#tbh im surprised that im still upset about it but also im really not

[tomaytow]

omg im having brainrot about venti and how do u think he would cuddle windblume? would he be big spoon or small spoon? lmk ur thoughts!

i am so sorry it took me a while to respond bUT OOO

i hope you’re still having a venti brainrot because i’m still having a brainrot abt him (24/7,, check my dms with tala aka tumblr user blooming-cecilia LOL i flood her with venti stuff a lot)

anyway.

cuddling venti hcs, you want? i’ll give it to you. let me just ransack my mind for a bit;

- imagine just laying supine on the bed and venti just. crawls on top of you and buries his head on your chest. venti likes listening to your heartbeat and he also likes it when you stroke or pat his head. go on. run your fingers through his hair. he’ll probably sigh, pleased, and if you stop – he’ll definitely tell you to do it again (do it again! why should you not?) if you’re feeling playful and decide to stop, there are chances he’ll put your hand back to where it belongs.

- imagine sleeping so deeply that nothing ever wakes you. a venti comes to join you for bed, and when he sees you hugging a pillow, he won’t hesitate to replace said pillow with himself. venti will either nuzzle his face on the crook of your neck, or he’ll let your head rest on his chest. hm. he likes smelling your shampoo, by the way, because it makes him feel so much at home.

- ((akshsjbsjsjsjb the idea of venti just content with windblume… it’s so nice…))

- in the idol au, i discussed a similar concept where you try to make venti jealous by cuddling a plushie instead of him. it didn’t end well cuz venti couldn’t take it (archons, he’s just so silly-) and threw it across the room, before glomping you. why is the plushie getting more love than him??? he’s your boyfriend!!

- during the morning, it’s hard to get up because of venti’s hold around your waist. you’ll have to wake him up so he can let go of you. (but bear in mind, though: that venti’s very clingy—an understatement, tbh—and he loves you very much. i think waking him up just made it worse because he’ll hold you tighter. he refuses to let go.) there is no e s c a p e.

- cuddle him and he’ll cuddle you back. it has more passion and vigor it’s overwhelming. he’ll giggle a lot. cuddling is his favorite past times with you.

- you expect me to not think abt needy venti???? wrong. needy venti is for the soul. imagine him just sitting on the couch and has his arms raised. hands closing and opening in a grabby motion. he pouts at you, “windblume. cuddle.”

- he wants your attention, your affections, so it’s not so surprising when you’re on the phone with someone and you feel arms squeezing your waist… and kisses on your cheeks…

- don’t get me started on possessive venti during cuddle sessions cuz even though you both look cute & wholesome on the outside, who’s not to say that venti’s mind is only filled with mine, and only mine… mine always

- the anemo archon “i’ll be your alternate jacket / hoodie / sweater!” barbatos, then proceeds to BEAR HUG you

- AJAHAJWBDKJDKKDLNDNP i just remembered abt his wings 🥺🥺 venti will definitely wrap his wings around you for more warmth……they’re so soft and comfortable and fluffy

- imagine you just both sitting together and one of his wings guide you close to him

- during rainy days / winter season, cuddles with venti will increase (if venti’s being a lil trickster, he’ll insert his cold hand under your shirt)

- “windblume, i’m cold. i think i deserve some cuddling, don’t you think?”

- personal hc: venti can’t choose which position he likes, but he has a soft spot for digging and hiding his face on your neck… he wants to be in his haven; his paradise; your arms around him, his arms around you. or just you, really. you’re home to him.

- after a long day, venti just drapes all over you. there are no words exchanged but you can understand what’s happening. he’s recharging. praise him, will you? comfort him? give him little kiths… or if you can, sing him songs? (yes. when venti’s upset, he calms down when he just presses himself closer to you)

- venti’s hugs are just the best. there are times where things are hard and it’ll always be resolved with proper communication and really— just a tight hug will suffice.

- when you’re both curled with one another, venti rubs your fingers with his thumb tenderly. hand holding with venti is always nice because you can feel that he really loves you, even in simple gestures.

- look at venti whenever you guys cuddle. yep. the soft gaze. the small smile. ah, yes. he loves you very much.

as for the big spoon and little spoon… venti can be both. he can be the big spoon or the small spoon.

that’s what’s perfect about him.

he doesn’t care.

as long as he’s cuddling you, he’s satisfied.

at first i only thought him as a small spoon because i want to give him the comfort that he deserves uNTIL I REALIZED THAT BIG SPOON VENTI IS GOOD, TOO. i mean. wouldn’t you want to be spooned by the anemo archon???

((tho… i’m in a huge big spoon venti mood rn…….. time to feed myself))

so yeah!!! it depends on the mood.

but you know. venti prefers it more when he sees you.

there’s easy access to the lips—easy access to the eyes. easy access to the face. he loves seeing you.

[micamicster]

Micaaaaaa I am in need of a good TV show. IWTV left me craving for some good writing, please help 💙 I know some of your all-time favourites are Black Sails and The Wire, I gave them a try, but I'm afraid they're a bit too bleak for me :(( Any good recs?

Bestie this is a great question and im honestly a terrible person to direct it to because the truth is I really don't watch a ton of tv! But I'm gonna do my best!

Beneath the cut find a list of shows I think are particularly well written, divided into vague and confusing categories based on how similar to iwtv they might seem?

<3 <3 <3

(Totally get Black Sails and the Wire feeling too heavy. The wire in particular is imo the single most upsetting thing thats ever been put on television so I completely get not being up for it. But if anyone else is looking for shows I think are really well written those would be good places to start! Black Sails would be my first rec for iwtv fans tbh)

Dramas with syfy/fantasy elements:

Russian Doll: for literally anyone other than you (who's already watched it!) this would be my number one rec. One of the best (and specifically best written) shows of all time, has those spec fic surrealist elements, combines comedy and drama, just love it.

Andor: I know, I was surprised too. But despite being a star wars tv show it actually has writers that do a? good? job? And Diego Luna is spectacular. (If black sails was too grim this might also feel that way given our knowledge of the main character's fate, but it might be worth checking out anyway)

I forgot what i was going to put here

Not sf:

Reservation Dogs: Taika Watiti can be hit or miss for me, but this show is the best of his particular combination of humor and pathos. Also he's just really good at writing kids? (I would be remiss if I didn't point out that he has been (rightfully!) criticized for the antiblackness of couple of minor characters who appropriate black culture pretty egregiously, iirc they don't feature after season 1? But it is a flaw to be aware of). Why didn't I put this with the sitcoms? My mind is mysterious even to me

Bad Sisters: great 1 season irish show about a group of sisters trying to murder their sister's abusive husband. Again a really strong writing combo of humor and genuine emotion!

The Get Down: still not over this cancellation it hurt me in ways I can't even begin to explain... anyway a great show about the birth of rap in 70s nyc with beautifully thought out costumes, music, writing, visual style <3

The Americans: two russian spys undercover as an american suburban couple in the 80s is actually a vehicle for a probing exploration of marriage and intimacy. Also pretty grim (the cold war. yeah.) so idk if it would be for you.

The Knick: nobody ever watches this when I rec it because it's too gorey but I don't care! I love it! Period drama about a public hospital in early 1900s new york.

Sitcoms!: (sorry I know you've watched half of these just wanted to include them in case anyone else looked at this list!)

Derry Girls: this show is just hit after hit. Best written show about teens in the world!

We Are Lady Parts: See this entire blog. Genuinely one of the best shows ever made

American Vandal: Ok technically this is more of a mockumentary than a sitcom but i wasn't sure where else to put it. Season one in particular is some of the best tv show writing I've ever watched it is perfect in every way!

MASH: 70s sitcom about a US military field hospital during the Korean War. At its best it's hysterically funny, absurdist, and bitingly furiously anti-war. (At its worst it's racist, sexist, and boring. It was the 70s) This show was a cultural phenomenon, but it has literally over 200 episodes so I would recommend just googling for a best-of list and watching a handful to see if it works for you.

Atlanta: Donald Glover's surrealist sitcom about trying to manage his cousin's rap career in Atlanta. That's such a bad explanation of what this show is about i'm sorry but I'm not sure how to do better.

Shows I've watched between 1 episode and 1 season of, thought to myself "wow! this show is amazing!" but can't in good conscience recommend because I never really watched enough of them to qualify as an expert:

The Sopranos: everyone says it's the best tv show of all time and i watched season one, said wow they're right! and still haven't managed to get back to it! The pilot itself is so fucking funny like... mobster goes to therapy for his anxiety had to have been the pitch of all time

Station eleven: LOVED the book, heard really good things about the tv show, thought the pilot was amazing, got busy and couldn't finish it.

Babylon Berlin: this has the darkly romantic, opulent qualities of iwtv so it might be for you! Unfortunately I've seen less than half of it so I can't promise it doesn't go off the rails.

Breaking Bad: people are right! it's good! It's also (at least in season one, the only season I've watched so far) like someone made a slapstick comedy about a man cooking meth. In a good way!

You might want to just watch a couple gothic romances to scratch that iwtv itch! Check out an adaptation of Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights!

WOW this is too hard. Just watch supernatural i guess

[kittydoodle]

i just wanna talk a little bit about my art journey the past few years, about my mental health related to it, and about my recently rediscovered joy in art. this doesnt have any real point, id just like to share (under the cut because its pretty long lol)

for a very long time, like several years, i was deeply unmotivated and uninspired to make any art. getting out of high school and eventually quitting my first job, i just felt really depressed, and with undiagnosed psoriatic arthritis putting me in worse and worse pain every day, i was lucky if i could even physically sit down and get a doodle out.

i also held myself to secret unsaid rules about how to create my art. no starting a piece unless i intend to finish it in the same day. no creating anything that isnt fully colored and polished. no making anything that doesnt have perfect lines or proportions im perfectly satisfied with. it stunted my self expression, it took all the joy out of making my art, and it made me upset because i believed i was somehow losing my passion for making art.

i sincerely believed i was growing out of my desire to draw, forever. i was distraught and grieving. i couldnt even draw things i was excited to, i would think to myself, "wow! id love to draw this idea!" and then id sit down and think about how id have to finish a full, perfect piece, and id immediately lose my motivation. so all id ever make were full, finished pieces every once in awhile, and i was still deeply unsatisfied with them.

however, in the past 6 months or so, a few things have come together that have really restored my excitement for creating art

first, (DISCLAIMER: this is not advice! dont follow my example!) i quit my adhd meds. yes, really. i was suddenly out of them for a couple weeks and in those couple weeks i realized i felt better than i had in years, and, ironically, it was way easier for my to do chores without it. the only thing i can really think of to explain it is that i was on a stimulant medication for a very, very long time, like most of my working memory ive been on them. i guess after so long it stopped working the way it should to due to tolerance buildup and was just bogging me down instead of stimulating me.

second, i doodle, i sketch, i make quick drawings i have no intention of finishing. i allow myself not to finish or perfect a piece. i even draw random ideas i wont do anything else with, just for fun. at the advice of a few friends, i have forcefully practiced letting myself get messy and unrefined with my art so that its less intimidating, and to my surprise it actually worked.

third, i started arthritis meds and i listen to my body way better now so i can avoid inflaming and injuring myself, which makes it a lot easier to draw without pain! i even do stretches! im still working on fully effective treatment for my pain, but im doing at least a little better

i dont really know where im going with this tbh... for anyone who has followed me for a long time, uve seen this blog get quiet with little to no art posts for months and months at a time for the past few years, so i hope u are excited to see me posting more frequently again! i missed it! i hope u enjoy me now as much as im enjoying me!

im happy to be creating again and i hope i can keep my passion going! im happier now than i have been in an extremely long time, and im excited to show everyone the things ive been creating more often

umm thats all i guess! if u read this far ummmm One Big Kissaroo From Me To You okay 🩷🩷🩷 MWAH

[gabessquishytum]

that person with the ABO true mates thing has the right idea tbh. on a similar note, imagine instead dream is the 3rd child of some important medieval noble family. he's resigned to live a life of boring diplomacy and living in his father's shadow and probably being married off for some political alliance (he is the 2nd son but he's also the 3rd child and imo death is generally a lot more well prepared for anything he might have thrown his way as the "spare" but we already knew that)

but one day dream and some of his family are in the town square, perhaps returning from a long journey. they maybe were off trying to negotiate a deal for dream's hand in marriage, but dream was so miserable about it that the talks were useless and everyones coming home upset. theres a lot of people around and its generally very busy, so it isn't very surprising that dream brushes shoulders with some stranger, but before he gets the chance to tell him off for it since he is still a bratty little prince, he gets thrown into a full blown heat. like, falls to the ground, clawing to get his clothes off because theyre too much, panting because he cant catch his breath type. (i personally am a huge sucker for bottom dream regardless of whether he doms or not, but after seeing an ask about househusband/alpha!hob i really cant get the idea of dom bottom omega dream and service top submissive alpha hob out of my head)

anyway, he gets back home just fine to wait out his heat, and as soon as he's done he's hell bent on finding whoever it was that sent him into that. night would probably want him to go find whoever it was (thinking of night in overture making a whole pocket dimension for dream and a lover), but maybe time would want to still get a political alliance out of this. he ends up doing some cinderella type thing to find hob back and he's so in love he conveniently ignores that hob is a mercenary/thief/sword for hire/bounty hunter/whatever and has probably most definitely also stolen from dreams family before. besides, who cares about a little bit of money when you can order your new alpha mate to fuck you halfway to hell and back? all im gonna say is they have NOTHING to worry about when it comes to heirs

-🖋

I see submissive alpha hob? I go feral. Literally this whole thing is GOLD.

