#not just a funny haha montage

[selfshippinglover]

NO ONE CAN COMPREHEND THE LENGTHS I WOULD GO TO FOR CANON PRE WHO KILLED MARKIPLIER CONTENT!!

[sharkneto]

So. Season 4.

Let’s start with the good. In no particular order -

The road trip. Loved the energy of them all together again and suffering mildly and looking terrible. I appreciate we didn’t waste a bunch of time with them without their powers.

Gene and Jean were great. Loved their energy, the right level of weird. Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally were perfectly cast for the roles.

Liked the idea of the Keepers, the consequence of all the timeline meddling leaking through.

Loved the concept of the subway-between-timelines. That aesthetic slaps for the map alone.

 The Truman Show Christmas Town. They nailed the creepy energy, I liked how ridiculously well-armed it was, I liked that they all died badly, I liked that the Umbrellas got to flex their powers. Diego’s flipping and bullet-mancy was fun, as was him cheating at the axe game to win his kids toys. Luther finally being properly bulletproof was also nice.

Ben Doc-Ock-ing around on the Horror. And the Horror dragging behind him while powers were booting back up. Silly fun.

Loved that Viktor dated and was unable to hold on to every eligible woman in Halifax. Daddy Issues strike again and again, poor guy.

It makes no sense for the level of tech in the show, but I did laugh at Ben being a Crypto Bro. That is the exact way in which his personality sucks.

Jerome and Nancy. If they had left Diego being suspicious of Lila seeing that “little Greek guy” as a “haha it’s just Five!” joke, it is very funny. But they didn’t. Alas.

I didn’t hate the ending! I will always think redemption through living is a better and more powerful conclusion, but them all dying to save the world because they’re the force causing repeat apocalypses was always on the table as an option. I thought they did a good job hitting emotions, them all snarking together until the end felt in character and heartfelt; if other writing choices didn’t happen before it, I think they could have really stuck that landing. I thought the easter eggs of characters from earlier seasons was fun, I hope the Handler still sucks as a regular person.

Overall, I was vibing for the first four episodes. Was it perfect? No. It was never going to be, but I could overlook the usual UA cringe and plotholes because my favorite guys were back on the screen and having good character moments together and fumbling along to save the world. I don’t usually care about spoilers, but I worked hard to avoid S4 spoilers specifically because I didn’t want expectations. The show was going to do what it was going to do, and I didn’t want to judge it for things it was never going to be. And that strat worked well for the first half of the season! It was on par with S3, which I’m an apologist for – had stuff I liked and stuff I was going to be happy to ignore, but overall we’re having a good time! My favorite dysfunctional family is here, I had missed them!

Then Ep5 hit. And we’re onto the problems and things I would change (under the cut --)

The biggest problem of the season is that the pacing was wack, in both an internal time-frame and technical-writing frame.

Internally, media for some reason has no idea how long a year is. Some of the Hargreeves’ problems at the beginning of the season would have worked much better if we were jumping in at year two or three of being in the new timeline, six years is a long time. Diego and Lila’s growing pains at being parents and living a domestic life, how to balance having kids makes more sense to be at this point. And the first couple years of adapting to no-powers-new-universe is way more interesting that hopping in once they’re all settled into mostly-sad patterns (which is in character for them all, they’re disasters). Why not an opening montage of them in their active struggle? Why are we picking up six years later? Unfortunately, because of Ep5, it does feel like the whole point of such a long time jump was to get Five’s body to a legal age and not just so Aidan wouldn’t have to pretend he’s physically a teen anymore (even though we have 30-year-olds playing teens all over other TV shows).

From a technical writing standpoint, for a show that only has six episodes to bring about a satisfying conclusion to a plot as convoluted and bonkers as UA has, they squandered Episode 5. The first four episodes we were moving along, finding plot points, getting Umbrellas in position to move things forward, and then Ep5 hits and is anyone except Viktor and Ben doing something for the plot??? The show is at its strongest with the Umbrellas are together, and it went out of its way to split them up. I also usually love character time, but we had no time to spare! We spend most of the episode either with Five and Lila in the subway, or with Klaus in the world’s most fucked-up situation. And neither do anything to build meaningfully towards the final episode! A weird choice to have your show screech to a halt in its penultimate episode.

Usually, Klaus’ side adventures loop in some important detail that pushes things forward in an unexpected way – he destroys Hazel and ChaCha’s briefcase because of Vietnam, he finds the Kugelblitz, he puts Reggie in position to use Oblivion. This time? He’s getting used and abused by a gang and buried alive to be reunited with Allison so that we… gain nothing? Except Klaus and Allison have made up from their fight? Why did I have to watch Klaus get possessed and fucked for that to happen? Why did they do that to him and me. I don’t mind angst and the incredible fucked-up situations, but it has to be earned and the story didn’t gain anything from it. Klaus just had a horrific time because that’s what he gets, I guess.

And now we get to Five and Lila. Five and Lila, Five and Lila, Five and Lila. The thing is – I don’t hate the idea of them. Obviously, it’s not anything I was ever going to ship on my own, but if they’re going to do it, I can see how and why. They even set it up in a way that I go “yeah I get it.” The thing is, after setting it up, they completely forgot what makes either character themselves or compelling so that they could be shoehorned into Cottagecore Bliss in the greenhouse and the most boring romance possible. If we're committed to doing this, I wish they’d had a weird trauma-bonded relationship in the rat pits of the subway, I would have understood that. Supported it even, tbh. Let them be weird and feral together, yelling and emoting at each other over eastbound vs westbound trains. Instead, Five, who for the past three seasons has been driven by his need to save his family, is happy to delay returning and give up on them to keep very quietly playing house with Lila. What the fuck. Lila, who cannot handle domestic life with Diego and her three children, can handle being a housewife with Five and wear soft sweaters and dresses. They didn’t try to kill each other once! I said way back after S3 aired that I didn’t like Lila’s pregnancy plot because it was going to tie her down in weird ways, and lo and behold! UA writers cannot write women, and it sucks that Lila was yet another casualty of that.

And then the whole thing shafts Diego. I know Diego and Lila don’t have a particularly healthy relationship, but he’s an Umbrella and Lila’s mom is the Handler. I think they do pretty well for what they’re working with, they have a fun chemistry, and it seemed (before this season) they really loved each other. Why did Steve write them off instead of letting their arc be them falling back in love (well, I guess that was Diego’s arc. Wasn’t Lila’s)? Now the three of them get to spend the final episode of the entire show in an unhappy, unnecessary love triangle instead of us getting to watch the Umbrella Academy fully join together to save the world one last time.

After all of that, the rest of my complaints feel like small potatoes. Why don’t we do another numbered list to round out this essay. In no particular order –

It sucks Ben was the plot driver of the season and then doesn’t even get to die with his family, just melted and turned into mindless Cleanse Goo. I was excited for him to get to do more, was excited for a payoff for Viktor trying to return the favor of Umbrella Ben sacrificing himself for him. I wish the Cleanse was more squiddy because it was made out of the two squiddiest characters.

UA has gotten more and more flexible with powers as the seasons have gone, but I straight up do not know what Allison’s power was at the end. Was she telekinetic? Was she Rumoring reality? Why did we have to use that to graphically crush a man’s balls in front of Claire? I liked that the powers got an upgrade and a twist, for the most part, but that only works if we know what they are. Lila has laser eyes and I thought that was it until they needed her to mimic powers again in the last episode. Five can’t blink anymore because he now just goes to the subway (still an aesthetic that is cool, and a cool way to have it tied in a different way to time), unless he’s doing it with Lila? Viktor just has energy now, I guess, sound doesn’t seem to be part of it.

