#she got a presale code for me too

[octaviasdread]

of course i get jury service not just the day of lana’s pesale but the EXACT time it starts

my best friend is a real one for fighting ticketmaster 😭💖

she hardly even knows lana lmao but she’s in the trenches for me while i’m waiting to get sworn in

[fluentmoviequoter]

The Memories Get to Kickin' In

Requested Here!

Pairing: Tim Bradford x fem!singer!reader (former cop)

Summary: Tim gets roped into going to a concert. He doesn't expect to have his heart broken during the first song, or to apologize to his ex-fiancée.

Warnings: r's stage name is OFCR, angst, breakups, lots of feelings, vulnerable Tim, fluff, Nyla and Angela, I changed the lyrics to 'Nobody Gets Me' by SZA and made up an album title/additional songs

Word Count: 3.2k+ words

Masterlist Directory | Tim Bradford Masterlist | Request Rules/Info

“Where’s your boot?” Angela asks Nolan.

He looks around quickly, frowning as he answers, “Uh, I know exactly where she is. Do you need her?”

“Yes, we do,” Nyla replies. “So maybe we should find her.”

“Who?” Lucy inquires.

“Celina,” Nolan says.

“Oh, she’s in the bullpen. She got a call or something right after roll call.”

Nolan, Angela, and Nyla follow Lucy to the bullpen. Celina paces back and forth with her phone outside the roll call room. She rubs her thumb against her lip before she slows to type.

“What are you doing?” Lucy asks as they approach her.

Celina startles but doesn’t look up from the screen as she answers, “I’m trying to get concert tickets.”

“This is not the time or place, Juarez,” Nolan chides.

“Wait, Nolan,” Nyla commands, raising her hand toward him. “We have lives outside of police work. What concert?”

“Uh, OFCR,” Celina answers carefully, flitting her eyes quickly between Nyla and her phone.

“Wait, tickets are on sale again?!” Angela exclaims, pulling her phone from her pocket.

“Second presale,” Celina explains. “If you’re on her email list, there’s a code to get in but there’s a waitlist and the site keeps reloading.”

“What’s the limit?” Lucy asks. “I’ll send you money right now to get me a ticket.”

“Five, I think,” Celina answers. “If I ever get through, I’ll get tickets for all of us.”

“Officer?” Nolan repeats.

“Yeah, but it’s o-f-c-r,” Lucy explains. “Bailey listens to her music; you’ve probably heard it.”

“This is the second sale for the LA show, but we couldn’t get tickets the first time,” Angela adds. “They sold out in like 90 seconds.”

“You guys talking about OFCR?” Aaron interjects.

“Yeah, we’re trying to get tickets,” Celina responds.

Aaron unlocks his phone and says, “I got it.”

“Don’t tell me you have a guy for concert tickets, five minutes,” Nyla deadpans.

“No. Well, I do, but I also know OFCR, we’ve been friends for years. How many tickets am I asking for?”

“Can I bring Bailey?” Nolan requests.

“Of course.”

“Then, six- seven if you want to go, Aaron,” Angela says.

“What is going on over here?” Tim demands.

“Eight it is,” Lucy announces with a smile. “Tim, you’re going to a concert with us.”

“Wasn’t a question, Bradford,” Nyla says before he can oppose.

“Alright,” Aaron says. “VIP tickets will be emailed within the hour. I’ll forward them to everybody.”

“VIP?” Celina repeats. “Aaron, you are the best!”

“Me, pssh,” he responds playfully.

“Can we get to work now?” Tim asks.

“Yes, yes,” Lucy answers.

“Bailey is going to be so excited,” Celina tells Nolan as they walk toward the shop.

“Thorsen, wait up,” Tim calls. He approaches Aaron and drops his voice to ask, “Wanna use my ticket for a date or something?”

“No, you’re going. I’m not getting on Nyla’s bad side again.”

“I don’t even know her music, Aaron. Or when the concert is, what if I have plans?”

“Start with Streets of LA, it’s the album she’s touring right now, and if you do, change them.”

“Nyla can’t protect you forever, Thorsen.”

“Yes, I can!” Nyla yells from her desk.

Tim hesitates but presses play on the album Thorsen mentioned. He flexes his fingers under the wrap protecting his knuckles, preparing to hit the heavy bag to clear his mind. When OFCR starts singing, however, Tim freezes. At first, Tim thinks maybe it's because the voice is impressive, but as he listens to the words and finds himself relating to them a bit too much, he turns the music off.

“I’m not going to that concert, Thorsen,” he grumbles as he shuffles his usual playlist and strikes the bag.

Tim asks Wade to be given desk duty the day of the concert so he doesn’t have to hear the others gushing about OFCR all day.

“No,” Wade answers immediately. “You have a job to do. Besides, the girl can sing.”

“It’s not about whether she has talent, it’s that I’d prefer to do my job without hearing speculation about what color her shoes will be.”

“Luna thinks blue,” Wade says with a smile.

“Oh, come on.”

“Have a good day, Bradford.”

When Tim finally gets home, he sighs and sags against the front door. However, someone knocks on the door before he can think about what he wants for dinner. He opens it and sees Angela and Nyla standing in matching shirts bearing the letters OFCR in a font that looks like painted roads.

“Let’s go,” Nyla demands.

“Maybe you should change first, actually,” Angela interjects. “Do you want help picking an outfit?”

“I am not your child, Lopez,” Tim snaps.

“Then stop acting like one, Timothy. You have two minutes to change, spray cologne, whatever it is you do.”

Tim considers arguing briefly, then nods and disappears down the hall. He dresses quickly, feeds Kojo and ensures he has water, then follows Nyla and Angela to the car.

“It’s a limo,” he realizes aloud.

“Oh, yeah, when Hollywood said they were great friends, he meant it,” Nyla muses.

“Apparently Lincoln helped her get in with a label and a producer buddy of his, and since she and Aaron are pretty close in age, he introduced them. They hit it off and have been friends ever since,” Angela adds.

“Is that why you listen to her music? Because of Thorsen?” Tim inquires.

“No,” Nyla says. “We listen to her music because it’s good.”

“And she sings about things we can relate to. She seems pretty amazing.”

“So did Charles Manson,” Tim grumbles as the driver pulls away from the curb.

From their VIP seats, they have a clear view of the stage without any screaming fans blocking the stage. Lucy records one of the songs performed by the opening act while Bailey, Nyla, Angela, and Celina talk about which songs they are most excited to hear OFCR perform.

“Nobody Gets Me is probably my favorite,” Bailey says.

“Oh, yes!” Celina agrees.

“So good,” Angela adds.

Aaron returns with a bag of OFCR merchandise and smiles. “Showtime.”

The lights dim, and the crowd silences. Tim watches, growing restless as he sits between Angela and Nyla like they think he’ll run. At the sound of OFCR’s voice, however, he’s frozen just as he had been in the gym, yet he still doesn’t understand why.

“Los Angeles!” you call into the microphone, looking out into the dark arena. “I need you to sing this first song with me.” The crowd roars, and you smile as you continue, “It’s about my ex-fiancé. He will not talk to me, so we’re gonna sing this for him. You ready, LA?”

The lights come up, and you stand in the oversized flower display the set designer built specially for this performance. It’s an inverted version of the last bouquet your ex got you, and it means nearly as much as the song.

“Took a long vacation, no uniform, just sandy. You kissed me, now we silent, Los Angeles was ours to rule then. So tired, screamin’, ‘What now?’ Love me, but I’m anythin’. Hurry now, baby, kiss me ‘fore the memories get to kickin’ in. It’s too late, I don’t wanna lose what’s left of you,” you sing, standing from the flower petals as the sold-out arena screams the lyrics with you.

Tim watches you from the VIP section to your right with no discernable expression. His breaths are uneven, but he can’t look away as his chest tightens, feeling as if his heart will rupture from the pressure. He suddenly understands why he related so much to the song he heard. Like this one, it was about him.

Angela and Nyla stand with Lucy to sing together. Tim only watches you, listening to every word you’re saying and wondering if knowing you felt this way would have changed what he did. What he’s still doing.

“How am I supposed to tell ya? I don’t wanna see you with anyone but me, Nobody gets me like you. How am I supposed to let you go? Only like myself when I’m with you. Nobody gets me, you do,” you sing with the crowd.

When you step away from the inverted bouquet, which Tim recognized the moment you became visible, Tim watches you. His lips pick up at the corner at the sight of you, but he knows.

“Took me out to ballpark, you proposed, I went on patrol, you was feelin’ guilty, so you left me, now I’m stuck dealin’ with a deadbeat,” you sing.

If Tim had any doubt left, that would have eliminated it. You’re not OFCR, the singer his friends love, you’re you, Tim Bradford’s ex-fiancée. The woman he would do anything for; the woman he left because he thought it was what was best for you. The woman he thinks about every night and the woman he now realizes isn’t a better police officer without him.

“If I’m real, I deserve less. If I was you, I wouldn’t take me back.”

At that line, Tim stands and pushes his way past Angela. He exits the arena, and though he can still hear you singing inside, it’s muffled, and Tim can breathe.

Aaron rushes out behind him and raises his arms as he asks, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s stuffy in there,” Tim lies.

“Sure,” Aaron agrees slowly. “Is that all?”

Tim narrows his eyes and says, “Yes.”

“Okay. Because I know her. But I’m guessing I don’t know her like you do.”

“You don’t know anything, Thorsen. Leave it alone.”

Aaron remains silent for a moment, then asks, “If you did something similar to the guy in the song, maybe listening to it can help you find a way to fix it.”

“Not everything can be fixed, Aaron. There won’t always be a rich friend ready to get you things you couldn’t get otherwise, there isn’t always a second chance, and people fall out of love. It’s the real world.”

“Despite what you think about me, I know the real world too well. And it has taught me that when it comes to doing the right thing, there are second chances, even if they aren’t exactly what you want them to be. Sometimes an apology doesn’t take things back to how they used to be, but it’s something. Come back whenever you’re ready.”

Tim doesn’t acknowledge Aaron, but deep down, he knows that he is right. If he can get through the concert, listen to your songs, maybe he can unblock your number and send you a text to apologize. And then you can both move on with your lives.

“I see your sign,” you call with a smile as Tim returns to his seat. “I’m going to sing it later, I promise. What I want to do right now, though, is tell you guys that half of the proceeds from our merchandise sales tonight are going back to Los Angeles. I’m sure some of you know that I was a police officer here for a while, and I still love LA, despite all the scars it gave me. So, what you buy tonight is helping this city. There are also some LA-specific items, which I already see some of you wearing, and 100% of those sales are going directly to the LA Police and Fire departments. So, thank you for all of your support, and let’s sing another song.”

At the end of the concert, Aaron tells the others that there’s a back exit they can use to bypass the crowds. As they follow him down a hallway, Angela, Nyla, Lucy, Bailey, and Celina talk about how amazing the show was and how great your second outfit looked on you.