I’m imagining after his heat, Dream uses his status (maybe with Night’s help if she’s in a good mood) to summon all the unmated alphas in town to his family’s home, and has them all walk past him while he smells every single one. Hob literally only showed up for the opportunity to steal some stuff from the place, so imagine his shock when little lordling Dream pounces on him and declares that they are true mates!! Hob obviously isn’t mad about it because Dream is the prettiest little darling he’s ever seen… he’s also an absolute terror, spends half his time snarling and the other half sulking. Hob loves it, loves him within about an hour (especially when Dream drags him off and takes his knot in a store cupboard - they’re not even married! the scandal is delicious!).

Dream is insatiable, but Hob is more than able to keep up. Hob doesn’t give a shit about manners or being respectable, and he’ll gladly join Dream in skipping out on diplomatic dinners and other dull things. The “honeymoon phase” doesn’t show any sign of stopping after a year of being mated - Dream rarely shows his face outside of their bedroom before noon, because he’s busy. It’s a good thing that Hob has access to high quality food now, because otherwise he’d be dropping a lot of weight with all the strenuous activity Dream expects from him.

Dream’s family aren’t best pleased with the match, but even they can’t stand in the way of true mates, and Dream is only the third child so it isn’t the end of the world. At least Hob keeps Dream out of trouble and full of pups.

[dangopango00]

When You’re Upset HCS

Legato x gn reader

A/N: Yes i am so upset shhhh but it gave me sm inspo ok enjoy can u tell im obsessed with him idk i think its pretty subtle.

CW: I put a lil comedic remarks bc i stopped being upset halfway through (distractions make me feel better)

(Breaking it down into three parts: Does he know [sorry it was funny], what does he do, when ur back to normal)

Does he know?

- IMMEDIATELY. I mean if its just a minor annoyance and nothing serious then it would be hard for him to catch on bc hes not very attuned to others feelings nor is he used to noticing subtle changes

- He does try his best to be attuned to ur feelings though and if ur seriously upset then hed definitely notice

- What tips him off most is ur attitude

- Whether ur an introvert extrovert ambivert whateverrrrs you always have this kind of positivity about you (which is necessary to be around him healthily)

- However, ofc, this quality is lost when ur upset

- Youre around him and or talking to him much less and keeping to yourself more even if u arent upset with him specifically which hed immediately notice (hes a little clingy when it comes to spending time with you. That shit gets serious for him 🤞🤞)

What does he do?

- I think it depends on what you do tbh Id say hes pretty reactive

- If you were to rant to him abt whatever is upsetting you (even if its him) he’d just sit and listen

- He doesnt really know what to do so the best he can do is lend an ear and will only really chime in if he thought of a solution for the issue or to apologize if u told him he did sth wrong and he has no dispute abt it

- Might add in a few “Mmm”s or “Ah”s just so u know hes listening but dont be surprised when most of the time he just sits silently and stares right at u, ofc hes listening

- If you seem to get really upset during ur rant (like panic attack or super angry) hed do something simple to make you feel better like awkwardly patting ur head/back and tell you to stop. Talking (hes doing his best ok he just means to say take a break from ur rant and calm down a bit)

- Will also get u water or generally a drink during the above situation

- If you were to hide that you’re upset and try to be normal I think it would puzzle him as to why you’re acting like this when he can clearly tell you’re upset

- He’d first observe u for a while and wonder if maybe its a small matter so/or you didn’t want to get him involved

- Even if it IS small hed still be worried during the time you’re upset so hed just do subtle things for you to make your days smoother and avoid stressing you out further like getting food for you or running errands for you (does this anytime you’re upset no matter the circumstance but it increases like 10x in this specific scenario)

- If your condition doesn’t improve or if it suddenly improves without warning he’ll do his best to convey to you that u can rant if u need to

- “What is troubling you” or “What is your problem” something short like that is the best he can do for now but you can hear how worried he is in his slightly wavering voice as his curious gaze scans over you

- If you were to just shut down; go catatonic he would be worried most in this scenario because of the stark contrast in your usual personality

- Like the last scenario, hed observe u first but hed act quicker with this

- Hed almost immediately ask whats troubling you like millions thoughts are running through his mind:

What if someone had threatened you?

What if he did something and didn’t even notice it?

What if someone was already hurting you?

What if you hate him?

What if—

- Considering you were already catatonic you likely don’t tell him what’s upset you so much which he takes as a sign to stick by your side even closer so he can observe the situation himself

- Hed sit next to you while you lie motionless, rest his hand on your head and if you aren’t opposed he’d mess with your hair and massage your scalp a bit

- If he knows you’re touch averse like him he wouldn’t even get the idea to do this and would instead just sit beside you, hoping you answer his previous question

- If you aren’t, he gets this idea BECAUSE you seem to like touch and this is what he can offer without being overwhelmed or anything (idk how to explain it but like he often thinks about how you deserve someone who can fulfill your needs and in his mind touch is one of those but its just something he cant do currently and its a bit of a sore spot)

- General

- No matter what the scenario he is asking WHO upset you; he just wants to talk to them 😊 #loveandpee

- Will alwayssss engage in acts of service hoping it makes you feel even a little better. Hes peeling the orange just gws, please.

- Spends as much time as he can by your side; hes very worried and really wants to know whats up but he doesnt want to prod so much that it makes u clam up even more

- Overthinks wnv ur upset even if outwardly he hardly says or expresses anything at all

- Acts like ur personal spokesman guard dog butler bf when ur upset even if hes none of those (will speak for you and defend you if ur upset and someones trying to pick at u)

When you’re back to normal?

- Hes so normal (lie) Hed be so happy 😭😭

- All this time hes been worried sick about why you were upset and if it was so bad that youd been upset more than a day? Whewww he was sooo worried you might never go back to how you were because what if it was something that completely changed your worldview?

- If you didnt ever go back to normal then itd be like seeing the last of a campfire burn out on a cold unforgiving night. It would be such a shame bc ur positivity has been keeping him a bit more positive and just. You get him through the day although he never really noticed it himself— that is until you were the one who was upset and pessimistic

- Hes so sweetie pie he follows u around like a lost dog; its as if hes clinging to sunshine after dealing with the harsh winds of winter. He just needs to make sure that you’re completely okay and wants to soak up some of ur usual energy for himself in the meantime

- All this is going on in his head but lol outwardly hes just smirking and being weird again (affectionate)

A/N: it was extremely hard not to name the sections

Does he know?

What the Legato Doin?

WE ARE SO BACK

whew i have an atmosphere to keep

Edit: proofread and edited 😙✌️

[vintage-bentley]

when compared to some bigger fandom id say gelphie is not a big ship and it takes a while for me to find fics i'd consider reading (bc of tags/formatting) and then when i do half the time they give elphaba (green witch from the wizard of oz) a dick and just do not tag it. im still flabbergasted it's 2024 and it's progressive to make the more masculine woman in a ship into a man/male enby

just very frustrated with the state of f/f bc non binary identity just seems like an excuse to give women penises, when i read fics for another fandom one of the women is played by an actress that uses they/them so half the fics also give her a dick. the entire plot of the show happens bc she doesnt have one have some tact😭 id complain on my own page but i dont want to be blocked by half my mutuals since they are lovely people just drank the gender kool aid

This is exactly why I don’t even venture into F/F tags. Seeing dicks being inserted into F/F ships hurts so much for so many reasons…the main ones being how personal it is to me, and how strong the pressures on lesbians from the trans community to like dick are. It’s something that already upsets me irl, and I don’t want to see it in fiction too.

And tbh I’ve gotten the same way with M/M ships. Maybe I’m just sensitive but it hurts so much just to see people straightwashing same sex ships, that I’m not interested in wading through that shit just to find one fic that respects homosexuality.

And filtering tags only goes so far, because I’ve run into fics that just has surprise het sex in the middle with no tags.

I find it’s especially prevalent with fandoms involving some sort of magic system (which is why I haven’t even given Buffy or First Kill fics a chance. I’d rather live in blissful ignorance like I wish I had with GO, than be hit with people hettifying ships that mean a lot to me). No matter the magic system, people will find a way to use it to give a female character a dick or a male character a pussy. Because straight sex is oh so important to write all the goddamn time.

I’m sorry that you have to deal with this in your fandoms 💜 it’s so painfully lonely to be surrounded by genderists who don’t give half a shit about homosexuality and homophobia, and care much more about their magic gender feels and their love for hettery. And even though it’s just online fandom stuff that really shouldn’t matter…it’s sad to know that these are real people running around in the world who think it’s perfectly okay to write heterosexual sex and call it “gay”.

[oh-cramity-its-amity]

Oh shit there’s a new one okay. I thought the most recent was liek a week ago. Imma watch that rq

Okay I watched it I’m going feral I’m just gonna yell my opinions in yr inbox rq don’t mind me

Did they actually kill all of the fucking council memebers. They wouldn’t right. There’s no way <in denial. But no literally I will sob if they’re all dead. It looks like Mel is dead from mommy abassarda (🤤) seeking revenge and stuff. Would they kill golden boy and viktor tho? Unlikely. I’m also assuming Caitlyn’s mom is dead for that trauma

“you finally got the name right” I’m going to vomit

I know this is not an original opinion at all but I really hate the outfit 😭. Why does she look like that. What happened to my vi with her good outfits. Maybe it’s supposed to be symbolic that it doesn’t fit her but like

Istg if jinx dies I’m cutting off every riot persons heads

I’m a little mad they’re cutting it off at 2 seasons but it makes sense ig :/ I’m just like my lesbians. Why

YES! omg. i absolutely dont mind at all 😭. i was losing my mind!!! literally just WHAT.

i dont know if they did or not to be honest?? i remember seeing people discuss about them killing the members, and they debated about them killing champions. i dont think jayce is dead?? hes a champion. and if arcane is canon to LoL lore then like he wouldnt be?? not too sure about everyone else but i dont think the champions are dead or will die. cassandra however- i think fandom kinda considered her dead for a good majority of time. i dont know league lore so dont take me seriously 😭. BUT- i dont believe jayce is dead. idfk if viktor is, mel potentially. hmm... IM SURE like someone survived... they wouldnt do that to caitlyn... come on... kill her mom and then her childhood friend...? thats... ykw kinda on brand for the emotional turmoil.. BUT COME ON.

again- dont think they killed any champions but everyone else... yeah... probably rip. :(.

wondering how this is going to affect caitlyn tbh too. how is she going to handle herself. is vi going to comfort her?? uh... WILL WE FINALLY FUCKING GET A KISS?? istg anyway.

I KNOW!! oh mannnnn NO THATS NOT THE WORST PART

the "my sister is gone" had me like wanting to literally go insane because OUCH!!! someone please save vi from this turmoil 😭. shes gonna be put through it and IM not ready.

the red jacket was HER :(. i think its kinda a metaphor too like u mentioned about her not belonging on the team and feeling uncomfortable but then again the LoL players *were* clowning on the discourse of people being upset over vi being a cop. I DO LIKE THE GOGGLES THO. those r sick. but the outfit? girl what did they do to my favorite lesbian. who is she.

dont think jinx is gonna die thoughhhhh.... i mean... why would she... die... they wouldnt... right? ...right??

