that cant be me, bcaus i was a fairly quiet kid. i did have a really bad temper but other than that i dont remember p much anything abt being under 11. but i literally just today remembered that at the ages 12-16 in maths i never shut the hell up to the point that people who sat next to me thought i was annoying, because i couldnt concentrate in class at all, literally never once finished a set of questions in class even when everyone else could and i was supposed to be ‘good at maths’, just talked talked talked and doodled instead. ive always been a ‘slow worker’ is how i thought of it. i didnt barely do a single bit of work in art classes bcaus id just talk w my friend and like. spin in the teachers spinny chair. i did no work all of yr 11 then realised and went every day for like a month after school when no one was there. but still in class i couldnt do it, even once id decided i should work harder. i have a hard time processing things fast. despite teachers basically telling me i was some kind of prodigy for english lit, when it got to the point in like yr 12 when i couldnt rely on just writing whatever came into my head to get a good grade and actually had to plan, i absolutely flopped and practically developed a phobia of the subject. i was gonna do an english degree but i changed course. also i cant read for fun bcaus i just stare into space instead thinking about 100 other things all more interesting than the book. this has always sort of been the case too. idk i know many stereotypes of adhd are inaccurate but i was shy and ‘well behaved’ and even though i was distracted/chatty i wasnt like.. disruptive. like im not even sure if the teachers noticed me quietly babbling. so it made me never consider the possibility but obviously its far more complicated than that. 

still tho, idk i think its p likely im just making excuses for myself with this and i can easily imagine going to the doctor and talking through all this and them being like lol no nice try though. but idk. i still cant help but think about it.

idk this txtpost is p much nonsense but.. yea just attempting to get my thoughts out of my head and fling them into the void so i can carry on doing this awful stupid piece of work lol. wish me luck, im in hell!!!

edit: WHY WASNT THIS UNDER A READ MORE I REMEMBER PUTTING IT UNDER A READ MORE SCREEAAM

[youphrogthoseshuffles]

*cracks knuckles* so i may have just spent an hour rewriting the fellowship of the ring with these 8... it was originally going to be cracky but angst kicked down the door and slipped in whoops 

also ive assigned elrohir as the ‘mischievous younger brother by 3 mins’ one out of the twins bc why not while elladan is the ‘mildly responsible older brother’ one

this is fairly long heh lmk if anyone wants two towers as well idk (nobody dies btw) 

Rivendell

fili, kili, elladan, elrohir, frodo, merry, sam and pippin are chosen to take the ring

no one ask how the council of elrond went it was hell

all you need to know is that bilbo made everyone promise to take care of the hobbits bc they're not experienced adventurers or fighters

fili and elrohir take this very seriously compared to the other 2 which you'll see later

elrohir likes hobbits, always asking bilbo on information abt them (he thinks they're as nice as bilbo no matter what bilbo says abt a certain spoon stealer)

fili treats the hobbits (a cousin? is he? are thorin and bilbo a thing in this? idk) like family bc of their relation to bilbo and bilbo's cool no one wants an upset elderly hobbit on their hands

they all become friends fairly quickly, the hobbits and dwarves especially bc they know them through bilbo's adventure(tm)

elrohir is *ecstatic*. hobbits!! 4 of them!! 

kili and elrohir are instant friends

kili, elrohir, merry and pippin joke around and play pranks a lot but they stop after the snow storm at the mountain

Misty Mountains

they try to go up the mountain, obv doesnt work with saruman existing and contemplate going to moria

fili and kili are terrified they've heard nothing but Bad things happen there and everyone comforts them

uhhhh timelines dont exist now sorry tolkien ori, balin, oin and the other dwarves that went with them are still alive

they backtrack a bit and cross the misty mountains a different way, no stone giants or goblins to merry and pippin's disappointment

bunch of orcs tho, id say frodo gets stabbed like in the film but then shows the mithril shirt etc 

yknow what yeah fuck it lets say bagginshield is a thing here kili: hey! thats my uncle's first courting gift to bilbo! that was a nice time  fili: kee it wasnt a nice time. kili: ..wait

dw they get rid of them p quickly especially elladan and elrohir bc they absolutely hate orcs bc of what they did to their mother and the refuse for them to take any of their new mortal family away (found family rights! the mischievous stay together)

