#still here in this film's pretti-ness

[emziess]

Conclave (2024) dir. Edward Berger

[hyunluvbug]

neck kisses

pairing: yang jeongin x gn reader

content: sfw, just some neck kisses and cute fluffy-ness :)

premise: jeongin is obsessed with finding new places to kiss you. he notices your neck seems to be your most desired place. he takes that to his advantage.

word count: 356 words

author's note: this is short af but i wrote this a while ago and never uploaded it so here u go <3

to say jeongin is distracted is an understatement. his arm is lazily wrapped around your waist as you both lay on the couch. the tv lit up the dark living room around you. the movie on the screen had only been playing for twenty minutes and he is already growing antsy.

ever since the two of you started dating, jeongin wants nothing more than to kiss you. you both have kissed several times already but sometimes he feels like it’s never enough. he always has the craving to have your lips on his.

you are too entranced by the film that you don’t notice his gaze. his hand was intertwined with yours. your fingers always felt so soft in his, another one of his favorite things about. being able to hold hands felt so intimate to him. always being able to feel your warmth in the palm of his hand.

everything about you is addicting to him and he never seems to get enough.

“y/n.”

“hm?” you ask, your eyes still on the television in front of you. too engrossed by the beginning of the film.

“can i kiss you?”

“mhm?” clearly you weren’t paying any attention to what he just said.

jeongin sighs and moves closer to you. he comes close to your neck and admires how pretty it is. how could everything about you be so beautiful? he brings his lips to your neck and begins to place tiny kisses down it. he feels you shudder from his touch.

“jeonginnn” you whine and he chuckles, the feeling vibrates on your neck.

“what?”

“stop, you’re teasing.”

“how?” his kisses become more sloppy on your neck. the sounds echoing throughout the space. his lips feel soft and amazing on your skin.

“feels good.” you sigh and he smiles. he moves away from your neck to look into your eyes.

“yeah?” he places his thumb on your bottom lip. “what about if i kiss here?”

you nod quickly, waiting for his lips to come into contact with yours.

“say please.” he teases and you groan.

“stop playing around and just kiss me already.”

he does just that.

[storiesforallfandoms]

the space cowboy and the pa ~ tom ryder;the fall guy

word count: 2869

request?: no

description: in which the big movie star takes interest in the pa of his new movie

pairing: tom ryder x female!reader

warnings: swearing, tom being tom, use of y/n

masterlist (one, two, three)

When you were hired as a PA on a major sci-fi blockbuster, you were obviously beyond ecstatic. It was a big deal for many reasons, and it would look great on your resume as the first film you worked on.

What you didn't expect was for your job to essentially become you running after Tom Ryder all the time.

You knew who Tom Ryder was before you were hired on to Metalstorm. Everyone did. His face was on every screen and every poster. But besides knowing him for his work, you were also warned about his work ethic and entitled attitude. You couldn't say you were surprised to hear that. You figured most celebrities of his status were all into themselves. But when you started working with him, you realized it wasn't just his stuck up-ness, it was his lack of work ethic. Truly, you had no idea how any of his movies ever got made.

You didn't agree to work on Metalstorm so you could chase a self obsessed ego maniac around all day and convince him to come do his job. That's now what a PA is meant to do. On the plus side, Jody was very sympathetic and apologetic to you over this. Jody had worked with Tom for years, and had actually been the one to warn you about Tom's behavior. She knew you didn't want to just be a lacky to Tom Ryder, but when Tom's personal assistant was constantly out taking care of his dogs or getting him his super (annoyingly) specific Starbucks order, and everyone else was too busy trying to make a huge blockbuster to do it themselves, the responsibility had to fall to someone.

So, when you arrived on set to see Jody with her head in her hands, a sign that she was stressed, you already knew what was happening.

"He was supposed to be here an hour ago," Jody said, exasperated. "We don't have much time left for this shoot and there's still so much to be done, but he's nowhere to be found."

You looked up at Gail, sipping her usual Diet Coke. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I've already gone to his trailer twice. Each time he said he was on his way to set."

"Clearly he wasn't," you muttered. "I'll go find him."

"(Y/N), no - " Jody started.

"Try to film something with Colt in place of Tom or something," you told her. "I'll get the dickhead to set."

You made off for Tom's trailer. It was incredibly easy to find among the sea of other cast and crew trailers because it was the biggest one. He could probably live out of it if he hadn't gotten a huge apartment to stay in while filming. His name was printed in big, bold letters on the door, as if the size of the trailer alone wasn't enough to signal that it belonged to the star of the movie.

You walked in without knocking, something you'd realize later you might've regretted if you had found Tom in a more...revealing position. Luckily, he was just laying on the trailer couch, a sleep mask over his eyes and AirPods in his ears. He didn't notice you walked into his trailer, so you did something else you'd probably regret: you flicked Tom's forehead to get his attention.

He jumped and ripped off his sleep mask, snapping, "What the fuck?!"

You crossed your arms as his eyes readjusted to the light. He looked up at you and took out a headphone. "What do you want?"

You rolled your eyes. "You, on set, now."

"Gail already came to tell me it was call time. I'll be there in a minute."

"You were meant to be on set an hour ago. There's no more 'minutes', you're coming now."

Tom sat up. "Listen, assistant, I have a very intense process before I start filming that takes time and concentration. Gail already interrupted me, and now that you have as well I'll have to start all over. Tell Jody not to worry a hair on her pretty head, I will be there."

A combination of general frustration with Tom's behavior and the fact that he was dismissing you as just an "assistant" caused you to finally snapped. You grabbed Tom's sleep mask and snatched his headphones from his ears. He protested, but you ignored him as you kicked open his trailer door and chucked the objects as far as you could.

When you turned back to Tom, he was on his feet and he looked furious. But you refused to be intimidated by him.

"You listen to me, Tom Ryder," you said. "I don't give a shit about your stupid fucking pre-filming rituals. What I do give a shit about is this movie, that you're supposed to be the star of. I am sick and tired of chasing you around like a toddle to round you onto set when that is not my job. So, please, get off your ass and do your job."

You turned to leave, but paused to add, "And I'm a PA, not your assistant."

You walked out of his trailer, the frustration slowly starting to evaporate. You didn't think your words were going to have any effect on Tom. If anything, you were sure it would just make him pissed off and he probably wouldn't even come to set at all now. You'd feel worried for your job if you weren't so happy with yourself for finally telling Tom off.

You were planning on how you were going to tell Jody about what happened with Tom when you heard his trailer door open. You turned to see Tom stepping out of the trailer, already dressed in his gold space cowboy outfit which you hadn't noticed before.

He brushed past you, saying, "Let's shoot this fucking thing."

You let out a sigh of relief as you trailed after him.

Tom, luckily, was super professional and fantastic at his job for the remainder of the day. So much so that Jody was literally jumping from her seat to praise the cast, and to show her relief that the day had finally gone well. You were equally thrilled by this because it meant you were finally able to do your actual job.

When Jody finally called it for the day, you were collecting your stuff and noticed someone approaching you. You looked up to see it was Tom. You braced yourself for the verbal berating you were likely about to get.

"Hey," he said. "PA. What's your name?"

You'd be offended if it were anyone else asking. You had been working with Tom for months, so most people would expect that he'd know your name, but considering that he viewed you as just another assistant until hours ago, you weren't shocked that he hadn't deemed you important enough to remember your name.

"(Y/N)," you told him. "And, listen, I'm sorry about what I said earlier - "

"No you're not," Tom cut you off. "That level of verbal smackdown only happens when you've been holding something in for a long time and you've finally had enough. And you're right, I haven't been making things easy for anyone on set this whole filming process."

Was this some sort of joke? Were the cameras still rolling trying to film your reaction? Had you passed out suddenly while filming and now you were dreaming? There was no way that Tom Ryder of all people was admitting to his faults, especially to someone he couldn't even be bothered to learn the name or occupation of until seconds ago.

When you didn't respond, Tom continued on, "What are you doing tonight?"

"Uh...just going back to my hotel room, I guess. Maybe grab a drink with Jody at the hotel bar."

"Change your plans. You're gonna come have a drink with me instead."

It wasn't a question because Tom Ryder didn't have to ask questions. Tom Ryder was used to just smiling at a woman - or at a man honestly - and having them fall to his feet immediately.

So imagine his surprise when you said, "No."

You started to walk away from him, but he quickly moved to follow you. "Uh...maybe you didn't hear me correctly."

"No, I heard you just fine," you said. "The answer is no."

"But...why?"

You stopped walking to turn and face him. "Tom, you are the star of this movie, and I am a production assistant. There are so many levels of not right about me getting drinks with you."

"It's just drinks," he said with a shrug.

"It's a date, and I can't go on a date with you while we're working together."

You turned to walk away from him again. This time, he didn't follow. He watched you go for a while before calling out, "What about when we're not working together?"