“Did you decide to do something?” Aaron asks Tim under his breath.

Tim nods, and then Nolan asks everyone if their favorite song has changed after hearing so many live.

“Aaron!” you exclaim as you walk into the hallway from your dressing room. You hug him and say, “Thank you so much for coming.”

“Thanks for hooking us up,” Aaron replies. “You were amazing, as always.”

“You dad tell you to say that?” you joke. You realize that his friends are staring at you and wave as you say, “Hi. Thank you so much for coming, I hope you enjoyed it.”

“Enjoyed?” Angela repeats. “This was the best day of my life, and I have kids.”

“Agreed,” Nyla adds quickly.

“You are incredibly talented,” Celina compliments. “All of your music is so heartfelt and meaningful but also sounds great.”

“You’re all being way too nice to me,” you interrupt with a laugh. “And I am terrible at accepting compliments, so please stop. Are you all cops?”

“We are,” Nolan replies. “Mid-Wilshire.”

“I know it well.”

“I bet,” Aaron murmurs.

When you glance at him with your brows pinched, he cuts his eyes toward Tim, who is standing against the wall on the other side of the hall. Your eyes meet Tim’s, and you immediately look away.

“Hi,” you whisper, keeping your eyes down.

“Hey,” he replies softly.

“Well, guys,” Aaron says, clapping his hands together. “Let’s go. Tim, I’ll send a car for you.”

“Thorsen,” Tim warns.

“Can’t hear you,” Nyla interrupts. “We’re going. He’ll send a car.”

Angela nods at Tim, then pats his arm as she passes. Though Aaron is the only one who has an idea of what is happening between you and Tim, his friends can tell that he isn’t himself.

“I didn’t know you knew Aaron,” you say once you’re alone.

“Yeah, they, uh- they made me come,” Tim explains.

You scoff and say, “No one can make you do anything, Tim.”

“I didn’t know it was you. Didn’t know you were OFCR.”

“That I believe. Look, I’m sorry this is awkward, but you don’t have to stay, you can catch up to your friends and-“

“I’m sorry,” Tim interrupts. You look up at him, your expression shocked and confused but soft. It takes every bit of willpower Tim has not to reach out to you.

“Don’t,” you plead.

“I thought I was doing what was best for you,” he continues. “I thought breaking off the engagement would make you be a better cop, give you less to lose.”

“I lost you anyway,” you remind him, your voice breaking. You shake your head and look away from Tim as you add, “Tim, that hurt worse than anything else I’ve ever dealt with.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing. There- it’s over, and now you know who I am and that I wrote a bunch of songs about you because… because nobody gets me anymore and I couldn’t even talk to you about it.”

Tim remains silent momentarily, but then he pushes off the wall to be a few inches closer to you. “Why’d you leave the force?”

“Are you serious? How was I supposed to go to work every day knowing I would see you? The week after you left made me question everything. I couldn’t stand not knowing what would happen each day, and the idea of seeing you with someone else was more than I could handle. There wasn’t any reason to keep serving when I couldn’t even take care of myself.”

“I never intended for it to be like that.”

“But it was.”

You look at Tim with tears in your eyes, and he takes a step closer.

“I didn’t want to,” he admits. “You were… I thought I was a distraction, that if you weren’t worried about me and us that you’d be able to protect yourself and do your job.”

You nod, trying to understand.

“In the song, you said you deserve less. You don’t really believe that do you?” Tim inquires.

“I don’t know what I believe anymore. You hurt me Tim, and there are days where I don’t think I’ll ever get past it.”

“Can I say anything to make this better?”

“Are you happy?”

“I haven’t been happy since we left the Dodgers game and you had a ring on your finger,” Tim confesses.

“Why didn’t you just talk to me then? Why did you walk out of my life and then make sure I couldn’t get back in? I know you blocked me on everything because after I left I tried to talk to you.”

“I don’t know. At the time, it seemed like a clean break would be better for you.”

“All this talk about what’s best for me, but you never once stopped to ask yourself what I might want? I have never been happier than I was with you, and there is only one you.”

“I-“

“You should go. Aaron’s driver is probably waiting for you.”

You turn and walk to your dressing room, and Tim watches you go. He doesn’t reach out to you, doesn’t say your name or ask you to wait, he just lets you go again.

In your dressing room, you drop your head into your hands and let your tears fall. You expected the show to bring back some unpleasant feelings but seeing Tim Bradford brings back everything you’ve buried over the years, and the hurt feels fresh.

Someone knocks on your door, and you call, “Just a minute.”

“No,” Tim replies from the other side. “This can’t wait.”

You open the door slowly, and Tim doesn’t let you speak before he says, “You deserved more. I thought it was best for you, but I realize that I was wrong. Listening to you sing about what I put you through… broke my heart. I can’t leave you again with you thinking that I deserve more than you or that I don’t care about what I did. I’ve loved you since before I first told you.”

“Tim, please don’t do this,” you plead.

“Do you really believe that nobody gets you like I do?”

You tell yourself not to answer, but you nod regardless.

“Then let me show you I still do. One more chance, and if you want to walk away, I’ll let you.”

“We can’t just pick up where we left off, Tim, it doesn’t work like that.”

Tim raises his hand toward you, palm up, and you step toward him. When his hand meets your jaw, you sigh and pinch your eyes closed, pushing fresh tears down your cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers.

You smile and admit, “I never stopped loving you, either.”

“May I?”

“Kiss me.”

“Let the memories in,” Tim tells you. “We can do this, but not if we forget where we – I – messed up, we don’t stand a chance.”

“Tim, if you don’t kiss me, I’m going to start singing about how much I cried when I recorded these songs.”

Tim drops his hand from your face, but before you ask what’s wrong, he pulls a chain from under his shirt. It has your engagement ring band on it, and you lay your hand on his chest.

“And I thought I was sentimental,” you murmur.

“I have a lot to make up for,” Tim says before he brushes his lips against yours.

“Maybe we should just start over,” you suggest, wrapping your arms over his shoulders. “I could use a new muse to sing about.”

“As long as you don’t tell Aaron he was right.”

“I’m not done with my tour yet,” you remind him, pulling back.

Tim catches your arms before they fall to your sides and holds you close. “I’ll wait,” he promises. “As long as it takes.”

“I love you, Tim Bradford,” you murmur.

“You move fast,” he jokes before you shut him up with another kiss.

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

Can I ask how you got your tickets for Lyon? I’m thinking next time Taylor goes on tour I will have to try for somewhere in Europe! It’s just too expensive in North America and resell prices are a joke!

Same as everyone else, luck of the draw with Ticketmaster! I registered for the presale for nearly every city I felt I could feasibly travel to and hoped for the best. I must have signed up for at least a dozen cities in Europe and could even have been more.

I got selected for a code for Lyon and got put on the waitlist for London and Edinburgh. I got off the waitlist for Edinburgh after the sale started, but by that point the only thing left were like single ticket VIPs which were more than I wanted to spend and also I wanted to travel with friends. I did end up getting off the waitlist for London part 2 about five days before the shows, which was SO lucky because I was already going to be there, so my friend and I ended up getting to see the show again in the obstructed/nosebleed seats.

My suggestion would be to sign up for everything you feel like you would be willing to travel for. Being flexible is key: signing up for just the cities near you is a crapshoot. Case in point: as a Canadian, I also signed up for Toronto and Vancouver thinking that if I got in I'd sell my Lyon tickets, and never even made it to the waitlist, let alone get a code. If I had waited for the Canadian dates to be announced, or sold my Lyon tickets to hedge my bets on Toronto, I would have been screwed. Of several dozen friends and family who signed up for Toronto and Vancouver, I only know three who got tickets, and one of them ended up selling hers because the cost of hotels and airfare were so exorbitant her weekend trip with her girls was going to end up costing $10k.

I ended up going to four shows total (one in Lyon and three in London) and I am certain the four of them cost less than what I would have likely paid for a lower bowl ticket in Toronto for one show. Again, part of it was flexibility (obstructed view seats were relatively cheap in London and turns out you get an awesome experience anyway; my floor GA in Lyon cost less than what upper bowl/nosebleeds were going for for Olivia Rodrigo and not much more than what I paid for Noah Kahan tickets near me; basically, I wasn't too picking about my seats or dates), part of it is tickets seemed way cheaper in Europe than they did in North America, even with the exchange rate.

And also: if you're going to travel, build a trip around it if you're able to. I was lucky that I had vacation time banked so I was able to take two weeks off (and then another week later in the summer for London). I LOVE travelling and had been itching to do a big trip since before the pandemic, so this was it for me. I used the show as the anchor point, and then built the rest of my itinerary around it. One of my friends did the same thing to see Adele in Germany this summer and made a whole Euro trip out of it. It's wonderful to travel just for a concert, but as someone with perpetual wanderlust, you get SO MUCH more out of it when you can explore and take in the sights. There's something so cool about being immersed in a new or different place and just giving main character energy to your day lol. And candidly: if anything ever goes belly-up with the show (e.g. it gets cancelled), you've still got tons to do and see. Up until the minute I stepped onto the tube to Wembley Stadium I was still worried the show would get cancelled (after Vienna), but it wouldn't have mattered because I had the absolute best trip ever that formed so many core memories.

ALSO: if you plan on going with friends, have everyone in the group sign up for the presales as well to maximize the chance of at least one of you getting a code. Also plan accordingly because this time you were allowed a max of four tickets per code. So for Lyon, I went to one show with three friends. For London, I went to two shows with one friend. (She had gotten tickets for another show.)

Sadly the last bit is also: money. I'm not rich by any means, but I had a healthy savings fund that I'd been contributing to since before Covid and my big ticket item was travel. It's an absolute privilege that I don't take for granted. I am fully aware that many can't afford to travel for a show. (I used to be in that same boat until the last few years.) I couldn't travel like this every summer, but every few years is hopefully in the cards.

TL;DR: be flexible, get what you get and don't get upset re: destination (i.e. if you get a code for a city you otherwise wouldn't think of travelling to), team up with your travel buddies if applicable, plan your trip around your concert date and not the other way around.