Abigail. I did not fully follow what her motivation was. I wanted her to be comically evil, worse than Reggie, but – again- UA writers can’t write women so I guess she was just a good guy benevolently taking skin suits so she could get the world to end to save the world. Boring. Reggie also should have recognized his wife even if she was wearing Gene and kissed Nick Offerman.

Why didn’t Five have a reaction to his Apocalypse? He had PTSD flashbacks in S1! He was trapped there for four decades! It’s been six years but it’s not like he was working on his mental health during that time. No reaction???? Don’t even get me started on Delores and his “Good thing I’ve never been married” comment.

I’m not usually for fan service, but it felt like the season was actively trying to avoid fan service. Was Gene and Jean’s dance really the only dance party of the season? Five doesn’t have a single fight scene to fun music? Five doesn’t kill anyone all season??? What the fuck.

I wish the Fives in the Five Diner were Sean Sullivan. Bring back Old Five, why would Five fuck up his jump back in every timeline.

The gratuitous fat shaming. It’s always been bad with Luther, but absolutely ridiculous the comments made about Diego.

I don’t particularly like Sloane but where the fuck was Sloane. And I hope Ray not being in the show was a scheduling conflict, because that was tragic that he off-screen left Allison with no further explanation or context. Didn’t feel very Ray.  

A lot of character arcs from over the whole show stagnate or go backwards. Luther is back at the Academy after working to build his own identity. Klaus I guess has to be on drugs if he has his powers. I don’t know what’s going on with Allison and Claire’s relationship – it seems bad at the beginning but just sort of fixes itself when they go rescue Klaus? Diego tries to have an arc to understand how much good he has with his family, but the writers won’t let Lila be part of that. Don't get me started on Five.

I wish the writing team cared enough to actually know the characters. Luther’s powers aren’t tied to him being gorilla’d – that was a separate event, why would the marigolds re-gorilla him. Lila likes bracelets, one of the very first things she did in the show was take and keep the one Diego made. It’s little things, but they go a long way in making us know the creative team cares, rather than just jerking around these characters because they have an idea the think is funny or shocking and requires characters to go against their established personalities and motivations to pull off.

Overall – it was fine, which is not the energy you want when finishing one of the most popular shows on one of the biggest streaming platforms. I get why people are upset, I get a lot of mourning is happening, but I hope we can find a spot where we can enjoy what we have and play in the space again.

It was always going to be a rough goodbye. This show, as cliché as it is, changed my life. I started writing because of it. I’ve made some incredible friends because of it. It helped me figure out I was trans, because of Elliot Page. I’m going to miss it. I’m going to keep hanging around here having fun with the characters, but I’ll miss the fandom, too, as people move on to whatever the next new thing is.

It's been a ride, everyone!

[dippersguidetotheunexplained]

ok i know i keep harping on how i think tone was done really poorly in the bill book journal pages but like ok can we compare that to how jokes were done in the post portal incident era of journal 3 for a second because its driving me insane rn

like firstly theres barely any jokes at all in that whole section because the entire point is that ford is at the lowest point of his life and the whole rest of the book has plenty of jokes so its not like we cant afford to take a break from that for a minute but WHATEVER there are a few ok im not such a killjoy that i wont admit there are a few so lets take a look at one of them

like we get a joke here!! dog peanut butter face bit is funny i think we can all agree its a little funny. but like its all in the placement you know. the joke is here specifically so it will make the following suggestion that ford hurt himself feel even more jarring. its there along with calling the shitty diner coffee "industrial strength" to establish this slightly lighter mood that immediately gets shattered when we see that everyone in the dinner may in fact be under bills control, and that theres no where ford can go thats safe. its a really good example of humor and fear successfully being used in tandem and its one of my favorite scenes in the whole journal.

lets compare that to a section of the bill book

like the first part is one of the most gutwrenching moments in this whole section and we do not even get the luxury of a page turn separating us from the beginning of a goofy fucking photo montage. we are shown that bill is willing to last minute ditch a suicide/homicide attempt as a display of the complete control he has over fords life at this point and we are given no time to sit with this at all. we immediately go right into haha eurythmics reference funny embarrassing video of possessed ford looking crazy haha hes holding a funny sock puppet. the bright colors on the polaroid makes it the first thing you notice on the whole spread even

and like its morbid humor here ok i get that but like its still meant to be funny. and it completely throws off the deeply brutal and hopeless mood that was just established it does nothing to support what was just shown at all it feels like a desperate attempt to lighten the mood and i cannot for the life of me figure out why. especially since right after this we launch right into the extended nightmare sequence in which ford cannot move or remember who he is anymore so i guess we are suddenly meant to take everything seriously again. you know until the last sentence of that section when theres another joke again.

and also NONE OF THESE JOKES ARE EVEN FUNNYYYYYYYYYYY

[that-birdy-chick]

So I finished season 6 a couple days ago and I wanted to order my feelings a bit before writing something here, but-

what the ever loving FUCK were the last 5 minutes of this finale??

Like this was genuinely such a good ending to the season, after all their ups and downs and the fighting in the episode before, Danny finally gets a chance to be badass, safes the day and his Steve TWICE and it would have been so easy to have this be the moment they finally FINALLY have a heart to heart and air out some of whatever the fuck has been going on between them since season 5

Danny risked his life and his kids growing up without a father (which the show has established multiple times, is his WORST fear), chases down the people who hurt his partner with a broken rib, then turns around and gives Steve his freaking LIVER without batting an eye and -

No one gives A SHIT???

Like I loved all the moments the team had sharing who Steve is to them and how important he is to them but than you have hartcut to Danny in a bed, being treated like he's invisible, no cards, no gifts, and I know it's supposed to be funny but I'm sorry where is the joke?

And Steve's response to ALL that is "HAHA Danny one day you're kids will hate you as much as I do"???

Like WHAT?!

WHO ARE YOU?

Steve, no matter how sky high on drugs he may be, would NOT, under any circumstances, say something like that

Also to have this after the fucking "darling, stand by me" montage made it look so much like a last minute "no homo" slap, that went a bit to far

just WTF

What were the writers thinking??

Or am I overreacting? Did everyone else find this funny?

[taki118]

Yakuza Fiance ep 6 Manga Comparison

We are halfway through the anime folks. As always under the cut I have everything the anime missed out on from the manga. The scans are fantranslated cause I'm lazy.

First thing the convo between Tsubaki and Yoshino is framed in the manga as a flashback.

The convo is mostly the same but once more details are missed such as Yoshino determining that Kirishima seeing her then was 6 years ago.

We also loose out on this cute image

Now they then cut to the school where the manga picks up so I'm not sure why they removed the stare thing (I know the anime loves its dramatic stares) maybe for time?

Anyway the convo at school is much the same but if you thought that little stop Yoshino gave during her lecture was weird well the manga has an explaination

Like I don't get why the anime didn't put a text box or something they've done it before, its just kinda odd. (I dunno I honestly forgot about this during my first watch and was like "That was weird" I didn't get the reason for Yoshinos shock maybe thats just me though)

Ok so the scene is again mostly the same but the visuals when Yoshino realizes she's Kirishimas first friend is such a down grade in the anime. She just stands there and the word friend repeats in the background meanwhile the manga gives us this

Like we get this cute little slugger Yoshino, which I gotta assume is a reference to something, then we get a little montage of all the shit she's gone through its just very underwhelming by comparison.

