#screencaps coming soon stay tuned

[technitango]

chief seo showing up with a FUCKIN SWORD btw just so you all know if you even care

[goranvisnjicdaily]

Timeless Photo Stills

I know folks, you can't wait for those "Timeless" Screencaps!! 😂😁 I haven't yet received my Blu-rays of "Timeless" that I ordered through Ebay. I do have Timeless on DVD, but the screencaps are bad coming from a DVD, so I prefer waiting! BUT! In the meantime, I did add 95 Stills from "Timeless" S1 & S2. I'm quite impressed that I didn't have any issues with uploading pics to Picflow, I'm still having issues when I'm trying to upload a batch of 150 Screencaps though, urgh! I'm not yet done with adding all the stills from "Timeless" It is possible that I add more in the weeks and months to come, so stay tuned!

The HQ Timeless Stills Gallery is 👉 Here

I'm also on the verge to post a AU "Timeless" Fanfiction, I'll post it in here soon! 😁

[whollyjoly]

psst, peep that (slightly) different pfp and new blog header 👀👀 (header screencap by the amazing @ronald-speirs)

intro post and masterlist are coming soon so stay tuned!!

[duhragonball]

Do you think you'd do a liveblog of another JoJo part?

Short Answer: Yes, but probably not anytime soon.

Long Answer: So when I first got into Jojo, I would post a screencap from each episode of the anime as I watched it, and this gradually expanded into me discussing the plot at length, particularly when I got to Parts 6 and 7. In 2017, the anime only went up to Part 4, so I had to read the manga to keep going, and the manga was a lot tougher for me to follow, so I used the blog to try to keep track of the plot.

I made it all the way to Part 8, which was about 66 chapters in at the time, and that was probably closer to an actual liveblog-style commentary, but I had a hard time keeping up with it after 2017. The plot was bewildering to me, and trying to make sense of it on a month-by-month basis was frustrating. I tried covering about a dozen more chapters later on, but the darn arc just never wanted to end, and it was getting on my nerves. I just wanted to be done with it, but JoJolion refused to end.

Of course, it did end in 2021, and I read it and enjoyed it, but I sort of lost interest in discussing my reactions on social media. The person who got me into JJBA in the first place sort of... vanished? Fuck if I know. The point is that was the only person I knew who had been caught up with Part 8, so it kind of killed my motivation to document my thoughts on it.

Even so, I'd kind of like to do Part 8 all over again, for the satisfaction of liveblogging it proper. Betwen 2018 and 2021, I did liveblogs of Battle Tendency and Vento Aureo, and I think those turned out a lot better than the stuff I had been doing in 2017. For one thing, it was my second time around, so it was a lot easier to keep track of the story and the characters. For another, I had a clearer sense of how I wanted to organize my thoughts.

I would like to do the rest of them the same way. I re-did Part 2 because it was my favorite, and I'd never read the manga. I re-did Part 5 because my first reading of the manga was the barely-legible scanlation from several years ago, and I wanted to brush up on the story in anticipation of the anime version. So I'd like to liveblog Parts 1, 3, and 4 so I can experience the manga, and Part 6 for the anime, and Part 8 for the sake of properly digesting the thing. I'm not sure I have an agenda for SBR, although by the time I get around to that one, the anime will probably be out.

So there is a desire, but I don't know when I'll have time to commit to it. For what it's worth, the big plan I have for 2023 is a liveblog project, but it's all Dragon Ball material. So if you're interested in that, stay tuned. Maybe I can sneak some JoJo stuff in somewhere, but I don't want to promise anything.

Of course, there's also Part 9 on the horizon. From what I've heard, there's this magazine coming out in December that may give some details about when it'll start, but Jojolion has shown me that it's kind of pointless for me to try to get into one of these things unless I can binge-read it. I think Parts 7 and 8 are roughly equal in terms of quality, but SBR was a lot more fun to read because I could finish it in two weeks instead of four years. I may keep up with Part 9 just so I'll be able to follow the memes, but I probably won't have much to say about it for a long time.

Anyway, the bottom line is that I still like JJBA and I still have things to say about it, but not right now. But I appreciate your interest.

[nightfurmoon]

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE VILLAINOUS STREAM (11 Sept)

It was a scary storytelling stream, but they also did drawings in between stories and answered questions, but nobody asked anything related to Villainous so there isn’t much. They only asked whether or not BH can see more colors, and Alan said that BH sees the word differently. Also I felt the need to add those two last screencaps of Miguel flexing his butt cheeks and then getting cramps.

But here comes the important part. Towards the end, Alan said that he had just finished recording some Black Hat lines, and that we’ll have news about Villainous soon. So stay tuned!!

Another important thing they said is that TODAY, we’re having a FANSERVICE stream! It’s dedicated to us :D They want to show us how grateful they are that we spend time watching their streams and support them. So you can ask them anything and they’ll draw it! 

Here’s the stream, drop by and leave a like!

[smolie]

in december i wrote a 2020 year music review for myself that i intended to post here BUT...because i was infamously restricted twice last year, i didn’t bother since you wouldn’t be able to read it anyway because it was not possible to view my blog hjfdhfd

now that my restricted era is (hopefully forever) over i just want to post it here for the sake of completion since i want to do the same thing this year

this is really long so if you actually read it ... idk you are insane in the membrane and i love you... but i genuinely don’t expect anyone to read this hjfdhjf i just like reflecting on the music i have listened to and be able to look back on what i enjoyed in certain stages of my life! okiiii bye 💗

january

mac miller - circles (album) it’s a bit funny that i worried putting my thoughts down about this album and now it turns out to be first on the list, chronologically of course … oh bittersweet irony </3 listening to this album is such a double edged sword, either way i am always hit with a truckload of feelings when i turn to this release.

this album came to me in a time of my life where i was slowly but surely sliding down towards rock bottom again just after i got out of it and thought i was okay. the times i’ve listened to this crying in the bathtub with a glass of wine….girl let’s not lol…. it’s almost strange how much i can relate to the thoughts another person brought to paper. the comfort this album brings me is otherworldly, i feel so understood by mac’s words and it’s my go-to “wallow in self-pity for a bit then come out stronger than before” album. then again, i feel a little sting when any of mac’s songs come on shuffle. a friend of mine said she cannot listen to artists who have passed because it feels too strange and most of the time i agree but this time, it’s so so different. this album would have been mac’s salvation, i can feel it. everything would have been a bit brighter and lighter for him after this, it would have had to be. i feel like i would do him a disservice if i did not listen to this album, so i will cherish this final gift from him as his legacy and my comfort. i miss him incredibly and am all the more thankful he shared his heart with us.

album favs: circles, good news, surf

tiny meat gang - broke bitch (single) MAN I TELL THAT BROKE BITCH IF YOU WANNA GET IN TUNE BETTER CHANGE YOUR WHOLE PITCH LIKE WOAH !!!!!!!!!! did that give you whiplash? hehe funny to say this about a song called broke bitch by a duo called tiny meat gang but this song actually means a lot to me! it came out shortly before their show in berlin and i almost exclusively listened to it on my 7+ hours train ride from one side of the country to the other to see my meat boys. this played out of the fat ass speakers at the venue when they stepped on the stage and i will never forget meeting them :’) also the song fucking slaps obviously

february

loona - [#] (mini album) ah yes, the most controversial loona release to date! i’m not gonna lie and say this sounded anything like i expected it to. but also, i have come to terms with the fact that loona release noise music now and personally i am here for it. why not did not have the endless energy of hi high or otherworldly vibe of butterfly, but it’s a hype song and i am always there for hype. i also have to say the b-sides were not as strong for me as on previous releases but i think i have to come to peace with the fact that loona will never top their debut mini for me. though if i can wish for one thing…… let loona have title tracks with a chorus in 2021? pls? crumbs?

album favs: so what, oh (yes i am)

tame impala - the slow rush (album) *lights cigarette* i’m listening to pretty underground music….i don’t think you’ve heard of this band….they are called tame impala *intro of the less i know the better starts playing* yes i am a basic white bitch and listen to like 3 alternative bands but damn i listen to them religiously. like any other basic bitch on this planet i found out about tame impala through the less i know the better and checked out their music. i wasn’t too much into this album as i was into currents but towards the end of the year, i was in a moody alternative music slump that took me back to this album and i like it a lot more now! most importantly, tame impala fulfills my primitive urge to listen to songs that exceed the 4 minute mark. something clicks in my brain when i see a song that is like 6:34 and chances that it ends up as one of my faves on a album are high. i enjoy tiktok like everyone else but this trend of 2:50 long songs needs to be stopped immediately.

