#some of the characters u guys describe as himbos. u just like that guy he’s not like that.

[therosevest]

why don’t we describe rocky as a himbo he’s like a leader. of the himbos

[diabolikpersonals]

hi anon, I'm not sure where to start with this one. first of all, I've read some fics by the author you mentioned (every single one involving yuma, actually!) and they literally don't even do that. they describe him as beefy but that, in itself, is not harmful at all. I think you might just be making stuff up to start trouble.

second, "big" and "not very smart" are two canon characteristics that yuma has. yui often describes him as large (so even if he isn't drawn very differently from the others I think we can consider this canon-compliant lol), and yuma himself will admit that he's like… "not good at using his head" I believe is how he words it. he's the muscle. he leaves the thinking to the other guys. so if u have a problem with this kind of character, I think u should complain to rejet first.

third (and I considered just deleting this ask, but I honestly want u to hear this last point), I think you're throwing around a term like "fetishize" too lightly. to fetishize means to make a certain identity purely an object of sexual desire rather than a real identity, made up of people with agency and desires of their own. the easiest example to understand, I think, is how men fetishize lesbians: a man watching lesbian p/orn and believing that sex between women exists for HIS entertainment is fetishizing lesbians. the problem with his behavior is that, according to him, lesbians don't have agency of their own; he does not see them as real people with real feelings. they're only tools for his OWN desires.

that's just one example, but it applies to other sorts of identities too. here's a forbes article about fetishization and race.

I just don't think that the "himbo" trope has the same negative effect on any particular identity. even if someone is very attracted to, say, muscular guys, that doesn't mean they are imagining that muscular guys don't have their own agency. then there's the fact that "himbo" is an innocuous, non-sexual character trope rather than a real-world stereotype for a certain identity............idk anon, I just can't agree with you. let's not throw around accusations when we don't fully understand what those words mean.

and on anon? in some unrelated person's askbox? cmon dude, you've gotta be classier than that. if you don't like a particular fic then don't read it. it's super easy; I do it every day.

(don't reblog or try to guess who the author is please)

[shijiujun]

Hi I have a question about a tag I saw on some cnovel translations. It’s “Dog Blood,” which I think is a direct translation of the Chinese tag. One place I saw it was on a novel by priest called 锦瑟, if that helps. I couldn’t figure out how to find the meaning without reading a whole novel.

HAHAHAHA omg my friend, i’ve been wanting to do this post for a while, but anyway since you asked, i shall just go through some of the danmei/novel/cdrama genres or types below. it ain’t an exhaustive list at all, there’re plenty of variations, but you may see some of these on jjwxc, also feel free to add for others

[but before i go on a tangent, for 锦瑟 pipi’s description is 狗血仙侠 I think? means angsty, melodramatic, makjang (if you’re into kdrama) cultivation to become immortal types]

*some of the below are like, you’ll totally turn up your nose at it and go like what the fuck, and not that i consume some of these genres, and i have ZERO comment as to what these genres are and i don’t want to hear stuff about how immoral things are (which they, some of them really are) - i’m just adding it in so yall know what to look out for in jjwxc next time if you chance upon weird shit okay

and i know all of these by some unfortunate crash course by a friend who’s a weibo supertopic trawler:

甜／虐 tian／nue 

Sweet or angsty/suffering types.

宠爱 chong ai

Means one of the main characters/leads really, really dotes on the other person. Basically a sweet novel, excessively sweet one.

狗血 gou xie

Literally translated yes it means dog’s blood, but what this means is that it’s angsty as fuck, and melodramatic, a lot of parts that will make you want to like spit out blood, which is where the name sort of matches. It ranges from like main characters with shitty personalities, betrayal, a lot of heartbreak, have I mentioned blood-spitting angst HAHAHA because yeah that’s what I get. Sometimes death (temporary or fake or transmigration or otherwise) yeah you get it. It does not mean BE, it can be HE, but you’re in for a fucking ride

沙雕／搞笑 sha diao／gao xiao

This means humour, comedy! Rather safe, refers to light-hearted humour, meant to be funny hahaha

鸡汤 ji tang

Literally translated means chicken soup, and no this does not mean chicken soup for the soul type of novels - this is also used to mean humour but like meme-ish and more like in your face humour that’s dumb and smart at the same time. Like just ridiculous humour.

骨科 gu ke

LMAO okay this literally translated means orthopedist, like the doctor department u go to when you break a bone? AHEM in danmei or actually not just danmei, any sort of het books, if you see this it means incest. So most of us would steer clear of this. The name came about (don’t take my word for it, there are a few versions I’ve heard but this is the most common one I think) because this popular male blogger was on a livestream or smth, and then his father came into this room to basically break his leg because he found out that the guy was sleeping with his younger sister, and that’s how it got its name

Look, I don’t judge, but I’d totally run the other way if I see this on any novel description just saying hahaha

小白 xiao bai

Literally translated as Little White, but used to mean surface-level type novels or stories (commonly used to describe web novels or fan fiction oops hahaha) - No depth in storytelling or characterization, no overarching huge plot, not very creative either HAHAHA (but does this mean it’s not good?! we’ll leave the jury out for that one)

菠萝 bo luo

Literally means pineapple, the fruit lol, but it’s used as slang/euphemism for B (bo) L (luo) - BL novels HAHAHAH

清水 qing shui

PG-13 novels, no explicit plots or scenes or people etc.

傻子 sha zi

This is a bit of an iffy line as well, technically it’s used to mean like a main character (one of the main leads) is a bit like naive and innocent and a bit of a bimbo/himbo/thimbo - but I think recently there’s been a rise of novels where authors (not just danmei, also in het ones) take the ‘silly’ part one step further and one of the leads can be actually mentally ill or retarded - so if you see this, you may wanna find a second opinion to see what kind of book it exactly is, so you don’t get a shock :/ Some of them are written well and treat the issue of mental instability and illness properly, others use it as just a trope/plot point, yeah so it’s hard to tell.

Don’t even ask okay, don’t ask why this exists or why people write certain things I do not have the answer. 

And then there are types based on like the setting:

末世 Apocalyptic

明星 Entertainment Industry 

民国 Republican Era 

高干 Main lead comes from like the upper echelons of society

军 Military

生子 Preg/MPreg

机甲 Robotics

声优 Audio VA/Entertainment 

重生 Reincarnation

穿越 Transmigration

科幻 Sci-Fi

修真／仙侠 Immortal Cultivation / Xianxia

[ambivrted]

[ zepthan smith-gneist, cismale, he / him, orange ] hey have you seen TUCKER HAYWARD ? HE lets me borrow A PAGE OUT OF HIS WORN MOLESKINE DIARY. oh, you know them! they’re TWENTY THREE and they’ve been at Roy G. for THREE YEARS. They are known to be a total AQUARIUS. no wonder they’ve picked up the nickname AMBIVERT! i’m surprised you haven’t heard them blaring WHITE FERRARI BY FRANK OCEAN all night. they remind me of PASSING STREETLIGHTS AT 4AM ALONE IN YOUR CAR, CLENCHED JAWS, AND PENSIVE SILENCES . anyway, let me know if you see them ! 

