#series rewatch: glee

[pussyhoundspock]

glee is so crazy for the advice to kurt to "refuse to be the victim" girl his bully is THE ENTIRE FOOTBALL TEAM

[findafight]

.... Mr Schu's mom is implied to have had an affair with Josh Groban????

[thefifthroy]

glee characters & their succession counterparts:

finn = cousin greg

quinn & kurt = kendall

santana = roman

tina = tom

rachel = shiv

brittany = conor

terri (off her meds): logan

[jittersbitters]

So, I recently started rewatching Arcane S1 to fill the hole in my soul(lovejayvik tho, that completed me for like 10 minutes) after what ever was S2 and got a little carried away after reading some really good fics on this website.

I also finished watching Superstore and Bridgerton so its been a spiraling thanksgiving week,

Anyway, I know I said Matt Murdock was coming but I got really distracted... So here is a part of a draft scene in a viktorxreader smut fic set during his earlier academy years (and eventually into the series events? if I can manage that long) I wanna post soon.

I tried to shift my thigh away, looking up at him, surprised by his boldness - his hand following after. A flush of warmth settled in my stomach, mixed emotions bubbling up my throat as I struggled to swallow them back down. I could feel the intensity of his gaze as I quickly looked back to my paper. Viktor turned his hand over, tapping a gentle rhythm on the top of my thigh like he was playing piano. “If you just needed a little motivation,” he started, leaning close as if studying my notes. His taps slowly moved to drag up and down, callouses start to scrap the goose flesh building up as he made sure to linger along the hem of my skirt's slit. His intentions were unmistakable. “Then all you need to do is pay attention and write your notes.” I could only swallow hard, aware of the game we'd been playing over the past few months. The exchanged glances, light touches, the foot games, the playful teasing. It all began the day he took my pen, and since then, the tension had only grown, with neither of us trying to pull back, but rather escalate it. He kept tapping my thigh, expectantly waiting for my response or a sign. I glanced at Viktor again; his golden eyes sparkled with wanton glee, sending my heart racing as I thought of the possibilities and the ramifications of being caught. We rarely interacted outside this room, so I wondered what the harm could be... right?

I felt a little freaky and missed the old Vik.

Tell me what you think. Either way its being finished and written with hopefully at least 3 parts in total. I think it will be called 'The Long Game' or 'With Sugar & Spice"

Edit: it's up yall. Here

[dangerliesbeforeyou]

ok so ive been rewatching psychoville and saw on the wikipedia that there were a bunch of websites made for the series (they were all written by reece and steve btw) which i've been looking through cos they are genuinely SO fucking funny & also just amazingly creative lol!

anyway i know people in the fandom probs already know about this (since the show came out literally 15 years ago pfft) but i thought i'd share some of my fav bits (but honestly would just recommend just checking them out if you haven't i have been crying with laughter for literally hours lol)

i will say that a lot of the media (videos, games, etc) no longer work on the archived sites rip but i'm sure people have uploaded some of the stuff (vids especially) to yt or other places lol

so a) i love that we get some background stuff on jelly and 2) 'captain CRACKERS' bernie clifton's dressing room reference question mark ??????? (ofc bcdr was AFTER this but i know love the idea that mr jelly trained under len pfft)

what that red raw stump do though 👀 (sorry pfffft)

mr jolly's website wasn't that interesting soz tho i did like him comparing being a doctor to being a clown lol

the comment about fag bears did make me wheeze i'm afraid lol i also loved the blurry photos of lomax's commodities lol (kinda reminded me of the bit in tlog w/ that terrible old photographer guy lol)

when i tell you i DIED with laughter at the 'now known as hull' bit like u just know reece wrote that bit pfft

not really a funny thing but this poem written by david honestly kinda breaks my heart lol... i think it also a lot of additional context to david's guilt when he thought he'd killed his father(faver) because perhaps he felt guilty about NOT feeling guilty you get me? like, it felt to me that when maureen told david it was SHE who killed her husband, it didn't feel like he was mad at her for doing it, but more that she kept the fact from him. it's about... the mutual oedipus-coded obsession with one another that couldn't even be destroyed in death and in this essay i will....

ghoul_lass23 is just like me but about tumblr lol fr

nothing feels more cursed than the phrases 'the river minge has burst its banks', 'crying creamy tears' and 'fleshy rapunzel' (which i've just noticed they misspelt lol... don't think that was intentional lol?) so if i had to read this so do you <3

the way that i kinda wish this actually existed tho pfft... also, it does kinda remind me of that video where jenny nicholson talked about that insane reality show 'opposite worlds' lol

'cross between seven and glee' is honestly sending me pfft

also on this part there was a script from stinkfinger (which is a show mentioned on the show) which sounded suspiciously like a reference to tlc lol

the less said about swastknickers the better

(will say i did nearly piss myself laughing at the nazi section of the hoity toity website lol which wasn't a sentence i thought i'd type today lol)

i just love these kinds of jokes pfft

also the whole biography sections of each of the pantomime cast are fab lol tho i AM kinda pissed they made debbie from yeovil and yet didn't give her a west country accent lol!!! (i guess they thought it'd be a bit much w/ joy being bristolian but i'm still mad about it lol)

also i know people have probably already pointed this out but i do find it funny that brian in the in9 episode last night of the proms is a closeted gay guy who likes watching drag was probably a reference to brian in this show that was a drag queen like... is anything these guys do NOT a reference??? u know those gaylor fans who obsessively look for clues in her songs about her apparent secret sexuality? all i'm saying is that i think they'd really like the extended reece shearsmith & steve pemberton universe pfft

all three of these made me cry with laughter lol

ohh this is interesting lol so obviously they suspected that some people might be all 'um why didn't the sprinklers go off during the fire at ravenhill? plot hole much!' so they wrote this into one of the websites so they could be like SEE! WE'RE ONE STEP AHEAD OF YOU DUMBASSES lol

both the jeremy kyle reference (remember when that was a thing? yikes... my mum used to watch his show CONSTANTLY...) and nurse kenshington's thoughts on david and maureen are interesting lol.. also there's a reference to the serial killer top trumps in this bit lol! (do people still play top trumps?? man i LOVED top trumps lol...)

