#p: fab four

[holybagelsstuff]

Jesus, how BIG is this family

[beatleswings]

OK, I'll get to finishing that one Major Circuit drawing I've been working on and off on! ;___;

[salemruinseverything]

killjoys dashboard simulator

0 notes

🎸 destroyasleftasscheek Follow

hey does anyone know what the fuck is up with that dr death defying dude. i swear that guy is either psychic or a spy how the fuck does he report on shit so fast

🪻 kaleidoscopeeyez Follow

he's the reincarnation of cecil palmer

🎸 destroyasleftasscheek Follow

who the fuck is cecil palmer

🎸 destroyasleftasscheek Follow

wgat the fuck is a podcast

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🪦 generationnothing Follow

does bli seriously have an account on here. girl this is the killjoy website

#delete later

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💉 idrinkbatteryacid Follow

🍭 candycosmos Follow

👾 coloradosunrisedotmp3 Follow

where's my "the fab four are fucking posers" option

🧟 unkillablez Follow

WHERE'S MY OPTION FOR THE FUCKING GIRL. also why am i losing

💉 idrinkbatteryacid Follow

FUN GHOUL?!

#you have a tumblr account???? #what the fuck hi #sorry you're losing man the people are thirsty for the venom sibs #i voted jet idk what they're on about

1.6k notes

👠 nightshadesdefender Follow

i feel like the only two pieces of pre-war media that fully survived to the modern day being yo gabba gabba and homestuck has given us an extremely distorted view of what life was like back then

👠 nightshadesdefender Follow

imagine if they were minimalists

945 notes

💥 themadgearandmissilekid Follow

hey do you guys know anywhere in zone six we can hold a show tomorrow night? vanny's burned down

💊 thisaintaparty Follow

i didn't do it

💥 themadgearandmissilekid Follow

i'm never selling you a single ticket ever again

54 notes

👻 tryingnottothinkabtit Follow

aye can i get uh......... actual fucking food

💫 unnaturaldisaster Follow

power pup?

💫 unnaturaldisaster Follow

you want power pup?

💫 unnaturaldisaster Follow

you want fucking power pup?

👻 tryingnottothinkabtit Follow

ingredience

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🙂 betterlivingindustries Follow

This is the official account of Better Living Industries™.

Have a Better Day!™

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K

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U

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can anyone fucking hear me

[moonchild9350]

Sign the Dotted Line (Chapter Four)

Summary: Minho is at your apartment as it seems like he wants to put the past behind both of you. However, are you both truly out of rocky waters?

Pairing: idol Minho x fab reader

Genre: angst, smut-18+ MDNI

Word Count: 5.0k

Warnings: oral sex (m and f receiving), p in v penetration, creampie, spanking, dirty talk, mention of breeding, subspace, just mean Minho

Notes: We have reached the climax of the story so to say and um I apologize in advance for what's about to come. This chapter is definitely a rollercoaster of emotions. Let me know what you think-my inbox is open!

Likes, reblogs, and comments appreciated.

New chapters posted on Saturdays at 1pm CST!

Series Summary: You are living an ordinary life until one day you come across a notice from your favorite band Stray Kids, that the company is looking for a girlfriend for one of it's members Lee Minho. Thinking you have nothing else to lose, you apply. This one action causes your life to change forever.

Series Masterlist

Please do not copy, translate, modify, use, or report this work elsewhere without my permission. ©moonchild9350 (2024)

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Minho smiled at you, his bunny teeth peaking out from behind his lips. He was proud of you, as you obeyed his commands. He tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear, watching as you leaned your head into his touch. He pressed a kiss to your lips before nipping at your bottom lip. He has you right where he wants you.

“Wanna show me to your room?” Minho asked.

You nodded your head and shuffled off his lap. Minho got up after you and followed you to your bedroom. You watched as he looked around your room, his eyes taking in the surroundings before landing on the bed. You were no virgin and yet here you were nervous. Minho made you feel like a school girl again, a feeling you definitely hadn’t felt in a long time.

Minho walked over to you and reached for the hem of your shirt, his eyes searching yours for permission. You gave a small nod of your head. He began to lift the shirt up and over your head, tossing it to the floor. His eyes roamed up your body, a smirk on his face.

“You’re beautiful baby. And you’re all mine,” Minho said as he pushed you onto the bed. You laid there, watching him as he stared down at you.

“Whose are you baby?” He asked.

“Yo..yours,” you stuttered, clenching your thighs together at his possessiveness. You’re not sure what is happening as you’re not usually this obedient, especially in bed, but something about Minho just makes you want to fall to your knees and worship the ground he walks on. You want him, no you need him, and you’ll do anything he tells you to make it happen.

Minho watched you, lust in his eyes, his cock hard, and his brain going haywire. He’s never felt this way about a person, the overwhelming need to claim you as his own.

“Damn straight you are,” he said as he stripped himself of his shirt and sweats.

He stood before you in only his boxers. He watched as you propped yourself up on your elbows, taking him in, licking your lips as your eyes lingered on his bulge. He smirked at you, walking closer to the edge of the bed.

“Want to show me what a good girl you are?” He asked, lifting your chin with his fingers so you could look him in the eyes.

You nodded your head, “yes Minho, want to show you.”

He hummed at your response, you were learning fast on how to respond to him.

“Take out my cock and suck it baby.”

You swallowed before reaching your hand into his boxers, gripping the hard appendage. He felt heavy in your hand. You swiped your finger over the slit, spreading the pre-cum around the tip. You looked up into Minho’s eyes, fluttering your lashes as you gazed into his brown orbs . You watched as he bit his lip, as you pushed his boxers down, Minho stepping out of them and kicking them to the side.

You grabbed his cock, stroking the shaft a few times before placing a kiss on the head. Minho shivered, letting out a shaky breath.

“Spit on it baby, go on,” Minho said.

Spitting on the head, you pumped your hand a few more times before wrapping your lips around the tip. You suckled the tip, pressing your tongue into the slit, tasting the precum leaking from tip. You moaned at the salty taste, the vibration causing his cock to twitch in your mouth. You released his cock from your mouth with a pop before running your tongue from the base back up to the head. Minho let out a groan, as he grabbed your head and pushed you forward so you could take more of him. You felt the tip of his cock kiss the back of your throat, causing you to gag, as tears formed in your eyes.

Minho picked up the pace, guiding your head, as he fucked your face. He let us head fall back as his let out a grunt. Your mouth felt amazing, nice and warm around his cock. He looked down at you, watching the tears fall down your face which each thrust of his hips, your pretty pink lips wrapped around his length. He loved watching you eyes flutter close and then open to look at him with such need. God you were beautiful on your knees taking everything he gave you. He loved the mess, watching as spit dribbled from your mouth and down your chest.

“Fuck baby, your mouth,” Minho groaned out, increasing his pace as he slammed his hips into your face.

The sounds coming from your mouth was beyond his wildest dreams as you took him. He could have said he loved you in that moment. Thank goodness he didn’t though, thinking with his brain instead of his cock. He quickened his pace, slamming you into pelvis, watching you take his dick to the hilt like a good girl. He felt close, the feel of your wet, warm mouth around him too much to take.

“Gonna cum baby,” he groaned.

You moaned around his length, letting him know you heard him. You stilled and just let him use your mouth. Tears continued to fall from your eyes as you tried your best to look Minho in the eyes.

You wanted to watch him fall apart, this beautiful man in front of you. He looked lost in pleasure, as he fucked your mouth, his moans getting louder and louder. He snapped his hips a few more times before stilling, rope after rope of his hot cum hitting the back of your throat.

Minho let out a shaky breath as he pulled his softening dick from your mouth. He tilted your head up, looking down at your ruined face. What a sight he was greeted with, as you had dried tears on your cheeks, with fresh tears welling in the corners of your eyes. your lips were wet with spit, some of it dribbling down your chin.

He smiled at you and then said, “open up, let me see my cum on your tongue baby.”

You opened your mouth, letting Minho see his release. He stroked your cheek at your obedience, as you leaned into his touch.

“Now swallow every drop,” Minho commanded, watching as your closed your mouth and swallowed. You opened wide afterwards to show him you did what he asked, a smile on his face as he watched.

“Lay back baby, spread your legs for me.”

You did as he said, laying on your back and spreading your legs, your pussy on display drenched with your slick. Minho’s eyes were trained at your core, as he kneeled down and pulled you closer to him. He spread your folds before licking a stripe from your entrance to your clit, as you mewled out at the sensation. Minho pulled your clit into his mouth, rolling the bud around his tongue before giving you kitten licks. His mouth felt amazing, as he made out with your pussy, spit and arousal dripping down your folds and onto your sheets below. You started to lift your hips up and down, riding his face as he brought his tongue to your entrance, pushing the muscle into your wet walls.

You were getting close. You were getting close? Before you knew it, you exploded on his tongue, the feeling of your release spreading throughout your body. You wrapped your legs around his face and grabbed Minho’s head, as you ground your pussy against his face, riding out your high. As you came down, you loosened your hold, letting out deep breaths. You have never came that fast from a man eating you out. You were shocked that you did, as you felt on cloud nine.

Minho lifted his head and stood up as he wiped his lips. You watched as he manhandled you onto your hands and knees and pushed your face into the sheets. God he loved your ass, he thought as he fondled the flesh, giving it a slap as he watched the flesh jiggle. He stroked his cock a few times, running it through your folds, coating it in your slick.

“Ready for me baby?” He asked.

You whined out at his question as you were more than ready. You felt another slap on your ass, causing you to whimper at the sting.

“Answer me, brat,” Minho sneered. He listened to your whines and whimpers, the sounds music to his ears. “Do you want my dick baby? Yes or no, it’s not that hard.”

You let out a loud whine before whimpering out, “yes Minho! I want your dick. Please give me you dick, please please,” the last words getting softer as your whimpered.

You felt tears fall from your eyes once more. Never have you felt so small, so little in a man’s hands. The thing about it was you enjoyed it, you craved it, wanted Minho to put you in your place. You were his after all, at his mercy. You could hear him behind you, breathing in and out, the occasional squelch as he stroked his cock. You waited and waited until you felt his tip breach your entrance. He slammed into you, the stretch being a little much, as Minho was bigger than you’ve ever had, but the pain as he evaded your little hole felt more than good. You let out a loud moan as he bottomed out to the hilt. He didn’t let you adjust, and instead he pulled out and slammed back in, your eyes rolled to the back of your head.

Minho began to fuck you in earnest, as he slammed his hips into you. He felt himself slipping as he got lost in the feel of your walls wrapped around his cock. You were perfect, your walls sucking him in with each thrust. He gripped your hips harder, pounding into you, harder and harder, your cries getting louder and louder. He’s sure the neighbors will know his name by the end of the night, not that he cares.

“You’re so tight. This pussy feels too good. Fuck” Minho breathed out, focusing on your walls stretching around his cock. He wasn’t going to last long and judging by the way you were clenching around him and babbling, you won’t either.

“Gonna cum, baby. Gonna fill you up, breed this pussy. It’s mine, all mine. Right?”

Minho sped up the thrusts of his hips, desperate to reach his high and unload into you. He was going to give it all to you, he wanted it to take. That way you would have his babies, no one would dare question who you belonged to then.

You were a babbling mess, feeling like you were floating as Minho abused your pussy. You tried to focus on what Minho was saying, but you couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, as you felt the pressure in your belly build and build. Minho was fucking you so good, your body being thrusted upwards with each thrust. You closed your eyes to succumb to the pleasure when you felt a sharp sting on your ass. You yelped, surprised by the sudden act.

“What the fuck did I say? You answer me when I ask you a question, or are you so dumb you can't answer me,” Minho said, his hips never slowing down. His hand landed on your ass again and again, until the flesh was red.

You cried out with each smack. You quickly thought back to what Minho asked you, not sure if you’d remember as your brain felt all fuzzy. After a minute, it clicked.

“Yes! Yes! I’m yours Minho. Breed me, give me your cum.”

Minho smiled, satisfied with your answer. His hand came down once more on your ass. He listened as you let out a wail, your pussy spasming around his dick as you came, a steady stream of your arousal gushing out of your pussy and onto him, the sheets, your thighs. Watching you fall apart beneath him triggered his release as he snapped his hips into yours once more before stiliing, his cum spurting out and painting your walls white.

You both stayed in that position for a little before Minho slowly pulled out. You whimpered at the loss, as you felt his cum drip down your thighs. You let out little cries, as you attempted to come down, your mind a jumbled mess. Minho was quick to notice and took you into his arms, cradling you to his chest.

“You did so good for me baby,” he cooed, brushing your hair and tears from your face. “Come back to me now.”

It took a moment, your breathing coming back to normal, little hiccups wrecking through your body. After a while you looked up into his eyes, noticing concern laced throughout his face. You braced yourself as he raised his hand, only to bring it to your face to wipe more of your tears away.

“Are you ok?” He asked gently.

“I’m ok,” you whispered.

He smiled at you before laying you back down on the bed. “I’ll be back ok?” Minho said. You watched as he walked to your bathroom. You heard water running and then Minho was walking back into your room. He had a warm washcloth with him. He carefully wiped you down, wiping all of the fluids off your body. He tossed the towel in your hamper before picking you up and laying you down under the covers. He followed suit and wrapped his arms around you.

“Was I too rough with you?” Minho whispered, as his hands drifted through your hair.