— introducing . . . PARADOXICAL HUMAN BEING ,  𝐓𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐀𝐘𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃 :

helloooooo i saw an orange muse was wanted so hyuk-hyuk ( goofy laughter ) , here i am ! . 

i just watched waves (2019) and am really in my feels about that , so here tucker is . . his entire life is the soundtrack to that incredible film .

dumb but smart

funny but sad

you CAN have it all ladies

he was born on february the 14th so yes literally he’s a secret romantic so what ? 

is a himbo , but a himbo with substance 

definitely that guy you look at and say ‘ oh thats a jock ‘ , and when you talk to him you say ‘ yep thats a jock ‘ , but then sometimes late at night , on rooftops , or on lonely benches in the middle of parks . . he’s got his shoulders hunched over and is writing in his diary , and he’ll suddenly say something very soft and sad and philosophical  

he feels everything 10000 % of the time . his emotions control him more than he controls his emotions . he’s a bit emotionally inept . if he’s happy , he’s really really enthusiastic . if he’s sad , he’s very very d*pressed . if he’s angry . . he’s downright m*rderous  . he never quite learned how to just feel emotions in a more spoonful type of manner

masks a lot of his suddenly serious moments by breaking out into laughter , or turning it into a joke . he FEELS things a lot , and sometimes if he feels that change in the air - or somebody looking at him differently / uncomfortably , he’ll be like ‘ ah abort abort  ! u overshared , u idiot ! ‘ and he’ll quickly diffuse the situation

as quickly as he can diffuse a situation , he can also ignite it . like i said . . paradoxical boy !

surprisingly always took schoolwork seriously  and was decent at university . considerably average .

in general he describes himself as pretty average , and that’s why he tries so hard to be the funny guy , or be memorable in some capacity to people . he thinks he’s quite forgettable . so he channels that energy towards making ppl smile when he CAN

loves making people laugh . loves it , loves it , loves it . he falls in love with people’s laughter .

he lives by himself and honestly ? he’s a bit of a lonely boy . he KNOWS a lot of people and is quite outgoing and extroverted at times , but he’s the definition of ‘ when your battery runs out of charge ‘ and very quickly just turning into the :| emoji bc he’s done being social for the day

maybe he just wants to be loved . . maybe he just wants to be held

he lowkey is quite self critical and self hating . he has abandonment issues ( his parents just kinda left him super alone as a kid ) and is a sensitive heaux about things at times 

BUT when he’s good, he’s GREAT ! he’s super up up up , super fun , outgoing . he’ll be the life of the party , yelling along to songs , hardly ever gets embarrassed . knows how much he can drink and incapacitate himself . gets messy to a certain degree but tries to keep things under control

will sleep with anyone at any time . . he is a sl*t but also doesn’t like sleeping alone ( what a baby ! ) . so honestly . .  if u wanna get ur heart broken or break his heart . , , , lets go i’m ready ( i don’t do m x m though . . sowwy ! )

draws inspo from steve harrington ( stranger things ) , kevin pearson ( this is us ), nate archibald ( gossip girl )  , jung joon - hyung ( weightlifting fairy kim )

as u can tell i’m still working on him at the moment . i work better crafting characters when i actually rp them u know ? anyways , hi hello i’m g ! i’m 24 , cisfemale , use she / her pronouns . 

i don’t have plots at the moments because i like to work off chemistry too , but PLEASE use me for as much drama as u want . hit me up with anywhere u could see tucker fitting in . literally he is here for all u sexy bitches to use as u desire . 

feel free to im me on discord ! ����sugar (g)ay#4182

i work 9-5 , and live in australia so my activity is SCATTERED at the best of times but i’ll always endeavour to reply and match ur enthusiasm !!!

i hope u like him and me !

[sillybub]

ok so i’m trying to write a cats fanfic for the first time (fanfic for the first time i’ve never written one) and i’m mostly just hyper fixated on a few characters so i have no idea how to write anyone else, do u think u could drop some personality hcs about the younger cats who don’t have songs (provincial, ecetra... ect. lol) i would appreciate it greatly!!!!

!!!!!! HELL YEAH SURE I CAN

Pouncival

He's the character I think about the least, tbh, so I'll start with him.

He's very much an annoying little brother figure who tries to act cooler and tougher than he really is. He's super impressionable because he wants to fit in, so he kind of just goes along with what everyone else is doing. Generally just a little shit who likes getting on people's nerves.

Tumblebrutus

Parkour junkie. I saw him described as a juvenile delinquent once, and that really stuck with me. He likes to get into trouble and thinks himself a rebel, but don't let that fool you. He's very respectful to his elders, and is a model Well Behaved Lad that his parents love to brag about. He very much as the energy of the oldest kid who was left in charge of the other kids. He does enjoy stunts and showing off a lot, of course. He's actually fairly reasonable and smart; he absolutely knows what he's doing is stupid, but it's fun so he does it anyways.

Etcetera

SHE'S SO EXCITED!! Her emotions are always at 100% and she has no small feelings. She has so much energy and she is constantly chattering or moving around somehow. Because she's a big chatterbox, she's also the worst secret keeper ever. If she knows something, it's not long before everyone knows.

She has an incredible sense of humor and loves to poke fun at her friends. She's perpetually here to have a good time, and that combined with her lack of self-control, make her very accident prone. If you dare her to do anything, she will do it on the spot. Prank call, public, embarrassment--as long as it will make her friends laugh she's SO down.

She loves her friends SO much, and would do anything for them. She'll throw hands at the drop of the hat, DON'T try her. She's not actually very tough, but that won't stop her from trying. She takes no shit at all and stands up for her buddies.

Electra

Electra has a few layers to her. She's a guarded and reserved person, so she's the quietest of the bunch. She's definitely an introvert, and prefers hanging out in small groups. On the surface, she's polite and demure.

She's prideful of her independence and it can be hard to get close to her, but once she warms up to you, her personality becomes a LOT more animated. She loves stupid little jokes and stories, and she has a pretty creative mind for coming up with them. She's really clever and observant, so she can be a BLAST to hang out with.

She sort of has a perfectionist complex. She was on her own for most of her childhood, and the Jellicles are the best thing to ever happen to her. She wants to be a good friend in return, so she tends to keep all of her own problems bottled up because she doesn't want to be a burden. She's FINE, of course she doesn't have any trouble with her personal sense of belonging and abandonment issues!! Inferior complex?? Ahahaha get outta here!!

Jemima

She's the baby of the group 💕 She's super friendly and cheerful, and her positive vibes are super infectious. It's hard to be in a bad mood around her; her innocence and genuine kindness have a way of worming into your heart and making you want to protect her at all costs.

She's a lot more perceptive and observational than most people expect. She easily picks up on people's feelings, so she's a very empathic and kind person. She has this uncanny way of being able to get an exact read on people after having one conversation, and as a result, she's incredibly easy to talk to. Her understanding and kind gaze set people at ease, and they tell her all kinds of secrets. Thank God she chooses to use her powers for good.

She's a REALLY good listener as well, so she's the friend that you go to when you need to vent. She's the youngest kitten, but it's easy to forget that when she's spouting wisdom to you.

She's also not afraid to tell you what you need to hear over what you want to hear. She can be a little brutal if you're full of shit, and there's nothing more painful than seeing her disappointed in you.

BONUS: Victoria and Plato! I don't quite see either of them as kittens, so much as Baby Adults

Victoria

She's very poised and graceful, and that combined with her confidence can sometimes make her come off as a little condescending.

She does have high expectations for herself, and is definitely a perfectionist. She works hard to be the best that she can be, which earns her a lot of admiration. Her cool composure and elegance make her super attractive, and she's QUITE popular.

She's pretty well-adjusted, actually. She doesn't have much that troubles her, but she's prone to over-exerting herself to meet her personal goals and standards.

Plato

He's the only cat that I would confidently call a himbo. He's dumb as a brick, very strong, and chugs Respect Women Juice for breakfast.

He's everybody's best friend; he calls everyone "pal" and "buddy" because it takes him a while to remember new people's names. By the time their actual names are drilled into him, calling them by a nickname is already a habit.

He actually gets lost in thought a lot. He'll stare at a flower for a long time, completely stuck on "Hnnn,,, pretty flower,,,, wonder if any bees have visited it today,,,, do flowers get lonely when the bees aren't around? Do flowers have feelings? Sunflowers seem like they'd be happy a lot" and then he'll be sitting there drooling for hours as his thoughts go off on ten different tangents

And then he'll ask what the Spanish word for torilla is or something.

He's a REALLY nice guy who you can depend on to help you carry heavy things. He likes holding things because he's never sure what to do with his hands; his favorite thing ever is giving people piggyback rides or just holding them in his arms like a baby. His hugs are just the absolute BEST.

Best of luck with your fic!!! I'd love to read it when you're done!!