album favs: borderline, lost in yesterday, it might be time, is it true, posthumous forgiveness

honorary mentions: onlyoneof - dOra maar, everglow - dundun

march

nct 127 - neo zone (album) ah, yes. the album that fundamentally changed me as a person <3 i’ve been listening to nct for a while, matter of fact i checked my top tracks 2019 playlist on spotify and cherry bomb was on there lol. i remember trying to get into them in 2018 when they released their regular-irregular album but the endless member & unit concept scared me off, so i only listened to a handful of songs without looking into them march 2020, the fateful month in which they released kick it and screencaps of jaehyun’s sexy ass tiddies in the kick it mv landed on my tumblr or twitter and i HAD to look up who this man is…...remember when i thought jaehyun was my ult for like, 2 weeks? me neither, johnny suh only in this house <3

anyway, i checked out this album and by god, is this pure kpop perfection. last time i listened to a god tier no skip album like this was … maybe the perfect red velvet? hype songs, well crafted ballads, love songs that make me wanna learn the lyrics, genuinely fun and interesting pop songs, this album has it all. somehow, the way this album is crafted greatly reminds me of brown eyed girls’ sound-g, it has the same vibe, concept and mix of genres to me, i’m not entirely sure how to explain. anyway, this album is one of my favorites of all time and even though i’ve obsessively listened to it (lastfm says 1.4k scrobbles as of today, december 7th…) i am still not tired of this. i recommend this to anyone who loves kpop tbh, you will have a good time with this!

other than being just a musically solid album, the emotional ties i have with this are …. isabel stop making albums your emotional support 2021 challenge. i’ve listened to this release all spring lockdown, this basically played at every waking hour for all of march and april. the promotion time of this era and lockdown are deeply intertwined for me and so i am always remembered of all the nct content i consumed during that time which inevitably cheered me up so much. this album really means a lot to me :’)

album favs: kick it, mad dog, love song, boom

honorary mentions: itzy - wannabe,

the weeknd - after hours (album) my dear melchanoly, was one of my favorite releases of 2018, so i had been desperate for a new release by abel and boy did he not disappoint. the perfect thotty, dirty emo 80s, making it clap while crying in the club album! this is a no skip from top to bottom and all i can say is that the grammys can go to hell <3 abel aoty! there is really not much i can say about this album, the flawless production, lyrics and sound speak for themself. my only criticism is that i feel overwhelmed by 14 songs, especially when some of them are really long. a few songs greatly overshadow the weaker tracks on the album for me but i still love this to death.

album favs: escape from LA, blinding lights, after hours, faith

dua lipa - future nostalgia (album) after the weeknd’s masterpiece of an 80s inspired pop album i was really looking forward to this. i greatly enjoyed the pre-releases, i played don’t start now and physical up and down, they are still some of my favorite songs released this year! when i first listened to the album i really liked it, songs like boys will be boys or pretty please sound like fillers to be but the rest is solid. yet a month after release you couldn’t catch me listening to this and i cannot even really tell you why. i think it was a combination of the following: 1) i greatly overplayed dsn and physical to the point where i didn’t want more of the pop 80s sound that the album has 2) there were other releases at the time that caught my attention and interest more like neo zone or after hours 3) dua herself….girl….she really gave it her all this year to make herself as unlikeable as possible. nationalist propaganda and the constant traveling during a fucking pandemic were really the kicker. i can barely stand seeing her on my instagram feed anymore, much less listen to her album. her having the nerve to go “we’re in a pandemic lol” when people asked about an animated music video …. if you don’t shut the hell up lmao … also, she takes the crown for the corniest album opener of all time. i nearly closed spotify when i heard future nostalgia (the song) lmao

album favs: don’t start now, physical, levitating, hallucinate

honorary mentions: megan thee stallion - savage

april

apink - dumhdurum (song)

listen, i’m not gonna sit here and pretend like this mini album interested me in the slightest but god, the title is such a banger.i’m so sick, eung eung and dumhdurum are a holy trilogy that i will defend until the end of time! i really hope apink stick to this mature, elegant concept, it suits them so well and goes well with their new sound. come back soon queens <3

rina sawayama - xs (song) i feel like i’m gonna catch some hands here … xs is an absolute banger, the guitar riffs and disruptive sounds really get me going every damn time! but the rest of the album … tell me why it doesn’t catch me?! i literally cannot explain. i need to take an hour, sit down and do nothing but listen to the album from top to bottom once again and see if my thoughts change but right now i only care about xs.

chungha - stay tonight (song) drama! vocals! dance break! choreography! this release served it all. i listened to this obsessively during the time of the release and it still holds up today. can we talk about the run chungha had with gotta go > snapping > stay tonight? lord have mercy.

honorary mentions: april - lalalilala, nct dream - ridin’

may

lady gaga - chromatica (album) the immense disappointment i have in this album is tough to put into words lol. any other artist might have gotten away with this release but gaga having the discography that she has, well … she doesn’t get away with it. this has underwhelming all over it. i enjoyed the pre-releases and my hope was high but the rest just doesn’t live up what i expected, i can’t even say why. it’s just underwhelming pop for someone of gaga’s calibre. i listened to this album during release week and then never again till december to write this list and i can see why.

album favs: rain on me, sour candy ft. blackpink, stupid love

baekhyun - delight (mini album) it’s confession time … this is a name i never would have expected on any of my music lists to end up. exo has always been one of those boy groups i casually listened to. i greatly enjoy their title tracks and a handful of side tracks, i have a few members that i keep an eye on more than others but that’s about it. baekhyun was never one of those members i had any interest in, matter of fact i always thought he was kinda vanilla and boring 😭 i didn’t even plan on listening to this release if it wasn’t for his association with superm and thus nct, so i gave it a shot and we have no choice but to stan. his voice is like butter and can cut sharp at the same time, his versatility is insane. i dived a bit more into baekhyun related content and he is so likeable, it’s almost ridiculous. this production is absolute god tier, not a single skip on this mini. late spring/early summer i had this weird urge to listen to songs with mellow voices but still a banger instrumental and i wholeheartedly blame this release. matter of fact, this album is so good, i had to buy a physical copy. Y’ALL. THIS IS A BIG DEAL. i haven’t bought a kpop album of anyone that’s not holy top 3 (brown eyed girls, loona, nct) in like … idk, 5 years?! baekhyun’s impact. i’m a fan now <3

album favs: candy, r u ridin’?, love again

ak aussenkontrolle - in meinem benz (song) this … is very unrelated to this entirely list but i had to put it on here. i miss my ex boss and our 3 hour drives to meetings in the south of the country where we would blast trashy german rap music </3

nct 127 - neo zone: the final round (repackage) *airhorns* REEEPACKAGE TIIIIIME!!! my first nct era that i experienced from start to finish! i remember watching nct 127’s beyond live with luna where these mfs performed punch and we finished the concert having no idea what this song sounded like. the structure is so unusual and the intro catches me off-guard every time just to hype me up beyond compare. not gonna lie, the fact that johnny has exactly one (1) line hurts but! it’s my favorite line of the entire song! possibly related to the fact that it’s his line but let’s ignore that ….

album favs: punch, make your day

kim woo seok - red moon (song) i’m not even gonna lie to you. i have not a single idea who this man is. you could put him right in front of me and i wouldn’t know … all i know is that he has a banger song. i saw him perform this on a music show that i watched for nct and i ended up loving the song … thanks for your service sir, whoever you are ...

june

stray kids - go live (album) 2020 was kind of the year of boy groups for me, i’m so sorry … stray kids promoted simultaneously with nct 127 so i ended up hearing their title track and holy hell, is that a song. god’s menu is hype from start to finish. it reminds me of good ol’ 2nd gen noise boy group song a lá b*g b*ng fantastic baby. just pure hype and fun noise. i am forever grateful to witness the birth of the line cooking like a chef, i’m a five star michelin. the title track impressed me so much that i ended up checking out the entire album which i rarely ever do with boy groups and what is even rarer is that i enjoyed the b sides lmao!!! it’s not an album that i would put on and just enjoy from start to finish but it has some really solid tracks! this release made me want to keep an eye on stray kids, they seem like a really fun bunch.

