#of course there are tons of other details i thought were fun

[ckret2]

So a while ago some friends were talking about fans who claim the Same Coin theory is canon. And I made the mistake of saying:

Do you know who also has tons in common with Bill? Mabel. Yet nobody claims Bill reincarnated as Mabel. …wait now I want a "same coin but it's Mabel" AU. Funniest Bill reincarnation option. The all-seeing arsonist is making macaroni glitter art. The omnipotent tyrant is crying because a unicorn called her a bad person.

And then I overthought it for two months.

So—AU where after death, Bill's soul shoots 13 years into the past and reincarnates as Mabel. I'll call it ✨ Sparkly Coin AU ✨

Don't leave yet. Lemme show you why it works. Behold the eerie amount of parallels in their personalities, dialogue, behavior, mannerisms, tastes...

I could have kept going but my attention span ran out. All right, we all on board now? Convinced we could segue from one personality into the other? Great. Now here's why you should be interested: the juicy post-Weirdmageddon angst potential.

As long as a small fringe of the fandom still thinks Weirdmageddon is Mabel's fault, why not amp that up x100 and have some fun with it?

Is everyone sold now? Great. Let's get into the details. I've got 8 more pieces of art under the read more.

So the AU starts the instant Bill dies. Thanks to invoking his deal with the Axolotl—one way to absolve his crime, a different form, a different time—the Axolotl gives him a new shape and shoots him thirteen years into the past. Apparently, the Axolotl thought it would be very funny to stick Bill in the family that defeated him.

Which probably made for a jarring transition.

(It's fine, she's like 10 minutes old, she probably can't even tell who she's looking at. Not being able to tell who she was looking at is what got her into this situation ayyyy)

When Dipper & Mabel come back from Gravity Falls complaining about this triangular jerk Bill, their parents mention that Dipper's name was nearly Bill. See, after they knew they were going to have a boy, one night their mom dreamed about a visitor—some kind of magic pink salamander??—calling her child "BILL." Then at the next sonogram they found out they were having twins, the girl must've been hidden at a weird angle the first time, and they wanted matching names, so they thought, Bill and Bell. But they didn't really like Bell; but eventually they stumbled on Mabel, so to keep the names matching they switched from Bill to Mason. Isn't that the darnedest thing?

(Of course, Mabel and Dipper assume Bill harassed their parents to try to trick them into naming a kid after him. To be a jerk.)

When Bill meets Mabel, he's unaware that she's his future self—Bill's notably bad at doing things like, say, double-checking to see whether he's going to die anytime soon—but like... he can tell something's up.

Naturally, before visiting Gravity Falls, there were echoes of who Mabel used to be—but nothing anyone would be able to identify without context. All her Bill-ish quirks either smoothed out with time (see: how between second grade and fourth grade Mabel went from being the "freak" to the popular girl in class), or else they were accepted by her family as Mabel-ish quirks.

After they meet (and kill) Bill, they have the context to understand some of Mabel's behaviors... and unfortunately, some of Mabel's latent Bill-ness starts surfacing after she's been directly exposed to her prior incarnation.

The part of the Pines family familiar with Bill thinks the worst case scenario is that maybe Bill's survived and is slowly possessing Mabel; but far more likely, they think this is just some weird way of trying to subconsciously process last summer. Mabel doesn't think she's being weird, you guys are being weird, stop giving her weird looks. They get attacked by one triangle and now she can't wear yellow or pick up macrame as a hobby??

(It's not all red flags and uncomfortable triangle imagery, though. When Stan asks her what she'd like as a gift for some important event, she shyly admits that she thinks she's starting to outgrow her plastic gem jewelry and maybe she's old enough to get her first piece of real gold jewelry, if that's not too expensive? And Stan's never been so proud of her. Thirteen years old and already thinking about buying gold!)

But of course, the real fun starts when Mabel finds out.

That's the face of a girl who's just discovered that she tortured her great uncle. Now imagine running into the brother she possessed.

But I've already spent a million words and thirteen images on this post. If enough folks are interested in the AU maybe I'll expand on it later. Let me know what y'all think.

[kapsloc7]

FINALLY POSTING THIS!!1! This was a huge project for me (literally, it is 3 feet tall!) based on Will Wood's 'The Normal Album' and my personal relationship with it. I threw a ton of references and symbolism in here, it was a ton of fun to create :)

Rambling about details under the cut.

Also: If you enjoy this, I have prints (and other things?) available here!

ALRIGHT BUCKLE UP BECAUSE I HAVE LOTS TO SAY

This painting is acrylic on a 24"x36" canvas, created as part of my portfolio focusing on human experiences and mental health. I wanted to make a painting about music because it's a very important thing to me, and was ultimately inspired by the song Memento Mori, The Most Important Thing. In the end I decided to base it off The Normal Album in its entirety.

The most obvious reference is the outfit, of course. I took all my own reference photos so it isn't an exact match, but is of course in spirit Will's outfit from the album cover. The only symbolism in this is the expression of masculinity in the suit, and a slight bit of femininity in the painted nails. Nothing too deep about it, I just wanted to throw in some gender fuckery because of my trans-ness.

The keyboard itself isn't a reference (I mean it's just my keyboard) nor are the books behind it (Just there for composition) but I put some stickers on the keyboard to throw in some extra references and symbolism. First, the "Give Me That Old Time Religion," both a Self-Ish reference and inspired by the sticker on Will's keyboard. Second, the pride flag being covered by an upside down American flag. This was something more personal I threw in for fun, about my distaste for the US and the oppression of queer people here. Also, I threw in the window from the album cover (but empty)

In the background, there are silly references to specific songs, (white picket fences, barbed wire and trenches, and the 222 for 2econd 2ight 2eer) and some more personal references as well (pill bottle ties into themes of the album as well as my own mental heath issues.) The potted plant has a bunch of symbolism thrown at it, and was inspired by lines in well better the alternative and Outliars and Hyppocrates, kinda a bit about feeling restricted by pressures from yourself or others causing you to uhhh. not be okay. and the pot design is based on the keys of Will Wood's keyboard as well as kinda an Everything Is a Lot reference.

Hand stuff: Bracelets are bracelets I made, mostly just for fun to provide more visual interest. Both kandi bracelets are inspired by Will Wood of course, the visible letters reading 'Memento Mori'. The grey bracelet doesn't have the letters visible, but it reads 'not afraid to die' The rings I wore were also personal fun. The white ring on the middle finger is a bit of queer code representing Aromanticism, and an engagement ring on my ring finger. Just representing the struggles I've had with sexuality and relationships and such.

Finally the chains, wallet chain was thrown in to represent financial pressure, and the one over the piano is the actually important one, representing how shitty it feels to turn creativity into a career, and feeling forced to create. There's more thrown in here probably but I'm tired and basically wrote an essay already so UH. GOODNIGHT IF YOU READ THIS FAR I LOVE YOU WAAAAA!!!! PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS I LOVE TALKING TO PEOPLE

[xan-izme]

Dubble Life 9 (ATSV x reader x Batfam)

summary: Are you going to let your pride get in the way of what matters most?

Part 8, Part 10

Damian was watching you and Miles from afar. It was clear you two were close. He was, a little jealous. But he was quick to brush it off. He knows there is a bond between you and Miles stronger than the one he has with you. So, he won't fuss about it.

"Damian right? you waiting for Y/n?" Rio suddenly came up behind Damian and handed him a cup of juice.

Damian takes the cup and thanks her. "Yes. . . Mrs. Moralas. Do you know any, Miguels involved with my sister?" Damian looked up at Rio, with an innocent curious face.

"Miguel . . . Miguel? No. No, I don't think so? Why?" Rio hoped it wasn't some boy she was involved with.

"Just, wondering."

Bruce was staring at the graffiti art of your mother. He felt, sadness, guilt. Sad because he was too late to be there for you and your mother. Failed to support your mother when she probably needed it the most. Guilty, because he could probably never love your mother as strongly as you do.

He glanced over to where you and your cousin were standing. That was when he sees you actually letting your guard down completely. You looked so, tired. Like the heavy burden he sees you with, doubled by a ton. Yet, you seemed peaceful. Maybe because, your cousin seems to share the same look as you did.

He knew those looks. For a second. a suspicion creeped into his mind. But he was quick to shake it off.

'Impossible'

he would think to himself as he lets out a low chuckle. What a silly thought.

The party ended and you and the Waynes stayed behind to help clean and what not. Bruce got to see a lot of your baby pictures thanks to Rio and Jeff.

It was pretty fun, spending time with both families. Even Jason was being tolerable. While everyone was interacting with each other in the living room, Damian slipped away. decided to explore down the halls of the apartment. Pictures of you and Miles on the walls. Family trips, graduation. Every achievement framed and hanged on the walls.

Damian eventually found Miles room. The door was left slightly ajar. He would usually just go in and snoop around. But something was holding him back.

"Hey."

Suddenly Jason was behind him. Catching him off guard while he was deep in thought.

"Todd. What are you doing?" Damian spoke firmly as he glared up at the older. Jason just shrugged and chuckled "Doing the same as you. Taking a look around of course." Jason pushed past the younger boy and entered the bedroom.

Scanning the room, seemingly trying to search for something.

Damian frowns deeply and stomped into the room. "We shouldn't be in here."

Jason scoffs as he picked up a photo of you and Miles together. Dressed in your Sunday best. Smiling without a care in the world.

"Scared your big sis will get mad at you?" Jason mumbled as he set the photo face down back on the table. His eyes scan the desk. Drawings. He walked up to the desk and picked up the papers. shuffling them. looks like drawings of suits. Super suits to be specific.

Spider womans suits to be more specific.

It didn't look like some fanart or just little doodles. These were details. Upgrades with little gadgets.

"He's in on it." Jason mumbled to himself. Realizing your cousin Miles knows your secret. This gives Jason a lot of more information on you now. Proving some theories he had of you. And changing some others.

Damian just stood behind Jason. He didn't understand what Jason said. Nor did he care.

"Stop it Todd. This is an invasion of our hosts privacy." Damian demanded. Jason couldn't help but scoff humorously once again

"Cheap coming from you."

Suddenly two shadows from the open door were noticed by Damian. Before Damian can turn around. A deep voice spoke.

"You should listen to the kid."

When Jason and Damian turn to the door. They were greeted by you and Miles leaning on each side of the doorframe. Glaring at the both of them with cold stoic looks. Your glare was mainly aimed at Jason.

"Y/n I-" Damian was panicking a little. You walked into the room an put your hand on his shoulder. Giving him a small smile. Not the sweet one you usually give him. You were giving him the smile that looked empty.

"Go back and join the others cupcake." You ruffled his head and nudged him along out of the room. You signaled Miles to go along with Damian just in case he wonders off.

"Your cousin a fan of Spider woman? Does he know about-" Jason held up the paper drawings. You snatched the drawings out of his hand with a scowl, you roughly grabbed him by his collar and held him up the ground with your super strength.

"Whoa whoa!" Jason held up his hands in surrender, but he still had that damn smirk on his face. He was enjoying seeing that he pissed you off.