So ok the Nao stuff first of all I wanna say the lighting is like off like its so bright the manga gives the impression of a more softer lit place so it feels more like a high class bar. Its not really a difference but it annoyed me and I am writing this haha.

The convo is much the same again with some small stuff cut, I'd say Naos internal thoughts are much meaner in the manga. They did change placement again though. When the other women bring up Kirishima in the manga Nao goes straight into flashback mode

It gives the impression that she is lost in thought and can't help thinking about him even though she's such a calculated person, this info gets put into the anime but it doesn't offer the same weight but I'll compare once there cause they made.....choices. But also it doesn't feel as abrupt when Kirishima shows up in the manga you get the impression Nao has been sitting silently for a bit. Not the "hey we were literally just talking about you" vibe the anime has.

So they put the flashbacks in when Nao is in the bathroom scene and they are framed a bit differently from the panel above (the sex thing is there just on another page so i didn't add it) So like instead of a scene in a bar or club where you assume they mightve talked about him before she approaches we get this

Which is like ummmm I don't actually know if the anime is trying to make a point or not, about the age difference or whatever

So like Nao panics more in the manga (and I really wanna make a post on this at some point so I won't get too in the weeds but) and we learn just how long it's been since she saw Kirishima (we do get him saying it was 3 years in the anime like the manga but honestly ya'll missed out on her panicked thoughts)

So it was three years ago Kirishima is 18 now meaning he was was 14-15 when they met which is why the scene in the anime is interesting. I think they thought rather than having nao say the time frame they thought to visually imply it by having her see him in school uniform which is a choice particularly with the girl she's with. Like we have a college freshman (probably she might be older) openly being like "wow arent those highschool freshmen so hot?" I dunno it's kinda funny.

But yeah anyway the manga gives us more detail into her thoughts and how she thinks about it (also did anyone else think the close up on the kiss was weird and it lingered too much?)

Anyway we get another loss of thoughts

Like nao is constantly thinking like this not sure how she'll come across in the anime honestly.

Anyway again convo is much the same only shortened, with Kirishima directly saying she acted more like a foreigner back then. But also when he leaves she doesn't look at the card in the manga, nor does Ozu show up to give an ominous stare (this adaptation and adding stares I swear to god)

Ok so this is something I mentioned in ep 4 but they took out how Yoshino has been planning a summer trip to Osaka for a while

Like this they also took out which leads into her cute hand binoculars (glad they kept it) and convo on the phone with Kirishima. Its another set up thing they dropped so it feels a little more random and convenient in the anime.

So the start of the trip is overall the same but again we loose some character beats

In the manga it feels like she pulls him before he gets shoved and we get explanation why he's never really been to Osaka and a cute culture clash moment.

Ok so this is weird we get the face but we don't get the context for it. Like this head thing felt so off to me when I first watched again maybe its just me.

That being Yoshino trying to play tour guide for Kisishima all while doing tasks.

We also loose out on the explanation as to why she's buying so much food and Yoshino getting a little nostalgic. These scenes also help to show that the roles have shifted with Yoshino being the knowledgeable one Kirishima has to relay on in a new city. We can kinda get the vibe in the anime but you really feel it in the manga.

I will say the scene at the Takoyaki store is pretty good in the anime giving some actually fun visuals and expressions.

So the scene with Nao and her coworker is longer in the manga the woman keeps complaining about various things and Nao is working overtime with keeping her composure

It actually showcases a lot of her personality with all the mental back talk she does so its a shame it was cut. Like I get it who wants to listen to someone humble bragging like this but it takes away from her character.

We also loose more of Naos thought process as she considers seeing Kirishima again due to this conversation.

Again I will likely do a whole thing just on Nao at some point but the anime skips over all of this and gets right to Ozu talk.

But once the get there ugh we once more loose some set up stuff

Again not having Nao think about Kirishima makes her contacting him seem a little less calculating and we loose the hint that Ozu was trying to contact Nao privately. The rest of the convo goes the same.

So we do loose some cute domestic stuff with Yoshinos arrival in the anime

Showing how she is with the gang members its not a lot but still.

So the room scene is pretty one to one which i am very grateful for its one of my favs. We do miss a small explaination about the keychain though.

No spoilers for anime onlys but be the fact that it feels heavy is important later. I will say the touch of doing a close up on Kirishimas hands as he holds it like he doesn't want to let go was really good.

So the walk is honestly well done in animation and I'm grateful to how they visually show Yoshino struggling to keep pace with the two but we do loose a Yoshino thought thats important.

Its kinda important for the arc as Yoshino tries to better understand Kirishima.

The store scene is very accurate and I love they kept the Shoma trying to sneak to drinks thing but we lost this dumb Shoma face

We then loose an inbetween scene of Nao meeting up with Kirishima before the hotel. It again serves to establish Nao as a character and her thinking.

Honestly this would have been better to end the episode on. Instead we get a very rushed Hotel scene.

And I do mean rushed, the tattoo talk is longer and helps to set a timeline for Kirishima.

Like im having such trouble picking things cause this scene is so much longer

They go into more detail about WHERE exactly they are going tomorrow which is set up. Then before he leaves to shower we get this back and forth where he explains she seems more like herself now.

Which then leads into the seeing the phone screen. It all gives the impression of two people who have history. But the anime is so rushed you can barely tell. I am really hoping for some brevity next ep cause it will have some scenes I really like.

[cookinguptales]

I was reading your latest meta and it got me thinking, mostly the part about how Guillermo's trigger is being undervalued and I agree but also I think he takes Nandor's shit because he knows Nandor actually values him. Like in seasons 1 and 2 there are times when he thinks about killing him, but all starts to change when Nandor saves him from Topher and then Guillermo's like now I know my master cares for me. I think Nandor was very loving by vampire standards from the start, he's just a little better at showing it now, but the big change is not his behaviour, it's that Guillermo is aware that Nandor cares. The bit in 5x01 about the cute montage or even his smile at the cinema proves it. Like we're supposed to think haha he's delusional how funny, but he's not actually, he knows Nandor loves him even when he laughs at him or is being rude. And while Guillermo has gotten more and more secure in the knowledge of how Nandor truly feels, Nandor doesn't have that... at all. If anything each season gives him more reasons to fear abandonmet, there was always the risk of Guillermo leaving and now there's this new fear of him staying and still not being there for him emotionally. The turning is just the icing on the cake. I think to fix things and to make it work between them eventually Guillermo will need to prove to Nandor that he lives him for him and that he doesn't want to leave him ever. I'm not saying marrying Guillermo will fix Nandor, but I'm not not saying it lol

*looks at her entire body of work on ao3* yes, these are subjects I also think about a lot. lmao

No, you're right, these are things I really love about the show. Like I was saying in that meta post, you really do have to look at Nandor's actions through the lens of vampiric norms. Nandor absolutely does not treat Guillermo well by human standards, but by vampire standards... he's downright eccentric, how into his familiar he is. That comes up a lot, actually. Other vampires are weirded out by how devoted Nandor is to Guillermo.

