#not related to the LS but to them as people

[nqueso-emergency]

sorry if this ask is repetitive, but i want to highlight something else about the possibility of them fleshing tommy’s character more.

first, let me say some to the point reasons that explain why i think the issues they face will take largely into context tommy’s past:

-we know buck. this is a chance for us to get to know tommy more.

-bringing past issues would be repetitive. ie the cheating and lucy and taylor SL with Buck.

-buck is our main character. we will be following him during this time. it wouldn’t make sense for us to follow him if he’s just waiting for tommy to process how he feels. it makes more sense if we see buck being the one to do so, first by talking to his close people, and then (hopefully) learning how to navigate that with tommy.

so. with all of that out of the way.

we are in season 8. i know some people believe ABC can try to milk 911 for a lot more seasons, but I honestly don’t see it. A few more sure, but 911 won’t be another Grey’s imo. So. Why take precious time in Season 8 to develop a character, if the intention is not to let him be there long term?

And I know the main argument will be Taylor and the storyline with her Dad and how she was still gone after that. And I will say, that was a good attempt from the writers to get us to care about her and the relationship with Buck more. But they never were that popular together, and Taylor was overall disliked (personally, I didn’t dislike her. But I do think Buck and her weren’t a perfect match), and not in a Tommy way. Most people still were upset at her for what she did to Bobby.

Long story short: Season 8, with Oliver expressing he wants Buck to have more domestic storylines and to, essentially, stop having short relationships in the series + tim agreeing and making an effort to make buck’s next LI one that could work (related to the first responder world, can interact outside of buck, good chemistry, we can invest) + lou embodying that to perfection and winning over a good portion of the fandom & the GA + Tim losing Tarlos after LS ends and there is BT, who is the only unmarried couple in 911 rn and thus, is a whole new playground for him…

Giving Tommy a background is very much intentional.

Thiiissss

[kinardsevan]

So I had a thought in relation to this.

Give me the season 8 opener (or opening arc, similar to TK in the s3 start of LS). Tommy gets hurt. When he finally wakes up and/or Evan gets to him, he tells Tommy “you promised to teach me how to fly/Muay Thai, and I’m holding you to it”

And then scattered throughout the season obvs we get hints to these. Things are going well. They’re getting closer. Falling in love. Etc.

End of the season rolls around, and Evan gets hurt, and it’s a lot worse than Tommy’s injury was. Tommy’s an absolute mess because they’re supposed to be moving in together, he’s planning this whole life for them (he knows Evan is too), things are so good for them. Like sure, they’ve had it rough this year but they’ve survived all the bumps and scrapes, but this one…

Then we get the inevitable wake-up, and Tommy is relieved if not a little bit on edge. And Evan, who's used to people leaving, who still kinda expects Tommy to leave, even though they've said 'I love you' and they've moved in together now, and he's given up the loft, is like "why'd you stay?"

And we just get a little deadpan of "you still owe me that beer".

Bonus points if the beer comes with the marriage proposal in season 9.

[armoricaroyalty]

Film Grammar for Simmers

What is film grammar?

"Film grammar" refers the unstated "rules" of editing used in movies and TV. Different types of shots have different associations and are used by editors to convey different types of information to the audience. Many of these principles were first described in the early 20th century by Soviet directors, but they're used consistently across genre, medium, and even language: Bollywood musicals, English period dramas, Korean horror movies, and American action blockbusters all use many of the same techniques.

Because these rules are so universal, virtually everyone has some internalized understanding of them. Even if they can’t name the different types of shots or explain how editors use images to construct meaning, the average person can tell when the “rules” are being broken. If you’ve ever thought a movie or episode of TV was confusing without being able to say why, there’s a good chance that there was something off with the editing.

Learning and applying the basics of film grammar can give your story a slicker and more-polished feel, without having to download shaders or spend hours in photoshop. It also has the bonus of enhancing readability by allowing your audience to use their knowledge of film and TV to understand what's happening in your story. You can use it to call attention to significant plot details and avoid introducing confusion through unclear visual language.

Best of all, it doesn't cost a dime.

The basics: types of shots

Shots are the basic building block of film. In Sims storytelling, a single shot is analogous to a single screenshot. In film, different types of shots are distinguished by the position of the camera relative to the subject. There are three big categories of shots, with some variation: long shots (LS), medium shots (MS), and close-ups (CU). This diagram, created by Daniel Chandler and hosted on visual-memory.co.uk illustrates the difference:

Source: The 'Grammar' of Television and Film, Daniel Chandler, visual-memory.co.uk. Link.

In film, scenes typically progress through the different types of shots in sequence: long shot, medium shot, close-up. When a new scene begins and the characters arrive in a new location, we typically begin with a wide establishing shot of the building’s exterior to show the audience where the scene will be taking place. Next comes a long shot of an interior space, which tells the where the characters are positioned relative to one another. The next shot is a medium shot of the characters conversing, and then finally, a close-up as the conversation reaches its emotional or informational climax. Insert shots are used judiciously throughout to establish themes or offer visual exposition.

Here's another visual guide to the different types of shots, illustrated with stills from Disney animated films.

This guide is almost 2,000 words long! To save your dash, I've put the meat of it under the cut.

Long shot and extreme long shots

A long shot (sometimes also called a wide shot) is one where the entire subject (usually a building, person, or group of people) is visible within the frame. The camera is positioned far away from the subject, prioritizing the details of the background over the details of the subject.

One of the most common uses of long shots and extreme long shots are establishing shots. An establishing shot is the first shot in a scene, and it sets the tone for the scene and is intended to give the viewer the information they’ll need to follow the scene: where a scene is taking place, who is in the scene, and where they are positioned in relation to one another. Without an establishing shot, a scene can feel ungrounded or “floaty.” Readers will have a harder time understanding what’s happening in the scene because on some level, they’ll be trying to puzzle out the answers to the who and where questions, distracting them from the most important questions: what is happening and why?

(I actually like to start my scenes with two establishing shots: an environmental shot focusing on the scenery, and then a second shot that establishes the characters and their position within the space.)

Long shots and extreme long shots have other uses, as well. Because the subject is small relative to their surroundings, they have an impersonal effect which can be used for comedy or tragedy.

In Fargo (1996) uses an extreme long shot to visually illustrate the main character’s sense of defeat after failing to secure funding for a business deal.The shot begins with a car in an empty parking lot, and then we see the protagonist make his way up from the bottom of the frame. He is alone in the shot, he is small, and the camera is positioned above him, looking down from a god-like perspective. All of these factors work together to convey his emotional state: he’s small, he’s alone, and in this moment, we are literally looking down on him. This shot effectively conveys how powerless he feels without any dialogue or even showing his face.

The same impersonal effect can also be used for comic purposes. If a character says something stupid or fails to impress other characters, cutting directly from a close-up to a long shot has a visual effect akin to chirping crickets. In this instance, a long shot serves as a visual “wait, what?” and invites the audience to laugh at the character rather than with them.

Medium Shots

Medium shots are “neutral” in filmmaking. Long shots and close-ups convey special meaning in their choice to focus on either the subject or the background, but a medium shot is balanced, giving equal focus to the character and their surroundings. In a medium shot, the character takes up 50% of the frame. They’re typically depicted from the waist-up and the audience can see both their face and hands, allowing the audience to see the character's facial expression and read their body-language, both important for interpreting meaning.

In most movies and TV shows, medium shots are the bread and butter of dialogue-heavy scenes, with close-ups, long shots, and inserts used for punctuation and emphasis. If you’re closely following the conventions of filmmaking, most of your dialogue scenes will be medium shots following the convention of shot-reverse shot:

To keep long conversations from feeling too visually monotonous, consider staging the scene as a walk-and-talk. Having two characters move through a space can add a lot of dynamism and visual interest to a scene that might otherwise feel boring or stiff.

