#plus it really goes to show what's normalized in media

[greensaplinggrace]

no because the 911 fandom is going completely wild about something that makes no damn sense. like its okay for buck and eddie to date multiple women and drop them constantly throughout the course of their narratives on the path to self-discovery, but for some reason buck finally starts dating a man and suddenly it's his forever relationship

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

When you point out how neurodiversity affects whole areas of the brain, not just what we see as the presentation symptoms, it seems so obvious. I've known that many neurodivergent conditions have high rate of co-morbidities, but haven't thought about what that would mean. I really liked your explanation of what else dyslexia affects, it made me recategorise some of my sister's mom behaviours. I see time blindness, some executive dysfunction, organisation difficulties and go, yup, I've got that too, it's normal, and forget that most people don't struggle with that (I've suspected I have undiagnosed ADHD for years, but never got checked for it, since I suggested it my dad freaked out, insisting there was nothing wrong with me. I really should though)

May I ask how your synaesthesia manifests for you? I'm always curious about how neurodiversity manifests in people and how it affects them, because there are so many minor and major things not talked about. I apologise if that question makes you uncomfortable, you don't have yo answer it.

Anyway, thank you for your explanation! It made a lot of things click all at once for me.

If you want lots of examples of how my synaesthesia works, I have a tag you could trawl here. But, I have a few different types; the common numbers-have-colours one, but I also get textures and sensations and feelings, and about... literally everything. Numbers, words, people's voices, names, personalities, the plots of media, images, everything.

Soooo, yeah. Sensory overload is the big impact; trial and error over the years has shown me it's primarily auditory, so if I can wear earplugs I can cope for longer in 'busy' environments. The other thing is that it really does a number on my mathematical ability, though, because, I shit you not, the colours get in the way. When I was a small child I was shown that 3 + 5 = 8, and my brain went "Yes, orange + pink = brown, got it" and ever since then if I see a 3 and a 5 together in a sum it DOES NOT MATTER what the operator is, I immediately assume the answer is 8. 3 plus 5? 8. 3 minus 5? Also 8. 3 times 5? Buddy you'll never guess. But it's 8.

It takes conscious effort not to do this T_T

The other thing is that I really, REALLY suffer from this thing where someone goes "Hey, we should watch Program X" but the problem is, you see, the problem is, I cannot stand the sensation I get from the name Program X, and therefore I will not watch it out of disgust that is totally unrelated to the actual show. This applies to all media, places, human beings, etc. (It is obviously a thing I have to be careful of when it's human beings.)

I think everything else I have is ADHD-related though, so that's probably everything I can put down to the synaesthesia.

[odxrilove]

☆ SEVENTEEN AS PEOPLE AT SCHOOL

genre: highschool!au/uni!au

warnings: none

a/n: is this my official tumblr comeback ?? 😮

back to masterlist!

☆ SEUNGCHEOL

the leader of the “jocks”. he's the guy you see walking around school with his varsity jacket on– even if it’s in the middle of the summer. he’s the literal definition of the hallway crush, whispers and giggles being a regular thing he hears when he walks through the school hallways, hand swiping through his pretty hair. he often sits on the wooden tables outside instead of the benches whenever he and his friends have their little weekly hangout-meeting. always has a lollipop in his mouth and says it’s for the girls but really, he just likes sweets.

☆ JEONGHAN

the king of debates. if you sign up for debate class, don’t think you’re ever going to win if you’re up against jeonghan. he’s the reason why so many people left debate class mid year but the teacher is so impressed by him that she can’t force herself to kick him out. he’s also widely known for being the mastermind behind his high school’s senior prank. besides his maniac pranks and his broad knowledge of law, he’s actually pretty fun to be around and some girls who have had the pleasure to go on dates with him describe him as an angel– even after getting ghosted.

☆ JOSHUA

the class president. he’s a close friend of jeonghan and thus, winning the class pres’ election was easy peasy. he only presented himself as a joke but started taking it seriously 7 months in when the school planned to cancel the annual pajama day. he acts normal but he’s truly just as insane as his large group of friends. the grumpy math teacher is his next door neighbor and he once gave her leftover cookies and since then, he’s been her favorite student– and the only student she smiles at.

☆ JUN

the cat defender. falls easily asleep in class and is often woken up by his classmates after the bell rang. someone once drew a cat on a wall in the gym hall with a marker a few years back and when jun transferred to the school, his name mysteriously appeared under the cat drawing. in his second year, he got detention for a whole month after bringing a kitten to school and hiding it in his bag every day for two weeks straight– he was only caught because the cat meowed during a test and none of his classmates wanted to fake meow to help the poor guy out.

☆ HOSHI

the school’s dance machine. when the school speakers play music, you’ll always find him bobbing his head to the beat. he gets his notebook confiscated weekly because he prefers to write down possible dance movements and new choreography ideas than math equations and english vocabulary. he has a pretty big following on social media after a video of him freestyling at the school’s talent show blew up. he now uses his popularity to freely make dance covers at school, students avoiding him in the hallways when he’s swinging his legs and arms around.

☆ WONWOO

the school library’s only visitor. ok, maybe that’s a bit exaggerated but he’s definitely the only one going there willingly! the library stinks and there’s no wifi, plus some rumors are going around saying that the room at the back the of the library is the go-to place to fuck, and lastly, the librarian is a bitch– except towards wonwoo, of course. besides him being the librarian’s favorite, he once got asked to prom by a senior when he was a junior and every two months or so, someone brings it up and everyone goes crazy over it again. to be honest, if he wasn't so focused on his video games and books he would see how many people stare at him with heart eyes.

☆ WOOZI

the normal kid. what else can i say, he's just a regular guy. he goes to school wearing his silly baggy outfits and doesn't leave the house without his headphones on. he meets up with his friends and has lunch with them. he isn’t quiet but he isn’t talkative either, only partaking in his friends’ silly little conversations when he deems necessary. he gets normal grades and enjoys his silly music class the most. he’s on the school’s swimming team and won a few silly prizes during competitions. he’s been the subject of affection from a few girls since the start of school and he’s been on a date once. really, he’s just a silly little guy living his silly little life– what’s there to hate?

☆ SEOKMIN

the theatre kid. you either hate him or love him, there’s no in between– fortunately, no one really hates seokmin. he’s a loud student, his laugh often resonating through the entire cafeteria. he’s always been part of the cast for the school musicals, landing the lead role in his first year, something that had never ever happened before. the only kisses he’s had were during rehearsals or actual performances but he knows he has a large group of fans so nobody can really tease him for it. one of the school’s old students still has one-sided beef with him because seokmin ‘stole’ his role.

☆ MINGYU

the popular kid. he’s part of every club on campus, and has a hard time juggling football practice with the weekly sessions of the photography club. in his second year he decided he wanted to be an architect and since then he always complains about the school’s awful floor plan. people in the art club always go to him when they need a model because he has the Looks and actually knows how to pose. he’s actually very fun and the epitome of your rich friendly student who deserves to be crowned prom king. he’s known around school for mowing the lawns of his neighbors for free, shirtless.

☆ MINGHAO

the fashion police. there’s no better way to define minghao, as his judgmental faces have become an obsession for people on campus. he loves clothes and the fact he’s hoarding a drawer in his roommate’s closet further proves it. there's’ not one day that goes by where minghao doesn’t eat with his outfit, nails painted and sunglasses on his head– even in the winter. if you have to dress up for something, going to minghao’s dorm for help is the best solution. he’s rather honest, not hiding his disgust or love for people’s outfits. he was actually voted prom king (mingyu ending second) and was happy the crown fit the aesthetic of his suit. besides being an absolute bitch when it comes to clothing, his soft laugh does ease people’s nerves more often than not.

☆ SEUNGKWAN

the gossiper. or in better words, the head of the journalism club who’s in charge of the weekly school newspaper and news forum on the school’s official website. seungkwan is, with no doubt, respected by all. truthfully, he’s a good student, so teachers often let him write in his journal for new articles during class. there’s one unofficial rule though– you have secrets? do not share them with him. you can, however, ask him about other people’s business, and as long as you give him something in return, he’s glad to talk your ears off. you’re safe if you’re his friend though, because there isn’t someone as loyal as seungkwan walking down the school hallways.