I mean, just look at how we've seen other vampires treat their familiars, including even other vampires in the same house. They're completely disposable. They have them fight like pokemon. They put them down when they get a hangnail. They keep them in dog cages. They've completely dehumanized familiars because they are glorified food.

Like... maybe even worse than food? Like maybe tainted food. Vampires regularly fall for (and turn) humans, but there's such a distaste for familiars. At least other humans are free, y'know? They don't debase themselves the way familiars do. I think that's what disgusts the vampires far more than familiars' intrinsic humanity. It's the servility. The willingness to sacrifice their own. (Vampire shall not kill vampire, etc.) The fact that they take orders, something that most vampires clearly chafe against.

(Side note: it's so interesting that Guillermo, who clearly wants to be a vampire so he is no longer constrained by social norms, has willingly taken on a role that's even more constrained and submissive for years. That's a whole meta post in and of itself, though.)

But despite the blatant disrespect that vampires have for familiars, the open manipulation they use to keep them in line, the total dehumanization they engage in... Nandor doesn't. He protects his familiar. He plays one-on-one games with his familiar. He confides in his familiar. He does what his familiar says, partially to make him happy and partially because he is willing to acknowledge that his familiar is often right. These are all totally foreign behaviors to most other vampires.

Guillermo does come off as delusional at the beginning of the series, but we quickly realize that he's not wrong. Nandor was willing to sacrifice his life (and the lives of the other vampires) to save Guillermo at the Council. He did apologize to Guillermo and try to make it up to him after letting him down at the club. He did save Guillermo from Topher, even if he wasn't emotionally capable of admitting why. Guillermo was right.

Guillermo, we come to realize, actually knows these vampires better than literally anyone. And that's part of why he's been rewarded with a very strange relationship, for a familiar. It's also why he can see through Nandor's surface shittiness to what lies beneath. (Which is occasionally more shittiness, but is often something much softer.) You're right, his smile at the movies really did speak volumes. He knew why he was there, even if Nandor was being a crab at him.

The only thing he doesn't seem to get about Nandor is how easily he can hurt him. I think he's finally, finally starting to understand how much power Nandor has given him. Like... I remember when Nandor went off to join the cult and Guillermo was like "I guess now I know how it feels." He genuinely had not considered up until that moment how badly it had hurt Nandor when he'd left him. He hadn't considered that he had that power over him.

But I think Guillermo gets it now more fully than he ever has in the past, and I think he'll only get it even more by the end of this season. He knows that Nandor has abandonment issues, but he's never seen the way those issues are attached to him specifically. Nandor always plays it off like he didn't miss Guillermo when he was gone, and Guillermo used to believe him. But he's finally seeing how fucking weird Nandor gets when he's worried about Guillermo leaving him. He started to see it in s4, with the wedding stuff, but he's really seeing it now.

Nandor is upset. He's upset purely and only because he thinks Guillermo doesn't want to be with him anymore. And Guillermo really can't ignore that anymore -- and isn't, for that matter. It's really killing him, I think, to finally realize just how much he means to Nandor right after doing something that will damage their relationship, perhaps irreparably. He's finally putting all the pieces together and realizing that even he didn't see how much he means to Nandor.

Nadja and Laszlo, however, know just how fucking weird Nandor's behavior towards Guillermo is and always has been. They know exactly what Guillermo means to him, though they're a little fuzzier on why. (Though thankfully, they are also starting to see the light.) So they understood immediately what the consequences of all this would be.

I do think that Nandor mostly just needs irrefutable proof that Guillermo wants to be with him. He has been damaged by all the times that people have left him in the past, and he's been even more damaged by all the times Guillermo has left him in the past. I do think a large part of why he won't turn Guillermo is because he's afraid that he'll leave once he no longer needs anything from him. I do think that's why he has such weird, unhinged, possessive behavior towards Guillermo's attention. I do think that's why he concocted an entire fucking wedding.

I don't know that marrying Guillermo would completely assuage his fears, especially considering the way that all of Nandor's past marriages have ended, but it sure wouldn't hurt. lmao. I think Nandor probably wants to be the wife this time, too.

I think he just needs something real and tangible that will make him believe fully that Guillermo will never, ever leave him. And hell, who knows? Maybe that'll be Guillermo being turned, knowing that Nandor might kill him for it, and still sticking around.

[the-chessboard-is-personal]

ii s1 liveblog but it's just one line per episode and all in one post because people seem to hate liveblogs

also under a cut so the post can be short

1 - gh. this is. 13 years ago?? yeah it sure looks like it. call me problematic or whatever but PLEASE tell me the animation quality gets better. PLEASE. I don't hate the show for this but it is hard to watch /gen

2 - bomb stuttering so much he needs subtitles feels like a harmful representation of people who chronically(?) stutter but I don't stutter so I don't have a proper opinion on that (could someone in the notes confirm or deny?)

3 - KILLED HIM?? (<- said when Balloon was popped) okay it's really funny how in this episode alone I could say that and be talking about threE DIFFERENT CHARACTERS-

4 - okay so I paused in the LOL scene and. "TO DO LIST: REPLACE COINY!" ? ..anyway. what the fuck was that

5 - no budget ass montage skip /silly- ah. nevermind 5.5 ?? - no actually I didn't know that about the 10 contestants thing because no one ever said it in an episode prior to that. also dictionary definition of Taco I see you

6 - who the fuck was that in the intro. is there an orange character?? also what the hell. I didn't install an adblocker for that. UNAUTHORIZED FUCKING THING 🔴. BLOW IT UP NOW!!

7 - who the Phuck is that. wait. that's another MePhone. OH SHIT THEY HAVE BEEF ?!

8 - MePhone 4S?? KILLED HIM??? hm yeah no wonder this show has "insanity" in the title what the fuck is going on

9 - ehh not much to say about this one tbh

10 - don't tell me the fucking COMMERCIAL OBJECT is gonna win

11 - hey neat slideshow. I See You. also yeah yeah this was 12 years ago, but. ......one of these characters seems like a harmful stereotype and this time I'm not talking about Bomb. uh. no further comment. AAAAAAAAAAAA AUDIO DESYNC AAARGHSDFKJG HDLS;JGHGHOS;GHSOLKG RAGRHJ HGARRGAHG RAGHRHAGHGH /negative (sorry again call me problematic but audio desyncs ruin things for me)

12 - oh. more episode 1 flavored pain and suffering. great. oh they don't like it either lol. also what is narnya

13 - OJ you dumbass you SAID THE THING. also hey neat clouds. I See You. ... [paper lore happens] me: yep uh huh *eyes glaze over*

14 - minecraft glass sound hahah[gets hit with the realization that Minecraft is 12 years old] ..haha idiotic island TWOOOO-...oh.

15 - it's him!! and he has claws now! oh he's pathetic. ohh hehe I see. "I'm pretty sure I don't." foreshadowing much? wait WHAT DID 4S JUST SAY

16 - "I guess it's nothing" mhm. sure... jhfkasf "Oh pleas[like button lights up]e, like you've never eaten a sock before" ..4 arms MePhone?

finale part 1 - NOO THE BOX IS OPEN!! wow why so many MePhones- oh wait that's. that's probably a parody of iphone. huh

finale part 2 - "you're DVD and I'm blu-ray" hahahahhaha yeah? you sure that's the gotcha you want it to be? ..oh. OH. w,hat ??hmm ratings huh? reminds me of someo[I am Thwomp'd]

one thing. why does the orange never show up again after that one thing in episode 6 ?