album favs: god’s menu, TA, airplane

seventeen - left & right (song) the boy group run continues … same thing with stray kids, seventeen promoted during punch era so i heard their song while watching some music station show for nct and i heard this and was sold. solid, fun pop with the catchiest pre-chorus in history and a banger chorus. i listened to the entire mini and can’t say it really caught my interest so this is a title track only release for me.

dishonorary mentions: twice - more & more (i hate this song so much lol)

honorary mentions: ryu sejeong - tiger eyes, monsta x - fantasia, chloe x halle - do it

july

irene & seulgi - monster (mini) this is a weird release because it’s good. the title track is fun enough, the b sides are dope. but my issue with this is that it’s nothing new. this sounds exactly like a red velvet release. i get that they didn’t want to a  joy, seulgi, irene, yeri release only and went for the sub-unit route instead, but why not be experimental and stray away from the usual sound of the group? also, whoever made monster and not naughty the title track deserves to be spat on. at least the choreography here is more interesting and “experimental” for kpop standards. also, why only a seulgi solo and no irene? i have no idea how reveluvs reacted to this release but this has rushed written all over it.

album favs: monster, naughty (i’m counting this to the mini idc), uncover

exo-sc - 1 billion views (mini) doing my part as a filthy casual exo listener. this release goes in the same category as baekhyun’s delight where i like the album so much that i HAD to get a physical copy. i don’t know what they put in the title track for it to be so diddly darn addictive but it clearly worked. the only bad thing about this release is how criminally mismanaged it was by sm, when i get you lee sooman ...

album favs: 1 billion views, on me, say it

baekhyun - garden in the air (song) i told you i’m a loyal baekhyun fan now <3 king releases and i listen, that’s just how it goes now! this is a cover of a boa song and i really love his version. there is not much to say except that it’s a really smooth song and his voice absolutely carries the track. i enjoyed this much more than i thought i would!

hyoyeon - dessert (song) YOU KNOW WHAT I DESERVE??? DESSERT!!!!!!! *insert tik tok challenge here* imagine if miryo featured on this instead of the ethnic hip girl … why can’t we have nice things. anyway, a banger!

johnny - sunny side up episode 1 set (spotify playlist, actual set) johnny being the skilled, talented, multi-faceted king that he is has been dj-ing since before debut (not me acting like i was around at that time lmao) and thus he decided to bless our quarantined, lockdowned asses with an online dj set! that was the most turned up sunday morning i ever had in my entire life. this set kicked off an edm/house/techno affinity that i had for the following couple of weeks. this set is an absolute banger, i would go insane to this in the club. he has an amazing ear for transitions and drops and i still just put on this set on the regular when i have cleaning to do or so. he could fill the void that rona and thus no clubbing in 2020 left in my heart and i’m so happy he decided to share this with us <3 now … john … sunny side up episode 2 pspspspspsps

honorary mentions: gfriend - apple, jessi - nunu nana

august

cardi b ft. megan thee stallion - wap (song) late summer 2021. we are vaccinated, icu beds are free, barely any new cases, clubs are open, this song plays and i can finally make it fucking clap.

troye sivan - in a dream (mini album) a cute mini album! nothing life-changing or as exciting as previous releases but easy (haha!) to enjoy. i really, really enjoy easy, can always count on troye for a dreamy sound.

album favs: easy

honorary mentions: itzy - not shy

september

wonho - love synonym pt. 1: right for me (mini album) honestly? i know like, 3 monsta x songs. i never bothered to get into them and maybe i never will, but it was difficult to ignore the whole wonho & monsta x mess that went on. i have absolutely no memory of why i decided to check out this release, i guess i was curious what he was going to do and … i was positively surprised lol. open mind is the exact time of song i had been so desperate all summer (remember mellow vocals with banger instrumentals? yeah) and uhm … can’t ignore the obvious … mr wonho is fucking fine. sir, you just gained a fan … now, where is love synonym part 2?? huh?????

album favs: open mind, i just, losing you

joji - nectar (album) this one is on tiktok. i heard gimme love in a bunch of tiktoks and had to look up the song and here we are. what an album! it came right as seasonal depression started to hit and accompanied me for a good chunk of autumn. at this point one has to ask if joji can ever really miss? the entire album is a no skip, it’s almost difficult to narrow down my favorites if my favorites weren’t so damn god tier!!!

album favs: gimme love, ew, tick tock, pretty boy, your man

super m - tiger inside / 100 / drip (songs) okay, listen. technically tiger inside & 100 were already released in august. instead of those three songs i was gonna write about the entire album until i realized i really don’t give a fuck about it 😭 i really only care about those three songs. and YES, i unironically like 100. is it a good song? no. but neither is jopping and that fucking bangs. i don’t turn to superm for life-changing, profound music, i turn to them for a good time LOL and that’s what they deliver every time! that being said, taeyong’s VROOM VROOM, UHMM UHMM, GRRRAHHHH verse is life-changing and profound! speak your truth king! also i wish drip was a b side for nct 127 that song is so damn sexy

taemin - never gonna dance again act 1 (album) this isn’t kpop, this is taemin pop. taemin never misses and the fact that hw*s* won dance performance over taemin is a literal hate crime. i will never forget the industry for this daylight robbery … anyway, nice album!!!!

album favs: criminal, black rose, waiting for

stray kids - in life (repackage) *airhorns* REPACKAGE TIIIIME 2.0!!!! i was on the edge of my seat waiting what stray kids were going to deliver after i greatly enjoyed god’s menu. i was still not over listening god’s menu when the repackage came out so i didn’t listen to it right away and now i greatly regret the few days i could have listened to back door earlier </3

album favs: back door, any

jackson wang - pretty please (song) i’m not gonna pretend like i ever listened to a song by jackson ever before. he is short king from got7 in my head and that’s all! i don’t even remember why i listened to this song but all i know is that it slaps severely. i love the wong kar wai inspired music video and the choreography is fun too! i’m gonna check out more of his music <3

honorary mentions: fromis9 - feel good, knk - ride

october

blackpink - the album (album, duh) i don’t even know what to say about this … this might be the weirdest release on the list for me. there are song i absolutely fucking hate (ice cream …) and songs i get my life to (pretty savage) on here and the discrepancy just gives me massive whiplash. i would never put this album on and listen to the whole body of work, i just cannot with the brain damage it gives me. i am still stuck in 2016, begging for bp to release music like whistle/boombayah/stay/playing with fire but i think i need to give up on that wishful thinking … i am just grateful we a got a title track with actual lyrics in the chrous for once.

album favs: pretty savage, lovesick girls

nct - nct 2020 resonance pt. 1 (album) this era was … a ride. nct 2020 happening was near inevitable but with covid it got pushed back so far, i started to believe it wasn’t even going to happen. i was semi-terrified of what was going to happen during a comeback with 21 (now 23!!) member group since i only experienced nct 127 comebacks so far and uhh … a LOT happened lmfao but let’s keep this about the album … i had no idea what was going to hit me. johnny having effectively 3 lines in nct 2018 did not give me much hope and after he got denoted to no line treatment in punch again, i was ready to not even have any expectation but this release changed everything. make no mistake that most of my favorite songs are units with johnny, we knew that was gonna happen lmaooo they dropped the teaser video for misfit and i thought i had my favorite song in the bag and then faded in my last song happened. y’all. JOHNNY SINGS? LIKE? ACTUALLY SINGS? DOESN’T GET FORCED TO RAP OR TALK-SING? MY MAN’S VOCALS??? OH MY GAAAAHD! this song is dramatic, theatrical, emo, it serves vocals and rap, it has catchy english and korean lyrics, this is THE song, the ULTIMATE song. i love this song so much, i want to belt it on top of my lungs in the pouring rain. apart from fimls, i also loveeee misfit, that was to be expected after i was going completely insane over the track video. johnny has like 3 lines but again they are iconic (WARNIN’! NCT WE MOBBIN’!) and i just enjoy the track too much to be upset over that. nectar. holy fuck. nectar!!!! wayv never disappoints with their thotty songs, they now have an absolute god tier hoe-ly song trinity with love talk > bad alive > nectar. the first chorus and hendery’s first verse (CHOP CHOP CHOP!) get me every time, this song is so insanely good i am severely upset i cannot sing along to it :( music, dance has nct 127 written all over it in bold letters, it’s so inherently 127’s sound!!!! i love this song so much, it’s so fun, upset and has massive dance-ability, i wish we had gotten a stage for it but i guess you can’t have everything in life </3 make a wish……………………………..the cursed unit. i don’t want to say anything about this except that, unfortunately, the song is fun and i enjoy it. the end. overall, this album is so insanely solid. i know i talk about my favorites A LOT but i genuinely do not dislike a single song on here, this is an absolute no skip album! that’s it. see you for resonance part 2!!!!!