[bethestars]

getting tickets to the short n’ sweet tour is an absolute nightmare.

team sabrina should not have given out codes to every single person who signed up for rsvp. i even saw an article promoting that a third LA show was added. the article included the presale code… presale codes should not be so accessible. i was very lucky to receive a spotify code. there was barely anyone in the queue and i still couldn’t get a ticket during that presale.

like always, scalpers and resellers got to the tickets first. this is unfortunately an expected issue with concert tickets nowadays. but i can’t believe it’s this bad. at my choice of venue (madison square garden - i didn’t look at brooklyn), resale tickets were at least $350 each. this would vary per venue but man is that absurd.

sabrina deserves to play arenas. her venues during the emails i can’t send tour were way too small and greatly suffered from overcrowding. it even became a safety concern at points. however, i am genuinely afraid that these arenas are only going to be half full - not because she’s not popular enough, but because these prices are so astronomical.

i went to the eras tour, in the 200s and paid around $200 for 2 tickets. i can’t remember the exact amount at this point. i went to niall horan’s the show tour a couple of weeks ago in the 200s again and paid $230. a single resell ticket for the short n’ sweet tour is $350. it’s so dystopian.

i bought the resale ticket but i can’t even bring myself to be thrilled about it because it cost an arm and a leg and i can’t bring a single person with me. i feel guilty that i might be encouraging scalpers and resellers for even buying the ticket. the fact that i could afford a single ticket is a major privilege.

as fans, we deserve better than this messed up system. sabrina deserves to play to a full, sold out arena full of fans. whether they’ve been with her for 10 years or 10 months. i’m just so dejected.

[thatsjustbrittney]

Aside from the young adults doing the absolute most today at work, I was already on edge because of these damn Bad Bunny tickets. Lets start from this morning. I wake up to no email from Benito stating I was selected for presale so I'm already set to crash out. Not only that but I hit up EVERYONE to see if they got the code, Jaz, Gucci, Diandra, Mel, Rammy, at this point it's like 9am and the sale doesn't start until 10am so I'm like okay let me calm the fuck down. 9:30am, 9:45am, 10am!!!!!, 10:15, 10 FUCKING 40am, & N O T H I N G.

At this point everyone is like damn, we didn't get selected that's crazy, BUT THEN Diandra texts me that Alex got a code & lo and behold at 11:24am I finally got mine. Now my hope is restored & I'm excited! The line is moving but I had a good 45 minute before I got close to my turn to buy, at this point I'm like #467 in the queue. Still I call Jazmin frantically because the more hands we have on deck the better chance we have in getting good seats. THIS BITCH ISNT ANSWERING. I had completely forgotten that she was having an audit at her job. I call Mel to see if we can get everything situated but Jaz STILL isn't answering and the line is movinggggggg so Mel & I are freaking out.

After what felt like 200000 years, Jaz finally calls back but she didn't get selected so I'm like okay its all on me now. Still determined & too afraid to use my phone for anything else I continue to wait patiently. I get down to #241 & I notice that the line is paused???? I refresh the page, get out of safari and back on and it's still on pause, so now I'm panicked looking into it. Turns out it's a technical thing on the sites end, but I'm stressed because the line was on pause for about 30 minutes. Finally the line starts moving again! I'm determined! I will get seats for cheap and in decent distance!

Then BOOM the YA's start tweaking, and I have to assist them with getting de-escalated. On a regular day this wouldn't phase me, but today a bitch is trying to get tickets to see Benito in PR. On top of that, I'm already on one because for whatever reason my period this time around is taking me the actual fuckkkkk out. But at the end of the day I'm a professional. I counsel and I also pay attention to my phone for these tickets 😂

The line pauses again but I'm not stressed because this happened already, I know it's nothing to worry about; digo yo de estupida. It's not until super late that I realize the notification stating all shows are sold out for pre sale.

We ended up getting some nose bleeds for the low on stub hub and will see Benito anyways. It's going to be amazing no matter what &&& it's the day before Jaz's birthday, what a way to close out her 33rd year of life, and we all know my connection to odd numbers. Also, the last time I went on vacation with Jaz was in 2018 for my graduation and her birthday so that's cool. Plus, I feel it in my soul that God didn't have me pay a lot for these tickets so that I can have the funds for Beyoncé 👑🐝💖

[maxverstappensflatbrim]

literally don't worry you aren't the only one who hasn't got a link and got put on the waitlist...

literally 2 of my irls who are barely my friends anymore (fake as fuck to me) ... dont even like midnights???? and they got codes

and then one girl from my old school got one... she barely like's taylor too

it pisses me off 1000% think that they oversold on midnights presale and should defo have a limit on how many hours people listen to taylor cause it's not fair on how many of us want to see her and have been waiting yonks it is not fair

I totally agree on the oversale of midnights presale. And the only venue I’d be able to see her is Cardiff especially if I have to go alone which it looks like I do but I’ve seen so many people getting multiple tickets for different venues with the presale which means I might not have a chance to go to ONE (although my 65 year old grandfather who’s a die hard Neil Diamond/Billy Joel lover said he’d go with me cause I was upset I’d have to go alone, he’s literally my best friend I love him so much)

I understand people may enjoy her music or listen to some popular songs a lot like one of my friends (out of my three ‘friends’ I only like one lol) but it’s just unfair for those who LOVE her. Like I’m such a big Taylor fan I wouldn’t call myself a Swiftie because I don’t know her as a person but I adore her music and think she’s an amazing artist. I respect her as an artist and a person and what pissed me off is my one friend who’s such a Matty girl kinda turned on her during the whole drama (ngl I didn’t listen to her for a few weeks just because her downward fans on Twitter were annoying me)

and I was under the impression that we were going together then it turns out they were all going with families and I was just a bit like ‘oh okay, guess not only do I not have a presale code I also have no one to go with’

I don’t like confrontation anymore (used to love arguing) so I just didn’t say anything and let it go. Which is very new to me because literally a week ago I’d argue with anyone over anything, I just don’t have the nervy anymore.

But there’s not much I can do about it now except cry alone at night

[caruliaa]

getting soo bitter hearing abt tswift tour presale codes on the uk store bc ik i wont be able to go but i also know that its not impossible like if i somehoww move out before the tour than maybe but itll have to be late in the year for that and my only current plan is to maybe bye tickets and sell them online if i cant make it but it might be to expensive for that and also ik after moving im immediately going to like. iv neve had ANY genuine independance before you think i have enough of a hold on myself to go to a fucking concert idk idk but i WANNA GO I WANNA GO SO FUCKING BADLY YOU HAVE NO IDEA IV NEVER EVEN BEEN TO A CONCERT OR ANYTHING HALFWAY CLOSE BEFORE BC IV BEEN SO CONTROLLED MY WHOLE LIFE AND I JUST HAD TO BE STUPID ENOUGH TO HAVE MY FAVE MUSICIAN BE ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR EVER AND GETTING TICKETS FOR HER WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE AND IL LBE BEATEN OUT BY PEOPLE WHOVE SEEN HER LIKE 10 TIMES ALREADY AND THEN WONT EVEN BE ABLE TO GO BECAUSE ILL PROB STILL BE STUCK LIVING WITH MY PARENTS BY THEIR RULES FOREVER OR i;; BARLEY HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO EAT EACH WEEK LET ALONE GO OUT AND SEE A CONCERT OMFG !!!!!

[bribrixmarie]

I have been a fan of Taylor since I first heard Teardrops On My Guitar on the radio 15 years ago. I remember exactly where I was. My mom had taken my brother and I skiing in Vermont and one radio station was playing Teardrops On My Guitar and I fell in love with it. Ever since then I have listened and loved every song Taylor has sung and every song she’s recorded. I have been to every single concert Taylor has played in Gillette. I haven’t missed a concert since I first saw her headline for Jingle Ball 2009. I even had tickets for Loverfest. I’m so heartbroken about Ticketmaster. I got my presale code and I was ready for Tuesday morning. I logged in, joined the queue, and waited. I had done this before with Loverfest so I knew what to expect. However when I finally got in it was a disaster. I had some really great seats in my cart but every time I tried to check out it kept saying the code I entered is incorrect. This is when Ticketmaster really crashed. After an hour of this the site finally loads back up. I get a message that I’ve been on too long and I get kicked out to the end of the queue. Behind 200+ more people. I was DEVASTATED. By the time I made it back in all of the tickets were gone. That night I went home applied for a capital one card, got approved, found my virtual card, and prepared for round two. When I made it into the capital one presale, things were worse. Every time I added tickets to my cart I kept getting a message that said we cannot complete your request on this device. After a lot of attempts to buy tickets I was now getting messages that said sorry, another fan beat you to these tickets and they’re gone. Ticketmaster would take a solid minute to load between each click. I could see the tickets quickly dwindling and each time I was left with a message until I got kicked out AGAIN. I stayed on for a little longer but before I could make any progress on the queue, all tickets were sold out. I am so saddened that I had tickets in my cart and because of the crash I lost them. I am so sad that I got kicked out twice because of how poorly Ticketmaster handled this sale. I’m livid that tickets never made it to the general public but somehow scalpers are selling their tickets for THOUSANDS of dollars. Can we please take these tickets away from the scalpers and give them to the fans?! Mostly I am so devastated about not getting tickets. I’ve never not been to a Taylor Swift concert. I was even at the Speak Now concert where it poured and made it into the Long Live music video. I have been a fan since day one and I have no idea what I’m going to do. I need to see Taylor. I need to be at the Eras tour. I NEED to SCREAM All Too Well 10 Minute Version. If anyone has 2 extra tickets (I’d even take 1) please let me know!

[laceyeb]

If you don’t want to read an essay about my experience, you can skip this.

But holy fucking shit. I did it.

So I took my iPad to work this morning and connected to the hotspot on my phone because I couldn’t get on ticketmaster via the work wifi. Fair enough. I got all set up, brought the site up at about 9:30 for the presale that started at 10:00, and I was ready to go. My students were working independently because I told them we were going to do an “experiment” and see if they could actually figure out how to work on their assignment on their own without me giving them the instructions a million times and I bribed them with class points. My students very conveniently have recess at 9:59. (Total coincidence. That is their actual recess time.) Then 10:00 came and went and nothing happened. The screen was loading and loading and loading and then it popped up with the date and time for regular tickets. I knew that was wrong.

At about 10:07, I went to the ticketmaster twitter and saw that west coast presale had been rescheduled for 3PM. At least a was then able to calm down for a bit, but we had TWO parent teacher conferences scheduled at 3:00! All the 7th grade teachers were meeting together to do the conferences. I finally was able to slide my iPad over and get into the waiting room at about 2:50. I left it on a desk behind me, but another teacher saw me keep glancing back at it. Jokingly she said, “What are you doing? Trying to get Taylor Swift tickets or something?” To which I responded, “YES I AM IM VERY STRESSED!” Something like that. (She basically said, “Well get me one too!” So we’re going together! She’s also very excited!) The queue started at 3:00 and I saw the dreaded “2,000+ people ahead of you.” I did not panic, but I did sit there and watch the thing not move AT ALL. I was ultimately waiting about an hour and ten minutes before I got to look at tickets. I know people were waiting for hours, so I think that was pretty good! The little slider showing where I was at started moving, but the 2,000+ did not. Very suddenly at about 4:05, my number dropped to about 1400. Then suddenly 1100, then 400, then like 40 all in about two minutes. I was getting all worked up. The other teachers in the room looked a little frightened, but luckily our conferences were done.