..right???????

please i just NEED them all to be okay i cant do this!!! /lh but also /srs. i do need them to be okay. IK I SIGNED UP FOR THIS BUT OW.

honestly im a little shocked about it being just 2 seasons too but i think its good just because of how long it took between 1-2. i have maaaad respect for the people working on it. swear as long as we get a physical release of the season season too ill be down. first we had news about s1 getting a physical TO A FUCKING TRAILER... we are eating SO good this week.

short and sweet though. tbh im sure theyll be able to tell what they need to cause 45 min per an ep. doesn't seem that surprising. but still 2 seasons is crazy. AS LONG AS THERES NO CLIFFHANGERS ILL BE FINE.

i justttt need caitvi in s2. i need them to kiss. i am not asking for a lot. need them to kiss and for literally jinx, and several people to NOT die.

anyway whoops. thanks for sending me your thoughts aaaaa

[crvstybowlofcereal]

this is a really specific vent(?) post. im processing things by putting them in words. its not serious, feel free to ignore me lol

i just want to say that a couple years ago when i was in the beginning stages of researching autism (and would soon realize i am most likely autistic) i was in a relationship. and communication in a relationship is So Very important to me. I would constantly ask how he was (obviously it was more specific to whatever situation was going on) and he would always say he was fine. If I had even the Slightest hint that he wasn't actually Fine (like 19 times out of 20) i would continue asking if he was sure and if he wanted to talk, and he continued to say he was fine. half the time i assumed he meant it and i read the situation wrong, the other half of the time i assumed he didn't want to talk about it.

he ended up breaking up with me because i

"didn't pick up on some things"

"what kind of things?" i asked

"idk, just, things."

and he had been talking to my friend (U) about our relationship, and telling her that i wasn't picking up on things. she got mad at me and we had a "fight" for a short time, she thought i was being a bad partner, and her sister (M) (who is toxic and possessive) felt like i wasn't spending enough time with her, so she complained about it to their mom, who got mad at U for it for some reason? so U also brought all that up, telling me M felt left out. (i wasn't leaving M out of anything, i was sitting with my partner at lunch half of the time, she was welcome to join, but didnt, looking back i think M has RSD and maybe i should have been more direct when moving to a new location to explicitly invite her) (U was also not in school at the time due to covid, so its not like i was spending more time with her over M, which is something M would get so upset about if she perceived it to be that way [she was incredibly possessive of me as a friend and the extent of it made me feel like an object tbh])

U never brought up the issues my partner talked about, because that's how we are, we don't make it known someone was venting to us, to respect their privacy, but it fueled her emotions during our "argument" so i really only heard her being mad at me for not including M, (which i later learned is because M's emotions were made to be her problem when they shouldn't have, this has been a running problem so it wasnt that surprising to learn) so i started spending more time with M, but it was school, and i had work, so schedules only allowed so much time, and any time I was with M (lunch and one class) was when i was also with my partner, but i had other classes with him so i assumed it was fine, but he started drifting away (also around a time i attempted to communicate something important about our relationship, which ended up making him uncomfortable, but he didn't say anything about it until we had a conversation after breaking up)

i was stuck in a place where i felt like no one around me communicated how they felt and still expected me to understand them and do what they wanted me to do

U and i recently reflected on this and realized my ex was a shitty communicator (he and his next partner also broke up because he didn't say how he felt and expected them [also most likely autistic] to... just kinda know ig?) and that she should have gotten my side of the story (she had no idea i was frequently checking on him and trying to get him to talk to me)

and that she wasnt actually upset at me about M, she was upset that people were making it her problem, and she was especially upset during this reflection to learn that M was not being left out at all, she was just doing That Thing again where she wanted me to be Her friend and Only Her friend.

U AND I ARE NOT MAD AT EACH OTHER FOR ANY OF THIS, I WAS NEVER MAD AT U AND U WAS ONLY MAD ABOUT HER PERCEPTION OF THE SITUATION, AND ONLY FOR A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME, EVERYTHING IS FINE

so basically i went like a year and a half thinking that people were rightfully mad at me and i was too self absorbed to pay attention to other peoples' emotions and i started learning how to read people again (clearly my body language research from middle school wasn't cutting it anymore) only for me to realize i just need people to be a little more direct that allistic people typically are, and those specific people were just being dogshit at communicating, (even for allistic people, relative to my needs)

anyways highschool post-covid was Really Fucking Weird and socially stressful for me

TL;DR reflecting on my communication needs not only not being met, but being far undershot for even a "normal" persons needs and how i was convinced I was the problem because of circumstances

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Alrighty I finished watching the 2012 Jesus Christ Superstar, the one that people on tumblr like to gif the most

Thats not meant to be an insult btw, honestly this might be my favorite version Ive seen so far overall

I initially had pretty mixed feelings about the actors they got for Jesus and Judas, like, they werent bad but I felt like Judas especially wasnt putting enough emotion into it and their delivery was kinda off at times but then we got the last supper scene and I thought they were great from that point on. Judas was good, I didnt like him as much as 73!Judas but honestly after watching the 2000s movie Im just glad he was portayed in a sympathetic way at the very least. I actually really liked Jesus in this one too, which is pretty surprising because Ive found him pretty unlikable in the previous versions and also Ive been translating the german versions of these songs which made me realize that a lot of that unlikability is kinda baked into the script as well. Usually I tend to dislike Jesus for about half the show until it gets to that bit after the last supper where everyones sleeping and hes looking around like "wont anyone be with me now 🥺" and Im like, aw thats just a sad little man, a lost littol guy, I cant dislike him when hes like that

I really liked the way they modernized this story here, it felt a lot less anachronistic and like there was a more cohesive vision behind it. While I usually like anachronistic settings and think itd be especially fitting for JCS, I felt like the execution was kinda lacking in the previous version and Im glad the 2012 version basically just went full Modern AU with it

Pretty much everything else I have to say applies to either the costuming or specifoc songs/scenes so in the interest of having a better structure than I had in my previous review-post-things I think Im just gonna talk about costuming and then each song in chronological order. Also I will be comparing this version both the 73 and the 2000s movie because thats how I do things babeyyyy whyd you think my review of the 2000s movie was so much longer and more articulated its because I do better when Im comparing two things

Costuming

Right off the bat, I dont think this technically has anything to do with the costuming, this would probably fall under casting actually, but Im so glad Jesus was brunette in this because him being blonde in the previous two versions was weirdly upsetting to me. Like, obviously he usually gets whitewashed in popular media and thats gross and almost definitely inaccurate but because it happens so frequently and has been happening for such a long time I barely even register it beyond maybe going "hm. thats wrong" at the very start whenever they show Jesus as the whitest guy on earth in anything, but I usually see him portrayed as brunette at the very least so seeing him get portrayed as blonde on top of the whitewashing was just too much man. Also he looks like Lin Manuel Miranda but Im like 90% sure thats not him

I like that they modernized Jesus' clothes for this as well because in the 2000s movie he wore a white tanktop and like, jeans probably in the very first scene but in every other scene hes wearing these long flowing white robes, so I like that they put him in a normal white shirt (and black jeans) even though it doesnt really have that same vibe of divine purity if its not a long flowing robe or a dress. Like, he literally just looks like the most normal guy ever wearing that and I really like that tbh

He also wore a brown scarf a few times and I kinda wish it was red instead because I did some research and found out that hes pretty heavily associated with that color. I mean, I also found out that a whole bunch of figures in the bible are associated with red, like if someone tried to quiz you on this you could probably get 50% of the answer if you just said red everytime, but still.

Speaking of red, I think I said at some point that Judas not wearing red irked me, and it still does just to be clear, but Ive thought about it a little and I actually quite appreciate the thought that went into the color coding here, for lack of a better term.

Like, instead of red being Judas' and Marys color like in the previous films (i dont actually remember what color Mary wore in the 70s movie but im going with it anyway) its essentially the color that the antagonists or people who are in some way against Jesus but who werent really directly involved in his death. Herod is probably the most obvious example, hes completely decked out in red but Simon is also wearing it and hes characterized as someone coopting this message of Love and Acceptance and whatnot in order to spread hate, Im pretty sure Peter also wears it and he ends up denying Jesus.

And then sortof complementary to that we have black as the color of people who were more directly involved in Jesus' death, like Caiaphas and his guys, Pilates and of course Judas. The crowd that gathers and calls for Jesus' crucifixion at the end is also wearing black so could see them partaking in his death as well

And then we obviously have white for Jesus and Mary as basically his closest follower who seems to understand him the most and also probably embodies his message of acceptance the best. Judas also has a white scarf to still tie him to him visually even though he does end up betraying him which I find neat

The fact that he didnt get to wear white for the last song again is crime honestly, cmon man do it for the visual cohesion if nothing else. They threw in a few singers who were also wearing black so Judas wouldnt be the only guy in black surrounded by a bunch of angels in white but ehhhhh, it only kinda works imo. I mean atleast its not as messy and thematically confusing as whatever they tried to do at the end of the 2000s version but still, just let my guy wear white

Also, before I move on I wanted to compliment the sets, or stage, since it was mostly just a pretty empty stage with few props and just a really big screen. I think they utilized the screen really well, just consistently having that illusion of The Media there really helped modernize this musical. I also liked the portayal of Jesus n gangs hideout as this little encampment and the implication that they had the last supper in basically their home. Idk what its like in the bible but from both of the other versions i watched I got the impression that they had the last supper somewhere else and while that didnt bother me at all, i think theres something nice about it being more mundane

Thats pretty much it I think, now its Song Time babey

Overture(/Prologue?)

I paused within like the first 40 seconds and wrote a post because they just immediately hit you with fictional news reports about protests and police brutality and then they just keep going for like 3 minutes and Im just sitting there, mouth agape because its like. first of all, these made-up news reports were so similar to ones that Ive seen throughout the summer of 2020 when the George Floyd and related protests were happening that I had to do a double take and make sure that yes, this is from 2012 and literally nothing has changed. Alternatively, they were actively trying to portray an unrealistically horrifically tyrannical government police state only for the creators visions of a horrible dystopia coming true only 8 years after. I dont know which one is more upsetting and Id rather not think about it too much and find out

Second of all, Andrew Lloyd Webbers musicals tend to be pretty safe, like theyre known to be more spectacle and melodrama than substance, atleast the ones that Im familiar with and while I certainly wouldnt call this musical subtle or even particularly profound, I really wasnt expecting something this politically charged within the first minute. And just to be clear, Im not saying that JCS is bad because its not that subtle or profound, I really love this musical and think its really good it just isnt those qualities and thats fine

Heaven on Their Minds

I dont have a lot to say here, Judas is pretty weak. His voice lacks emotion and because of that it feels more like a pop-cover than a musical theater song and I wasnt a fan. His actual singing voice is good and he definitely gets better as the musical goes on but this was quite disappointing after that overture

Also, the camera was obviously focusing more on Judas at this point but Im pretty sure I saw Jesus and Simon having some kind of argument while his followers are all surrounding him and Judas is singing, I thought that was a neat detail

What's the Buzz/Strange Thing, Mystifying

Im gonna be real with you, saying those two songs are part of the same one doesnt seem right to me but thats what Genius and youtube do and I dont think I really have too much to say about Whats the Buzz on its own so yeah

Honestly, I feel like Whats the Buzz is just gonna make Jesus seem kinda weird and unlikable regardless of who plays him, the good thing about this version is hes not musically moaning and going "ohhhhhhhh~ Mary thats so nice~~" like he is in the german 70s version which i forced myself to listen to approximately 600 times

I have the same criticism of Judas as I did in the previous song, not enough emotion. Jesus isnt great here either, I feel like neither version after the 73 one really managed to capture his anger at his followers the same way, the delivery has been weaker and not as impactful and snappy in the 2000s and 2012 versions.

And I just wanted to say again that I like the setup of their hideout being a bunch of these little tents, I think its really fitting

Everything's Alright

Jesus and Judas are still not giving me enough and its just gonna be like this until the last supper I guess

I really like Mary's voice, theres something soft and kinda vulnerable about it and its nice to listen to

This Jesus Must Die

Musically this is probably my favorite song because of course it is, its the villain song

I like that in this production Caiaphas seemed to really struggle to reach that low tone lol. Like, he sounded great but his face looked like he was struggling, thats about as well as I can describe it. I also liked Annas, he seemed so smug and obnoxious and I liked his leitmotiv-melody-thingy that he would sing its very catchy

I really appreciated that white-grayish lighting, it reminded me of like sterile office building lighting and contrasts nicely with the more yellowish-golden lighting they had for Hosanna. They didnt do anything as crazy or evocative as the 2000s film but Im also not sure how feasible doing something like that on a live stage would be so whatever, I still enjoyed it and thought it looked really good

Hosanna

This might be my favorite song in terms of how they adapted it for this modern AU-thing. I love that Jesus seems a lot more involved in this which makes sense since its been reframed as a protest whereas Im pretty sure it was originally something closer to a parade or something similar. I like that hes singing along to the "Hosanna, heysanna" parts, I dont think he did that in the other versions and it makes him seem less detached and above-it-all which definetly makes him a lot more sympathetic in my eyes

I absolutely adore the way Jesus' verse is framed with him like, looking into a camera with his followers huddled around him idk I think its nice. Speaking of framing and stuff, I havent mentioned the camera work at all yet and its really good for the most part, I do have some complaints but they dont apply to this song so I shant mention them right now

Really the only negative thing I have to say is that usually when the crowd sings "Hey JC, JC, wont you die for me" they cut to Jesus horrified/weirded out reaction and I think its a real highlight but I dont think they directed him to make any kind of facial expression at that part or maybe the actor forgot, so that was a little disappointing ngl. Speaking of that verse, I have Genius open rn so I know which order the songs are in and apparently that verse/line wasnt originally in the song??? Bro thats such a good and simple line how did you not come up with that right away. I mean, better late than never but still

Simon Zelotes/Poor Jerusalem

Again, I dont really think these two songs make that much sense as a package deal but who am I to disagree with genius dot com

I really enjoy the contrast between the two songs and I think they did a great job highlighting it even further via the lighting, with the stage being bathed in this red light during Simon Zelotes and the lights changing to deep blue for Poor Jerusalem. The staging and choregraphy were also great, I like that Jesus is mostly down at the front of the stage during Simon Zelotes with his followers being sort of scattered behind him as they were doing this high energy group dance number while hes up at the back of the stage during Poor Jerusalem with his followers almost huddled together in front of him, it highlights that emotional dissonance between Jesus and his followers really well

I actually liked Jesus performance too, I think the actor did a good job conveying his discomfort and at this point I felt like he was a lot better at projecting quiet vulnerability than loud anger or anguish at this point

Pilate's Dream

I dont really have anything to say here, the song isnt great but its short so its like, fine whatever.