You looked over your shoulder and smiled at him. "We'll see."

~~~~~~

Weeks later, the filming of Metalstorm came to a close. It have become much less painful on set as Tom was always in costume and on set at the time he was supposed to be, sometimes even earlier. Everyone was so shocked by his sudden change, but no one was going to question it. There was too much left of the movie to be filmed to start bringing attention to the fact that Tom was actually being a professional.

During the last few weeks, Tom did not give up on his pursuit of you. He didn't ask you out again, but he was constantly sending you gifts to remind you that he still wanted to go out with you: flowers, chocolates, stuffed animals. The one that really made you laugh was when you found a magazine with him on the cover, shirtless, in front of your hotel room door.

The last day on set, as everyone was celebrating the end of the shoot and saying their emotional goodbyes, you walked up to Tom and slipped a piece of paper into his hand. When he opened it, he saw your number written on it.

You got a text almost immediately after: "drinks, my place. i'll send a car for you"

You got ready at the hotel, putting on the nicest thing you had packed. You hadn't really packed any dresses or outfits that would be date worthy because you weren't expecting to go on any dates. The closest thing you had was a nice pair of jeans and a short sleeved button up blouse that was white with red and pink flowers on it. It seemed more professional work vibes than date vibes, but that's all you had really prepared for.

You also hadn't packed makeup, not expecting to need any when you were just here for work, so you had to hope Tom wasn't expecting you to show up completely dolled up.

The car he had sent for you showed up around 8pm and took you directly to his apartment. He was waiting for you by the door, also dressed more casually than fancy for a date, so you felt a little relieved.

"Hey," he said when you got out of the car. "You look great."

"Thanks," you said. "Are we, um, staying in for drinks?"

"Yeah, I figure that's probably the better option. Less likely to be surrounded by paparazzi or crazy fans if we just hang out in my place."

Right, that would make sense.

You hadn't really thought about the fact that someone like Tom probably didn't get to go out as much as a normal person would. He hadn't been to any of the Metalstorm cast and crew nights out, but you had chalked that up to him thinking he was too good to go out with everyone else. Maybe it was actually because he felt like he couldn't.

You followed Tom into his apartment. Although, "apartment" was definitely an understatement. The place was bigger than the house you had grown up in, and even had two floors and a rooftop pool. You couldn't help but marvel at everything - the largeness of it, as well as all the film memorabilia Tom had placed on the walls and the shelves. And then you came across the walls covered in sticky notes and found yourself confused.

Tom noticed the look on your face as you stopped to read a few of the notes and laughed. "I like to remember things."

"'Next role: paramedic vampire'?" you read, giving Tom a playful look.

"I think that could be a good role. Imagine a paramedic who is also a vampire, and sometimes they have to struggle with all the blood they're exposed to every day."

"So basically Carlisle Cullen from Twilight?"

"I've never seen those movies so I don't know."

You chuckled as you followed him to the mini bar.

"What do you drink?" he asked. "I have...basically everything."

"Give me a whiskey neat." He raised an eyebrow at you. "I had a lot of hard nights during film school. You learn to enjoy the hard stuff."

He smiled and grabbed you a glass. He filled it halfway with a whiskey that definitely looked very expensive, and then got himself a glass as well. He held his glass up to you, and you tapped yours against his.

"What are we toasting to?" you asked him.

"To the movie finally wrapping so I could take you on a date."

You couldn't help but smile as you took a sip of your whiskey.

"There's something I have to ask you before we move forward, though," you said. Tom leaned against the island between you two and motioned for you to continue. "When did you and Iggy stop dating? I mean...obviously you've stopped dating...right?"

Tom chuckled. "Would I have asked you on a date if we hadn't?"

"I don't know how you big hot shot celebrity couples do relationships. Maybe you guys are like...open? I don't know."

"We're not, and we're not together. We broke up just before Metalstorm started filming."

You winced. "That's rough."

"That's acting. You can't just throw away a whole role because you have to act alongside your ex. Besides, it was mutual, and now she's dating Jason Momoa."

"And you're on a date with the PA from Metalstorm."

Tom gave you a look. "Don't say that as if it's a downgrade or something. I like you, that's all that matters."

You were speechless. This was the most sincere you had ever heard Tom be. Usually he was yelling or cursing on set because he felt like the take he did was awful, or he was annoyed by the Australian heat in his shiny gold costume. You had no idea that Tom Ryder had a softer side of him. Actually, you weren't sure anyone knew that.

You and Tom eventually moved from the car to the couch in his lounge. He turned on a movie ("I promise it won't be my own", he had joked) and the two of you sat close but not close enough to be touching. Tom had his arm across the back of the couch behind you, just begging for you to lean into him. You'd keep inching closer every so often until finally your side was pressed against his, and you were able to rest your head on his shoulder.

You couldn't help but think about how surprised you were with how quickly things had changed these last few weeks. For a majority of filming, you had basically hated Tom. You thought he was egotistical and annoying. You never would've thought you'd be on a date with him once filming had wrapped. Sure, you thought he was attractive. Anyone with eyes could see that. But you didn't think he would ever see you as someone to go on a date with, let alone that you would have agreed if he asked.

At some point during the movie, Tom shifted and moved away from you. You looked up at him, confused, to find him already looking down at you.

"I really want to kiss you," he admitted.

"What's stopping you?" you asked.

The answer was nothing, because once the words were out of your mouth Tom was cupping your cheek and pulling you in for a kiss. It was one of those magical kisses that people in TV shows and movies always talk about. The ones where they say you feel a spark and you see stars. You didn't want it to end.

But eventually you had to pull away for air. You looked up at Tom, who now had a small grin on his face.

"I suppose there's no chance you'd want to stay over?" he asked.

You really wanted to say yes, but you knew you shouldn't. You weren't the type of person to put out on the first date, and you knew there was a huge risk of that happening if you stayed at Tom's for the night.

So, you sighed and shook your haed.

"Thought so," Tom said. "I'll just have to get enough kissing in before I have to let you go."

You giggled as he leaned in to kiss you again.

[milaisreading]

Imagine Crossdresser! reader passing out during an interview live while the rest of the team watches it lol

🌱🩷: I wrote something similar to what your request is! Hope you like it🩷

Warnings: Reader uses she/her, but she is crossdressing as a guy, keep that in mind! Requests are open

⚽️Blue Lock belongs to Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura ⚽️

'This is so annoying. And I can already imagine the jokes Ness and Kaiser will be making at my expense for this interview.' (Y/n) thought as she glanced at one of the cameras. It took everything in her willpower not to yawn as she knew everyone who follows BBLKTV was watching this. The sleep-deprivation pretty much stopped any nervousness she could feel at the moment. The past few weeks weren't that kind to her, from the constant back and forth between Rin and Shidou's fights, watching over Kunigami and the rest of Blue locks BM players, to her parents and the JFA scolding her to be on her best behavior, (Y/n) was ready to call the quits.

'It's like I am their parent or something.' She thought as the interviewer entered the room.

'Not to mention that my period is about to start soon. Do I have any pads left?' The girl thought, looking over at Anri, who was standing behind the camera and sending her a thumbs up.

"Hello, (L/n). I will be interviewing you today, thanks for taking the time of your day for this." The man said warmly, causing (Y/n) to give him back a small smile.

"Thank you for inviting me, Nihei-san. It's a honor to be here." The girl got up and bowed at the man before sitting down again.

'All this media training will be the end of me.' The girl thought as she looked back at the man, who let out a sigh of relief.

'Thank God it's not another Itoshi Sae situation.' The man thought as he looked through his papers.

"So, you don't need to be nervous or anything. The questions are very easy and you can take your time to answer them, there is no time limit or anything. And, the cameras are filming right now, just a warning." Nihei said as he pointed at the camera behind him. (Y/n) slowly nodded her head, blinking the blurriness away and focusing back on the man.

"Of course. Thank you very much, I will keep the things in mind. And the staff already warned me about the cameras as well, I am very greatful for that."

'The amount of times I would have yawned...'

"Alright, let's start then. Ok?"

"Of course."

Back at Blue Lock...

"Kaiser, I swear if you don't move away I will kick you." Kunigami warned as the blonde smirked, still standing in front to the TV.

"I don't know. I like it here a lot." Isagi rolled his eyes as Yukimiya and Kurona sighed in annoyance, while Hiori was whispering something to Gagamaru.

"Nobody wants to see your flat ass, Kaiser."

"His ass isn't flat, Yoichi!"

"Shut up, Ness!" Noa was about to interject, but stopped when he saw Hiori and Gagamaru tackle the blonde to the ground.

"Shut it! (Y/n) is speaking!" Yukimiya yelled as Isagi and Kurona kept their focus on the TV.

"So, how was your experience with Bastard München so far? The fans would like to hear from the player who is in that stratum now."

"It's been great so far. I am grateful that we have a coach as experienced as Noel Noa to help us, and I am happy to I am able to play withgreat teammates. Especially the ones from Blue lock, they all progressed tremendously." (Y/n) answered back as the boys blushed a little.

"Hahaha, what can I say. I did progress quite good, actually." Yukimiya boasted as Hiori chimed in.

"So did I. (Y/n) even said he was proud of Isagi and I after the Ubers match."

"Right. It's even better for me since (Y/n) has seen my developments from the beginning." Isagi added in as Kurona thought over his words.

"(Y/n) has said the same thing to me 2 nights ago. He was even sad that I couldn't continue playing for the rest of the Uvers match."

"I got compliments on blocking Barou's shots as well! It felt really nice." Gagamaru admitted. Kunigami cleared his throat, looking nervous to everyone's surprise.

"I got told that my defense got better after the Barcha match."

Ness and Kaiser kept quiet as they spoke about the player, feeling a little jealous that they never got any compliments.

"Whatever. He probably only compliments the Blue Lock players." Kaiser rolled his eyes.

"Not really. I got complimented as well. (Y/n) also added in he likes my hair." Grim told Kaiser.

"Same for me. He complimented me after the Manshine match since my passes helped him a lot to score his 2nd goal then." Sachs added in.

"What?!" Kaiser asked in disbelief, then looked at Gesner.

"And you?"

"He complimented me on my strength when we were both on the gym." Gesner said nervously as Kaiser looked at the trio as if they had betrayed him.

"This isn't fair..." Ness pouted while looking back at the Blue Lock team.

"Sucks to suck." Kurona chuckled.

PXG...

Now, Rin tried (and failed) to pretend that he didn't care about the whole interview, but he couldn't. He cared way too much. So that's why he was now sat down in front of thr TV, ignoring whatever Tokimitsu, Karasu, and Shidou were saying.

"Shut up!! I want to hear what he is saying!" Charles yelled at the group while Loki tried to calm him down.

"Calm down,you all."

"While we are at the topic of foreign teams." The group stopped and looked at the TV again.

"Is there any foreign player you would want to play with in a team?"

(Y/n) blinked at the reporter and stayed quiet as she thought it over.

"Boooriiing. He would never pick a foreign player over one of us. Especially me." Karasu smirked, earning a few glares from the others.

"You mean me! I am the one he said he could barely keep up with during our first match." Shidou butted in.

"And yet you still lost." Karasu jabbed back.

"Shut it! He would be pick me. I am the number 1 here, after all." Rin rolled his eyes.

"Being the 1 isn't the only thing that matters, Rin. Besides, (Y/n) admires my dribbling."

Charles rolled his eyes at the team and cleared his throat.

"Please don't." Loki begged.

"Yet the interviewer cares about none of you. (Y/n) will definitely pick me here-"

"I really enjoyed playing against Julian Loki during one of our selection rounds. While I don't know his current abilities yet, I would definitely pick him as a teammate. He is very easy to get along with." (Y/n)'s answer quickly shut up the group. The Blue Lock team kept quiet as they looked at Loki while Charles looked at him in utter disbelief.

"You stole him away!" The French player said as Loki looked at him in disbelief.

"I did not?! Besides, he knows me for longer than he knows you."

"So now you are showing off?!"

"Are you stupid?!"

Ubers...

"(Y/n) should gave asked me for some fashion advice. Why would he wear the Bastard uniform during an international interview of all times." Aryu tsked in disapproval as he looked at the TV. Niko rolled his eyes at the comment and looked at the taller player.

"How does that matter now? He is having a interview about Blue lock, not a fashion show."

Snuffy chuckled at the younger players comment and ruffled his hair.

"Calm down, Niko. But, he does have a point, Aryu. (Y/n) was told to wear that, after all.

"They purposely wanted him to look ugly." Aryu pouted.

"Will all three of you shut up? I am trying to listen." Barou groaned as Lorenzo looked at him in amusement.

"Didn't thing a king like you was invested in stuff like this."

"Shut it-"

"As you are aware, the whole world is looking forward to your final match against PXG. But, the fans would like to know which game was so far the most exhausting one."

"Hmm... that's an easy one, definitely the one we had against Ubers. While Barcha and Manshine were challenging as well, the Ubers one outweighs them a lot. Not only did the team already have good and experienced players like Don Lorenzo, and their coach Marc Snuffy. But, my own teammates have evolved quite a lot. While I was annoyed that the end of the match kept getting delayed, I was very happy to see them give their all on the field."