the entire sunnyvale care home section is so fucking funny (both the website AND in the show lol mrs wren/mrs ladybird face is unironically probably my favourite character on the entire show) these were just some of my fav gags lol...

ok but why is this the SECOND reference to a guy punching a child who was apparently looking at his dick lol!??!! did this happen to one of you ??!!?!? reece did you punch a child ??!???!?!??

&&&& that's it lol

there were a few websites i didn't spend long on or generally weren't that interesting (coughmidgetgemscough) but honestly? i was really captivated with just how funny and well put together all these sites were! you can tell they had a lot of fun making it and i'm sure fans at the time LOVED being able to have this semi-interactive element of the show lol

there was just something so wonderfully late 00's about these websites lol i genuinely don't think i've laughed this much at anything in literal months and all of this is just solidifies that psychoville is a criminally under-appreciated masterpiece lol

[forabeatofadrum]

2024 Writing Round-Up

It's the last SSS/WW for the year and I have nothing to share, since I finished Ever After and am not itching to start something new (and I'm back on my Persona bullshit). Luckily, @that-disabled-princess tagged me in this writing round-up, so I am doing that instead. Please enjoy my bespoke banner.

I posted 10 works on AO3, with three being WIPs. I have published 85,165 words in 2024. Oh boy, let's get into it under the cut

I did actually publish stuff in January and February, but those were multichaptered things, and I am putting the works in the months I finished them/last updated them.

So, with that said, let's start in March!

MARCH 🪻

February Friday Event 2024 (Radio Silence, gen, WIP)

I have written 2 of the 4 prompts for the February Friday event. I started the other two, but I just.... haven't finished them. I should. I liked what I have written for it. Completing this fic wasn't a priority and it shows. Oof.

吃了吗? (Glee, Tike, 1.564 words)

Part of the series that explores the Asianness in Glee, and yes, it was me projecting on Tina again. Tina feels disconnected from her Korean heritage due to her adoption. Oop. I really, really liked this one and I think it's one of the best titles of the year. Yes, the title is Chinese, not Korean, since it mostly takes place in a Chinese restaurant. Mutual, 你吃饭了吗？

APRIL ❤️

All of me loves all of you (Class, Charlie/Matteusz, 2.598 words)

A story idea that I have had for years and I'm glad I finally wrote it down. Charlie is an alien, gasp! And he only looks human. In this fic, he shows Matteusz his alien self and reflects on his human disguise. I'm really, really happy with this one and it's one of the reasons that my love for Class reawakened this year.

MAY 🌻

Just Some Guy (Carry On, Snowbaz + Matt/Leslie, 15.664 words)

HONESTLY ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I HAVE EVER WRITTEN, if I may so myself. It's Snowbaz's 7.25's canon years at Watford from the perspective of someone who doesn't give a shit about them. I fucking love this fic. I fucking love MCD (Matt Christopher Davis) and I loved writing how disinterested he is in the whole Chosen One shenanigans. It makes for a fun fic, but it also makes sense if you look at the state of the world. So many people keep living ordinary lives while weird shit happens, and MCD is just ordinary. He's just some guy.

JULY 🌼

Find My Way (Legally Blonde, gen, 1.358 words)

I was on a Christian Borle binge during the summer, so I rewatched the musical Legally Blonde and this fic is a missing scene. Vivian realises what is happening and decides to break up with Warner and back-up Elle. I think it's neat.

OCTOBER 😺

What's in the name? (Glee, multi, WIP)

The first multichaptered installment of my Asianness in Glee series and it's all about names. It's partially me trying to make sense of some of Glee's choices, and me lifting from my life again. I have published Wes and Yu-Jin's and Tina's chapters. The one for Blaine is not written and I have started the one with Mike and Tina. I'm struggling with the latter, especially since I don't really understand Mike's circumstances either.

Ljubili se (Glee, Klaine, WIP)

Ah, yes, the fic that I love but also regret. I've started it for the 2023 Klaine December Challenge. I am just stuck on it, even though I have cool stuff written for it. I just don't know what to do with this one, to be honest. I want to finish it, but I have also realised that I don't like writing it anymore because I am so stuck on it. I am waiting for the inspiration to strike and for my passion to be re-ignited, because do I regret it? I also like writing it when I am writing it. And I am excited to share what I have for later chapters. There's a lil moment where Cooper tries to flirt with Denise and Quinn and Blaine are standing there like🧍‍♀️🧍‍♂️. I will see where this fic will take me, I guess.

The Mars fic (Glee, Klaine, 56 words)

An inside joke that is a sequel to an inside joke! BOOP! I peaked here.