☆ VERNON

the skater enthusiast. he always walks around wearing big weird hoodies, holding onto his skate and if it's one of those days, a beanie and some funky shoes complete the outfit. his skate is like an extension of his hand but does he know how to skate though? absolutely not. his friends now have multiple bandaid and first aid kits in their lockers because vernon never bothers to buy any but spends most of his lunch breaks trying to learn new tricks– and subsequently failing. he’s a sweet kid but a bit of an airhead, often bumping into people and staring at the people talking at him until he realizes the reason he couldn’t hear them was because he still had his headphones on.

☆ DINO

the school’s unofficial cheerleader’s cheerleader. it was truly a tragic day when the cheerleading squad’s manager got fired for fraud– not because of the money (duh) but because of the now lost cheerleaders. dino used to do gymnastics when he was young so in his eyes, he was their last hope. he was a god at planning cheerleading practices and events and in less than a year, the squad managed to win back their spot as number one during the cheerleading season. the school’s reputation was restored and suddenly all the teachers loved him. dying his hair blonde during a celebration party was the last straw for many– his locker would be full of confession letters the weeks following.

taglist: @0x1lovebot @fairybinie @blaqpinksthetic @odetoyeonjun @pockyandme @soobin-chois @soobisms @junityy @kaimal @laylasbunbunny @jaeyunverse @enhacolor @honglynights @starry-mins @bibinnieposts @yoonzin0 @raevyng @hoeforcheol @pearlygraysky @4xiaojun @viscade @amxlia-stars

please do not copy, repost or steal any of my work. all content belongs to @odxrilove

[maleyanderecafe]

You Belong to Me (Movie)

Created by: Sen Benimsin

Genre: Supernatural/Horror

This is one of a couple of Lifetime movies that I'll be doing a recommendation on. Lifetime movies are kinda... not the best stories, some of the acting is amateur and the plots are a bit predictable (especially if you consume a lot of yandere media) or really weirdly absurd, but they are entertaining regardless of what weird situation is going on.

The movie starts out with a man taking pictures of Alex in her house. She seems to have a good relationship with her boyfriend Chris and has a son named Danny. They find out that one of Danny's stuffed animals has a camera in it, leading to Alex calling the police. She believes that it's her ex husband as she had to give a restraining order against him a while ago. At work, Alex meets up with coworker Denise as she talks to a medium and has to go to New York to meet their new client with one of her coworkers Michael. As the two of them talk in New York, Michael tries to make a move on Alex, but Alex attempts to push him away as she already has a boyfriend. After they head back, Alex finds out that her boyfriend Chris got crushed by a car that he was working on and is injured, supposedly with someone sabotaging the car so that he would get injured. Micheal continues to go after Alex, even giving her a necklace that he got from his mom as a gift. Despite numerous attempts, Alex decides to play along when Michael offers to drive her home. He instead brings her to the cliff side, and he shows that he's deeply infatuated with him. believing that they should be together forever. After some fighting, Micheal ends up on the edge of the cliff, where he lets go, presumably dying. After seeing his body at the hospital and finding that he's dead, she starts to see a ghost, though no one else seems to believe her. Alex finds out that he was the one taking pictures of her in her house, and is hunted down by Michael's ghost. She ends up going to the medium that she meets in the beginning to try to get rid of the spirit, to which he states that the necklace that he had would be the key to getting rid of him. Alex also goes to Michael's grandmother and learns about his backstory about his mother. After a bunch of horror shenanigans, Alex is able to banish Michael's ghost into the either and Chris and Alex get married.

So like I said, the Lifetime movies are... not the greatest. They tend to be over dramatic and the acting isn't that good, but boy are they entertaining. According to Cherry (because this is my first Lifetime movie) this is actually one of the better ones that she's watched. In any case, the movie follows pretty normal things that I feel like are present in a yandere story: there's a red herring (Alex's ex), the yandere has some sort of family/mommy issue and the yandere has been stalking Alex for a while. Alex as a protagonist isn't too bad, though she is kind of strung along in the movie, since while she does her best to try to figure out who and what has been stalking her and logically it would make sense that her ex husband of whom she had to file a restraining order would but the first suspect, plus she's trying to protect her family best she can. I think that Michael feels a bit like he came out of nowhere, and makes some questionable decisions even as a yandere. For instance, why did Michael plant the wiretap in the teddy bear when he was obsessed with Alex? Wouldn't it make sense to put it in something else that Alex might carry around? Why did Micheal purposefully let go of the ledge to die? Did he know that he would come back as a ghost? And even if he did what was he even trying to do, kill Alex and bring her into the afterlife with him? So many questions that will never be answered.

As a yandere Micheal seems like mostly some sort of obsessive and destiny driven yandere, since he believes that both he and Alex are destined to be together. He has been stalking her family and her for a while, attempts to kill Chris and continues to flirt with Alex despite the fact that she has a boyfriend and a child to take care of. We see that he is actually willing to die as long as he can haunt her afterwards and even ends up killing or at least knocking out the babysitter when Danny and her run into the wild. Since this is a movie, he ends up going to the afterlife at the end, but for a yandere he is pretty basic in terms of a lot of yanderes I've seen. I did think it was interesting that he was so willing to just straight up die since I honestly thought that he just let go only to hide himself and come back later to take Alex away, but I was mistaken.

Anyways, it's a pretty fun watch, but don't expect anything that's too groundbreaking. If you want something that you can kind of turn your mind off for and that has a yandere, this movie is perfect for that. Not too spooky while still retaining some of the more supernatural elements as well.

[effiefics]

DAUGHTER OF THE ENEMY | Chapter 2

NEIL LEWIS x PLUS SIZE!READER

Summary: She's the daughter of the founder of Media Giant. An up and coming video store company that has taken out several small video stores. Only one still stands and it just happens to be owned by the man she has a major crush on.

Chapter Summary: After finally meeting Neil, Y/N is excited to see how the showing goes and gets to know the Gumshoe crew a little better.

Warnings: Smut (future chapters), age gap (reader is 21 and neil is like late 20s to early 30s), cursing.

Word Count: 1.1k

That night, she looked herself over in her full length mirror. She was dressed in a flowy white blouse and tight dark denim jeans with her favorite heeled boots. The jeans accentuated her curves and helped make her thighs look a little smaller than normal, the perfect look to be flirty yet demure. She ignores the pudge of stomach as she looks around for accessories.

Looking down to the gold watch on her wrist, she curses to herself before grabbing her purse and black tweed jacket. Quickly running down the stairs, she slides on her jacket before heading to the door. “Wait a minute! Get back here!” Her dad says loudly from the living room, sighing to herself she walks back to the living room, her eyes immediately finding the large Media Giant poster on the main wall.

“Where are you going all dressed up?” he asks, noticing her outfit. “My friends and I are going to get some food then go to a showing. One of their boyfriend’s just finished making something.” She lied easily, used to havig to do this all through high school.

“Okay, just be home before sunrise.” She nods and quickly leaves the house. Choosing to walk to the video store, she makes quick steps to get there before too many people show up. It doesn’t take her too long as the store isn’t too far from her house, looking inside the store there is a small amount of people so far.

Pushing the door open, she smiles at the people who turn when the bell rings. “Ah, Y/N! You came.” Neil says, kind of shocked she actually came. “Yeah, I’m a woman of my word.” She says, smiling up at him. “Oh, I want to introduce you to my employees and best buds. Jonathan and Lucien.” He says, gesturing to the two men she saw when she first entered the store earlier.

She waves before turning back to Neil, “So, do you expect a lot of people here tonight?” She asks, playing with her fingers. “I think it’ll be the usual people that come in here. Maybe some curious folks but nothing too crazy.” She nods and looks around. “Oh, would you like something to drink?” He asks and she nods following him to get a drink.

The store slowly started to fill with people as it got closer to eight but it definitely wasn’t full. Everyone was able to fit comfortably around the TV area when it hit eight. The TV starts to play a black and white video which makes everyone cheer, it reminds her of the old detective films she used to watch with her grandparents when she was younger.