The main thing I have to say here is that I did not Get Pilate at all the past two times I watched this but at the end of this song he puts on a powdered wig and I went "ohhhhhhh hes like a judge" and that made me finally kinda understand what his deal is somehow. Idk man Im a little stupid sometimes

The Temple

I think the first half of this song is fine, but I definitely prefer both of the other versions. I feel like having the people at the temple crowd around a camera as theyre singing about all the sinful shit theyre offering just makes for more effective framing and does a better job at putting you in Jesus' shoes and making you feel uncomfortable

Im not a fan of those weird moving neon shapes they show on the screen during this bit. At the very start of this scene they have this colorful neon text saying stuff like SEX and NUDES and honestly, I think they shouldve had that for the entire song. Like, I get why they might not want to have a whole scene with the word SEX flashing in the background in bold neon letters but it wouldve fit more and been less weird than abstract moving lines. I also dont think they shouldve had any of the 'sinners' wear white just to make Jesus stand out a bit more, but thats a nitpick.

I absolutely ADORE the second half with the beggars though. I mentioned before that I have this fascination with portrayals non-consentual non-sexual touch and this scene, in all three versions Ive watched, really manages to tap into that in a way thats pretty personal and hard to describe. This scene in this version is probably my favorite but Im not sure I can properly describe why. It just feels so intense, the way everyones grabbing onto him and practically lifting him off the ground like some uncomfortable perversion of crowd surfing, I love that

I also like the detail at the start of the song where Judas picks a fight with the bodyguard guy while Jesus goes inside

Everything's Alright (Reprise)/I Don't Know How To Love Him

These two songs arent actually lumped together like some of the other ones, but i have nothing to say about the reprise on its own and its really short so

I really like I Don't Know How To Love Him because its the song that made me realize that Jesus being the son of god is actually pretty ambiguous in this musical which makes this story way better and more interesting imo. Like, I rewatched Jenny Nicholsons video on easter plays after watching the 70s movie and i realized that the focus on Jesus as the literal son of god and his resurrection actually takes away a lot of the impact this story could have as yknow, a story, when its being told by people who are actually christian. And Im not religious myself but I get why that is, for a christian audience the resurrection is the most important part because its essentially proof of Jesus being the son of god rather than 'just' a prophet and/or important spiritual leader, which is kind of the basis of the entire religion. I also feel like theres a tendency in media made by christians about Jesus (or Jesus-stand ins) to avoid portraying any flaws in its main character because thats your god, and you wouldnt wanna portray that guy in a bad light and while I understand that too, it makes for a far less interesting story for non-christian audiences

I dont really know where I was going with this ngl, in conclusion; the reason I enjoyed this play about Jesus Christ so much is probably that it wasnt made by christians

Also Im going back to this after being done writing the post, I dont like that they made Mary ungoth herself on stage like cmon man, let my gal be goth. The only good thing about that was that Mary has muscles and I liked looking at them now that the jacket wasnt in the way

Damned for All Time/Blood Money

Finally a package deal song that actually works as one

Im gonna honest, while I think this song is good I dont really. understand it? Even after watching three versions of this musical and looking at some of the genius annotations. I understand that Judas is feeling guilty about the betrayal and trying to justify himself (although thats only after reading the annotations lol I feel like the lyrics are really weird and contradictory ngl), I dont really get why hes betraying him? Like yeah, he doesnt like what Jesus is doing now and is afraid that he's putting himself and other jewish people in danger but on an emotional level I dont really get why he thought betraying him would be the best course of action. Maybe because he came to realize that he cant get Jesus off the path hes on but idk, that wouldve been nice to actually see that onstage

But enough about that, lets move on to the things I really liked. For example they added this small bit where Judas is walking over to Caiaphas and his guys and you can see him walk into their office building or whatever through the security cameras, I thought that was a really neat detail.

I also like the way Judas sings the very last line about the gardens of Gethsemane, his delivery was really good

The Last Supper

I already mentioned this a few times earlier but I thought Jesus' and Judas' performances were fine for the most part, they just lacked emotion and felt more like flat radio covers because of it, but this is the song where they get really good and even stay really good. Thats not. great. But you know what they say, better late than never

I also liked Judas like, poking Jesus basically when hes yelling at him and I liked Jesus shoving him. Maybe its just me but I feel like the physical contact is way more intense in this version, for lack of a better term, and Im a big fan of that I think that rules, I love watching guys touch each other

I also mentioned earlier that I like how the last supper is just happening at their camp because it makes it feel more mundane and the other non-apostle ensamble members still being there in the background really adds to that vibe as well. I also feel like it made everyone going to sleep after the supper make more sense. Like, in the previous two versions I thought it was kinda weird that they all just fell asleep at the table after that big dramatic shouting match and Jesus predictions but in this one it reads more like the apostles are all going "okay. i think i need to leave." and just crawling into their tents bc what else are they supposed to do

Another thing I liked was that Jesus was like, kinda freaking out and lashing out in this scene. Idk the way Ive been taught about these events made it seem like Jesus just calmly explained this shit to his guys at dinner because he knew gods plan or whatever, so I appreciated this more dramatic and more human version

Gethsemane

oughhhhhhh this song is really good but I dont have a lot to say about it because its mainly an emotional ballad where Jesus is just kinda standing there singing while engulfed in blue light and I already talked about how I like that the existence of god is never confirmed in this musical and why i think that makes the story way stronger

I did want to mention this lyric-change I noticed and didnt like. So originally there was this line towards the end of the song that was like "God thy will is hard/Something something card probably" idk the only reason I remembered that line is because when I heard it in the 73 version I immediately went on tumblr to make an untagged 1 note flop of a post that went like this: "Call my penis thy will the way its hard". But in this version the line is "God thy will is done/Take your only son" and I just dont like that

The Arrest

It took me watching this musical thrice to realize that the music for this song is literally just the music for the beggar part of The Temple, eventhough there were some very obvious visual parallels in the 2000s movie on top of the music being the same but hey, Im a little stupid sometimes and also better late than never

Similarly to the temple scene I just dont think its as effective when you dont have the camera surrounded by these people to both put you in Jesus' shoes and to evoke claustrophobia. The reframing of these guys being like news reporters rather than ? disillusioned followers? jewish people who dont agree with him? I think? is really good and makes a lot of sense. I just didnt like that they had those guards holding them all back I think they shouldve gone all out and just fucking grabbed him

Peter's Denial

This is a pretty short qnd unremarkable song and I dont have much to say, I liked both Peter and Mary (Mary has been consistantly really good throughout the entire musical I think i forgot to mention thst until now) and I weirdly enjoyed Peter being so unecessarily hostile towards that old lady

Pilate and Christ

This is the song I keep forgetting about even though its actually really good lmao

I am just baffled by the decision to have Pilate working out in this scene. Thats kind of it honestly, like whyd they do that. whyd they do that huh. Literally the only reason I can think of is like, they wanted to show off how dismissive he is of Jesus but. there are other ways

Anyway I really liked Pilates vocal performance though and I like this actor, he has a very legal-professional kinda face and tone of voice which makes sense if we're interpreting him as some kindof judge guy, great casting

King Herod's Song

I really love this song, its so catchy and fun and ended up liking the talk show setup for this scene more than I anticipated. I think the reason I was kinda wary of how they would approach this scene was because King Herod is 10000% gonna be the guy who gets played by James Corden when they inevitably decide to turn this into a proper movie (again) but since this is 2012 and also a stage production, James Corden is nowhere to be found and this song is still really enjoyable. Theres really nothing to dislike here, I liked the guy who played Herod, I liked the backup dancer women (although I will say that I prefer their outfits from the 2000s), I liked the way they used the screen to further this whole talkshow thing, I liked Jesus being spun around in that chair, its great

My one small complaint is that during that line where hes like "Cmon man, turn my water into wine" hes given this water bottle and then the water turns red and even with the camera focusing on the effect it just kinda looks pathetic, maybe they couldve done something with the screen instead like they did for the "walk across my swimming pool" line but idk

Judas' Death

Man I cant even properly describe how much I love both the song and execution of it, its so wonderfully visceral and tragic and oughhhhhhh

First of all, I adore Judas' performance hes so good here and he does a great job at letting the emotion bleed into his voice and make it sound like hes sobbing without his singing suffering from it like in the 2000s movie. Do I prefer the performance here over the 73 version? Ehhhhh I think Id need to directly compare the scenes before I feel comfortable making a statement about that and I dont feel like doing that right now.

The lighting is pretty simple here, its pretty much just red, but its really atmospheric and helps underscore Judas' anguish and you know me babey, I love watching this guy suffer

I was gonna write something about the suicide being done well before ending this section here but I just remembered something and immediately forgot what I was going to write, so heres the thing I remembered:

When I was watching the 73 movie and Judas committed suicide, I was like mouth-agape shocked, not because it happened suddenly or because it was edited in a particular way but because I didnt know he was going to kill himself. Ive had religious education as a class for the entirety of my school career, the only time we ever actually talked about the easter story in any kind of detail was when I was like 6 years old in the first grade. The teacher told us about all the most basic beats, Jesus had a bunch of buddys he took out to dinner one night, he tells them about how one of them will betray him, Judas betrays him for money, Jesus gets crucified and then Judas lives in disgrace and shame until the end of his days. What she didnt tell us is how those days end and like. I mean i guess she didnt lie did she

And after that the topic of The Easter Story never really came up and also I thought religious education was the most boring and pointless shit on earth so I never bothered looking into any of it at any other point in my life and thats how I managed to avoid spoilers for this 2000 year old story

I was gonna end the section here but I just remembered something else that I wanted to share, I promise this is thematically relevant

A few days after I watched the 2000s film I thought to myself "hey, this is a popular musical that was originally english but since its been around for like 50 years I wonder if theyve since made a german version" so I looked it up, found the german wikipedia page and yes, theres a german version that came out on vinyl in the 70s but its unfortunately missing a song (two if we're counting Then We Are Decided as well but that one was added for the movie and not originally in the musical). Since Im already on wikipedia I decide to just read the entire article and I find out that orthodox christians didnt like the musical because it paints Judas The Traitor in a sympathetic light and I do a bit of a double take because Im like. I thought Judas was generally seen as sympathetic??? Because again, the only time i was ever taught about this story in any detail was when I was 6 in first grade religious education class and I havent really thought about it since. I only vaguely remember that class but Im pretty sure the way my teacher explained the apostles was that they were like Jesus' closest buddies and when I heard that Judas ended up betraying his good friend Jesus I was really sad and felt really sorry for him ? I dont remember my exact emotions or thoughts but it was either "I really love my friends and one of them died I'd be so upset even if it was my fault they died" or "I would never rat my friends out and cause them to be killed for no reason so he mustve had a really good reason we're just not being told about" or a combination of those and then I never paid attention to christianity ever again so I just never changed my thinking

So yeah, youre looking at a lifelong Judas Iscariot apologist Im so glad to finally be reunited with my fellow men in my natural habitat which is the Jesus Christ Superstar Fandom

Trial Before Pilate

Funfact, someone on youtube uploaded the entire JCS german soundtrack and there they called it "Pilate's Interrogation (39 lashes included)" and idk I think thats mildly amusing

I gotta say this is definitely a little bit disappointing after the 2000s version which had that absolutely mental illness inducing (affectionate) part where every time hes meant to get whipped one of the people in the crowd runs up to him and strikes him and leaves a bunch of blood on his body until hes all wet n grimy from it. Its alright but idk it feels a bit less intense physically and Im not just talking about the lashings, Im also talking about Pilates coming down to Jesus at the very end and being like "Im holding your life in my hands". I dont remember what the 2000s movie did here but I know in the 70s movie hes actually cradling him in his arms and it makes this bit hit way harder, but in this version hes just kinda kneeling next to him like hes the gym teacher and Jesus is the unathletic kid who just somehow sprinted like 50 meters in order to not come in last for the race around the local playground theyre doing for PE and embarass himself in front of the class and is laying on the ground panting afterwars and feels like hes going to die.

While I dont think its as effective as it could be, those faceless silhoutte people standing outside that fence arguing with Pilate are decently menacing and Ive already talked about black as the color of the people involved in Jesus death and how you could see this as The Masses or The Public or whatever also being complicit in his death in some way. Also I think I remember seeing some red garments in that crowd as well which I also appreciate

Also, the makeup for his bloody back was really good

Superstar

Ive said it before I'll say it again, why wont they let my guy wear white for this part? Was that the tradeoff for having him look all cool as he descends down with the stagelights? Is this their attempt to placate those christians who disliked Judas being sympathetic so much they banned the musical in Belarus?