album favs: FADED IN MY LAST SONG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, misfit, nectar, music dance, make a wish

loona - 12:00 (mini album) controversial loona release 2.0! i don’t know what it is, but somehow they managed to lace the words di da dam di dam di dam dam dam dam di dam (yeah) with pure crack. i fucking love why not, i would even go as far to say it’s my 2nd favorite title track. that is right, i think it’s better than butterfly (btw: hi high > why not > butterfly > so what). so much was strange this comeback, from the inexplicable concept + teasers, the outfits, the styling (yves….i mourn your hot girl era) but the title track is just SO good, SO fun, SO catchy that i am willing to ignore it all. i also enjoy the b sides much more than on #, they are much more memorable to me. and now … HASEUL RETURN…………….i purely live to see the next loona comeback at this point

album favs: why not, voice, universe

twice - i can’t stop me (song) thank fuck twice released a good song this year. if more & more had been the only 2020 release, that would have been the real tragedy. not gonna lie, i still haven’t listened to the full album, it just keeps slipping my mind. but! i’m going to! until then i’m gonna bop to i can’t stop me.

ariana grande - positions (album) the way this album has people upset is so funny. i am a huge dangerous woman fan myself, it’s my fave ariana album to date but she has said repeatedly that this is not the sound she is striving for. now she has her coin and can do whatever she wants in music and if that is r’n’b then fuck! we have to live with it! lmao! i can live with the sex theme of the album because it’s delivered in a fun way? but it’s getting a bit old...if the next album is about riding dick only too idk how much i would enjoy that. i would probably always come back to ari because i like her voice so much but girl, there are other topics to sing about, i promise! anyway! i like this album, it’s one of those where i can hit shuffle and enjoy it in the background while doing other stuff.

album favs: positions, 34 + 35, love language, my hair, pov

tiny meat gang - sofia (song) ayyy, it’s my meat boys :’) ending the year the same way they started it, with a banger! i absolutely love the guitar instrumental, the melancholic love song type sound paired with the theme of singing about loving a robot … yup, that’s creativity and talent right here! this makes me so freaking desperate for a new ep and i genuinely have no idea how far or close we are to one but!!! i am always waiting!!!

noel - push (ep) this is something i absolutely did not expect. noel (of tiny meat gang!) released his first ep ever and i was absolutely wowed. noel has it all, the voice, the talent, the creativity and all it took him was the confidence to finally put something out and i’m so happy he did. he gets real personal on bus back, more than ever before and i always get a bit emo listening to this track </3 this man is gonna go places and i’m so happy to witness his journey.

album favs: crow, head sunk, bus back

honorary mentions: sam smith - diamonds

november

taemin - never gonna dance again act 2 (album) i’m gonna say it. idea is better than criminal. the chorus drop???? when he goes MY AH AH  MY AH AH MY AH MY IDEA MY MY IDEAAAAAA A-A-A A-A-A???? bitch … tell me you can sit still, i won’t believe you. i like part 2’s title track more, but part 1’s b sides are more interesting to me. either way, taemin delivered as expected!!

album favs: idea, impressionable, exclusive

nct - nct 2020 resonance pt. 2 (album) part two, baby! we made it! part 2 had more mellow, ballad-y songs with my everything, i.o.u. and all about you, overall less drama than part 1 but i still enjoyed it. work it is one of those controversial songs where you despise it with your entire being or you defend this top tier noise till the end and i am absolutely the latter. the agony of not being able to listen to it and seeing the timeline so divided nearly killed me, but i have concluded that people who hate work it have never felt joy in their life <3 honestly my opinion cannot be counted because i eat up anything johnny participates in … biased ass… what i’m not gonna talk about is resonance (the song), this absolute mess of a “remix”. the audacity sm had to release this as a single is insane. anyway!! this era was a rollercoaster ride. all the interactions truly made me interested in members of other units more. hendery (the rise and fall …), yangyang my beautiful son, jeno aka blue hair guy, chenle the chaos kid and xiaojun after he made make a wish his bitch in particular! all the interactions between the units were so fun to witness and it was fun while it lasted but i am … so glad it’s over lol. i miss nct 127, i miss some peace, i hope the boys get to rest for a bit and so does my bank account.

album favs: work it, 90s love, i.o.u., raise the roof

miley cyrus - plastic hearts (album) not in a thousand years would i have expected a miley release to be on here. this girl does everything to be absolutely unlikeable in my eyes but after severely banging out to her heart of glass cover, i was really excited for this and it did not disappoint. what is disappointing is that it took her so long to find a sound that fits her like a glove. i believe many people miss out on this release after her previous history and i nearly would have done the same. this alt/rock influenced pop does her voice so many favors and i really hope she sticks to this direction, i love this album greatly!!

album favs: heart of glass, midnight sky, night crawling ft. billy joel, wtf do i know

kai - kai (mini album) just. imagine debuting with an album like that. lol. what a god tier big dick move. we all knew whatever this release was gonna be, above all it was going to be sexy and boy were we RIGHT!!!! mmmh is exactly as thotty as i needed it to be and the b sides give me everything from r’n’b to trap. i love this release and i love that it’s only the beginning of kai! like!! he is only gonna gain even more experience and become even more powerful!! what the fuck!!!!!

album favs: mmmh, ride or die, hello stranger, nothing on me

honorary mentions. gfriend - mago

december

nothing? wtf?? 😭 no interesting release happened,,,,half the time i listened to christmas songs anyway lol

pre 2020 releases i only found this year

mgmt - little dark age (album, 2018) & oracular spectactular (album, 2007) another tiktok serve. i found little dark age through a tiktok trend and ended up really liking mgmt. they fit perfectly into my autumn/winter moody alt/rock mood that i had going on and i’m happy they have so much more music that i can check out!

artist favs: little dark age, electric feel, time to pretend

tame impala - currents (album, 2015) everyone’s favorite basic alt bitch album! i enjoyed this more than the slow rush for a good chunk of time, it also fit right into my alt rock autumn mood. i really love this album, like previously mentioned it has my favorite long ass tracks on there but also a good amount of short or medium long tracks. i’m still busy enjoying currents and the slow rush but i can’t wait till i finally take the leap to dive into their other releases because i’m loving everything i’ve heard so far.

album favs: the less i know the better, let it happen, new person same old mistakes

joji - ballads 1 (2018) after liking nectar so much, checking joji out was a given and i just love this album. only when i listened to this i realized i heard slowly dancing in the dark a few times on tiktok lmao that cursed app man … i would say i love nectar a bit more but this is still a fantastic album!!

album favs: slowly dancing in the dark, attention, test drive, yeah right

jus2 - focus (mini album, 2019) in my “mellow moody bangers” phase i was scouring playlists for more songs and i think i found focus on me first which fitted right into the niche i was looking to fill and i ended up enjoy this whole release! only later i realized this is a sub-unit from got7 lmao how come i enjoy solo or unit releases by got7 members but their group discography never interested me? anyway, very sexy ep!

album favs: drunk on you, focus on me, love talk

knk - sunset (song, 2019) part of my mellow bangers playlist. very sexy, i can imagine this as a runway song! i have no idea who knk are but given the fact i enjoyed two of their songs so far maybe i should look into them lol

baekhyun - city lights (mini album, 2019) i am repenting for my sins of missing out on baekhyun releases by consuming his music at an exorbitant rate. un village is one hell of a title track that i didn’t appreciate before, but i feel like in 2020 my music interests started to vary and i love the groovy r’n’b and string sound of this song so much. i also love stay up to death, the vocals baekhyun serves here are unreal. his BABY WE CAN STAY UP!!!!!!! gets me every single time!!!! what a mini!

album favs: un village, stay up

mac miller - swimming (album, 2018) i’ve listened to this album before 2020 but i had the urge to put this on here. this is going to sound so corny, but if i had to pick one song to be my life’s title track, it would be ladders. the hope this song gives me is unreal, it feels like a light at the end of the tunnel. this album is so fantastic, i love the upbeat instrumentals paired with sometimes gloomy lyrics are so incredible, mac was truly one of the greatest artists of our time. this album is  so outstanding and i miss him every day.

album favs: ladders, jet fuel, 2009, self care, perfecto

doja cat - hot pink (album, 2019) i can never decide if i like doja or not but the album slaps lol that’s it come on tiktok queen

album favs: say so, juicy, like that, streets

my fav 2020 playlists

slapping mellow

neo culture technology

malcolm

why go to therapy when this playlist exists?

top songs 2020

(by spotify)

[thisweekingundamwing]

This Week in Gundam Wing (January 5-11, 2020)

Hey Gundam Wing fandom!  Here are some highlights from the past week.  Give your creators some love.

