#not the best quality but...... i just had to gif these clips

[dellamortte]

Jason Isaacs on KTLA5 Entertainment (March 31st 2023)

[keirosims]

[Keiros] 400 Follower Gift - Funky Nails

Thank you all so much for getting me to 400 followers! ❤

I noticed there's a severe lack of masc nails that aren't just base colours, and men deserve some funky designs too!!

Now I'll admit due to how little space on the UV map I had the designs aren't exactly high quality, but I did try my best and I hope they are good enough. Also, if any other cc UV map uses space close to the hands then there may be clipping. It's been fine on all cc/EA stuff I've tested but just a warning.

Masc Frame (NEW Fem Frame added)

36 designs with 66 total swatches

Disabled for random

Ideas taken from Pinterest, all drawn by me though

Download: SFS

T.O.U

Do not edit/recolour(Ask me first)

Credit me if you use in sim dumps

Do not put behind a paywall

Love to be tagged if you use these!

Static previews under the cut!

[ilariyalavorowrites]

Stalking Me, Stalking You (CSI Nick Stokes) Part three

Imagine: You never saw it coming, you never knew he was there until the moment he struck. For months, this individual had stalking you from the shadows, trying to find a way into your life. Never quite able to but in his mind, time was running out and soon enough you would be completely out of reach. This was the moment to act, to ‘rescue’ you and steal you away.

Warnings: Angst with a happy ending, kidnapping, hurt but eventual comfort. Suffering, lots of suffering, slow-moving plot, stalking, obsessive behaviour.

Pairings: Nick Stokes x Reader and Reader x OC (one-sided)

Word count: 3,068 words

Universe: CSI

Reader gender: Female

Part three of ten

Tagged: @just-call-me-the-old-hag @horsedragonllama @space-helen @kneelforloki @flopiboni

Previous / Next

Monday, Midnight

Greg and Morgan sat side by side, as Archie worked his magic on the various clips of CCTV. Each of the three larger monitors displayed different parts of a timeline that had been created by the day shift’s visual and audio tech Franklyn. They watched as their friend exited her known and preferred coffee shop with her piping hot beverage alone. This had been the last place that she had seen when Officer Sawyer had taken the barista’s statement.

“This is the only first clip that Dayshift obtained after the warrant for her finances came through” Morgan stated with the matching report in hand. The short clip showed nothing out of the ordinary. There was no one tailing her, no strange car parked with a window partially wound down with the driver trying to look casual as their eyes trailed after her.

“It confirms the Barista’s statement at the very least” Greg replied as his gaze shifted to the second screen. Archie paused the first clip and then slid the cursor to the play the next one.

All of them were teetering on the edge of professionalism. Trying their best to push aside their personal feelings. They needed to try at the very least to view the evidence collected like any other case. It was going to be a long night especially as Greg and Morgan had been the ones assigned to review what was already there for this shift. 

The plan was for hands on deck over the next few shifts, to hand over the new details and brief the incoming day shift at the end of their night then repeat the process with a fresh set of eyes the next night.

“This one isn’t the greatest quality, it’s a wall-mounted camera from one of her neighbours that was discovered by the door-to-door interviews” Archie stated as the pixelated footage started. Both Morgan and Greg noted the timestamp, it had been captured at 2:30 in the afternoon. 

“This camera will only record when the motion detection is triggered as you both know” Archie reminded them as they all watched as a battered, Silver Chevrolet Cruze drove past. It did not match the make and model of the car that the Detective had, which had yet to be located even with the BOLO that had been put out with all the necessary details. It had vanished into thin air.

Notes from the lead CSI Ava Dane stated that none of the neighbours had recognised the car when they had spoken after reviewing the footage. One neighbour had commented that he noticed the vehicle when he had returned from home at around 3:10 but he had heard tyres screeching loudly about twenty-five minutes later and when he looked at the window, it was gone.

There had been a slight skid mark noted and photographed from outside that particular address which had been run through the system and matched commonly used wheels. It had the first dead end.

“Franklyn managed to recover a partial plate after cleaning up the image, I won’t be able to get much more than that due to video quality” The tech apologised, knowing that this was not what the two of them wanted to hear.

“It’s a start at least” Morgan responded, trying to remain positive as she turned to the next report. Her eyes rapidly moved over the data displayed there. “It looks like the day shift ran that plate, there’s a fair few listed but they eliminated half” 

As her eyes drifted down the page, they stopped over one particular name. As memories of the case that she had worked on came flooding back. The Detective had been waiting for her at the scene. 

Vaughn Mikhailov was a two-bit drug dealer, he and his older brother Artem had been targeted and shot at in a drive-by gangbangers after they had tried to move in on the turf of another local dealer. The initial warnings had been ignored by the pair, and this had led to the car being targeted. Vaughn had been in the backseat, he had barely been clipped by a single bullet in his left shoulder but Artem hadn’t been as lucky.

He had died at the scene, bleeding out whilst waiting on the paramedics. Vaughn had been cooperative to a point, but eventually, he just screamed at her friend when she had in his eyes failed to get justice for his brother.

It was not always possible to reach a satisfactory end to every case, it had been one of those which slipped through the crack when the leads had all run cold. Morgan remembered that her friend had noted that this had not been her first rodeo with either of the Mikhailov brothers.

“The first time I met them was when I was working the beat, I arrested Artem for soliciting a working girl and Vaughn for dealing. Both of them had rap sheets as long as your arm. It's their mother, I feel for each time one of them ends up in court”

There had been sympathy that lingered as she listened, as it turned out their mother had raised both the boys single-handedly after their father had run off. She had tried her best but they had been drawn into the fast-paced lifestyle of wheeling and dealing. As she watched, the detective informed the woman of her son’s death.

“What is it, Morgan?” Greg asked, noticing that Morgan had not spoken and became transfixed by one of the reports further in. He leaned, to see what she had been reading. It was the list of cars compiled by the plate search. 

“Vaughn Mikhailov,” She said looking up to meet his gaze. Greg’s gaze narrowed perplexed as he did not recognize the name. However, before he could reply, Morgan beat him to the punch.

“It was a drive-by shooting case, I worked a few weeks back and she was the lead detective assigned work to the case alongside me” She started, knowing that she would need to give him more than that if they were going to start to seriously look at him as a potential suspect.

“He and his older brother were targeted after trying to move into another dealer’s turf. His brother died at the scene. He was far from happy with how things went but he had a chip on his shoulder as she had arrested him more than a few times in the past” Once she had finished speaking, Morgan waited for Greg to process the information that had been dumped upon him.

“So he held her responsible for not finding his brother’s killer then. Greg asked, Morgan nodded before one last comment. “He had an axe to grind”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------Tuesday, 4 am

With one hand poised, Nick firmly knocked upon Russell’s closed office door. In a roundabout way, he had expected the text summoning him to the supervisor’s office but not this soon. He had hoped that he would be one way approaching Russell but then again, at least this way soon enough everything would be out in the open.

This was not the way that he had hoped that this conversation would be initiated. He knew that she had already started telling her partner and fellow officers about her boyfriend whenever she had a spare few minutes. She had also scheduled a meeting with HR on the day that she was meant to be returning to work. Nick then would approach Russell around the same time as she would have been seated down with HR. Effectively killing two birds with one stone 

This had always been their plan when things became more serious between the two of them. Multiple discussions had arisen, on when, where and how they approach their collective jobs regarding their romantic relationship and the potential impact on both of their jobs that would need to be addressed and solutions put into place.

She had planned to offer to be moved from Graveyard to Swing or Day if no other compromise could be reached. Where it would be possible for both of them both work the same shift pattern without any issues. Departmental policy had previously torn Sara from the team when her relationship with Grissom came to light, they had wondered how it would have played out for them.

Yes, they were still colleagues working alongside another one, but not under the same direct supervisor. They crossed over for Homicide and Forensic evidence collection and investigation came hand in hand. Without one, you couldn’t have the other.

“Come in” Russell’s voice called from behind the door, bringing Nick back of his thoughts as he pushed the handle and then the door inwardly. “Hey Russell…” He greeted the man sitting behind the desk but what he hadn’t expected was Catherine being in the room, standing off to one side behind Russell.

“Shut the door Nick” Russell continued as he went through the motions of crossing the threshold and closing the door behind him and moved further into the office to stand before the pair staring straight at him.

“I know this is about Detective..” Her name rolled off his tongue, one that had fallen on his lips many times before. “Look, I know that I should have told you..” Nick started to try and explain the position that he had found himself in.

“Nick, I need to know that you’ll be able to recuse yourself if you cross that emotional line where you start to lead your heart, not your head. For as long as you can remain objective then you still work on the case but the moment, that you step over that line. I will remove you and you’ll be treated just like every other significant other or next kin on every other case that had past through this department” Russell spoke with a conviction that could not be ignored or overturned. This was a promise that he would not go back on. 

Nick quickly nodded, happily agreeing with his supervisor’s conclusion. “This will have to be logged with HR and I’ll arrange the meeting shortly”  Russell said before turning to Catherine. “Anything you want to add?” He said, pulling her into the dialogue. Catherine had been quietly observing the short back and forth between the pair.

“Nicky, from here on out, we’ll be watching closer. Please understand, that we want to bring her home as much as you do. Still, we have to follow the rules and ensure there nothing can be challenged further down the line” Her words held a warmth that Nick had felt before, the familial love that had developed and grown over the many years that they had worked together. Once again, Catherine was looking after him, all whilst balancing the integrity of the crime lab and their necessary work on top of that. It was a well-practice balancing act that she had perfected over the last decade.

All it took would be one step in the wrong direction and it would come tumbling back down. That could not happen, no it would not help.

------------------------------------------------------------------------Tuesday 2 am

As the night rolled by, evidence was processed, reviewed and reported, with the new findings and avenues to venture down next added to the ever-growing list.

The one initially weak lead that had cropped up early in the shift strengthened as prints from the scene which had been set running whilst the sun was still up bore fruit. Morgan’s theory now seemed more plausible as the same name popped up once more, this could not just be a coincidence in the name of bad blood. 

Morgan turned to Greg, still trying to wrap her head around this as there were still too many variables that did not make a lick of sense. She could understand the steps taken to enact some twisted form of payback by breaking into the detective’s home and destroying everything that she might hold dear. There were no signs of a struggle, no blood splatter or trail to imply that they had been lying in wait for her to return.

With the crime scene photos laid out on the table between them, this felt much like the pieces of a puzzle waiting to be put together to reveal the image displayed upon the box when a handful of key tiles were missing, creating holes in the image. “This isn’t the primary scene, there is no indication that she ever came back. Two separate indications with one connecting factor, her” Morgan said, churning over the thoughts in her head out loud as she tried to make any sense of it all.

“What do we know about Vaughn Mikhailov, beyond his last arrest report?” Greg started before listing off what had been discovered thus far “His prints are all over this crime scene, his car matches the mark and model spotted on the neighbour's CCTV but why would a dealer break into a cop’s home in broad daylight?” He posed the question to Morgan, the blonde’s face twisted in confusion as she tried to gather together a logical answer but found none. 

“How did he find her address? That’s what bugs me unless he tailed her previously but according to the neighbour’s statement” Morgan replied, fishing out the relevant document from the box on her side of the table and turning to the right page. “That car had never been caught on camera before that day and those cameras had been up for more than six months”

“The only way that we’ll get satisfactory answers is that Vaughn Mikhailov needs to be found and brought in for questioning” Morgan nodded her head in agreement, the two-bit criminal had a lot to answer for.

“Brass put has BOLO out on Mikailov’s car”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------Tuesday, 4:30 am

The blinding flash of blue lights and screeching sirens were not out of place as the convoy of vehicles pulled up in front of the homestead. Its chain link fence had seen better days, half still attached to the poles that marked the edge of the property and the rest lost within the depths of the tall grass that desperately needed cutting. 

The property itself was registered to one Nikolai Mikhailov, the cousin of their prime suspect. It was not out of the ordinary for Vaughn to crash on his cousin’s sofa when his mother threw him out for the third time that week. Officers had called the property in the past, more often than not on matters of public nuisance or disturbance. Nikolai loved to party well into the small hours and was not shy about using violence to silence any complaining neighbours if they dared to call the cops on him.

Detective Captain Jim Brass surveyed the scene from behind the cruiser’s side door and soon found what he was looking for. With the garage door half enough, it was plain to see the car parked within, its license plate matching the suspect’s known vehicle of choice. No lights could be seen from the street as Officers tentatively approached the front door, ready to burst through the door and apprehend whoever was on the other side.

With the fury of valkyries leading the charge, the officers breached through the threshold as calls of LVPD came and went as Jim watched them disappear inside. This had to be it, this had to be the end of the road.

He was not the only one listening in, as the Officers inside cleared the scene. The investigated interest ran through from the bottom straight up to the top. She was one of them

‘419’ The code of a dead body came crackling over the airwaves, a dead body had been discovered. A chill rushed through him as he envisioned the very sight of her lying there, with empty, glazed-over eyes staring up at him as he wondered why.

’It’s not her’ The voice of Officer Mitchell soon followed as Jim released the breath that he hadn’t known he was holding back, then again he wasn’t the only one. Nick stood silently by, with bated breath as Morgan and Greg left with kits in hand. This was their scene now as they had been the ones to discover the connections that led to this.

Hodges stood in the doorway, reading the scene before him. The air was still tense as they all waited for the relief to set in but yet that felt too premature. The lab tech cleared his throat to try and catch Nick’s attention. He watched for a moment then tried a different approach.

“Nick, this was left at Reception for you” Hodges called into the room, as he held out the unstamped manila envelope for the other man to take. Nick Stokes was scrawled across the front in a large and unfamiliar hand. 

Nick frowned, he was not awaiting any post as he took it. “Thanks, man,” He said as he turned it over, inspecting it from every angle. There was nothing about the envelope that stood out, it was a standard A3 office stationery that was stocked by countless suppliers but the question arose of who had sent it.

As he carefully opened the sealed flap and reached inside, Nick quickly found the content. A series of photographs which he slid out. Hodges slid up beside him as he turned over the first which revealed little other than what he already knew to be true.

“Is that…” David questioned at the sight of his friends and colleagues locked in a rather passionate embrace. “Yes,” Nick curtly replied, annoyed at the very prospect that they had been followed and their privacy had been invaded like this as he turned over the next one.

It was the last one that drew a shocked gasp from Hodges, as he shook with a rage that he hadn’t felt for some time. The sight of her bound and unconscious in the boot of an unidentifiable vehicle with the words I WIN STOKES, SHE IS MINE written in bold, block capitals across the top of the image.

Each had focused upon her, she was the object of this maddening desire. A tail had been placed as her routine was documented. He held pride of place in a number of the images, whether he liked it or not.

He was taunting him, this was just his opening move.

[drabbles-mc]

Let Me Know

Bucky Barnes x F!Reader

For Week 7 of @buckybarnesevents's Hot Bucky Summer: Who's This?

Warnings: 18+, language, light angst, mentions of blood/injuries

Word Count: 4.8k

A/N: Roommates to lovers?? Don't mind if I do! 😂 It was so fun to write for Bucky again! I haven't written much for him as I've been doing other events for other fandoms, but trust he is still bouncing around my head always haha. This got away from me in the best way. Hope you enjoy!

MCU Taglist: @artemiseamoon @garbinge (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, please let me know!)

You hadn’t heard from Bucky since he left for his last mission. That wasn’t something that was necessarily unusual—it wasn’t uncommon for him to drop off the radar for a couple weeks at a clip. You’d known that was part of the deal for a long time, long before the two of you had started whatever relationship it was that you had now.

At first you two were just roommates. Hell, you didn’t even want to refer to the two of you as friends for a while at the start. It wasn’t that you disliked each other, but Bucky didn’t seem like he was really the type who was keen on making friends. He was civil with you, cordial, but it wasn’t as though the two of you spent a lot of quality time together. He spent most of his time in his room unless he was showering or cooking. The times when he was home alone you’d come back to the apartment to find him in the living room, but once it was the two of you again, he’d soon retreat back to his own space. You mentioned to him on more than one occasion that the living room was considered a common area for a reason—it wasn’t as though only one of you could be there at a time, but he always found a way to brush the comment off.

It wasn’t until he came home in the middle of the night from a mission while you were in the kitchen making yourself a midnight snack that the two of you had any interaction of real substance. You heard the apartment door open and you were automatically on-edge. Bucky was known to come and go at all hours, and while no one had ever tried to break into your place, you knew that there was always a first time for everything.

So, you grabbed a knife from the knife block and slowly crept towards the door. You heard someone let out a soft grunt, followed by heavy booted footsteps on the floor. Your grip around the knife handle tightened as you held your breath. Reaching around the corner, you quickly turned on the lights and stepped around the corner, effectively not only scaring the shit out of Bucky, but also yourself. You were a lot of things, but one thing you were not was someone who thrived in fight or flight situations.

“Jesus,” Bucky said, bracing himself against the arm of the couch, recovering once he realized it was you. He made a small gesture to the knife in your hand. “What the hell are you doing?”

You huffed, heart still pounding inside your chest as you let your arm drop carefully back to your side. “What the hell are you doing?” you shot back.

His brows knit, confused, like the answer was perfectly, obvious. To his credit, it was. “Trying to come home?”

“It’s almost 2AM. Why didn’t you just stay—”

“I wanted to be in my own bed,” he cut you off. He shook his head at you. “Why am I getting interrogated for wanting to be in my own apartment?” He paused. “Why are you awake at 2AM?”

You pointed back towards the kitchen with the knife, which would’ve been more amusing if either of you were less frustrated or less exhausted. “Wanted a snack.”

He huffed out a laugh, one that almost sounded a little bit amused. “Right.”

“Want some?” you offered, like an olive branch. “Quesadillas.”

“At 2AM?”

You rolled your eyes. “You don’t have to have any of it. Just thought—”

“I’m good,” he cut you off, “but thanks.” He watched as you nodded, both of you still just standing there, occupying the same space because neither knew what move to make next. “Goodnight,” he finally said, prying his hand off the couch so he could slowly keep making his way towards his room.

You stepped to the side, letting him pass. You couldn’t help but notice that he was moving slower than usual, not quite limping but definitely stiff. “Do you need—”

“I’m good.”

You sighed, letting your head drop back so you were staring up at the ceiling. Someday the two of you would get through a conversation where he actually let you finish your sentences. Once he shut his bedroom door behind him, you shut off the lights in the living room again, retreating back to the kitchen to put the knife away and finish making your snack.

You were just putting the dishes in the sink, thinking you’d rather do them tomorrow than right in that moment. Right when you reached to turn the kitchen light off, you heard footsteps again. Lighter this time, but still slow. You stopped and waited.

Bucky came all but hobbling into the kitchen. He made a beeline for the refrigerator, opening the freezer side and pulling out a frozen water bottle. Immediately he brought it down to his leg, rolling it against his thigh over the lounge pants he’d changed into.

You frowned slightly at the sight. “Anything I can do?”

He shook his head, eyes still fixed on his leg. “No.”

You nodded, not looking to push things with him, especially not at the given hour. “Okay. Well…you know where to find me if…” you trailed off, not really sure how you wanted to end the sentence. Really, you didn’t know what you could offer him that he wouldn’t be able to do for himself. It felt wrong to not put the offer out there, though.

He nodded, still not looking at you. “Thanks.”

You turned and were going to start heading back to your room. Just as you were going to round the corner into the short hall that separated your rooms from the rest of the apartment, you looked back over your shoulder to see Bucky peering into the fridge again, this time looking for something to eat rather than just an ice pack.

With his back to you, you could see a stripe going down his shirt, just beside his left shoulder, where he was bleeding through. You frowned, considering for a moment if you should say something or not. He’d never been one for unsolicited commentary.

“Bucky?” you said, leaning against the wall.

“Yea?” he responded, still digging around the fridge for something that required no effort to eat.

“I, uh, I think…I think you’re bleeding?” You watched as he finally looked at you, glancing back over his shoulder like he was trying to figure out if you were being honest or not, not that you’d lie about something like that but he still didn’t trust anyone off the rip. You made a vague gesture to the area where the blood was, not that you were really close enough for it to matter. “Your shoulder.”

Recognition washed over his face, quickly followed by annoyance. “Shit.”