Close Ups

Close-ups are close shots of a character’s face. The camera is positioned relatively near to the subject, showing just their head and shoulders. In a close-up, we don’t see any details of the background or the expressions of other characters.

In film, close-ups are used for emphasis. If a character is experiencing a strong emotion or delivering an important line of dialogue, a close-up underscores the importance of the moment by inviting the audience to focus only on the character and their emotion.

Close-ups don’t necessarily need to focus on the speaker. If the important thing about a line of dialogue is another character’s reaction to it, a close-up of the reaction is more effective than a close-up of the delivery.

One of the most iconic shots in Parasite (2019) is of the protagonist driving his employer around while she sits in the backseat, speaking on the phone. Even though she’s the one speaking, the details of her conversation matter less than the protagonist’s reaction to it. While she chatters obliviously in the background, we focus on the protagonist’s disgruntled, resentful response to her thoughtless words and behavior.

In my opinion, Simblr really overuses close-ups in dialogue. A lot of conversation scenes are framed entirely in close-ups, which has the same effect of highlighting an entire page in a textbook. The reader can’t actually tell what information is important, because the visuals are screaming that everything is important. Overusing close-ups also cuts the viewer off from the character’s body language and prevents them from learning anything about the character via their surroundings.

For example, a scene set in someone’s bedroom is a great opportunity for some subtle characterization—is it tidy or messy? what kind of decor have they chosen? do they have a gaming computer, a guitar, an overflowing bookshelf?—but if the author chooses to use only close-ups, we lose out on a chance to get to know the character via indirect means.

Inserts

An insert shot is when a shot of something other than a character’s face is inserted into a scene. Often, inserts are close-ups of a character’s hands or an object in the background. Insert shots can also be used to show us what a character is looking at or focusing on.

In rom-com The Prince & Me (2004) (see? I don’t just watch crime dramas…) the male lead is in an important meeting. We see him pick up a pen, look down at the papers in front of him, and apparently begin taking notes, but then we cut to an insert shot of his information packet. He’s doodling pictures of sports cars and is entirely disengaged from the conversation. Every other shot in the scene is an establishing shot or a medium shot or a close-up of someone speaking, but this insert gives us insight into the lead’s state of mind: he doesn’t want to be there and he isn’t paying attention.

Insert shots are, in my opinion, also used ineffectively on Simblr. A good insert gives us extra insight into what a character is thinking or focusing on, but a poorly-used insert feels…unfocused. A good insert might focus on pill bottles on a character’s desk to suggest a chemical dependency, on a family picture to suggest duty and loyalty, on a clock to suggest a time constraint, on a pile of dirty laundry or unanswered letters to suggest a character is struggling to keep up with their responsibilities. An ineffective insert shot might focus on the flowers in the background because they’re pretty, on a character’s hands because it seems artsy, on the place settings on a dining table because you spent forever placing each one individually and you’ll be damned if they don’t make it into the scene. These things might be lovely and they might break up a monotonous conversation and they might represent a lot of time and effort, but if they don’t contribute any meaning to a scene, consider cutting or repurposing them.

I want to emphasize: insert shots aren’t bad, but they should be carefully chosen to ensure they’re enhancing the meaning of the scene. Haphazard insert shots are distracting and can interfere with your reader’s ability to understand what is happening and why.

Putting it all together

One of the most basic principles of film theory is the Kuleshov effect, the idea that meaning in film comes from the interaction of two shots in sequence, and not from any single shot by itself. In the prototypical example, cutting from a close-up of a person’s neutral expression to a bowl of soup, children playing, or soldiers in a field suggests hunger, worry, or fear, respectively.

The Kuleshov effect is the essence of visual storytelling in a medium like Simblr. You can elevate your storytelling by thinking not only about each individual shot, but about the way they’ll interact and flow into one another.

Mastering the basics of film grammar is a great (free!) way to take your storytelling to the next level. To learn more, you can find tons of guides and explainers about film grammar for free online, and your local library doubtless has books that explain the same principles and offers additional analysis.

Happy simming!

[mering]

design experimenting. two completely incongruent dudes

originally put this in the tags but it was getting long. having fun trying to figure out how to approach ls designs... key tenets:

1) wildly clashing styles of dress

2) costume elements. if someone is wearing historical clothing they are effectively larping like that says something about you. clown being a clown says something about him. etc. leaning into ballet costume/wrestling costume/theater/etc depending on the character in question because it's fun.

in relation to a bunch of people intentionally dressing up weird, wearing normal clothes also says something ("there is no c!mapicc he just hates you" etc). mapicc wearing whatever the fuck is also related to like, you know when he starts wearing diamond so zam will quit freaking out. sometimes he wants to look like the underdog, and it also has to do with part of mapicc and zam's conflict in season 4 being about... how do i put it. the same parts of zam's playstyle that make him a useful ally are the things he stubbornly refuses to change even when it would be tactically smarter to do something else. he hates that mapicc won't ever just build a base, but mapicc not living the way zam does is part of what keeps them from getting even for so long. mapicc doesn't need villagers because zam sets up villagers and then dies to him and that feeds him gear. zam has a set of rules for how to play fair in his head that mapicc does not ascribe to, mapicc can play "weaker" and still come out on top because he's "cheating" by zam's rulebook.

so mapicc's design is meant to starkly contrast both ro and zam in different ways. ro design choices feel self explanatory, he's always trying to dramatize and then it lands in the goofiest way possible so he needs to be a little over the top. at the same time he completely refuses to take things seriously when it's OTHER people's thing in question, so he's a mix of trying to give off a certain image some of the time but expressive and kinda mocking in body language. he has "mostly monochrome vaguely historical outfit design" in common with zam because on top of the literal monochrome skins, they both have a thing about trying the same tactics over and over again regardless of evidence against its efficacy, trying to return to something or preserve something which is impossible to preserve by nature.

3) leaning away from animal or monster elements common to mcrp character design because i wanna focus in on how someone would choose to present themselves through both clothing and...

4) how much of your human face/body you're choosing to reveal (sliding scale of abstraction; some characters appear more or less human at different moments). so you can have inhuman designs but it leans away from the organic towards the symbolic if that makes sense. this is sort of my visual shorthand for how lifesteal's roleplay works but it's hard to explain what i mean by that

[canonicallyobserving911]

Buddie: I'm excited to see what's next for Buck, Eddie and Chris

Going forward, unless it's for reference purposes, I will NO LONGER post anything about BT 2.0.

Before I explain why I won't be posting anything about BT 2.0, I'll begin with a brief summary. In 2021, I watched "The Shooting" live (related post linked here) and it was one of the best scenes in television I'd ever seen. Since then, I've probably watched it more than a hundred times and during the hiatus between seasons 4 and 5, I purchased every episode of 9-1-1's previous seasons and I spent the entire summer watching seasons 2 - 4 because I wanted to know more about Buck and Eddie's relationship. I noticed the emotional and casual intimacy they shared and when I compared it to the relationships they had with love interests, it was easy to see there was a huge and noticeable difference.

My excitement for the show dramatically increased before season 5 began in September 2021 and later that year, I found the Buddie fandom here on Tumblr and I was even more excited because I didn't know fandoms for TV shows even existed. By the time April 2022 rolled around, I finally decided to rejoin Tumblr (after being off it for a while) because I wanted to communicate with people who liked Buddie and the Buckley-Diaz family.

I started out by doing small posts regarding the things I noticed but a whole knew world was opened to me after I started reading METAs fanfics and theories along with viewing GIF sets and fanart. It didn't take me long to start posting my own METAs and speculations and I when I wanted to add GIFs to my posts, I taught myself how to make them on my iPad. In January 2023, I started posting some of the fanfics I wrote during season 5 and my fandom experience was further enhanced. It was an exciting time and I loved every minute of it.