The commercial is definitely for a certain kind of audience with it’s noir style aesthetic and script. Neil’s old timey detective accent makes her giggle as the camera pulls back to show the store lighting up and he gives a big smile to the camera. The room cheers as it ends and he walks to the TV mimicking what he did at the end with a big thumbs up, smile, and wink. “Wow, this is amazing. Um, I don’t really know where to begin.” He breathes heavily as his voice starts to shake. “I told myself I wouldn’t cry.” He says and everyone laughs at his acting.

He starts to say a speech when a Media Giant commercial starts to play. The room starts to boo and throw popcore at the screen which makes her shrink into herself. “Guys, can someone…” Neil makes a cut motion towards Jonathan who quickly turns the TV off as the company name is said.

“It's okay. I know I can't compete with these big guys, but as long as I have you guys...my small and loyal following of geeks and weirdoes, I know I'll be alright. Everyone, have some more beer! Oh, and stick around, because later on…we are gonna have a special midnight screening of a 1949 classic She-Gorilla.” Neil says, the little speech making her smile even though she does feel conflicted because of how much of her life is engrained in Media Giant.

The night goes well, Y/N gets to meet a lot of people in the store and drinks plenty, enjoying being able to be around like minded people for a while. 

“Y/N/ Y/N!” Neil says, catching her attention. He motions her over which she follows immediately. She leans against the counter as Jonathan makes some drinks, she found out he was a bartender at a place not too far from here. “How was that, guys? You're not supposed to show ads for two different video stores...during the same commercial break, alright?” Neil says sadly.

“Who cares? When is the show again?” Jonathan asks, sipping on his beer. “Oh my god, 3:12 a.m.” Neil says but she zones out as she watches Neil’s lips move as he drinks his drink. She blinks quickly when Jonathan walks away, leaving the two alone.

“What did you think, honestly.” He asks, knowing he might get the most honest answer from the woman he met only a couple of hours ago. “I thought it was cool. The concept was nice and definitely will stick out. I’m also guessing that girl in the commercial was your girlfriend.” She says, trying to get more information on the girlfriend situation.

“Yeah, that’s Denise. She didn’t show up tonight, I think. She thinks this whole thing is a little stupid.” He admits, the alcohol making him more open than normal. “Ew, that’s not good. I understand being skeptical but to think this is stupid is not a good thing girlfriend wise. You’re supposed to support your partner, and even if you don’t like the idea then be nice about it.”

He nods, “Yeah, that’s what I thought. I don’t think I’m gonna be with her much longer anyway. We don’t have a lot in common.” He says and she nods. An empathetic look on her face as she tries to hide her giddiness.

The two talk for a moment longer before he walks away to continue to mingle. She smiles to herself before also going to find more people to talk to.

The rest of the night is fun with the screening going well before people start to leave, Y/N included until Neil stops her. “Hey, um, I was wondering. Could I get your number, just incase I need help here at the store or something?” He asks, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“Yeah, I don’t mind at all.” She gives him her number before looking at him with a bright smile. “Have a good night, Neil.” She gets on her tiptoes and kisses his cheek before walking away, a sway in her step as she feels his eyes on her.

[dreadful-home]

Suddenly thought of a cute DaveNep HS AU blurb:

Dave's starting to realize he's not just a 'tomboy', but a transman. He's nervous about coming out to his seemingly 'normal' friends (despite them most def being super supportive once he does), not to mention his Bro (who's been shaping him up to be a 'cool girl', who the heck knows how he'll react to Dave being trans?).

Very surprisingly, a classmate he never talks to has been watching him, though, noticing his discomfort in the locker room, at gym-class, and during biology. She corners him one day afterschool. The nice-but-weird loner girl, Nepeta, takes him to a Denny's, buys him a burger, and is pushy enough to get him to actually break and tell her everything (not a good move but done with pure intentions).

Being able to finally tell someone feels really good to Dave, despite the circumstances, and Nepeta is super supportive and excited to get this chance to bond with someone. She's a terminally online kid who never really felt like she could fit in with the rest of her classmates, even when they say they like her. The only other person she's clicked with was her best friend, who goes to a super rich school in another state.

They leave the Denny's with different understandings about what's going to happen from then on. Dave thought it'd just be a one time thing, but Nepeta *clings* to him from then on whenever he's not with his other friends. It takes some getting used to, but it's not... bad having someone who sees him for what he is, calling him the right name and pronouns in private.

Plus, their sense of humor ends up really clicking once they realize they both like to draw and write. They text like crazy, showing each other their art, sharing memes, and sharing a lot of thoughts about media they consume.

They really hit it off together as friends; it really helps build Dave's confidence. But there's an underlying insecurity for Nepeta that eventually, Dave won't *need* her. They only really talk in person afterschool, and when he's not with his usual friends. She's too scared of getting ignored or pushed aside by him if she tried meeging with his group, otherwise.

It's like there's a timer. She can feel that they'll accept him no-problem once he tells them everything, keeps reassuring him of it too. She *wants* that for him. But once it happens, she can't help fear that he'll start hanging out with them more again. Stop having chats with her because he'll be so busy with everyone else. It's scary.

[atypical-artisan]

Can I ask you for Aran Ryan x Glass Joe hc's? (Aslo thanks again for those Hondo x Sandman earlier)

Oh my god ily (platonic) so much for asking this!!!! (Also ur welcome :P)

Anyways, on to the hcs!!

How it happens:

Okay so first thing's first, Joe is terrified of Aran before they get to know each other. Granted, he's scared of the whole world circuit cause he doesn't know them but Aran is defo the scariest because of the violent cheating.

When Joe finally bridges the gap between the minor, major, and world circuits, he's still hesitant to talk to Aran cause, again, violent cheating plus bursting with energy… but there's something about him, something Joe can't quite put his finger on, that's just fascinating about Aran. Aran ends up approaching first and they get on really well.

So they get to talking and find out not only do they have a lot of interests in common (Love for horror media, generally alt/gothic/darker music, love of edgy aesthetics, interested in creative hobbies, etc.) but they also share many similar life circumstances (Both having been denied high school, having to work very young, poverty, disability, being trans, etc.) and end up bonding.

Aran already had a bit of a crush on Joe, but it only deepens with the new friendship. Joe on the other hand has Aran slowly wrap around his heart and he's drowned in love before he even realizes.

The confession always ends up being kind of chaotic and dramatic but overall very sweet and perfect for both of them :)

When everyone else finds out holy shit there is chaos. Kaiser's upset cause he had a crush on Joe and now is pretty bitter towards Aran (They all talk it out its fine). Sand also had a crush on Joe but lets his feelings go and is supportive along with the rest of the world circuit. Hippo, disco, and bear are hesitant about it but Hondo ends up making them chill. Don tries to get in on dating them and is rejected. And tiger is busy comforting kaiser but he's honestly kinda happy for both of them cause kaiser is now free.

The relationship goes pretty smoothly from there with little to no major hiccups and both influencing each other to be better though not entirely different people.

Other random hcs:

Pet names all the time

Aran has a habit of staring at people he likes very intensely and creepily. It's like that one scene in the shining.

Any normal person would not like this. Joe is not a normal person and enjoys it a lot, feeling like he's being showered with praise and affection whenever he feels Aran's creepy stare on him.

Aran also has a thing where he draws whoever he's dating all the time- its especially intense with Joe as he has at least a couple sketchbooks entirely dedicated to him.

They ended up accidentally learning each other's languages- Joe mostly from Aran talking to the dog and writing in Irish and Aran from Joe's fancy french films and books

They wake up close to the same time- early in the morning, though Aran wakes up closer to sunrise.

Aran picks Joe up and carries him around all the time- both love it.

Love getting into wild shit together and going for drinks. Going to shows or scenic moped rides/walks is another good contender for their dates.

