#might make edits of all 4 films tbh

[pink-carnelian]

cutie pie

[makeste]

Plus One For All

so guys. can we talk about how there’s somebody chilling out inside of Katsuki’s mind who’s not supposed to be there.

hello there Mister All Might Vestige sir. you should not exist, just FYI. you’re not some Nighteye-type plot hallucination. because if you were, you would not be appearing here as Cloud Might, a version of yourself whom Katsuki has never met and has no frame of reference for. ergo he did not imagine you. ergo you are, in fact, real.

which means Katsuki has One For All.

because that’s the only way he could have a Vestige -- which is indisputably what this is -- inside of him. he has OFA. so. where did he get it. how does he have it. and why is it only making its presence known now.

let’s discuss.

okay so I’m going to try and lay this all out as clearly as possible while also attempting to be as succinct as I can. but knowing me, I’m probably going to wind up sacrificing the latter in pursuit of the former. I’ll do my best though. here goes.

1. Heroes Rising is canon.

which is a fact we’ve recently been reminded of not once, but twice -- first with the appearance of Katsuma and Mahoro in chapter 405, and then in chapter 406 with the “Bakugou no Kacchan” callback. the timing of this almost certainly isn’t coincidental. Horikoshi wants this to be fresh in our minds.

mind you, it is extremely unusual for movies, even technically!canon ones, to actually be relevant to the plot. but BnHA may be one of the few exceptions. we’ve already seen movie 1 impact the series both with Star & Stripe’s backstory, and with Deku’s new gauntlets. so there’s precedent, and it’s something I am paying very close attention to.

2. Deku giving OFA to Bakugou is canon.

just in case anyone here hasn’t yet seen or been spoiled for Heroes Rising, that is in fact what happens in that film! so yeah, that certainly seems like an extremely relevant detail right about now.

3. we never found out why and how Deku got OFA back at the end of the movie.

okay so I was looking for a clip to link before we discuss this next part, but I unfortunately couldn’t find one that hadn’t been edited to avoid copyright issues, so you’ll just have to make do with this.

skip ahead to about 7:10 for the relevant part. for the purposes of this theory, we’re just going to ignore everything All Might says here, because tbh he has no fucking clue what’s actually going on and is just guessing wildly lol. however, I do want you to take note of one thing which will be important later. and that’s the fact that, when OFA “returns” to Deku’s body, it’s only his body which starts glowing, and notably not Kacchan’s. the latter just keeps lying there unglowingly. nothing to indicate any kind of transfer is actually happening between him and Deku, in other words.

moving on.

4. OFA and AFO are probably the same quirk.

as summarized here and here. which is relevant because if they are the same quirk, or close to it, then OFA can most likely do anything AFO can do. so file that away for later.

5. AFO was able to split his quirk and give it to Tomura while still keeping a piece of it for himself.

what’s more, he was able to do the same with Garaki/Ujiko’s quirk, and presumably other quirks as well. while it’s possible that this quirk duplication has nothing to do with AFO and is simply something Garaki was able to figure out using ~*~Science~*~, I think it’s more likely that the two of them used AFO’s quirk in some way to accomplish this feat. particularly since Tomura not only received AFO, but a bunch of its stored up quirkdata as well, such as the information stored in Ragdoll’s stolen Search quirk.

6. OFA responds to Deku’s feelings and desires.

or at least this is the case according to Banjou in chapter 213. recall this interesting conversation on how Deku first activated Blackwhip.

he was thinking that he wanted to capture Monoma, and so OFA obediently activated his “capture Monoma” quirk. despite him being unaware he even had said quirk. it responded to his need, even though he wasn’t consciously trying to activate anything.

now then, let’s revisit that scene in Heroes Rising one more time.

7. during the climax of Heroes Rising, Deku was NOT thinking, “I need to give OFA to Kacchan.”

here’s the scene one more time for reference. this time you’re gonna want to skip to about 3:57.

here’s where we are going to get extremely technical, because this scene right here is the key to everything. Deku’s lines in this scene are, and I quote: “a way we can protect [everyone]... there’s just one way...!” but he very notably does not specify exactly what that “one way” is.

until we get to this scene a minute or so later, which spells it out for us very clearly.

two One For Alls. as in, “with two One For Alls, we could win this battle and save everyone.”

that’s what he was thinking at the moment of the “transfer.” NOT, “give OFA to Kacchan.” but, “we need two One For Alls.”

which, I think, may have made all the difference.

8. OFA created a copy of itself to share with Kacchan, so that both of them could have OFA and use the two OFAs to defeat Nine.

let’s recap. OFA is AFO. AFO can clone itself. so it stands to reason that OFA can presumably clone itself as well. and that’s exactly what Deku wanted to do. make a second One For All.

he didn’t know that he could do that. but as previously established in the Blackwhip incident, OFA is more than capable of making its own executive decisions in key moments just like this in order to help him out.

which would mean that what we saw at the end of Heroes Rising was not OFA being transferred from Bakugou back over to Deku. it was actually just Deku’s OFA briefly self-activating (possibly in response to his delirious apology to All Might -- kind of a “no worries bro, you’ve still got your quirk actually, so go back to sleep and stop stressing over it” type of thing). and Kacchan’s OFA doing... absolutely nothing. it didn’t actually transfer back into Deku. it didn’t actually go anywhere.

let me repeat that: it didn’t actually go anywhere.

in other words, Kacchan still has OFA. and has had it ever since Heroes Rising. he just didn’t realize it. and neither did anybody else.

9. Kacchan’s OFA went dormant once Nine was defeated.

okay, so. remember all of this exposition from chapter 304?

basically, if someone who already has a quirk receives OFA, using it will slowly destroy their body until it kills them. the Vestiges learned this from All Might while he was researching the past generations of OFA in chapter 241, incidentally. Heroes Rising takes place right around this same time (immediately following MVA if I recall). so by the time the film’s climax rolled around, the Vestiges would have known that giving OFA to Kacchan could have devastating consequences down the line if they did not take action immediately after the fight.

so they did.

once Nine was defeated, the Vestiges shut the whole thing down. the crisis was averted, and they no longer had need of a second OFA. they have this boy who is way too similar to Deku in terms of his willingness to put himself in harm’s way in order to achieve his goals. and they absolutely do not want any harm befalling this boy. more on that momentarily.

so they go dark. and they even seal his memory so that he’s no longer aware of even having the quirk. they are essentially in sleep mode. and if circumstances hadn’t eventually become desperate enough to force their hand, they might have remained inactive for the rest of Katsuki’s life.

now, you might be wondering to yourself, “why is OFA willing to go to such unusual lengths in order to protect Katsuki?” and well, the answer to that is pretty simple.

10. Kacchan does not have the same version of OFA as Deku.

Deku is ninth gen. Katsuki, however, is tenth gen. which means that his version of OFA has one additional Vestige. a Vestige whose presence immediately explains why OFA is so goddamn determined to protect him at all costs.

:’)

long story short, while Deku’s version of OFA has proven itself all too willing to enable him in his increasingly suicidal mission, Katsuki’s version of OFA is very much a different story, on account of it being under the management of what I’m guessing is the most willful Vestige ever to exist. and said management being just the slightest bit unhinged when it comes to Katsuki’s safety in particular. seriously, you can’t tell me this is not exactly how a Deku!Vestige would behave. “oh hell no. no OFA for you!! and no memories either, because you can’t be trusted, goddammit. we never should have done this. what the hell were we thinking. if anything happens to him I will kill everyone in this room and then myself.”

so yeah. dormant.

right up until they literally couldn’t afford to be anymore.

11. OFA can self-activate in moments of crisis to protect its user.

Sports Festival. chapter 33. Deku vs. Shinsou.

aw yeah. it’s all coming together.

12. OFA reactivated itself in order to save Katsuki’s life.

I would now like to briefly draw your attention to this scene from chapter 405, in which Edgeshot explains how Katsuki was finally saved. please note my man is very clear that he did not restart Katsuki’s heart himself. he was basically just performing quirk CPR up until Katsuki’s own quirk returned him to life apropros of nothing.

“what brought you back... was the power you’ve honed.”

except... that should have been impossible. because Katsuki was dead. meaning he should not have been able to activate his quirk on his own, on account of the whole “being dead” thing.

however, if he by chance had a quirk with just enough of a mind of its own to activate in critical situations in order to help its user. situations like being forced under mind control. or, perhaps, being stabbed through the heart. well then. that would certainly go a long way towards explaining all of this.

and oh hey, when exactly was it that we saw this guy, again?

oh? it happened at the exact moment when his heart was stabbed through? you don’t say. well that certainly is interesting.

in summary:

Deku cloned his quirk in Heroes Rising and gave Kacchan a copy of OFA. owing to the hyperprotective Deku!Vestige inside Kacchan’s copy of OFA, it shut itself down once Nine was defeated, and all of Katsuki’s memories of having OFA were deliberately wiped, or sealed away. OFA itself remained inactive until TomurAFO stabbed Katsuki through the heart, at which point OFA was forced to reactivate itself to save his life. which it did, by forcibly restarting his heart.

that’s it. no idea how close to the money any of this is, but I think it would explain most of the lingering mysteries and questions about what exactly is going on with Katsuki. and I’ll throw in one last observation as well -- Katsuki has a nine in his name (BaKUgou), but not a ten. which I know sort of contradicts what I was saying earlier about him being the tenth gen, lol. but he both is and isn’t. if Deku split his quirk, Kacchan would in theory receive everything that’s currently in Deku’s quirk right now, and that includes Deku’s own power that he’s been adding to the mix. so he’d still have the Deku!Vestige. but he’s also still ninth gen, because he and Deku are sharing that distinction now. or at least I think the argument could be made at any rate.

so yeah. I’ve been obsessing over all of this for the past few days lol. what do you guys think?

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

Hey bestie popping by with a random ask: what have been your favs so far from your old jbl project?

Hi! Thank you for the random ask.

I was actually just working on my monthly breakdown so I was trying to write just a couple of sentences about what I watched this month so this comes at a good time because this month I definitely saw one of my favs.

The Novelist. I don't know if I can coherently convey my thoughts about it but I'll give it a try. I think there were several factors that made me take so long to watch it. I never read full reviews about it, because although I don't mind spoilers in general, I also like to go into some shows as unbiased as possible. That was not easy. I basically went into it thinking it was depressing and it involved a lot of sex that I wasn't sure where it would land of the consent scale. I don't really remember where I got this idea tbh. Anyway.

Although after hearing people like you, @twig-tea and @bengiyo talk about it in different contexts I was less wary about it for sure. So I went into it with a more open mind, even with reservations. I mean I basically went through the lighter parts of the ojbl list first, so part of me was dreading the rest. I don't mind darker stories, or darker bl's. I have way darker ones coming up on the list. But I always feel like I need to be in the right frame of mind for them. Because I can get too emotionally invested and my moods tends to swing easily.