Even though Season 5 was exhausting as hell because of BT 1.0, I still enjoyed it because of Eddie's PTSD arc and the Buckley-Diaz family scenes that were included. Eddie's my favorite character and I was happy to see him moving forward with his therapy and his life in general. BT 1.0 was dragged out for the entire season but season 6 looked promising... at least it did until it ended. I spent more than three months writing "Constructive Criticism" posts about all the things I didn't like and I was on the fence about whether I was even going to watch season 7. But after the str*kes ended and the promos for the new season began airing on a new network looked promising, I was excited again especially since the original showrunner (TM) had returned from LS and I couldn't wait to see where he would take Buck's and Eddie's storylines.

Similar to the title of episode 2x17, I should have been careful about what I wished for because even though it started out strong, after the opening disaster, it turned into a complete and utter dumpster fire and my experience in this fandom not only became exhausting; it was horrifically horrible because of a kiss between Buck and a PLOT DEVICE. Almost immediately, Buddie shippers started being harassed and were sent asks from blank blogs (they weren't anonymous for me because I don't accept those) telling shippers to stop posting about Buddie because they were never going to be better than BT and that we should just accept BT because they were CANON 🙄.

Anyway, needless to say, the last 7 months have been pure hell because of toxic BT Stans who have no boundaries, morals or fandom etiquette. Therefore, since I can't control anyone but myself, this morning, I made a decision that going forward, I'm turning the page on the BT 2.0 relationship because it's over and I'm tired of talking about it. I don't give a rat's ass about why TM chose to do what he did and why they didn't let Buck learn anything from it especially since this wouldn't have happened if whatever they were doing had ended in 7x5 but I digress.

Be clear, this is not a vague post at anyone in particular. I'm simply stating that I will no longer participate in fandom discourse about that relationship because I'm sick of it and I'm f~cking glad it's finally done. For me, it's taken a backseat just like EddieShannon, EddieMarisol, EddieAna, BuckAbby, BuckTaylor, BuckAli and BuckNaTalia because they're over and the characters are barely being mentioned in CANON, if at all. I'm done posting about these 'sunk ships' and the only time I'll include them in a blog post is when I have to reference them. Otherwise, I've moved on and I will not add anti BT or anti TK tags to my posts unless it's for blacklisting and filtering purposes because I don't give a flying f~ck about T.K. 2.0 anymore.

Now that it's over, I'm excited about writing Buddie METAs, speculations and theories again. Prior to season 8, I stopped writing them because I didn't want to and I didn't have the energy or the desire to do it due to all the toxicity. Since I was tired of being jump scared, I stopped watching live after 7x6 aired and even though I did watch 7x10, I wished I hadn't because it was a big nothing burger.

I'm excited because I don't have to worry about seeing Buck with that one-dimensional love interest who couldn't act his way out of a paper bag.

This Thursday, for the first time in months, I'll be watching live again and I might live blog the episode. I miss doing that and I can't wait to see what's going to happen with the call on the "Hotshots" set that has a fake firefighter hanging from the aerial and I wonder if Eddie will have flashbacks about the night him and Buck got struck by the same bolt of lightning.

The purpose of this long post is to say, I've moved on and I will no longer dedicate any of my blog space, writings or anything else to that relationship because the character doesn't deserve my attention. It's even more exhausting than BT 1.0 and they were in a relationship for the entirety of season 5.

Since I love Eddie, I'm ready to focus my METAs and speculation on what's next for him. I was planning to do a long post on 8x6 but I won't since I've already done two long posts about BT 2.0's breakup. So now my attention will be focused solely on Eddie until I finish the posts I want to do regarding his scenes. I loved the fact that he got the majority of the screen time at the end of 8x6 and when Buck showed up, that made it even better.

I ONLY SHIP BUDDIE! I ALWAYS HAVE AND I ALWAYS WILL.

I've turned the page and I'm excited to see where Buddie is going next. I'm ready for them to enjoy spending time together again without Temu third wheeling and infringing on their relationship. I'm ready for their son to come home so the Buckley-Diazes can spend time together again too. I don't know when Chris will return but I don't think it was a coincidence that there was a picture of him on the sofa table that's next to the door underneath a picture of Texas especially since it was in the middle of Eddie and Buck.

So, here's to me being excited for Buddie and ignoring anything BT 2.0 related ����🍾🥂🎆.

I'm ready to enjoy my Buddie fandom experience again by creating METAs, theories, speculation, GIF sets and continuing to write fanfics and I can't wait!

[nicoluvsribs]

Things to do instead of eating ❤︎︎

(𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬 ✩)

❥ Watch a movie, go onto a streaming service, or get a DVD and once you click on it or touch it, you have to watch it until the credits end, then write a descriptive review on it, pros, cons, etc.

❥ similar to the above, read a book, a chapter per sitting, write a review and if you’re extra, write a review per chapter or on every character, etc

❥ discover a new artist, go onto a public playlist, click on a random song, go to the profile and listen to one song from every album (or more), and write a review on how the music makes you feel, what they can do better and more.

❥ pick up any hobby, it doesn't matter how bad you are, you’ll get better. This hobby can be anything, find a project relating, plan it out, do the project and evaluate it, what went wrong/well, what could you have done better, etc.

❥ Window shop online or in, take pictures, and screenshots and add them to an online journal and or wishlist, create outfits, and looks, or even find cute little room decor.

❥ Pinterest and Spotify is your best friend, make inspiration boards, ranging from meals, and bods to clothes and rooms. This ties in with window shopping and discovering a new artist.

❥ walk, some of you don’t exercise and some of you overexercise, sometimes grabbing a bottle, and having some coffee or water on a walk around your area works, some of us feel uncomfy in our areas due to people we may know, so try to figure out routes no one goes.

❥ excerise, again, figure out a small, ten minute routine to add to your day, push-ups, all that, whatever is easy for you to do.

❥ every time you want to eat, drink a bottle of water or drink black coffee before you do, and chew gum. You’re nkt hungry, you’re bored

TW: Mean maybe? 18+?

❥ if you’re struggling to distract yourself, take your clothes off, think about him/her with someone else and telling them how to p4t it in. and bring yourself and snacks in front of a mirror. You won’t even want to and if you do, every bite you take you have to count it as extra c@ls to burn off.

[bucked-it-up]

That's the thing though bc there would be portions ga who aren't here for the queer storylines are good with buck and hen have queer partners chase those partners aren't mains and so it's sort if a out of sight out of mind things but if you have 3 of the 5 mains as queer (not that more representation isn't good) it becomes a queer show and that would put more people off that it would join bc a lot of the fandom has a fundamental misunderstanding of the bulk of the audience that brings in the ratings

I agree with you ! I'm also gonna use this to bounce off of to talk about how having Buck and Eddie together would change the dynamic within the firehouse which I would say is probably one of the top reasons many people watch this show for. Whether you watch more for the emergencies or the personal moments, the dynamic between the team is the foundation to making those part work as well as they do. Changing this could affect ratings.

Rest under the cut because it got way too long

First, it's very unlikely that in the real LAFD that Eddie and Buck could work on the same shift. There would be a conflict of interest there, as much as everyone should be professional, there is always that chance that they may in times of distress priotise their romantic partner and not on the job. It's like in medicine. For example, it is against most policies to carry out any kind of procedure, examination, or consultion on a family member. Having them seen by a non related professional reduces the chance of bias, thus reducing the chance of harm or exploitation. Having them on the same team could also mean that they bring home life disputes into work, which distracting them and going on to cause harm to civilians, co-workers, or themselves. While yes, 911 is not a perfect example of the real world, I don't think this is something they would necessarily forgo. It's fun in fanfics to have it explained as okay by mysterious paperwork, but irl and in the show, it would not happen this way. (I do understand that in ls Nancy and Mateo are together while in the same firehouse, but they are also under different captains and work in different teams. As such they spend much less time together in comparison to what Buck and Eddie would be doing as they do not exclusively work on the same team and will be going on different calls and in different vehicles compared to Buck and Eddie, who work on the same team and also go to scenes in the same vehicle).