but uhhh *spins the wheel* elladan gets injured so they run down to lothlorien

Lothlorien

ik elves are immortal but this injury kind of hurts him enough that he required professional healers and a fairly long rest

elladan and elrohir defend fili and kili like legolas did with gimli its great 

they stay for a bit while elladan heals. galadriel and celeborn visit him often nice family times all round 

now at a safe place the jokes and pranks start up again, galadriel watches everything with her magic elf vision and is v amused. you dont get much entertainment in a dying forest these days

the gang watch frodo and sam go on walks around the forest. bets are immediately placed ;)

hm i think they get gifts from her. just not sure what. elladan and elrohir go there a lot tho so they probably wont get anything big. i dont think fili and kili would want galadriel's hair but if she offered they'd take it out of kindness i guess? ofc they dont know the real meaning behind it

Anduin

when elladan has recovered they take the boats down the anduin (elladan, frodo and sam in 1, elrohir, kili and merry in another, fili and pippin in the last)

they love the fast currents lol

gollum has been following them since the orc battle in the misty mountains, elladan and elrohir know this and constantly update frodo on his whereabouts 

fili and kili want to go with frodo to mordor but elladan and elrohir want to go south to gondor to help them fight their way to mordor from there believing there’s no other way to get in without a 100% chance of them dying

now *this time* when frodo leaves to think abt where they should go, gollum takes this opportunity to jump at him and he kind of expected that but he was also taken by surprise

fili was just behind frodo tho, wanting to keep an eye on the guy and jumps in to help him

frodo tells fili not to kill him and the dwarf is a little confused but he listens and insteads he just. throws the scrawny guy rlly far into the forest (he's fine unfortunately we need him later for plot reasons ugh)

shouting and sword clashes are heard and they run back, fili jumps straight into the fight looking for the hobbits

frodo, absolutely terrified, remembers the orc battle at the mountains and how elladan just made it, blames this orc attack on himself and runs for the boats, determined to make it to mordor without them to keep them safe

sam who was hiding nearby thinks abt where frodo could be, runs to the boats and finds him, everyone knows what happens here

fili and kili are defending the hobbits on the ground while elladan and elrohir are in the trees sniping from above

they take out what orcs they can but the hobbits are kidnapped as usual and elladan runs after them in an attempt to catch up while fili scouts the forest for any more that could be lurking

unfortunately he misses one which is gravely injured but still conscious and they throw a knife at kili who couldnt dodge it in time and it gets him in the shoulder

elrohir loses his s h i t and quickly dispatches the half dead orc and takes care of kili (no one hurts his new dwarf bro)

kili lives but still a bit weak and they go seek out fili and elladan

they find them back at the boats, fili on his knees head in hands looking across the river at frodo and sam’s boat while elladan is angrily throwing knives at a tree trying not to cry

elladan never cries

elrohir comforts elladan who lost sight of the orcs, merry and pippin and kili comforts fili, who was this close to following frodo and sam but then realises kili got hurt and gets even more sad bc he couldnt protect his brother

after their respective emotional brotherly talks the 4 decide to look for merry and pippin and beg the valar to look after frodo and sam and they run after the orcs

Fíli, Kíli, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, and Elrond's mischievous twin sons meeting. Thorin doesn't understand why Bilbo is laughing nervously about this, till Elrond mentions that they are all as mischievous as the two dwarrow princes. Then Thorin just pales.

Oh my goodness. THE FELLOWSHIP PART 2Members are: Fili, Kili, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Elladan, ElrohirLeader: Probably Elrohir or Elladan - but they end up kinda leading together.Frodo is, once again, the ring-bearer bc no one else can do that. Kili spends most of the journey finding new ways to prank Merry & Pippin, as a result the two hobbits go out of their way to trick Kili all in the name of fun. 

Fili is somewhat more responsible and at least tries to get things moving, but really - he has no idea whats going on and honestly just came along for a laugh. And because his brother wanted to go. 

Frodo & Sam split from the fellowship not because they need to but because their patience is WEARING SO THIN. 

They bump into Thorin & Bilbo who heard about their quest and get their butts dragged back homE KIDS ARE YOU SERIOUS I LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR TWO SECONDS AND YOU GO ON A LIFE THREATENING QUEST- 

Any other ideas on this?? Reply/reblog with your own thoughts on how their journey would go!