[darkfictionjude]

I really don't want to demand anything Jude because WWC is awesome, but it would be funny if Crowny was just randomly spending time with an LI and then out of nowhere realizes 'Fuck. I'm in love with this person.'

I mean, that's literally what happened to me, so it would be funny. Bonus points if Crowny has a whole montage where they just get up and start breaking things because HOW THE FUCK DID THIS HAPPEN? Also, one question: like, in MC's childhood, before the financial hardships, how rich were the Crowns? Like, since it's a small town prices would be a lot lower as well as living costs (like, think of the disparity between Texas and New York City).

If the Crowns randomly got up and moved to New York or California, could they have a comfortable existence or would every day be dumpster-diving day?

Also, will we have options to help the family finances through our side-quests and stuff? (Aside from marrying Imre or Nia, because while that's definitely on a wish list, I need to make sure my Lorcan-obsessed-Crowny is set for life.) Okay, this is becoming a lot more than one question. Sorry!

What’s funny is that it could of will happen like that 😭 Crowny is new to this so they wouldn’t realize they’re in love until it smacks them in the face

Honestly they might have another panic attack haha

So the crowns weren’t that bad for the first few years, it was around the mid eighties when shit started going sideways. Like yeah prices are cheaper in small towns and prices aren’t as bad as they are now in the world but like the crowns come from good stock so they would buy expensive things cause the family was supposed to be wealthy and maintain that image

Now if the crowns had the wealth they did during Victor’s childhood they would’ve been more than fine living in a big city. Like it really was generational wealth

I mean the side quests don’t give Crowny a lot of money 😭 at most they get 20 bucks it barely scratches the surface 😭 sometimes they don’t get paid with money at all 😭

Honestly Lorcan and Crowny could have a relatively comfortable life like being a mechanic, plumber, getting a trade could be good for Lorcan they would never be wealthy but they would be comfortable

[accirax]

initial thoughts on DCAS episode 20

^ reminder for everyone that this applies to these initial thoughts as well! it was quite the surprising sight to have pop up at the beginning of the episode, though.

... what is Emily's motivation to kill Trevor here, exactly? i guess she took a page out of Riya's book when it comes to pushing gays off of cliffs.

yayyyyyyy, they're finally getting along! :D

does framing people for theft and twisting their already broken ankles count as "working"?

i guess we do know from Aiden in Season 2 that Tom and Jake were the most popular players. it makes sense (especially given the grandparent context Ally goes into), but it was still quite surprising.

i really hope that Tom and Jake talk this out at some point, whether in the finale finale or in the tomjake miniseries, because the truth of the situation is that Tom's absence from Jake's life was contributing to his misery, which was apparently much greater than anyone expected. i know that Tom never intended it to be that way, but i'm also sure that his fooling around with lying about having a boyfriend wasn't doing Jake any favors. i just want to make sure that the inadvertent hurt that Tom caused Jake doesn't get swept under the rug.

haha, it's puns in visual storytelling :)

this is understandable. Riya can and will use your backstory against you.

.......................................sigh

this might sound like an odd critique given how much people love to dunk on DC's writing (especially in All Stars), but i actually think that the ONC writers don't have enough faith in themselves. i mean that in the sense that, across the season, they set up really compelling plotlines and rivalries between both Jake/Ally and Connor/Riya that people will naturally want to see fulfilled.

for Ally and Jake, just being here and being forced to work together after everything they've been through is already enough, especially when Connor's hopes are stacked on top of it as well. we're in it with the characters for the ride. so, we don't need more bits of fake drama, like Jake being petty and shocking Ally out of nowhere last episode, or Ally reacting stupidly to Riya's obvious lie, to keep up invested. we don't need a huge last-minute spectacle to feel like Ally and Jake working together is a big deal, because they've been subtly and slowly convincing us of that through the entire season. instead, diverting from the steady characterization to inject needless drama in is just going to convince everyone that nothing matters.

i don't know if this could be a miscalculated flaw from trying to account for the fact that any viewer could hop in at any time on youtube, or appealing to the youtube/tiktok algorithm, or an internal, insecure standard to insert drama into the show at any cost, but i hope that the writers realize how good they are at using heartfelt scenes to build up character dynamics across entire seasons and stop breaking character for silly plot twists in season 4. i have a lot of faith in the writers. i hope they can find that faith in themselves.

y'know, everyone keeps saying that...

OOH THE MOTION BLUR??? POP OFF ONC ANIMATION TEAM I SEE YOU

the "Ally, you're going there!" sign was so fucking funny

that's not very "i'll never work with or trust Riya again" of you, Grett

i literally said before Riya struck her pose, "i hope that Riya does the 'aren't you gay?' pose when it's her turn" and then she did! it's her signature move for a reason ;D

this is, like, the exact same spot and pose as when Trevor initially found Derek and Kristal kissing. i wonder if that was intentional. also, the Gay Thoughts Montage(tm) was really funny.

why would you do it like that? hasn't Trevor suffered enough...? (/j)

@venus-is-thinking pointed out the hilarity of Jake being the one to say this, as he's one of the two contestants who actually has been in the mines before. i guess it just goes to show how disorienting the bags were.

get his ass!!!

i KNEW Ally was going to make a minecraft reference as soon as Kristal explained the challenge. miiiiiiiiiiiiine diiiiiiiiiiamoooooooonds...

way to keep your eyes on the prize, queen.

we love money laundering!! (i think that's close enough to what money laundering is? also i'm joking, obviously.)

again, what is Emily's motivation here? i know it's technically "get the show canceled to embarass Kristal," but she really believes in that so strongly as to put the lives of six innocents-- including an eight year old-- at risk to do so? idk, i feel like Emily's character fell off the realm of reality into supervillain status. it's sad :(

boy, i sure am glad that we witness Riya and Yul pick up 10 gems in this scene! (/s /j)

very brave, Jake. i feel like this parallels something in s1, although i can't remember what. maybe it's just Alec protecting Fiore? that doesn't seem particularly relevant, unless Jake is also auditioning to be her dad.

James: wait... does that mean Jake and Ally are going to fall madly in love with each other? #rivalstolovers.

they look like paleontological fossils in there. the fuck happened to them?

somebody, quick, give them a miniseries! this is too good of a poster opportunity to pass up!

you have to make sure you strike a slay pose, even as you're dying.

props to the trailer for making it look like Ally was the one who sent the rocks to James' face instead of Riya. that was a fun setup and subversion of expectations!

see, Riya can and will use your backstory against you! i was kind of expecting her to do this to Jake, too, given the setup from earlier in the episode. i guess they might be saving that for the finale proper, though.