PS: Be sure to send us stuff you like, stuff you’ve made, stuff you’d like us to showcase!  We can’t do it without you.  I know I must’ve missed a few of the holiday exchange fic / art pieces, and I’m really sorry.  Please to submit stuff so that we don’t leave anyone behind!!  T~T

—Mod LAM

Fanfiction

To see the truth (Ch.4-7/8) by @bobo-is-tha-bomb

Pairings: Heero x Reader

Characters: Heero, Reader, Relena

Rating: Teen and Up

Tag / Warnings: Reader Insert, Romance, Citrus, Friendship

Summary:   Relena is coming over for a visit because Heero thinks you two need to get along. You don't like the idea of spending time with her, but maybe one day is all you need to convince her that you really love Heero.

Frozen by @noirangetrois for @deejayers

Pairings: Heero x Duo, Trowa x Quatre

Characters: 5 pilots

Rating: General

Tag / Warnings: Modern Setting AU, ice skating, fluff, winter

Summary:   For Duo and Heero, ice skating is always a competition. But what to do when things go wrong?

Beneath: Gravitation (Ch.7/?) by @duointherain

Pairings: hints of Heero x Duo

Characters: Duo, Relena, Heero

Rating: General

Tag / Warnings: Gravitation crossover, gender queer Relena

Summary:  “What,” Duo asked as Relena stared at him. He stared right back. Now he knew where his clothes had gone.

Of the Sea (Ch.7/?) by @noirangetrois

Pairings: Heero x Duo

Characters: full cast

Rating: MATURE

Tag / Warnings: Aro!Trowa, otp, Yaoi, Eventual Smut, fairytale my way, Meroctopus!Dorothy, more ships on the way, Slow Burn, Multi POV, POV Third Person Limited, merman au, Slash, MerMay, Fantasy Politics, mentions of abuse

Summary:   Quatre contacts Duo. Heero teaches Duo a new skill. Senator Darlian plans for Relena's coronation.

A Solstice Wedding by @anaranesindanarie for @duointherain

Pairings: Heero x Duo

Characters: 5 pilots and Relena

Rating:  General

Tag / Warnings: happy holidays, wedding

Summary:  The big day is quickly approaching but Duo is stuck out on a mission. Will he make it back in time?

Life Worth Loving by @doctormegalomania for phoenix

Pairings: Heero x Relena

Characters: Heero, Relena

Rating: General

Tag / Warnings: fluff

Summary:  Heero and Relena meet their newborn child for the first time.

Christmas is for Us by @vegalume for @doctormegalomania

Pairings: Heero x Duo

Characters: Heero, Duo, Quatre

Rating: General

Tag / Warnings: holiday, Christmas

Summary:   Heero made a promise that he would be home every Christmas. So the one year he isn't Duo decides to celebrate it the same as always, just as soon as Heero gets home.

Merry Martian Christmas by @amyole for Angel T

Pairings: Dorothy x Relena, Zechs x Noin

Characters: Dorothy, Relena, Zechs, Noin

Rating: General

Tag / Warnings: Christmas

Summary:   When Relena moves to Mars, she can finally have a family Christmas with her brother.

Fanart

Duo by @duointherain

Heero by @noromax

Heero and Duo by @duckyreads

Trowa and Duo by @feanaro07 for @rhysgalenrigsby

Cathy Bloom by @gundayum for @feanaro07

Other Fan Work

GW Fashion Headcanons by @disturbed02girl

Heero

Duo

Wufei

GoL scans by @disturbed02girl

Zechs and Howard

The Scientists

Heero and Dr J

Quatre and Sandrock

Escape from Earth

Edits by @hiruma

Zechs

Noin

Opening

Sanrock Gunpla by @mack-mod and edit by @lemontrash

Wing Gundam by @kaiser-dracon

Screencaps from the show by @janaverse

Wufei and the Hyenas by @clair-audients

Musings: Relena was just a Millennial by @cosmosmarmot

@incorrectgundamwingquotes holding down the fort still!  Here are two of my favorites (both of which feature Heero being ridiculous).

Calendar Events

Cocktail Fridays with @gwcocktailfriday

Post responses on Friday between 3-5PM!

This week’s prompt is here

Rhythm Generation: Shooting Stars and Measure of a Year, a 25th anniversary zine project

PRE-ORDERS ARE CLOSED!!!  The zine will go live on April 7.  Stay tuned for PDF-only orders opening later this spring at @gundamzine​!

Also be sure to submit your response to the (totally anonymous) Fandom Metrics Survey the Zine Crew is running, here

[michelles-garden-of-evil]

Episode 19 Review: She Was One of Us

{ YouTube: 1 | 2 }

{ Synopses/Recaps: Debby Graham | Bryan Gruszka }

{ Screencaps }

In the last episode, we saw Jean Paul’s lawyer and Alison’s fiancé Dan depart from the main island, at the behest of Jacques. This means that now all major characters save Vangie are on the isle of Maljardin, prisoners detained guests forced to partake in the funeral that Jean Paul reluctantly agreed to hold for Erica while he waits for her to return from the dead.

We open in the crypt, where Raxl and Quito are leaving flowers on top of the cryonics capsule. Raxl starts talking about how she wants Erica’s soul to “depart to the Great Serpent,” which Jean Paul overhears when he and Alison enter. “You don’t seem to have much faith in the last rites of Christianity,” he remarks. (Look who’s talking!) Jean Paul explains briefly to Alison that Raxl’s religion predates Christianity (which she calls “the new religion”), which soon devolves into yet another “Erica is dead forever and should be buried”/”Erica will rise again” argument. I’ve lost count of how many times he and Alison have argued about this, but I think we’re up to Argument Number #389723. They’re both determined to beat the dead horse until it’s reduced to a pile of smashed bones suitable only for fertilizer.

Colin, are you reading the Teleprompter?

She says that she wishes that he would have Erica put in the ground, and he responds that technically she is. I would call him a smart-ass, but the way he delivers the line doesn’t come across as sarcastic. In fact, at this point on the show, Jean Paul doesn’t seem to have a sense of humor. Jacques is the witty, sarcastic one, and Jean Paul is the serious one with the one-track mind that can only think of Erica. Later on in Desmond Hall, they try to give Jean Paul a sense of humor by having him make a joke every now and then, but it doesn’t work because it goes against his original characterization. Maljardin-era Jean Paul doesn’t joke around and rarely even uses sarcasm.

Despite his humorlessness, he is a joy to look at in this episode. Here he is earlier in the scene with Alison, putting flowers on the capsule and looking just dashing.

Anyway, Jean Paul sends everyone out of the crypt, so that he can have a few moments alone with the capsule. He clasps his hands together as through praying, although whether it’s to the Christian God, the Great Serpent, or himself is unclear because he stays silent.

Back in the great hall, Alison asks Dan and Matt some more about Raxl and Quito’s religious practices and learns that, because their religion considers Christianity heresy, they may refuse to take part in the funeral despite loving Erica. (They attend, anyway, although they do perform their own rites/ritual separately beforehand.)

Alison, the thought of that seems to please you a lot.

Holly comes downstairs and, after a recap conversation with her mother and Tim, goes to see Matt. She starts out by telling him that she’s wary of attending any funerals until her own (because of the quarrel that occurred at her father’s), but then mentions another reason why she doesn’t want to attend and why she couldn’t sleep in the previous episode:

Holly: "Look Reverend, you're going to think this is way off, but last night, I had a very strange nightmare."   Matt: "What about?" Holly: "About me. Like...some kind of a warning."

Raxl, presumably on Holly.

She lights some incense and then a message appears in the writing box where Quito wrote something a moment before. A message from the Serpent about Holly, perhaps?