Aran and Joe are both big dancers and musicians, so dancing and singing together is a favorite pastime at their apartment

These two RUSH to move in together- it leads to a lot of chaos with their pets but things cool off quickly

They often do house chores and cook together

Joe doesn't care about Aran's cheating for the most part, that's Aran's choice to do- he's in love with the man outside the ring after all, but he does tell Aran to never do the horseshoes and flail thing again

Both have a lot of self worth issues- Aran believes he can't be loved romantically no matter what he does so he chooses to embrace his ugly side to push people away while Joe believes that he must hide himself to even be fit for society and serve everyone to no end

In turn, Joe likes being spoiled and doted on (From being forced to serve past partners to get affection) and Aran enjoys being able to serve and unambiguously show his affection (From being denied the ability to show past partners he loved them and told he should be grateful when he was)

They do a lot of work on each other. Joe helps Aran feel safer around people/being loved as himself and not cheat as much while Aran helps Joe become more willing to embrace his weirdness and stand up for his own well being, especially to people he cares about. Joe also helps Aran get help for all his mental issues and helps him feel safe going to a damn therapist.

Aran is super supportive of Joe's love for dark/macabre things and eventually convinces him to embrace being goth. From then on its all punk/goth solidarity

Joe constantly steals Aran's clothes and Aran tends to wear Joe's pants (Even if they're a little short on him)

They also take care of each other after matches a lot

Joe keeps track of things like appointments but Aran does all the math and date-keeping in the relationship

Cuddling is a must for both of them

Joe really likes when Aran grows his hair out, he love rubbing up against his beard like a cat, especially cause he can't grow much facial hair of his own

Aran has been trying to convince him to get a shared tattoo, to no success (So far)

They have a habit of making each other clothes- Joe repairs and embroiders things for Aran and Aran knits for Joe

They've babysat Joe's niece and nephew a few times and Aran's younger sibling and are DEFINITELY both thinking about kids

[hamliet]

In the context of fiction and media, everything is so sexualized especially when I think of shipping. Even ships with underage minors and adults are popular and why?? Fiction directly affects reality does it not? Why is it okay to show that?

Sexuality is a very normal, healthy part of human behavior. While some people are asexual and that is also normal and healthy, the majority are not. Most people like sex, find it fun and meaningful. All human experiences should be reflected in art (what else is art for?), so sexuality should be reflected in a lot of art.

Unfortunately, we live in a culture that paradoxically both idolizes and shames sexuality, and this is as prevalent among the fundamentalist religious as it is among leftist spaces. So when art ignores sexuality completely, or ignores certain types of sexuality (see, the female gaze, or queer expressions of sex) fans will create that art themselves--such as via shipping. Shipping is simply "there's a story to be told here" and that story may or may not involve sex (most often does) and even in some cases, be primarily about sex.

Fiction is both shaped by reality and can shape reality, but that's not the same as saying it's a 1=1 mirror of reality where you can exactly correlate A cause with B result. Like, look up the anti video game movement of the 90s, the Satanic Panic and the way emo music was blamed for tragedies like Columbine, and ask yourself why people who like detective mysteries aren't murderers.

Yet, there is nuance here for sure. Like, I'll just bluntly state moral policing is a boring way to engage with art and fandom, and that goes beyond just sexuality. However, that isn't the same as saying take off your critical thinking hat, anything goes. Criticism is a very necessary part of fandom and engagement, and must be allowed (shakes fist at toxic positivity). But criticism as a field is designed to open doors more so than close them. It's a discussion more than anything else (note: discussing does not mean conclusions can't be drawn; they can). I have called out the real life implications of different stories before, and I'll do it again.

Me saying "moral policing stories is boring" also isn't me advocating for amorality. Not at all. Ethical questions posed by works can elevate a work to the realm of a masterpiece. There's a reason The Brothers Karamazov is considered top-tier literature. But ethics and morality are best explored not through statements, but through examination of what someone means when they say something is wrong or right. Fiction is a fabulous way to do this.

Let's use the example of minors and adults. Sad face, because "minor" in fandom can mean anything from "short person" (yes, really, I've seen that argued that someone who is short is "minor coded") to "17 year old" to "five year old." Shipping a 17 year old and an 18 year old is way different than, say, a preteen and a person their parent's age.

Like, in real life, people do not have a magical switch in their brain when they turn 18. An 18 year old dating a 17 year old is normal. It's not ethically dubious. An 18 year old (legal!) dating a 40 year old? Is ethically suspect to me, even if it isn't illegal. Ages are the best ways we have to protect children and keep them safe, but there's a reason most laws allow for an 18 and a 17 year old to date. At the same time, no one in their right mind would object to the moral statement "minors shouldn't date adults" (unless you're Matt Gaetz) with a "WELL WHAT ABOUT" because basic guardrails can't be built around exceptions, and the alternative is so horrifying that the guardrail exists for a damn good reason. But real life or fictitious, an 18 and 17 year old is not really sketchy.

Plus, I caution that the portrayal of a thing isn't necessarily the endorsement or "normalization" of said thing. Framing matters. A story can be used to powerfully show the pain of entering a relationship in which a young person is in way over their head. In fandom specifically, the shipping "story" people are interested in, regardless of ages or whatnot, might not be a happily-ever-after one, and might be a way to process their own abuse. I think there's a famous queer author who got "cancelled" for this, but she was processing her own experiences and framed it as negative, which is very sad.

There are other considerations too. For example, the medium of a story also matters. Film (and theater) inherently muddy the fiction and reality discourse dilemma in a way that written or drawn mediums do not: they use real people, so there are multiple layers in which this discourse can be discussed. Fandom and shipping, however, does not (on the whole) use these mediums.

I also know some people age up characters or de-age them to ship them at the same age, because they like the dynamic but do have ethical concerns about ages. I personally feel squicked out when there's a power dynamic like minor/adult (as in the paragraph above), teacher/student, or mentor/mentee, even if both are adults. And yet despite this I still like stories like Scum Villain's Self Saving System which are literally designed to provoke questions about shipping and fandom and morality, because they make me use my critical thinking and are aware of the problematic aspects of their works and precisely explore what makes it problematic, and what makes it not. SVSSS approaches it like:

A teacher who abuses his pupil enters into a relationship with him when they are adults, no grooming when kids. Sounds ethically suspect, right?

What if it's set in an ancient fantasy world where people fly on swords and live as immortals?

What happens to the idea of age (past a certain point in development) when you're immortal and stay physically young? (We don't have a real-life starting point for this.)

What if said teacher is literally no longer the same soul, but has been swapped for another soul?

What if the new soul is forced to be unkind under pain of not just death but soul obliteration?

What if age becomes speculative because the new soul isn't necessarily older than the pupil?

You see, there are a million angles from which SVSSS approaches this question, and ties these questions in with themes about individuality and presuppositions (essentially: see the individual more than the "type" of character). It's not mocking the questions. It's genuinely exploring them.

So, ethical questions can be very interesting in stories, and in terms of how fans interact with fiction as well. But not in terms of preaching, but in terms of interaction, in terms of making you question things--which is not the same as tossing aside all principles of morality.

[thewebcomicsreview]

Do you know of any media, webcomic or otherwise, that have the same vibe that early gunnerkrig court did? Like compelling mystery with science/fantasy elements? I miss the old comic before coyote died :(

Nan Quest

What is it: In this spiritual sequel to Ruby Quest, a goat girl electrician sets out to fix a broken fuzebox and ends up ensnared in a psychological horror conspiracy.

The Good: Much more effective use of the simple MS Paint art style, with more color and some simple animations (animated panels being marked [A], a convention Homestuck would later adopt for its [S] sound panels). The characters are better fleshed out than in Ruby Quest, and the horror is more effective as well, with less gore and more tension.

The Bad: Though used effectively, the art is still MS Paint doodles. The story mechanics behind the mystery are much more ambiguous, which can be a plus.

Content Warning: Gore, threatened sexual violence.

You should read it if: You like Ruby Quest and/or psychological horror comics that can be read in a few hours.

Everything Is Fine

What is it: Maggie and Sam are a normal married couple in a very strange world where proving your loyalty is the key to winning, and the best way to prove your loyalty is to show someone else is disloyal. And also everyone wears mascot suit cat heads all the time.