All this to say, I wasn't expecting a story about two lonely people 'using' each other to fight that loneliness. As I was just writing in my breakdown post, Kijima was such an interesting character to me. Because in the beginning I was just curious about him, like there was something odd about him, his demeanor. And when I realized that he was faking part of it and just using Kuzumi I hated him. So much. But, and I have to give major props to the actor, because in episode 4 when Kuzumi leaves and Kijima in on the table just listening to the record and crumpling the pages, I was gone. I fully saw him for the first time. That man is lonely and hopeless and I felt so much for him in that moment. And that of course lasted through to the end and that smile

I was practically clapping. Brilliant. It was such a beautiful ending. I felt like the show broke my heart a bit and it was all healed in this moment.

So to recap, not only was this a wonderful surprise that completely obliterated my expectations, but it's so beautiful. Everything is good. The cinematography, the music, the acting, everything was brilliant. So good. So if everyone that reads this has not yet seen for some reason or another I urge you to do it. I still have yet to see the other installments so I can't speak to all of it but this one is so worth it. I honestly can't believe that Kijima has become such an important character to me.

I think before this one, my favourites were for sure the first two I watched. Ai No Kotodama and No Touching at All.

They were both such great surprises. Let me just quickly look through my notes because my memory might betray me. Oh okay.

Ai no Kotodama I really enjoyed how it was shot and edited. I liked how they used several things to mirror the relationship, the perfume , the stair gazing and the other couple. I felt everything served the story in a really interesting way. I also like that the girl wasn't the usual bl girl and in the end she was actually jealous of their relationship more than in love with either of them. I also really like how the film made me unsure about their relationship almost from the start, because it makes sense in this case. My confusion mirrors Shinya's confusion and fear.

I also really liked No Touching at All's directing. It was really interesting how they used the camera work. For most of the film the couple is usually far away from us, the camera is on the other side of the room or something like that. And it's almost keeping us at a distance. So when the camera finally gets close up, it's during their break up, which I thought was intentional to cause the most emotional impact. Like now you should be invested in this moment because so are they. They are being honest for the first time so there are no more barriers for us because they are being truthful and removing their own. I also think Shima's internal struggle was really well portrayed, I liked the fact that he initiated the break up for self preservation reasons and so Togawa coming back to him at the end is what allows him to trust it. It makes me believe more in their future together.

This got a bit longer than I intended. These three are definitely my favourites but I'm really enjoying this project, even if I don't love everything, I think there's always something positive about all of them. At least the ones I've watched.

Anyway I hope that answers your question. My next one will probably be Mood Indigo and I'll have to look at my list again but I know I have a couple other ones on there still to watch.

Thank you so the question.

[yarboyandy]

January 2024 movie wrapped 😁 ! Thought this would be a fun thing to talk about wven if no one cares. This month I focused mainly on comedy and romance because thats what I wanna edit one day. Next month I might focus more on romance and drama.

This month I watched 20 movies total, my original goal was 25 (my current monthly goal) so I fell short by 5. Of the films I watched, I saw 8 in theaters (40%) and 12 at home (60%).

Next month I am most excited for Argylle (looks fun), Drive Away Dolls, and Lisa Frankenstien (February is a bit sparce…).

_____________________________________________

Favorite movie this month: The Iron Claw

Literally one of the best movies I’ve seen from Zack Efron…KEEP PUTTING HIM IN SHIT LIKE THIS ‼️ oscar snub tbch.

Least Favorite: Night Swim

is January fodder…literally boring. Nothing burger to me. Only cool thing to me was the coin thing at the end.

Undercut is my full list of films and thoughts.

1. Anyone But You (1/2/2024) 🍿

I was forced to walk out of this one by friends. fake dating movie that had bad acting from a cast comprised of good actors. I liked the premise tho, pictured it with old man yaoi the whole time.

2. The Boy and the Heron (1/4/2024)🍿

Saw this with my mom! I was kinda confused by it but it was really pretty. Really good voice cast 😁❤️❤️ I understood the message the day after, I would be hesitant to say this is one of the studios best, but it’s def top five….?

3. Night Swim (1/5/2024)🍿

saw with Olivia and Becca. JANUARY FODDER AT ITS FINEST! So stupid. Wasnt that bored tho! I really liked the coin thing at the end.

4. Migration (1/6/2024)🍿

Saw with Olivia in the coldest theater Ever. Really cute and charming ����👍🏻 probably one of Illumination’s best but I haven’t seen a ton from them recently. Wayyyy too giddy for the return of the animated short before a movie.

5. The Color Purple (1/7/2024) 🍿

I need to stop seeing 2.5 hour long movies at 10 pm. Really good, forgot it was a musical in the middle cuz they weren’t singing LOL. Didn’t love the whole part where she forgives the dude who like abused her but hey. Uhhh. Yeah thats all i got

6. Ella Enchanted (1/8/2024) 🏠

Really cute classic for me ☹️ ROMCOMS MY BELOVED ❤️❤️❤️ first movie i watched at home this year! I miss the fantasy romcom genre that was big in the 90s to the 00’s, now it’s all realistic stuff :/ GIVE ME BACK THE FAIRYTALES!!

7. Bridesmaids (1/9/2024) 🏠

Every professor has told me to watch this so i finally did. Very enjoyable!! I like this director…I liked the tail lights themeing, but I wish the main girl and her friend got to talk more.

8. Pink Panther (1/9/2024) 🏠

Dont fw french people tbh.

9. Poor Things (1/10/2024) 🍿

STUNNING AMAZING PERFECT!!!!!!!!!! Beautiful film 😁😁😁😁❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ ARRRRGGGGGGGGG OSCAR SWEEP IN MY HEART!! EVERY SEX SCENE WAS NEEDED!!!!!!!!!!!!

10. High and Low (1/11/2024) 🏠

My heterosexual friend fell asleep next to me and missed 85% of the movie. Really good though!

11. Coraline (1/13/2024) 🏠

FUCKEDDDD UPPPP and amazing 😁❤️❤️❤️ i hope Laika can like. Make a good movie again soon….what who said that.

12. Zoolander (1/14/2024) 🏠

Silly goofy fun 😁❤️ fantastic cast. Ben stiller has the range. For some reason as a kid (like age 10) i assumed this movie was racist or something? (I had never seen it. LOL) Its not.

13. Leo (1/14/2024) 🏠

Watched this and played webkinz solitaire. No notes. I don’t remember anything anyways.

14. 22 Jump Street (1/15/2024) 🏠

Olivia was not very impressed, but it got me to chuckle. Didnt like the main love plotline bro wtf. But a very influential movie for 2010’s comedy. as I’m typing this I’m realizing I look like if Chaning Tatum and Jonah Hill had a fat baby.

15. the Princess Bride (1/16/2024) 🏠

SOOOO CUTE AND FUN GIGGLE 😁 they break the 180 rule did u know that.

16. Jumanj (1/16/2024) 🏠

I’ve never seen it before and it was fun but kinda sad like damn 😭 good CGI tbh

17. The Beekeeper (1/18/2024) 🍿

THE STUPIDEST, GOOFIEST, MOST FUN MOVIE OF ALL TIME THIS MONTH. ok but genuinely fantastic choreography. I’m da bee keeper….I must protect the hive….

18. Napeolon dynamite (1/19/2024) 🏠

Really fun and cute 😁😁 classic for a reason baby! Too bad this director didn’t seem to catch on after this film, his style is great.

19. Nacho Libre (1/20/2024) 🏠

I love this film and have a soft spot for it. Watched with all my friends, the soundtrack is really fun. Jack Black is a great physical actor.

20. The Iron Claw (1/25/2024) 🍿

Oh my god. Maybe I’ll call my sister or something later.

Bonus: TV shows I watched, not many thoughts

Buffy season 3. I got bored lol. Everyone is suicidal. Whatever.

Ten Year Old Tom. Funny!

Carol and The End Of The World: kinda confused me at times but really good really awesome everyone watch it.

Star Trek: SNW (end of season 1 + season 2) OHHHH MY GOODDDDDDDDD

Star Trek Lower Decks: EVERYONE WATCH THIS NOWWWWWW

[hydralisk98]

"Mayhem in Limbo Space" Meme Compilation for August-2023

Never gets old...

A robot, a droid, my life for a synthetic!

The "Lion from the North" song and its overall "Carolus Rex" music album from Sabaton

So that oldie angsty meme collection is cool and all but seems to be some great potential for making short memetic scenes.

I can imagine at least one short film around that compilation, as a eldritch twist on a generic horror short film turning from a "cabin in the woods" into a "war action sequence" situation between the slasher and the final girl, going terribly haywire for the aggressor as the lady gets her revenge and goes apeshit onto society henceforth for allowing such a criminal to go unpunished.

Most likely occurring within the context of a German Axis-victory world months before the nuclear Endekrieg / Armageddon if I am to guess (might be TNO, TWR, MachineGames' Wolfenstein, Jin-Roh The Wolf Brigade, AlternateHistoryHub's or literally something custom of that authoritarian feel). Set somewhen in a early-middle seventies (~1973-1975) around Rostock and the overall state of Mecklenburg, retro analog video editing workflow and with a slow-burn Stalker 1979 + AlienTheEighthPassenger 1979 with political thriller intrigues & a mass surveillance extremely restricted computation vibe going across.