Having two main characters who are within the same team would also mess with the balance of the show. Obviously, bathena are both main characters, but they do not both work for the same service and also arguably the main characters of 911, so they will get more screen time and focus as they bring in the GA audience. Eddie and Buck are both within the fire service, and Eddie is also the bottom billed main. The focus would be off, and with how some fans see it, they want the focus to be on their relationship, ignoring that they are not the main draw of the show and thus turn away GA. The show would not feel quite right as more of the firehouse scenes may feel like there is a focus on those two rather than the whole team, and tbh I wouldn't want that. Also, realistically, as they would be likely working the same shift (in the world the shippers want), they would be around each other a lot. That would put strain on any relationship and also parenting Chris (which I will not go into as i am not a parent myself so do not understand all the nuances of it but as a child of a parents who had to work longer hours and spent time in both breakfast and afterschool clubs its hard to not be able to spend that much time with them and also increases the cost of childcare, once my dad got into teaching summers and breaks were a lot more fun because he was around more. Tldr it would be hard on chris to not be able to see both guardians for long periods if they both worked on the same shifts). Holidays all together would be hard as it is likely harder for both of them to get time off at the same time. There would be a lot of strain and stress in that relationship, of course people could make it work but as Eddie has been shown to struggle to communicate issues that would make it harder to work through issues before they turn into serious problems and Buck also has his own issues when it comes to relationships and would likely burn himself out trying to make sure the relationship worked and likely struggling with abandonedment issues etc.

I think a lot of this would lead to not fun drama to watch on the show or it would have to be handwaved away to make it all work. I wouldn't want that, and I doubt the GA would either. They don't watch the show for Buck and Eddie. I think the change in dynamics would turn away people from the show and would definitely turn away the less tolerant people. The GA also, like Tommy and Buck together they have had a good response to that, so why would they throw it away for a part of the online fandom. Buck and Tommy will be here to stay for a little while due to that alone and I think many people now (including the GA) want to see Buck settled down in a long term relationship and to see Eddie get a partner that he can settle down with, without breaking up Buck and Tommy.

It's amazing how many queer stories and characters we have gotten in 911, and while yes, I would love and be accepting of more, I don't think Eddie will be one of them.

[buddiebeginz]

Here’s another reason I’m confident Buddie is happening this season.

911 og and 911 Lone Star will essentially be competing with one another in a way that they didn’t before being on the same network. People might say well LS is in it’s final season so it doesn’t really matter but I’m sure it will matter to ABC if Fox can pull in higher numbers for the show they kept than ABC can for the one they took from them.

Despite all the talk about how homophobic Fox is they know Tarlos is a big draw for that show and will use them accordingly to get people to watch. They've already started using Tarlos on their social media to promote the new season.

No matter how much B*mmy fans want them to be their ship is not comparable to a ship like Tarlos. Especially not Tarlos in season 1 which had a lot of hype around them and was a will they/won’t they ship. I’m mentioning season 1 Tarlos because B/T is still a newbie ship like Tarlos were in season 1. Yet B/T hasn't had even half the development or promotion Tarlos did in season 1 of LS.

Despite how much a select few online yell about them B*mmy is just not a ship that is going to draw in a lot of new viewers. Some new people started watching the show after Buck came out but this was much more about Buck than B/T no matter what B*mmys say. Think about it you could replace T*mmy with any other guy and the reaction would probably have been about the same. That's because the big reaction (especially for people familiar with the show) was about Buck finally having his bi awakening. For those who were introduced to the show through clips of the kiss going around it was more of, oh look these two hot guys are kissing or oh look more queer rep let me check this show out.

Also listen to the things Oliver has said in interviews about the storyline. The messages he's been receiving from people have been primarily about people relating to Buck coming out later in life not about B/T. Yes some people like B/T and found the show because of their kiss but that's not the major draw and the ship is just not interesting enough (especially compared to other primetime couples and Buddie) to keep a significant amount of people tuned into the show long term.

Most primetime shows have a will they/won't they couple. For 911 that couple was Maddie and Chim for a long time. But going into s8 all of the big main canon couples are married at this point. I love all the couples on 911 and I love that they they're all settled and happy but the fact is happy settled couples don't bring in new viewers (Tim himself has even said as much before). So 911 is going to need a newer more exciting ship that will garner attention. If the intention was to have B/T be that new exciting ship I truly believe their relationship would have been handled a lot differently from the beginning.

Instead of them getting together pretty quickly I think things would have dragged out all season. Maybe after the bad date Buck and T*mmy don't meet for coffee and Buck thinks it's over only they run into one another again on a call and it's awkward. If they wanted to build the story and rope the audience in the show could have let us know there's feelings there between them both but neither wants to say anything. So they don't. Then Buck decides to go to a gay bar and runs into T*mmy again and sees him with another guy and that bothers him. And it's not until the end of the season that we get some big romantic moment showing that they do want to be together.

I'm saying all this to point out that if the plan was to build excitement for that ship 911 had time even in a shortened season and they didn't. Even if the intention was to leave us wanting more from B/T, just give us little bits of what's going on with them and fully develop them later in s8 they didn't do a great job with that either. Nearly every scene that B/T are in T*mmy comes across as a dismissive ass who just doesn't seem all that invested in Buck (including in the new deleted scene). They also had very little physical affection and often just didn't behave like a couple or even like two guys who are dating. I've seen people say that in scenes like the medal ceremony in 7x09 they would have never even known they were together if that was the only episode they saw.

My point is there is no way B/T can compete with Tarlos the only couple that can do that is Buddie. ABC and Tim know that if they even hint at Eddie coming out and Buddie canon no one will even remember that LS exists. The kind of attention that B/T has gotten will be nothing compared to the way the world is going to explode when Buddie goes canon. So many people (including a good number of B/T shippers who remain multishippers) have been waiting to see it happen for years.

This is no hate towards Tarlos and Lone Star who I love btw and I'm sad that show is getting canceled. I'm just pointing out that this is how networks think. I know Tim worked on LS for a while and I'm sure he still has love for that show and the cast but at that same time it's important for 911 to have high ratings if we want the show to continue long term.

I've been a fan of 911 almost since the show started and a Buddie fan pretty much as long. I've been hopeful in the past that Buddie could happen especially after the shooting. Which makes sense now given everything we've been told about how Buck was was probably going to come out in s4 and Eddie in s5. I lost a lot of hope for Buddie after s6 though. I wasn't even sure I wanted to keep watching tbh. Which is why I can't believe I'm at a point now where I feel more certain than ever that s8 will be our year. I know we've been hopeful in previous years but everything is pointing towards Buddie now more than it's ever been.

[according2thelore]

i am super curious if you are interested in how the younger sam & dean handle conflict between the older two? are they picking sides or avoiding the room? i just feel like the later seasons sam&dean fight DIFFERENT and it would be jarring and strange and uncomfortable for the early seasons to see.

ooh that's a great question!

i mentioned this super briefly at the VERY beginning, but i completely agree--LS!Sam&Dean fight differently. for them, almost every fight is a drag-down all-out, tears-in-my-eyes, or i can't lose you, why don't you believe in us too, or if you want to hunt, let's hunt but we can't be brothers.

the emotional stakes--while less grounded in relatable things to the audience (S1 arguing over a parent's perceived neglect/heroism vs S9 you let an angel possess me and i can't forgive you for that)--appear much more intense in the later seasons because there's so much more baggage there. (despite my personal preference for sam & dean arguing about sam being put down like a dog in s2 but i digress)

for ES!Sam&Dean i'm sure it's super confusing and frightening and strange, because these are the things they don't say out loud. they talk around a lot of the big stuff (i'm thinking "be my brother again because...just because") whereas in the later seasons they call each other out specifically on how much they care for each other ("what about me? would you trade me?").