[allinsgaywitchaesthetic-moved]

literally no one asked for this and i was bored so heres monsta x as a jazz combo under the cut

shownu

sax player, brass/winds leader

plays every single saxophone known to man + clarinet, flute, and p much every other wind instrument ?? like how?????

hes amazing thats how

so so so dedicated but like

where kihyun is like …. aggressively dedicated shownu is more relaxed abt it

like kihyun plays more but shownu listens more and analyzes more sort of??

thats why hes the leader

has a very good understanding of different styles and how to break them down

just perceptive musically

also really good at imitating specific styles

always has extra valve oil and grease and strings and sticks in his bag it’s ridiculous the thing probably weighs like 30 pounds

he doesn’t really have a specific music taste?? like hes just not picky

also too compliant for his own good …

minhyuk showed up at rehearsal once like “shownu, lets play death metal!!”  and shownu was just like “ok sounds good”

also doesn’t really like to be super assertive so he’ll usually suggest articulations and phrasings rather than saying “tongue this note and slur that”

everyone listens to him anyways tho because he’s right

not really tonally or rhythmically inclined tbh hes just good all around

hes really flexible stylistically and likes to play in lots of different styles

loves bob florence, john coltrane, ellington, but will listen to everything

likes to challenge himself w rhythms bc hes pretty good at them!!

he gets really anxious before performances tho and it definitely reflects in his playing :(

kihyun

trumpet!!! lead trumpet!!!!

his sound is really sharp (like cutting? almost) and strong and honestly??? the most beautiful thing uve ever heard

probably a prodigy tbh

he isnt leader tho like just bc he plays the ~visually most important~ instrument doesn’t mean hes in charge lol

always attentive, has like 3 pencils on him at all times, records rehearsals, Model Musician tbh

tonally inclined

eats, drinks, and breathes long tones

can’t sleep?? long tones

hungry?? long tones

bored?? long tones

i.m: hey kihyun whats the answer for question 11?

kihyun: long tones, changkyun. the answer is always long tones

i.m, in the background: im a guitarist????

his range is ridiculous bc of this

loves ballads!!! especially basie ballads like little darling bc he can just … drag out his beautiful sound like theres no tomorrow

probably doesn’t like a lot of contemporary jazz but plays it to challenge himself

also loves thad jones, miles davis, jalc (modern groups playing old jazz make him happy!!) and jazz vocalists - frank sinatra, cecile mclorin savant, etc.

biggest weakness is probably the fact that he doesn’t listen as much as he should so he doesn’t always grasp style well :(

shownu: kihyun listen to this recording!

kihyun: i can’t ,, im playing rn .. ., gotta go fast

minhyuk

hes a trombone player and no one can tell me other wise

this is bc trombones are the worst and so is minhyuk

shownu: alright everyone lets start at measure 39

minhyuk: *slides around on the trombone* how about i solo for 30 measures instead

never fuckingf listens

but hes not a bad player!! hes just .. an unstoppable force of nature .. .,

his sound is really warm and broad but occasionally sounds a little muffled

esp when hes lazy or doesn’t like the piece theyre working on

tbh don’t even expect him to try if he doesnt like the music ur playing

tonally inclined

hates long tones, has never done them in his life probably??

bc of that his range isn’t super big but his sound is really strong and powerful

kihyun works w him on long tones bc ‘minhyuk!!! ur range is holding us back,, please!!’

prefers up tempo funk or latin tunes but doesn’t like super complicated rhythms

loves gordon goodwin and the brecker brothers to bits …

will blast them while showering :)

really impatient as a musician

like he cant focus for super long periods of time and he cant sit through all of those long rehearsals so his playing suffers bc of that

he practices better in small groups than alone bc the other members help him focus better so he gets more done~

i.m

guitarist

hes the only guitarist u will ever meet who shows up on time to rehearsal… amazing

its rlly relaxing to watch him play hes just really confident n comfortable w his style of playing bc hes p flexible and he loves jazz a lot bc its so different and complicated as a genre!!!

has read every single jazz autobiography and watched every single jazz movie known to man

rhythmically inclined

he, hyungwon, and jooheon just .. have rhythm clapping competitions where they see who can clap the most complicated rhythms for the longest amount of time …. theyre a trip

plays clappingmusic on his phone when hes bored and has converted the entire band to it

fuckin loves free jazz and fusion!!!!  and contemporary jazz

he, hyungwon, and jooheon just hang out listening to ornette coleman, charles mingus, chick corea - its a great time

