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1d1195 · 1 year ago

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Dolcezza V

Read Dolcezza here.

Warnings: gonna have an angsty bit in here.

~6k words

“Y’don’t have t’feel embarrassed. Think s’pretty obvious I adore you. If y’want t’do this...” he moved his finger back and forth between them with his freehand. He squeezed her other one again. “S’all I can think ‘bout. Won’t take any convincing on my end. Whenever you’re ready, kitten, m’ready,” he promised and got out of the car.

They were still parked, taking a breather as she hadn’t really had a moment to think since she started on her journey home after her car fiasco. Niall had sent Harry minimal updates. The car was being fixed; he had the key to her apartment in his locker at work. They sat holding hands in the driveway while she tried to figure out the remainder of her day. They had gotten to her mom and dad’s place around noon. It was nearing almost four. As much as the car fiasco caused a hiccup in her plans, she was making good time on all the tasks she needed to get done. The ladder to the attic and the lights would cause another hiccup though. Especially since it would be dark while taking the lights down.

Harry was silent while she thought. He could see her mind turning over and over. He imagined if she was attached to the tachometer, it would be at least 2000 revolutions per minute. That, he was sure. But he let her take her time thinking, he didn’t want to interrupt her deep thoughts.

Eventually, she sighed. “Fixing that ladder is going to be a pain,” she mumbled.

Harry thought so too. It would be small and cramped and not to mention heavy. “Do... do y’have t’fix it?” He asked. She turned to him and looked at him as if that was the dumbest question someone could ask. He smirked. “Sorry, what was I thinking,” he mumbled.

“I’m sorry,” she sighed and rubbed the palms of her hands against her temples. It wasn’t Harry’s fault that he asked that. It was kind of obvious that she should just go home and leave her more than capable family to deal with it. “I know... I know I’m a little crazy and I do too much but��”

Harry shook his head and grabbed the hand closest to him. He threaded his fingers through hers, brought them to his lips. He brushed his mouth over her knuckles lingering on the middle one and peppering kisses down the length of it before placing a longer kiss on the back of her hand. She was watching him the whole time. Harry swore she gulped. They gazed at each other, and she couldn’t believe Harry liked her like that. Enough to kiss her in the middle of her crazy family’s house. Enough to run all kinds of errands with her for other family members. “You are anything but crazy, Principessa.”

“I can’t believe you still call me that,” she murmured. Her voice felt shaky. The kiss they shared in the kitchen was magical, otherworldly. But somehow, that kiss on her hand felt like it was connected right to her chest, a short wire that was pulling so hard and making her woozy.

He chuckled. “You should be treated like one,” he smiled, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. She was certain all her organs melted into puddles inside her body. It was a miracle she remembered to breathe. A miracle she was still alive after that. “What she said was wrong,” he repeated. “Anyone... anyone who knows you the way I do,” he shook his head. “Y’have made m’life so much better, kitten. Antonio’s, Niall’s, Leo’s, I bet y’made Eleanor and Louis’ lives better too,” he murmured. “Your sister is young. S’not an excuse because it was mean,” he nodded. “She’ll appreciate it when she’s older,” he nodded.

She swallowed. “I am bossy,” she whispered.

He shook his head. “You’re caring.”

“I think it’s a large part of why my ex broke up with me,” she admitted.

He rolled his eyes. “Well, Principessa. That man is an idiot t’let y’get away,” he shrugged. “His opinion s’irrelevant,” he promised. She smirked, her gaze dropping from his eyes, and she looked at their hands intertwined, resting on the console between them.

“I like helping people. But...it comes off bossy—”

“La mia dolcezza, stop saying you’re bossy,” he shook his head. “Please,” he whispered.

“What did you call me?” She whispered breathlessly. Her cheeks were that beautiful pink he adored. His heart skipped a beat. His face warmed as he realized what he said. She remembered Harry telling Antonio’s story of how he named the restaurant. How he called his future wife the very same thing that Harry just said.

He cleared his throat awkwardly, worried that it was somehow too far. It rolled off his tongue. The same way Principessa and kitten did. It was the only thing to call her that made sense. Especially in a moment when she didn’t see how wonderful she was to everyone—especially Harry. He hoped she would see how lovely she was sooner rather than later. “My sweetness,” he murmured softly.

“I want to kiss you so bad,” she whispered in response.

He chuckled with slight relief flooding him. He used his freehand to cup her face and pressed another kiss to her forehead. “Soon, Principessa, soon,” he promised.

“What’s James like?”

“A little calmer than the rest of them,” she said as they walked up the path to his apartment. “Maybe it’s because we’re closer in age than Emma and I, but...I don’t know. James is a lot more understanding of me, I think...overall, anyway...” Harry grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips. He nodded as if he hadn’t just completely changed the rhythm of her heart. She bit her lip and stopped abruptly in her path. He smiled at her, taking a moment to look at her pretty being. His lips tingled the second he caught a glimpse of hers.

It was incredible what she could do in a day. Niall and Harry were headed to the restaurant to do early morning prep work—or at least Niall was. But with no plans for his day off, Harry was going to go with him. He was so glad he did. But if she managed to do all of the things on her mental to do list in a day? Harry was in awe. “S’matter, Principessa?” He asked, cupping her cheek and rubbing his thumb on her skin softly.

“James... has a roommate. His best friend Ethan,” she explained. “Ethan has had a crush on me since he was in high school,” her cheeks warmed under his touch.

“Obviously,” he smirked.

“Harry,” she tried to look away as the warmth only amplified against his hand.

“Is Ethan going to be here?” He asked.

She nodded. “He’s... harmless. But... I don’t know how to say this without sounding arrogant or...”

“Kitten, ‘course he likes his best friend’s hot older sister. M’not going t’be jealous or whatever you’re worried ‘bout,” he smirked. “If he tries t’kiss you though, I might have uncontrollable actions,” he admitted almost sheepishly. “Those lips are mine, now,” he rubbed his thumb on her lower lip, and she felt it all the way to her core. Then it was over. He left her breathless. Part of her thought she blacked out for a moment and all he did was touch her lip with his thumb. It took her a moment to realize Harry was now, waiting by the door for her to follow.

She cleared her throat, stepped to the door, and knocked. They only waited a minute before the door was out of the way.

“Hey Sis,” the boy smiled brightly as he answered. He was a spitting image of her dad. The resemblance was less strong between him and her than that of her sister and mother, but it was obvious they were siblings.

“Hi,” she smiled and wrapped her arms around him. James made eye contact with Harry as he held onto his sister.

“Eleanor didn’t want to hang out with us?” He asked.

The poor thing.

She sighed, seeming more defeated but also ignoring the feeling anyway. “Eleanor moved,” she shook her head. “This is Harry,” she explained.

“S’nice to meet you,” Harry stuck his hand out for the last of her family to shake.

“You took him to Mom and Dad’s?” He asked in surprise as he nodded at Harry while shaking his hand. She ignored him and stepped inside. He whistled in appreciation. “I don’t take the girl I’m seeing there for at least three months.”

“That would require you could keep a girl for three months,” she muttered as she started cleaning up the dishes as she went through his living room. James rolled his eyes as Harry smirked. The playfulness, compared to the argument with her sister, was a lot more Harry’s speed. He thought it was a lot nicer on her gentle heart, too.

“Did I hear the love of my life?” A second man appeared in the room, shirtless. He was a little shorter than Harry but still taller than average. Harry couldn’t help but compare how he looked to himself. He was probably attractive. If you liked that sort of thing. Despite what he said, Harry felt a pang of jealousy go through him. Ethan frowned. “James, you said she didn’t have a boyfriend anymore.”

The jealousy went away, and Harry smiled delightedly as she turned the most beautiful shade of pink to date of knowing her. “Jesus Christ,” she put a hand to her face. “Ethan, for the love of God,” she headed toward the kitchen with her armload of dishes. “Put a shirt on! It’s February!” She called.

“Why? Am I distracting you with my hot body?” he called back. The silence that ensued told him that she was ignoring him.

James smiled and shook his head. “This is Harry,” he gestured.

“You are my least favorite person right now,” Ethan said shaking his hand. Harry smirked.

“Sorry,” he chuckled.

“I’ve been in love with her for at least ten years.”

“Disgusting,” James remarked and headed for the kitchen where Harry could hear water running and the spritz of cleaning bottles.

“Can’t say I blame you,” Harry smirked and headed toward the kitchen as well. Ethan grabbed a shirt off the back of the couch and slipped it over his head.

She was once more a tornado of cleaning, doing dishes, and loading the dishwasher. Harry did what he could to help her. He grabbed dishes and threw trash in the bin. It didn’t bother him in the slightest. He wished he could say he would do the same for anyone. Plus, he didn’t want her to be stuck doing everything. Ethan was busy looking in the fridge but Harry noted there wasn’t much there except for a six pack of beer, a bottle of ketchup, and some eggs. “Thanks for the heads up on the attic ladder,” she turned to look at her brother. He bit his lip and nodded.

“Yeah, that’s on me,” he murmured. “Sorry, Sis, are you alright?”

She gestured to her body and nodded. “What do you think?”

“I think you look fantastic,” Ethan grinned eyeing her up and down.

Harry snorted at his forwardness but couldn’t blame him. Her cheeks flamed once more. “I wasn’t asking you,” she glared at him. “Don’t you have a date you need to torture?” She grumbled.

“I did, but I heard you were coming, and I couldn’t leave without saying I love you,” his smile was full of impish delight. Harry didn’t realize he was going to be that flirty. But the way she glared at him and blushed made him feel much less threatened.

Not that he felt threatened. That would be ridiculous. He was at least six years younger than she was. Maybe seven based on the way he flirted with her.

“I was going to ask if you wanted to be my date,” he said knowingly. “But then you brought a guy with you. Where’s Eleanor?”

Sighing, unable to even say it, she rolled her eyes. Harry smirked sadly while he wiped down the counters she cleared. He found a box of trash bags below the sink right by her shin and he gave her calf a little squeeze in recognition. “Well, thank God for Harry then,” she muttered low enough that Harry wasn’t sure anyone but him heard.

James smirked as he helped clean. Harry appreciated that from her brother. His demeanor was a lot more her speed, and ergo Harry’s. It was quieter than her parents’ house. Relaxing almost. “How’s the hangover,” she asked eyeing her brother. He smirked. “I’m fine,” he promised.

“He threw up most of it when we got home,” Ethan assured her. She sighed and looked at James with a blank expression, but Harry could see the worry in her eyes.

“James,” she said softly.

“I’m fine, Sis, promise,” he nodded. But she looked disbelieving.

“You need a cleanse,” she muttered.

“No way,” Ethan said. “The holiday of our people is coming, we have to practice.”

“Neither of you are Irish!” She said with exasperation thick in her voice. It was obvious that this was not the first time she had had this conversation with them. “Alright, are you ready for your to do list?” She looked at Ethan. He saluted her standing at attention like this was serious. “I’m going to look at the state of your laundry room,” the two boys exchanged a look like she was their mom, and they knew immediately they were going to be in trouble. It was equal parts hysterical and adorable. “James and I are going grocery shopping. I’m assuming,” she narrowed her eyes at him. “The bathroom needs to be cleaned,” his answering smile assured her that she was correct. She wrinkled her nose. “No idea how you guys can bring women here with the state of your bathroom. Spotless,” she stuck her finger at him.

“God you’re hot when you’re bossy,” Ethan sighed dreamily.

Much more Harry’s speed, but still a bit jealous of how it sounded. But he couldn’t argue with him either. She was pretty hot when she gave orders.

James sat in the middle of the seat making eye contact with Harry in the rearview mirror every so often while he chatted with his sister. They quickly caught up on their lives. James was working a lot, his classes were good, and he was still having a lot of fun. “Good, that means you can’t drink as much,” she remarked.

He sighed with an eyeroll. “I don’t have a drinking problem.”

“The way you drink is not normal. It’s not moderate. It’s binging and you know that’s bad. I did a whole research project in undergrad for my psychology class. It’s horrible,” she reminded him.

“Yes, ma’am. You’ve mentioned it about a thousand times. I don’t feel like I have to drink. I just like to drink. I’m fine.”

She turned toward him in her seat, looked at him suspiciously. “I just worry.”

“I know, Sis. I know. You worry about everyone,” he rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine,” he promised. He glanced at Harry again. “How’d you meet?”

“I rent the apartment above the restaurant Harry works at,” she explained.

“Oh, cool. What kind of restaurant?”

“Italian,” Harry answered.

“Oh, so she eats all the garlic bread,” he nodded knowingly. Harry chuckled.

She glared at her brother. “Shut up,” she grumbled. She turned to Harry who was smiling happily as he drove toward the grocery store. “Traitor,” she mumbled.

He grabbed her hand from her lap and held it on the console. The movement wasn’t lost on James. He stared at their intertwined hands for a moment before looking at his sister. He may have been younger, but he would do anything to protect her. “So... how long have you been seeing each other?” He asked.

She blushed. “Um...” she swallowed. “We’re only...”

“S’pretty new,” Harry explained. “S’been a busy few months with the holidays.”

“You didn’t tell us,” James’ attention was on her.

“Um...” she swallowed. Harry squeezed her hand reassuringly. Whatever she said was fine. “I... just have a lot going on. I don’t want to...”

“Oh, I get it, you’re shutting down again.”

She gaped and Harry’s eyes flew to James’ in the rear view. He smirked. “Oh?” Harry asked squeezing her hand again.

“Oh yeah. She does this all the time. She doesn’t let herself be happy,” he squeezed her shoulder. “Gotta worry about everyone else’s happiness,” he winked at her. Her face was no longer pink but bright red. Harry bit his lip.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he mumbled with a wink in her direction.

“Pretty sure you should be nicer to me since I’m the one buying your groceries,” she grumbled.

He squeezed her shoulder again. “Annoying younger brother,” he reminded her, getting out of the car and heading for the store. She sighed, pressing her head against the back of the seat.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Harry stayed quiet for a moment. Turned in her direction and smiled weakly. She refused to look at him head on. But he spoke anyway. “Y’deserve t’be happy. I’d like t’make y’happy, Principessa. Worry ‘bout you the way y’worry ‘bout everyone else,” he reached out to gently turn her face toward him. His smile was gentle, his eyes just as gentle too. Her heart was beating unevenly. He was so handsome and so nice. It made her feel like the luckiest woman in the world, and she wasn’t sure she deserved someone so normal and wonderful. He didn’t even flinch about her family. “Y’don’t have t’feel embarrassed. Think s’pretty obvious I adore you. If y’want t’do this...” he moved his finger back and forth between them with his freehand. He squeezed her other one again. “S’all I can think ‘bout. Won’t take any convincing on my end. Whenever you’re ready, kitten, m’ready,” he promised and got out of the car.

It took her a full minute to recover while Harry stood by the passenger door waiting for her signal that she was going to get out. She wanted to throw herself at Harry and kiss him in the middle of a city grocery store parking lot. But she wasn’t kidding when she said it earlier. If she kissed him, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop.

Harry didn’t know he could fall harder for her. Especially for all the reasons he had fallen for her so much already. But seeing the cost of James’ groceries drop after coupons and her savings card, to one-hundred dollars less than it started, Harry was certain it might be one of the top five hottest things he adored about her. She was taking a picture of the receipt while she walked. “What are you doing?” James asked.

“I get points for receipts on this app. Then I can use the points to redeem gift cards.”

“You sound like mom.”

“Again, bought you your groceries.”

Harry smirked, putting the bags in the trunk of his car. James got the package of water bottles and soda from below the cart and put them in. She tried to grab stuff, but Harry shook his head fluttering his hand and ushering it away. “’Ve got it, Principessa.”

James smirked. “She did always want to be a princess when she was little. So, we’ve been told,” he nodded.

“Shut up.”

Harry smiled. “S’good t’know. Knew she had it in her,” he murmured.

“Er...Harry, would you mind terribly if I talked to her for a moment?” James asked.

She looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”

“Can you just—”

“M’jus’ gonna make a call,” Harry nodded and sat in the driver’s seat.

She turned to her brother. She remembered the day in first grade when her mom told her she was going to be a big sister. She was so excited. A real-life doll to play with. James was her best friend—probably still was in a lot of ways. He was intelligent and kind. She thought between the two of them, James was a lot more like her than Emma was.

He looked at his shoes leaning against Harry’s car. “M’sorry,” he murmured.

She sighed, already knowing what he was applying. “How much?”

“I paid all my bills for the month... it’s just... we had a party... and then...” he looked up at her. “I met a girl,” he told her. His cheeks turning pink, and she found him the cutest little thing on the planet. “I really like her,” he explained. “So, I took her out to this fancy place and... I charged it but... I needed books for class. Then... I get paid next week, and I didn’t budget right. I’m sorry,” he rubbed his hand over his mouth. He sounded remorseful.

“What’s she like?” she asked.

He looked up at her and smiled. “You’re going to love her,” he promised. “I want you to meet her,” he nodded.

Her heart clenched in a way she didn’t know was possible. Rarely did she meet James’ girlfriends. She met them when he was in high school, but only because she was around a lot more. But since she moved out and since James was in college, she didn’t hear or see much of his dating life. Other than the components she did not want to hear about and made her want to throw up thinking about her little brother doing weird things to girls.

“Are you embarrassed by me because I’m insane?” She asked him point blank when she saw the text messages popping up on his phone once during the holiday weekend about a year ago. There was a red heart next to the name and she didn’t recognize it.

“No, Sis. No way. I... I don’t introduce them to you because you’re the most sane. I want to be sure when they meet you,” he told her. Her heart felt so much adoration for her little brother. It felt like a hug and he wasn’t even touching her.

“I’d like that,” she nodded, trying to keep the tears from filling her eyes.

“Next time,” he nodded. “I know you have to get back and frost Emma’s cupcakes. She’s been texting me the whole time that I’m hogging you.”

She sighed and pulled her checkbook out of her purse. She wrote a sum that no normal sister would write for their younger brother while leaning against the back of the car. But it was better than him asking her mom. “I’ll pay you back,” he promised as she put the check in his hands.

“By my estimates you owe me more than you’ll ever be able to make,” she winked at him. “It’s what older sisters are for,” she promised and gave him another hug.

“Someone should tell Emma that,” he grumbled into her hair. She smiled, her eyes watering against her will. All while holding back the emotion that she felt for feeling understood. Maybe this girl was good for James. She hoped he was. He seemed to have matured in a matter of months since she last saw him. It made her throat tighten and she did her best to control the tears from falling. “Didn’t tell us about Harry,” he said knowingly.

She shrugged and smiled wryly. “I’m still figuring it out.”

“I think you should let him take care of you,” he said knowingly. “I’ve never seen you smile like that,” he wrinkled his nose. “Even if he holds your hand,” he pretended to gag, and she smiled.

“I like him,” she admitted. “A lot.”

“I would think; I wasn’t kidding. I don’t bring girls home to Mom and Dad’s for a while.”

She rolled her eyes. “I think he likes me too,” she sounded shy, like it was hard to believe. It was for her, but still.

“I’ll say. Ethan’s been texting me nonstop saying it’s game over. No more flirting. You’re betrothed to someone else.”

“Ethan did not say betrothed,” she laughed.

“He did, he is distraught,” he chuckled.

She rolled her eyes heading for the passenger seat. Harry smiled as she sat down, winking at her with the phone pressed to his ear. “I’ll call you later, Gem. Jus’ wanted t’say thank you and I love you,” he tapped on the steering wheel. “Tell mum I said hi and I love her,” he added. “Alright, bye,” he gave her a once over assuring she was in one piece—emotionally. “All set?” He asked.

She nodded. “All set.”

The ladder was the hardest part. Her dad helped at least. Had all the right tools and all the right pieces of wood needed to fix it. Harry was insistent on keeping her out of the way. “I always help with this stuff, Harry,” she said standing by with a flashlight for more help. It was bright in the hall, but you can never have too much light for these projects.

“It’s true. I had James, but by then my little helper here was doing most of the grunt work,” her dad winked at her as a reminder. She rolled her eyes and shrugged.

But once the ladder was up and functional again, Harry still didn’t want her going up into the attic. “Don’t want you t’hurt yourself, kitten,” he told her as he climbed up.

“Well, what about you—”

“I’ll be fine,” he promised with a wink.

After that, the lights took all of twenty minutes to come down. Harry was insistent he be on the ladder for that as well, pulling the lights off the gutter and handing the strand down to her. She wrapped them up expertly and stashed them in the bins and helped Harry put them back up in the new and improved attic. The way his arms flexed as he lifted the boxes up and over the ledge of the attic opening made his shirt lift a little, showing off a flash of his stomach. It couldn’t have been more than five seconds of time, but she was able to see toned lines of his abdomen and another tattoo on his hip. She swallowed as he descended the ladder trying to keep her thoughts PG, but Harry was looking at her with that beautiful smile of his and he kissed her cheek just like the very first time he did after babysitting Leo.