The Good: Well-written characters, a novel premise, and excellent pacing. I'm not the biggest fan of the webtoon "really tall page" format, but it's taken advantage of at times for nice transitions

The Bad: The webtoon format can be irritating, and the worldbuilding is toeing the line between "compelling mystery" and "If there were two astronauts on the moon and one shot the other wouldn't that be fucked up?"-ism.

Content Warning: Gore, Suicide themes. Every page with such content has a warning on it (which works better in Webtoon format, actually)

You should read it if: You liked the dystopian fiction fiction books you had to read in high school.

Homestuck

What is it: You fucking know what this is.

The Good: Great character writing, high production values, one of the best soundtracks of really anything. The middle section (in which mysteries are slowly uncovered), is phenomenal and justifies the comic's existence.

The Bad: Most of the really bad stuff is in the sequel, Homestuck^2, but in Act 6 the story kind of goes up its own ass with the meta, and Act 1 is also a notorious slog for most people. Homestuck is an excellent sandwich with moldy bread.

Content Warning: Gore, sexual themes, some of it has not aged well (in that it's kind of edgy, but also a lot of casual ablest slurs)

You should read it if: You like seeing weird sci-fi mysteries unfold and like reading pages and pages of mostly-good dialogue, and you're okay with the fact that after all the mysteries are revealed the comic just kind of keeps going on and on instead of ending.

[aroaceconfessions]

Openly touch averse and pda and romance repulsed idol: *is forced into contact/skinship he openly said to dislike and to talk about childhood "crushes" he clearly didn't have*

Fans: sooo cute, look at that, he is shy

Openly touch averse and pda and romance repulsed idol: *makes his boundaries clear physically and verbally and isn't afraid to shows his disgust and is open about his distaste for romance*

Fans: he's so rude and cold, a terrible heartless human

I keep seeing this happening and it really bothers me, I know not every aplatonic aroace dislikes physical affection nor romance, I also know that probability-wise these idols are certainly not even on the a-spectrum, but that's not the point because these things are so connected to the aplatonic aroace experience that I can't help but feel that that's how I would be seen if I don't bend myself to what is considered normal by everyone else.

I'm rude if I reject a friend's pda — not the friend who already knows about my dislike for it and still insists on doing so. I'm cold if I don't get emotional over romance or think it's pointless in my favorite media. I'm the heartless one if I get annoyed about being asked about it again, not the people who already know I'm romance repulsed and are making fun of it. The worst is that these fans claim to be allies or even queer people themselves, that's why whenever these idols reject pda from group mates is homophobic, even though they reject it from everyone. I understand until where the plus in their lgbtq+ goes.

P.S.: this is not an invitation for discourse, I don't care what you think about their reasons for disliking pda and romance, if your respect for people's boundaries is conditional then you don't respect anything.

[basslinegrave]

make your own post this and that so i am. so i dont spam ppls tags and what not

thinking about how snm would realize they got feelings for one another and i feel like for sam the realization would come much later like. into their 20s at least but for max i think hed crush on him on and off since they would be like teens or something? im a sucker for stories about my ships realizing their feelings and getting together so its hard for me to just pick One to go with. if i was a writer i would make like 80 different situations a week 😭 but with these two since theres no canon, there doesnt have to be a set timeline anyway and there can be a morbillion of them. like if i look at the cartoon that is a married couple with a house and all. so it narrows it down to getting together much sooner... then in ttg you just have them perhaps not fully in it, maybe they talked about it, maybe not yet at all, maybe s3 could be where sam realizes his feelings, etc etc (i dont see them as a couple yet there though) and so on

anyway my fav idea is that max just has feelings for sam but hides it (maybe even forgets about it from time to time and then falls in love with him all over again) and this goes on for years and years but he thinks sam wouldnt be interested at all so he lets it be (maybe except one time drunkenly fooling around back in like college, or at least during the one week before they got kicked out lmao)

sam realizes it much later, in their 20s or early 30s (not even early middle age man yaoi.... weak...) and i think he would be a bit "afraid" of it all, i do think hes bi but not having experience with men especially and it would be a scary and unknown area for him plus he wouldnt want to somehow hurt max and ruin their friendship and all that. reassuring himself that would never happen and no matter what they will be best friends even if he told max but he would still try to bury those feelings at first. big on "try", they would still slip out in other ways like caring for max and just the usual (how they talk, touches, stuff like headpats and throwing max etc), thats also the thing that would be like "oh yeah. whats there to be scared of", the fact that once they would get together, nothing would really change at all? they already have their own love language of sorts and are always together anyway etc so it would just go from "partners" (work) to "partners" (work and life and everything else) i think. i also like how in ttg you can look at some things as "oh hes deep in the closet" even if its not written like that..

its also hard for me to separate canon and fanon at times and hard to like. work with some stuff, its always a mess in my head but a good chunk of the fans ship them and take them as a couple. me personally i would see it only in the cartoon but even there its more of a joke (but if you show some things as facts it can be easily viewed that way) but for the rest of the media it stays vague (which i do like, except ttiv, you know what you did ttiv *shakes fist*) but there i keep thinking about how max is sort of shown as gay but not really. like its more of a 'if youre gay or a shipper etc you see him as gay, otherwise not' situation to me. if you say hes gay online, there will be people telling you that hes not, its never been explicitly said (true) etc he just doesnt like girls.. and i noticed the irony of how this is a time where people that normally are against aro/ace characters they will paint him as such just so that he isnt gay, lol. like "no he cant have anyone if he can only have men 🤬" anyway. that said yeah they can be aroace best friends, just for me personally id prefer to be more romantic - in their own way. ofc they dont go to romantic dinners but they can go blow up a shooting range or go to a burger joint and see which one of them can eat more burgers before throwing up, but they can also smooch when the player/reader/watcher isnt watching, you know. max hates kissing though, which can either end in they dont kiss much Or they do, its just on the same page as with them hating when others touch them but theyre glued to each other 24/7 (or like the case with max hating seeing naked ppl but he himself being naked normally) so like he hates seeing it, but is fine with sam and sam only?

derailed strongly there, i wanted to talk about how they would also tell each other, thats also something i cant decide on but me like a little bit of angst of course so it would have to come with either a little misunderstanding or going "too far" -> realizing it wasnt too far but what the other very much wants etc etc. actually i have nothing here, moving on

uhh and i also think about them proposing? i think they both would want to. theres also so many ideas but my fav is that sam gets to propose first, but max just goes fuck! beat me to it. and he pulls out a ring as well and they get to propose at the same time (with sam perhaps getting emotional, max would call him a sap but then get a bit emotional too for once) but then theres also something silly for the comics/htr where i can imagine it more like max mentioning marriage, as a joke or not, and sam pulling out a comically oversized ring pop for him (then they have the """"shotgun"""" wedding lol) then for ttiv which is my dearly hated storyline. they maybe proposed in the past, but idk if they actually got married, they ended it because it got rocky. perhaps sam got cold feet but max would be the one to end it (then make harsh remarks about sams dating life and all that, but deep down being glad its not working out for sam cause max has always been the jealous type) and maybe they finally get therapy (or max contacts sybil after ages and she gives him some advice and such) and perhaps after splitting up for a bit like in the cartoon (insert snm divorce gif) they get back together now that theyre like in their 50s and realize its no use, theyre not really holding each other back as they would be worried maybe but that they truly want to be with each other and they get actually married after trying again. i think its silly for them to get married like youd expect maybe sam to think about that but not max but i think hed be very excited about it mainly cause of the food at the reception

[thepapergirlandthespiegelman]

Hazbin Hotel isn't good, I just really wish it was

And so I bit the apple, and evil spilled forth into the world

This review contains spoilers for Hazbin Hotel.

I wasn't going to watch Hazbin Hotel. I've always gotten kind of a negative vibe from it ever since it first appeared on my radar years ago. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what put me off it when so little content had even been released, but I guess it just struck me as very crude and "edgy" in this juvenile and kind of offensive way; plus I had heard some vague criticisms that the creator was a not-so-great person, though I wasn't sure how true those rumors were.