The trio kept quiet as they blushed while looking at the TV. Snuffy and Lorenzo silently laughing at their reactions.

Manshine...

"(Y/n) looks a lot paler than I remember him to be. Don't you two think so?" Reo asked, looking back at Chigiri and Nagi for an answer. The redhead narrowed his eyes and inspected the captain before slowly nodding his head.

"It sure looks like it. I wonder if he is sick or something." Chigiri said in worry while Nagi kept quiet.

"I hope Bastard aren't stressing him out too much." Reo rolled his eyes as he thought about the German team.

"We all pretty much witnessed your hat trick during the match against Manshine city, how did you feel back then? Excitement? Confusion?"

The three looked at the TV, silently waiting for an answer.

"Well it was a mix of both, but mainly confusion. I really wasn't sure, and still I am not sure what had possessed me om the field back then. But, I am grateful for the chances Isagi, Kurona, and Sachs-san gave me to score."

"I can only imagine, especially when you got such a high bid offer from Re Al right after."

"That was a surprise to me as well. I didn't imagine they would notice me like that." (Y/n) chuckled as Nagi and Reo facepalmed.

"He really needs to work on his confidence."

"Nothing changed with him."

"It's cute. He reminds me of a puppy." Chigiri laughed as a blush coated his cheeks.

Barcha...

"Keep it down you two. You won't be able to hear anything." Lavinho said as he looked at Otoya and Bachira, which immediately shut them up.

"We didn't see (Y/n) in so long! Can you blame us?" Otoya said as Bachira nodded along.

"Do you still stand by your statement that the game against Barcha was your favorite one?" The trio looked back at the TV, waiting impatiently at the answer.

"Yes. It was probably more relaxing since it was our first one and, personally, I had a lot of adrenaline rushing through my body. Also, Lavinho-san made the match more interesting with his antics." (Y/n) laughed as the Brazilian laughed along.

"Finally someone who understands!"

"And this is why we should have kidnapped him out of the Bastard stratum."

"Bachira, no." Otoya said in a scolding manner.

Back with (Y/n)...

'Can this be over already? I van barely keep my eyes open.' (Y/n) thought, trying to keep her focus on the questions and the interviewer, but that focus was slowly slipping away.

"We have a few more questions and then we are done. Are you ready to answer the next one?"

"Sure-" Before (Y/n) could finish her answer, her vision turned black and she fell unconscious.

"(Y/n)!" Anri yelled in fear as the interviewer caught the girl before she could fall face first on the floor.

"He is fine. He just fainted. Turn off the cameras." Nihei said as the camera man quickly turned everything off. Anri ran to (Y/n)'s side, sighing in relief when she saw the girl was still breathing.

"Bring me some water and call a medic." Anri told the interviewer then looked back at (Y/n) in worry.

'I knew this whole interview was a bad idea. And the PIFA and Re Al higher-ups are watching this as well. The last thing I need is for (Y/n) to get scolded for being exhausted.'

Panic in the stratums pretty much started the moment they saw the girl faint and the cameras got cut off. Ego felt of course worried, and along with Noa and the other coaches was immediately at the medics office.

"So, he was exhausted?" Loki asked as the doctor nodded his head.

"Pretty much. Lack of sleep caused his body to crash. Aside from that, I have noticed he was under a lot more stress the past few weeks, either caused by the games or the JFA, I can't tell right now."

"What is the next best thing I can do now? I am his coach, after all." Noa spoke up.

"Just let him rest for a few days. If possible, delay the match against PXG for a week or so."

"Sure. Ego-san-"

"Consider it done, Loki." Ego said back, interrupting the French player.

"Also, I would like you all to keep the players at bay for now. Just let him sleep, visitors will only cause more harm now."

"Don't worry about that."

"We will handle it." Chris and Lavinho nodded along as Snuffy patted Noa's back.

"The boys need to practice, anyway. So keeping them away will be easy."

The doctor nodded his head and looked back at Ego.

"Anri is currently with him, so you don't need to worry. Should something happen I will immediately inform you. But, as I said, everything will be fine. He just needs rest."

"Alright." Ego said back, a little bit relieved that (Y/n) wasn't in a life-threatening condition or anything. As the doctor left, Loki and the adults silently thought over their plans to tell the other players.

"It will be quite a headache. Especially since Nagi, Reo, and Chigiri are so stubborn." Chris groaned as Lavinho shrugged his shoulders.

"Just give them punishments if they don't listen. What else can we do."

"True, but let's try being reasonable first." Snuffy added in.

"Lucky for me I have the most unreasonable players in my team." Noa butted in as Loki chuckled a little.

"You clearly didn't meet mine yet."

"I don't care how unreasonable they are, if they defy the rule, inform me. I will give them a proper punishment then." Ego told the coaches in a serious manner.

[toast-the-unknowing]

on fanfic plagiarism

Almost five years ago, in January of 2019, someone I'd never met before reached out to tell me that one of my Pynch fics, "Word on the Street," had been plagiarized.

I remember that the stolen fic was posted in k-pop fandom, though not what specific band it related to -- I'm not into k-pop, or really into pop music at all.

I remember that the person who messaged me told me that they had found my fic because the plagiarist had a reputation for stealing fic, so when they'd posted a new story, this person had known to do some digging.

I don't remember what the plagiarist's username was. I remember scanning the stolen story, trying both to read every detail and to avoiding taking any of it in, because looking at that right-but-wrong, not-quite-there, uncanny-valley-ness of it made me queasy.

I remember being darkly amused that the plagiarist had cut out the reference to the main character suffering physical abuse at the hands of his father -- I guess it didn't make sense in the context of the new character. It's almost like the story wasn't written for him. It's almost like someone wrote the story about Adam Parrish, instead.

I filed an AO3 complaint, on the grounds that this was a blatant and unarguable violation of their plagiarism policy. Within twenty-four hours, they got back to me, and the story was removed.

It was a weird, uncomfortable, gross feeling, knowing someone had taken words I'd written and passed them off as their own.

But at the same time -- "Word on the Street" was a silly thing I dashed off pretty quickly, during a period of my life when I was doing a lot of writing. It hurt to have it stolen. It was a violation. But…I had other words, that were more important to me. Maybe that was a buffer.

-

Last month, about six weeks ago, someone I'd never met before reached out to tell me that one of my Pynch fics, "there's talk going 'round this town," had been plagiarized.

I was, bizarrely, amused.

I was less bizarrely furious. I was understandably, relatably, I would say rationally, furious. But in a way (and as always, when I say in a way, I am calling back to the scholars of overthinkingit.com for whom in a way is meant as the thing I have just said or am about to say is false) -- in a way, I was amused.

The plagiarist clearly did a 'find and replace' on the character names, to replace Adam and Ronan's names with those of k-pop characters. They did a bad job of it, since the name "Ronan" still appears in one paragraph and the name "Parrish" still appears in two paragraphs. The fic is here, in case anyone doesn't believe me, under the name "i do(n't remember)". At first when I complained about the fic on tumblr, I didn't mention the name, or which fic they'd stolen, because I was worried about anyone…I don't know, making a scene. I've stopped caring. AO3 user springguk is bad at find and replace and they should feel bad. About their computer skills, and also about their blatant plagiarism.

springguk also did some more edits to my fic, I have to give them credit for that. I wrote "there's talk going 'round this town" within a relatively short time span, for me. I tend to either finish things within one week, or else take several months. I believe this one took about five or six weeks completely to write -- I was very inspired.

(I was inspired, specifically, by the press coverage of Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves 'discovering' they might be 'accidentally' married. I mention that in my author's notes. springguk doesn't mention what 'inspired' them in their author's notes. I wonder how they talk about it with friends. They do, in their author's notes, include a link to their ko-fi, and a request that people buy them a coffee.)

If I'd taken longer with this fic, I might have made some edits. Even at the time, I knew I was being self-indulgent in letting the scene with my teenage female OC talk at such length with Ronan about what his non-canonical film career had meant to her, a person the audience didn't care about. But I had fun. I liked Fox. I didn't want to cut her, and what the hell, it was fanfic. I decided to self-indulge.

I was darkly amused to find that springguk did cut out the scene with Fox from their plagiarized version. Maybe springguk is a more disciplined editor than I am. Maybe springguk just didn't have a good k-pop character to map Fox onto. Maybe springguk didn't even realize that Fox was an OC. Do you know anything about the fandom you steal fics from, springguk? I can't help but wonder. Have you read The Raven Cycle? Do you care about teenage OCs who steal cars because of fake films that are clearly meant to be stand-ins for The Fast and the Furious franchise?

Maybe springguk just didn't give a fuck, because none of their heart and soul was poured into this fic. I cared too much about Fox. springguk doesn't care about a single word in the fic they published. Why would they? They didn't write it.

I'm being a little mean in naming them so many times. But I'm able to, this time, because although I filed a plagiarism complaint with AO3 six weeks ago, springguk's stolen fic "i do(n't remember)," is still available to read on AO3 to this very day. I don't have to wrack my brains to remember what their username was, or which k-pop band they recast my work with. I can just look at their fic with its 24 comments and 151 kudos. Hell, maybe that fic is even better than mine, if you don't mind that by cutting the sequence with Fox they've sacrificed a fairly substantial development in the romantic relationship, and also if you don't care that at one point the characters names switch from Jeongguk and Taehyung to Ronan and Parrish, because seriously, for fuck's sake, if you're going to steal a fic at least do a goddamn ctrl+f at the end.

I was mad. I was amused. I made a complaint that the AO3, six weeks later, has still not acted on. I mostly moved on.

-

Tonight, someone I'd never met before reached out to tell me that one of my Pynch fics, "while we're on the subject, could we change the subject now," had been plagiarized.

I wanted to vomit.

I was supposed to be playing Dungeons and Dragons online with friends tonight; I spent the entire call unable to focus on anything anyone was saying. I had to keep reminding myself that I was on camera and my face wasn't supposed to look like that.

"while we're on the subject, could we change the subject now" is the first of a series of, currently, twelve fics. skytoseungmin, the person who stole it to pass it off as their own work, knew this. Their stolen version was published as part one of a series, though they hadn't published any of the sequels. Presumably, they wanted to wait long enough to make it plausible they'd gone and written the follow ups, instead of just finding them.

skytoseungmin likely didn't know that this fic and this series are intensely personal. They didn't know that the apartment that Adam -- Seungmin, in their ill-gotten version -- lives in, that was based in part off of the apartment I lived in for a year in Pico-Robertson with talldecafcappuccino. They didn't know that the 7-Eleven Adam buys coffee at is the same one I used to tease talldecafcappuccino for buying coffee at. They didn't know that the strip club where Adam and Ronan have their humorously ill-timed romantic revelation outside of, that was the strip club I used to use as a landmark when giving people directions for how to navigate the confusing as fuck freeway exit I lived near, which once caused me to accidentally tell my highly Catholic parents "just go past the strip club and you're good!"

skytoseungmin didn't know that the apartment Adam -- sorry, Seungmin, thoroughly, they were better with find and replace than springguk -- lived in, was also based off of my ex's apartment in Palms, where I as the mere visiting girlfriend was never allowed to park in the parking lot. Where I would sometimes have to spend twenty or thirty minutes circling the neighborhood before I could find parking, often a walk of several minutes away. skytoseungmin doesn't know that when Ronan's car get towed from a McDonald's parking lot, that that was a specific McDonald's on Venice Boulevards, the same one my ex's asshole roommate used to just roll his eyes and say that I should park at. skytoseungmin doesn't know that I once wished passionately that I had just parked in that McDonald's parking lot and risked getting towed, on the occasion that a man followed me several unlit blocks from my car. skytoseungmin doesn't know that when I talk about how helping someone park is the truest love language there is in Los Angeles, that that was what I meant. Has skytoseungmin ever had to circle to half an hour to find parking in Los Angeles? Has skytoseungmin ever loved someone enough to do that, instead of saying, fuck it, they can come to me or we're breaking up? Has skytoseungmin ever loved someone in Los Angeles enough, to do as my ex did, and come running as fast as humanly possibly when their girlfriend called them whispering and crying on the phone, someone's following me, please, I'm scared, I wish I just parked at the McDonald's?

"while we're on the subject, could we change the subject now" is a very personal fic.

It isn't half as personal as some of the fics that come after.

skytoseungmin marked their plagiarized version of the fic as part one of a series. Were they planning on stealing part two, where I, through an alternate universe characterization of Ronan Lynch, dig into my experience of grief and trauma surrounding my grandmother's dementia? Were they planning on stealing any of the explicit fics, where I play with kink and desire in ways I haven't even exposed to my actual sexual partners, but where I felt able to through the guise of fandom? What else was skytoseungmin planning on stealing, with charming little author's notes apologizing for how they missed the fandom-relevant date they were shooting for, because they were so busy with exams, tee-hee! Why the excuses, skytoseungmin? how long does it take you to ctrl+f, even if you are more thorough about it than springguk?