You shook your head no. He searched your face, making sure you were truly ok. Seeing that you were, he pulled you closer. “Let’s get some sleep ok?”

You nodded your head, closing your eyes as you listened to the rhythm of his heart. You would be sore in the morning, that you knew, but you honestly didn’t mind. You and Minho had finally made progress in your relationship. You’ll be honest in thinking it was nothing like you expected, but you weren’t complaining. You loved the possessive side of him. You hoped things will last, finally feeling completely happy since you got to Korea.

The next morning, you felt something tickling your neck. You tried to brush it off but the feeling remained. Opening your eyes, you found Minho fast asleep next to you, his breath fanning out onto your neck being the culprit of waking you up from your slumber.

You took a moment to look at Minho and study his features. He looked peaceful while sleeping, his eyes fluttering as he slept. His hair fanned across his face, the locks making him look gentle and sweet. You were so lost in your reverie that you hadn’t noticed Minho had woken up.

“What are you looking at?” He said, a smirk on his face.

You blushed as he said this, embarrassed that you got caught. You averted your eyes and tried to move away, but Minho just pulled you closer to his chest.

“Don’t leave. You can look as much as you want. I’m your boyfriend right?”

You shivered at the term as you snuggled closer. You felt at home in his arms, never wanting to leave. However, all good things must come to an end as Minho’s alarm went off. He sighed and reached for his phone turning the alarm off.

“I have to go, gotta get ready for schedule today. Will you be coming to the building?”

“Not until later. I have work first.”

Minho hummed at your response as he gave you a peck on your head and got up. You watched as he padded his way to the bathroom, his lean muscles flexing with each step he took. Your boyfriend was damn good looking. You couldn’t help but smile at the thought.

You got up as well, stretching as you got out of bed. After getting dressed, you made your way to the kitchen to get started on making coffee. As you were measuring out the grounds, you felt Minho’s arms wrap around your waist, pulling you close to his body. He buried his head in your hair, holding you close.

“I’ll see you later ok?” He said, pressing soft kisses to your neck.

You nodded your head and turned slightly to look him in the eyes. His brown eyes stared back at you until he leaned forward to press a kiss to your lips. You sighed at the kiss, feeling his lips upturn in a smirk at the sound. Giving you a squeeze, he dropped his arms and walked to the door, pulling his shoes on before leaving.

You stood there in the kitchen, in a daze as the last night replayed in your head. You could barely believe it, and if it wasn’t for the ache between your legs, you would say you were dreaming. Shaking your head, you went back to your task, as you had to get ready for work so as not be late. You couldn’t wait for this afternoon, so you could see Minho again.

Your day went by quickly, as it was a busy day. It was a hot day so people kept coming in to cool off and of course order drinks. You were exhausted come the end of your shift, your back and shoulders aching. It didn’t help that your boss made you stay overtime to help with the afternoon rush.

Once six o’clock rolled around, you clocked out and said your goodbyes, happy to be leaving. You were off for the next 3 days, so you’d be able to rest. You made up a box of goodies, as a surprise for the boys. You had picked out a bunch of assorted pastries that you knew they would love.

You made your way towards the building, practically skipping, excited to see Minho. You were constantly reminded of your night together all day as the soreness between your legs had yet to disappear. It had been a long time since you were happy to meet with the boys. Of course you always were excited to see the others, but usually Minho’s mood dampened your enthusiasm.

Once your arrived, you took the elevator up to the practice rooms and made your way down the halls until you got to the room Stray Kids was in. Opening the door, you were met with the scene of the boys in a pile, poor Jeongin at the bottom. He was squealing and trying to push his hyungs off him, but to no avail. You gigged at the scene, the love they had for each other was inspiring and cute. At the sound of your giggle, all eight heads looked your way.

“Y/n!” Jisung yelled, disentangling himself from the others and running to pull you into a hug.

You laughed at Jisung’s enthusiasm, as you gave him a one handed hug. “Nice to see you Ji,” you said, trying not to drop the box of pastries. Jisung let you go and looked down at your hands.

“Is that for us?” Jisung asked as he looked at you with hope in his eyes. You nodded your head and set the box of pastries down on the nearby table.

“I thought you guys would need a treat after working so hard today.”

All of them rushed to the box, opening it up to see what was there. You watched as they fought over who would get what, a smile on your face. After everyone picked out their treat, they all sat down to eat, silence falling over the practice room as they stuffed their faces.

“Thanks y/n,” Chan said as he nibbled on his croissant.

You nodded your head and went to sit next to Minho who was sitting on the couch. He looked startled, his eyes growing wide as you scooted closer to him. Minho gave you a look, one you hadn’t seen in awhile, as he watched you get as close as you could to him. He scooted away from you, squeezing himself next to Hyunjin who grumbled at being disturbed from eating his pastry. You were confused as to why he moved away and not understanding why he looked at you that way.

The boys sitting on the floor saw the interaction, confusion on their faces as well. They thought you two had been getting along much better recently. Minho was over the moon this morning. They knew something happened between you two as Felix, Seungmin, and Jeongin revealed he never came home last night after taking a walk. Guess they were wrong.

You sat there slightly hurt, not sure why Minho tried to get away from you. Surely you were over this little feud that has been going on since you arrived. His attitude seemed to change over the last week or so, his emotions being more docile. The man was railing you within an inch of your life last night after all. Where was sweet Minho or hell even possessive Minho? You twiddled your thumbs, listening to the boys chatter, your eyes dashing to Minho every now and then. He interacted normally with the others, no hint of malice in his tone.

Everytime you said something, answering one of the boys questions or just talking with them, Minho would glare at you, pure annoyance on his face. Eventually, you just stopped talking altogether, as you felt hurt at his reactions towards you.

Soon they had to get back to practice, everyone standing up, brushing crumbs off their pants. Many of the boys left the room for bathroom breaks before getting started. Felix and Hyunjin remained, seated on the couches talking to each other, while Minho walked over to his bag near the stereo .

Should you approach him now? Practice was just starting back. You definitely didn’t want to interrupt practice, souring the room with your concerns. However, you didn’t want to ignore what has happened. You decided to wait, watching as the others made their way back in, ready to get back to practice.

Practice went on without a hitch. You watched as they messed around, having a great time. You specifically watched Minho and how he interacted with the others. He was laughing and chatting, his mood a complete 180 from before. You laughed and interacted with the others, but your mind was preoccupied, your brain just wouldn't turn off.

Chan came up to you, plopping down on the couch next to you. You leaned your head against his shoulder, letting out a breath. You felt exhausted, as they day caught up to you. You nuzzled your head further into Chan's shoulder, feeling comfortable, the tension in your body slowly ebbing away.

“What’s wrong y/n?” Chan asked, concern on his face.

“It’s nothing,” you said as you closed your eyes. “Just tired.”

Chan hummed. “I feel ya. We’re about done anyway. You can go home if you want.”

You shook your head, “no I need to talk to Minho.”

Chan looked at you and sighed. He knew this wasn’t going to end well, or maybe it would. Time would only tell.

Minho stood in the corner, chatting with Seungmin. He looked your way, shock crossing his face as he saw you lean your head on Chan’s shoulder. You seemed pretty comfortable, even briefly closing your eyes. He felt heat rise in his body, the feeling traveling up his legs, chest, and face, his ears turning red. He was furious. Why was he furious? He shouldn’t be. It’s Chan. Your his girlfriend. He claimed you last night. So why the fuck were you seeking comfort with another man, even if it was another one of the members. He turned his attention back to Seungmin finishing their discussion about a particular move they learned today at practice. He could think about this later.

Practice was over, everyone gathering their bags. Most of the boys left except for Hyunjin, Felix, and Jisung, as they hung around to talk and probably wait for Minho. Minho himself was packing up his bag, his back turned to you. You thought it’s now or never as you got up from the couch. You walked over to Minho, your heart pounding in your chest.

“Um Minho?” You shyly asked, not sure how he would react.

Minho turned to you, his eyes narrowed. He stayed silent as he just stared at you. You guess he wasn’t going to say anything so you went ahead and spoke first.

“Is something wrong? You um…you haven’t spoken to me all day and you’ve been uhh kinda ignoring me,” you said, rocking on your heels as you spoke.

Minho looked at you a moment , studying your face. He could see the turmoil behind your eyes. You were probably confused. Hell he was confused.

Of course, instead of taking it in stride and just answering you truthfully, he blurted out, “why would I need to speak to you?”

There was malice in his tone, which he never used with you. You were taken aback at his question and reaction, your eyes widening. What did he mean why did he need to speak to you, let alone just treat you like a human being? You were his girlfriend. You could feel your heart race faster, as the anger welled up in you and felt like a weight crushing your chest.

Taking a breath, you said, “I thought we were pass this? We were fine the last few days, not too mention last night. Did that mean anything to you?

At the mention of last night, Minho’s faced turned red. He knew you would mention that. He was kicking himself for being vulnerable with you then, not keeping up with the nonchalant facade.

He straightened up and looked you right in the eyes as he contemplated what to say next. Minho loved your eyes, especially when they were on him and only him, but now they were filled with hurt, confusion, and pain.

Getting caught up in his emotions he before said, “Listen closely y/n, leave me alone. Don’t talk to me, don’t touch me, don’t even look at me, unless it’s for an event. I think it’s for the best.”

You took a step back, nearly tripping over your feet. You could feel tears welling in your eyes. You tried to hold them back, wanting to appear strong in front of Minho. Felix, Hyunjin, and Jisung heard Minho’s outburst and looked over, shock on their faces.

What the fuck was Minho’s problem? You were getting real tired of his back and forth emotions, one day treating you like you were his everything and the next like you didn’t even exist. It was confusing as hell and what he just said hurt you. Did he think he could just use you or play with your emotions like this?

No, you weren’t going to let him win. You wiped the tears from your eyes and squaring your shoulders, you looked Minho in his eyes, not wanting to show fear.

“Fuck you Minho,” you said. “I’m not sure what I did to you, but I’m tired of this. One day you’re nice and sweet and other days you’re like this, a totally different person, a toxic person to be honest. Frankly, I’m getting tired of it. I don’t appreciate being used. I’m sick of your shit.”

You were seeing red, your emotions running high. You felt dizzy, not realizing you were holding your breath, the anger boiling within you. You clenched your fists, holding them at your side. You needed to get out of here before you did or said something you would regret.

The other boys were retuning, cautiously making their way into the room after the others didn’t make it to the car. They looked between the two of you, the tension palpable in the room. No one dared say a word, or breath for that matter.

Minho looked at you for a moment. He was shocked at your outburst. You had your claws out and you were ready to strike. Why did that turn him on? He liked watching you fight, try to reason with him. He liked watching you squirm. He knew he was about to fuck up your relationship as usual.

“Like I said before y/n, leave me alone. You’re only here because the company wanted you here, don’t think there’s something between us, because there’s not. Last not meant nothing. If you don’t like me then leave.”

Shit, he didn’t mean to say that. The words just kept coming, fueled by his jealousy and annoyance from the day. There’s no way you’ll just accept what he said, he couldn’t blame you. You had a look of pure hatred on your face, one in which made him shiver slightly.

You couldn’t believe his words. He wanted you to leave. Wow, what an asshole. You knew things were too good to be true. Maybe you should go, find someway to get out of this toxic situation. You haven’t been truly happy for a while, the happiness from last night was definitely short lived.

Gathering the last of your courage, your fists clenching and unclenching at your side, you said, “you don’t need me? Fine you get your wish. I’m sure your manager can help me get out of this contract cause I’m done.”

You turned on your heels and marched toward the door, past the boys shocked faces. You tried not to look at them, knowing that if you did you would burst into tears and you did not want to show that type of weakness in front of Minho…not anymore at least.

Minho couldn’t stop himself as he called after you, “good! Hope it works out so I don’t have to see your face anymore!”

The boys looked at Minho. They couldn’t believe what they were witnessing. Were things really that bad? Surely Minho didn’t mean what he said. But it seemed he did as Minho did not try to run after you. He just stood there and watched, his chest rising and falling in anger, his face red from the argument.

They watched as you reached the door and paused with your hand on the door knob. You didn’t turn around but lifted your left hand, flicking off Minho before saying your last words.

“Fuck you Minho.”

They watched as you opened the door and walked out, the door slamming behind you. They all looked at each other, horrified looks on their faces before they all collectively looked at Minho. This was not good and they doubt Minho could fix it.

Your relationship may have been damaged beyond repair.

Taglist: @jehhskz @jeonginsleftcheek @thesilvernight0wl @armystay89 @palindrome969 @slut4hee @ivydoesit23 @amarecerasus @kaysungshine @artemisdoe @emily21morgan @athforskz @jazziwritesthings @imperfectlyperfectprincess1 @jisunglyricist @tsunderelino @hyuneyeon @sillyhal @queenmea604

[celaenaeiln]

Do you think we can have your thoughts on Dick and Roy's friendship?

Please and Thank You 😄

ABSOLUTELY!!!

Of course Hummingbird!

This post has a little bit of detail but they sooo need to be explored.

The story begins as...

Off-screen narrator: "The four nations lived together in harmony... Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked."

Dick, Donna, Wally, and Garth: IT WAS ROY!

Roy, smirking: heh. You losers. I made you cool ;p

And it so was like that! Especially with Dick and Roy because Dick was the leader of the team at that time. Dick thought he was having the time of life, everything was going perfectly according to plan, life was beautiful- then Roy happened.