“I’ve got bandages,” you nodded towards the bathroom. “If you want, I can…I mean just so you don’t bleed everywhere.”

The apprehension was clear as day on his face, but he knew you were being practical. Plus, he really didn’t feel like having to get new shirts and sheets if he didn’t have to. He sighed, finally giving in with a nod. He shut the fridge door, opening the freezer and tossing the water bottle back into it with a little more force than necessary before shutting that door too.

When you came back to the kitchen, you found him sitting at the counter. His back was to you, his shirt clutched tightly in his metal hand as he braced himself on the edge of the counter. You didn’t say anything as you set the box of bandages down next to him, taking a couple out so that you could try to completely cover the cut that was running along his back.

It was the first time you’d ever seen him without his shirt on. He was always at least in a tank top when he came out of his room, always made sure he dressed before stepping out of the bathroom after his showers. Until now you’d thought it was just a courtesy thing, the same way he never really stayed in the living room or kitchen with you for too long. But as you looked at his back, seeing the scars and the bruises, you had a whole new understanding of it all.

“Is it bad?” he asked, breaking the silence.

You shook your head, and it took a moment for you to remember that he couldn’t see you. “Not too bad. You won’t, uh, you shouldn’t need stitches. Bandages for a couple days should be find until it scabs over a bit.” You paused, delicately placing the first bandage on the upper half of the cut. “This is gonna sound stupid,” you started with a laugh.

You heard the sharp exhale he let out through his nose, the closest thing to a laugh you’d heard from him in a long time. “Good. Love that.”

You laughed a little harder, heat flaring up in your face. “I just, I don’t know, I guess I didn’t realize that you could…I just thought that since you’ve got that super soldier thing…”

“I’m not invincible,” he said, his tone sarcastic but not nearly as mean as it could’ve been. “Takes more to do damage. Heal quicker. But I’m not…yea.”

“Hmm,” you hummed in acknowledgment as you applied the second bandage.

“What?”

“No, nothing, I just, I didn’t know. Feels weird to ask.” You chuckled nervously. “God forbid it sounds like a weird threat.”

He glanced over his shoulder at you, looking exhausted but also a little amused. “Didn’t want to ask what it would take to kill me?”

“That’s not what I said,” nervous laughter spilled out of you, your entire face and neck feeling like they were on fire. Stepping away, you threw the little slips of paper from the bandages into the trash, finally looking Bucky in the eye again once you did. “You should be all set. Honestly, if you really do heal quicker, you’ll probably only need those on for the next day or so.”

“Thank you,” he told you as he got up off the stool at the counter.

You nodded, offering up a quiet, “You’re welcome,” as he went back to the fridge again, t-shirt still clutched in his hand. You chuckled softly. “There’s enough to make another quesadilla if you want.”

Things had started to change between the two of you after that. It was slow, gradual, but you noticed it. You never went out of your way to bring up what had happened that night, because really it wasn’t that big of a deal—it wasn’t like you’d had to reattach a limb for him. It was just a couple band-aids. But it was enough to tip the scales just slightly. It started off with small things. When Bucky would cook while you were home, he made enough for both of you. Depending on what you were watching, he’d accept the invite to sit in the living room with you to see whatever show or movie you had on.

Over time, your conversations stopped being quite as one-sided. You didn’t think that Bucky was ever a chatterbox even on his best day, but it did eventually get to the point where he was giving you answers that were more than two or three words at a clip. He’d ask you questions instead of just you asking him things. Not only that, but it seemed like he was actually listening to the answers.

After that first night in the kitchen when you’d been ready to stab Bucky with a kitchen knife, he promised that he’d make sure to text you whenever he got back after a mission, giving you an ETA so you wouldn’t freak out again. It was a small but appreciated gesture. No matter the hour, you were pretty much always up, and always cooking or eating something when he got home. In the back of Bucky’s mind he knew that you did it on purpose, one gesture in return for another, but he didn’t allow himself to process the full weight of it, the real comfort that he could get from it. Too afraid to acknowledge it out loud in fear that it was going to get taken from him.

Then one night after he got home from a mission, walking into the apartment at an hour that was too late to be nighttime but too early still to be morning, he found you standing at the stove in the kitchen. He lingered in the doorway, every muscle in his body feeling exceptionally heavy after how things had played out in the field. As much as part of him had wanted to come straight home and collapse into bed, another part of him was looking forward to the exact sight that was in front of him now.

“It’s nothing fancy,” you said with a laugh as you turned around, one plate in each hand, “but—” You stopped short when you looked up and saw the state that bucky was in. “Holy shit.”

His eyebrows lifted just slightly at your reaction. He knew why you’d reacted that way, but he was too tired to get into it all. You set the plates down on the counter with a light clatter before quickly making your way to the other side of the counter to him. His face was littered with bruises, a small cut through his eyebrow and a few others on his cheek. Nothing that required a doctor’s visit, but you knew that if his face was this bruised, the rest of him was too.

“What happened?” you asked, reaching out to touch his face before you could think better of it.

He flinched slightly at your touch, and it was only then that you realized what you were doing. Bucky saw the panic flash across your face and he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t get it out. It’d been a long time since someone had been gentle like that with him.

“Long story,” he finally said with a shake of his head.

You nodded, trying to be understanding while also knowing there was no way you could try to wrap your head around the situation. “Right.”

Bucky saw the way that your eyes would drift from his to the bruises, worry in your expression as you tried not to stare. It was the most visibly beat up he’d been in a while upon getting home from a mission. Reaching out, Bucky rested his right hand against your shoulder, his grip gentle, warm even through the fabric of your t-shirt. You were extremely aware of the fact that it was the first time Bucky had ever touched you like that, given a passive form of affection.

“It looks bad,” he conceded with a weary chuckle, “but I’m alright.”

The ends of your mouth turned up just slightly as you nodded. “Okay.”

When he came back to the kitchen after changing and dropping off his things, he found you sitting at the counter patiently waiting for him. He plopped down heavily in the seat next to you, neither of you saying much for the moment as you ate what was essentially going to be an extremely early breakfast.

You grabbed both your plates when you’d finished, bringing them to the sink. Checking the time on the stove, you sighed, knowing that you weren’t going to be able to fall back to sleep at that point. The best you were going to be able to hope for was going to bed extremely early the next night to make up for the lost time.

“I’m gonna make coffee,” you said over your shoulder as you grabbed a mug for yourself. “You want some? I know you’re probably just gonna pass out.”

Bucky stared at you, watching you going through the motions of something so simple, something he had definitely seen you do plenty of times before. He cleared his throat. “I’ll take one. I slept on the plane back,” he lied, desperately wanting to sleep but now tempted to try and stay awake with you at least for a little while. “Won’t be able to pass out for a bit.”

He listened to your hum of acknowledgment as you reached up to grab a second mug for him. He sat for a moment, trying to piece apart all the different thoughts and feelings racing through his mind. It was impossible for him to look at anything but you as you leaned forward, bracing your hands on the edge of the counter to keep yourself upright while you waited for the coffee to brew.

Getting up off the stool, Bucky walked over to you. Your mind was miles away, and you didn’t hear him walk up behind you. It wasn’t until he tapped your shoulder that you snapped to attention. You flinched, spinning around since he caught you off-guard. You nearly smacked into him, not expecting him to be standing so close to you. He always managed to leave a buffer between the two of you.

“You okay?” you asked, your voice unsteady when you didn’t mean for it to be.

He nodded. “I’m good.” He paused, racking his brain for the right words. “Thank you,” was all he managed to come up with, but it was better than nothing.

You laughed, a little breathless from the fact that he was still standing so close to you. “It’s nothing.”

Neither of you moved, or spoke, you hardly even breathed in the next few seconds that passed. Bucky didn’t take his eyes off yours and it had you feeling like you were about to melt into the floor. Taking a deep breath and a leap of faith, you reached up towards his face again, your fingertips gingerly touching his cheek. He didn’t pull away, determined not to make the same mistake twice. A smile involuntarily spread across your face at the acceptance of your touch, your hand shifting just slightly so that you could better cup his cheek, your thumb lightly grazing his cheekbone. Your touch ghosted over the bruises blooming over his skin.

You were about to ask him if he was sure that he was alright when he leaned in and pressed his lips to yours. It was a split second, over just as soon as it started as he pulled away, trying to gauge just how big of a mistake he’d just made. His eyes searched yours, heart pounding in his chest. You beamed at him for a moment before bringing his lips back to yours, kissing him with purpose, feeling the way that he was instantly trying to meld himself into you.

As the days and weeks ticked by after that, it was as though the two of you started to forget that your apartment had two bedrooms. Most of the time Bucky stayed with you in yours, but every now and then you’d find yourself tucked safely under Bucky’s comforter and in his arms in his room too. There was never a conversation about it, and in the back of your mind you knew that maybe there should’ve been. But it was working so well, the last thing you wanted to do was complicate it, potentially ruining something that was so precariously created between you.

And now here you were, pacing the expanse of your apartment’s living room, waiting for some sort of confirmation from Bucky that he was back home and in one piece. You were used to him going silent, but you usually heard from him before anything about his work hit the news. The fact that the television going in the background had running coverage saying that there had been another successful mission, saying there were more details to come even though there never were, had you on-edge when your phone refused to chime with a message from Bucky.

You spent a few more minutes waiting, pacing, before finally deciding that fuck it, you might as well show up and hope for the best. So you grabbed your keys and took off out of the apartment, making sure that you locked it up on the way out.

You found yourself standing in the lobby of the building, helpless to do anything but stare and gawk at everything around you. You’d never been to their base in Brooklyn—never had a reason to when Bucky lived with you. You didn’t even know where to start.

Luckily, you didn’t have to stand there overwhelmed on your own for too long. You turned your head towards the sound of someone clearing their throat. You knew who he was, because Sam Wilson’s face was everywhere these days, but he had no idea who you were. You would’ve assumed that even if he didn’t have a mildly confused look on his face.

“Something I can help you with?” his tone was cautious.

Clearing your throat, you nodded. “Yea. God, I’m, I’m sorry. I know I probably shouldn’t just,” you fumbled, trying to get your sentences together, “I just, shit. I’m looking for Bucky?”

The confusion on his face intensified. “Bucky?”

“Yea, I’m—”

Whatever the conversation was about to be between you was cut short by the sound of Bucky saying your name. He sounded just as confused as Sam had, only Bucky had a thick layer of annoyance layered on top of the confusion.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, brows knit tightly.

“I just got worried when I saw the news but I didn’t hear anything from you. I thought you—”

“You can’t just come down here,” he cut you off, and for a moment your mind flashed back to how the two of you were months and months ago now. It stung more than you’d bargained for.

“I waited but then I got worried, alright? That’s not, you know, that’s not ridiculous of me. You always tell me when you get back.”

“Sorry,” Sam was looking back and forth between the two of you before his gaze finally landed on Bucky, “but who’s this?”

You both answered simultaneously, but the problem was your answers weren’t the same.

“His girlfriend.”

“My roommate.”

Sam’s eyebrows shot up as he looked back and forth between you. You felt like someone had let all the air out of your lungs, like you were about to deflate and crumple right onto the tiles beneath your feet. Bucky’s annoyance faded only slightly when he registered the words you’d said, but he was still too off-kilter and confused about the entire thing to say or do anything.

“Right,” Sam said, clearly a little uncomfortable. He turned to you. “Well, it was nice meeting you. I’ll leave you two to…this.”

You shook your head, trying to ignore the sting of tears in your eyes, the smoldering anger you could feel in the pit of your chest. You made sure not to take it out on Sam. “I’ll leave. I’m sure you have important things to take care of. It was really nice meeting you, Sam.” You turned your head to look at Bucky. “Guess I’ll see you at home, roomie.”

Bucky only got half your name out before you turned on your heel and started to take off for the door. He sighed, chin dropping to his chest. Finally picking his head back up, he looked over at Sam, who was just shaking his head at him.

“What?” Bucky snapped.

“You messed up,” Sam said with a laugh, clearly not feeling any pity for the man standing with him.

“Helpful. Thanks.”

Sam shook his head. “She was just worried about you, man.”

Bucky sighed, not wanting to get into all of it. Nodding towards the elevator he said, “Can we just wrap this up?”

Sam chuckled, getting more amusement out of Bucky’s situation than he should’ve. The damage done wasn’t irreparable, which was the only reason he found any humor in it. “Sure.”

When Bucky got back to the apartment later that night, he opened the door to find all of the lights off. He let out a deep sigh as he stepped inside. He dropped his bags just inside the door, untying his boots and leaving them there as well. He maneuvered through the apartment in the dark until he landed himself outside your bedroom door. He saw the thin strip of light coming out from underneath it, so he knew that you were home and most likely still awake.

Taking a deep breath, he gave your door a couple light knocks as he said your name. When he didn’t get a response, he rested his forehead against the wood paneling of the door. “Please let me in.”

After a few long seconds of silence, you said, “It’s open.”

Bucky let out a sigh of relief as he turned the doorknob and let himself in. Once he stepped inside, he shut the door behind him again, like it was an extra layer of privacy in your already empty apartment. He leaned back against the door, giving you some space as he watched you purposely not look up from your laptop.

“Wanna talk about it?” he asked, resting the back of his head against the door.

You shrugged, fingers flying across the keyboard, still not looking up at him. “Is there something you think we need to talk about?”

He knew that he deserved some of the attitude. It was only fair. Letting out a sigh, he pushed off the door and walked over so that he could sit on the edge of your bed. “I didn’t expect you to show up like that. It caught me off-guard.”

You finally looked up at him, anger in your eyes but sadness too. “What would you like me to do instead next time I think you’re in a hospital or dead somewhere, Bucky?”

He tucked his chin towards his chest for a moment. “Things just got hectic. I didn’t have time—”

“I get it,” you said, and honestly you did. But it did nothing to mitigate your worry. “But do you get where I’m coming from? I,” you shook your head, “I count on you to tell me you’re alright because no one else will. Your team doesn’t know me. I’m not gonna get a phone call or a visit from someone who works for you guys. I’m just your fucking roommate so—”

“Hey,” he cut you off, resting his hand on your arm as he did, “stop.”

You leaned back against your headboard. “Your words, not mine.”

He frowned as he nodded. “I know.”

“That was shitty.”

He nodded again. “I know.”

You sighed, finally setting your laptop off to the side. “I know that we never really talked about everything with us, and that’s, you know, that’s on me too.” You paused, waiting for him to look you in the eyes. “But do you really just think of me as your—”

“No,” his voice was as genuine as it’d ever been. “I just, I froze up. I wasn’t expecting to see you there, wasn’t expecting Sam to—” he huffed, stopping himself short as he shook his head. “You’re not just my roommate.”

A weak smile crossed your lips. “Good.”

“I don’t wanna lose you,” he confessed.

You shook your head. “I don’t wanna lose you either.” You let out a soft laugh. “Which is why you gotta let me know you’re okay when you get home.”

He smiled, nodding. “That’s fair.”

Letting out a deep breath, your body relaxing a bit for the first time all night, you took his hands in yours and pulled him into you. “Come here.” You draped your arms around his neck in a hug, feeling the way his arms wound around your waist.

He pressed a kiss to the side of your head. “I’m sorry.”

You let your head rest in the crook of his neck for a moment before pulling away so you could get a good look at his face. You gently cupped his cheek. “It’s okay.”

He let his forehead drop to rest against yours. “We okay?”

“Depends,” you said, a little bit of laughter in your voice. “If I’m not just your roommate, does that mean I’m your girlfriend?”

He chuckled, nodding. “Yea, it means your my girlfriend.”

You beamed, leaning in to kiss him. “Good.” Pulling away from him, you swung your legs over the edge of your bed, standing up and holding your hand out for him to join you. “Come on.” You saw the confusion on his face as he put his hand in yours and elaborated. “There is still plenty of time for our homecoming snack.”

He smiled as he let you tug him off the bed. “Lead the way.”

[heavyhitterheaux]

Don't Tell Daddy

First Babies of Private Garden Fic

Gif by @harlowgifs 💕

AN: nothing beats spending quality time with the ones you love

Synopsis: The triplets want to surprise Jack with a movie night to relax since he's been on overdrive for the past few weeks and asks for your help

Pairing: Husband!Jack Harlow x Wife!Reader

First Babies of Private Garden Masterlist

Please Do Not Repost My Content Anywhere

Jack was currently driving in his Jeep with Urban, Clay, Sunni, and Cope when he looked to his left and saw you speeding down the street music blasting with a car full of kids and Target bags piled high and did a double take. 

"Is that? Is that baby girl who just flew past us?" Sunni asked while also looking in the same direction that Jack was.

"And this is why I hardly ever drive with her. I know yall saw that shit." Urban said while shaking his head and laughing. 

"And I actually taught her how to drive, believe it or not." Jack said as the light turned green.

"I… I wouldn't tell people that." Cope quietly said as everyone continued to laugh.

"She got her license on the first try." Jack responded while shrugging.

"HOW? LITERALLY HOW?"

"Only people that ride with her are Neelam, Curse, Blanca, and Jessica. No one else is brave enough. My kids don't have a choice."

They were on their way to play soccer at Mockingbird Valley while the triplets came to you this morning and said that they wanted to have movie night with you and Jack.

Axel wanted to surprise him with an entire set up in the backyard and you decided that Target would be the best place to get everything. So you let him plan everything and told Urban to get him out of the house while you got everything together. 

Everyone's schedule had been crazy lately and this was the first time that all five of you would be able to spend quality time together and hopefully not be interrupted.

"Now babies, what's the most important thing when we get home?" You asked them while speeding through Louisville.

"Hide the Target bags from daddy!" All three of them said in unison.

"You got it!"

You cringed when you thought about how much money you had spent because you already knew when it came to your kids and husband that you were going to go above and beyond. Ivy was in charge of the list and making sure you got everything, but she kept warning you when you kept putting things in the cart.

"And make sure you finish your cake pops! We need to hurry up and set up so we can surprise daddy. Now what movie are we watching?"

"WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP!" All three of them collectively said.

“Now are we sure?”

“Yes! Isn’t that daddy’s first movie?” Axel curiously asked and you simply nodded.

“I can show you a clip of it once we get home just in case you three decide to change your minds.”

—

You heard the door opening signaling your husband was home as you were trying to tell Autumn to hurry up and close the pantry door which had some of the Target bags in it.

“Autumn, baby, that’s daddy! Hurry up and close it!”

“I’m trying mommy! It’s not my fault you went over your limit by 500 dollars!” She said as she was trying to stuff some of the bags in it.

“Don’t tell daddy that either!”

She let out a huff and she moved to the side while putting her hands on her hips and simply looked at you.

“You are 5 going on 35, my goodness.” 

You somewhat got the pantry door closed as Jack came into the kitchen and Autumn immediately ran to him and he picked her up.

“Daddy!”

“Hi, sweetheart. What did you do all day with mommy?”

Autumn’s eyes went wide and she glanced back at you before looking back at Jack.

“Um, we went to the park and saw your parents.” You said while leaning against the pantry door to keep it closed. Which wasn’t totally a lie, since you did do that first while Jack was sleeping earlier. 

“Oh really?” Jack asked as he came over to lean down and kiss you.

“Mm hmm.”

“So, that wasn’t you who sped past me about an hour ago with a car full of kids blasting music and target bags piled high in the front seat?”

“Nope wasn’t us.”

Just then Axel walks in eating the last of his cake pop and you simply sighed. He went over to Jack and tugged on his shorts wanting attention.

“And you obviously went to Starbucks too.”

“You can’t go out the house without going to Starbucks. I need my matcha, you know this, baby.”

“Daddy we have a surprise for you later and it was my idea.” Axel said while looking up at him.

“It was our idea too!” Autumn piped up.

“But mommy let ME plan it.” Axel shot back and Autumn rolled her eyes.

“Anyway, daddy, you smell like hard work. Put me down please. You can pick me back up after you take a shower.”

“Yes, princess Autumn, as you wish.” Jack said as he let her down and all you did was laugh at your daughter.

Autumn and Axel quickly left the kitchen and you once again kissed Jack.

“Your daughter is right, take a shower and then I can give you all the kisses you want.”

“Only if you join me.”

“So your kids can tear up my house? Not a chance, but I can give you something later.” You said and all Jack did was smirk.