(hyungwon hates ornette coleman but he wont tell changkyun bc he doesn’t want to break his heart :( )

hes a sucker for like .. old romantic sounding jazz

he plays through his real book every couple of days- he really loves the classics too

loves wes montgomery

hes the bands treasure; you make fun of a lick he played?? u wont see the light of day . …

his biggest weakness is he has troubles communicating with the other group members like w eye contact and tempo changes and stuff

also gets lost in the middle of pieces sometimes bc hes a little spacey n he worries :(

wonho

pianist, rhythm section leader

naturally bouncy style, very swingy - he’s a natural, also possibly a prodigy?

won a bunch of classical music competitions when he was a kid but then he realized he liked jazz more so he switched over

the biggest jazz history nerd!! just knows a lot of random facts about all the composers

favorite facts include: billy strayhorn was gay and mingus punched his lead bone player in the mouth (hyungwons response ‘youre next minhyuk’ always makes him laugh)

buys food for everyone before rehearsal

always trying to help everyone become more confident and happy with their own musical abilities

helps everyone rehearse by doing 1-on-1 stuff if they need it

probably plays in elderly homes and in orphanages to help the kids

also not really rhythmically/tonally inclined hes just good

rlly likes jazz-inspired classical music and like … jazz movie soundtracks

watches jazz movies with changkyun

also likes ragtime, second line, dixieland … all those old exciting jazz movements bc theyre so fun to play!!!

he isn’t very confident in his playing like he knows hes good but he doubts himself a lot so he lets other people’s preferences control him??

like if someone doesn’t like something abt a solo of his he’ll change to appease them, even if he likes it a lot :(

hyungwon

bassist

plays both upright and electric

really smooth long sound on both instruments - his entire style feels very relaxed

honestly was dragged into this by minhyuk without knowing what jazz really was but he really grew to like it!!

loves his role as a bassist bc hes important but like … behind the scenes important >:)

most people don’t think abt the bassist at all in the band but hyungwon Knows that hes important so hes ok w that

definitely doesn’t know how to work his own equipment like

quarter inches?? amp head??? what r those he just doesn’t know

he and jooheon always argue about the best way to do a fill and tempo and anything else under the sun bc theyre both stubborn and think theyre right

wonho is the only one that can make it stop

hyungwon probably shows up late to rehearsal w like … cup ramen and a book someone help him

the book is a jazz autobiography and he discusses it w changkyun after rehearsal over coffee

hes rhythmically inclined and loves to challenge himself w odd meters and weird fingerings

he doesn’t necessarily like that kind of music though?? like hell play it to challenge himself but he won’t always like it and won’t really listen to it

loves every single bassist known to man

esp victor wooten, mingus, esperanza spalding, ron carter

he hates jaco tho bc jaco is an asshole

minhyuk: but mingus was also an asshole??

hyungwon: shhhhhhh mingus was a special kind of asshole so its ok

will honestly just listen to entire bass concerts

loves cool jazz and bebop

hes really … absorbed in his own playing because he throws himself into it and wants his walking to be good and he wants to be in time and all these other things so when hes playing he sometimes ignores the rest of the group bc hes trying so hard to sound good

hes a lil bit of a worrier internally and its gets in the way of the confidence of his playing

also procrastinates on his deadlines like theres no tomorrow lol

jooheon

drummer!!!!

carries at least 3 pairs of sticks, brushes, and a practice pad with him at all times

he??? drums in the bath room sometimes????? you’ll just walk by and hear vague slapping noises like ‘oh thats just jooheon! hes working on his rudiments’ :)

one of those 3 pairs of drumsticks is broken and taped together so that it doesn’t fall apart tbh

wants to bring back jazz rap

also rlly likes electroswing and jazz trap

just give him jazz thats influenced by new technologies in music !! he loves it

rhythmically inclined - especially likes playing in odd meters

his fills and hits are always so in-time it’s ridiculous

loves don ellis and buddy rich

his jazz playlist is 50% all of the standard jazz he needs and the other 50% is like thess tracks from single composers that have been dead 20 years w no meter or are in like 17/8 or something

jokes abt having 'perfect click’ all the time like

jooheon: you know perfect pitch??? ive got perfect tempo ;)))