(check out the reblog for my thoughts on the ending, i ran out of images)

[mikuni14]

Pit Babe - Ep 13

I don't have much to write about this, because with the exception of Way and his potential partners, nothing else really interested me in this series. And it's good that people who know the novel were throwing spoilers left and right without warning, because thanks to this I could mentally prepare for what will happen to Way 😶 Thanks to the fact that Way in this episode just stood there, then jumped, and then died, making it all about Babe anyway, and thanks to spoilers, his death didn't really affect me. It was oddly funny tho, when I thought wistfully again how great Pavel and Nut are together and how I wish they were together as a pair (this is my unfulfilled ship in this series). I watched for a bit after that scene, hoping that maybe Way had somehow survived, hehe, but it was a vain dream 🤡 I honestly chuckled in disbelief when PeteWay was reduced to Pete's little sadness and a montage of some 4 of their scenes, and when I realized that they didn't even have Kenta there to mourn his brother. Tbh I skipped through the rest of the episode, and since I wasn't interested in the rest of it in the first place, that was the end of my adventure with Pit Babe 🥳 Despite knowing the spoilers, I had quite high hopes that Way would survive, because he was actually VERY popular in the Pit Babe fandom, and killing off a fan favorite is always a risky move. Way could have been punished for what he did in many ways, he could have left the team, cut off contact with Babe, left the country, anything. Even go to jail, like in History 3: Trapped! And yet they chose something so final. Nobody even called an ambulance for him....

I liked that it was Kenta who ended The Tony problem, and that he wasn't overwhelmed by his own actions, didn't lose control and stopped Tony when he tried to hit him. It was actually my fav part of this ep. (and the whole Winner and The Boys scene lol) As I understand it, Kenta didn't have any more scenes after that? Even to cry over Way? Am I wrong? I ask, because maybe he did appear after all, and I have missed him by skipping scenes.

If you are a Charlie fan, don't read this part: Even though I'm allergic to Charlie and CharlieBabe, I forced myself to watch their scenes at the beginning because I was curious how Babe would deal with the fact that Charlie was alive, he lied to him in a most fundamental way, broke his heart in the worst possible way, sending him into mourning and a destructive need for revenge. Babe handled it with flying colors like a model grief stricken patient 👌 Can't help but wonder, why there was a ENTIRE episode about the grieving Babe when he acts now like Charlie came back safe and sound from visiting his mean family during Christmas. I don't know if I could be with someone who actively chose the most cruel way to hurt me but "for my own god", I certainly couldn't just forgive it, but that's just me 🤷‍♀️ Babe was used, abused, hurt, never asked for his opinion, for what HE wanted by everyone around him, over and over again, and everyone knows it and everyone continues to use him and hurt him because they know they CAN and there won't be any consequences. When Charlie, beaming happily, announced the reason for faking his death and traumatizing Babe, and Babe was liked, oh ok, I thought to myself, haha, ok, guys, you know what, I actually envy you this simple life of yours. This scene confirmed only one thing for me: yep, Charlie and this pairing irritate me just as much now as at the beginning 😏

I don't know if I understood correctly, Jeff had a vision and knew that Way was going to die? As I recall, he tried to stop his previous visions from becoming reality, and now he did nothing? Can someone confirm this for me or have I missed something here?

So. PeteWay and PeteKenta have carried this series for several last episodes, these ships have been heavily promoted by the series and the show's cast. The ending of these ships with Way's quick death, which is not even about him but about Babe and the disappearance of Pete and Kenta from the plot, in my opinion, is an insult to their fans who have invested their time, energy and emotions in this series (this is not about me, I mean all those people whose hard work I furiously reblogged, I love you besties). It sort of looks like baiting now , I thought Thai BL series of all were above that 😄

Sending hugs and kisses to Pit Babe fans and fans of things that could have been 😘 As for me? I hope there will be a lot of content with Nut from now on 💖

Pretty pics from @infinitelyprecious

[papil0nglegs]

My hazbin hotel review

(Chronically online girl complains about demon show, enjoy)

I’m gonna be Frank guys, I don’t have so many problems w this show. Yes I write fics abt it but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have flaws, like SO many flaws. When I first finished watching it I was OBSESSED. I loved the characters the animation the music etc. that was until I rewatched it and realized how much I didn’t really like it. I was mostly bias because I remember loving the pilot back in 2019 (also I’m gonna go a bit hard on the show but Viziepop is a poopy person so I’m not rlly gonna be overwhelmed with sympathy)

Also I don’t plan on being easy on this show because it’s ‘indie’ cuz it’s not it’s on Amazon prime now. And secondly Viziepop herself is just eugh, not even including the stuff she did back then but she’s just not a good person by a longshot considering her tweets that she makes even today

The pacing:

Pretty much everyone has said this, the pacing is not good. I can understand that the network def didn’t give them much to work with 8 eps and 25 mins for each but even then there are something’s that didn’t felt like they could’ve been fixed

Something that I thought felt like the best example is sir pentious, we see him move into the hotel, get revealed for being a spy, exposed, then forgiven in the spam of like 5 minutes. I found this the best because I literally left to use the bathroom and I came back to them singing the ‘it starts with sorry’ song and I was like, “wait what.”

I feel like the pacing definitely could’ve been fixed by either removing or moving some elements to upcoming seasons. The meeting in heaven felt like we were in the 3rd season of the show and most of the stuff we learned such as the ‘winners’ not knowing anything about the exterminations, and Vaggie being an angel. And unlike Vaggie being an angel thing, the ‘winners’ not knowing anything about the extermination just gets revealed and the leave it at that? No one in the court protests it other than Emily, and I feel like someone else would too + I find it kinda weird that Lute first cares about the secret not being shared but when it does she’s just like ‘oops kill demon lol’.

A huge thing that I didn’t like was that we don’t see the people at the hotel bonding, we do see husk and angel dust bond but the rest characters just come back after the fight training thing and are just like ‘haha that’s such a funny thing that just happened to us off screen just now!’ I would’ve loved to see Nifty being fr for like, 2 seconds. Like pls

Characters:

This cast is filled to the BRIM. I’m sorry I love these characters but some of them feel just too useless? The vees are such a non threat considering the real threat we see in heaven such as Adam. We legit see vox get his ass handed to him in an epic rap battle of history and in the final song they still try to paint them as a threat? Maybe Valentino makes sense but so far Vox and Velvette look so weak. (Also why hasn’t Charlie or even Husk ask Lucifer to kill Valentino? 😭 I know that Charlie isn’t a fan of killing but like, in this case it’s out of self defense so like.. )

Ep 4 is nearly everyone’s favorite understandably because the show actually feels like it’s taking its time with its characters. We actually see two characters begin to bond finally not off screen. But like, I know people are gonna be mad at me for this, I hate Angel dust. I didn’t like him mostly because of his jokes just making me cringe but in ep 4 I began to like him, until the Poison song. I’m sorry, but who told them it was a good idea to make a pop song montage of a character getting s3xually abused? 😟 I won’t get into it because everything I have to say is in Dumbsville review on hazbin hotel where he actually spoke to survivors of s3xual abuse and gave their opinions on Angel dusts character.

Why is there a r4pe joke on sir pentious? Hey guys remember when s3xual abuse was treated like a terrible thing just a few episodes ago? Well now it’s funny, pls laugh.

This is the part where I get mad that Alex Brightmans character wasnt written well cuz it’s Alex Brightman.

Adam, is def something. I was interested to see how Adam would be interpreted since in the prologue he demanded power and it made me wonder how that would be played in the story. And then, they just made him a sex joke machine 😀 I have a theory that they didn’t know what to do with Adam so they just made him apart of the extermination plot, and he’s voiced by the same guy who does sir pentious so I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

It’s really strange how they make the villain so 2d considering the message of the show being that people can change’ and that ‘everyone deserves a second chance’. However they truly missed the mark here when it came to the main villain of the season because they kill him off as if he didn’t do the same thing to the sinners. It would’ve made sm more sense if they had the villain also be forgiven. Like once Adam is defeated, Charlie does a ‘it starts with sorry’ reprise, to show that people in heaven could also work on themselves.