“Oh, working on baby number 4, 5, and 6?” Jack asked as he began to kiss your neck and you immediately pushed him off you.

“I have an IUD now, sir. Try again. Now go so we can finish setting up your surprise.”

“You didn’t need it to begin with.”

“With your fucking super sperm? Yes the hell I did. You got me pregnant with THREE children at ONE time in case you don’t remember.”

“And watch me do three more.”

“Bye, Jackman.” You said and rolled your eyes.

“Just wait until I tear that ass up later.” Just then the pantry door flew open and multiple Target bags fell out. All you and Jack did was look at each other for two minutes before he said anything. 

“BABY!”

“Yes?”

 “EXPLAIN THIS!”

“Umm….”

“I KNEW IT! THAT WAS YOU DRIVING PAST ME!”

“I think that’s Ivy calling me now go take your shower.”

“Ivy isn’t calling you!”

“BABIES! BACKYARD NOW!”

“Coming mommy!”

—

Once everything was set up in the backyard, you sent a text to Jack to tell him to come downstairs.

He finally came outside and you could tell he was surprised by the look on his face.

“Surprise daddy! We know you’ve been working really hard and we wanted to have a movie night with you.” Axel said while coming over to him while already eating popcorn.

“Ax! We weren’t supposed to eat the snacks yet!” Ivy exclaimed while looking at her little brother.

“Mommy made them for us to eat, didn’t she?! I was hungry!”

“Okay, you two, quit it.” Jack said while trying not to laugh.

“We just missed you, so the babies came to me this morning and said they wanted to do this for you.” You said while wrapping your arms around him and he leaned down to kiss you.

“I missed you four too. I just…” You could tell he was about to cry and simply rubbed his back.

“We love you so so much and they see how much you do for them despite them only being five, they see how much daddy works to provide for them.” You said while reaching up to kiss his nose.

“Can’t even put into words how much all of you mean to me.”

“Trust, we know.”

“COME ON MOMMY AND DADDY WE WANT TO WATCH THE MOVIE!” Ivy exclaimed from her spot in between Axel and Autumn who had already grabbed their popcorn, hot dog, and juice box.

“We’re coming, now what are we watching?” Jack asked before sitting down on the blanket and pulling you next to him.

“White Men Can’t Jump!” Autumn excitedly said and all Jack did was laugh.

“They decided it, not me!” You said while holding your hands up in defense and pulling it up on your phone for it to project on the bigger screen. 

“Daddy we watched a few of the trailers earlier and your outfits looked crazy.”

“It’s all for the character I was playing Ivy.”

“Wait a minute, why is it called White Men Can’t Jump? Daddy is a white boy and he can jump just fine.” Autumn curiously asked and the two of you immediately laughed.

“It’ll make more sense once we watch it.”

“Does it also have to do with why mommy always screams ‘go white boy’ when you’re performing?”

“She screams something else too while we’re in the bedroom.” Jack whispered and you immediately hit his shoulder since you heard him.

“What?!” He asked while looking at you and you just shook your head.

“Babies number 4, 5, and 6 later. We’re doing this.” Jack whispered in your ear as the movie started to play.

“Seriously?!”

“You want to risk the chance of having to buy more Birkins for your daughters?”

“Oh…. didn’t think about that.”

“Thought so.”

“You’ll fold sooner or later, just watch.”

Liked by y/ninsta, claybornharlow, urbanwyatt, neelamthadhani, druski2funny, jessicakelce, blancahood, 2forwoyne, and 2,892,063 others

jackharlow: Wifey and babies surprised me with a movie night. They just didn't tell me it was White Men Can't Jump lol 😂

y/ninsta: jackharlow your babies picked it, not me! lol

blancahood: oohh this set up is cute!!!

y/ninsta: blancahood Target girl!

jackharlow: and y/ninsta tried to hide the bags from me knowing I saw her speeding earlier through Louisville with them piled high in her car

y/ninsta: jackharlow I'm innocent

druski2funny: and no one thought to invite the life partner?

neelamthadhani: jackharlow I know you aren't talking. you and y/ninsta went on Target runs every chance you two got

claybornharlow: did the babies see my cameo?

jackharlow: druski2funny I thought we were on a break

y/ninsta: claybornharlow yes lmao and you wanna know what Autumn screamed? LOOK IT'S LITTLE BABY! jackharlow had a FIT!

jackharlow: y/ninsta you and the babies have me fighting for my life especially the youngest

y/ninsta: jackharlow well she looks like you

jackharlow: y/ninsta and has her mother's tendencies

y/ninsta: jackharlow take it back or buy me a Birkin

jackharlow: y/ninsta WHAT?!

Liked by jackharlow, urbanwyatt, claybornharlow, neelamthadhani, quiiso, shloob_, yungskylark and 2,291,063 others

y/ninsta: showed the babies this clip and Ivy will not let this man live and keeps making fun of his outfits while Autumn has not stopped calling him "white boy" and "pilgrim" and Axel was like "what's boo boo juice? daddy that looks nasty" and I am HOLLERINGGGGG 😭😭😭😭

saweetie: girl I am SCREAMINGGGGG

urbanwyatt: see? it be your own kids lmaoooooo

jackharlow: I told yall my kids don't want me to be great

jessicakelce: NOT THE PILGRIM!

yungskylark: I AM DONE LMAO

jackharlow: oh and Axel when he saw my scenes with Laura? *sigh*

y/ninsta: jackharlow "DADDY WHO IS THAT? SHE DON'T LOOK LIKE MOMMY!" Axel was ready to kick your ass lmao

urbanwyatt: Lil Urb understood the assignment lmao

neelamthadhani: we all know Axel will go hard for his mom lol jackharlow you better be on your best behavior

jackharlow: neelamthadhani he has absolutely nothing to worry about

druski2funny: well my white boy hasn't learned how to text me back

y/ninsta: druski2funny he's busy

druski2funny: y/ninsta doing WHAT?

jackharlow: druski2funny about to make babies 4, 5, and 6

normani: jackharlow just twins this time! I know my prediction will be right! only four and five!

urbanwyatt: the next two will have my other names

y/ninsta: I'm kicking all yall asses

Taglist:

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[girlstuffnorp]

Julie and the Phantoms Song Recs: McFly Songs that are Sunset Curve/JATP Coded

So, McFly are a big British pop/rock band that have been around since 2003, and are still releasing music and touring at the time of writing in 2024. I saw them perform live in 2023, and loved it. 💖 That tour was to celebrate the release of the most recent album (at the time of writing) - Power To Play - and listening to that album immediately gave me Sunset Curve vibes, and then I subsequently realised that they had been making Sunset Curve/JATP-coded songs throughout their whole career. 🥺💖

Edit: So, McFly are really popular in Brazil, and they released a song with popular Brazilian band Fresno in 2023 as part of the Power To Play album - Broken By You... and I've just discovered that Fresno actually had a cameo in Julie e os Fantasmas (the original Brazilian show that Julie and the Phantoms was adapted from) in episode 3, so this whole post has gained a lot more validity in a '6 degrees of separation' kind of way 😍👏

I wanted to make a list of songs that I could see Sunset Curve/JATP performing/recording for their potential albums, some that just remind me of the boys, and some fun gems in between - these are all my personal preferences/opinions, so you may think differently, but here is the current tracklist in no particular order. (All with YouTube links of varying quality since a lot of the music videos/live performances give Sunset Curve/JATP vibes too IMO. All [except one] of these songs are also on Spotify etc.):

🎶 God of Rock & Roll (link here) (Screams Sunset Curve for me)

🎶 Where Did All The Guitars Go? (link here) (Also screams Sunset Curve for me)

🎶 Air Guitar (as McBusted with Busted) (link here) (Always reminded me of when the boys realised that people could see them play with Julie)

🎶 Ghostbusters (Live cover of song by Ray Parker Jr.) (link here) (On Youtube, but sadly not on streaming) (Maybe a bonus/hidden track on the album or they would exclusively play live at the gigs - I couldn't not share it because it's awesome from start to finish, and the boys would totally cover it as a joke 👻Also, imagine the boys getting the crowd to do call-and-response with them - iconic 😍)

🎶 I'll Be Ok (link here) (Gives me vibes of the boys helping each other through their crappy family lives in the 90s 🥺)

🎶 Five Colours In Her Hair (link here) (The song written during a jam session - the boys just having a laugh)

🎶 Make It Out Alive (link here) (As soon as I first heard this, the angst and melodrama of the song gave me vibes of the boys being cursed and under Caleb's control at the HGC 🥺)

🎶 Route 55 (link here) (A song all about friends having a great time together during an endless summer)

🎶 Don't Stop Me Now (Charity single cover of Queen) (link here) (They would have totally covered Queen during their jam sessions - respecting some of the best but putting their own fun spin on things 😂)

🎶 Transylvania (link here) (This song always gives me HGC vibes - so gothic and melodramatic, and Dougie's vocals in the chorus?? 😍)

🎶 Party Girl (link here) (Such a guilty pleasure song of mine~ This music video is slightly NSFW since it contains clips of the band's infamous vampire-themed short film that they all starred in 2010 to promote their album at the time [which even the band realise was a bad idea in hindsight, since it was clearly riding the Twilight wave]... but! Listening to this song also gives me ideas for a possible evil Julie possessed/controlled by Caleb - maybe sometime I will write them down~ 👀)

🎶Tonight Is The Night (link here) (A spiritual sequel to I'll Be Ok in my mind - when the boys realise that they're not really okay and need to ask for help to process all the shit that has happened to them - think what Luke went through in Unsaid Emily [and what we presume Alex and Reggie would go through in subsequent seasons] and the boys helping each other through it 🥺)

🎶 Too Close For Comfort (link here) (The obligatory break-up song on an album, and this performed live is everything - just heartbreaking 🥺)

🎶 Umbrella (Live cover of song by Rihanna) (link here) (Julie gives the boys a lesson in popular music during the 25 years that they've been dead, and they decide to surprise her with a fun rock cover of Umbrella to cheer her up one day)

🎶 The Heart Never Lies (link here) (The dramatic love song on an album that is really about the band's bond and sticking together through thick and thin)

🎶 Falling In Love (link here) (The love song that has a music video full of tour footage, which always make me think of the boys in Sunset Curve absolutely loving playing for a crowd, and the bridge/quiet part of the song giving the vibe of Julie, Luke, Alex and Reggie cherishing the moment at the end of Stand Tall before the boys cross over 🥺)

🎶 One For The Radio (link here) (The defiant song for everyone who dismissed Sunset Curve and JATP - I could imagine this as a song written in response to either record companies who wouldn't sign Sunset Curve/JATP, Bobby/Trevor or Caleb. It also gives me vibes of the boys appearing back onto the stage of the Orpheum to perform Stand Tall with Julie - defiant celebration)

🎶 Lies (link here) (The break-up song that gives me vibes of the boys standing up to Caleb. Also is it just me, or does Tom [you can see him at around 0:43 in the video] give Luke vibes in his styling? 😍)

🎶 Forever's Not Enough (link here) (The true love song that Luke writes for Julie, but will never admit that it's for her because he makes the lyrics vague enough 💖)

Tagging @ri-jane @phantomwriter95 @hemeraomara @1mnobodywhoareyou @legolasghosty

@floating-in-the-blue @60sec400

[sweetmariihs2]

Cedric's two brazillian voice actors in STF:

The character Cedric The Sorcerer, from Sofia The First, had two voice actors: Hermes Baroli and Marco Aurélio Campos.

The reasons for the change in voice actor are unknown to the public, Hermes Baroli voiced Cedric from Once Upon a Princess to the sixth episode of season two, and from then on, Cedric was voiced by Marco Aurélio Campos. The first voice is my favorite because it resembles the original voice, Jess Harnell. The second voice actor's voice, although similar to the previous voice actor and makes up as a good substitute, is too high-pitched for Cedric's character. Disney Jr. Brazil only posts clips of the cartoon with Cedric's second voice, and it is not possible to find official Disney clips of the first voice on YouTube (even though the part of the cartoon in which it had the most audience and was most famous was during the first season, at least here in Brazil). I found some clips from the first voice actor on Facebook and scenes posted on YouTube by fans of the show, because Disney Jr Brazil does not posts them. I find it weird that there are no S1 Cedric moments posted on Disney Jr brazillian accounts, even though season 1 was the best season for STF in matters of fame, audience and merchandize.

Hermes Baroli (Debut movie - S2 E6):

He sounds like Jess Harnell speaking in portuguese in some moments. His performance is incredible in every episode he's in (Cedric's Apprentice, The Floating Palace, A Royal Mess, The Amulet Of Avalor, The Enchanted Feast...). He's expressive, has a deep voice (at a good amount, not too much) and changes tones during speeches to convey the character's feelings a bit more. At the moments where Jess Harnell makes his voice deeper to show irritation or evil schemings, Hermes Baroli also nails this. Btw I grew up with this voice so maybe I'm just biased.

I was previously going to edit a single video and add it to the post, but both of my two tries made the posts be deleted, probably due to the size of the video. So you'll have to watch these clips directly from YouTube and Facebook (hope you have an account there).

Cedric's Apprentice (magic show scene and best quality video):

The Royal Sleepover (Cedric's scene starts at 03:15):

You can easily find more clips of the brazillian S1 dub (and the rest of the cartoon too) on Tiktok or on Disney Plus.

Marco Aurélio Campos (S2 E7 - end):

Although his voice is a good substitute for the first one because it is somewhat similar, it's too high-pitched and humorous to be Cedric's, every time he talks he has an air of awkwardness, even in sad scenes (he can't be taken seriously, his voice is too outgoing...). It's not that it's bad, but the previous one would sound much better and more faithful to the original VA.

I don't know why Cedric's voice was changed. James' voice was also changed around the last season to a much more deeper voice.

(Not so) fun fact: Unfortunately, the dubbing director failed with the translation of the songs and the overall composition of them after they were dubbed. The translation is bad, and the voice actors seem like they can't sing. However, in Once Upon A Princess and Forever Royal, the songs were absolutely perfect, well translated, the melodies were good, and the voice actors, who we previously thought couldn't sing, sang very well (Even Cedric's second VA, he sang pretty well in "A Big Day/For One And All"). I don't know what happened, but I wish the songs from the actual show (My Evil Dreams, Cedric The Great, other songs) were treated just as well. (Both of them were awwwwfully bad)

[farfromstrange]

Chaos Theory | Michael Kinsella x Reader

Chapter 7: I Hope I Never Lose You

Masterlist ° Chapter List

Pairing: Michael Kinsella x Reader

Summary: Michael and you both find comfort in each other over some Chinese takeout, he starts taking Birdy’s advice, and somehow you both end up on the dining table.

Warnings: Angst, mentions of a car accident & child death, hurt/comfort, fluff, like this is sweet, SMUT (18+ MINORS DNI), oral m!receiving, unprotected p in v, dirty talk, choking, marking kink, anywhere but a bed, gentle intimacy/aftercare

Word Count: 6.8k

A/n: So, this was supposed to be just fluff, but these two had a mind of their own and they ended up fucking. Again. But in this case it’s just passion and not necessarily to forget something. They’re just horny little bastards. But can you blame them?

The newspaper clippings feel brittle in your hands. The paper has been locked inside and moved around continuously for six years. Dark dots adorn the written text underneath the headline. The tears have long dried into the paper, but it has turned gray where the wetness used to be. 

Underneath the many articles that are held together by a pin, you find a picture. The quality isn’t the best – It was an old camera that took the picture nine years ago, not some hyper-modern smartphone with a camera quality that competes with reality.

Your eyes scan the face of the newborn wrapped in her pink baby blanket. The faces of the adults around her seem happy, the smiles honest. In every picture, the baby is being handed around. You have studied them for years, and you always skip most of them until you reach the most important one, and that is Maya, her back then still small arms holding the newborn as you’re sitting beside her. But you don’t matter, only the two children are the focus of your attention. 

Breaking News: 2 injured and 1 dead in a car accident off the M25 Motorway.

Your fingers scan the article as if it were Braille. 

Yesterday around 17:46, a truck crashed into a small van on its way out of Greater London. The three-year-old girl in the passenger seat and the truck driver, 41, were air-lifted to the hospital. The driver of the van, the three-year-old’s father, only sustained minor injuries. The doctors tried to save the girl’s life, but they declared her brain dead early this morning. The truck driver is reportedly stable after surgery, but he has still not woken up. Details about the nature of the accident are still unclear. Police are now investigating both the father and the truck driver for reckless driving to bring some closure to the little girl’s family.

You slap the drawer of your desk shut when you hear the sound of a fist banging at your door. You wipe the stray tear that escaped your eye, hoping your state of mind isn’t too obvious, and you lock the drawer again. 

Michael is about to knock again when you finally open the door. His intuition tells him something is wrong. You meet him with a smile that almost looks pained, and your cheeks are red; your cheeks only redden when you blush or you have been crying. 

“Hey,” you greet him. 

He steps past you into the apartment. “Hey,” he says. 

You offer to take his coat, but he does it himself, retrieving the folder inside. 

“I’ve got my records,” he tells you. “All of them. I wasn’t sure what we needed.”

You smile at him. “That’s okay.”

“Are ya?”

“What?”

“Okay?” Michael asks. 

Your mind is a treacherous place. You can feel yourself tearing up again at his question. The answer is obvious, but you can’t admit that you’re not okay because you feel stupid enough already.

The day has gone well except for a few minor bumps, and you broke your own heart by going through the drawer again that you keep locked, even from yourself, for a reason. If anything, you think, this is your fault. 

You take a small step forward. He watches you intently. Your eyes switch to his arms, then to his face almost guiltily. You could have just asked, but you’re not sure how to voice what you need. 

He puts the folder down and opens his arms slowly. You bridge the gap between you, wrapping your arms around his waist and burying your face in his chest. You don’t cry, you only hug him, and he doesn’t hesitate to hug you back. You don’t have to tell him that you’re not okay, he can tell by the way you’re squeezing him. 

“Was it a bad day, or–”

You shake your head. “I just…” you swallow. 

“Needed a hug?” he finishes. 

“Yeah,” you say.

“Okay.”

It feels nice to be on the receiving end of a hug for once, but as you hold onto him and his hands roam your back, the intensity of his touch tells you that you are not the only one who needed a hug. 

“Are you okay?” you dare to ask, your voice muffled through his chest.

He chuckles. “Yeah,” he says, “I am now.”

“Okay.”

Michael leans down to press his lips to your scalp. “Ya hungry?”

You pull away to look up at him through tired eyes. “A little,” you say. 

“Let’s order somethin’, hm?”

“Chinese?”

“Sounds grand,” he agrees. 

He brushes a strand of hair out of your face. His lips ghost over yours with a soft smile before he finally kisses you. It’s a gentle kiss, his finger tilting your chin up, and he seems to pour all of his unspoken feelings into it. 

You melt into him, your arms still around his waist. Your fingers tangle in his shirt, not wanting to let go. He is warm and he smells good, and he feels soft all over. Sometimes, when things are too soft, they trigger you, but he is just the kind of gentle comfort you need. 

An hour later, the two of you are sitting at your dining table, Chinese takeout before you. Michael ordered himself some dumplings and spring rolls while you settled for sushi. He told you he hates sushi, which sparked a small argument because, “How the fuck can you hate sushi, Michael? Even the fried ones?”

He told you, “Because I hate fish.”

“It’s not fish, it’s literally vegetarian Sushi,” you said. 

He was hesitant to try a piece, but he did it for your sake. You have never seen anyone’s face contort so fast than when Michael put the piece of Avocado Maki into his mouth. He tried to look like it didn’t bother him, but you could tell he was trying hard not to gag. 

Needless to say, you have accepted that he doesn’t like Sushi. He truly looked like he was disgusted to his very core, and you don’t want to force him to like something that a lot of people don’t like, anyway. You’re not that type of person. 

He watches you as you finish your last few bites. It took you a while longer because you stole one or two dumplings from his plate while he wasn’t looking and he ended up giving you half of his spring rolls because suddenly, you wanted spring rolls, too. He didn’t mind.

You are a food thief first and a clothes thief second, you told him, and that elicited that beautiful smile and a soft laugh from him; he sounds so beautiful when he laughs, and you find yourself staring at him in awe across the table. 