"We made a deal. I suggest you stick to that only." Your tone was an uneasy calmness as you spoke. You carelessly dropped Jason and stormed out of the room.

Jason huffed in annoyance, getting off the floor. You just gave him a warning.

It was time to leave and get back to Gotham. Bruce and the boys were heading back to the limo as you were saying your goodbyes. You and Miles gave each other a tight hug. You sighed as you pulled away. A sad look in your eyes.

"What?" Miles knows somethings wrong. You just, stared at him while holding him by his shoulders. The kind of look that seems far away.

"Nothing. . . love you, bye." You gave a small smile gently cupping one side of his face before letting go. Miles chuckled and smiled back.

"Bye!" He waved as you walked to the limo.

Back at Gotham. It was late in the night. You had gotten an alert from the watch. An anomaly showed up. In Gotham. You were quick. You took out the anomaly before it could do any serious damage.

But before you could get back to the Wayne mansion. You got another alert. You took care of it. Then another showed up.

It wasn't till the sun began to come up did you finally get back to the mansion. You haven't had a night like that in a while. As you laid in bed. Gwen came to mind. Her words.

Her warning of how Miles and Aaron not being able to be your replacement for long.

The anomalies were getting stronger. The more you just laid there and thought about it, the more fear began to creep into your mind. The possibility of losing Miles and Aaron. So many possibilities. Dear God, did it scare you.

You needed help. And you knew the Spider Society could help. But you were too prideful to go back to them. Selfish, you know.

You sighed and sat up from your bed. You grabbed your phone. Instantly greeted with your lockscreen of you and Miles. You stared at it for a moment. His smile. He was always the more joyful one between the two of you.

". . ."

You love Miles. You really do. But you just, can't physically bring yourself to reach out to the Society for help.

[superfallingstars]

Jily circa 1977, for @moonstainn's marauders era 70s outfit challenge! I had sooo much fun with this - I think this is the first time that James has made an appearance on this account, and I actually based his shirt and jacket on a photo of my dad in the 70s, which was super fun. Love a contrast stitching moment!

The other reason this was so fun is that I'm like one of those annoying historical fashion people but only for like, the 70s thru 90s, lol. I think late 70s fashion can sometimes get lost in the shuffle between the groovy early 70s and the neon 80s, so I really wanted to showcase it here, since that's the era in which James and Lily come of age. From what I've seen, late 70s fashion is less bell bottoms and fringe, and more cuffed jeans, knee-high boots, and furry jackets with big shoulders (perhaps a precursor to the shoulder pads of the 80s...?).

I can't resist rambling on about this, but I'll do everyone a favor and put it (as well as all of my references/inspo!) under the cut:

These are street style pics from 1977 London, taken by Derek Ridgers, and they're such a big influence on how I imagine Lily. You can see that the styles are starting to shift from the hippie fashion of the late 60s/early 70s – at this point there were a lot of these huge fuzzy jackets, cowl neck sweaters, layered zip-ups, and knee-high boots under midi skirts.

A few photos of some women whose fashion specifically inspired me for this drawing. The top row is all Kate Bush – there are a ton of photos of her from around this time and she looks quite similar to how I imagine Lily – and she rocks those tall boots (+ midi skirt combo). The bottom row is Isabelle Huppert (who I have considered as a time-accurate Lily fancast lol, although I'm uncertain of the exact dates of these photos). Her jacket in the first pic definitely inspired me for Lily, and I don't think I've ever seen someone look so cool in a scarf before...!

The other big trend I noticed (from looking through a million pictures of bands I like from this time) is the proliferation of cuffed jeans! What was up with these giant cuffs? Once I started looking for them, I noticed them everywhere. Tbh they're a nice way to add a fun little extra detail to a character's outfit. And I must mention that in the second photo (featuring the Buzzcocks), the guy on the right (John Maher) is pretty much EXACTLY how I imagine James to look. There's like no other pictures of him in those glasses tho! So unfortunate.

Anyway! I adore 70s fashion, and even though there are definitely similarities throughout the whole decade, late 70s fashion has its own unique trends that I hoped to bring some attention to here. Especially because it's basically the golden age for Marauders fans lol. Of course this is not comprehensive (far from it!), but I wanted to share my thoughts, and I hope it was at least a little informative or inspiring. Thanks if you made it this far through my rambles :-)

[mauesartetc]

A while back I got a comment that demonstrated a misconception as to what the character design process actually entails, and I thought it had real "teachable moment" potential. So let me make this perfectly clear:

Drawing a character is NOT the same as designing one.

Let's say I wanted to draw a guy. No backstory, no defined personality traits or preferences, no details about his current life, just doodling some random, generic guy who popped into my head.

That's just a drawing.

But what if I decided to flesh him out more? What if I wanted his appearance to reflect his lifestyle and inner life as well? Here's where the note-taking comes in.

And now for the visual research:

I thought the bodybuilding angle would provide a fun contrast with this guy's profession. The mental image of a huge, burly dude working on a clock or watch with tiny, precise movements just makes me smile. Perhaps I could give him small, nimble hands that would suit his line of work.

Now that I have a better idea of how Mikhail's face and body will look, it's time to establish a pose.

Of course, I never expected to employ all the personality traits I started out with inside this single pose; those were just a jumping-off point. No one drawing will ever be able to encapsulate every single facet of a character, unless they're extraordinarily flat and generic (see also: random guy I doodled at the start of this post). If I wanted to write a story with this guy, I'd have to figure out how all the traits play off each other and how they'd cause him to react to different situations. There would be a lot more note-taking and development involved, but for the sake of keeping this post (somewhat) brief, let's just focus on visuals for now.

On to color!

I decided to give Mikhail a carnation in his pocket (for its round shape), specifically a red one, which represents deep love and an aching heart. Thus, the flower needed to maintain its red color for the symbolism to come through.

For some reason I initially pictured this guy wearing a pink shirt (perhaps as an offshoot of the "romantic" angle), but I wanted to try some different colors inspired by the 70s catalog pages I found. I ended up really liking the contrast of the cool blue shirt with the warm red pants, and that option made it into my top three as a result. I lined them up next to each other to compare them, and in the end, blue won out over pink. I think it also reflects the "colder", more cerebral, less-emotional parts of his personality well (namely "systematic", "stern", and "callous"- one from each column!). Just goes to show that you shouldn't get too attached to your first draft, as better ideas are just around the corner.

I then lightened the blue of the shirt so it wouldn't compete so much with the rest of the outfit, and wouldn't be quite as loud and "in your face". Mikhail strikes me as a bit of an introvert, so the calmer, quieter blue is a better fit. I added a darker belt and watchband and de-saturated the flower just a bit to make the values feel more balanced, and I think we've got it!

Let's see the final result!

Y'all, I was not expecting this process to make me emotional, but there's something special about fully realizing a little guy you've spent hours working on. All of a sudden you look at him and go, "Oh my god, there he is. That's him." This man wasn't even a twinkle in my eye a couple weeks ago and now I'd protect him with my life.

And the thing is, the only reason I'm calling this design "done" for now is that I basically just brought it into existence to make a point. But if this dude were attached to a larger story, he'd be nowhere near finished. I'd have to make a ton more iterations and go a lot more in depth with my research than I did (especially with the Armenian cultural stuff). Overall, though, I hope this quick project properly highlighted the difference between a single drawing and a more fleshed-out character.

Later!

[gaypleasantview]

⋆˖⁺‧₊☆ shake the disease. // Autumn Drop Day 5 ☆₊‧⁺˖⋆

⋆ 2 mesh add-ons for Ladysimplayer8's 4t2 City Living Keyboard

⋆ floor version (60 poly) and wall version (68 poly), originally created by PixlMonster

⋆ 43 recolors in 512x512 textures

⋆ all files have been compressed and clearly labeled

Link, swatch, detailed credits and more info under the cut ♡

Hi people! Welcome to yet another thing I've made, and this one was a real pain in the ass sometimes but also an actually fun and rewarding experience! Just like my last upload, this one was inspired by @gothoffspring's very pretty pictures. I wanted to have whatever they're having, and it caused me to get into the intricacies of repositorying stuff, and damn was it hard, but it was all worth it in the end! The last few times I checked, this thing worked with absolutely no problems, but please do let me know if it starts pulling shit again.

Okay, let's get to the details now. I clearly got intrigued by the keyboard, and thanks to the absolutely priceless 4t2 conversion database, I found out that it has already been converted by Ladysimplayer8 on MTS, as was tons of other 4t2 stuff. It's a fully functional keyboard, too! To be honest, I first edited the mesh a bit to fit my preferred game style (separated the recolors + added a shadow), but the first time I thought to check the original creator's TOU was literally just now, and I realized too late they don't allow their meshes to be edited and posted, so I'll have to keep it to myself. However, all the other stuff I did was actually converted directly from TS4, so of course I'm sharing it!

The wall and floor add-ons are purely decorative, having been cloned from wall objects, but I find them to be super cute. You can find them in Hobbies.../Creative right next to the actual thing. They share the original's room rating and cost a little less, but still a reasonable amount of §700 because it is a keyboard, dammit.

As both of the add-ons are repositoried to the original, they will share whatever recolors the playable keyboard has. I decided to recolor them in options by gothoffspring and MsFrankenstein because they were all very pretty. I tried to clearly label every swatch but sometimes it's brain breaking (some of them turned out to look a little different in-game, too) so I sincerely hope the names all make sense!

Credits: base object by Ladysimplayer8 on MTS, mesh add-ons by @pixlmonster, recolors by @gothoffspring and @msfrankenstein910, this source for the graphics in the post

♡ Download ♡

As per creator's TOU, mesh (LSP8DigiRADKeyboardMesh) is not included, you will have to get it here. The add-ons won't work without it.

SFS | Mediafire

♡ Swatch ♡

⋆ 19 recolors by gothoffspring (original)

⋆ 24 recolors by MsFrankenstein910 (original)

[fauning]

Someone get this guy a donut‼️

Me as Vash and @radio-venom as Wolfwood ft our very demanding and cumbersome daughter the punisher. These cosplays were a bit of a challenge especially since I haven’t really cosplayed in years but I’m glad I went for it and ended up completing them in time for the con! Of course there’s tons of things I would have done differently now that I’ve finished but isn’t that the unending joy of cosplay lol. Overall we had loads of fun and everyone thought we looked cool so that’s what matters <3 the Vash outfit is inspired by the manga panels where he’s wearing only his under armor without his coat, although I did style the wig in accordance with ‘23 Vash’s design, so this look is a bit of a mashup. Also @radio-venom did an amazing job on the painting and detail work, I could never have gotten the metal texture that good myself! I haven’t worked on cosplays as a team before but it’s so much easier to work together and play to each other’s strengths <3

[ynscrazylife]

Eek! Yay!

So since I'm just a few episodes ahead I'm just going to keep it kind of vague. What do you think of a younger sister whose just a little younger than Sam? Dean practically raising her and so they're super close but when Sam leaves for college their dad decides that maybe the hunter life isn't the best for his daughter so he leaves her behind with a family friend. Imagine the angst and abandonment issues (def not me) like after Dean picks up Sam he tracks down his younger sister he hasn't seen in like a year and she just never gave up hunting so now she's actually pretty good at it? Can you imagine how awkward that reunion would be?? Maybe they're hunting down a monster together or something??