When I got in to get tickets, there were not a lot left and they were disappearing under my fingers as I was trying to click on them. It was very chaotic. The stupid credit card company sent me THREE codes to ensure it was me AND I got a fraud alert message. But I finally got through all of that and got our tickets! I was freaking out. Another teacher was freaking out on my behalf. The PE teacher was giving me fist bumps. It all still feels like a dream.

Maybe a minute later, three of my seventh grade girls walked in because they had a basketball game tonight and I saw them and I said, “OH MY GOD GUESS WHAT I JUST DID?!” And they all freaked out!

It was quite a day and I’m not even sure how to go on.

[dumbassacademia]

The way that my boss made me sign up for the taylor swift ticket presale to help him get tickets and not only can he not even go on the day I have the code for but also Ticketmaster is crashing on both of our computers

But he is in on his phone and the paralegal in our other office got on at like 8 so she’s got it too

By god we’re gonna get this man his tswift tickets

[luvdsc]

Omg Cat (is it rude to not call you Miss Cat??), I saw you say something about Keshi tickets and I’m half tempted to hook you up with my friend (we’ll call her K) who has an extra for one of his concerts in May. She got 2 bc she wanted to go with another friend who also listens to his music, but turns out that friend already bought tickets with a group from her uni. K asked me to go bc she doesn’t want to go alone but I’d never even heard of him before she asked. I feel kinda guilty cuz I don’t really listen to him, even now, and I also feel like she may just have a better time going with someone who also listens to his music. Anyway, don’t take this seriously if you don’t want to lmao 💕💕

hey, sweetpea ! 💓💓 omg no of course it’s not rude to call me that !!!! I’m not sure when it started but miss cat stuck, but I’m totally ok with or without the miss, lovebug 💘 NO WAY ?????? OH MY GOD HOW DID SHE GET THE TICKETS LIKE THE ONES I WAS TRYING TO GET SOLD OUT AT 10:02 AND I ALREADY QUEUED UP AT 9:45 and six of my friends tried for them too and all of us were unsuccessful 😭we all tried during presale and general sale too ): also didn’t help that keshi gave out the wrong code but it’s not like we even got the chance to type the code in but omg plsss I volunteer as tribute, I will go with her BDHDJDNDJD one of my best friends and I use each other as concert buddies, so she goes with me to concerts for artists I like but know no one else who likes them and vice versa, I’ll go with her to a concert for an artist she likes but doesn’t know anyone else who likes them :’) maybe you can do a trade off like that with her? But also of course, if you aren’t comfy with going then definitely don’t go !! concerts should be fun and if it’s not fun for you, then no need to force yourself to go, sweetpea 💛 I hope she’ll be able to find someone to go with her !!! 🌷🌷

[xjoonchildx]

Hello - I have a bit of a dilemma and could use some advice.

Ok.

I signed up for and got presale codes for the upcoming BTS concerts in Vegas. I cannot use them. I have never been to a BTS concert before. I have not been to a BTS sized stadium concert in like forever. Tickets selling out too fast have never been an issue for any of the small arena/venue style concerts that I have been to in the past. I applied for them knowing I wouldn't be able to go. I wanted to do a practice run of buying tickets so that I would know what the process is when it comes time to actually try for tickets when they hopefully come to the East Coast. My thought was as long as I went through the steps and didn't click buy then I wasn't preventing any other ARMY from getting tickets. I didn't realize that only so many people would be sent presale codes, I had no idea about being waitlisted. While I don't think what I did directly prevented anyone from getting tickets, I definitely see that I've impacted how they can or when they can get tickets. And for that I feel like a POS. Literally sat on my couch crying last night thinking I had ruined someone else's chance of seeing BTS.

Last night after getting the email saying I was invited to the presale I went on twitter to see if others had and what they were saying. That's when I learned about people being waitlisted. . And now there is a lot of discourse and upset ARMY thinking that people who got presale codes knowing they wouldn't be able to use them only did it so they could purchase and resell at a higher cost. I had zero intention of buying tickets at all and even if I did I would never EVER consider reselling them for anything other than face value. I reached out to a mutual who had been waitlisted and offered to buy tickets and transfer them to her, since the presale codes are non transferable. She didn't reply but some other girl did. I explained to her why I applied for presale and said I would consider trying for tickets for her but that I couldn't guarantee them and could only afford to purchase two tickets.

I don't know this person at all. Is it a stupid idea to try to buy tickets and resell them to her? If someone else was in this situation I would probably caution them against it, but because I'm the one involved it's hard to take my own advise.I don't know if in my mind I'm offering to buy a complete stranger concert tickets in an effort to repent from trying for presale codes when I knew I couldn't go so that karma will be back on my side when I finally do get an opportunity to go to a BTS concert. I don't know what to do. I don't want to lie to her and tell her I wasn't able to get tickets. Should I purposefully take my time ordering them so that they do sell out?

I feel like absolute shit for doing what was honestly an innocent mistake. I never meant to keep anyone else from going and I would never try to scam anyone to make money off of tickets for BTS.

okay so -- there's a lot to unpack here. first, let me say do NOT beat yourself up like this about a presale code. it was an honest mistake, this is not the kind of thing you should be tying yourself into knots about.

i am by no means an expert on ticketmaster, but i would assume that if you do not use your presale code, someone who is waitlisted will get the green light. i would suggest you don't go through the process of trying to sell and resell, just don't use it and someone else will get your spot.

i'm sure there are thousands of people who won't use their codes for whatever reason and your situation is probably common. don't feel bad -- stuff happens. i'm sure your code will go right to an ARMY who's able to use it 💞

[greekletters]

insert clever title here..

honestly, I was going to try to bait you all with a better title, but this is all I got..

not really a prompt, but more of a topic... 

The Kissing Booth

When you had imagined college life, you had always thought about late nights studying in the library, or parties where you would go out drinking with your friends, or complete isolation and last minute study sessions in your dorm as you prep for exams.

Having to run the bottle ring toss stand for the dorm hall's charity event wasn't even anywhere near your college to-do list. But here you are. Carefully standing up about forty glass bottles on a table.

You always hated this game. It was completely rigged. The rings you had to toss were always smaller than the bottle tops they were supposed to fall on.

To make matters worse, you had found out that your roommate and love of your life would be running the kissing booth. Of course, Weiss Schnee had no idea that she was the love of your life. But that was a minor detail.

Luckily for you, Weiss' booth had presale tickets. So you may have bought some, just in case. What you hadn't anticipated was her booth being right next to yours.

"Oh hey Blake, looks like we are going to be booth buddies." You look up to see Weiss setting up her sign and placing a plastic bag of some kind on the shelving behind the booth.

"Yeah. Looks like it."

"Did you get stuck doing the ring toss again this year?" She tilts her head to the side and gives you a small smile.

"It's not that bad. I just hate when people, well, really when the kids don't win. It's totally rigged. I usually just give the kids the prize tickets anyways." Shrugging, you set about five more bottles on the table.

"Well that's very kind of you. They said my tickets sold out this year. So I'm a little nervous."

"I mean, why wouldn't they?" It falls out your mouth before you can stop it.

She looks away, smiling. Probably because you're blushing like an idiot because you've totally embarrassed yourself. Not like the two of you have to share a room for the remainder of the school year.. oh wait.

By the grace of God, when you stand up you see Pyrrha making her way towards you, purposefully.

"Hi ladies! Are you ready to go? We are about to open everything up!"

"It's as good as it's gonna get." You mumble as you place the little plastic rings along the counter top of your booth.

"As enthusiastic as always, Blake. Weiss? How about you? You have the only booth to sell out of tickets before we open."

"Really?" There's a slight crack in her voice.

"Most definitely. Yang is quite upset that her booth didn't sell out first."

"I mean, who would honestly pay to arm wrestle her? You're already going to have to pay for your own medical bills when she breaks your arm or wrist." Weiss giggles into her sleeve, and it makes you smile.

"Now, now, that's not fair to say. I asked her to behave and participate fairly."

"Well hopefully she listens." Weiss says as she hops up onto the stool behind her booth.

"Alright, it's go time. So I have to head back up front and make sure Nora and Ruby don't eat all the food. Or set something on fire."

"Wouldn't be good to have a repeat of last year, would it?" You say, and Pyrrha looks at you clearly unamused by the smirk on your face.

As soon as Pyrrha is gone, Weiss leans over towards you.

"Remind me, what happened last year?"

"You mean you really forgot that the two of them tried to deep fry every kind of food they had at the concession stand and the wall caught fire?"

She doubles over in laughter, slapping her knee.

"No, no I didn't forget. But it never gets old. The two of them smelled like corndogs for a month afterwards. Pyrrha was so mad."

The first group of kids approaches your booth and you take their tickets, handing them each three rings.

"And yet, even after the concession stand bonfire, Pyrrha thought it was a good idea to throw the same kind of fundraiser again this year."

None of the kids get any rings on the bottle, but you give them all a prize ticket anyways, and they walk off.

"Yeah, especially since half the money we raised ended up going towards the damages."

"What booth did you run last year? I forgot." It was true. You just know it wasn't the kissing booth.

"Face painting. And I was terrible at it. It was more like a 'Picasso painting in five minutes or less on your face' booth. Kids kept asking for animals or super hero masks and it was just a mess."

"Oh yeah, I asked you to paint a flower on my cheek and it looked way more like a jellyfish than a flower." She grabs one of your rings off the table and throws it at you.

"Who did the kissing booth last year?" She asks, propping her chin in her hand, looking off pensively. But she answers her own question. "Coco. How could I forget? She got in trouble for… how did Pyrrha refer to it?"

"Aggressively trying to suck face with every willing participant." Your air quotes are only to emphasize the ridiculousness of Pyrrha's word choice.

"Poor choice of words, considering it was Coco, so everyone that wandered by was willing."

"You aren't wrong. Still funny though."

Another five or six groups of people come and go from your booth. Weiss' booth still remaining unvisited. But for some reason, she seems unbothered by the lack of people.

"Have you started studying for Goodwitch's exam yet?" When you stand up from picking the rings up off the floor, you face her direction.

"I finished the readings and taking notes but I haven't started studying yet, no. You?"

"Not really. I started to color code my notes but then I was just too distracted."

"Too busy worrying about running the kissing booth, huh?"

"Actually, yes." It surprises you. Weiss isn't the kind of person to let certain things distract her from school work.

"Good news," you look both left and right from your seat, "doesn't seem like you're as busy as you thought. So not much to worry about after all."

"Right? So much for a sold out booth. I even went out of my way to figure out a way to not actually kiss people."

"Wh-what do you mean?" The nervousness in your chest building exponentially.

"Well, I didn't really want to kiss anyone in the first place. So I had to figure out a way to get out of it, without just quitting. So I got these." She leans over and places the plastic bag on the counter top of her booth.