hyungwon: jooheon shut up, you rush all of your fills

sets up pranks w minhyuk before rehearsal starts so that its 'more fun’ because jazz is 'all about rebellion against the status quo’ like ok

he worries a lot bc he feels like he needs to carry the entire band on his shoulders bc he’s a drummer and therefore The Most Important

but then everyone always says “but we’re all drummers!” and he feels a little better abt it

probably cries after every performance

[topicprinter]

good evening fellow redditers!​tks in advance for reading the following tale and for any advice you may have! buckle up, its a long one (although hopefully our collective wisdom can come up with a few lesson to help others).​---​So, 2.5years ago i joined a startup active in the autonomous robotics field, focused in increasing efficiency in renewable energy maintenance and ops. Clearly, a very specific niche, completely b2b and whose clients are ultimately rather large organizations - but in a very "exciting" and "upcoming" tech space blending hardware/software, iot, etc...​The company actually began 4 years ago by a friend of mine who was solo founder, but backed by a public-private investment firm that only funds renewable-related startups - (apparently this made valuation go from 0 to 1M kind of "magically", before any prototype or really, any actual product work was started. clap-clap?).​As the entrepeneur in this case had a science background (i myself am a business major and have worked in different countries, for organizations of different sizes, and had my own business in the past) we actually spoke at length during the process he went through setting up the business, getting his first coupe engineers, and actually having an MVP. When he needed to create a board of directors, he asked me to join, as his "delegated" director (4 members, founder has casting vote).​At that moment, the company started getting its first enquiries from potential clients, and since they could finally afford paying a salary, i was invited to "officially" join the pre-client, pre-revenue startup as their "COO" (LOL, i know! :D wtf does that mean anyway!?).​The actual job was to ensure all the daily operations of the business run smoothly. This meant creating and maintaining systems from acc/fin to HR admin/hiring to marketing to ops, and I even helped in the tech/IT admin side as I find that calming! :) I thought "hell, why not? these guys may actually be on to something but they clearly dont know a lot abt running a business, and i know i can help" - so i said yes, even though pay was shit (literally minimum wage!!!) and NO EQUITY WAS OFFERED AT THE TIME (the usual "lets talk about it latter" scenario... i think you may know where this is going now! :D)​After i joined the company (sept 2016), we won a few awards and grants, from applications/submissions i wrote (and stellar pitches given by the founder/ceo!!), got our first client (i went to a different continent to deliver the 20k usd kit to equip the client's robots and link up to our software, then did it again last xmas when his operation doubled in size) and hired a few more engineers. Tech wise, we're still using 2 year old version in "production" - suffice to say shit runs on ubuntu 14!!! theres only 3 engineers fulltime, all above average, but only 1 (!!!) is actually a computer scientist, the other are engineers who code... but the product does work, we've served over 1000 "units" of it, and feedback from industry has been pretty great (although its clearly still seen as a "nice to have" and not a "must have" kind of solution)​Fast forward to 2019 and the company is kind of stuttering even though we had our best year last year in revenue (100k,,, :/) and have actually signed up two new clients in Q1 - but the industry is moving fast, our CEO spent most of last year depressing about a failed fundraising round, then on a "startup accelerator" program abroad to "recover his mojo",,, and finally the competition has MUUUUCH deeper pockets (couple of companies,, have raised dozens of millions from vc and work with some of the same enterprise clients we have). Basically he spends most of his time selling, as he should, but unfortunately most of it is spent selling chunks of his company, rather than his companies products/services. In the meantime, I've actually been crazy busy building his business, haven't taken a proper holiday since I joined (literally, 4 days off in 2.5 years!!) and never felt this close to burnout (but im a horse,,, and can handle it "well"-ish. just gimme my caffeine!)​"Fortunately", there finally seems to be a new investor in the picture, and a binding TS has been signed for a 1M round at aprox 4M valuation. (YAY??). Now here's where the fun stars,, right? Well, in truth, the 4x members of the core team, myself included (but excluding the CEO and current 66% (!!) owner) have been feeling increasingly uneasy with the "overworked and underpaid, but too busy to talk about equity" routine and have started to care less and less - at least, i see clear signs of this in the team. I've brought it up with the CEO and he seems to think that its "my opinion" and that "the team is fine"... so, after much talking and little doing over the years (everyone is always "so busy",,,,) CEO finally found sometime to prepare a 7 slide presentation that concluded with a table that was borderline funny, if it wasn't so tragic!!