[majorxmaggiexboy]

watching Moulin Rouge! The, Broadway version i guess:

idk whomst these dudes are but i kinda like them

“HELLO, I LOVE YOU” i’m tempted to say ‘same’ but will withhold judgement

aww does he just speak entirely in love songs or what? that’s adorable

i only saw the movie of this story Once and it was when i was Way Too Young For It and all i remember is being like “wow the singing is Nice” and being utterly shook by whatever was up with ‘Roxanne’ and also loving Come What May and something to do with an Elephant Love Medley...i think i distantly recall this character, Christian, being maybe sort of a dazey wide-eyed dreamy sort of character and maybe a sweet guy? idk but im also p sure Love Interest dies in the end :((( do they both die? i think- but nah bc isn’t he typing up the story on an a typewriter?

his hat is nice

fully just communicating via love songs

NEVER GONNA GIVE Y

he Wiggles

well that’s settled then, I love him.

aww are they all three of them friends now? Just like that? Did they just adopt him? And he’s just like Yeah Sure? this story panders to my exact interests so far please continue

“The whole thing was the single most insane idea I’d ever heard”

(intensely) “I’ll do it”

yeah no i love it so far this could be going places

“You shall live with us here, in dire and glorious poverty” oml

IS HE SINGING ROYALS

IS THIS A SONG-UPDATED VERSION OF??? WHAT

oooh! ooh go off!

“children of the revolution” is that an enjolras reference

i like this

oh. oh heavens

i want whatever that swing is that just came down from the ceiling

i mean i believe u satine but i mean it’s literally just a cool rock idk that they’re all that great tbh there are cooler rocks???

did- did she just say-

ALL THE SINGLE-???

BRICK????

i’m not sure about the sleeveless tux situation but it’s also kinda

👀 

oh no did she fall down? is she okay?

is there about to be a case of mistaken identity where she’s going to think Christian is this ‘Duke’ person?

is this the Wanna Build A Snowman music??

SHUT UP AND DANCE

this is kinda fun actually

the dancing is adorable

“Would you like me to call you...’Your Grace’?” “Uhm.” AHSFJAHAJ

these three buddies are so cute i can’t wow i love friendship so much

awww ms Satine :( someone pls give her a hug :(

cannot believe they really went here with the songs like. i was not expecting the updated music XD it kinda works tho

ooh that’s a pretty curtain

ohhhh noooooo the #miscommunication

Christian please be careful with your phrasing dude you are holding a shovel and don’t even know it my guy

oh no oh no

“I don’t have much money” “u what”

“MY GIFT IS MY SONG” just come out of nowhere bro that’s fine

oh heck they’re kissin

a LOT

ms satine did you not hit on “I don’t have much money” as a little clue that this man is not the duke

chaos chaos chaos

“She’s rather sick with some obscure malaise” first of all how dare you

WHAT WAS THAT

this is absolute chaos and i love it how are they literally describing a Sailor AU of their actual lives

“In the end, should someone die?” CHRISTIAN SHUT UP

awwww a hug :3

oh hey  the Duke sings nice

THIS MAN BROUGHT BACKUP DANCERS??

your name is Mr. Nasty sir that’s what it is

“Tomorrow, for celebration. Tonight? For a Friend” AWWWWWWWWWWW

Aww Satine :(

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return” I remember this!

love the Friendship

OH?

mr nasty why you gotta be so sinister you nasty

is Christian what they call a ‘himbo’?

TAKE ON MEEEEE

WHAT KINDA LITTLE DANCE WAS THAT

wait was this from the Mr. McGregor version? This is famil

WE CAN BE HERRRROOOOOOOOES

WE COULD BE LOVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERS I REMEMBER THIS

MR NASTY CAN YOU PLEASE STOP IMMEDIATELY

the umbrella i can’t

fancy blue coat

omg the “I will always love you” they did that

suddenly abrupt cut to he “,,,,madness,”

is this gonna be Roxanne?

LADY GAGA???

oh heck

heck

TOXIC BY MS BRITNEY SPEARS???

SWEET DREAMS??????

“I’ve been walking the streets, going mad with every step” like when Frollo was looking for Esmeralda or??

“I bow before no man’s title” OOOOOOH TELL HIMMMM

this music is pretty

Come What May heck yeah babey

ngl christian kinda needs his hair floofed.

that hat is ABSURD

the hat is too stupid oh my word i hate it

oh sh Chris you just blew the whole operation huh

you messed up you messed up so bad

agh it’s getting Stressful

are you about to offer him drugs bc if so pls dont

oh god youre offering him drugs

:(

this man is lit

oh here we go it’s Roxanne time

oH???

oh jeez oh heck

oh heck

wow

oh noooooooooo

oh his name’s Andre

DUDE STOP MR NASTY YOU CAN’T JUST DO THAT

HECK OH NO CHRISTIANS HERE

so i guess getting him drunk six ways to neptune had the opposite effect of what was intended oh no

oh it’s like that part in bbc’s The Musketeers

aw satine :(

ROLLING IN THE  DEEP??

YEAH MAN GO OFF ABSOLUTELY

ARE YOU GONNA KILL A MAN CHRISTIAN? IS THIS YOUR PRE-MURDER SONG?

KINDA WEAK ON THE WAY IN BUT

DID YOU JUST GROWL THE R

aw :(

christian if you don’t drop a chandelier on mr stinky bastard man,,

GO OFF SATINE

OH BOY IS HE GONNA MURDER THE DUKE IS HE GONNA DO IT

COME ON BABY

DANGIT CHRISLET WRONG TARGET YOU STOP THAT

THANKS BABE

NOW GO KILL HIM

YALL HAVE TEN MINUTES TO FIX THIS

WRONG. TARGET. CHRISLET.

STILL WRONG TARGET BRO

STOP PUTTING HER THROUGH EMOTIONAL DISTRESS SHE”S SUFFERED ENOUGH

i hate it here

there y’all go

but just for one day :(

son of a heck

oh so

oh it’s one of those like hadestown and tgm where they’re literally

oh

awww :(

THE GREAT BELL OF CLIFTON

aw we’re back to just the three friends :(

come what may 😭😭😭

ohhhh wow

well then. that was...yeah...yeah.

[ziracona]

What are your thoughts on all the survivors that weren't mentioned in ilm? Like bill and zarina?

Well, I’m under-informed on a few of them. If I wrote a story including Bill, Heather/Cheryl, and Ash, I would do more research first, because I only have their DbD paragraphs and a little personal knowledge to go with, but I’ll still give you my current takes haha. 

I’ve never played Left 4 Dead, but from his perks and the little I do know, Bill seems gruff and rough around the edges, but like he’s got a good heart and while his paragraph describes him as wanting someone to fight more than anything, I’d argue it reads a lot more like he wants to see people protected more than anything. (I mean, considering he’s quite literally died for his friends before, and some of his perks are based around survival alone, but he’s also got Borrowed Time, one of the most altruistic survivor perks in the game). 

Heather I feel bad for more than anything else. Poor girl goes to hell once and what do you do? Ya send her back. It ain’t fair. I’ve /seen/ Silent Hill and never played it, so again I have very incomplete information, but I liked her, and mostly I just felt bad for her that her life was super messed up. Poor kid is extremely traumatized, but I greatly admire the resilience and how powerful she is when most people would pretty understandably curl up and die.

Ash, I’ve /only/ seen the first Evil Dead film, so I only know him as baby Ash/the world’s single biggest himbo. I’m losing it. In that film, he really does see a friend turn into a demon zombie (not the first time it’s happened either), attempt to murder him and another friend, then get decapitated but still be chattering on the floor, and when he asks what they’re gonna do now and his other (kind of dying at this point) friend says they have to bury the zombie still living corpse thing, dumb hoe really does go “But we can’t bury her! She’s our friend : (”.  He’s so stupid but I loved him. The movie was kinda too grody for my personal preferences--kinda icked me out--but I really enjoyed poor stupid Ash. I am lead to believe he is much more charismatic as an older dude though, so I’d have to do more research to have an accurate opinion on DbD Ash.