Sorry, this isn't exactly a scenario so much as my own personal idea for a backstory? I don't know but if you like it or you want something else let me know cause there's tons more that are similar or completely different from this one 😏

Great minds think alike cause I kinda had an idea in mind where Dean and Sam meet up with their sister through a hunt! This is a little different than what you put in the ask tho, so I hope that’s alright. I also feel like there is enough for a part 2 so I could end up adding to this! And this would be a fun OC concept to make 👀 if anyone wants that.

a reunion for the ages (dean & sam winchester x sister!reader)

The thing that makes this entire situation, what your life has become, so backwards and twisted is that at first, you didn’t actually want to hunt. You wanted to go to college, like Sam. You weren’t even that much younger than him and in his first year, he seemed to love it. But when your time rolled around, you didn’t get into Stanford.

Yes, there were other colleges that accepted you, but you really wanted to be with your big brother. The rejection hit you hard and as a result (and needing a distraction), you threw yourself into hunting. You became careless and reckless and instead of talking with you about it, your dad made a decision for you: that you weren’t cut out for hunting. He left you and took Dean with him.

When Dean realized what was going on, he of course tried to stop his dad. They got into a pretty bad fight over it. But he was a stubborn man and he refused to go back for you. Dean tried calling you, but thinking that he was in on it with Dad, you refused to pick up. You kept in touch with Sam for a little while, but the both of you got busy as time went on, and the weekly calls stopped.

A few years later, Dean and Sam have hit the road, intent on finding Dad. The backseat of the Impala, which was usually occupied by you, is empty.

“I thought if I gave you some time you might bring it up yourself, but dude, are we picking up Y/N or not?” Sam asks finally, no longer wanting to beat around the bush about it. He knows about Dad and Dean leaving you behind, but assumes that at some point you would’ve made up with them.

“She shouldn’t be involved in this,” Dean says resolutely, keeping his eye on the road ahead, firmly gripping the steering wheel.

“You had no problem involving me in this,” Sam points out, trying not to sound upset over it. There was a small part of him that wonders if he hadn’t gone with Dean, would he’ve been able to save Jess? Still, he knows that he went willingly, and that he could’ve said no.

“You know how to hunt and fight. The last time I saw Y/N hunt . . . Trust me, it didn’t go well,” Dean mutters, definitely not in the mood to have this conversation.

“Shouldn’t we at least let her know what’s going on with Dad?” Sam suggests, now more curious about what happened between you and Dean and Dad. You never gave many details about it.

“Have at it, if she’ll pick up,” Dean says, throwing one hand in the air. He’s trying to play it off as if he doesn’t care, but he does. He misses you.

Sam tries but, as Dean predicted, you don’t answer. Over the next couple days, they get wrapped up into a case where they suspect an angry ghost is the perpetrator, going after the people that they blame for their death. Thankfully they’re able to find the object that the ghost is attached to, a music box. What they don’t expect, however, is to be dealing with a ghost possessing someone. It’s a chef, to be exact, which leads them to their current situation: fighting the possessed chef in his kitchen.

“Sam, a little help here?!” Dean yells, fist-fighting the enraged chef, who looks a little ridiculous in his white chef’s hat.

“I don’t have any iron! Or salt!” Sam yells back, rummaging through his bag in search of something, anything, that might help.

Suddenly, someone runs into the room from behind the guy and jumps on his back. It’s a woman, with a bat in her hand. As the guy stumbles back, she hits him in the head repeatedly, until the guy throws her off his back and onto the table. The woman smacks him again with the bat, then gets salt from out of her pocket, and throws it at him. The ghost is expelled from his body and he drops to the floor.

Dean and Sam exchange looks, wondering who the hell she is.

The ghost isn’t done yet, though. It lifts the woman into the air and lets her drop onto the table, which cracks. She falls onto the floor and the ghost lunges for her, disappearing and now possessing her. Dean and Sam prepare themselves for another fight, only to both freeze when the woman stands up and turns around.

It’s their sister. Their little sister, who’s meant to be enjoying a hunt-free life. There’s a gash on her forehead which is leaking blood down her face and within seconds, she’s lunging at Sam.

He falls back, not sure what to do. If this were anyone else being possessed, he’d fight back, but he doesn’t want to hurt you.

“Y/N, Y/N, c’mon!” He yells, doing his best to dodge your hits.

Dean runs around and grabs you in a bear-hug, pinning your arms to your sides. He drags you back, even as you thrash. “Get some salt, Sam!” He says, struggling to manage you.

“I told you, I don’t have any!” Sam repeats, frustrated.

“It’s a KITCHEN!” Dean practically screams.

While Sam looks for salt, you twist out of Dean’s arms. The two of you go at it but eventually, Dean’s able to get you down on the ground. He feels bad about pressing his knee on your abdomen, holding your arms down, but he has to keep you there.

“I found a salt shaker,” Sam says, kneeling down by your head. “We gotta destroy the music box, though, before the ghost possesses one of us.”

“Alright, do it, but give me the salt,” Dean says, moving your arms above your head and holding your wrists with one hand. With his other, he takes the salt and has to pry your jaw open to pour the salt in your mouth.

You cough and splutter, but Dean forces your mouth to close until you’ve swallowed the salt. Finally, the ghost leaves your body. Dean throws the salt shaker to Sam, who salts the music box before chucking it into the oven.

“Alright, Y/N, we gotta go,” Dean says, throwing one of your arms over his shoulders and pulling you to your feet.

All you can do is lean against him and mumble your brother’s name, your head spinning.

Sam grabs the chef and the four of you stumble out the back exit. Sam lays the chef on the ground and calls the fire department, then you guys make your getaway in Dean’s car.

“I’m staying with her,” Sam decides, sitting in the backseat with you while Dean starts to drive.

“Sam . . . Dean? What’re you doing here?” You ask as Sam tends to your head with the first aid kit that they keep in the car. You can hardly believe that you’re really with your brothers again.

“Could ask you the same question, kid. Sammy and I were hunting that ghost,” Dean says, speeding up a little to get to the motel faster.

“So was I,” you say. Your head feels far too heavy to hold up on your own right now so you let it lean against Sam’s shoulder.

“What?” The brothers ask in unison. They weren’t sure what answer they were expecting but it wasn’t that.

“Been hunting ever since you and Dad left, Dean,” you tell them. Even though you are in pain, you don’t miss the beat of silence that follows.

“You were pretty good back there,” Sam compliments, ruffling your hair a bit. With your head wound bandaged up, he slings his arm around you for the rest of the drive.

Dean is quiet, his fingers thumping against the steering wheel, until the three of you arrive at the motel. Sam helps you out and lays you down on his bed. “I’ll be right back, gonna get you an ice pack,” he says, going to the mini ridge.

Dean sits across from you on his own bed, sighing. “How are you feeling?” He asks.

“Like I got thrown onto a table . . . Oh wait, I did,” you answer sarcastically, mustering up a smile.

Sam returns, giving you the ice pack and then sitting next to Dean. He glances between his siblings, sensing some tension. “Do you two need to . . . Talk or something?” He asks.

“You’ve really been hunting this whole time?” Dean asks you, still in a bit of disbelief.

You nod. “I got my act together after Dad . . . After you and Dad left. I wanted to prove him wrong,” you explain, shrugging. “Where is he, anyway?”

Sam and Dean exchange a look. “We don’t know. We’ve been hunting and hoping to find him in the process,” Sam says.

You nod slowly. Your dad taking off isn’t that uncommon, but it is uncommon to see your brothers hunting together. “I’ll get out of your hair soon,” you mumble, not sure that they wanted you around.

“Woah, wait. There’s no rush. Sam was right, you were pretty good back there . . . We could use your help,” Dean says. He’s not going to let you go so easily this time around.

“Really?” You say, a little surprised. You sit up in bed, taking the ice pack off your forehead.

“Yes. And keep that on,” Dean says quickly, taking the ice pack from you and pressing it to your wound himself. He moves to sit down next to you, making you roll your eyes, but you don’t argue. It’s kinda nice to have him helping you out, he’s always been protective over you and Sam.

“The Three Musketeers, all back together again,” Sam jokes, just to annoy you both.

“Is it too late to back out now?” You ask.

“Yes,” the brothers say. You’re in too deep now, Dean and Sam aren’t letting you go again.

[billieeilishshusband]

She had chances to be with tons of people, but she choice you to be attracted to. It was coachella, A bunch of famous artists were there of course Billie Eilish was invited and bunch other singers. While Doja was performing a bunch of singers were sat at a few couches. The couches were slightly uncomfortable they were like circling each other while straight. I have to honest watching the TV and talking to everyone was slightly boring. Billie was sat next to me in fact it was only us to on the couch facing the tv the other two couches were packed. My eyes were slowly closing while my arms were crossed, and my legs were quite open. I bobbed my while closing my eyes, I tilted my head sideways falling my head on her shoulder. During the period I was asleep for I liked Billie more than anyone here and it felt amazing meeting her. My eyes were slowly closing while my arms were crossed, and my legs were quite open. I bobbed my while closing my eyes, I tilted my head sideways falling my head on her shoulder. During the period I was asleep for I liked Billie more than anyone here and it felt amazing meeting her. I met Finneas before,, but it was only a few talks. He knew that I liked Billie. It was quite clear. My eyes were slowly closing while my arms were crossed, and my legs were quite open. I bobbed my while closing my eyes, I tilted my head sideways falling into Billie more than anyone here and it felt amazing meeting her. I met Finneas before, but it was only a few talks. He knew that I liked Billie. It was quite clear. My eyes were slowly closing while my arms were crossed, and my legs were quite open. I bobbed my I liked Billie more than anyone here and it felt amazing meeting her. My eyes were slowly closing while my arms were crossed and my legs were quite open. I bobbed my head sideways and fell my head on her shoulder. During the period of me being asleep Billie took quite quick notice to me falling asleep on her. She wasn’t annoyed or weirded out like most people probably would. I felt so warm with her. She noticed my movement, she gently turned her head detailing my features. She started stroking my short curly hair while speaking about random stuff. So they were all getting blankets and pillows. She moved her body making sure not to move too much. You had your head moved to her chest. She was still slightly sitting up, her blonde hair now messys. omehow although you were taller than her your body curled up right against Billie. Your face buried into her chest while she moved her head to be right above your head. The next morning I woke up before the others. I gently moved before realising who it was that was wrapped around my body. I felt so warm so I wasn’t planning on moving but I was still wanting to know. It was the cute blondie, Billie Eilish. I laid back down and I grabbed my phone from my pocket. Opening Instagram and I clicked on someone randoms story and it was a bunch of videos of Coachella and Doja Cat preforming. While going through peoples story I stopped at Lana’s. It was a photo of Billie laughing while stroking my hair, I was surprised. I screenshotted the story and also reposted it on my story adding a few hearts. I saw Billie post a story and it was another photo of us two and then a reposted video of her sleeping while hugging me. I was tagged or else I would of posted it on my story “Oh morning YN” she sat up and faced me “You fell asleep early” She chuckled standing up to straight “Yeah I saw some stories on Insta and sorry for sleeping all over you and probably drooling on you” I chuckled at the end of the sentence. “No it was cute” She said chuckling. “You know Billie- if your ever free- would you like to maybe hang out or go out? I know that's sudden but I never feel comfortable like I did.” I said standing up and facing her. she started chuckling at first I thought she was about to make fun of me “Yes I would love that”

im sorry i had to cut parts so if some parts dont make sense thats whyyy

[moutheyes]

[translation] Allure Korea - Love in the Big City Interviews

Hello, for fun/practice I decided to translate the Allure Korea interviews with Nam Yoon-su, Kwon Hyuk, Na Hyun-woo, and Jin Ho-eun, who are starring in the upcoming TV adaptation of Love in the Big City. I saw bits and pieces floating around social media but hadn't seen a full translation anywhere. I've been learning Korean for a long time but still honing my translation skills, so any awkward parts or mistakes are mine. If there's anything egregiously wrong, please let me know and I'll fix it with a note!