​He listed our 4 names in the columns (myself, and the 3 engineers, which he now deems the "core employees", and the rows were: "percentage of my equity", "money value of that equity" and "cash bonus". The percentages was around 4% each,, then he had the nerve of multiplying that by the valuation of the upcoming round (!!!) and presenting us a dollar value in the hundreds of thousands... the cash bonus row on the other hand read "8 thousand". The "cherry" on the cake? 50% of the shares on offer were actual shares, from his stash... the other 50% were actually to come out from a "to-be-created-eventually" esop, WITH TWO YEAR VESTING!! :D:D:D:D:D:D​Naturally, I left that meeting and went on a two-week "vacation" immediately.​Which brings us to the present day. I came back from holidays, all is "business as usual" he keeps saying that "end of next month" the deal should close (and paperwork signed,, making us 4 "official shareholders", and "getting a Mill in the bank", while "maintaining control" (barely,, like 50.01% counting with us 4). We are about to start another season of field operations, meaning ill be out of the office most of the time actually "bringing home the bacon", while him and the engineers keep "daydreaming" next-version-features back in the office.​Ok, now, all bitterness aside (hard, yes, but i think I can do it), i actually think this is mostly just the work of an unseasoned and naive entrepreneur, who CLEARLY, has never done, nor thought abt any of this before (before going on holiday, i told him to read "hard thing about hard things", which he actually did for once - first business book he has completed in years!!! likes to say hes a "slow reader"!!!) - and NOT the work of some evil genius visionary. The team is almost as "oblivious", none of the engineers ever heard or really understood what an esop even is!! (ye, have i mentioned we're a loooooooooong way from silicon valley here?)​Which brings me to my options:​A) "fuckit!" you know how Jared from Silicon Valley always has his resignation letter ready to hand in!?! :D well, I've been carrying one in my pocket for the two weeks I've been back. Just need to date and sign it and done! but there goes the 1%, give or take, of common stock i'd end up owning after this round. Then go start/join new projects in completely different industries, etc.. (is the ICO craze still going on!?!?! :D)​B) "take a job with the competition" Im pretty sure I can walk into a job with one the leading competitors, at the middle-management level. funny thing is that job would pay me around 5x what i take home today as "COO" :D However, that would get me back to working for "the man", which is exactly what I thought I was "escaping" from when I joined this startup! :P​C) "show him how its done!" Not being one that likes to admit defeat, I thought if there are any "checkmate" moves available to me. Here's what I came up with.. (warning: the following is VERY Machiavellian! :D) Remember how I said the whole team is pretty inexperience? well, turns out neither the company name, nor the main brand that the company uses was ever registered neither in the US, nor in the EU, only in home country. I can incorporate a delaware company using the name of his company (but that name is then "taken" for business, as a japanese company owns that trademark), then register the trademark of his company's product name (which is available also for incorporation), then buy a bunch of related domains and URLs - perhaps even file a utility patent, just for that "patent pending" stamp :P. Then I could either turn around to his company's competition and offer this corporation (effectively blocking his entry into US market without a major rebranding/marketing/legal costs) or offer it back to his company - for the 10% total ownership he should have offered me in the first place!! (im cheap, i know! ;)​D) ... you tell me... how do i keep my dignity, not to mention my motivation, to stick with this prototype of a company when clearly, the owner is looking for employees and staff,,, not co-owners and partners?​et pour la piece du resistance*,*​the CEO and I are high school friends, have been in each others lives for decades, and very much enjoy each other's company outside the professional setting. I actually "miss" just hanging out, as you can imagine this whole mess has put quite the strain of the friendship. There's a saying in a funny language,, that translates to smtg like "you can lose the friend, but you can't miss the joke". Ideally, I'd like to keep the friend, but the joke DEFINITELY won't be on me...​ok,, you did it! thanks for reaching ::: THE END ::: go get a cookie before you get busy replying! you deserve it!! :DHave a great weekend!---TL,DR? hmmm founder of startup i helped build to 100k revenue over last 2.5 years offered me less than 1/5 of the amount ive put in sweat,, a.k.a abt 0.5% at NEXTs rounds valuation