They finally ate the shepherd’s pie her mom made. It needed to be reheated by then. Harry was delighted with how good it tasted. “It’s Mom’s specialty,” she said. “Also, my favorite,” she smirked. “As you may have guessed, I have a thing for comfort food.”

He chuckled and nodded. “S’delicious, Principessa.”

Now they were frosting cupcakes. Almost silently. She heard the TV in the other room while the rest of her family watched the news and whatever followed it. “This is fun,” Harry smiled excitedly at her.

“Fun?” She snorted.

“Yeah. T’hang out with y’like this? S’nice,” he sounded almost sheepish.

Her heart fluttered because she couldn’t think of anything but how nice and wonderful Harry had been the whole day. “On the way home, you have to tell me all about your family, please.”

He smiled licking a bit of frosting off his thumb. He got up to wash his hands because he was onto vanilla frosting after finishing the cream cheese flavor. “Course, Principessa.”

They stayed for a whole hour in the living area with her family. Harry sat next to her, so close the length of her thigh pressed against his. He had his arm draped behind her on the back of the sofa and he chatted with her family so easily. It was cozy. Like he belonged there. It made her heart feel achy and she wished with everything in her that nothing would shatter this perfection she was feeling.

She couldn’t wait to tell Eleanor.

She visited a couple weekends ago. Had to get a few financial and personal documents from the town hall and whatnot to set up more permanent things in her residence. Her new job was nice—she was able to work from home most of the time; but did have to go to the office at least twice a week. But it was easy to shift the days if needed so she could do things like fly in and get her tasks done and still have time to get pasta at Dolcezza.

“Can you please put that poor man out of his misery and marry him already?” Eleanor rolled her eyes as they waited for their waitress to return with the check to sign. Their to go bag was on the table and Eleanor snapped a picture of her smiling cutely. Like they were on a date.

She rolled her eyes at the time. Not knowing that in less than a month she would be kissing Harry in her parents’ kitchen. “He’s not miserable.”

“No, but that’s because he’s so enamored, he would probably follow you around like a puppy on a leash if you asked him too.” She rolled her eyes but at that moment the waitress returned with their check and another bag filled with garlic bread from the cutest chef she had ever met.

“Well, we should get going. I just have to use the bathroom,” she said begrudgingly, getting up from the sofa. She could feel the heat from Harry dissipate almost immediately. It made her want to sit back down and never move from his side again. “I’ll be right back.”

“Thank you, for the cupcakes,” Emma said looking up at her older sister as she walked toward the bathroom. She smiled gently.

“Anytime, Em,” she promised.

“Let me help you get them on trays,” Harry said getting up from the sofa as well and Emma followed him almost implicitly toward the kitchen. Due to the size of the bake sale and how her cupcakes were town-famous, she had invested in several large trays that held cupcakes for ease of transportation. It took two cars and a flat backseat, but it was way more manageable than the first year when she made three or four trips to the school carrying cupcakes in kitschy cases.

After her short trip to the restroom, she nearly tripped over the smoke alarm in the middle of the hall. She rolled her eyes with a sigh. This had to be the hundredth task she did for her family today. But of course, she shouldn’t have expected anything less. She headed to the computer room to find a new battery. It was right near the kitchen, so she overheard Emma and Harry chatting.

“Do you have a sister?” Emma asked.

“Yeah. Gemma. She’s three years older than me.”

“So you know how annoying older sisters are,” she muttered.

Harry chuckled. “I mean...yeah. Gemma’s annoying sometimes... but she’s also m’best friend. Always looks out for me. Think if I were on the edge of a cliff, she’d throw herself off it t’save me,” he said knowingly.

Emma snorted. “She’d never do that for me,” she mumbled. Her heart broke as she eavesdropped on their conversation. Of course, she would. It hurt that Emma didn’t know that.

Harry made a cluck of disapproval. “I wouldn’t say that, Emma,” Harry said quickly. “Your sister talks ‘bout you a lot.”

“She does?” The shock in her voice pulled at her heartstrings. How could Emma not know that? Her baby sister was a spoiled princess. But she was in part to blame for that. She adored her the moment her mom arrived home with her. A new doll. One that she knew how to take care of thanks to James’ arrival three years prior. Emma was just as much of her baby as she was her parents’ baby.

“Yeah... told me all these cute funny stories ‘bout when y’were born. How y’used t’ask her t’do your makeup when y’were eight and she was getting ready for prom and stuff. Now you’re the one that does hers. She thinks you’re brilliant, beautiful, and wonderful.”

Emma was silent for a long time. She held her breath. “Oh...” she mumbled.

“Y’were pretty mean t’her today. M’not gonna lie t’you. I didn’t like it all.”

She was going to cry. Cry a lot. No one had ever stood up for her like that. Harry was perfect. Perfect, perfect, perfect. “I’m sorry,” Emma whispered.

“S’not me who y’need t’apologize to,” Harry said softly.

“She’s...” Emma took a deep breath. “She’s so perfect,” Emma whispered. “It’s hard being her younger sister sometimes. All Mom and Dad say is that they miss her and wish she was here. I miss her. My teachers ask about her. They use her work as model examples, and everyone stares at me like I’m second best. I feel so inadequate...” her voice cracked, and she wanted to do nothing but run out there and hug the girl who would always be a little eight-year-old begging to wear her prom dress even though it trailed off her way too far.

“Oh Emma,” Harry had a frown in his voice. “Y’jus’ need t’tell her that. She adores you...and while I agree with you completely, m’sure she would say she’s not perfect.”

She smirked against her teary eyes and stifled a giggle that she wanted to release. “You’re way better than all her other boyfriends,” Emma said knowingly. “If you break her heart, I will kill you,” she promised. It was really hard to hide her laughter, but Harry found it quite funny, so his laugh hid any little breathy chuckle that managed to escape.

“Thank you, Emma,” he said.

Even though they weren’t really boyfriend and girlfriend, she agreed with her sister completely.

Harry told her all about his family. Growing up in England. Getting his degree and traveling until he found Antonio, and she knew the rest. She wanted to meet Gemma more than anything in the world. His mum too, but as a fellow older sister, she imagined she could compare notes. He told funny stories about him and Niall living together in a house across their small town.

He held her hand the whole way home, stroking his thumb soothingly over her knuckles. As awful as the day began, she never wanted it to end. Harry was amazing. In every sense of the word and every physical movement. Not once did he complain. Not once did he mind a single thing, she asked of him.

They made it back to the restaurant. It was only ten, a whole hour before she thought they’d be back. Harry immediately went to the kitchen to get her some garlic bread because it had been a long day and he wanted to make sure she had something good at the very end of the night. He also told her he would get her keys from Niall. She sat at the bar looking at the knots in the wood grain. Patiently, anxiously, she tapped her fingers against it, waiting for Harry to get back. He promised to walk her upstairs and part of her hoped he remembered what he said about kissing her for a lot longer than in the kitchen earlier in the day.

That felt like a lifetime ago.

Niall was ducked behind the bar and reappeared as she glanced up seeing the movement. He was helping himself to a glass of water from the little soda gun. “Hey Niall,” she said softly.

“Hey, Tesorino! How was your day?” He said cheerily. She smiled weakly. Niall assumed it was exhaustion. “Let me get your keys. Did everything—”

“From where you’re standing,” she interrupted. “Don’t be obvious, please. Is there a guy in the left corner? Blonde, longish hair, glasses? Is he staring at me?”

Niall felt his whole body freeze over. Inside and out. The blood in his veins stilled. His muscles locked. His joints stiffened. He looked up briefly, discreetly following her direction. She swallowed waiting nervously as Niall looked to the back corner.

He nodded.

She closed her eyes, inhaled deeply. “Okay,” she whispered. “I was afraid of that.”

general taglist: @justlemmeadoreyou @daydreamingofmatilda @sunshinemoonsposts @youdontcaredoyou @tiredinwinter @loving-hazz @likeapplejuicenpeach @straightontilmornin @freedomfireflies @littlenatilda @kathb59 @babegoals @angel-upon @lilfreakjez @mleestiles @ameliaalvarez06 @canyonmoondreams @summertime-pills @daphnesutton @l4rrysh0use @perfectywrong @foreverxholland @lolyouallsuck @buckybarnessimpp @stylesfever @harrysxcarolina @haarrrys @lovrave @st-ev-ie @pandeebearstyles @toosarcastic03 @luvonstyles @tenaciousperfectionunknown @classychalamet

Dolcezza: @matildasatellite @crossyourpeter @st-ev-ie @lovingfurypanda @sideboobrry11 @slayyyyyyyyyyyyyysblog @theresnooneheretosave @emmaawbr

I'm sorry if I missed anyone in the taglist. Please let me know if you'd like to join, if I put you on the wrong list, if it didn't work, if you no longer want to be included, etc. :)

If you like this, check out my masterlist for more of my writing.

#harry #harry styles writing #harry styles fluff #harry styles blurb #harry styles blurbs #harry styles smut #harry styles angst #harry styles imagine #harry styles imagines #harry styles fic #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles x y/n #harry styles x reader #one direction #one direction writing #dolcezza

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kalena-henden · 1 month ago

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There are so many shiny new dramas coming out. I feel like a kid in a candy store trying to pick out which ones I want to watch live. (And yes, there are 3 shows with my bae Lee Junyoung.)

#kdrama #cdrama #study group #the trauma code heroes on call #perfect match #melo movie #buried hearts #my dearest nemesis #undercover high school #divorce insurance #the potato lab #when life gives you tangerines #pump up the healthy love #kalenapost #kalenapoll #these all look so good #but i think i'm here most for MYN workplace romcom #eta: MYN = My Dearest Nemesis

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eddygoldarm · 4 months ago

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Okay, in this post, I will put all my headcanons for the brawlers origins/backstories.

I'll update it little by little as I go and find more things about them. Note that I I sometimes quit the game for long periods of time so I'm not always updated on the lore. So this is mostly my personal interpretation, if you have any canon information/trivia from the creators/interesting headcanons, feel free to share them! With that said, let's do this!

⬇️

WILD WEST

🩹Shelly : She was a normal farmgirl from the frontier, living in her family's ranch with her animals. But many gangs from the area made her life very difficult, and the rangers never did anything for her, so she decided to become some kind of vigilante. After many lonely years, she met Colt, who she thought was just another idiot. While she was right, he proved himself to be efficient and caring, and he convinced her to stop the cycle of crime by joining him. She accepted, and is now a mercenary working with Colt, fighting to make the frontier a better place. While still hot-headed, she's way more well adjusted and reasonable now, she's just a bit jealous of Colt. As her best friend, she knows him better than anyone else and dislikes the fact that this utter idiot gets more recognition than her.

⭐Colt : Colt has a secret : He is the son of Belle and Sam from the goldarm gang. Born as Edwin, he was raised by the gang and learned all the ins and outs of the criminal life since he was little. His mother Belle pushed him to perform better each day in order to make him strong. That way, he became an incredible shot, but also a boastful and well-groomed boy, never letting show a sign of weakness. But as the heists were getting more difficult, and the gang more violent, Eddy struggled to keep up, and Belle started to neglect him when he failed. He started to hate himself, as he felt like nobody would ever love who he was becoming. So, after a terrible accident that mutated him (that Shelly was in too!), he decided to fake his death to start his own new life. He assumed a new identity, and thanks to his gun skills and tactical knowledge, became a security officer at Starr Park. He slowly climbed the ladder, accomplishing his duty, pleasing the people and making a name for himself. Until he became the Oldtown sheriff, Colt is now happier than ever, as he has all he ever wanted: A great job, a lot of fans and friends that move him... unless?

🌵Spike : Spike was originally a regular cactus, living his normal cactus life in the middle of the desert. Until one day, a mountain of a human fell and landed on him, completely destroying the plant. Hopefully, a little chunk stayed attached to his shirt, and he managed to survive. The small shoot was given to a young Eddy, and then potted. The little plant was the boy's new best friend, he took care of it, carried it everywhere, and even talked to it. Spike learned a lot, everything even, and developed feelings for the boy as he watched him grow and struggle. Until one day, where the plant was blasted once again, it managed to survive, but something changed in Spike. He started to slowly mutate into a humanoïd shape, and could even now form "thoughts". Spike essentially turned into a little human (which freaked out Colt and made him sholt Spike in chock but we avoid talking about that.), that became Colt's new friend. With his newfound appearance, Spike became a weird little guy, just wandering around, either helping his friends or causing mischief. He is living his best life and nobody can stop him, he's a cactus! While more independant, he his still close to Colt, he cheers him up in his own weird ways, and keeps his secrets... which is very useful since he can't speak.

SHAMAN TRIBE

🦅Bo : The shaman tribe are the oldest group of the land, they live secluded in the jungle, in harmony with nature. Bo is one of their warriors, strong, wise and courageous, he was always curious about the world around him. When he was still young, he stepped out the jungle, and fell in love with the beauty of nature and mankind. He started to explore the world, acquiring knowledge and new connexion, that he shared with his peers. Of course, this idea didn't sit well with everyone; Leon and Nita's father, was killed by a man of the frontier, going outside could lead to catastrophe. Bo knew this, but thought it was worth the risk, and some people of the tribe started to go out as well, notably the widow, who was intrigued by Starr Park. While the warrior didn't care for it, he saw that it was cheering her up, and they started to hang out there together, they fell in love, and got married. Taking little Leon and Nita was becoming their ritual, until one faithful day, where the mother vanished without a trace. Submerged by guilt, Bo looked for months for her, sadly, he couldn't find any trace of her. Instead, he decided to take responsability, and took Leon and Nita under his wing. Today he is still a respected warrior, but ha has to carry the burden of his wife's disappearance. Also, Bo isn't his actual name, it's a nickname the people of the frontier have given him. He also uses merch from the park as a voluntary hinderance, to sharpen his skills, they're also gifts from the kids.

🦎Leon : Leon is a child from the shaman tribe, unfortunately, he didn't have a warrior spirit, and was rather shy. He preferred to stay in his corner, observing the world around him, his parents didn't care, and still cherished him. Sadly, the accumulation of his father's death, his replacement by a scary stoic warrior, and his mother's disappearance, made him close in on himself even more. Thanks to a gem mutation, he developped invisibility powers, and used it to hide and to cause trouble. This was a pain to deal with for Bo, who had no experience with parenting. Eventually, with the help of Nita, he managed to earn the child's trust. With time, Leon learned to open up and be a happy kid again, it's still difficult sometimes, he's still a troublemaker! But that's why we love him!

🐻Nita : Nita barely knew her parents, she always carried the teddy her mom had given her for comfort. When she disappeared, all she had to look up too was her big brother (Bo was too busy looking for her mom to take care of them), so she became a fierce little troublemaker like him. Together they began causing mayhem wherever they went, and this was the happiest she ever was. Of course, this fell back on her, when the teddy got destroyed (Bull did it), this got her seething with rage, giving birth to Bruce, the fierce spirit-bear (thanks in part to a gem mutation). After seeing the damage Nita had done, Bo finally decided to step in : he defeated the bear, and stitched the plushie back together. That way, she could always be comforted by someone if she ever felt angry.

RETROPOLIS GANG

🐂Bull : Bull (I think I saw his real name somewhere but it might have been a jape) was born and raised in the frontier. He was always a big boy, but contrary to his appearance, he was kind and well-mannered. Sadly, those traits that aren't desirable in this harsh environnement, Bull's childhood was difficult, because despite his herculeand strenght, he couldn't bring himself to hurt anyone. I like to think he briefly dated Pam, but she dumped him because he was too much of a wimp. Having enough of this, he quit his farm for Retropolis, where he got a job as a waiter. All wasn't perfect though, there were many gangs fighting, and he always got caught in the fire. One day, he got a spike of courage, and tried to save an innocent client, only to recieve a deadly gem explosion. The radiation, as well as the frustration of years of suffering, made him loose all his tempter, and in an instant, he singlehandedly obliterated the gang responsible. They all started to respect him and do favors for him. At first he didn't want this kind of power, he felt guilty for beating all these people, but he soon realized he could use it to do some good, he could maintain order and protect underdogs like him. Bull slowly assumed a stronger, bolder character, recruited some goons, and founded his own gang. While Bull's gang was terrifying, their goal was only to put those who caused trouble, and hurt innocents back in their place. Today Bull owns the diner, and is a well-known figure in Retropolis, feared by some, respected by many, despite his looks and methods, it's undeniable that he made the city a safer place. He might be scary now, but deep down, he's still the kind humble farmboy, so, as long as you're polite, you're always welcole at Bull's diner! His pancakes are bangin too.

🐦‍⬛Crow: He was just a normal bird, flying around, earing seeds etc... But one day, he got shot and fell into a crevasse filled with gems. This caused him to mutate enormously, and to become quasi-human. Crow was terrified; his body and world had changed, and he was all alone. So he wandered, trying to make sense of everything. But he got soon spotted by many criminals, who tried to capture him. After days of escape, Crow was cornered at Retropolis, he felt like he was doomed to suffer for the rest of his life. It was at this moment that somewhat lended him a hand for the first time: Bull saw what was happening to the strange bird-man, and ordered everyone to leave him alone. He gave him a jacket, lead him to his restaurant, and cooked him a breakfast. Crow had now a roof and a friend. The bird-man had come a long way, he learned to move, to speak and to act like a human, but he still has a long way to go to figure himself out, bird or human? Maybe something completely different, only time will tell. In the meantime, Crow is happy to belong somewhere, somewhere safe.

⚾Bibi : I headcanon that she's Kenji's daughter, she grew up in the sushi restaurant in Retropolis, helping her mom and dad. Contrary to now, she was a sweet and well-mannered girl, all was well until Starr Park attacked the restaurant, her mother got kidnapped, and her father went in hiding to try and fing her. Lost and confused, she didn't understand why her father suddently left her when she needed him most, so she saught refuge at Bull's diner, because she knew he could help. Bull accepted to take her under his wing, on the condition that she would be a part of his gang. Since then, Bibi has toughen up a lot, she adopted a bad girl attitude to match with Bull and Crow's energy, but if you look behind her façade, you can easily see she's still a sweet girl, she likes candy, video games and cute animals. Bull doesn't treat her like a child, but he still takes care of her, he's like a second dad to her.

(I'm sensing a pattern with Bo and Bull adopting weird children here lol)

STARRCADE

🕹️Brock : I don't think Brock has anything special, really, he's probably the most normal of all the brawlers. He's always was a geek, and was frequently bullied for liking comics, cartoons and video games. In his teens, with the help of Colt (who he met at Starr Park), and his dad, who is a ranger, he learned to assert and defend himself. He turned his nerdiness into a strengh, learning to dress cool, talk back, and creating gadgets to defend himself (a rocket launcher is a bit overkill imo). Despite his certified freshness, he's a bit of a bum, but he's fine with his life, he works in something that he's passionate about thanks to the arcade, and he's surrounded by cool friends.

🔫Rico : Like all robots of his kind, Rico was designed for combat, he was part of a squadron belonging to the rangers, and obeyed to the orders like any other robots would. Until one day, when he was ordered to get stolen gems back from the Gold Arm. During this mission, he got shot (by Eddy or Belle) in just the right spot, causing a mutation thanks to the nearby gems. Rico gained a free will and a consciousness, this, mixed to his calculator-brain, made him an extremely accurate shooter. He hid it at first, but the rangers quickly noticed it, and started treating him as an equal, he was given clothes, promoted, and nicknamed "Ricochet" because of his famous gun tricks. Eventually, Rico got tired of following orders, he wanted to be his own person, so he said goodbye to the rangers, and became a bounty hunter. This was the robot's prime years, as he wandered the desert, he became famous, as he was at the time the only independant robot, and a dreaded sharpshooter. It was at this time that he met Piper, but they weren't lovers, I'm not sure if they were partners or ennemies. Sadly, all things had to come to an end, and one day, he crossed paths with the Gold Arm once again, who completely obliterated him, he wasn't buried like a person, but thrown in the scrapyard. A few years after, Brock found his carcass, took it, and frankensteined him with a gumball machine, thinking it could be a great addition to the Starrcade. But by fixing him, Rico woke up again: the bounty hunter returned. Brock realised that he had just ressucitated one of the most famous figures of the frontier, he thought it was lit. The robot didn't feel like going back to his old ways, he thought the Starrcade was a nice place, so he decided to retire, and to hang out in Retropolis. He's not as fierce as he used to be, now he prefers to be silly and to play the gallery with his bouncy balls. And yeah, he dated a vending machine, but Frank broke it, and now he is with Piper, who charmed with his new persona.

👾 8-Bit : He is an old arcade machine that was given life after Brock forgot gems on it. He used to display a bad and difficult game, and all the players that tried to beat it spat their anger and frustration at him. Now that he is alive, he is a pure machine of hatred, trying to beat all the people that mistreated him. He respects Brock because he's one of the few that was good at his game.