If I seem too accusatory and mean-spirited toward skytoseungmin, well, the LA verse is a very personal fic.

And it's also, it turns out, only one of eight different fics that they stole from me.

I didn't even notice at first, to be honest. I was too stunned. But my friend Jessie, my Lady Galahad, went to my defense and clicked through to the author's page, while I was still reeling at the horrible possibilities of part one of a series. It turned out, of eight fics on skytoseungmin's author's page…I had written every single one of them.

Some were short and pretty lighthearted, things I hadn't had to invest too much of myself into -- like I said, sometimes, I can write a fic in under a week.

Other things…

They stole the space western AU.

I don't think I can articulate to any human being how much that hurt me, to look at it, to see.

I wrote that as a thank you gift for someone who donated to Fandom Trumps Hate.

I spent nearly two years of my life on it -- two years during which, because of mental health issues and life situation changes, my words per year dropped precipitously. I still haven't recovered. I still think of what a failure I am for not writing more, currently, actively, and I remember how the space western AU was both a symptom of that and a defiance of it: yes, writing has become fucking hard, fucking NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE, but I'm still doing it, goddamn it, you can't stop me, even if all I produce is the tiniest trickle of words a month. it can still add up, somehow, if we just keep TRYING.

To see the space western AU, casually nestled amongst a half dozen other fics that were all apparently casually dashed off in the same month…I know it was theft, I know it was a lie, but it still felt like a slap in the face, why can't you write this fast?

Jessie, my Lady Galahad, went on a campaign of commenting on all of skytoseungmin's (my) fics, and I am so thankful. The k-pop fans who heard Jessie have been reaching out, to her, to me, to each other on Twitter, and I am so thankful for them too. skytoseungmin has deleted all of their (my) fics on AO3, and their entire AO3 account, and their entire twitter, apparently. Maybe they were hoping to get enough clicks to parlay them into some kind of book deal, and they'd now rather give up what was a low investment effort on their part than be associated with accusation of plagiarism.

I suppose they can always start over with a new user name and someone else's fics if they really want to.

I suppose they can always start over with a new username and my fics, if they really want to.

And after all, AO3 has still not reached out to me about springguk, and "i do(n't remember)" is still sitting there. Maybe springguk is also going for a book deal. Who knows?

Why complain about any of it?

In a way* (and remember what "in a way" means), isn't it a compliment, if someone loves the words I wrote, even if they don't know it was me that wrote them? toast-the-unknowing and shinealightonme, if they're the same name (and they are), then why not springguk or skytoseungmin, too?

Am I making too big of a deal out of this? Does everyone just have their work stolen from them, all of the time? Is that simply the cost of doing business in an era and an ecosystem where we all can copy and paste twenty-four thousand words with greater ease than our ancestors could transcribe a single phrase? Are more prolific, more famous, more successful fan authors looking at my piteous cries and thinking, bitch, you've only been ripped off by k-pop fans ten times, come back when you have real problems?

And yet in a month, a year, a whole life phase of not being able to write as much as I would like to, because of my health, because of my work, to have someone else just casually pass off the words I have managed to eke out, as though they have no value, as though it were no more than photo copying a shitty flier to stick under a windshield wiper…

I can't imagine springguk or skytoseungmin give a shit how I feel about any of this. At best, they roll their eyes; at worst they laugh to know they hurt me -- and what's the difference between the two? I'll never know either way.

I know that some of the people they duped do care, and are also upset. That helps. And also, it doesn't help.

I just fucking hate all of this, and if all I have are words, and if my words are valuable enough for someone to steal, then here, here are enough of them to choke on. I know I did.

[twig-tea]

GL odds and ends 20 October 2024

Still feeling out how regularly it makes sense to do this; first one was 2 weeks ago on 6 October. If you're interested in GL older than that, check out my GL rec list through Feb 2024 and my update in July 2024. New series marked with an asterisk*.

Currently airing (with thoughts up to Oct 6):

Reverse 4 U 7/8 (Thai, Tuesdays 1:00 PM EDT, Netflix / YouTube) I'm disappointed by how this final arc has gone. We haven't really seen any growth for Wa, and the whole plot with Wa and Vivi's father didn't really make sense. I really don't understand why he had to stay away, or why the rules are so different for him than for Wa. The relationship between Wa and Four also feels flat because we've barely seen them together. I was rooting for this one but alas.

Unlock Your Love ep 6/8 (Thai, Wednesdays, GagaOOLala / YouTube [cut version]) The sequence where Rain and Love keep trying to have sex but getting interrupted/hurt was very funny; this show still drags but the core of it is pretty good. I mostly just wish it were tighter.

Chaser Game W s2 ep 5/8 (Japanese, Thursdays 12:30 PM EDT, GagaOOLala) @lurkingshan is already doing a great summary of this week to week in her JQL weekly round-up!

Affair the series ep 8/8 END (Thai, Fridays 11:15 AM EDT, iQIYI/ YouTube) Other than the jealousy in the last 10 minutes of the show, I really did like this ending for the series. I really liked Wan's decision to take time for herself after being disappointed by Pleng's decision again. The plot and melodramatic-ness of this show is not my favourite, but I enjoyed it week to week in spite of that. The acting was so solid, the women so gorgeous, the chemistry so fire, and the writing was great for the genre its in (the story was internally consistent and coherent, and the characters were complex and their motivations were clear. There was even a good plot reason for the 'they might be siblings' twist). If you don't mind melodrama, give this one a try!

*Pluto ep 1/12 NEW (Thai, Saturdays 9:30 AM EDT, YouTube) Starting off with a fantastic kiss and Namtan on a motorcycle is truly an incredible opening gambit. That being said, I don't buy the core premise of the plot and it is making it difficult for me to actually enjoy the show. I'll probably be mostly quiet about this one because the things I don't like about it aren't actually about its execution but rather my taste.

*Apple My Love ep 2/7 NEW (Thai, Saturdays 11:45 AM EDT, GagaOOLala and YouTube) I already shouted on main about ep1 here; so far I'm obsessed with this show. Kris is too gay to function, and the misunderstanding is perfectly executed. Very excited for this one, it's so far fantastic.

The Loyal Pin ep 12/16 (Thai, Sundays 12:15 PM EDT, YouTube) Anin's speech in this episode was fire. I feel for these girls, Anin and Pin are just so desperate to be together and their choices are limited. This show continues to be gorgeous and so well done, and I keep bracing for pain.

Red Whisper ep 4/8 (Korea, [schedule is kinda unpredictable; vaguely every 5 days??], YouTube) Cheating and taking advantage while your crush is heartbroken and drunk is not my fave but is par for the course with these SukFilm short series; my fave so far has been their first GL so if you haven't seen that yet I'd honestly recommend that instead.

Recent One-offs & Side Couples

We finally got the sapphic backstory in The Hidden Moon but it was (as expected) sad and mostly inferred.

We also got more of the Aim as a Lesbian plotline in the new Love Sick 2024 remake (this was not a plotline in the 2014 version and it's one of the changes I really like and that I think works really well)

Sastra film app YouTube channel has several short Cambodian GL series that come out weekly Honestly they are not to my taste but I don't like gatekeeping GL especially from smaller markets. I check in on these time to time and if there are any that I think are great I'll give them a shout-out

Ditto above with JPC media YouTube channel for Thai GL shorts if there are any that stand out to me I'll say so

Starting soon:

The Nipple Talk, [ensemble] Taiwanese, 1 November GagaOOLala

My Ex's Wedding [in theatres in Thailand 14 November]

Mom Ped Sawan, Thai, 17 November [international distribution uncertain; it should be on VIPA app with subs, but that is region-locked]

Petrichor, Thai, 23 November, TBD

[ofmdrecaps]

08/01-02/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; David Jenkins; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Vico Ortiz; Ruibo Qian; Jes Tom; Rachel House; Minnie Driver; Dominic Burgess; International Clown Week; SMAUgust; WBD Q2 Earnings Call; National Twins Day; Fan Spotlight; Love Notes; Daily Darby / Today's Taika.

Alright-- so two big posts for 3 days worth of info-- sorry again for the delay all. I do hope my work has finally calmed down enough for me to get back to a normal schedule.

== David Jenkins ==

David put out a lovely shout out to Con since his episode of Time Bandits premiered on the 31st on Apple TV!

Source: David Jenkins Twitter

== Rhys Darby ==

Hey! Did you know there's a new episode of The Cryptid Factor available? It's out on spotify now, and as usual, the video version will be available on their Patreon sometime next week! Check it out below!

Rhys is out in Edinburgh! He's going to be doing The Cryptid Factor Live Aug 3-7th! -- and he's being so incredibly nostalgic, it's so heartwarming <3

Source: Rhys' Instagram

And if that's not enough Rhys for you-- Rhys will be appearing on the "What Lurks in Loch Ness" episode of Expedition X! To learn more, check out the Discovery Channel!

Source: Catski22 on Twitter

== Taika Waititi ==

Another fun shot of Taika behind the scenes at Russell Crowe's concert a couple weeks back!

Source: Instagram

And a shot of Taika, Rita and friends still out in Ibiza!

Source: Instagram

= Vico Ortiz =

Vico's posted another short OFMD BTS video on their Patreon! Here's a sneak peak-- check it out here!

= Lesbophilia Giveaway =

You may remember that Vico's short film Lesbophila will be playing at the HollyShorts Film Festival! Well Lesbophilia is doing a giveaway! Just follow the instructions below and you'll be entered to win some pretty cool (and NSFW) stuff!

Lesbophilia's Instagram

The Post Mentioned

Source: Lesbophilia's Instagram

== Ruibo Qian ==

August 1 was Ruibo's opening night of Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson! Wanna checkout some BTS for the show? Visit the GlobeTheatre's Reels

Source: Ruibo Qian's Instagram / Stories

== Jes Tom ==

Jes Tom was out performing at REDiNK, honoring the late Cecilia Gentili.

Source: Jes Tom's Instagram Stories

== Rachel House ==

So in case you ever wondered whether or not the cast of Time Bandits TV love Rachel House, now you do -- several of the cast members filmed themselves in costume when they found her phone in Lisa Kudrow's chair! It's actually super sweet to watch. I didn't notice any spoilers, but just fyi!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rachel House (@rachelteaomarama)

Source: Rachel House' Instagram

== Minnie Driver ==

A rare sighting of both our murder wives on the same day getting some news-- Minnie Driver was out on @livekellyandmark talking all things Serpent Queen!

Source: Minnie Driver's Instagram

== Dominic Burgess ==

Great news - Dominic's screenplay "OUT OF MIND" has made it to the quarterfinal rounds of the 2024 Academy Nicholl Fellowships! Congrats Dominic! He included a description and some more information below!

Source: Dominic Burgess Twitter

== International Clown Week ==

Honk HONK!

Source: ofmd-ann's Tumblr

== National Twins Day ==

Source: NoraKitty9 on Twitter

== WBD Q2 Call ==

Our friends over at @adoptourcrew are reminding everyone of the WBD Q2 earnings call happening Wednesday August 7! Sounds like there may be some fuckeries afoot so stay tuned!

Source: Adopt Our Crew's Tumblr

== SMAUgust ==

It's time for SMAUgust! SMAU aka Social Media Alternate Universe is a genre of fanfiction and now there's a month long celebration! You can follow the official Twitter, run by the absolute legend PogoNR, and Discord below-- there's already been some fantastic recommendations from our fellow crew mates! Feel free to check them out!

OFMD Smau Discord

OFMD Smau Twitter

Source: OFMD Smau's Twitter

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Cast Cards =

More cast cards from our crewmate @melvisik! Alex D. is another action talent according to https://ofmd-crew.com/ and Adam Wheatley is another one of our Production Designers!

= OFMD Colouring Pages =

Our friend @patchworkpiratebear is still putting out some awesome colouring pages! Illustrating more of our darling @denizbevan's fics! There are lots of versions available, so please visit their tumblr for more!

Source: Patchwork Piratebear's Trumblr

== Love Notes ==

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sydney Irvine💛 (@sidthevisualkid)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Liz ✨ (@lizpop_art)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by New Day (@newdayish)

This chapter of my life since I've met you all has been one of the best <3 Thank you lovelies.

== Daily Darby / Today's Taika ==

These two gorgeous buggers and their eyebrows. These gifs courtesy of the lovely @ofmd-ann and @ transjudas!

[galaxynajma]

To be honest. I’m feeling a little conflicted about season 2 being announced to come out in October

That’s only 5 months away

I’m both worried for the animation quality and animators

From what I’ve heard about episode Nagi ( the film) it had better animation than the series but it still wasn’t really movie level

The U20 arc is very special to a lot of bllk fans . It’s pretty high up there on being the fandom’s favorite arc

There’s so many iconic moments during it . And i thought they can be Brought to justice

Good things is that I highly doubt that this season will have 24 episodes

I just don’t think they’ll add the first part of the NEL in this . I think it will end on chapter 152

Sorry Kaiser and Ness fans

Well actually…

Anyways I hope the animators are doing well and I’ll be happy with this season no matter what

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO ISAGI’S GOAL SOME JUSTICE IM BEGGING YOU

This panel of Sae too .. let’s be real here this is the best Sae panel of all time

Well at least we’ll get Ryusae moments finally animated… stsg fans … be prepared

[holmesxwatson]