"Hershey kisses. You bought a bag of chocolate?"

"This way, I can technically still give anyone a kiss, but not have to physically kiss them." She dances a little bit on her stool. Clearly proud of herself for coming up with the idea.

"That's kinda smart." It's all you can think to say as your brain comes to realize how much money you just spent on carnival tickets for basically no reason at all.

"So imagine my disappointment when there are no visitors to my supposedly sold out booth." She huffs in defeat.

"More good news, we have less than an hour left, so it's almost over. And you get to keep the chocolates for yourself."

"Still somewhat disappointing."

Suddenly, from around the end of the aisle, Jaune appears, with an armful of tickets.

"Speaking of disappointment." You mumble,

"Those tickets better not be for me." The look of terror is plastered on Weiss' face.

"Hey guys!" He's always so chipper. It's exhausting. "There's only like half an hour left of the carnival so I figured I needed to come drop these off if they plan on getting used."

"Oh God no, please God no." Weiss repeats a few times under her breath.

"And these are…?" You ask him as he lays them across the entirety of your booth's counter.

"Your tickets." He says to you like it's obvious. "You know, all the tickets you bought for the kissing booth. At first when Pyrrha said you had bought them all, I was a little confused. But she told me to just be quiet and bring them here for you. I still can't believe you bought every single one. That's like, over eighty tickets!"

If it were possible to die from embarrassment, you would be six feet under.

"Thanks, Jaune. I'm sure Pyrrha will be delighted to hear that I have received every single one of my tickets, right now, standing here. Now, please do me a favor and leave so I can die in peace."

"Alright then. You two ladies have a good night!" With that, he wanders off back the way he came.

When you finally turn to the right and look in her direction, Weiss is propped up on her forearm and leaning against the booth. Her eyes narrowing as she looks at you. This certainly hadn't been how you thought this would go. You had been hoping she would never find out.

"Just when exactly were you planning on telling me that you bought not one, not two, but ALL of the tickets to my booth, Blake Belladonna?"

"Never? Probably. Maybe eventually?" You fidget nervously.

"Why would you do that? How much could that have possibly cost? Over eighty tickets? You shouldn't go around wasting money like that!"

"It wasn't a waste." You mumble as you begin to start cleaning up your booth, placing bottles back in their boxes under the table.

"What do you mean? Of course it was."

"Selfish maybe, but not a waste." You take a deep breath. "Because maybe I didn't want to spend my night watching other people kiss you, over and over while I supervised the ring toss." Folding the legs of the table, you slide it back against the wall. "It was for charity too, so I didn't waste my money."

You don't really want to wait for her to say anything back. You already feel like your heart had arm wrestled Yang, and lost. So you start cleaning up all the tickets Jaune had left scattered on the booth. Habitually, you count them as you fold them into rows.

"How many?" Her voice almost seems far off, or like you're hearing it through a wall.

"I'm not letting you pay me back for the tickets, Weiss. I'm not sad or feel guilty that I bought them" You dismiss any notion similar to that as well.

"Blake Belladonna, how many tickets did you buy?" Her voice a little more stern this time. Rolling your eyes, you look over at her.

"Eighty four. There are eighty four tickets." Humiliated. You feel humiliated as you hear her shoes scuffing along the floor as she walks over towards you.

"Hold out your hand." You glance up at her suspiciously.

"Why?"

"Just do it, please." She lightly stomps her foot. So you stick out your left hand, palm up.

She reaches up and places a single chocolate kiss in your palm. And you just stare at it for a few seconds.

"Only one? I mean, technically I bought eighty four, so shouldn't you give me the whole bag-"

Before you can finish saying anything she grabs your face and pulls you down, pressing your lips together. If you weren't dead before, you were now.

"Took you two long enough. It was getting painful to watch after three years." The addition of another voice startles the two of you into separating.

Looking over, you see Pyrrha standing at the front side of your booth, holding a box full of supplies under one arm.

"And I'll be taking a few of these, as payment for my continuous pain and suffering that you have caused me over the years." Reaching her hand into the candy bag and grabbing a handful before she walks off.

"I can't believe she took my candy." You say as your eyes follow Pyrrha around the corner.

"I guess you're just going to have to redeem the other eighty three tickets the old fashioned way." Weiss says as she rips one ticket from your collection.

[foughtdragonswithyou]

WHEN I WAS 4, I remember waking up on Christmas day to the Taylor Swift album, little did I or anybody else know how this would impact the rest of my life.

WHEN I WAS 5, I remember getting Fearless and ALWAYS jamming out to it on my way to school with my mum. I remember the first time I heard The Best Day and I LOVED IT!!!

WHEN I WAS 7, I remember Speak Now arriving at my house after pre-ordering it. Looking back, I can now see how that album has changed my life. It taught me that people are going to be mean, it taught me that something's are done better independently, it taught me that I can be whoever I want to be.

WHEN I WAS 8, I remember going to the Speak Now world tour. I was on the front row yet I was too small to reach for Taylors hand. I remember my brother and mum getting a high five but I also remember the security guard going to find someone in Taylor's family (probably Scott) and he came back with a guitar pick for me, which I will cherish forever.

WHEN I WAS 9, I remember waking up and being shocked because I had received RED a day early as I had pre-ordered it but it was released on a Sunday which meant that it would be posted a day early. I remember driving through local villages jamming out in the car with my mum just so we could listen to it.

WHEN I WAS 10, I remember getting tucked up in bed and not being able to go to the RED tour as it was a school night, and the only tour date in the UK was in London, and my mum was a teacher. It was the first time I had really been upset.

WHEN I WAS 11, I remember jamming out to Shake It Off at my grandparents house in France and remember me and my brother dancing around the houses. I then started high school and I felt like my life was falling apart, my best friend for 7 years left me for a new group of friends and the new "popular" friend group that I joined turned out to be a group of bullies but I didn't know that yet. However, when 1989 was released I remember listening to it when I was walking to and from school, when I would sit alone and when I felt like I had someone to dance with around my bedroom. I remember the presale for the tour like it was yesterday, it was on Bonfire Night and the code was sent to spam mail and all of the tickets were gone in a flash. I remember crying all night. The next day, my, amazing, mum tried again and I remember being in the bathroom after a violin lesson at school and I checked my Nokia, mum had got tickets and I cried so much, I was SO happy.

WHEN I WAS 12, I went to the 1989 World Tour Manchester with my mum and brother on my Grandad's birthday. We went to wagamama and then watched the incredible show. When Welcome To New York started playing, I was sobbing, I was so thankful to be there and hugged my mum as tight as I could. I remember thinking that I had my family and Taylor and that was really all that mattered.

WHEN I WAS 14, I remember a snake showing up on Taylor's Instagram and I was shook. I remember the LWYMMD lyric video getting released at 5am and to be honest, I was scared, I watched it for the rest of the day and made my whole family watch it 13,000,000 times and by the end of the day I was screaming it at the top of my lungs. I was in a hotel room with my mum and brother, which we resorted in going to after our plane to France was cancelled, and the LWYMMD official video came out and I LOVED it, it explained Taylor's life for the last few years so well. The night before the album was released, my mum got an email saying that our order was cancelled. She had a meeting on release day in Liverpool so she trekked to the other side of Liverpool to pick a copy up for me. She then picked me up from school and I remember hugging her endlessly and listening to it on the way home from school. I still had bitter friends, but Reputation taught me that I didn't need them anymore. I stopped hagging round with them and I found some new friends, I still didn't get invited to anything but I felt better. I remember being at the bus stop, waiting for my bus to school, when I SCREAMED at the top of my lungs that you were coming to Manchester and I'm pretty sure I woke up the whole neighborhood. I called my mum and we were so excited. I woke up on Christmas day to two tickets to The Reputation Stadium Tour.

WHEN I WAS 15, I was counting down the days to tour and was so excited. The day before, our section of seats had been moved and I ended up sitting one section away from the front. IT WAS THE BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE. During CIWYW, I saw Andrea, I ran up to her and she gave me a hug that I had waited for for years and it was the tightest, most lovely thing ever, it was the closest I had ever been to Taylor and I thanked her for everything. I remember the lead up to April 26 and it felt so magical. I stayed up all night, and morning (even though I had a 5 hour art exam in the morning) and remember ME! being released, it felt like the best birthday present ever, as my birthday was the next day. I remember my brother putting it on his Instagram story, telling everyone to stream it and I was thinking, yes, he's doing his duty.

NOW I'M 16, on my birthday me and my mum drove to Manchester to meet up with my aunties for the Take That concert and for an hour and a half we listened to 100% Taylor Swift, which included ME! about ten times. The day Lover was released was the most magical day ever, I loved the album so much and I cried all day, whilst I ate Lover inspired biscuits and cupcakes. That was the day that I decide that I was going to start completely new in sixth form with new friends. I have done so, and it's the happiest I've been. Now, I'm counting down the last few days until I get to see you at JBB and am anxiously waiting to see if I get tickets tomorrow to Hyde Park.

Taylor, thank you. Thank you for being there when I had no friends. Thank you for the music that you make. Thank you for teaching me so much. Thank you so much for everything @taylorswift, I love you xxx

@taylornation

[planetoban]

Savin’s Answers from Twitter, Part 3!

Well, looks like it’s been nearly 2 years since the last SAfT post... sorry about that! Time really got away from me on this one. Due to the backlog, this post covers tweets from October 2017 through April 2018

As always, tweets are in order from most to least recent, and answers may not 100% true/canon since things may change during production of the sequel. Text is unedited save for formatting; in a few places I added [comments] for context.

Part 1 | Part 2

Also: If you’re going to ask Savin something, please be respectful and appropriate. He’s a person just like you and me.

@fictionjustis: Out of curiosity can a Nourasian and human have a child together? Also can humans conceive children with other humanoid species in the galaxy?

@EiffelSavin: I don't think any such birth have been recorded in the Oban universe, at least yet. But humans and Nourasians having a very similar DNA, it should be theoretically possible. There have been quite a few fanarts on that topics already 🙂

(x)

@PudgyDragonLair: Also how big is the Arrow in comparison to Molly like actually height and length?‏

@EiffelSavin: From my original notes: Whizzing Arrow 1 - length 8m, height 7m, weight 10t Whizzing Arrow 2 - length 10m, height 7m, weight 14t to be compared with the final designs

(x)

@PudgyDragonLair: hey Savin I'm not sure if this would be considered a spoiler or not but how Long are Nourasian life spans in comparison to humans and other alien species?

@EiffelSavin: I'm not sure anymore. I'd have to find my old notes... But if Nourasians approximately live the same number of "years" as humans, they are "Nourasian years" which are much longer  than our "Earth years" due to the longer distance between Nourasia and its sun. May be 2 or 3 times+

(x)

@JPLangley_: Something I've been wanting to ask is how was Eva able to get away with not following the gender-specific dress code at Stern? Did faculty just give up trying to discipline her since she nor Don didn't care?