BANDSTAND

🏋️El Primo : He is Shelly's cousin, and grew up on the same farm as her. He became passionate about lucha libre from a very early age, and began practicing on everyone and everything. Thanks to his training, he became very strong, he was a bit of a beloved local figure, but it wasn't enough for him. He wanted to become the strongest in the universe, but he felt like he couldn't progress. One night, as he was practicing under the moon, he saw a purple meteor descend from the sky. He thought that if he mutated, he could finally become strong, so he tried to intercept it, not realizing how much danger he was putting himself in. Thankfully, Shelly saved him in extremis, and scholded him for being and idiot, telling him that being mutated isn't fun or cool. They watched the stars fall together, the wrestler felt like he could become as powerful as them, so he modeled his famous jump move after the meteor's fall. Now, to spice up his tale, he tells everyone that the meteor hit him right in the face, gifting him with immense power and beauty. But both Shelly and him know he's just strong like that ;] Now he is a travelling luchador with his bandstand friends Poco and Amber.

🎺Poco : Poco used to be a normal human, he was a promising musician of the frontier, with his own life and family. Sadly, he tragically passed away in a brawl between criminals, before he could meet his fame. Decades later, because of a mutation, he ressucitated (Maybe Mortis did it lol), but he was cursed to be a skeleton for the rest of his life. Saddened by his state, and the loss of his home and loved ones, he began to wander the desert, playing mournful balads to himself. He didn't hurt anyone, but people avoided him for his appearance. One day, as he was approaching Oldtown, he met with someone who was badly hurt and couldn't move (idk who could that be, maybe Shelly when she was a vigilante? or El Primo or Amber), he decided to keep them company, and to play his guitar to soothe them. Little did he know, his beautiful music had now the power to heal others. Extremely grateful and excited by this, the person introduced them to the people of Oldtown, who slowly started to accept him. Now Poco has regained his true colors, and is beloved by everyone, nothing makes him happier than seeing the smiles he brings to everyone.

🔥Amber : I don't know of any potential backstory leads for Amber. I just think she's a normal girl who LOVES fire and wanted to be a performer with the baton (idk how you call this lmao). The problem was, she gets too carried away, and tends to destroy everything, which discouraged her. El Primo thought it was cool as hell though, and asked her to be a part of his show.

OLDTOWN

🍺Barley : Like the other cyclop robots, Barley was a fighter, and like some of his kind, he was destroyed in a fight, then repurposed by the common people (possibly by a younger Pam). He belonged to the previous owner of the Oldtown bar, and served as a simple bartender, he wasn't very special, but he was a fun novelty that attracted customers. While he was a great bartender, it seemed like his code wasn't changed properly, and each time a fight burst in the bar, he would go in fighter mode, and destroy everything himself. At one point he gained consciouness, and the fights multiplied, he started to feel remorse for his owner and fatigue to have to clean everything else. So he worked on himself a bit, his boss gave him a classy look, complete with a nice oufit and a mustache, and he made it a point to keep the bar in order. The owner eventually passed away, and Barley inherited the bar, and to this day, he's still serving his customers with a lovely smile. He still has "anger issues" though.

🌂Piper : Not sure for Piper yet. She was either a deadly criminal, a bounty hunter or a respected ranger, she knew Ricochet and the Goldarm gang personally. But one day she got tired of fighting, so she left her wild life, and came back to Oldtown, where she opened her charming bakery. While she isn't one to fight in the spotlight, she still has her fighter reflexes for before, so don't tease her.

🐍Byron : Byron is one of the sons of the Starr family, and Belle's younger brother, since an early age, Byron was passionate about poisons and toxins. He studied snakes, scorpions and other venomous creatures, in the hopes of becoming a pharmacist, and make a ton of money selling miracle remedies. Byron's upbringing was difficult, while the Starrs were proud of him for his practice, he completely was socially inept, and was considered as a black sheep along with his sister. He was a witness to the abuse she suffered, but could barely do anything to prevent it, or say the right thing to comfort her, this created some tension between them. One day, Belle fell pregnant with some common man from the factory, and he learned that the Starrs wanted ro keep the baby for themselves. So, after she gave birth, he helped her escape with the baby, and cut the Starrs off from his life at the same occasion. He gave up on his studies, and started his own business, helping Belle by supplying the gang with remedies and poisons. Eventually, the gang got caught, and Byron with it, he was sent to prison, but managed to smooth talk his captives into getting a shorter sentence. Byron is back in Oldtown now, while unable to become a proper pharmacist, a medical diploma is just a paper to him. Because he's basically Colt's uncle, he allowed him to sell his products, as long as he didn't cause trouble. While Byron didn't achieve his dream, he's still became the richest person in Oldtown thanks to his passion, living the dream life in his big house filled with snakes. Also, like Belle, he's blacklisted from the Starr family gatherings, but he doesn't care.

BIODOME

🌹Rosa : Originating from Super City, Rosa is a talented botanist. One day, because of a lab accident, she suffered from a mutation, which made her strong as heck. So she made it her goal to study this phenomenon. While she had a lot of theoretical knowledge, she rarely ventured outside her lab, and lacked field experience. She worked so hard that she started to neglect her family, and her sisters went missing (One of them being Lily, they are so similar to me!!). Feeling remorse she decided to got to the jungle, where she thought Lily went, and where the mutated flora was plentiful. It was a dangerous territory, but she found a way to protect herself : she punched all the plants that tried to attack her, and domesticated a baby mutated plant to make and make herself and armor out of it. While she didn't find her sister (well, she did, but she didn't recognize her, and punched her as well), she learned a lot on her journey. Thanks to her talent, she was appointed by Starr Park to work at their shiny new Biodome, a giant greenhouse created in the hopes of rehabilitating plantlife in the frontier. Now she works here with her assistants Bea and Sprout, making new discoveries everyday.

🐝Bea : SHE LIKES BEES. I think she grew up in the frontier, where insects are fairly rare. When she understood their importance in the ecosystem, and the power they could have to repopulate the frontier, she fell in love with them, especially the bees. So she studied the bees, and became a bee scientist, and now she works at the biodome where she uses bees to help Rosa with her plant research. She's not as interested in the mutations as her, she's more of a tech nerd, she created the bee drone, as well as Sprout.

🌱Sprout : Sprout was originally a standard smart seed incubator, it's simply designed to keep seeds in good health before while they hatch. One day, after one of her jungle explorations, Rosa found a really strange mutated seed, brought it back to the biodome, and put it in the incubator to study it. Over the days, the incubator started to malfunction, it started to speak and move by itself. Bea checked it, and noticed that as it was growing, the seed was slowly taking over the incubator, who started to mutate as well. At one point, it almost seemed like it was having a mind of its own, so Bea decided to upgrade it, giving it arms and wheels, so it could be monitored more easily, and also drawing a face on it. And so, Sprout was born, they're Rosa and Bea's little assistant in the biodome, taking care of the plants. To this day, nobody knows what the seed holds, but Sprout takes care of it rigourously.

SCRAPPERS

🔧Jessie : She's a wild kid, since she was little, she's used to the rough and tough of the frontier. She was possibly born with a mutation that made her extremely intelligent, and by watching her mother, she quickly learned to make all kinds of different machines. She didn't have any friends growing up, so she considers her home-made electro gun and turret, Scrappy as such. Now that she's a little bit older, she wants to be let on her own, and make new friends by herself. Unfortunately Pam is too scared for her, and Nani won't let her wander off, when will they learn that she is a big girl now? Despite her intelligence and courage, she's still a little girl, she likes dolls and cute animals, and cries like a baby when she doesn't get her way.

⚙️Pam : I like to think that Pam was an heir to the Starr family, but, like Belle, decided to flee as she didn't like the life that was promised to her. Before running away, she was a worker at the robot factory, and she used her experience to make a living as a scrapper. She was a free spirit, and was carried by the wind, one day quietly visiting Oldtown, and the other riding to hell with the bikers. Pam's life was difficult, but she was strong enough to be happy with it. Eventually, she fell pregnant with Jessie (Bull is possibly the father, it could be really funny), and that made her an easy target. She decided to stop wandering, and to settle in the scrapyard, her pregnancy was difficult, as she had to defend herself, her baby, and her livelyhood alone. She managed it, but this experience calmed her down a little bit, she couldn't afford to do as she pleased anymore, now that she had a child. She is very protective of Jessie because of it, and she built Nani to watch over her. That still doesn't mean she's still sitting around doing nothing! Pam is always present for a little action, especially when it comes to annoy the Starrs.

🐥Nani : Nani was a scrapped mousebot, repurposed by Pam to be Jessie's nanny. She loves her family and is even more protective over Jessie than Pam. She doesn't hesitate to spy on her with Peep when she wanders too far. Nothing too complicated about her. I like to think that one day Starr Park got a hold of her, while she was freed by Pam, they still could used her as a basis to create R-T.

MINERS

🧨Dynamike : Mike was a miner back in the old days, his favorite part of the job was seeing the explosions him and his coworkers caused. This lead him to not be very careful with his equipement; one day, the canary they were using escaped in a new tunnel, as Mike tried to retrieve it, a wall crashed behind him, blocking the exit. Despite attempts to save him, the rescuers couldn't do anything, and left him for dead. Over 40 years later, as the miners where digging nearby, Dynamike, and his birdie reemerged from the tunnel, like nothing happened. To this day, nobody knows how they survived in there, when asked, he only responds with nonsense, it seems like years of isolation caused him to go a bit crazy. Nowadays, he's still working at the mines, and loving every second of it.

��Jackie : She was originally a construction worker in Super City, but she got fired for being too vulgar and destructive. She then reconverted as a miner, where she suffered a mutation because of the gems. While she's not really passionate about her job, she's glad she can unwind as much as she wants.

⛏️Carl : Carl was a standard miner robot, since recent times, they've replaced the miners, as they are safer and more efficient. Jackie pushed him in a crevasse once, and he mutated, gaining a consciouness. Carl is a geology nerd, and unlike the other robots, he spends his time studying the rocks and gems they find. While he is very useful for the miners, Jacky can't stand him and his nerdyness, and she bullies him a bit.

PIRATES

🛢️Darryl : Same as the other cyclops, Darryl once gained consciousness after an accident involving gems. He was badly beat up, but he was repaired by people living near the beach (maybe Penny's family), replacing his full torso area by a big barrel, hence why he looks a bit different from the other robots. He soon realised that he didn't like to work for them, he wanted to live his own life, free from society, so, he became a pirate! He put on a hat, found a boat, and formed a crew, and now sails on the seven seas! Little did he know that managing a crew also took responsability, but he loves his little guys, so he tried his best.

💀Penny : Penny is a rebellious girl from the beach, her parents didn't really take care of her, so she did as she pleased, and survived by stealing from tourists. When she learned that Darryl was looking for crewmates, she immediately joined him. She met Jessie at the beach once, and they became good friends, Jessie taught her a bit of mecanics, and she learned to make her own turrets.

💣Tick : He's one of Penny's creations, and also her pet. He's a very basic robot, made of three canons stitched together. All he does on the ship is blow things up and be silly.

GHOST TRAIN

🚂Chuck : Chuck was a famous and passionate maestro, he was always looking to surpass himself in his art. His concerts where impressive, but he felt like he could do even better. Sadly, one day, the train he was taking derailled at the ghost station. While everyone evacuated safely, some debris fell on Chuck, and he couldn't move anymore, and he passed away in there. He later woke up as a ghost, bound to the train's seat, he had become the ghost train's new conductor. This transformation turned Chuck completely mad, driving the ghost train completely recklessly, and cursing each of its passengers. But one day, Gus suddently appeared in the train, and somehow, he didn't seem to be afraid of Chuck. The child had nowhere else to go, so he invited himself in the train. As the days passed, the conductor got attached to the lost boy, taking care of him, and regaining his humanity without noticing. Today, while he still enjoys giving people a scare, he no longer curses them, and always drives the train to its destination. While still bound to the ghost train, he discovered the joys of the afterlive, and uses his newfound powers to write even more powerful music. (Also, I like to think that Chuck killed Gus by accident, and now takes care of his ghost because he feels guilty, but maybe it's too dark haha).

🎈Gus : He was a regular kid with his head in the clouds, that liked balloons a lot. One day, as he was coming back from Starr Park, he lost his balloon in a train tunnel, and he went after it. The boy was never seen again, but some people say they can see the apparition of a boy with a balloon in the ghost station. Gus became a ghost because of a mutation, and is permanently bound to the train and the station. There, he met the conductor, and made the train his new home. Afterlife can be really repetitive when you're bound to a train, but Gus has a wild imagination and a wandering spirit, each day, he inspired Chuck with his strange ideas and shenanigans. He is used to it now, he uses his new powers to give a scare to the ghost station visitors, since he has nothing better to do.

🕶️Shade : It was initially a pile of different lost clothes Gus found around the station. Eventually, somehow, the combination of a mutation and Gus' weird brain's powers gave it life, and Shade quickly became his best (imaginary?) friend. Unlike Gus or Chuck, Shade is very friendly towards the visitors, but they tend to run away from it as well.

MORTUARY

🦇 Mortis : Mortis' mom tragically passed away when he was little, since then, he had a fascination for death, he isolated himself from his family to study it in detail. He took trips to the graveyard to experiment on bodies, and eventually gained enough experience to become a mortician. One day though, he fell in a grave full of gems, and mutated, becoming essentially a vampire. He took this opportunity to study death even further, using his necromancy powers to hopefully one day resurrect the dead, or achieve immortality. He managed to do it several times, notably creating Frank. But as the years went by, started to outgrow his loved ones, and became a recluse in his own family. The only one that wasn't scared of him was a young EMZ, who thought her uncle was really cool. Mortis started to feel loved, and to assert himself again thanks to the little girl. Sadly, she passed away because of a sickness, Mortis couldn't accept it, and he resurrected her, cursing her with a zombified body and eternal life. EMZ hated her uncle for what he had done, but she made peace with it thanks to Frank, and Mortis promised to fix his mistake. Today Mortis is still the local mortician, living a cool vampire life with his zombie friends, he doesn't resurrect anyone anymore.

🪦Frank : Frank isn't actually a frankenstein monster, he's just the zombie of the Mortis' family's butler. Mortis was close to him, so after his death, he tried to ressucitate him, with mixed results. While Frank is alive, the resurrection made him broken in some ways, he barely had memories of his past life, couldn't speak, and had a very awkward body. Mortis admired him though, considering him as a huge achievement. He didn't really treat him like a person at that time though, which angered Frank a lot. He spent a lot of time trying to cope with his meare existence, and what would be his place in the world. Thankfully, when EMZ entered the picture, Mortis softened a lot, and he pushed Frank to explore himself, and to live his own life. He discovered that music was a great way for him to express himself, and he could do it without destroying everything! So he decided to become a DJ, and hosts raves every week at the graveyard!

💅EMZ : She was an outgoing and a bit quirky girl, liking everything spookh and a bit gross. She loved her uncle Mortis, because he was basically a vampire. Sadly, she passed away because of a sickness, but Mortis ressucitated her later. She was now a zombie girl, cursed with a putrefied body, her skin was purple, she was mostly bones, and had no hair and nose. Her schoolmates were mocking her for her appearance, and made her life miserable. She got so frustrated, that she completely leaned in her monster persona, and became a scary, sassy bully herself. But thanks to Frank and Mortis, she got the courage to assert herself once again, and so, she changed her appearance to become who she really wanted to be. She became the queen we all know and love today, and didn't even give a look to her bullies, she prefered to help girls like her feel more confident in themselves. To do this, she became a beauty influencer, and later launched her own line of beauty products!

STUNT SHOW

🎆Stu : Stu is former fighter drone, who was ripped in half during a brawl. He was found, and repurposed by Janet and Bonnie's parents to be a crash test robot for their stunts. Stu was "mistreated" but he loved it, and eventually gained a consciousness after a bad stunt, he was truly a part of the family. Sadly, one day, the girl's parents died in a tragic accident. Janet got depressed, and didn't want to perform anymore. Stu was left purposeless, as he only knew how to crash onto things. So, he took it upon himself to take care of the girls, and with the help of Bonnie, he managed to cheer Janet back up. He's now the leader of the stunt show and while it's difficult for him, he does his best everyday to bring the girls to their fullest potential.

🚀Janet : Janet has always seen her parents and Stu perform on stage, she loved the spotlights and the sparks in peoples eyes during the show. But unlike her parents, she wanted to become a singer more than anything, and she began to perform at an early age. Unfortunately, when her parents passed away after the accident, she was too scared to go on stage again. She saw how much Stu struggled to take care of the both of them, and slowly, she started to open up again. Little by little, with the encouragements of her little sister, she got the courage to step back on stage. She now gives everything she has during each show, wanting to impress people with her stunts and voice, as well as honour her parent's memory. She also is now responsible for everything regarding security in the show, making sure that nobody gets hurt, everyone (even Stu) has to wear a helmet now!

🦷Bonnie : Bonnie loved to watch her parents fly around during their show, and wanted to be just like them, but she was still too young to perform such dangerous stunts. Her mother promised that when she'd be old enough, they'd fly to the moon together. When they died, she couldn't accept Stu as their substitute, and began to behave badly to drive him nuts. She'd crawl around her parent's old stuff, and try to imitate them by jumping around between the obstacles. One day, she hid in her mother's canon, thinking she was ready to go see her mom on the moon, Stu fired it by accident, and she was launched in the air. She loved the sensation of flying through the sky, and the adrenaline it gave her, but she didn't notice she was about to crash. Stu managed to catch her, and miraculously, she was safe. This incident made Janet terrified, and she grounded her very badly. Bonnie wasn't discouraged, she wanted to fly again! So she started to slowly practice with Stu, and showed Janet what she was capable of. In return, both Janet and Stu found their purpose again, and you know the rest of the story!

GIFT SHOP

🪙 Griff : Griff spent the majority of his life in the frontier, and made his bread and butter as "professional scammer". With each new day, he came up with a new crazy plan to scam some idiots. He never got rich, but he had enough to live a tranquil life. He lived many years like this, until he scammed the wrong person, and the rangers finally caught up to his misdeeds. To avoid getting caught, he assumed a completely new identity, and sweet-talked his way into becoming the boss of the shiny new Starr Park gift shop! He wore this crazy hat and outfit as a way to hide in plain sight. Little did he know, owning a business takes work, and while he's good at making money, he's bad, oh so bad at keeping it.

🖤Edgar : Edgar is actually an heir to the powerful Starr family. The Starrs are all about their clean and traditional public image, and Edgar... let's say he stands out a bit too much. So, in order to correct his behavior, his mom thought it would be a great idea to get him a job. Meet new people, have responsabilities and all this schtick. So, she forced Griff to employ her son (since she can easily get him fired, or worse), and today, the poor kid wastes his day in this miserable shop. Edgar is a terrible employee, all he does is hang around, hands in his pockets, and complain, but Griff has to keep him if he wants to keep his life.

📒Colette : Since she was little, Colette LOVED everything Starr Park-related, like a Disney adult would. So when she heard a gift shop had just opened, she saw an opportunity to get closer to the brawlers, and to get tons of free merch! So she jumped on the occasion, and practically begged Griff to take her in. He was reluctant to employ this terrifying girl at first, but he saw how knowledgeable and dedicaded she was, and saw a way to cut corners thanks to her. Today Colette is living the best life ever, working her dream job, with loving coworkers, where she can stalk her favorite brawlers all day... Truly the dream!

Castle Courtyard

📞Grom : Little is known about Grom, what we do know is that, he has always served as manpower for various businesses and organisations. He saw a lot of things, bad things, but he had a job to do, and it wasn't asking questions. The second-to-last job he ever had was a playground supervisor in kindergarten, but he wasn't prepared for it. Nobody knows what happened back there, but this is what broke him, and even though he's now walking on greener pastures at Starr Park, he's never been the same ever again.

🗑️Ash : As a kid, Ash had big dreams of becoming a knight in shiny armor like in the old legends, to slay a dragon and get married to a beautiful princess. But life hasn't been good for him, and now he's a Starr Park janitor, who has to fight off rats and is stuck with a crazy russian man. The fact that he's rather crancky is understable. Still, deep inside, Ash still has that childish dream, wearing that trash can and brandishing his trusty broom and shovel is a way for him to reclaim it... charming...

🐀Moe : Moe is of the same rat colony that Ash constantly fights against. Unfortunately, he mutated very early in his life, and was never really part of the colony, as he was too human. He roamed in the park for a while, surviving off garbage that was left on the ground. Ash knew of his presence, and tried to get rid of him, as he thought he was just a big vermin. Grom found the rat though, and immediately fell in love with him, he adopted the little rat and named him Moe. Ash warmed up to him as well, and agreed to keep him, as long as he was helping them. So they built Moe his weird drilling machine, and he's now an unofficial Starr Park employee! Free labor!! Yaay!