DECEMBER 🕯️

All's fair in love and war (Class, Charlie/Matteusz + Matteusz & Quill, 16.646 words)

The story that deserves better, since it has, like, 9 hits, but hey, that is what happens when you write for a small fandom. Which is a shame, cause this is also one of the best things I have written this year and I also enjoyed it a lot. I loved delving into the morality of the show Class through Matteusz, who is a middle man in-between two people with extreme conflicting opinions. And he loves both of them. Please watch Class, and read my fic after that!

Ever After (Glee, Klaine, 30.624 words)

The fic for the 2024 Klaine December Fanworks Challenge, which I did finish! Blaine is living in the kingdom of Daltonia, and Kurt is stranded in this place, so Blaine tries to help him get home.... to another world. I had a lot of fun, especially since I stopped Ljubili se for it, and it reminded how much I love writing Klaine. I also liked my world building here. I just think it is neat. I really enjoyed this one. I think I left some things open, since I didn't have room for more, but December was Ever After thought almost 24/7.

And now, the weather: @quizasvivamos @coffeegleek @caramelcoffeeaddict @raenestee @tectonicduck 

@nightimedreamersworld @urban-sith @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @bookish-bogwitch @confused-bi-queer

@special-bc-ur-part-of-it @larkral @cutestkilla​ @wellbelesbian​

@artsyunderstudy​ @facewithoutheart​ @shrekgogurt @rockitmans @bitbybitwrites 

@whatevertheweather @shame-is-a-wasted-emotion @esilher @kurtsascot @blackberrysummerblog 

@nightimedreamersghost @ivelovedhimthroughworse @thnxforknowingme @martsonmars

[demonslayedher]

It didn't seem right to skip over episodes I didn't draw recaps for! Things that ran through my head while watching this episode:

--When making this episode, Ufotable had the advantage of knowing what would come later in the manga. While rewatching it today, I had the advantage of knowing what would come later in the anime.

--By that, I mean the judicious use of Nezuko's lines in Tanjiro's dream in "Kamado Nezuko no Uta" *cough which I was just singing again at karaoke a few hours ago so it's even fresher in my brain cough*

--By that, I also mean the imagery of the field of Nichirin-to, wisteria petals, and dawn-like light as Tanjiro contemplates if he were to become a demon, and how he would trust that someone in the Corp would cut his head off for him --It never gets old how the Shabana siblings are a foil to the Kamado siblings, especially because Tanjiro recognizes how close they were and takes it to heart. I love how Gyutaro took a liking to Tanjiro on account of Tanjiro being laughably pathetic, and by merit of both of them being big brothers. That gives them something to relate to which is totally independent of whether they are demons or humans.

--I love that scene with Gyutaro mocking Tanjiro so much; it's one of those scenes that Ufotable really slowed down and dialed up the drama in, while still making every action make sense and count. One of the most tense conversations in the whole anime, and Gyutaro's glee is palpable. I love that all the names he calls Tanjiro are names that he was called when he was human, and while I don't think Gyutaro is conscious of it, it feels like at some level, he's yelling these things at himself because he's angry with himself for having failed to protect Ume.

--Speaking of, I love how Daki is like, "nuh uh, Oniichan, don't you dare make these two our friends, I hate them" and Gyutaro ignores her because she's an annoying little sister. Such siblings. Also, the way she's just casually sitting totally unphased at the top of the building is the biggest mockery, as it rubs him how useless their hard-earned triumph in the previous episode was. I love how much that theme gets stressed in this series--that is what it means to fight demons!

--Kimetsu logic: don't give us any idea what the characters are doing until after they've already done it. Tanjiro wasn't running away, but instead grabbing a kunai and covering its scent? Oh, ok, cool. Zenitsu had another variation on his one technique and he can only use it twice in one fight? Ok, cool. Inosuke can move his organs and resist poison? You know what, okay. Also, a note of voice acting--I love how heroically deep sleeping Zenitsu's voice is (I'm sure that's how the hero of Legend of Zenitsu always speaks), and how Inosuke is clearly Not Okay.

--Uzui can stop his heart? Sure. Alright. I wonder how much of that was voluntary in the middle of a fight with his little Tsuguko on the line, though--perhaps he also went into that state to prevent himself from bleeding out from his arm? But man, he is no-o-o-o-t looking good, that is truly fighting with desperation, however elated he is to have completed his sheet music technique.

--His wives were watching when he was down on the ground and supposedly dead. ;__;

--Ufotable always has such a challenge to make every Breath technique look amazing and they keep raising the bars. Even though a lot of the height of this battle was just being flashy and yelling at each other, they still had to thing about battle mechanics, like what hits they actually manage to get in on each other (Uzui didn't just lose the eye, he took a nasty hit in the abdomen, too!) and the moment Uzui drops one of his swords. Although a lot of the fighting in this episode is slowed down by character thoughts, if you put it all in sequence, it was very, very quick.

--This entire battle, actually, probably did not take very long. The initial blows exchanged between Tanjiro and Daki took a while, but once it got going with Uzui involved, it was very, very fast-paced. Considering people only started to evacuate during the Daki and Tanjiro battle, and most of them were still there during Nezuko's fight, it was probably very lucky if it was vacated by the time this episode started. We don't know how long Tanjiro was out cold, but hopefully that was enough time for the stragglers to get away before Gyutaro's final attack (but Nezuko saves them, yaaay, I also get to enjoy knowing that Nezuko's fire at the end of this episode because Ufotable made that cool choice too!). Anyway, part of the reason I bring up the speed of this battle is because I am still cross at Ufotable for messing up the timeline by placing this arc in very late autumn, which is should had been in summer, thereby making the night short in the first place--and uncomfortably hot even before you add all the flames! (Added bonus: hot and muggy for the boys when they're in kimono and makeup, because that's funny.)