[dxrlinggxd]

who i think may/may not die in vol 2

since noah just confirmed that there will be some deaths in v2, here's my opinion on all the characters' safety

NOT safe:

lucas sinclair

the first name that came to mind. he might get vecna'd in vol 2 and he kinda seems killable rn if that makes sense (not that i want him to die don't get me wrong i love lucas) and also (this applies to the other 3 boys) it wld be rlly mean to kill them off just before the final season

max mayfield

i was 85% sure she was getting vecna'd again in vol 2 and then the new teaser practically confirmed it. the vol 2 trailer doesn't look good for her

dustin henderson

could die saving steve, plus the duffers said a fan fav is dying, but also he's one of the 4 ogs so for that reason alone he might be safe

murray bauman

the hilarious comic relief character everyone loves. seen this film before

enzo/dmitri

i was surprised they hadnt killed him off already, but now if they do it wouldn't be surprising at all so idk lets see

mike wheeler

this is the one character who i assumed was safe because i was just all "nah they wouldn't do that"...but honestly? he isn't rlly safe. there's also the whole IT parallel to think abt (bec it's basically canon that will has feelings for mike). but then again like i said earlier, they might not kill the of 4 in the penultimate season

jonathan byers

i feel like of the teens this is the most likely death. not steve or eddie or robin, as I'll explain later. and i highly doubt nancy. his death would hurt everybody but especially will (we know he gets a bigger arc)

erica sinclair

again, the entertaining side character. you never know

karen wheeler

she has a character poster even though she rlly hasn't played a major role so far. there was also that clip in the trailer where shes scared and holding holly. very very likely shes dying

UNSURE ABOUT

(in descending order of likelihood)

jim hopper

again, he got too close to peril for him to actually die again, but again, we never know. of the people in this section, he seems the most likely to die

nancy wheeler

they put her too close to peril for her to actually die. her character also feels like it has a lot of potential vis-a-vis the plot. i'd say a 93% chance she survives

steve harrington & eddie munson

put them together because they have the same explanation: does the way the show is going seem to set up for their deaths? yes. but i think it was shawn levy who said steve is safe, and also joseph essentially said he's in s5, so they wont die. most likely. but they could also just be lying so :|

[edit] + robin says to steve in the vol 2 "i have this terrible feeling it might not work out for us this time" so tbh...idh a good feeling

joyce byers

she could've died, maybe, but winona accidentally said she's in s5 so lol she might not. she isn't a hundred percent in danger (and also there's that snippet of jon and will hugging that we need to be wary of)

SAFE

el hopper

no way she's getting killed off with a whole season left

will byers

again, no way he's dying with a whole season left + he obviously has a much bigger role to play

robin buckley

because it'd just be plain wrong for them to kill off their only openly lgbt character. and also vickie apparently has a bigger role to play. so

[writer-monster]

11 reasons why cap 4 should reintroduce Bucky Barnes as the love interest, an essay

to start this off, i am not writing this essay from a shipping place nor do i believe that this would have any influence at all over the upcoming movie. i expect nothing. this is simply something that i would personally like to see. (of course no hate to anybody who thinks differently)

here are 11 reasons why i think making Bucky into Sam Wilson's love interest in Cap 4 would be a good move for Disney.

-

1. on the Chinese film market - and why it's an irrelevant argument against the inclusion of homosexual themes in Cap 4

the Chinese film market is something that has been blamed for a lack of diversity in Hollywood films a lot lately. many people claim that this market with a lot of buying power has been responsible for the lack of gay and black representation in particular within Hollywood films.

and we have certainly seen Hollywood treating it as such, going so far as to cut gay scenes from movies for their Chinese releases, and vastly minimising John Boyega's (a black actor's) presence in the Chinese poster of Star Wars The Force Awakens.

[image ID: on the left is an image of the American poster for Star Wars The Force Awakens, featuring John Boyega prominently on the right-hand side. And on the right is the Chinese poster for the same movie, in which John Boyega is barely visible.]

so we know at the very least that Disney believes this through their own actions and efforts to self-censor for the different markets.

but Captain America 4 is a black-led movie, don't you forget. and Disney can't minimise Sam Wilson/Anthony Mackie in the movie or the poster because it's his movie and his poster. and no amount of creativity in the editing room can change that (thank God!).

so if by their own argument the film is already going to be either banned, panned or slammed in China... then what do they have to fear from making it a gay movie too?

-

2. oh, the queerbaiting

queerbaiting is an unusual cultural idea. and sometimes i find myself thinking that the term is far too easily used, but then all of a sudden i will stumble upon a movie or show that is so quintessentially cruel and overt in it's... well... queerbaiting that i will start to wonder what the hell kind of a bizarre relationship all these straight people seem to have with their friends. take Troy and Abed from Community or John and Sherlock from Sherlock as the perfect examples of this. (in which my reaction to the show's creators saying the show wasn't gay was to ask so then why did you make it so gay?!)

i felt that Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes in tfatws were getting quite close to this level of queerbaiting.

there was the field scene, the couple's counselling scene, the boat scene, the couple's counselling scene, Bucky going with Sam to face Karli when she told Sam to come alone, the couple's counselling scene, ALL the staring scenes, Sam checking out Bucky's ass here as they said goodbye, the "i would move in with him but" hidden scene, "Uncle Bucky" showing up at the cookout scene, the romantic walking off together into the sunset together ending scene, and the couple's counselling scene. did i forget anything? but i mean seriously, the couple's counselling scene!!! that thing they did with their legs and their crotches while staring deep into each other's eyes, would any straight guy willingly do that? do straight guys crotch-snuggle now?

[image ID: an image of Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes during the therapy scene with the quote, "Isn't anybody going to drag me into impromptu couple's therapy and slot my legs firmly between theirs before staring deeply into my eyes?"]

(yeah i stole this image from a buzzfeed article on the fan reactions to the couple's therapy scene. but given that they stole 80% of the content of that article from fandom tumblr, i think it's pretty even-steven.)

there's also the fact that people started talking about bisexual Bucky Barnes a lot after the tiger pictures line, and the lead writer Malcom Spellman responded to the talk of Bucky's bisexuality with "just keep watching". well we watched, Malcolm. but it's beginning to feel like you were just jerking us around.

-

3. the writing

seriously though, what else is Bucky Barnes doing right now in the MCU? his only remaining connection to anything going on right now is through Sam. there is literally nothing else established that's left for him to do that doesn't involve Sam. he moved to Louisiana to be closer to Sam (canonically), he hangs out with Sam's family (canonically), and Steve is presumably gone and is definitely not coming back for more adventures.

he has no villains or loose ends left. he has no other superheroes that he appears to be in contact with. he has no girlfriend or potential love interest, or even other friends or family. he is living in a tent that he has secretly set up in Sam's backyard and is mysteriously appearing from the bushes when it's time for dinner like a stray cat.

in my opinion there is no other meaningful and pre-established progression for Bucky's character that wouldn't just feel cheap.

plus, i don't think the general audience would be all that surprised if they kissed. i think a LOT of people picked up on all that tension. i think a lot of straight people picked up on all that tension too.

-

4. the chemistry between the actors & the chemistry between the characters

the original pitch for tfatws was essentially just this, it was the chemistry between Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie and their respective MCU characters of Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson.

now obviously Anthony and Sebastian are simply friends, and i wouldn't mean to imply anything more. but they are also not their characters.

Sam and Bucky's scenes together before tfatws were both limited and short, and yet audiences still fell in love with the dynamic between the two characters.

in interviews, these two actors are constantly slipping into character and flirting with each other and frankly it's adorable. plus it's really entertaining. i'd love to see that dynamic, unfiltered, in a movie.

because believe it or not the flirting is actually even more open in their interviews than it was in tfatws. and i'm leaving some links as proof.

this here is known as the "married" compilation

and here's a "lucky dip" selection of interviews - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

and here's Anthony trying to get Seb to take his jacket off.

i'm just saying, why not let their chemistry shine? these two are so talented and so entertaining, especially when you put them in a room together. and can you imagine how absolutely hilarious and brilliant it would be to watch them navigate being a couple?

(and for those who bring up the "friends would be uncomfortable pretending to be dating" argument, i'm not here asking for a sex scene or anything. i don't think anyone would expect them to show any more intimacy (physical or emotional) while playing a couple than what they've already shown together in say... tfatws or in their own interviews. not that i actually expect anything regardless.)

-

5. if they were a man and a woman they would've gotten together in tfatws

i have no more to add here. just that... yeah, they would've.

-

6. and i'm not talking about the comics here, i'm talking about the MCU.

i understand fully that none of what i'm saying here falls in line with these characters from the comics. but the mcu itself doesn't fall much in line with the comics either, and these two characters especially are very different from their comics counterparts.

i'm not asking for these two to get together in the comics. tbh i don't think that it would work.

but the mcu Sam and Bucky are different and closer than their comics counterparts. they've got different histories, different backstories, and a very different dynamic. please rest assured that i am only talking about them in the mcu.

-

7. Bucky Barnes is believably bisexual. and Sam Wilson has never been proven to be straight in the mcu, nor has he had a love interest.

(now please continue to keep in mind that these points only stand for the mcu versions of Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson, and not at all for their comics counterparts.)

Sam Wilson has never had a love interest, which is crazy because have you seen that man! he has had two blink and you'll miss it moments of verbal expression of attraction to women, both in TWS. and that's the extent of it, through his entire history in the mcu.

Bucky Barnes has had a number of surface-level female love interests, but none of them even came close to the level of connection and chemistry that Bucky shares with Sam.

and i'm sorry SarahBucky fans, but i just don't think there's very much to their relationship either. i love Sarah, i really do. but it's Sam who shares all the meaningful moments and history and chemistry with Bucky. and i don't see what making her into a love interest would do for Sarah's character either, what would that add to her story?

[Picture ID: Bucky at the cookout with Sam, Sarah, Cass and AJ. Bucky and Sam are looking at each other and smiling.]

and also there is the whole tiger pictures thing... again. which does strongly suggest that Bucky is bisexual whether this was intentional on behalf of the writers or not.

-

8. it's representation... AND it feels natural

marvel hasn't had a lot of queer representation that's been noticeably present in the MCU at the time of writing this.

there have been a lot of failures so far, from the bisexual erasure of Valkyrie in Thor Ragnarok to the wlw erasure in Black Panther.

there was queerbaiting almost identical to the bisexual Bucky baiting for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. when asked if he had considered featuring a gay hero in gotg2, director James Gunn stated that "We might have already done that. I say, watch the movie." after the movie's release audiences were understandably confused about the lack of queer representation. To which the director followed up his comments with, "But we don't really know who's gay and who's not. It could be any of them."

there is also Loki, considered by most fans after the airing of his six episode series on Disney+ to be both a poor attempt at both genderfluid representation and bisexual representation. with both attempts being summed up fairly well by the term "blink-and-you'll-miss-it". (also it's just terribly written and Loki doesn't wear any interesting clothes! fanficcers are a Goddamn blessing in this hard time!)

and let us not forget that Andrew Garfield was apparently FIRED for pushing for a bisexual spiderman. a bisexual spiderman within an interracial mlm relationship no less.

so for all these failures, marvel, why not allow us queer fans this? two brilliant and heroic men in a loving interracial relationship. two heroes that we can look up to.

now, one of the biggest detractions from the argument for representation is the idea of "forced diversity". and some poorly written characters certainly do end up feeling forced into the narrative. take Iceman in the comics for example, with Jean Grey just straight up suddenly telling him he's gay. like, marvel, sweetie, that's not how this works! and i don't know a lot of queer people who thought much of that "representation".

but the crux of the "forced diversity" argument is almost always that it feels unnatural within the story, right? and i don't think that anyone could say that about MCU Sam and Bucky ending up together, given these characters' existing chemistry and their history. they've both played characters in gay relationships before so we know that it's not outside of either actor's wheelhouse. and y'all know that Anthony and Seb can act, people. if it's in the script i believe that they'll make it seem like the most natural thing on earth.