LOVE NEVER SLEEPS / Love in the Big City: Nam Yoon-su & Kwon Hyuk, Na Hyun-woo & Jin Ho-eun

In Love in the Big City, Nam Yoon-su, Kwon Hyuk, Na Hyun-woo, and Jin Ho-eun fall in and out of love intensely, just like everyone else in the world. In Seoul, a city that never sleeps, love never disappears.

Park Sang-young’s Love in the Big City, a queer literary bestseller, will find new audiences in two separate adaptations this year. One of them is a currently airing movie, and the other is a drama about to premiere. The movie focuses on a character named Jae-hee from the original novel, while the drama depicts the first half of the novel, and Park Sang-young himself participated in writing the script. 

“I tried to keep the emotions of the original story as they were,” he said. “I also put a lot of effort into reproducing the rawness of queer life in a big city, and aimed to bring out various detailed feelings in order to let viewers connect emotionally with each chapter.” As he explained, the protagonist Go Young is “a person whose natural brightness masks the sadness in his life. He is a scientist who studies everything about love, embraces the inexperience of life, and eventually turns it into something beautiful.”

This role is played by Nam Yoon-su, and the drama will be a total of eight episodes, with two each directed by renowned directors who have appeared in various film festivals: Hur Jin-ho, Hong Ji-young, Son Tae-gyeom, and Kim Se-in. The actors (T/N: except for Nam Yoon-su) all said that they met for the first time at the photoshoot. There’s never been a drama like this before in Korea, but it’s a drama that must exist. Borrowing them for a time, Allure Korea met the four actors who loved each other passionately.

NAM YOON-SU

I have to ask how you’re doing. As soon as filming ended on the drama, you donated a kidney to a family member and became an ambassador for the Life-Sharing Campaign. No one knew about this?

I lost some weight but I’ve been healthy. I really didn’t know it would receive that much attention.

Seeing as how the episodes were filmed two at a time, aside from Yoon-su, the other actors are all meeting for the first time here?

Correct. That’s why the atmosphere is a little awkward? (laughs) Everyone’s introducing themselves and asking each other’s ages. Kwon Hyuk and Na Hyun-woo hyungs, I dated for a month each, and I dated Ho-eun for around three months?

Haha, so that’s how all of Nam Yoon-su’s men met. Or should I say, Go Young’s men?

“Nam Yoon-su’s men” works. (laughs) That’s accurate. I’ve done everything with them.

How did you get involved with Love in the Big City?

For me, it wasn’t a difficult decision, nor was it a difficult show. I’ve had queer friends since I was young, so I’ve always been open-minded. I could do everything the script and the director demanded of me. I thought of Go Young as a very ordinary person. He eats, sleeps, and loves like anyone else. The fascinating thing was, I received a ton of DMs after the casting was announced. They were thanking me. It was really amazing.

Haha, these are DMs you wouldn’t have received for any other dramas up until now.

People from different countries thanked me for taking part in this drama. Of course I also received hate, but there were way more thankful messages. They were even fighting in the comments. I just stayed out of it.

Park Sang-woo said, “Nam Yoon-su was destined for the role. I had a strong premonition that this person would become Go Young.”

Is that true? Thank you. (laughs)

It was a comment prepared especially for today. (laughs) But hearing that, I think the drama will remain faithful to the novel. It seems like Go Young experienced a lot of love in a compressed amount of time.

It’s because he was looking for love, isn’t it? I read the novel and thought it would make for a fun drama. I really thought hard about how I could express the story.

Didn’t the main character go through some changes? In the novel Young is described as a “fat cat,” so his nickname is “Fatty Catty” (뚱고).

Hehe, that’s correct. You have a good memory. Compared to the character in the book, I’m taller and skinnier, so in the drama “Fatty Catty” becomes a “chubby kitty.”

You’re the only one who worked with all four directors. How different were their directing styles?

Not just their filming techniques, but the crew and staff were also completely different. It felt like a fresh start every time. Directors Hur Jin-ho and Kim Se-in love to do long takes, but even those were different. Director Hong Ji-young said from the beginning, “I only film one or two takes, but there are a lot of cuts.” And director Son Tae-gyeom likes to film dialogue in a natural way. He kept only saying that it was good, so I got confused. Their styles are naturally different, so I’m also curious how the final product will turn out. I haven’t seen the final cut yet. Can I see it already?

Continuously switching between directors, what was that experience like as an actor?

I was able to learn a lot, actually. I would get used to one director’s methods, and then switching to another one would be a challenge. I would be in the middle of a scene, then get flustered and stop. It felt like a sudden change in the environment and atmosphere. We actually only had about a month to get to know each other. But as soon as we got close, it was already time to part ways, so that was sad. I think the audience will feel those directorial changes as well. That’s how different it is.

Everyone’s curious about this drama. Love in the City is described as “the story of a very ordinary queer person.” The emotion of love doesn’t change according to sexual orientation, but it can still be seen as unconventional.

It’s the same old love story. We live our lives, and the only difference is sexual orientation. I hope people see it for what it is. It’s not a surprise or a special realization that Go Young is gay, this is just his daily life. But the fact that the show is only available on streaming platforms means Korean society still thinks of it that way. I don’t know what the final cut will be like, but there are some spicy scenes, so it’s probably difficult for non-cable TV.

Korea has never seen a drama like this before?

Up until now, Korea has not had a drama like this. People ask me if doing this show will have a negative impact on me, but that’s the way I am. I’ve never thought about it, and I won’t in the future. I don’t want to act while only considering my image. I think that’s what being an actor is about.

So what is your mindset when acting?

It’s about what I want to do, and what I want is to make good shows and movies.

Just going where your heart leads? That’s simple and good.

That’s how I’ve lived my life, both as a model and when I went into acting. I just accept everything and consider whether I like or dislike it. I have a simple approach to work. I want it to be like that in the future as well. This drama, too, I just had fun while filming it.

What are you really like in a relationship?

Nothing special. Like Go Young, I just meet up and have a meal with them. I don’t date that often? (laughs) When I’m working, it’s hard to stay in contact. My relationships don’t tend to last that long. I’m quick to warm but also quick to cool. Honestly, that’s my dating style.

So you’re a bad boy, then.

I’m nice at heart. (laughs) I do everything I can for the other person. But I don’t think I’m good at dating. Hyun-woo hyung just asked me when I’m going to read his KakaoTalk messages... (laughs)

Seoul itself is another main character in Love in the Big City. Did you get to go around the city a lot?

Actually, we filmed in a lot of places. We also went to the club from the novel and filmed there. It’s a real gay club, and I heard it was the first time they allowed any filming there. They said the director went to get special permission. We put out a casting call for extras for the club scenes, and they also came and helped out.

Is there a neighborhood that represents Seoul to you?

I’m from Namyangju, and the first time I lived alone was in Wangsimni. Cheonggyecheon. I’ll never live in Apgujeong. There are a lot of bars there, which I don’t really like. After Cheonggyecheon, I lived in Dowon-dong, then Yongsan, and also Mapo-gu. I’ve lived in a lot of places, so I’ll go somewhere else next.

What kind of neighborhood do you have to live in?

Pyeongchang-dong. I’ll move there next. A place with monthly rent.

Do you enjoy living in a big city like Seoul?

There are so many people in Seoul. In some ways, there’s too many. It’s too crowded. I don’t like that part.*

If there’s no one you love among all those people, then being an urbanite can be lonely.

That’s right. So I don’t go out. Even now, I just go to the mountains. I go with my camping chair on my shoulder, eat a lunchbox by myself, and then I go back down the mountain.

You get that same kind of feeling from the drama poster—being alone in a sea of people.

That’s a real scene from the drama. There was one scene in a club in Thailand, and another one where I’m waiting for Ho-eun.

What kind of love did you experience with the three men gathered here today?

In the first two episodes, Nam-gyu and I were dating when we were students. I liked him for a while, and when I didn’t like him anymore we broke up, something like that. As for Young-su in episodes 3 and 4, when you’re young, you like older people, right? Even though you regret it later. And in episodes 5 and 6, I’m dating Gyu-ho, who’s like a friend.

Why do you think these men loved Go Young?

I came on strong. (laughs) I was the one who kissed them first and I was also the one who approached them first. How do I seduce this person? That’s what I’m thinking about.

In episode 8, do you regret getting with Habibi? As in, you should have stayed with Gyu-ho.

I do regret it. I was heartsick but didn’t show it. I had no choice but to let him go.

Even though you were acting, were there any moments when you got carried away by the emotions? In today’s interview, everyone slipped into their characters while answering. It’s interesting.

That’s how I do everything, every time. I really do get emotional in crying scenes. The other hyungs and Ho-eun are also like that. We feel everything.

It was nice to see you today, after a long time. And all the men you used to love.

That suddenly reminds me. (laughs) I did it this way and I did it that way.

How will this drama be remembered?

I don’t know if I can say this, but I don’t think there will ever be another drama like this in Korea. There wasn’t before, and there won’t be after. So I hope everyone watches it.

*T/N: this was a little hard to translate directly so I went with the general tone, but his wording was interesting to me. The word he used in the first sentence was 사람, which is a neutral word for “person/people.” In the next sentence he used 인간, which means people in a greater humanity sense. The word he used for “crowded” was 몰리다, which can also be translated as “driven,” as in herding or steering, which to me further emphasized the dehumanizing aspect of Seoul being a big city swamped with people.

KWON HYUK

Love in the Big City starts with Nam-gyu’s story, but he’s hardly mentioned in the novel. He’s the closest thing to an original character in the drama. What kind of person is he?

Nam-gyu is shrouded in mystery. (laughs) On the outside he looks well-behaved and could even be considered rigid, so he could be frustrating. On the inside he’s a person who carries a fiery sort of love. When he dates someone like Go Young, he’s incapable of hiding his true self and conveys his feelings.

If that’s the case, why did they break up?