--THE MARRRRKKKKKK

[total-drama-brainrot]

i come humbly requesting the post about chris’ descent you teased in an ask

Of course! I'll start by outlining how Chris' behaviour changed over the course of the series.

Chris starts off the first season of Total Drama as a huge dickhead, but not an outright morally bereft one.

He doesn't have the same familiarity with the gen 1 cast as he does in later seasons, but he's friendly enough with them - as friendly as you'd expect a television host and de facto caregiver to be to a group of twenty two teenagers. Sure, he's a bit of an arse at times, but it's very rare that he puts any of them in direct, life threatening danger. Most of the first season's challenges aren't outright lethal, in fact many of them are just regular camp activities taken to their logical extreme.

The main outliers here are the two torture-based challenges, and even then most of the mini challenges within are bearable if incredibly uncomfortable and painful - none of them are outright fatal. Plus, it can be argued that Chris himself doesn't have a lot of agency or input on the challenges themselves; he's there to host the show, nothing more and nothing less. At least, in the first season, there isn't any indication that Chris himself has control over the challenges (save for when Chef takes over for an episode, but his challenges are a lot simpler in design and execution than anything Chris hosts, so it can be assumed that was a last minute change.)

Now, it's been a while since I've rewatched Island, but I'm fairly sure Chris doesn't ever show the same amount of glee in the contestant's suffering as he does in later seasons. He's sometimes amused, sure, but there's very little in terms of outright vindication. More often than not, he's just trying to host the show.

Take Island's Chris and World Tour's Chris and contrast their attitudes against each other; time, it seems, developed an almost malicious streak within Chris. He even goes so far as to take his competitor's suffering into his own hands, at his own whims, using the excuse of entertainment value. (Dropping them out of the jet repeatedly at his fancy, deciding to choose the most dangerous moments to have them sing, ect ect.)

And then we get to RotI, where Chris is almost consistantly taking a great deal of joy in exposing the new cast to the horrors of nuclear waste and chemical hazards. His blasé attitude towards their mortality in the cave episode speaks for itself, and the fact that he gives a grand total of 0 shits about Dakota's mutation is the icing on top. By the time this season came around, any semblence of care for others within Chris was diminished.

The question therein is why?

The most obvious answer here is that the repeated threat to his contestant's lives became so normalised, so mundane to him that he simply stopped caring. Or seeing it as something wrong, or anything more than a ratings tool. None of them have actually died yet, so why not continually up the ante? Raise the stakes? Add more thrill to the show he's hosting - that's bound to draw in a bigger audience!

Which is how you end up with situations like Alejandro's and Scott's, where a contestant is injured enough to warrent use of machine-assisted healing and trauma chairs. Two situations that Chris himself is directly involved in, and doesn't seem to care about in the slightest.

Because showbusiness as a whole has a tendancy to reduce the people within it into objects of entertainment. There's a lot of dehumanisation in the world of TV - even reality TV, where people oftentimes play up aspects of themselves to become characters instead of people.

Throughout the show, Chris often talks about things like ratings, or the producers, or other business-focused aspects of entertainment. In his eyes, the teens under his dubious care gradually became little more than pawns in the game of Good Televivion. They stopped being kids and started being ratings jewels - puppets for him to manipulate and torture for his own and an international audience's amusement.

Perhaps there was some pressure from the producers themselves to be crueller to the contestants, to draw in a bigger audience or maybe just to add a sense of thrill and urgency to the challenges. After all, there's a reason shows like I'm a Celebrity are so popular, and it's because the people competing in them are having a decidedly bad time.

So, in his mind, making the contestants go through cruel and unusual punishments and challenges is justifyable because the show itself has benefits from it. He doesn't consider (or, perhaps, just doesn't care about) the harm he causes.

Then here it could be argued that his callousness and the detatched, joking attutide he has towards the suffering of these kids is actually just a super unhealthy coping mechanism Chris uses to get through the horrors of his job. That is to say, Chris is just as contractually obligated to host the show as the contestants are to compete in it, and he knows that they're gonna suffer regardless of his input, so being a Good Host and at least making their pain marketable/entertaining will at least garuntee him a bigger paycheck.

Or maybe he was always predisposed to be sadistic, and his relative niceness in the first season was just him testing the waters of how cruel his TV persona could be.

All I can say as a fact is this; Chris' actions and inactions become far more grevious as the series continues. He blows up a volcano on purpose. He sinks a whole island on purpose.

(He, and the series as a whole, drops any pretense of semi-realism to explore cartoonishly whacky and outlandish themes. Because it's a kid's show, at the end of the day. I'm overanalysing how a children's TV show leaned into the freedom of a fictional cartoon world.)

Saying that, he seems to have taken a step back in the theatrical and outlandish nature of his cruelty for the reboot. Maybe the decade away from Total Drama mellowed him out, or maybe the show just does't have the budget to accomodate for his more ambitious stunts. Who knows?

[littelestvic]

Not art this time, but I just wanted to say how surprised I am that Glee fandom is still alive and thriving around here? It was a pleasant surprise to see actual glee-centered blogs interacting with my Glee fanart.