You can't help but be captivated by the way his eyes crinkle at the corners when he laughs, and the dimples that he has. It's moments like these that remind you why you're so drawn to him. He has a good heart and the aura that surrounds him isn't dark because he's dangerous, he's just in pain, and beyond that pain, there is light to be sought out. 

“What?” he asks, his laughter dying down into a soft smile.

You raise your eyebrows, your face still propped up on your hand. “What?” you ask him. 

“Why’re ya lookin’ at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“That.” Michael points at your face. “I don’t know.”

A faint blush spreads across your cheeks. “Maybe I just like staring at you,”  you say. 

Michael's eyes widen slightly. "Wha'?" he replies. 

“I like staring at you.”

That seems to throw him off a little. He opens his mouth, but the words won’t come out, so he looks down at the table and chuckles a little awkwardly. His hand reaches up to touch his beard, occupying his nervous fingers. 

“Wait,” you eye him curiously, “Did I just get you flustered?”

He stammers, the blush on his cheeks spreading to what little you can see of his chest through the collar of his shirt. He has often got lost in the glow of your eyes. Even when you look tired, you are still the most beautiful creature in the world. You are real, you are human, and he appreciates that. He knows you are hiding something, but at that moment, when his eyes meet the mischievous glint in your eyes, he only sees the woman he met in the café that put a smile on his face – a real one, at that. 

You continue putting a smile on his face, even back at his house. Birdy is observant and a romantic, but she wouldn’t say that he looks happy with you for no reason. She meant it. And he does feel a flutter in his stomach every time he as much as thinks about you. He’s scared, still, but Birdy’s words moved something in him. He doesn’t want to lose you, and as you’re staring at him, he realizes that you might be feeling the same way. 

You’re a captivating person, enchanting even. He hasn’t seen such beauty in a while. Inside and out, you fill his heart with warmth. Your words have become his favorite audiobook, and your voice reminds him of a gentle symphony radiating all kinds of emotions to make the listener feel something. And he feels something when he sees you, hears you, and feels your skin against his. 

You tilt your head a little, still propped up on your hand, and smile at him. Your smile grows cuter by the second, and maybe you’re a little shy now. 

“I, uh…” he licks his lips. “I like starin’ at ya, too.”

“You do?” you ask, and now it’s your turn to be flustered. 

“Yeah. Yer beautiful.”

“Oh…” You look away. 

He reaches out to pull the hands that want to cover your face. “Don’t go shy on me now, love,” he says. 

You meet the honey of Michael’s irises, and it’s a sweet taste that explodes on your tongue and spreads through your body, functioning as a balm and warming you up. You forget about everything else for a moment and focus slowly on him. 

In your eyes, Michael Kinsella is a rare creature. He seems to have been taken straight from a work of fiction. He’s the dark, mysterious character with a world full of secrets but a heart of gold. And he loves with utmost devotion, something that is rare in most human beings these days. He has a tragic beauty about himself, his soul scarred from decades of pain, his life a series of traumatic memories, but he is still standing, and he is trying to be better. He’s trying to find a purpose, which is probably the most admirable because it is one of the hardest tasks in anyone’s life.

You look up to him. You’re not sure why, but you do. He’s shared so much about himself already, and something seems even more open now that he’s back. You feel a little guilty for keeping all of your pain from him after he opened up about his wife and entrusts you with helping to get his daughter back, which is a huge display of trust, but you don’t know how to tell him, and you don’t know if you even really want to. 

This is a part of you that is very personal, and knowing Michael, he will lose it when he finds out the truth. You haven’t seen him angry before, but you have been watching people closely all your life; he is shy on the outside and he can be nice, but he can also get really angry when someone crosses him or the people he cares about. You don’t want him worrying about you. 

He cradles your cheek and you grab his wrist instinctively, holding him there as you lean into his touch. “Where did ya just go?” he asks quietly. 

“Just thinking,” you admit just as quietly. 

“About what?”

You shrug, your eyes fluttering closed when he starts rubbing his thumb along your cheekbone. 

“Has no one ever taken care of ya before?” 

“No.”

“Am I the first man who makes ya feel…”

“Loved?” you ask. 

He nods. “Yeah, loved.”

“Most of the men I’ve been with were assholes. They didn’t care.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, my friend says I just know how to pick ‘em.”

Michael chuckles softly. “Is that why ya went fer me?” he says.

“You’re not an asshole, Mikey.”

Your words leave the air heavy with tension. He exhales, cradling your face a little tighter now and you whimper, your mind slipping further into a fog with every stroke of his thumb along your skin. 

He lets go of your cheek. You open your eyes lazily and look at him with a frown. He opens his arms. “C’mere,” he says. 

You’re out of your chair faster than you can think. 

Without hesitation, you respond to Michael's invitation. Your heart races with anticipation as you swiftly leave your chair behind. You seat yourself in his lap, pulling your legs up and curling into his chest. His hand comes to rest on your cheek again, this time holding you tight against him, his heartbeat thudding right where your ear rests. You melt into his embrace. You are scared of uncertainties, but his arms encircle you tight enough to form a shield against them. Everything else fades away, leaving only the two of you.

You take a deep breath, inhaling the scent that is uniquely him—notes of earthy cologne mixed with a hint of vulnerability. It's a fragrance that lingers in your senses.

“You smell good,” you murmur. 

He chuckles. “Thanks,” he says. 

“Like you… and me.”

“That’s ‘cause I used your shampoo.”

“I know.”

“Makes my hair soft.”

“I know.”

“And shiny.”

Your smile widens and you giggle into his chest. “It does look very shiny, yeah,” you say. 

He sighs, his turn to inhale your scent. It’s like a warm hug, and he can’t believe he gets to hold you like this. “God,” he almost growls. His nose is still buried deep in your hair. “Ya have no idea how much I love having ya in my arms, pet.”

You shiver slightly. “You do?” your voice sounds hoarse. 

“Yeah.” Michael holds you tighter, his lips attacking your scalp gently with kisses. It’s almost as if he wants to eat you, and you relax completely under his touch as he showers you with some much-needed affection.

You forget the folder on the table, the secrets between you, your day at work, and the stranger that freaked you out enough to send your mind reeling like a hamster running for its life in a wheel. You forget all about it and let him take care of you. You are too tired to protest, anyway. 

His hand comes to rest around your throat, and you moan softly. He’s setting you on fire without even trying. His touch is possessive and yet it carries an electric current that courses through your veins. 

You feel the weight of the world slipping away, replaced by an overwhelming sense of vulnerability. In his grasp, you find solace. He brings you back from the brink of losing your sanity, and you are eternally grateful he found the switch to turn the voices off. 

He whispers your name. You hum in response. 

“Thank you,” he says. 

“For what?” you ask. 

“Helpin’ me. With the job, Anna, myself, I–” He takes a deep breath. He doesn’t use many words most of the time, so holding up a conversation as vulnerable as this one still comes as a struggle to him. “I’m just thankful for ya,” he says. 

You smile, sitting up in his lap and making sure you straddle him so you can look into his eyes. Your hands rest on each side of his face now. “You’re so very welcome, darling,” you say. 

Michael rests his hands on the bare skin of your hips under your shirt. “While I was at the house, Birdy came t’see me.”

“Birdy?”

“Yeah, she’s– she’s family. I– She’s the one who’s been there fer me the most, and she always cares ‘bout everyone around her. She takes care of me. She always has. I don’t ask her to, but she does it anyway. She’s the heart and soul of this family.”

You tilt your head to the side. “Okay…”

“She asked me about ya,” he says. 

“Oh,” you gasp softly. 

“Not– not in a bad way. I promise, yer not in danger or anythin’, but… when Jimmy and I were fightin’, they heard your name. But Birdy… she understands, so I told her that I’m stayin’ with ya and she said… she told me I should be happy, and I am happy with ya, or somethin’ like that, and she said she’d try to keep the rest of my family off our asses so I can focus on Anna.”

You pause and look into his eyes for a moment before you say, “Aren’t you supposed to make me not like them?”

His chuckle sounds broken, but he smiles anyway. “Birdy’s nice,” he says. 

“I can tell.”

“And she said she likes ya.”

“She has never met me.”

“She still does.”

“Ugh, I can’t hate someone who likes me.”

Burying his head on your shoulder, Michael laughs. 

“Seriously, that’s unfair. Can’t she be a cunt like your brother and his snitch of a wife?”

His mind takes a moment to process your words before his laughter picks up again and he stares directly at you. “Did ya–” he clears his throat. “Jesus, did tha’ really just come out of your mouth?”

“What?” you ask. 

“The word ‘cunt’ as an insult.”

“What, I’m not allowed to say it?”

He pulls you closer. “I didn’t even know ya were capable of cussin’ someone out!”

“I’m not a total church girl, Michael,” you retort. 

The amusement in his eyes is clear. “Oh, I’m well aware of that,” he says. “Yer not the type o’ girl who prays.”

“It’s not what I usually get on my knees for, no.”

He chuckles, the sound resonating deep within his chest. You expected him to get flustered, but instead, his eyes glaze over and he smirks at you. His fingers graze the small of your back, creating a tingling sensation that travels up your spine. You shiver, your inside curling. You want to clench your thighs, but his thighs keep you trapped. You're burning, and the heat travels from your cheeks between your legs, straight to your core.

Michael eyes you hungrily. “And what’s that?” he asks, his voice husky. “What do ya get on your knees for, pet?”

“Well, Mr. Kinsella,” you whisper, “I get on my knees for one thing only...” Your fingers tangle in the hairs on the nape of his neck. He sucks in a sharp breath when you tug at them, the pain stinging his scalp, but it causes his blood to wander. 

“Yeah?” he breathes.

His eyes never leave yours. You trace a finger along the strong line of his jaw, reveling in the way his body responds to your touch. “Yeah… Just one thing.”

“Tell me.”

“You.”

His fingers dig into your skin hard enough to leave marks. “Fuck!”

“I would kneel for you, Michael,” you say. 

“Yeah?” he asks again. 

“Yeah.”

You can feel his breath on your lips as he leans in. "I want ta have ya at my mercy," his voice caresses your ear like velvet.

Your fingers travel higher, feeling the soft brown hair between your fingers. They feel like a gentle breeze on a cozy autumn night. They remind you of the coffee you sell every time the weather gets particularly cold, but inside the café, the world becomes a warm sanctuary. 

His hands are hot though. They are like a candle with a smoldering fire, and as it falls, it sets everything else around it on fire, too. His nails scratch over your hips slightly and your entire body quivers above him. 

His gaze darkens with primal hunger. “You have no idea,” he says, “how much I ache to possess ya.”

You started this. This is your fault.

His lips press to the shell of your ear – they don’t just hover, he’s pressing them directly to it, and he injects his words into your bloodstream. “I want to push ya to the edge, to make you mine in every way I can imagine. To mark ya, body and soul. I want to feel ya come around my cock over and over again, mouth, cunt, everywhere until ya can't remember your name anymore,” he whispers, “I want to hear ya moan my name so loud, your neighbors complain, and then I want t’ do it again and again and again until yer drippin' with my cum inside ya.”

Your jaw slacks and you let out a loud and needy moan. 

His hands move from your hips to your ass and he lifts you far enough to push your clothed core down on his half-hard cock. You instinctively hold onto his shoulders, your red face burying in the crook of his neck. 

“What’s wrong?” Michael coos. “Can’t take it?”

That’s not the problem. You want to take it and you know you can, but he is making you feel this way without even touching you, and that’s what makes your head so dizzy, you feel like you’re about to fall.

You can barely catch your breath, the anticipation building to a fever pitch. “Please, Michael,” you respond so desperately needy. 

“Get on your knees.”

Your legs are wobbly when you stand. He pushes his chair back slightly to offer you some room between his spread thighs. As uncomfortable as the floorboards are, you ignore the pain. You want this. You didn’t lie when you said he is the only thing you would get on your knees for. There is no space for God or Jesus, it’s only you, and it can’t be a sin to want to suck someone’s cock so badly as you want his. It’s only natural when someone lays their eyes on him, you’re sure. 

Michael's gaze is intense as he looks down at you. He reaches down to cup your cheek. “Yer so beautiful on your knees f’me,” he says. 

You clench your thighs, hoping to somehow soothe the ache in your core. The anticipation is almost unbearable, making you ache for his command. You want nothing more than to open your pants and touch yourself, your panties soaked and your cunt aching for attention. 

“Please,” you whimper. 

“Patience, pet. Let me admire you.”

His definition of admiring you is undressing you with his eyes, thinking about all the ways he can have your body right here right now, and he craves you like the most delicious drug. He craves the high, the feeling of being consumed by you as he tears orgasm after orgasm out of you. You look so pretty, and you sound so beautiful.

Your hands rub his thick thighs absentmindedly. He smiles. Deciding to have mercy on you, he undoes his belt with one hand. You watch intently until he starts to struggle and you help him pull his pants down. His jeans pool around his ankles, and you’re quick to free his cock from his boxers. It springs up against his stomach and you’re so turned on, you can feel drool trickling down your chin. 

Michael brushes your hair back. “Are you sure ya want t’do this?” he asks. 

“Yes,” you choke out. “Please, may I?”

He nods. “Of course, yeah.”

You adjust yourself and lean forward, your hands still braced on his thighs, and you lick a long stripe along the underside of his shaft. 

He grips the edge of his chair and grunts. His hand tangles in your hair instantly, not pushing you but simply holding onto you. Your tongue traces the veins on his cock, drawing pictures over the most protruding one. You move higher now, teasing his tip, and his head falls back. 

Michael stares at the ceiling which looks like the night sky in the darkness. The heat of your mouth engulfs him and he believes he’s in heaven.

You’re good at this, he won’t lie. The way you play with his slit, the mushroom tip of his cock, before taking him into your mouth. It’s only the tip at first, too, but you eventually hollow your cheeks and take him down your throat. It’s a bit of a struggle, but you’re nothing if not determined. Your hand makes up for what you can’t take, jerking him off right above his balls before you finally start moving. 

Looking down at your hooded eyes and tear-stained cheeks, he has to dig his nails into his palms to stop himself from coming right there. 

You start moving faster, paying special attention to his tip whenever you pull off. You suck on the most sensitive part of him and he’s alive; he’s so alive, his heart starts to race. He can feel everything, the heat of your mouth, the cold of the chair, and the sweat that is trickling down his forehead. 

He grunts, tightening his grip on your hair. “Fuckin’ hell!” he moans, guiding your head ever so slightly. He tells you what pace he prefers, and you keep it that way. 

Your head bops up and down in a steady rhythm, his cock heavy on your tongue, but the taste causes your mind to spin and ache for more, more, more–

His toes curl and he twitches in your mouth when you fondle his balls. Looking up at him, you can’t help but moan at the sight. His mouth is agape, his head tilted back to reveal his perfect neck, and the veins on his forearm are popping. You clench your thighs tighter as you continue to suck the soul out of him through the very tip of his cock. 

Michael has dreamt about this before, but neither your hand nor your mouth come close to what he jerked himself off to. You’re so much better. It’s a lewd thought, even now, but you are so fucking good, you push him further and further and right to the edge of the cliff. He throbs, he whines and he moans, his noises spurring you on even more. 

You want to make him come, you need to. You are more than willing to swallow everything he has to give and more. He sounds delicious and he looks even more so. You want to lick his chest hair that is poking out of his shirt, ride his thigh, maybe even rub your clit along his abs as you make yourself come. It is an utterly selfish thought, but the pleasure he brings you is overwhelming and drives you further toward the edge. And you’re only sucking his cock, which is something that has never turned you on before. 

“Love, I’m gonna– fuck, if ya don’t want it in your mouth–”

You cut him off by patting his chest, telling him that it’s okay, he can come in your mouth; you want him to. 

Your eyes roll back when he tugs at your hair, the pain mingling with pleasure, and the vibrations of your delicious moans are enough to make his balls tense under your touch and then he’s coming, hard, with probably the best orgasm he’s ever had in his life. 

You try not to gag as the rather salty taste of his cum fills your mouth. You swallow every last drop, suckling on his tip until he’s whimpering above you, overstimulated and spent. You pull off then, cum trickling down your chin and throat and down the valley of your breasts. 

Michael has zoned out, his eyes fixated on your face, your swollen lips, and the mess he’s made out of you – but he is probably the biggest mess out of both of you.

You blink up at him. “How was that?” you ask, your voice sounding way too innocent for what you just did. 

His breath shudders. “Do–” he swallows. “Do ya have any idea how fuckin’ hot that was?”

“No,” you say. 

“Fuck,” Michael growls, hoisting you up. 

He doesn’t pull you back into his lap, instead, he meets you halfway and captures your lips in a searing kiss. You moan into his mouth, his cum mixing with his saliva in your mouth; you’re addicted now, too. 

The empty takeout containers fly to the floor, the folder with his records and CV sliding to the other end of the table as he wipes it clean to lift you on it. You scramble to sit down as he pulls your hips flush against his. 

He turns into an animal then. 

Your shirt suffers when he can’t manage to get the buttons, so he decides to tear it open. You gasp, but not because you’re mad. It is probably the hottest thing he has ever done. 

Your bra joins your shirt on the floor, his lips wrapping around your nipple. He doesn’t gently suck like he did the first night; he pulls on it with his teeth, almost taking your entire breast into his mouth, and you never thought that possible. He assaults your chest with such vigor, you’re a quivering mess in seconds. He toys with your buttons, pulling and sucking at your sensitive nipples until they’re hard, swollen, and red. There is a hickey on your right breast, and he admires his work. He has marked you, and this time everyone will be able to see it when you wear even the slightest hint of cleavage. 

His pants are already gone. Yours are the only ones in the way. Lifting your hips, he pulls your jeans down. He misses your panties, which seems to frustrate him, but then he tears that piece of fabric, too, and you moan. Whatever got into him, you are wetter than the Atlantic Ocean and he will have no problem sliding right–

Your head flies back when his cock penetrates your tight walls, your lips parting in a silent scream. He thrusts into you without warning, pulling your hips flush against his, and you cry out. He manages to hit the secret spot inside of you just right the first time as if memorizing it, and your legs wrap around his waist. 

For a few seconds, Michael doesn’t move. He stays buried with his cock deep inside of you, head dropped into the crook of your neck, his jaw slack as he pants into your skin, and you hold him close. Your cunt adjusts to his size rather quickly, but he needs a second to revel in the feeling of your velvety walls around him. 

“You okay?” you ask. 

He nods. “Are you?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.” 

Something snaps inside of him and in only a few seconds, the dining table is shaking underneath your ass as he pounds into you. You hold onto his hair, nails dragging down his back, trying to get his shirt off so you can reach more skin. He’s fucking you so deliciously, the moans tumble from your lips in ecstasy. 

Somehow, you manage to remove the last piece of clothing between you, and he dives in for a kiss. Your tongues clash. His hips snap against yours. Deep, hard strokes seem to be his favorite thing because it’s what he goes for this time, too. He hits all the right places, his fingers leaving indentations in your skin. 

“Fuck,” you moan into his ear. 

His tongue licks over your neck. “Yer so fuckin’ perfect,” he breathes. 

You clench when he hits your G-spot. His name comes in labored breaths out of your mouth, and he swallows them with his plump lips. 

“Can’t stop thinkin’ about fuckin’ you every second of every fuckin’ day, pet. Such a perfect little cunt, and only fer me.”

“Oh, God!”

You’re worried the table might break. 

He kisses your neck, sucking a mark into the skin over your pulse point. You’re going to be purple and bruised tomorrow, and you’re going to get several comments at work, but you don’t want him to stop. It’s good to be owned by him. You want people to know you’re his and no one else’s to have. It fills you with pride, and you know he feels it, too. 

Your eyes meet when he lifts his head, his thrusts faltering for a moment as he holds eye contact. You gasp, stroking through his sweaty hair. “You’re beautiful,” you whisper. 

He stifles his moan in your neck, holding you impossibly closer as he continues thrusting slow and hard. 

“Fuck, baby,” you dig your nails into his back, “Right there…”

He knows he’s doing it right, he can feel your pussy tightening around him, but he still makes sure to do it even more perfectly to give you the pleasure you deserve. 

His hand finds your neck, squeezing tightly just below your jaw, and your eyes roll back into your head. He remembered. 