LS!Sam says, "after everything that we've seen, after all the shit i've done, and the shit that i've had to live through--" ES!Sam&Dean can fucking feel it like a detonation. there are depths here that they cannot understand, layers and layers of sediment and fear and love and forgiveness and grudges that have shaped them into completely different people.

ES!Sam&Dean argue and it's mostly petulant and earnest--stop treating me like a kid! let me look out for you, too! be my brother again! dad was a dick, and he didn't take care of us like he should've!

LS!Sam&Dean argue and it's bloody and hurtful--you killed my friend, after i asked you not to and i can't look at you right now. you didn't look for me when you thought i was dead. i can't trust you.

as for how the ES!boys would handle it, i think they would be flabbergasted. it's like watching your parents fight (which of course only dean knows). it's very personal, but alien at the same time. they feel blows land, but don't know where they come from. they would avoid that room at all costs if they can.

but at the same time, some strange force keeps pulling them back until they're standing at the doorway, because it kind of feels like someone's talking about you when you're not there. the curiosity of knowing what they think about you is too great.

at the end of it, it's the magnitude of the fight. if they're snippy at each other, they would immediately abandon all alliances and join with their older selves, because it feels good and fun and familiar to snap back and forth.

but if it's serious--it hurts to look at them. it hurts more to hear.

honestly, if LS!Sam&Dean have a fight and storm off, ES!Dean is slinking into LS!Sam's room later that night like "🥺 i'm sorry man 🥺 you know i love you right 🥺 are you mad at me?" because he can't help but flinch hard whenever LS!Sam shouts dean! come on! in his grown-up voice during the fight.

but ES!Sam is kind of inconsolable, honestly. he's not used to being on the outs with dean. there was stanford, for sure, but that was more sam's choice than anything. phones work two ways, and sam has never really been confronted with a dean that's that doesn't want to see him. they had fights for sure when they were younger, and hit and bit and screamed at each other, but LS!Dean's anger is different. it's consuming, it's massive, it blots out the sun. i'm sure ES!Sam has to talk to ES!Dean for a little bit about unimportant shit to function again after he sees the rage in LS!Dean's eyes as they slid off of LS!Sam and onto ES!Sam.

this was long! but i have so many thoughts about fighting between Sam&Dean and how that changes so much throughout the show, and how ES!Sam&Dean would react! this ask was delicious!!! nom nom nom.

thank you, anon! <3 brilliant!

-lizzy

[future-crab]

I spent all day reading Laura Jane Grace's memoir and felt compelled to try writing something in that sort of non-fiction/memoir/personal essay style. I'm not really sure if this is worth posting, but you can blame @unusualshrimp for encouraging me.

Laura Jane Grace’s memoir has got me thinking about diaries, and about writing down important memories before they have a chance to fade too much. And honest to God, I think seeing her in concert might be one of the best memories of my life. Walking down well-lit Cleveland streets on a warm early-summer night, just barely cooled off from a sweltering early-summer day, humming fucking M*A*S*H to myself as I left the show – a song she wouldn’t release for another few months, and that I wouldn’t even especially like in its studio-recorded form – I was as happy as I’d ever been.

My cousin’s apartment was only a block or two from the venue, and despite the late hour, I had plans to meet up with them after the show. I wished, suddenly, that they lived farther away. I wanted this walk to last forever. 

Have you had any suicidal thoughts today? Yes, I’ve had about seven or eight. A modicum of propriety kept me from actually singing it out loud, but it looped in my head, over and over, the buoyant, infectious rhythm of it setting the pace of my steps. I hadn’t caught the rest of the chorus, or if I had it hadn’t stuck, so I just filled in the space in my head with nonsense.

Have you had any suicidal thoughts today? Yes, I’ve had about seven or eight. La da da da da-di da da da da, So ba-da killing yourself today. The chorus ended, then began again. The verses hadn’t stuck either. Have you had any suicidal thoughts today? Yes, I’ve had about seven or eight…

My scuffed platform boots bounced against the pavement. I wondered if the people passing by could tell – from my outfit, from the stench of sweat and booze and weed drifting off me, from the Laura Jane Grace tee shirt tucked between my body and my bag because it was too hot to put it on, from the big, doofy grin on my face – that I had just come from a concert. As far as I was concerned, I was glowing like those big sodium-yellow streetlights overhead.

Have you had any suicidal thoughts today? Yes, I’ve had about seven or eight. La da da da da-di da da da da, So ba-da killing yourself today… 

Was it “killing” or just “kill?” I didn’t know and I didn’t care. I couldn’t relate to the song at all, just then. Unhappiness was a vague and unconvincing memory. Life was joy and sweat and sticky heat, and shouting along to True Trans Soul Rebel in a packed, tiny room that smelled like tobacco and body odor.

The world didn’t feel real. The street, the lights, the air that never quite stirred into a breeze. I wasn’t used to such complete and uncomplicated hapiness. I had felt it after other concerts before – driving back to a crappy Long Island motel room after MCR, sprinting away from Mr. Small’s through a sudden torrential downpour after an unexpectedly excellent LS Dunes show, wandering the South Side with my sister after seeing the Crane Wives together, unable to make any conversation beyond Holy shit, that was a good show! – and I knew it wouldn’t last forever, but in that moment it still felt like it might.

I bounded up the three flights of stairs to my cousin’s apartment more loudly than I should have, and more quickly, too – I was out of shape and asthmatic, but joy had given me strength. I probably wasn’t very good conversation. I was still incoherent from the glow of the concert, convinced that such insights as, She played Black Me Out, and, like, obviously she was going to play Black Me Out, but holy shit Black Me Out was incredible! were not only interesting but important. 

It turns out my cousin’s boyfriend knew her work. When I mentioned Against Me!, he went, “Oh, man, that’s her? I didn’t recognize her new name – I used to listen to them way back before she transitioned!” We chatted about the band, about the venue, about the show. I tried, probably without success, to impart what it had felt like, because it had felt incredible. I was hot and tired and miserable through both openers, because I’d had a long drive to Cleveland that morning and spent just about every minute since on my feet and in the sun. She took the stage at 10:00 pm, and at 9:59 I was wondering if I should just head home early, because even if I could stay on my feet through the entire set, there was no way I’d enjoy myself. And then the instant she stepped into view, it was like a switch had flipped. I was grinning from ear to ear. I must have looked insane, but I wasn’t about to care. I will never understand the kind of stage presence some people have – it feels like a magic trick.

Eventually I had to go back to my hotel – my cousin and her boyfriend were too polite to hint that I should leave, but I could tell that they, at least, needed to get some sleep. I was still too wired to even attempt sleep for another few hours, but I managed to resist the temptation to keep them up all night. As I stepped out into the stairwell – old fashioned art deco tiling spreading out in pretty black-and-white patterns down three storeys to the exit below – my radiant joy dimmed just slightly.  The song in my head had lost some of its energy, but it looped dutifully on.

Have you had any suicidal thoughts today? Yes, I’ve had about seven or eight… 

I stepped out into the hot summer night aware that eventually – not soon, but eventually – I would come down from this high. I’d fall asleep, the sun would rise – though not necessarily in that order – and the day I saw Laura Jane Grace perform would give way to just some Sunday in May. But for just a moment, it had felt like that night would never have to end.