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes dir: Billy Wilder, 1970

I only watched The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes for the first time a few days ago but it lights my brain up in that special way that I know I’ll revisit it a lot. Don’t get me wrong, it’s far from perfect, for one thing Colin Blakely’s Watson is a little too shouty for me, but it’s very worthwhile to check out despite its shortcomings, which I think mostly come from the fact that so much was cut from the intended script.

I absolutely love Robert Stephens as Holmes. His face is so good, he has a way of looking at Watson when he doesn’t know he’s being observed that is very soft. I thought I was hallucinating the beginning of this movie with Holmes telling the ballet dancer he’s gay and in a relationship with Watson. I thought it was going to be played for a joke, and it was a bit, but it didn’t just end there. Holmes and Watson have a conversation about the repercussions in a lengthy scene that turns very serious by the end. I can’t believe this was 1970 and no one has since tried to build on this specific dynamic in a more meaningful way. Someone needs to remake this into a mini-series exactly how Billy Wilder intended it to be, here’s hoping public domain can make it so.

[above: script page from the cut story The Curious Case of the Upside Down Room, where Watson creates a fake case to make Holmes feel better]

Also, the backstory of the making of this film is so out of control: Robert Stephens’s nervous breakdown and suicide attempt during the production, the amount of years Billy Wilder was trying to write it and get it made, the interference of ACD’s son, the Loch Ness monster prop that the crew lost in actual Loch Ness, the immense scope of the episodic story they were going for, the way it got cut down from its original 3 hour 45 minute runtime and how that cut footage was lost forever! (this is crazy! everyone go check your attics and storage lockers right now).

In one of the interviews I found, Robert Stephens says “if something is boring — if it’s three minutes long it’s too long, but if it’s interesting it’s never long enough…you don’t want it to end.” Big same Toby Stephens’ dad, big SAME. I didn’t want it to end. I read the uncut script and I am just floored at what we missed out on. Thankfully some footage and audio remain of some of the cut scenes (but still! check your basements too).

Just fully let it settle into your brain that they filmed all of these stories in the script, and then cut most of it away. Like that is mind-blowing to me, it existed at one point as it was fully intended to be. If this was made now during home entertainment times, they would have no problem releasing an almost four-hour movie, but at the very least there would be a big director’s cut dvd release and we would be enjoying all the small Holmes x Watson moments we deserve.

Anyway, in pretty short order I found a bunch of interesting links to stuff, details below. I also consulted my very well-thumbed Conversations with Wilder book by Cameron Crowe, but there wasn’t that much more information in there. I have Robert Stephens’ memoir Knight Errant and the TPLOSH blu-ray on order so I’ll add to this post if I find any more good resources. Let me know if I’m missing anything, and enjoy!

Full movie on YouTube (x) <-update: this link went private, but it's also streaming for free on Tubi and Freevee, and available to rent on YouTube, Google Play, and Apple TV

Original roadshow draft of script on Internet Archive (x)

Missing footage: Prologue [sound only plus stills] (x), The Curious Case of the Upside Down Room [sound only plus stills] (x), The Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners [footage and soundtrack only, no sound dialogue] (x), alternate ending [sound only] (x)

Making of documentary that includes behind-the-scenes snippets of some of the cut scenes [this doc is in German, but you can turn on the auto-translate to English in the YouTube settings] (x)

Interview with Ernst Walter, film editor of TPLOSH (x)

Interview with Christopher Lee “Mr. Holmes, Mr. Wilder” 2003 (x)

My YouTube playlist with all of the above links in one place plus an excellent fan vid by Just Bee that I added to the list because it’s just so good (x)

Missing Movies: A Case for Sherlock Holmes from 1994 BBC Radio 2 on Soundcloud [includes interview with Robert Stephens and folks involved in the production] (x)

Articles about the lost Loch Ness monster prop (x) (x)

The soundtrack by Miklós Rózsa (x)

[blue-thief]

@galaxynajma here are the actor/artist/writer isakainess hcs i mentioned earlier 🫡 (this got wayy longer than i was expecting it to be so it's basically a fic outline atp

kaiser started off as a child actor which explains... everything

when he was really young he popped up in a few roles for some pretty big movies

his biggest role as a kid though came when he was about ten where he played a big supporting character in a long-running kids' sitcom (think stuff like hannah montana, icarly, etc)

he's more or less cut off contact with his parents but he was fortunate to get a hold of his money once he turned 18

he's since moved out, rents out his own modest apartment, and he's shown up in a few moderately successful things

he's far from being an a-list actor but he's got a decent following

even though most people wouldn't be able to recognize his face, he can mention the stuff he's been in and people will be like "ohh yeah i've heard of that, i've been meaning to check it out"

he usually has to wear makeup to cover up his tattoo. most of his notable roles came before he cut + dyed his hair

his goal is to become an oscar-winning actor and he was able to get the lead role for a really serious film. his new hair just happened to suit the role

meanwhile there's ness the writer

he started off studying something STEM-related to appease his parents. besides, he needs a backup plan just in case the whole writing thing doesn't work out

but he soon dropped out due to being overwhelmed by how intense his competition was

fortunately enough he's still in contact with an ex classmate and he got some money doing copywriting for their side gig's website

on top of that he started submitting flash fiction and poetry to different competitions and magazines like CRAZYYY just to make a little more money

kaiser stumbles across one of his pieces, looks into him a little more, and finds ness's personal blog

he reads up on ness ranting about his parents and how he has no money

at this point kaiser's kinda fallen in love but he doesn't wanna seem too weird

and he reaches out to ness saying, "hey ik this sounds kinda weird but if you really wanna pursue your dreams but you're low on money you can become my roommate"

at first ness is like "wtf is this guy gonna try to kill me"

but he's late on rent and about to get evicted so he's DESPERATE

he agrees to meet kaiser to assess the vibes

and well. obviously ness falls head over heels in love with kaiser

(obv kaiser isn't gonna kill ness but don't follow in ness's footsteps guys you probably won't end up being as lucky)

and it works out great. kaiser's more than happy to cover most of the rent, he's out most of the time filming, and ness just has this bigass apartment where he's got ample space to work

anyway while kaiser's out and about one day he's at this cafe

there's this one worker on break, still in his apron and everything

he's off in the corner doodling something

the worker is isagi

and kaiser notices isagi is drawing HIM

kaiser goes up to him all smug like "wow, are you a fan? you want an autograph?"

and isagi's like "bro idfk who you are i just really liked your tattoo"

they talk a bit and isagi tells kaiser where he can find more of his work

isagi's mostly focused on digital art and commissions but he's also studying animation

kaiser finds his instagram and commissions isagi

"that napkin doodle you made of me was pretty good but i'd love to see how well you can capture my beauty given ample time (and money) ;)"

kaiser quickly becomes isagi's most frequent and highest paying client

you can say he's basically become isagi's (and to an extent ness's) sugar daddy

but kaiser likes to think of himself of those wealthy patrons from the renaissance

kaiser loved swinging by the cafe to ask about isagi's progress on his latest commission

one day he overheard isagi panicking about not being able to pay rent

and kaiser's like "you can move in with me and my roommate if you want"

and well. isagi does exactly that

ness kinda gets all crazy and possessive like "WHO'S THIS HOW DID YOU MEET HIM HOW DO YOU KNOW HE'S NOT-"

suffice to say he and isagi don't get along at first

but kaiser's never home so it's mostly just them on opposite sides of the apartment, sending glares at each other every now and then

it's BECAUSE kaiser is never around that isagi and ness are forced to bond with each other eventually

FUCK THIS POSTED INSTEAD OF GETTING SAVED AS A DRAFT

oh whatever i'll probably make this into a fic and fill in the rest that way 😭😭

[clarythericebot]

How to Rewrite Wish

I made a chart! :) I'm not great at chart-making yet, but I wanted to make a visual description on the major decisions people who decide to rewrite Wish usually have to make and what those individual decisions connote. Mostly because I'm also thinking of making a Wish rewrite^^

Explanation of chart under the cut:

I think the most significant decision you make about a Wish rewrite is how happy the Kingdom of Rosas is at the beginning of the film, because that in turn limits the choices you have of the dynamic between Asha and Magnifico.

Here are the options:

The Kingdom of Rosas is genuinely happy - Asha is misguided and must correct her worldview - King Magnifico is a sympathetic antagonist. This would frame Magnifico's actions in the film as actually good (and there can be an argument about that - you're essentially trading your ambition for a lifetime of security and a *chance* to get your wish granted - even if you disagree with it) or, you'd have to shift the nature of wishes and Magnifico taking them to be less sinister in the film. This choice lowers the stakes and may paint Asha in a pretty bad light, considering that it'll be her actions that disturb the peace. However, this storyline arguably gives the most room for internal growth, and the stakes can be heightened in different ways (for example, the kingdom is happy, but the people dearest to Asha aren't). You can also make full use of Magnifico's tragic backstory here and what led up to the building of the city of Rosas in the first place.

The Kingdom of Rosas is a secret dystopia - Asha is correct and must find a way to correct other people's worldview - King Magnifico is a sympathetic antagonist. This is essentially the original's set-up, though it failed in its execution by never quite committing to its premise. I suggest, then, that people who select this choice double-down on it to avoid Disney's mistake. Make Rosas' dystopia-ness a secret, and not something someone could figure out if they thought about the kingdom's wish-granting system for more than ten minutes. Probably make it more sinister while you're at it--for example, one YouTuber added that taking away wishes drained your life force. Have Asha be determined to free all the wishes from the get-go, and to get people to rally behind her despite her doubts. And have King Magnifico follow through on his redeemable qualities (maybe pairing his need for control with his chaotic past). Also, Asha still needs to grow somehow. I think this is a good reason why many people seem to like making her personality shyer in their rewrites--her goal is to rally the people, and she just doesn't have the charisma of Magnifico. That's one example of a good internal and external obstacle for this plot line.

The Kingdom of Rosas is a secret dystopia - Asha is correct and must find a way to correct other people's worldview - King Magnifico is completely evil. The above, only this time, you make Magnifico an all-out villain who knows exactly what he's doing. The best way to do this is probably to cut out his implied tragic backstory, or to reveal later that he was lying about it the whole time. That way, you could lean into Magnifico's malevolence in a fun, classic Disney way without being hindered by the thought that he might actually have a point. You also now have the opportunity throw evil Amaya and their cat into the mix.

The Kingdom of Rosas is blatantly sad - Asha is correct and must find a way to correct other people's worldview - King Magnifico is completely evil. In this version, there is no chipper 'Kingdom of Rosas'--the sadness exists here without a facade, as a powerful sorcerer king forces everyone to give their wishes over by the age of eighteen to fuel his power and there's nothing anyone can do about it. It's a much sadder beginning, and you have Asha start in a position more similar to Cinderella and Snow White, but on a larger level. However, that could show her holding on to hope no matter what, and trying to save both herself and her people. I would also argue this is the version where having the Star Boy iteration of Star would make the most sense. While he's a definite possibility in all versions, in the other ones, the conflict is mostly focused on Asha and Magnifico. Because Magnifico in this case is a more flat character (in this case, all he has to do is be fun, like Ursula! Not much depth required in that) Star Boy can function as the character that challenges Asha the most--for example, how this Tumblr user suggests that Asha could've ultimately been pessimistic despite being desperate enough to wish on a star, and Star Boy coaxes hopefulness out of her. It would then be matter of working together to take down Magnifico.

I hope this helps somehow, if you're thinking of doing a Wish rewrite! I'm definitely not saying these are the only options--I just put this together as what I think would be the most logical conclusions depending on which Rosas you pick.

And if you're curious--

The iteration that appeals most to me is #1, mostly because At All Costs sold me on how Magnifico ultimately has good intentions (and the movie never takes that nor his tragic backstory back). I'd have his Asha be his and Amaya's daughter--who sees that the vibrant peace and prosperity of Rosas, the way people willingly give their burdens and their wishes to her father, and thinks, I want to do that. She, unfortunately, is not nearly as powerful as Magnifico (that's where Star Boy comes in). I'd have Asha and Magnifico then have twin desires for power, both with the best of intentions, and twin tendencies to be a touch arrogant. I'd also have Magnifico and Amaya be 100% devoted to each other--I know everyone is wishing for a Disney villain couple, but I for one would adore a good!couple that are in love years into their marriage. The book still plays a role in turning Magnfico evil, though it wouldn't be as permanent as the film. And I'd want the theme to be more blatantly the difference between wishing for yourself vs wishing collectively with others.

[littleaipom]

Propaganda post about my fave medias time! [#1]