SNOTEL

🐧Mr.P : He's always been a businessman on the grind, always speeding off to some meeting, working hours on end, without taking any breaks. All this to reach the top. While it somewhat worked, being now the owner of the Starr Park Snotel, it took a toll on his sanity. The stress of the business life turned him into a cranky, manic and tyrannical boss. He barely articulates when he speaks anymore, that's why his speech sounds like crazy penguin blabberings. No idea why he wears a penguin suit though.

🌬️ Gale : Gale seems to have his life figured out since he was young; he's a gardener/landscaper, and has been for 50 years now. Despite always doing the same job, he is completely satisfied with his life. His work is his passion, but he nevers overdoes it: patience, steadyness, and kindness are his keys to a job well-done. Even at 60, at the top of a freezing mountain, under the orders of a crazy boss, he still blows the snow away with a tender smile. He likes his job so much that he doesn't even realize Mr.P doesn't respect his worker rights.

🍧 Lou : The Lous (idk what would be their real name) are a famous brand of robots scattered all over the frontier. They are ice-making robots, design to serve refreshing treats to the thirsty and over-heating people of the badlands. Due to their popularity, Mr.P thought it would be a great idea to buy one for the Snotel. He didn't really get why these robots were popular in the first place... nobody really needs shaved-ice on an ice-covered mountain... So now, poor Lou just sits there collecting dust. Gale comforts him by telling him that he just has to wait, and his time will come, but Mr.P pressures him to work harder to attract customers. He doesn't know what to do!! (Idk how he would've gained a consciousness though).

GOLDARM GANG

🎯 Belle : Belle Starr was one of the many daughters of the Starr family, she was to be raised to become a succesfull heir and raise children of her own to ensure the family's destiny. But she never wanted that life, Belle wanted to be free and make her own choices, instead of sewing and singing, Belle liked robotics and shooting, which she loved to practice with her father, who was a brilliant engineer, partially responsible for the creation of the modern cyclops bots. In order to accomodate her, while still keeping her in line, they gave hee a job at their robot factory. But there, catastrophy struck, she fell in love with Sam, a common man, and had a baby with him. Belle saw it as an opportunity to start her own life, but the Starrs didn't see it like that. They wanted the child for themselves, so they could mold it to their wishes. Belle refused, and ran away, she caused a lot of damage in her escape, losing her arm in the process, and marking her as an outlaw. But she didn't care anymore, she was finally free, and she was going to take everything from the Starrs. She founded the gang with her husband to fight them, and quickly became known as the Golden Arm, her gang was fierce, dangerous, and never backed down from anything. Alongside her criminal life, Belle did what she could to raise her son Eddy, and she taught him how to become a feared outlaw like her. She didn't want her son to suffer like she did in the past, so she pushed him to perform better and better with each mission. She witnessed the stress this was putting him under, but the thought of losing her son terrified her. Eventually, Eddy had enough, and denounced the gang to the rangers. They were all caught on a gem cargo, which exploded, killing Eddy, and all the gang was sentenced to jail. Both Belle and Sam managed to escape years later, and despite the grief, the guilt, the hatred and vindictiveness in Belle's heart, she seems to have settled down a little bit, living a quieter life with her husband and beloved robot-daughter Pearl. Her time hasn't come yet, and she still fights against the Starrs, but she has new opponents now, an idiotic pretty-cow-boy-toy and his enraged and brutish girlfriend.

🧲 Sam : Sam Bronson comes from a poor farmer family of the frontier. He always was the one to repair his family's old broken down trucks, and developed a passion for mecanics. His upbringing was difficult, as he was often the victim of criminal scum and corrupt rangers, who used robots to oppress his family. He decided to work at the robot factory to help them, and he quickly became respected and beloved by his coworkers for his skill and sense of humor. Sadly, one day, the direction of the factory decided to make the factory self-sufficient, and to fire most of the staff. Sam was revolted, and contested the decision, but they started to turn the robots against them, starting a riot. At this point, Sam realized that the machines he helped making weren't made to protect or help people, but to oppress them, and he, who saw technology as a beautiful invention, started to harbor a hatred for this perversion. During the riot, he met Belle, who was trying to destroy the facility, and had lost her arm in the commotion. They saved each other, and from then on, Sam decided to follow Belle, wanting to fight against the corruption of the land. He built her a new gold arm, fell in love, married her, had a son bla, bla, bla, you know the rest of the story. While Belle was very vindictive towards the Starrs, Sam is a bit more mesured: his main goal is to protect the common folk, and so, despite his appearance, is the voice of reason within the gang. He loved his son more than anything, and wanted to give him a happy life, so, he started to build a robot for him, but could never finish it before it was too late. Sam was devastated by his death, and didn't talk to Belle for months afterwards, but he realized she needed him too in order to grieve. So they got back together, and Sam forced Belle to slow down, take their time to heal and enjoy their life. He finally finished Pearl, and she makes their life a little brighter everyday, just like Eddy did. Despite his unconditional love for Belle, deep down, Sam hasn't fully forgiven her for what she did to their son.

🍪 Pearl : Pearl is Sam's passion project, a gift he wanted to give to his family and a way to prove that robots aren't supposed to be made to fight. He worked on her since Eddy was little, she was supposed to be her nanny and big sister, she would be motherly, tend to the house, and even make cakes, that Belle loves. But he was so busy with gang business, he could never finish her in time. Fast forward to when him and Belle escaped prison, Sam needed a way to distract himself from their unresolved feelings, and to cheer up/apologize to/make Belle open up. So he finished her in like, a week. Belle was really touched by this kind of dorky gesture from Sam, and quickly adopted Pearl as her own daughter. Pearl helped repair Belle and Sam's relationship by setting normalcy back between them. She is a bit disconnected from the gang's history, she knows about it, but her job is more to keep her family happy and proud, and she's really good at it. Belle and Sam kinda suck at directly express love to each other, so they express it through Pearl, she's their to represent their love (like a real child would). Well, all that's pretty and all, but Belle still managed to find a way to weaponize her 🤦... things never change...

BRAWLYWOOD

💎Lola : Lola was always a narcissist and craved attention, I don't know how this trait developped in her, but she moved to Brawlywood with dreams of becoming a big actress in the movie industry. She landed a job as a tour guide, where she always played grand theatrics to grab her audience attention. Eventually, thanks to her dramatic presentations and excentric character, she would become an attraction herself, rather than the landmarks she was supposed to present. By pulling some strings, she grabbed the attention of a Brawlywood producer, and instantly got the first role in a big movie. She was only supposed to be a secondary character, but the lead actress had an "unfortunate" accident, leaving her role to Lola. During the shooting, an on-set accident caused her to suffer a mutation, creating her ego-double, and bringing out her full dramatic potential. Thanks to her theatrics, she instantly became a big shot in Brawlywood, and she's today bathing in the attention she always craved. Nobody tell her she's a terrible actor.

🎬Gray : Contrary to Lola, Gray was always discreet and introverted, he probably had a simple job in Brawlywood, and preferred staying alone, as attention made him very nervous. Unfortunately, Gray was cursed with a strangely "quirky" character, and a unique appearance, making him easily noticeable amongst a crowd. People would be intrigued by him, giving him a lot of attention, but he would just freeze up in place, embarrassed of himself. He loved performing as a way to relieve his anxiety, he was an outsanding actor, dancer and singer, but he'd always do it alone to express himself, and never had the ambition to become an actor. His secret talents were unfortunately noticed by a Brawlywood producer (the same that hired Lola), thinking he was the perfect fit for an upcoming movie, and, he reluctantly accepted the role, thinking that it could be a good opportunity to show his talents. He loved working on set, and bonded a lot with Lola, who was a bit weird like him. Sadly, his anxiety was too much to bear, and he couldn't say a line one the cameras rolled. He was about to give up the role, when the incident happened, giving him weird mime powers, and this gave him an idea. Using her theatrics, Lola forced the production to change Gray's character, to be a silent one, and while this wasn't a full fix, he was way more confortable in this role, and could finally perform. The movie was terrible because of it's chaotic production, but Gray's performance was a highlight of it, and he became a recognized comedian. With time, he polished his character to be the Charlie Chaplin-mime type we all know today, it's only while wearing this persona that he feels truly comfortable performing in front of others. Lola is a very dear friend to him, despite her egocenstrism, she's one of the few ones that understand him.

🐒Mico : Mico was a huge Brawlywood celebrity, as a trained actor monkey, he was truly living the life : an infinite supply of bananas, a nice bed, and adoring fans, all he had to do was obey his trainer, smile to the camera here, do a little flip there, and he was rewarded. Mico's was on a little cloud, until everything went apeshit, what seemed like an umpteenth regular movie set exploded, and the next morning, he was way taller, had hands and feet, and could speak like his owner, he became human! He was no longer the cute domestic monkey who was applauded for his tricks, no, he was now just a regular dude, and nobody had any use for him anymore, so he was fired. No more were the gourmet meals, soft sheets and free pets for him, now, he had to work like everybody else. How dare they throw me away! I was on top! I was a superstar! I'll show them! I'll show all of them that I'm great, and I'll get my glory back, he thought. So, he went back all the way to the bottom of the Brawlywood ladder, becoming a mic operator. It'll be a long and harduous journey, but one day, he will be back on top, and direct his own movie, and he'll make fools out of all of them!!

CANDYLAND :

🍭Mandy : She was a regular candy maker with a bit of a go-getter attitude. One day she suffered a mutation that gave her candy-kinesis powers, but she also went completely nuts, making her the perfect fit to become the queen of Starr Park's Candyland. She's now completely comitted to the role, and rules her candy shop like a deranged tyrant. I like to think she's been affected by the mutation a lot more than other brawlers, changing her personality and even her body chemistry, causing her tears to be rainbows.

🃏Chester : Chester is a young aspiring comedian, notably specializing in pranks. He has his own Youtube channel where he likes to show his jokes and tricks, much to the annoyance of his victims. It's not about the views for him, it's about fun and creativity, and the more he can annoy, the more fun he has. Mandy is and will always be his favorite victim, as she's VERY irritable. He is obnoxious, but I don't want to think of him as those deranged prank youtubers who do everything for views, I think he's a bit more wholesome like Rémi Gaillard (idk if you know him.).

🦄Berry : BArry is a very passionate artist, patient and creative, he likes to use colours to paint the wonderful fantasies that he's dreaming of. Sadly, selling paintings doesn't pay the bills these days, so he took this job as a mascot at Mandy's candy shop, and is forced to babysit these two nutcases all day long. What once was an inspired dreaming unicorn became a jaded and desparate donkey. Despite the misery of his situation, he's still attached to Mandy and Chester, they always make a mess, but their crazy characters allow him to dream and have fun during his shifts. When the day comes to an end, he puts the costume down, goes back home, and paints scenes of a castle floating on cotton-candy clouds.

MYSTIC

👁️Tara : She's a traveller from a distant land, who's come to the frontier with her family in search of truth about the world, spirits, destiny and all that. The divinatory arts are tradition in her family, practicing them since she was little, she's opened a litteral third eye. Thus allowing her to see a world beyond comprehension, and to read people like an open book. Sensing the energy radiating from the badlands, she predicted something big is going to happen, but somehow, she doesn't know what exactly it is yet, but she does know that it's going to change the stars themselves. In the meantime, she's opened a trincket shop and a divinatory parlor to earn a little money, only 10% of it's real magic though, but it's important to support local businesses! Another thing, I like to think she's not a mutant, but that she got her powers from actual magic training.

🌙Sandy : Tara's magically-enclined little brother, as a kid woth great potential, he was (unwillingly) brought along with her on her journey, and now helps out in her shop. Well, help out is a big word, as he is heavily connected to the spirit world, and a growing teenage boy, Sandy spends 80% of his time napping. It's not really his fault, it's like each time he wakes up, some unknown force pulls him back to his dreams. It was really terrifying for him at first, as he was scared of becoming comatose his whole life. But with the guidance of Tara and Gene, he has learned to harness the power of the subconscious. He has now the ability to manipulate to his will, using sand as a catalyst. Through these means, Sandy's still able to be active while sleeping, all the while his mind wanders the spirit world. Despite his great power, he's not as interested in magic and destiny etc... as Tara, he doesn't like responsability, and just wants to use it as he pleases. Tara doesn't mind, as long as she has her baby brother by her side, she's happy.

🧞Gene : A litteral genie, old as time itself, and powerful beyond comprehension, like all of his peers, he was one of the primordial spirits that shaped the world as it is today. He wasn't good nor evil, but being an entity of immense power, he once caused a lot of misery to humans, as they were mere insects to them. But one they, to stop him, a brave magician trapped him in an enchanted lamp, rendering him powerless. He was abandoned during centuries, but he took this time to reflect and observe humans, gaining empathy and humanity himself. One day, a descendant of the magician, in a desperate search for protecting his people, freed him, and proposed a deal: he would help him avoid an umcoming catastrophe, by granting three wishes, in exchange for his freedom. The genie, having sympathy for the human, accepted, but could only grant one wish in time, before the deal could be concluded. Only one third of the genie was freed, in the form of a weird little purple guy, most of his power was stuck in the lamp as well. It was unfortunate, but the human's wish was enough to save their family, who adopted the genie as thanks for saving their life. The tiny genie became a full part of the family, watching over each generation and teaching them magic, while his power was limited, he didn't care, as he had now people who loved him. Today, he's just a little silly genie, following Tara along on her journey, and while he's acting as a buffoon most of the time, he's always there to watch over her.

SUPERHEROES

⚡Max : Max was a run of the mill woman from Super City, she's very athletic and lovs to run, always looking to improve her performance. One day, she was selected to try a new energy drink that was in testing, the main component of the drink were refined gems. While it didn't seem to be anything special at first, it had an interesting effect on Max; it turns out that she could metabolize it extremely fast, boosting her performance to new heights. She began to use this new ability to help the people of Super City, and soon, she became a local hero. And thanks to her sponsor, she was able to have her own gadgets, costume and team, just like in old super-hero comics. And thus, Max, the defender of Super City was born!

🤘Surge : Surge used to be a regular vending machine, I like to think he was Rico's ex, but after Frank broke it, it was repurposed to sell Max's energy drink, recieving a red and yellow paint job, and a shiny futuristic look. But being still a bit broken, the liquid leaked into it's circuits, and the machine took life. Seeing this as a great advertisement opportunity, the drink brand modified him to make it look like a full-on mech, creating Surge Protector! Just like Max, Surge can harness the power of the drink to boost his performances. He joined Max's team, and spends his life defending the city against kaijus and giant robots, all with his iconic surfer dude attitude.

🤖 Meg : Just like Jessie, Meg is a prodigy, she entered the best university at a very early age, and promised to become an exceptionnal engineer. With her talents and passion, she felt like she could change the world, but sadly, she was constantly infantilized by her classmates because of her age and childish interests. In fact, Meg was a huge comic fan, and, feeling inspired by them, she built her own mech, to prove she could make great things. While a kaiju was attacking the city, she threw herself into battle, not realizing the danger she was putting herself in. Hopefully she was saved by Max and Surge, who, impressed by her craftsmanship, decided to take her under their wing. Today, Meg is the heroe's little helper, making repairs to Surge, improving her own robot, and building tools to help them. She's still infantilized though, and Max doesn't want her clumsiness to get them in trouble. So she doesn't have as much of an active role as she'd like in the team, but she's still very proud to be able to have an impact on the world, even if it's little.

STARR FORCE

🐕 Colonel Ruffs : Ruffs was a regular puppy, he lived isolated in the wasteland with his owner, who was an excentric, but passionate and loving astrophysicist. Since the land became deserted, the space programs have all stopped to a halt, but the scientist had the crazy ambition to build a rocket ship by themselves, so they could reach the stars, and live in orbit with their beloved companion. Ruffs didn't fully understand, but he loved to accompagny his owner in their quest, and dreamt of the many stars they observed together. Sadly, as they were close to finishing the rocket, a gem explosion occured, ending the scientist's life, and mutating the poor dog. After accompagning him in their last breaths, he made the promise of one day reaching the stars. Thanks to his newfound intelligence, he studied his master's plans, finished the rocket, and managed to send himself into orbit, finally accomplishing their dream. Today, Ruffs is a talented space-traveler, proudly piloting his ship and fighting off invaderd from outer-space. On earth, he's a bit of an urban legend, there are many reports of a dog in a spaceship, landing in the middle of the desert, but nothing has ever been proven.

💧Squeak : Nothing special to say about the little guy, he was born out of Ruff's mutated saliva, and has been living on the ship ever since. Squeak is dedicated to his creator, and does his best to help around the ship, but he's too innocent to realise that he's always making a mess. This drives Ruffs nuts, but deep down, he really loves him, making the life in space a little less lonely, he treats him like his own pet/son.

🪲 Eve : Eve is a flea from outer space! Her species is parasitic, invading other planets in order to multiply and "colonize" it. And she has found the perfect host to raise her lovely babies, Ruffs, the space dog! Eve is dead set on using his lush fur to multiply, so she bothers the Starr Force very often. Of course, Ruffs won't let that happen, and fights her off fiercely in order to protect his planet for this evil invader. He doesn't realise that Eve doesn't really want anything to do with earth though, and in fact, doesn't even represent a threat to it (she's flea-sized! What is she gonna do???). All she wants is that warm, soft, lushous dog fur.

VELOCIRAPIDS

🐊Buzz : Buzz comes from the coast of the land, and his job was BEACH. Always prancing about on the sand, bossing the swimmers around, acting like he owns the place. His parents told him to stop pretending to be important and get an actual job or they would cut him off. So, when he found a job offer to work at the velocirapids at Starr Park, he jumped at the opportunity, thinking he could still practice his passion. Little did he know, the offer wasn't for being a lifeguard, but to be a dinosaur-mascot. Today, Buzz works at the water park, bossing the swimmers around, flexing his (unlicensed) rescuing skills, and blowing his whistle at every opportunity, all the while in his ridiculous green dinosaur suit.

🌭Doug : Doug is a floatie from the velocirapids that mysteriously came alive one day. When the staff found this out, they went in panic mode, not wanting this freak of nature to be out in the public. So they told him : "We're gonna give you a job and shelter, but you have to pretend to be human, and you can never leave this place.", Doug looked around, he had a pool, slides, sunlight, and he said "okay!". And now he's a hot dog seller.

TURBO THEATER

🍿Fang : Fang is a regular guy from Super City, he loves kung fu movies, and always tried to reproduce the impressive moves he saw in them to look cool, with varying results. He is pretty strong, but he has no actual training, which makes his fighting technique a bit weird. Today, he works a dead end job as a cashier at the theater, but he knows he'll get his big break one day! In the meantime, he spends his time goofin around and trying to impress clients with his moves, as I said, with varying results.

📽️ Buster : He's a huge movie nerd, and by nerd I mean NEEEERD, guy almost always speak in references. Since forever, he had big dreams of becoming a movie director. But, with no budget or connexions, he's also doomed to be a simple cashier at the cinema (he isn't a projectionist! These things are automated now), where he met Fang. Thanks to their passion for movies, they quickly hit it off, and Fang pushed him to liberate his inner chaotic self. They're best bros todays, they spend their time causing chaos around the cinema. Buster hasn't given up on his dream, and still works hard to make his own movie, but he found the perfect lead actor for it!

🧯Maisie : She works as maintenance in the cinema, she lost her arm in a fire, and replaced it with a multi-tool one. She's pretty bossy towards Fang and Buster, but it's because she doesn't want them to be hurt, deep down, she's very attached to their chaotic shenanigans, and likes to take part in it herself. I wish they developed her more, I like her design, but her character is a nothing burger right now :/ (I got cooked on twitter for saying she's boring but am I wrong?...).

SWAMP OF LOVE

🐸Willow : She used to be a regular fish, living in the dangerous waters of the swamp. Everyday, she witnessed couples going to her home for a romantic date, and she despised them, they were invading the swamp, and polluting it with their disgusting love. One day, she mutated (I like to tjink Mortis had something to do with it), and gained human-like features. She saw this as a perfect opportunity, and used her freakish appearance, as well as an army of mind-controlling tadpoles, to scare off the sweethearts. Somehow, thanks to her work, the swamp became an even more lovely place, and couples still go there, not really caring for the fish-monster inhabiting it. Willow's still having a blast scaring the more careless of them.

🦟Angelo : He was a regular boy from the frontier, but being skinny, weak and effeminate, he had a tough time growing up. People were mocking him and spread false rumors about him. He wanted to leave the dusty and toxic air of the badlands, and make it big in Brawlywood. Angelo liked going to Starr Park, as he felt accepted here, and eventually landed a job as an archer for the swamp of love. Everything was going fine, but sadly, he fell into the polluted waters, mutating him into the green monstruosity. But somehow, despite his horrific looks, he didn't mind, in fact, he loved this new form, he felt like he was reborn. More confident than ever, he uses his new powers to cause chaos in the park, spreading false rumors and creating beef between people, just for his own enjoyement. Is it bad? Yes. Does he care? Of course not!