Holly: "Suddenly, there was this woman, like a priestess, who seemed to be in a temple, she was standing over me with a strange kind of headdress and she looked like my mother." Matt: "Your dreams are beginning to sound like a B-movie. Go on." Holly: "Well, then she said, 'Those who are part of this evil must pay the price.'"

She asks him what the dream means. He declines to answer because he’s not an authority in dream interpretation, but insists that she attend the funeral despite her worries. Because he can’t answer, I shall try to provide one for him based on some of the research that other fans have done on Ian Martin’s original plans for the Maljardin arc.

(WARNING: The YouTube and Maljardin Blog links in the next four paragraphs contain spoilers for later Maljardin episodes.)

For the first nine weeks of Strange Paradise, all episodes were credited to Ian Martin, a veteran actor and soap opera writer who appears to have been quite emotionally invested in the story, as there is evidence that he may have based Erica on his first wife Inge Adams, who also died young. I’ve read a rumor that Krantz Films owner Steve Krantz and his wife Judith (who later became a famous and influential romance novelist) may have ghostwritten some episodes, but there is no evidence to support the presence of any ghostwriters in this period of the show’s history.

Nevertheless, as the Maljardin arc went on, a discrepancy started to appear between the episode summaries in newspapers and the actual content of the episodes that aired starting in Episode 30. Strange Paradise historian Curt Ladnier has written many blog posts on these “lost episodes,” comparing the newspaper listings with the aired episodes and analyzing the changed plot points. Ladnier attributes the changes to executive meddling, requiring Martin to rewrite episode scripts when he was already writing five per week.

One of the most notable changes to these scripts was the omission of a new character named Tarasca, whom the newspaper summary for Episode 42 describes as “a native high priestess in love with Jacques, a French buccaneer.” Because Elizabeth dreamed about being her in the original version of that episode, we can safely assume that the priestess in Holly’s nightmare who resembled her was Tarasca. Also, given that this show mostly uses dream sequences as a means of showing events that happened in the past, we can also infer that, at some point, she sacrificed a young woman who looked identical to Holly, meaning that Martin was most likely planning on writing a 17th-century counterpart for her as well.

Several other early episodes hint at (or appear to hint at) the character of Tarasca and her connection to Elizabeth Marshall, including a cryptic line in Episode 12 where Jacques promises Elizabeth a “change” while she is on Maljardin. For more information and some more speculation about Tarasca’s role and backstory, see this video. I’m a little obsessed with this aborted storyline and have been waiting since October for a chance to discuss it, so, from now on, I’m going to reference it often and provide my own thoughts as to how I think it would have played out.

Erica’s funeral. Why is no one wearing black save for Dan and (obviously) Raxl and Quito? At the very least, Alison should be, because she takes her sister’s funeral more seriously than anyone else.

Jean Paul, I know what you’re thinking, but Reverend Dawson’s not talking about the possibility of Jacques resurrecting her. You really do have a one-track mind.

Jacques: “I do believe Holly needs me to jack her up by the bootstraps.”

Holly’s response to seeing Elizabeth chatting with Jean Paul. Really, Holly? Your mother marrying the richest man in the world *who adores you* is probably the best thing that could possibly happen to you.

After the funeral and a couple boring scenes about Holly’s subplot (there are a lot of references to the stupid Holly portrait in this episode), we see Dan confront Jean Paul about whether the guests can finally leave the island. Even though Jacques re-hired him last episode, he claims to be looking for a new job and he wants to make Alison leave the island with him and return to New York. Before Jean Paul has time to object, Jacques crashes the after-funeral reception, which he treats as a party. Ignoring Dan’s question of whether he and Alison can return to the mainland, he opens up the bar and commences trolling his detained guests:

So not suspicious. ;)

Tim: "With your permission, sir, I would like to propose a toast. To the departed. To Mrs. Desmond!"

Jacques: "Cheers--I mean, thank you."

He also pressures Alison into staying, giving her Dr. Menkin’s lab to use for her research. He then brags to Dan that none of the other guests want to leave and insists that he, too, can if he wants, but he will have to do it himself because it’s too late for Quito to sail him back:

BISSITS!

After the reception, Jacques returns to the crypt and gloats a little to Erica about how he has now imprisoned everyone on Maljardin. The handsome devil once again makes it clear that he doesn’t intend on freeing her and that she, too, is his prisoner. And, of course, he has some pun with it, as one might expect:

Can’t criticize this one, because even Shakespeare made it and I think it’s funny. I like puns, sometimes, just not terrible puns like the “pose” one from last episode.

Not even a detained guest anymore?

I think I just broke my comedy drum set. ;)

Coming up next: Another episode with a flashback to Maljardin in 1689, which means another two-parter. I also have a special essay in the works about the copyright status of Strange Paradise in the United States, which may surprise you. (It certainly surprised me.) Stay tuned for all these posts, as well as the Bad Subtitle Special for Week 4 after the Episode 20 review.

{ <-- Previous: Episode 18   ||   Next: Episode 20, Part I --> }

[autumnslance]

Light and Dark

Possibly slightly more coherent ramblings on Shadowbringers, Warriors of Darkness, Dark Knights, and the Light/Dark, Good/Evil dichotomy vs Balance below the Read More cut:

Amano concept art for the expac

Someone reminded in Discord during all the FanFest spamming that the original title of “Warrior of Light” in A Realm Reborn came about because people couldn’t remember the Battle of Carteneau and the champions lost there, only seeing their forms silhouetted against the light. The current PC becomes known by that title as we “remind” people of those heroes as our deeds grow more and more astounding (and in some cases, as the realm remembers that the PC was their lost champion).

They simply called us that. Hydaelyn picked up on it, maybe, or had Her own meaning behind it (also they needed a moniker they could use in voiced scenes since everyone can name their character whatever).

That Light is associated with Hydaelyn, and therefore life, is important; people tend to auto-associate Light with Good. Some of it is because we can see clearly in the day, because a light in the dark is comforting and familiar and can drive away that which frightens us; the power of fire against predators and cold is a long-ingrained survival instinct.*

Zodiark is the aspect of Darkness, separated from Hydaelyn in ages past. Those who claim to be his servants, the Ascians, strive to bring about Calamities and weaken the Mother to bring about the rejoining of Light and Dark, to restore a balance they see as dangerously out of tune--though their own actions seem just as out of balance, striving for a domination of the Dark over the Light.

The Ascians, from FanFest screencaps

There is an indication of a need for balance; the success of the Dark on Hydaelyn’s 13th reflection saw it overwhelmed by Darkness and fallen into the Void. We know of one survivor who was not killed or turned into a voidsent monster, a boy saved by the Ascian Emissary and sent to...help the champions of Light, in the name of balance, and timing.

But the success of the Light on the 1st reflection was just as disastrous, as the Flood of Light began wiping out all life, creating a perfect void of Light instead of Dark. The champions of that world were brought to the Source--to “our” Hydaelyn--to become the Warriors of Darkness and try to bring balance to our successes. One of our allies found a way to possibly save their world, but at great cost, leaving us with the warning from our counterpart in Patch 3.4 in our ears: 

“We were just adventurers trying to make our way. An odd job here, a favor there–we never aspired to be Warriors of Light. But word of our deeds spread, and soon people were calling us heroes. They placed their hopes and dreams on our shoulders and bid us fight for all that was good and right.

“We fought and we fought and we fought…until there was no one left to fight. We won…and now our world is being erased from existence. We did everything right, everything that was asked of us, and still–still, it came to this! You of all people should understand! We cannot–we will not falter. We brought our world to the brink of destruction, and now we must save it.” -Arbert

And now we have patch 4.5 “A Requiem for Heroes” coming, with the 5.0 expansion Shadowbringers to follow. We are told we must become Warriors of Darkness to save the world from a worse Calamity.

My screenshot of the Midlander WoL in the trailer

The Midlander who represents the PC in all of the trailers is weary, scarred, pained, and sad, but continues to fight when faced with a challenge. His weapons shatter and he is wounded. But he keeps fighting, against a familiar foe, a construct imbued with White Magic and Light itself. And he cannot win--until he calls upon the Flame in the Abyss. Until he becomes Dark Knight.

My immediate response to the trailer and seeing the “canon job” for Middy this expac was DRK got a lovely response I also agree with. In this setting, while the instinctive reaction is “Light vs Dark”, it may not be so simple. That “Good vs Evil,” “Right vs Wrong”, may not be based in this familiar dichotomy.