Anyway, I enjoyed it well enough despite that and I think it executed the concept of Jesus carrying his cross being filmed and broadcasted a lot better than the 2000s movie, simply by not having the guys doing the filming be Judas' guys and having them as well as the angels. That being said, the way this was filmed or the way this was cut together or maybe it was a combination of both, just made this really confusing and disorienting to watch. The camerawork is really good for most of this production so I have absolutely no idea whats going on here but its kinda bad ngl. And whenever there was a wideshot you could see that Judas and the angels were dancing and taking up most of the stage and then on the left corner there was Jesus and the people filming him all huddled together and I honestly cant imagine it looking that great on stage either but I guess I wasnt there so I may never know for sure

The Crucifixion

I cant adequately describe what I felt when I realized they were going to crucify him on the lighting fixture so I'll just say I think its sick as hell and move on

This is less of a song and more of a short monologue but I still felt like I had to talk about it because the actor who plays Jesus is absolutely amazing, I was a bit worried if he could pull this off at the start because he was kinda weak there, but he crushed it. I was also a bit worried that he wouldnt be all wet with blood since he already got lashed and was pretty dry at that point but then he bleed a bunch from his head wounds from the crown of thorns and I was satisfied. And the modern crown of thorns was a crown of barbed wire I love that

Thats it I think its about to be midnight and I spent like 2 days writing this and my head is just mush. Sorry if the last few segments seemed a bit disorganized, my head is just mush. I actually had a few more thoughts I was gonna put in this conclusion-thingy but my head is just mush so I'll just say this gets an 8/10 from me. I gave both of the previous versions a solid 7/10 because while I still thoroughly enjoyed them in their weird quirks and think theyre kind of charming in their occasional bouts of kinda bizarre shit on top of being good, this one felt more competent and like it had a stronger vision behind it. Thats it, thank you for reading my very long post

[sanchoyo]

arc v 51-65 thoughts! JACK IS HERE FINALLY!!!! also crow. also, prison arc. they sent 14 year olds to actual adult prison! the gang learned about classism, corruption in the system and that you cant Beat Cops with Smiles, but with your Fists :)

-ok. in the back end of the reiji v yuya duel yuya seems surprised to hear yuzu is okay, just taken. and im like. OH IS THAT WHY HES SO UPSET?? HE THOUGHT SHE WAS /DEAD/??? I mean. you know what thats fair. being turned into a piece of paper/cardboard(?) cards. would usually mean death I guess and he did think thats what happened to her. I still think its silly for him to be so pissed at reiji who by all accounts is the nicest ygo rich guy in the entire serieses history imo. but reiji did withhold some info to test yuya a lil bit. but yknow. still.

-…reiji's mom…TOLD the WORLD about the war/invaders AND THEY CANCELED. THE. TOURNAMENT. THEY CANCELED IT AND PRIORITIZED THE WORLDS SAFETY. we ARENT getting a FULL TOURNAMENT ARC??? IN YUGIOH??? i am shocked. no way… (I know I said itd be really funny if a protag didnt win the tournament, but they CANCELED IT which is somehow even funnier to me) I cannot say I expected this at all but im not MAD abt it

-see the next ep when yuya v his mom we learn his mom was a former GIRL GANG BOSS??? WHERE HAS /THAT/ ENERGY BEEN THIS WHOLE SERIES??? instead of being a creep towards kids she couldve been characterized like this! the story abt her and yuyas dad is pretty cute but if /i/ i had a hot mob boss wife i wouldnt be telling her to solve everything with smiles not violence :) i would pick up a fucking bat with her. whatever its FINE

-god the lil montage of yuzu's dad dueling with her in a lil baby pouch on his back and pausing a duel to change her diaper was SO CUTE. TF BEST YGO DAD FOR REAL GOD. hes a duel school teacher!!! why!! cant he come to help!!!! why are they just letting an 18-19 yr old lead the lancers into anOTHER DIMENSION. i dont CARE that hes thee most responsible smartest guy ever or whatever. my god

-shun and serena are remarkably chill abt all of this, hope we see more of them talking and hanging out and stuff. like serena looks just like his sister and yuya looks like his bestie and u KNOW thats SO weird to him?? but also they were on oppisite sides of the war! i want! more interactions! (very funny theyre both kinda trailing reiji. tbh if /i/ was stranded in another dimension he would be the person id be latching onto out of this cast, too. very nice and level headed guy)

-MY GOD. yugo is SO sweet, his calm explanation to yuzu and them just sittin and talking was great. (his reaction to yuzu implying he loves rin was also very very cute. and rins design AUGH I love it SO much. yuzu is still best arc v girl for me but rins design is my fav. GREEN.) JACK!!! MENTIONED!!!

-while they were talking it sorta explained yugo v yuto was a huge misunderstanding bc yuto thought yugo was the Fusion Enemy and yugo thought yuto was yuri. very very understandable and funny. and also im starting to think everyone in this series is colorblind bc they cant tell any of the yuzu/yuya counterparts apart by hair… (also, speaking of yuri, where did he GO. whts HE up to. weve barely gotten any of him and id like More Please)

-it's…been a minute since I watched 5ds. years. and I only watched it once, so I know im probably going to get details wrong, but aside from jack and crow, all other charas so far are arc v originals? like melissa and Guy that Looks Like This :>/ arent in 5ds right… the city kinda looks different to me, but maybe its just the animation looks newer… are we going to get an explanation to where yusei is? bc if jack and crow are in this…like, none of the protags are in arc v. are they busy. is this a universe without them.

-I forgot how dystopian 5ds was! stupid rich ppl calling the cops on yugo and yuzu for LOITERING and acting like the lower class is a Threat is a lil too real…damn. yugo is so nice immediately just pulling her along to help while shes with him ;_; personality wise hes my fav of the yu boys so far… (I feel like such a traitor for this. sorry to yuto bc zexal is my fav series. but we barely got to see him. whenever he comes back im sure we'll get..more... and sorry to yuya bc I Love Clowns….but I love silly lil bikenana boy…willing to bet when we get more yuri he might fight for that spot bc i LOVE a good villain too…we'll see…)

-YUZU'S REACTION TO YUGO DWHEEL DUEL IS SO FUNNY SHES LIKE. SO RATIONAL THO. my GOD she kept saying he should stop to duel on foot and yeah. playing yugioh (or, any card game) on a bike would be insanely hard. like you have to basically have your cards ALL memorized bc you gotta keep ur eyes ahead to drive, right, so ud only be able to glance? everyone in synchro world has insane memorizing skills. (I know to a degree you'd be able to make the d-wheels have a sort of autopilot, but no, we see them steering themselves and accelerating themselves…)

-the animation kept cutting to 3d models while they were dueling on their bikes and it did Not Look Very Good. it was still very fun.

-yuzu Learns About Corrupt Police and Society Today! She once again is the Real Protag to Me. reporter cowgirl ladys design is cute!

-what was the point of the duel if the cops were gonna just set up a blockade anyway tf. the entertainment aspect is SO fucked lmao bored rich ppl. too real. yugo u dont need to rise in society u gotta burn it all down its all fucked. -_-

-YUZU HAS BEEN IN SYNCHRO WORLD FOR (1) DAY AND IS NOW A WANTED CRIMINAL!!! HOT GIRL SUMMERRRRR. (and by proximity, yuya and serena lol)

-LAYRA SAW COPS AND FLIPPED OUT. understandable but also WHO HURT U. SHINGO IMMEDIATELY NOT GIVING A FUCK AND IS READY TO DUEL THE COPS. SERENA TOO. honestly very iconic of everybody great job. except yuya who is just baffled and not 100% ready to throw down. Get with the PROGRAM yuya u cant fight cops with smiles.

-you know I understanding theyre tryin to duel their way out of it but letting ppl from synchro see: fusion, action cards, and pendulum in ONE GO seems DANGEROUS.

-sorry, but shingo being arrested while yuya is like YAY ACTION DUEL LET ME ENTERTAIN U ^_^ IS THE FUNNIEST THING EVER. and everytime he asked layra if theyre okay they look like a goddamn espurr like O__O clearly NOT OK. VERY SCARED WITHOUT REIJI. WHY DID U BRING THIS TRAUMATIZED CHILD!!!

-there was a scene when yuya was like 'look at these beautiful ladies!" n his hippo girl monsters danced for an uncomfortably long time and the cops face kept being zoomed in on and he was like O__O this ep…i cant tell if its TRYING to make me laugh but it is, my god yuya u are making ME smile if no one else. for absolutely the Wrong Reason. the CHEERFUL TONE he takes on in this situation is SO NOT APPROPRIATE FOR THE GRAVITY OF BEING. ARRESTED. this cop hes dueling is also the most tirest man ive ever seen which makes it so much better

-crows entrance was absolutely INCREDIBLE. WITH THE MOODY THUNDER AND ALL!! HOLY SHIT. just the sound of revving in the distance building up to it CROWWWWW I LOVE U. still probably most excited for jack but STILL.

-ohh, yugo know doesnt what his parents look like huh…and yuzu doesnt know what her mom looked like? her dad, the most cheerful dude in the world never talked abt her? weird.. theres still the mystery of yuzu having her bracelet…id say maybe all the yuya/yuzu counterparts might be the same but no, yuya has both parents so…cannot rly do anything with this info rn…

-ok just a small thought, but in the op and the eps so far, the guy whos always looking over security (idk his name yet but he looks like this :>/) is implied to be the villain, and ig reijis dad might be one of the final villains, but we havent had any Very Present Active villains aside from GROUPS of invaders that are p much faceless…I want more like. Present Villains. does that make sense. dennis doesnt count btw hes just some guy whos hangin out.

-shingo just introduced yuya as his APPRENTICE. PLEASE. i love him so much hes the funniest guy ever. crow also immediately being like 'idk abt all this dimension stuff! but u guys can hang out here for however long u need to :)' LOVE U CROW

-my god DENNIS can juggle and do silly little magic stuff. ok. ive been very lukewarm to him but thats very cute. also 'gon-chan' PLS.

-also one of the bills he got as a tip had that little clown guy from 5ds on it. was he a …person who was important enough to be on money? i dont remember him very much except he had like. a clown wife. cannot recall his place in the plot or anything else LMAO

-yugo and yuzu just trying to convince randos on the street the WAR IS COMING AND THEY CAN TRAVEL DIMENSIONS. AND GETTING LAUGHED AT. HELP THEM.

-im running into traffic to defend gons honor. hes so mad dennis made him the villain in their silly little roleplay HAHA. dennis is like a campy little guy, even when hes outed as a traitor later I seriously seriously doubt itll stick or he'll be a real threat. hes a silly guy..also I just like his monsters designs a lot. (also, he outed xyz to synchro dimension too LMAO DUDE. now they have all the summoning methods u guys can use…)

-gallager is just. he introduces himself as a promoter but him and nico smiley are both like. pimps for duelists right. KAHSDKJ. love his outfit so much tho

-so…where the HELL did reiji land….mildly concerned about now, its been a few…eps and he hasnt been shown…where did he go……..is he ok…….is he with jack….

-ILLEGAL DUEL BETTING. GON IS SOOO OFFENDED TOO. AND THEN IT CUTS TO SHUN IMMEDIATELY IN IT. epic illegal bird moment. poor gon is having to play peacekeeper and is the only reasonable person of this trio

-crow explaining the tops STOLE riding duels and make commoners do it for fun..my god they gentrified riding duels

-very grateful yuya is the one kinda looking after layra in reijis absence. makes perfect sense since he kinda is a big bro figure to the kids at the duel school too! it adds a real softness to yuya that I like (ok lets be real hes already been pretty soft. gooey and warm center, like a cookie) for a second it panned to serena and i was thinking pls dont let the only girl in the group be the mother hen but no. she completely ignores layra and decided to go out on her own (shingo following her lol) bc shes sick of sitting around waiting and her main goal, in her Words is to Find Yuzu too. would it be weird to ship them since they..look the same supposedly….JSDKFJK its tht question of what ud do if u met a clone of urself/alt version of urself. would u kiss or kill them. serena is a Kiss the Clone kinda girl and I respect that

-'friendship cup' is the funniest name ever for a tournament. YOU HAVE TO ENTER. TO DUEL JACK. JACK IS THE PRIZE. TROPHY WIFE JACK. shun and dennis both want to fight jack sooo bad its so funny. me too (affectionate) the fact dennis and shun both took to riding bikes and dueling at the same time SO fast is. incredible. and their lil outfits….

-oh wait. this means the earlier tournament being canceled is just gonna lead into this one isnt it HAHAH i knew it couldnt be ygo without a full tournament arc….its fine. I actually dont DISLIKE these type of arcs even if they arent my favorite

-not sure if ive said it but I Must mention it: yuyas magicians have nonbinary swag

-who the hell is shinji. youre not yusei. bootleg yusei….where did they PUT YUSEI!!! are all the protags busy like DAMN!! WHERE ARE THEY!!! I understand on a meta level u wouldnt want them all in the series to take away protagswag from yuya but this series literally lends itself to a bbt style crossover! the whole series is a crossover! they shouldve had a lil movie or smth. I want. another bbt movie. but w the newer protags too. lke all 8-9(??) ygo protags...itd be FUN

-crow being such a DAD to a ton of kids is cute. and probably the best person layra couldve come to stay with tbh, hes obv concerned abt them ;_; babies. also him and yuya dueling bc crow thinks feeding kids is more important than making them smile…and yuya thinks making them smile is more important…no yuya i gotta side with crow here LMAO crow called yuya privileged too JDSFHKJ

-NINJA GUY!!! I FORGOT HE WAS WITH THE LANCERS?? i mean ive been seein him in the op but STILL. good he got layra outta there. the cops were going to arrest a CHILD. i mean ik yuya is a child too but layra is a CHILD child not a teen yk. omg jail arc???