BIZARRE CIRCUS

🕷️ Charlie : Charlotte is an acrobat who lead a circus back in France. She used her skills and clever trickery to steal and scam people out of their money. But her public caught um to it, and she fled the country to avoid punishement. Today she is here, and rebranded her show as the bizarre circus. She does the same thing as she did before, but thankfully, people seems to be a bit slower here hehe.

KARAOKE?

🎤 Melodie : Some girl who likes karaoke, she was so good at it in fact, that she became a huge pop star. Similarly to Poco or Janet, she has the ability to control music thanks to the "note fairies", she treats them like her little pets. Despite her very sweet and graceful appearance, she can get quite scary when someone tries to dethrone her. She has a bit of beef with Janet, because she sees her as a menace to her n°1 spot on the charts.

ENCHANTED FOREST

🍄 Cordelius : Nobody knows who's this guy really is, he's been running around the enchanted forest, taking care of the plants and spreading mushroom spores everywhere, for years now. In fact, Cordelius has no intention of leaving the forest, preferring the company of mushrooms rather than people. There are his friends you see? They understand, help each other, and one day, it'll be only him, and the mushrooms... Yep... He just really likes mushrooms... totally...

🌷Lily : I like to think she's Rosa's sister (As I said, they're very similar imo), but contrary to her, Lily's thing is more magic than science. They had a bit of a concflictual relationship because of it, and it droce them apart. Her third, younger sister, mysteriously disappeared in the forest one day, and in order to try and bring her back, she started a ritual. Sadly, the ritual failed, and the enchanted forest took her, fusing her with the surrounding vegetation. Today, Lily's still wandering the mysterious woods, studying it, and using magic, to try and find her missing sister.

DEEP SEA

🎨 Otis : They're an unknown sea creature, probably a squid or an octopus, contrary to what people may think, they're not mutated, they're just a little smarter than your average octopus. Life under the sea can get quite boring when you're an intelligent creature, so Otis got the habit of observing the beach goers having fun on the surface. There, they discovered the concept of art, and felt inspired to express themselves, and to show the beauty of the ocean, by using their own ink. They built themselves a makeshift reverse diving suit, to be able to explore the surface as a human, and started to paint the walls with all their beautiful colours! Otis is renouned today as a talented, but mysterious, street artist. Also their little starfish guy is like their pet.

🦐 Hank : He was born and raised on a shrimp farm, with all of his beloved shrimp bretheren, but of course, he didn't understand that his destiny was to be part of a delicious meal. Him and his family were bought by Kenji for his restaurant, there he saw all his brothers being boiled to death. But right before it was Hank's turn in the pot, something stopped the chef in his tracks, and the brave little shrimp mutated. Hank barely managed to escape for his life, and swore to become stronger in order to fight for his fallen bretheren. He watched a bunch of war movies, and built himself a tank (litteraly) out of scrap from the sea. He might be small, but he is determined to get his revenge.

🦞Clancy : He's like a dude... with lobster armor...? I don't get it man 😓 It's possible that he's ex-military, still plagued by war flashbacks (see his animation), feeling purposeless, he got "drafted" by Hank in his rag-tag sea life protection unit. He's completely nuts because of his past, to fully anjoy the thrill of battle, and to feel accepted by his team, he roleplays as a lobster.

HUB

📷 R-T : He was Starr Park's first custom robot, initially built to be helpful guide for the visitors. But as it kept growing, they slowly modified him to watch over the vistors and the staff, then, he became a full-on walking surveillance camera. R-T has a eye on every corner of the park, and practically knows everything about it and the staff. He is meant to keep and deliver each bit of information he can collect to management. Despite his thouroughness and obedience to the park, part of him (his legs) knows that something is wrong, and wishes he could go back to really helping people.

👬 Larry & Lawrie : The second an third custom robots of the park. Were R-T is built to warch over it, L&L are built to enforce the rules of the park, and to stop any troublemaker. Larry uses the soft method, and politely reprimands people who break the rules, Lawrie is a second layer of defense, who doesn't hesitate to use violence against the less desirable visitors. Why would an amusement park need such brutal security?

ODDITY SHOP

🫖Juju : A woman that practices voodoo, nothing much to say about her. She set up her oddity shop in the badlands and offers her services to whoever pays the price. I like to think she has a rivalry with Tara because they have very similar businesses.

SUSHI JOINT

🍣Kenji : He's an ex-mercenary from japan, trained in the ways of the samurai. He only accomplished jobs for people with good intentions, never letting money or mindless violence corrupt his heart. But one day, his employers made him attack Starr Park (their japanese branch lol), which he didn't think much about at the time, but he didn't know thus event would change the course of his life. Tired of this life of fighting, and having met love, he left the country and set up an humble sushi restaurant in Retropolis. For a while, he had everything a man could dream of, a quiet life, a fullfilling job, and a loving wife and daughter (Bibi). But his past caught up to him eventually, and robots from Starr Park attacked his business, kidnapping his wife. Stricken by grief and rage, Kenji took his old saber up, and swore to get revenge on those who hurt his family, becoming a vagabond, but also leaving his child behind.

TOON STUDIOS

🐱Kit : The Kit we know was initially Shelly's beloved black cat, he was named after the popular cartoon character she used to watch as a kid. Nobody knows how it really happened, but the poor cat mutated into looking like the hero from this cartoon, gaining his appearance, voice, and mannerisms. Discovering this, Starr Park quickly took him in, and made him work as the mascot for Starr Toon Studios, being forced to act like the cartoon character, and signing autograph for children he doesn't care for. Despite his goofy behavior and cartoony powers, deep down, he's still a regular car, and wishes he could go back to take a nap on Shelly's lap.

MEDIEVAL MANNER

🐉Draco : "Just" a heavy metal singer. Since he was little, he was always passionate about fairytales and medieval fantasy, he pretended to be a knight, and a slayer of dragons. People mocked him for his imagination, but he didn't care for it, he'd invent a world of fantasy for himself, and tell epic tales from it to his brothers, who were the only ones to listen to him. Of course today, he grew out of it a bit, but he never gave up his childhood wonder. He now tells epic tales of dragon tamers and badass knights in the form of powerful heavy metal music, to the enjoyement of his many fans. His dragon thingy is actually and advanced animatrimonic, equipped with pyrotechnics, but he likes to pretend it's an actual dragon. It's possible that he's a Starr considering his red hair, and access to advanced technology (like Edgar's scarf).

TOY STORE??

🎱Meeple : I HATE THEM I have no idea what that thing is, it's ugly and annoying and I don't understand what their deal is, sorry Meeple fans. STILL, I have a game theory that could save/explain their really weird design. It's possible that Meeple's actually L&L third secret brother DON'T LEAVE HEAR ME OUT. Meeple has a very similar build to them, has similar clothes to them (Shoulder pads, chest plate, big boots and gloves AND no pants), has a robotic voice, a floating head AND an obsession with rules. That's the only way I could explain their really weiiird design. He's probably a third Lawrence that was supposed to watch over the park, but glitched or abandoned his duties (hence why he's also a big cheater). Now, he's been embarrassingly shoved into a bassement where he only plays board games. What do you think?

SKATEPARK

🛹 Ollie : Lil hip hop skater dude, heck yeah.

#brawl stars

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concretejunglefm · 16 days ago

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Poltergists: Epilogue.

I know for the last time you will not be mine. So give me the night, the night, the night.

Summary: It's been a year since your best friend Noah went missing, two years since you moved into the house you abandoned after he went missing from it during the night. This is a recount of events leading up to and what happened after the night he went missing and all of the strange events that occurred during your time living in that house.

Chapters: Masterlist

Pairings: Noah Sebastian x Reader, Nicholas Ruffilo x Reader, possibly more BO members.

CW: Missing person, elements of supernatural horror, mentions of blood and possibly violence, unreliable narrator. will update as it goes on.

WC: < 1k.

AN: This series will be told throughout a variety of flashbacks and present day, all which will be marked. I want to extend a huge thank you to everyone and anyone who has taken the time to enjoy and embrace this story. I feel incredibly proud of it and will always hold a special place in my heart for Noah and Bubs.

Divider: Silent-stories.

(NOAH'S POV)

Nothing feels real anymore.

Springtime has arrived, and the daisies are in bloom. All I can think about is her.

Everyone assured me that things would be easier after the funeral, but six months have passed, and I’m still filled with emptiness. I’m drawn back to the moment of our reunion in our little corner of heaven.

The house doesn’t feel as cold and dark as Bubs always claimed it to be. It’s quiet and lifeless now.

Sometimes, it’s hard to remember that life continues for everyone around me, even though it felt like mine stopped the day I lost her.

The days blend into one another, and the mail in the mailbox out front continues to accumulate. Today, I finally tackle this task as I step outside and take the short walk down my driveway to retrieve the piles of envelopes that have been unattended for over a week.

As I walk back up the driveway, my eyes are drawn to the moving truck parked curbside in front of the house next door. The for-sale sign has been removed, and boxes are scattered across the front lawn. It's reminiscent of when Bubs and I moved into this house. Back then, our future seemed a lot brighter.

“Oh, hello!” A soft voice catches my attention, and I follow it to where a young girl around my age is standing, holding a box labeled ‘kitchen’ in her arms.

“I didn’t realize someone was moving in.” I gesture towards the house. I hadn’t really paid much attention to anything, not since Bubs—

“Yeah, I just arrived today. It’s nice to meet you, neighbor.” Her bubbly personality makes me feel a slight pang of guilt for my own reserved demeanor, but I manage to muster a genuine half smile.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Noah.” I offer, as she goes to introduce herself. Just as she’s about to say her name, a male voice calls out from behind her.

“Babs.” For a moment, I swear I mishear the word for “bubs,” and my brow furrows in confusion.

“Bubs?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

“Babs,” she corrects. “It’s a family pet name.” She dismisses it, but it brings back memories of Bubs, evoking a slight pang of sadness. It was a better alternative to the constant tidal waves of grief I was waking up to.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Babs,” I nod, stepping back towards my own driveway. As I approach the front door, I hear the hushed conversation between them.

“Wow, who’s he? He’s hot.”

“Shut up and grab a box.”

As night falls, my daily routine has become a comforting ritual.

After turning off the TV and shutting down the computer I set up in the living room, a result of the makeover my friends and I did for the house, I feel a sense of contentment wash over me.

The living room now feels less bare, adorned with gentle reminders of Bubs. We went through a box of her old belongings, items we still had yet to unpack, and took turns selecting items we wanted to keep as a tribute to her memory.

We found creative ways to display a majority of them, ensuring that her presence would continue to be felt throughout the house. Even though she’s not physically here, her spirit still feels like she is, and sometimes I can convince myself that she’s just a room away.

As I slowly make my way through the house, I turn off each light, watching as the shadows dance along the walls as the darkness deepens. At the top of the stairs, I make a turn to head down the hallway to Bubs’ old room.

I made the decision to move in there once we cleaned up the blood and decorated it. Everything that belonged to her remained, with my own belongings seamlessly blending in, creating a sense of unity and shared space in one that should've always been ours.

As I crawl into bed, I lean over to switch off the last light—the one on the nightstand that plunges the entire room and house into darkness. The only source of illumination now is the moonlight filtering through the curtains.

As always, my gaze is drawn to the open closet, its wide and inviting door beckoning me into its depths. However, there’s no longer any sinister aura surrounding the void or the house itself. It’s as if all the evil that once lurked within has been vanquished, and now, as I confront the darkness, a warm sensation spreads through my chest because where there was once a faceless shadow, I can now see hers.

I could always find her, and at last, I have once again. She would always return home to me.

Tagged: @fadingangelwisp @deathblacksmoke @geminigirlfromfinland @fuck1ng-queen @xxkittenkissesxx @lacy1986 @ami--gami @ichoosetenderomens @chey-h @blade-dressed-in-red @bloody-spades @halfalgorithmhafdeity @dominuslunae @tosoundlessdarkistare @xmads-omensx @alwaysfightforwhoyouare @lonelydragonlady @th4t-em0-k1d @amelia-acero

#bad omens fanfiction #poltergeists fic #noah sebastian fanfiction #noah sebastian fanfic #noah sebastian x reader #bad omens fanfic #concretejunglefm fics #Spotify

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naksushadows · 1 year ago

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My favorite dramas of 2023

Honorable mention: Death Games which is still in release, so I won't include it here yet.

Alchemy of Souls Light and Shadow: As it ended this year I will include one of the biggest obsessions for me in recent years, it was a sublime experience following this drama and despite some unnecessary complaints regarding Go Younjung (who was not to blame for anything and that the hate and misogyny towards a new actress was very unfair) part 2 was a good conclusion to the story, perhaps if there had been more episodes and less insistence on the memory loss plot, and more screen time for the main couple who were the more charismatic characters that supported the plot alone, could have been even better.

Moving: The best drama released this year.

Moving is a story that is not just about the power of a superhero saving the homeland, but about family ties, friendship and companionship.

The story manages to make you relate to the characters with all their anguish, joys and despite them having unusual powers, they are believable and identifiable characters.

Everything in this drama was perfect, from the script, cast, photography, CGI, soundtrack, etc.

Twinkling Watermelon: I love watching stories that focus on family relationships, and one where we have a son going back to the past and meeting his own parents in his youth would definitely be a hit.

I liked how they approached music, art and sign language in this story and how relationships built from these shared experiences between people can change someone's destiny to live life better and enjoy it even with difficulties along the way.

Some things bothered me but nothing that took away the shine of the story for me. It was exciting to follow the journey of such charismatic characters.

Daily Dose of Sunshine: This drama deserved more recognition. The way he portrayed mental health was very sensitive and human. The actors were incredible, especially Park Bo Young who delivered a believable and emotional character.

My Journey to You: The most anticipated drama for me this year did not disappoint despite the open ending.

I believe that the entire story was so incredible and well executed that the ending didn't interfere with the watching experience.

The highlight of this cdrama was the female characters, I thought that even though most of them were spies/assassins they were very diverse, each one with a motivation and past that made them neither good or bad but rather human and complex.

Till The End Of The Moon: I confess that I expected to love this one more. I don't know if I created many expectations that were broken by the dream part, which I found exhausting and broke the rhythm of the drama for me. But it was still very striking, an iconic and well-executed enemies to lovers. The main couple had a lot of chemistry and both as solo characters supported the story itself. Tantai Jin was incredible and complex👉🏻 simply the most suffering demon I've ever seen

The Glory: I had high expectations regarding this drama, which were met and I believe that waiting to watch it after releasing all the episodes was the best option, because this way it didn't end up breaking the rhythm of the story and I could appreciate the way it was conducted revenge unlike some.

It's the first time I've watched something by Song Hye Kyo and I was positively surprised, she's a great actress.

The Good Bad Mother: I love stories focused on the relationship between mother and child, because even though it is different from my reality because I live on another continent, I can still relate to some issues that are universal.

The highlight of this drama was the performances and the cast's great rapport. If the ending hadn't been so rushed and there had been about 2 more episodes, it would have closed the story perfectly.

King the Land: This was the best romcom of the year for me. I looked forward to the weekends so I could be graced by the smiling couple. It was the cliché and comfort I needed after a stressful week of work.

I loved the vibe and lightness of old dramas that King the Land brought back.

And thankfully they avoided the murder plot in the middle of the story haha

I loved seeing Yoona doing an unpretentious romcom after a heavier drama like her previous one.

Doona: I confess that I was very involved in this drama, I don't think it was perfect but there was a lot of dedication and envolviment from the main couple, they had a lot of chemistry and the melancholy and uncertainty that the story brought really impacted me.

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perfectlyfinespacebacon · 1 year ago

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daily dose of sunshine kdrama ramble

just would like to preface this by saying i don't watch a lot of kdramas, mainly ones that my faves are in

it felt so much like a sister to its okay to not be okay. they both use a fantastical way of portraying mental illness where it captures the feeling when mental illness is such an invisible illness. both shows also had their main characters deal with mental illness but with daily dose i love how they approached it where its like one isn't "recovered" per se, you just learn to live along side with it and also how it explores the stigma that korea has with mental illness. obviously im not from korea so im not sure how accurate it was but as someone whos family background is also asian, i know how hard it is for people to destigmatize mental illness. it was also really interesting as someone who grew up in the west to see how different it is portrayed in the east.

spoiler alert! but when da-eun was outed with being hospitalized for depression i was so upset at the caregivers protesting against her to get her fired like she has depression not leprosy? shes still capable of doing her job and at the meeting head nurse song was spitting FACTS. i also loved how the people around her were like "it's not your fault you're sick, don't worry" and its so true. mental illness can hit anyone at anytime, people don't ask for it... that is to say although there is still a stigma in the west (canada specifically where im from) i find that among the younger generation its "normalized" to a certain extent.

park bo young as usual, kiiiilllled it. i love watching her in dramas cuz they never disappoint. i like how da-eun was grounded and felt real. her depression wasn't kinda overblown that a lot of kdramas might do. also whoever decided yeon woo jin's character needed their hair permed should be fired. it does not look good on him.

also side note: whoever did the ADR mixing also needs to be fired because i noticed all the ADR in the show. it was SO obvious. that is all :)

TL;DR - if you liked it's okay to not be okay, i think you would like daily dose of sunshine.

#daily dose of sunshine netflix #daily dose of sunshine kdrama #daily dose of sunshine #park bo young #yeon woo jin #kdrama #kdrama netflix #its okay to not be okay

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dangermousie · 6 months ago

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As I was telling @aysekira, one ep in, I am enjoying Encounter but it is very very much a middle-aged lady wish fulfillment the way all those Bond movies with a dude who can kill people with a pinkie and have five hot girls at once are a middle aged man wish fulfillment.

Song Hye Kyo is a stunning woman but she's 11 years older than Park Bo Gum and the drama chooses (the actually brave and neat) choice of emphasizing the age difference instead of trying to pretend there is barely any. I don't remember what the actual ages in the drama are supposed to be but the age gap is supposed to be significant - he's straight out of college and she's a divorced woman in her 30s. And they show it! Her clothes are nicely tailored but they are frankly aging as fuck in the first ep - the dresses/suits she wears is not something anyone under 50 should wear, like something out of a Chico's ad. And he's all hippie flower child who does look straight out of college.

And the thing is, I am enjoying and swooning as intended (the chemistry and the acting are very much there) but in the back of my head, a little thought keeps running: I don't care if a woman is as stunning as SHK, in RL, no boy straight out of college will fall deeply in love and want to settle down forever with a woman that much older. Not unless he has issues that the well-adjusted ML simply does not have.* (And I don't think she would want him permanently either.) A vacation fling? Sure. A one night stand? Hell yeah. Even a short lived little relationship where she gets someone young and enthusiastic and not yet tainted by all complexities of long term dwelling in the adult world and he gets someone who knows her mind and is not insecure and can teach him the ropes and takes care of herself is possible. But not this. Not a true love forever immediately between 22 year old and a 32 year old (or whatever it is.)

*it's not that it's always not possible - I totally believed in the couple in Secret Love Affair and she was 20 years older than him and married to boot. But they were both truly wounded people and both were also so obsessed with piano that that mutual obsession overrode any age issues or really anything else. Here he's just too normal.

But you know what? I like fantasy dramas. Is it realistic to have this? Nah, not really. But it's not realistic to have a nine tailed fox run around looking for the reincarnation of his dead lover or an immortal goblin pal with a grim ripper in Seoul or whatever either. As long as the narrative is internally consistent, I can put away my real life take.

#kdrama #encounter

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daebakreviews · 1 month ago

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Doom at Your Service

After finding out she is dying, a woman makes a deal with Doom and gets more than she bargained for.

Tak Dong Kyung lives a fairly normal life as an editor until she discovers she is dying from cancer. After a night of drinking, she makes a wish to bring doom to the world. That’s when the handsome stranger she ran into at the hospital appears, claiming he is Doom and offering to make a deal.

I’m not really sure why it took me so long to watch this. It’s a drama that most people recommend, but I always passed it by. Maybe it’s because I’m not usually a fan of fantasy dramas. However, Doom at Your Service doesn’t feel overly fantastical, and once I started, I ended up watching seven—SEVEN!—episodes in one day. I couldn’t get enough.

I’ve only watched Seo In Guk in one other thing before (you can read my review for it here), but I really liked how he played Myul Mang. He captured the essence of a man struggling to figure out his place in the world and discovering emotions he didn’t know he had.

Park Bo Young portrays Tak Dong Kyung brilliantly as well. I feel like this character might reflect Park Bo Young’s real personality—it felt so natural, almost effortless. Playing a character who is dying, trying to stay brave, and hiding her fear from others must have been a challenge, but she did an amazing job.