But since the Amazon show came out in January, the algorithm has been pestering me nonstop to watch this show with advertisements, memes, recommended videos.

It makes some sense; as someone who enjoys both Lucifer and Disney princesses, you might think that I'm the target audience of this show. And there's not a huge amount of crossover between those two groups, so if I won't watch it, who the hell will?

So after seeing some stuff that intrigued me, I finally decided to give the show a shot and at least watch the stuff available for free (that's the pilot, episode 1, and the first 10 minutes of episode 2). This review is based on that content as well as other clips, the soundtrack, and what I've read online about the story going forward. If that makes this review null and void to you, feel free to stop reading. I generally like to experience the entirety of a thing before reviewing it, but I'm not eager to throw money at Amazon without cause, and in this case, I feel that a lot can be said based solely on this limited content.

My initial impression? To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe that's because my expectations were through the floor, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. Both the pilot and the Amazon series have serious problems, but they have some strengths as well, in my opinion.

Starting with the pilot: I'll admit that it presents a very cruel, ugly world full of frankly unrealistically shitty people. The humor is juvenile and often tasteless. The dialogue can be pretty clunky, and the "insults" levied are often so pathetic that hearing them oscillates between boring and infuriating. The worldbuilding is poorly conveyed and hard to follow.

But if you can get past all that, and I acknowledge that that's a big ask, there are some interesting things about this pilot.

Angel Dust is an interesting character. One of the things I really can't stand is when media portray literally everyone as evil, but even in the pilot, it's made pretty clear that Angel Dust is not actually a bad person. First off, what exactly are his "sins"? Being gay and doing porn? Sure, he shows the capacity to be at least somewhat mean and violent, but you can tell from his interactions with Charlie, Vaggie, and Cherri Bomb that he's not actually malicious or sadistic. In the limo, he says, "I owed my girl buddy a solid; isn't that a 'redeeming quality'? Helping friends with stuff?" And like...he's correct! Vaggie dismisses this out of hand, but it shows that Angel Dust is able to care about other people, and this is reinforced later when he almost goes to comfort Charlie but gives up. There's a setup here for a story about someone who is good at their core but looks bad, either because they engage in behaviors that are socially taboo even if they're not actually harmful (e.g. homosexuality, sex work) or because they engage in behaviors that are actually bad (e.g. being mean and violent), but only because those behaviors are normalized or arguably required by their environment (I mean, what was he supposed to do? Just let his friend get blown up?). It would be genuinely interesting to see Charlie and Vaggie reckon with their own biases and black-and-white view of morality and come to see the good in Angel Dust, and then to see how Angel Dust might grow and change as a person when he actually feels seen and respected.

Alastor also has a lot of potential. His design and theming are genuinely interesting, a mix of ancient horned beast and 1930s transatlantic accented radio presenter. He's clearly a character intended to elicit intense fear, which means he can serve as an exploration of what scares us most. The "radio" theme presents some really intriguing ideas for this exploration. Alastor represents something that can be heard but not seen; not only this, but he can't even really be heard. We only hear his voice through the low-fidelity transmission of a radio, suggesting that what we're perceiving is at least a bit off from reality, somehow inauthentic, and that makes us wonder what horrors could be lurking in that gap.

It's obvious to me that Angel Dust and Alastor are the strongest characters in the show. Charlie feels like a cardboard cutout by comparison, and Vaggie is totally devoid of flavor. Angel Dust makes far more sense as a protagonist, so why does the show center around Charlie?

Hazbin Hotel feels like a show centered around a gimmicky premise: what if Disney princess, but in Hell? Ooh, how subversive, how funny! But it doesn't really know what to do with that premise. It doesn't really know who Charlie is, and it doesn't really know what Hell is. But it does know who Angel Dust is and who Alastor is, or at least it has the spark needed for those ideas to blossom into fully-developed characters, so why not start there?

Moving on to episode 1 of the Amazon series. Immediately, I was surprised by the direction in which they took the show. Based on the pilot, one of my biggest concerns was that the show would be solely about individual self-improvement and "redemption" and fail to address the systemic/environmental problems that are the ultimate cause of evil. I figured the show would likely center around individual sinners trying to improve themselves and then, after the necessary amount of struggle and conflict, they would succeed and prove to both Heaven and Hell that they were worthy of ascension, without anyone ever questioning why this system of sorting people into good and bad exists in the first place or how it can possibly be seen as ethical, even if people are ultimately allowed to move between the two. I figured Heaven would be portrayed as not evil but simply misguided or small-minded, and that, having rectified those inadequacies, the system would continue on largely unchanged. Happy ending, woooo.

Episode 1 makes it very clear that that is not the direction that this is going. Heaven is pretty clearly portrayed as evil, which was mostly a positive for me. I find the whitewashing of stuff like mass murder pretty fucking gross, so it's nice that the exterminations of Hell's citizens aren't being framed as morally justified.

Unfortunately, this does result in some narrative problems. The show depends on Charlie believing that Heaven can be reasoned with, and that if she works hard, they'll eventually see the light. But after being brutally rejected by Adam like that, why would Charlie continue to think that these are good, reasonable people who are just misguided? Not only does Adam deny her in the most explicit terms possible, he's totally pigheaded and unempathetic.

We're now getting into stuff that I haven't seen firsthand, but from what I understand, Charlie continues running her hotel and trying to negotiate with Heaven. She's able to prove that a sinner can improve themselves, but she's unable to get them into Heaven, and ultimately has to resort to trying to stop the exterminations with brute force.

If that's the case, then why have this reveal that Heaven is evil in the very first episode? Delay the reveal until closer to the end, have Charlie work hard to accomplish her dream under the impression that her work will ultimately pay off, only to have Heaven reveal that it was never about being a good person at all and merely about their desire to consolidate power for themselves. Then have Charlie reckon with that, how she's been putting all the burden on herself and her people to prove themselves, when the system was never fair to begin with and the people in power were just exploiting a narrative for their personal gain. Now THAT'S a spicy story.

I think it's my desire to see that story play out, and my respect for Hazbin being willing to make Heaven the bad guys (even if it obstinately refuses to say the G word), that has kept my interest in the show despite its obvious flaws. Somewhere in this tangled-up mess there is a story about questioning and resisting the moral narratives fed to us about ourselves by people who do not have our best interests at heart. There's a story about claiming your power and fighting back against oppressive systems.

Is Hazbin Hotel with its Disney XD-esque style and middle-school humor woefully unequipped to tell that story? Well, yes, yeah. And I guess that should have been obvious to everyone from the start. But it feels like a shame.

A similar problem with narrative trajectory occurs regarding Lucifer and Alastor. If we compare Charlie to the Disney princess formula, we see the obvious issue. We know that while Charlie's parents are very powerful, she's alienated from both of them (Lilith because she's missing and Lucifer because they have a bad relationship) and so doesn't have access to their power. In the pilot, we see that Charlie doesn't officially make a deal with Alastor, but she does allow him to work at the hotel. So we sort of have a Chekhov's deal situation here, where if Charlie was pushed to her limit, she might be tempted into making a deal with the devil. Triton won't let Ariel go to the surface, so Ariel makes a deal with the sea witch instead.

But what happens if Ariel reconciles with Triton before getting to that point? Well, then Ursula wouldn't have a tentacle to stand on.

And this is what happens in Hazbin. In episode 5, Lucifer is introduced and reconciled with Charlie in the very same episode. Lucifer is shown to be basically infinitely more powerful than Alastor and is genuinely and totally devoted to Charlie, so she no longer has any reason to depend on Alastor. He's lost all of his leverage over her and no longer presents any real threat, so...what the hell is his role in this story now?

I'm not saying Hazbin Hotel needs to copy the story arc of a Disney princess movie just because Charlie is inspired by Disney princesses. I'm perfectly fine with the show wanting to do its own thing. But it turns down a totally viable arc in favor of...nothing. Why?