He’s super frustrating and inflexible. When acting as Nam-gyu, I felt that Go Young’s vibe was from the current generation, like someone who’s an MZ. But although Nam-gyu works as a photographer, he really has an ahjussi’s tastes. Go Young goes to clubs and is the carefree type, but this guy drives at 60km per hour (T/N: 37 mph). I think Go Young would have found him frustrating.

We asked Park Sang-young about each character, and he said this about Nam-gyu: He’s a guy who is inexperienced in love and can’t differentiate between love and obsession.

If there are experienced and inexperienced sides to dating, he’s definitely on the inexperienced side. I think everyone has gone through an immature phase when they were obsessed with someone, and even though they should have seen and accepted that person for who they are, they kept forcing themselves to see only the good things. I could have been like that once, too.

How did you get involved with Love in the Big City?

Director Son Tae-gyeom, who filmed the first two episodes, contacted me. I liked his film Baby and Me (2017), but we didn’t know each other personally so it was a little surprising.

So a director you admired suddenly contacted you one day?

That’s right. He said he wanted to suggest the character of Nam-gyu to me. He said he’s seen almost all of my work and could already picture me as Nam-gyu. He laid everything out very clearly. It’s this kind of drama, and the production will go in this direction. He spoke with so much conviction, I thought I should trust him and give it a try.

Is that how you got your hands on the script?

It’s really fun, and there are kissing scenes, but I don’t find that difficult or burdensome. Can I play this role well? That was the assignment. Nam-gyu and I are really different. I wanted to know what the director saw in me that made him think I could portray this character well.

You’ve never been directly asked like this before?

I think so. No one’s ever asked me about that. (laughs) It’s so different, will the viewers be able to enjoy watching my character? I thought about that a lot. I also talked a lot with the director. This was a very indistinct character in the novel, so there were a lot of blanks we had to fill in. The director accepted my interpretation of the character. Nam-gyu has a unique way of speaking. He uses unusual words. Things like “that was splendid.”** Usually you’d say something was good or great, but he uses “splendid.” People don’t say that often.

What kind of director is Son Tae-gyeom?

He’s a really warm person. I had so much fun and was so happy on set. He let the actors try out a lot of stuff they wanted to do, and from the standpoint of trying to inhabit a character, I was really grateful for that.

What kind of opinions did you give?

Something that comes to mind right now is, normally if you’re introducing yourself, you’d say, “Hello, my name is Kim Nam-gyu,” right? But the Nam-gyu in my head would say, “I’m Kim. Nam-gyu.”

So that’s how you became Nam-gyu. Why was he attracted to Go Young?

I think, as with all love, It has to begin with attraction. Wasn’t I attracted to him because he was so different from me and had something I didn’t have? I thought about that while acting, but Yoon-su and I are very different as well. (laughs) I think he really is a lot like Young.

If you had to defend Nam-gyu?

I think it’s love. At first the viewers might think, “Why is this person like this?,” but if you consider Nam-gyu’s point of view from start to finish, you’ll feel sympathy for him. “Oh, of course that’s possible. It could be like that if you really like someone.” If you like someone a lot, it’s possible to act like you’re somewhere in between love and obsession.

Speaking of Go Young, he said he seduced Nam-gyu, Young-su, and Gyu-ho.

Is that what he said? He was young then so he didn’t know anything. (laughs)

Then did Nam-gyu seduce him?

Of course. Nam-gyu takes photos, and he met Go Young for the first time at a clothing photoshoot. Although it was his first time doing it, there was something in his eyes. There was a certain energy about his photos, and that’s how it started.

After breaking up with Go Young, does Nam-gyu think about him?

I think he was too into him. Because Go Young made him frustrated with himself, he went too fast. He tried to change himself, so doesn’t that mean he still likes Go Young a lot?

How was your chemistry with Yoon-su?

I felt that Yoon-su is a lot like Go Young, both on and off set. I wondered if he was always like that or if he was just acting like Go Young in his daily life for the sake of the drama, but he was always like that. (laughs) So I enjoyed it and it was always fun.

Seoul itself is another main character in Love in the Big City. Did you get to go around the city a lot?

We shot a lot in Itaewon and went around to various other places. We also went to Namsan and Jongno, and filmed while going around Seoul.

Is there a neighborhood that represents Seoul to you?

I’ve always liked Namsan Tower. Whenever I see it, I want to go up and look out at the city. So I went there a lot, and earlier this year I moved to a place where I could see Namsan Tower. I also like Yongsan. It’s the very center of Seoul.

Love is something all these characters yearn and work for. Is there a line that expresses Nam-gyu’s love?

I can think of two. One of them is in the narration, I think. “If obsession isn’t a form of love, then I’ve never been in love before.” The other one is, “Eat this, it’s really delicious,” and it’s when he gives Go Young something he really likes, but Go Young said he doesn’t like it. I think these two lines represent Nam-gyu really well.

What are you really like in a relationship?

I never touch the other person. I’m the kind of person who lets things be and tries to like them for who they are, without trying to change them. It’s my dream to get married someday.

What does it take to live romantically in this big city?

Love, of course. You have to live while loving someone to your heart’s content. We only have one life, so I think it would be nice to love someone sincerely.

How will this drama be remembered?

You’ll have to watch it to find out. For starters, we were really cold, since we filmed in December.

I guess Nam-gyu’s love was cold.

When we filmed at the top of Namsan Tower, it was so cold that I thought, “This is really how you lose weight.” It was 20 degrees (Celsius) below freezing. I couldn’t move my face, but I still made a lot of fun and happy memories. I don’t know how the world will remember this drama but I think it’ll be a really happy memory in my life. Also, infinite thanks to everyone who was determined and supported this drama... wasn’t it a challenge for everyone? An awesome challenge.

**T/N: The Korean word he uses here is 훌륭하다, which can also be translated as superb, marvelous, grand, etc. You get the idea. I’m curious how the subtitlers will handle Nam-gyu’s word choices!

NA HYUN-WOO

You play Young-su in episodes 3 and 4, which are directed by Hur Jin-ho.

That’s right. I’m that Young-su.

It must have been a difficult role. He’s hard to like in the novel.

Every time we filmed that kind of scene, the director, director of photography, and lighting director would all say, “what a bastard.” But it would have been impossible to play Young-su if I thought of him as unpleasant, so I tried my best to understand the role.

Park Sang-young describes Young-su as “someone who can’t accept himself, and even makes the people who love him feel lonely.” How did you approach the role?

I only thought about wanting to play him well. He has a lot of self-loathing. Of course he’s going to find love someday. Wouldn’t he be a better person due to his relationship with Go Young? I hope so. I think there must have also been moments when Go Young was clearly Young-su-like. And I also wonder whether Young-su will date another Young-su at some point.

You’re saying it’s a universal thing that can happen to people who are in love?

I think everyone inevitably has their Go Young moments as well as their Young-su moments. If that’s the case, wouldn’t Young-su also one day become Go Young-like?

How did you end up working on this drama?

I previously worked with director Hur Jin-ho on the show Lost (2021). We don’t keep in touch, but he suddenly contacted me and gave me the script. First of all, the fact that he called me himself was a big reason, and secondly, I was waiting for a drama like this. When I saw the script I knew I really wanted to do it. At the time, it was hard to see Young-su’s bad side. I just really wanted to do it, and thought I could play Young-su well, so I appealed really hard to the PD and ended up joining the cast.

What was the hardest part about playing Young-su?

In the novel he’s 38, and in the show he’s 35. That’s a little older than I am. Young-su was part of a student activist group at a prestigious university, but my generation doesn’t have that experience, so I had to do a lot of research. I’ve never met the author, but there was something about this character that was so hard to understand that I really wanted to meet him.

What part was the hardest to understand?

Why did he go back on his decision like that? What’s wrong with him? I wanted to find the author and ask him, but because I never got the chance, I just thought a lot about it and tried to figure out the reason. It must have been because he couldn’t accept himself. So no matter how unlikable Young-su is, I still feel sympathy for him. Dating Go Young was the most cowardly thing he did, and I think it was also the most painful for himself.

How was your chemistry with Yoon-su?

There wasn’t a lot of time before we started filming, but we did spend two weeks preparing for it. We became really close during that time. I’d never done such deep table reading on a drama before.

Go Young bragged that he came onto Young-su first.

He came onto Young-su? Wasn’t it more like fifty-fifty? Young-su already liked Go Young subconsciously. And wasn’t he like that because Go Young also reciprocated? Among ourselves, we described Young-su as “a man who is only nice at home.” Wouldn’t he have always made this choice?

Did you film at Olympic Park, where a certain incident between Go Young and Young-su took place?

We did. That was the first thing we filmed. It wasn’t easy. We’d just met and had to film a scene where I got mad at Go Young. And that evening there was another important scene to film as well.

Is there a neighborhood that represents Seoul to you?

We have the most fun during our college years, right? I graduated from Sejong University, so the entrance of Konkuk University and Hwayang-dong feel like Seoul to me.

What are you really like in a relationship?

When I was young, love was really romantic. Back then, I didn’t know myself, and aside from the other person I didn’t look at or date anyone else. Now that I’m older, I think it’s okay not to date. That’s the reality.

What was it like working with director Hur Jin-ho on Young-su’s episodes?

He likes suddenly coming up with ideas. He’ll abruptly remove or add new dialogue, or introduce scenes that weren’t originally in the script. You know that really long street in Itaewon? He suddenly wanted Go Young and Young-su to run down that street, even though there were so many people around. But he kept the camera hidden and filmed me and Yoon-su running down the street while screaming. A few people recognized me and called out my name. (laughs) There were no restraints, he just thought about filming realistically. I guess I was truly filming Love in the Big City!

Wrapping up that kind of shoot in a month, was it a bummer?

A total bummer. It’s like, I was so wrapped up in this character and suddenly it was over. This drama was my first one with such intense melodrama, and my first kiss scene...

You did all of that with Yoon-su.

Yoon-su took really good care of me. He quietly brought me mouthwash and said, “Hyung, use this.” That’s how he is with me. If we meet for dinner after he has a kiss scene during the day, he’ll tell me, “Hyung, I kissed so-and-so before coming here.” For some reason, I would feel weirdly jealous. It’s ridiculous. (laughs)

Haha, sounds like you got really immersed in the role.

When I was trying to get truly immersed during filming, I only saw Nam Yoon-su. I really researched only Nam Yoon-su, I looked up what kind of person Nam Yoon-su was, I only thought about Nam Yoon-su, to the point where he would appear in my dreams. Seriously, I was also shocked. I was that desperate to play this role well.

You became a Nam Yoon-su expert for a while. Did you get to know him that well?

I mean, I don’t know everything. That guy is really similar to Go Young! He went months without responding to my KakaoTalk messages.

He was really worried before. The three of you were sitting there after meeting each other for the first time, and he said it was awkward.

It’s true. Everyone here only looks for Yoon-su. So I’ll look for him a little less.

There might be someone out there who suits you better than Yoon-su.

I guess I haven’t totally escaped yet. There’s no one else but Yoon-su. (laughs)

JIN HO-EUN

How did you get involved with Love in the Big City?