-speaking of arcs. is this series called arc v. because. arc 5. as in fifth arc of the yugioh series. I was speculating to why it was called that last time and had the realization thats prob why JKSHDFK

-god we actually are getting a…prison arc…this is INCREDIBLE. why werent they given the prison uniforms everyone else has. btw yuya now would be the PERFECT time to bring ur inner demon out to break out

-the bosses absurdly large brick stack of cards is insane. ive never seen so many so neatly stcked in one place…bro what if someone knocked them over that would be a nightmare…

-the lil story with the boss was fun (and felt appropriate given hes dueling yuya, who is all abt Smiles and Entertaining and hed lost that…like gettin his spark back) …so the moral here is u can make friends with fellow inmates n have solidarity but the cops are always enemies. understandable and real

-so yuya should become the new prison boss. right. he beat the old boss. but whatever I guess they didnt want yuya to be a crimeboss...cowards

-so whenever someone tries breaking out, their friends/the ppl left behind get punished and taken somewhere they 'never return from'…thats…terrifying and would be pretty efficient to anyone with any kind of morals, but idk, i feel like anyone would get really desperate and try it anyway at a certain point if conditions are bad enough, their fellow inmates be damned..

-sorry but it has to be said though. this mans hair is a lizard straight up. with the little hands and everything. is anyone fucking talking about this.

-my god yugo cannot whistle at all. everytime i see him and yuzu im like. they are so funny i love them both so much SJADFHKJ we go a few eps w/out them and im so sad… btw..yuya is in jail, i kinda expected this friendship cup thing to involve them more heavily, but the :>/ guy said yugo and yuzu would be arrested when they showed up for it too and im like. is it even gonna be an Event or Not. i mean I LOVE prison arc but. Wondering

-'hey crow if ur gonna leave here (prison) can I come too..' YUYA. DO YOU THINK CROW OF ALL PEOPLE IS GOING TO LEAVE YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS IN PRISON AND DITCH YOU ALL?? ITS CROW. CMON.

-yuya constantly looking like either the happiest dude ever (when its horribly inappropriate most of the time) or the saddest little kicked puppy alive makes me lose it. (and the third option of Murderously Possessed, but its been like 20 eps since weve seen that so..maybe the demon and yuto both peaced out. maybe they eloped. good for them)

-ok im going to need a gif of this PRONTO. shun how did you get there. HE SHOULDER DROPPED THIS MAN. XYZ BITCHES ARE BUILT DIFFERENT. XYZ REPRESENT!!!! he bodied like 15 more guards after this with his FISTS not even using his cards CMON LETS GOOO the prison break scene was AMAZING. also shingo grabbing some rare cards on the way out. best boy alert. why do his eyes glow in the dark.

-….hey shingo loses SO many duels its kind of funny. reminds me of watching manjoume from gx do the same thing. between them who has more losses. theyre both a certain…flavor of cringedude characters that i always end up liking…

btw Lightsworn Monster SPOTTED. I HAVE THIS CARD IN MY FAVORITE DECK!!! HIII FELIS!!!

-'what does a monster with 100 lp have to accomplish' -guy whos never heard of goddamn card effects. damn i thought these dudes were supposed to be the super efficient guards or whatever…anyway shun coming in with the literal xyz rescue was CUTE look at him functioning in a team ;w; good

-oh my god :>/ guy is named jean-michel roget. hes. hes french coded. u know wht i think i like my silly lil emoji name for him better. GOD DAMN they were SO close to escaping. CROW HAS KIDS AT HOME. ARGNH THEYRE TRYING TO SEPARATE SERENA TOO. BULLSHIT.

-REIJI FINALLY FINALLY SHOWING UP. WHERE WERE U. talking to a council I Guess. fucking negotiating. ok king of efficiency. he saved everyones asses with this. everyone say thank u reiji for everything, always.

-oh my god the friendship cup. theyre all being forced to demonstrate their abilities in the tournament . mandatory friendship cup. its a Full Circle. out of jail straight into the REAL tournament arc. i cant believe this.

-yuya vs jack. oh my god its going to happen. <- so excited to see jack i am going to throw UP

-crow called jack a traitor so. so they havent made up yet. I mean I FIGURED and yusei isnt HERE and i am :( I barely remember 5ds but I remember crow and jack bein silly together near the end…be FRIENDS or ELSE I will CRY

-yuzu's lil riding duel outfit is SO cute. pls. also yuzu crying with relief once she sees yuya is ok…baby ;_; theyre so Close to bein reunited….

-the problem with me trying to figure out how and why this series diverges from 5ds is that i remember Nothing Important from 5ds at all. i remember the dumbass details like that jack loved cup ramen JSDHKJ but its clearly an au (with..no yusei for some reason...) and im like. wondering if theyll ever explain WHY its an au from the original. or if im just supposed to Know. bc I Dont Yet

-I thought itd be really funny if jack DID defeat yuya in Three Turns like he said he was going to. and then he DOES. he beats him so hard yuya FLIES OFF HIS BIKE. AND BOUNCES. LMAO glad hes wearing a helmet at least. love u jack. also. i know it was probably framed in the way of jack being an asshole but I? kind of agree with him about this:

(I actually…said smth along these lines in my first arc v liveblog post:

almost word for word HAHA me and jack are on the same wavelength and he read yuya in like 10 seconds FLAT I am Amazed)

not that it's a BAD thing. he wants to make people happy, and it makes him happy in turn when theyre cheering for him! thats fine! (an irl example would be like, I enjoy making art for others to make them happy. but I also enjoy getting positive feedback for my own satisfaction!) absolutely nothing wrong with it!

HOWEVER. the impression I've gotten so far is that yuya gets upset when his opponent is the one being cheered for (a good example was the michio duel and that annoying trivia kid duel. he didnt seem real happy when the audience was rooting for them and not him!) as opposed to…I cant believe I'm comparing him to dennis but. the dennis v gon duel was a great example of what I think a more genuine entertainment duel should be…they were playing the roles of hero v villain, and dennis was great at improv there, quickly turning into the villain when Straight Man to his Comedy Guy routine Gon accused him of being the Real Villain in that situation. like he ROLLED with it and was perfectly fine with gon winning bc it suited their lil story and the audience loved it! I think entertainment dueling SHOULD be like that, like improv and acting bc you're entertaining ppl. ur a performer. u need to go w the flow more.

(Okay, this might not have been the best duel to show it off bc 1. hes dueling JACK of all ppl who declared hes gonna WIN and. he Will. 2. this is a situation where hes trying to showcase the strength of the lancers, so it wouldnt do to THROW the duel. but he couldve played into jacks dramatics a bit, made himself out to be more of a dramatic underdog, or a potential upstarter…for wanting to be an ENTERTAINER I want to see yuya channel his dramatics a LOT more than he does. esp w jack of all ppl!) to me it feels like yuya also ties a LOT of his self worth to how other ppl perceive his role in duels too which is Unhealthy (and again. is an extension of the 'smile when u want to cry' stuff imo, also pretty unhealthy) I…dont know if any of this is That Deep or theyre just trying to make jack seem like an asshole. I WANT it to be this deep bc its a REALLY interesting trait for a protag to have!

-kinda love how ppl in the Tops are dressed like old timey victorians. (also a lot of them have very western names) it just creates a very. unique vibe 

-can I also just say i LOVE LOVE LOVE the trope in ygo of 'person does what they think is the final finishing move, then theres smoke and everyone is like :0 and when the smoke clears, the person is still standing in the duel because of some trap/spell/effect' IT HAPPENS SO MUCH IN ARC V AND I EAT IT UP EVERYTIME.

-...jack gave this random child servant a card and told him it suited him and the kids mad jack 'changed' and got mad jack compared him to a 'weak card'...first off its gonna end up being smth like 'even weak cards have potential, none of them are useless, its like u, u feel like ur a low level but u also have potential' (which. very yusei thing btw) but also if my hero gave me a card i would literally be SO happy this kid is dumb asf. jack literally wasnt even being RUDE when he gave it to him and jack is usually SO Rude like CMON. 'wheeh i had NO cards and jack gave me one but its WEAK so i dont want it' this is called being ungrateful. i know hes a kid so I shouldnt be so annoyed but damn its rude. its a REALLY cute card too (not one I recognize and the text is in japanese but its a cute lil cyber girl with pink hair and a tuning fork and bc this is synchro I assume its a tuner monster or smth?)

-...went from jail to bougiest penthouse in the world. lmao and locked in his room....ur a rich persons pet now...'if u lose ur out of the penthouse' willing to bet its the same for jack since at the end of the day hes still. u know. a commons Guy cosplaying a bougie. funnily enough, the tops are saying 'as long as he keeps winning hes not a commons, hes one of us!' and the commons are saying 'hes a traitor who sold out!' then another commons guy being like 'NO jack is still OUR hero he doesnt belong to the tops!' etc. its like he cant fucking win no matter what he does! insane. jack ilu tho.

-...actually, first match is gon v crow. calling it now, gon loses his Stand In One Place shtick isnt gonna work v a motorcycle. i kinda think I want crow to win this tournament actually to duel jack KJHSDKJ i know itll prob be yuya but cmonnnn. its PERSONAL for crow. btw does this mean gon will be homeless for the rest of the friendship cup stuff since if u lose u get kicked outta the penthouse. where will he GO. ...tbh since crow has kids waiting at home for him it might be better if he loses first so he can take the losers of this tournament back home w him so they dont. go to jail again? maybe? we’ll see!!

very very fun stretch of eps, I binged SO many last night and tonight :3

[hopeurokays]

WENT AND SAW THE ERAS TOUR MOVIE LIKE AN HOUR AGO AND AHHHHHHHHHH. IT WAS SO GOOD (spoilers under the cut)

so my movie theater didn't have popcorn buckets bc their shipment is currently lost

but i got a cup and a poster

i planned on making like 50 bracelets but ended up only making like 20

which is good though cause pretty much nobody had bracelets to trade

i traded 1 and gave out all but 2

i don't know how people don't cry the entire concert

bc i almost cried several times during the movie so the actual concert i think would have me dead

so now im gonna go by era and discuss it

lover:

the opening made me cry

i whisper sung the beginning bc it was still kinda awkward and nobody else was singing loud

until the cruel summer bridge

then we all sung it loud

i LOVE the man and loved getting to see the things i hadn't noticed from tiktok (like the specific dance moves, etc)

the man and lover also made me cry a bit

im so upset she cut the archer

its not even my favorite song or anything but still

fearless:

iconic guitar spins 🫶🏻

everyone did the heart hands, it was so sweet

it was so cute seeing her band sing with her, they're adorable

fearless spins made me cry

love story almost made me bawl, but i held it together

i can remember being in kindergarten and saying my favorite song was love story so thinking about that made me want to sob

evermore:

THEY CUT NO BODY NO CRIME

i was so excited when i realized it was filmed

and then SHE CUT IT

anyways

marjorie made me cry

tolerate it was a materpiece (as expected)

so was champagne problems

reputation:

honestly no words

look what you made me do honestly almost made me cry

when all the other taylors were in the boxes

but still it was all soooooo good

speak now:

enchanted made me tear up

im so glad she wore the purple dress for filming

SHE CUT LONG LIVE 😭😭😭

ik it's the perfect end credit song but still

we wouldn't mind to hear it again

will forever be upset

red:

ngl 22 got me

it was the only one that made me cry

and like i cried like a baby when she gave the 22 hat

i expected it to be kobe bryant's daughter, but it still got it

i was bawling in my seat

but then the rest was really nice

i loved screaming atw

folklore:

ive never seen video of her performing the 1 all the way through and loved it

also betty made me cry

but betty was the first song off folklore id ever heard and was made me listen to her new music so it holds a special place in my heart

also there was a little girl who got up during betty and started dancing, like throwing arms above her head and everything

and she did that for most of folklore

she was a mood tbh

I CANT BELIEVE SHE CUT CARDIGAN

WHYYYYYY

1989:

none of these made me cry, i was too busy dancing lol

they were all really fun

i loved the clubs smashing the car

also i love that she wore the pink one

i just like that outfit best

surprise songs:

i can't say im surprised it was our song and yoyok

and i absolutely loved them

but i was really hoping she would find a way to put all of the songs she sung in la on there

especially you are in love

i wouldve cried and died and just stayed there forever

but yoyok made me cry during the bridge

midnights:

i LOVE the purple jacket/dress combo

kinda freaked out when i realized id have to sit beside my mom during vigilante shit...

but she didn't say anything

i loved the vibes of this era too

other/end credits:

the bracelet part was so cute and clever

and i love the fan moments/bloopers

i do kinda wish the credits would've been styled more like rep tour's was

i also loved the transitions to each era and the text for the album name

it was all really cute

and i loved how taylor was still being goofy

i was worried it wouldn't be as silly as the shows usually are

but im glad it was, it made it feel more authentic

also the quality of everything was SO good

overall i loved it and if you're debating on going just do it (im thinking about going with my friends to watch it a 2nd time...). I'd give it like 1000/10 tbh