-

9. it'd be a nice change

there's been an ongoing meme lately about "Disney's first gay character", the joke being that they continually announce gay characters without really ever including gay characters in their films.

this is to the point where Disney has formed a reputation amongst queer audiences of being homophobic.

if Sam and Bucky were to become a couple, then Disney could have its first actual gay character within a gay relationship. AND have him be in the lead of his own movie, no less.

it's also worth keeping in mind that there's likely an overlap between the people who were outraged by a Sam Wilson Captain America, and the people who'd be outraged by a gay Captain America. and if they were already not seeing the film, then i don't think much is gonna change that.

queer audiences would definitely love it, and the media attention would be guaranteed to be huge. i mean, simply look at the amount of media attention mere rumours of a character's queerness gets you and multiply that by a canon confirmation of said rumours.

but i'm pretty sure that Disney already knows this.

-

10. and yet, in truth, it's not about the representation

in truth i've never felt that i had any trouble relating to characters of any sexual orientation, race, gender, sex, body type, etc. (although that is not to throw any shade at all on people who do wish to see themselves represented) but for me, i think it's more about the story than the packaging.

and yet, a love story is still just a story. straight or queer, monoethnic or interracial. when two characters have chemistry and history and have sacrificed for each other time and time again, and they also can't keep their hands or their eyes off each other, then i'm pretty sure that that's a love story.

straight or queer, monoethnic or interracial, it shouldn't be about these simple labels. it should be about how well written the relationship is. it should be about chemistry, and history, and sacrifice.

because i'm fucking sick of all the hollow, forced romances in media no matter the genders of the participants. i'm sick of lazily written, shallow relationships where any two people sharing the same space for any extended period of time will simply fall in love. it's boring, it's repetitive, and as a writer myself it drives me up the wall!

romance stories suck! and everyone knows that romance stories suck. between twilight, and most of the entire YA genre, and love triangles (so boring), and romance used as poorly-written throwaway subplots in Hollywood movies, the world is in agreement that the romance in western media is simply dreadful. and yet we still want love stories. it's an entire genre that sits at the heart of the human experience (<3), and yet one which so few of today's best known writers seem truly able to capture.

i don't think that i'm the only one who feels this way, either. i suspect it's actually a large part of why fandom is so romance-centred in the first place, that we're all just starving for a good love story.

(btw i think fandom has a reputation for being something that as a whole that it is not. it has this reputation for straight up demanding things and harassing people until they get their way. while unfortunately there are a few people who do this, they're fucking annoying and i swear that they're far from the majority.

in my experience fandom is mostly about writing a five thousand word story at three am while drunk off your ass because it might make someone whom you've never met smile, editing it in the cold light of day, and then posting it. expecting nothing. sometimes getting nothing. and sometimes getting someone send you kudos or a comment so heartbreakingly wonderful that it makes you smile in return.)

-

11. so once again, it is all about the writing.

i want to see Sam and Bucky get together in the mcu, not because they would be a gay couple but because i genuinely believe that their story has potential to be an amazing love story.

and i know the mcu isn't about the romance. it's why in my personal opinion we haven't gotten a lot of good canon romances besides Peter Quill and Gamora. and i don't think that the mcu should be all about the romance either. i fucking love the action and the fighting scenes. i love the comedy. Captain America: The Winter Soldier had no romance and it was a fucking treasure, it was an amazing spy-action-thriller and it made my little gay heart dance. Thor Ragnarok had no romance, and it was an utterly brilliant comedic spectacle action film. not every movie needs romance.

but mcu Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes were doing couple's therapy and fixing a boat and walking off into the sunset together in tfatws. they were inseparable on the battlefield. they've got a dynamic. it's beautiful, it's romantic, and it's gold.

a budding relationship between them in the next movie would be a good way to explore both characters more without the narrative feeling too stilted and separate. at the end of tfatws, both Sam and Bucky fans found that their respective fave felt somewhat underutilised and that their characters were underexplored.

now, that problem would be even more difficult to remedy in a movie, because the plotline of a movie needs to be really tight to work (giggity). and we know that the central conflict of the movie is gonna be action-based (which is good), but we still need each character's personal journey and growth to tie into the main conflict. (which is another issue that some fans found with tfatws, that these characters didn't really feel connected to the action-based plot on a more personal level.)

if Sam and Bucky are already in a relationship, however, this whole dynamic changes. first, their relationship has already been set up for nicely since TWS and through tfatws and they would officially be the best-fleshed-out couple in the mcu. but most importantly, a relationship gives them a perfect vehicle to explore both of their pasts comparatively and connect them personally to the action-based plot.

do you want to establish that Sam is a little too trusting and naïve? then establish this through his relationship with Bucky, and through showing his placing his trust in Bucky. (rather than through having him sympathise with a villain who threatened to murder his sister and his nephews).

perhaps you want to show Bucky recovering from his trauma? show us how comfortable he is with Sam. they get along, they're enjoying each other's presence, we see more of Sam's life and of his family, and then let Bucky tell Sam something that's raw and dark and honest about his life as The Winter Soldier. something about a memory, one that he only just recalled. he's opening up. and maybe what he tells Sam is even something that sets up the future action-based conflict, to ground that in something real.

you want to explore that Sam has trauma too? do this through Bucky. he tells Bucky a story about his time in the military. in the form of a flashback, he shares his own story of loss to evoke before the audience the shared theme of feeling at fault even when you're simply a helpless bystander to an act of pure destruction.

then, action sequence! and it's directly connected to Bucky's time as the Winter Soldier. explore the grief of someone whose life the Winter Soldier tore apart manifesting into a villain perpetuating the cycle of pain. establish your villain.

Later, Sam is dragged into battle against this villain for protecting Bucky. But Bucky doesn't want Sam to protect him. He feels guilt for what he can't control and he doesn't want Sam getting hurt because of him. Bucky reminds Sam that he has a family, one who needs him and who loves him. He tells him to go home.

Sam reminds Bucky that he's a part of that family. And that sure Sam's a hero and his job is to protect anyone and everyone, but that he's doing it because he wants to. It's not simply to prove that he can, or to prove that he's not a bystander (this connects to Sam's trauma here), but that he's doing it to help people.

and this gets Bucky thinking about who he is and what he's doing here. is he a hero who stands by Sam's side? or is he an ordinary man who stands aside? or perhaps, does he stand alone? what does he stand for? Maybe Sam knows. But does Bucky?

Sam and Bucky fight off the villain again, and for the first time Bucky meets this adversary face to face. And Bucky recognises this villain, and has a flashback to the genuine pain that he inflicted upon them in the form of the Winter Soldier. Bucky freezes mid-fight, he almost dies, and Sam has to save him.

Sam chews Bucky out for almost getting killed because he was afraid for him. but Bucky takes this the wrong way and goes off to fight the villain alone, or perhaps to die alone, he's not quite sure.

He puts up a half-hearted fight. He apologises for what the Winter Soldier has done, and he waits for the killing blow, when Sam swoops down and he saves him. He asks Sam why he saved him and Sam calls him a moron. And then, Sam asks him what sacrificing himself would solve. He tells him that you can't choose your past but you can choose your future (connecting to his own experience of loss and guilt and grief). And that no matter what Bucky Barnes still has a future, whether that's as the Winter Soldier or the White Wolf or just some dork with a day job. And that he has a future as a part of Sam's family too.

Sam fights the villain, and it's toe to toe. He delivers a few good blows, but receives a fair few himself. And then the villain tears off his wings, first one and then the other, in a manner reminiscent of what the Winter Soldier did to him in TWS. Through Bucky's eyes there's a flashback to highlight the parallels. Sam gets back on his feet and he fights his best fight, but is now losing.

And then the heavily injured Bucky steps up and fights by Sam's side, and only together do they take down the villain.

"So... I inspired you, huh?" Sam teases with a smile, utterly exhausted. "With my heroism and-"

"You inspired me." Bucky said, equally exhausted. "Let's leave it at that."

Together, Sam and Bucky go back to the safety and warmth of their family. Sam fixes his wings. Sam goes back to being Captain America. And Bucky... he's around, but it's unclear what he's doing.

That is, until the very end. When Sam is in a fight, and suddenly Bucky shows up and helps him out.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asks.

"I've made up my mind." Bucky says. "I'm the Winter Soldier. But now I'll save lives, Sam. Now, like you, I'll be a hero."

Sam smirks. "So does this make you my sidekick, then?"

Bucky smiles. "C'mon, at least make me a partner." He says.

"How about co-workers." Sam says (in flashback, he remembers back to the death of his last on-the-job partner).

"How about friends." Bucky says, with a wry look.

"Bucky... I don't want to see you put your dumbass self in danger." Sam says.

"Oh, and it's ok for you to go running off into danger on your own all the time?" Bucky asks.

"Yes." Sam says stubbornly. "Absolutely it is."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not a dumbass?!"

"Sam, if you think I'm not gonna be watching your back for the rest of time... then you're the biggest dumbass I know. And I don't care if you need me or not, I will be there for you."

"Because Sam, you're more than Captain America. You're more than a good soldier. You're a good man. And I think sometimes, the world forgets what the difference is."

-

...or something like that.

(i only spent like 15 minutes on that. you know if i were actually writing this movie i would come up with something much better. and if anyone from marvel is seeing this, yes i can come work for you. i will make the time, let's do this thing right!)

-

finale

at the end of the day, whether or not the mcu chooses to make Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes a couple, it's their decision. and they don't owe me anything.

i'm just some random person on the internet. who thinks that Captain America 4 should #givecaptainamericaaboyfriend

[homemade-ghosts]

What do you think about the obstacles Tim mentioned in the interview? Something about Gina being upper class now, that surprised me and that people who watched the documentary will have opinions on them (I assume bad? cheating allegations? I don't know I never seen a plot like that tbh) For some weird reason and I'm a very negative worrier person I'm not worry

When Tim said Gina is an “upperclass person” now, I think he just meant that she’ll be a junior (in high school, typically, freshman & sophomores are considered lowerclassmen + juniors & seniors are upperclassmen) not in the socioeconomic sense.

Based on that hilariously awful/inflammatory doc trailer, if I had to guess, I’d say Channing made it look like 1. Ricky’s plan was to “steal” Gina from EJ (he was tasked with the ‘jilted ex’ role, after all) & 2. Gina cheated on EJ with Ricky. We know he has Ricky looking jealous & walking out after pw sang “Love is an Open Door”, nearly the entire “What Do You Know About Love?” performance, Ricky & Gina hugging at Color War and Ricky getting pissed off at him backstage mid-show (with Gina in the background) all on camera — so, it wouldn’t be hard for him to manipulate that footage and string together a narrative that Rina, potentially, had some kind of showmance-turned-romance behind the scenes.