Yui I really like. Actually, I try not to play against Yuis when I play killer, or to like, at least not play Legion or Myers against them (I main Wraith/Myers/Legion, although I’m also learning Huntress, Nurse, Hag, & Spirit), because this poor girl got assaulted by a nasty stalker boy with a knife & half her character is about speaking out for women who get stalked & abused and thus I like, don’t feel super comfortable knifing a character who is written as a figurehead for “don’t abuse women or stalk/kill them” down as a slasher boy in-game? (Kind of a weird choice by the devs tbh). I like her a lot though. It’s cool that she rebelled against gender stereotypes even though it made home life really hard, and did it in a society where that’s even more complicated than where I’m from, and that she carved her own path despite a lot of obstacles, defended herself against a guy who was entitled to her body because he’d seen her, beat him, and then went through PT and recovery and got back to racing and was kind of a figurehead of speaking out against violence against women and had a whole biker gang devoted to that. She’s very hardcore.

Zarina is also cool. I like her whole “search for the truth” freedom fighter thing. Her perks are really neat & I think the way she’s tied to Caleb is cool. It’s been a while since there’s really been a connection between killer and survivor (I mean, ST I guess, but the Demogorgon has no personal connection to those two, it’s just from their world, so to me it’s been since like, Jeff), and this is an interesting way for them to be connected. You’ve got Nea having trespassed in the Nurse’s workplace, Benedict went looking for answers at the MacMillan estate, and Jeff having been friends with Legion in highschool, but other than that and the licensed survivors who get taken with the monster hunting them (Quentin, Laurie, Tapp, Heather, etc), most survivors have no connection. It’s neat that she went looking for truth and trying to see if Caleb was a monster like history paints him, and that’s why she got taken. Kinda sad too, because part of what made Caleb end so violent was that the justice system was super unfair to him, and probably if he knew all of Zarina’s history, he would appreciate her and get some weird small amount of solace from it (I’m not about to suggest he’d like, reform or something, but like, it would probably matter to him, and he’d probably take it easy on her in trials, even if his life didn’t fundamentally change much), but he’ll almost certainly never know that. Her backstory is brutal but kinda real, and it sucks a lot for her that her whole life has been unfair, and then she got snatched by the Entity too. : /  I like her though. 

Nancy & Steve I like, although it’s weird to me they were the pair taken lol. It would have made more sense if it was Nancy and Jonathan, or Steve and his bff Robin. ST seems like a weird addition to me, because I don’t think of it as horror, but that said, I really feel like they missed out by adding Steve & Nancy as their survivors period, even though these are both characters I like in the show. See, almost without fail before that, the licensed characters taken were either from stories finished being told, or dead/presumed dead, and that was really cool (I mean, Halloween I guess not, but Halloween doesn’t count because it’s already got like 6 timelines going--what’s one more?). It was great to see Quentin get a second life through DbD, and Tapp just dies offscreen presumably in Saw 1, so he was a great pick for someone to develop further in a different story--same reason he’s the first protag of the Saw video games. That was a really cool way to do things, and I think they should have stuck to it. It was smart, and awesome, and a lovely idea. ST, however, isn’t even finished getting seasons. And especially with that being the case, it’s weird to just have some totally undeveloped and unmotivated AU where part way between seasons...2 & 3? Nancy calls....Steve? And just Steve? To help her look something up? And they go missing together? Like, if you wanted a ST episode, which could have been really amazing, I’d have way preferred you stick to your OG, really cool guns & drag in a dead or underutilized character and give them new life than create an unmotivated AU where some probably happy in main-stream canon character is now trapped in hell for the publicity grab. I’m not actually, like, bothered about them being in-game or smth if that sounds harsh, I just am a little bit sad they didn’t go with their old modus operandi and do something really cool! Like, ST has a terrible track record for killing off characters for no GD good reason post season-one and DbD YOU COULD HAVE UTILIZED THAT FAILING SO WELL. You could have done amazing things!!! Like, Alexi gets to have a second life in DbD? Sign me the fuck up, he was my favorite character in Season 3! I fkn DIG that. OR UH. GIVE ME FUKCING BOB. I WOULD NEVER PLAY ANYONE BUT SEAN ASTIN AGAIN. I”M JUST SAYING. WHY TF DID YOU NOT PICK THE MUCH BETTER OPTIONS AND DO WHAT YOU USED TO DEVS I HATE IT.

So anyway none of this is revolutionary but here’s my short form thoughts on the other survivors that weren’t in ILM. Thanks for the ask! ^u^

[wetalkinboutbooks]

Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron

Summary: Magic has a price—if you’re willing to pay.

Born into a family of powerful witchdoctors, Arrah yearns for magic of her own. But each year she fails to call forth her ancestral powers, while her ambitious mother watches with growing disapproval.

There’s only one thing Arrah hasn’t tried, a deadly last resort: trading years of her own life for scraps of magic. Until the Kingdom’s children begin to disappear, and Arrah is desperate to find the culprit.

She uncovers something worse. The long-imprisoned Demon King is stirring. And if he rises, his hunger for souls will bring the world to its knees… unless Arrah pays the price for the magic to stop him. (Taken from Goodreads)

Our Ratings:  

 → Geena:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 → Kae: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐️

Overall: Kingdom of Souls is full of worldbuilding and characters that draw you in, thought sometimes their actions want to make you rip you hair out. BUT! We really loved this book and are excited to see where this trilogy takes us! Oh also, we should mention there are a few trigger warnings that Rena Barron has listed on the goodreads. 

Spoiler-full review below!

The Good:

→ The Worldbuilding

Geena: So, one of the best things about reading this book was the amazing worldbuilding, which she based off of West African mythology. The kingdoms are complex, and the separation of the different people and their faiths was super easy to follow too. I’ve read so many books where they have some wildass worldbuilding that leaves you scratching your head but this author did a good job at making it easy to understand. Also, Rena Barron did such a good job at describing the magic system? When she introduced the witch doctors in the first few chapters I could just visualize how they were and it was like watching a movie in my head. Like I’m still thinking about that one witchdoctor and her tribe that came down on clouds….. Poetic cinema… 

Kae: OK, so! I really enjoyed reading the differences between the tribes and how they are distinguished from each other. Some people had their bodies covered in tattoos others were known for their tall and lean figure, light eyes, etc. it was very wonderfully written and I always knew who Rena was talking about when she was mentioning the characters or introducing new ones.  Sometimes others don’t do a very good job of separating characters by looks and they expect the reader to remember everything based off of personality, which is quite annoying. Rena did a wonderful job of giving all of the characters their own individuality so we wouldn’t have to struggle and figure out who was who even if they weren’t mentioned by name. The way she wrote the big city (which I cannot remember the name), was very well done and you could easily see the differences between the city and the tribal lands.  I also love the way she incorporated the religious ties to magic in this world and the origin story of how they got their magic. There was a war between the gods, and the God of gods gifted humans with his magic. There are even mentions of fallen angels technically. It was just really interesting altogether. 

Geena: Yesss, the origin story was also one of the coolest components of the book. Also, Rena Barron does this cool thing of interspersing chapters throughout the book that are from the perspectives of different gods and their opinions on whatever is going on in the book. I really enjoyed that even though the first time I read it I was lowkey confused.

→ Arrah

Kae: Arrah!! My sweet summer, very cursed child. Arrah is the daughter of two of the most powerful witch doctors in this world. Her mother, Arti,  comes from a tribe where she was known for being the next in line to be the chief and a high witch doctor. Her father, Oshhe; who is the son of the high priestess/witch doctor and his tribe, making him one of the highest as well. This lineage from which Arrah comes from, left many to have very high expectations for her and her magical abilities. Unfortunately for Arrah, no matter  how many magical rituals she went through, was not blessed with magic. She often beats herself up about it because she feels she has let her family down, and truthfully the only person she let down was her mother. Her mother is The high priestess, and I mean THE HIGH PRIESTESS The entire kingdom. So she often waves her daughter off and is not home most of the time anyway because she is fulfilling her duties at the temple. So our main character is very close with her father who is honestly everyone’s dream dad.  oshhe is the epitome of a perfect father. 