This was my hazbin hotel review you can tell I had no idea what I was doing and if you think and wrong then shut up

[otakween]

Eleven Hungry Cats (1980) - Movie Review

This was so sweet, so pure 🥺 Admittedly definitely not the kinda thing people picture when you say "anime" but it's definitely on MAL so I watched it. This movie is available, English translated on YouTube as a VHS rip. The quality is crunchy, but that added to the charm honestly. It's based on a picture book of the same name. I will say...you can definitely tell it's a picture book plot stretched out to a full length film lol. Not much happens and you just have to accept it.

Notes:

I feel like I could list the anime with full animal casts I've seen on one hand. It's not like there aren't a ton of them, but they're usually pretty niche. Of course when you're talking about media for really little kids it's more common.

The cats in this all low key looked like Doraemon (they're even blue!) Doraemon came first but only one year earlier than the picture book this was based on. I guess this was just the style for cats at the time lol.

I'm really not sure if this story had a moral or not. Some picture books are just meant to be silly for silly's sake. It did have themes of teamwork but it was mostly just a bunch of cats being really dumb and (canonically) annoying.

The concept of the "heroes" being so despised that the town throws a party when they leave was really funny. I related to the villagers because I have loud, annoying neighbors haha.

There was a drug sequence because all kids movies need to have either a drug trip or alcohol reference for some reason (I watched Trolls 3 recently and it was full of that lol). OKAY WAIT. I just learned something. The cats eat "silver vine" in the movie before the drug trip. Apparently this is the southeast Asian version of catnip and produces a "euphoric" state in cats! I wonder if that's common knowledge in that part of the world cuz I had no idea.

It seems like they had a song every two seconds in this movie. I might have enjoyed that if it was the characters singing, but no it was just some cheesy folksy music over montage scenes. I swear one of the songs they played like 3 times and it got pretty grating. I did like the song the cats sung at the end to put the big fish to sleep though.

Not knowing what I was getting into, I did have my "cynical adult" cap on for the first 20 or so minutes of the movie. I kept thinking "where's the plot?" but then I managed my expectations and realized that it wasn't that sorta film. It reminded me of Totoro a little bit with its low stakes.

The silly ending where the cats can't hold back from eating the fish was really cute and a perfect note to end on. They earned it! 😁

[cathchicken]

Ok yay another round of first impressions!!! Again, spoilers for Fionna and cake below the cut! (Episodes 5 and 6)

Episode one:

- I became more invested in this episode the further it went, I ended up liking it a lot!

- farmworld society is real neat. I like how ice Finn became some demonic figure to everyone

- FINN GKT KIDS

- I liked the character if the main Finn kid (forget his name already damnnn)

- the forbidden romance was funny, but they left that universe so quickly, I want to know what happens!!

- Simon curses

- what thr hell is up with the pink goop

- Farm Finn mentions his wife is dead (CMONNN). Not sure exactly who she could be, but I’m guessing farm huntress wizard, based off of a few of the kids designs. Specifically the one with ginger hair and green eyes. The soup thing is interesting too

- OH MY GOD THE OLD JAKE IS SO ADORABLE GRAHHHHHH

- and I love that Cake actually likes him like aughhhhh

- (this is hurting my soul)

- most important note: THERE WAS A CHICKEN FOR A SPLIT SECOND I WIN AUTOMATICALLY

Overall solid episode!

Episode two:

- yeah I know what’s gonna happen. Tumblr prepare yourself

- wait I forgot about the yaoi subplot haha

- anyways time to see photos of half naked Marshall everywhere for a week now too

- ok real meat: winter king. He’s a lot more cunty than I thought. The song and animation was gorgeous!!

- why did they draw his crotch like that. WHAT cmon I can’t be the only one. It’s so… well defined. Anyways

- the whimsical gunters were perfect. Especially the fairy

- the ice Marcy??? What??

- FUCKING. CAKE. SAYING WINTER KING AND SIMON SHOULD MAKE OUT AT THR END KF THE SONG. like damnnnn she is freaky. That would have been quite something though

- oh god. Wait, is this gonna be the oncest thingy now..? Fandom wise… cake you’ve doomed us all!!

- ahem

- oh yeah bubbaline! (Garylee..?) it was a very cute montage!! And I like Gary’s candy kingdom esque idea for his bakery.

- MORE LEMONFEMS (Lemoncarb?? I don’t know how to spell it)

- idk about you guys but I like them. Well, I don’t like how they did Gary. But still. Very good

- ok back to fionna

- yes!! Candy… queen! (The name to no one’s surprise haha) she pretty much was exactly what I expected. I love her

- her song was also great!!

- unfortunately I guess her existence is short lived lol

- won’t stop me… with the power of fanart!

- I like the scene where she rolls off the bed

- yeah at this point I was sort of suspicious of winter guy

- lobotomy… thr best remedy…

- the way winter king just lets Fionna embrace him right in front of actual Simon is fucking crazy haha. I’m sure cake was loving it

- THE HE

- WHAT THR HELL

- well, the team handles trauma together….

- interesting, this universes pb is like, exactly the same haha.

- oh yeah, Fionna ain’t straight at all. You saw how she reacted when pb caressed her

- oh yeah final winter king impressions: I hate him

- also the fact he acknowledged Betty died and couldn’t give a shit. Fuck him forever

- csnt lie I’m a little sad it’s not a direct swap universe like my little theory. But ofc that’s not a problem at all, just me predicting stuff wrong

- not letting that go tho. Passionpeachy I won’t fail you. Doomed yuri is always the answer

Ok that’s pretty much it!!! Overall I really enjoyed these episodes, and I’m gonna have a good time seeing everyone else react to them :3 but now I get some sleep. I got school tomorrow

[prose-among-the-trees]

Chronic Dissociation

I don't feel real. Nothing in my life feels real. Not typing, not the class I'm in, not driving. None of it. I wake up, I go to class, I go to work, I go home. I eat, I settle down, I call a friend, I go to bed. I'm stuck in not feeling real.

It's absolutely terrifying to feel like this. You feel this perverse sort of immunity to the world. If nothing is real, why not do something stupid? It's not like you'll have any consequences.

Only there are, and you do, and it is real. Everything is real even when it feels like it's not and there isn't a way I can find to end the chronic discrepancy between the world around me and the chasm of my mind. I'm stuck in my body like it's a suit I'm controlling, only half the time I'm not even controlling it.

I just exist. Every day I just exist and the world moves around me and I have to exist like this. I don't know how to get out of it. All the grounding techniques last as long as they can until the feeling comes back and suddenly I'm in montage mode and don't remember why everything feels so bad.

It feels like a joke. It feels like a funny little haha from whatever is out there looking down as a little "fuck you" for doing some arbitrary something that I can't remember doing.

I want to feel alive again and I don't. I want to live, not just exist. I have to want to live because if I don't then why am I even here? I have to. I'm going to feel alive again. It's not a choice. I'm fucked if I can't figure this out.

[invisiblegarters]

23.5 - Episode 12 (finale)

Last week, Ongsa and Sun had a very dramatic fight and broke up for like a week. Both of them were equally ridiculous about it but the adults gave some really good advice. Ongsa and her parents finally had that talk that she's been avoiding and they were lovely. There was not enough adorable Aylin and Luna moments for me and absolutely ZERO teachers, which is a TRAVESTY. But they did put Alpha in sleeveless shirts again, so at least they got that one right.