I could see him editing it in a way that’s open to interpretation for the audience, though. Like, within the show, there are people who watched the doc and think Ricky pursued Gina and might blame him for EJ & Gina’s breakup & there are people who don’t. &/or maybe there are people who think that Gina cheated on EJ & they blame her. & there are some people who, maybe (hopefully?) see through all the bs, ship Rina & think (rightfully so) that EJ was responsible for the pw breakup + they just weren’t right for each other. I hope I’m making at least some sense here lol — basically, viewers within the show see the doc and have differing opinions, a parallel to how fans in real life react to hsmtmts itself.

It would be funny if they had the characters reading people’s tweets about the doc and being like, “This is the worst take I’ve ever seen.” / “I never said that!” / “Did they even watch the documentary?” I can just imagine someone calling Ricky a “homewrecker” in a tweet because, after seeing the doc, they think he came to camp to “get Gina back.” & him reading it like, “What?? C’mon, that’s not even remotely what happened!” & Carlos responding with something like, “That doesn’t even make sense. We all know EJ wrecked that home all by himself.” All of which would be a direct nod to how pws/rinis consistently invent non-existent plot points & misunderstand/misinterpret the show in real life.

We’re getting the OG HSM cast, playing a version of themselves playing their HSM characters in an HSM 4 movie that’s being filmed at East High, which the kids will all be featured extras in — all while they put on a production of HSM 3: Senior Year. Tim & Co. are clearly not afraid to go full meta, so they might as well take it one step further and include a representation of the actual show’s fanbase reacting to the doc the way some people react to hsmtmts irl. I’m not going to pretend I wouldn’t be laughing my ass off watching these characters put #them on blast for getting the show so completely & utterly wrong. 

(Side note: did reading all that hurt your head? Because it hurt mine. There’s a lot of layers to the meta aspect of s4, I’m just hoping I explained them somewhat coherently.)

I know a lot of people wanted Ricky & Gina to be secretly dating in s4, even before s3 aired, and I think there’s a possibility we might get that. If the documentary becomes as huge as they’re setting it up to be, and part of the audience thinks Gina cheated on EJ &/or that Ricky “went after” Gina, then maybe neither of them wants to be seen dating in public because they know that, if someone caught them, it could potentially be used against them to confirm the “cheating” storyline/rumors. The upside of that, for us at least, is that it could lead to some cute private dates that Ricky plans at his apartment because they can’t go out.

& maybe school is the one place they can be a couple in public, post-doc release (no press allowed on school grounds) but then surprise! HSM 4 starts filming at East High soon, which means there will be cameras everywhere and they’ll have to navigate that. Do they keep trying to hide their relationship? Or do they just say “screw it, who cares what people that we don’t even know think about us.” (Hint: if they go this route, it’ll be the second one.)

I’m not sure that I particularly love this idea, but I can’t deny it could be entertaining to watch and it sets Rina up with an immediate obstacle in their relationship that’s relatively easy to overcome.

Apart from anything doc-related, I’m sure there will be some discussions about their future. Ricky’s graduating this year and Gina will still have one more year of high school left after that — but I feel like s4 will pick up close to where s3 left off, so they’ll still have nearly an entire school year to figure all of that stuff out. 

Tim has been building Rina for three seasons and he talks about writing for them with so much excitement, that there’s “a world of opportunity for them to explore.” So I’m not worried either, anon. I think whatever conflict that’s presented to them will, in the end, just serve to prove how well they work as a couple.

[feelingofcontent]

DNP Rewatch: Viewers Pick My Outfits 2!

Date video was published: 12/21/2020 (X)

DNP Main Channel Rewatch: 432

The sequel to the first VPMO back in 2017! He did say at the end of that one that he might do it again...it just took three years.

Phil originally asked for clothes suggestions for this video at the end of November, so there was a lot of time for anticipation of when he was going to post it. He teased posting this video on Instagram with a picture of a pile of some of the clothes and Dan teased his presence too.

0:00 - what a start. also, the first time we saw the “living flat” furniture fully in the “filming flat” ...getting closer and closer to the new house announcement

0:08 - Phil really does gesture with his whole body when he’s doing a standing-up video

0:12 - Dan voice! and great editing choice there by Phil with that old calendar picture 😂

0:16 - annnnnd Phil already not looking at the camera

0:28 - Phil went with “pajamas” but Dan’s just letting everyone know he’s just wearing pants. Phil reacts to that too

0:36 - he had let people know that he would be picking a couple outfits this time, but Dan would still choose most

0:53 - Dan already coming in with the compliments

1:18 - obsessed with Dan saying “I’m gonna make you blur that” as if Phil wasn’t constantly shirtless in his early YouTube videos. I really would love to have seen Dan’s facial expression reaction to that

1:40 - love the editing here! and the shared jacket! Phil really did steal it, didn’t he

2:07 - the NASA Vans Dan got him for his birthday in 2019

2:20 - nervous-Phil hands

2:33 - the choice of that ripped jeans photo specifically...that Dan took, captioned, and posted

2:49 - awwww, young Phil 🥺

3:04 - them making gay jokes together in videos...is so much

3:10 - constantly living for Dan’s commentary

3:24 - tbh I think Phil looks really good in that leather jacket

3:22 - Dan does not like it when things make Phil look not like “Phil”

3:47 - “my hips don’t lie, Dan” 😂

4:23 - Phil immediately laughing at himself. this grew on him though! he still wears that striped t-shirt at least, and he worse the whole top for his plants calendar. (also, bonus Dan in it from the Stereo era)

4:33 - Dan with the modeling advice just makes me thing of the “work that rock” moment. also Mr English language degree not knowing what “aloof” is is hilarious. And Dan hyena laugh!

4:42 - his glasses had broken back in November...had he just not been wearing them?

5:06 - sweater paws 🥺

5:30 - Phil tongue thing! Dan is hyping things up

5:33 - the frog sounds in editing are just the cherry on top 😂

5:46 - crocks and socks! I wonder if Phil started wearing the crocks around the house. he ended up keeping a lot of this stuff (maybe because charity shops were closed?) but it did give us bonus Dan wearing this too

6:08 - “my dignity” king of comedy

6:31 - love Phil picking the heeled boots for himself!

6:42 - those pants just look horrendously uncomfortable

6:55 - Dan with the little “careful”

7:08 - zooming right in on his own ass in editing

7:14 - Dan can’t not compliment something about every outfit

7:26 - sometimes I forget Phil is as tall as he is, but then you see just how much leg he has

7:42 - “cheap version” indeed

7:48 - very faint Dan reflection

7:50 - leaving this ass bit in too, lol

8:06 - lots of blurring in this video. that Dan keeps requiring! 😂 

8:25 - it really does look like a clown outfit

8:48 - and more posing advice from Dan

8:58 - I enjoy that Phil zooms in on the empty door when Dan’s talking to him but he’s not visible

9:07 - Dan struggling for breath because he’s laughing too much. at least he didn’t put his shoes back on like he did with the cheese costume in the first VPMO 😂

9:14 - Dan clearly did not look closely at this at all before he picked it. “pump me hard” I can’t

9:26 - arms. 👀 and lots of leg 👀

9:32 - a bit too late to pull it down...

9:36 - not helping! 😳

9:52 - he’s still not over the brown sweater thing he talked about in Exposing My Browsing History!

9:55 - “and there’s the ass again” thanks for pointing that out Dan

10:16 - I don’t think it’s bad! and he ends up wearing the jacket in a later video. he tweeted about round glasses back in 2019

10:26 - I love both of them just saying whatever pops in their head and then responding to the other

10:38 - inventing an AU...of course Dan would

11:04 - also wore that turtleneck later!

11:08 - I love that Phil thinks he looks good! he should! 😊

11:44 - “nice to know that after all these years, he’s still fucking weird” 😭

11:48 - you can tell Dan just KNEW this would look good on Phil when he handed it to him. “look at you now” 🥺 Phil looks so confident in it too

12:04 - Phil in both blue and black...the ultimate combo

12:14 - Dan is so thrilled with absolutely everything Phil puts on. Dan knew Phil would like this sweater too when he picked it out! also...it having moons on it and the potential “moon” pet name thing 🥺

12:25 - Phil just making Dan laugh here

12:36 - Dan has a story for every “character”

13:13 - amazing. also, WHY did he have the skirt tucked up to make it even shorter? what a choice

13:28 - the contrast of “nightmare, ask who?!” followed by “bro, pull up your fishnets” 😂😂 this makes me laugh every time I watch it

13:33 - Dan is not holding it together at all and how could you

13:55 - “oooo...I don’t know about any of this” the roleplay is for later I guess 😳

14:05 - I love that THAT is the line Phil will not cross on camera 

14:17 - why DO the ears actually work on Phil somehow

15:02 - “the Phil dress? is this a thing?” ...it is; the Phil dress was seen previously in Clicking on RISKY links people send me!

15:20 - somehow he’s not wrong...it should be more disturbing than it is

15:37 - I feel like that’s very true. so much growth for Phil too over the years, not just Dan!

15:41 - a lot of leg in this video. Phil used “fighting bears” as a reason for bruises several times over the years, including this tweet from 2017

15:54 - ah, mems of THE PHOTO BOOTH CHALLENGE 🥺 also he’s pulling it up and making it dangerously short there

16:12 - I feel like there were a lot more actually good things than in the first VPMO!

16:39 - just now realizing how short that actually is 👀

16:46 - “you will get through this video” kind of comedy Phil immediately ready with that 😂

17:05 - the “meow” bit at the end!

Love this video. Love everything about it. One I still rewatch fairly regularly. I still can’t believe we got a pco, quiff-Phil one. Also, how appropriate that this is the video that sparked Dan’s return of sorts and the joint content of 2022. When Phil talked about them still working together occasionally in the future in Draw My Life: Part 2, he drew a scene from the VPMO video.

[sunghun]

park sunghoon has been on my mind all day, especially after seeing #3 and #4, but im indecisive and can't choose so whichever prompt u want to write will do ☺️ tysmm

3. a breathy demand: “Kiss me” - and what the other person does to respond.

a/n; omg mood. thinking about park sunghoon is about to be my new personality trait. also i low-key had to stop myself from turning this into a one-shot lmao (but tbh i still might like . anything is possible 👀)

“Kiss me.” You sounded almost breathless, but that was the point.

Sunghoon leaned in, but just before your lips could touch a sudden shout of “CUT!” made you both jump back.

Heeseung sighed. “Y/N could please at least try to look like you actually want to kiss him?”

“I am trying,” you huffed, crossing your arms.

“Well try harder. You look like you’d rather be kissing a fish. And Sunghoon, for the sake of not looking like an overeager 15 year old, stop leaning in so fast.”

At this point you wondered why Heeseung even bothered trying. You knew that this was an important assignment for him, but it was obvious to anyone with eyes that you and Sunghoon would never be able to get along well enough to play lovers.