Geena: Reading about her relationship with her dad, I was like “it’s just not realistic.”

Kae: LMAO BUT HONESTLY THO!! So when the children start to go missing in the city people begin to worry. Arrah’s Self-proclaimed a little brother ends up going missing as well. This leads her to sell small pieces of her life in order to use magic for a short period of time and figure out who is stealing the children.

Geena: LMAO Kae’s “sweet summer, cursed child” is so accurate. All she wants to do is become a powerful witchdoctor so her mom will love her :(  Despite everyone around her saying that her magic (or lack of) doesn’t define her, Arrah lives in a constant state of anxiety where magic is on her mind. She isn’t the most perfect protagonist and I liked that about her, she made dumb decisions and recognized they were stupid… but did them anyways 💀 A big fucken mood… But then again a lot of what she does throughout the book is driven by her need to help others, like finding her self-proclaimed younger brother or selling more of her lifespan to find a way to free her father from her mother’s spell. Her personal relationships are a wreck too like this girl had a crush on Rudjek, the future royal vizier, it was very much a two way crush but the whole time Arrah was like “Idk does he :////” like u absolute dumbo… EVERY SIGN POINTED TO “YES”  AND SHE WAS STILL LIKE “I’m imagining things.”

→ Arrah’s Squad

Geena: Barron also wrote Arrah an amazing group of friends. Primarily, Sukar and Essnai, both her friends from the city who would travel to the tribal lands to visit their own tribes for the yearly magic ritual. Sukar was very much a himbo (like almost every guy in this book lmao) and Essnai was a wlw QUEEN who was the oNLY ONE WITH A STEADY RELATIONSHIP THROUGHOUT THIS BOOK. Barron really said lesbian rights by giving Essnai the most wholesome relationship. Sukar and Essnai didn't turn their backs on Arrah even after her family was banished from the kingdom for crimes that Arrah had nothing to do with, and even accompanied her when it was revealed that Arrah would have to die to set the world to its original state. Also…. Omg when Sukar, Essnai, and Rudjek found out that she gave some of her lifespan for magic they were literally that meme:

Arrah: So I did a thing

Them: What?

Arrah: Sold my life for 3 hours of magic

Them: 

Kae: LMAOOOOOOO BINCH 

Geena: I JUST LOVED HOW THEY WERE LIKE “U DUMB BITHC!!!!! I GUESS NOW WE ALL GOTTA HELP U DEAL WITH THIS” I loved their friendship so much :’) 

Kae: IT WAS REALISTIC AF. I’d also like to mention how everyone and her friend group was basically like “Did you and Rudjek finally kiss yet? No? Typical.” And they would tease Arrah and Rudjek CONSTANTLY. Arrah’s friends had her back through literally everything and were ready to die by her and Rudjek’s side. They were some real ride or die friends when it came down to it. THEY WERE WITH THE SHITS. 

Arrah and Rudjek: *standing near each other* 

The homies:

→ Arrah’s Dad

Kae: OK so we have Arrah’s father, Oshhe, who is honestly the kindest man that I have ever encountered. He is such a wonderful father to Arrah and does everything in his power to let her know that she is loved and that she does not need to possess magic in order to be loved. He is constantly showering her with the reassurance that she needs to have two accept who she is. Arrah is in love with the stories he tells her. He also allows her to hang out with Rudjek when they both know that Arti, Arrah’s mother, would forbid it. (Rudjeks father did some foul shit to Arti when they were young and she isn’t over it… which is understandable, considering he had her tortured.) sadly, Arti curses oshhe and he is under her spell. He tried to fight it, but his magic just isn’t as strong as hers. He is complicit in whatever Arti says while he is under her curse, but he is often sweating or staring off into the distance, because he is still trying to break free. He’s basically under my control, knows he’s under my control, but is stuck behind magical, mental bars watching everything go down well he can do nothing to stop it. It’s really fucked up.

Geena: Kae summed up Oshhe really well. We learn about how he met and married someone as unloving as Arti and it’s so sad. He’d always been in love with Arti from their time at the tribes, and he still loved her when she came to the kingdom and fell in love with the King. And he was the one there after Arti was freed from her torture, even though he knew that Arti would never love him back and that she wasn’t the same woman he’d fallen for. Also, when he tells Arrah something along the lines of that when she was born he knew she’d be the love of his life bc he loved his daughter so much it’s unREAL. He went to a dangerous forest and killed a mystical animal for her. And he would have killed the gods themselves if it had come to that. And like Kae mentioned he was under Arti’s mind control but was aware of the torture she was putting Arrah through, and when he finally gains back control at the VERY END… AND DIES RIGHT AFTER?????? BRO????? I WAS LIKE THE FUCK!!! HE DID NOT DESERVE THIS!!!!!

Kae: I WAS SILENTLY SCREAMING AT MY DESK 

Geena: GIRL RIGHT… IDK BUT HER DAD JUST WARMED MY HEART. HE DIDN’T DESERVE HIS DEATH… 

Kae: THAT SHIT HURTED. 

The Bad:

→ Arrah NOT CATCHING A BREAK  

Kae: So, I’m going to backtrack just a little bit. But when Arrah sells some of her so for magic, she does like this magic phantom walk and finds out that her mother is the child snatcher. Her mother discovers that Arrah knows this and curses her so she can never speak with ill intent against her mother. So whenever Arrah tries to get help or tell someone what’s going on she literally cannot talk. It’s pure agony for her. So her mother curses Oshhe, gets pregnant by a demon via possession of him, and is exiled from the country. So they take a boat and travel to this small town that is known for its unresting spirit activity. Time also doesn’t exist in this town so it’s very hard for her to keep track of minutes, days, months, etc. they get to like this hidden Temple where Arti gives birth to Efiya, the demon baby. Efiya grows rapidly. She is born, then she’s like 5 the next day, then she’s 10. Then she’s Arrah’s age, 16. Efiya is a SUPER powerful girl who has the power of actual Gods, and she is completely unstoppable. Arrah escapes, returns home to her friends, and they’re on a mission to try to stop Efiya. Rudjek dies, comes back, she and he ditch the homies because they don’t want the homies to get hurt. WELL!!!!!!!!!!!! Gotdamn EFIYA shape shifts to look like her sister, waits until Arrah leaves for a moment to collect herself after it gets a little HOT with Rudjek, and goes to take some herbs. OUR GIRL SAID I'M NOT GETTING PREGNANT. comes back and boom. She sees him having sex with her sister. She’s shooketh. And PISSED. And hurt. Then the homies find them, blah blah blah. And long story short, they find the temple of the Gods, she fights and Efiya and they  basically kill each other. BUT Arrah comes back and learns her and Rudjek can’t be together. BUT THEY KISS ANYWAY. THEY WERE LIKE FUCK IT. I'M HERE FOR A GOOD TIME NOT A LONG TIME. Oh, yeah… and Efiya killed her parents. That happened. And her grandmother. And all the elder witch doctors because she wanted to steal  their magic. 

Geena: Poor girl was just knocked around like a ping-pong ball. One tragedy to another 🤕 First, she can’t do magic for SHIT and her mom doesn’t love her because of that. Second, the guy she likes is her mom’s nemesis’ son. Third, every single person she cares about is taken from her one way or the other, from her adoptive lil bro to her dad. Like I thought the book couldn’t get any worse when she saw her dad be possessed, but then Rudjek dies? And when he comes back to life he ends up sleeping with her evil sister thinking it was Arrah. Right, we gotta mention… in an attempt to free the demon king Arrah’s mom has a half-demon half-god baby, aka Arrah’s sister 

Kae: SHE FUCKS A DEMON!!!!!