@EiffelSavin: I think my justification for that was that Stern's school rules only stated that wearing the school uniform was compulsory, without specifically mentioning that the short dress was for girls and the long pants for boys. Also they had bigger issues with Eva than just her uniform.

(x)

@PudgyDragonLair: what was the Arrows original purpose before Don and the Goverment took it ? Me and my friend rewatched OSR and we noticed alot of things that would be atypical for a Star Racer (key among them a gun turrent ). Was the Arrow made to be some kind of stealth ship?

@PudgyDragonLair: It has capabilities to check Molly vitals and mental state while she s racing, as well as the hyperdldrives which I doubt would be allowed in racing circuits, and a remote access to the gun torrent, and hand off access shoukd the pilot be unable to man it.

@EiffelSavin: You got a point there. For better or worse army funding helps develop new technologies that are later reintroduced into civilian life/products. The "prototypes" Miguel had been working were not your typical star-racer and aimed at a different market...

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[continued from thread below]

@Helloworld1012: And the fact that Eva was a beautiful young girl certainly didn’t hurt

@EiffelSavin: Yes but more than that the fact that she's not your typical girly girl beauty. A long haired bimbo would not have awoken  Aikka's interest.

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@ILOVE659709491: Is there any chance one of the reasons Eva was so quick to trust & befriend Aikka was because the prince’s personality was similar to her father’s personality before Maya’s death? Both were reserved,well cultured & gentlemanly but kind + both had a passion for racing

@EiffelSavin: Freud would like the implications no doubt, but I think the relationship with Aikka is more simple and direct. He's good looking, a prince, well mannered. She's feels rejected  - especially by her dad - a bit of an "Ugly Duckling" and he takes an interest in her.

@ILOVE659709491: I’m curious though why was Aikka interested in Eva ?

@EiffelSavin: Just as he's the opposite of what she's known, she's a total opposite for him: tough, outspoken, pure - and touching. The noble girls he's met in Nourasia's palaces were not like that!

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@JPLangley_: Also, unrelated question, but if the second season of Oban does ever make it to the public, will it explore what happened to Thunderbolt and Jordan after the events of OSR?

@EiffelSavin: Can't guarantee both...

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@JPLangley_: Did Spirit originally have wings, and him transforming into a bird was a second thought?

@EiffelSavin: The concept was always that he would transform into his own ship but judging by Thomas's drawing I guess we tried more classic wings first.

(x)

@Helloworld1012: Stern boarding school prided itself on disciplining their students what did they mean by discipline? Also, considering DW’s personality before Maya’s death seems to have a anime rich kid with controlling parents background vibe to it, what social class was DW born to

@EiffelSavin: In my view, Don Wei comes from a modest background. Being a self made man he can be very demanding, expecting from others to obey the rules he's imposed on himself in order to succeed. Maya and young Eva soothed him up, but that went away after Maya's death

@Helloworld1012: Yeah but everything else about him doesn’t seem like he’s a self made man. Or just a selfmade man. It got to me, he’s still young when Maya died & also it’s possible that he could have grown up rich & still be a self made man because his parents gave up on him.‏

@EiffelSavin: That could also be possible yes I put him out there, but you're totally untitled to make him yours now !  🙂

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@ardaozcan98: Did you get any inspiration from B-2 Spirit aircraft while designing Spirit in OSR or is the resemblence just a coincidence?

@EiffelSavin: Interesting. I came up with the name without being aware of the connection & I don't think the plane was ever a reference for the design, but we should ask @thomasintokyo and @Brunetstanilas too.  As you can see below (2002 rough by Thomas) Spirit went through a lot of phases

@Thomasintokyo: Never heard of this plane. That’s a coincidence!

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@emaf_CntCmnd: I wonder if you have known who works for BANDAI VISUAL and helps to release Japanese ver. of BD like Mr.Takanashi Minoru. (I wish he were still alive.)‏

@EiffelSavin: Mr. Takanashi disappearance came as a terrible shock. But we're working on establishing new connections with Bandaï.

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@ardaozcan98: Do you consider producing comic books or novels instead or alongside with the sequel. There are lots of unknowns and potential for backstories of the galaxy and species i think. And books may be cheaper or easier to create. Loved the original art-book.

@EiffelSavin: That's not a bad idea. Any talented manga-comic book artists interested around here ? 🙂

(x)

@Valeria_Lacava: Could you do something for the italian rights? Jetix closed and it's impossible to find online the episodes in italian

@EiffelSavin: STW doesn't own those rights but we'll try to negotiate them if Disney agrees and if this can be done within the bluray budget.

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@Helloworld1012: How was Don Wei able to pay the financial cost to form a race team with Maya and make her a champion? Race teams cost a fortune, but sponsorship was unlikely since DW stated & the timeline shows Maya was the first person he was a manager to, so he had no credibility.

@EiffelSavin: Mostly true but not completely true. If things were always so then I would never have been able to produce Oban Star-Racers, having no hard cash of my own, and having never produced nor directed an entire series before 🙂

(x)

@dragbax: Do you have any idea how big of an impact this show had on me as a kid??? Plz don't disappoint me of backing down or handle it poorly... My heart can't handle that. Especially how Samurai Jack was treated with its last season.  :(

@EiffelSavin: It may still be a long road ahead, especially since we don't intend to sell out, but I can promise we'll do our best!

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@Helloworld1012: I’m curious did Don Wei stop caring about Eva after Maya died? I mean he did abandon her just for resembling her mother & tried to forget she even existed for 10 years and would have CONTINUED to do so Had Eva not done anything about it, so did he stop caring?‏

@EiffelSavin: He tried to forget so well that he almost completely did

@Helloworld1012: Wait, doesn’t that basically mean that yes Don Wei did  stop caring about Eva once her mother died?‏

@EiffelSavin: Yes basically (what an awful dad!). Seeing Eva reminded him too much of Maya and of his guilt. He couldn't bare it and walked away, at least until he was ready to face her again.

(x)

@n0sichan: I hope subtitles  for disabled peope will be available this time.

@EiffelSavin: If we have enough presales yes

(x)

@MattGiusti: What is your thought process when it comes to animating characters speaking?Do you need to keep in mind how other languages will line up to the animation?Or do you do everything with one language in mind and alter the script accordingly later on?

@EiffelSavin: One concentrates on one main language. On Oban i wrote all scripts directly in English and the lip sink was based on those. But then i spent a whole month in front of an editing machine rewriting french dialogues that matched that lipsink

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@McKhendon: How do you accomplish 16:9 without losing parts of the picture?

@EiffelSavin: You're bound to loose part of the picture but if you address the process creatively you can produce new strong images by selecting shot by shot what u keep & what you discard

@SonicMrgame2017: The show was made on 16.9?

@EiffelSavin: No, in 4/3. It was still the transition period between the 2 formats at the time and our investors required 4/3. The remastered 16/9 version was done this year, reframing the original master shot by shot under my supervision.

(x)

@ardaozcan98: All the dubs would be really nice especially for children.

@EiffelSavin: We'll see if something can be done but it sounds complicated. Sav The World doesn't own the rights of these other versions.

(x)

@Wnika457: Is it possible that the online game wil be reopened? That would be awesome, I remember playing it when I was a kid :)

@EiffelSavin: That would be cool but we don't have the rights nor even a copy. But there'll be other games if we manage to pull through the sequel project

(x)

@RadekFalhar: I just found out you are making Saya no Uta adaptation. I really hope you don't think the abortion that is the US manga is in any way related to the VN.

@EiffelSavin: The US comic probably had good intentions but turned Saya into smthng very different & sometimes opposite to what it is. The adaptation I work on also take liberties with the original material, but I try to remain very faithful to its spirit & to the mindset of the characters

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@lilacwondercat: Is there really a sequel in the works? I am such a huge fan, please say it's true!

@EiffelSavin: It's true but still a long to go. Creation takes time and the financing is the most pressing issue...

@lilacwondercat: Is there anything die hard fans can do to help?

@EiffelSavin: Most certainly though I can't think of anything precise right now. Helping spreading the word about the bluray is one though. The more people buy it, the stronger we can be when talking to potential financial partners.

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@Ekana_Stone: Does Blu-ray have the English dub, I would assume so

@EiffelSavin: Yes, French and English language are guaranteed. We would like to add Japanese too but there are question of rights we must try to sort out.

(x)

@fictionjustis: Considering the fact that Oban star racers indeed had Japanese influence, I’m curious did u base Maya’s character design on a character from sailor moon, ( The 1990s version not the 2010s version) a well known anime & manga?

@EiffelSavin: Maya's character design clearly has anime influences but it was developed organically, drawing after drawing. It was not influenced by one show in particular.

(x)

@Zeether77: Would love to see this on Blu-ray here, but not cropped to widescreen...does Shout Factory still have the rights?

@EiffelSavin: DVD & Bluray rights have reverted to us

@Zeether77: Would the BD release be a limited time thing? I just got a player but I don't think I could commit to a preorder sadly

@EiffelSavin: Can't confirm right now

(x)

@ILOVE659709491: I’m trying to figure out what it is exactly because he [Savin] could be saying that the wei surname was meant to be Chinese or DW was Chinese but I just can’t figure out what it is, & unfortunately for some reason it has been driving me crazy yesterday so what is it in that question?‏

@EiffelSavin: Don Wei is of Chinese origin or at least his family is

(x)

@sergeigaponov: #obanstarracers Could you write a list of countries in which you can send blu-ray Oban: Star Racers?

@EiffelSavin: Too early to confirm but my guess would be in all countries.

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@Nick_Kharin: How much can Blu-ray boxset will cost (approximately or the maximum price)? I’m very excited about the news about the project.

@EiffelSavin: Still evaluating.

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@Adultito: Will the Blu Ray have the Japanese audio and the original OP+ED

@EiffelSavin: Japanese audio we'll try. There could be pbs of rights. French and English at the minimum.

@Adultito: speaking of Japanese audio, will there be the original OP "Chance to Shine" (shown in most international broadcasts) on the English dub because the US broadcast (as well as the Shout Factory DVDs) used "Never Say Never"

@EiffelSavin: We have the rights to all the original songs and tracks but not to "Never Say Never" which was produced by the US broadcaster of Oban. So we would use "Chance to Shine" for the opening.

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@Maj0r_Crisis: Will we ever see a release of the cancelled second volume of the Original Soundtrack?

@EiffelSavin: If we have enough preorders, one of our plans is to add most of or even all of Iwazaki Taku's 80 original tracks as a bonus to the bluray edition

(x)

@delicatedowner: I wish you good fortune on making the blu-ray release a reality (will your company self-publish the BDs like with Ankama and their Wafku sets?).

@EiffelSavin: We may self publish too but could go the kickstaryer way. Unlike us Ankama is a rich company!