[fazball]

I want to talk about fights in Unstable Universe! How they work both within the story and from the perspective of a group of people simply playing a part. Before I start I do want to note that despite being really into the game almost since release I am not exceptional at any aspect of the game and that includes things like PvP which I will be talking about in this post, so I may miss something or not fully understand something.

I want to start with the fact that when a fight happens they don't actually want to kill anyone who is not supposed to die, they are simply telling a story, but they are still using actual fighting strategies and their own personal skill is accounted for as well. They use potions, cobwebs, ender pearls, and many things that the average player (as in someone who is not a PvPer) would never even think of. When I first started watching I was baffled by the idea of holding onto stacks of XP bottles to heal your armor mid-fight. And when there is someone meant to be a powerful force they make sure to either choose someone who is exceptionally good at PvP (like Clown) or they have so many people dogpile the person they're fighting that it's almost impossible to win (like Zam or Ashswag). With Zam and Ash its not completely based on dogpiling as they do have higher ranked fighters, like Zam with FlameFrags and Ash with MinuteTech, but most of the time their teams are dependant on dogpiles.

So how do they determine a winner if not by death? It's all based on whose materials can last the longest and who has to run first. By materials I mean literally everything, totems, gapples, armor, pearls, sometimes even rockets. Of course with it being rp we don't fully know if the intent is actually to get someone so incredibly low multiple times OR if that just happens bc the fight is just supposed to last that long. I think my favorite example of this is in Parrot's "It's Impossible to Find this Player," specifically the fight with Boofser, Kier, and Dev. They so obviously lost, almost all of their armor had broken and they literally flew away multiple times just to come back then fly away again because their armor and gaps could not keep up with the damage. Another example I like is from Spoke's "I Got Hunted by the Minecraft Mafia" where he tries to fight the mafia with MinuteTech, realizes this is not a fight he can win and has fly off. Actually this is seen with all 3 POVs, a lot of the time they have to run instead of actually fighting so it simply becomes a situation where they fight, fly off to try and lose them, dig underground, and repeat. It goes differently in Wemmbu's "The Minecraft Empire War" where him and Zam both lost almost all their items, all their armor was breaking neither of them had anymore XP, they had both run out of rockets by then and I truly think the only reason one of them isn't dead is because of Clown stepping in.

Final notes and comments! I have such a terrible memory so i'm sorry if I got anything wrong, it's not my fault :(. When I was talking about XP bottles I used LifeSteal as an example since I don't watch any other PvP series or creators, but since i'm not caught up at all, nor do i interact with the community, i'm not sure if I should consider LS a reliable source for PvP info. I know it's become a rp-ish server as well, but as far as i'm aware they are actually intending to kill/get someone off the server during fights. If anyone would like to correct me on that feel free! And yes, I am aware that Zam had apologized to Wemmbu before Clown stepped in, but I truly don't think he meant it. Maybe he did in the moment, but I feel justified to think it wasn't 100% honest as once they got into the prison Zam immediately tried to kill Wemmbu again. You could try to excuse it with the fact that this was a dire situation and he was distressed, but not once has Wemmbu been the one to strike first. He is simply not a reliable person, especially in relation to Wemmbu. I'm not sure why I wrote this honestly, anyone who's watched UU probably knows this and anyone who hasn't seen UU probably doesn't want to. Maybe i'll send this to an oomf and lure them in.

[slexenskee]

Ru-kun’s Excessive Guitar Collection

Fell down a rabbit hole debating what guitar Ru-kun plays and decided there was no reason to narrow it down to one lol. Also he’s totally the type to just have way more guitars (and shoes) then he could possibly ever use and should totally have one of those epic guitar walls whenever he gets around to making that recording room.

Squier Contemporary Jaguar HH ST Electric Guitar (Sky Burst Metallic): His first guitar. He bought it as a teenager living in Endeavor’s house to a) make noise and piss his father off and b) because he really liked the color. It’s still his favorite. He played it in his junior-high garage band Band Aids. Fans saw a bit of it during the first few years of No Scrubs’ live shows, back when they still played in tiny dive bars and Ru-kun was so close you could touch him 😭. It makes fans very nostalgic whenever they catch sight of it. 

Fender American Ultra Stratocaster Electric Guitar (Arctic Pearl): Another guitar he bought because it was very pretty (let’s be real, that’s the reason he bought all of them). Achieved critical acclaim as a fan favorite when Ken-chan grabbed it out of his hands on stage and threatened to beat a belligerent drunk out of the venue with it. She was talked out of it after Ru-kun said she’d have to pay for a new one if she busted it over some guy’s head. 

Gibson Les Paul Traditional Pro V Flame Top Electric Guitar (Blueberry Burst): Super glossy beautiful guitar with a great sound. Recorded the albums Thanks I Hate it Here and Good News for People Who Love Bad News with this guitar. He also gives it away in MDNSY Ch 39 to Shouto, who treasures this beauty as it deserves, even if he really doesn’t know how to play it all that well. 

Gretsch “Stump-O-Matic” Electromatic Electric Guitar (White): He really likes to play this one during live shows, very versatile and unfussy. Played it all throughout the ‘Scrubs Unite’ tour and eventually gives it away to Izuku in MDNSY Ch 38(?) and reclaims it briefly in FLW Ch 29 to play Say It Ain’t So. 

Gibson Lzzy Hale Signature Explorerbird Electric Guitar (Cardinal Red): His guitar for the “I’m never going to Hosu again” show Makoto dragged them all to during their hiatus in MDNSY Ch 15, aka the guitar he serenaded Tensei with 🤣 Also recorded Glass Onion Heart on this guitar, bc I love the idea of him playing Misery Business on this baby. He also posed for his magazine cover for Sound & Sundry in FLW Ch 20 with this guitar. 

D’Angelico Premier Series Gramercy LS Acoustic Guitar (Matte Sky Burst): I call this the Limitless guitar cause it’s just the perfect color to match his eyes lol. He went out and bought this just to record the acoustic album Tensei guilt-tripped him into making, Don’t You Know Who I (Think) I Am. Also serenaded Hawks with it during the No Scrubs radio interview with Present Mic in FLW Chapter 23. 

Fender American Pro II Stratocaster Electric Guitar (Miami Blue): Very cool vintage blue guitar he recorded Death Before Decaf on, bc I love the very neon 90′s era look and I love the idea of him playing Nirvana/Weezer/3EB tributes (even if no one knows they’re tributes) on it even more. It’s also Yui’s favorite guitar, for obvious reasons. Did he buy it because he knows it’s her favorite color? Probably. He already promised he’d never sell off his collection (gifting them is another story) but he especially promised not to part with this one. It’s a legacy guitar that’s going to end up in the hands of someone special someday (aka Eri lol)

Fender H.E.R Stratocaster (Chrome Glow): I have been told rather reliably by the mysteriously large amount of friends I have in indie bands that there’s no such thing as too many guitars, and on a related note, no such thing as too many Stratocasters. I am obsessed with H.E.R’s stratocaster and I can 100% envision it being custom made by Fender for Ru-Kun once No Scrubs reaches the international critical acclaim they deserve. He names it Infinity, and records the album Infinity on High with it. In recorded performances for the album he alternates between this one and the Gibson Explorerbird. 

Duesenberg USA Starplayer Electric Guitar (Crimson Red): Yet another stunning guitar with a very vintage vibe. I was so torn on whether I liked the black one or the red one more bc both are so beautiful. Let’s be real he probably buys both but plays the red one live just because it’s pretty and shiny and red always reminds him of Hawks’s wings ♡ Records the May Death Never Stop You album on this baby, and plays the tour of the same name. Also the guitar 

Taylor 614ce Special-Edition Grand Auditorium Acoustic-Electric Guitar: Has a lot of Feelings™ and goes out and drops 3k on this baby just because it reminds him of Hawks and that’s got him feeling a way and records his second acoustic album with it. He absolutely plays a lot of Anti-Hero on it, just bc the brand name lol 

[talenlee]

June 2024 Wrapup!