Geena: A DEMON IN HER HUSBAND’S BODY TOO… AND ARRAH WATCHES THIS HAPPEN IM SCREAM .. AT LEAST I THINK SHE DOES BC I HAD TO RE-READ THAT CHAPTER LIKE 2 TIMES

Kae: GIRL THAT SHIT WAS SO WILD WHAT THE  F U C K 

Geena: AND YEA…. TO TOP IT ALL OFF TURNS OUT ARRAH IS  THE REINCARNATION OF THE DEMON KING’S SOULMATE…. SO THERE’S THAT, NOT TO MENTION SHE AND RUDJEK ARE ILL-FATED BC TOUCHING EACH OTHER SAPS ARRAH’S MAGIC (which she acquires permanently after some wild rituals her grandma does before dying at Efiya’s hands). THE LIST OF EVERYTHING THAT GOES WRONG WITH ARRAH’S LIFE IS SO FUCKING LONG OH MY GOD I FORGOT HOW SHIT SHE HAD IT

The Ugly:  

→ Arti and Efiya

Geena:  The ugliest villains can be found in this book. We have Rudjek’s dad that had Arti tortured, which broke her mind and twisted her into an unloving and terrible person. Hearing Arti’s story pulled at your heartstrings, but did it justify her killing 12 underprivileged children to resurrect a demon with whom she’d have a baby with JUST so she could resurrect the demon king. In my opinion… no. Not even just that, but treating your own child like shit and basically ignoring she exists until the very end of the book where suddenly she feels regret for neglecting Arrah for 16 years. Overall, on a scale of 0-10 Arti is a -5 when it comes to the mom scale.  Also, Arti is a powerful witchdoctor, and she cant feign ignorance because I’m pretty sure she would’ve seen the future at one point and seen everything that goes down. The only good thing she did do was kill the man that tortured her and countless other women. I feel like I’m too harsh on her given what she’s gone through, but she essentially puts Arrah through the wringer by cursing her and forcing her to watch her dad lose his own body. I’M LIKE I DONT WANT PPL TO BE LIKE ‘UR JUS BEIN A BITCH, ARTI SUFFERED TOO’ LIKE yes she did suffer, but rather than taking action against those that put her through hell she chose to ruin the lives of innocents ju kno. 

Kae: YES!! Arti was on some bullshit and I get she got fucked up and the love of her life was against her. But like… don’t take that out on your daughter because you can’t use her to get back at your enemies. I think that’s exactly why she treated Arrah the way she did. Arti married Oshhe for his power in hopes to have a powerful child. When that didn’t happen, she was pissed and started planning for that damn demon baby. Her actions are all based on revenge and power and in the end, they kill everyone. Including Arrah, though she doesn’t stay dead for long. She literally is like “Nah, I got shit to do.” And the gods are like “Mmm ... we can’t let our sister be reincarnated into you again… soooo, no?” And Arrah is like “Too bad bitches!” And zooms back into her own body. 

And then there’s Efiya. Efiya is described as beautiful and looks much like their mother. She starts off as a sweet little girl who just likes being around her big sister. But once she learns human things, like playing and being a child, she gets interested in that, and begins to abuse her powers. 

Geena: I was kinda disappointed on how the Efiya storyline went because like Kae mentioned, she had started off as a sweet girl who loved Arrah. And I had thought Arrah would run away with Efiya and train her against Arti but bOY WAS I WRONG. Efiya is powerful and she knows it, she kills countless gods and absorbs their power, and when she kills Arrah’s grandma she tries to take her power too but for some reason it doesn’t take. Instead, Arrah ends up taking her grandma’s magic (along with every other powerful witch doctor). This annoyed the fuck out of Efiya, bc she’s supposed to more powerful than Arrah, prettier than Arrah, and just generally better at everything. So, Efiya is like ‘I can’t take your powers or see your future so I’ll fuck your man instead” …… very much 0-100. Near the end of the novel I still couldn’t tell, did Efiya really love Arti and Arrah? Because on the one hand it seemed like she hated the prospect of killing them, but on the other hand Efiya didn’t care about skewering Arti. She was a complex villain for sure, kinda in the same way Arti was. 

Kae:  OH. AND THE DEMON KING GAVE ARRAH SOME OF HER PAST LIFE MEMORIES BACK. So like, now a piece of Arrah feels torn because she loves everyone in her current life. But she was married to the Demon King in a past life and he is determined to have her love him again. And I feel like a very small piece of Arrah does. The Demon King wants her back so they can resurrect demons, kill the remaining Gods, and take over the world like they originally planned. SO. THERE’S  THAT. A big whammy for ya there. But yeah. Shits crazy. 

Geena:  KJDNFDS RIGHT THE WHOLE ‘MARRIED TO THE DEMON KING IN A PAST LIFE’ SCHTICK…. THE POTENTIAL FOR ANGST???? GOD I CAN’T WAIT. This is a love triangle I CAN get behind because it’s gonna be MESSY 

Kae: He also mentioned possibly trying to kill Rudjek. 

Geena: Oh yea oh man.... Wait... there is a meme for this 

Arrah seeing the Demon King and Rudjek throwing hands:

Conclusion

Kae: SO! In conclusion, we loved this book. The story was WILD from  Start to finish. Rena is such an amazing storyteller and her descriptions that were vivid without being overdone. You know how some others like to go on for 10 pages about the smell of the wind and the bark of a tree. But Ren does it right! My favourite part of the book has to be Arrah and Rudjek . being so awkward around each other and dodging the fact that they’re both in love with each other. It was really cute because neither of them wanted to ruin their friendship and I think that was very realistic. The friendships are also beautifully written as well. And the way Rena differentiates the cultures of the tribes from one another is amazing and I felt like I was there. 

Geena:  I agree to everything Kae said above, Barron does an amazing job in (like what we mentioned before) worldbuilding shit. AND YEA my favourite part was like when Sukar purposely hangs around Arrah to make Rudjek jealous JUST BECAUSE IT WAS SO FUNNY TO ME. But honest to god I’m so excited to see how it’ll go from here because it’s supposed to be a trilogy right, so there is SO MUCH that can happen and there are SO MANY paths this can take. 

[ghosty-schnibibit]

much earlier in the day than usual taz liveblog! ^o^

the only reason this is going up so early is i haven’t slept yet lmao, i fixed my sleep schedule for about a month and then went right back to being nocturnal.

i've spent the last four nights or so staying up til around ten in the morning binging the magnus archives (i'm about halfway through season three right now) and enjoying the hell out of it. for anyone who followed me bc of my taz liveblogs, rest assured i'm still going to be keeping up with graduation and taz in general :P

without further ado, here we go!

i fucking forgot about “thundermen”

awww, argo made friends with the kitty ^u^

snippers my sweet prince

"i think i take a great deal of delight in that" fitzroy you lil bastard man ilu

clint asking the important questions here lol

you've just described hell travis

did clint already forget the name of the school

jesus that's depressing argo

god i wish i'd had a gary during college to remind me of stuff

i vill tell you the story of melon

i love firbolg and argo so much, they are my favorite best of friends

aww firbolg ; _ ;

fitzroy i am suspicious of where your folks even are

yes fitz get your cloak back you silly boy

i love firbolg so much holy shit

i hope we get to see the boys hang out over spring break, that sounds like a fun episode

"that's good narrative!" travis ilu

oh god the capitalism owl is back

“i vill not do this thing” mood

justin's about to hit us with that sad shit i just know it

called it ; _ ;

... well damn that made me sadder than i expected

i'm still very suspicious about that dog

fitzroy you dumb little shit ilu

make sure higglemis isn't pulling a sazed lmao

you are being very paranoid fitz but that’s okay

"you don't curse well" he's a good sweet boy

jesus christ fitz maybe don't say this to the dude in charge of the school

fitzroy my sweet boy what is your deal, please tell us

... so fitzroy basically wants a venue to prove himself to be a good person that doesn't revolve around performance and artifice. he wants a way to gain power on his own merits without relying on status to boost him up, and felt knighthood was a better way to accomplish that than going to a school where he’s basically being trained to fit a specific role in life

i can see where higglemis is coming from with his worldview given that he's been forced to play second fiddle to his brother for so long

i have a sneaking suspicion that hieronymus thinks he can better manipulate or keep fitz under his thumb in the villian track

fitzroy you dumb himbo baby, my sweet stupid son who i love so much

well that was fucking tense as hell, jesus fuck

yes, on to my sweet boy

c r e e e e e p y

ilu jackyl

why would he want a pocket watch though?

i feel significantly better in argo's ability to do challenge this now that there aren't any life altering consequences

this is going well so far

argo this is such a dumb plan, you are smarter than this my boy

"i'm drawing a word picture" ilu clint

argo this is a dumb and bad plan and you need to roll for this!!!

clint my sweet son

yeah!!! that is how it works!!!