[lightlycareless]

OUGH CHAPTER 33,, this ones RICH theres so much here all of y/ns letters,, i wonder how hinata would feel if she actually got to read them?? not that she'd get through all of them before trying to break in there herself to get y/n out i imagine

NAOAKI,, calling y/n cute straight up now?? we're just straight into it there's no denying anything anymore. full on flirting out there-- good for them. and the GRAPE,, feeding her the grape,, im obsessed. hinata turning naoaki away bc of his resemblance to naoya-- i get why girl but also MAN you are missing out on the sweetest man in the world. n also the possibility of the zenin's getting pissy over hinata and naoaki talking to each other?? they are DERANGED for real its unbelievable.

mariya and tatsuro,,, i really do think she COULD tell hitomi i like to think she'd understand. and also backing herself into a corner w lying about to everyone i just can not imagine that ending well at ALL somewhere down the line

THE BOXES FULL OF RECORDS MY GODDD,,, naoya is going to give y/n a HEART ATTACK. its a thoughtful gesture but she is so (understandably!!) put off anything to do with him she just finds it creepy as fuck. it is so funny tho "there has to be another reason for his actions,, but what,," girl,,, hes trying to be nice for once this is not a murder attempt,,

and the idea that naoya's gonna eventually try to ask how she liked the gift oh MAN-- he's already gonna be torn up beyond belief over that last chapter ending (must be why we don't see him this time he's too busy crying) and to see her respond cold to like... what's probably the first real big thoughtful gift he's tried to get her?? devastating. obliterated.

this chapter is driving me insane and up the walls (in a good way) i am SO ready to see whats coming.. ur setting up for somethin big i know it,,,

Hello!!!! I’m glad you liked the bit of… lore I guess? I don’t know how to call it lol regarding Y/N’s letters! I only went through them briefly, in the aspect of what she must write and what not to keep a low profile, but never really showed what she was writing… and boy, was it sad.

Hinata would be very, very sad. Definitely. She’d first be upset, angry, quickly identifying that her letters are to set up a façade that everything is right, when it’s not. She’ll also be able to find some traces of Y/N being genuine whenever she speaks of the twins or her staff… perhaps. But overall, those clues end up being irrelevant to the fact that Y/N is in danger and needs to be taken out of there as soon as possible.

And her not caring for Naoaki…. Hahahahahah it made me laugh and a bit frustrated tbh, but how is she supposed to know?! yet OMG he's RIGHT THERE.

I did think on various occasions that her acting that way with him might’ve been... reckless, like it could’ve raised some red flags from him and be like “Hinata is acting weird” subsequentially, leading the clan to be further vigilant of her. However, Naoaki doesn’t know what’s up with his clan, and his priority is to help Y/N above anything else so… yeah. I wish she would’ve given him the benefit of the doubt and approached him, doing so on any other occasion I think, when she isn’t there for work and isn’t overworked either lol.

But yeah, she’s tired of all she’s been put through and couldn’t care less of engaging with other people as of right now. To Naoaki’s defense… Hinata didn’t talk to anyone else either, so there’s that 🤭

I’m still surprised the Zen’in weren’t lil bitches about it, they probably didn’t consider their interaction to be that important anyway—since their secrets are safely guarded… at least for now. Kind of. Hinata is still not out of their radar. Hmm. They’re probably thinking on how to not get involved in the crisis since they think so little of non-sorcerers lol.

Now onto Mariya…. I just love causing conflicts with her lmao. You could argue that she’s not doing anything… wrong per se, but man, lies and lack of communication can lead to some pretty terrible misunderstandings and that’s the least of the things I want happening between Y/N’s staff 😭 But essentially Mariya is afraid that speaking out loud of this situation might lead other members of the staff overhearing this, rumors begin to circulate around the house, and she loses her job 💀 It’s not that she doesn’t trust Hitomi, but she’d rather keep it hidden from everyone to avoid these risks. (also, the pain of having disappointed her is too much for her to even contemplate 😭 she cares too much for the sisters, and already gone through something like that with Y/N... no, I can't have her suffering 😭😭)

As for Naoaki… that freaking scene with the grape was like omg…………………………………………………… I wanted to go heavier on the subtle implications, but I was like no ma’am, Y/N pulled away from that one and I don’t think Naoaki would insist after seeing her reject his advancements sooooo maybe for another time 😊 This was also a way to show just how… bold the two had become after the whole Naobito/Naoya/Y/N thing went down, had this been before that, Naoaki would’ve never done something like that.

I can imagine Ranta watching the two from some undisclosed corner frantically hoping that Naoya won’t come out and see them lmao.

Finally… the mystery of whatever Naoya was shoving inside his pocket the chapter before is revealed!

Guess he was listening to what Y/N was telling him, however, for him to suddenly go out and buy them implies another motive behind them… or at least that’s what I intended to write 🤭 Naoya is trying something, to be nicer I guess, but without him taking accountability I don’t think there’s going to be any advancements soon. 😫 He’s still out there having some kind of war with Naoaki, when he should be focusing on Y/N and his marriage!!!!! Well, best wishes to him I guess lol.

Now… I won’t say much outside of that hehe because it will be expanded on the next chapter, it's a Naoya-centric one where we'll see what he was doing while this went down, as well as a bit of—

Anyways, thank you so much for tuning in for a new update!! The build up for the next chapter has me at edge, nervous… but excited too and I can’t wait to show you!!! (let the hype be appropriate) But for now, I shall take it easy, I got my birthday to enjoy (and this annoying cold out of the goddamn nowhere!!! To overcome)

Have a wonderful weekend, take care, and hope to see you soon!!!

[rrxnjun]

it does fit him kinda but i also just can't imagine him just teaching someone maybe i just don't know awsten enough🫡WAIT HOW HAVE I NEVER HEARD ABOUT THAT???? but this is my new fav fact about them wow🥹 wahhh tommy does deserve everything he is a savior for real🫡 my minecraft addiction is unhealthy istg i don't think i will ever be able to get out of the phase at this point it's a lifestyle ngl 🤣🥲but i'm glad to hear that u also had a minecraft phase it's just such a fun game!! ohhh i never really got into sideman but they seem very funny that's for sure!!! tbh the first time i ever heard of alex will and memeulous was through probs wilbur but i listend to their podcast in quarantine and they were very funny tbh so i understand the chokehold!!!

I DID SEE SO MANY CLIPS FROM IT IM AO EXCITED FOR THE ALBUM I CANT WAIT!!! NINGNINGS SOLO WAS SO GOOD SHE IS JUST SO AMAZING EVERYTHING WISE ITS CRAZYYY and i'm going to be very upset if the solo songs do not make it to the album they will hear from my lawyers for sure!

take ur time with it u have the all the time in the world to listen to her! my fav song from her is definitely you're here that's the thing, it's like the cutest song ever but i also really love apple cider those two would probably be my favs and also sunny day as well!!!

WE LITERALLY ARE 🫢 it has never really happened to me before as well so i'm very surprised! I LOVE THE DIRVER ERA DUDEEE🥹 SO SAME LOVE THE MAN SO MUCH i will always be thankful for austin and ally for introducing me to the amazing man ross lynch is🫡 i listened to wallows and they are pretty good definitely will listen to them more however nothing dethroned scrawny for me so i'm staying with my basic as hell fav song🫡 BAEKHYUN HOWEVER I FOUND ONE OF MY NEW FAV ARISTS I THINK!!! amusement park is just so me core i love it so much!! claiming it as my song hihi! but the whole ep was🤌🤌🤌(i still believe in u beating him one day!!!)

OH MY UR REVIEW JUST MADE MY WHOLE DAY MY GOD!!!🥹 IM VERY GLAD THAT U DIDNT REALLY DISLIKE ANY OF THEM AND THE FACT THAT SOME OF THEM MADE IT TO UR PLAYLIST IS JUST🥹🥹IM VERY GLAD THAT U ENDED UP LIKING SOME OF THEM🥹🥹🥹

lovely neighbor!!! hi!!🤭i think i knew that u were slovak but i kinda forgot:( HOWEVER I MIGHT ACTUALLY VISIT SLOVAKIA IN LIKE 2 WEEKS OR SO!! VERY EXCITED TO SEE THE COUNTRY!🥳(or more like the one city we will be visiting)

IM GLAD U ENJOYED!! I ENJOYED TALKING ABOUT MUSIC VERY MUCH AS WELL AND THANK U FOR LISTENING TO THE HUNGARIAN SONGS U ARE VERY LOVELY FOR IT!!! and also if u have any slovak song recommendation tell it to me pls as well!

LMAO NO PROBLEM FOR WRITING HER AS A CHEATER I KNEW THERE WAS PROBABLY NOT LIKE "ANY GOOD REASON" THAT U WROTE HER AS THAT BUUUT HAVING A CRUSH ON MY GF💔💔HOW COULD U /j

LMAO probably most likely it would be similar but i actually want to see them and like properly throw jisung up in the air like i still think about that every time i see jisung!! u portrayed it so well my lord!!!! oh my the renjun bathtub pics inspiring it just makes it even more perfect my god!!! THE LAST SCENE IS JUST SO SUPER GREAT IM VERY GLAD UR INNER JOHN GREEN PULLED THROUGH XD I LOVE IT WHEN MEN ARE SIMPS ITS SO RARE BUT I LOVE IIIT🫡 i wrote it right after i read it and my emotions were all over the place it showed very much i think xd AND THAT IS CRAZY WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF THAT PLAYINGGGG (liebestraum anon💕💕)

no thats so valid i couldnt imagine him being a guitar teacher either LMAO. and tommy deserves the world for that song alone AHAH also i understand the minecraft lifestyle the other day i wanted to download it too but it didnt work and i am not paying for that game so i just gave up after a while lmaoo. sidemen are funny sometimes but sometimes they also miss w their humor so take it as you will AHAHA. i didnt listen to the eboys podcast if u mean that one!! i am not a podcast girlie tbh i dont enjoy listening to people talk jfkdals but their videos were honestly my favs. also i sometimes still watch george memelous drinking vids where they watch terrible movies because i just think that is peak comedy

MY GIRLFRIEND NINGNING DID SO WELL the solo is stuck in my brain i NEED A STUDIO VERSION ASAP. i honestly never really stanned any girlgroups but aespa have such a chokehold on me istg- my friend said its only bc theyre the girl version of nct sound-wise and i was like :D ok then.

I STILL HAVENT LISTENED TO BEABADOBEE BUT I PROMISE TO GIVE YOU A REVIEW OF THESE IN YOUR NEXT ASK

no bc when austin and ally aired i was fundamentaly changed as a human. everything about ross lynch was just- DFJKA i even watched the teen beach movie like three times because i had such a crush on him LMAO. i wasnt really ever big on r5 (however i still have some of their songs in my playlist) but the driver era are sososo good. scrawny is so good!!! i think my fav from wallows (at least atm) is definitely wish me luck. it has such a good sound and the lyrics are honestly sososo good ugh. YES CLAIM AMUSEMENT PARK!!! ITS ONE OF MY FAV SONGS EVER AHHH i personally claim bambi because it's my nickname irl and when he came out w the song i lost my shit so hard i made it my whole entire personality. (thank u for believing in me. rather than beating hyuck i now fantasize about us going to a baekhyun concert together in my dreams<3)

THANK U TO INTRODUCING ME TO HUNGARIAN MUSIC!! i really have nothing against trying songs in diff languages if thats what you were afraid of!! i really enjoyed all of the songs they were so vibey<33 your music taste>>> AHAHA ITS OKAY IF U FORGOT IM SLOVAK i mean i dont really talk abt it here as much?? on my main tho,,, i dont shut up about the fact i even shitpost in slovak sometimes bc i just can. slovak music recs are hard for me to give bc i dont listen to slovak music much?? and the ones i do listen to i would get clowned for in slovakia bc they are just objectively not good songs but theyre my guilty pleasure AHAHA but if you really do wanna listen to some i recommend my by yael (it was in my top 10 on spotify wrapped last year LMAO), vďaka ti by yael and puerto (which is a badbunny cover lmao but listen to the ver on youtube and not spotify bc the spotify one sucks ass), valeriya by samey (THIS is a guilty pleasure for sure. the rap is weird but the lyrics are beautiful), staré časy by medial banana, káva by medial banana, záverečná by iné kafe, nad prahou by zoči voči and včera som miloval by fishing strip (for some good slovak punk rock<3) ALSO WHICH CITY ARE U VISITING (if u wanna tell me ofc)

the renjun bathtub pics....altered my brain chemistry so much iykwim. like i knew my man was hot but i didnt know he could get THIS hot. AHAHA MEN BEING SIMPS IS RARE BUT SO FUCKING GOOD thats why i even started my series in the first place the original title was the simp diaries bc its all about men being simps AHAHAHA

[birlwrites]

hi! it's me, the person who had the very confusing birthday! uh so i got dumped which in and of itself, I'm not v upset abt (it needed to happen, we just aren't v compatible as a couple, and if he didn't break up w me, I would've broken up w him), but I am a bit upset it happened on my birthday :/// but I digress!

im really curious about how the light scions will view regulus's side, vs Dumbledore's! I know that in ur previous posts, you've talked abt how Sirius hasn't even told his friends abt the dark arts, and I just thought it would be fascinating to hear what u had to say abt, say, James and Remus, and how they feel abt Dumbledore. for the marauders, I'm pretty sure Sirius being on regulus's side will make all the difference, but that also makes me curious about light scions who aren't friends w Sirius or regulus?