@delicatedowner: Even Ankama went the Kickstarter way.  And it backfired on them.  I hope you'll do a better job.

@EiffelSavin: We'll see. But if you meant "selfpublish" as in "creating the design packaging etc" ourselves, yes that would be the plan. We have some good people we can work with.

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@nothisiswindii: Do you think you guys should make a 4:3 aspect ratio version of the Blu-ray? A lot of studios tend to simply "zoom in" their old shows to fake a 16:9 ratio, and they end up losing a lot of detail on the top and bottom as a result.

@EiffelSavin: Probably but it's something we'll discuss with all those who register with the Oban Bluray project when the times comes. In all cases, I can guarantee the 16/9 remaster is not a "zoom in". We took care of things on a shot by shot basis (see the video on http://obanstarracers.com )

@docsane: I'm curious: why was Oban not originally shot 16:9? I thought it was unusual at the time to still see an animation being released 4:3.

@EiffelSavin: Oban was signed just at the time when productions were beginning to shift from 4/3 to 16/9. But our financial partners asked for 4/3 so we produced and delivered 4/3.

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@harpnote: The new site looks slick! I am sad the forums are no longer up. It was a good time there.

@EiffelSavin: We have the copies. We may put them back online but already have our hands full right now

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@MattGiusti: Will [OSR] HD be exclusively a blue ray release? Or can one buy a digital version online?

@EiffelSavin: The first goal is the bluray release.

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@ILOVE659709491: Considering Wei is a Chinese surname & with the exception of his temper DW’s manners and taste indicate a certain upbringing is there a possibilty that Don is the son of a high class family in Asia and he moved to America or Europe because of his passion for racing?

‏@EiffelSavin: In spite of the obvious connection with Japanese anime, Wei is a Chinese name indeed and it was meant that way.

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@sergeigaponov: There are no such scenes [dramatic scenes in children’s shows], because people are interested in toilet humor. The time has already passed when people cried over such scenes. There are few people who are crying. I hope in the #second #season of the drama will be more, because #Eva has matured.

@EiffelSavin: If it 's only up to me I'll say definitely yes and in all cases that what we want to aim for. This said, I have a feeling traditional broadcasters are targeting younger and younger audiences and aim even more for comedy than before.

(x)

@ILOVE659709491: Considering Maya was DW's first champion, DW  stated her charm was her recklessness, That Maya seemed to be more dominant in the relationship, & considering DW's and Maya's personalities in the past is it possible Maya introduced Don to the racing world?

@EiffelSavin: Interesting thought. But I'd say no. Don Wei was born to be a race manager.

(x)

@lbigreyhound: Any idea when and where it [the HD remaster] will be available?

@EiffelSavin: The new HD master will be used in future broadcasts of OSR, at least one of whitch is planned for 2018. When we go ahead with our plans for a bluray relase, we may use it as well, or else chose to stick with the original 4/3 format.

(x)

@ILOVE659709491: so I’m curious, what inspired the idea for OSR I’m super excited for the sequel but I am curious on what inspired the idea for OSR 2 Since it’s been over a decade since OSR?

@EiffelSavin: The 10 year anniversary of the first release brought the original artistic team together. We all thought it would be nice to look back at the world we created.

(x)

[Not sure who he’s replying to here, but the question seems to be about Maya’s race with Spirit]

@EiffelSavin: If I remember correctly there just wasn't enough time and she gestured Spirit to stand out of arm's way.

(x)

@RedVioletPanda: Why is the Holy of Dol, well, holy? In the artbook, there is a mention of elemental magic of the Nourasians, what is that exactly?

@EiffelSavin: Nourasian are close to nature. Magic and the use of natural ressources more than makes up for the lack of technology. As for elemental magic its source of power is nature itself.

(x)

[Again, not sure who he’s replying to]

@EiffelSavin: We continue to work on dvlpmnt but it's a costly project & bringing the right financial partners together is the long and uncertain part...

(x)

[jonwongton]

KCON NY 2019 Recap

Wow I was actually in New York for four days and four nights. When I first saw the fromis_9 KCON NY announcement I knew there was no way I wasn't going to go. It looks like they made some great memories in NY/LA and I wanted a part of the fun too. Plus I wanted to avoid some of the regret I had last year in that I didn't go to KCON LA 2018. I already got super invested in them through June/July but I don't think I was emotionally ready/mature enough to go on a solo trip like this by myself.

Friday, July 5th

So to start out my trip, my flight to Newark was delayed for four hours. At least at the airport, I met the most beautiful family and got to play with their kids for a couple hours. The kids went boy girl boy where the youngest boy was causing trouble (literally me since I’m the third child), and the girl had no concept of stranger danger so she told me a wide assortment of TMIs about her family. The lady sitting next to me (Annie!) on the flight was also the sweetest soul imaginable, so we chatted for a couple hours before both watching Crazy Rich Asians (I admittedly cried at the ending).

I arrived after 9pm (no chance for early check-in or Klub KCON though I didn't want to dance with 16 year olds anyways), and I get anxious af when I'm in a foreign place without knowing exactly where I'm going, so I mass googled/kept asking for strangers for help to get to Manhattan. After I got settled into my hotel, Maya met me outside we went to Times Square! I'm so glad she came out and saw me that night because 1) I haven't seen her since summer of maybe 2016? so I missed her a ton 2) I literally had no idea how the NY subway worked before she told me 3) I wanted to go Times Square at night and 4) I wouldn't have wanted to go alone. We caught up on literally everything and I went to bed pretty late considering I wanted to check-in early to sell my A1 artist engagement pack.

and our “first date” pose because we were standing so damn far from each other:

Saturday, July 6th

I got up at 6am EDT (so 3am PDT aka rip), and rushed over to the Javits Convention Center to get in line. I brought like literally nothing because I was afraid you couldn't bring food in or they'd throw away my hydroflask. As it turns it, the staff didn't care at all, and there was hardly any line. After checking in, I got my A1 artist engagement pack ($150) which had an AB6IX high touch, a TXT audience pass, and an SF9 audience pass. 

I almost panicked because I didn't know how popular AB6IX was, and if I had gotten ATEEZ/TXT I literally would have made at least a $100 net profit. I sat in line with some new people before I summoned enough courage to go into the artist engagement mob. Almost immediately, a girl ran up to me and asked me if I wanted to sell my hi-touch. I wanted to gauge the "market price" a bit more because I was still early af, but since I was still kinda panicking, I sold it to her for $100 and her SF9 audience pass. I looked around and that's when I figured out all the girls were trying to trade their hi-touches for the groups they wanted and all the guys were trying to buy their IZ ONE/(G)-IDLE hi-touches (the only two girl groups doing an artist engagement since Everglow couldn't attend and fromis_9 wasn't doing one). For the eight groups there, I'm pretty sure the market price went something alone the lines of

ATEEZ >>>>>>>> TXT = IZ ONE >> (G)-IDLE = The Boyz >>> SF9 = AB6IX >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> VeriVery

where the ">" shows the relative difference between each group. I thought TXT would be up with ATEEZ but I was clearly wrong. That's why I was pretty happy to get the AB6IX hi-touch off my hands. VeriVery hi-touches were being sold for $20 and people were throwing away their audience passes. I heard someone bought an ATEEZ hi-touch for $550 lmao.

I sold my AB6IX hi-touch, sat back in line with my new friends, and traded my TXT audience pass for an ATEEZ audience pass based on my sense of how popular each group was. I made another lap around the mob and a girl bought my ATEEZ audience pass almost instantly for $40. I made another lap maybe ten minutes later and sold one of my SF9 audience passes for $30 (I'm pretty sure I ripped her off on this one really hard but oh well). I couldn't find a buyer for my other SF9 audience pass so I decided to hold onto it until tomorrow since that's when their artist engagement would be. At this point, I was already +$20 in profit and I still had an audience pass leftover.

All the trading chaos settled at around 8:45am, but the convention didn't start until 11am. I just talked with some 16/17 year olds that were ridiculously into ATEEZ and other boy groups (surprisingly not NUEST or Seventeen).

I was one of the first into the convention and I made a full lap to scout around before picking something to do. The Toyota booth snatched me first and when I told them I was legit gonna get a 2020 Camry they were !!! and made me play their game. You had to search the Corolla for four QR codes, and take selfies with the filter that's prompted after scanning it in 90 seconds. The iPad they gave me glitched the fuck out so I only got three done. They gave me a "The Boyz Meet and Greet" pass which would allow me to go to the front of the line when they made a "surprise visit" at the Toyota booth. I was being a nice guy and told some The Boyz fan about it nearby, so the girl did it, succeeded, and won a fucking IZ ONE hi-touch >.> (people were selling that for $150 minimum...) so yes I'm salty as hell.

At the official merchandise line, if you bought more than $100 of stuff, they'd give you a special merchandise voucher. If you took that voucher to the KCON Star Square, played the game they had every hour and won, you'd get a chance to meet a "surprise artist". There were some official fromis_9 slogan towels for sale for $25, but I decided not to buy it right then and there in case they wanted one big purchase totaling $100. But my dumbass was wrong and the slogan towels sold out 30 minutes later and to this day I still don't have one (they're beautiful). I was also too slow to pre-order it when I bought my convention pass because they closed the presale.

I did some social media sellout booths, wrote some fromis_9 support on the "message to your idols" board, and realized there was nothing to do after that.

I just stood at the Toyota booth where they'd play an entire song and anyone that knew the dance would go up and do it (note they played the ENTIRE song and not just the chorus so for songs that weren't super popular, the stage was empty for a solid two minutes each time). I was only there for maybe 20 minutes, but they played Love Bomb and to my surprise, 4 Walls (which I haven't heard in ages).

I walked around aimlessly for another hour before I realized I hadn't eaten anything for the whole day. I got some really overpriced convention food and sat with some girls I met in line because I was pretty lonely at that point. They were from Chicago and were also there just for ATEEZ. We talked for a bit before they went to line up at MSG for the concert, so I walked around aimlessly for another 45 minutes before I went to one of the panels.

The panel was "The difference between American and KPOP" and Andreas Oberg (wrote Young and Free by Xiumin and Mark, one of my favorite station tracks) and David Amber (wrote Love Bomb, Heart Shaker, Yes or Yes, and Love Bug) were there! The third guy on the panel was pretty annoying, but I'm super interested in how these guys come up with these songs and they shed a ton of insight about it. 

They talked about how most successful kpop songs now are actually a combination of multiple melodies put together, which supposedly make the song more interesting. For their particular styles, they try not to repeat the melody between choruses because that would bore the listener and try to have super catchy parts of the song or even the chorus start the track. Something else I found out which was super interesting is how they tailored certain songs for certain companies and groups. Andreas said SM gave him a ton of freedom, but when JYP asked for a song from David, he needed to make the verses long enough for each member to sing (aka Twice needs more lines since there are nine members) and add in rapping parts if the group had a rapper. They had a Q&A section at the end where two people kinda pissed me off since they went up to the mic and made shameless plugs saying how much they adored Andreas/David and were aspiring song writers like them. I actually summoned the courage myself and asked the panel a few questions:

Do you have a good sense of whether a song you wrote will become super popular?