I also enjoyed the love triangle between Na Ji Na, Cha Joo Ik, and Lee Hyun Kyu. It really added depth to the story, and I think Na Ji Na made the right choice in the end. I’m a fan of Kang Tae Oh, and I’d forgotten he was in this, so that was a pleasant surprise. Plus, Lee Soo Hyuk is always a fantastic addition.

Overall, I’m so glad I finally watched this. It quickly became one of my favorite dramas, and I’ll probably rewatch it a million times. The story was well-written, the acting was excellent, and while I didn’t love the ending, it was good and made sense for the characters. You can watch Doom at Your Service on Netflix.

#korean drama #review #korean television #kdrama review #kdrama recommendations #kdrama #netflix #doom at your service

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coffeetraces · 10 months ago

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"Love me to the point that you want to destroy the world for me." "But in the end, I was born for you, as I was made to die for you." - DOOM AT YOUR SERVICE (2022)

If you look at its writing, it gets frustrating. The push and pull alternately every other episode. Sometimes, I don't get nor it was not built up properly why the characters made the decisions that they did. But the drama was not really made to be doomed. Seo In-guk and Park Bo-young carried the drama with their chemistry and performance. There are individual and couple moments with them that you melt into the humanity of it all. In life, sometimes we wish to destroy like Myul-mang, or hide our desire to live like Dong-kyung. But in the end, they remind us that life is beautiful. We just have to figure out ourselves (without a guy like Myul-mang. jk)

#doom at your service #tak dong kyung #kim sa ram #myul mang #seo in guk #park bo young #tvn drama #kdrama #kdramas

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vlovers19 · 1 year ago

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The only thing about Vmin that has never made sense to me if they are a couple, is why their personal friends don't intertwine. We have Wooga hanging out with Hobi and then we saw JK join Tae and Wooga out places and I hate to bring her up, but JN has been out with several Wooga members as well. Then we had several instances of Jk with Jimin and his friend group and Jimin with Jk's friend group. Even eating together on White Day, but not a peep with Vmin. At most Wooga talked about Jimin before, but not been seen publicly out together. Behind the scenes could be different. I just have a hard time thinking Vmin could be something serious, if their friends don't even interact. I tell myself maybe they do, but they also have to protect Vmin and don't wanna draw attention to them so they don't interact cause they aren't comfortable with their friends doing that, but are with others. I even said maybe there is a possibility they just don't know about Vmin, cause they've not told them. And I know people will say this is impossible, they'd have to know. No. The members could know cause these are people they lived together with and grew up with who knows everything about each other. But going out and publicly announcing to south korean men you are in a homosexual relationship with your bandmate, probably wouldn't get the awww how sweet is that, that people think. These men are raised to think its mental illness. Even young Tae himself thought that way, until he realized he fell in love with his best friend. So unless its one of these two reasons. Privacy or fear, I just don't see how Vmin could be lovers and their friends not interact. This is the only thing that ever gives me doubt. Not other members, not other people they are linked too, but this. Or am I overthinking?

I don't know how that's odd. He may not be comfortable with Taehyung's friends. He may not have things in common with them. Just because he's close to Taehyung doesn't mean he has to be best buddies with his friends. He's entitled to having his own business and doing his own thing. Park Bo Gum is one of Taehyung's oldest and closest friends but you don't see him interacting with Wooga squad. It's like he and Taehyung have their own thing. Also, I do know that Jimin used to hang out with Park Bo gum and Taehyung in the past. There was a time they all attended a concert with Jin.

Also, Taehyung is friends with Minho whom he acted Hwarang with. Minho comes from the same idol group Shinee with Taemin who is also friends with Jimin. Ha Sungwoon, Jimin's close friend and peak boy, Taehyung's friend and Wooga member also seem to be quite close to each other. Everything is all vibes.

I love my boyfriend but it doesn't mean I have to be best friends with his buddies. We may be on talking terms but we don't necessarily have to hang out. Sometimes, I would prefer to be on my own so they don't have to tattle tale about everything I do to my boyfriend. It's all vibes and people's personalities. As for the Jenny thing, I don't care about that. They could probably have just been a fan of hers and she them. Their paths have crossed and they simply greet eachother like how Jennie and Soobin of txt shared small talk at an event. If he was publicly close to Taehyung, it would be a completely different story.

Personally, I don't believe Taehyung hasn't introduced Jimin to his friends. He was always proud of showing Jimin off just like how he told the little girl who was in the On music video with him that Jimin was his best friend.

Or how he threatened to cut ties with his high school friends simply because they weren't speaking to Jimin.Jimin during one of his lives mentioned how selfish he is with the things he loves. He doesn't like to share so that tells you how private he is. Anyway, we know nothing about their lives so we can't assume Jimin isn't close with his friends. They may be on talking terms but not enough to make them hang out. Taehyung might choose to keep what he has with Jimin seperate from his friends for reasons best known to them. Anyway, that's that. Thanks for this ask.

#vmin #taehyung #bts #jimin #bts vmin

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kdramacrybaby · 6 months ago

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Castaway Diva (2023)

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Life

Synopsis: Seo Mok-ha has always dreamed of singing with her biggest idol, Yoon Ran-joo - a dream that would let her escape her current life. She meets Jung ki-ho, who at first is reluctant to help her, but then slowly starts to believe in her dreams too. They also realize they have more in common than first thought, and makes a promise that when things get bad, they'll run away together. Their big escape fails, however, and Mok-ha finds herself on a deserted island - where she ends up living by herself for the next fifteen years. Finally, she's found by a group of people going around cleaning up trash from the islands in the area, and she's taken back to civilization. The two brothers who found her - Kang Woo-hak and Kang Bo-geol - helps her navigate this whole new world. And even after all this time, Mok-ha has never given up her dream. And she needs to find out what happened to Ki-ho too.

Episode info: 12 episodes / Runtime around 80 minutes

Lead cast: Park Eun-bin (Seo Mok-ha), Lee Re (young Mok-ha), Moon Woo-jin (young Ki-ho), Kim Hyo-jin (Yoon Ran-joo), Cha Hak-yeon (Kang Woo-hak), Chae Jong-hyeop (Kang Bo-geol), Seo Jeong-yeon (Song Ha-jeong), Lee Joong-ok (Kang Sang-du), Lee Seung-joon (Jung Bong-wan).

Link to watch: You can watch on Netflix and Dramacool

Drama rec masterlist | Drama rant thread (beware of spoilers)

I don't know what it is about this drama, but something about it just hit me so hard. I cannot count how many times I cried watching this - and not big ugly crying, just tears streaming down my face, from happiness, sadness, hopefulness, hopelessness. Just so many feelings.

It doesn't feel like a drama that would be this emotional from just looking at it, but damn, they really go for the gut punches.

It's about family - both the one you can't choose, and the one you make for yourself. The friends you make along the way - the real ones and the ones you later learn were never on your side. It's about reaching for your dreams, no matter how long the road may be, and to enjoy the journey while you're doing it. It's never too late to do that one thing you've always dreamed of, if you work hard enough, you will succeed - maybe not in the way you first imagined, but in the way that needed to happen.

Go through life with kindness, give people the benefit of the doubt, but at the same time not allowing people to walk all over you. You can stand strong and firm on your own, without trampling on others.

I've been in a drama slump for a while, and every drama I've watched I've either not finished or just felt meh about, but this one... I'm so happy I watched it. I'm about to hit my thirties, and sometimes think about what my life could have been had I done x or y, so seeing Mok-ha still out there chasing her dreams and just doing her best at that same age was really comforting in a way. We're still young, and we still have so much time to do what we want. It's gonna be okay.

And the music! Oh my gosh, the entire soundtrack is amazing. Park Eun-bin has such a magical voice. My favorites are definitely Dream Us, Someday, and Fly Away.

All the actors just blew it out of the park - I'm especially impressed by the two young actors Lee Re and Moon Woo-jin who played the younger versions of Mok-ha and Ki-ho. Their roles dealt with some really sensitive topics, and they just gave us everything they had in raw emotions. It would take too long if I had to go over every single actor in this drama, but just know that they all pulled their weight and more. What a dream cast!

This drama is one of the ones I'll be thinking about randomly for years to come, I can already tell. Highly recommended watch.

#castaway diva #kdrama review #kdrama rec #kdrama

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afpwestcoast · 1 year ago

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The Observatory North Park, San Diego, 12/9/23

Though we were in a different city the setup for this show was very similar to last night in LA: large, ornate theater with a barricade keeping people back from the stage. But this was no impediment to the band torching through a stellar set.

Amanda calls me Tom the Critic because after shows I have a tendency to skip over the OMYGOD THAT WAS AWESOME part and pick nits over minor issues. It’s a character flaw; I’m working on it.

After this show I took Amanda’s face in my hand, looked her in the eye, and said, “Amanda, you know I love you, but I am about to tell you something that you probably thought you’d never hear me say.”

“Oh god,” she replied, bracing for the worst. “What is it?”

I leaned in close and whispered, “Perfect show. No notes.”

“AWWWW!” she said as she melted into my arms for a big hug.

And it really was a truly stupendous show, but even so it came close to being overshadowed by the after party.

Amanda’s sister Alyson (of forced wedding / gross cake fame) was in town for a hematology conference, and her “book doula” Jamy Ian Swiss lives in San Diego, so they were both there.

I convinced them - and Amanda’s brilliant long-time sound guy Dave - to join us for drinks at Part Time Lover, a nearby combination bar and vinyl record store. As we headed out I snuck up behind Amanda and said, “I think I just convinced your sister to come out drinking.” She said, “Yeah, that tracks.”

The place was jammed with a boisterous young crowd when we arrived, but we closed the place down and there hardly was anyone left by 2am.

I got to learn about Alyson’s efforts to cure cancer with targeted drugs and Dave’s work training the next generation of sound engineers. That was lovely, but Jamy stole the show. Or rather, put one on.

Knowing him primarily from his work with Amanda on her book, I thought the magic was a bit of a side hustle. When I asked, “Are you any good?” his look said, ‘I will tolerate that because you are buying me drinks,’ but his mouth said, “I am much better than good.” And then he pulled out a deck of cards and proved it.

I had never actually seen close magic up close, like literally standing next to the magician. Let me tell you, it is quite an experience. You know it’s a trick, you know he’s doing something, but you cannot see anything, which makes you start questioning your sanity. He really is much better than good.

After we closed the bar Dave and Alyson bailed but Jamy soldiered on and we went to an all-night diner where the spirited (pardon the pun) conversation continued until we finally parted ways around 4am. This was one for the annals.

Annotated Set List:

Good Day

Sex Changes

Gravity

Backstabber

My Alcoholic Friends

Shores of California

Delilah (featuring Veronica Swift) Welcome to the Internet (Bo Burnham cover)

Another lengthy intro before launching into a set of new songs, although this didn’t feel like the angsty delay tactic of the previous night but just bringing the audience up to speed on what was about to happen. Mister God

By way of introduction to the next song Amanda said that the friend who was the first person she sent it to when it was finished was in the audience.

“A really dear friend of mine is in the audience tonight … his name is Jamy Ian Swiss and he’s a man of many talents, among them: he’s an incredible professional magician. But he also helped me write a book called “The Art of Asking,” which was kind of a magic trick itself. Over the course of working on this book together he got to know me very very very well.”

And I thought, ‘Oh yeah I need to party with this guy.’

Houdini

Believe it or not, as Amanda was telling the background story of the next song, there was another medical emergency that necessitated bringing up the house lights, same as the previous night in LA. Once again the staff was on it and the band and the crowd were very respectful.

Afterwards Brian said, “It is actually really amazingly rad to have venue after venue’s staff come up to us after shows and go, ‘Your crowd is really awesome; they’re really good people!’”

Whakenewha Amsterdam (Jacques Brel cover)

Another Christmas

Boyfriend in a Coma

The Runner

The Nail (Amanda on synthesizer)

Coin-Operated Boy

“We don’t take for granted that we’ve been a band for 23 years now and without a record out since fucking 2008 and like a thousand people still came to see us play. That does not necessarily have to happen when you’re a band. And so we want to thank every single one of you for just like loving us and believing in us.”

Merch commercial

Astronaut (A Brief History of Nearly Nothing) (Amanda Palmer cover)

War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover)

—

Girl Anachronism

Photo Gallery:

The scene of the crime.

Ready to Rock! (photo by Deanna Aliano)

The Dresden Dolls!

Delilah

Amanda is WAY up on the balcony for Amsterdam

The many faces of Brian Viglione

Merry Christmas motherfuckers

Technicolor Dolls

Beautiful shot of Brian by Deanna Aliano

Big finish!

#amanda palmer #dresden dolls

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alloveydovey · 1 year ago

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Dramas I watched this past month! The month of the rewatch. (Also spoilers!)

Crush (cdrama) 6.5

This had such a strong start and then went downhill bad (like really bad).

Psychology student decides to sort of intern (? at a special education school and meets a blind braille teacher there. There’s also music involved.

Like in most cdramas I’ve watched, everyone behaves like a twelve-year-old, and the conflict starts out of things that an adult should be able to prevent. The main couple drastically changes in the second half, and it’s like you are watching a whole other drama.

Into the Ring (kdrama) (rewatch) 10 ⭐️

My eternal love to Nana in this (and in general. I’m in love with her). Se Ra is probably my favorite FL from all the dramas I’ve watched.

I remember being very skeptical the first time I saw this (because politics, kinda boring?) but it was so worth it.

Park Sung Hoon is also such an excellent companion to all of her craziness. His and Nana's chemistry was one of the best ones. The awkward but somehow very comfortable atmosphere you feel while watching them is next level. Still one of my favorite dramas. 10/10, I adore it.

Doona! (kdrama) 8

I still have mixed feelings about this one. The sort of angst romance was on point. Actors were good, narrative was fast-paced and kept me entertained. Doona is presented as a complex character and so the story even with happy moments, feels very bittersweet. But even with all that, I feel like I'd have to watch it again because there’s something that puts me off but I can’t quite decide what it is exactly.

I also want to know why they had her wearing tiny tank tops and shorts in snowy winter lol…

A Business Proposal (kdrama) (rewatch) 8.5

The first time I watched a business proposal I didn’t really like it. I thought it was way too cliche and absurd and dropped it after the third episode. It was the fourth kdrama I had watched after Crash Landing on You, Hometown Cha Cha Cha, and Twenty-Five Twenty-One so like… it had big shoes to fill in. I came back to it eventually and finished it.

Now after rewatching… I think learned to appreciate a good over-the-top rom-com (they became my favorites lol) and this definetly hits all the boxes. It feels like an instant classic. Also music 10/10.

Usokon (jdrama) 7

If it is marriage contract/fake dating then sign me the fuck up!!! Usokon started strong but at some point (around episode 8/9) I started getting frustrated. We know that there are feelings involved, but nobody is doing anything about it. The ML (even though he absolutely steals the show) doesn’t do anything to move forward, and the FL is too clueless to make a move. And so there’s not enough romance in a drama that is primarily romantic since the main focus is their fake marriage/ relationship. Also, it had such a frustrating ending!!!

My Girlfriend is a Gumiho (kdrama) 7,5 ⭐️

Nothing beats old kdramas, they have such a particular nostalgic vibe that makes you unable to stop watching. My girlfriend is a gumiho was so sooo stupid, childish, and even cringe, but so cute!!! Every time Shin Min Ah and Lee Seung Gi were together on screen I couldn’t stop smiling. I can totally see this one becoming a comfort drama. Another one with soundtrack 10/10.

Daily Dose of Sunshine (kdrama) 9

I read somewhere that this was like a mental health for dummies book, and to be honest, it’s kind of like that, but it works so well! The way they visualized mental disorders was so creative, I was impressed.

All the characters were intriguing enough to keep me going. Everyone had something to offer here. Even the patients from each episode.

Watching this felt deeply sad yet deeply comforting as well. Park Bo Young absolutely kills it (as usual. QUEEN).

Twinkling Watermelon (kdrama) 9.5

This one was pure gold. Time travel to meet the younger version of your parents? Sign me fuck up. The idea of sending Eun Gyeol back in time to try to understand his family and live his youth is such a cool (and emotional af) premise. It had the ideal balance of comedy and emotion. I feel like sixteen episodes weren’t enough. I could have sat there for another twenty episodes watching those teenagers being silly lol.

#netflix kdrama #kdramas #jdramas #cdramas #daily dose of sunshine #twinkling watermelon #crush #usokon #my girlfriend is a gumiho #into the ring #a business proposal #doona!#dovey watches

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boysplanetrecaps · 2 years ago

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Boys Planet Episode 11: Recap and Guide

Hey, fellow Star Creator! Are you ready to have your heart smashed to smithereens? …. No? Me either. In fact, I'm late getting this recap to you because it was hard to type with my heart next to me in a basin of saline solution. But I managed.

Let’s go!

At 0:38, we start off with the boys hanging out at their dorms after their third mission, high fiving each other and expressing some anxiety about the upcoming eliminations. They have to pack to go home now for a while. The staff has set up a photo booth for them to make some memories. In case anyone thinks that there’s animosity between Woongki and Zhuang Shai Bo, there definitely isn’t.

The trainees go back back home, awaiting the next elimination ceremony.

Pretty sure that’s Ricky, just being mysterious and painting roses in a graffiti covered studio, because how else would Ricky spend his time when he’s not performing?

We spend a little time with Han Yujin and his very popular pretty mother. We also see Keita and Kum Junhyeon hanging out with Eunho from Younite and Hwi from Ciipher -- it seems that Junhyeon used to be a trainee at Rain company and trained with some or all of the Ciipher, which explains how they both know Hwi, but I’m not sure the impossibly faced Eunho fits in (seriously, who has a face like that? He looks like a Bratz doll come to life, in a good way). I also don’t know how we never knew that Junhyeon and Keita have been friends this whole time??? They’re just out having a meal and talking about how young Kum Junhyeon was when they used to train together. We see a lot of other stuff, including Kim JiWoong at a dog cafe, even though he’s apparently allergic to dogs. They’re all visiting with friends and family.

Then we see the guys all packing to go back to Planet Camp, even though many of them know that they probably won’t make it through this elimination ceremony. It’s pretty sad. But remember, they’re all going to be ok, right, team? A lot of them are signed with good companies and will probably debut in 2025, if not sooner. So deep breaths. It’s ok!

Then we visit with Park Hanbin, who is wearing a very soft looking blue sweater, as if anticipating future MNET shows. He says he’s worried about not being able to debut. Park Hanbin, you silly goose. You’re going to debut whether or not you make it into Bepler. Listen to BPR Noona. I know of what I speak.

6:15 Now it’s time for the elimination ceremony!

So, I actually watched the live streaming ceremony, which popped up on my phone as I was getting ready to go to sleep. Cannabis is legal where I live and so I might have been particularly ready to close my eyes, you know? But I watched, my eyes blinking heavily, because I wanted to know! The things the boys were saying weren’t translated, so I was only able to catch the gist. Also, the live broadcast was just a raw feed of them, and without the editing and background music, it felt like I was watching a first rehearsal.

Anyway, as usual, we start with the boys backstage talking about how nervous they are -- us too, guys -- and then coming out in small groups based on their most recent challenge mission. They do various kinds of schtick, and once their whole team is out they do a combined schtick. It looked heckin’ awkward in the live broadcast, but edited down it looks much better.

Here’s the order they come out:

Kim Tae Rae, Na Kamden, and Zhang Shuai Bo (Switch)

Keita, Park Hanbin, and Yoon Jongwoo (Switch)

Wang Zi Hao, Ollie, and Haruto (Supercharger)

Woongki, Takuto, Seo Won (Supercharger)

Zhang Hao and Lee Jungheyon (Over Me)

Ricky, Chen Kuan Jui, Jay (Over Me)

Sung Hanbin and Han Yujin (Say My Name)

Yoo Seung Eon, Seok Matthew, and Kim Ji Woong (Say My Name)

Hui (Lee Hoe Taek), Hiroto, and Lee Seung Hwan (En Garde)

Kim Gyuvin, Kum Junhyeon, Park Gunwook (En Garde)

And who is their Star Master this time? In the live broadcast, she stood with her back to the camera for just a few seconds and then came in, but of course, in the edited version, there’s 15 minutes of guessing first.

But it’s Jeon Somi!

I would impale myself on those spikes every time I moved slightly, but she makes it look good.

If you’re not familiar with Jeon Somi, she is a successful soloist who went through the reality show gamut. First she was on a show called Sixteen, a reality competition show that created the kpop giants Twice (you know, the ones who sing “Feel Special”). She didn’t make the lineup of Twice, but she got pretty popular from being on the show. Then she was on the first season of Produce 101, the precursor of Girls Planet/Boys Planet, and ended up pretty much killing it, taking first place in the final episode and becoming the “center” of project group IOI (pronounced “eye-oh-eye”). Check out their song Very Very Very if you want to see what IOI is like.