When Heeseung asked you to be in his short film you had said yes, happy to help out in any way you could. But that was before you found out who would be playing your love interest…

Park Sunghoon.

You had tried to put your differences aside and get through the scenes, no matter how painful it was to act like you were in love with someone you despised so greatly.

But now, on the final day, for the last scene, it seemed like all your hard work of tolerating Sunghoon was going down the drain.

As Heeseung went on about how this was supposed to be romantic and not to make it feel rushed, you couldn’t stop yourself from rolling your eyes. “Yeah, right. Elsa wannabe over here doesn’t have a romantic bone in his body.”

Sunghoon narrowed his eyes at you. “Wanna bet, sweetheart?”

Before you could blink there was an arm wrapped around your waist, jerking you flush against his against his chest, and Sunghoon’s lips were practically devouring yours.

Your entire body tensed for all of three seconds before sinking into the embrace naturally, helpless against the feeling of such a deep and, quite honestly, thorough kiss.

You don’t know how long the two of stood there, your hands running through Sunghoon’s dark hair, his hands holding onto your hips tightly, and your tongues in each other’s mouths.

“CUT!”

You ripped yourself away from Sunghoon, your chest heaving from the lack of air and your heart pounding.

“That was perfect!” Heeseung set the camera down and clapped his hands excitedly. “That was exactly the kind of emotion I was looking for. Good work guys! I think that’ll be it for now. I’ll get to editing everything this weekend and let you know if there need to be any reshoots. Thanks again!”

You nodded absentmindedly, avoiding eye contact with Sunghoon and gathering your things, leaving the park as quickly as possible.

You just kissed the boy you hated.

And you liked it.

send me a kiss no more please!

[the-greendalehumanbeings]

Bridgerton Season 2 Thoughts

- it could have been so much better

- the chemistry and acting between Kate and Anthony was definitely good. in fact it is literally the saving grace of the show because the writing isn’t doing it any favours. honestly at times it did not feel like they were the leads.

- during Kate and Anthony scenes, I was only looking at Simone. She was amazing!!😍

- their first meeting, pall mall, bee sting scene and that dance during episode 4 were literally the best parts of the first five episodes.

- so many of their scenes needed to be longer. the hunting scene with them closing their eye- that should have been much longer. same with the library scene- it was wayyyyy to short. they should have been allowed time to bond. the scene where anthony comes out of the lake. tbh the shot should have lingered. it lasts like 3 seconds.

- did anyone else feel like the editing rushed everything?? like they had so much subplot every single scene felt like it was trying to go as fast as possible so we could get to the next one and fit everything in. even that scene abt honour, the way it was filmed or edited felt very jarring. (maybe that was the point but it did not work for me).

- this show starts out too slow. honestly everything went uphill after the almost wedding scene. the story picked up after that and it was the first time I felt any real excitement.

- it definitely felt like people had different visions for this season. it starts out as enemies to lovers, then this love triangle then this forbidden love thing and frankly it did not work. it was too rushed.

- the changes they made to Kates family’s backstory really shafted the relationship between the Sharmas. it was done for Kate to parallel Anthony’s character and I’m annoyed we didn’t get to see enough interactions with these three desi woman. Mary should have been in this more.

- Kate going back to India made zero sense. like was she just going to leave her entire family in England and be alone?? And Mary and Edwina were just ok with it??

- Kate and Anthony needed more scenes bonding and having fun like pall mall. like they needed to build up that emotional bond and intimacy more. bc all of that yearning and pining?? i did not believe it at all. and the actors were giving it their all, but there is so much going on in the background that it almost gets lost.

- I’m going to pretend that I never said anything bad about book!edwina. Edwina in the show felt like a lamb being sent to the slaughter. they made her way to naive which really took a lot of depth away from her.

- they should have atleast let Kate and Anthony have sex dreams abt each other. i mean they were already emotionally cheating. might as well make it worth the audiences time.

- the scene with violet and anthony flashbacks were honestly so good and tragic. one of my favourite parts. violet giving birth is probs one of the most emotional moments. the fact that the choice is between HER life and HER child and the doc is just ignoring her bc she’s a woman. and instead asking Anthony (poor guy). I mean imagine that.

- it really pisses me off we don’t get Sharma family flashbacks. Kates trauma is completely ignored. it would have given her and the Sharma family more depth.

- frankly this show tries to way too hard on the pining and the whole duty vs honour thing. which really made it a slog bc frankly K and A were just making a lot of dumb choices. plus Anthony choosing Kate meant he gets to do his duty + follow his heart.

- the most relatable moment was when benedict asked Anthony if he would shut up about ‘duty’

- this show was cowardly - they should have had K and A marry despite the scandal (would have driven home the whole duty be heart thing). instead they had the Queen okay it so the rest of the ton fell in line 🙄.

- the less said about the india storyline the better. the only positive was that they didn’t say that love solved colonialism.

- the show really though it did something when it revealed Kates indian name 🙄. I would not be suprised if they patted themselves on the backs after coming up with that. They couldn’t even pronounce Sharma correctly.

- I am confused by everyone talking abt the pining?? the forbidden love was sooo forced and dragged on. my sister is the type of person to was a 21 episode season literally just for one couple. and she stopped watching after ep 7.

-THE EPILOGUE!!!!!!! 🔥🔥🔥

-Epilogue >>>>>> show.

- honestly only the epilogue scene made me realise what pple were talking abt when they said insane chemistry.

- their ENTIRE epilogue dynamic is what Kate and Anthony needed more of. The whole angsty thing did NOT work for them.

- the playful bantering and teasing is where JB and SA chemistry got to shine. I am annoyed we didn’t see more of that. Bc I didn’t feel like K and A even enjoyed each other’s company until then.

- overall the season felt lacklustre- bogged down by side plots and that angst. tbh that love triangle didn’t do it any favours either.

- I do not care how accurate book to screen adaptions are. I do not expect them to be. but the chemistry between the two was more suited to for the playful friends-with-benefits marriage thing the book version had.

- seriously this show should have had more scenes with them being playful together. I cannot stress this enough

- I will watch S3 purely for the married Kanthony scene bc they that was the superior dynamic.

- the chemistry in the epilogue!!!!!! 🔥🔥🔥

- this season was held together by JB and SA acting

[shadowdianne]

Fic writer review [Or a fic writer tag game if you prefer]

I was tagged by @naralanis and I can already see her grin all the way from where I am xd Thank you, dear, for the tag, let’s see what are my answers, shall we.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

*bursts out laughing* Adding both pseuds I have… 535 according to the account info but by counting them all I’m reaching 541 so I’m guessing it’s counting some drafts I need to re-find.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

I seriously hated you for this one xd I was going to do it by hand by I decided one-third there that I value my mental stability a little bit more xd according to the stats page back at a03 that number would be 1257884. It may be wrong. I think there should be a few more numbers up there but the majority of my works are one-shots so *shrugs* There’s also the fact that counting my ao3 things only is shaving off like half of it Xd Anyway, can we laugh at the fact that I’m a pain in the ass and that I’ve written a lot? More than I should have, that’s for sure

3. How many fandoms have you written for?

Trick question because I haven’t crossposted everything I wrote back in ffnet and I actually erased some fics from my account back there so the numbers are a little blurry there.

When I had the entirety of my work posted both in ffnet and a03 I had written for: Twilight (Bella/Alice) Glee (Faberry and there were a couple Pezberry and I don’t fucking remember the pairing name for Santana and Quinn), Harry Potter (Hermione/Ginny, Hermione/Narcissa, Hermione/Bellatrix) OUAT (SwanQueen and several oneshots focusing on the mad hatter and the blue fairy solely back at ffnet that were written in Spanish and never translated), I actually had a veeeery old au prompt of Frozen (Elsanna in where I wrote them as non sibilings), Rizzoli and Isles (Rizzles), Dishonored 2 (Emily Kaldwin/Alexi Mayhew), Lara Croft and Wonder Woman, Supergirl (SuperCorp/Supercat) I had a 100 one -or maybe two??- (Clexa), The Shannara Chronicles (Amberle/Eretreia [Or Princess Rover], Rwby [Blake Belladona/Yang], The Worst Witch (Hecate Hardbroom and Pippa Pentangle), The Half of it, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Madam Satan/Zelda Spellman) and… I think that’s it(?) I may be forgetting some but probably nothing important if I’m not remembering it lol.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos?

Ah, we are going to go there, uh? Xd My works are not the kudos and comment getting type Xd So I was quite surprised when I went to check this.

1: Cracked it I wrote this one back in 2017, it was a prompt done by an anon: Lena is nerding with one of her projects at home, mumbling mostly to herself because she’s stuck and Kara casually mentions how to solve the problem like it’s nothing. I really had some fun with this. It was back when some us, SQeeners were fully doing the jump between OUAT and SuperGirl (I mean, there had already been some crossover as for fandom is related but this when the girls were actually getting their conjoined voice within the fandom)

2: Dateless I honestly needed to check what this one was about but I think I can see why this one shot has the amount of kudos it has. It’s a short and sweet idea and responds to the Teachers Au that went SO well with SQ. Everyone thinks they hate each other and try to set them up with other people whilst they, in truth, are dating. I don’t remember if I wrote them as married rather than dating but despite being from 2017 as well is one cheeky enough to be cool Xd I probably would edit some lines now *shudders*

3: After you I truly didn’t expect this one to be top 3. Makes me think of a lot of things, if I’m being honest Xd. After you was a one shot written almost feverishly as an answer to the fabulous drawings that Sejic did of both Lara Croft and Wonder Woman back at 2018 or something. It’s just Lara and Diana being himbos but not at all with each other.

4: How about… How about is one I remember perfectly, it was my answer to the ending of the Half of it film. I had SOME thoughts about it, let’s just stop there Xd I really liked the film itself but I think and I thought at the time that my response to wishing for a final scene at the very end of the credits responds to me being in a different personal moment than the characters. I really wanted to explore my feelings about it and so I wrote about them finding each other again after some time passes. It was also something I wrote after quite the hiatus so I took it as something I could write about without focusing too much on the why.

5: Come to me

Ahh, SuperCorp Xd I remember this one actually. A friend of mine and I were talking about descriptions, and she mentioned quite off-handedly how she wanted a fic in where Kara’s back was described. I complied… more or less.

Fun tidbit, despite the big volume of my work is obviously set in ouat there’s only 1 SQ fic there as you can see, the others are either SuperCorp or the random one shots I created for Wonderwoman/Lara Croft and The half of it. *sighs in deep thought* I’m also not going to look too much into how almost all of the fics were posted and written back in 2017. Nope, not at all.

*Small voice screaming you peaked in 2017 and everything else is garbage jumps back and forth*

5. Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?