How do you feel about songs that you are very proud of writing that don't become popular, maybe because it was given to a group that isn't that popular?

Do you think composers deserve more credit for making groups popular? The example I used is Blackpink is SUPER popular but their entire soud is almost exclusively produced by Teddy, which almost no one knows about.

I thought they gave me really insightful responses too:

A little bit, but once the song is produced, it's in the hands of the company to promote it with the artist and the choreography.

They're sometimes really sad about songs they create that don't make it big, and Andreas told me he was very fond of Young & Free

David said it's fine the way it is now. The example he used is with movies where the actors/actresses will get all the credit + make the movie famous, but a huge part of the production of the movie is because of the director, who rarely gets any attention.

I walked around aimlessly for another thirty minutes before standing at the KCON Dance Studio to watch the random play dance. I always saw the youtube videos of them so I wanted to see it in person myself. It turns out there was a cluster fuck of people there and we kept getting pushed back so far I couldn't see anything. Two guys in line next to me had Fun Factory albums and fromis_9 posters, so I decided to strike up a conversation with them. It turns out they were also huge flovers AND buddies, so we ditched the random play dance and talked for half an hour about our overall love for kpop. They were also New York locals, and they said they would take me under their wing for the rest of the weekend T_T. We met up with one of the guy's aunts and head to ktown since it was within walking distance, the convention closed at 6, and they wanted something to eat before the concert started at 8.

I took the 순두부 짬뽕 I ordered back to my hotel and ate it while watching the live stream since I only bought a Sunday ticket. On the way back, I also stopped by a store called Koryo Bookstore which sold kpop stuff. I couldn't find any GFriend/fromis_9 stuff I wanted, so I bought a Harry potter book in Korean to practice before going back. The concert livestream was okay, and it felt even shorter because IZ ONE got an extra stage, which I presume was supposed to fill in for Everglow. I lost my shit when NUEST performed Love Paint and Look though because those songs changed my life summer 2016 (they almost made me wish I went). I was still kinda disappointed in them because they had a ton of fans, but they gave off the vibe they only came to NY just to do the concert and leave. I tried sleeping early but as I crawled into bed, I got a fromis_9 vlive notification and I kinda had to watch it in case they spoiled the activities of tomorrow. I saw on twitter they actually arrived on SATURDAY and just toured New York, so obviously there was no way they could be at Saturday's convention. I spammed in chat if they'd have a pinky promise event for maybe 15 minutes but they never saw the comment. I didn't hear any spoilers so I just went to bed tired af since I got like no sleep in the past two days.

Sunday, July 7th

I woke up pretty late on Sunday and bought an expensive ass fancy bagel before getting to the convention center, though I could hardly eat it since I have literally zero appetite when I’m in a foreign place.

I bought the official fromis_9 jersey to match my two buddies just so everyone would know we were flovers at first sight. I also finally took out my Saerom sign and carried it around the convention center. We watched the Sunday opening ceremony and met up with a third guy (a Wiz One) while we waited for the fromis_9 fanclub meeting at 1:30.

I also found a lady willing to buy my SF9 audience pass for $15, which is ridiculous because I saw people giving it away for free at this point.

The fanclub meeting was really interesting. I instantly locked eyes with a girl that had a Saerom sign and we took a few pictures.

We played bingo with a lot of the squares consisting of fromis_9 memes, and two kahoot games where we had to guess which member it was (the pictures were ridiculous) and name the song after only hearing 1 second of it. At the very end, we did the Love Bomb and Fun! fanchants, but it was nearly impossible doing them without already knowing them if you could read romanized hanguel fast enough. I still screamed my heart out though (seriously).

There was nothing interesting left on the schedule, so we walked around before deciding to go to the (G)-IDLE fanclub meeting as well. I missed most of it because I met up with the girl that printed the banners, but there was a really entertaining random play dance at the end. On the way to get the banners, I met the girl that had the Saerom sign during the fromis_9 fan meeting, so we chatted a bit and exchanged numbers (she was here just for fromis_9 and she came from SWEDEN, so I thought we could bond over that). We closed out the day by going to the "2019 Year of Girl Groups" panel. 

The panel was really boring, one of the members kept swearing, and they just talked about which girl groups they thought were the most influential in the kpop scene. Personally, I thought the SNSD/f(x) answers were meaningful since Gee shook the world and f(x)'s weird sound + Amber broke down a lot of stereotypes at the time, but some of the Twice answers in the group were a huge stretch. Two fans kept talking about how much Twice meant to them and while that's great and all, I think the rest of the audience felt the same way as I did. At the end, they forgot to give away their prizes, so they basically asked us to walk up and convince the audience why we should get the prize. I walked up and told them I was disappointed I came all the way from California just to see fromis_9 but still didn’t get the chance to. That won me this:

It was like 5:30pm after the panel ended, so we (five of us total) went to ktown to get chicken and hype ourselves up for the concert. They were playing Chung Ha and so many other not as popular girl groups (Weki Meki, Gugudan, Cherry Bullet) that we ended up talking about that for the entire time.

We all split up after we got to Madison Square Garden (I had P1, the group of three had P2, one guy had P3) and had maybe five minutes before the concert started because we showed up so late. 

We were all super sad that they started with fromis_9 instead of one of the other boy groups, but I fanchanted and danced my heart out during all the songs.

The people in my section were huge mood killers though. I was sitting in the Chase preferred section, so I feel like the people in that section either a) had their parents use their credit card to buy their tickets or b) got the tickets handed out at some event and weren't even invested in kpop. The two girls to my life were there for seventeen and got on their feet at the end, but the two girls to the right of me sat down and were on their phones for the whole concert.

I got so lucky during the concert. VeriVery covered 24K magic, AB6IX covered Attention, and SF9 covered Love Shot, all songs which I know and love. And a word about Seventeen's stage. I was clearly at KCON for fromis_9, but I also LOVE Seventeen. I didn't pay much attention to their most recent comeback home though since it was a much slower song. However, EVERY SEVENTEEN SONG THEY PERFORMED I ACTUALLY KNEW. They started with 숨이차 which I knew but was indifferent to, but then we got Good To Me, Adore U, AND 아주 Nice. The stadium was freaking shaking during 아주 Nice and when they came back for the surprise encore I think the entire crowd and I died.

I met up with my friends after outside the venue, but three of them had to leave because they had work the next day (locals). I was ready to go back to my hotel content with the concert but disappointed overall, but Sweden girl texted me and told me to meet up with all the other flovers we were with. I met the moderators of the fan club meeting and like ten people that were huge fans and traveled as far as I did here for fromis_9. None of us were tired so we went to ktown to hang out. We talked for two hours over girl groups, fromis_9, guessing each other's biases, and learning our own backstories + age. Like where were these people during the actual convention. Apparently they all knew each other, but because I don't have a twitter, instagram, or am on discord, I was the reason I couldn't be found. I invited Sweden girl to do touristy crap with me on Monday/Tuesday because our flights on Tuesday were at like the same time, but one of the guys there tipped us off for the fromis_9 flash mob happening tomorrow at Washington Square Park at 2:30pm. I personally didn't give a shit about touristy stuff and I only felt obligated to do it because I was in New York, but I clearly only came this far for kpop. We decided to meet up for lunch at like 11am and we all went our separate ways.

Monday, July 8th

We all met up at Chipotle and sat around talking about more kpop stuff.

It was raining surprisingly hard in the morning, so we were all praying the event didn't get canceled. We walked over to Washington Square Park at 1pm and camped out there full of anxiety. I’ll type up what happened at the flash mob in a different post, but in summary, it was the best day of our lives. A ton of flovers had flights to catch, so Sweden girl and got milk tea and just held our hands crying over the event we saw. We rewatched the videos like 15 times (not kidding), took the subway to the Statue of Liberty, took the subway BACK to Washington Square Park because we missed some closure pictures, and then went to Central Park to take more pictures, all while lugging around my silly Saerom sign.

Our heads were in the clouds the entire day so we just sat on a rock and watched the sunset. She met up with a friend from Michigan while I got Halal guys and went back to my hotel room super emotional over the days events.

My dumbass put too much of the red sauce in it which was spicy as HELL so I couldn’t even eat much of it.

Tuesday, July 9th

I woke up late because I wanted to stretch out the best day of my life (yesterday) for as long as possible, and Sweden girl convinced me to go to the airport to say bye to fromis_9 before our flight. I was late as hell, but I booked my ass over to JFK and got to see (G)-IDLE and IZ ONE at the airport (I have videos, not pictures). At the end of the day, fromis_9 wasn't even leaving New York that day so apparently the twitter source was wrong. I wasn't too disappointed though given Monday's events, so I said my good-byes to my partner-in-crime from the weekend and booked my ass to Newark (I was almost late for my flight because New York rush hour, will never underestimate again).

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All in all, I give KCON a solid 3/10, but my overall trip was a 12.4/10 because of what happened at Washington Square Park. KCON has much better, ethical ways to suck the money dry out of the fans that are willing to pay. They announce the artist engagement schedule AFTER selling the packs, which baited so many Nuest and Seventeen fans. The layout of the convention was absolutely fucking awful too. They put the Toyota booth dance stage, the KCON stage, the cover stage, and the KCON dance stage fairly close to each other so the music was playing over each other, and the other half of the room had empty booths full of cosmetic products and studying in Korea which has an appeal to like 10% of the people there. They also checked our wristbands when moving between rooms in the convention center, which makes no sense since we needed our wristband to enter the Javits Convention Center period. And in general, there was nothing to do "long term" so so many people were walking around bored like me. The lines for the stuff that could actually be done were ridiculously long (maybe 25-30 minute waits for the free food but that's long enough to miss an entire panel/engagement). The cherry on the cake is they announced the KCON LA lineup today without any teasers (no consistency?) and almost every single artist that went to KCON NY is going to KCON LA. I personally trust KCON LA a bit more to not fuck up everything as bad as KCON NY, but it still feels pretty unethical considering how many of us flew ridiculous distances to NY just for the same line up.

I'm not the biggest fan of New York either. The city is super crowded, smells awful, and I don't feel safe on the streets at all (and I'm a guy). One redeeming quality is that the people that I met were unbelievably nice. I probably asked for directions eight times and every time, I got the most helpful/friendly response. An old white man even saw how I confused I looked an approached me asking exactly how he could help me get to where I wanted to go.

At least now, I think I have the confidence to plan my own solo trip to a faraway place. This was a fun one.

I hope we answered your promise Saerom!