Hiiii, I just wanna talk about and recommend some things I like on my blog here! I don't always draw fanart for everything that I like and find inspiring, but I like sharing what I feel are gems with others. (the gifs im adding arent mine)

I've got a small handful of movies that involve animals and a predator+prey relationship, with plenty of cute moments mixed with heart-aching moments. They're all animated kids movies with the potential to hit pretty hard. There's something tragic to the way each movie acknowledges nature and has a character try and fight the standard order of things.

One Stormy Night

Over time, this one has become my favorite of these. This movie can provide such an unexpected comfort with how it approaches friendship as something that can transcend all else, and not need any complex reason to exist. It centers around a friendship between a wolf and goat, from how they first become friends and into how they have to fight to keep their friendship. The art style and protagonists are adorable and goofy, maintaining a delightful levity and earnestness throughout the whole movie. There is still plenty of drama surrounding their romeo-and-juliet-type relationship, and the lengths these characters go to to be friends is captivating. I rewatch this movie every now and then and it still manages to make me cry through it's earnestness and the truths it speaks to.

You are Umasou

The art style for this is extremely bright, unrealistic, cartoony, and adorable. The story is similarly cartoony, and yet it hits on some very grounded topics about family, facing difficult truths, and finding your own path in life even if it doesnt fit what's conventional. This movie gets bonus points from me for having two main predator+prey relationships that mirror each other. It's heartwarming and silly and has plenty of entertaining action moments with a good dose of drama. It's really charming and sticks with me.

Chirin's Bell

Heads up, this one is bleaker than the rest, and I love it for it's tragedy(behind the very cute artstyle for the sheep, no less). The protaganist sheep starts from an understandable position where he is tired of being the prey, the victim. His journey to do something about it pushes him to see and do things he never would have done otherwise. And it's this path he takes that has both impressive and unintended consequences. The film seems to pose questions like "is it better to live in ignorance if you can?", "how far will you go to ensure you can't be hurt again?", and "how do you reconcile with abandoning your origins?". The ending feels inevitable and yet haunting all the same.

Leafie: A Hen into the Wild

This one has held up for me perhaps the least, due to it's specific brand of cartoony-ness and unexpected gross factor(this ties into the original vs english/censored versions of the movie. arguably it's a personal preference thing in the end, but i'm actually glad i watched the censored version first.) However, it has still hit home for me several times before and deserves it's credit! The movie tackles the idea of remaining locked inside a system vs living free in the wild where there are many more dangers and mistakes to be made. It also focuses heavily on motherhood, where love and selflessness win in a fight against the uncaring and unmoving whims of others and nature itself. The protagonist's determination to be free and live the life she wants despite her ignorance and the pain it causes her is very moving to me. There is tragedy sprinkled thru the movie and yet it's underscored by how the protagonist is resolved see it all as worthwhile. The movie is often goofy, often dramatic, and overall bittersweet.

So yeah, check them out if any sound interesting! ^^

[cloveroctobers]

CHAD MEEKS—MARTIN / summer prompts 🍋

A/N: a lot more people voted for him on my poll this time around and…I’m finally getting around to doing it lol. My list is kinda lengthy for this summer so bear with me. Nothing too fancy or long but Chad’s got some heart eyes for a certain someone. Also doesn’t it bother anyone that they didn’t make “Meeks” the last name since it just flows better? Chad Martin-Meeks is way better but who tf am I? Im also picturing Morgana Van Peebles’ character from the film “You’re killing me” as Mindy’s new love interest + Andrew Spach as Alex — s/o to lifetime 😆

*GIF BELONGS TO: @scream-source

PROMPTS used from this list: 1. Violent mosquito killing claps + 2. “wanna walk on the boardwalk?”

WARNINGS: language, a derogatory term is mentioned, lots of insect talk and I think that’s it!

┊͙: ̗̀➛ - ̥˚ ̥۪͙۪◌ ┊͙: ̗̀➛ - ̥˚ ̥۪͙۪◌ ┊͙: ̗̀➛ - ̥˚ ̥۪͙۪◌ ┊͙: ̗̀➛ - ̥˚ ̥۪͙۪◌ ┊͙

Maya Evans wasn’t much of a lake person but…she was basically bullied to be here! She had Mindy Meeks-Martin to thank for that, being out here at her and Chad’s grandparent’s lake house up in the outskirts of New York was not originally how she was going to tend to the beginning of her summer.

Mindy remembers asking, “What’re you gonna do the entire summer? Shield that pretty face away from humanity inside this apartment?”

“Kinda,” Maya blinks at the short haired twenty year old.

Mindy scoffs, “I don’t think so! you’re coming with us. You need vitamin D and hopefully I’ll get you the other D from one of our not so bad looking neighbors, who mentioned he would also be there.”

Maya groans at the alluding to the overall cringe-ness of her sex life. If they were going to be on vacation, she wasn’t worried about getting laid when she did quite well if she did say so herself.

“I don’t care about any of that. I’m not going.”

“Yes you are.”

“Nooo, I’m not.”

“Yes!”

“No, Melinda!”

A glare was instantly formed on Mindy’s face since Maya loved to challenge her, even when they were children, they could bicker for hours (especially when Mindy had one of her bright adventurous ideas) until one of the two would crack. Most of the time Maya had lack of energy to keep up with Mindy but that didn’t mean she couldn’t hold her own for awhile.

Yet she still ended up here, laying out on the docks, arms up and shielding the sun from completely burning that face of hers, while she allowed the rest of the sun to add to the redness undertone of her melanin. Maya knew she could fall asleep out here, hearing the light splashing from Tara as she sneakily tried to tip Sam over from the floaty.

The birds were chirping away and she could hear the motor of a boat not too far away in the distance of the lake. It was soothing enough, don’t get Maya wrong but she preferred to be somewhere underneath the AC but Mindy and her new fling, Kendra ruined that in one of the bedrooms.

So she was out here, ignoring Chad who also managed to get out of the house minutes before Maya witnessed the horrors of his twin’s actions, long limbs stretched out on the trampoline that his legs where hanging off the circular springboard, phone lightly held up to his sunglasses covered eyes.

“Hey Bigfoot, need some sunscreen for those legs!?” Maya called out to Chad on her why by, his head lolling to watch her.

Chad responds, “Haha, I forgot how unfunny you are.”

“What?” Maya holds her arms out as she walks backwards to the water, “I’d sell out comedy shows.”

Chad is sitting up on his elbows now, “More like you’ll need a hazmat suit for the tomatoes heading straight your way, babe.”

“Don’t call me babe.”

“Okay,” Chad smirks, “whatever you want, honey.”

With a roll of her eyes, Maya flicks her own sunglasses back over her brown hues and spins around to continue back in her path. It had been about forty-five minutes since Maya decided to give Mindy and Kendra their space by dipping her feet into the water, actually taking a swim with Tara and Sam—although she hated big bodies of water, she’ll be a dead bitch swimming if she didn’t insist on Chad teaching her how to better swim, weeks before they came out here, unknowing that she would be forced to attend.

Of course that didn’t really matter since there was a tragedy that surrounded Maya’s slight fear of water. Long story short: she watched her dad drown at the beach when she was like nine, right after he was testing her swimming abilities after he taught her in a community pool back home. She got out of the island water once it started to drizzle and sat down next to her mom to have some sandwiches until a typhoon hit, killing him and seven others that were still in the water.

Which is why she probably spent maybe only five minutes in the water with Tara and Sam before she got back on the dock to soak up the sun, like her dear friend Mindy wanted.

A clapping sound echoed through the air, waking Maya from her approaching slumber. She tucked her chin to see Tara rubbing at her neck with all eyes on her.

“You okay, girl?” Maya asks the doe eyed twenty-one year old.

Tara nods, “yeah, just a stupid bug.”

Maya nods before resting back on her towel, staring up at the sky with purple clouds, which was a nice contrast of the rising summer to what you’re typically used to seeing. This also meant the evening would be around in a few hours or so.

“Ow! Fuck this.”

Maya hears, she pulls her head back, eyeing Chad upside down, who is scrambling off the trampoline, shoving his feet into his sandals before beginning to trudge up the incline towards the home.

A laugh bubbles in her throat just as she hears the same from the girls in the water.

Sam comments with her own head thrown back, hair tossed up into a bun, floating around with her arms out wide, “Weak pain tolerance.”

Which wasn’t necessarily true considering how much they’ve been tossed around and stabbed! But it was always a little fun to pick at each other from time to time, that’s what friends do.

Come on people, it’s satire!

“Oh is that what you’re into?”

“Shut up, Tara.”

A buzzing sound is dangerously close to Maya’s ear that she flinches once she actually feels the insect touch her skin. She swatting at her ear in annoyance and just hopes it didn’t make its way down into her eardrum and decide to lay eggs on her brain or anything like that. Bugs didn’t bother her too much, she was one of those kids that had a ant farm and happily wrote that she wanted to be a Entomologist when she got older—despite the kids that gave her shit for it.

She wasn’t a fan of people who had a lot to say about her character without spending the time to get to know her. Maya wasn’t much of a shit-talker, only to Chad of course! But most of time she liked to keep to herself and not pay anyone any mind. It wasn’t until a nine year old Mindy walked straight up to her in fifth grade to sit right beside her, forcing her twin brother Chad to sit on the other side of Maya since the spot next to Mindy was already filled.

The Meeks-Martin twins made the fifth grade survivable and Maya was always grateful for their friendship. Even when Chad started acting like a butt-hole once he made the team sophomore year. Then he started dating Liv—you know what? You probably don’t want to hear all that, just know that no matter what, if the earth suddenly collapsed and the apocalypse was officially here and if ghostface decided to appear from the shadows again, nothing would really keep Maya from being friends with Mindy or Chad.

They were locked in, just like a insect on your ass. That was probably the worse analogy so maybe white on rice was better? Unless you burn your rice! You get it though, neither of the trio planned on ending their friendships in the long run. They planned to get old together with all the fight they have instilled in them.

Back to the point…what was the point?

Oh yeah, this.

A clap to Maya’s skin, had her sitting up now. Her knee cap is stinging and it must have been loud enough since the chatter between the two siblings in the water has them eyeing her now.

“You good over there?” Sam asks but that burning sensation on Maya’s skin was not pleasant.

Could it be that she just just slapped herself too hard? She thought the latter as a ring of a welt immediately began to form on her skin. Was this some sort of allergic reaction? Not likely but a smidge possible since her mother became a worry wart after Maya’s father passed so they knew most of what she was allergic to. Mrs. Evans eventually was diagnosed with hypochondriasis after being forced to seek help from her nurse maternal grandmother, who ended up taking Maya underneath her wing for a few months in her late elementary years then again from the sixth to seventh grade.

You know, good ‘ol tragedy always has something to say and of course Maya hated that.

Maya seemed to zone out for a bit, making Sam sit up in the floaty, sending a look to Tara who was already swimming her way over to the braided girl.

“Maya.” Tara gently said, reaching a careful hand out to her.

The welt was formed into a circle, almost like a stab wound she was used to seeing not only on herself but also her friends. It was the clapping that brought Maya out of her daze, blinking rapidly as she felt her eyelashes become moist.

The sound came from Sam who scrunched up her face and flicked her hands about, “Got that bastard! Ugh don’t tell me the bugs are gonna be bad out here.”

They’ve only been out here for a full day now, the group getting here late last night and scurried off to their rooms for a good nights rest. The afternoon settled on them all quite quickly and they’ve all been fine not seeing the bugs…until now.

Tara asks after turning her gaze away from Sam, “Hey, are you okay? We sorta lost you for a second there.”

“I’m fine.” Maya mutters, glancing at the mark once more but it doesn’t seem like she believes that herself.

Tara doesn’t but dips her head while she scoops her damp bangs further away from her forehead. Her eyes briefly follow Maya’s rising anxiety filled eyes towards her knee and Tara doesn’t realize she’s getting closer to peer at the mark as well.

“Shit, that looks like it hurts.” Slips out of her mouth before she registers it.

Maya blinks, looking back at Tara who meets her stare, “so you see it too?”

“Yeah I see it, it’s hard not to miss. Are you sure you’re okay? And no bullshit, be honest with me.” Tara’s tone is firm but cautious, knowing how it felt to be constantly questioned when you’re not a hundred percent sure what was happening in the first place.

Maya also slips, “like you being honest about you and Chad?”

“What?” Tara frowns.

Maya chews down on her bottom lip, “It’s nothing. I don’t know why I said that.”

“Yeah right,” Tara scoffs, “maybe it’s the sun getting to your head.”

“Or maybe it’s these fucking mosquitoes!” Maya finds herself erupting a bit as she scratches at the back of her neck now.

Tara watches Maya curiously as the twenty-one year old starts to look around. She doesn’t say anything yet as Maya snatches her shorts to the right of her and pushes up to stand.

“Maya—

Tara starts but Maya is grabbing her towel and holds up a hand, “I’m gonna head in,” she stares out into the scenery of the water and trees, “and maybe you and Sam should too.”

And Tara watches Maya almost jog off the dock and away from what was troubling her.

“Sam,” Tara calls out as she watches Maya disappear into the house, ready to tell her sister that something was up.