I was around 14 when the series ended (I'm 23) and I pretty much grew up with it, but at that time I wasn't that active in actual fan spaces so I kinda left all my childish art and thoughts for myself. Not my first rewatch of the series, but me and my little sister (who is a bit older than I was when the series ended) have been watching the series on it's entirely and she surprisingly really likes it (at least the first 3 Seasons, you cannot make not even a 16 year old enjoy Glee Season 4). It's overall fun to have someone to share something that has been a crucial thing for my childhood, I kinda just wanted to ramble on that

I have the vague memory I did a few Glee Fanart when I was 12-14, but those are lost to time because at that time I didn't care enough to post my art online so you're sadly spared of 12 year old Vic Glee Fanart, how sad :(

[spaceorphan18]

14 years since Never Been Kissed aired. Did you watch it live? Where were you? Did you think it would be the start of something major - one of your favorite ever ships?

Ohh, interesting question!

It's kind of funny to try to remember details of something that did happen nearly fifteen years ago. the tl:dr version of how I started watching Glee was that I wasn't in a great place in Mar of 2010, and a friend of mine had given me the DVD of Glee S1 Part 1 (because that's a thing that happened back then.

And I watched it and I was, meh, it was fine. I mean, DSB gave me literal chills. But I didn't really connect with any of the characters (and omg did I find Terri and Ken annoying). And it's funny, Kurt I had a hard time with -- not at all because of the gay thing, but because his crush on Finn hit a little too close to home and I was still a little sensitive about how I was during high school.

Anyway, the same friend said we should start watching the show together - so I started going over to watch it with her. We watched the rest of Season 1 together. And maybe the first half of Season 2? I definitely watched the first four-ish episodes with her. I think (?) I must have watched NBK with her.

The ONLY thing I remember from my first time watching was the forced kiss between Kurt and Karofsky. It was THAT shocking. Like, WHOA what is happening???

The only real thing I remember about Blaine was that my friend had told me that Kurt was supposed to be getting a boyfriend, and we all wondered if it was going to be Sam (because Duets did give that tiny-ish set-up). And when Blaine showed up, it was one of those - oh, is it this dude? type things.

I did not like Season 2 when it was first airing, Nonny. I'll be honest with you about it. The thing I've since learned about RM and his shows, he often fills them with a lot of unlikable characters who are often ridiculously dramatic. And it just wasn't my thing. But also remember, the show focused hard on Rachel, Finn, Quinn, Puck, Sue, and Will (and Emma). Like -- not my favorite characters. At all.

It's one reason I appreciate the later seasons, because characters I like got more focus, and it just became super weird and super queer and that's just more to my taste.

But anyway -- I kind of only watched sporadically after the first few weeks. I caught Silly Love Songs - because I remember thinking after Kurt and Blaine have their When Harry Met Sally convo, oh yeah, they'll get these two together.

I have zero memory of watching Original Song for the first time. Which I just have, because I knew Klaine was together after that point. But I did miss most of the second half of Season 2.

No, I had zero idea I'd love Klaine as hard as I did (do). I can tell you I remember the exact moment I fell in love with Klaine, though. I decided to catch up on Season 3 because I missed the first half (and hilariously - I was actually enjoying Season 3 more than Season 2 at the time, wild right?) and it was The First Time, and it was the auditorium scene, and it was this moment.

And really, just Kurt saying -- I'm just a silly romantic, and Blaine saying it wasn't silly, and just kissing him. And, my god nonny, it made my cold, dead heart come alive. It took my breath away.

And then, I mean, I rewatched the full series again, and really got into the Klaine of it, and got into fandom, and as much as fandom was a headache -- and my god it was a headache -- I think that's why I stayed with Glee for so long? It was something to have fun with and explore and write about and talk to people about and there was the insanity of week to week, and it was wild - I mean really wild, but it's what made the show fun. Because, I mean, I love the show - but it's a mess.

And I'm constantly amazed new people come in for it, because sometimes it feels like there's a -- you had to be there -- to get it, lol.

But, I mean, did I think I'd be here, fifteen years later, still talking about how it impacted me? Not even a little bit. :)

[qpjianghu]

Do u have any thoughts on the writing of Shan Gudao? I think earlier on in the series I was pretty excited that maybe Li Xiangyi really did , through his own hubris and difference in the way of seeing the world drove a wedge between him and his brother. Even after he was revealed to be alive I kinda wished he became ‘evil’ through a complex set of emotions and circumstances. I’m not saying SGD is completely 2D I just wonder if we could have had a more of a ‘Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian drifting apart (ie; not pure inferiority complex)’ style tragic slant. Li Xiangyi truly #did nothing wrong, but I kinda wish he was a little #more wrong.

Anyway, I’m sure SGD is still thematically very coherent, but is there anything you���d change/ponder changing about his storyline with LXY, or just your thoughts about this topic.

This is a great callout @lei-llustrations!! The short answer is that I agree, and if I had one criticism of the writing in Mysterious Lotus Casebook it would be this. Jiang Cheng is an excellent example of a protagonist foil with more internal complexity, and Shan Gudao is definitely very one-note. I wonder if part of it is the performance -- Jiang Cheng always projects this sort of buttoned-up rage, whereas Shan Gudao's jealousy presents itself as sadistic glee, which is just not as relatable (and believable) an emotion.