After IOI disbanded, Somi became a soloist. I love her song Birthday -- my fella doesn’t like much kpop, but for whatever reason he loves Birthday. (He specifically loves how she she says “eyyy”.) Despite it being a pretty great song, Birthday wasn’t a huge hit because she was “f a a t “ at the time (she absolutely wasn’t, and even if she was, it shouldn’t matter, but people can really be The Worst, and also her stylist didn’t know how to dress a young woman with actual boobs). Anyway she has other songs now, like Dumb Dumb, and she’s frighteningly skinny now, so she’s a lot more successful. I think she’s always been a sparkly fun person. I wish she’d given her cue cards a bit of a read before she came out on stage, but… whatever. Oh, and if you’re wondering, she’s 22, half Korean and half white, and was born in Canada.

The boys go crazy when they realize it’s Somi -- Kamden says he won’t be able to sleep tonight, and a few of the others talk about how tall she is. She’s 5’8, which is fairly tall for a girl, especially in Korea.

She reads some usual stuff off a cuecard, and then adds, “It’s not easy being on a survival show, is it? I remember HATING this studio myself” (as in, when she was on Produce 101). The boys give her some serious snaps.

We find out that people in 182 countries voted a total of 31,750,293 votes, and that trainees ranked 1 through 18 will survive. We also find out that during the first phase of the announcement, they’ll only be announcing trainees from 11 through 17 inclusive, which is only seven people, so this is really silly.

After that, in the live broadcast, Somi said something that MNET translated thusly: “I know how much effort and sweat they have put into this far because not only I but so many world star creators are sending their cheers to them. Believe in your time and the sweat dedicated, and get with it to the end.” That part didn’t make it into the final airing, as far as I can tell, but I think it’s funny. She read it at top speed, sounding like a bored flight attendant reading the same safety instructions for the millionth time, and not looking up from the cue cards once. Maybe that’s why they didn’t air it.

Anyway -- so now that the stakes have been established, we bring up two teams to start with: Switch and Engarde.

First Round of Eliminations

Here are the 12 trainees who are waiting to hear their fate, in order of their rank in episode 8:

6 Kim Gyu Vin Love Me Right - K / Love Killa/ En Garde

7 Kim Tae Rae Back Door - K/ Man in Love/ Switch

8 Keita Kill This Love - G/ Zoom / Switch

9 Park Gunwook Kill This Love - K/ Tomboy/ En Garde

10 Kum Jun Hyeon Back Door - K /Gang / En Garde

11 Hui Love Me Right - K / Tomboy /En Garde

13 Park Hanbin Hot Sauce - K / Law/ Switch

15 Yoon Jong Woo Back Door - K /Home/Switch

20 Na Kamden Back Door - G /Law /Switch

21 Lee Seung Hwan Danger - K/ Gang /En Garde

23 Zhang Shuai Bo Back Door - G/ Feel Special /Switch

28 Hiroto Very Nice - G/ Rush Hour/ En Garde

Somi announces that they’re going to announce the trainee who is 11th place, who got 2,365,604 points. It’s someone who did the killing part.

Then she gives the clue that the person in 11th has the family name “Park.” Well, that’s either Park Gunwook or Park Hanbin. Gunwook doesn’t want to be announced in 11th place; Hanbin would be delighted to be in 11th. So they sort of awkwardly grin at each other from across the aisle.

At 17:13 And then we find out that it’s Park Hanbin! So they’re both happy! Everyone is proud of him and a little surprised.

Look how happy Z-Bo is for him, and everyone else, too! That’s their fearless leader!

He says, “I won’t be able to be the shiniest star on Boys Planet, but I want to be the one and only star. Since this could be my last chance to shine the brightest, I’ll try to give a great performance.” Somi tells him he shines brightly already, and his gives her a huge, eye squinting grin. That’s doing to be a “happy memory for a sad day” for him -- one of those happy memories you return to when you need a boost. But hopefully Hanbin won’t have too many sad days in front of him.

Kum Junhyeon says to Park Gunwook, “he didn’t deserve the low ranking,” which is so true. Park Hanbin has been great since the first day. It was just hard to get to know his personality at first.

In the live broadcast, Somi asked him to show his “favorite facial expression,” and he did, but it’s all so weird. Does anyone else think that Kpop is getting a bit too codified? Can there be any mystery or general stage technique that isn’t parsed down into the tiniest bits? Anyway, that doesn’t make it into the final broadcast, which is all for the best

As Hanbin walks up to lonely seat 11 all by himself, Jay says, “Park Hanbin serves and deserves,” which is a great way of putting it.

Here’s the floor plan to help you figure out who is sitting where as the episode goes on-- that’s P-Hanbin in 11th.

This is where the live broadcast ended, so I was a mixture of happy (I was so stoned and sleepy and just wanted to close my eyes) and contented (at least my Park Hanbin is safe!) and furious (seriously, MNET?). But that’s all they gave us, the fuckwits.

Rank 12 is next, and it’s someone from En Garde, someone who stood out because of best friend energy, so that could be a lot of people.

We find out that it’s Park Gunwook! He’s fallen from 9th place to 12 -- everyone is shocked, and there’s a silent pause before people start applauding. That peach, Lee Seunghwan, who probably isn’t going to make it through this elimination, gives him a high five and tries to cheer him up, but he looks really sad.

Sad, but still cute! I like the ruffly hair.

Ok, everyone’s super surprised that he fell out of the top9, but I’m not that surprised, really. Don’t get me wrong, I still quite like Park Gunwook and am rooting for him to succeed in life. I’ve heard that some people dislike him, but I think he’s essentially a sweet guy who jokes around in uncomfortable situations. I also think he’s talented, with a loveable face, and I hope that Jellyfish will figure out some way to promote him if he doesn’t make the top 9 here.

That all said, he’s been showing the same part of himself again and again on the show. It’s that super masculine, powerful style of dancing that he always does, you know? I think people are just a tiny bit tired of the powerful powerhouse of power. I feel that way a tiny bit myself. I didn’t need him to do something super cute like Say My Name or something mega sexy like Over Me, exactly, but I think I would have liked to see him in something more like Switch -- something that requires a different, more lighthearted style of dancing. I think he can do it, so I hope that he can show that in the next episode.

Who’s next? Rank 15. Who could it be?

It’s someone known for his unique facial expressions, and it’s an extrovert, so it could be a lot of them -- not Keita, Hui, Hiroto, or Lee Seunghwan who are introverts, but any of the rest. (Is anyone else surprised to hear that Kim Taerae is an extrovert? He comes across as more of an introvert -- probably MNET editing striking again.) Anyway, it could be almost any of these six…

And at 22:45 we find out that it’s Yoon Jongwoo, who had been ranked 15th in episode 8.

Everyone is super surprised, including Jongwoo himself. I think he was expected to be eliminated after his ignominious treatment in episodes 9 and 10, but seriously, watch his fancam from Switch. He’s such a good dancer and performer. He’d be a benefit to any team he’d be on. I really hope he does a cover of Over Me and puts it up on Youtube. Just putting that out into the universe.

Kum Junhyeon and Kim Gyuvin have given up on casting spells.

Who’s next? Rank 16. Who could it be?

Park Hanbin mutters to himself, “This is daebak.” I should have mentioned this in an earlier recap, but for those of you newish to K-culture, “daebak” means something like “amazing” or “surprising” or even “cool.” Sometimes people just say “daebak” as an exclamation, in which case it means something like “wow!”

Everyone is anxious but Zhang Shuai Bo, who already knows that there is a 99.99999% chance that he is eliminated. He probably didn’t even pack anything in his suitcase. His new brown hair looks nice, though.

It’s someone who’s rank has fallen, and someone who never had a killing part. That could be a lot of people.

And at 25:49 we find out it’s Kum Junhyeon. (The Viki subtitler spells his name Guem -- the G/K sound in Korean is sort of halfway between G and K, so you see it either way depending on the transliteration system in use. And there’s a lot of variation in how people transliterate vowel sounds in Korean, which is one of the reasons I learned to read actual Korean sybmbols!)

Kum Junhyeon has dropped a lot from 10th place. I don’t have a specific theory as to why he dropped, but I kind of think that he’s stopped looking like one of the it-crowd, somehow. Put on a team with Gunwook and Gyuvin, he sort of faded into the background. I like Junhyeon a lot -- he’s charismatic, funny, open-hearted, and a really great singer -- and hope he debuts, but I don’t think he’s going to debut with Bepler. I think he knows that too -- he looks like he’s going to cry.

We hear from each of them.

Yoon Jongwoo says, “Since I came here without expecting anything, my memories here are so precious. I kept telling myself to be in the final, at least. And I ended up being here. I’d like to thank the Star Creators who support me one more time.”

Park Gunwook says, “I really wanted to be on stage one more time. My goal coming here was moving on to the final. Thankfully, I’d be able to join the final with such a high ranking. I’m relieved. I’d like to express my love and gratitude to the Star Creators who support me.”

Then Somi asks Gunwook to do something aegyo, and he chooses instead to do something kawaii instead. He says, in Japanese, things like “I love you! I like you a lot!” (The on-screen words are transliterated Japanese with Korean translation underneath.)

Side note: “aegyo” is a thing in K-culture. It’s when idols and other performers do over-the-top, cloying, saccharine cuteness as a… mini performance. It’s quite popular among Koreans, and is often requested by variety show hosts, but international audiences often don’t like it. Personally, I don’t like it, but it’s not my culture and it’s not my place to say “stop doing thing because I don’t like thing,” you know? Though I really do wish they’d stop.

Anyway, Gunwook speaking Japanese spurs Kum Junhyeon to do his speech in Japanese as well, and he sounds like a first semester Japanese student. It’s much cuter than his old “I am 5 years old” shtick, though, I’ll say that.

So, this group takes their seats, and everyone wonders, Who’s next? But there isn’t anyone else in this group.

Though the show plays danger music to make it seem otherwise, it’s fair to assume that Kim Gyu Vin, Kim Tae Rae, Keita, and Hui are probably in the top 10. But unless Na Kamden, Lee Seung Hwan, Zhang Shuai Bo, or Hiroto is ranked 18th, they’ve all been eliminated.

The trainees think that Lee Hoetek/Hui might have been eliminated, but that seems extremely unlikely. The people who’ve been voting for him as of episode 8 are probably going to keep voting for him -- he just hasn’t done enough to attract new people to him. I don’t think he’ll make the final lineup, but I don’t think he’ll be eliminated today.

Then Somi announces that she’s heard that “on a beautiful day, the trainees spent a day full of doubts and suspicion.”

Oh no.

It’s…

30:05 FILLER TIME

If you’re not into Kpop -- and even if you are a little into it -- you may not know about the whole ecology that surrounds idol groups. There are these variety shows, such as After School Club and Weekly Idol, shows where idols come on and get made fun of and forced to do silly things, like dance to their songs at 2x speed, or chicken fight, or answer trivia questions, or whatever the show feels like doing to them.

There’s also a custom of idols creating content specifically for their fans, to hold up their side of the parasocial relationship. They joke around, they play games, they cook or eat food, and most importantly, they talk to the camera like it’s their girlfriend and talk about how much they miss their fans and want to see them again. This stuff makes me uncomfortable, but I know a lot of people like it.

Anyway, all the “filler” stuff we see on Boys Planet is a good introduction to the kind of content you often see on shows or videos like these. As such, even though it’s filler, it’s actually an audition for a big part of the job that they’ll be doing as idols. Plenty of idols are known as much for their reality show appearances as for their performance skills (if not more so).

That said, there isn’t a lot to say about this stuff -- it’s just cute fan service. Here’s a super quick recap:

The boys gather outside at an area with big platform tents, on what must have been a lovely sprint day. Park Hanbin is wearing that same soft looking blue sweater, and Kim TaeRae is wearing a sweatshirt that says Thrasher on it, with just enough dark tape over the logo that they don’t have to blur it. My 17 year old self fainted dead away when she saw that Thrasher logo. Is there anything cuter than a skater boy? (Other than my fella, who is the cutest boy of all boys.)

The trainees are told they will have to dress like cute animals and spend a self-sufficient day in the forest - - which is complete bullshit, but that’s ok.

First, they have to put on loose pajama pants without using their hands -- which is an excuse to help each other and touch each other’s crotchal areas with their feet and teeth -- in order to choose which team gets to wear which animal outfit. That part is actually pretty fun to watch, especially when Chen Kuan Jui uses his powers of stretchiness to get’er’done.

Once they get their animal outfit on (they’re just big loose onesie outfits), they’re all told that each team will have a “raccoon” in it (basically, like a mole -- someone who ruins everything) and that they have to figure out who it is. They have to go into a tent one by one to find out if they’re the raccoon or not -- it’s not as if they choose to be the mole. If the team can figure out who’s the raccoons amongst them, then everyone else wins the prize, but if they don’t, the raccoons win the prizes. The stakes are high.

Say My Name comes in first and chooses unicorn.

Switch comes in second and chooses something red; I can’t tell what it is.

En Garde comes in 3rd and chooses dinosaur.

Supercharger comes in 4th and chooses something pink; I can’t tell what it is.

Over Me comes in last and chooses something black.

Over Me’s raccoon is revealed immediately as Lee Jeonghyeon, and he says, “thank you” and that he’s confident he can do it. Just more MNET spotlighting him to try to get another K-group member in the top9 if possible.

They’re hungry and have to play a game where they spin around until they’re dizzy and have to poke at a board with ingredients written on it. The best things are in tiny boxes, which are hard to target. But most of the trainees get at least something decent for food.

Then they play another game to win dessert -- prizes range from shaved ice to “healthy tea” -- and this game is my least favorite Korean reality staple, “Scream in the dark.” It’s this game where they all wear huge headphones that block out most sound, and have to shout at each other and read each other’s lips. This game is played on all the idol shows, and it’s really not my favorite. Maybe it’d be more fun if I were a fluent Korean speaker…? Also, it’s obviously going to be hard for non native speakers from G-group.

This part goes on for approximately 3,791 years, so if you’d like to skip to the end of it, go to 49:18.

After that, the boys discuss who amongst them could be the raccoon (mole). We find out that each raccoon has a purple raccoon symbol stamped on his foot. So they choose who among them is the raccoon and then that person has to reveal their foot.

Though Over Me’s team seems to suspect Lee Jeonghyeon, they cast out Jay, almost as if they are the general public viewing the show. Of course, Jay is innocent.

Switch team picks Keita, but he’s innocent as well. Turns out the mole was Park Hanbin! Back when he found out that he had to be the mole, he said -- with his face hidden and voice distorted -- “I can’t lie!” and collapsed on the floor. But he was good at it after all! Have I mentioned lately that I really like Park Hanbin? Because I do.

Say My Name team picks Sung Hanbin, and he’s also innocent. Turns out it was really Han Yujin. Interestingly, when he was chosen as the mole, he said, “I’m good at this kind of thing.” A rare glimpse into the personality of Han Yujin.

Supercharger picked Wang Zi Hao, and he is in fact the mole.

En Garde team picked Kum Junhyeon, and he’s also innocent. Turns out the real mole was Park Gunwook.

The raccoons have won! Their prize is a variety of high fashion outfits -- in other words, their animal onesies. (Ten bucks says they all got to keep their onesies anyway.)

And that’s the end of the filler!

56:50 SECOND ROUND OF ELIMINATIONS

They joke about the game for a bit longer, and then go back to the eliminations.

Next up will be the other teams: Supercharger, Over Me, and Say My Name.

Ricky says to Jay, in English, “Let’s survive together.” Kim JiWoong leans over to Matthew and says, quoting from Love Killa, “Oh I’m sorry, did I make you anxious?”

Here’s everyone who’s up on the chopping block, in case you would like a refresher as to who is who. I’ve listed their most recent rank as well as their three challenge missions.

1 Sung Hanbin Love Me Right - K / Tomboy / Say My Name

2 Zhang Hao Kill This Love - G/ Tomboy/ Over Me

3 Han Yu Jin Back Door - K / Law / Say My Name

4 Seok Matthew Kill This Love - G/ Love Killa/ Say My Name

5 Kim Ji Woong Back Door - K /Love Killa /Say My Name

12 Jay Love Me Right - G/ Home /Over Me

14 Ricky Back Door - G/ Rush Hour /Over Me

16 Haruto Love Me Right - G / Zoom/ Supercharger

17 Yoo Seung Eon Very Nice - K Home Say My Name

18 Seo Won Very Nice - K Love Killa Supercharger

19 Wang Zi Hao Kill This Love - G Law Supercharger

22 Chen Kuan Jui Kill This Love - G Butterfly Over Me

24 Lee Jeong Hyeon Love Me Right - K Gang Over Me

25 Takuto Danger - G Rush Hour Supercharger

26 Cha Woong Ki Very Nice - K Feel Special Supercharger

27 Ollie Hot Sauce - G Zoom Supercharger

Who’s up first? 13th place. Who could it be?

Someone who’s noted for their talent (thanks, that’s unhelpful). It’s someone from Over Me. We see Park Hanbin with his hands folded, as if in prayer -- he’s hopeful it’ll be his WakeOne teammate, Lee JeongHyeon.

At 1:01:00, we find out it’s Jay.

We see that Jay’s Korean support is painfully low -- only 62,829 votes, while everyone else announced so far has had 200,000+ -- while his global support is super high -- 1,400,606 while no one else has broken into the millions. He’s a little sad because he’s dropped another spot, and it’s looking less and less likely that he’ll make top9 in the end.

Honestly, at this point, I think it’s better for Jay that he *not* debut in Bepler. Looking at what’s going on with Kepler, all the fan wars and stuff, I think he’s better of not in that kind of situation. Who wants to debut based on global vote and then have to go to fan meetings in Korea where literally no one acknowledges you? He’ll have a more fulfilling career using this as a spring board to make his own music and release it mostly online, the way that B.I. and Jackson Wang do. Let K-netz hate him all they want, and let him just sing in English like he’d probably prefer to do. I’d much rather have B.I.’s career than, say, Park Jihoon’s. (Though I do absolutely love all three of the songs I linked to, for the record. But Jihoon’s stylist noona deserves serious sanctions. His whole MV team does. Send them to the naughty step for a few hours to rethink their choices in life.) There’s life after Boys Planet and it doesn’t have to involve Bepler.

Who’s next? 14th place. Who could it be?

Someone indispensable -- so team Supercharger hopes it’s Haruto, as do we all, right? Haruto is everyone’s unproblematic fave.

At 1:02:34, we find out it’s Yoo Seungeon.

Yoo Seungeon is signed to Yuehua, along with current trainees Ricky, Zhang Hao, Han Yujin, Ollie, and Kim Gyuvin, and eliminated trainees Brian and Ji Yun Seo. He really is quite young to debut, and doesn’t really need to debut right now -- it seems quite likely that Zhang Hao and Han Yujin will make the final lineup, and Ricky and Gyuvin have a decent chance, so the Yuehua team that debuts in 2024 or 2025 will start off with a lot of momentum. It still can’t hurt for Seungeon to have more exposure, so it’s nice that he made it. He seems like a sweet kid and a genuine talent. All that said, I’m so worried about Haruto I can’t think straight.

Who’s next? 17th place. Who could it be?

Everyone is hoping that it’ll be themselves, and this is so painful. Cha Woongki tries to keep from hoping. The person is known for their rapping, so of course I’m hoping for Haruto, but there are a lot of rappers here.

Somi says that the person has two “ng” consonants.

Korean reading time! The little circles you see in Korean have a few different roles. Often, they’re silent, like when they come before a vowel. For example, the family name “Lee” (which is really pronounced more like Ee) is spelled 이, as you see above on Lee Jeonghyun’s name. (That straight up and down line thing is the -ee part. You also see it in the final syllable of Woongki’s name -- 기.) When you see the circle thingy at the top of a name, it’s more like “w-” sound. When it’s at the bottom of a word, it’s a -ng sound. That’s why you see it in the top and bottom of 웅 for Woongki (and for Kim JiWoong, also) and in 왕 Wang. You also see it in the bottom of Lee Jeonghyun’s second syllable.

Of course everyone has tons of little circles in their names since they do so much work in Korean writing -- even before I could read Korean I could always tell Korean from other writing systems by the little circles.

Who could it be in 17th place? At 1:05:05 we find out it’s It’s Lee Jeonghyeon. He burst into tears, which seems to surprise his fellow WakeOne trainees Park Hanbin and Kim TaeRae. Of course people are happy for him but sad that they (or their other friends) didn’t survive.

We get told that without the benefit, he would have been in 19th place.

The surviving trainees get to make a speech.

Jay says, in slow English (probably to make it easier for non-native speakers to understand): "To all my friends and family watching from all the way back in the states, I just want to say thank you so much for tuning in every week and screaming at the television.” Somi, who is Canadian and fluent in English, says “Blow them a kiss!” and he does.