I know this is probably not going to happen for a while but I also can't wait to see how Dumbledore would react to there being a third side, and how he might change his recruitment strategy to account for ppl who are sympathetic to muggleborns, but aren't against the dark arts

getting dumped on your birthday does seem like it would sting. yikes. my sympathies for that, but also yay for something happening that needed to happen!

ohohohohoHO alright so first of all - i'm not going to talk much in this response about how dumbledore is going to react to there being a third side. you're correct that it's not going to happen for a while, and tbqh how he reacts depends a LOT on the shape of regulus's side by the time that dumbledore finally finds out about it

which is an elaborate way of me saying that like. i have the general sketch of how dumbledore's going to respond, but it's not fleshed out enough for me to really be able to ramble about it afjlsghskfj - i leave my outlines very flexible because i make a lot of decisions as i write, and i'm just not close enough to that point yet to really know how it's going to go

okay but now back to the first part of your question! namely: if you believe that dark arts are bad/evil/wrong/associated with blood purists........ how do you view regulus's side versus dumbledore's?

i'm going to start with james and remus because oh my god fASCINATING. (these are the things i think about in class)

first james: as you've said, sirius being on reg's side will make all the difference for him, tbh. or like, enough of it. but let's say - look, james is part of the sacred 28, okay? he's part of that fraction of the sacred 28 that isn't part of the dark network, but he is still sacred 28, his father is still in the wizengamot, his family still attends society events, and--okay my point here is that james has grown up learning some THINGS about house black.

and also about dumbledore.

let me bullet point these out:

house black:

super old, *pristine* bloodline, to the point of disowning people who marry blood traitors

dark arts follow them like a shadow - centuries ago, the blacks were rather open about practicing them, and nobody's forgotten

uptight power-hungry purist assholes, mostly

dumbledore:

defeated grindelwald, an incredibly powerful dark wizard (and fanatical blood purist, no surprises there), which catapulted him into legend status

uses his positions as headmaster of hogwarts and... y'know, whatever sway he has at the ministry (my brain is tired and i haven't so much as breathed on canon in quite some time ajfslkghkdf) to champion muggleborn rights and fight against blood purist institutions

a whimsical fellow :)

oh, and some context on dumbledore's role in the war - of course *we* know he's the head of the order, and regulus knows he's the head of the order, and voldemort knows he's the head of the order, but most people don't know about that. the order of the phoenix is a vigilante group - they may share common goals with the DMLE, but they're still operating underground, so it's not a Known Thing that dumbledore is in charge of them. (not that it surprises anyone who learns the truth, because again, legend status, government sway, etc)

so that's james's background information on the leaders of these two sides. also, he does not like regulus on a personal level, for reasons i went into........... somewhere.

oh my god afsjlghdkfj this is going to have to be multiple posts. i can't go into detail about james's thought process on this post and then also talk about remus and then also talk about most of the general population of hogwarts and also magical britain, it will be a dissertation

the important thing to note with james is that he has never, ever been put into a situation in which he needs to question his own belief that dark arts = evil. sirius is bending over backwards to keep james from needing to question that (although sirius is mainly doing it to protect himself - and that's not to say that james is completely blissfully unaware of sirius being a tad uncomfortable around the topic of dark arts, but that's a whole other post). so james's first impression of regulus's side will be....... let's call it Not Positive. (and he does interpret dumbledore's side as The Good Ones)

but people practicing dark arts are different from dark *creatures*, aren't they? moony can't help being what he is...

which brings me to remus!!

remus got the same messaging that james did about house black and dumbledore, but it wasn't nearly as strong for him, because that's just.... not the world he moves in. like, yeah yeah yeah, some of the noble houses do/have done bad shit, the headmaster of hogwarts beat a dark wizard in a duel. he knows all of the same INFORMATION that james does, it's just that remus didn't grow up around these people, so it always kind of remained in distant mental territory, you know?

remus is a dark creature, which doesn't make him pro-dark arts. not at all, actually. he can't help what he is, and he never had that choice, and it boggles his mind that some people CHOOSE ~the dark side~. he associates that with pain and suffering and just bad things in general, on a very visceral level

oh and here's another thing that's going to give remus even more trouble: he owes a LOT to dumbledore. dumbledore permitted remus to attend hogwarts, which means dumbledore gave remus access to friends, magical education, a shot at eking out some sort of non-awful existence in the magical world, and most importantly, dumbledore TRUSTED remus to use this chance wisely

(i think dumbledore did genuinely want remus to have the same opportunities as other magical kids his age, or at least as close to that as possible. i also think dumbledore was very, very aware of the debt of gratitude he was incurring upon remus, and his family, by making this happen - he just wasn't sure what would come of it. then the war broke out, and he was like 'ah yes perfect i could use a werewolf who feels indebted to me')

so remus has a lot of trouble with the idea of dark arts being something good or desirable, and he also has a lot of trouble with the idea of going against dumbledore's side - not the order necessarily, i specifically mean *dumbledore's* side.

and sirius being on regulus's side does make a huge difference, but remus is wrestling with some very gut-wrenching internalizations here, and that's never easy

with regard to everyone else:

i think the perception of 'dark arts = blood purity' is so strongly interwoven into magical culture that when Normal People™ find out about regulus's side, their first reaction is going to be HUGE amounts of cognitive dissonance, because 'wait what do you mean they're doing both, that's impossible/ridiculous/contradictory--isn't it?'

which means regulus's side coming out into the open (which will not happen for Quite some time) will *really* shake the foundation of the war, in a way that will not please voldemort or dumbledore. both voldemort and dumbledore (and the sides they represent) benefit from this dichotomy, and when regulus fucks it up, he fucks up a LOT of their strategies for recruitment, image, rhetoric, etc.

suddenly, things are possible that weren't supposed to be possible. the world is different. and voldemort and dumbledore do NOT APPRECIATE THAT

[rosykims]

2, 22, 24, 27 and 29 for anders and cillian :^)

2. Any sleep habits either had to get used to?

there's a period of adjustment when anders moves in where cillian has to get used to the grey warden nightmares :c im fairly sure its been mentioned that his dreams arent too severe, but i imagine the justice merger exacerbates things and theyre disconcerting enough to be noticeable. cillian finds the whole thing a bit upsetting bc like hes a rogue he cant do anything abt bad dreams ! bit its also a great excuse to cuddle up more >:) on the other hand, cillian is a restless sleeper who tosses and turns thru the night and probably wakes up draped over poor anders lmao

22. Who gets more easily embarrassed?

hmmmmm superficially i think anders ! solely bc cillian is pretty quick to laugh most things off and he isn't really phased by what other people think of him, because other people think a lot! i think privately though cillian does carry more shame just in the way he behaves. he undersells himself often, he doesnt talk about his beliefs or thoughts or feelings bc he doesnt think theyre valuable, and esp w him being half elven he feels perpetually out of place most days and naturally that comes with a lot of self consciousness and embarrassment. he doesnt like bumming people out by dwelling on it or talking about it, though he cherishes finally having someone like anders to be vulnerable with about that stuff. even if it is a little embarrassing.

24. Which of the two is the most competitive?

hmmmmmmmmmmmm...... i don't think they compete with each other tbh! cillian would much rather team up and compete against Other people lol. tho i think it depends on the circumstances. anders is more stubborn when it comes to arguments, whereas when it comes to like... idk... lighthearted bar games or wicked grace? all bets are off relationships mean nothing to cillian 😐 he would be a TERROR at mario party

27.  What random everyday object/activity makes them think of each other? 

feathers always reminds cillian of anders.. esp after his mota quest. cillian is Always bringing anders lil feathers he finds on the rooftops or smth and anders doesnt have the heart to tell him that 90% of thm are from the average diseased kirkwall pigeon :( altho one time he accidentally and coincidentally gave him a rare hawk feather! which anders thought was 🥺🥺🥺 and still has it and looks over when he's feeling especially romantic.

for anders, he sees cillian in everything after losing him in adamant. lol

29.  What is their sex life like? 

varied! equal parts playful/lighthhearted and also intimate and intense. depending on the circumstances/needs of the other. cillian's shameless pda aside, publically (even w the kirkwall crew) he's usually soooo mellow and goofy, so i think it would really surprise anders to learn that behind closed doors he's very touch starved, and desperate to be open and vulnerable and confide in someone he loves. cillian is CRAZY passionate and very clingy lol <3

[onyx-roses]

Aight so this is little overdue since I finished the game awhile ago but I need somewhere to vent lol. So...Bayonetta 3...where to start??

Ok so for starters, even by Bayonetta standards I feel this game's story is a clusterfuck. Like the Bayo series story has always felt confusing to me due to there being time travel and whatnot (or maybe im just a dumb dumb who doesn't get it) but at least I feel Bayo 1 and 2 attempted to have a cohesive story. This one feels because of the whole multiverse thing, they must've felt like they could just retcon shit and do whatever they wanted Idk. I get that with this series, gameplay is the initial concern for the devs, and story is an afterthought but c'mon. The final boss is the wackest by far. Not only design but everything in general. And I felt the other multiverse bayos were wasted potential. They all got done so dirty. The multiverse was built up so much and then you rarely to get to see them and then they all die...like wtf. I'm especially still gagged at how chinese bayo died. In such a stupid fashion. She had more than enough time to react but no she stands there a few seconds too long and dies. This is Bayonetta we're talking about!! Her reaction time and reflexes are pretty much always flawless and she has witch time for fuck's sake! At least kill her in a more believable manner! And then Jeanne....my poor girl Jeanne. I feel killing her was so unnecessary. For what?? For fucking what?? Instead what I would have done was keep her alive and have her mentor Viola.

Now the ending....I admittedly didn't hate it like everyone else but it wasn't really stellar either. The final act of the game was overall pretty sus. Tbh, what I hated more than the ending itself was the fact that it is insinuated that Bayo 1 and Bayo 2 are two separate Bayos. That to me, not only makes things more confusing but makes the journey you take with Bayo 2 a little less meaningful? This whole time I thought we all played the sequel thinking we were seeing more of OG Bayo and her character development and what she had been up to but no. It was a different Bayo the whole time? Idk, I feel that lessens and cheapens everything we saw in Bayo 2. To think there was a direct connection between the two and nope. I will admit tho, it was pretty dope from a gameplay perspective, teaming up with the other two bayos was amazing. Not to mention when you take control over bayo 1, omg the feels. The fact that mysterious destiny is playing and her lifebar and magic mimic that of the first game.....just ugh amazing. I wish they would have let us switch between bayo 1 and 2 in that fight but oh well. At least at the end of the game, I was pleasantly surprised to see they brought back the 'let's dance boys' dance sequence. I rly missed it back in Bayo 2.

Ok so now admittedly imma nitpick some more minor things but they bugged me enough to mention them lol. First off why THE FUCK can't you play as Jeanne in the main story???? Y'all did it in the last two games! Just treat her as a skin/costume like in the previous games! I get her not being playable in Viola chapters but Bayo's? Nah son. Wtf. And they didn't giver her costumes either. Not. One. Like, the egyptian one is right fudging there. I'm not asking for 10 different outfits but c'mon. Or bare minimum they should have let us change her colors. Was also upset Viola got the same treatment too. Would have loved to have seen in her some different outfits or colors. Them getting rid of Umbran elegances made me sad. Nintendo costumes were also absent this time around which is a damn shame since those were a blast to use. This might be dumb but the lack of different taunts was a bit disappointing too. I would always look forward to choosing different weapons and seeing what taunt she had. I guess those got traded in for idle animations this time around. Now moving on to enemies, fights and bosses are bombastic as ever but man, the enemy design in this game is seriously lacking. The angels and demons are so memorable, they have character, they are brimming with originality. These white/green blobs ain't cuttin' it. I felt like I was fighting the same enemy over and over again. I think they may have exhausted all creativity into the demon slaves and masquerades. This next complaint is me being whiny bitch I get it lol but I REALLY don't understand why they changed the sounds for the platinum and pure platinum medals. Those are iconic sounds for the Bayonetta series. So why change them? Like, I'm seriously asking. Cause it seems like a random change to make? Now they are barely noticeable and sound like generic forgettable ass chimes. The camera in this game could get god awful at times too, which considering the high action pace of this game is a big problem.

So I could keep going but this is long enough lmao. Overall, I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy playing through Bayonetta 3. It's just as over the top and chaotic as previous titles. I genuinely had so much fun with this game. I don't really have any complaints of the gameplay mechanics off the top of my head. But everything else...my god, platinum has some 'splaining to do.