The pilot so heavily teased the mystery of Alastor's character, what terrible consequences might result if Charlie were to make a deal with him. So like...let us see that! Hell, this could even be easily connected back to the main storyline that I was talking about before. Have Charlie be totally demoralized by the revelation that Heaven isn't actually good and that the world is deeply broken in a way she never even imagined. Maybe even up the stakes by making it more personal, like having Heaven threaten to specifically target her girlfriend or one of her friends in the next extermination. Push her to complete desperation and then have Alastor swoop in and offer her a way out. Still alienated from her father (or perhaps after attempting to get closer but being once more rebuked), she feels like she has no choice but to accept, and ends up in a bad situation. Then Lucifer sees her in trouble and shows up to save her, making her realize that he does actually care about her; and Lucifer, seeing how Charlie and her friends genuinely care for each other, is shown that sinners aren't just hopelessly wicked. Alastor gets his chance to shine and the reconciliation with Lucifer feels earned and meaningful.

This show has such potential to be both interesting and emotionally impactful, but it's hindered by its unwillingness to take itself seriously and thoughtfully plan out its narrative and character arcs.

It would be one thing if the show was just complete garbage. I know that a lot of people see it that way, but I really don't think that's the case. There is something here.

I'm not currently planning on watching the rest of the show. That could certainly change, especially if others tell me that it's worth it despite the problems. If you've watched the show (or even if you haven't), I'd be very curious to hear your thoughts on my evaluation.

[dekaydk]

GMehMehTV 24 Part 2

A few of these seem promising, but a lot of it seems like I'm not the target audience. Which is fine. I'm not the target audience for a lot of entertainment. That said, I'm gonna indulge myself for a minute and hot take the heck out of this.

First, a general observation on the way the GMMTV system seems to work. The actors do all KINDS of stuff, not just acting. They're so busy it seems like they're basically full-time employees: when they're not on a series, they're doing fan meetings, or singing gigs, or apparently mandatory social media livestreams. They don't seem to have any downtime. This plus GMMTV's overarching "everything must be branded" philosophy seems to dictate a great deal about what they can be in, and so on. Some of the drawbacks of the old Hollywood Studio System, hopefully without the casting couch evil.

The Promising

KristSingto. (The Ex-Morning.) Period. Krist made a fan out of me after how he selflessly promoted (apparently painfully shy) Gawin. (Goes to show you that it doesn't matter how hot you are, you can still have a lot of self-doubt.) Then there were his unmistakably queer-friendly moves around his concert. If I got this correctly Aof is involved so there should be some meat to the plot. (But if they blow it as badly as Last Twilight, I'm going on Aof Strike.) Also, gotta admit that the premise sounds like fun.

ThamePo Heart that Skips a Beat. This is my kind of story, where it's not about dumb misunderstandings and contrived conflict, but instead the leads are united against an external enemy. In this case, corporate image management and control over people's personal lives. Also, a good-looking trailer. Lots of colors. Looking forward to the color coding analysis from "the colors mean something" folks.

Ossan's Love Thailand has potential, especially if they fix some of the original's weaknesses. I've wanted to see Earth play a comedic role forever because that seems like more like him as a person. He's done more than enough stern/mostly-mirthless roles. I'd watch Mix in just about anything.

Revamp looks like it's high-budget, so if the directing is good, this may be a romp. New Siwaj, though…sigh. Who am I kidding? Boun as a vampire!

The Waste of Good Actors

Mark Pakin finally and deservedly gets a lead role…and it looks like something he could have phoned in over a bad connection. The trailer for Sweet Dentist Goofs Around or whatever it's called makes Cooking Crush seem like Shakespeare. Fluff has its place but this trailer makes it look like it will drown the audience in treacle.

First and Khaotung should be given meatier stuff. They're serious professionals and will make it work, I know, but it would be nice to see them in something that gave them more opportunity to really act. That said, probably not gonna turn down this energy:

(via @chawarin-panich)

Jimmy looks like he will be able to phone in his cafe-boss-slash-rival role. Which is fine, but that's not why I watch him. Let Jimmy cry!

Actors I'd Like to Be More Excited About

Pond doesn't ever seem to inhabit a character. Extremely attractive, but he seems to have about three main acting notes. (This is also why I haven't yet started We Are, as much as I love Au and Boom, Winny, Satang, et. al.) Leap Day has Gun doing something interesting so there's that. Putting Leap Day on the "Maybe Because Gun Seems to Have a Good Role In It" list. (Although I expect to struggle a little with what looks like a predestination plot.)

Joong and Dunk are cute of course but I have yet to see either of them in a difficult scene, and, sadly, based on what I've seen, it's difficult to imagine them carrying such a scene. Aside from kissing, which they can do really well, they have both been just…kinda flat in everything I've seen. It's almost like Joong too-heavily suppresses his normal clown-around-and-have-fun nature in order to be different on camera. The script description has me intrigued, so that's another point in favor of The Heart Killers. It's probably just a romcom so nothing serious anyway. Still, maybe this will be the show that lets them show us what they're capable of. Fingers crossed.

Perth Tanapon is gorgeous…and never quite convinces me his character wants to kiss guys. Chimon seemingly has more acting chops, but always telegraphs deep discomfort with MM intimate scenes. Even when these guys get to act, I get only so far with suspension of disbelief. I don't know how to fix this. (Not my job to fix, but neither is it my job to watch a show where the kissing/love scenes are unconvincing.)

Athough he's inspired a great deal of looking disrespectfully, Force just never makes me feel much. He looms, he smolders, he exudes dom/top energy effortlessly. (I haven't seen Enchanté so I may be missing important data.) Book seems to have more of the acting prowess in the pairing. It would be nice to see them do something independent of one another, but GMMTV can't allow that! Also, these two as college students? Why can't we have them acting against type? Imagine Force as an untrusting, damaged bodyguard-with-a-horrible-childhood and Book as the boss who (by virtue of his ability to show that someone dominant can be loving) brings Force's character back to his original sunshine nature? Now something like that would give them both a chance to act their socks off. Pun intended.

Unexcited So Far

Dark Dice: jumanji spirealm something something. Hoping that Gemini can carry a show, mostly because I want good things for him. A maybe on this one.

JittiRain. JittiRain. JittiRain.

[lumikinetic]

I can’t speak for everyone but I just hate Bruce and think steph’s role as spoiler was really cool & there’s a lot of unexplored ideas that could go along w her identity as spoiler (plus I love the spoiler outfit way more than her batgirl outfit I mean the black shadowy face the hood the belt.. it had it all) Though batgirl 2009 was amazing I just think it’d be cool if she called out Bruce for being a hypocrite and goes back to being spoiler/an independent vigilante. Think there needs to be more independent vigilantes around Gotham anyway like why does every hero need to be connected to Batman

I'm gonna derail onto a soapbox with this first one cause it is literally my number one all time biggest grievance with the way I see people interact with comics nowadays but my sincere and honestly held belief is that there are very very few characters in all of comics you can fully, thoroughly hate with justification. You can say "this character isn't for me" and that's fine whatever it happens, sometimes a concept doesn't make you feel that feeling when experiencing great media and this is why people naturally gravitate towards sci-fi over fantasy or slice of life over high octane action but I truly believe you can't hate most characters. Especially the biggest ones who have been running for 50+ years cause the odds that there is that one run out there that will make you finally Get It™ are astronomically high, and increase with each new writer and THAT is what comics are really about. I'm gonna be upfront w/you, I'm so so worn down by Bruce slander these days, even when I'm not trying to be hostile (like now for instance, I promise) it still comes off as that but god. It really is the lamest, most boring, hivemind-esque stance to take. "I prefer [character] to Batman" yeah sure that's valid I do too, a whole bunch of them, even Batman himself prefers Superman, but when people say "I don't like Batman, at all" all I hear is "I'm not willing to put the work in and actually do the reading". Bruce is cool as fuck as a character as it is, but if you let yourself just enjoy the rule of cool he elevates to 1000. Zdarsky's run has lost the sauce a little bit imo but Failsafe and chasing Joker to the end of existence is still great stuff, and that's just what's happening right now. Great thing about being the guy who oversaturates the DC market: Decades upon decades of top shelf content out there. BUT. The content won't come to you. You gotta go looking.