That’s it, Pride’s over. We’re done with any need to be queer because we obviously defeated the forces of not queer.

Hey how do all those dudes who are convinced they’re straight think their sexuality handles being attracted to nonbinary people? Like, nonbinary people can look like anything, presentation is a performance and everything, but if you believe in inherent qualities of genders, seeing a nonbinary person who’s hot has to be a problem right?

(oh who are we kidding, they pretend nonbinary people don’t exist. But if you do accept nonbinary people exist, you might be less straight than you think.)

Alright, let’s look at what articles came up in the Game Pile this month!

Gay Sauna: The Board Game, where we talked about the acceptable boundaries of genre mechanisms.

Arcade Spirits, where I made a video retelling my experiences of dealing with a game that I shouldn’t call a visual novel, because someone out there will get annoyed at an imperfect cladistic categorisation of game genres

Signalis, a game that oozes style but also told me to stop playing it, so I did

3 Indie TTRPGs, with Feathers, For the Dungeon and We Saved The World Once in a video

If you think the video on Feathers, For The Dungeon and We Saved The World Once was a bit ropy, yep! It got made very quick and close to the deadline because it was very difficult to make. Cooking these games down to entirely positive feedback without talking more about things I find personally interesting was hard enough, which is why the first seven minutes of the video are about problems with how we talk about indie TTRPGs.

Also, a thing I was really delighted by was getting to play Loom with Fox for the first time (part 1, part 2)!

Then there was this month’s Story Pile, about which I was way more enthusiastic!

Nimona, which is a great movie for kids,

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury, which is a great anime, for slightly older kids!

Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess And The Genius Young Lady, which is a mid anime, for slightly older kids still!

Bound, which is, uh, it’s not for kids

What else happened this month that I’m proud of?

Hm.

Hmmm.

This is a surprising one to say because normally I can think of articles that I want you to read in a sort of ‘well why haven’t you looked at this.’ But I’m in a bad mood right now and it’s colouring things about how I look at my own writing. My article on LIGMA is tainted by knowing how little of the greater context of the area I can communicate. My article about What Disgusts Jod got a response from a Locked Tomb fan that seemed to imply that actually, Jod wasn’t bi or pansexual, because a guy can have a threesome with a man and a woman and people will still try and pretend bisexuality doesn’t exist. My article about Tieflings was probably the thing I’m the most proud of this month, in the idea of the kind of writing I like doing, and I think my article on Faces For Skins is important? At least I avoided another breakdown article about how badly I feel Pride culture connects to or relates to me, though maybe that just shows up in the work in general.

There’s this month’s shirt design:

How hard is the Barbie aesthetic to replicate? With lookalike fonts it’s shockingly easy. I note that this one specifically is a drop shadow and not a 3d semblance, as you can see on the bottoms of the ls. Hey, do you want this on a sticker? Go for it!

In terms of real world events, June is jam packed. It’s the end of the Autumn Semester for me, as a tutor for one. This semester, I took on a lot of marking work, which I like to do, but which also meant that I looked at 118 asignments this month, and 60 of them had a 5 minute audio visual component. That’s five hours of student material to just watch. It ain’t nothing, and it adds up over time.

It’s also a time with four major family birthdays in them, which means I have to find ways and times to attend to physical events. This is not a problem, because I love my family but it sure makes me mindful of just how long it takes me to recover from that to do, y’know, things with myself like write for the blog. Marking periods take time out of the blog work.

The subject matter of the month is also less of a freebie than you might think because I feel like some things are too repetitive – I don’t imagine I’m going to find a third Transformers character to write about next year, for example. There’s also the way that February and June kinda blur together – I’m very fond of talking about queer media in February since that’s one of the most fun kinds of smoochy media I like.

I aim to keep the queued posts for this blog up to 50, so every day if I add a post, it goes to 51 and dips back down to 50. I also try to make sure I’m four weeks ahead on the video channels. This month, as I write this, I am one week ahead on the video, and the queue is down to 45. I am frustrated! But I am doing things to overcome that, and in the coming weeks, I don’t have to grapple with a theme!

I haven’t been getting to bed at good times. This month has featured multiple days where I get to bed at 4 in the morning, one even at 5. This is bad and I hate it. I hate it especially because it takes a long time to recover from it, to get back to sleeping at even the modestly more sensible time of midnight to one AM. I also haven’t been cooking as much as I want to — even modest resistance means that suddenly dinner is some microwaved oats and sultanas, with a splash of milk.

I think I may even be missing one of my June goals for Magic The Gathering: Arena, which isn’t exactly important, but it is a bit of a pisser. The aim was to hit gold tier in limited, which at this point I have… a few hours to do, and I’m still in Silver Tier. That’s not a big deal but it is a bummer.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[happilylovingchaos]

Music and Fic Monday for @lonestar-s5countdown

Sorry I’m late-ish! I’ll give a combination of recommendations for music and fanfics today (which is almost over where I am). And wow, there’s a lot involving TK (I’m getting concerned about how much he and Carlos get whumped, I don’t really care if it’s just me 😰).

([Re-])Surfacing Dive for Beginnings and Ends:

Beyond a lot of the stories written by @carlos-in-glasses, @paperstorm and @lemonlyman-dotcom that I think are also beautiful character studies of the Lone Star characters may not get explored enough (and in some cases even exploring parts of the characters that get most focus in-show), I wanted to give a few shout-outs to other, older one-shots/ full-length stories.

Lonely eyes, you don’t have to be alone tonight by @wwasted: A coda that takes place in between the bar scene and the end of 1x03. It’s very cute w/o dragging out too much of either man’s angst, which I liked.

The elephant in the juice bar by @taralaurel: Where Tarlos begins for real after 1x10, and TK tries and fails to keep a metaphor steady as he decides to take a chance.

Getting better by @lonestarbabe, Pigeonsplotinsecrecy: This fic really plays with the meaning of the words “begin” and “end”, especially with a mental health recovery arc and especially with TK. It’s not for everyone, but it describes how relatable, tedious, solitary and multicolored the process can be.

Rosa mundi by fiddlersgreen: A one-shot where TK, Owen, and Carlos make it to New York without incident and properly mourn for Gwyn… and it’s quite a spiritual experience.

You were the greatest thing by hoodieweather: TK is mournful after the events of season 2 as he goes to visit Gwyn and Jonah, but re-learns something important about life. Takes place in the breakup era. Before the ice storm? Actually def before the ice storm.

First aid by @heartstringsduet: I like to call this the gritty version of “Tarlos Begins”, only both characters have more fragile coping methods of surviving life in New York City. When those methods gradually fall apart and threaten to completely implode their lives, they have to face their respective truths and learn how to live— both with the people around them, the real versions of each other, and with themselves.

Not really bridal style by paperyowl: Tarlos begins again immediately post-3x04— with some relationship negotiating required. The author really nailed Tarlos’ voices for their first fic in the 9-1-1: LS fandom!

Haunted by the ghost of you by @strandnreyes: A sad and hopeful combination of 3x04 and 3x08, where Tarlos begins again with an unexpected end.

I’m not mean enough to fully recommend hurt no comfort Tarlos fics, or hurt no comfort fics in general (and I’m still less than a year into using Tumblr anyway), so for a definitive “end” fic in that category, I may direct you to MissPudim’s works where the issues with the whole Iris arc is addressed and Tarlos handles it Extremely Badly. Or this fic called Gone where… it’s… okay, hell. They still handle it bad, it’s still kind of an end and it’s a bittersweet end, albeit in an AU. And another one by bythebry, Ain’t got no tears left to cry.