I tend to always respond, yup. I truly value comments. I might have gone for spells of time in where I didn’t have the mental capacity to check in old fics because I truly didn’t know what to answer but I treasure every single comment and you all who comment know that I can start to ramble in the answers xd -sorry about that- I really really REALLY love interaction.

6. A fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending:

Ok, Nara, come on, this one is a catch for me. I’ve written angst in far too many fics to remember the angstiest one :P I have the most recent one, though, that is the easy one to think about: Goodbye.Written for @delirious-comfort. I’m just going to say “Kisses with their last dying breath” as an idea of what awaits inside but I’ve written about death and loss and angst quite a lot. There were some I wrote back to SQ with Regina needing to kill Emma during the Dark Swan arc that, to this day, I still love and some others in where Regina is the one that dies, again and again, trapped by magic while Emma watches. I have the loss in mental destruction form and… I REALLY like my angst y’know xd

7. Do you write crossovers?

Not counting Lara and Wonder Woman not really! I think it comes from the fact that I loooove worldbuilding as a whole and some pairings would require all my focus into making the world perfect which in turn would make me self conscious on the OOCness of it all.

8. Ever received hate on a fic?

*snorts* I’ve received hate due to the pairing I’ve written about, how I’ve written about it, the amount I’ve written, how slow or quick I can be, the usage of some tropes, the lack of usage of those same tropes… Let’s just go with: yuuuup.

9. Do you write smut?

I’ve written smut, yeah! But I can already see the pointed looks of some so let’s elaborate Xd I write smut when asked and sometimes when not asked but there’s a part of me I like to call a terrible tease that prefers writing the beginning of a scene, taunt it, focus on what happens before the sex scene per se as I find it more enjoyable to write. The process of escalation is always the best for me to see what can I do it by using both dialogue and descriptors tbh, so I tend to tease more than show.

9. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

A few weeks ago I’d have said: Maybe(?) But trying to follow the trail of some other fics that had been stolen from some friends -I think it was me trying to find more about the page that stole something from your Nara!- I found some pages in where my fics had been reposted. In some it was stated that the person posting the fic wasn’t the author but I had never been contacted in order to see if I’d say yes to such a thing and in some others the page was locked up but I could still see someone was pretending to be the author. I did the thing and got some of those down.

Pointed note: Ask me if you want to post or translate or anything. I will look into you and answer you if you seem honest about the thing. But despite every joke and self-deprecating comment those 500 and then some fics represent MY time so very kindly I say fuck off to those who wish to steal from me and if I catch you… you don’t really want to see me angry, trust me.

10. Ever had a fic translated?

I’ve given permission to some, yeah, but never heard it back from them so I’m guessing it didn’t stick.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic?

I’ve written series alongside other authors as @stregaomega for example. And some others that are unpublished -looking at you @carsonnieve - I’ve also done collabs… but fics co-written in the sense of two authors same chapters I don’t have anything posted I’m afraid :P

13. All-time favourite ship?

*snorts*, I guess the obvious answer is SQ uh? And I do think they were the ones that allowed me to read and write SO much. The one I feel more strongly about, however, is Bering and Wells from Warehouse 13.

14. WIP you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will?

All of them counts as a valid answer? But if I only could finish one that would be Arcadia. With A forgotten Promise second and the one I did as an Assassins Creed AU third. (I don’t remember the name so there’s no link, sorry xd)

15. Writing strengths?

Uhhhh, you REALLY want me to say that? I don’t fucking know!! To me everything I write is garbage. I always try to go for the feelings so I guess. Dunno xd I’ve been told I’m good at worldbuilding and to be honest is what I enjoy the most.

16. Writing weaknesses?

Everything Xd Pacing? What I hate the most sometimes is dialogue, I would count it as a weakness but I’m always far too focused on description rather than dialogue. I don’t think it’s a bad thing per se but it’s something that I don’t do as much.

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

I’m conflicted. Always. Majorly because I think that having bilingual characters in fanfiction is portrayed and expected in a way that I don’t feel it’s honest with how bilingual people -us- talk. So if I go by what I know I do I think it’s not what readers hope to see when it comes to that and if I go for how canonically is hoped to be found I don’t think it’s logical. But that’s me and my overthinking Xd If I have the option I like to do it.

18. First fandom you ever wrote for?

Belice! Or Bella/Alice. Worst first fic ever but oh, well, I’m always saying that :P

19. What’s your fav fic you’ve written so far?

Uhh… Don’t make me do this XD Agh, I don’t know. I’ve always been very vocal about Metallic Ink because I let myself enjoy the process of creating a magic system almost out of zero and that was fun. Despite hating some of the writing process and that I’d do it differently now I think I’m going to stick with that answer. Or anything that had any steampunk-based undertone. To be honest I like more thinking of concepts, I had one in where Emma was a thief and it involved the robbery of a ring that was Regina’s one way ticket to freedom I then later repurposed that I adored thinking about so let’s go with…. Yeah, I love having the option of changing things up a little and focus on how characters would fit in different aesthetics for this one Xd

Annnd… these are four pages, gods. I’m just going to tag @waknatious @carsonnieve @stregaomega here and see what they do- Enjoy the questionnaire ladies :P

[niniblack]

Top 5 Fan Works of 2021

Bit late to this but here goes! Thanks for tagging me @frostysunflowers

rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2021. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

1. old ghosts keep whispering

It’s 2019. In a universe where Thanos didn’t snap: Steve Rogers has retired and Sam Wilson has taken up the shield; Bucky Barnes has his mind to himself again and is trying to make amends; Tony Stark has moved upstate with his wife and infant daughter; and there’s a new masked vigilante haunting the streets of Queens.

And in other news, there are still no new leads in the 2007 unsolved disappearance of three-year-old Nicholas Stark from the Italian beach villa where he was vacationing with family and staff.

I'm gonna be honest, I wrote this over the course of a weekend, while manic. The idea came to me and grabbed me by the teeth and would not let go. And it has still not let go. Which is why it's a series now. But this first fic, with Bucky's part of the story, is the one demanded to be written. I find the themes about him making amends really interesting. The way he spends all of TFATWS making friends with the old man who's son he killed, as if that will make it right, only realize in the end that what he actually has to do if tell the truth and offer the man closure. It's more painful for them both, they were both happier as friends, but what the man needed was the closure about his son's death, and only Bucky could give it to him. And then, once he'd done it, he needed to walk away and leave him alone. And that's what Bucky does here too; he provides that closure to those he's wronged. He makes amends.

2. relieved to lie in the wreckage

When Obi-wan doesn’t follow Padmé to Mustafar, she’s able to convince Anakin to run away from everything with her. But this doesn't prevent his nightmares from coming true, and he's left alone in a hostile galaxy with the infants she begged him to protect.

One of the better things I've ever written, tbh. I got sucked into Star Wars again late '20/early '21, and read a ton of fic and was reminded how hard I ship Anidala and how much I kind of love them because they have issues. (Making a playlist for them is great.) Because, when it came down to it on Mustafar, Padmé actually was ready to take off with Anakin even knowing what he'd done. She was willing to overlook it to be with him. Also, I just really like Dad!Anakin.

3. The Simple Life

An AU of The Game Plan, set right after Civil War and featuring a very lonely Tony Stark with poor coping mechanisms; a very young Peter Parker who is losing track of how many lies he’s told; and a very busy Pepper Potts who is starting to see her ex-boyfriend in a new light.

Another one that probably contains some of my best writing. I feel like I grew quite a bit in skill last year overall, but I also wrote A LOT more last year than ever before in sheer time and quantity. This is one of my most tightly plotted fics, and for all that it is an AU of a film, it only follows that film at its bare bones. The meat of it is really in Tony's story, which is tied very firmly into explaining how he went from being single with no team at the end of Civil War to asking Pepper to marry him and being in a place where he was inviting Peter to join the Avengers in Homecoming. That attitude shift in just 5 months has always interested me, so I'm exploring it here, under more drastic circumstances.

4. my family (might be a walking disaster)

Nicholas Stark was kidnapped when he was three years old and never seen again. Now, at age fifteen, Peter Parker has discovered that Tony Stark is his father and he has a family he had no idea about. It’s not just him and Aunt May anymore, now he has a father, a stepmom, and a baby sister too. Oh, and he’s still Spider-Man.

He’s handling the whole thing like a champ. Really, everything is fine. He’s totally got this. It’s everyone else who is having issues.

Next one in the Nico series! I love biodad au's, and I love kidnapping fics, and biodad kidnapping fics, but I wanted to play around with some of the tropes in them. And I wanted to deal a little bit more with the trauma that sort of thing would leave on everyone involved, especially Peter (and what it means that he's forgotten or suppressed a lot of his early childhood because of that trauma). And how that impacts rebuilding a family.

5. The Best Thanksgiving Ever

Thanksgiving, 2024. It’s a year post-blip and Tony Stark has invited all his family and friends over to his idyllic lake house for a perfect holiday. It’s gonna be great. Perfect. Absolutely nothing is going to go wrong.

I just want them all to be HAPPY. Is that really too much to ask? One big happy family, coming together at the holidays in chaos.

-----

I have no idea who's done this and who hasn't so far! um... tagging @stillwaterseas @josselinkohl @jenniboo311 @turtletotem @spagbol99 @hale-13 @karinaisloud anyone else who wants to go wild!!

[petruchio]

Things I wish were in the movies:

1- Cheesebuns, because depriving us of drooling at them is pure sin!

2- Why did they not show us the gamemaker-falling-in-punch-and-making-a-fool-of-himself scene? I demand justice!!

3- Where did our ugly Buttercup go? why do we have a pretty cat?

4- I wanted to see the scene where Plutarch talks about it happening at midnight and shows off the mockingjay symbol in his pocket watch! That was very vital to the development...

The only good thing they did in the movies was the amazing editing and effects, the propos and the awesome as heck looking Capitol tech...

Finally...if the movies for such an amazing trilogy were crappy, i dont even wanna bother watching tbosas honestly because i didnt like the book (prolly because there was no HEA and no Everlark either)

This is just sad because even I cant be nice about this...

Thank you for hosting the fandom's rants about THG movies and books. You're incredible lol

Stay safe!

yesss honestly go off!! plz rant all you want there's so much that got cut and it's always good to think about WHY it irritates you in thg because it all matters!!

we all know i'm going to put my clown wig on and go see tbosas in theaters because i am a glutton for pain. although i have a little bit of hope tbh, i mean our cultural conversation around a lot of these issues has shifted significantly since the release of the original hunger games movies so i think there's a small chance they could adapt it the right way and at least emphasize some of the more profound political messages. i mean, yes it's being handled by the same people who did mockingjay so idk it might not work at all, but i do think that tbosas is a lot more on the nose with its political messaging so they might have an easier (?) time adapting it in that way. but who knows... they'll probs just make it a #badass #action #film that is rated pg-13 so who's to say

and yes i love hosting our little thg seminar class on my blog! it's so fun hehehe i love u all sm

[mrs-bartowski]

I've been thinking a lot about this whole Mackie/Seb sambucky thing and while I still wanna personally fight everyone who's even tried to accuse Mackie of being homophobic, I do think there's a level of accountability for any and all actors that we're missing here to recognize and understand the impacts of baiting in all its forms.