I’ve written before about Dark Knight being comparable to a Vengeance Paladin in the new Dungeons & Dragons 5th ed Paladin Oath system (...interesting synchronicity there, actually...), and I think that holds true. Just because we’re being asked to restore balance by becoming Warriors of Darkness doesn’t mean we are now “evil” (edgy and goth elements are acceptable and may vary).

Dark Knights fight using any means necessary to see Right triumph over wrongs committed against those who can’t defend themselves from those in authority.  Their strength comes from their bonds of friendship and love of their sworn charges. I am not even kidding, it’s the point of the lvl 60 and 70 quest chains. That Dark Knight is the chosen canon job, and comes with so much symbolism, should mean a LOT going into 4.5 and Shadowbringers. 

DRK became available at the start of Heavensward, after one of the more traumatic events the Champion experienced, when we are down and alone and things seem bleak. A voice calls, by turns weary and angry, giving voice to our own pain. And while we learn to control, to work with it, it’s always there, the specter of our failures, doubts, grief, pain, anger--and how we take those emotions to fight for the sake of others.

Now we must take those feelings, in the wake of the coming disaster, to try to stop it and save all we love. What better symbolism is there, than to put our Midlander in the dark armor with the big sword?

“We were blind to the truth once. So I tell you this, as one fool to another. Light, Dark, it doesn’t matter. What matters is how you choose to use them. We made our choice, and you see what came of it. So please…forge a different path. Seize a better fate.”  -Arbert

We must become the Warrior of Balance.

Official Warrior of Darkness render

*There are also often unfortunate and horrible racial associations with Light/Dark, White/Black, and such tropes do sometimes raise their ugly heads in game, but they fall outside the scope of this post, in part because IRL I am a pasty white woman, and there are things I know I miss noticing or understanding until pointed out by PoC, so I’m gonna stay in my lane with the traditional literary symbolism and paladin stuff, and leave those discussions to people better positioned to remark.

[p-redux]

What happened? Did we miss no more. Enough is enough. It's one thing for Extreme Shippers to character assassinate me (that will never stop) but it's quite another coming from a non-shipper . Soooo, tea time coming soon...

No, Anon, you didn’t miss it. I’ve been swamped at work with a couple of new projects, so right now I don’t have the time it would take to compile and post all the info I would need to. And looking back thru my screencaps, I also realized I have a ton (4 years worth) and this would need to be a multi-part post…again, I don’t have the time, and frankly, I don’t know if I want to spend the time. Also, if I do this all the way, then it will cause some shockwaves and I don’t know if I want to deal with that kind of shitstorm. I’m still weighing my options, but right now, I literally don’t have the time. 

But stay tuned…it would be an eye-opener if I posted about my experience with REAL inside sources (one of them has a blue check by her name on Twitter and Instagram) and recently I shared exactly WHO she is with a small group of friends I’ve known for 4 years; my Tony family source I got purely by chance and whose full identity I also know (I haven’t revealed her identity to anyone); the MANY sources who have contacted me with info thru the years at different events, conventions, premieres, street sightings, etc; AND unfortunately, one source who turned out to be a BIG FRAUD (she walks among us here on Tumblr); and the NST who I confided in about said fraud, who ended up betraying my trust–using the info I told her against me, selling me out as part of her recent public smear campaign about me (I know privately she’s been trying to turn people against me for years).She poked the lioness, well the lioness lies in wait only for so long before she pounces. Would have been better had she shown the discretion I’ve shown about the things she’s shared with me. Maybe if her sense of prudence kicks in, and she stops talking about me, I’ll reconsider moving forward with this exposé. Caveat emptor is all I gotta say about her. Well not all...but for now. If I do post about this, people will know with concrete proof that I am the one telling the truth about my sources. Now that I’m writing it down, it’s riveting stuff actually, but I can’t devote the time to it right now. Soon though…maybe…I’m not going to make any promises…we shall see…

[finnwolfhardfan]

Hey, all! Real life got real busy last week, so I’m only now beginning to catch up with all the news. Stay tuned for tons of Finn stuff today!

To start, the first official full trailer for Finn’s upcoming movie Dog Days was released last week, and it is the most adorable thing you will ever see. The movie opens in theaters on August 10th. Screencaps coming soon!

For the latest Finn Wolfhard news, info and pics, visit FinnWolfhardFan.com. Follow us on social media! [Twitter + Facebook + Instagram + Tumblr]

[undine66770]

I’ve got several Vitas screencaps from this video coming up very soon. Stay tuned!

[goranvisnjicdaily]

Blu-rays and Fanfic to come

Good Sunday afternoon! I've just finally came across online for the "Timeless Season 1 & 2" on Blu-ray, really hard to find in Canada. I already have Timeless on DVD and on apple, but on DVD the screencaps quality is bad, and you can't screencapture on Apple.

I will also screencaps "The Santa Clarita Diet" This week, it's still available on Netflix, so I'm just going to do it before Netflix take it down, just like they did for "Timeless" :'( At least here In Canada, Timeless isn't available on Netflix anymore. I also found on Amazon, Season 3 of Crossing Lines, never seen it before and it's a Region 2 blu ray, I don't know if it will work on my External bluray player, we shall see ;) I'm taking the chance, because quite frankly, it's kinda hard to find all those Goran Movies and TV Shows on Blu ray ahha! I have most of them from Amazon prime, but some of them aren't on the streamings platforms.

I also got my hands on Elektra, The girl with the dragon tattoo and the Deep end, all in Blurays! So stay tuned for more HD Screencaps in the weeks to come :)

I'm also having in mind to post soon a Nicholae Schiller fanfic ;) Stay tuned for more and enjoy the rest of your week end :)

[sage-nebula]

I’ve been taking a lot of screenshots as I’ve played through Splatoon 2, but I’ve neglected to upload them because it’s difficult to stop playing long enough to do so (whoops). However, I’m going to do so now in order to get caught up, and hopefully be better about posting screencaps of cool things in the future.

So, first, as per usual, the game starts off with a broadcast. In Splatoon, the Squid Sisters were the ones who always handled the broadcasts. But now, in the sequel---and I have little doubt this has a lot to do with the story mode, as well as just wanting to introduce new characters (and it wouldn’t surprise me if Marina being Octarian played into it), the broadcasts are handled by a pop duo known as Off the Hook, starring Pearl and Marina.

Anyway, the introductory broadcast to the game introduces the single-player campaign, of course, and I love how Pearl references the fact that the Octarians stealing the Great Zapfish is the exact same plot from the first game’s single-player campaign. However . . .

. . . there is a twist this time around, since Callie is “missing” as well. Hmmm . . .

Pearl gets over it pretty quickly, though, lmao. (And really, the fact that Pearl doesn’t care about the Great Zapfish is, I feel, another clue that Inkopolis doesn’t necessarily need it, at least not more than the Octarians might . . .)

Once the broadcast ends, the game decides to show you all the different features of Inkopolis Square, just in case you’re not bright enough to explore the place yourself. In so doing, it introduces the new Salmon Run part of the game . . .

I love how they keep hammering home that this is sketchy and shady and not that great, hahaha. That said, I get the feeling that the Salmonids, like the Octarians, are more victims than villains, despite how they’re being painted. I especially feel that way in this case, since we’re stealing their eggs for some sketchy dude’s profit. :/ Man . . .

Rude af. I can’t believe I have to already have a job and work experience to get a job to get work experience in Splatoon 2 as well. Art imitates life.

When you have more experience you can work, though, and like I said, I really love how they keep hammering home that this is not a good job, you are making a poor life choice.

Inklings can’t swim, though. Tf are you trying to say to me?

Anyway, after I did Salmon Run a couple of times, I went and played some (more) multiplayer, and . . .

I tried, OK. I did my best. I have no regrets. (Especially since I scored more points than anyone on the winning team, because remember: The winning team gets an extra 1000 points. The highest score anyone on the winning team had before the bonus was 729. I was better than that. Sadly, with two teammates disconnecting partway trhough the match, there was not a whole lot I could do . . .)

tfw you win a match by .3%.

And once again, I was the highest scoring person on my team, even if the highest scorer on the losing team had a slightly better score than I did. (Only slightly, though.) I’m still not as consistently good as I was in the first game, but I’m getting there. Once I have better gear / better weapons, I’m sure I’ll be back on top form, especially once I get used to all the new maps. (Though they better add Kelp Dome in an update at some point or so help me . . .)