Back inside the much cooler home, Maya still can’t find the relief in that as she rummages through the fridge, mumbling to herself until she yells, “where’s the fucking ice in this house?!”

“Whoa, hey. What’s going on?”

Maya doesn’t answer Chad as she’s now scratching at her thigh and slams the fridge shut.

“I thought you said this fridge had a awesome ice maker inside of it, how awesome is it if there’s no ice?!” Maya mocks and yells at Chad who carefully places his phone on the counter.

Mindy strolls into the kitchen all grins and full of after glow as she says, “What’s up, pretty people? Not you Chad.”

“Nice, Mindy. Real nice.” Chad is sarcastic before they turn their attention back to Maya who is now holding her forehead.

Mindy shushes the taller male as she asks, “what’s the matter?”

“There’s no fucking ice!”

“Whoa! That tone was a lot,” Mindy informs Maya who begins pacing now, “there’s some in cooler on the floor next to the counter on the left there. I forgot to turn on the ice maker this morning so we have to wait a few more hours before the ice really starts to kick in.”

However Maya doesn’t even go to the mentioned cooler with wheels, she’s still pacing and rubbing at her hive covered thighs.

Mindy side eyes Chad, “what happened while Kendra and I were inside?”

“I didn’t do anything!” Chad lifts his shoulders, “I swear.”

Kendra huffs before she bites into a pear she plucks off the bowl on the counter, “Well something happened because she’s acting very r-word right now.”

Mindy and Chad both hardened their stares at Mindy’s new lover.

Mindy is quick to move herself from the brown skinned girl with Mother Nature braids, “The fuck did you just say?”

“Yeah hell no, you might as well pack your bags. If you thought you were welcomed before, you’re definitely not now.” Chad stands up straight as Kendra looks puzzled at their reactions.

“What did I say?”

“You know exactly what you said,” Chad glares, “and the way you felt so comfortable to just say that, shows you’re problematic.”

“Absolutely disgusting. I can’t believe I let you eat—

Chad gags, “Don’t finish that sentence.”

“Whatever, clearly you guys aren’t my kind of people and take things too seriously.” Kendra replies as she peeks over at Maya, “Good luck with that over there.”

Mindy starts charging at the shorter girl who is walking away but Chad yanks Mindy back by her shirt telling her, “she’s not worth it and I been told you she’s not the one.”

She yanks herself away from Chad and sighs, “I know and she’s long forgotten and won’t be mentioned ever again, got it?”

“Deal.”

They both shake on that before they turn back to Maya who seems to be zoning out again. Chad rests his hands on the counter and gently says, “Maya babe, tell us what’s wrong so we can help.”

“Didn’t I say to not call me that, Prince Chad?” Maya also bites, knowing that nickname actually irritated her friend just as much as “babe” irritated Maya.

A twitch of smile threatens to appear on Chad’s lips but he holds back because of the jab she also just threw at him.

“Well how else am I supposed to get your attention if you’re not communicating with us, Hm?” Chad rests his cheek into his balled up fist.

Maya rolls her eyes again, “by shutting up and letting me think.”

“You might be doing too much of that, sis.” Mindy remarks with a sigh.

A small silence hits the kitchen but Maya picks up on what’s behind it. That buzzing sound that makes her itch at her aggravated knee and a clapping sound made by Mindy makes her zero in on the attack.

“What’d you do that for?!” Chad rubs at his bare shoulder while Mindy scrunches up her nose, before moving around to wash her hands.

Mindy says over her shoulder, “there was a mosquito ready to take your blood and I handled it. You’re welcome!”

“I think it might already have,” Chad answers, pinching at his skin and Maya can see from where she stands that his skin was swelling and turning pink.

They’ve all had lots of scars on their bodies due to growth and of course the trauma of running for their lives but this felt different and Maya wasn’t sure how to explain that. It’s like the feeling deep in your gut that’s aching and rolling like the waves of a storm in the sea, hinting at you that something was wrong.

Although, Maya seemed to be the only one feeling like this and was beginning to wonder if that was just her own mother’s worries running through her blood. Normally that wouldn’t be…so why was now dissimilar?

“Hey, whatever is it I’m sure we can figure it out.” Maya hears Chad saying to her, he’s standing in front of her now, back leaning against the counter with one hand reaching out to caress a thumb against the inside of her wrist.

It was one of the sensations that seemed to calm her down; especially back when they were kids. He hasn’t done that in awhile but it seems to battle against the nagging itch she’s feeling.

Mindy’s usually the quick thinker out of three, also the out-loud thinker when it comes to it. There’s no such thing as only thinking to yourself when it comes to Mindy Meeks-Martin. When she faces the two, Chad seems to let go of Maya’s wrist and she turns to exit the kitchen; pass the kitchen table and towards the window by the front door.

“Okay you guys were outside, I was inside having a grand time, there we no screams—well—that you guys are aware of but most of you were in the water. Were you in the water, Chad?”

“Nah, wasn’t really feeling it today.”

“So that leaves Sam, tara, and Maya. They were definitely in the water so that means they probably have the answers to why Maya’s like this, since it seems like we’re not gonna get any answers from her just yet.” Mindy thought out loud while Chad just shrugged his shoulders, still clueless and wincing at the pain and slight itch in his own shoulder.

Maya jumped as the door-bell sounded, making the twins share a look.

“It’s probably Sam and Tara.” Chad suggests as Maya looks over at them.

Maya is chewing on her bottom lip again, “Why would they come to the front when they can use the back door?”

“It automatically locks behind you if you close the door a certain way…pop-pop still didn’t fix it I’m guessing. And since you were the last to come in…you may have fully closed it.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Mindy warned as Chad shook his head at the girl.

“Mindy, don’t start.”

“I’m just saying! Maya’s having a moment and now the doorbell rings? It can’t just be a coincidence.”

“Things have been normal for months now, stop it before you make things worse.” Chad hissed at Mindy, sending a reassuring smile to Maya who exhaled.

“It’s okay, you can let them in Maya.”

“I’m not touching that door,” Maya states as there’s now a knocking at the door.

Mindy looks at Chad who’s now scrolling away on his phone and she reaches over to slap his phone from his hands.

The phone clatters onto the floor.

“Hey, what the hell!?”

“The right thing to do is reveal who’s at the door but you can’t send a man to do a woman’s job, obviously.” Mindy scowls as she brushed by her brother, taking her time as she steps towards Maya who can’t see through the window who’s at the door, so she takes a step back.

Chad scoffs, “I’m not gonna lie, that’s offensive.”

Maya shakes her head as Mindy picks up the golf club that’s sitting in the umbrella holder by the door, “the right thing to do is get the fuck away from the door.”

Unbeknownst to Maya and Mindy, Chad is approaching them now as Mindy slowly unlocks the door, breathing increasing, “None of the phones rung so we should be okay, right? Right!”

Mindy coached herself as she flings open the door with a roar, making Maya hold her breath again, just for Mindy to slowly lower the golf club.

“Oh it’s just Alex, the guy I told you about, Maya.” Mindy calls over her shoulder, but keeps a steady eye on the tall guy at the door.

He shows a dimpled smile, light stubble on his face, dark blue eyes, thick curly hair tied back, nice cheekbones—basically he looked like a model.

Chad didn’t like this guy and wasn’t sure why he was here in the first place.

“Hi,” Alex smiles at Mindy which she returns before his expression turns serious as he yells out, “Hey!”

That’s when both Maya and Mindy turn to see Chad red-handed. Something flies away from Maya’s direction and out the front door, Maya hears it but doesn’t focus on it as they’re all eyeing Chad now.

“It’s not what it looks like.”

“Were you about to smack me over the head? With a skillet?!” Maya eyes the heavy item that Chad finally starts to lower.

Mindy frowns, “Fuck is wrong with you dude?”

“There was a mosquito!” Chad tries to defend but Maya is heading through the kitchen and down the hall.

Mindy tells as she waves Alex inside, “A skillet though? On Maya? Not your best thinking.”

“Yeah, seems pretty violent if you ask me.” Alex adds as Chad tightens his eyes at him.

“Well nobody is asking you, Aaron Taylor Johnson.”

Alex raises his brows, “you know he’s actually playing in the new kraven movie that’s coming out?”

“I don’t care.” Chad widened his eyes and lifts his shoulders before also leaving Alex behind with Mindy.

Mindy apologetically smiles as she welcomes Alex to place the food he brought with him on the kitchen table, “You remember my idiot brother, Chad and the one trying to get away from him, is Maya.”

“Is now a bad time to be here?”

“Only if you didn’t see my shameful fling leave on your way over.” Mindy jokes with a light punch to Alex’s shoulder.

Chad is leaning in the doorway as Maya flops herself back onto her bed for the weekend. It’s usually the room his parents stayed in when they would all come out here in the winter. He’s quiet as he folds his arms, picking up on the profile of his old friend, seeing specs of freckles from the sun lingering on her cheeks, her low-set eyes, and the slope of her nose…

“Maya,” Chad calls out but she’s still staring up at the ceiling, curly braids spread out around her.

Now he’s jumping on the bed and Maya is floating up in the air but before she can collide with the ground, Chad is full of laughs before he loops a arm underneath her stomach to stop her from completely falling off the bed.

“Why are you like this?” Maya groans as Chad pulls her upright.

He’s still smiling then, “why would I be anything else?…I hope I didn’t break the bed.”

He’s shifting on it now, testing it for any new and odd sounding creaks, “Nope, I think you’re good.”

If she wasn’t, she would definitely be finding a spot in Mindy’s room or kicking Chad from the best sectional in the house, which happened to be in the basement—surprisingly.

“Are you ready to talk about what’s bothering you…or do you need more time?” Chad asks, while Maya rolls her neck around to release some tension.

Maya swallows, “I’m just being silly and it was probably just my imagination.”

Chad hums, “maybe, maybe not. But if you have doubts, you can always talk to me. Or Mindy but preferably me first, you know that right?”

“Yeah, yeah. Of course.” Maya gives a soft smile, “See? All better.”

“I can’t say I believe that, babe.” Chad tells Maya who rolls a glare his way, “but in due time you’ll let us in?”

She nods.

“Okay! Now that that is placed on hold for now, wanna walk on the boardwalk with me?” Chad pokes Maya who slaps his hand away.

“No.”

He shakes his hand out, “Ow, that kinda hurt.”

Maya raises a brow, “You didn’t see that mosquito just then?”

It’s Chad’s turn to roll his eyes, “I see how it is.”

“Uh huh.” She grins with teeth, allowing Chad to see the small gap in her front two teeth that he found cute, remembering that it was much bigger when they were kids but it started to close up as they got older but the minor detail was still there.

Still Maya.

“So…c’mon vámonos!”

“I’d rather stay here than go be around other people and you for the rest of the night.”

Chad sighed, “that was mean and this fake dislike you have in your heart for me is getting old, Maya Papaya.”

“When you say things like that, kinda makes it easy for me.” Maya leans towards him with a satisfied grin.

Chad stares down at Maya and presses his forehead against her’s, “you’re a bad liar.”

Maya’s staring back at Chad with his eyes on her and now she’s finding it hard to breathe, this must be what Tara feels being asthmatic and all but surely much worse. There was no denying that Maya had love for Chad, he’s always been in her life and he was the one she didn’t mind talking shit to.

In fact he was one of her favorite people.

“And there’s no way in hell we’re leaving anybody behind here! That’s rule number one and you know that.” Mindy’s voice interrupts, making Maya pull back.

Chad sighs in disappointment as he looks at his sister, “well I wasn’t inviting everybody.”

“Oh,” Mindy places her hand on her chest in mock offense, “Didn’t you say vámonos? I thought exclusion was also off the table when it came to us monster inc?”

“It is but we don’t need the bozo with the manbun tagging along either.” Chad told as Mindy smirks.

“But he and Maya didn’t get to spend any time together.” She pouts.

“Good,” Chad scoffs while Maya tilts her head to the side, “he seems more like Sam’s type anyway.”

“Not for you to decide my twin!”

Mindy is all finger-guns and Chad is all annoyance.

“And it’s not up for you to decide to be match-maker, that is what you’re doing isn’t it?”

“Is it?” Mindy has a knowing smirk on her face, arms crossed.

Maya jumps up, “alright enough! You two are giving me a headache, let’s go to this dumb boardwalk already.”

“That’s the spirit, Maya!” Mindy grips her shoulders with a light shake as she tries to squeeze out of Mindy’s way, braids all in her face now.

Once Maya is out of sight, Mindy turns back to Chad who is now pushing off the bed with a exhale and sends his sister a middle finger who just laughs at his expense.

July’s on the boardwalk were muggy but at least there was a hint of a breeze as the night fell. Alex and Sam are leading the way, sharing small chatter while Mindy and Tara are in the middle laughing about something over cotton candy, leaving Maya and Chad behind. The boardwalk is full of noise and various of colorful lights shining through the dark skies.

“Remember when you fell trying to get this grasshopper out of Mindy’s hair in the sixth grade?” Chad brought up while Maya peeked over at him.

“I was actually trying to forget it,” Maya says, “I was the one who ended up getting in trouble in gym class over it. Just for helping out a friend, during that awful PACER test, like how does that make sense?!”

“It also didn’t help that you stepped on Jackson Horne’s stomach during it, knowing that was Mr. Sapo’s nephew.”

“He sucked too.”

“I actually didn’t mind him.”

“That because you hung out with douchebags, you weenie.”

“You’re the weenie!” Chad yanked Maya underneath his arm, ready to give her a noogie but she pinched his side, making him yelp.

Maya fans herself after getting out of hold, “I didn’t see you trying to search and get the grasshopper out.”

“She was running all over the place and why would I ever? you’re the bug lover.”

The itch was slowly starting again, “was.”

A hush falls between the two but the comfort of Chad beside Maya is all she seems to need, to not worry about that hunch that’s still sitting in her gut.

“You ever think about—