I wanted to be in a queer drama. I heard this was being made, and as you know, the original novel was really well-loved. They said that four directors would be filming it, so I auditioned. I was really greedy for the role of Gyu-ho. I kept reading the novel while preparing for the audition, but I didn’t know if it would turn out well.

So you got both the project and the role that you wanted.

I filmed a video for the first round of auditions, and I’ve been saying I wanted to play Gyu-ho since then. But director Hong Ji-young really liked that. At the time, I didn’t know which part or which director would suit me, and all four of them were at the audition, as well as Park Sang-young.

Gyu-ho is an important character. He appears a lot in the novel, and on the poster, the “I don’t care, because it’s you” tagline also comes from him.

I was really glad to get this role. He has a huge presence in the story, and because of that I wanted to do a good job. I also really liked director Hong Ji-young’s previous work. I watched all of her movies and also bought the novel to read.

What did you like so much about Gyu-ho?

He’s someone who always moves forward without wavering. He and Go Young are similar in some ways, and different in others, so they are able to see each other deeply.

According to the book description, Gyu-ho looks a bit mean, but he’s actually a sincere person.

I was the least confident about his appearance, so I asked Park Sang-young about it a lot before we filmed. Not only about his physical appearance, but also his inner self—should he closely resemble the Gyu-ho from the book or should he be different? The author wanted me to do it my own way. The first time I met him, we were waiting for another meeting to finish and spent a very awkward hour together in a room. But I asked him a lot of questions and we got closer.

What was it like working with director Hong Ji-young on Gyu-ho’s episodes?

She’s really lovely. She’s really detailed, and for every little thing she tries to maintain the author’s style while also boldly including her own touches. So while Go Young and Gyu-ho’s story is a poignant melodrama, at the same time it’s also very charming. Their story felt like a youth drama to me.

Go Young and Gyu-ho had the most romantic relationship in the story. In the end, isn’t Gyu-ho the one man Young can’t forget?

I think so. The script is really sad. I felt sad the day we shot the scene in the poster. Although a lot of time has passed, I still tear up when I look at the script or any related videos.

You haven’t gotten over it yet?

It’s not that, but the memories still remain. Maybe because we spent almost three months together? I appear in seven or eight episodes.

It must have been a bummer when it ended. How was your chemistry with Yoon-su?

I was really sad when filming ended. I was glad that Nam-su hyung had the role of Go Young. Although we had to make some adjustments during filming, we were a good fit from the start. When he was filming the first four episodes, it reflected what he felt. Hyung really took care of me.

Today the men who loved Go Young have gathered, but I believe this isn’t everyone? From what I heard, Yoon-su kissed a lot of people.

That’s right. Who did he say was the best? Did you not talk about that? He told me he kissed around 15 people, and I was impressed all over again. Not 15 kisses with one person in a single drama, but one kiss with 15 people...

So that’s why they call him “Devil Go Young.” He said that he was the one who seduced Nam-gyu, Young-su, and Gyu-ho.

He said that? But Gyu-ho absolutely isn’t someone who falls for that kind of thing. (laughs) Gyu-ho liked Go Young. He must have been satisfied with that.

Park Sang-young said Gyu-ho was “a pure person who can’t help but fall in love.” Honestly, isn’t Gyu-ho someone who can have a good relationship, even if it’s not with Go Young?

Yeah, that’s Gyu-ho’s appeal. Still, he’ll get hurt again, grow, and heal the other person. I think he can emit a certain kind of influence over everyone he chooses to be with; he had a good influence on Go Young when they were dating, and it’ll be the same when he dates someone else.

So he’s not worried about the future. How do you think Gyu-ho will do?

I also think about Gyu-ho’s future. From his actions in episodes 7 and 8, I realized he’s a constructive and practical person. That’s so like Gyu-ho.

Did Gyu-ho want Young to hold onto him?

I think it was fifty-fifty for Gyu-ho. I think it was more that Young wanted Gyu-ho to hold onto him. That made it even sadder because Gyu-ho really understood where Go Young was coming from. That’s how I approached it while filming.

What are you really like in a relationship?

I try to do my best all the time. Actually I’m not really sure, but Gyu-ho made me think that way. (laughs)

What was the most difficult part of playing Gyu-ho?

The line “I don’t care, because it’s you” was really hard. That line is from the novel, right? But having to deliver it on camera was a challenge. Also, “You don’t care if it’s not me?” I wanted to do a good job, so I discussed different versions with the director and we filmed a lot of takes. Please check it out when the drama comes out.

What kind of drama will Love in the Big City be?

I think this is a much-needed drama for our generation. It’s a story that showcases different perspectives, so even if it doesn’t happen immediately, I think people will continue to talk about it. When the casting news came out, I received a lot of supportive DMs. They said the world needs this type of show, and also thanked me. Of course, I also got a lot of jeering or disgusted emojis. Yoon-su hyung received a lot more of those, honestly.

How will you remember this drama?

I hope this drama becomes a representative work for my 20s. I filmed it when I was 25, at the crossroads of my mid-20s, and I think we told a really good story together. Can you watch it the day it premieres? I want to achieve the top ranking on Tving. I hope a lot of people watch it. Truly, seriously, please watch it.

[centrally-unplanned]

Watched a bunch of stuff last night, including the Alita OVA from 1993! I thought it was a lot of fun, the thoughts:

--- It did the "obvious" thing of adapting the romance arc with Yugo of Volume 2 as the core, while blending in the events of Volume 1 as sort of backstory and setup as opposed to their own story. This arc is Alita at her most humanized in the early parts of the manga, and its the plot that centers Zalem as the untouchable overlord city most effectively. Any short adaptation is gonna choose this - part of why James Cameron (lol) did the same thing!

--- Speaking of, the manga does not actually have any particular focus on Alita's eyes, but the anime definitely has more than one shot where it establishes them as thematically special. Given that the James Cameron film is famous for going full CGI on Alita's eyes, and he knows about the property from Guillermo del Toro passing him the OVA as opposed to the manga, I think I can see the chain of events that lead to that (ill-fated?) decision.

Her eyes are pretty amazing in the OVA, so I get it! As my previous reblogs showed lol.

--- I think I can break apart the manga into three "concepts": the setting as cyberpunk dystopia, Alita as a character dealing with identity issues as an amnesiatic combat robot, and shounen fighting & levelling arcs. The OVA heavily focuses on the first part, ditching almost all the shounen stuff - its fight scenes are quick and focus on violence & bodily destruction over strength or "fighting techniques", etc. This is great for me, obviously! But it also, almost accidentally, ditches most of her identity issues? Because its less than an hour long, and needs to do a ton of worldbuilding - including even adding in a new character from Zalem to help with that - and is doing Yugo's entire arc, you really don't have time left for Alita's struggles. Yugo actually gets more "inner depth" than she does! She commits to being a bounty hunter, then after that she is pretty much just In Love while Yugo goes through his detailing of his past and collapse.

I'm not saying it doesn't work, it does as a story. Just interesting for something that is known as very "protagonist associated" to have an OVA where she is barely the protagonist.

--- While no Urotsukidoji or anything, this is another one of those OVAs where its reputation, particularly in the west, is as a hyper-violent, gory OVA? And like so many it really isn't. People get decapitated, don't get me wrong, buts its never lingers on those moments. Instead they serve as tone setters for the crapsack world or just are part of the action sequences.

I think in general the OVA era rarely made horror/gore films the way some other mediums/industries did? There are exceptions of course but in the end anime is trying to do too many other things; beautiful animation, focus on character designs, often being adaptations and so doing the plot of those more complex stories, erotic content for audiences that aren't *that* fetishistic on average, and more. All of these priorities compete for space in comparison to having endless jumpscares and blood splatters. So far my track record for watching the famous "gorefest" or "~crazy~" anime is that every one of them is tamer than the rep suggests, and I believe this medium/genre mismatch is why.

--- The biggest question I have around Alita in general is why there was never any more anime? Its weird, right? Its a famous property from a beloved genre, it had a hollywood film for some crazy reason, things like Ghost in the Shell got multi-season anime after all. Why no feature film remake in the 2000's? Why no 13-cour in the 2010's? I don't have an answer to that yet.

Why the initial OVA was so minimal is at least partly answered by Kishiro here:

MNS: Many fans have wondered, why were only 2 anime OAV episodes produced in 1993? YK: It was based on the plan proposed by the animation production company. It might have been better to turn down the plan and wait for a better adaptation proposal to come up, but back then, I couldn't afford to review the plan coolly. At that time, I was still serializing the work and was so busy that I wasn't ambitious to make it into animation.

Essentially he took the "deal on hand", not offering much, because he didn't have the time, money, or business savvy to work the industry for a better proposal. 100% understandable. I don't think the OVA did too well? I can't find a lot of sales figures, but the comments I see are in the "respectable" range, and it didn't get quick or expansive rereleases over time.

More broadly, and again speculative, I think maybe Alita overall isn't that successful? Like sure Kishiro is still out here releasing more sequel manga to this day somehow, but when I look at the "media mix" its just really sparse. No big video game adaptations - it has a PlayStation game in the 90's - it has like a drama CD and a novelization? No big merch waves or tie-ins. I am betting the big anime production committees just don't think its a hot enough property to sell that great. Wouldn't be a bad idea or anything, but not one you have to do like idk Chainsaw Man.

In the western fandom spaces its quite well known because of the idiosyncrasies of licensing history, the weird James Cameron factor, and I think a general fascination with anime cyberpunk; the west eats up any of the older cyberpunk properties for its aesthetic in a way that can blind people to the reality of that just being a subgenre in Japan at the time. Alita might just be niche enough that it not getting any wider anime adaptations is no grand mystery.

(But I hope to dig into this question more)

[s-che]

The Dream Library: Apocalypse World 2

The Dream Library had our second Apocalypse World one-shot earlier this week, ending out the end of a month of talking about D. Vincent and Meguey Baker’s game of high octane apocalyptica. Next month, we'll be continuing our semester of PBTA one-shots and book-club discussions with two excellent historical games: Night Witches and Sagas of the Icelanders.

If you'd like to get in on the discussion and maybe even sign up for a one-shot, shoot me a message -- we'd love to have you.

As with the last play report, I want to open by making two things absolutely clear:

Apocalypse World is a sicknasty game that deserves to get played way more often than it does, especially by people who are working and playing in a design lineage which has been forever altered by Meg and Vincent’s work.

Apocalypse World is a game done absolutely dirty by short-term play, a fact which came out way harder in this session than it did the first time round. We had a ton of fun, of course — but the fact that our play was capped at the 3-hour mark meant we barely scratched the surface of what this game can do. 

This time, I ran the game following Vincent Baker’s advice on running Apocalypse World in a con slot, which helped a lot — and still didn’t scratch the itch I have to play this game and only this game for the next hundred or so years. Most notably, we ended up dividing play into two micro-sessions — meaning we got to turn our bio-break into a narrative breather as well and flex some of the game’s “long-term” rules. I’ve broken my thoughts up here by session, which felt appropriate.