Anyway, it soon became time for some story mode / single-player campaign playthrough, and once I realized I could unlock Hero Dualies this way, that’s all I’ve been doing. That said . . .

THERE SHE IS---THE BEST GIRL, THE SUPERIOR SQUID SISTER, MY LOVELY MARIE. ♥

When you go to talk to her, Marie explains about how she wants to go get the Great Zapfish back from the Octarians after they stole it, but that she can’t leave her post because that would mean leaving it defenseless, and so she needs someone else to go get it back and thinks you’d be perfect for the job. She also drops not-subtle hints about Callie, but those, I think, were supposed to be under her breath or in her inner thoughts. Regardless, she recruits you as Agent 4 (Callie was Agent 1, Marie is Agent 2, and you were Agent 3 in the first game) and sends you to go fight the Octarians. You may remember that I mentioned in an earlier post about how Marie is particularly savage toward the Octarians, and, well---

I was not kidding.

This really leads me to believe that Marie thinks that the Octarians kidnapped Callie as well as the Great Zapfish. Of course, I now think that Callie took the Great Zapfish when she defected to the Octarians, but Marie doesn’t seem to know / realize that’s what happened.

Rude af. I am Agent 3! (I can’t believe it’s already been two years since the first game came out, though, omfg.)

I can’t believe Marie betrayed me like this. (I looked it up and apparently the pineapple pizza debate was a Splatfest topic in the EU for the first game, and Marie was anti-pineapple, and they won . . . but I still feel so betrayed she’d take that stance in the first place. How could you Marie? I know you’ve betrayed me other times, with other Splatfest topics (the Red Version vs. Blue Version debate comes to mind---Callie was right there, too, and you know it), but still!

The win screen for whenever you clear a level is really cute, though.

. . . as is the screen when you clear it for the second time and rescue a Zapfish plushie instead, hahaha.

I can’t believe they dragged Spyke like this. (This is from the book you fill in as you find the pages in the levels. They’re similar to the sea scrolls from the first game, but are more current. ... Pun not intended.)

SHE’S INVESTED IN ME. ♥ Ily, Marie, even if you don’t know what good pizza is.

mfw:

YES, YES IT WAS. (I’m sorry, no offense to Off the Hook, but their catchphrase is just so stupid . . .)

Anyway, at the end of every section you have a boss battle, and there are wireless transmissions at the end of each boss battle. And at the end of the second boss battle . . .

HMMM, I WONDER . . .

I have the same reaction whenever Sheldon starts talking, tbh.

This was the second time I was forced to use a godforsaken charger in one of the maps, and I just

UNFORTUNATELY, despite it being a “request”, you don’t have the option to say no. You have to play through the level with the assigned weapon at least once. I already complained about this enough yesterday, so I won’t do it again, but god, I hate it so much, particularly since it means I have to play through most levels twice since you have to clear every level with your desired Hero weapon in order to unlock it for multiplayer, and I want the Hero Dualies. Ugh.

♥

Hahaha, I didn’t grab a screenshot of it, but in an earlier level after making a particularly risky jump, she asks if I consider myself to be “the reckless type”, and that she sure does consider me to be the reckless type. I mean, I am, I won’t deny it.

I love her.

mfw:

It was for a boss fight, too. I FELT SO #BLESSED. Oh, and here was the boss:

And then I destroyed him and his sweet new coat. Sorry, bro. :/ (Oh, and if you’re wondering, he was a boss from the first game, hence why he was “back”.)

But since this was a boss, that means that we had a post-battle wireless transmission, so . . .

She loves Callie so much. ;__; And I say this, because look at the word choice: “Even more than the Great Zapfish, I want to find my cousin Callie.” Marie is sending Agent Four after the Great Zapfish because she views it as a duty. This is a necessity, it’s something (and anyone she can recruit to help) must due because Inkopolis (supposedly) needs it. But she wants to find Callie, and she wants to find Callie even more than the Great Zapfish. Callie means that much to her. Callie is her best friend. Biologically, Callie might be her cousin, but in her heart, Callie is her sister. And something tells me she’s going to be in for a lot of emotional pain when she learns the truth . . . poor, poor Marie. ;__;

Anyway, she goes on to explain about how she’s Agent 2 and Callie was Agent 1, and---

OH, so THAT’S the excuse for why your inkling from the first game is just mysteriously out of the picture, haha. Though that begs the question . . . what is your inkling from the first game doing with Cap’n Cuttlefish? Why is your inkling from the first game with Cap’n Cuttlefish? Things aren’t safe with him! He’s not wise! He gets captured because he’s distracted by crabby cakes! Like, bruh! Have some sense!!

Anyway, then the transmission was interrupted again---

HMMM, I WONDER WHO IT COULD POSSIBLY BE . . . :/

I mean, I guess there’s still a chance that Callie hasn’t defected. Maybe she’s telling Marie to leave because she’s worried Marie will get hurt, or maybe she was kidnapped and is now brainwashed. Her eyes are red in that icon, after all (but so are the Octolings’, so that could just be because of some fancy goggles). Either way, that’s very obviously Callie, and if she’s helping the Octarians decorate their bases, something tells me she isn’t here unwillingly. Right now, I’m sticking by the theory that she is the one who stole the Great Zapfish (and all the other Zapfish) for the benefit of the Octarians, and that she has defected willingly because she has come to see that they aren’t all evil and that peace should be made between the two races. (Though why she isn’t working to actually make that peace doesn’t make sense. You’d think she’d come forward and talk to Marie (and Cap’n Cuttlefish) about it, rather than letting Marie think she had been kidnapped and is in serious danger, but . . . well. The plot has to happen some way, I guess.)

Anyway, I’ll post more as I can get to it. Stay tuned, and as always . . . stay fresh. ;D

[aspiestvmusings]

RANDOM POST: #4

Stay tuned. Posts coming on Friday or Monday. Depending on when someone gets things uploaded/posted. I’m not making any promises, but right now Friday looks promising. 

And oh, unless I get an urgent call tomorrow, too about “get to the office, fast, someone’s coming over to get the papers and stuff...  and then after getting there fast..on my bike, I wait 90 minutes for the person, because unlike da boss’ phone call originally told me... “how fast can you get there”, there was actually no hurry, but that part was left out until I was already there, and called saying I’ve arrived, and got the files ready and all. In short: normals are weird and “get there fast” doesn’t mean the other party is supposed to get there fast too... that’s not the plan at all...only youre not told this at first.  #endofrant ) I’m hoping to get some BTS pics from set posted, plus start queueing the drafted posts....again. 

Otherwise: it’s becoming evident to me that fandom edits (PS) & I are no longer “friends” as I haven’t gotten anything done...for several reasons. PS just doesn’t “call my name” and I just don’t get to seem to have any energy, wish or editing ideas..at all. Capping is as far as it seems to go these days. So new edits from me most likely won’t show up anytime soon either. (I’ve got a list in my mind & notebook of edit & vid ideas I want to make... yet I’m not even done screencapping the  needed scenes... ) 

[goranvisnjicdaily]

Good Sunday my friends!

A big thank you to @madrika57 who sent me the movie "Tesko je reci zbogom" in which Goran wears glasses... I call it "The Goran in Glasses Movie"🤣 Thanks again my friend xxx

📸 So I was able to screencap it... 1329 caps to be exact + 2 Stills sent by @madrika57

Goran is in this movie A LOT! Unfortunately, I didn't understand a word hahah! 🤣🤣

HD Screencaps and Stills 👇 HERE

🤩 Goran Visnjic Archive have been added to my affiliates on the website!

🟦 Stay tuned as this week, I will add a new section on the Gallery, where I will post pictures of fans meeting Goran. Of course, with all permissions approved! You've met Goran and want your pic to be added to the Gallery? Feel free to send it to me :)

🟦 I will also add back the GIFS section on the website. I was almost done with doing GIFS from "Red Widow" and "Dark Hearts"

🟦 A Big thank you to @arkadia_2022 for sending me the movie "Prepoznavanje" I will do screencaps as soon as I can this week, or in the next weeks to come xxxx

🟦 Thanks as well to @battleshipgarcy for sending me the movie "The Last Will" I'm not sure the DVD I bought on eBay will play on my computer hahah! Merci Beaucoup mon amie xxx

😎 On this, I'm out for the day! Take care xxxx