Yoo Seung Eon says, “First of all, I never imagined that I’d survive in a high rank of 14, so I feel like I’m dreaming. I have no words to describe how I feel right now. Also, thanks to my Say My Name teammates who created the greatest performance, I really love you.”

Lee Jeonghyeon says, “At every survivor announcement, I was always on the verge of disqualifications. So today, I thought that I wouldn’t be able to make it. But I’m really grateful to the Team Over Me who practiced hard, so we could get benefits.” Then he says, in extremely halting Chinese and Japanese, things like “I love you” and “thank you”, with Hiroto and other trainees helping him from the sidelines.

They take their seats, and Lee Jeonghyeon regains his cool.

1:09:00 THIRD ELIMINATION SEGMENT - TOP 10

So, let’s look at the list of trainees, in their episode 8 ranking order. Those marked in green have already been seated in 11th through 17th place.

1 Sung Hanbin 2 Zhang Hao 3 Han Yu Jin 4 Seok Matthew 5 Kim Ji Woong 6 Kim Gyu Vin 7 Kim Tae Rae 8 Keita 9 Park Gunwook 10 Kum Jun Hyeon 11 Hui 12 Jay 13 Park Hanbin 14 Ricky 15 Yoon Jong Woo 16 Haruto 17 Yoo Seung Eon 18 Seo Won 19 Wang Zi Hao 20 Na Kamden 21 Lee Seung Hwan 22 Chen Kuan Jui 23 Zhang Shuai Bo 24 Lee Jeong Hyeon 25 Takuto 26 Cha Woong Ki 27 Ollie 28 Hiroto

Speaking of falling out and making room, Somi reminds us all that Park Gunwook has fallen out of top 9, leaving a space for a new person. From context, the only person it could be is Ricky -- unless in some weird world it’s Hui. I just don’t think Hui is doing well enough on the show to make top9. So yeah, given the obsessive nature of of Ricky’s fandom, I’m assuming he’s a lot of people’s one-pick and will probably be in the top 10, along with Sung Hanbin, Zhang Hao, Han Yu Jin, Seok Matthew, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Gyu Vin, Kim Tae Rae, Keita, and Hui. I’m trying to think, could any of these have fallen out of the top 10, leaving room for Haruto? And I don’t think so. I think Matthew will have fallen a few ranks, but I don’t think he’s fallen out of the top 10. And Hui -- I think he’s more nervous than he has to be. But we’ll see.

Next up, we find out the “candidates for 9th place”, ie, the people ranked 9th and 10th. And it’s Hui and Matthew.

Hui is relieved, as he’s been thinking the whole time that he’s been eliminated, while Matthew is resigned to what to him is bad news. Matthew was ranked 2nd and then 4th, so falling to 9th or 10th is a steep drop. I really wish he’d just been sweet and nice about the part switch, because he did a great job in Say My Name -- I think the best in the group -- and he definitely lost some fans. I’ll add, however, that he might have lost those fans anyway as we moved from pick-3 to1-pick. The dynamics always change a lot when we get to the 1-pick.

Matthew and Hui come up to the front to find out who came in 9th -- and it's Matthew.

Matthew says, “I want to thank all the Star Creators for allowing me to stay in the Top 9. Hanbin hyung, Ji Woong Hyung, Yujin-ee and Seung Eon-ee, I was just so happy to be with you. I want to become more cool like Hanbin hyung and JiWoong hyung. Thank you, and I also hope we’ll all be successful together.” Really putting on those retro-rockets, huh? I hope it helps -- I think he’s a great performer and would make a good member of Bepler.

Hui says, “I came worrying that I may have to go home today. I really want to thank the Star Creators for allowing me to get such an unexpectedly high rank. I also wanted to thank my En Guard team members who’ve worked so hard with me. I would like everyone to stay with me to the end, and although I cannot give amazing benefits like Boys Planet, I will becomes an amazing Hoe Taek and I will show you a good side of me.”

As Matthew goes to take his seat, you can hear Yoo Seungeon rush over to give Matthew-hyung a hug. Jay also comes over and says something in English but I can’t quite make it out.

Next is 8th place. Who could it be? Well it’s one of Ricky, Han Yu Jin, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Gyu Vin, Kim Tae Rae, or Keita. And at 1:16:42, we find out it’s Ricky!

Ricky says, “It’s so cool to enter the Top9 for the first time. I can’t believe it. Honestly, the sofa looked so comfy that I wanted to try sitting in it at least once. I will show an even more improved version of me during the final stage.” The show makes a big deal out of how “sofa” is probably not a Korean word or the right word for these chairs, but, whatever, everyone knew what he meant.

We hear Jay call “Ricky!” and it’s honestly very pleasant to hear someone pronounce it like that. (Not going to say “correctly,” just… correct to my ears, you know?)

Side note: with his hair styled down like this, I actually don’t recognize him. I mean, I know it’s him, but my brain doesn’t believe me.

Now it’s time to find out who is in 7th place. Well it’s one of Han Yu Jin, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Gyu Vin, Kim Tae Rae, or Keita.

And at 1:18:39, we find out it’s Kim Gyuvin.

I like the return to a messy mop of hair.

He says, “I want to thank you all for allowing me to end up in such a high rank. Through this final stage, I will prove to you why I need to debut.” Then he adds in uncertain Japanese, “I will become a more improved GyuVin. I love you.” Hiroto coaches him from the other side of the room.

I mean, I know that that interim ranking showed him really low, but it never occurred to me for a second he’d fall below 17. I think he might have been worried, though. He’s gotten some hate online. He sits down in the comfy chair and gives that weird smile of his.

Next is 6th place. Who could it be? Well, it’s one of Han Yu Jin, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Tae Rae, or Keita. Because it’s someone whose rank improved, it’s either TaeRae or Keita.

At 1:21:17, we find out it’s Keita. Nice! I knew he’d make it. I’m glad to see his rank improving. His Korean support is low, but his global support is insane. He’s the first person to outscore Jay in the global vote. (He outscored Jay’s Korean support, as well.)

Keita says, “I am just so happy and grateful to be able to move onto the final. I will keep doing my best.” Then he bows. That’s Keita for you.

Next is 5th place. Well, it’s either Han Yu Jin, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Tae Rae, or maybe Zhang Hao. The person is popular with teenagers, and his charming point is his shy smile. TaeRae doesn’t have a shy smile, but Yujin does.

At 1:22:58 we find out it’s Han Yujin, who at previous eliminations was 4th and 3rd.

Lee Jeonghyun turns around to look up at Park Hanbin and wonder out loud, “What place is TaeRae in?” Again, all three of them are signed together at WakeOne. And hopefully will all debut together ASAP.

Han Yujin says, “To the Star Creators who have shown me much love ever since Na Bina was released, I will work even harder from now on.” Then he adds in Chinese, “Hello. I’m 17-year old Han Yujin. I love you all. You’re so pretty. Thank you.” It doesn’t sound too bad to me but I don’t know Chinese.

Somi teases him about his legendary “Noona, I love you” thing and she asks him to say it to her. (Other trainees watching, including Kum Junyheon and Kim Gyuvin, mutter that they’d be happy to tell her that too.) He says, “Somi-Noona, I love you!” and Somi melts. It’s actually pretty cute, even though I have very little patience for this shiz.

As he goes to his seat, he’s mobbed by some of his friends, including his Yuehua teammate Ricky, who jokingly asks him to say “I love you hyung” to him, and his other Yuehua teammate Kim Gyubin, who seems happier for Yujin than he was for himself.

Next is 4th place, who only scraped past 5th place by a few thousand points -- I’ll do a point analysis at the end of this recap -- and it’s obviously Kim Ji Woong or Kim Tae Rae, or maybe Zhang Hao.

Almost immediately we find out it’s Tae Rae.

Hair stylist noona was really feeling the ruffley bang look today, wasn’t she?

TaeRae says, “To my Star Creators who have always supported me, thank you so much. I will do my best to repay you for your love and support with an even better performance on the final stage.” Then Somi makes him do a big weird laugh and it’s… weird. But he’s still cute.

He goes to take his place, and someone runs to hug him -- I’m pretty sure it’s his WakeOne teammate Park Hanbin.

Somi says she’s going to announce top 3, and Chen Kuan Jui says, in a big, bright, almost-not-sarcastic voice, “who on earth could it be? I’m so curious,” Big snaps for that, CKJ.

Obviously it’s Kim JiWoong, Zhang Hao, and Sung Hanbin.

Ok, so the show reminds us that the top placing trainee in the final episode will get to do a solo song on the group’s debut album, and we’re shown a clip of Kepler performing, with a focus on the first-place-winning Kim Chaeyoung. Thing is, though Chaeyoung came in first (and though she’s talented and sweet and I like her), she is definitely not the most popular member of Kepler these days. I checked a few different random rankings and she was ranked anywhere from 4th to last depending on which list I looked at. She has fans, definitely -- I’m sure plenty of people like her! -- I’m just saying that she’s not the runaway queen of the group or anything. Focusing on her just reminds us that it doesn’t matter AT ALL who comes in first, not even on the final episode, and definitely not now, a week out from first.

(Side note: Another example of this is Ni-Ki from Enhypen. He finished in fourth place in the show I-Land, and spent some time in the unfavored zone for the trainees, but is now the runaway king of the group, with his fancams showing millions of views. The public who votes for reality show trainees aren’t necessarily representative of the entire Kpop viewing population.)

Despite the show basically shoving that fact in our face, it continues to act as if we really care who will specifically will be first, second, and third. Also I think we all know who is third. But WHO COULD IT BE?

At 1:28:49, we find out it’s Kim JiWoong.

He says, “I am grateful and think of it as an honor to be able to provide comfort and happiness to others. Thank you.” I actually adore this guy. He’s a complete mystery of a human and I adore that.

Then there’s some dumb bit where Somi makes him do aegyo and it goes on way too long.

So now it’s time to announce who came in first between Zhang Hao and the impossibly, ridiculously perfect Sung Hanbin.

They say a lot of the normal, “what if confident, but polite?” type things, and then we find out that apparently Sung Hanbin helped Zhang Hao with the “Over Me” choreography to add some waacking elements. They weren’t even on the same team, and Hanbin still took time out of his schedule of providing solar power with his smile to go help his friend.

And at 1:34:19, we find out that Hanbin has taken first again.

He says, “Well, for this past Artist Battle mission, there was such a big benefit on the line, so I wasn’t really able to predict this. Please continue to cheer for me so I can run for the finish line, shining as bright as I can. My Say My Name members, I love you.”

Hao says, in his halting way, “I am so grateful and happy to be able to rank 2nd place again. I will continue running without stopping. Please continue being happy through my passion.” Then he adds in extremely halting Japanese, “motto ganbarimasu” -- kind of “I’ll keep going/ I won’t give up.” His vote tally shows that he is more than 800,000 points ahead of 3rd/4th/5th place (which are almost a tie).

But it’s nothing compared to Sung Hanbin, who is more than a million points ahead of Hao.

Sung Hanbin is dominating first place in a way we’ve never seen on the produce series. To put this in perspective:

In Produce 101 season 1, Jeon Somi and Kim Sejeong traded off between 1st and second, with Somi actually falling to 4th place at the 2nd elimination before finally finishing in first.

In Produce 101 season 2, Park Jihoon, Kim Jonghyeon, and Kang Daniel held first place at different times.

In Produce 48, Sakura, Lee Gaeun, and Jang Wonyoung held first place at different times.

In Produce X 101, Kim Yohan and Kim Wooseok traded off in first place.

In Girls Planet 999, Yurina was in first place in ep 5 and didn’t even make it into Kepler. Shen Xiaoting was in first place for most of the rest of the time, and then only made it into Kepler in 9th place, and Kim Chaeyhun came in first despite not ever ranking above 8th place before that.

Granted, all four Produce seasons were known for straight up vote rigging, so maybe one person really was the most popular the whole time. But regardless, Sung Hanbin’s DOMINATION of first place is completely unprecedented in previous seasons of this show, with or without vote rigging. If he comes in first on Friday morning, it will be something we’ve never seen before on this show.

Anyway, our top 9 is seated. Hey, if this is the debuting team, I’ll definitely follow them.

1:36:26 Chair 18

This is the part where they announce who is ranked 18th, ie, the very last survivor. I’m not going to go in much depth here because this part isn’t fun to recap, you know?

Haruto notices that Supercharger is still completely seated in the gallery -- no one has made it through the elimination. That’s the worst.

Here’s who’s left, with their episode 8 rank.

16 Haruto 18 Seo Won 19 Wang Zi Hao 20 Na Kamden 21 Lee Seung Hwan 22 Chen Kuan Jui 23 Zhang Shuai Bo 25 Takuto 26 Cha Woong Ki 27 Ollie 28 Hiroto

Who’s most likely to take that last spot? I hope Haruto, but really it could be any of them other than Z-Bo, Takuto, and Ollie, in my opinion. Let’s find out.

Somi announces the FOUR candidates for spot 18 -- that’s so cruel.

They announce Wang Zihao, Na Kamden, Cha Woongki, and Hiroto -- representing China, USA, Korea, and Japan.

Of course, this means that Haruto, Seo Won, Lee Seung Hwan, Chen Kuan Jui, Zhang Shuai Bo, Takuto and Ollie all have been eliminated.

I can’t believe it about Haruto. The way he hangs his head just breaks my heart. I don’t even want to screen cap it. I didn’t see it coming so it was just a punch in the gut.

I’m sad for all of them, really, but aside from Haruto, I’m also especially sad for Lee Seunghwan, who, you may not know, already went through the reality show ringer once and was a member of 1the9, a group whose promotions were severely impacted by covid-19. Poor Seunghwan -- luck just never seems to be on his side, though he’s handsome, sweet, and talented.

Side note: I was all up to date and ready to get this recap out on Saturday or something, but I just… didn’t… want to write it. I watched the whole thing taking quick notes to use as the basis of my recap later, and when Haruto was eliminated I just fast forwarded to find out who did survive and then turned the episode off and didn’t come back for several days. So if that’s how you’re feeling about it, me too. I guess maybe Haruto didn’t look like a viable candidate, so people gave up? Or maybe people thought that other people would vote for him, that he’d be safe? It’s strange to me that Hiroto beat Haruto in the final ranking. Nothing against Hiroto at all, but I’m just surprised.

Anyway, let’s finish this.

21st place turns out to be Hiroto, the only eliminated member of En Garde. From his spot on stage, Park Gunwook mutters to himself, “If we’d just gotten 1st place….” A general to the end, worrying about his troops. I will hear no talk about Gunwook being “mean” or anything like that.

Hiroto says (in slow, careful Korean), “I didn’t get a good result because I was lacking, but…” (Woongki interrupts quietly, saying “that’s not true,” and Somi looks heartbroken) “...I am happy if the Star Creators were happy while cheering for me.” It’s a very sweet speech.

Somi says, “You are not lacking!” and Hiroto’s face lights up. She continues: “None of you are lacking! All of you here are amazing!” There, that’s my girl. That’s my Somi. 💓 She is so much more human than pretty much any judge or host we’ve had on the show so far -- well, Sunmi was great too, but she was barely there. Somi knows exactly how these trainees feel and relates to them as equals, even though she’s successful and they’re not there yet. I’m glad she’s here. I bet she made this easier for them.

Next we announce 20th place: It’s Woongki.

His final speech is at 1:39:55 and it’s great. He says, “When I said that I would appear on Boys Planet, people told me that what I want is different from what I can do, that my time is up, and that I would learn to face reality. But I feel like that’s not true. Through Boys Planet, I was able to learn more about my potential as Cha Woongki. Woongki boy is just beginning. Thank you!” and then with a bright smile, he bows. Yeah, Woongki!

Somi says, shaking a cue card in the air for emphasis, “Don’t give up on your dream!” And Woongki cheerfully says, “I won’t!”

Finally, we announce 18th place, which means announcing 19th place at the same time.

18th place turns out to be Na Kamden. Jay practically falls out of his chair in relief, and we see Z-bo’s face is lit up with happiness. Ollie gives him a congratulatory hug -- probably the whole English speaking crew got pretty close at the show. Other trainees gather to console Wang Zi Hao, who is taking it in stride, as he takes basically everything in life.

Kamden says, “Honestly, when I wasn’t called before, I was organizing my thoughts and emptied myself of expectations. But thank you so much for allowing me to stand on such a large stage as the final.” Then he adds in English, “Love you Mom!” and then in Korean says, “I made it to the final!”

We check in with Wang Zi Hao. he says, in Chinese, “I was grateful to be able to experience these times together with everyone. I will treasure the fact that I was able to make good memories with you all at this starting point of my life. Thank you.” He’s such a sweetheart. Haruto mentioned that Wang Zi Hao joined Supercharger voluntarily in order to help Haruto -- isn’t that sweet. There’s often a G R E A T A G E N C Y R E S H U F F L I N G following a show like this, so I’m hoping that WZH ends up signing at another agency so we can see more of him in the future.

Somi wishes the ten eliminated trainees the best, and we pan over them. Haruto seems to be having the worst time of it -- the rest saw it coming, at least.

Here is the complete final ranking -- filling in the last few spots with some help from the internet.

Sung Hanbin

Zhang Hao

Kim Jiwoong

Kim Taerae

Han Yujin

Keita

Kim Gyubin

Ricky

Seok Matthew

Hui

Park Hanbin

Park Gunwook

Jay

Yoo Seungeon

Yoon Jongwoo

Kum Junhyeon

Lee Jeonghyeon

Na Kamden

Wang Zihao

Cha Woongki

Hiroto

Haruto

Chen Kuan Jui

Lee Seunghwan

Seo Won

Ollie

Takuto

Zhang Shuai Bo

Sung Hanbin is 1,046,481 points* ahead of Hao, who is 816,760 points ahead of 3rd place. However, JiWoong, TaeRae, and Yujin are all within about 25,000 points of each other, making them virtually tied. Then there’s 432,355 points between Yujin and Keita, so that puts Keita down kind of a tier. Keita is only 51,928 points ahead of Gyuvin, making them almost tied. The next few ranks are all about 130k-150k apart from each other, like a stair case, but then there’s a big gap (311,148) between Matthew and Hui. But from Hui down to Na Kamden, they’re all pretty close together, like 6000-60,000 apart -- especially if you remember that Lee Jeonghyeon got that 200,000 point benefit.

*I say points because they’re not straight up votes, due to the K/G weighting thing.

What I’m saying is that unless something drastic happens, I think that Sung Hanbin and Hao will be 1-2 on Friday; JiWoong, TaeRae, and Yujin all look like locks as well, and from Keita down to Matthew, things could easily move around, but it’s not looking super-duper likely that many people from Hui down to Kamden will end up in the top 9 -- unless Park Hanbin continues his meteoric rise and Matthew continues his sharp fall. If you're curious, here's the ranking of the top 18 if only Korean votes decided things:

Sung Hanbin

Kim Tae Rae

Kim Gyu Vin

Han Yu Jin

Kim Ji Woong

Zhang Hao

Yoo Seung Eon

Na Kamden

Kum Jun Hyeon

Park Hanbin

Hui

Lee Jeong Hyeon

Ricky

Park Gunwook

Yoon Jong Woo

Seok Matthew

Keita

Jay

And here's the ranking if only Global votes decided things:

Keita

Zhang Hao

Sung Hanbin

Jay

Seok Matthew

Kim Ji Woong

Han Yu Jin

Ricky

Park Gunwook

Yoon Jong Woo

Kim Tae Rae

Hui

Kim Gyu Vin

Park Hanbin

Kum Jun Hyeon

Yoo Seung Eon

Lee Jeong Hyeon

Na Kamden

I'll let you draw your own conclusions from that.

So... the next phase is the one-pick vote. I could rant at length about how dumb the one-pick system is in terms of creating a sustainable group. Groups that are truly successful tend to have multiple members that are popular among fans. There’s a popular boy group that I personally like only 2 members of, so I really can’t consider myself a fan of that group. Meanwhile in Exo, I basically can’t pick a favorite because I really like almost all of them. So letting us vote for multiple members would tend to create a situation in which the group is all loved by all the fans.

The rest of the episode was the boys preparing for their next song, and I have to admit, I don’t much care about those two last songs. The performances happen AT the finale, once the audience has already voted, so there’s kind of no point to them.

Here are the two groups for the two songs:

Hot Summer Sung Hanbin Kim Taerae Kim Ji Woong Ricky Lee Jeong Hyeon Kim Gyuvin Han Yujin Keita Yoon Jongwoo

Jelly Pop Hui Yoo Seung Eon Zhang Hao Park Gunwook Kum Junhyeon Park Hanbin Jay Na Kamden Seok Matthew

Who knows, maybe I’ll recap the rest later, but I wanted to get this posted.

Hope you’re all doing well, and I hope that your one-pick makes it.

#boys planet #haruto #sung hanbin #park hanbin #seok matthew #hui #ricky boys planet #kim gyuvin #na kamden #zhang hao #wang zi hao

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