Session 1: A Desert Landscape

I had no idea where the session was going to start when we settled down to play — beyond the fact that I was going to open in media res with someone (the answer ended up being my first volunteer, @tormentedbyvisions) in a very bad spot. Details came quickly when we looked for them — a collapsing office tower and glimpses of a desert landscape out the broken windows, dotted with more towers in the distance. Goldman (The Savvyhead, any pronouns), an elderly survivor who, as it turned out, loved nothing more than telling people lies about the world as it was, is cornered on the second floor as a gang headed by a warlord named Dremmer picked their way through the rubble below. Cut forward a few seconds and we have Goldman leaping from a hole in the wall to land on the dune below as Dremmer’s gang fire wildly at a phantom drawn from the psychic maelstrom.

Meanwhile James (The Driver, he/him) and October (The Skinner, they/them) raced along the desert highway looking for their friend. A bad role lead to an ambush, a flipped car, and a surprisingly civil conversation with a would-be raider named Jackabacka — who James enlisted to get the car unstuck and then left unconscious in a ditch. Meeting back up with Goldman — a little battered from his fall from the building, but mostly fine — the game headed back to their home: the outskirts of an oil-refining city which sprang into existence at the moment we needed it, and never before. We wrapped on our first microsession by developing character Hx and nailing down who all these people were to each other.

What did we learn? For one, Apocalypse World is a great game to make shit up in. I talked at length in my last session write-up about the instruction to “barf forth apocalyptica” and how good getting really in the juice of a genre feels, but there’s more than just that happening here. Apocalypse World has a deeper philosophy of storytelling and play (one related, I think, to what I called “fluid mapmaking” in a recent article) which really relishes in moments of hesitation and consideration. There’s an approach to play which some games and players take where “good improv” is ultimately about maximal flexibility — where the ultimate end is to hide the fact that you’re “making things up” at all, and make the game world seem as fully realized as possible. Improv is just a way to get there — since we cannot possibly have prepped for every occasion, improv fills in the gaps. The hyper-performative role of the GM is never permitted to ask for a second to think or talk through some ideas out loud (in the way a non-GM player might) — their role is a kind of computer-referee (a “stable,” as opposed to fluid, mapmaker) who presents only the truth.

Apocalypse World bucks this trend in several ways: in the way moves prompt big narrative swings, in the suggestion you spend session one just following the characters around and seeing what happens, in the MC philosophy (to “always say what your prep demands,” yes, but also to “barf forth apocalyptica,” to “ask provocative questions and build on the answers,” and to “sometimes, disclaim decision-making), and also (and perhaps most importantly) in the “umms” and “hmms” which permeate the play examples. Apocalypse World is a game which is invested in modeling collaborative — really collaborative — play and which, as a result, never felt like a burden or a trap. It felt like my players and I were all together mapping and remapping a world with the tools and toys the Bakers had given us (and what lovely tools and toys they are) but never restricted by the thing we were trying to make. It felt like we were playing. 

On another note about the first session — and this isn’t textual to Apocalypse Worlds, but to Vincent’s con-running method, but — the practice of giving players something to do (in this case, filling out the details of their character sheets) while the narrative spotlight is on others is one of those design ideas that, once you’re exposed to it, you’ll never forget. This is something I’ve seen others to — most recently (and extensively) @jdragsky's Seven Part Pact is a game that does this over and over and over again — but it really hit me in this session what a lifesaver it is. Especially in online games, where losing focus and energy is so easy, giving people something to do which keeps them invested in the game (in the way, in person, just being in a space together might) is the kind of thing I’m going to start putting in all my games. 

Session 2: Lord Terry’s Gasland Refinery

Back from a brief break, I introduced the players to the threat map I’d designed while they were away. It was populated, mostly, by people we’d already talked a little bit about — the refinery where they lived, Dremmer’s Gang in the north, the landscape of the desert highway all around them — plus a couple of strange details thrown in for good measure (at the last minute, I decided to add the Red Priory, the setting of the last oneshot I ran, on the map in the far east — a fact which I could talk about for hours. People need to play Apocalypse World with me west marches style PLEASE). 

Jumping back into the swing of play wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped — the result, I think, of breaking up the session like we did meant we needed to do the usual beginning of session dipping our toes in the water again, but this time with a much sharper awareness of the ticking clock. Still, we got somewhere — thanks in no small part to the fun of just bopping around with these characters. It’s rare that you get to say “okay, now it’s a week later. What has that week looked like?” especially in the context of a oneshot. The cost of starting a session to the players — okay, what has your life looked like? how much barter are you losing to afford that? — quickly transformed what had been a pretty generic setting into a place that had some teeth. Barfing forth apocalyptica — and some yes-anding with the players — gave us Lord Terry, a feudal tyrant whose authority rests (shakily) on the loyalty of his retained soldiers and the terror of the serfs (including our players). 

Truthfully, we didn’t get particularly far in this session: some tinkering in Goldman’s workshop, an argument with Terry, a scouting mission which ended in a tense standoff with Jackabacka, and then a race back home as October washed Jackabacka’s blood off their knife and James bled out in the backseat. I don’t think the “plottiness” of the session got anywhere — but that has also maybe never felt like less of the point. The joy of our second session was absolutely frontloaded — in the moments of thinking about the community to which we (tangentially) belonged and the powers that be, there. 

Apocalypse World tells you it is best played in a long campaign — and I think this was the moment it was most clearly right. I would love to tell you what happens next to James, or whether Lord Terry is going to be dethroned, or if Dremmer’s really the threat he seems to be. None of those are questions I thought I’d be asking, going into this session — they’re questions the game gave me over the course of play. We had some hiccups, of course (combat is brutal when you don’t have a medic, and I wish, in retrospect, that I’d pushed players to read people more often), but on the whole Apocalypse World is a marvelous engine for generating a really collaborative story.

Which makes me ask, like I did last time — what the fuck happened? People talk a lot about PBTA as a philosophy and not just a mechanic — but I think at some point in history that philosophy seems to have fallen out and gotten slimmed down to "PBTA is when 2d6+"

This isn't to say there aren't good PBTA games being written now — we'll be playing some of them in this unit — but, GOD. There is shit in this game that, hearing it from downstream, you would never know about. People should know about it! You, right now, should know about it! Go and play Apocalypse World right now! and also forever!!

[sepal-sea]

I don't think zepotha is actually bad in the way ppl (on tumblr) think it is.

Ok so goncharov functions pretty much exactly like a real movie might. Chances are, if you weren't given context to the meme, you would legitimately think this obscure homoerotic mafia movie rocketed to internet fame by shipping obsessed tumblrites was real, because it's totally plausible! It's not a shallow meme either, people legitimately posted about it in the in-depth and realistic way an online fandom would post about it, even disagreeing or having bad takes about it. Goncharov is basically the acting-out of any other tumblr fandom but now with a movie that doesn't exist. Because tumblr is a text-based platform it's really easy to line out this kind of analysis and fan behavior, and to agree on an accepted canon. Goncharov is remarkably centralized, and bits of "canon" rarely go against each other, and instead add to each other. You could easily make a real movie out of the accepted canon.

Zepotha, meanwhile, shows only the most shallow understanding of it's genre or potential fanbase. It's all "you look like this girl" and "this reminds me of this scene". It doesn't feel like a legitimate fanbase. But I think that's not inaccurate to how things that are popular on tiktok function. An obscure horror movie rocketed to tiktok fame would one hundred percent have a fandom largedly composed of only the most surface-level, visual aspects of it (of course with a small group of freaks posting the most insanely detailed videos ever about it). In that way, the trick functions exactly as intended. Also, with tiktok being a video-based platform that is of course going to predispose ppl to the most visual elements of fan culture. That's not the main reason zepotha is worse though, because videos about zepotha were not actually the main form of content on tiktok. Commenting was. Even though zepotha SHOULD be more centralized, as it WAS actually organized by one person, it's not, precisely because it was based around commenting and spreading the meme. This makes it hard to find a solid line of "canon", as comments are attached to videos which are basically impossible to neatly string together and follow along with. That's why there was so much conflicting confirmation; there were a bunch of different "the girl"s in zepotha, a ton of different "the scene"s, but anything past that was unexplored. this is the reason I think that zepotha is worse, but it's also not really anyone's fault-this would have happened due to the medium no matter what. I still think it was really cool and fun how people decided to join in on this meme, and I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that it was being used to market a song. I appreciate the purity of goncharov as a labor of love, but I also don't think zepotha being a marketing scheme automatically makes it bad. Artists need all the help they can get, and it's nice that this person managed to make a viral meme that actually helped their song, entirely based on a fake horror movie bit. I probably would have thought zepotha was really funny and cool if goncharov didn't already exist (and was way better).

TLDR: it's not zepotha's fault it's worse than goncharov, it's tiktok's fault. Also, zepotha isn't even that bad, it's just not as good as goncharov, and we're overly defensive bc we see it as a cheap knockoff

[operationmorewhitecollar]

Shall we play a game?

Nope, not chess or Parchisi. And not even global thermonuclear war. (If you get that reference, you might just be as old as we are!) But no, none of those games are where we're headed. This year, we're hosting a good old-fashioned game of bingo!

That's right, since we're almost two weeks into the new year, we thought it might be time to roll out our new creative challenge, which will continue throughout 2024.

As always, we're in the market for any and all fan creations centered on White Collar, and this year, we're providing prompts in the form of mini bingo cards, with new prompt cards coming out quarterly. (Jan, April, July, October) If you want to play, just let us know (comment here, dm, however you want to get in touch), and we'll get you a card so you can get started!

Some details:

When we say "any and all fan creations," we mean it--let your creativity run wild and make whatever you want to make! Draw, write, paint, record a podcast, shoot a video, whatever your creative preference.

We're using a 4x4 card format, and there is a FREE space, so that means a total of 15 prompts for three months. Complete a line of prompts, get a bingo; complete the whole card during the quarter, and that, dear friends, is a blackout!

Much like our drabble prompts, the bingo prompts are pretty broad, and many (maybe most?) are only one word. They run the gamut from theme words to genre to story length and beyond. (Not to worry if you're making art or some other non-written creations; we've got provisions for swapping prompts.)

Prompts were randomized to create the cards, and the card numbers were randomized to create the distribution order, so the prompts you end up with are strictly luck.

Okay, that's probably the most important stuff to know, except, of course, that we hope lots of you will join in and that everyone has tons of fun creating new White Collar stuff, because we're sure going to have fun seeing whatever you make!

So whenever you're ready, shall we play a game?

(We'll put a few more detailed FAQ items below the cut, but if you've got questions we didn't think of, just let us know and we'll make up an answer.😉)

Q: What can my entries be? A: Any type of creation you choose. fic, art, blog post, essay, cross-stitch, we're not picky. Interpret the prompts any way you like, in any genre, any relationship, any rating, any characters, you get the idea. (Unless, of course, the prompt is more specific.) As long as it's White Collar, it's fair game.

Q: Where do we share our work/how will you know we made something or got a bingo? A: First, put your creations somewhere we can see them! There'll be a collection on AO3 where most types of work can be shared. (We're debating if it's better to have just one collection for the year or one for each quarter; if you've got any opinions on that, feel free to weigh in.) If you're sharing here or on other socials, be sure to @ us, and use #WhiteCollarBingo. But, while we'll be doing our best to keep up, we're hoping there will be so many entries we'll lose track, so definitely tell us if you completed a bingo!