A R G O  W H A T  T H E  F U C K

i cannot fucking believe that worked holy shit

idk if it's just because the creepy voice is gone but i'm trusting jackyl more and more

ARGO WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING

take your caffe back to chicago 

he got a fuckin tattoo holy shit

what is this reference justin

argo is deeply committed and i love it

this whole bit has been so good

oh damn that was quick edit, holy shit, i didn't even realized we were going into the money zone

there we go, there's the regular intro, i missed it

yay! my favorite girl's birthday :D

awww, argo and firbolg being bestest buds is so wonderful

a knight's tale is the only one of those movies i've seen, please juice don’t dunk on me like this

i know i keep saying this over and over but i love their friendship so much, it warms my heart dearly

fitzroy my sweet boy, he cannot cuss for the life of him 

"as partners" y'all

i love them so much, my sweet loves

god this is cute as shit, i am sold, i am sailing away on the fitzrain ship

... argo were you about to give her the same thing???

argo where the fuck did you- oh okay, nevermind lol

oh firbolg my sweet son

oh my god this is the best holy shit

rainier is my sweet darling girl and i love her so much

i need art of this so bad this sounds so cute

argo why are you busking at your dear friend's birthday party

good god argo really is shaping up to be the magnus of this campaign in terms of rolling and bonuses

yay! festo is back :D

what was that noise travis

festo is going to dance with the wee crabby, i love this so

WHY IS THERE DUBSTEP NOW

i need this as a ringtone asap 

i am so bad with names, is buckminster the nice one or the malfoy one??? oh yay good he is the nice one

oh no, what happened to leon? D:

"he wouldn't leave me!" ... are they together?

gross griffin, gross

yes! show love to your sweet crab!

i love these sweet dumb friend boys

oh dang, so the blacksmith professor is in the group too??? interesting

not liking that emphasis on "when someone needs stopping," this is extremely interesting but i'm worried about the narrative implications of this, vís a vís argo being made to turn on his friends

this is so powerful, wow

i'm gonna cry but in a happy way ; u ;

oh snap this is already so cool, wow wow wow

how many teachers are in on this, dang

WAIT WHAT??? why do they want dirt on fitzroy?????

so higglemis was the one who controlled him???

"you may forget" WHAT IS GOING ON

OH FUCK, HIGGLEMIS WHAT ARE YOU UP TO? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SWEET LEON???

dang there was a lot of development this ep, plot and character-wise! i’m very worried for literally all three of my boys, but also very excited to see what travis has planned from here on out now that some conflict appears to be brewing!

see you guys next right thursday~ ^u^

[quackspot]

CHALLENGE: Assign your friends and you as the HLVRAI group!

ok *cracks knuckles* *instantly dies 10 minutes into doing this*

im  going to lump characters together and make stretches and squishes and all that 

benrey - me   because  

gordon - sauce 

2 of my friends   kin those characters Big Truck and brian (im sure theyre. okay with me talking about it ???? idk they never mentioned not being okay with it as far as im aware but to be safe i referred to one friend as big truck instead of their name)

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

its  a lot of analysis . what if i just didn’t explain why . it’ll include various friends from various groups i don’t quite know my friends 100% 

so the characters uhhhhhh

gordon benrey bubby coomer tommy darnold and forzen

i could see myself as either darnold or benrey. while i am a coward and i am not a big fan of how loud things can get i also love bullying my closest friends with dumb shit (once sauce and i argued about herobrine quite a bit it was very fun)

i can literally only see sauce as gordon .

i mean  with everyone cy kins (some being evil old people) maybe bubby fits with those . i can believe cy burning things . can’t see cy being mean but that might just be rose-tinted glasses go off cy go apeshit

if u include mutuals i look at melon-official and go “what a nice person :-]” and melon is cool. dr coomer is a nice person and is cool. hmm

tommy uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh idk . might fuck around and kin assign my brother tommy lol. he’s a smart guy but also my brother is a himbo. brother’s kind. actually my brother talks a lot nvm. i dont know if any of my friends would be like hlvrai tommy but one of them kin him i think and? that’s so valid go off king

havent talked to my friend Big Truck much so i don’t know much about them but they seem funny and cool and nice amazing work Big Truck . could be benrey and has the power to be . they kin a tma character too so hmm *thinks real hard but realizes that a person’s kins don’t describe them completely*

i don’t like doing the thing where i look up messages theyve sent in a public server to analyze them it makes me feel weird . i started to do it but then i stopped . big truck funny n cool and great at art.

dont know anything about forzen maybe i’ll shove my brother onto him. himbo rights

g-man. hm . i dont consider any of my friends vaguely threatening and serious uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. hmmmmmmmmmmm. 

oh wait leon bubby too leon bubby. chaotic aura.

giving jamie one? maybe. jamie............ Coomer. maybe. cool + fun + a lil chaotic . actually very hcaotic hse made fuckign   sotry of undertrlakgtkjrshuoaji aklatall y hall .......................................

didn’t give g man or tommy one . well i mean tommy and tommy kinnie ?! hmm

(i dont like to reveal my friend’s;ss’s’s’’ kins very much but i know brian’s pretty public with them to an extent from what i’ve paid attention to in conversation)

tombee haha puns

brian is gordon but   post-game gordon living in an apartment trying to make pancakes at 5 am 

if you expected a straight list then you oughta see my classwork it’s just as messy as this. sometimes it’s neat but only when the teacher makes me have it that way

gee, man its hard .  uhhhhhhhh. brian  can be serious but i dont think he’d stutter. “did i fucking stutter” headass 

the skeletons can be anyone and everyone. they just want to break out of our flesh prisons and sing and cocoon local enemies 

note that i didnt re read over any of this so it’s just raw thoughts. can edit it if friends would like 

[mejomonster]

That Ton is watching sotus GOD my bi baby fool himbo u really are. Going through it

Ton: has a breakup

Goes and finds his old childhood best friend he probably always crushed on but didn’t know it was a crush we all been there bro

Finds said old best friend, immediately wants to be that close again and also act like it’s a rebound close relationship to get over Amp

Dude is a uhaul guy apparently

Dude is like jee it’s totally normal to not want my best friend flirted with, to cuddle up at gym, to try and help him and make him happy n flirt with no brakes

Also yes if he says he’s gay and loves me I can get over it (well good u are actually a good friend so there’s that) and then u. Want him in ur room again. I’m sorry my poor oblivious himbo but ur friends are right, space is needed. Like u can’t go back to a romantic friendship knowing Chon has a crush bro. That’s both leading him on (which he seems ok with but!! Long term he wouldn’t it’s not good for y’all) and leaving u in that grey area where Ton u are in love but not confronting how Personally which is some personal growth u gotta go thru bro

Oh and ur watching sotus how can I forget. My dude wants to watch sotus with his best friend who loves Him, who hes probably in love with back, and probably ask if Chon relates as much as Ton which. To be fair. If they did that I think Ton would become self aware anyway so it’s not necessarily a bad idea... like just watch it together and NOT share a bedroom so y’all got boundaries until u realize U like him back so y’all both upfront and self aware that’s all uvu

Anyway Ton is like. Described as DENSE and he truly is thick as a brick. He lives with two other best friends who are gay and in love and very actively flirting, and they keep it secret in the most pathetic dumb ways imaginable, and Ton just goes with it cause he’s actually dumber Than them somehow... and they’re all complete himbos so. It’s quite the feat to be even more oblivious and dense than Ai and Ni. Tons like the one oblivious bi himbo in a house of gay himbos and a best friend mutually in love but he’s got some dad issues and understandably has never examined his love for Chon too deeply probably to avoid said dad issues. Since a majority of his acceptance issues just seem to be his dads words parroted, and he’s cool abandoning them to keep loving his friends completely as ppl, so mostly now it’s probs just an internal thing making him feel bad. Which incidentally... mm his dad needs to let it goooo. Those same words make Ton think he should put up with cruel women like Amp in his life, when it’s clear he is enjoying not being in a toxic relationship for once. Like I’m sure pressure from his dad made him think he should accept being in more toxic relationships in the past. Ton Im Sorry bro..