Oh, and Sun's gonna apply for an exchange program to the US.

Okay Ongsa that is optimistic I'm porud of this coming from you. I do assume you're saving your spiral for when you're alone.

Look, they might break up if and when Sun goes to the US. That's just facts. Long distance is hard, and it's exponentially harder when you're young. Hell I couldn't even keep a pen pal at their age, but that could just be me.

That said, as I have said many (many, many) times, it doesn't mean that either of them should keep from doing the things they want and dream of.

YES MAWIN DRAG HIM.

Oh okay are we just gonna do a quick sum up for all the side couples? I only really care about Aylin and Luna (and the teachers). I do get a kick out of Charoen and Ton's whole thing though. Keep rejecting him girl. He needs it.

Charoen and Tinh are so funny. I kind of love them.

Okay seriously Bambam please get it together. Please I beg you.

That is really sweet that Aylin wanted Sun to remember her too. Her little attempts to wave were adorable.

Aw Ongsa it's okay. I can't really cook either.

Sun really is the sweetest. I love how affirming she is towards Ongsa at pretty much all times. What a little sweetie.

And heh, I love Aylin. I am Aylin. Although unlike her I'd probably eat whatever someone cooked for me anyway, haha.

Ah and here the spiral comes. I mean we all knew she was gonna get the scholarship, but now it's real and not just an idea and a year is a long time.

I still smell a time skip but I could be wrong - we're halfway through now. My guess though is that the time skip will be at the very end and just for reuniting (and it feels so good). Maybe a montage of them communicating during the year apart.

Although I guess it could end with Sun leaving...

Oh Aylin is a sweet girlfriend.

I think Ton only wants Charoen because she doesn't want him. The second that she liked him back he'd lose interest.

HA called it.

Aw so the teachers did get together. I would have appreciated a makeout though.

I love how cuddly Luna is.

AW KISSES. Yay I wasn't sure if we'd get them from these two but I have to say that I am very pleased to see how it happened. Since Aylin is the one who wasn't sure if she wanted that, I am happy that she is the one to initiate. Good for them.

Sun is totally gonna show up to surprise Ongsa. We all know this right?

And I just realized that Ongsa lost the glasses. Sigh. Fucking hell, show.

Cute ending.

I have to admit though that I felt that the finale was kind of lackluster. It had a "let me explain. No that is too much, let me sum up" sort of quality to it which was confusing because they actually had the time to explain! I know that this was Ongsa's show really, but I wish we'd have gotten more from Nida and Bambam especially, but also Luna and Aylin. Ah well.

Final thoughts:

I think it was a solid enough show. The couples were cute and I adored Aylin and Ongsa with every fibre of my being, but I do feel like it was a little clunky in how it tried to explore certain issues, like Aylin's whole deal. Like I do get what they were going for, but more attention could have been paid to it. They had the time.

I also feel like it suffered a little from being the first full length GL from GMMTV. It seemed clear they didn't want to get too messy or tackle things too hard, lest they put off the audience. Which is a bit sad because I would adore some messy lesbians please (Pluto and Us will hopefully deliver on that front). That said, I want this to be wildly popular so that more GL are made. Because the more that are made, the more variety we'll get. BL didn't start off with a ton of variety either.

It was enjoyable fluff for the most part, and that has its place for sure. Also I'm still chuffed that the little ship that could from Bad Buddy (the only ship I cared about, if I'm honest) spawned Milk and Love an entire GL of their own. Good for them.

Rating: a solid 8/10.

[according2thelore]

Love potion no. 9

1, 3, 4, 9(haha), and 11

Literally the 1st fic that introduced me to yall and probably my favorite!(though you have so many good ones, especially when combined with the art🤌🤌)

hi!! :) EEP thank you so much, i'm so glad you like it! i agree--charlotte's art immediately elevates anything it's accompanying into an S-tier item

here's the link to love potion no. 9 on ao3! (quick recap: it's the love potion one, lol)

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

i LOVE love potion fics, especially subversive love potion fics where they don't work how they're supposed to, or work in opposite ways. love potion fic (not sex pollen fics (which are also v fun but mostly don't deal w the icky gross guilty emotions of being in love w someone)) are pretty rare generally, but oooooh i eat them up when i find them.

in this case, i chose dean because a sam who found out he was bewitched would probably avoid dean as much as possible as to not make dean uncomfortable, and i think sam would have the most guilt about taking away/infringing upon someone else's autonomy/true wants. and i loveeee writing angsting winchester narration. it's delicious 2 me.

i also wanted it to feel kinda rom-commy? third act conflict, miscommunication, and all.

3: What’s your favorite line of narration?

It’s exactly what he had thought it would be, when he still let himself think about it. He had shared this man’s toothbrush, had shared his bed, had shared his clothes. This isn’t anything foreign, this is Dean. It's the rush of the Impala’s wheels underneath him, the adrenaline of a fight, the spark of Roman candles, the salt of sweat and tang of blood and the depthless, endless night.

this one, i think! i think i have some really solid lines in this fic, but this one makes my chest fuzzy. or this one (also solid!):

Dean’s eyes are soft, and his mouth is pulled into a hesitant smile. He looks exhausted, suddenly. He looks…In his pajamas and bare feet and toast crumbs on his shirt, Sam doesn’t think he’s ever loved anything more. Sam’s throat closes. This is so unfair. This is so fucked.

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

“Well, you went on that huge rant about those kudzu-eating goats last month and invasive species blah blah blah. So wildflowers. Y’know.” Dean trails off, and looks at Sam over his shoulder as he wads the empty paper bag into a ball. “They’re wild.”

i don't know! i think this one is fun bc it kinda captures the dean i'm going for in this fic: very purposefully blasé. he cares but he can't let you know, until it all bubbles over. he listens to sam's dorky rants, but cannot tell him that outright lol--what if sam finds out he cares?? no shot.

bonus: i don't know which one to count this as (dialogue or narration), but i like this line because dean's trying to do the math on the acceptable brother-to-woman ratio for sam to have sex with him, which i thought was pretty funny

Dean had been coming around by then, muttering “S’mmy? ‘f there’re two of ‘em…would you do it then? ‘ow many—how many do I have to get?” as Sam hauled him to his feet.

9 (lol): Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

originally (to the surprise of no one, lol) this fic was longer! i had a couple of scenes included in the "montage" in the middle, about an early kiss (in which dean decides to go for it and sam thinks he just assaulted his brother), and a couple other i forget now! i am terrible about wanting to do every single idea a have for a fic, even when they don't fit as well.

i also was originally going to have the potion work the entire time, but it plays out the exact same. dean doesn't feel any more in love w sam than he already is, bc he is already in love with him, and thinks the potion didn't work. he does all the shenanigans anyway, bc like hey why the fuck not? but then it became tricky when it came to how sam finds out that this is genuine emotion from dean and not the potion actually working.

11: What do you like best about this fic?

i think it's fun! besides the end, it's mostly ridiculous and fluffy, and i think i got sam's brain pretty okay! which is not my usual forté. i like the balance it strikes between being fluffy (the flowers, the bar, etc.) and agonizing (sam's running narration abt this being real). i was genuinely shocked that this is one of my more popular fics, but i'm so glad it is! it makes me happy! :)

(send me one of my fics and i'll answer some questions!)