Q: Can I make one story/picture/video/etc. for the whole card? A: You may use as many prompts as you like in each entry, but only 2 prompts per line may be counted toward a bingo. (So you will need at least two entries to achieve a single bingo, and though we may have miscounted, we think that means at least ten entries to make a blackout.)

Q: Are crossovers allowed? A: Yes (and may even be a prompt!), but White Collar should obviously be prevalent in your work.

Q: How long do I have to complete my entries? A: We'll be issuing new cards each quarter (Jan-March, April-June, July-Sept, Oct-December), and in a perfect world, we'd like to receive entries within that quarter. But you know we've never been sticklers for schedules, and the point is to encourage more White Collar creations, so we'll be glad to get them whenever you finish.

Q: What do I win when I bingo? A: Bragging rights, and your name on our (soon to be created) bingo accomplishments page.

Q: What if there are some prompts I really don't want to use, but I want to try for blackout? A: We will provide a max of two alternate prompts. (This max does not apply if you're making non-written creations and somehow ended up with a card full of writing-centric prompts.)

Q: What if I just can't work with the card I receive at all? A: We'll exchange your card one time. Part of the fun is stretching our creative muscles.

Q: If I exchange my card, will any previous entries count toward bingo on my new card? A: Nope. It's a fresh slate, so examine your card when you get it to decide if it works for you.

Q: If I complete my card, can I have another? A: Yep, and we'd be very impressed! (and happy!)

Q: Where did these prompts come from? A: Many suggestions from our followers, and we've been hunting and gathering, too. But we want to have lots of variety as the year rolls along, so please keep those suggestions rolling in.

Q: Can something I made for another challenge count toward a bingo prompt/Can I submit my work to more than one collection or challenge? A: As long as it's new work, and if the other challenge doesn't ask for exclusivity, bring it on! And frankly, we'd love to see more White Collar activity in multi-fandom spaces. Also, we'll surely be hosting other events throughout the year (at least Mozzie Mania and Caffrey-Burke Day), and you can certainly use a bingo prompt for any of those challenges as well.

[putschki1969]

2024/07/30 Blog post by Wakana 明日締め切りです！！〜夏の強めの目覚ましビーム〜

❗This is Fan Club EXCLUSIVE content❗ ❗PERSONAL USE ONLY❗ ❗Do NOT SHARE on other sites❗ ❗Join her FAN CLUB! Check out my detailed TUTORIAL ❗

The Deadline Is Tomorrow!! ~Powerful Summer Wake-up Beam~

These days, it's hot every day… 😇How is everyone doing? During the summer, I run the air conditioner in my living room 24 hours a day. When I go to bed, I open the bedroom door a little to let the cool air from the living room flow into the bedroom…The gap in my door is perfectly in line with a small vertical window on the east side of my living room. Every morning without fail at around 5 o'clock, the strong morning sun hits my eyes like a laser beam. (I took this photo while half asleep) It's a very intense way to wake me up. This morning, I was woken up by the beam as usual.

Hello, this is Wakana (0￣▽￣0)／

Of course I'll go back to sleep. 😪💤I've been thinking about putting up some kind of blind on this small window, but every year, the summer ends without me putting anything on it 😂

Now, everyone!! The deadline for this month's podcast submissions for the episode on August 10th is tomorrow! ＼＼\٩( 'ω' )و //／／

The talk topics arte:

What kind of pillow do you use?

Anything you want to ask me♪

Please tell me about your pillow situation at home! Which kind do you find comfortable to sleep on? Do you even use a pillow? Or maybe you have a bunch of pillows? Or you could share a particular way of sleeping on a hot humid night! I'm just very curious about everyone's pillows! 😄And of course you can ask me anything you want once again so please don't hesitate to send your questions＼(^o^)／I'm waiting! ! ! ･:*+.(( °ω° ))/.:+

Click here to submit a message! ↓↓↓ https://wakana-fc.jp/answers/botanical_oshaberi_12/new

Everyone, please take care of your health and don't push yourself too hard! The other day I felt a bit squeamish when I was drying my hair with a hair dryer 😱 I think it was probably because it was too hot 😓Even though I was in a cool room with a fan on and keeping hydrated🥺 Your head can get overheated easily even if you are being careful🥺Don't forget to take precautions against heatstroke even when you're at home!

Until next time~☆( '▽')/

＊＊＊Wakana＊＊＊

2024/08/01 Instagram post by Wakana

Last month, I went to "Ghibli Park and Ghibli Exhibition" in Tokyo‼️(^o^) It was so much fun~😍 This has made me want to go to Ghibli Park even more ✨I'll definitely go someday…😳✨There were so many great photo spots, I had so much fun taking a ton of picutres😂Today I'll focus on the Totoro section💕 I was happy to see Totoro and the Cat Bus welcoming me at the entrance♡ The inside of the the Cat Bus was so fluffy🥰 They also had Satsuki and Mei's father's study room in display. I love the wobbly pillars😂

I got a Totoro and a little Totoro as souvenir☺️💓 I have a lot of other photos so I'll post them later~🌻(Source)

2024/08/04 Instagram post by Wakana

"Ghibli Park and Ghibli Exhibition" Photos Part 2!! 🥳🎉 Today's post is dedicated to Princess Mononoke 🐾 Here I am at the photo spot where you can ride on Yakul and Yamainu on a merry-go-round 📸They were both so cute and beautifully decorated…😍💕I brought along my San keychain, so I showed it to Yakul 🤗 (Yakul didn't seem particularly interested though) (Source)

2024/08/07 Instagram post by Wakana

"Ghibli Park and Ghibli Exhibition" Photos Part 3!!🥳🎉 Today is dedicated to Spirited Away 🐲🍙 I got to take some photos with No-Face😍💕 I was nervous…😳💓No-Face was pretty tall😳 It was bigger than I imagined and I thought "Wow"😳

I also visited Yubaba's room🤗I had a big smile on my face while imagining Yubaba saying to me, "From now on, your name is Waka! Okay, Waka!"😂I wasn't intimidated at all😂

Tomorrow I'll post a little summary of my adventures at "Ghibli Park and Ghibli Exhibition"!!🧚✨ (Source)

2024/08/08 Instagram post by Wakana

I'm worried about everyone in Kyushu after the earthquake that occurred this evening. I hear that there might be a wave of aftershocks and other earthquakes but I hope that the damage will not be too great. The expected epicenter area also includes the Kanto region so I will do my best to be prepared. Please be careful, everyone.

Yesterday I mentioned that I would upload a little summary of my Ghibli adventure so here it is☺️ These are the last photos from my visit to"Ghibli Park and Ghibli Exhibition"🥳🎉I was able to look at various exhibits but now, more than ever, I want to go to Ghibli Park soon🥺 That really sums up my feelings…!!🥺💓 It's like a dream to be able to actually experience those amazing stories in the real world✨I vowed to myself that I will definitely go to the park someday soon🧚Until then, I will continue to dream about that day! 😻🔥(Source)

[babumakeanart]

Here are some of my thoughts about Dragon age Veilguard. There is of course spoilers so read on your regard

I’m so excited we got another Dragon Age game! But do I adore Veilguard as much as the others in the series? Hard to say—I have very mixed feelings about it.

First of all, a lot of the lore we learned in earlier games feels erased or brushed aside here.

For instance, the choice of who drinks from the Veil of Sorrow seems diminished. Seeing Morrigan again wasn’t as thrilling as I’d hoped. Mostly, I kept asking, “Why are you here?” and “What do you mean you have Mythal in you?” She was relieved she didn’t drink from the Veil once she found out Mythal would control her if she did. And now, out of nowhere, she has that power anyway? Generally, I feel like previous choices don’t really matter. Everything feels so predetermined, even scripted, in terms of what will happen, what’s canon, and what isn’t. I get that BioWare had a lot of issues with this game’s development, especially shifting from multiplayer to single-player. But it still feels like many important choices from earlier games didn’t matter. For example, if Morrigan has a child with an archdemon’s soul in him, wouldn’t that mean—by the new lore—that the elven god bound with Urthemiel would still be alive? Didn’t the archdemons make the Evanuris immortal?

And while Rook is a fun and well-written character, I feel like the story should have continued with the Inquisitor. After all, we should get the chance to finish what they started. Even though it is said at the end of DA:I that Solas knows everything about us, the Inquisitor could still choose a new group to surprise him, but they should still lead them.

I did, however, love the ending for Solavellan. It brought closure, which was very very.. damn.. I cried. :’)

When it comes to our companions, I loved a lot of them—they’re all really cool. Yet I do have a few complaints that may be just my personal view but still. 

First, I’m not a fan of how Taash’s nonbinary identity was handled. As a nonbinary person myself, it felt somewhat disrespectful, as if it were written by someone who didn’t understand the experience. Initially, I was excited, but after reflecting, it started to irk me. I cant write all my thoughts well to say what all bothers me about it, other people put it much better into sentences than I would do so I am just leaving this.

I also wish there were more scenes to get to know these characters. There are a fair number of scenes, sure, but everyone seems overly friendly from the start and it didnt feel that they naturally get to know the main character, but that we already know each other for years. 

Despite the conflicts among some companions, there’s this vibe that everyone is just too nice. Does that make sense? Like, even during the Blight in Origins, some companions didn’t like each other and wouldn’t be buddy-buddy over a coffee date. In DA2, companions had strong beliefs that many times clashed, which made them unique. Veilguard feels too friendly—and not just the companions, but Rook and other NPCs as well.

Another minor issue: the romances are too short, which is sad. :(

But enough negativity! 

There’s still a ton of things I freaky love about Veilgaurd

The visuals! When first peek of this game came out I know some people didn’t like the look of it at all, but GOD is freaky stunning! The characters look great, with tons of little detail movements that make them feel alive. Mostly in expression.

 Every location you travel to is unique and beatutiful. I love running around just to take pictures. The cutscenes? Chef’s kiss. WOW

The fighting style was surprisingly enjoyable, too. I’d just finished DA:I

when Veilguard came out, so the adjustment took a minute, but I got into it quickly and ended up loving it. :)

And then, there’s SOLASSS. My poor man, my poor little egg—I love him, and I would die for him!

I loved all the companions’ personalities and stories. Just wish there was more of it.

Honestly, I cried multiple times during this game. :’D The ending was epic, the final battle gave me chills, and it was just...so cool! I could eat every pixel of these scnes.

One thing I would love to see: what would happen if you sided with Solas and tore down the veil. Even with different endings, the veil stays intact. I’d love to know what happens if it’s actually torn down. Would it end the world? Kill tons of people? Actaully realease the blight in full speed?

-

So far, that’s all I’ve got. I’m tired, and my brain’s fried, but I wanted to get my thoughts down. I know I wrote more criticisms than praise, but I really did enjoy the game. What did you all think? Because honestly, Veilguard has hyped me up to replay all the Dragon Age games again! And created all the ideas I have for my ocs in these games.