And amp really. Really is toxic. I’d say only 2 things really pissed me off so far? And like I can handle it cause I’ve seen worse in some Thai shows but just. It’s annoying it’s scenarios common at all I suppose. One is Gunsmile, I’m sorry you gotta play a villain in this even tho they literally reference sotus clips and in sotus you were one of my FAVORITE characters for how you actually Weren’t cruel but very caring. Whereas in this Neung and Amp are truly dangerous, maliciously intended people. Both of them think assault is ok, it’s implied BY them that assault is an issue on campus from seniors Period too (which I hate that it’s implied so casually, even tho I know in a tonnnn of American collehe movies it’s also implied and I know my own fucking university had an awful assault prevalence and just like god please practice safety precautions when you go out to bars or god fucking frats period). Like I’m not surprised it’s implied their college is just as bad, it just makes me annoyed the consequences aren’t more severe. Neung should be charged, him and Amp should be expelled for being a threat to other students. Amp in particular is malicious constantly and I feel like the show paints her as a mad ex but doesn’t really highlight her as quite as full on dangerous as she actually is. She actually wanted to harm Chon and probably Pang. She would harm Ton, and it’s no wonder after she cheated and they broke up Ton decided to literally go no contact and his friends bar Amp from even getting near him. In general I’d well like all these toxic parties in power as upperclassmen to get recprecussions, even tho I know In real universities it unfortunately Is often this fucked up i would Love harsher consequences since this is fiction. And then second on this is Chon not apologizing for kissing Ton Clearly. He apologized when he did it, but the moment was tense then they both left. Then the next scenes implied both chon being sad AND aware he shouldn’t have kissed his friend like that, and his mom even affirmed he should prioritize apologizing - not for loving his friend, since confessing that is not bad, but for kissing him without asking. And considering how Ton reacted, I agree another clearer apology would be nice. And it just annoys me that when they do finally talk calm, the scene skips any apology chon may have made or words they both said about what happened and skips to the “we’ve reconciled and want to hang out and live together again.” So like. It implied Ton forgives him and is fine now that he’s processed things. Which is good, since I’d be madder if Ton felt uncomfortable. But I’m still annoyed the writing setup that it knew Chon kissing him asleep was wrong, and that he should apologize and HE knew it and expressed he wanted to, and then didn’t give me the actual scene. Even if it wasn’t a big deal to Ton, it was in the initial moment and the shows writing knew it enough to say it so I’d have preferred a real scene about it being resolved.

Tho as things go. I think 2gether wasn’t much better. Fairly sure Sarawat kissed Tine without permission drunk, no one apologized. But since this particular show actually addressed that it was aware the action was rude, I was hoping it would complete that consideration and show an apology on screen too. Also idk but similar threats of violence not played as super big? Like Amp and Neung, I think also happened in 2gether. So I suppose this is not particularly surprising. I guess just, because sometimes the writing does address some things (like it’s done very well depicting intolerance due to upbringing/family pressure versus actually addressing it in urself and improving - Ton feels much more relatable to teen me when I was biphobic to myself from authority figures pressures and assumptions I had, yet when I met other queer people I got much better perspective fast even if I didn’t realize I was also queer right away - which I have liked muchhhh better than a lot of “I’m straight except for u” hand waves in some bl, Tons story is written with some intolerance that actually feels characyer driven and is improved with growth, whereas in a decent number of others it’s just there to act Manly and then never grown or improved... another arc similar to this I DID like was Mork in Dark Blue Kiss because he had some society learned desire to not relate to liking men personally but once he understood himself it wasn’t an internal issue for him and he moved onto only dealing with it his relationship was being healthy and fair to him, much more relatable again to a pretty regular experience compared to some I’ve seen). Anyway my point is just. There’s some actual well written things in this show and I think that’s part of why the weaker parts piss me off more - cause I’d expect more weight in my ideal story to calling them out.

Like... to me theory of love did the Best at putting real weight into how fucked up toxic friendships are, and the scene where one kisses the other knowing it’s unwanted is so fucked up but like. It is written and shot to make ur gut twist and angry, to make you realize it’s fucked up and wrong and NOT romantic. It’s not even “no big deal” or “what always happens” (which I’d say is how Amp and Neung feel portrayed, or usually when it happens in American college story settings in shows/movies even). But in theory of love, it’s made abundantly clear why it’s fucked up. And it is one of many intensely harsh scenes emotionally to get to you HATE the people doing it, for doing it, for thinking it’s ok, and for the characters themselves to hate that they did. Theory of love is angst and pain and not even healthy or optimistic till the last 3rd and that is the Point. So it can afford to show these scenes where a character knows they’ve fucked up and is torn to shit over it, where the other is so sad their friend would do it and so in love they just go with it instead of ending the kiss. And it ends up vaguely mutual but still clearly not what should’ve been done, both of them well aware how toxic how they are with each other is and motivated to get thefuck away from their own destructive behavior to themselves and their friend. Like... theory of love isn’t a light fluff comedy like why r u or 2gether or tonhon chonlatee. It was willing to paint bad shit and it’s consequences in full, which hey different approaches for different things. But it also means when stuff like a kiss happens in a show like THIS, it might be momentary drama but the story implies overall both characters were happy and wanted it and just it was an awkward time (similar to 2gethers handling). Which is fine I just.. with the self awareness this show had for a moment, I was hoping it could be both this outcome AND address an apology still just to add to their good friendship. (Tho I guess to be fair to Ton and Chon... their flirty friendship is EONS from Third/Khai. Chon didn’t expect a relationship, confessed he liked Ton and just wanted to stay friends, Ton was shocked his friend was gay but ultimately wants his friend back, chon is ok being treated romancitwlly still - tho his roommates are right he should keep boundaries for a while for now - and Ton is ok giving Chon either a friendship like before or with more boundaries. Their only iffy part is the grey area of tjem not sure if Ton likes him back, and Chon not sure how long he’d be ok with the flirting before either needing a relationship or a harsher boundary of “let’s just be friends so I can get over you.” Ton this whole time HAS been a supportive friend, attentive, kind, and the actual friendship has been pretty mutual in terms of how much they care about and respect each other. Whereas third and khai... Khai was using the fuck out of third, giving him very little care, and before ANY of thirds crush factors in, that base friendship was toxic as all fucking hell. Also even not knowing his feelings fully, Ton is much more respectful to Chon than Khai was when he found out about thirds crush. And chon having a crush, was more accepting that he needed to move on if Ton didn’t like him or tell him, and since Ton never treated him badly chon didn’t have to expect any behavior changes - his feelings only affected him. Whereas third had a Bunch of expectations Khai might be nicer/more respectful and equal to him if Khai knew he liked him. And third wasn’t very prepared to move on if Khai didn’t like him/didn’t treat him better. So ton and chon just in general started with a much healthier base friendship, so their crushes and figuring things out is in a much lower pressure environment since the only obstacle is them really understanding themselves and what they want. Whereas third and Khai EVENTUALYL had those obstacles, but the big ones were about their toxic friendship and it needing to BREAK and be rebuilt healthier before a crush even factors into their situations..)