And I'm not just talking about queerbaiting here. Everyone who pays any significant amount of attention to the tv/film industry understands the concept of subtext, including actors. If they don't, that's a whole new level of ignorance I don't even wanna touch on. But for the most part, actors aren't blind to the writing, framing, editing, etc. choices that often become the foundation for baiting accusations - at least not completely. And there isn't a single marginalized community who hasn't had at least a handful of blatantly baited characters.

But this is where the accountability comes in. Mackie's answer wasn't intentionally blind to some of the impacts it's had on queer fans, but we're in a place now where actors can no longer afford to be blind. The same way we demand growth and education and understanding from people whose beliefs often harm people, we need to start demanding growth from people whose ignorance harms people.

And I don't use ignorance in an accusatory way. I don't believe that there was anything wrong with what Mackie said, especially knowing that I will never be able to truly understand all the reasons he said it, but I do think that the way he said it could have been much, much better.

So, as much as we hate the cancel culture side of fandom, we have to start firmly rejecting the protection squad culture side, too, and start thinking about actors as the normal human beings they are. We exist in shades of grey. Moral absolutism is a load of horse shit. People are flawed. They make mistakes. But that's why we have each other. To mutually educate ourselves on as many perspectives as possible in order to do the least amount of harm with our words and actions to communities we might not understand.

Where would we be if our friends canceled us every time we fucked up and hurt someone because we were ignorant to something? I literally found out a few days ago that the nickname I've been calling my cat for the last 4 years is a slur I didn't know existed, and if the new friend who pointed it out to me hadn't been so nice about it tbh I probably would've spiraled and put myself in danger because I felt like such a peice of shit for not knowing for so long.

So, no. We don't have any tolerance for the people trying to cancel Mackie just because the way he said something - something that was clearly meant to be respectful while still remaining honest and true to his experiences - was a little uncomfortable or felt offensive. Because, yes, impact is greater than intent, but intent still matters, especially when it's from someone who has had nothing but love and support for all his fans from day one.

But we also don't allow our need to defend him blind us to his ignorance, however involuntary. We use this as an opportunity to reach out - sensibly and respectfully - and air our grievances in a way that does not attack or accuse him, but instead helps him to understand the impacts his words are having and how he can do better in the future. It's really that simple, folks.

And maybe if we could all start figuring that out before we polarize the fandom and shut the actor down to any form of feedback (because who tf would wanna listen to what any fan has to say after dealing with the dickheads we've been seeing all day), we might actually get somewhere positive with the public attention from stuff like this.

[palmett-hoes]

Do you have any fan casts or strong takes/feelings on the foxes’ appearances? Fandom tends to use the same Pinterest models, which feels wrong to me.

i do in fact! i've actually been meaning to make a post about how i choose to write all of the foxes' ethnicities anyway

but yes i absolutely agree that the typical pinterest model types u generally see on edits is not how i see any of them. nor is reece king or froy gutierrez or lucky blue smith one of my FCs for anyone

for a lot of them i don't necessarily have a single specific FC so much as i have like,, a general impression of features that i will see on various different people, who all may look wildly different from each other or who may not even look how i see the character as a whole but do have a specific feature i associate with them. mostly it boils down to the Energy i get tbh and that's just a Feeling i cant even explain

fun fact im a tiny bit face blind so that might account for some of why i'm so all-over about this

may as well go chronologically. some of them i definitely have more thoughts on than others

1. Dan

ethnicity: Afro Native (Sioux)

features: medium dark skin. buzzcut, killer fade. she often styles it in waves. she's very butch, wears a lot of basketball and cargo shorts, tank tops and flannels and jerseys, hiking boots. skinny but muscular, with a very rectangular body shape. defined jaw. probably like 5'4 or 5'5

FC/Energy: sometimes i get some dan energy out of janelle monae but more butch. lotta dan energy out of samira wiley. lashana lynch

2. Kevin

ethnicity: a lot of things tbd, but he's pretty multi-ethnic. i like the idea of kayleigh being half- or a quarter-japanese in addition to irish because it gives her more of a reason to go to japan for her undergrad. wymack is from d.c. which is a majority black city for its actual residents, but i also like the idea of him being Pasifika/Hawaiian. HOWEVER - and this is pretty important to my read of kevin's character - he's white passing, and has been mostly treated as a white guy who tans his whole life, like occasionally asked if he's italian maybe. learning that his father was a Distinctly Not White Man was a big shock to him.

kristin kreuk, lindsay price, phoebe cates, and marie digby are all half-asian actresses i base kayleigh on

i suppose i base his story partially on broadway actress carol channing, who revealed publically that she was a quarter black when she was like 80 years old. though maybe wentworth miller, a biracial actor who knows his father is black but also doesn't know him, is more accurate to kevin's story. then keanu reeves is a white passing actor with asian ancestry

also none of these people look anything like how i picture kevin lol. kevin is just like,, a guy. handsome ig. but kind of in a CW character kind of way

actually

kevin looks exactly like young jason momoa

3. Andrew

ethnicity: kayin/karen from myanmar

features: fat and muscular, very wide and heavy. this blog is basically all andrew body type refs. medium-olive skin, has a bit of a greyish tinge that makes him look a bit eerie or unhealthy. deep set, droopy eyes; looks so tired. flat face with a low-bridged nose. crooked teeth, especially his canines. natural hair black-ish but he bleaches it light blond. has the beginnings of martial artist punching callouses in his knuckles

FC/Energy: holy shit the characters i feel have Andrew Energy are all over the place. pedro pascal. babe ruth (yes fr). oddjob (harold sakata) from goldfinger. the jinn (mousa kraish) from american gods. gaear grimsrud (peter stormare) from fargo. takeshi kovacs (joel kinnaman) from altered carbon. and i wanna be clear, it's these characters specifically, and generally NOT the actors outside of that specific role. except pedro ❤️

4. Matt

ethnicity: cuban

appearance: matt has more of an Energy than specific features to me rn. that energy is Warm. he has that Warm bro jock dude energy. kind of a marvel hero build, hunky and muscular. very rectangular face. has this haircut:

5. Aaron

i get to cut myself some slack and not go AS in depth about aaron because he and andrew are identical twins

ethnicity: kayin/karen from myanmar

appearance: similar build to andrew, less confident and casual posture and body language. less apathetically murderous and more emotive expressions. better teeth bc his mom took him to the dentist. yes also bleaches his hair

celebrities: probably a lot like the difference between the characters and the actors. andrew is the characters and aaron is how the actors actually look. idk ive never looked at someone and thought 'hey! looks like aaron!'

6. Seth

ethnicity: have been going with half-vietnamese. considering looking into various south asian possibilities like pakistani

appearance: string bean build. that's all i have to offer

7. Allison

ethnicity: allison's very up in the air for me. she and seth are the two foxes i feel fine with being white, but im committing to having no white foxes sooo. i would say i generally see her as either half-middle eastern or chinese

appearance: plus sized and hourglass shaped. heart shaped face. taller, like 5'8 or 5'9. she has a pretty fraught history with her appearance and her parents payed for/pressured her into getting a nose job to have a 'prettier' nose. she also bleaches her hair blonde. she gets it done at a salon tho the twinyards do it in their bathroom

FC/Energy: elle king and nadia aboulhosn are my main inspos for her, esp body type but nadia esp in Vibes

8. Nicky

ethnicity: multi-ethnic. his mother is southern mexican Indigenous, possibly oaxacan. his father is mixed white/kayin

appearance: definitely takes after his mother while his father is white passing. dark brown skin, warm undertones. slightly stocky build. tall ovular head and thin aquiline nose. he's kind of just,, the opposite of the twins ig, so like their facial features look very different, which is a big part of why people don't make the connection between him and the twins alongside the difference in their skin tones, heights, and builds. nicky's build and features are very vertically-oriented, with a tall head, narrow-set eyes, thin nose with a high bridge, etc. the twins are horizontally-orienged, with broad, flat faces, wide-set eyes, wide noses with a low bridge, etc.

FC/Energy: yalitza aparicio, not a guy but one of the few Mexican Indigenous stars in the film industry and i really like her features for nicky. she's oaxacan

9. Renee

ethnicity: Black. african american

appearance: plus sized, circular/apple body shape. round face. dark skin. microlocs to a bit past her chin, bleached white and dyed at the ends. she and allison go to the salon together. femme but plain style, a lot of blouses and long skirts, practical shoes. knuckle callouses. about 5'6

FC/Energy: dominique fishback. tracie thoms, esp in RENT. gabourey sidibe. nicole byer, but not in Energy. brandy, for some reason, probably bc i think she has very serene Energy and is a little bit otherworldly. like if brandy played arwen or galadriel from lotr it would make perfect sense to me, and that's the Renee Energy™️

10. Neil

ethnicity: mixed. Black/Jewish on both sides. his father is polish ashkenazi and afro-brazilian. his mother is Black British and algerian jewish

appearance: very... sharp. like sharp all over. does that make sense? sharp features, sharp face shape, sharp angles to his body. he's got what i vaguely think of as a 'basketball build' not meaning tall but meaning very rangy and angular and lean. all limbs. seth has a similar build. lighter brown skin. he has waardenburg syndrome which is actually where he gets he gets his eye color, and his eyes are very large and widely spaced as well. freckles freckles freckles. freckles everywhere. 4a hair but at least during canon it's not very healthy and thus the curls aren't well-defined. he grows it out long enough to tie back and starts taking better care of it in post-canon. wonky, slightly crooked teeth, with a gap between the fronts

FC/Energy: now neil i actually have a ton for. mostly models which im a lil ashamed of bc i do try to draw more from athletes. alton mason is a main body type ref. mugsy bogues is good to see what i mean about the basketball build without the height. here're the boys: cykeem white, luka sabbat, désiré mia, Leo Hoyte-Egan, dylan hasselbaink, this beautiful stock photo model i've never been able to track down

i think about him every. goddamn. day.

in terms of like,, real ppl and not models: corbin bleu, especially during Jump In. figure skater elladj balde. rayan "ray ray" lopez from mindless behavior. A$AP Rocky a lil bit, maybe i just like his hairstyle idk

two more models i think are important: carissa pinkston and ralph souffrant