But at the end of the day I still enjoy the character of Shan Gudao as exactly what you said, OP -- a thematically coherent foil even if he's not a realistically coherent person. Because of MLC's overarching exploration of meta-narratives, I think his character works as a performance of villainy -- and maybe it even works better because it's so over-the-top and slightly divorced from reality. In fact, it's interesting to see the shift in the character of Li Lianhua after Shan Gudao's treachery is revealed, and specfically after Shan Gudao outs him as Li Xiangyi in front of all of Tianji Hall in episode 33: Li Lianhua suddenly transforms into the badass hero everyone imagines Li Xiangyi to be. You can actually literally see the change in his eyes from world-weary to steely when it happens:

(Cheng Yi, you are a marvel)

Or, I should say: When he decides to make that shift. Shan Gudao's grandiose display against Tianji Hall, and his specific call to arms against Li Lianhua, necessitates a turning point for LLH: Now that he's been exposed, will he once again take up the mantle of the heroic Sect Leader Li Xiangyi?

In this moment, he does, but by this point in the show we know that it's just a performance. However, at the end of the day, Li Lianhua still has a kind heart, so he reluctantly puts on the mask of the hero Li Xiangyi in order to save the people of Tianji Hall. As Shan Gudao pontificates about the show's MacGuffin, Li Lianhua agrees to stage the hero/villain performance with him. It even looks like he's literally stepping out onto a stage when he separates himself from the crowd to confront Shan Gudao and his army:

The scene is badass and triumphant... but it's also, on rewatch, devastating and tragic -- because it marks the moment where Li Lianhua seemingly becomes fatalistically trapped by the narrative he's been so desperately trying to escape. (And that's why I love love LOVE @redemption-revenge's post about Li Lianhua finally escaping the narrative at the end! Importantly in a "bonus" episode, which is... not a "literal" part of the show itself. ;)) Since Shan Gudao is performing as a paragon of villainy, Li Lianhua / Li Xiangyi must rise to meet him. (Yin and yang, in a sense.) And that's why Li Lianhua becomes so fixated on vanquishing Shan Gudao for the remainder of the show, though it feels quite out of character for him -- it's so like a prototypical hero. Shan Gudao's performance of villainy necessitates Li Lianhua's equal and opposite performance of heroism.

Which is so interesting and juicy!!!! because of Li Lianhua's series-long internal struggle trying to escape the hero narrative so many characters try to fit him into. (As @redemption-revenge also talked about here -- clearly we're brainrotting on the same wavelength lol.) In a weird way, I feel like the overall lack of nuance in Shan Gudao's performance of villainy actually allows for even more shades of grey in Li Lianhua's character. Not only does he have to reckon with in-world conflicts and consequences, but he's sort of engaging with the meta-narrative as well: can he escape the narrative that the other characters around him and also the show itself is trying to thrust upon him?

As a potentially controversial aside, this is why I actually loved the Nanyin royal blood reveal. It's so dumb and cheesy and predictable and part of the traditional hero narrative (maybe I'm looking at this through a very American "rags-to-riches" narrative lens, but bear with me here) -- but that's the point, according to the meta-narrative. Our reaction as viewers is also Li Lianhua's reaction. For Li Lianhua, this is the exact opposite of a gratifying, triumphant, and redemptive moment. I haven't gotten up to this in my rewatch yet, so I don't have have specific visuals in mind, but I do remember even from my first viewing the look of utter devastation and resignation of Li Lianhua's face in this scene. It marks the final nail in the coffin of Li Lianhua trying to escape the narrative. Like in epsiode 33 when his identity is finally revealed, Li Lianhua once again resigns himself to following the script of the traditional narrative, which is how/why he ends up heroically sacrificing himself for Fang Duobing and his family.

But anyway, back to Shan Gudao as an effective foil: In addition to serving a purpose for the meta-narrative, I also think Shan Gudao's one-dimensionality also works well with Li Lianhua's internal conflict regarding his feelings of guilt and self-blame. You're right, OP: I wish there was a bit more actual blame to lay on LXY -- though I think we can still blame him for being arrogant (to borrow the loaded iqiyi subtitle term) since he was clearly blind to his shixiong's real feelings, and blind to the feelings of those around him as well (including Qiao Wanmian). Though even if you take the track of Li Xiangyi truly never did anything wrong in his life ever (*heart emoji*), this makes his arc even more tragic. This is why I love him so freakin' much -- he feels less like a character and more like a real flesh-and-blood person. And the reason he feels so real is because he acts in ways that are often contradictory and self-sabotaging and illogical, because he's decidedly not following the traditional (heteronormative hero narrative) script. Even when there is a Grade-A villain right there in front of him to take all of the blame, Li Lianhua doesn't take the bait. He has a prime opportunity to look at Shan Gudao and come to the logical conclusion that he (LXY/LLH) actually did nothing wrong, that he's not to blame for any of the terrible things that have happened to him and to others in his name... but he doesn't take the out. He still refuses to forgive himself, he still internalizes all of the guilt, he is not suddenly "cured" from his trauma. He is so real for that, and it's gut-wrenching.

[cas-readsandwrites]

✨🎄Christmas Glee🎄✨

Thank you for the tag, @justagalwhowrites ! <3

🎄 🎄 🎄

1. What's your favorite Christmas song?

Ooh gosh. O Holy Night in lots of different versions, probably. I love the NSync Christmas album (90s fangirls rise up!), Punk Goes Christmas, some of my favorite bands have Christmas albums, Vocal Few, The Rocket Summer.