Just when you’re about to reach between you to rub your clit, he forces your hand away and takes over, his thumb rubbing circles over the sensitive nub. The added stimulation together with his hand around your throat makes you see a sky full of stars in your ceiling, and you try to meet his thrusts as the knot in your stomach tightens and you’re about to fall off the precipice. 

He bites your bottom lip. “Ya like that, huh?” he asks, his thumb rubbing faster over your clit. “Ya like it when I fuck ya, pet? When I make ya come? When I show ya what it’s like to be properly fucked?”

You nod and pathetically whine, “Yes! Please, Mikey.” It sounds almost like you’re sobbing. “So good, please.”

Michael reads the signs of your body perfectly because he pushes you back and pulls your hips into his. It allows his thumb more space to touch your clit, and the angle at which he hits your cervix makes it all too much to bear. 

Your back arches off the wooden tabletop and you come without a warning, your walls spasming almost brutally around his cock that is still sensitive from the already heavy orgasm you gave him before, and with a few more heavy thrusts, a grunt escapes him and he falls on top of you as his cum spurts into your tight cunt. 

You catch him with a hand on the back of his neck, your legs still wrapped around his waist. He stiffens completely, every last drop filling you to the brim, and you whimper at the feeling. It’s incredible, and it’s a part of him you get to have inside of you. He’s a territorial person, but so are you.

He is the first man you have ever let come inside of you without a condom, but he makes it worth it. 

His bicep tenses as Michael lifts himself, a strand of hair falling into his face in the process. “Jesus Christ,” he says. 

Your chest heaves. “Yeah,” you say. 

“Are ya–” he cradles your face with an almost concerned look. “Are ya alright?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I didn’t mean to be so rough, I–”

“I liked it,” you cut him off. He’s cute when he overthinks something as simple as sex. You reach up and gently brush the strand of hair away from his face. “I'm more than alright,” you assure him. “I’m perfect.”

His shoulders visibly relax. “Perfect, huh?” he repeats, a hint of a smirk appearing on his lips. “Well, I'm glad you think so. Wouldn't want t' disappoint ya.”

You let out a soft laugh. “Trust me, Michael, there's no disappointment here. Quite the opposite, actually.”

He presses a tender kiss against your forehead. “Okay, good.”

You close your eyes. You’re both a mess and the position gets more uncomfortable with every second, but he has hoisted you up in no time after pressing a gentle kiss to your lips. He slips out of you, carrying your sweaty body in his arms toward the bathroom. You cling to him with a content smile, your legs shaking, but you can’t complain. 

Once inside the bathroom, he carefully sets you down. The room is filled with the sound of running water as he adjusts the temperature, ensuring it's just right for you. He remembers you prefer the sizzling temperature of lava; he likes it cold. After the first shower together, you managed to find a middle ground together that doesn't burn his skin or freeze you to death. 

As the water cascades down in the shower, he extends his hand toward you, silently inviting you to join him. You take his hand without hesitation. Under the soothing water, he tenderly washes away the clammy feeling of the day and the remnants of his cum. He runs his hands through your wet hair, massaging the shampoo into your scalp and spreading conditioner over the ends of your hair. You enjoy the way he's taking care of you so effortlessly and unconditionally, not expecting anything in return. But of course, once you're free of soap, you return the favor. 

With gentle movements, you lather the soap over his skin, reveling in the way it glides across his contours. Your fingers trace his muscles, exploring the familiar terrain of his body. You stop at his chest hair, running your fingers through it. He shudders, but he takes the display of affection without words. He's beautiful, and the added hair makes him look delicious enough to eat, but you have been through that; this is just about you two now, some gentle intimacy without anything beyond fleeting touches and shampoo. 

You stop over a scar on his hip. “What happened there?” you break the silence with a murmur. 

“Ya really wanna know?” he asks. 

“Yes.”

“Knife fight.”

“Oh.”

“But it was nothin’ serious.”

“Still,” you trace your finger over the scar, “I’m sorry.”

“Shh–” Michael pulls you closer and presses his lips to yours. “Don’t worry ‘bout it,” he says. “I’m okay.”

You kiss him back, wrapping your arms around his neck. As the water continues to rain over you, you get lost in the feeling of each other, your skin feeling like silk under each other’s fingertips. 

Wrapped in each other's arms, the world fades away. Your skin brushes against his. Your fingers glide over his back, tracing the contours of his muscles, as his hands roam over your curves. It’s sensual, but it’s no longer sexual. 

“Michael,” you breathe against his lips. 

He moves from your mouth to your cheek and then your forehead. “Hm?” he asks. 

“I really like you,” you confess. 

Michael stops, his hazel eyes meeting yours. You look so shy when you bite your lip and avoid his gaze. He smiles, tilting your chin up with his index finger. “I really like you, too,” he tells you. 

It’s not an ‘I love you’ but it best describes how you both feel for each other. 

“Closer,” you whisper, your voice barely audible over the sound of the water. 

You crave him. He responds without hesitation, pulling you closer until there's no space left between you. You rest your head against his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat against your cheek.

His lips brush your temple. “Like that?” he asks. 

“Yeah, like that.”

“I never thought…” His hands begin to roam your back and he tries to find the right words. “I never thought I’d feel like this again,” Michael admits. 

You don’t look up, but your grip around his waist tightens in understanding. 

“Yer bringin’ me back to life,” he says your name with so much certainty, “and I can’t thank ya enough for that.”

You try to keep your tears at bay. His confession is vulnerable, and you figure it’s not something he often does. He has bled his heart out for you the day before, and now his cages are gone and he’s continuously giving you his blood for you to filter and breathe it back into him – you’re bringing him back to life, setting his heart alight, and he wants nothing more than for the feeling to persist. You want the same for him, too. 

But Michael also wants to bring you back to life because he can tell you’re holding back, your shoulders tense with the secrets that threaten to weigh you down and drown you in the endless sea of your emotions. It’s hard enough for him to be so open, and he still has so much left to say, but he hopes that Birdy was right with what she said– he hopes you will open up to him once he finds the courage to tell you even the last bits and pieces of his story, and that he can help bring you back to life, too. 

“I don't want this to end,” your voice breaks.

“It won't end,” Michael whispers into the crown of your head, “not if I have anythin' ta say 'bout it. We'll take it one step at a time, but I'm not lettin' go of ya.”

“I don't want to let go either.”

“Then don’t.” 

“I won’t,” you say. 

Because you need him, and without him, you’re pretty sure you will not be able to exist anymore. 

Tagging: @bellaxgiornata @shouldbestudying41 @your-not-invisible-to-me @glowstick-lesbian @ms-murdockswift @acharliecoxedfan @mattmurdocksscars @roseallisonparker @1988-fiend @norestfortheshelbywicked @loveroftoomanyfandoms

[popculturebuffet]

Disney 100th Birthday Special: Top 12 Disney Television Animation Shows

Happy Birthday all you happy people! And it's a very special birthday as it's the 100th anniversary of a company that, while I routinely mock on a regular basis for impaling themselves about a dozen time a year, has brought me a lot of joy. It was a 100 years ago that the wonderful world of disney began and 100 years later it's still bringing us some of the finest and funnest animation around and will likely continue for a hundred more as they create a whole disney planet serving up mickey shaped foods for all time around a disney owned star.

So before we can look forward to happiest dystopian future off earth, I thought hard about what I wanted to do for the 100th. I've covered disney a LOT on this blog: season 3 of ducktales AND the arcs for the two seasons before that, seasons 2 and 3 of both amphibia and owl house, classics like the Lion King and A Goofy Movie, a whole year worth of house of mouse reviews, shorts, various comics great and donald being pro illteracy.. the list could go on for an entire article itself.

So while I had PLENTY of options, from a shorts marathon to another movie, I decided the best way to honor this occasion was by focusing on a portion of disney near and dear to my heart: Disney TV Animation.

Way Way Back in the 1980s, DisneyTVA was formed by fresh faced executive overlord Michael Eisner. Eisner was looking to expand his new empire, and found a clever way to do it. See at the time while there were certainly good cartoons, most had the budget of a paper clip and a piece of string. It's why Disney took this long to get into the game: Walt thought he just coudln't get the quality needed on a tv budget and while he WANTED to at some point, he passed before that could happen.

Many laughed at this decision, citing it as a huge money sink waiting to happen.

Yeah critics not taking animation or kids watching it seriously isn't new and assuming they'll just watch anything is laughable. Yes low budget shows like Transformers got plenty of views... but transformers also put in high quality voice actors and intriguging designs. Take both of those and make the animation bouncier, and kids would notice.

And they did: The first Disney TVA show, Gummi Bears, was a massive success, leading to the planet sized one that was Ducktales and a whole legacy of classic shows.

There is a double edged sword here though: While most of these shows are high quality and well loved.. Disney tends to.. ignore they exist. They don't make merch, think adult and teenage fans aren't a think, and when it comes to merch don't usually tend to make it for these shows during or after their runs. There are exceptions and they are reviving stuff.. but disney has a bad habit to prefer cashing in on nostalgia than on what they have now unless it fits their narrow perameters

For me though.. Disney TVA is home to some of the best, most game changing shows in the medium. From shows I grew up with to shows that sadly just ended, Disney has made a ton of shows permeanntly embded in my heart. My doctor says I should get that removed but what does he know. At this studio are creators who are passionate, create unique works, and work very hard to stand out. Even when shows get slapped with the dreaded 2 season limits, they still stick in our hearts not just because of that nostlaagia pop disney wants, but because they were just that good and still hold up into adulthood. I've covered a lot of this library, owe my career to these shows and will never sotp being impressed by them.

So out of the 42 i've seen I whittled it down by 30 which was way harder than it sounded down to the very best. A few shows like Gargoyles I sadly just.. hadn't watched, so if something's missing it was either that or a very hard cut. Whlie the top 8 was shockingly easy, it was hard to narrow this list down to the very best. I'd also like to point out that this is my opinon: feel free to send me your own lists, i'd be curious to see how your own personal experinces shaped yours. But for now this is mine... and this is my top 12 best disney telvision animation shows.

12. The Weekenders Created by Doug Landale 2000-2004 4 Seasons, 76 episodes

Our #12 is a childhood faviorite of mine.. and also one of the two shows your most likely to hear me bitch about disney+ not having. IT'S BEEN ALMOST 4 YEARS.

But bitch complaning about disney being disney aside, the Weekenders is a charming classic that needs more eyes on it and it's weird I haven't covered frankly.

At any rate Weekenders is a slice of life show with a good yet simple hook: it follows 4 middle schoolers, Tino, Carver, Lor and Tish, as through their weekends from Friday after school to monday morning. It allows for the show to do pretty much whatever it wants, and what it wants is to be a fairly lowkey slice of life show. The only really zany element that I can remember, or that I saw in ToonrfiqTariq's excellent retrospective of the series, which you can find here, is main character Tino, a sarcastic but kind guy played by voice acting royalty James Marsden, talking to the audience zack morris style, which is really just a neat way to move things along so it's not that obtrusive. I highly recommend that retrospective by the way. Tariq is awesome and it helped jog my memory on the show.

The series is a fairly low stakes affair: our heroes have a fairly typical problem, they talk it out or deal with it as the weekend goes on, and at least once an episode they go for pizza at an ever changing pizza restraunt with a fun new gimmick each episode, something I loved already as a kid but love even more NOW as an adult knowing that gag was likely a LOT to do. Keep in mind they had to draw new backgrounds, exteriors, and a new costume for the guy running it every time. It's the kind of joke you think a series would've given up on for those reasons but nope, every episode has one.

Weekenders is a throughly charming slice of life show, helped by it's characters: In addition to tino we have the egotistical Carver (Phil LaMarr) thickheaded jock Lor (Grey DeLise) and immigrant nerd and vegtarian Tish. While the four coudl've easily fallen into their sterotypes there's just enough depth to the cast to make them work. Tish in paticular was my faviorite, not only being one of the first immigrant stories in a show I saw that was largely respectful and not just

It's a great show I genuinely wish I had more to say about. Find it somehow if you can, it's entirely worth it.

11. Phineas and Ferb Created By Dan Povmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh 2007-2015, 20XX- 129 Episodes, 2 Movies, Upcoming Revival

At a time when kids animation wasn't in the best place, Phineas and Ferb was the smash hit we all badly needed. Done by vetran creators and Rocko's Modern Life Alums, Phineas and Ferb was a fun, creative show about two boys who simply wanted to make the best out of summer... and happened to be child progidys only limited by their immgination, so they could do anything and the utterly catchy theme song helpfully outlined it. Having only watched the first three or four seasons, I still don't know if they ever found Frankensteins' Brain. It was over there.

While the a-plots with the boys were great most of the time and had a great supporting cast: Helpful scout Isabella, shrill voiced nerd Baljeet and bully turned buddy Buford, the real draw for most of us was the b-plot: each episode the boys Platapus Perry would sneak out, don a fedora and foil the plots of his arch enemy and best buddy Heinz Doofenschmirtz, an awkward mad scientest who rather than therapy decides to deal with the many, MANY traumas in his life by building various inators and talking to Perry. Their shenanigans inevitibly undo whatever our heroes did in time for their mom to never notice and just think their sister Candance needs help as she tries to bust them.

The show mostly used this loop for it's lengthy run, ocasionally mixing up the setting by visiting the kids grandparents or with a special, but it mostly went like this. This started as the shows strength as the repitition allowed them to REALLY play with the formula: lampshade it, subvert it, and play with it. Sometimes Perry would go to foil doof but it ended up being something benign like Doof trying to do a party for his Daughter or go on a date. Sometimes the boys would genuinely be trying to help Candance or she'd have her own concerns outside of bustin making her feel good. The show packed this with tons of lampshade hanging, catchy songs (after an early one made the network want it once an episode), and genuine heart. It's hard not to root for Phineas and his optimism and genuine cheer. Depsite "driving our sister insane" being a main lyric.. the kid has nothing but love in his heart for his sister and that simple goal of just wanting to do something fun or help someone each day makes this one of the sweeetest shows around.

So your probably wondering why it's so low. And it's really simple: it's constant status quo.. kind of wore it out for me. After a while there was no real reason for Linda NOT to know the boys were doing this. We never got any indication she'd care beyond "Maybe wear a helmet" or "Have candace watch you", neither of which would really STOP what they do every day. While Across the Universe was a great movie it having a MASSIVE snapback at the end is what eventually got me out of the show. It was hard to invest when the show wasn't willing to really change anything. In hindsight I do get some shows just function better as status quo shows and my bitterness has lessened and it's why this show ended up making the list: it's status quo could be frustrating.. but no one had more fun playing with it at the time than these two kids. And the hunchbacked old man what fights/is common lawed married to their platypus.

10. American Dragon: Jake Long Created by Jeff Goode Developed by Eddie Guzelian and Matt Negrete 2005-2007 2 Seasons, 52 Episodes AmDrag was part of the teen superhero boom on kids shows in the 2000's. Classics like Danny Phantom, My Life as a Teenage Robot, El Tigre and more came about at this time, with disney only dipping it's toes in twice with this show and another we'll get to soon enough.

That said.. American Dragon is an excellent show, mostly down to it's core: The show follows the titular Jake Long, a guy who on surface, from rapping part of his theme to his frosted tips to his skateboard comes off very much like an energy drink came to life and starred in it's own show. Which given the 2000's i'm very suprised never happened. But jake is somehow likeable.. he's a bit arrogant sure, but his arrogance is only in his skill: He genuinely does try his best as protector of new york, cares about his friends and cares heavily about his crush Rose. He's got a heart to him beneath the layers of axe body spray and Dante Basco's standout performance, what would easily have been his defining role as a VA had avatar not come along soon after, helps make this guy feel human.

What also helps boost it's show is it's myth arc. Like Danny Phantom a year before it, AM Drag breaks from the style of the time to have a dedicated arc and continuity. There's plenty of monster of the week stuff, some better (like the oracle twins, easily my faviorite side characters , who also have the fun gimmick of one being super cheery yet predicting horrible things and the other being jaded but seeing only good, with their powers being why (If you see every good thing that you'll ever get it makes it hard to enjoy them and if you see every possible horrible thing that happens to you, it makes the other stuff easier to swallow), some worse, and that can be a weaker part of the show.

But it's core arcs are what make the show it's most intresting. For the first season and a half we have the shows best: Jakes battles with the huntsclan, the foot clan.. if they were violent racists who slaughter magical creatures. Granted we don't SEE that on screen but the show does a good job showing us that no, that's what they are.

This itself would likely work.. but what makes it special and standout for the time it came out.. is the wrinkle they throw in: Huntsgirl, the Huntsclan's #1 guy and sidekick to the huntsman.. is Jake's crush Rose, a fairly well adjusted kind girl who simply dosen't know what she's been indoctrinated into, thinking Dragons are evil. This is a nice change of pace as at the time most relationships with teens and tweens in cartoons were either between some popular slab of cardboard of the characters best friend.

Instead Rose SEEMS to be the cardboard type.. but not only has depth outside of the hood, but the fact the audience can easily tell who huntsgirl is, Mae Whitman has a distinctive voice after all and as usual does a fantastic job only adds the tension: We know who rose is, but Jake doesn't and early on we don't know how much of her is real. And once the secret breaks we get the drama of both dealing with not only being on opposite sides but Rose realizing she was on the wrong one.

The arc after, focusing on a dark dragon isn't as strong in comparison, but it's also not entirely fair given they likely though they'd have another season and a half to wrap it up proper. That being said the series also has an interesting arc with Jake's overachieving younger sister, who goes from knowing about the dragon thing (his whole family does minus his dad for.. some reason) and showing some powers.. to being a dragon herself and often her brother's sidekick.

The show had it's weaknsesses, outside of the big bads there was never really much of an interesting Rogue's Gallery, Trixie felt a bit flat as a character, and again there was no good reason Jake's dad shouldn't know so we got stupid groundings and such. But we also got a compelling enemies to lovers arc with a lot of tension, a nice mythology, and profressor rotwood, Jakes teacher and magic hunter, a fun butt monkey for the show. It's a solid show that i'd love to see get a revivial.

9. Wonder Over Yonder Created by Craig McCracken 2013-2016 43 Episodes

Wonder Over Yonder is one of Disney's more infamous cancelations. Despite being DisneyXD's #1 show they not only barely promoted it, I wasn't aware the second season was going on till it was almost over and still need to get around to watching it, Disney cancelled it. Despite being well loved Disney cancelled it. It's not the worst cancellation on this list, that comes later, but it's still a pretty dang bad one. The fact they didn't put the show on Disney+ for some time dosen't exactly help.

Why Disney hated this show so much I'll never know as Wonder is one of the most heartfelt and creative show's disney put out. And keep in mind as I said i've only seen season 1. I know it gets even better with season 2's dedicated story arc and the introdcution of lord dominator. I've seen the musical number.

Wonder took inspiration from, of all things, dr. seuss, with Craig being an admitted fan of 60's and 70's astetics already, it just flowed naturally as we got the tail of a gentle tumbleweed whose kind and thoughtful to everyone he meets wether they desreve it or not and his tough as nails steed and best friend sylvia. The rolls are easily the best of Jack McBrayer and April Winchel's long careers, nicely contrasting each other in perfect ballance: Sylvia fights the battles wonder can't win with kindness or is too oblvious to realize he's in, Wonder wins fights simply by being too cheery and oblivious to beat.

Over their journey's they repeadtely run into our other main characters, Lord Hater, played by the awesome Keith Fergeuson, an over the top skeletial manchild who badly wants to be taken seriously but is too impulsive, stupid, and easily angered for him to actually achieve that depsite the help of Commander Peepers, his #2 and put upon lackey. Add in tons of great sets, fun scnearios and creative uses of animatoin and you have something unforgitable. McCracken really loves to play with storytelling here, from your standard genre breaks to simply taking a conventional tale like a kinight rescuing a princess.. and turn it into our heroes accidently assitating a stalking jerk and said princess easily clocking him one before they can all unite to save him. The show had so much fun with it's cast and heart in it it's really hard not to like and while it sadly ended too soon what we got... is something magical.