Where all this love comes from by @carlos-in-glasses: I think I’m not the first one to recommend this story but I think it counts as a general “begins” for both TK and Carlos (mainly for Carlos, though). And I’m listening to Postmodern Jukebox while trying to re-recommend it… if you’re curious, I put one of their cover songs on the bottom of this post. Needless to say, I loved this fic!

TK (Begins):

Jewish for Himself by 7ate9: I felt a sense of completion to read a fic that goes into TK’s POV about how the religion Gwyn wanted to raise him under is, in a word, complicated (as hell). Yes, just as much as his career and gay identity. For that, I’m thankful to the author! (And not just because so many opportunities for TK’s Jewish rep was wasted…)

TK begins by writedontfight: Exactly what the title says, with a plausible and saddeningly real scar of loss in TK’s life.

Numb and Thirty days by come2gusu: TK begins again, and good GOD I’M SAD ABOUT 3x08 AGAIN nooOOOOOooO….

Carlos (Begins):

Duality of a day by @marjansmarwani: I loved this exploration of how double-edged the wedding day would feel for Carlos— the beginning of a new chapter in his life with TK, and the punch-to-the-face end of Gabriel’s own life (spoiler alert).

to build a home by @freneticfloetry: This story was the first “Carlos Begins” story I’d read. I thought I wouldn’t like the canon divergence that happens at the end, but I was pleasantly surprised!

Dancing, happy, seen by @endlesstwanted: Carlos’ POV as he falls in love at first sight with TK.

Silver lining’s gold and shining by @paperstorm: “Carlos begins”, with a little help from Iris. For me, it also parallels “Chimney Begins”.

I fell for you like a child (oh but the fire went wild) by ellay_gee: Told in a 5+1 format about Carlos’ experiences with love. It was so cute!

Tender eyes that shine by @alrightbuckaroo: Much like “to build a home”, this fic exuded “Carlos begins” energy with more focus on how the Reyes’ “identity” shaped Carlos, and him focusing on unlearning the emotional repression that comes with that ideal.

Music Recs for @tellmegoodbye:

If the Lone Star music team uses this cover of AC/DC my country-music side would be tickled. Just thought that a down-South version of a rock song would be a cool bookend to the pop collab “Old Town Road.”

Postmodern Jukebox is one of my favorite cover bands, and they’ve made a lot of songs I’ve heard of really appealing for me— retro takes on pop songs! This one cover of Oasis’ songs brought to mind another procedural spinoff, NCIS: New Orleans, for the jazz funeral feel added to apparently hotly-debated interpretations of the lyrics (I only just looked on Reddit, so…). But considering what’s happening, hearing the song in the context of Lone Star breaks and warms my heart.

[beevean]

Since you like the character so much I must know:

Top 5 worst Alucard moments/scenes?

Big oof lol

A lot of them come all from S2 because he's at his cuntiest lmao

5) "Oh my God. I'm turning into Belmont." shut the fuck up shut your entire fuck up he is not as disgusting as y'all make him to be

4) Him replying to Trevor's very earnest request for help with a snarky "lololol good thing I didn't kill you", because god forbid the protagonist is taken seriously here. Oh but Sypha tells Trevor to grow up and stop falling for Alucard's "barbs" 🙃

3) This lovely barrage of insults of which I can't find the clip of:

Alucard: Well, well. Naughty Belmonts hunting all the terrible things of the forest, but sitting on a magic door opened by occult language. Trevor: I didn't know it was a fucking magic door. Doesn't make us black magicians. Alucard: But you know that the word, "Teloch," means "of death," right? Trevor: Shut up. Alucard: It's the magical door of death, Belmont. […] Trevor: No. The family's originally from the Kingdom of France. But we moved out of there a few hundred years ago. Alucard: Moved or chased? Trevor: Moved, thank you very much. Alucard: With people behind you waving pitchforks and torches? Trevor: No. No, we're professionals. We move where the work is. Sypha: What does that even mean? Trevor: All the dark things moved into the east. I think it was a Leon Belmont who entered the region first. And he built this house, and dug the foundations for everything under it. exhales My God. The memory of my family. All that's left of us. Sypha: Is it organized? ls there a way to find things? Alucard: I imagine one sacrifices a chicken, and divines the location of the book you want from the intestines. Maybe Belmont has a crystal ball in here you could ask. Trevor: Shut up. Alucard: It's an impressive tip, Belmont. But it is, nonetheless, a tip. Your ancestors were apparently mentally ill hoarders. I fully expect to find family cats mummified under some of these shelves. chuckles Unless your family preferred to eat them.

and it's all justified because his depression is more serious than Trevor's and he only wants to "test" him :^) fuck off grief can only justify you so far, especially when his only reaction to Trevor revealing he lost his whole family at age 12 was not a shred of empathy but "I'm disturbed to find that I had more of a childhood than you did"

2) Him using the dolls he made of his friends to shittalk about them and say genuinely horrible things behind their back. It's not funny. It's mean. And sure, those two were dicks in abandoning him to grieve alone, but you know he's not doing it out of anger, he's just a bully.

1) "It's like a museum dedicated to the extermination of my people." How to completely miss the point of the character, like you have to actively try to mess it up so badly. Bro really insulted Trevor's whole legacy because he feels sorry for bloodsucking tyrants and relates to them. your thirst trap, everybody!

[creatorbiaze]

I want them like their music taste!

I also like all of those too

I need to know what are their hobbies? And family relations? And friends/enemies?

-hopeless anon

hehehehe thankz :>

Hobbies, Vizerxa: Vizerxa likes to play a few instruments (piano, flute, and violin) in her free time, read, do various puzzles (ranging from crosswords & sodoku to jigsaw puzzles to escape room-ish story puzzles), feed stray animals / the wildlife, and play boardgames. She normally only plays chess against people she's not close with, since she uses it to understand their minds better & figure out how they would strategize against her.

family relations, Vizerxa; she has absolutely no idea where Arctos is / if he's even in the afterlife & honestly doesn't care. Same with Fractal. Very close with both her siblings, highly protective of anyone who remembers Lucidi since if even one of them dies, chances are Lucidi does too (Lucidi fled the Draconic Realms to escape Light Song & erased everyone's memory of them except for a few select people to keep Lucidi still existent).

friends enemies, Vizerxa; their main enemy after LS's death is Sidera. She despises Sidera with every fiber of her being. She's still very good friends with Clara who she remet relatively recently after being scared that LS killed Clara not once but twice (luckily, LS didn't). she's also close to Aella, and sees Star Seer & Mendacium as respectable mentors / seniors.

Hobbies, Z; Honestly Z considers the Historian work a hobby, just traveling through time and writing down what happens. They also read & sometimes write poetry. Pre-fall, they used to sing and played the flute. they honestly generally loved music.

family relations, Z; Honestly doesn't remember their family & doesn't care. As far as Z's family is aware, they died hundreds of thousands of years ago (Xekolus age INCREDIBLY slow & live for forever basically). Before they "fell", though, Z was close to their father's side of the family (father, 2 aunts, and grandmother) since they agree that Xalau's rules are stupid. They didn't get along too well with their mother's side (mother, grandparents, and great grandparents) since they all were firm believers in Xalau's weird rules. They also had 2 siblings, both younger, that they got along pretty well with.

friends & enemies, Z; Honestly the only person Z is truly close to is Venenum, who they still have a strong desire to protect & guard, though they have no idea why. They get along ok with the rest of Zelura's "Pantheon", though avoids Inxau whenever possible. They have a decent relationship with the rest of the Historians, and dislike Sidera, who's been trying to kill them for a couple centuries in order to steal Z's blood manipulation & time freeze.