2. What holiday movie do you have to watch during the season?

White Christmas. (is this movie really SEVENTY YEARS OLD this year?) This one became a favorite when my life was in flux and childhood holiday traditions were being upended, I spent some time with another family and this was one of theirs and I just loved it! It has all the old fashioned silliness for nostalgia but it's still beautiful. Elf is another favorite, depending on who I'm with Die Hard is usually a must-watch, in a similar vibe I feel like the new Netflix series Black Doves will be on the list now, too. I often restart LOTR and the Harry Potter series for a winter rewatch around the holidays, too.

3. Post a pic of your tree or any decor inside or out, doesn't even have to be from your *house. ☃️🎁 *Anything that has brought a smile to your face this holiday season that you feel comfortable posting.

I don't have a picture, but my tree is so sad this year 🤣 I have a 3 foot fake tree on a coffee table in front of a window... the box of ornaments is next to it, but the only two ornaments on it so far are triathlon and running themed 🙃 Instead here's a memory from the a day in Chicago visiting the Christkindl market... I love Christmas lights in a city.

No tags, just open to anyone who wants to play :)

Happy Holidays!

[castleoflions]

My gf has been rewatching Glee while she works on a jigsaw puzzle all weekend. (She just hit the fucking Rocky Horror episode 🥴)

Two things I’ve learned:

1. The post-Glee fandom PTSD still lingers lmao

2. I have retained an embarrassing amount of plot knowledge, BTS trivia, and fandom history despite absconding from the fandom over a decade ago

Also hi if you’ve just started following me in the past handful of years, I used to be a Z-list Tumblr celebrity dedicated to the Glee fandom, specifically Brittana. We all fought in the trenches for years against Ryan Murphy’s crazy ass so that those Cheerios could get married by the end of the series, y’all are welcome.

[rudikawhy]

What are your top five tv shows of all time?

Thanks for the tag @backgroundagent3

The Persuaders! (1971-72)

The Avengers (1961-69, but I like the 1965-67 episodes the most)

Sherlock (2010-17)

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013-20)

Großstadtrevier (1986-present; a german tv-series)

I hope I'm not going to regret this list later (Doctor Who!! Friends! Gilmore Girls! Glee!), but I've chosen those I'm most likely to rewatch...

No pressure tags:

@maraudershead @thankdeadgodman @thisweirdkidsnightmare @thewraith-22 @lovelyfanatical @willyouhaveme @avianii @thecrazyone42

[aihoshiino]

what are your thoughts on the trailer!!! I was excited before but I'm really hyped now to see how they take on this arc (especially since it's one of the strongest in my opinion) it looks like the team having a lot of fun bringing out each characters acting quirks and expanding on what they did in the last season, I'm really looking forward to how they adapt everything! the scene at the end is soooo cool....agh doga kobo really loves onk and you can FEEL it lol

FROTHING AND FOAMING AT THE MOUTH ABOUT IT!!!!!

i've been desperate to see how tokyo blade would get adapted to the anime since episode one last year and like. i'm trying not to get my hopes too high but even just going off what we've seen in the trailer, I'm so incredibly excited. It already seems like the team are making a ton of incredibly creative and fun directing and staging decisions to punch up the imagery and ideas of the manga's version of events (I literally hyena laughed out loud in sheer Wow! Fuck! The Power Of Animation!!! glee when i was watching live and saw that paint splatter effect and the half-Tsurugi half-Kana shot for the first time). In general, I think the Tokyo Blade arc is really uniquely suited to being adapted into an anime format over any other arc in the series and it easily has the potential to top season 1.

The new OP also whips ass??? i honestly thought betting on bringing Yoasobi back would have been free money so this really took me out lol (tho since GEMN seems to be a unit made specifically for OnK season 2, I've heard speculation that Ayase of Yoasobi and Avu are part of it? time will tell ig.) I loooooove Fatale even in the snippet we've heard so far, though - I think comparisons to IDOL would've been inevitable so going in a really different direction was probably the best thing to do. I also love that it feels almost more like an OP for Tokyo Blade, the in universe fiction, than it does OnK itself - that's such a fun touch!

Augh. Wuagh. I'm just so excited. I've been daydreaming about what season 2 of the anime would look like ever since I got hooked back into the series and it feels so surreal that we're so close!!! on god i gotta finish my s1 rewatch by july...

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Tuesday, July 16

Giles: Stop, both of you. Uh, what, uh . . . What are you talking about? W-what's the Initiative? What. . . what on earth does it have to do with Buffy's new boyfriend? Willow: You know. I'm sure you know. Riley's one of the commandos. Giles: What?! Well that's marvelous, isn't it? Here I am, spent weeks trying, uh, t-to get a single scrap of information about our mysterious demon collectors and no one bothers to tell me that Buffy's dating one of them?! Who else knows?! Xander: No one. No one else knows this. Anya, and that's it! Willow: And Spike. Giles: Spike?! Spike knew? Xander: Only the basic stuff. You know, that Riley is a commando and Professor Walsh is in charge. Giles: Professor Walsh!? That fishwife!? Willow: You know, she's actually not that bad once you get to-- (sees Giles' look) So, th-the demon is probably a little late. W-we'll just, you know-- Giles: Oh, forget it. Go on. You two clear off. I'll just stay a little longer just in case.