8. Clerks the Animated Series Created by Kevin Smith 2000 6 Episodes Like most of you are as you read this entry, I was suprised to find Disney TVA made this. To date this is Disney's only adult animated series, and the fox acquisition giving them a full studio for that tells me it'll likely stay this way unless they do something actiony for disney +. It's also far and away the shortest lived show on this list. only airing two of it's 6 produced episodes, neither of which was the actual first episode. ABC didn't like what they got, they buried it, standard corprate procedure, and thanks to DVD and Comedy Central airings the show went from quickly forgotten weird relic to one of the best animated adaptations out there and one of the poster children for shows too good to last.

I grew up with this show. Since I was too young for the kevin smith movies my brother was obessed with, the series was the first Kevin Smith related thing I ever watched and it's stayed with me since. The show's short.. but it's 6 episodes are absolutely STUFFED with great jokes. I could honestly spend the rest of the article quoting this series, from "Hey, it's ted danson" to "Why are we walking like this" to "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit you old hag!".... and that's just the second episode. Admitely in terms of tone, Clerks TAS.. is nothing like the movie. The original Clerks was a fairly low key film mostly driven by our leads Dante and Randall's conversation and the various people who came in. It was a character piece about being stuck in a dead end job, about ignoring rules versus blindly following them, and about two stoners who were in it for 5 minutes but became the backbone of this cinematic universe because their the best.

Clerks the Animated Series instead is a gleefully wacky romp where our heroes can't say fuck but do get into sitcommy hyjinks, from clipshows, to a rival buisness across the way, to the deadly motava virus, to a pastiche of the last starfighter turning into a pastiche of the bad news bears then a pastiche of temple of doom. As you can tell this show is kinda nuts and really just Kevin Smith getting to be all kinds of redicluous in the funniest way possible. He replaced being able to say fuck and talk about sex with hyjinks and turned randall from a charming if assholish slacker into one of the best dumbasses in animation. The show is a near constant laugh riot, beautifully animated too. It also naturally has the boys, with Jay and Silent bob still getting in lots of neat antics even if they can no longer deal on screen. Clerks the Animated series is one of the funniest shows there's ever been and I highly recommend seeking it out.

7. Milo Murphy's Law Created by Dan Povemire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh 2016-2017, 2019 46 Episodes

Meet the show disney somehow treated WORSE than the last two. I swear when I put this list together I did not realize these three would be clustered together.

But yes, when I said there was a worse cancelation I meant it: Milo Murphy's Law was the dwampy duo of Phineas and Ferb.. and got utterly buried because Disney was mad it wasn't the mega hit that show was, forgetting that was also a fairly slow burn, or that you kow THIS IS A DIFFRENT SHOW. So they not only barely promoted the second half of season 1.. but then just sat on season 2 for a full year, with many an episode airing elsewhere long before that and released it over a few weeks. They then just.. straight up ended production to make a phineas and ferb movie. In fact despite a full soundtrack apparently existed only ONE song's gotten released from the show in full thanks to said movie's soundtrack. To say Disney screwed this show over is putting it lightly.

And it's a huge shame this show got buried as it did as Milo.. is freaking awesome. I mean I gave it a shot from episode one simply because it had Weird Al attached. Even if i'd gotten burned out on the previous show, i'll give anything Al's in a shot.

And that shot was worth it as from the first episode to the last, Milo is a truly charming show with, say it again ya'll, "a truly unique premise" . Disney has a knack for those don't it?

MML follows Milo Murphy, a happy go lucky 6th grader who meets new kid in town Zack.. who soon finds out Milo has a family curse, based on, of course, Murphy's Law; if something can go wrong, it will. So the universe bends over backwords to try to murder this tween and anyone around him... hence why while everyone likes Milo well enough, only his feisty hustler best friend Melissa really hung around before Zack took a chance on his new pal.

What makes the series great though is that Milo... dosen't ever angst about having murphy's law. You'd think with his life being a constant never ending string of disaster dominos, the guy would give up or we'd have one episode of him bedguging all he's missed out on. Instead.. Milo sees his life as an adventure, enjoys in the shenanigans he gets into and simply packs his backpack to be prepeared and keep his spleen in tact. He's a sweet, kind, optimist who helps people no matter what and dosen't let his curse get him down or stop him from living his life. It's milo that makes the show this good, having to both work around his jinx as well as many an adventure coming from people's reaction to him: From his love intrest Amanda intitally avoiding him due to being a perfectionist only to let him in more once she realizes what a kind guy he is, to the local security guard played byc hristan slater being an absolute dick to him, we see how it impacts his life.. but how he also enjoys his life regardless.

The series also has it's own perry equilvent, Dakota and Cavendish, who genuinely drive the seasons story arcs, two time policeman and ambigously gay duo who try to prevent pistachos from being destroyed.. then do the opposite once i'ts clear it'll cause the end of the world. They add to the story.

What puts this show up here, and way above phineas is that it's not afraid of change: the basic status who dosen't, but the show has a story arc for each season, characters grow and change with Zack getting more used to the chaos around his bestie, the relationship with amanda I mentioned, and most importantly Dakota and Cavindish finding out about milo fairly early on and vice versa, allowing their plots to intersect. It's also really damn funny.

Honestly the show's only this low because the top 6 are REALLY that good.. and because season 2 kinda crams Dr. Doofinschrmitz in there on what feels heavily like an executive mandate. Sometims he cab be a bit overbearing.. but the show's still up this high because frankly, Doof was the best part of his previous show and still gets a LOT of great material, paticuarlly this bit.

Also his friend there is Jeff. Jeff is a man who lives underground. He's great. And this series is, badly underated. I can't wait to see these characters again as it's been directly said that while their tabling it for the first two seasons apperances by characters from the previous two shows aren't off the table for hamster and gretel, they just learned from this one to wait, but while I wait.. what we got.. is still damn magical.

6. Kim Possible Created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle 2002-2007 4 Seasons, 82 Episodes, 2 Movies, 1 Live Action Reboot Film

Kim Possible was one of my faviorite shows as a kid, and for good reason. Even over two decades later, the show still holds up as a smart, hilarious, and well done spy show. I also will gladly count it as part of the teen superhero boom as it hits a lot of those tropes too.

The setup however is nicely unique: Rather than work for a big spy orginzation (Though she does freelance in a few episodes for SHIELD expy Global Justice), or for money or what you'd expect from a world class adventuerer and super spy, Kim is just an above average teen whose fairly smart, popular and really damn good at both gymnastics and kicking people who does the job because it's the right thing to do and her organization is really just four people: herself, Wade, a child progidey who finds jobs for her, Ron, her best friend, eventual love interest, and overly panicky but loveable goofus, and Ron's pet Rufus who counts because he saves their lives quite a bit simply by being in ron's pocket and being smart enough. He's also a naked mole rat and the reason I know those exist.

While the show has a strong supporting cast with screen legends Gary Gole and Jean Smart as Kim's Rocket Science and Neurosurgeon parents, her annoying twin brothers, her sarcastic best girl friend monique, her annoying rival bonnie and my personal faviorite her authorative yet still resonable and utterly hilarious teacher Mr. Barkin, played by my boy Patrick Warburton, one of it's biggest strengths is Kim's Rogue's gallery.

Like I said with americna dragon a lot of the weakness for these teen hero shows is that they genuinely only have one or two major foes that are actually you know.. memorable. In contrast Kim has a LOT of intresting and fun villians of the week, not a huge pool but enough to keep it intresting with plenty of fun one offs. The main one is Dr. Drakken, played by John Dimaggio in one of his best parts and Shego, played by Nicolle Sulivan in her best role, an over the top , hammy shortsighted blue mad scientest and his snarky assitant who does most of the punching and is easily kim's physical equal. The two show up the most out of Kim's rogues, and while this on paper could get reptitive the two's banter is great, they play off our heroes fantastically, and they frankly never seemed to run out of great schemes for Dr. D to do.

There were other greats too, my personal faviorites being Senior Senior Senior and Senior Senior Junior, character actor Ricardo Montalban in his best role as a rich old man who after accidently blacking out paris, takes ron's suggestion he had all the makings of a super villian to heart and using his vast wealth to arch our heroes for fun while Junior.. badly dosen't want any part of this. Ther'es tons more I could gush about from DNAmy to the bebes, to my boy Frugal Lucre, a guy who works at a wallmart expy and barely spends money on his arching suplies.

The show's other weapon is it's writing: it's clever, hilarious, and the main duo are incredibly likeable: Kim is incredibly compitent but just as prone to teen angst as anyone her age, while Ron is incredibly panicky and goofy but far more compitent than he seems or he thinks himself to be. Our leads, Kristy Carlson Romano and va god Will Fridle in my faviorite role of his, have an effortless chemstriy between them, even before it turns romantic. You see how valuable their friendship is and how much they need each other even when they bicker.. and it turning romantic just feels.. natural. There's a risk there, and i'll likely go more into tha twhen I eventually cover so the drama (Either later this year if I can squeeze it in or early next year), but needless to say their the gold standard for friends to lovers and I love them.

The show is just.. damn good and worth checking out if you haven't. It's on Disney+ , all of it including the reboot film which is.. alright. not as good as the series but thanks to great casting and the creators involvment , still solid. Call it, beep it, reach it, it's a masterpiece and I badly hope those revivial rumors are true as i'd love to see this cast as adults.

5. Amphibia Created by Matt Braly 2019-2022 3 Seasons, 58 Episodes

Anoyone whose seem this blog before probably saw this coming. I mean I covered two whole seasons of the show and deeply love it's main cast. And Maddie. God bless my creepy frog daughter. So it being this high up isn't a huge shock.. but damn if it dosen't deserve it. Amphibia isn't perfect: some of the one off episodes, even those important later, aren't the best... but the show still plays one of the best long games in animation. The character arcs are well set up from the get go and we follow our lead Anne Boonchuy from reckless and irresponsible teen plunked into a frog world to a strong empathetic heroine who has to save both worlds from a tyrant and his abusive computer dad. Along the way there's betrayal, slice of life shenanigans, and lots of cleverly done worldbuilding. And some padding. There's just a touch padding. But the strong character arcs not just for Anne but her friends (With Sasha being my easy faviorite but Marcy not exactly far behind and complex and engaging enough to get her own spinoff journal), found family and even her earth family. It's a beautifully done three act story: what seems like a lonnnng time spent in the rural town of Wartwood ends up not only buliding up the show's supporting cast but characters who are vital to the world's salvation later. The second season shows how far anne has come while also building out the world, continuing Sasha's arc as she spirals further and giving us the glory that is marcy, cumilating in season 3, a fantastic season that reverses the premise to amazing effect and ends with a truly satisfying conclusion.. even if SOME of the getting there is messy. Hey it's #5 for a reason.

IT's a well built, hilarious, and heartfelt human into swamp water story, and one of my faviorites. I only don't say TOO much as I want anyon ewho hasn't to try this themselves. Amphibia is a masterpiece and if you haven't seen it it's WELL worth the binge with one of the best voice casts in animation (Something that's really true for everything from far out), really choice world building, and a satsifying ending. This section may of been short but damn if i don't love this show with a lot of my heart.

4. Gravity Falls Created by Alex Hirsch 2012-2016 2 Seasons, 40 Episodes

Another fairly obvious pick.. but one I weirdly HAVEN'T covered on this blog. I'll really have to fix that next year. Still just because something's obvious dosen't make it any less true. Gravity Falls is easily one of the most influental animated series of the 2010's, right up there with adventure time in kicking off the animation renaissance of that era and several of it's crew, including Matt Braly from the previous entry and a certain someone else coming up, going on to make stellar shows of their own.

It's rep and influence is well earned: Gravity Falls, like, as i've realized writing this, EVERY show on this list has a very simple elvator pitch: two kids spending the summer with their weird elderly uncle at his toursist trap get into paranormal shenanigans: Dipper as he tries to unwrap the mysteries of their temproary home and Mable as she tries to make friends, find a boy to smooch and genuinely ambles through life. She also gets a pig.

The simple setup belies not only a fairly intriguing mystery with a truly amazing twist halfway through season 2, but a fun arc villian in LIttle Gideon, the con artist next door, town hero and phony psychic, but a one of a kind, memorable and all time great vilian in Bill Cipher, a little triangle man who also happens to be a mad nightmare god trying to get into our dimension whose Chucky levels of deeply disturbing and terrifying as he is incredibly funny and charastmatic.

The rest of the cast is no slouch: Dipper and Mable are incredibly likeable, Wendy is great, played by personal faviorite of mine Linda Cardenlli and criminally underused and Soos, voiced by Hirsch along with Stan, Bill and MANY other characters, is a loveable dum dum 20 something who treats our heroes like surrogate siblings.

The real star of course, and the show stealling heart of the show is Stan Pines, the kids corrupt uncle and one of the most hilarious, and once we learn his deal heartbreaking and suprisingly complex, characters in all of animation. This show is on this list on it's own merits but woudln't nearly be so high without stan, a constant laugh machine, quote factory and powerhouse performance by Hirsch, who despite being new to voice acting steps into it like he's done this for decades. From teaching a bear to drive, to wondering if it's wrong to punch a child to "yes yes burn the child" and of course his greatest folly

Stan constantly boosts the show by existing. Add in strong character ties, a compelling mystery and, like most shows this high up a hell of a finale, and you have a true classic that understadnably changed animation forever.

Also i'm pretty sure Stan killed at least two people in that clip. No one ever talks about that. I mean I knew he had a body count but still.

3. Recess Created by Paul Germaine and Joe Ansolabehere 1997-2001 4 Seasons, 65 Episodes, 4 Movies

Recess is the oldest work on this list, ending just before KP and American Dragon started (though it'd air long into their runs as this show ran forever and rightfully so). It was also part of my childhood, airing long after it finished and being tender the whole way through.

Recess is a masterwork: while many a show stuck with me from childhood this is one that thinking back I can remember the episodes vividly, and given my memory is spotty that says something. It's a show with a lot of style, having it's characters dressed out of the 50s and 60s, with a cold war subtext I never had, but keeping it in the present to relate to kids when it's airing. It creates a vibe tha'ts both of it's time (the monstickers ep is very much of the pokemon boom), and timeless (kids STILL collect pokemon cards and despite some morons best efforts have recess and still form little clicks).

It takes two simple things kids grapple with, unfair teachers and authority figures and cliques and social circles and simply blows it up to be as big as it was in our heads: I remember having epic duels with the kids I played with , wars, whole conflicts and recess meets things on that level: the world of recess is one where the playground has a lineage of kings, the kindergartners are a feral tribe, two kids can reguarly acess shovels, and the local snitch is some sort of combination of gollumn and a weasel while keeping it just grounded enough for adults to relate to. Where rebelling against authority involves elaborate heists.

It's a perfect kind of show for kids: it meets them on their level, as it did when I was a kid.. but is smart enough that as an adult you can still enjoy it. It helps that most of the cast is three dimensional:

TJ is a loveable scamp.. but a good chunk of his schemes aren't just to stick it to the man or get some reward for him and his running crew, but to help kids. TJ's just as likely to break out of detention as he is to help a kid this week simply because they need it. He'll even help Randall, the local snitch I mentioned, despite his better judgment, simply because it's the right thing to do. He'll have to be talked into it because.. it's Randall. Randall sucks, But he'll do it. Spinelli is the tomboy of the group and will fight everyone, but has a good side to her and struggles with being a girl when she relates more to being masculine, something that's only become more relevant with time and can be read a lot of ways. Mikey is the big kid.. but a soft kind giant who deals with being sterotyped for his side. Vince is the sports kid... and okay most of his plots are around that, but we do get neat bits like him being ashamed his brother is basically urkel and having to learn his brother still slaps because unlike Urkel he dosen't harass women. Gretchen is a massive nerd, and the first role in Ashely Johnson's long and storied career, but also gladly paticipates in the schemes, has a lot of heart, and struggles.

And finally we have my boy Gus, the new kid at the start and the one I related most to being a nerdy nervous wreck myself: but he's gladly accepted into the rest of the gang, and finds a home at long last after moving around his whole life. He's got layers to him: he's a military brat, he's never really had stablility int erms of friendship, and he's often put upon, having to deal with King Bob being a jerk to him for being the new kid or bullies. Yet he's got a good heart despite being the nervous one of the group the biggest heart of them and will gladly stand up for himself when the chips are down.

Not only are these 6 fleshed out and relatable.. but they have a wholesome friendship. They'll fight sometimes, kids do, but despite being vastly diffrent people who on paper shoudln't really be hanging together.. you never doubt they like each other or would drop everything to help one another. Mostly because a good chunk of episodes are just that. Gretchen and Gus are never picked on by their friends.. teased a little, maybe , Spenelli be like that, but these six kids love and respect each other on level that's just heartwarming. You never doubt for a second these six are friends, even with Gus not having their shared history. He just fits because they like him, he's willing to do what's right, and he's a good kid. TJ is brave and noble, Spnelli is tough but dosen't punch down, Vince is cool, Mikey is insightful and kind, Gretchen is smart and clever and Gus ahs a good heart. You see the good they see in each other and it shows our diffrences.. make us better. There may be cliques at recess, but when the chips are down, TJ can get them to work together.

The series also just had a knack for creating really memorable episodes that feel entirely relatable: a trading card style boom leads to TJ becoming a rags to riches tycoon, swinger girl who always swings trying to do what all kids did and reach the other side leads to a tale about things we can't explain when she seemingly dissapears, a simple punishment leads to TJ"s teacher psychologically torturing him, a fake swear word leads to an ENTIRE COURT CASE, all stuff that's somehow realistic. The show's premise was a tool box that allowed them to tell a ton of diffrent stories, a lot of which with really adult, meaningful lessons, and the show never really got old. It only ended because Disney's attempts to continue it simply didn't work out and even with the 5th grade eps as an epilogue, it has a hell o a finale in the movie. The whole run's on disney+ and I.. really need to revisit it.. and to review it next year if possible.

2. The Owl House Created by Dana Terrace 2020-2023 3 Seasons, 43 Episodes

Let's face it even if the article image hadn't tipped my hat here.. this one being high up .. was a given. I've gushed about this show at length, covering it as season's 2 and 3 ran out, written fanfiction on this blog, and since I started doing them the show's always ranked decently on my 20 best animated episodes lists I do each year, and will likely have a spot this year for the finale. My love of this show is something I don't remotely hide and have no reason to. So it being #2 on this list is an obvious pick.. but one i'm happy to be obvious with. In fact with these last two their pretty nearly tied in my heart and it was one inching out the other.

And the weird thing is.. I didn't even watch all of season 1. I watched the first half much as I could, but while I liked it I didn't get really heavy into it. The characters were charming, the designs great and it was nice to have a show where Wendy Malick was not only voice acting, but had a MAJOR role that really let her show off her chops. I've always loved her and it was a lot of fun to get a roll this good. It was also nice to have Alex Hirsch back. The show wasn't without style, a compelling lead, a hell of a romantic arc or other attractions.. but it wasn't till later in season 1 when classicsl ike encahnting grom fright and the finale REALLY made the show into what it became.

This lead to season 2.. which is one of the best seasons of television i've ever seen, and tha'ts with the fact that halfway through they had to massively reorganize the plot to fit into 10 episodes and 3 specials, something that's only really noticable in hindsight. And i'm not hyperbolizing: the show was good before.. but season 2 enriches everything, giving the characters more depth, paticuarlly king who goes from an afterthought in season 1 to the emotoinal core of the season and Alex Hirsch's best roll... which given Stan above says a LOT. Season 2 takes the foundations of the show and really plays with them, with pretty much everyone getting a deeper character, the school stuff forced into season 1 downplayed into just showing up as needed, allowing for way more story freedom and belos increased presence and hell of a true self reveal giving us one of Disney's greatest villians. Add in hunter as a new main cast member and best good soft boy, and you have a riviting saga that kept me enthralled the whole season. Even the weaker episodes add something, and the result is something that can't be topped: a show tha'ts funny, heartfelt, unmistakably queer and unquestionably well crafted.

It also managed to pull off one hell of an ending, not only introducing my murder child who learns his lesson the collector, but doing so with only three specials to wrap up what they shoul'dve had a season to. It's a show that like Gravity Falls before it is bound to really shake up animation and influence many a show to come an dI can't wait to see the results. A true epic about finding yourself, religious indoctrination and eldrich owl and tube shaped parasites, this show is something that may never be topped and was an utter joy while it lasted. Hoot.