Anyway Spoiler is cool, yes

The full face mask is cool, yes

I have no preference for the spoiler/stephgirl split. Both identities are good for me she can use whatever. But it doesn't take a whole lot of attention to notice that at the end of the day, it's just a recycled and watered down version of "Laura Kinney is X-23 not Wolverine" or "Miles Morales isn't Spider-Man" and just like those ones, it bothers me. Who cares if both use it at the same time? At best, it adds something new and interesting to the world and offers a dual perspective on what an identity could be. At worst, it's just something inconsequential but in a way that is fun and doesn't detract anything from the story being told. If one Batgirl is preoccupied, maybe in a ghostly magic realm for example, we still got another to do normal Gotham stuff.

Historically, every "Batman-related" character got tired of being Batman-related (or they exploded, sorry Jason) and decided to take the batsymbol and make it their own (or the writers forced it on them, sorry Jason). Batgirl is not connected to Batman. Batgirl is connected to Barbara Gordon. Bette Kane if you wanna get really technical about it. Babs' whole thing is about how she didn't become Batgirl to appease Batman or whatever, she did it because she wanted to and the bat was a convenient symbol that already had some weight to it. Also don't let the internet fool you, Babs' time as Batgirl really wasn't as impactful and iconic as everyone thinks it is and the '66 TV show makes everyone believe. She was in the cape for a comparatively short time before going straight into Oracle. It holds much more meaning to both Steph and Cass, so even then, it's not even connected to Babs, it's connected to Cass more than anything, and only because she was the one who got it first.

I would say Helena B cause she was before Cass but she had it for like five seconds, so. Lol.

[janec23]

Author Ask tag Game

I want to thank the lovely @digital-chance for tagging me I really like this tag game! :) Here is the original post!

Questions at the bottom!

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

The main lessons of Echoes in Cosmos are the importance of second chances and accepting ourselves, plus kind characters are not weak. Is it cliché? Yes, but the more I look around the more I realize that just because society doesn't accept how some people are, doesn't mean someone won't or that they are different (what does it mean being different? who chose what is normal? -.-''). My OC goes into a very deep and dark place before realizing this, so I am trying to get him back from there.

2.What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

Everyday I get news about how climate change is affecting our lives, so I start to feel anxious about it. Writing about a future where climate change crisis is averted (and the end of social media which is causing social instability and more hate than good) made me feel better. So I went on with that, building life on another planet with a society that managed to learn from past mistakes.

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

Robin is my main MC, he wants to find out about his difference, why is not able to express his feelings using his symbionts? He's desperate to find someone who can understand and accept him even if from another planet. I want people to understand that they are not alone in their research of love. Corinna is the other MC, she is kind and compassionate, but she can fight when needed. With her I want to show that a strong female character doesn't need to be rude or aggressive and that forgiveness needs to be earned.

How many chapters is your story going to have?

28 or 30 chapters (I am at the second draft now)

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

It is original content, I will post a first chapter soon here, but it is un-edited, because I am a writer not an editor XD

When and why did you start writing?

I started when I was 12, I couldn't sleep at night, so I started to invent stories to fell asleep. I did it until the stories become so real and so full of details they entered in my life, so I needed to write them down to get rid of them and make space for the new ones!

Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

I just want to say, write what you like, because you like it. Doesn't matter if it is cliché, boring, too fluffy or too dark, just write it. We are 8 billion, someone who likes your story is out there, you just need to reach them! And don't feel pressure about writing 10,000 words a day, take your time, enjoy your writing :) I follow a lot of people, mostly because their WIP are amazing and I am learning how to improve my english and my style. There are a lot of cool writers out there, so I hope someday they will be published :)

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

How many chapters is your story going to have?

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

When and why did you start writing?

Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

Gently tagging (I don't know if you already did this or not, sorry): @rickie-the-storyteller, @everthewip, @rbbess110, @mariahwritesstuff, @all-write, @macabremoons

[thebadchoicemachine]

All Orch residents can become original characters. Orch is relevant because Alex lives there and one of the Lenses is attempting to set up residence. Fundy was supposed to be from Ywscore originally but was dumped into Orch by the Lense, are we keeping this plot point? 

Should we change the Saponite family's best food from muffins to something else? 

Sleepy Boi Inc going down from four to three members, have a friendly older character, intimidating bounty hunter character, and a chaotic young character? Possibly? They are the main Traveler family that actually interact with Karl for any length of time, kinda like a stray feral cat.

Should we cut down the Quarry trio to just Saponite and the [Ender Knight]? George's character was kinda just there and never really added much to the story. Plus it makes it more angsty when we have the whole “I raised the devil and meant to betray you” thing.

Ranboo’s character is supposed to be an amnesiac Traveler. Perhaps Sap and Cue assume Karl doesn’t talk much about his home because he can’t remember it and we can show what the effects of amnesia have on a normal Traveler. Likely nothing good.

 Tubbo was a robot bug child. Do we keep him? How should we change him? His plotline was intertwined with Ranboo’s and depending on the direction that goes in, I can see us keeping or discarding this character.

I feel like we should try and remember Alex in the plotline of all of this. Like what are they doing during the Clemintine Lens? What were they doing before they found their family? What do they think about all this plot stuff?

We should add more of these side dimensions and stuff to this document, like Mary and the superhero dimension we talked about over discord. We don’t have to name every single one, but having a list to come back to and reference for jokes and such would be good. 

For Quarry, XD needs a new name. 

Should we change the Inbetween to just Between? The Other Side should be fine, plenty of media use that name for stuff, but to distance ourselves from ksq, should we change it?

Need to review Quarry’s dimension in general, I don’t think we got to change much, but we need to rebrand from “The Ender Dragon” and other Minecraft stuff.

Foolish needs a new name. I think a name that is also a describing word that you wouldn’t associate with a god would be nice.

Alright, that's everything I thought about needing to address for now. some are actual suggestions, some are points that likely deserve their own post, and some are just "hey we need to do this". If you don't have any ideas for something just put "tosses the ball to you" instead of an answer. I'll kick off the conversation.

1)Agreed. I think Alex could take up that storyline.

2)Yeah, if we need anything for it at all.

3)I was thinking we could change the dimension Sleep to Dream-something to better reflect it's ever-shifting nature. We could keep the three tavalers and then have their parent be the dimension itself, the way Phil was a personified version of it. Like a less evil version of Ego.

4) I'm okay with that. I like the worldbuilding of the Micealium Isles but story-wise it can be overcrowded for a character from each.

5) Im not sure what you mean? I need to refresh that plotline I've forgotten it It feels like.

6) I like keeping a child from Ywscore. Since Ywscore and Orch are pretty important for the Azure lens plotline, i'd like to keep just a regular person who remains from Ywscore.

7)Depends on what order we're going in again? I remember it was from Opal to Mauve, Indigo, Azure. Since we meet Alex in the Azure lens and the Traveler Trio (SBI) in the beginning we could seed out her storyline with the Ywscore Child who's with them having connections to her in flashbacks or with seeded moments?

The Opal lens I figured would be just the epilogue of the main three getting to know each other. Maybe 4-5 short chapters (Meeting Prowa, Meeting in Quarry, All three meeting, and all three going on a regular adventure-like adventure, setting up the formula. Then the "real" story begins where we meet the whole cast and expand the world.

8)Agreed. I haven't opened the document in a while.

9) We talked about this before a little but didn't settle on anything I don't think. We talked about wanting to keep two letters that could be the face, but I'm open to making anything. Especially if you want to redesign the God altogether or something! (Your DM design is inspiring)

10) I like Between. In Between has been used for a similar place in a lot of other media too so it's not as original as i'd have liked regardless. I noticed that close to the beginning but didn't want to change it to fit with the ksq lore.

Do you like the name Twixt? I like Between too if you don't, though.

11) I'd like to keep it as a dragon or dragon-like but not call it a dragon? Giving it a more creature-esq design to combat the otherworldly god design is cool. I've always loved the motiff of angels being so much less human than demons (creators being less earthy than destroyers)

12) Spitballing: Trite, Mundane, Daft, Inane,