Maya starts but feels her phone buzzing from her back pocket. She stops in the middle of the boardwalk with Chad turning to her but watching the many faces that are finding their enjoyment in the summer boardwalk.

“Hey ma,” Maya starts as she meets Chad’s eyes who softly smiles.

“Hi Mrs. Evans! Maya’s safe and having fun, don’t worry!” He yells with enthusiasm, his forehead brushing against Maya’s again as he talks into the receiver.

Maya lightly shoves Chad away, his body containing too much heat, pressed a finger to her other ear and blocking out the noise while Chad laughs, “Sorry mom, what did you say?”

She’s walking a bit away from Chad now.

“I said, is this Maureen Evans?” The familiar nasal but scratchy voice says, “Oh my mistake, that Maureen is also in the ground somewhere. Now it’s my turn to make sure another Evans gets gutted from the inside out next! Those mosquitoes won’t even compare to what I’m about to do to you. So! Maya Evans, what’s your favorite scary movie?”

Took them long enough.

Maya’s eyes are searching the boardwalk now but of course everyone looks sane. Unconsciously she’s scratching at her knee cap and her breathing becomes labored with her eyelashes stinging with tears.

Maureen Evans was her twenty-two year old older cousin that she didn’t get the chance to meet. Her father often told her some stories about his niece and her dreams to be in the medical field, wanting to build artificial organs since she couldn’t stand gore (something Maya and Maureen strongly had in common) and wanted to figure out what medical problems someone may have. Maya was always told that Maureen had her head on straight and had a desire to help others when they couldn’t help themselves.

It’s a ignominy that no one helped her in her final moments.

“How long have you been watching?”

“Since last night! I honestly thought you and Pretty boy Chad would be sharing a bed but maybe he’s still interested in that little bitch Tara instead! How does that make you feel, Maya Papaya?” Ghostface quizzes.

“Fuck you!” Maya screams into her phone, causing a mother to shield her children’s ears from her outburst and others to stare but continuing carrying on in their New York glory.

“Maya?” Chad is making his way over to her now, trying to get through a sea of people.

“Wait! Before you hang up, you still didn’t answer my question.”

“And I’m not going to, you fucking nut bag.”

With that she ends the call and turns to Chad who grips her forearms. “What is it, Maya?”

“That was ghostface. I was right! They’re back.”

“No way.” Chad pulls Maya into his arms, also looking around above her head before he turns back in the direction they were going, up ahead he can see the group who carried on without them. With one hand he cups one hand to his mouth to call out to them, “Mindy! Tara! Sam!”

They don’t hear him.

“Call them.”

Chad fishes through his pocket, just to find his phone dead like they all might be, yet again. He takes the liberty of grabbing Maya’s phone and tells Siri to call Mindy as they disappear through the crowd.

The phone rings for what feels like forever until it finally picks up, “Hello Prince Chad! Isn’t it a lovely night to stroll the boardwalk and die?”

With that, Chad slips his fingers through Maya’s and tugs her along as they began running through the crowd, “who is this?”

“Take a wild guess.”

“I swear on uncle Randy’s soul, if this is that ponytail wearing fuck—

“Oh please Chad, wouldn’t that be too obvious? You’ve got to be smarter than that, or maybe I give you too much credit for having more than half a brain cell.”

“Just wait until I get my hands on you.” Chad laughs, still running.

“Not unless I get to you first.”

And the call drops just as Chad and Maya make their way to the group, who’s lingering by a Photo Booth that’s outside of the slingshot ride.

“There you two are,” Tara smiles at them but it quickly falters once she sees the expression on her friends faces, “what happened?”

“Ghostface has your phone.” Chad breathes as he looks at Mindy who pats her pockets.

“I don’t think I brought it with me in the first place.”

Maya questions, “Where’s Sam and Alex?”

Tara looks up at the ride behind them and gulps before they all take off to the operator of the ride.

“I never trusted this guy and his ugly ass hair!” Chad points at the air as he expresses to Mindy while Tara is arguing with the teen that’s operating the ride.

Mindy shifts on her feet, “We don’t even know for sure it’s him.”

“We also don’t know he’s not the killer.” Maya announces.

Mindy queries, “Well what did ghostface say?”

Maya gives Mindy the run down while Chad goes to help Tara get the kid to turn the machine off. Mindy is intently listening to everything Maya tells her and hums as actual frightened screams fill the ride. It takes minutes for the kid to slam on the big red button to stop the ride.

Mindy takes Maya’s hand and together they quickly walk to the outside of the gate, in front of them stands Chad and Tara. They all stare up at the ride that’s halted in the middle, where they see Sam lifting her head, face full of tears as specs of blood are on her cheek and with a very dead Alex slumped over beside her, blood running down the base of the ride with his insides exposed to the public.

Soft music plays in the background as the bloody scene burns into their brains:

…There's a battle ahead

Many battles are lost

But you'll never see the end of the road…

“Get me the fuck off!” Sam screams, legs swinging as others continue screaming and a crowd begins to form, some even taking pictures.

Maya feels the urge to empty her stomach but the shock freezes it in place for now. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to seeing dead bodies in front of her.

Hey now, hey now

Don't dream it's over

Hey now, hey now

Tara, Chad, Mindy and Maya all share a look of pure terror as Sam’s screams stand out to them, while the realization of everything was starting over again for the third time.

When the world comes in

They come, they come

One things for sure that they all knew, they weren’t going back to the fucking Meeks lake house tonight, that’s for sure and certain.

To build a wall between us

We know they won't win…

Maya pulls her hand away from Mindy’s the longer she stares at Alex’s body and finds the nearest trash can to up chuck into. After a couple of dry heaves afterwards, she used the back of her hand to wipe at her mouth and stands up straight just as a hand touches the small of her back.

Her elbows instantly want to go flying but she knows the touch belongs to Chad as the sound of fireworks blast through the air. They both stare up into the sky as it tosses blue and red sparks into the air, signaling freedom.

Would they ever be?

┊͙: ̗̀➛ - ̥˚ ̥۪͙۪◌ ┊͙: ̗̀➛ - ̥˚ ̥۪͙۪◌ ┊͙: ̗̀➛ - ̥˚ ̥۪͙۪◌ ┊͙: ̗̀➛ - ̥˚ ̥۪͙۪◌ ┊͙

Continue along with my summer anthology prompts here.

[lithuanianking]

Which LSOH adaptation makes the most bank?

It's pretty obvious that money is important to the main little shop of horrors storyline,but out of the multiple Adoptations who are the "richest poor people"

In this post I'll be covering the following versions going from poorest to richest and mentioning the richest of these

-the og short story by H.G wells

-Arthur C.Clarkes short story

-the 1960 movie

-the musical+ movie musical (will be merged together)

-the cartoon

1. The 1960 movie

The og film adoption is definitely the poorest. (In my opinion in ofc these are all opinions) practically every character suffers hardships. Farb has a very small office and has a small budget for plants,Ms.Shiva asks for discounts,Seymour can't afford to take audery on a date,the typical "we need to close the shop!!!" Fiasco,Etc. But unlike the next adaptation there are no "Rich" characters

So who is the Richest in the 1960 movie? I've gotta go with Burson Fouch based off the fact he can stand around all day buying flowers

2.Musical/Movie-Musical

Next is our most popular versions,and while they aren't too different I'd like to consider them different for one certain factoid.

The poor-ness in this version is a lot less subtle. Which Seymour right off the bat going "poor.all my life I've allways been poor." (Here comes the part I mentioned at the start) in the movie-musical he still lives in the shop but he might not in the musical. Sure he definitely had as a child but Seymour leaves way more kinda implying he has somewhere else to go (if that makes sense)

Audery is now implied to be under financial stress aswell. (She wasn't in the '60 film) having to presumably live off of orin

Speaking of orin he is this versions richest character

Here's why,

-owns his own business

-has a pretty big clinic (it's bigger then the shop and farbs office combined)

-owns a motorcycle. No otther skid row resident seems to have any form of vehicle. He also has to pay for Gas for it.

-regularly buys hair product

-Able to employ (farb couldn't afford that)

And on top of all that he allegedly financially supports audery.

These next two are gonna take a different direction. The following are both short story's with 2 charcthers and the main charcther Is has all the dough,so I'll just be listening why the charcthers are well off

3.Clarke's story

This storys main character is named Hercules

-Hercules lives on his own

-he has a plant collection which of course costs money to care for,and some of his plants are costly.

-is able to support his life style while spending much of his time at home

4.Wells' story

Our protagonist here is named winter wedderburn.

-winter lives in a pretty nice house

-has a house keeper

-again can afford to buy and maintain rare plants

-Also collects otther things

-and he does it all WITHOUT HAVEING A FUCKING JOB

(And wells tried to tell me this guy was like middle class)

5. Cartoon

(OK next one may not actually be the most financial well off but I didn't really know how one would go about appropriately breaking up the short stories section becausei feel as though winter would totally win but I'm talking about the most well off universe not just person)

So in little shop all the charcthers are actually not doing so bad.(I mean it may be a little odd to have the charcthers struggle with poverty in a Relatively upbeat show)

the kids go to a pretty good school considering the fact they have home EC and are able to just buy a refrigerator (and have a fully functional shop class)

Seymour and his mom still live in that big ass house and she doesn't seem to work considering the fact she just seems to Exercise all day. So overall everyone is doing way better then previous adaption.

Exspicly our richest charcther,Dr. Driller and there's actually a reason. Driller is motivated by money instead of pain with it just happening to be a product of his work.(despite his son being named paine)

He has a nice car,got his kid that sweet little motor bike thing,pays his sister to work for him,and I think he payed for his sister's wedding in that one episode.

So how are we liking the gifs?I've been thinking of making my posts look a little more visually appealing,maybe throw in some of those divider things and stuff

[myxomato515]

finished electric dreams. i need to let it marinate for a bit to give final thoughts but here’s a few takeaways(SPOILERS!!!):

-i really love the voice they gave edgar. bud cort does a great job and edgar has a surprisingly flexible range of tangible emotion in his voice. i like it when he has outbursts at miles, he sounds like a little hellion any time he screams. “I 👹 NEED 👹 TO 👹 MOLES!!!👹”

-everyone acted pretty well. i expected a crapton of cheese from a scifi romance from the 80’s but it was all very tolerable. miles especially was pretty realistic.

-i was expecting a “third act misunderstanding” thing with miles and madeline, like she’d figure out edgar was behind the music and shun miles before coming back in the end, but they subverted that, and frankly i’m glad. i guess you could apply the same concept to when she runs away from him after he tells her to shut up but that was less predictable than what i… well, predicted.

-however, i didn’t like that a lot of this movie was glorified music videos. some of them were really offputting and clashed with the cinematography of the rest of the movie. a lot of the music was good, don’t get me wrong, but a lot of it felt like it was trying to be marketable.

-speaking of marketability, i’m surprised this was a box office bomb. despite it’s niche and kinda odd premise, the sheer amount of cheesy-music-video-ness about this movie and its pretty normal love triangle plot i figured would at least have it break even. 2.5 mil is measely and i think it deserved better.

-at a glance i first expected this movie to be a horror film. y’know, one of those campy 80’s ones, but still a horror film. the idea of having your entire house being taken over by a computer just because he wants yo girl is inherently pretty scary, but it doesn’t really go there. the worst edgar does is shock miles a few times and call the authorities pretending to be a hostage, but otherwise he’s just a big ol pest. i enjoyed it nonetheless.

-funniest part is hands down when edgar asks what sex is and miles double takes like “🤨” though the therapy sesh edgar holds with himself is a close second. “but i don’t have arms.” “do you have anything else to touch her with?” “i have… i have nothing…” “oh dear. perhaps you should get that checked out.”

-and yes. yes i would love edgar with all my heart. sorry miles i have a computer to go smooch

[eightyonekilograms]

Huh, yeah, the hype is legit, Dune Part 2 is actually really good, quite a bit better than the first one (which I also liked)

The thing about any film adaptation of Dune is that it pretty much has no choice but to cut out a lot of the scheming and politicking that goes on, because otherwise it would consist of loooong stretches of monologuing. But for the first half of the book, if you cut out the scheming and politicking, there's not a lot left, which is why the Lynch and Sci-Fi versions were hobbled by still having to have lots of infodumps. Part 1 had to get along as best it could replacing the scheming with Epic Tone Poem-ness, and it did a decent job, but in Part 2 they can actually replace the removed bits with something else: specifically, amping up the messianic narrative, which in the book exist on more-or-less equal footing with the politics but here takes front stage, mostly for the better considering the medium.

This does mean that characters have to get moved around to fit their new narrative roles. I'm a bit bummed that Feyd-Rautha is now a Hollywood Serial Killer with Slightly Problematic Autistic Coding, rather then the more-articulate-than-you-expected jock he always came across to me as in the book, but since he's not trading barbs with the Baron as he learns the ropes of power politics anymore, I'm not sure there was anything else they could've done with him, and it mostly works. On the other hand, the big character change everyone's talking about, which is kind of a spoiler, I think is a pure positive, and is actually a straightforward improvement over the book. Which I didn't think I'd say about anybody, going into it.

So, sure, I'm on board for Dune Messiah. Let's do it.