1. Ducktales Based on DuckTales by Jim Magon /Uncle Scrooge by Carl Barks Developed by Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones 2017-2021 3 Seasons, 69 Episodes Like #2... #1 is a show my love of has been transparently obvious: Covering season 3 started this blog, i've covered seasons 1 and 2's story arcs, and done a ton of other duck stuff from a full three cabs retrospective, to donald shorts to the very duck adjacent goofy movie. While I haven't done as much duck content this year, a shame really, and still need to finish my life and times retrospective some day... my love of Disney's Ducks has been something i've had since college and this series not only revitalized it but sent it into the fucking stratosphere with the gold standard for reboots. DuckTales is the only show here based on an existing IP, but still manages to be super creative with it. Matt and Frank took nearly 100 years of Duck stories (not hyperbole, Donald turns the big 1-0-0 himself next year), taking from the legendary barks comics, the worthy successor rosa comics, the giant pile of European duck comics, the shorts, the movies, anything Donald , Scrooge or the Boys had been in, every bit of the disney afternoon, and everything else they could shove in to creat the defintive duck universe: Something that fully and lovingly respects what cames before but uses it all to create something fresh and wholly it's own. The cast is a nice mix of reinventions of old characters and brand new ones just as good if not even better.

This can be seen well with the core cast: Scrooge only gets changed slightly, but those slight changes were BADLY needed: Scrooge is still a guy with flaws: he can get far too focused on the goal ahead and not the human cost, is egotstical as all hell, and disconected from the common person. He can raid a tomb better than anyone, sorry Indy and Lara, but god help him if he tries doing an interview or produce a film. It's a nice ballance: he's out of touch and crotchety as usual, but far less of an abusive asshole. It's also clear that while the bin stores a lot of his treasures, and he won't take one if it's owners need it, being more than happy to give Djinn his family's lamp for instance, with it only being a whole thing because Louie sold it. It paints him more as a historian than a theif and robber baron, while still keeping the nice flaws that make him who he is: he's still cheap, he just won't underpay his staff and in fact mostly recurits people other employers give up on for being too weird.

The rest of the cast is given a more extensive but needed overhall: My boy Donald is less of the likeably selfish ass he usually is, instead a loveable dad who still destroys everything he touches, but spends the first two seasons living entirely for his kids. He's more mature while still being the idiot we love.

Everyone else.. is a huge change as I said. The biggest and best.. is the boys. Usually Huey, Dewey or Louie are a hive mind of goody goods.. or obnoxious boys. Depends on what the story needs. It always annoyed me that when you have three characters there their not at all distinct and there's no real need for them. Thankfully the creators of this show understood that and thus evolved the boys into three seperate people: Huey is more like the barks comics versions, a junior woodchuck, close to his mom and uncles, and exitable.. but with a nice fine pace of neurodivergence and anxiety that not only makes him relatable to me but a fairly likeable kid: one scared of change but with all the potetial in the world. Dewey takes ab it after the more sterotypically 80s moments of the boys in the show, being a rad dude with a penchant for acting out.. but instead of a sexist bully or jerk like the boys could be, Dewey is a pure theater kid who badly wants attention and has no impulse control. He's basically Hank Venture , age 12 and i'm here for it. Finally Louie takes the boys more scheming moments from the comics and shows and boils it down into a gen z slacker who wants to work smater not harder, and not work at all if needed, who evolves from heartless lazy schemer and evil triplet to a keep observer whose just mildly shady.

While the barks 5 are all acounted for we also get nice overhauls for the ducktales three original core characters: Webby gets the best, going from just "small baby child babY" to a hyperactive girl who is easily near scrooge's level in adventureeing.. but has no idea how to socalize and still loves sparkles. She's empathetic, brave, and a contrast to what woudl turn out to be her old man: instead of growing to shut people out , she starts out badly wanting to let everyone end. Beakley likewise gets a glow up from "old lady stertotype whose constantly flustered" to "badass british former secret agent, only sane man and gender swapped brock sampson" , with Launchpad being made a loveable doofus, but still compitent since Donald's here to be the everyman.

The cast.. only gets better as it goes: Ducktales took a huge leap and decided "Hey what ABOUT the triplet's mom" turning della from a question mark that was answered all of once across nearly a century.. to a character just as vallad as her brother and uncle who have said near century on her: Della is Donald's opposite: brave, confident.. but a mess herself and stuck on the moon for half the series. Paget Brewster does a phenominal job.

I emphasise the series characters.. because tha'ts it's heart: it has solid plots, revamps and what not.. but it's a giant, instnatly loveable cast of characters: The side cast is MASSIVE pulling from all over duck history: Fehtry makes his debut, Gladstone is taken from easily one of my most hated characters in the comics to a far more loveable schister, Rockerduck finally debuts, Glomgold is turned from "Scrooge but evil" to someone badly trying to copy scrooge and the most glorious weirdo in all of fiction. Seriously Keith Fergusons glomgold is fucking majestic, and while he's never really a major threat his overinfalted ego, lack of planning, obessions with sharks and bombs and general haminess made him one of the best parts of this. You also get Magica as a genuine threat , and a mess later, Scooge's parents having a more active roll, Fenton having more of his own personality and weird swing for the fences complete and utter makeovers like Doofus Drake going from doofy kid to a very weird child who needs therapy, Donald's neighbor nemisis being his therapist or taking the zombie from voodoo hoodo, one of th emost racist and questionable things in duck comics history.. and instead making him into an unstopable juggernaut frankenstein curse ont he rich.

And of course the original cast.. is impecable. My adopted Daugther Lena is the clear standout, having covered her whole story arc on here and loving the character a lot, A cool teen TM who ends up being a traumtized girl badly needing a home, her stoic and neurodivergent sister violet, the egon to her venkman, fuckboy Mark Beaks, great final boss Bradford, gay icon Storkules, gay icon Selene, everyone's least faviorite dick Zeus.. I really coudl go on for some time and easily could but this article has taken a while. The show just had a knack for memorable loveable characters and making this world feel truly alive and humungous and scope, with gorgeous art designs.

It also had a great throughline, with Scrooge going from a man who pushed everything a way.. to the man who truly has everything, everyone growing along the way, and a finale that while a bit messy and leaving us hungering for more, really got to the hart of the show: a family that comes together after being torn apart and adds a LOT to them. It's a show unlike any other, and was truly the dream of a life time.. and I coudln't put anything else at #1. Thanks for reading.

[namtanlovesfilm]

Off Jumpol

Sweetheart please write a whole essay about him 😘😜

wellllll, if it's asked this nicely 😌 usually I try to contain myself but today you've enabled me :p here's why I believe off jumpol to be literally unmatched:

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

I've said it before, but being an off stan is like following a character in a series. just like khai in theory of love, off has had such an incredible character development which I've never seen for any other actor. his willingness to openly admit his changes & his past flaws is so damn refreshing, and if you're an off fan you can never be bored bc there is no status quo, off is always getting better & better <3

HONESTY

so I've said it before, but I like celebrities who seem genuine & real, and I don't think you get that more than with off. first of all, and that's a thai actor thing, I love his willingness to go out not always looking the best & just enjoying his life like real people do. but mostly I love how much off is himself 100% of the time: he's scolded nosy journalists & fans before, but is also not afraid to apologize like that one time fans kept screaming his name while he was talking to tay & he answered too harshly & took it back. but mostly I love how honest he is about his past & even his present, he's willing to admit he was a player during his uni days & regrets it, and he's willing to admit much he's changed. even though some people see him as cold & scary, if you follow off for more than one minute you'll know that off is pretty much an open book & really doesn't take himself too seriously. for example the interviewer for his iconic gq interview cover, said he was shocked to see off so down to earth & speaking about philosophical topics about his own life that he's reflected on a lot. and off's genuineness is for me his greatest quality.

KINDNESS

even though off is known for his bad mouth lol, he's genuinely the kindest person ever. there are many groups of people he's kind with, the first one being fans. having gone to events he's been a part of, I can safely say off is the only actor (unless joined by gun) who went out of his way to go close to fans & greet us. he often even stays after an event to go back out to greet fans for more than an extra hour! he doesn't need to do that, but he does it bc he truly values his fans greatly. him crying bc he was overwhelmed by his fan's love in y I love you says it all.

the second group is his fellow colleagues. many clips of off have gone viral with him helping his nong's cover up, etc. in awkward situations, and everyone at gmmtv considers off their dad, as countless pictures prove it :)

lastly, service workers. there are compilations of off thanking security guards at the many events he attends, even hugging them, and overall he always treats others with so much respect & kindness, which shows how down to earth he is.

TALENTS

now that we've discussed his personality, let's move on to off's talents. first of all, off has grown to be an excellent actor. his acting in not me was honestly so good it not only blew me away, but also made me so incredibly proud. I think one of off's best strength is his versatility as an actor, because now he can both SLAY emotional, angsty scenes, but since the beginning he's also been an incredible comedic actor thanks to the fact that man's naturally hilarious & improvises lines like no one else. in that sense, he honestly can beat a lot of actors considered better but who don't have as much versatility as him.

apart from acting, off also excells at hosting, be it variety shows like offgun fun night, friend drive or school rangers, or events & others. man can SPEAK, and be fun & entertaining like no one else, while also including guests so seamlessly.

off is also obviously a fashion icon, having both his fashion brand & being an avid fashion collector, so much so that series like theory of love & wolf used HIS OWN clothes for his character's wardrobes. off especially loves vintage & doesn't just shop big brand names but also goes to the chatuchak market to buy more hawaiian shirts. did I mention he's the ceo of wearing hawaiian shirts? bc he is <3

off is an artsy hipster type of guy, enjoying indie movies, taking pictures, going to galleries, etc. and I believe him to have a very artistic vision that is best exemplified by his brand land of something, for which the designs stand out SO MUCH from other thai actors' clothing brand. he's also a business man & has learned from his mistakes which makes him more careful & thoughtful when he invests now. ALSO he's obviously an incredible model & knows all of his angles, slay <3

LOOKS

obviously, off is hot as fuck. this is a shallow world, we have eyes, man's flabbergastingly gorgeous. but what makes off more special than the other handsome actors is of course, his iconic facial expressions. NO ONE can move their face like off does. his facial expressions are what made me fall for him bc they're one of a kind & no one can replicate them to the same extent. those expressions are also what made off's asshole characters like khai, por, etc. actually work by adding layers of cuteness to them. I also want to mention that off is not afraid to experiment with his look which is really nice & makes him stand out once again!

PROFESSIONALISM

lastly, bc I'm a busy gal & I need to cut this short, I think it's very important to mention off's professionalism. I think it's no coincidence a lot of directors envision him as first for a role, notably koo ekkasit for astrophile, fon kanittha for 10 years ticket & the snap25 team for the jungle. it's also to be noted that off creates good relationships with every co-star he has, and keeps those friendships for a long time. no one ever has anything bad to say about him, and because of his work ethics he manages to shine in the eyes of those who decide the faith of his career. and that makes me confident he'll keep soaring high :)

xxx

[danglovely]

Regrading Taskmaster: S06E07 Roadkill doused in syrup.

*Score changes noted in parenthesis.

Just gonna note -- Alex is really into weird glasses.

Prize Task: The Scariest Thing From Your Kitchen

With a ham sandwich, that's a ticking time-bomb. You don't know!

Mandolin. So many people have talked about injuring themselves on a mandolin. Sarah Millican brings one in later and talks about cutting off her fingertip. There's a pretty infamous Masterchef clip about it (maybe don't watch it if squeamish). Anyway.

Alice brings in "sweaty ham." So I'm not a stickler on "best by" dates, but I can tell when ham has gone bad because it gets sticky and I hate it. I would be hard-pressed to consume it, even when I need to eat. That said, "scary" is not the word I'd use for it. Asim brings in fanart that (1) has no association with a "kitchen" and (2) is actually kind of a good sketch. Plus, like . . . if someone makes you some art, don't blow up their spot.

Russell has a "doggy-cam" that he claims his girlfriend uses to spy on him. It's a decent offering. Good for his relationship? No. Scary? Yes.

Tim brings a door with bad hinges that hits him on the head. *deep sigh* Yes, it's technically a scary thing in the kitchen and slots just behind Russell so far, but like . . . c'mon. You're professional entertainers. There had to be something better.

Liza has a food processor with a fake finger in it. This gets a bit at my pitch of "mandolin," but it's actually plenty safe. It probably goes between Tim and Russell, but other than Russell, underwhelming.

Alice: 2 (0) Asim: 1 (-3) Liza: 3 (0) Russell: 5 (0) Tim: 4 (+3)

VT 01: Knock the bails off the stumps. You've got a maximum of one over. You must make your attempts from behind this stump. No stumps may be moved. Fastest wins.

Call me when I'm needed.

Some people have been playing cricket in the park near my house and I have tried to get them to explain the rules to me. It is not information that is compatible with my brain.

Alright, this one is tough. No bones about it, Russell knocks it out of the park. Simultaneously, he does step on the red carpet and cross the stump by the end of his follow-through. Gut reaction? Give it to him . . . but that might be because I thought it was cool.

The tricky thing here is the task combines cricket terminology with silly bullshit. It uses the word "over" but also lets them use weird balls and pull the carpet and whatever. So do you follow cricket rules or don't you?

I also briefly had the thought that it's not clear what "behind the stump means," but any reasonable person would recognize it means in relation to the target.

Look, no one did it like they were playing cricket and no one argued the outcome. Studio scores it is.

Alice: 0 Asim: 0 Liza: DQ Russell: 5 Tim: 4

VT 02: Draw a picture of the contents of this box. You may not open the box or look inside.

Mahatmabra Ghandi!

There's a great debate about why Alex made the bra wet. I subscribe strongly to the theory that Alex was making the joke that "wet" is the opposite of "sere" and he always gets them mixed up, but who knows?

There's no win condition on this one! They get a bonus point for naming the David Attenborough pun, but that pretty much leaves it up to Greg to decide the thing is going to judged. I think a reasonable person would assume that the win condition would be "most accurate wins."

So, three items. We split the task into thirds and determine if each person accurately drew the item. Quality of the drawings would then be the tie-breaker.

Liza nails two and I'd say her drawing of Michelangelo's David is passable. Alice has the same issue with the David statue. I'd call it passable but worse than Liza's.

Asim -- I'd give him David (and it might even be more accurate than Alice's). I'd even give him the bra, despite looking like "a pair of glasses." I will not give him the hat.

I think I'm only calling the bra accurate for Tim. He seemed to recognize there was a man in the box, but there needs to be some recognition that it's David. Like even just adding a leaf. I'm also only giving Russell credit for recognizing the bra. I will break the tie in favor of Russell because I can imagine a hat in his drawing and I cannot do that with Tim.

So, Alice and Liza three of three, but Liza's is better. Asim two of three. Tim and Russell one of three, but Russell's is better. Add in the bonus point and this is what you get:

Alice: 4 (0) Asim: 3 (+2) Liza: 5 (0) Russell: 3 (+1) Tim: 1 (-3)

Team Task: Write down as many obscure animals as possible. Guess the animals your teammate has on their list. Your teammate must only use mime. They may not write anything down or show you the list.

Blue dog. That famous breed.

You couldn't imagine a better way for this task to turn out than what Asim did. Writing down fictional, insane animals and then he still is somehow able to convey them to Tim and Liza.

Here's the thing . . . Russell makes animal noises for at least two animals and we don't see the full eleven. They're only allowed to mime. I'm hesitant to treat it as a full DQ condition because Alex is in there and confirming when they can move onto the next guess.

I think the way to handle it is DQ two of Alice's guesses, which puts them at nine correct guesses and the team of three at eight correct. This is all academic, though. No score change.

Team Funk: 3 Asim, Liza & Tim: 2

VT 04: Wearing this sweatband around your head at all times, tuck as many items from the kitchen inside the sweatband as possible. Then make a pancake with a diameter of at least nine inches. Then eat the whole pancake. Most kitchen items successfully kept within the sweatband wins.

Weirdly you managed to leave a whisk, two spoons, and a spatula in there, which are the things you need to make a pancake.

No DQ conditions, but two things needed to complete the task: making and eating a nine-inch pancake. I suppose you could also argue what the minimum qualifications are for "being a pancake," but they all get close enough, so let's not get into it.

Alex does tell them there's a time limit on tucking things into their sweatbands, which is not on the task but is enforceable if he says it then and there (rather than afterwards like when we Joe Lycett taught us the show was a scam).

Alice loses her mind for a brief moment and intentionally shakes all her items out. Her sweatband also drops to her neck, which might not be the head, but close enough.

There's even a more pedantic debate as to whether a container of sprinkles (hundreds and thousands) qualifies as one thing or if you need to count every sprinkle. However, there's a more fundamental issue in that people didn't finish their pancake.

The thing said "eat the whole pancake" and the win condition was about items in the sweatband, not how much of the pancake was eaten. Russell's plate is clean by the end of it, so that would mean he's the only one getting points.

Alice: 0 (-2) Asim: 0 (-3) Liza: 0 (-5) Russell: 5 (0) Tim: 0 (-5)

Live Task: Get an egg as close to the center of the target as possible. You must stand on the spot when taking your turn. You must ROLL two of your eggs. The person whose egg is furthest from the center of the target after each round is eliminated.

He's not necessarily eliminated. Oh fuck off, Alex.

Russell reaaally shouldn't have started with the egg he cockishly broke. You get more points the longer you last and you're not gonna last long with that one. The strategy here is to save rolling the Ostrich egg until the end.

As with all elimination tasks, I can't really regrade because I don't know how people would have done in later rounds. Studio scores it is!

Alice: 3 Asim: 5 Liza: 2 Russell: 1 Tim: 4

F I N A L

Alice: 12 (-2) Asim: 11 (-4) Liza: 12 (-5) Tim: 15 (-5) Russell: 22 (+1)

Main score changes here due to my reading in a condition in the pancake task. Broke his egg, but he wins again.

[redwineconversation]

Olympique Lyonnais - ASSE OLPlay Postgame Interviews

Slowly but surely making my way through the backlog.

Blah blah standard disclaimers apply; if you do invasive shit your ass should be banned from stadiums (maybe THEN you will finally learn!!!); @OL Comms Dept it's fall aka PSL weather; y'all know the speech.

I am not too proud to admit that I had major concerns when Lyon first recruited Vanessa Gilles. How times have changed. Also hard to believe this is the same person Horan said was a massive introvert beginning of last season.

Gilles' interview ft Horan was one of the most chaotic things I have ever seen, and the "condensed" version Lyon posted on Instagram doesn't do the live version justice. Pure and utter chaos, and completely endearing.

Lyon and myself to Vanessa Gilles:

SONIA BOMPASTOR POSTGAME INTERVIEW

Bompastor: Obviously satisfied with the result, three points, and we're top of the table. It's a good thing. So, satisfied overall. Within the context of the game, I think we saw some really good things. I liked what my team presented this evening. So, a lot of satisfaction and we're on a really good streak.

Journalist: We still get the feeling we saw a game of two halves. Lyon was in complete control the first half, the second half was a bit more complicated.

Bompastor: Yeah, we struggled to get going again in the second half. Several different factors can explain that. There were a few substitutions at half time, so that took a while to get going. But also I think the game was very physical, there were a lot of fouls, a lot of stoppage of play. We saw that with the amount of extra time at the end. And so it's not easy in those conditions to keep your rhythm and impose your style of play. I was a little bit frustrated in that regard. But sometimes you just have to deal with it.

Journalist: We also would like a quick word on Lindsey [Horan], who scored a hat trick. For us in the studio, she was voted Player of the Match. Do you agree?

Bompastor: Yes, yes. Lindsey [Horan] had a really great performance. We saw it in the second half, but she had a great game overall. At halftime we showed her one or two clips where she could have pushed forward more and be more decisive. She was able to do that in the second half. She pushed forward a lot, both in the penalty area and also she scored a hat trick, so for her confidence, it's good, for the team as well. When you have Lindsey playing at that level, it's always really positive.

Journalist: For the team, there was a substitute which concerned us a little bit, it was Wendie Renard. Do you have any news?

Bompastor: Listen, it's too soon. In any case, as you saw, we took her off. I think we'll see how she feels tomorrow. We might do some additional exams and tests, and cross our fingers.