~~Buffy Episode #68: "A New Man"~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Batteries Not Included (Faith/Dawn, M) by cmk418

The Advantages of Friendship (Xander, Giles, G) by cmk418

Gift Wrapping Traditions (Buffy, Faith, G) by cmk418

Figgy Pudding (Or the Ridiculousness of A Certain Christmas Carol) (Xander/Anya, G) by cmk418

Once More with (Ill) Feeling (Sweet, G, Glee xover) by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)

Words Matter Most (Willow, G, NCIS xover) by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)

Genuine Girl Scouts (Amy, T, Castle xover) by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)

Manga Xander (Ensemble, G, High School DxD - Ishibumi Ichiei xover) by Baldur

Avenger Xander (Ensemble, T, Avengers xover) by Baldur

Super Xander (Ensemble, T, DCU xover) by Baldur

I Thought I Taw a Putty Tat (Xander, Faith, G) by Fablemaker

The Recruit (Buffy/Spike, M) by Harlow Turner

[Chaptered Fiction]

In the Company of Witches and Slayers: CH. 101 (Willow/Tara, E) by VladimirHarkonnen (TheLightdancer)

Home Movies Ch. 8 (Buffy/Spike, E) by cawthraven

The Worst Sacrifice, Chapter 2 (Buffy/Spike, E) by TwilightChild

The Degradation of Duality [Series Part 2], Chapter 28-29 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Ragini

I’ll Get You, My Pretty!, Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike, M) by NoJudgementZone99

Maclay Down, Chapter 13 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Soulburnt

A Blackcap's Song, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Murray

The Neighbor's Point of View, Chapter 120 (Buffy/Spike, G) by the_big_bad

Life with Buffy, Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike, T) by Joan963z

Spiked, Chapter 9 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Maxine Eden

The Witch’s Gift, Chapter 38 (Buffy/Spike, E) by RavenLove12

Task Mistress, Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike, E) by HappyWhenItRains

Night Carnival, Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike, T) by tbd

Unicorn , Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, M) by Desicat

Aim High Ch. 6 (Buffy, T, SGA xover) by Buffyworldbuilder

[Images, Audio & Video]

Fanmix:The Mixtape Chronicles, Chapter 1-7 () by Julikobold

Artwork:Bangel chibi sketches () by MamaBewear

Artwork:The Gentleman () by thedemonglitch

Artwork:Jenny and Rupert () by mistyintherivers

Artwork:Faith () by sawcathuntingplainrawlasagna

Artwork:Buffy () by cadaverkeys

Custom Figures: Buffy () by thegothicalice

Icons: () by

Manip:Episodic art for BtVS 2x10 “What’s My Line 2” () by revello-drive-1630

Video: Dawn Summers - All American bitch by Faith Victoria

Video: willow rosenberg | who's afraid of little old me? () by ImagineDragonlords

[Reviews & Recaps]

Mothman’s Buffy Rewatch: Season 3, episodes 14 and 15, “Bad Girls” and “Doppelgangland” by mothmans-wedding-photographer

PODCAST: ATS 219 - Belonging by Another Buffy Podcast

Video: Buffy The Vampire Slayer | 2x1 "When She Was Bad" | REACTION by Andres El Rey

[Community Announcements]

August Fic-A-Day Challenge (2024) Discussion by Twistinbg the Hellmouth

Tuesday Prompts: Land by comment-fic

[Fandom Discussions]

I liked the episode of Angel that Buffy was on by annarowyn

my new theory by edgarallanhoetry

the buffy dvd sets are so silly. by neros-very-first-fiddle

Buffy’s supposed amazing vamp-dar by vargamornight

i have zero sympathy for vampires by youhavethesun

I don’t want Giles to leave by nikascorneroftheinternet

Say whatever you want, Buffy showed her whole ass when she kissed Spike in intervention. by skyegraves21

Orpheus by Joan the Vampire Slayer

Spike the Shrike? by emptyheadedgoblin

Buffy: Restless by Guilty-Tie164

Would Buffy be a good witch if she put her mind into it? by SafiraAshai

Angel by five-bi-five

Dead Man’s Party by Final_Swordfish_93

What are your thoughts on Kate? by 41GardenGal

Angel TV Show by curlysuze1

A more adult Buffy. by NoJudgementZone99

The Buffy EP - Velvet Chain by _gigsly

Just realised the big difference between Xander and Buffy... by needadviceplease8910

Gingerbread by CrimsonFlower22

Fandoms: by Bpd_embroiderer18

Am i the only one who thinks they're the best couple of the show? by direinde

What episode would you rate 9/10 and what's holding it back from being a perfect 10? by InfiniteMehdiLove

In Response to the “They were all whining” critique of Dead Man’s Party by mrjustice7

S7E6 Him by Kitchen-Driver7695

I watched Buffy as a kid and it was a bad influence… by PyleanCow06

was not expecting to cry this hard today! by lobotomizednemo

Buffy Panel To Panel continuation? by justagreatdane

Season 3 Done and Dusted by Organic_Individual52

Spike being there when Buffy comes out of the Slayer closet to Joyce adds a hilarious twist by Randy_Giles1880

Do you have any scenes that you find to be funny even though they weren't meant to be? by BoredYogiOnHere

What are some moments in the Buffyverse that show how well some of the characters know each other by PristineSituation498

Missing scenes by NoJudgementZone99

How popular was buffy at the time when the show was on? by Introvertedslayer

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

PUBLICATION: Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Riskiest Episode Modernized TV's Most Controversial Trope by CBR

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