Roy and his chaotic, unfiltered opinions, and his general "rules are suggestions" vibe.

And life was never the same for him again.

Roy and Dick's friendship is so funny because it's like introducing a private-schooled, straight A, class leader, well-behaved academy prep student to a rebel in a black leather jacket, public-school skipping punk but about as 1940s as you can make it.

Wait, okay, so for everyone missing the joke- Roy wasn't part of the original teen titans when they were formed. When they were FIRST formed, it was Dick, Donna, Wally, and Garth.

Teen Titans: The Silver Age TPB 1 (part 1 page 58)

And they had a couple adventures and life was just swell. It was on one innocuous day that Dick and the rest of the Titan's lives changed forever.

Teen Titans: The Silver Age TPB 1 (part 2 page 65)

And they solve a case together and they start teaming up more frequently

Teen Titans: The Silver Age TPB 1 (part 4 page 34)

And so the fab four...became the fab five(some). I don't why the writers felt like writing "fivesome" instead of five. Maybe different sayings back then?

Anyway, all of them were best friends and got along fantastically but Dick and Roy's relationship was so fun to read because it was INFUSED with bits back and forth dialogue.

Teen Titans: The Silver Age TPB 1 (part 4 page 44)

And they had some good times but remember what I said in the beginning about bad boy rebel meeting a straight A prep kid? This is where it really takes off between them-

Teen Titans: The Silver Age TPB 1 (part 2 page 81)

Teen Titans: The Silver Age TPB 1 (part 2 page 98)

AND THIS, THIS IS WHERE THEIR STORY BEGINS

This is the dynamic comics writer choose to continue on which is a competitive back and forth between Dick and Roy. Or rather, a dynamic in which Roy competes with Dick in the form of both a mini-rebellion and yet one of the best partnerships.

Teen Titans: The Silver Age TPB 1 (part 2 page 100)

Teen Titans: The Silver Age TPB 1 (part 1 page 1)

Haha!

And so this dynamic has continued. They fight, they have fun and they often do both at the same time. They've been doing this since they were kids so as time went on, theis just kept evolving and growing deeper which is the reason why Dick and Roy are so close - it's because they're fighting marks their relationship and it's wholly respectable because it's done entirely out of love and affection and a deep trust in each other.

Of course it's weird to see two grown men fighting like kids - even Kori says it-

Outsiders (2003) Issue #20

Well, yeah. They act exactly like that because that's how they acted since they were 12 years old! Nothing's changed! Honestly we should be the ones getting a best friend like that. Some people get all the luck in the world (Aka Dick and Roy)

They found each and clicked in a way that says "I love you but we're men and I'm gonna show you how men love"

Gosh Dick and Roy are so much fun. The two of them are like two grown men coparenting a group of kids but have no idea how to do it because both of them are too stubborn.

They love the heck out of each other but they also drive each other up a wall and it's freaking funny to watch because here's the thing-

Roy loves Dick. He loves the man like crazy and it bothers the hell out of him when Dick defers to Bruce because Roy idolizes Dick.

Take this moment for example

Arsenal Issue #2

Roy had a fight, he won but he sort of lost and got locked up and Connor comes to save him. Roy's first thoughts?

Arsenal Issue #2

ITS LITERALLY DICK!! LIKE DICK ISN'T EVEN HERE AND ROY IS LOSING HIS MIND OVER DICK!

He just obsesses over Dick sometimes. Not in the weird intense kind of way that Bruce does, but they both just have him on their minds all the time for no freaking reason.

No joke, Roy'll be having a completely normal conversation with someone and then-OUT OF NOWHERE- he'll just name drop Dick! The arsenal comic is one example but another

Green Arrow (2001) Issue #32

Arsenal Issue #4

Dick, Dick, Dick.

But this kind of love is strong. Because even when they've fought, Dick has been with Roy through EVERYTHING. He didn't abandon Roy for one second.

He put Roy in rehab when Ollie left him and he was struggling with drugs, he was there for Lian when roy was a single father, he was there for Roy when Roy asked Dick to come with him to fight Jade-

Action Comics (1938) Issue #613

He was there for Roy when Roy was struggling mentally, he was there for Roy when Lian was taken by a s*x trafficker-

Really, Dick was there with Roy through everything.

And Roy has been there with him all along too

Roy was there when Dick was losing his mind during the Titans, he was there when Donna died and Dick was falling apart, He was there when Dick was settling into Bludhaven-

These two have been through the toughest of hells together. Dick and roy struggle because they love each other but they refuse to let the other suffer alone and they fight because they don't want to bring anyone else into their suffering. But that doesn't mean they'd want anyone else by their side

Outsiders (2003) Issue #11

They have a reallyyy good relationship

The New Teen Titans (1980) Issue #27

And hey no matter how much they fight or what crisis they're in-

[the-conversation-pod]

Pulpmania: We Are and Knock Knock, Boys!

AND WE'RE BACK!

Join us this week as we discuss the nature and definition of a BL pulp, their role in the industry, and a comparison between two recent projects. We're joined by long-time fandom watcher @twig-tea to discuss We Are and Knock Knock, Boys!

Timestamps

The timestamps will now correspond with chapters on Spotify for easier navigation.

00:00:00 - Welcome 00:01:15 - Introduction 00:05:56 – We Are: The Branded Pairs 00:14:37 – We Are: A Rorschach Test of a Show 00:30:47 – We Are: Final Thoughts and Ratings 00:38:21 – Knock Knock, Boys! 00:48:39 – Knock Knock, Boys!: Sex Positivity 00:55:51 – Knock Knock, Boys!: Our Fab Four (and Jane) 01:09:58 – Knock Knock, Boys!: Final Thoughts and Ratings 01:14:54 – Importance of Pulps as Labs

The Conversation Transcripts!

Thanks to the continued efforts of @lurkingshan as an editor and proofreader, we are able to bring you transcripts of the episodes.

We will endeavor to make the transcripts available when the episodes launch, and it is our goal to make them available for past episodes (Coming soon thanks to @wen-kexing-apologist). When transcripts are available, we will attach them to the episode post (like this one) and put the transcript behind a Read More cut to cut down on scrolling.

Please send our volunteers your thanks!

00:00 – Welcome

NiNi

Welcome to The Conversation About BL, aka The Brown Liquor Podcast.

Ben

And there it is. I’m Ben.

NiNi

I’m NiNi.

Ben

And we’re you’re drunk Caribbean uncle and auntie here sitting on the porch in the rocking chairs.

NiNi

Four times a year we pop in to talk about what’s going on in the BL world.

Ben

We shoot the shit about stories and all the drama going into them. I review from a queer media lens.

NiNi

And I review from a romance and drama lens.

Ben

So if you like cracked-out takes and really intense emotional analysis…

NiNi

If you like talking about artistry, industry, and the discourse…

Ben

And if you generally just love simping…

NiNi

There is a lot of simping on this podcast…

Ben

We are the show for you!

01:15 – Introduction

Ben 

And we're back. This week we have brought our good friend @twig-tea back with us. Say hello, Twig.

Twig 

Hi everyone!

Ben 

Twig, who has watched way too many shows—far more than me—is joining us to talk about two pulps this week. We're gonna be talking about We Are the series from GMMTV and Knock Knock, Boys! from WeTV.

Before we get into that, I think it'll be very beneficial for us to set a baseline on what a pulp is. Twig, you've watched over 600 BLs. How would you describe a pulp, considering most BL is basically indie cinema?

Twig 

One of the things that's characteristic of a pulp is normally low production values and formulaic plots; but formulaic plots, you could argue, is kind of one of the defining features of BL. So, when I think about what a pulp is in the BL space, I'm usually thinking about particularly inferior writing, sensationalist beyond the normal level of unrealistic storylines, racy, and anything that's, like, particularly cheap-looking or feeling.

Ben 

I feel like a lot of the times we're using pulp as a way to—maybe not intentionally—but it ends up being like a derisive way to refer to a project. And for me, if I'm describing something as a pulp, I'm talking about something that felt like it was very quickly produced to turn money—where it doesn't feel like there were a lot of people in the room who are overly concerned about individual choices that went down in the production and how they contributed to a whole. You can feel, sometimes, that different groups worked on different parts of a project, ‘cause some parts of it work really well, but maybe don't connect to others.

NiNi 

So, I have not watched 600 BLs. But my definition of a pulp, I'm thinking lower production values. But to me, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think that when you are looking at a piece of work that doesn't have a lot of budget, it can bring out some really interesting things in the production depending on how creative people can get. And I think that's a good way to look at it going into these two in particular, because on the one hand, you've got a pulp that probably did spend quite a little bit of money. And on the other hand, you have a pulp that clearly didn't have a lot of money to spend, but used its money well. So to me, the low budget aspect, or the minimal production aspect of things, doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing.

Twig 

Yeah, I completely agree with that. I think the characteristics of a pulp are about how it feels, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's bad. I feel like people use the word ‘pulp’ whenever they just mean that a show is bad, and that's not the same thing.

NiNi 

I don't watch nearly as much as you guys. What are some of your top pulps? What are some of the pulps that you'll always watch?

Ben 

Make It Right, every time.

Twig 

Yes! Cosigned.

NiNi 

That is a great one.

Ben 

Despite our impending conversation, I still feel very positively about Make It Right.

NiNi 

What about you, Twig?

Twig 

I wasn't ready for this question and I always take forever to answer a ‘favorites’ question. So, I will say my favorite one that I've seen recently, the one that I still think about every so often after watching it, was Lady Boyfriends. I talked about it in the last season’s Grab Bag episode. It was a remake from 2014, and it has a lot of problems, but it's still doing a lot of really interesting things.

NiNi 

My favorite pulp is always gonna be Love By Chance. Love by Chance is extremely problematic in a lot of ways, but it's got a lotta heart to it.

Ben 

So much New Siwaj references in a lot of this. I think my other one will probably be... probably Rainbow Prince.

Twig 

Ahh Rainbow Prince is so good! See, Ben's actually naming good shows, I'm just naming weird shows. [Ben laughs]

NiNi 

I always tread lightly when Rainbow Prince is brought up on the show, because I still have not finished watching it and Ben will not let me rest until I finish watching it. 

Ben 

That is much to your chagrin.

NiNi 

And he is correct. I just gotta find the time.

Ben

Mm mm.

All right, so let's stop dancing around this thing. Let's dive into it.

05:56 – We Are: The Branded Pairs

NiNi

We'll start by talking about We Are. Ben, break it down for us. What is We Are about?

Ben 

We Are the series is about how GMMTV can make so much money by just putting boys that people like in front of you in an almost plotless device for 16 weeks. 

We Are the series is about a group of college students who are in two different schools that are vaguely connected to each other by one person in common. Through a series of interactions two of them come into conflict-slash-flirtation immediately between an art student and an engineer. Other guys have crushes on each other. And much of the show is about the slow matriculation of these crushes through the BL TikTok filter.

NiNi 

What is the BL TikTok filter?

Ben 

It's the fact that all of the sequences are filmed with the boys as close to each other in the center frame so they fit on a vertical phone for the quick hits on TikTok.

NiNi 

[sing song voice] The more you know.

Ben 

Well, it's about virality. The head of GMMTV has said that they no longer care about ratings. What they care about is virality. They care about hitting those kilig moments to make sure that you get all the butterflies you wanna feel. And they're going to blast that moment into socials so that it goes viral—the same way the gifmakers on Tumblr are going to rush to gif the most BL moment of the episode so that they can be first to get the notes—it’s the same thing that GMMTV is doing. As soon as that episode ends, they're gonna be on YouTube with the highlights and they're gonna be on TikTok and Instagram with the short reel so that those can go viral and get pushed out and they can draw more viewers to their socials to gain more advertising dollars as a result. And to maximize that on the thin frame of the vertical screen, almost all of your big BL moments now are gonna be filmed like you're watching a TV show from the 1960s and we're still on 4 by 3 screens again because the frame is so narrow on a phone.

NiNi 

I am not of the social media generation, so it's always fascinating to hear how this stuff has moved on while I have ignored it. [laughs]

So, let's get into the show itself. So, as Ben intimated, this is a show with a lot of boys and... multiple friend groups coalescing together into a whole. And along the way there's a lot of little romances. There are four main couples in this thing. GMMTV, what they've done here is that they have utilized casting as a shortcut for certain things, which I actually thought was kind of a smart way to use casting. 

We talked before, maybe a couple of episodes ago about the art/commerce nexus, and I talked a little bit about why because of it, the branded pair system doesn't bother me as much as it bothers others. I thought this was actually a good use of branded pairs if you're trying to get people to watch something—putting a show together that relies on your affection for some of these people. It really helped pull you along through the show until it got to the point where the show itself started to pull you along. I thought that was really clever, actually.

Twig 

I guess, if you're accepting the premise that we're not gonna use writing to do that, [laughs] which is the part that I'm upset about, but maybe I'm jumping ahead.

Ben 

Before we get there—twig-tea, you're an archivist who's been watching the genre for like 20-plus years. How about you walk us through the four major pairs of boys that are in this and how their current pairing in this show reflects the way they've been branded previously?

Twig 

There are four central relationships in this show. Phum and Peem, played by Pond and Phuwin. PondPhuwin have been a branded pair for, I want to say three years.

NiNi 

Started in Fish Upon the Sky.

Twig 

Have been in Never Let Me Go, and then the Our Skyy episode for Never Let Me Go, as well. They also do a ton of branded pair things in between their shows and have played in heterosexual series in between their appearances in BL. Pond and Phuwin tend to play…how do I describe this dynamic? 

Ben 

They really like for Phuwin to be low-key pissy about something all the time and for Pond to smile back at him for it.

NiNi 

It's a grump and a simp.

Twig 

Yeah, Grump and Simp. Thank you. 

The next one is Q and Toey, played by Winny and Satang.

NiNi 

They first appeared in Fish Upon the Sky as well.

Ben 

They have a minor appearance together in Star in My Mind.

NiNi 

They were kind of pre-paired in Fish Upon the Sky. Like, there was like a thing, but it didn't actually turn into a thing.

Twig 

They first appeared as a firm couple with any real time on camera in My School President in 2022. That was a rivals-to-lovers storyline. In We Are, they've changed it up, which was actually quite refreshing, and the relationship between WinnySatang is a mentor-mentee relationship. It's Winny who's the grumpier character, and Satang plays a very actually happy-go-lucky outgoing character that is very different to their appearance in My School President, so it's interesting to see them do something different. 

Aou and Boom play Tan and Fang. They first appeared in…Enchant��? But I don't think they actually got together in Enchanté.

Ben 

I gotta be honest, I don't remember.

NiNi 

I do not remember anything about Enchanté.

[all laugh]

Twig 

I want to say it was mostly unrequited with a hint of them getting together at the end, but don't hold me to that. I really don't remember very well.

Ben 

I do know that we saw them properly together in Hidden Agenda.

Twig 

Before that they were very heavily shipped in Vice Versa. And I think they got, like, one, like, cheek kiss at the end of Vice Versa. And then Hidden Agenda, that was their first, the show where they were properly a couple. Now what do I remember about them in Hidden Agenda? [laughs] 

`Ben

Nothing!

Twig 

That show is so forgettable.

Ben 

They had an interesting thing in Hidden Agenda, because you had Aou playing a known closeted jock type character who really cared about his boyfriend but was incapable of coming out of the closet, and it caused real strain in their relationship.

Twig 

Yeah. So they had an extra lot of angst because they were an established couple but couldn't be seen together. Most of the time we saw them was about that, about the tension in their relationship.

NiNi 

The best thing that happened in Hidden Agenda, easily.

Twig 

Interestingly in We Are, they play a couple that, apparently in the book, was an established couple, but they rolled that back so we got to see them get together. The dynamic is a little flipped almost, where Aou plays the very heavy simping character, and Fang is just sort of bemused by his energy and into him, but not nearly as effusive.

NiNi 

It's a puppy-kitten dynamic.

Twig 

There you go, puppy-kitten. [laughs] 

And then the last couple, ChainPun, played by Mark and Poon. Poon had to come in very last minute to replace Mark's former branded pair partner, who he's been with since My Gear and Your Gown—which was 2020, so actually quite a long time. 

But I will say that Poon stepped in and did a great job blending with the whole group and I would say after watching the series I could not tell where they had to reshoot and fit stuff in. That was one thing that I think they handled really well.

14:37 – We Are: A Rorschach Test of a Show

Ben 

I'm just gonna transition us to the next part pretty awkwardly. I did not like this show, and I had to drop it after five weeks because it was pissing me off. Because the two of you finished this show—I want to hear about what was holding you into the show before I start picking at it.��

We'll start with you, NiNi, because you loved this show so much. This show...upheld your psyche for like four months. How? Why? Please!

NiNi 

[laughs] It did, it did. It's a combination of things. For me, it came at exactly the right time and hit exactly the right buttons in me, in terms of what I needed at the time. And even looking back on it now, even though I'm a little ways out of what I was going through at the time, I still find it quite comforting.

The two big parts of it that I really, really love. I love the way that the center of this show is about the friendship, it's about the multiple friend groups and how they become this one big friend group. This one group of silly boys who just enjoy each other's company so much and wanna spend all their time together. It's got this kind of a real time nostalgia element to it where I could see this show being somebody's reminiscence about a time in their life that they want to remember incredibly fondly. When they were young and they had this big group of friends and all they wanted to do is hang out with their friends and have a ton of fun. 

I described it when I was writing about the show while it was airing as giving me Hospital Playlist vibes. Hospital Playlist is a Korean drama about this group of friends who are all doctors working at the same hospital, and it's just about their lives, and them bringing people in, and them falling in love with people. I'm not saying that this is at the Hospital Playlist level, but it gave me the same energy, and Hospital Playlist is one of my favourite dramas of all time. So I enjoyed that aspect of it. 

The other aspect of it that I really enjoyed, this is part where I was talking about where they use the actors that you love to sort of pull you along until the story takes over from that. Tan and Fang, as Twig said, they get together during the show. And at first you don't understand why and how and what is even happening there. And then I think it's episode nine, so it’s just a little past the halfway mark of the show, that Tan tells his friends the story of him and Fang, how they met and how they got together. And it makes you understand everything that's gone before and everything that the show is trying to do in terms of how it's trying to organize itself. 

I had so many thoughts about it, like, is there another way that they could have done this to front load this? Like I said, it's more than halfway through the show and you have to get there. And if you don't, if the show is not pulling you along to that point, then you're not gonna get there. But, it changed everything. 

The show is fluffy, and it's sweet, and it's just very wholesome. And I really responded to it. Just talking about it now, I feel kind of a glow. I enjoyed it a whole lot. 

I'll save some of the other stuff for when we're actually talking about New Siwaj and how New Siwaj constructs shows and why this show worked for me in some ways that some other New Siwaj shows haven’t.

Ben 

I was gonna say, are we excusing a New Siwaj flashback to justify an Episode 5 reveal four episodes later all of a sudden? Please play the Double Savage recording, man in the booth.

NiNi 

No, no, no, no, no, that's entirely different. [Ben laughs]

And that's what I'm talking about when I say that how they actually used the actors, and the casting, and the branded pairs in this was actually a really smart use if that is how New wanted to do it. 

I appreciate New Siwaj as a creator. He pisses me off, but I appreciate him. One of the reasons that he pisses me off is that he has great narrative strengths in some ways. He also has a lot of respect for, like, the minutiae and the details of daily life and shenanigans between friends, which I appreciate, but I find interfere with his narratives when he's working on something that's narratively focused. 

To me, what happened here is that this was not at all narratively focused. What he did here is the same thing that he always does. It's a big group of friends just hangin’ out with each other, the minutiae of their daily life. But it's not interfering with a narrative that I wanna get back to. And so I can just sit in the vibe of it. To me, if New wants to write a narrative show, I want it to be narrative. And now I've realized that if New wants to sit in a vibe, he actually knows how to do it.

Ben 

Twig, you finished this show. Why?

Twig 

I finished it for two reasons. One, I'm a completionist. And so I finished it for the reason why I watch a lot of shows that I don't like. Spoiler: I didn't like this. [laughs] And that was so that I can understand what it did to the end and fit it into my internal understanding of what's happening with the genre at any given time.

I summed up both reasons in one thing. I spent a lot of the time watching the show trying to figure out what it was trying to do, why it wasn't working for me, and thinking about how it fits in in the wider context of what's happening in Thai BL. 

Ben 

We heard NiNi's reasons for why she loved it so much. Please detail for us why you had such a difficult time with it.

Twig 

NiNi alluded to it a little bit. This show is not narratively driven; there's no throughline, and that's the reason why I watch television, is for a story. The way that I watch shows is I'm paying attention to what characters are doing in the scene I'm watching, but I'm always thinking about how they connect to the scenes before, what that could mean for the future. And this show gave me nothing for my brain to grip onto. Scene to scene, things were happening that were fun to watch, but I couldn't enjoy them because I was thinking about how they didn't connect to the scenes before. And I was getting frustrated by that. And then I would get sort of bored because a scene in isolation isn't interesting to me. I ended up, like, spacing out a lot and then having to rewind, and then realizing after rewinding that nothing had actually happened, and I didn't have to rewind at all. [laughs] Didn't miss anything. 

So it was a really frustrating watch for me just because of the way my brain works and processes shows. The show takes place in—it's not just a BL bubble—I almost call it like a plot bubble. Almost nothing bad happens. And any conflict that does arise is resolved within an episode. I understand why that would be comforting and relaxing to some people, but for me, I found it very anxiety-inducing, because I was constantly thinking about,  why is nothing happening? What is going to come? And there was nothing to be worried about. I wouldn't say necessarily that my experience of the show is a reflection on the show, but it is about how and why I watch shows. This show was not for me. 

I do want to challenge NiNi's comparison to Hospital Playlist, because I also have seen and loved Hospital Playlist, and the reason why I loved that show and couldn't get into this show was because Hospital Playlist has a very clear throughline. And that was the main thing that was missing for me in this. The part where it took nine episodes to get to the backstory, I found frustrating. And the part that bothered me most about that was that the reveals weren't rewarding you for having paid attention to anything that happened before. It didn't feel like they connected to things we'd seen but didn't yet understand. It didn't feel like the show was grounded in a story that it was laying groundwork for. It was just leading to particular scenes. 

We were often told that this is why a character's reacting that way, but there was nothing previously that made me understand it or told me that it made sense. Like, we're told that Fang is a bad boyfriend because he isn't attentive or doesn't show affection for Tan, but I don't think we ever see that before they tell us that, other than in the episode where they tell us that that's a thing. We mostly see him just be really fond of Tan the whole time, so I was really confused by why suddenly he's apologizing for being a problem.

NiNi 

That's definitely, like, not where I went with that.

Twig 

And the Q and Toey conflict happens because Q is upset that Toey didn't tell him that he was his secret Post-It note buddy and his first love. We're told that Q was stressing over feeling conflicted about his feelings for the cafe Post-It Boy and Toey, and then it turns out they're the same person. But we didn't see any of that conflict in any of the episodes that came before. So his anger felt like it came out of nowhere. It was justified within the episode, but we hadn't laid any groundwork for it. 

That was sort of my experience the whole time. It felt like I was watching 16 specials of a show that I didn't see. So, I've always felt like I was missing context for whatever was happening, even though I'd watched the whole show. It was an uncomfortable watching experience.

NiNi 

Twig is actually correct about that thing. It's just, in terms of how we interpreted it, we interpreted it in two different directions. The show treats the audience like they're a member of the friend group and not an omniscient observer of any kind. As the characters learn things about each other and their backstories, that's the same time that the audience is learning it. So the show in that sense has, like, a little hint of immersion, doesn't give you hints before. If a character is gobsmacked, so are you. If a character is surprised by something happening, so are you. For me, that works, for Twig it doesn’t. And I completely understand.

The show is almost kind of like a Rorschach in that way. Like, it depends on what things about media you like, how you like to consume media, what are things that you enjoy that you don't enjoy in media. I like sitting in a vibe. The show is a vibe for me. Like I get to see people just kind of hang out and do their thing and be themselves.

I really responded to that. And so the lack of narrative drivers and groundwork laying and all those kinds of things that if it was a more narratively focused show that I would be looking for, once I started to feel the vibe that the show was going for, I was able to sit back and just soak in it and enjoy that part of it. 

Twig is quite correctly identifying what the show is doing. It's just that worked for me and it didn't work for her.

Twig 

Yeah, it just hit us both really differently. I think that's valid.

Ben 

The show did nothing! And for that, I despise it. [Twig laughs]

Here's the thing. There is so much BL to watch. The idea that I'm gonna spend nine weeks to figure out what the deal is with these boys is just not gonna happen for me. There's too much to fuckin’ watch. And there was no driving angst or drama to any of this. 

We mentioned Make It Right as the big pulp we love from New Siwaj. In that show, there is real drama with the boys’ relationships. Both of our major pairs of boys have very unfortunate first times that create a lot of confusion between them in their relationships that they have to work through while also dealing with the coming-of-age pains of being a teenage boy. 

And there was really just no drama for me to hang on to this. The only real thread that the show had early on was like...Pond’s character punking Phuwin’s character about demanding indentured servitude for inflicting medical expenses on him for kicking him in the nuts or some shit. I just found that to be deeply repellent because I don't find slavery narratives cute? Like, you must work for me or whatever shit. No, I do not find that as a fun way to turn stuff into romance. And I got deeply put off in episode five with Aou's character confessing to Boom's character, and Boom's character cutting off the confession. Because it felt like every time the show was coming close to an important core emotional reveal about a character, it intentionally interrupted the moment to avoid any sort of specificity—and winking at the audience to be like, you know what this is.

That may be fun for some people, but I found it boring, because it means that there's nothing specific about these characters to hang on to. That was the point where I just couldn't deal with this anymore. They took all the B- and C-list BL boys at GMMTV and dumped them in a 16-week, basically, hangout project of IG reels to fulfill a financial obligation to iQIYI. 

That's the thing I want to talk about here, too. This was not like a freemium product on YouTube. You had to pay money to watch this for like the first month and a half before they started rerunning it on YouTube. So people were paying premium dollars on iQIYI to watch, essentially, a show about just guys hanging out. I was bored by it because these guys weren't that interesting. The most interesting thing we had with any of the guys going on was Phuwin's character's angst about his art not measuring up to what he wanted it to be. That was about it. 

It was frustrating for me seeing so many people raving about this because there was really just so much of nothing here. It felt like the ideal kind of pocket gay. New usually has interesting things to say about the queer experience in one way, shape, or form. Even in the shows we've talked about on here that we didn't like, like A Boss and a Babe, had some interesting ideas about queer reality that I just did not feel from this show in the first five weeks. I put over five hours into a show that had nothing to say. That's more than enough. That's longer than a J-BL. 

It's fine as, like, background noise, I guess, but I need to care about something going on in the show if I'm gonna sit down and pay attention to it and invest my emotional energy into it. I can't marinate in a show like this. There's nothing to think about for me, and everything I did think about felt kind of insidious. Like, what's the point of these gays clumping in a world where there's no problems with being gay? The reason we clump is because we're ostracized, because we're the only people who will tolerate each other. Why does that occur in these situations where there is no reason for gay people to feel weird about being gay? That's one of the constant frustrations I've been having with these sort of bubble shows. I can't feel gay empathy and connection with these stories because some of the foundation is missing.

30:47 – We Are: Final Thoughts and Ratings

Ben

I'm just very frustrated about this experience and what it means going forward, because this was probably super cheap to film and they probably turned a tidy profit on this. So that means there will be a lot more of this. And it's called Perfect Ten Liners, there will be 30 episodes of this. I'm looking forward to your report on that one, NiNi.

NiNi 

I think I'm only gonna watch one of those stories, actually. I see how there's a line from this to Perfect Ten Liners and it's also being done by New Siwaj. But for me, given GMMTV's now stated goal of, they're not tracking ratings, they're tracking socials, given what that means for how they're looking at some of their projects going forward, I don't think it's going to be everything that they do. But yes, they're gonna do more of these. And if they're gonna do more of these, I think as far as a template this is probably one of the better templates, ‘cause there are other ways that this could have gone. This one was balanced in a way that works. I don't think from what I've seen coming out of Perfect Ten Liners or so far it's going to be balanced in the same way. 

GMMTV is experimenting with the art commerce thing, sort of more leaning towards the commerce because that's what GMMTV is. I can't call them a CBS because they don't have that kind of thing, but they're like the CW, let's say, of Thai youth media. This is what you get from CW sometimes. If I didn't see other things coming both inside and outside of GMMTV, I would probably be more concerned, but for me there's so much out there right now. There's a ton of variety lately, I don't watch nearly as much as you two, and that's maybe part of the rest of it as well. For me, somebody who watches maybe 15 to 20 shows a year, it's just part of the constellation and it doesn't feel like a canary in the coal mine kind of thing, but that's just me.

Ben 

See, but the difficulty is we're seeing this in a lot of the shows, though. There's been this constant thing with not even just GMMTV, but they're sidestepping having to say things about gay shit in these shows. We talked about it in 23.5, we talked about it in Only Boo. The concern for me is, apparently, We Are the Series did really well. And GMMTV is brutal about what they're gonna fund. They're gonna fund the shit that's gonna make them money. If this sort of ungrounded fluff is what makes the money, that's what they're gonna make. 

The problem for me with fluff is I need to feel like the characters suffered to earn it. And there's not a sense that the fluff here is earned. There is a notion that is kind of romantic that, yeah, gay guys could just be just guys bein’ dudes. But mmph, did this feel weirdly alien while I was watching it. And I was really repulsed by it. That sucks because I like everybody involved. I just could not enjoy this at all and was deeply frustrated by it the entire time.

Twig 

To pick up something that you were saying, Ben, I think NiNi is right that the friendship as the core of the show is one of the better things about it, but one of the reasons why that wasn't enough for me is because I couldn't read this as found family because there was nothing for them to unite against? There was nothing for them to be there for each other about. There was no challenge to that friendship. They just ate a lot of barbecue and traveled a lot. I couldn't believe that they would last because they hadn't experienced anything to actually challenge that. You don't necessarily have to have it in the show. The show can be all fluffy, but if there's nothing even in the history to support that these guys have been through it together, then it's hard to know how they would respond to an actual problem.

NiNi 

So all that said, do we actually rate this because it's very clear that there's a dichotomy, not just within the group here talking about it now, but generally about the show. I'm not sure if a rating is useful. What do you guys think?

Ben 

In terms of where I always recommend from, I always rate on the, do I think people should watch this? Who do I think this show is for? I think I dropped this show at a 4 because I was really repulsed by it. I don't think that's fair reflective to the technical work that went into it, but for the type of reader that I think I'm trying to speak to, I can’t even  recommend this show at all. I found the whole experience rather empty. I don't go to TV to fill the show with my own, I'm smarter than the people who wrote this stuff or I will fill in the gap stuff. I don't like doing that in gay shows, so. I can't recommend this show. Not to the viewer I think I'm speaking to.

NiNi 

Twig, how about you?

Twig 

I don't always rate everything, so I really struggle to rate this. I'd probably put it at like a 6? I don't wanna take away from the fact that there are people who don't watch shows like I do who found this very comforting. Like you were saying, it's about what you're looking for in shows and how you watch them. 

But the part that's frustrating for me is that there was so much time we could have used to tell a story. [laughs] And so, I find it hard to forgive that. We don't actually get a lot of 16 episode hour-long shows, so it's hard for me to not begrudge the time.

NiNi

Obviously, I enjoyed this a lot more than you guys did, but I have two different ratings for it, actually. On terms of the enjoyability of it for me, it's hovering somewhere around like an 8.5, 9. But on the technical merits of the show, I would probably max it out at a 7.

Twig 

If I was going by my enjoyment, it would be a 4. [laughs] It was honestly painful for me to watch this.

NiNi 

That's valid, friend, that's valid. Two out of three means that it's not a recommend from The Conversation.

Ben 

I don't think we need to give it a harsh number rating, but legit, what's the angst of this show? What's the story? What are the drama here? I don't know, if you don't feel like swiping IG, put this on instead.

38:21 – Knock Knock, Boys!

NiNi 

Let's move on to the next pulp that we're going to discuss here. Knock Knock, Boys! by WeTV. 

Ben, what's Knock Knock, Boys! about?

Ben 

Knock Knock, Boys! is about four men who move into cheap housing because they're all running away from something in their lives. Together they form one of the more effective friend groups we've seen in a long time and pair off into two really satisfying relationships to follow for a solid eight episodes. 

We get in this show a really good presentation of age gap friendships amongst queer people. I really liked that we got to see developing relationships between young people alongside developing relationships between working people. We also got in this show a really great examination about how you love someone out of the closet. And for that, I will be forever grateful. 

I liked this show a lot, comparatively to the last one. This show also had a lot of our faves in it, and they showed up to work!

NiNi 

New faves and some classic ones, one of the classic faves being Seng Wichai who is well-loved on this podcast. Okay.

Twig 

Can we talk about Best? Because Best has been in the biz since 2017. He was in I Am Your King where he got to kiss Mark Siwat. I'm always so happy to see his face and I think this was by far his best role. It's really nice to see him in a role that can highlight his skills.

NiNi 

We talked a little bit about the overarching theme of it, but let's get into the details. The show has got, like we said, these four guys, they split off into two couples. Almond and Latte, who are in university, and Peak and Thanwa, who are just entering the working world. The way that these two pairs embody the angst of those two stages of life is really interesting.

Ben 

I think the difference between the last show and this show. During the last show we're mostly angsting about whether or not it's okay to like a show that's basically a glorified IG reel. This show has a plot and all of its characters have something going on with them. They have a clear want or desire. 

We've got Latte who is an amorous pansexual man who's having a great time in college. Too great of a time, in fact. One of his professors says if your ass is late anymore for my fuckin’ classes, you will not graduate. So he has to move closer to school because he's taking too long to get out of bed from one of his conquests to make it to class on time. Almond is finally out from under the maybe-too-sheltering thumb of his mother. And he is lying about his lodgings because he wants to live amongst the poors [laughs] instead of the security guard, ultra safe system that his mom wants him to live in. Thanwa is leaving a not great relationship with another man, and Peak appears to be running from compulsory heteronormativity. 

What's really interesting is when these guys are breaking the ice, they're telling each other truthful things, but they're also holding back in a way that felt really earnest. I find a lot of times in these shows, because they need to exposit things to the audience, these shows tend to have characters overshare with each other in a way that doesn't feel real. I thought this show did a great job of giving the audience the information we needed about why these guys were in the situation they were in, but giving the kind of polite answers that real people give each other about their situations. 

They needed a way to get these guys to start working together. So they create this conceit in which Almond really wants to hook up with this boy named Jumper, played by Pak Varayu. I totally understand why. He promises a year's worth of rent to whoever helps him score with Jumper. Hijinks ensue as the other three boys start trying to befriend Jumper and create scenarios for Almond to spend time with him so that they can get together. In the process of befriending Jumper, who we realize has a boyfriend already, Latte develops feelings for Almond and Thanwa and Peak end up growing closer together as well.

We follow Latte’s complex journey he has with people misunderstanding who he is as a pansexual person. Almond being an enthusiastic virgin who's very amped to explore his body and what he finds pleasurable. Thanwa is struggling with the thing we all struggle with in our 20s: Do we wanna do the job that's the thing we dream about doing or do we take the safe option, and what does that say about the other aspects of his life? And then Peak is deeply closeted because he doesn't want to let down his father. These are all really interesting threads to follow, and the show doesn't ever really forget where the characters are and what their experiences reflect in the way they respond to scenarios that arise. We get this great evolution of relationships over time.

One of the things that I thought the show did really well—I kind of want Twig to talk about this part a little bit more—is we get Almond's initial crush on Jumper, and then the show breaks that crush by systematically making Almond recognize that maybe Jumper is not who he wants to be with.

Twig 

I loved that sequence so much. Almond has a crush on Jumper and his new roommates are creating circumstances to bring them closer together in order to win rent for a year. That culminates in more and more situations where Almond and Jumper are in the room together and it's awkward. [laughs] Almond doesn't really know what to say, or Latte's with him and Latte and Jumper have more in common than Almond and Jumper do. It was very subtle moments, Almond's crush being whittled away at. 

And the party which they have at their house results in everybody getting really drunk, Jumper gets really drunk because the roommates are helping to make him drunk so that he'll be more receptive to Almond, and Almond is also being made drunk so that he'll be a little bit more relaxed. Jumper ends up getting so drunk that he gets really sick. We see this in so many shows where someone will get really drunk and then have a moment where they break and make out or have sex or confess or whatever, and what I love about the way they do that in Knock, Knock Boys! is that being really drunk is not sexy. It is not romantic. It is gross and it is unpleasant. And Almond dealing with disgruntled, loud, annoying, unwieldy Jumper and then a really gross Jumper when he vomits all over everywhere. And then he shits himself! Oh, it was so good. 

You could see the moment on Almond's face where the pedestal that Jumper had been on in his mind just collapsed and he realized, oh, this is a human being that I've been into and he's a gross human being, who vomits and shits and smells really bad right now and is actually [laughs] the opposite of attractive. So they help Jumper clean up and then Almond has to sit with his new realization and process his emotions.

Ben

NiNi, you're a big fan of Seng Wichai. I would like for you to unpack his character, Thanwa, and the work he did in this show.

NiNi 

Seng plays Thanwa and Thanwa is the mom friend. Thanwa is the one who takes care of everybody. He feeds the group, he guides them a little bit. And when he meets up with Peak, Peak basically is zoned out and also eats like an animal. Thanwa is a foodie, food lover, really into food and cooking and so he decides he's gonna teach Peak how to really enjoy and savour food. And that's how they bond. 

Thanwa himself is a complicated character. He's got this sadness to him, and Seng Wichai always plays these weird, cringey characters with an undercurrent of sadness to them very well. Thanwa is probably the least weird, cringey character he's ever played, but it's still got that undercurrent of sadness and melancholy. It makes you wonder, oh, what has this character been through? Why is this the way that he is? And over the course of the show, you get to see some of what he's running from, what is making him sad, and Seng plays every beat to me perfectly.

When things start to change with Peak, you see the sadness because Peak can't, in his mind, get all the way there in terms of how he feels about Thanwa. You can see that makes Thanwa really, really sad as much as he likes Peak and he enjoys his company and he is falling for Peak. It's a great little dynamic and Seng plays every nuance of this character so well. He understands Peak and what Peak can and can't give him. And when he decides that he's going to give Peak grace and support for whatever it is that he wants to do, because at this point it's not just about their relationship, it's about Peak's life, there's joy in there, but there's also sorrow. 

It's a great character for Seng and I am very glad to see him in this. Every character I've seen Seng play at this point has been great. The boy can pick ‘em. I will say that much.

Ben 

I think it's really notable that in the genre that's always using food as love, the not-so-subtle thing is Thanwa is literally teaching Peak how to experience pleasure, because it's clear that the boy does not when they first meet him.

48:39 – Knock Knock, Boys!: Sex Positivity

Ben

This was probably the most sex positive show we've watched this entire year. This show, through almost every single beat that it wanted to follow, had positive things to say about people's sexual relationships with each other, no matter how messy they got. 

Early on, we get this instance where Peak is fairly certain that he made out with one of the roommates the very first night he stumbled into the house. And at first he's not sure if it's Latte or Thanwa, because Latte's kind of a flirt. We get this eventual resolution where he realized it was Thanwa and apologizes for kissing Thanwa like that, and then asks if he can kiss him again properly. This is probably the point where I sat up and was like, hold on, this show might be actually serious about some of its ideas. Because that sequence when they were in the closet during the party was so pointed—particularly when Jane shows up the next morning and opens the door on them and they fall out. 

Twig

Yes!

Ben

Really excellent stuff.

There's another great bit that comes up. So, they have this friend, Lukpeach, who's a great character. I really love the new class of girl friend in BL who's doing supportive in a really fun way. It's the next evolution of the fag hag that we've gotten that I'm kind of into. I really like the way Lukpeach was constantly about supporting all of the gays around her so that she could write her stories about them. 

They have this sex ed club where they're talking about gender and sexual identity, safe sex practices, respecting people's privacy. So we get this whole bit where they're having a conversation about “don't record people without their consent, and especially don't create revenge porn about people by posting them without their consent.” And it feels like Almond's not really paying attention during that moment. And he has this moment where he realizes who Jumper actually wants to be with, that he's not actually available, and Almond's disappointed about this. This is right around the same time that someone records Jumper with Sean and then posts it. And there's this brief moment where the show leads the audience to suspect that Almond may have recorded Jumper and Sean in the shower and posted it online. They reflect this by having Latte turn on Almond and briefly think that Almond could have done that. 

This becomes a fault line between Almond and Latte, and then a huge line between Jumper and Almond, because this show plays the consequences of outing very seriously. Because of the video posted about Jumper, he is kicked off of the school's football team. He gets outed to his family and he was not trying to come out to them at all because he did not know how they were gonna react to that. Jumper confronts Almond about this, because he had ample reason to believe that Almond was there, and he's pissed at him. He's like, “I thought you were my friend. How could you do this to me?” 

It takes the Scooby Gang a really long time to suss out who was the actual culprit behind this. And there are social consequences for Almond for a while over this, where a significant portion of the student body is one, being super nasty to Jumper, but also simultaneously shaming Almond for doing that to his friend—or so they think. They end up revealing that it was Thanwa's ex who's been the one walking around recording people, and then they send his ass to jail. 

This was a really excellently handled plot. I like that the way the consequences played out across all of this happened in a believable way and was taken super seriously.

NiNi 

Because the plot line reverberates out, there are repercussions for Almond and Latte and there are repercussions for Peak and Thanwa. Almond at this point is kind of depressed, he's sad, so Latte tries to take him on a trip that leads to some new wrinkles and complications in their relationship. 

There was stuff going on with Peak and Thanwa, that when it became known to them that Thanwa's ex, who he had briefly moved back in with because of everything that was going on with Peak, that he had done it, something that happened in that moment of discovering that. This led to reverberations in Peak and his relationship. 

How the events reverberate and impact the group as a whole and then the individuals and the couples within it, I think it's actually constructed quite well for a show that clearly didn't have a lot of budget, didn't have a high production value or anything like that. They used their narrative time and they used their budget well, they built a story that worked for the time that they had, for the talent that they had, for the everything that they had.

Twig 

One of the things that I think might pass an international audience by, but really struck me as super important was the depiction of sex toys. Sex toys are illegal in Thailand, they're punishable by, I think it's, like, two years in prison if you're caught selling them, and owning them is also not legal. And so depicting sex toys on screen, it's actually quite a radical act for Thai television. To encourage the use of sex toys is also a pretty politically strong statement for Thai TV, so I just wanted to call that out as a really impactful thing that the show did, and I think did really well. It did a really great job of showing someone in Almond who had never seen a sex toy and was immediately fascinated and distracted. [laughs]

NiNi 

The way he stared at it. He could not believe this thing. He was just kind of mouth open looking at it like he couldn't even focus.

Twig 

Boy was thirsty.

Ben 

That boy skipped home. He's like, I got my first dildo and I can't wait to use it! [Ben and Twig laugh]

Twig 

And we got to see him experiment with his sexuality that way and to play with the sex toy a little bit and I thought that was an amazing thing to include in a show in any context, but particularly in a Thai television context.

One of the things that was a fun thing in any show but was a particularly political move in this show was Latte taking Lukpeach to the sex toy shop because they could have been arrested if they had been caught together going there. In context of where I am in Canada that wouldn't have really struck me as anything other than kind of a fun cute thing to do with a friend, and it speaks to a certain level of comfort and sex positivity but, it’s politically charged in a way in Thailand that you might not necessarily be aware of.

Ben 

I think it's important to point that out, because this show had an 18-plus rating and it's because they talked about sex the way they did. They actually didn't depict that much sexual content on screen.

55:51 – Knock Knock, Boys!: Our Fab Four (and Jane)

Ben

Speaking of, like, depicting the complex situations around sex, you mentioned the beach trip they go on. One of the better beach episodes we've had from the genre in a long time, because there's a lot of needing to unpack from some difficult things and big reveals about the characters that come out of that one. That's the first real moment where Latte and Almond physically acknowledge the attraction that's been building between them for multiple episodes at that point. 

They end up in a complex makeout that could have turned into sex, that then stops, that I think really sets the stage for the rest of what develops and makes Latte one of my favorite characters we've gotten this year. He was so patient with Almond and was always capable of meeting Almond emotionally where he was. Almond took a while to get comfortable with actually doing sexual stuff. And even though Latte made it clear he was ready and down and wanting, he was able to communicate that in a way that didn't feel like he was pushing Almond beyond his comfort zone. Which lets us later get these great I wanna have my first time conversations with both Peak and Thanwa where we get to let them give him useful advice. 

I really love the way these boys consistently rallied for each other when some shit was goin’ down. When one of them was having problems, they were really concerned about them and wanted to find a way to help them out. That was just really lovely. We know these boys have each other's backs, ‘cause they went through some real shit together.

Twig 

Latte was on it, being able lie to Almond's mother immediately.

NiNi 

It wasn't even a question. He's like, “Okay, we lyin’ to mom? I'll help.” Right up until they got caught. And then he was just like, well, you're gonna have to tell her what's going on. 

I wanna talk about the Peak arc coming towards the end and Peak and Jane and how all of that played out.

Ben 

Jane was a great character. We learned that the reason why Peak is so stressed all the time is his mom died and this sort of brings an end to this really loving, idyllic family that he had. His dad becomes cold in his grief and is constantly kind of hovering. Peak is struggling himself, he can't perform the way he used to about school and work and all of these things. He basically sort of closes himself off trying to be this ideal son for his dad. And so when his dad eventually tries to arrange a marriage for him with a family friend that's maybe financially beholden to them, he doesn't really say no to this because he doesn't wanna let his dad down. But he also can't hide from who he is, and so he just runs. 

Jane eventually finds him, and she tries to be patient with him. Like, she clearly knows his deal, tries to help him with Thanwa, but she won't say for him what he needs to say for himself, which I thought was really fascinating. Once he gets caught by his dad, he goes back with his dad and finally, after so many times that he should have said the damn thing, finally says to his dad what he needs to say about who he is. And we get this really great apology from his dad. 

What's so fascinating about Best’s performance in this is I think a lot of people conflated Best playing Peak as kind of spacey with his Love By Chance guest role. And I think that was maybe a little unfair because he was just doing a bit for that character as a very, very, very tiny role. But here, Peak spacing out is basically pain management. He can't stay present in the moment because he's suffering so much, which is, I think, one of the parts of the show that is understated, but in a way that I think is really good.

When I talk about being able to connect to the queer angst of a character, I can see how much Peak is suffering the whole time. That is most evidenced by the way he transforms as soon as everything is out in the open. The last episode and a half of Peak is like watching a completely different character because he's not burdened by the expectation anymore. You can see how quickly he becomes the boyfriend he's been wanting to be this whole time. 

And truly, Thanwa won because man, he put in real patience and effort with that man and he got what he wanted. Good for him!

Twig 

That whole arc is one of my favorite things in this show and I think the thing that is gonna linger with me most. One of the things that I really love about it is how carefully written it is. When Peak is earlier in the show being so frustrating—I mean the audience is frustrated, his housemates are frustrated, Thanwa is frustrated, Jane is so frustrated. The way that people relate to or respond to him differs depending on whether or not they know what's going on. And as soon as what's going on with him is revealed, that frustration shifts. Thanwa is still frustrated but so much more willing to give him space and time to figure himself out once he knows what he's figuring out, that it's not just about Peak holding back, it’s about his relationship with his father, he was so much more willing and able to wait. 

Almond and Latte similarly feel like they're sidestepping around Peak when they don't really understand what's going on with him, and then as soon as they do, they're ready to show up for him. They arrange to drive Thanwa to Peak at his dad's house so that they can be there to support him when he's ready to come out just to be there in case he needs them. I thought that was so beautiful. And then when Peak again does come out and shifts, the way that all of the characters respond to his changes. It’s also very organic and fluid and feels very natural. It was just so well done and felt really well thought out.

Ben

When we say the show is really sex positive, part of sex positivity is understanding that boundaries aren't bad. They're about establishing communication and understanding how your behaviors impact each other. 

Almond is running away from his mom kind of sheltering him too much. And when he finally expresses this to her clearly, she takes that in and apologizes for overstepping and maybe smothering him too much. So when they're like, “All right, now that we've gotten that resolved, we need to go save Peak.” And mom's like, “Can I come?” “No, mom, you can't come.” She goes, “Oh, okay.” And she doesn't push back. She's like, “Okay, well, I understand. I'll pay for your lodgings and your transportation." They play this for mild comedy, but this is actually really good. Mom does have a tendency to get over-involved, and they don't want her jumping into their guy problems here, but they don't want her to not be involved per se. They give her a way to feel like she's helping because she's got all this money. 

It's the same thing with Peak when he finally comes out properly to his father. His father apologizes for the conditions he created for Peak and tries to take steps to rectify that. That's actually a really special thing. Everyone loved Peak enough to wait for him to make the choice himself. We have so many stories about gay people being outed against their will and having to suffer the consequences of that. That happens in this show, too! I really love this show giving us the other end of that, where nobody outed Peak, even though we were all running to shake that man, they let him do it on his terms. And he had a good experience with it when he finally did it. And he says it's the fact that everybody loved him so much that he felt like it was wrong to keep running at that point. That's finally what made him come out on his own terms. That's the big point. You have to come out for yourself, for it to be meaningful and for you to have the courage and fortitude to be out and live out. 

This show was excellent and I loved all of these boys and their friends and especially Jane. My God, I love Jane. And she was gay! Good for us.

NiNi 

That actually annoyed me a little as why the show didn't get a 10 for me, because I thought they were entirely too cute about withholding the lavender part of that lavender marriage. 

Ben 

Oh, I sensed it the whole time. I was just waiting for them to confirm it.

NiNi 

It would be the one thing if they withheld it but they misdirected on it, and this was in the translations and the subtitles which is why it annoyed me. I know that the word that they're using in Thai is a gender neutral word but in terms of the subtitles, they are not using a gender neutral word. It felt like an unnecessary misdirect for me. That's probably, like, my only little quibble about it. And it's really a translation thing and not anything to do with the show as presented. So, eh, I'm fine. I just had to get it out.

We talked about Seng and Best and I want to give some love to Nokia and Jaonine because I don't think anybody could have done Almond and Latte as good as Nokia and Jaonine. I have some real appreciation for these two boys' talents.

Ben 

I wanna go to Twig because this is not our first time with Nokia. I did not watch all of Thank God It's Friday. Was Nokia this good at physical comedy in 2017 or ‘19?

Twig 

The short answer is no, he was not. I remember him in that show as standing out as one of the ones who can act. Thank God it's Friday, for context, was a show full of a lot of boys who had never acted in anything before and they weren't given a lot to do and it was a little bit rough to watch. [laughs] I remember him being one of the few who looked like he might have somewhere to go from there. So I was really glad to see him again, but he's definitely improved.

Ben 

I thought Nokia was so good at the physical comedy of playing Almond. Like, I really just loved watching that boy move around and react to literally everything that was happening. He felt so present in every scene he was in. Best and Seng are really good at that too. And it was nice to see a newer performer, for us at least, be able to match that energy. 

Jaonine was really charming as Latte. It was really fun to watch an actor play a guy who looked so comfortable in his own skin. All these guys are super tense about something going on. Peak’s fighting the closet he's in. Thanwa is struggling against normie expectations the whole time, and Almond just wants to get fucked so bad. It was so refreshing to see a character in Latte played by Jaonine that was very much not as stressed out as the rest of them.

Twig 

And he owned his sexuality in a way that was really refreshing, too. I love his refrain of, “I'm bisexual, but I'm still choosy. I don't do sleep with anyone, excuse you.” [laughs] And I think this is something that you actually have mentioned, Ben, in your thoughts on the show. I just love how he leaves all of his past relationships or interactions positively it seems like. So he keeps running into people who he's had sex with in the past and everyone's just happy to see him.[laughs] It was really refreshing to see people who have a very active sex life and have that be a positive thing in their life rather than a negative thing.

NiNi 

I just wanted to pick up on something that you said earlier about the fact that Latte is probably the only character who's not stressed and you enjoy watching that relaxation that Jaonine plays through the character. But when Latte does get stressed, I think Jaonine is also very good at making that feel uncomfortable. Like, Latte is not comfortable with the idea of being stressed out by things, that's not the life that he wants to live. And you can see the tension in his body and how it feels unnatural. I thought he was actually really really good at that aspect of this character.

Ben 

We got so lucky that we got such a talented cast here. Even in, like, the first episode or so, there was this weird flirty energy between Thanwa and Latte, and Twig and I were like, [laughs] are they gonna do it? Please let them fuck, we need to let this happen. 

Twig 

I'm still a little sad they didn't.

Ben 

Sincerely, the point at which I realized this show was gonna be something else was, Latte was living in the house alone first, and was throwing parties and shit and leaving a mess. He's not thinking about the fact that he has a new roommate that moved in and they left a fucking mess. And he felt bad about that, helped clean up a little bit and assured Thanwa that that would not happen anymore. And it doesn't! In so many other stories, his inability to stop partying would be a big part of his character. And it just isn't here. He is constantly capable of respecting other people's space and boundaries. He recognized that he had maybe overstepped with Thanwa, rectified that, and then corrected the behavior. It's a small thing really early in the show. But that was when I was like, this show might actually be on to something. There's a lot of people I like here and they seem to know what they're saying.

01:09:58 – Knock Knock, Boys!: Final Thoughts and Ratings

Ben

I was really relieved to genuinely enjoy the whole ride of this show. It was so refreshing to have a show that was solid, for the most part, the whole way through where we could follow where the show wanted us to go. There were some missteps where I think some batons didn't pass as smoothly as they needed to, but I had such a great time following this. This was a really robust experience with really memorable characters and performances.

Twig 

At a time when shows so often write boundary violations as romantic, it's just so refreshing to have a show depict boundaries as healthy and respected and positive things.

Ben 

Before we go, we have to talk about Almond and Latte having the perfect first time.

Twig 

Yes!

NiNi

It was so good. [all laugh]

Twig 

Best sex scene of the year.

Ben 

I have spoken at least once or twice on this show about a Mexican film called Quatro Lunas—you've probably seen it, Twig—that has a first time sex scene between two teenagers that is just as awkward as this one. [Twig laughs] And this sits up there.

I really liked how real that felt. It's Almond's first time. The boy’s clearly thought way too much about sex. He cannot relax. They can't really get into anything. It doesn't matter how experienced or good at sex Latte might be, until Almond relaxes they're not gonna be able to do anything. And I like that it's after they give up on trying to make it happen that that's when things click. Whatever happens after we fade away from them, Latte clearly had a good enough time that he was like, “Let's try that again” the next day, which is also capped off by Thanwa and Peak clearly post-coitus coming down to check on them and asking plainly, “Did you have a good time? Give us the review of Captain Dick here.” [laughs] And he says, “We had a really good time.” 

I really liked that even as part of the expansion of healthy sexual boundaries, they're still giving Almond the space to talk about these sort of things in a way that's comfortable for him. Like, you can tell your friends that you had a really positive intimate experience with someone really important to you. And it gives you the space to be able to tell them maybe if you didn't. I feel so secure about how those boys are gonna be because they're not gonna be isolated and alone whenever they run into any sort of difficulties. They have people who they can talk to about real shit.

I love this show so much. Oh my God.

NiNi 

Well, that said, let's rate it. Twig, what’s your rating for Knock, Knock Boys?

Twig 

I gave it a solid 9. I think it had something very clear to say and it said it really, really well. It wasn't a perfect execution, but it was really fun and it overall was a solid effort and I'm definitely gonna return to it. I loved it.

NiNi 

Ben, how about you?

Ben

It's also a 9. There are a couple of emotional beats that I don't think land correctly or at the very least did not translate well for me. And I think certain plot lines got closed off in a way that was a little too pat. But I respect what the show is going for with those moments. This show is really excellent and you really should watch it, but it is not, like, a greatest of all time show.

NiNi 

I also give this show a 9. I enjoyed a lot about it and my quibbles are minor. And I really loved all the performances. Great job, team!

Ben 

This is like a 9+ from The Conversation. Sincerely, do yourself a favor and watch this one. We've complained a lot about Thai BL just really not putting together a complete show. We've got one here and you deserve to watch this. 

In fact, I think one of the big things about the show is that in the first episode we commented this felt more like a romcom and not a BL. And the show said that in the mouth of one of the characters writing about the world, that they wanted it to be more rom-com than the baseline expectations of BL. I really hope this is a sign for the future of what we are capable of making out of this genre, because this was so enjoyable. I was about to give up on watching Thai shows before I started watching this one. I've been strugglin’ out here. It's been hard in these streets.

01:14:54 – Importance of Pulps as Labs

NiNi 

Okay, so all that said, what do we think that these two shows leave us thinking about pulps and the role of pulps in sort of the BL ecosystem?

Ben 

Man, it's just so much easier to talk about a pulp when it has something to say that's interesting. And you can talk about how what the characters do and say reflects the themes that the show cares about. Like, we're talking about whether or not empty fluff is fine in We Are, but we're talking about the actual themes and characters and choices that were made in Knock, Knock Boys! That's such a huge difference, and this is what we mean when we say like there's this huge range in pulps. You don't have to only like the show one way for you to get a lot from it. 

And that's what I like to see out of these sort of scrappier productions. You really wanna see people with a good story to tell that has a strong thematic core and is able to express that through all of the viewpoints that it has in its story. Like the villain of Knock, Knock Boys! is well calibrated for the themes of Knock, Knock Boys! That's actually really good writing.

NiNi 

Twig, what about you, any thoughts?

Twig 

I think at the end of the day, whether something is a pulp or not is not a good indication of whether it has something interesting to say, whether it's a fun watch, whether it holds together, whether there's a good story. So take the word pulp for what it means and not for what it doesn't. It doesn't actually tell you anything about whether or not you like the show, I think, unless you have very specific taste. [laughs]

NiNi 

I don't watch a lot of the pulps, like a lot of the classic Thai BL pulps are shows that I've never seen. One of the things that I enjoy about these two shows is that they give me some experimentation in two different directions. They are the producers trying something out, pulps are like a lab in that way. The pulp format allows creators to experiment with ideas. Some work, some don't. It allows them to experiment with actors in some cases, and that can be good and that can be not so good, it allows them to just sort of see what's going to work without spending a ton of money. And for that, I can't ever truly knock them. There are not a lot of them that I enjoy personally, but I think that they have an important role to play in the ecosystem of the genre.

Twig 

That's one of the reasons why I always try and watch them all, or at least as many of them as I can. I am always really interested in what people can only say in a pulp that they couldn't say in a show that's made by a major production company. 

I've had some good conversations lately with Shan about City of Stars, a pulp that had some really interesting things to say about being famous and being gay and being in a ship and how those things can and can't exist at the same time in Thai popular culture. Just comparing that to how the same themes are handled in shows by major production companies, you guys talked about it in the Only Boo episode, about how there's only so much that a company that makes money off of selling ships can say about ship culture, whereas a smaller production company is more free to criticize fans. That's the kind of thing that I'm listening for when I watch pulps, is like, what are the things that they could say and do that they can only do because they're under less of a microscope?

NiNi 

The scrappy upstarts that could. So, that is going to wrap us up on “Guys Being Dudes,” which is what I'm gonna call this episode.

Ben 

Absolutely the fuck not! [Ben and NiNi laugh]

NiNi

It's gonna be called Pulpmania. So that's gonna wrap us up on our Pulpmania episode and with that, we out. 

Say bye to the people, Twig.

Twig 

Bye! Thanks for having me again.

NiNi 

Say bye to the people, Ben.

Ben 

Peace!

[emo-sonic]

Jet-Star headcanons literally no one asked for but I’m sharing anyway because I can and sharing is caring (scroll to the end for a 2D Jet render(slight blood warning))

~ Obsessed with Powerman 5000.

~ Found a working SEGA Dreamcast along with a working copy of Sonic Adventure and hoards it all to himself (would not be very pleased if you randomly stole it)

~ Favourite food is cup noodles, a rare treat to find in The Zones.

~ Is the only Zone-Born of the Fab Four and was brought up by Dr. Death after his parents had both been sh0t dead by a S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W unit.

~The only thing he has left from them is a plush dragon, which he still keeps in his jacket pocket

(This is becoming more of an AU dump)

~ Lactose intolerant (R I P)

~ is considered the ‘smart one’ or the Four (by this they mean the ‘smarter’ one. As in he’s the only one who wouldn’t jump of a cliff for the fun of it)

~ is the oldest of the four.

~ he was also voted the medic of the group.

~ often goes hungry when there’s not enough food to go around them and The Girl (much to Party’s worry)

~ didn’t actually die during The Traffic Report (nor did Kobra) but lost his eye then.

~ Aro/Ace and Trans Masc (I.. like projecting)

~ Is generally quiet, unless he’s comfortable around that person

~ has Generalised Anxiety Disorder, as a result from being brought up in The Zones.

I have more if anyone wants to hear the rest 😈

[wingsoverlagos]

Lewisohn vs. Preston

I've begun posting some additional Tune In citation comparisons on actual hellsite WordPress. I've been using it for a few days, and we have already built a deep animosity between us - it eats my posts, in whole or in part, and finding a simple, readable layout was a chore - but now there is a place to view my source comparisons without scrolling through twelve pictures of Paul McCartney circa 1974, which might be a plus to some people.

It also allows me to document many of the noteworthy but not terrifially unique Lewi-sins I've found without clogging up the dash for my dear followers. I'll continue to share highlights and anlysis here, plus an occasional round-up of anything that isn't crossposted, but this should save you some tedium.

I have brought a highlight to offer you today: Lewisohn's adaptation of Billy Preston's piece in Memories of John Lennon (2005).

Memories of John Lennon (2005) is a collection of short pieces about John Lennon, primarily by people who knew him. I say “primarily”, because Mark Lewisohn himself also has a piece in this collection! Unsatisfied with his own Lennon memorial, Lewisohn decided Billy Preston's words needed substantial edits.

Tune In 34-4 vs. Billy Preston

In Tune In:

In Memories of John Lennon (p.219-220):

This quote is altered extensively, though the meaning is more or less preserved. I’ve highlighted in yellow the parts Lewisohn quotes, and marked in red any additional changes Lewisohn made to the quotes text. There are several omissions – one a full paragraph long – that are unmarked.

The only marked change is the bracketed “[the Beatles]”, and even this isn’t done correctly. Lewisohn writes, “I made sure they [the Beatles] were well fed and watered,” indicating that “they” is the term used in the orginal source. Not so. Preston’s original piece reads, “I made sure that the soon-to-be Fab Four were well fed and watered.” There’s no “they” in the quote – Lewisohn introduces ambiguity with his own rephrasing, and then adds a bracketed “correction” as if it’s Preston’s words that lack clarity.

It’s particularly galling to me that Lewisohn found the need to extensively rephrase Billy Preston’s own recollections of a departed friend. Preston’s memories about John don’t meet whatever benchmark Lewisohn uses, so he alters them – Lewisohn never knew John Lennon himself, but he’s the authority on how his friends and colleagues should remember him.

Sources:

Lewisohn M. 2013. The Beatles: All These Years Vol. 1: Tune In. New York (NY): Crown Archetype. [ebook]

Ono Y [editor]. 2005. Memories of John Lennon. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. [ebook]

[bikebound]

Full-Blown Brick: ‘86 BMW K100 by @ellaspede, who understood the work required to make an exceptional K100 custom: “Their design is unmistakably unique and requires the owner to ‘go the whole way’ to make the most of the ‘Flying Brick’ look.” The @ellaspede crew fabricated their own swingarm and linkage in-house, and the bike is running R1 forks with four-piston brakes, laser-cut side covers, custom-fabbed subframe / quick-release seat pan / electrical box, and much more. Photos: ajmollerphotography. Full story today on BikeBound.com. ⚡️Link in Bio⚡️ https://instagr.am/p/CuPB9afueDU/

[harrisonarchive]

George Harrison, backstage in Philadelphia, PA, on August 16, 1966; photo by Bob Bonis.

“[George showed us] his music room, which has one wall covered with the famous Harrison guitars, his collection of Indian instruments and a small jukebox standing just by the door. I looked at the titles on the jukebox and there were very few Beatle songs amongst them. The Beach Boys, Mamas and Papas, Lovin’ Spoonful, the Stones were all well represented.” - The Beatles Monthly, January 1967

“George Harrison’s Fab Forty… George — like all the Beatles, incidentally — has his own juke box at his Esher home. It’s in his ‘den.’ Along with tape recorder, radio and record player. […] But back to the juke box. It’s a KB. Maybe you saw it in the film ‘Help’? Says George: ‘It’s so much easier to have all my favorite records on the juke box at once. It saves me going through piles of records to find the ones I want. Then when I get sick of them, I just throw them out and put some new ones in.” - Tony Hall, Record Mirror, January 1, 1966

George’s Top Ten… 1 “Harlem Shuffle” — Bob and Earl 2 “Good Things Come To Those Who Wait” — Chuck Jackson 3 “Be My Lady”/“Red Beans and Rice” — Booker T and the MGs 4 “Please Crawl Out Your Window” — Bob Dylan 5 “Baby, You’re My Everything” — Little Jerry Williams 6 “Back Street” — Edwin Starr 7 “Work, Work, Work” — Lee Dorsey 8 “The Little Girl I Once Knew” — The Beach Boys 9 “My Girl Has Gone” — The Miracles 10 “I Don’t Know What You’ve Got /But It’s Got Me)” — Little Richard (“[P]arts one and two — the second is George’s favorite.”)

The rest… 11 “I Can’t Turn You Loose” — Otis Redding 12 “My Girl” — Otis Redding 13 “I Believe I’ll Love On” — Jackie Wilson 14 “Plum Nellie” — Booker T and the MGs 15 “Everything Is Gonna Be Alright” — Willie Mitchell 16 “A Sweet Woman Like You” — Joe Tex 17 “Something About You” — The Four Tops 18 “I Got You” — James Brown 19 “Ain’t That Peculiar” — Marvin Gaye 20 “Turn, Turn, Turn” — The Byrds 21 “See Saw” — Don Covay 22 “I’m Comin’ Through” — Sounds Incorporated 23 “Don’t Fight It” — Wilson Pickett 24 “Bootleg” — Booker T and the MGs 25 “I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore” — The Young Rascals 26 “Respect” — Otis Redding 27 “Try Me”/“Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” — James Brown (“instrumentals”) 28 “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” — Otis Redding 29 “All Or Nothing” — Patty Labelle and her Belles 30 “Pretty Little Baby” — Marvin Gaye 31 “Oowee Baby, I Love You” — Fred Hughes 32 “The Tracks of My Tears” — The Miracles 33 “Yum Yum” — Joe Tex 34 “Agent 00 Soul” — Edwin Starr 35 “Money” — Barrett Strong 36 “Some Other Guy” — Ritchie Barrett (“George’s ‘Revived 45’ list — he’s dug these since they first came out.”) 37 “It Wasn’t Me” — Chuck Berry 38 “Mohair Sam” — Charlie Rich 39 “Let Him Run Wild” — The Beach Boys 40 “Do You Believe In Magic” — The Lovin’ Spoonful

“George really knows his records. It’s always a pleasure to talk to him about them.” - Tony Hall, Record Mirror, January 1, 1966 (x)

George's "Fab Forty" playlist: on YouTube, and on Spotify.

[beatleswings]

When I combine my two interests together! It's an idea I had for a while and I kept having this as a WIP until recently when I got myself to finish it. Here they are, the Fab Four of Punch-Out!!. Background colors for each I based it off the colors of their backgrounds from NES PO, in Hugger's case, SNES SPO. And I couldn't think of a clever pun for Let It Be with PO so I kept the original title :p.

[thesepigsareafterme]

would any of the killjoys know how to cook? and who would be best at it

I feel like none of the Fab Four are amazing chefs or anything, but they can all cook to survive.

☆ Party Poison will absolutely just add whatever ingredients and spices just because they look like they would go well together (they never do).

☆ Fun Ghoul will occasionally set things on fire but if you ignore that, he’s definitely not the worst chef ever.

☆ Kobra Kid is a good cook, but he just doesn’t really care for it. Like, he can cook and he can do it well and he will do it whenever he needs to, it’s just not his favourite task to do. He would prefer to just eat pre packaged stuff they find lying around, but everyone (including Kobra himself) prefer to eat things they’ve cooked themselves.

☆Jet Star likes to watch Kobra cook and will try to memorise the recipes.

As for the Ultra V’s:

☆ Vaya and Vamos are complete kitchen disasters. They will very occasionally have the brilliant idea to try to cook something together, but it usually ends up going wrong at every single step. At least they try though, maybe one day they’ll succeed at cooking something nice.

☆ Val can cook basic things but nothing fancy. He just tends to cook simple things one at a time (like roasted bugs, or some kind of meat).

☆Vinyl enjoys cooking things, he finds it relaxing. It’s something he can focus on and kind of tune out the rest of the world while he’s focusing on not burning all the food.

☆ Volume often has to step in and fix Vaya and Vamos’s cooking mistakes. He can cook decently well, and will often try to salvage whatever Vaya and Vamos attempted to cook. He usually tells them that he will do the cooking in the future :P

[moonchild9350]

Sign the Dotted Line Series (Masterlist)

Summary: You are living an ordinary life until one day you come across a notice from your favorite band Stray Kids, that the company is looking for a girlfriend for one of it's members Lee Minho. Thinking you have nothing else to lose, you apply. This one action causes your life to change forever.

Pairing: idol Minho x fab reader

Genre: angst, fluff, smut- 18+ MDNI

Word Count: 27.1k

Warnings: alcohol usage, toxic relationship, verbal abuse, oral sex (m and f receiving), p in v penetration, creampie, spanking, dirty talk, mentions of breeding, subspace, dry humping, masturbation, spanking (warnings given for each chapter)

Series Completed 8/10/24

Taglist for the series is closed but my general taglist is open. If you'd like to be added let me know! (age must be in bio or pinned to be added)

Chapter one

Chapter two

Chapter three

Chapter four

Chapter five

Chapter six

Chapter seven

[blood-injections]

what are some of your favourite fun ghoul hcs :P

He’s an amputee! He lost his leg below the knee when he was pretty new to the zones, he had a bad injury that got infected and they had to amputate so that the infection wouldn’t spread. It’s long healed but he has a regular prosthetic leg instead of a cybernetic one since you can only really get robotic prosthetics in the city, and you could make one but it’s hard to find the tech to, let along someone to attach it in the zones. Since he has a regular prosthetic, even though his leg has healed, he deals with a lot of pain and soreness from hotspots, strain, rashes, etc. you get a lot of sores when you wear a prosthetic because it rubs in certain spots and if you’re sweating in it especially, your skin gets itchy and raw inside. And since he’s a killjoy running around the fuming desert with it all day, he’s usually always sore

He has a cane and crutches for days he’s extra sore and can’t put as much weight on his leg or cant wear his prosthetic becuase of sores

He’s hard of hearing from too many bombs going off in his face, he knows sign language and since Kobra’s often nonverbal it’s the main way they communicate

He's got the Tism.

He’s not zoneborn but everyone thinks he is because he doesn't talk about the city and doesn't really act cityborn, plus he got to the zones at a fairly young age.

He grew up on the streets and was raised by a group of droids that kept him safe. He grew up learning to work on droids and it's one of the reasons he’s so good at making bombs now, he just Knows tech. The droids he knew wasted away as he got older, he couldn't repair everything and when their batteries started to die theyd always get taken away bli, to presumably be fixed or recycled. But he never saw any of them again.

He left Battery City on his own when he was eleven, one day he was at the landfill looking for scrap when he saw the face of one of the droids that raised him twisted in the trash heaps, he felt horrified that his family ended up as nothing more than garbage and so he ran and never looked back

Since he was raised by droids he still sympathizes with them and sees them as people whereas most citizens of Bat City and even some killjoys don't. He also fully believes in Destroya like the androids do.

He's agender and transmasc, he/it pronouns and sometimes just straight up none, he'll be like refer to me with my name and nothing else.

Pyromaniac

Tends to bottle up all his emotions but anger, anger and fear he wears on his sleeve. But nobody knows when he's suffering, lonely or depressed or anxious, you have to really Know him to tell, and then you have to bully the truth out of him

Has never cut his hair since he got to the desert, it's currently down to his waist and always has shit tangled in it but the others love brushing it out and braiding it

Hes just super spiritual he loves the desert and feels connected to it and believes in Destroya and the Phoenix Witch, the Witch he actually met when he had a near death experience

Can’t drive a car for shit, don’t let him anywhere near the wheel he will somehow crash it before it even starts. Not bad with a motorcycle though, not nearly as good as Kobra but he can do a couple cool things and manage not to crash

Fights as an outlet for pent up feelings and energy, used to get hurt doing it and put himself in danger for the adrenaline but now that he’s with the Fab Four and Kobra has the same issue, they fight each other and it’s a lot safer, plus fun and they usually end up making out about it.

Will just fucking pick up a bug and eat it raw. Everyone hates it.

Bites

[usafphantom2]

Spanish government approves purchase of US$ 7.5 billion of new C-295 aircraft and Eurofighter jets

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 09/17/2023 - 16:39in Military

This week, the Spanish government approved contracts for defense investments that include 16 C-295 aircraft and 25 new Eurofighter jets.

The Ministry of Defense plans to allocate 7 billion euros (about US$ 7.5 billion) to these programs and other smaller contracts. The emphasis of investments is on the Spanish Air and Space Force.

The contract for 16 C-295 aircraft was approved, of which 6 are intended for maritime patrolling and 10 for maritime surveillance. The contract is valued at 2.034 billion euros and is expected to be finalized by the end of 2023. The acquisition aims to replace lost capacities with the withdrawal of the last P-3 Orion.

With the treatment of this purchase, which involves the acquisition of 16 aircraft, Spain will be able to recover the military capabilities necessary to meet the country's objectives with NATO and to continue to guarantee the national commitments acquired within the Alliance.

A separate program involves the acquisition of 25 new Eurofighter jets to replace some F-18s at the Torrejón and Zaragoza bases. The program is estimated at 4.593 billion euros, between the years 2023 and 2035. The investment package also includes provisions for the 20 Eurofighter jets previously purchased in the Halcón I program. The spending limit has been authorized and additional approval is required.

Currently, the C.15M (Eurofighter) aircraft fleet is about to start the decommissioning process, scheduled for about 2030, so it is necessary to replace it.

To this will be added an initial logistics package and ML2 maintenance level and two high-fidelity simulation systems including its infrastructure.

An investment of 207.4 million euros is planned for the acquisition of laser designator pods for air combat systems in the next four years. Another 95 million euros are allocated to operational support for the aircraft of the Ministry of Defense and 20 million euros are reserved for spare parts for F-5 fighters.

Companies such as Indra, SAES and Tecnobit are expected to be involved in the C-295 program. ITP Aero is expected to contribute engines to the Eurofighter program, along with other companies such as GMV and CESA.

Tags: Military AviationC-295Ejército del Aire/Spain Air ForceEurofighter Typhoon

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Daytona Airshow and FIDAE. He has work published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work throughout the world of aviation.

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[eggbagelz]

OUUUUUUUGH DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT OPINIONS ON EVERYTHING WHEN IT COMES TO THE KILLJOYS.

dr death defying is my fav but the way u jus described motorbaby..... she might take the crown....

okok now i gotta ask- what r ur fav hcs abt any of the killjoys? or what hcs are so stuck in your brain that theyre practically canon to you??? i love ur killjoys sm please i would love to hear you ramble abt them >:]

OH WELL SINCE U ASKED

Actually I've been wanting to talk abt my hcs for a while so THANK U FOR THIS TEE HEE

Anyway! I think like. My interpretations [or hcs i guess] of the 'joys is a lil nonstandard in some ways bc i took the blank slate of their personalities and ran with it GSJSH [so these are all like. Canon to me. Basically. Sorry gerald u never gave ur apocalypse ocs personalities so theyre mine now] basically like. I have some v set hcs on their personalities and main characteristics as a whole

SO!

I like to think that fun ghoul is like. While hes v v chatty and more than a little mischievous hes also EXTREMELY perceptive to the point it's unnerving, and while hes not v good with his own emotions he's fucking insanely good at picking up other people's, as well as like. Tiny details and shit that others wouldn't have noticed. Hes still an idiot tho godbless GKEHSJ. Hes the number one mad gear fanboy. Hes good w explosives but crap with other tech.

Kobra. Ohohohohohohohoooo kobra. Ppl like to hc him as v stoic [which im not implying is a bad hc at all btw!!! Just an observation] but i like to thing hes EXTREMELY emotional and p unpredictable. A v shoot first ask questions later type, and deathly afraid of being percieved as cowardly or weak. Absolutely GARBAGE shot, which is why he has stun gloves. Practically the fucking tech whisperer.Official motorbaby wrangler. Gets astronomical amounts of ass but is terrified of feeling any romantic emotions.Half Japanese, he and poison are fraternal twins!

POISON! Also extremely emotional but has it under sliiightly better control than kobra [lol. "Control." How full's that bottle ur filling ur feelings with now pois?]. Very very good w tactical stuff and planning, likes logic and such. Also v flamboyant and enjoys colour and the life of the zones. Prettiest 'joy in the zones, seriously. Talks a LOT but has absolutely no fucking filter. Extremely sex positive.Abt as emotionally intelligent as a brick. Also half japanese ic the they and kobra being twins thing didnt make it obvious GDJDDJ. Terrified of death but doesnt know it. Romatic feelings for jet are approximately the size of the continent of asia

Jet jet jet jet jet. My sweet girlboy. Lost his entire family in a shootout against bli when he was 14 and now suffers from "i have to keep everyone i love safe at all fucking costs so help me god" disease so bad that its actually a reflex now. Took care of motorbaby the most when she was an infant. Best shot in the zones GODBLESS. Hes got an eye [ha] for beauty and appreciates p much everything the world has to offer as best he can. Trying to be an optimist despite his horrendous anxiety disorder. Spanish is his first language! Doesnt talk much and thinks carefully abt what he says before he says it. Madly in love with poison but has carefully filed that away under "n" for "never touching that ever"

Motorbaby. Stuck halfway between "extremely unchildlike behavior" and being a regular weird little girl. Far too used to violence. LOOOOVES big robots so much her favorite toy is an old mecha action figure ghoul fixed up for her. Impossible not to love, seriously. ADORES her big brothers. High energy but also burns out quickly and has to nap a LOT. Picked up some of the languages the fab four speak aside from english [spanish, italian, and snatches of japanese] but in the manner that means she knows how to swear in four languages. Veeery small

Jet and ghoul are desert boys [tho ghoul wasnt born in the desert and was smuggled out of bat city by his dad when he was a toddler], while kobes and poison are cityboys [escaped when they were both 13]. Jet's the oldest, ghoul's the youngest

I also have some ideas abt zones culture but aside from the talk abt bigotry probably still being rampant in the zones thats smth im saving for my roadtrip au fic tee hee