Journalist: One last question about the calendar. There are two away games, against Reims and maybe the big clash of the beginning of the season in Paris, but against Paris FC.

Bompastor: Yes, there will obviously the away game next week at Reims, in the Stade Auguste Delaune [Note: the big stadium]. There'll be the international break, and then right after the end of the international break we have Paris FC. Now, I've said it since the beginning of the season, we have a lot of ambition, a talented roster. So we stay concentrated on what we can and should do. The opponents, we give them all the same respect. Obviously when we're preparing for a game we focus on certain elements, but if we play at our level, with the talent and quality we have, we should be able this season to do some really good things. So yeah. Respect the opponents obviously, but have confidence in ourselves and put our game in place so that we can perform at our best.

VANESSA GILLES (FT LINDSEY HORAN) POSTGAME INTERVIEW

Gilles: First of all, thank you. I think it's a derby. A derby is never easy. As the saying goes here in France, you don't play a derby, you win it. I think we saw that with all the physical tackles throughout the game. So hopefully we get to go home with zero injured players. But especially six goals scored, it's - that's not done every day.

[Gilles looks resigned as Horan comes into the shot]

Horan: What was the question?

[Gilles completely loses it]

Journalist: So we have the Player of the Game and Vanessa Gilles. [Gilles is still losing it]. Vanessa, I have a quick question about your goal celebration. Can you tell us about that celebration?

Horan: No, we can't. [Gilles loses it again] We can't talk about that celebration. We can't.

Gilles: [imitating Horan's accent] We can't. [Horan loses it] We can't.

Journalist: Okay, then I'd like you to say something about your teammate, Lindsey Horan, whom we voted Player of the Game.

Gilles: Her? Player of the Game?

Journalist: Well she did score a hat trick. It was her first one for Lyon, that's pretty impressive for her part.

Gilles: If you say so. [Gilles and Horan both lose it]

Horan: Use your words.

Gilles: No, I'm really happy for her. A hat trick, it's [to Horan] Can you stop? I'm trying to be nice.

Horan: Okay, okay.

Gilles: It's true that we don't score hat tricks every day. I'm really happy for her and I hope it's the first of many for her at Lyon. Beyond that, she deserves it, she puts in so much work, sometimes we don't see it, like - how do you say it - defensively, etc. She puts in so much work, she's on every ball, she always puts her teammates in the right situation. So I'm happy that she scored that hat trick because she deserves it.

Journalist: We'll continue with Lindsey right after this, but one last question, Vanessa. We have a statistic, it's that you scored five goals in D1 Arkema, five headers. It's obviously your strong point.

Gilles: Yeah.

Horan: [patting Gilles on the head] The golden head.

Gilles: I don't score often with my feet, so - [Horan completely loses it] It's not a statistic that surprises me.

[Horan and Gilles lose it]

Horan: [still laughing] Incredible stat.

Journalist: Thank you very much, Vanessa. [Gilles completely loses it again]

Journalist: [in English] Lindsey, congratulations for the game. [Gilles is still loses it in the background]

Gilles: [to Horan] Do you need a translator or can I go?

Journalist: [to Gilles] [sounding resigned] You can stay to translate if you want.

Journalist: [in English] The first question - I'm going to do it in French - [in French] the first question, as we said, you were voted Player of the Game. How do you feel after your hat trick? It was your first hat trick with Lyon.

Horan: [in English] How do I feel about it? Sorry, that [your French] was quick. No, I'm very happy, I'm happy we won the game obviously. It's a cool moment for me, it's my first hat trick with the club, with Lyon. I know Sean has it, my ball, somewhere here. But obviously my team put me in good situations to score for tonight.

Journalist: It was a derby, it was highly anticipated here in Lyon against ASSE. For you whom are coming from overseas, is it something you have to learn to take seriously?

Gilles: Well -

Horan: [in English] Well we can see it.

Gilles: The fact we're not allowed to wear green here, that tells us how important the game is.

Horan: [in English] What she said. I felt like what you said was good.

Journalist: More broadly, regarding the team's beginning of the season, we only have wins, no goals conceded. It's a perfect start of the season.

Horan: Yes, we have a really good goalkeeper [Note: she uses the French word for goalkeeper but literally pronounces it as "gardian"].

[Gilles loses it]

Gilles: [in English] Pick a language.

Horan: Franglais is better.

Horan: [in English] One, I think it's a credit to - not just Vanessa - but all of the team defensively and what they do in the backline. As for how our team is progressing forward, we don't want to concede any goals, we want to go and win every single game and continue to play good football.

Journalist: One last question. [Gilles and Horan lose it] There are two more games coming up -

Gilles: I don't know why we're laughing.

Journalist: [nervous laughter] Indeed, it's a little complicated. One last question and we're done. [in English] Lindsey, one more question. Two big games to come. Two away games - [Gilles is still losing it] - against Reims and against Paris FC. [Horan starts laughing as well] It's maybe the biggest one, Paris FC, for the beginning of the season.

Horan: [in English] Yeah. Well I think we focus first on the game against Reims next week. I think that's most important. Have our bodies recover for that game because we took a lot -

Gilles: [to Horan in English] We took a lot of hits out there?

Horan: [to Gilles in English] Well it's true! Was that your answer over there? This is a different interview, isn't it?

Gilles: [in English] Well it's still my answer!

Horan: [in English] Goodness me. Anyway. Focus on that game and then we can move forward.

Journalist: [in English] [sounding depressed] Thank you.

[bb-donghae]

Hello babe! 🥰

I wanted to ask you a favor 🥺 I haven't had the opportunity to listen to snsd's discography and I haven't had the opportunity to watch their shows like I did with suju and I don't know where to start. I don't consider myself sone because I don't know their discography and their stories (yet) but I really have a huge affection for them, I've grown up listening to their most famous songs and when they had their Forever 1 comeback I fell in love with them even more.

When I'll have time and opportunity I would like to update myself. Could you help me by recommending where I can listen to their complete discography as a group and as soloists? And what programs should I watch to learn more about them and where to look for them? I know maybe it's too much to ask, but your love for SNSD and SuJu reminds me that I want to get to know them more. You can take as long as you want to answer this message, without pressure. Thank you very much in advance 🤧💓

This took me too damn long. I want to say that I was super busy but I can honestly remember the many times when I was free and could have answer this ask. I believe it's been 6 months already smh.

TV SHOWS

Truthfully, I have commitment issues and have a hard time finishing any shows I watch. At the time, I only watch clips available on Youtube which were usually snippets from variety shows. Luckily, I was not only able to find clips but also full YouTube playlists of the shows SNSD starred on.

Below are some the links to the clips/episodes/playlist that got me into SNSD. Apologies if this list is super messy.

Short Clips:-

Hyoyeon scaring Jessica

Makeup ranking - (pretty controversial especially in this current time. i’m only putting this because this was one of the first clips i watched of them. i found this funny at the time but i can perfectly understand if anyone doesn't find this tasteful)

Tiffany and her love for pink

Yuri and her cute sleeping habits

Compilation of some random clips from their old shows - (it's a recent upload but it brings me nostalgia. also, it helped me remember all the clips I used to watch in the past)

Full episodes:-

Horror Movie Factory EP01 - (I love a good horror variety show. also, Taeyeon was so cute throughout this episode. this version appears to be clearest. the account doesn't have a playlist of the series but it does have most of the episodes)

SNSD Hi 5 Ballerina: Episode 1 | Episode 2

Playlists:-

Horror Movie Factory - (slightly lower quality and a different account)

Hello Baby - (Kyungsan is so grown up already T_T)

Invincible Youth Season 1 - (only includes Sunny and Yuri but other beautiful 2nd gen idols are also part of the cast)

Girls Go To School - (predebut show and probably one of the most important ones. also, how come I just found out that this show was narrated by Sungmin lmao)

Other than these shows listed, I used to watch a lot of Running Man and SNSD was featured in some episodes.

As you can tell that most of these episodes are subbed by Soshi Subs.

GROUP SONGS

I feel like I'm someone who doesn't have the best music taste and that I'm probably just gonna list out whatever I listen to. I assume you probably know their more popular songs, so I'm just gonna list out the underrated(?) ones. Some I've linked and some I've not.

Into The New World: Music Video | Ballad Version (LIVE) - (not an 'underrated' song but it's a must to listen to it. not just because its their debut song but because of the cultural impact it brought. this song is so powerful, people sing this song at protests. i really suggest you listen to their live performance, especially the ballad version. the one i linked is not an OT9 performance but it always moves me to tears.)

Divine - (i love this song. i believe it's one of their last song as OT9. unless you count the leaked version of Catch Me If You Can.)

Born To Be A Lady - (literally the same song as Demi Lovato's Mistake but their harmony was heavenly)

Galaxy Supernova: MV | LIVE - (it's a unique song but i really love it more when they perform this song live)

Flower Power - (a 'weird' song i know but i like the chorus)

Hoot: MV | Album Poster - (while this is their more popular song, I don't see people talking about this one as much anymore. i don't know why because the concept is so unique and i have yet to see another group take on a similar concept. oh also, there's a familiar face in the music video)

Little Touch - (it's a crime that this subunit has very little songs. they still prove they can slay even without all the members. especially Sunny)

The Boys: LIVE - (one my least favourite songs but an instant fave when it's sung live. there's probably a better live performance than the one i linked)

Holler - (one of their popular songs i know. i just wanted to mention it)

There are probably some other songs that I've missed but I don't want to make this list super long since I want to talk about their solo songs as well.

SOLO MUSIC

Now that I’m thinking about it, I actually think I know listen to their solo music than group music.

By the way, I have yet to listen to all of their music.

Taeyeon:-

Fine

UR

Stress

Gemini - (love love this song)

Make Me Love You

Cover Up

Fire

Siren

Here I am

Love You Like Crazy

Spark - (i love the concept of her Purpose Album)

Something New

Starlight ft Dean

Can't Control Myself

Weekend - (lowkey a Say So copy especially with the concept but I still enjoyed it)

INVU - (SM really upped the budget for the MV, i couldnt complain anymore about the low quality of the Weekend MV)

Rain - (sometimes i forgot about this masterpiece)

Hate That - (a feature she did for Key's song)

Four Seasons

When We Were Young - (a cover of Adele's song)

All With You

There's probably some more that I forgot to list. Like Taeyeon has some really nice songs from drama OSTs. I really love Taeyeon's breakup songs so so much. But every single time she comes out with one, some people will annoyingly relate it to her past relationship(s).

Tiffany:-

Heartbreak Hotel - (my absolute favourite)

I Just Wanna Dance - (listing this here because it's the most memorable for me. not just because of tiffany's fairy ending but because i got scolded by my mom for listening to this song on blast)

Lips on Lips

Born Again - (another favourite. her lower register in this one is really gooodd)

Seohyun:-

Don't Say No - (she was an absolute woman in the music video. i love the cute little hip-shake incorporated in the dance)

Hyoyeon/Hyo:-

Deep - (if you like spiderman, you'll love the concept lmao)

Second

I don't listen to most of her music but she's the member that I'm most proud of at the moment. I feel like she's gotten to a point where she knows what kind of music she wants to establish and what kind of performer she wants to be.

Jessica:-

Fly

Wonderland

She's no longer coming out with music but whatever. I loved these songs because it's bubblegum pop and Jessica’s voice suits these types of songs. Off topic, but Jessica creating a fashion brand is so herrrrr.

Yoona:-

A Little Happiness - (a cover)

Yuri:-

Into You

I guess that's it? I'm honestly too tired to list out more LMAO.

Again. I'm sorry for taking too long with this one <3

[whatyourusherthinks]

Columbo Season 2 Review

We're back! If you don't know how this reviewing shows thing is gonna work check out my previous Columbo Season 1 Review. Unfortunately, the second season of Columbo has slightly stepped down in quality. Now it's not bad by any regard, you understand, but it's just not as good as the first season. And y'know something, it's mostly because of the openings. Now, I don't know if this is something Amazon or Freevee did, or if the original episodes are like this, but every episode of this season has a stinger at the beginning with very brief clips of the episode. I don't like that. It's not really that big of a deal and nothing really get's spoiled, but I'd so much rather the episode just got started. Speaking of getting started...

Episode 1 'The Greenhouse Jungle'

I like that Columbo has another detective with him on this case, and I like that the murderer is a massive snob, but overall it's just an okay episode. The killer's plan and the way he gets caught is pretty decent as well. This is the episode that made me realize Columbo the show is basically the anti-procedural. (Or probably more accurate for the time, anti-DRAGNET show.) I mean the cops aren't incompetent all the time, but they do generally fall for the killer's tricks and believe what they want the police to believe. Columbo himself never carries a gun, or tortures anyone for information, or even chases down suspects physically. All the killers are rich and affluent white people while Columbo himself is just a blue collar guy who doesn't even make enough money to get a new car. Also there's some pretty good physical comedy in this episode too.

Episode 2 'Etude in Black'

In this episode, we meet Columbo's dog. Besides that, the only two things I took away from the episode was that the episode was pretty somber, which was cool, and that none of these crimes would work if CCTVs were a thing. Anyway, this one's okay.

Episode 3 'The Most Crucial Game'

I really like the denouement in this episode. In fact, any episode where it ends right when the truth is revealed I think are some of the best episodes. Like right when the killer realizes they're caught the credits start. It is a really dramatic way to end the episode. I also like that when Columbo does interrogate a suspect, it's more like what real interrogators do. He doesn't really threaten, but he reveals the situation to the person frankly and makes them realize that their best option is to help him out.

Episode 4 'Dagger of the Mind'

Remember when that think about the best episodes end right when the final clue Columbo finds is revealed? Yeah, they should have done that in this episode. Otherwise this episode is pretty fun. There are two murderers, and it takes place in London. Columbo is such a tourist in this episode as well, he's adorable.

Episode 5 'Requiem for a Falling Star'

This episode is kinda boring. The murderer is trying to frame a tabloid journalist, so it's a bunch of fake celebrity hearsay for most of the run time. I missed why the killer killed the victim, but I'm also like 65% sure they never explained it. Either way, not so good. Also, Columbo watches TV for like a minute and a half for some reason. The ending was fun but also I feel like the twist came out of nowhere.

Episode 6 'A Stitch in Crime'

Leonard Nimoy is in this episode, and he's total a stalker. This episode is pretty good, I really like the Leonard's plan and the reveal. There is a trip-out sequence that was completely unnecessary but they also repeated a shot from the second episode of the first season that I thought was funny. Plus I got to make a bunch of 'Illogical' jokes to myself.

Episode 7 'Most Dangerous Match'

This episode has two dream sequences, but honestly, I kinda liked them. This episode had the vibe of a Poe story, for a second I thought this was an adaptation of a "Tell-Tale Heart". The victim was incredibly jovial old man, I felt really bad when he died. Plus the killer is a massive ass, I wish he didn't succeed on the second attempt. I can't remember how Columbo caught the killer, which I really bad because I saw the episode mere hours from time of writing.

EDIT: Well this explains why I can't remember, I didn't finish the episode. I really like that Columbo unbalances the killer so much that he plays the worse game of chess ever.

Episode 8 'Double Shock'

This is the best episode of the season. I won't spoil what it is, but there is a great twist about the killer that even the episode doesn't tell you right away. I also like that the housekeeper in the episode absolutely hates Columbo for barely any reason, that was funny. This series isn't so shabby with the comedy.

Summation

Yeah, I don't know how popular of an opinion this is, but I really didn't like Season 2 all that much. There are certainly some highlights, but my eyes were glazing over in certain scenes of certain episodes. Let's put them on our ranking, and I'll put the episodes from this season in murderous red.

Suitable for Framing

Murder By the Book

Double Shock

A Stitch in Crime

Dagger of the Mind

The Most Crucial Game

Short Fuse

Blueprint for Murder

Prescription: Murder

Most Dangerous Match

The Greenhouse Jungle

Ransom for a Dead Man

Dead Weight

Etude in Black

Death Lends a Hand

Lady in Waiting

Requiem for a Falling Star

This is gonna get really long as the seasons pile up, huh? Oh well...

Oh, I thought you'd like an update on my case. Y'know, the one where I figure out

Is Columbo Actually Married?

Unfortunately, most of Columbo's anecdotes this season are kinda meaningless to this case. Honestly the biggest thing we learn from Columbo telling stories is that she hates the ice cream man because he always comes before lunch and dinner, and spoils Columbo's appetite. Columbo also uses "her" suitcase when he visits London in 'Dagger of the Mind'. I put her in quotations because in 'Requiem for a Falling Star' he calls his house twice so that an actress Columbo is talking to can say hello to his wife, but both times she's out and his "brother-in-law" picks up the phone. At first I thought that it was another police officer who's in on a trick to unbalance the murderer, but not only does Columbo enlist the help of a female college in 'Suitable For Framing', so why wouldn't he do that again, but in 'A Stitch in Crime' he is tired and sick because he had to stay up late taking care of his sick wife. So here's my working theory thus far: Columbo is not married, but he has a live in partner. Because he is gay. This explains the lack of a wedding ring, since gay marriage was illegal at the time, even in California. This means his anecdotes are probably true, he's just lying about the gender of who they are about. Now, I still want a bit more conclusive evidence for this, but I'm keeping it in mind moving forward to Season 3.

[northwest-cryptid]

You know, I don't think anyone understands how much I love this post for all the wrong reasons.

This is a gif from a game that, as shit as it may have actually been; had some fantastic aesthetics. The music is on point, the environment design is really cool; there's a ton to enjoy about this game outside of the gameplay but admittedly for the time, it wasn't so bad.

The game offered a lot of standard FPS or in this case TPS mechanics that we just didn't have back during the N64 era, or at least not in this sort of a genre. So it was really cool to see.

Anyways this post says fuck all of that, and shows you a short clip of someone walking directly into an alien firing squad and just standing there; just absolutely eating shit and dying. No shooting back until the last second of the gif, no dodging or rolling out of the way, no agency at all.

This gif is an eyesore, and I do mean that it's straining on the eyes with the flashing red screen. This gives off "I just walked into my 12 hour shift at retail customer service and there's a line of Karens waiting for me" vibes. This dude just walks in here and eats shit.

Not to mention that the location doesn't really show off anything of the game's unique aesthetics, the enemies are even fairly bland compared to others we see throughout the game.

And yet it's given the same respect as any other post, with the name and the devs and the system/year all being laid out nicely; it's still a showcase of the game.

But like... why? This feels considerably lower effort than any other post we can see on this blog, it's not like OP is actually bad at showcasing games or anything. This post in particular is just an absolute disaster among fairly polished gems of posts.

So it made me wonder if maybe this was the only gif they had, perhaps this game is just so niche that this was the best they could find.

But no! That's not the case! A quick google search shows me multiple gifs all of which are much better at actually showcasing the game, aesthetics; and features that made so many people love it in their youth.

For example:

Here we see a player showcasing movement, aiming, general environments, you know; general gameplay stuff.

There's also a gif of the character select screen:

This does a fine job of showing the general aesthetic of the game's sci fi themes without the eye strain of the flashing red screen.

There's also one that shows off one of the most iconic aspects of the game, which was that you could accidentally (or purposefully) kill the innocent people you were trying to protect and you could collect the heads of anything you killed so long as you didn't blow up it's head in the process of killing it:

This even shows off some more of the environment giving us an entirely different aesthetic with the rain and such; no annoying screen flashing and general character design.

There are tons more, ranging from gifs of the spaceships and more sci fi related things, to gifs of the combat and bosses; to even gifs of some of the easter eggs and comedic moments.

I figured maybe they didn't want to bother getting a gif from google or something, because maybe they didn't want to take someone else's gif. That would make sense except that we've seen this blog casually credit other people for gifs in the past.

Not to mention there are gifs of the opening cinematic, and it wouldn't be hard to simply make a gif from someone's youtube video showing a cutscene.

So this post remains a mystery to me, I stay baffled by the absolute display of apathy. This gif presents us with a lad who walks directly into the most bland scenery, gets gunned down by a firing squad; and just doesn't even care. It showcases possibly the worst gameplay of this game I've ever seen.

10/10 this is quality content, change nothing. I need no explanation. It's perfect.

Jet Force Gemini Rare Nintendo 64 1999

[iridescentoracle]

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939, dir. Alfred L. Werker, starring Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce)