#that one pose from that one album called heroes

[gamgersgamging]

someone should draw tyler the creator doing that david bowie pose. i know for damn sure that his ass could've been inspired by him one way or another.

[proficient-in-hoarding-deadlines]

Do you ever see an unfunny meme

and feel the overwhelming urge to destroy its (attempt at) humor by treating it as a research prompt? That happened to me recently when I saw this:

If I had to place my discontent with the punchline, it’s that it enforces a stereotype instead of breaking it. What’s more, as one of my friends noted upon seeing the meme, it employs the picture to power the punchline. The style of ukiyo-e prints does generally make faces look similar.

The only catch is, there are other ways to distinguish characters in a picture, and ukiyo-e artists weren’t afraid to overuse them in order to make everything crystally clear to everybody even half-literate. The first clue are the clothes & accessoires. They let the viewer guess the characters' gender and social status. The style of the clothes and its colour, as well as the presence of heraldic symbols or class symbols (like swords) are the things to look at. If we’re talking famous characters, they may have certain fixed poses/attires/objects by which they are easily recognized. Another important clue is when the artist puts the name of the person in the picture right next to them on a special plaque.

All this is not to say that all faces in ukiyo-e prints are the same. Sure, from early on in Japanese visual art there is a trend of drawing faces in as few and as simple lines as possible (引目鉤鼻, hikime kagibana, or, "slit-eyes and hook-nose")*. But by the late Edo period (to which this print belongs) it is customary to add some individuality into the characters’ features. I think the influence of Sharaku’s caricature-like portraits** here.

In my experience, the two types of sword-wielding characters that come up in such prints are famous martial heroes and actors. The actual warriors are often depicted alone in detailed, dynamic poses***, while actors can come in groups, acting out famous scenes from various plays. (Needless to say, prints were published in thematic albums). In this particular print, we see a pair of actors. First, they are wearing some elaborate costumes (not regular clothes, nor armour, as it would be appropriate for famous warriors). Second, their faces are clean (and warriors in prints are often bearded and wild-looking to reflect their warlike attitude). Third, the pose looks theatrical in its stillness. Certainly, the artist was good enough to make it as dynamic as was custom for that period, should that have been necessary. Also (and this is more of a gut feeling) the bamboo and the lantern in the background seem like something to do with the theater, too.

Now, the only question that remains is, what’s the play? To answer it I had to scroll quite a bit through google images search until I found the original. It, as expected, came with many inscriptions.

Utagawa Kunisada, 1856

As the cool red lion-plaque in the right corner indicates, the series this print is from is called Seven calligraphic variants of the iroha (清書七伊呂波). Next, a title says that what we see is a scene for the character tsu (つ) from the Kabuki play Tsuzure-no nishiki (襤褸錦, roughly translates as "The brocade of rags"). Which explains the clothes. Next to the title of the play the names of the characters are listed. The black squares on the left (to the best of my understanding) contain the names of the actors.

More pictures and links under cut!

*hikime kagibana

a close-up of a court lady from Genji monogatari emaki, 12th century (source)

**an actor's portrait by Sharaku

Arashi Ryûzô II as Ishibe Kinkichi, 1794 (source)

***a warrior print

石橋山伏木隠　大場三郎景親 (Ishibashiyama: hidden under a bowed tree; Ōba Saburō Kagechika), by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, mid-19th century (source)

And also

the same scene from Tsuzure-no nishiki in larger scale (same artist, but from about 30 years earlier). The lantern, bamboo and the straw... something seem to indeed be stage decorations/props (source)

P.S. Just remembered that i made another iroha-related post a while ago

[stylecouncil]

“My friend Jim Ellison committed suicide last Thursday. He was thirty-two. His mom had called the police to check on him after not hearing from him for a few days. They found him on top of his moped, next to his car, a note at his side, dead from fumes.

Many knew Ellison as the lead singer and guitarist of the Chicago pop group Material Issue, and as the writer of the band’s hits and near-hits, “Diane,” “Valerie Loves Me,” “What Girls Want,” “Going Through Your Purse” and “The Very First Lie.” On stage, Jim had a trademark posture: He’d put his foot on the monitor and make ridiculous, almost obscene faces at the audience. His skinny arms held a Gretsch guitar and his skeletal frame would contort to match the poses of his many rock ’n’ roll heroes—Sweet, the Beatles, the Shoes, even Green.

Material Issue’s career—and thus Jim’s career, for he was the heart, soul and brains of the band—followed a well-worn pattern. The band put out an indie EP and single, got picked up by a major label, made some noise with their debut. Those were the good days, with MTV playing “Diane” and “Valerie,” and “Very First Lie” appearing in a Drew Barrymore movie. But Material Issue’s second album sold less than its first and its third less than its second, and The Ish was dropped by its label.

Plenty of people relished Material Issue’s fall from grace. With his refusal to pretend not to enjoy his success, Jim sometimes could be hard to take. He’d boast about his band’s accomplishments and bought a ‘67 Volvo, about which he’d hiss in his oft-imitated nasally giggle, “Looks just like the car in ‘Man from U.N.C.L.E.’” His collection of vintage guitars and custom-made leather jackets flew in the face of Chicago’s simpleton “work clothes = rock ’n’ roll authenticity” calculus. And he had horrible taste in company, hanging out almost exclusively with assholes and selecting girlfriends who were uniformly moronic.

That’s the side of Ellison that everybody saw, the side that worked the door at Batteries, booked Gaspar’s, drank at Cubby Bear, slummed at Phyllis’. The seedy scenester with the goofy bravado, the would-be impresario who, it was joked, had already written a thousand follow-ups to “The Very First Lie.” That’s half of who he was, and to deny it is to cheat him of what he probably would have called his better half.

But it’s only half. The other half was the kid who grew up in Addison, Illinois, the ultimate nowheresville suburb, and dared to dream his way out.

Jim was the most generous guy I know. When we’d work on cars together he’d beg me to let him pitch in to buy me something better than my rustbucket. When I did get a new car, he taught me to drive a stick. At the peak of his fame, he wasn’t above getting under the hood, and he was an accomplished enough mechanic to attain that profession’s ultimate skill: smoking while working on the engine.

Those were good times, working on our cars at his Addison homestead, where he still lived with his parents and addressed his mom and sister with a tenderness one never would expect from the doorman at Exit. I’d give him a hard time about living at home, but he was proud of the fact that he was getting a college degree and building his guitar collection.

Jim chose the name of my band The Lilacs and produced our first record. He negotiated a great rate for us, then drove us out to Zion and recorded over old Ish demos to save money on tape. He played a little guitar and sang one harmony part and forever after took full credit for the record’s small success.

One time, we were adjusting the clutch cable on my Datsun and took a break to go to Taco Bell. Counting his change as we pulled away from the drive-through, Ellison exclaimed, “Hey, that lady Jewed me.” Mortified as he realized what he’d said and who he’d said it to, Jim apologized over and over, until it was embarrassing for both of us.

Material Issue’s rise to late-night TV appearances and buzz-bin videos wasn’t as easy as the guys tried to make it appear. Ellison crafted the band’s career in shrewd detail. After chewing up a dozen rhythm sections, Ellison found the perfect combo in Ted Ansani and Mike Zelenko, who shared in the Ish’s International Pop Overthrow for a decade. In January 1988, he set up a Green/Ish tour of dive Midwestern bars. Fourteen nights, Ellison and company played the exact same songs in the exact same order while Green—the band I was playing in—dipped into its dozens-strong collection and carefully crafted a new set list each night. By the end of the tour, Green still played shitty and The Ish sounded better than ever. Outside the Gallery in Normal, Jim fell down a set of icy stairs, his HiWatt amp tumbling on top of him. We ran out to check on him, and his reply rings in my ear now that I’ll never hear his giggle again. Brushing off his skintight pants, he smiled and said, “Thin as a rail, tough as a nail.”

Something I learned from Ellison is the magic of unfounded confidence. Ellison believed he was a star long before he actually was. Pretty soon, people started to accept his impression of himself and by the time he was a little bit of a star, he already knew how to act. This was a well-planned attitude, something he’d thought up and worked on. Years later, at the peak of his career, we went to the Cubby Bear to see a Beatles soundalike band. Between sets we were saying that they were pretty good for that sort of thing. Then the John stand-in emerged from the bathroom and Ellison said, “That’s why they’ll never be big. Rock ’n’ rollers don’t want to believe that their heroes take a piss in the same place as their fans.”

Ellison once brought one of our heroes, master bubblegummer Mike Chapman, to see my band, the Lilacs. Drunk and nervous, I tried to lead a reluctant and decidedly non-jamming band in a version of “Blockbuster.” Everyone hated it, including Chapman. Ellison loved it. “Dude, let me do the falsetto,” came the hilarious hiss.

With even Rolling Stone finally acknowledging that, duh, drugs are a serious problem within the rock world, everyone will probably wonder if they played a role in this tragedy. They didn’t. Material Issue’s bassist was so famous for growing copious amounts of marijuana that “Tedweed” became the generic for bad pot. On one tour my band did with Ellison’s, most members of both acts inhaled with near hourly frequency—but Jim didn’t take a single puff. And though he drank like anyone else, I can’t remember ever seeing him really drunk.

All of God’s creatures come equipped with a life-preserving instinct. You can’t drown yourself or fight the reflex that pulls your hand from a flame. The inner pain that allows someone to overcome that instinct is unimaginable to those who don’t feel it. And it’s come as a surprise to many that Ellison, a relentless cheerleader and jovial companion, was experiencing the kind of torment usually associated with brooders and crybabies.

I’m haunted by the notion that the hard times Material Issue has fallen on recently may have played a role in this. I know that no one, not even a born rock star like Jim, cares enough about pop music to end his life because of it. There’s a lot more to it than that. But Jim’s life consisted of simple pleasures, a world of good guys and pretty girls. His best lyrics—“I don’t need a girlfriend, I need an accomplice,” “I want love, I want drugs, I want sex and affection,” “Maybe just once pretend to be somebody’s better half”—share a worldview that reduces life to those things that really are nice and sweet and good. The tragedy is that those things are sometimes not enough.”

— obituary for Jim Ellison written by Ken Kurson, Published on June 27, 1996

[duststooooorm]

yesterday my cousin told me i should rank every decaydance artist i listen to by most to least likely to do my taxes to their music. here is that:

#1 - doug does decaydance: this album is literally perfect to do your taxes to. the entire thing is chill enough that it’s the perfect background noise that will enhance you instead of distract you. we peaked here, it’s all downhill from here.

#2 - the hush sound: even though i just said we peaked with doug, the hush sound are a great close second. when i’m getting busy crunching numbers i’ll definitely need some borderline folk to get me through it. generally i just get so serenely happy every time i hear one of their songs even if the message of the song absolutely does not call for that simply because of how nostalgic they make me. they have consistently been my favorite band for 7 years so i’ve done everything with their music in the background so why not taxes too?

#3 - panic! at the disco: i am mostly putting them at 3 because of pretty odd so i’ll go into that for a bit. obviously pretty odd is non-offending enough to do a menial task such as tax filing to. that’s a given, but anything else i’m not so sure. anything after vices is a hard no, but i think i could have a good time doing taxes to afycso and vices as well. pretty odd would be the best choice out of those three of course, but i could absolutely handle afycso and vices.

#4 - fall out boy & the academy is…: i’m tying these two together because i just think they would both make it really fun. like there really isn’t that much objectively calm stuff like the previous 3 but i really feel like popping anything by either of these bands on would make such a menial task as tax filing a little more interesting. maybe do a little dances while you report your yearly income. night’s still young.

#5 - cobra starship: i’m gonna level with you guys as much as i love cobra starship, i’m not sure how badly i want to be doing something as important as taxes while i have very energetic club music playing. just imagine doing your taxes to scandalous. would you get a single thing done or are you simply built different than me? of course there are some songs that would be fine to play but the majority would just be very, very, very distracting.

#6 - gym class heroes: every single time i put any gym class heroes song on that i know by heart i make the complete effort to rap/sing each and every word of it. all the time no matter who i am with. could you see why this would pose an issue while i’m filing taxes? with everything else i’ve talked about so far the distractions might come from the music themselves but with this one i would literally create the distractions. i would be my own problem when new friend request comes on. so please, if you ever find yourself filing taxes with me just do NOT put gym class heroes on for your own sake.

[nyctx]

#4

The whole parent thing got resolved and now everyone is fine. Thank fuck, I almost broke down entirely.

Anyway, I have officially fallen back into my creepypasta phase. I thought it would've stayed dead after middle school...but no. I'm kinda glad because now it gives me more of a reason to draw weird shit, I can use that as an excuse. Been wanting to draw body horror, but I don't know what's stopping me personally. I redrew Jeff the Killer with no eyelids...ok, maybe I gave his eyes some sort of shape, but I want it to look like his eyelids were burnt off. I actually really like that part of him. The hairstyle I gave him kinda looks like my best friend's old haircut and I can't unsee it. I can totally see him doing that for Halloween if he ever wanted to. I also made a creepypasta-themed desktop background for this Chromebook on my account and I'm pretty proud of it. I tried making it look patched together.

I started listening to the full One-X album by Three Days Grace and holy fuck my nuts exploded. 'On My Own' scratches my brain the right way. I need to look into more albums because I could be missing out on bangers. One-X reminds me so much of Creepypasta I swear. I think I'm becoming an emo kind or something. But then again, I dunno. Music is music and I love music regardless.

Something crazy happened with my tio. So, I read his and my cousin's tarot readings and they were spot on, like usual. But the thing is, he got V of Swords reversed. Which is basically telling the person that they need to resolve and move on from a disagreement they've had with someone, to make peace with it. At first, I didn't question it too much because he has a lot of disagreements with a lot of people. But then, he mentioned his wife. Who he hadn't talked to in 5 days, a crazy coincidence. 5 of Swords...5 days. So he decided to shoot her a text and not even a few minutes later, he gets a very important email that relates to them. Holy shit, it blew my mind. Crazy, but I'm just glad it gave him some sort of sign to resolve the issue.

I finally gave my character his face reveal. I had struggled to give this character a face reveal for so long and nothing seemed right. Then I found a reference to a dad-ish bod and an eye shape reference and tried applying it to my style and it works so well. I'm sorta happy with myself for it. I'm trying to also get better at perspective as well. I can never angle anatomy right, I hate it. But my best friend and my other friend think I'm getting better so I'm glad. My best friend and two other friends are solely the reason I keep pushing to become a better artist. I love drawing them and their characters. They're amazing and creative people and I'm glad to have them in my life. Words can't even begin to describe how much I appreciate them. I love them with all my heart. If you three are reading this, I love you guys.

Anyways, I started a new anime that my best friend recommended to me. It's called Chainsaw Man and I absolutely love it. The gore and the body horror amaze me and get my blood pumping. The devil designs are so cool and I'm curious about other fears. I'm not a big fan of Denji, but I love Power and the Violence Fiend. Another one I started was Spy x Family, but I'm not sure I'll go far with that one. Was contemplating starting up My Hero Academia again, but decided against it. It's just not my thing anymore.

Speaking of my best friend, I wanted to draw us and the art squad doing something, but what? I was originally thinking of drawing him and me with our favorite birds. I really really like Barn Owls, they're so pretty to me. I gave up because of the poses. My mind is flowing with artistic ideas, but not writing ones. I haven't written my novel or worked on the comic strip in 2 weeks. I have writer's block and it fucking sucks because I can't do jack shit about it. I'll find a way. My mind knows little to no bounds anyway.

-Dxll Face

[llpodcast]

(Literary License Podcast)

Batman: The Animated Series

 See No Evil  

 Lloyd "Eddie" Ventrix is on the verge of losing his daughter, Kimberly (Elisabeth Moss), to his ex-wife, Helen, due to his past as a con artist. Determined not to lose Kimberly, Ventrix dons a suit, stolen from where he used to work while on parole, which grants the user invisibility but also becomes highly toxic and drives him insane. He poses as Kimberly's imaginary friend, Mojo, and planning to abduct her from her mother, while in a crime spree as an invisible robber. Batman must solve the mystery crimes and stop Ventrix, despite the fact that he cannot even see him.

 Beware the Gray Ghost

 Simon Trent, an actor best known for his past role as "The Gray Ghost", is on the verge of bankruptcy thanks to his declining career. To save himself, he sells off all of his Gray Ghost merchandise. Immediately afterwards, a series of bombings related to the old show begin to occur. Batman, having himself been inspired partly by the show to become the crimefighter he now is, goes to Trent for help, and they team up to put an end to the crimes, and also revive Trent's career.

 Prophecy of Doom 

 Batman investigates a cult, called the Brotherhood, founded by the "mystic" Nostromos, after hearing about a number of stories from his colleagues about his ability to predict the future. Batman finds out that Nostromos is actually a con artist who was rigging near-fatal accidents to gain the confidence of Gotham's upper class citizens, and he must expose this ruse before it is too late.

 Joker’s Favor

 After a man named Charlie Collins curses at the Joker on the road for offensive driving, the Clown Prince of Crime corners him and intimidates him into doing him a "small favor". Two years pass, and the Joker finally decides how to use Charlie: to sneak a bomb into the Peregrinator's Club, where Commissioner Gordon is to give a speech at an award ceremony. Charlie, who merely has to open the door, is sceptical at first, but for the sake of his family, he reluctantly decides to obey.

 We are joined by Mark Krawczyk, Host of The Spoiler Room podcast.  You can follow his show or himself by going to the following websites:

 https://www.specialmarkproductions.com

https://anchor.fm/spoilerroompodcast

https://twitter.com/SpecialMarkPro

https://www.instagram.com/SpecialMarkProd

https://www.tiktok.com/@specialmarkproductions

  Opening Credits; Introduction (1.29); Amazing Design Advertisement (32.25); Episode One See No Evil (33.37); Episode Two: Beware the Grey Ghost (47.24); Episode Three:  Prophecy of Doom (1:20.20); Episode Four: Joker’s Favor (1:45.57); Favourite and Least Favourite Character (2:34.15);Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel (2:51.43); Closing Credits (2:54.37)

 Opening Credits– Batman Animated Theme by Danny Elfman.  Copyright 1992 Warner Music 

 Closing Credits:  My Hero by The Foo Fighters. Taken from the album The Color and The Shape.  Copyright 1997 Roswell – Capitol Records.

​

Original Music copyrighted 2020 Dan Hughes Music and the Literary License Podcast. 

 All rights reserved. Used with Kind Permission.

 All songs available through Amazon Music.

[potassiumsworld]

These are some characters of a story that I wrote when I was 6 or 7 called Proxx: Rainbow heroes. Why rainbows? Because back then I was obsessed with rainbows and wanted to make a story about it.

You know those children's polaroid camera's from 20-ish years ago? I had one and took a pic of almost every rainbow I saw (and still have those pics in an album in my room, along with family pictures). So yeah.... Rainbow Heroes...

Small lore about the Proxx: Rainbow Heroes:

- Aqua and Serena are sisters.

- Janice is a spy.

- Amy is a failed experiment which resulted in her turning back into a child.

- Kiko is the first one I ever drew so she's kinda the leader?

- Kat's adopted.

- Vivia is a fusion between siblings Bubbles (green) and Rainy (blue) to keep each other alive after a car accident.

- When I started writing the story I was obsessed with rainbows and started making pictures of them with my children's polaroid camera and still have the pictures as of today in an album in my room.

Also, this pose yells: "No fucks given! I. AM. FREE!"

[26labrd]

excerpts from j’etais tintin au cinema, jean-pierre talbot’s autobiography on his time playing tintin in the 1960s, as featured in the booklet accompanying bfi’s dvd release of tintin and the golden fleece. transcript under the cut. excerpts from the booklet accompanying the dvd release of tintin and the blue oranges can be found here.

“Jean-Pierre Talbot on being Tintin:

A young fitness instructor, Jean-Pierre Talbot, was plucked from obscurity to play the famous boy-reporter in Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece. A huge Tintin fan himself Talbot took his role very seriously, refusing to let professional stuntmen stand in for the more dangerous scenes and making sure that he looked exactly the part. Talbot was such a convincing Tintin that producers quickly signed him up for the next Tintin film adventure. Here he recalls meeting Hergé and how it felt to play his hero – Tintin.

---

Spiritual son

One of the best things that happened to me was during my first meeting with Hergé. I met him by chance when he came to greet the Production. I didn’t have to be in the building that day but a change in my schedule brought me there. I was picking up my new timetable when I became aware of a commotion around me. Someone informed that, “Hergé is coming.”

The hour of truth had arrived. Was Hergé going to support the producer’s choice?

I only lacked Hergé’s approval to confirm me in what I was calling ‘my mission.’

Almost simultaneously Hergé and I entered André Barret’s office, each of us by a different door. We’re here, all three of us, all smiling. I stammer out a shy hello, but my handshake is firm. Very amused, André Barret makes the customary introductions.

“Jean-Pierre, this is Hergé.”

And, turning towards Hergé:

“Here is Jean-Pierre.”

Reassuringly, the atmosphere becomes immediately less tense. Hergé sizes me up for a few seconds. Those few seconds seem to last a lifetime. I am worried in a way that I have rarely ever been. What will his verdict be?

Very paternally, he puts his hand on my shoulder and says smiling, “Ah yes, it’s really him.” He did not say “it looks like him” or “he’s suitable," no, he said, “Ah yes, it’s really him”! My heart started beating normally again and I was, genuinely, the happiest man in the world.

We stayed for about an hour talking about everything and nothing, then we had lunch. Hergé seemed amused and astonished about what had taken place: he recognized this character! Better still, Tintin had sprung out of the album. He had become flesh and blood: he had come to life. Extraordinary!

A few days later, we posed together for a Paris Match feature.

In the street people clamoured for my autograph, but how should I sign? Jean-Pierre Talbot? No one knew him. Everyone wanted Tintin’s signature. That was normal, after all my name didn’t appear on the poster. No, it cited Tintin and Snowy and Georges Wilson as Captain Haddock… So I turned to Hergé and asked him: “Shall I sign it ‘Tintin’?”

“Yes, of course!”, replied a man who was still smiling and extraordinarily surprised by this turn of events.

When we were shooting the interior scenes, André Barret organized a champagne buffet and invited Hergé. On that day we went for a long walk, he always had a paternal hand on my shoulder and I was always so proud of this acknowledgment. But he never intervened, or gave me any comments or advice on how to interpret his character. Likewise I never solicited his advice or raised this question. There was, without doubt, a sort of modesty between us.

After the films we met up more or less once a year, in particular on Michel Drucker’s show and during the festivities for Tintin’s 50th anniversary. I told him then that I’d been embarrassed to sign myself Tintin as I felt that I was stealing a little but of his popularity. He replied to me with an answer I would never forget: “But no, Jean-Pierre, you were right to do this because you never demythologized my character.”

I was, as he confided in me, his ‘spiritual son.’ But I was never overly familiar with him and I was impressed more by his composure than my own. This great artist rarely spoke, but he always listened, despite the violent temper that some people attributed to him.

When I rubbed shoulders with the Master, two surprising things about him struck me. When ideas were exchanged he participated little, listened carefully and then gave his opinion, it was staggering, and had such authority that everyone saw – ultimately – that Hergé was always right!

During autograph sessions or meetings with fans, I was flabbergasted to see that he was astonished by his success. Slapping his thigh with a smile he used to exclaim, “It’s not possible.” I knew that he was overjoyed.

The Golden Fleece

“For his first film, André Barret had requested Remo Forlani’s collaboration. Although the screenplay of both films wasn’t taken from comic albums drawn by Hergé, books with the story do exist. Casterman was given stills of the shoot to edit Tintin’s cinematic adventures. What amused me the most was the discovery of Pascal Somon’s reproduction of The Golden Fleece. He had the tact not to imitate Hergé’s drawings. His interpretation of Tintin intentionally gave a little volume to the lips and the earlobes. I was overjoyed when he offered me three hardback volumes composed of his version of The Golden Fleece in black and white, a work of excellent quality.

Later he gave me a colour version in one volume this time. I prefer – for my part – the black and white version.

He also drew me, as Tintin, crouching next to a map of the world or walking with Hergé opposite the offices of éditions Lombard. He was given photos taken from my tests for the drawings.

I had heard talk of a similar version of Blue Oranges, but I have only recently discovered it. After much inquiry, by a miracle, I found this album, drawn by Fa-Bergé. Very funny… and interesting. These works are known as ‘pirate’ albums and their artists ‘forgers.’ I don’t see why this should be as it’s not ‘fake Hergé.’ No one believes that Hergé is the author. There’s nothing ambiguous. Everyone knows it. It’s simply a light-hearted homage, since my two films had never been drawn. But happiness for me!

For the scenes which took place in Greece we shot around Loutraki, in the Gulf of Corinth, as well as in an ancient port by the name of Ireo, not forgetting Athens, Pireas, and Meteora.

We also passed through Turkey – Istanbul’s old districts, the Blue Mosque, the Bosporus, the Golden Horn, the Castle of Rumeli, built on a hill overhanging the river.

In action, I’m still Tintin

During certain risky scenes I felt even more like my hero. Furthermore in Rumeli Castle I received a commemorative medal marked with ‘Rumelihisarinin – Hatirasi,’ after having accomplished the exploit of descending down the main tower using only the strength in my wrists, a perilous drop.

This scene was the most thrilling to shoot. And to think that the Production wanted to use a double! I noticed that two men, who looked like me, were getting ready but I didn’t know why.

When I asked the Production, they answered that professional stuntmen had to be hired to shoot the descent in my place because I would certainly never accept the risk involved! I am positively against this. I had been chosen from thousands of hopefuls to personify Tintin, I wasn’t going to bunk off even if it became dangerous. In the same way I wasn’t going to use a double for a scene that I was perfectly capable of mastering. After all, I was very sporty and this task seemed to be within my competence, even if the Production was not completely unjustified in its decision. The tower was located on a hill, accentuating the impression of height. I was more proud of myself after this exploit because I identified much more with the character that I was playing.

We didn’t have to start again. The take, shot by three cameras, was good the first time!

Another descent – a motorbike chase which wasn’t without surprises – was an extra opportunity for me to really be Tintin.

I had to drive the bike, with Georges Wilson on the saddle behind holding Snowy in his arms, tailing – at full speed – the bandits’ car on a winding little mountain road.

To be a credible Captain Haddock, Georges was having to gesticulate in all directions behind my back and it was down to me to keep the bike on the road, even though I had only passed my test for the film.

Everything went smoothly until the car – doctored so it would skid – skidded, but in the wrong way so it barred my way! You’ll agree that I couldn’t just charge straight into it! So what to do? I had no solution: there were rocks on the left, and on the right a sheer drop! I surprised myself by thinking, “come on, Tintin!” and I reacted on the spot by turning round the handlebars, accurately avoiding a head-on collision.

I escaped the worst but my partner, frightened and furious, threw his hat on the ground… and Snowy as well. The poor little beast will remember this and hold it against him throughout the filming.

Although I always got on well with him, I sometimes had the clear impression that Georges would have willingly ousted me from the front of the poster, me the inexperienced youngster who knew nothing. After all, it was him who was the professional comedian. But I was not easily deceived and defended myself so that Tintin remained the main character.”

[setzappersto-pew]

StarKid and Musical Score #2

Pop culture parodies tread fine lines to avoid copyright violations, especially when it comes to music. Some go for a certain mood or genre to evoke the source. Holy Musical B@man! is a great example. Nick Gage and Scott Lamps used strictly synthesizer and an electronic drum kit. They made great use of the standard synthesizer sound, calling to mind ‘80s new wave electronic music; a darker electric guitar sound to capture the gritty Batman from The Dark Knight or The Killing Joke; and light and playful bell tones, representing the innocence of Robin or perhaps the campy silliness of the ‘60s Batman TV show.

When it’s a parody musical of a musical, the challenge is even greater. Enter Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier.

There’s not a lot of interstitial music to set the scenes, but what little there is excels with capturing the mood, like the eerie strings and woodwinds coupled with sporadic percussion during Aladdin’s breakdown near the end. Instead, Twisted features a large number of songs to fill its 2.25 hour runtime, so I’m going to focus on the instrumentals of those for this post. The instrumentation for this show includes keyboard, drums, guitar/bass, violin, cello, flute, clarinet, and alto/tenor saxophone. It’s a much bigger and more varied band than any StarKid show had before or since.

The endeavor that composer A.J. Holmes, accompanied by incredible lyricist Kaley McMahon, set out on was to evoke not only the source material, Disney’s Aladdin, but also other Disney movies of the same era and the Broadway musical Wicked. The Disney references are all over the place, including the Disney-fied StarKid logo. The latter was accomplished via the title (Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier vs. Wicked: The Untold Story of a Wicked Witch), the album cover, the method of role reversal (a villain posed as the hero of their own story), and even a direct reference to the book. But A.J., along with orchestrator Andrew Fox and music director Justin Fischer, took it a step further with several songs to give the audience a truly immersive and magical experience.

To keep it simple, I’m going to link each song--or most, as some I can’t quite figure out--to another Disney or Wicked song that A.J. was likely, or even obviously, taking influence from. The similarities are often in the instrumentation and tempo; chord progressions and adjacent melodies; or lyrics and character situations.

Not a song, but the opening music evokes the haunting strings and bells in the opening of Beauty and the Beast to a tee. Like...it’s a dead ringer, obviously in purpose.

“Dream a Little Harder”: An opening ensemble number like “Belle” from Beauty and The Beast. Introduces the protagonist and the surrounding characters with a sweet and tremulous flute at the beginning and bouncy strings throughout. Lyrics mirror each other, i.e. “Fuck you” = “Bonjour”...Nick’s favorite line, “Marie! The baguettes! Hurry up!”...they all hate Ja’far vs. they all think Belle is weird. Belle is even part of the ensemble, telling Ja’far to keep his “fat face out of the mother fucking book”! It’s a pretty obvious comparison. 

“I Steal Everything”: “One Jump Ahead” from Aladdin is the obvious parallel in orchestration, melody, tempo, lyrics, character situation...everything.

“Everything and More”: Again, an obvious parody of “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid. Same gentle yet sweeping melody, same lilting tempo paired with vocals timid one moment and powerful the next, lyrics exploring desire for more.

“A Thousand and One Nights”: This one was a little harder, as really none of the Disney princesses have duets with their princes. But I think it pairs well with “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King, at least after Timon and Pumbaa have their moment! The back and forth between lovers talking to themselves about the other has a similar feel. Honestly, this song is pretty original and yet manages to evoke Disney love song perfectly without copying any. The gentle melody, sweeping yet sweet orchestration, and the dialogue really sell it. They knew it was the love song because they went ahead and parodied the cheesy pop covers that ‘90s Disney movies are known for with a true bop performed by Britney Coleman and Carlos Valdes.

“Orphaned at 33″: Perhaps the reprise of “One Jump Ahead”? It’s slower and more melancholy and has similar chord progression and crooning vocals. Maybe “Go the Distance” from Hercules? Both are songs of sadness and longing, but StarKid’s Aladdin is far more pathetic and creepy than Hercules. EDIT: “Proud of Your Boy”, which was cut from Aladdin and put in the stage show, is absolutely the reference here! Again, a song of sadness and longing and self-pity and lamentation of a bad childhood...and StarKid’s Aladdin is still more pathetic. Musical parallels: similar chord progressions, embellishments, instrumentation, time signature, tempo, etc.; starts with delicate notes and Aladdin just talking (this starts at 46 seconds in “Orphaned at 33″, after a prelude); lilting and tiptoeing melody in the middle (1:56 for “Orphaned”, 1:08 for “Proud”); powerful sustained vocals and sweeping winds and strings to finish. I know this song was in the back of my mind, but it just wasn’t coming to me. Thank you @hatchetfieldtheories and @melchron for helping me out! 

“Happy Ending”: The last half, at 1:50, really reminds me of “Defying Gravity” from Wicked, specifically at 5:15. The quiet and tense music make way for powerful vocals and are just waiting to burst forth for a showstopping ending. Both songs are also Act 1 closers. I can’t really place the rest of “Happy Ending”, but it all reminds me of Wicked with the powerful rock guitar and drums paired with cinematic strings. Plus, I always love when multiple melodies come together as reprises, most often as Act 1 closers!

“No One Remembers Achmed”: A sillier version of “Gaston” from Beauty and The Beast. The spurned villain’s cohorts are pumping him up and singing his praises! Both melodies are jaunty, though with different instrumentation...Twisted’s featuring sillier sound effects and goofy xylophone.

“Take Off Your Clothes”: A sexier version of “A Whole New World” from Aladdin. Slightly modified melody, and obviously the lyrics, but it’s exactly the same.

“The Power in Me”: A solemn and sweet farewell duet between friends like “For Good” from Wicked. The delicate woodwinds and strings sound similar to the gentle synth in “For Good”. Vocal performances are cautious and tender at first but quickly become strong and confident. “You are the power in me” and “I have been changed for good” follow almost the exact same rhythm.

The titular song has many facets, so I’ll detail them here:

Opening to 1:03 and 5:55 to the end = “No Good Deed” from Wicked, with the same intense strings and percussion. The whole situation and lyrics match, with both Ja’far and Elphaba deciding to just be antiheroes because no one sees them as heroes anyway. “I’ll be twisted, it’s my turn” matches “No good deed will I do ever again” and “I’m wicked through and through”.

1:10-2:06 = “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid...it’s Ursula, so of course...but also, the woodwinds and keyboard mimicking brass evoke the same bouncy yet menacing rhythm, akin to an evil polka.

2:07-2:50 = “Be Prepared” from The Lion King. Obviously, it’s Scar’s moment...but also, they have similar deep and primitive drums and woodwinds.

The rest of the songs (”Sands of Time”, “Golden Rule”, and “If I Believed”) I couldn’t really place, but they still evoke the source materials. “Golden Rule” has a classic musical theatre ensemble number feel, with fun strings and woodwinds and delightful choruses; the reprise turns it on its head with menacing piano and bass. “If I Believed” is another take on an “I want” song; the flute and cello pair very nicely together to support Dylan’s soulful voice.

My next post in this series will likely be about the Hatchetfield series: The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals, Black Friday, and Nightmare Time. There’s a lot in between, like the AVP Trilogy, ANI, and Starship, but the music for those stands out less to me. They’re great, don’t get me wrong, but I think that the score is not what makes them special. The Hatchetfield stuff, however...is intense.

Thanks for reading!

[sorryimanon]

Character: Shouto Todoroki

Long distance isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Your boyfriend, Shouto, goes overseas on a special mission in America. Back home, you try to take advantage of the distance with a couple of pictures.

Warnings: 18+, phone sex

Word count: 4k

-

Shouto watched with somber eyes as you packed the last remaining suitcase into the trunk of the car, back still turned against him so he couldn't see your tears. Bakugou and Izuku insisted on driving to the airport together, taking into consideration that they were all traveling overseas to the same destination. The night before, you were being a stubborn brat, not liking the idea of sending Shouto off at the crack of dawn. He showered you with affection afterward, his body never leaving your touch. Making love didn't cross both of your minds. It would've hurt in the after glow knowing the distance that'll be between you for the months to come. The two of you decided to just lay lifelessly in each other's arms, limbs interlocking, fingers carefully tracing skin, and hearts beating in unison. Moments like that is what truly captured the relationship as a whole.

With your back still turned, Shouto saunters over and wraps his arms around your torso, along with his head resting on top of yours. You hummed at his subtle touch. Eyes drawn to a close, you ruffled his split colored hair, already imagining the smile forming on his stern face. It was always a miracle when you manage to witness Shouto genuinely smile without forcing it.

You turned on your heel and reposition Shouto's hands on your hips. "Call me as soon as you touch down in America. Okay?" you didn't care at how needy you sounded, anything involving Shouto and hero work gave you anxiety.

The arm holding onto your hip soon reached the bottom of your chin, tilting it slightly so your eyes can formally meet. His dark irises became glossy as you stared harder, trying to capture every feature before he leaves in case within those months you forgot what he looks like. Even though you had a separate album on your phone filled to the brim with selfies and funny pictures of him, mostly taking up your storage space.

"I promise sweetheart. Remember, this will be the shortest 6 months you'll endure. I'll be home quicker than you can say All Might," he said, tucking a loose strand of your hair behind your ear. The action made you blush and giddy, referring back to the ways he'd make you feel during U.A.

Subconsciously, you both lean in against each other, waiting patiently for who's making the next move.  Your lips hovered over his, unsure if he wants to kiss goodbye or stay wrapped in your arms. A minute has gone by and you two stayed cemented in the same position. Fuck it, you thought. Who cares if it'll make you miss each other more. You harshly grabbed his face and leaned forward, preparing your lips to come into contact. But the loud beep emitting from the car made you both jump out of each other's grasp, knocking you backwards onto the cold surface.

Bakugou's head popped out comically from one of the windows, eyes gleaming with rage.

"Oi! Hurry up you dumbasses! We were supposed to leave 5 minutes ago!" he hollered, spit spraying out from this mouth.

You overheard Izuku, who was in the passengers seat, trying to calm down the explosive blonde. A pair of calloused hands slipped behind the back of your neck, crashing your lips to mount another. There's no hunger in the kiss. No teeth or tongue battling it out. Just pure passion burning within the languish kiss. Feeling satisfied, Shouto released himself from your mouth, leaving you breathlessly staring back at him in awe. With one last romantic gesture, your boyfriend rubbed the outer part of your cheek and pinched it between his fingers, smiling at your reddened reaction and shuffled towards the side door of the car.

"I love you y/n," was all he said before sliding the door shut.

You mumbled the exact sentiment as the car revved up and maneuvered out of your driveway. Shortly after wiping away some dried up tears, the car soon disappears from your line of vision, leaving you all alone on the driveway.

“All Might...” you whisper to no one in particular.

-

About 3 months into the trial of long distance, you were already experiencing the symptoms of postpartum-boyfriend-syndrome. Constantly crying yourself to sleep? Check. Going through his Instagram to make sure he didn’t delete any of your pictures together? Check. Texting him every hour on any given day to see how fast he’d respond? Check. Also, the inevitable weight gain from stress eating? Double check.

A couple of your friends noticed the sudden mood change when Shouto arrived in America that first initial month of separation. Momo for example, confronted you in the locker room at the agency one day, spewing about how you almost got yourself decapitated by a villain when your guard was down.

“I’m sorry Momo. My mind has been in the gutter lately. Shouto hasn’t texted me all day since this morning. I’m just worried this whole long distance thing is going to ruin our relationship,” you admitted , wincing at how incredibly clingy you sounded.

Momo began undressing herself, her lips caught between her teeth, clearly taking in what you said. Once she shimmied our from her hero costume, a devilish smirk rested upon her face.

“If you feel like your relationship is going grey, maybe try to spice things up a little. Ya know? Use the distance to your advantage.”

Your hands stopped themselves from unzipping your tight suit. “Hah? What do you mean by that?”

Momo chuckled, amused by how innocent you were acting.

“Come on, you know what I mean y/n,” she slipped on her everyday attire and closed the locker. “You know what they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.” With that she gave you a wink and left the room.

A picture huh?

Across from you was a massive mirror. Each end reaching the edge of the room, everything being showcased, including you. Sometimes you’d walk in catching a few of the prohero girls taking selfies. They all had one thing in common, confidence. Something you had before Shouto’s departure. It felt as if someone used an ice pick to cut away the very little self esteem you had left, leaving you with barely anything to offer anymore. You couldn’t help to compare yourself to the proheros Shouto has been working alongside with since being in America. American girls were a different breed. Everyone over there looks exactly the same but different somehow. You tried not to think too much as you resumed on unzipping your hero costume. Today you wore a plain black bra set underneath. You hardly put on anything skimpy or sexy since you’re practically on patrol everyday, resorting to your trusty sport bras.

You caught a quick glimpse of yourself in the horizontal mirror, gaping at the added fat in your chest area. All thanks to the weight gain, your boobs looked delicious in the bra. The lower half of your body was nothing to ignore either. Your ass filled up the small undergarments, cheeks teasingly spilling out.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Momo’s words enticed you enough to grab your cellphone from the pocket of your duffel bag. Work hours was over for everyone in the building, so you weren’t worried about someone walking in on this compromising state.

You tried to mimic the poses you witnessed from the times you watched the girls do it. One hand on the hip, the other behind your head, along with angling your ass to the side. The pose was uncomfortable. How did they manage to hold this stance for longer than ten seconds? You took some pictures anyway, ignoring how awkward you presented yourself in the mirror.

Each picture you swiped through didn’t meet the criteria. Were these even good enough to send off to Shouto? He loves you no matter what, he reminded you everyday in fact, but your stomach dropped of the thought of him being revolted at these images. You quickly deleted all of the them and sighed in defeat. One more try.

Dropping down to your knees, you held the camera above your head, showing off every part of your body. You spread your legs a couple of inches, your cloth slit on full display. To add even more, you leaned forward a little bit to have your boobs almost spilling out from your tight bra. Through the camera lens, the top part of your nipples were visible. Surly Shouto wasn’t dense to not notice.

Your mouth was agape as you stared at the pictures you recently took. This person in the frame didn’t look anything like you. If you were to show this to Momo she’d be a proud mother.

Without hesitation, you sent a couple of the pictures to Shouto, leaving a cute little message at the bottom once they finally delivered.

Missing you extra today :) xoxo

You didn’t wait for his reply and started packing up everything in your area. Hopefully Shouto won’t be angry at your sudden bluntness, but he left you no choice. An acute noise came from your duffle bag. The blood rushing through your veins suddenly became very cold. It must be a message from Shoto, it has to be. You waited till you arrived safely home to check what he responded with. To your dismay, it was a reminder for next weeks meeting. You shuffled out from your car and headed straight to your shared apartment, a pout currently prominent on your face due to the failed mission.

On the other side, Shouto sat stoic in a plush chair listening attentively to one of the leaders reporting about the current mission. Next to him was a grouchy looking Bakugou, who was currently falling in and out of sleep in his seat. By no surprise Izuku was the only one in the group wide awake and full of energy. The trio has been traveling across the nation helping out with smaller hero agencies in hopes for there to be a stronger allegiance between the USA and Japan. So far it’s been excruciatingly draining on not just their bodies but minds as well. All Shoto wants is to feel the familiar warmth of your body pressed against his. His touch starving tendencies wandered into his personal life when Bakugou caught him snuggling the hotel pillows one night, mumbling your name over and over again. Pathetic as it is, he misses you so much. Although, he wouldn’t admit that out loud, he tried to keep you updated on everything that’s been happening. He has a hard time expressing his feelings, especially when it comes to you. So when he felt his bottom pocket vibrate, he half expected it to be a goodnight message from you, since you’re a couple of hours ahead of him. Nothing prepared him for the promiscuous photo you shared of yourself plastered on his screen, looking back at him with dilated eyes and flushed cheeks.

Blood rushed to the lower region of his pants as he pinched the screen to get a better inspection of you. He thought you looked absolutely beautiful in this vulnerable state, not to mention how your body perfectly clings to his favorite pair of underwear, every curve and beauty mark showcasing before him. Below the plethora of lewdness, a short message from you was attached.

Missing you a extra today :) xoxo

Stifling a groan, he began to type out a reply, stumbling on his words even in text. Before he could press send, someone slapped Shouto’s shoulder and dragged him to his feet.

“Come on half cold bastard the meeting is over. We’re free to go,” Bakugou grumbled as he pushes Shouto out of the cramped room, having Midoriya to follow suit. Bakugou shifted his gaze to Shouto’s phone, gazing at the gross nickname for you on the screen. Shouto angles his phone away from Bakugou’s peripheral vision, praying that he didn’t see your half naked body.

Shouto stuffed his cellular device into his back pocket again, awaiting for the right moment to text you back. Knowing the dynamic of the relationship, his silence is nothing out of the ordinary, so maybe you weren’t thinking too much into this.

Hours later and still no reply from Shouto. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, you figured he probably hasn’t seen it yet, but the “read at ___” has your heart twisting in a knot. You knew he was a couple of hours behind, but would it take for him to at least send a well thought out compliment. Maybe he’s in the midst of an intense battle? Or worse, hooking up with one of the American colleagues. No, Shoto isn’t like that. Being unfaithful is uncharacteristically unlike Shouto. You mentally slap yourself for painting your loyal boyfriend in a different light, all because of some stupid pictures.

Clearing your mind from anymore self sabotage, you did your nightly routine to get ready for bed. As you tucked yourself in, the bright light from your phone flashed, indicating a notification. Everyone in your contact list has already gone to sleep. Everyone excluding Shouto. Frantically, you reached over to grab the phone, swiping across the screen to view his message. The following text shot daggers through your chest.

Call me now

No mention of the photos you sent hours ago. It took him this long just to conjure up a cryptic message. Although, you were curious to see what he'll say to you once he picks up. You pressed the phone icon on his profile and waited, the ringing making you sweat with anticipation. He answered on the third ring.

There was an uncommon silence hanging in the air. On the other end of the call, you can hear the faint acute breathing coming from your boyfriend. You laid frozen in bed, cowardly holding in your breath to prevent any noise.

Shouto broke the silence and said, "I'm sorry for not texting you all day. There was an immediate emergency that lasted longer than we expected."

You nodded your head, but then caught yourself after realizing he can't see your movement over the phone, and let out a grunt instead.

"So..."

"So?" It came out more aggressive than you wanted it to be, but the constant cat and mouse game of today set you over.

"Are you mad at me?" He asked.

No. Not in a million years could you ever be angry at him. Yes, sometimes there's things he did that you wish he'd do better, like expressing himself instead of sheltering back in his shell. Or the way how you envied the relationships your coworkers had, their partners showing them off like it was second nature. Not once did Shouto verbally express his sexual desires. As selfish as it is, you wanted to explore more with him than just regular mundane vanilla sex. Sadly you knew his response was probably going to be lackluster. But no, you weren't mad, just jealous.

"I'm not mad Shouto. Just...very disappointed in you."

In the background, the definite click of a lock from a door rattled your ears. He's in his hotel room, you thought.

"Is this about what happened earlier today?" he started, dragging his tired feet to the hotel bed. "You know, the pictures-"

"Right, the only pictures I put any effort into just for them to be completely ignored by my own boyfriend."

The line went silent again. Even though he isn't here, if he was, he'd be glaring at you with his intense stare, those bi-colored eyes never wavering away from yours.

"You really want to know how I truly felt about those pictures you sent?" His voice dropped a lower octave, sounding as though he dipped himself in pure molasses. Rich as it is, his sudden change of tone aroused you, sending an involuntary wave of pleasure through your body, tipping to the peak of your sex. The only time you heard him sound like this was either when he's livid to the core or about to completely wreck your shit. Both would coincide with each other on special occasions.

He didn't give you enough time to answer, figuring you were too stubborn to reply, and voiced his inner thoughts.

"The fact that you even think I didn't appreciate the photo's is quite silly sweetheart. In fact," you can hear the clanking of metal on the other end. "It makes me sad that I'm not there to worship every inch of that body. Was that your plan all along? To get me worked up by how much I miss your touch?" Shouto struggled removing his pants, the tent forming beneath them restricting him to smoothly slip them off.

You tried to keep your excitement down by squeezing your legs together, almost to the point where they crossed. Soon your breathing became sporadic. Just picturing Shouto touching himself while you both were on call gave you an adrenaline rush. Knowing you couldn't touch him but just yourself intensified your arousal even more. Slowly, you dragged a lazy finger from your sternum to the area around your belly button, tracing small circles on the skin.

"What would you have done to me if you caught me in that moment? Taking those pictures," your sultry tone boomed through his speakers, almost taken back by your approach.

Shouto raised his hips and shimmed out from his tight work pants and started palming himself through his briefs. "Sweetheart, id do nothing but ravish you. Taking my sweet time with you....fuck...I miss you so much," he couldn't hold back the whine he trapped in his throat as soon as his finger swiped over his clothed slit. The sound alone triggered a warm sensation spreading down below, already feeling the wetness coating your panties. By now, Shouto’s fingers would be disappearing inside of you, scissoring and messaging your velvety walls till you broke out screaming, but you had to make do and resort to playfully teasing yourself.

"Ngh...I miss you too...S-Shoto."

"Are you touching yourself love?"

Both of you were far too gone in arousal, there was no point in holding back your sexual pleas.

"Y-Yes, but I wish it was your fingers instead."

Hearing those words coming from your lips encouraged him to shove his entire hand down his boxers, gripping the base of his cock with ease. A small gasp left his lips feeling the crisp, cold air of the hotel room hit his exposed member. He shifted his hand vertically, giving light tugs to it before pumping it vigorously. The sensation strained him to close his eyes, seeing nothing but you doing the work for him. Late nights in the various hotel rooms consisted of him getting off to memories of all the intimate moments you two shared together. Of course it was lonely, but he never resorted to surfing the internet of lewd videos of random girls. They just weren't you. But tonight, he could finally relieve himself to the sweet ambiance of your moans. And he definitely wasn't going to regret it in the morning like usual.

"Listen to me, go faster for me baby," Shouto instructed, "Imagine it's me touching you."

Your cheeks turned a deeper shade of red, fully coaxing your face in heat. You followed through and dipped your fingers into your sex, feeling the warm texture of your walls petting them. All those months without any sexual relief built up so much tension that the tightness within you restricted from anymore movements. After a few strokes, you loosen and manage to reach in far enough to the peak of your knuckles.

Meanwhile, Shouto's hand never grew tired at the tedious strokes, pre cum dripping till it reached his inner thighs. Your name kept spewing out from his throat like a mantra, like you were the only thing he prayed for at night. Despite his lack of moaning, he grunted with each pump, the built up causing him to breathe heavy as well. Generously, he held the phone close enough for you to hear the continuous slapping of skin, along with the combination of wetness. You didn't restrain yourself from moaning though. Every whimper, moan, and groan reverberated across his empty hotel room.

"You wanna know something?" He tried to keep his breathing at a normal pace, but he hastily kept pumping at quick speed. "Everytime I go to one of those dull meetings, I can't help but to imagine you riding me in front of everyone...ngh!"

The confession elicited a moan from you, along with your legs shaking due to the stimulation. Your head flew back and hit the pile of pillows, mouth agape as you added in another finger.

"I miss the feeling of being inside you. So...fucking...bad,” he was beginning to lose his voice , sounding as though he was in constant pain. Poor boy.

"I never took you as being so up front Shouto, what happened?" You challenged him through the phone.

"I guess you really don't know me baby," Shouto shot up from the bed and bent over, not once removing his hand from his member. "Fuck fuck fuck...I can't wait till I come home, so I can finally taste you."

The coil within you was beginning to snap. Snaking your fingers underneath your shirt, you started flicking your thumb over one of your perked nipples, still immersed into the idea that he's actually the one touching you instead. Toes curling and arms bunching up the sheets, you knew you were about to climax. Just by hearing his speech pattern, you can conclude he was close as well.

"I'm about- I'm about to cum S-Shouto!" You pathetically whine.

"Cum with me baby. I've been holding off for you."

Even during intense moments like this, Shouto's gentleman persona didn't fade away over the course the relationship. With the knowledge you have now, knowing he's been on the verge of relief, you pumped your fingers in sheer brutality, never once missing the g-stop. Throwing his head back, Shouto was now on his knees pleading for mercy from the pleasurable pain shooting up through his member. He let out an exasperated whine.

"Now baby, cum for me."

Then you felt it, the knotted tension within you disappearing. Everything around you looked white, like someone snuck in and painted your room a different color. You can faintly hear Shouto orgasming on the other end of the phone as you calm down from yours. He's heard you climax many times before, but hearing your angelic screams over the speaker made him cum harder.

A few minutes later and you two were now recuperating from the intoxicating session, harsh breathing overlapping each other. It felt like years later when he detached his hand, now coated in his own fluids and cramped up. You loosened yourself and removed the two fingers finally. They glistened with your fluid as well, giving off the impression it was just sweat.

"Y/N? Are you still there?" Shouto's voice alerted you awake, almost forgetting you didn't manifest him to finish you off. You grab the phone after cleaning your drenched fingers and propped it on the pillow next to your shoulder.

"Wow that was-."

"Amazing?" He finishes.

"Took the words right out of my mouth."

He mischievously chuckled, "I know. I heard it loud and clear a minute ago."

You audibly groan loud enough for him to hear while snatching the nearest pillow to smother yourself with.

"So, are you planning on sending any more pictures like that during these last 3 months?"

His innocent inquiry made you break out into a grin that stretched from ear to ear. Those pictures sprouted a future of appraisal from your boyfriend, who you thought would never voice his inner thoughts till the day he dies. You two also found a secretive kink to phone sex as you continue to explore with him during these periods of loneliness. Once he arrives home, he assures none of that is just a “phase” as you two kept venturing beyond to sext each other during important events.

A picture really is worth a thousand words.

-

(Truthfully, honestly, this is possibly the worst thing I wrote but someone asked for a cute little passionate session with Shoto specifically. I hope you enjoyed (?)

[rbbalmung]

Pokemon SwSh GPL AU: Get to know ______

Guys, it’s time for my favourite pokemon ship. Prepare for loads of fluff. 

Get to Know Gloria x Hop (Postwickshipping/Hpyu): 

1: Who spends almost all their money on the other? I headcannon that Gloria really likes pokemon plushies, so Hop is always unconsciously checking the stuffed animal section of stores to see if there’s any she doesn’t have. Gloria tries really hard to get him books that pertain to his research, but she really has no clue what he studies aside from the fact that it’s legendary pokemon (Legendary Pokemon are his focus). 

2: Who sleeps in the other’s lap? Gloria! They are the cuddliest couple ever. There’s about a foot size difference between them, so she fits perfectly in his lap. (Hop is def the little spoon, tho). 

3: Who walks around the house half-naked and who yells at them to put on some clothes? TBH, they would both walk around the house half naked. They’re comfort first babies, so you know Gloria’s bra is coming off and Hop is discarding his work clothes the second their door is closed. I think it’s kind of a casual thing for them, though. They’ve known each other long enough that this kind of thing doesn’t bother them. 

4: Which one tells the other not to stay up all night and which one stays up all night anyway? Gloria has to drag Hop’s ass to bed pretty much every night. They’re both busy people, but we all know that Hop would lose track of time while working on his thesis. It is a fact that if Gloria doesn’t come to get him, he will fall asleep on his desk. 

5: Which one tries to make food for the other but burns it all by accident and which one tells them that it’s okay and makes them both cookies? They’re actually both pretty good cooks (Gloria’s mama owns a restaurant in Wedgehurst and Hop’s mom is obsessed with cooking), but I think Hop would probably be the one to burn all the food. The only reason why is because he has a harder time focusing solely on cooking instead of trying to multitask. Now, baking is a whole other story. They’re both terrible at it. 

6: Which one reads OTP prompts and says “Oh that’s us!” and which one goes “Eh, not really”? Gloria would be the one to read the prompts and Hop would be the denier (he secretly thinks it’s really cute whenever she does it). 

7: Which one constantly wears the other’s clothes? Gloria. 100% Gloria. She is constantly cold and has a passion for stealing Hop’s hoodies. He thinks its adorable because they’re always really big on her. 

8: Which one spends all day running errands and which one says “You remembered [thing], right?” Hop would be the errand runner and Gloria would make sure he remembered everything. It goes back to Hop’s mind being a million places at once and Gloria hyper focusing on one thing at a time. 

9: Which one drives the car and which one gives them directions? Hop would drive and Gloria would give directions for similar reasons to the question above. 

10: Which one does the posing while the other one draws? Hop doodles Gloria sometimes to keep his hands busy. It’s kind of an absent minded thing for him to do while reading an article/book. Once Sonia caught him doing it, and when I say she teases him relentlessly, I mean it. Hop absolutely does not let Gloria see these doodles (they’re very cutesy and he’d die of embarrassment). 

11: If they were about to rob a museum, which one does backflips through lasers and which one is strolling behind with a bag of chips? Hop would be the backflipper and Gloria would be the follower. Think back to their GPL season: Hop was blazing ahead at all times without a care in the world. Gloria is the slowest traveler in the world because she likes talking to everyone and visiting all the stores.  

12: Which one of your OTP overdoes it on the alcohol and which one makes the other stop drinking? Neither of them can hold their alcohol, but Hop at least has more body mass than Gloria. They’re a pair of lightweights and nothing you can say will convince me otherwise. (Let’s be real: Bede has to be the one to make sure they get home). 

14: Which one keeps accidentally using the other’s last name instead of their own? Gloria. I actually believe that Gloria would keep her last name even after she and Hop get married because it belongs to her mama (after the divorce, they both changed their last names to match her mama’s maiden name). Hop is also a proud Hoffman, so he wouldn’t use the name Park. However, everyone else will mix it up. Gloria gets called “Mrs. Hoffman” all the time if she’s arriving for restaurant reservations or something of the like. Newer reporters/young children call Hop “Mr. Park” because they just assume Park was his last name. 

15: Which one screams about the spider and which one brings the spider outside? Neither of them are scared of bug pokemon. 

16: Which one gives the other their jacket? HOP. I mentioned it earlier, but Gloria is always cold. Bede asks why he doesn’t just make Gloria bring her own jacket and Hop replies that he likes it when she wears his jacket (they’re freaking sappy).  

17: Who keeps getting threatened by the other’s overprotective older sibling? Pft. Leon? Please. By this point, he’s become the big brother of Gloria as well. The League members are a completely different story. They all like Hop, but since Gloria is one of their younger members and the biggest sweetheart, they’re a protective bunch (Especially Melony and Gordie). 

18: Who’s the first one to admit they have feelings for the other? Gloria, but it didn’t go well. It was right before he was leaving to finish up high school studying abroad, and the timing wasn’t right (aka Hop turned her down because he hadn’t yet realised his feelings for her). Gloria tries her best to move on but never truly gets over him. Luckily, his feelings hit him like a bag of bricks to the stomach when they reunite a couple years later.  

19: How good would your OTP be at parenting? The best. They would definitely be the cool parents (I mean, come on. They’re the freaking heroes of Galar!). I think they’d also be super supportive of their child’s choices. 10/10. They’re made to be parents. (Hop would especially want to be a good dad. He’s initially nervous because he never knew his dad and thinks he might mess up, but Gloria reassures him that he’s doing a good job). 

20: Which one types with perfect grammar and which one types using numbers as letters? Hop would be Mr. Perfect Grammar. Gloria would use mostly good grammar, but her texts would be littered with emojis. 

21: Who gets attacked by a bully and who protects them? Hop is the more confrontational of the two. Gloria tends to believe that people are only mean to others if something bad is happening in their life, but Hop will jump from 0 to 100 if someone even looks at Gloria funny.  

22: Who makes the bad puns and who makes a pained smile every time the other makes a pun? Gloria likes Hop’s bad puns, so everyone else has to cringe in discomfort at the oblivious pair. 

23: Who comes home from work to see that the other one bought a puppy? Hop. Gloria likes catching pokemon and sending them on poke jobs, so there’s a new member to their family at least once a week. 

24: Which one gives the other a piggyback ride when they’re tired? Hop. He’s the only one she would show vulnerability to, and he makes sure not to make her feel ashamed of it. (also, Gloria absolutely could not carry Hop. He’s like, a foot taller than her).  

25: Which one competes in some sort of activity and which one does the overzealous cheering? Both! They’re very supportive of each other to help ease the other’s insecurities. Hop gets really invested in her pokemon matches and Gloria throws him a little celebration every time he finishes a project.  

26: Who takes a selfie when the other one falls asleep on their shoulder? Gloria. Since Hop never goes to sleep at night, it is very common for him to take 5 minute power naps without even realising it. Gloria definitely takes pictures when it happens as a reflex (They were long distance for the first 4 years of their relationship) because she wants to be able to look back at their memories together.  Like Gloria doesn’t know about Hop’s doodles of her, Hop doesn’t know about her phone album of him. 

27: Which one would give the other a makeover if they asked? Gloria? I think they both grow into their separate styles as the get older, but Gloria would push Hop to wear more colourful things. Sonia once told Hop that a man should never tell a woman what to wear because it’s rude. I don’t think Gloria would mind if he suggested something, but he is way too nervous to do it (Sonia scarred him).   

28: Which one owns a pet that the other is absolutely terrified of? Hop is very nervous around Urshifu and Calyrex. Urshifu because he’s terrifying, large, and very protective of Gloria. Calyrex because the pokemon will take over his body without warning to tell Gloria something.  

29: Which one holds the umbrella over both of them when it rains? Hop! If Gloria held it, Hop’s head would be in the umbrella. 

30: If your OTP went on vacation, where would they go and what would they do? Who would take the pictures? Oh my gosh, they’d go everywhere. I think that after Gloria steps down as champion, they travel to all the different regions for at least a couple of years. Gloria would be the one to take pictures and make a little scrapbook when they return home.  

[stylesnews]

A year ago, the guitar was in dire straits. With songs like Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode,” Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings,” Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” and Panic! At the Disco’s “High Hopes” among the most consumed of 2019, programmed beats and horns were the sonic flavors of popular music. Sure, there were outliers — the Jonas Brothers’ “Sucker,” Maroon 5’s “Memories” and Post Malone’s “Circles” among them — but as the rock and alternative genres embraced artists like Billie Eilish, whose innovative music made the traditional band approach feel outdated, the days of chords and solos seemed numbered if not headed towards irrelevance.

Then came the coronavirus pandemic and things changed. Forced to perform from home or in rooms not intended for live music during lockdown, many artists went back to basics and out came the trusty six-string. For iHeartRadio’s “Living Room Concert for America” in March, Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl played an acoustic Guild on “My Hero”; Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day strummed to his band’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”; and even Eilish, with her collaborator brother Finneas, sang her hit “Bad Guy” accompanied by only a Fender acoustic. Other benefit livestreams like Global Citizen’s “One World Together At Home” event saw the Rolling Stones, Keith Urban and Shawn Mendes strip down their hit songs for unplugged versions. And in April, Miley Cyrus delivered an emotional cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” on “Saturday Night Live” with Andrew Watt, himself a COVID survivor, on guitar.

At the same time, there was an electric guitar solo being heard on one of the most-played songs in the United States. Harry Styles’ “Adore You,” which has logged 1.1 million radio spins in 2020, according to Mediabase, and has been streamed more than 400 million times, per Alpha Data, features the playing of Kid Harpoon (real name: Tom Hull), Styles’ friend and producer, who handled the guitar parts for much of the Brit’s excellent “Fine Line” album, released in Dec. 2019. As it turns out, the melody of the solo, which also serves as the bridge to “Adore You,” was first hummed by Styles for Hull to emulate. “I did it with my mouth into a microphone,” Styles told Variety in October. “And then Tom sent me this video trying to get it to sound the same. He spent a couple of hours getting it.”

Why include a guitar solo when most pop songs would never dare? “I feel it’s kind of like ‘La La Land’ saving jazz  — only for rock ‘n’ roll,” Styles cracked when posed with the question. But more seriously speaking, Variety‘s Hitmaker of the Year added: “I’m not a spearheader of the movement, like, ‘Let’s bring back guitars.’ There’s plenty of times when [a song] doesn’t sound better with a guitar, and you don’t use it. But a lot of the references I grew up with have guitars; and it’s the first instrument I played, so it makes sense that I would like the sound of them more. I don’t think the guitar is dying. Guitars are great and always have been.”

In fact, guitar sales in 2020 have been robust. Music retailer Sweetwater reports more than 50% year-over-year growth in guitar purchases, with even larger increases during the peak COVID months of April, May and June “when customers most likely hunkered down to practice and create music after watching all of the streaming video they could handle,” according to a rep for the Indiana-based company.

The spike extended to other string instruments as well, which saw growth of more than 70% year-over-year in the price range of $299 or lower. The metric indicates that “new players are joining the fold,” says Sweetwater, which has been in business for over four decades and operates online. (Competitor Guitar Center, with more than 250 physical locations in the U.S., did not fare as well, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month.)

Even in the virtual world, learning to play an instrument has taken off during lockdown. The platform Yousician, which provides interactive learning for guitar, bass, ukulele, piano and voice, currently reigns as the No. 1 app for music instruction while its sister product, GuitarTuna, is tops for guitar tuning.

Ask current writers and producers working in pop and hip-hop about their process and you soon learn that an acoustic guitar is often the beginning or the essence of a hit song. Among Variety‘s 2020 Hitmakers, the trio of Taz Taylor, Charlie Handsome and KC Supreme credited a guitar loop as the foundation for Trevor Daniel’s “Falling.” For Maren Morris’ “The Bones,” producer Greg Kurstin noted: “The first thing I noticed was Jimmy Robbins’ guitar hook; I wanted to keep the song rooted in that.”

“So many hit songs from 2020 started with a acoustic or electric guitar, whether it be a melody line or simple progression,” says songwriter and producer Jenna Andrews, whose recent credits include BTS’ “Dynamite” and Benee’s “Supalonely.”

And often, those guitar-based foundations remained through the finished product — for instance, 24KGoldn’s “Mood,” with its impossibly catchy sun-kissed guitar riff, and Powfu’s “death bed (coffee for your head).”

“I know it sounds kinda old school, but I love it when a well-recorded acoustic pops off on the radio,” says Sam Hollander, whose hits include the aforementioned “High Hopes” and Fitz and the Tantrums’ “HandClap.” “The bulk of my songs tend to be born on guitar. Without that foundation, the lyrics and melodies never really emote the heartbeat and emotion that I’m trying to dial in. There’s just a general warmth to it that’s hard to replicate. It’s like the warmest chocolate chip cookie.”

“I think the prevalence of guitar in 2020 has a lot to do with hip-hop producers using more emo and punk-rock influences,” offers Angie Pagano, whose AMP management company represents Tommy Brown (Ariana Grande, Blackpink) and Mr. Franks, among others. “Juice Wrld really helped bring this into the mainstream over the last few years. We’re seeing a great blend of emo and trap these days.”

Indeed, the year’s most-consumed hits leaned hip-hop — Roddy Ricch’s “The Box” landed at No. 1 on the Hitmakers list with Future and Drake, Jack Harlow and Megan Thee Stallion in the Top 10 — but even DaBaby’s “Rockstar,” the No. 3 song of the year, referenced a guitar in its chorus, albeit alongside mention of a Glock pistol. That visual may go against what Hollander calls “the Kumbaya vibe of the guitar,” but the song still features an acoustic strum at its core.

In the case of Styles’ 2020 successes, which also include the ubiquitous “Watermelon Sugar,” his producer further explained that, while aware of what was reacting on the charts at the time they were recording, Styles wasn’t about to chase the trends. Said Tom Hull: “We [thought], we can’t play the commercial game in terms of what’s happening right now. What we can do is make music that really resonates with us. There’s no blueprint. You just have faith. We love records from the ’70s and ’80s; weird prog rock music that might be a seven-minute instrumental; then you’re listening to Shania Twain, like, ‘This is awesome, too.’ The goal was to make something we will always love, and if it completely flops commercially, at least we know we love it. We have that.”

[mythiccheroacademia]

“Say cheese, take a picture. Strike a pose, make a scene, take a picture.”

—Say Cheese | KiDi

Word Count: 1.3k Pairing: Todoroki Shouto X Reader Context: Soulmate!AU, Reader doesn’t live in Japan Warnings: hints of explicit content, explicit language

All characters are 18+

A/N: Welcome to the third installment of the 2.5k celebration! This wasn’t difficult but tedious? I rewrote the entire thing twice LMAO. Anyways, I think this is currently my favorite song on the list. KiDi is the man fr 🇬��� This is one of his newer songs and I hope I did it justice. I was thinking a fun long-distance relationship with a hint of “will you like what’s actually on the other side of screen?” No (real) angst this time! Enjoy <3

Todoroki Shouto | Say Cheese

Midoriya nearly winced as he watched his friend stab into his steak a little too harshly to be considered normal.

“Everything alright, Todoroki?”

This time, he actually winced when the icy-hot hero’s eyes flickered up to meet his own with a dirty glare.

“Right. Stupid question.”

Shouto merely grunted. Izuku sighed.

He had hoped taking Todoroki to his favorite restaurant would lift his spirits a bit after recent events. However, Midoriya should’ve known better when Todoroki got the steak instead of soba.

The green hero grimaced when he plunged the fork into the filet.

Izuku carefully chose his next words.

“You know…this doesn’t mean you’re out of the game.”

“Easy for you to say. Your soulmate didn’t ‘curve your ass like a grade’,” Shouto sourly huffed.

Izuku placed his hands against his mouth in a prayer like fashion in an attempt to hide his laugh.

What happened between you and Shouto had been a…surprise to everyone.

During a mission that required help from international heroes, Shouto had found you. His soulmate. One look at your matching birthmark and he was quick to approach you.

You two hit it off right away.

Your hero agency was only needed for a week, but Shouto had taken every opportunity he could to know you. From the way your nose twitched when you got annoyed to the silent flutter of your lashes when he softly kissed the skin beneath your collarbone. The moment he saw your smile, he adored all that was you.

The icy-hot hero had always been a bit skeptical over the concept of soulmates, yet he was ready to share his life with someone he hadn’t believed existed all but seven days ago.

When you left Japan, it was difficult.

However, you two kept in constant contact. Despite the time differences and the unconventional schedules that came with being a hero, you made it work.

Facetime calls were a must. Shouto wanted—needed—to see your face at least once a day. Whether it was to say a quick good morning or to end the night with heavy rants about hero politics, he wanted it. Even if it was just to observe you get ready for work, he’d quietly take in your beauty. He won’t admit to his secret album of screenshots.

If he couldn’t call you, he texted. Sometimes it’d be long conversations centered over food. Other times, it’d be random pics of things that reminded you of each other. He especially liked the ones he’d get late at night where the clothes you wore left little to the imagination and he’d quickly lock his office door so he could visually discover what was left behind the tiny strip of underwear.

The first “I love you’s” were exchanged over the phone and, afterwards, Todoroki had stared at your picture on his screensaver for half an hour.

Six months went by of calls, texts, pictures, and grandiose anniversary gifts, before you were able to meet again due to another mission.

When he offered to pick you up, you oddly declined. Shouto hadn’t thought anything of it.

When you finally met, you curved him.

At least, that’s how Bakugo put it.

He hugged you, you were stiff. He tried to kiss you, he caught your cheek instead. And for the rest of the day, you actively avoided him. He immediately confronted you about it and you said you were tired. That’s how you played it off for the last few days.

At first, Shouto was outright depressed. Then he was angry for a day. Now he was just bitter.

Everything was perfectly fine up until your arrival. Did he do something wrong? Were you two fighting? He didn’t understand it and it was driving him crazy thinking about it.

Izuku watched with concern as Shouto coldly rubbed the mark on his shoulder. He sighed as the temperature of the room seemed to drop.

“Don’t forget that you’re meant to be together, Todoroki. Just talk to them,” he reminded.

“How?”

“Remember how Momo’s having that pool party tomorrow?”

“Yeah…”

[Next Day]

“So, you gonna ignore your soulmate today too?” your friend, Jax, nonchalantly asked as he gathered silverware.

You miserably sighed and put your head in your hands.

“I’m the biggest dick of the century.”

“No kidding.”

“Now, now,” Momo softly chided. “You said so yourself. You were overwhelmed.”

Ochako, who stacked the food cartons, nodded in agreement. “You met your soulmate for a week and had to continue 99% of the relationship over long-distance. I can understand why you’d be scared to physically meet Todoroki again. It’s different. Especially after how serious you two got.”

“Still doesn’t abstract from your lack of communication skills,” Kai reminded. “You hurt the poor man’s feelings.”

Iida nodded. “Todoroki is…confused to say the least.”

You nervously looked up at them. “Be honest. How mad is he?”

Your friends remembered how Bakugo and Kaminari’s teasing made the usually mild-tempered hero burst into angry flames.

They looked to each other before collectively staring at you in silence.

You dramatically groaned.

“It’s not like I don’t like him anymore. I love him. I do. It’s just…I was nervous! When I saw him, I panicked!”

Unbeknownst to you, the kitchen door opened.

Iida motioned behind you. “L/N, I believe there is—”

“Shh, they’re having a moment,” Ochako quieted, oblivious.

“He’s just such a beautiful person. He’s so kind and thoughtful and he has so much good to offer the world. It blows my mind that someone like him exists. For me. It’s so easy to be my best self behind a screen. I’m just afraid he won’t like what he sees in real life…”

“Why didn’t you just tell me that?”

The soft sound of your soulmate’s voice made you freeze. You slowly turned to see him stare at you with an unreadable expression.

“We’ll be outside,” Jax said before your friends filed out.

You gulped beneath the intensity of Todoroki’s stare. Not only were you embarrassed, but you were hyperaware that you were in a swimsuit. It didn’t help your nerves as you took in his well-defined muscles and the happy trail disappearing underneath his shorts.

Why does he have to be so damn fine?

Todoroki’s thoughts weren’t far behind yours as he took in your physique, but he had things to address.

“Y/N, sweetheart, please talk to me.”

“Shouto,” your fear was clear in your whisper. “I’m sorry.”

He moved closer to you and you both felt the warmth from your birthmark when his hands found solace on your hips.

“You know I love you, right? Everything about you.”

“Everything I let you see,” you gently corrected, eyes to the ground.

The shame and insecurity in your chest made your eyes burn, but you couldn’t blink the tears away before Todoroki tilted your chin to meet your gaze.

“Then, show me the rest, Y/N,” he said, voice deep and genuine. You gasped as he kissed your birthmark. “I want the good and the bad. I want you. All of you, my love.”

You closed your eyes and sighed into his embrace, letting yourself finally feel his physical presence. It was like his words melted away your doubts.

He wanted you.

Why were you trying to convince yourself otherwise?

“Okay,” you whispered, laughing through your nose.

The red and white hero pulled away to soak in your features before diving in to capture your lips. It had been six months. Six full months since you two had tasted the other and damn if it wasn’t worth the wait.

With each passing kiss, he seemed to sink deeper into you. Soon enough, you didn’t know where your mouths started or ended. All you concentrated on was how his tongue massaged your own as his hands tried to memorize every curve of your body.

Todoroki impatiently groaned as he attached his lips to the sweet spot on your neck.

“Oh! Shouto wait—”

“I meant it when I said I want you,” he growled before his hands traveled downwards and squeezed your ass.

You quickly figured out you would also be seeing more sides of your soulmate as well.

[dammitlogan]

Coincidental | Midoriya Izuku x Reader

wc: 1k

”That was really great. Thank you for the meal, Ms. Midoriya!” You grin and bow your head in thanks. Though you were originally quite nervous to meet her over dinner tonight, things quickly fell into place. Izuku couldn’t stop smiling the entire night as he watched the two of you get along as well as he knew you would.

Inko chuckles, waving her hand dismissively. “I was nothing, (L/N). I’m glad you were finally able to come over!” You quickly agree with her. Before you two can fall into an easy conversation again, she motions to Izuku. “Could you clear the table while (L/N) and I chat?” Izuku nods excitedly, quickly getting up and retrieving the plates. As he leaves to wash the dishes, a mischievous grin cuts across Inko’s face. She rises from her seat and gestures for you to follow her. “I want to show you something.”

You can’t help but find her giddiness infectious as you quickly get up and follow her out of the room. She leads you to an office down the hall, shuffling over to a large shelf. You watch curiously as she pulls a large album from the shelf. She motions for you to come closer as she opens it. “I think it’s tradition for a mother to embarrass her son when he brings a girl over, don’t you?” She stifles a laugh.

You gasp at what covers the pages. A blush rises to your cheeks as your eyes seem to sparkle with glee. You quickly place a hand over your mouth as you suppress a quiet squeal. “Oh my God... That’s adorable,” you gush. Inko nods in agreement, a certain nostalgia crossing her features.

There’s a whole array of adorable moments in just a few pages: Izuku at the hospital, Izuku eating baby food, some of his first steps, him with his mother at the zoo. You and Inko flip through the pages as quietly as possible. Together, you coo over the photos without alerting Izuku of the ordeal. This was top secret business, after all. You didn’t need him stopping the moment as he implodes from embarrassment just yet. Eventually, you’d let him know, though, because seeing his mortification was half the fun.

You point of one of the pictures, giggling. “I think that one is my favorite,” you admit. Izuku poses like All Might in his favorite onesie while standing on the couch. Inko lightly traces her finger over it, expression softening.

”He always wanted to be a hero...” she whispered. You can see tears prick the corners of her eyes. Gently, you place a hand on her shoulder and allow yourself to lean comfortably into her side.

“He hasn’t changed a bit.”

”Mom? (Y/N)?” Izuku calls from the kitchen. Inko blinks away the tears quickly, clearing her throat.

”In here, Izuku.” You both exchange mischevious grins as you wait for him to find you. He peeks his head into the room, eyebrows furrowing.

”Why are you guys in here?” He enters the room fully as he eyes you inquisitively. You shrug, trying to hide the smirk rising on your face.

”Oh, nothing much. We’re just looking at a book of all the things I love.” You explain. Inko stifles a giggle behind her hand, nodding along with you. You seem to have piqued his interest, seeing as he crosses the room to look over your shoulder at the album.

You watch as a bright, crimson blush flushes his face. “But... that’s just my old photo album...” he mumbles, trying to hide his face in his hands. You force a confused look on your face as you bite back a smile. God, this was just too much fun. Your boyfriend was too cute.

You turn the photo album over in your hands as if you were just noticing what it was. “Oh. What a coincidence.” Your voice cracks as you speak, finally breaking into a quiet laugh. You set the album down before pulling Izuku into your arms. He presses his face further into his hands, groaning about how embarrassing you and Inko are. You teasingly sway as you hold him, poking fun at him. He tries not to laugh at his own expense as you continue to talk about how cute the photos were, pressing his burning face into your neck.

Inko watches you two, a wide smile on her face as tears mark her visage once again. As much as she wanted the moment to last forever, to watch you two act mushy long into the night, she realized the time. “Oh! (L/N), don’t you have to be home soon? I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble!”

You quickly pull away from Izuku and check the time on your phone. “Ah! I have to be home in six minutes!” You cry. Though you knew your parents would be understanding of you arriving late, you knew you had to go. “I’m sorry, but I gotta go.” You bow to Inko, thanking her for letting you stay for a while as well as feeding you and showing you your now favorite book.

Izuku gently takes your hand. “I’ll walk you home,” he offers, smiling up at you. You thank him as he leads you out of the house. The two of you are about to walk out the door when Inko calls out to you from down the hall.

”(L/N)! You forgot your purse!” She quickly rounds the corner, your purse in hand.

“Oh, thanks! I wouldn’t have even noticed.” You laugh. After some more ‘thank you’s and final goodbyes, Inko waves you two off from the front door. What you didn’t notice until you got home, though, was the photo of a smiling, All Might onesie wearing Izuku tucked delicately into your purse.

[bamon4bamily]

TVD 9x16 - What happens in Vegas... (part 1 of part 1) Enjoy!

Cut to - The Salvatore mansion family room, present day. Damon is watching Bonnie sleep. She wakes up slowly…

BONNIE: Ian?

DAMON: Ian? Who the heck is Ian? And tell me where he is, so I can kick his ass!

BONNIE: (Smiles) Sorry, had the craziest dream… And your name was Ian, for some screwed up reason…

DAMON: Oh, okay… then Ian is cool in my book! (Smirks and gives her a kiss).

BONNIE: What time is it?

DAMON: Almost 3pm…

BONNIE: What! Oh my god! I had to be at the airport an hour ago to meet Elena! Shit! Shit!

DAMON: Uhm… Bon… don’t you remember?

BONNIE: Remember what?

DAMON: About Elena…

BONNIE: What about Elena?

DAMON: Her flight got canceled; she got another one straight to Vegas. You don’t remember?

BONNIE: I do, I do… Told you, strange dream… I’m still a bit drowsy.

DAMON: Well, she won’t be able to help you bring all that “bachelorette” stuff. But the bachelor boys are heading the same way; I’m sure we can fit some of it; just promise me there’s nothing illegal in those bags.

BONNIE: (Mischievous smile) I can’t promise you that…

Cut to – Two days later, somewhere in the middle of the Mojave desert. Damon, who looks like hell, is dialing on his cell. Behind him, a crashed police car with Alaric, Iker, and Kai inside; also looking like crap. They are wearing nothing but their underwear.

 DAMON: Care, it’s Damon… Listen ...The bachelor party got a little crazy and, well...we lost Stefan.

BONNIE: Uhm…think we might have a problem of our own…

DAMON: Bon?

BONNIE: It’s me, I think… Anyway; the bachelorette got a little crazy too, and, well… we lost Caroline.

Cut to – A couple of hours earlier. A Sky Villa at the Palms Casino Resort. 

Damon wakes up confused, he is lying on the bathroom floor, drool coming out of his mouth, brain drilling headache. His vision is blurry, but he manages to recognize a familiar face, lying inside an empty bathtub, completely passed out. The familiar face is Kai, dressed in what seems to be a ballerina tutu. 

He stares at him for a minute, wondering why he is there… not in the bathtub, but in Vegas; he hadn’t been invited. Oh well, he’ll figure it out later. For now, he needs to do an overall casualty assessment. He gets up slowly, holding on to whatever is at hand. He eventually gains the balance to find his way out of the bathroom, and into the living room. The place is a war zone, the hotel bill won’t be cheap! Amongst the debris of the previous night, he searches for other survivors… 

Soon enough he finds Alaric, also passed out, half of his body hanging over the piano, which, to Damon’s surprise, a monkey seems to be playing.

DAMON: What the…  (shushes the monkey away from the piano, shakes Alaric to wake him up, no response… He hears a sound coming from a mount of sofa cushions and clothes; someone is under there… it’s Iker, who slowly fights his way out).

IKER: (Looking messed up and disoriented) Hey, man… (looks around, grabs his head) What the hell happened last night?

DAMON: Beats me… I can barely remember my own name… 

(Alaric wakes up suddenly, holding his hands up in a cheer).

ALARIC: Jackpot, bitches!!!!!!!!!!! (He realizes he has no idea where he is, or making any sense). Hey, guys… where am I? What are we doing here?  

DAMON: (Sarcastic) Oh, boy… I have a feeling this is gonna be fun!

(Kai walks out of the bathroom, passes them by, but apparently doesn’t notice they are there, and goes into the master bedroom, throws himself on the bed. Just as he gets comfy, he realizes something is very wrong… 

There is an elephant in the room; literally. Jumps up, screams like a little girl, runs out of the room and shuts the door).

KAI: Holy shit! There’s an elephant in the room!

DAMON: I’d say you’re right, stalker boy. What the hell are you doing here?

KAI: … I have no idea, but I swear, there is an elephant in that room!

DAMON: Are you sure it isn’t Stefan? He can look pretty scary in the morning…

(Goes to check it out, vamps back about a second later) Nop, that ain’t Stefan… and there is definitely an elephant in the room... (takes a drink).

ALARIC: So, where is Stefan? And, why the hell is he (referring to Kai) here!

DAMON: Ric, I think we have more important things to focus on right now… Like, for example, there is a freakin elephant in the room! It’s a baby elephant, yes, but still, a freaking elephant! Those things are dangerous! Oh, and I’m pretty sure there’s also a loose monkey somewhere around here! What the hell did we do last night? Rob a zoo?!

IKER: The only thing I have a vague memory of, is a steakhouse, a casino… a strip joint?

KAI: That pretty much describes all of Las Vegas, so, not a lot to go on.

DAMON: Okay, okay, I’m sure we can figure this out.

ALARIC: Let’s just find Stefan and get the hell out of here, before they put us in jail.

DAMON: Fine. Shouldn’t take too long. Ric and I will check every corner of the villa. Iker, you and psycho boy check around the hotel… restaurant, pool area, casino, etc.

IKER: (To Kai) Think you can keep up, princess?

KAI: (He hadn’t noticed he was wearing a tutu until this moment; he looks at Damon) This was definitely your doing! (Takes the tutu off).

DAMON: (Sarcastic smirk) Probably… Okay, let’s move.

 (They search everywhere, Stefan is nowhere to be found. They teamback at the villa).

 ALARIC: Well, we’ve searched everywhere, he’s not here. (Sarcastic) This is great! The wedding is tomorrow, our plane leaves in a couple of hours, and we are missing the groom... 

We should call Caroline, maybe he ditched us and joined the girl’s party.

DAMON: And if he didn’t?

ALARIC: They can help us find him.

DAMON: Did you get brain damage last night?! 

No way we are calling Caroline! I’d like to live a long and happy life with my Bon-Bon, so, not an option!  Just chill, we’ll find him. He couldn’t have gone that far… it’s Stefan, he’s probably hunting bunnies. All we have to do is retrace our steps from last night, and we’ll find him.

ALARIC: The main issue being… none of us seem to remember anything about last night!

KAI: (Coming from another part of the room) Okay, I just called reception, they assure there is no Stefan Salvatore at any of the area hospitals, morgues, or police stations…

DAMON: No shit, Sherlock, he is a vampire! Of course he wouldn’t be in any of those places…

IKER: Wait… a police car… I remember we were in a police car!

DAMON: Ooh, that can’t be good…

KAI: Oh, oh, oh, no, no, no… (looks at his hand) This can’t be good either (shows them a very tacky ring).

DAMON: Come on, that’s just your daylight ring.

KAI: No, no… I don’t need a ring for that… which means this is … (takes the ring off, sees it’s engraved) most definitely a wedding ring!  

ALARIC: Who the hell would be crazy enough to marry you?!!

IKER: (Cracking up) Shit, this too funny…

DAMON: (Takes the ring from Kai, reads the inscription) “To my knight in shining armour, from your damsel in distress” - Cupid’s Wedding Chapel. Well, boys, I believe we have a lead… 

We need to go to this chapel, ask them if they remember us; and if Stefan was with us.

KAI: And who the hell I married!

DAMON: (Sarcastically) Oh, I’m sure she’s a lovely gal.

ALARIC: I’ll get us an uber…

Cut to – Cupid’s Wedding Chapel. 

As soon as they walk in, the receptionist recognizes them.

RECEPTIONIST: Oh, shit! You guys are back!? Please, just no stealing the “King’s” costume this time!

DAMON: You remember us?

RECEPTIONIST: Of course I remember you! You guys are crazy! Specially you, damsel (winks at Kai). Where are the other three?

ALARIC: What other three? We are only missing one…

RECEPTIONIST: Uhm, no you aren’t; there were seven of you. You four… the wolf man, the cop, and the handsome hero hair guy.

DAMON: So Stefan was here with us, that’s a start!

ALARIC: And, apparently, Matt and Tyler too… So, not only did we lose the groom, we managed to loose two members of the wedding party. (Sarcastic) Fantastic!

KAI: Listen, I really need you to tell me who I married last night...

RECEPTIONIST: Sure, you married Whitney Houston; you lucky bastard!

KAI: What!? I mean, I love me some Whitney, but, really? She married me?

RECEPTIONIST: (Looking confused, and a bit sorry for him) 

Well, an impersonator, obviously. The real Whitney has been dead for a while. Boy, your hang-over must really be screwing with you.

IKER: Don’t these places usually offer packages? Like photo albums and stuff…

RECEPTIONIST: We sure do.

IKER: Did we, or he (referring to Kai), buy any?

RECEPTIONIST: The whole nine yards. I thought that’s why you guys came back. (Takes out a box of wedding souvenirs and a photo album) Look… mugs, crystal balls, pins, key chains…

DAMON: Let’s go straight for the album… (They go through the photos. Some are “somewhat” normal...

Others, go along these lines…  Kai, dressed as a ballerina, and the bride dressed as a noble knight. Stefan, wearing an Elvis outfit, mastering every single one of his iconic poses. Iker and Damon playing catch with the bride’s bouquet. Alaric, sneaking about, in full Indiana Jones mission. Matt, riding an inflatable unicorn, role-playing to be the Lone Ranger. Tyler, on all fours, howling).

DAMON: (Terrified at the pics they just saw) Oh god… I don’t even want to know...

ALARIC: (Sharing the sentiment) Oh, fuck no... apparently, I was the one to walk Kai down the aisle… Those pictures really need to be destroyed….

RECEPTIONIST: I’m telling you… you guys are totally insane!

ALARIC: You don’t happen to know where we were heading when we left here, do you?

RECEPTIONIST: No. But you did mention something about settling a debt; getting Britney Spears back for something…

ALARIC: Britney Spears?

RECEPTIONIST: Yep; the hero hair guy kept going on and on, about her owing him big time; and that he was going to collect… And you (referring to Damon) kept saying “It’s Britney, bitch!” That’s all I got, hope it helps. (Alaric looks at Damon to see if he remembers anything from hearing that …)

DAMON: Sorry, man, I’m at a blank…

IKER: Wait… I think I’m getting a flashback… of you (referring to Damon), strip dancing to “Gimme More”?

DAMON: No… I’d never strip dance to that! Britney Spears? Nice try, but nop.

KAI: Oh, come on, everyone loves Britney!  

ALARIC: I think I remember that… God, please, take that image out of my head! Of all things, that’s what you chose for me to remember?! Have some mercy!  

DAMON: If I did… I probably rocked it (winks and smirks).

IKER: Okay, I’m definitely gonna need therapy after this trip.

ALARIC: Well, we got all the information we are going to get from this place; and I don’t think I want to find out more. So, what’s next?

DAMON: I say we pay Miss Spears a visit…

ALARIC: First, no one would ever let us be less than 300 feet from her. Second, that’s ridiculous; she is obviously not involved, aside from you stripping to her songs. What we need to find is that strip joint we apparently went to after, or before, this place.

IKER: (Who has stumbled upon a box of matches in his pocket) Maybe this can help… (shows them a very tacky match box, which reads: Mystic Divas.

Cut to – Mystic Divas strip joint. The place, given the hour, is obviously closed. Just as they are about to leave, a woman, wearing Whitney’s “Queen of the Night” outfit, spots them as they are about to leave.

 LADY: My princess! (Runs to hug Kai and kisses him) Why you bail on me last night?! Thought we were having fun!

KAI: Uhm… I’m guessing you are, my knight in shining armour?  

LADY: Sure am! Till death do us part… (Sees Kai’s terrified face and laughs) Don’t worry, it was only pretend, honey, nothing permanent. We were both really drunk and thought it would be fun.

DAMON: (Sarcastic) Aw…what a love story! (To the lady) Sweetheart, you think you can help us put some dots together?

LADY: I can, but there is no way I’m letting you on my stage again. And, don’t call me sweetheart.

ALARIC: So, we were here last night?

LADY: Physically, yes. But I’m not sure any other part came along. Y’all were completely wasted.

IKER: All, meaning us four; or were there more?

LADY: Shit! You really don’t remember anything?

DAMON: (Trying to avoid the whole Britney strip thing) Nop!

LADY: Well… you were all here; plus the other three dudes.

ALARIC: I’m assuming that was before “the wedding”?

LADY: Yes. This is where (looks at Kai) we fell in love. But we came back here after the reception. Well, only me, my hubby; you fine looking thang (referring to Iker), and you, the ultimate party pooper (referring to Alaric). Don’t know where the rest of you went. All I know, is that my princess here, pulled a runaway bride after he got a call, and you two (referring to Iker and Alaric), left along with him.

ALARIC: Do you know around what time that was?

LADY: I’d say three-ish? Anyway, I have to go (kisses Kai on the cheek) It was lovely being your wife for the night. Good luck boys! (Leaves).

IKER: Not bad, psycho boy, she’s hot!

KAI: (Proud smirk) Totally hot!

ALARIC: Kinda reminded me of…

DAMON: (Before Ric says the name, he knows he’s going to say, he changes the conversation) Kai, check your phone…

KAI: (Rubbing it in his face) What... she remind oyu of someone, Damon?

DAMON: Please, you wish! 

Now, check your freaking phone!

KAI: Fine, fine… (looks at his received calls; sure enough he has an inbound call, from an unknown number, at 3:13 am) Well… Yep; I received a call, clueless about the caller, but seems like we had a lot to talk about, call lasted 20 minutes…

DAMON: (Sarcastic) Gee, I wonder how we can find out who the mystery caller is?

KAI: We could try to hack into the local police system, they have a huge database. Except, we’ll need a computer, preferably a stolen one so it’s untraceable…

IKER: (Also sarcastic) Or, maybe just call the number?

KAI: Of course I was gonna do that first! I was just thinking ahead, in case we get no answer. Amateurs! 

(Calls the number…) What a surprise… no answer! Oh, wait… (someone answers: Rawson Neal Psychiatric Hospital, how can I help you? Hangs-up immediately).

DAMON: So, who was it?! Why did you hang up!!

KAI: Ooh, I’m getting a bad feeling…

ALARIC: Give me that (takes the phone from his hand, calls the number… Rawson Neal Psychiatric Hospital, how can I help you? Hangs-up immediately) Shit…

DAMON: So, who the hell was it?!

ALARIC: Not who, but what…

DAMON: Ric, I’m too hung-over to be playing guessing games.

ALARIC: Does anyone remember anything about a psychiatric hospital?

DAMON: Now, that’s definitely a place Stefan could be at…

KAI: Specially if he was found hunting bunnies…

DAMON: Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go one flew over the cuckoo’s nest…

ALARIC: I’ll get us another uber…

IKER: Wait… 

Uber! Of course! I can’t believe we didn’t think of that! Everyone, check your phones for any trips we took last night.

DAMON: Duh! Man, we are really out of it!  (They check their phones…) Well, I have one at 5:30, from the hotel to the Andiamo Italian Steakhouse, downtown. And another one at 7:40, from the steakhouse to the Bellagio… That’s it.

IKER: I have one, from the Bellagio to Mystic Divas at 1:06am.

KAI: As for me, one, at 3:33am, from Mystic Divas to the Rawson Neal Psychiatric Hospital…

ALARIC: I don’t have any from last night.

DAMON: Okay, so far, our best bet at finding Stefan is at that psych hospital. Let’s move.

 TVD 9x16 (part 2 of part 1) coming very soon! Hope you stop by, read, and enjoy! =)

P.S Had to split it into more parts otherwise it would be too long for one post per part. 

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 36

time travel arccccccccccccc yessssssssss

I have been waiting SO LONG to reread this arc hhhhh yessss

starting off strong with the sexy roller cover. nice

I love the disconnect of ‘orion pax: outlaw’ compared to the last time we saw him in shadowplay where he was orion pax: supercop

he’s still punching people for JUSTICE or whatever so I guess not much has changed

oh my god this is the issue with the many many two-page spreads...the first time I read this issue I didn't realize that was a thing and GOD I was SO fucking confused. there's already a lot going on in this issue/arc but this made things so much worse hvbhjkdfbsk. I powered thru and still managed to understand most of the arc despite reading half this issue out of order (essentially) bc the website I read it on split the pages up and I couldn't tell they were supposed to be doubled (and also I'm dumb so I didn't figure it out)

anyways, the actual issue...windcharger is out here using his powers to rip a dudes arms clean off. wow!

and there's skids getting punched in the face. Ls

and glitch! a totally minor character of course...

MANNNNN I SO adore the panel of all the lost lighters appearing in a cloud of purple smoke, all posing epically....SO fucking good, peak sci-fi coolness vibes, A++

as usual jro killing it w/the titles, ‘elegant chaos’ is such a great name for a time travel arc

also reading the tfwiki has shown me that many of jros titles are song or album titles, to which I say - that's epic and I love it. with jro doing it, I feel like it straddles the line between referencing music and the very fanfic-esque ‘title things after music’ vibe. I love it

oh god I forgot they use bs cybertronian time units in this sometimes lmao...I mean of course they do but still like, what the fuck is a cycle. is that a day. I feel like these words all have no meaning/the meanings change drastically depending on continuity. I cant keep up and also I'm lazy and don't care enough to try

I love rodimus did u know

poor riptide looks so confused lmao

IS....IS REWIND PIGGYBACKING TAILGATE...THATS SO FUCKING CUTE....I cant fully tell bc of the page layout but ooomg so precious. minibot buddies

whirl saying ‘chuff’ just reminded me how british jro is hvbhakjhdsfbs sometimes it just Jumps Out in mtmte and I'm like Oh God Britain Is Real

I really like the mtmte approach to time travel and paradoxes and whatnot. its just complex enough to be interesting but not too convoluted that it bogs down the story. perfect sci-fi fun!

mannnn chromedome talking abt brainstorm :( I'm sad abt those two hhhhh

and I love how at this point, nobody in the cast ACTUALLY knows brainstorm well enough to know what he’s really doing - including chromedome, who’s ostensibly his closest friend, somebody he’s known for a while - and even the readers don't really know what he’s up to...I like the mystery tbh

cant believe rewind wrote orion pax’s biography, omg. completely forgot abt that detail

cd saying ‘I love it when he talks history’ about rewind....hhhh I love cdrw so muuuuch

godddd the line rodimus says abt whirl - how they need people like whirl around who are ‘happy to get in the way’ of danger and death - that shit haunts me man like...rodimus is basically saying that he’s bringing whirl along to potentially die in place of someone like orion pax (nevermind the fact that whirl dying would ALSO fuck up the timeline)...like, how deep does it go?? is he saying that bc he knows whirl has been trying to get himself killed for a while now, or just bc whirl likes violence? mannn I cant...the character intricacies...man

anyways...I love rodimus he’s such an interesting character. you have that fucked up moment and then in the next panel he’s saying ‘if you want to call it a time phone, I wont stop you’ about the quantum walkie-talkie. he has the RANGE

oh and then rodimus casually volunteering chromedome to do mnemosurgery on anyone who might accidentally find out about them time traveling, which is again fucked up on multiple levels. the raaaaange

vjaksbhdhfusajbfdjk that panel of the lost light squad just standing there like idiots reminds me of that post where someone said abt that panel ‘these characters have a collective 3 brain cells’ or something hvbjadkfnksfdl

rodimus IMMEDIATELY breaking his own rules by trying to reassure pax that they're good guys by pointing at his autobot badge, even tho the autobots DONT EVEN EXIST YET at this point...my boy PLEASE go purchase some brain cells from the store 

and the fact that rodimus introduced himself to pax w/his real name...shouldn't he go by an alias or st??? that seems like a good time travel rule since optimus and rodimus definitely know each other later 

and like, did they not anticipate that some of the people in the past would recognize some of the lost lighters hgbajkhdjfnjksf like cd and whirl get Instantly recognized...great job guys

they are all SO bad at this hvbahskjdhfbasjkf I cantttt luckily for them the orion crew is handing them easy alibis 

‘the dugout’ is that a baseball reference????

also I love the scenery here, the bg looks like rock but there's metal piping and stuff running thru it, its so cool...really adds to the whole ‘cybertron biomes are made of metal’ thing

‘ancient history’ rodimus are you KIDDING ME-

cyclonus time travels to the past and IMMEDIATELY finds a window to stare broodingly out of. icon

tailgate thinking orion pax is SUPER COOL continues here from shadowplay and I love it...tailgate is so cute

and the tg saying ‘don't you think that's awesome, cyclonus?’ hhhhh so cute

one reason I love this arc so much is that this is the arc where the gay Really amps up 

TRAILBREAKER.... oh man ;_;

are you telling me that this outlaw base they're in has ONE bed for all of these people. what the hell vhbaksjhfnsal

cant believe rung sampled roller’s steroid juice box

also cant believe robot steroids exist. except yes I can and I love it

oooh roller’s a 0/1%er? I forgot abt that 

cant believe orion pax just grabs some random phone that belongs to these weird new people and answers it. WHO does that

goddddd megatron and orion’s conversation....destroy me

HHHHHH like...the HISTORY....the regret...the missed opportunities...its all so palpable....goddddddd

and of COURSE, the whole thing is steeped in tragedy...the ideological differences that will become the foundation for a 4 million year long war...megatron, who believes that you need to burn things down and start again to really make change stick, and then orion, who says ‘reform is the answer, not revolution’....AUGHHH the intricacies. mannnn

‘you sound lost’ 😭😭😭

‘its tragic.’ yeah, that about sums up their relationship, especially at this stage and in this continuity 

anyways. [cries about old man megatron talking to young naïve orion pax] goodbye

AUGHHH and then we jump to rodimus ONCE AGAIN breaking his own rules and trying to save trailbreaker...IT HURTS MAN...god I love rodimus, I feel like him being broken up about crewmembers like trailbreaker dying is one part regular sadness over people he knows dying for tragic reasons, and one part personal guilt at someone under his command dying, even if he’s not involved/at fault. I love the dichotomy of this emotional reaction that comes only partially from empathy/emotion, but also comes from a kinda self-centered need for success as measured by people under your command staying alive. and taking into account rodimus’s life it totally makes sense that he’d act like that...GAH I love it. the complexity of it all!

orion pax saying ‘you should read [megatron]. it’s powerful stuff’ I'm screaming, so many LAYERSSSSS

I fucking love time travel AHHHHHHHHH like the opportunity for interactions like these....chefs kiss

‘hey, best friend! miss you!’ rodimus is such a shit hvbdajkfksjhfd 

‘very sus’ rodimus ahead of his time w/the among us lingo

oooh and then they realize that the senate is trying to kill the sparks...gotta save the babies!

tailgate scolding cyclonus for bluntly stating that you'd wanna be subtle when killing newborns...hhhvbhsdfhhhhhh I love them sm

ooooh and rewind has an interesting suggestion - that the senate is actually trying to irradiate the sparks into being outliers...rewind is so smart I love him

and the fact that he’s using history from his database...love it

rodimus sending cyclonus and whirl out like pokemon

ROLLER NOOOO DONT GO OUT THERE

also wow this is literally the 5th (I think) double page spread in this issue...the confusion I felt the first time I read this...lmao 

and now this is literally one of my favorite issues so I'm glad I know what's going on lmao

oh man rodimus telling cd not to erase trailbreakers memory even tho that could jeopardize the entire timeline... :( 

oh man I didn't even notice but roller getting debris blasted into his face like that makes the whole ‘roller is tarn’ theory even more legit considering tarn’s face scars....

‘tighter the better’ hhh don't say that orion. but also, that’s the companion phrase to megatron saying ‘the deeper the better’ hvbhasjkhdfbaksjlf

I do love the semi-campy action hero antics that orion pax gets up to. its just so fun, even when the stakes are high and things are serious

‘this is the greatest thing I have ever seen’ tg ily

THE REVEAL THAT THE SPARKS WENT TO NYON...so rodimus just saved himself, basically...time travel is so trippy

GODDDD ND THEN TRAILBREAKER...HVHHHHHh 😭😭😭 THATS SO CRUEL MAN

oh man that last panel of trailbreaker holding up roller’s juice box...iirc the first time I read this I thought that was roller (cause of the juice box I guess? idk I'm an idiot) so I was like oh ok he must've come back or something. very much related but I didn't really think about tarn being a particular pre-established character and totally didn't read the whole ‘roller is tarn’ thing that was going on 

which in my defense ruth also didn't pick up on any of that while reading this and eventually like 2 issues before the reveal I had to prompt her like ‘you should maybe be wondering WHO tarn is’ vhbahjksdfbaksjdf

so! issue 37! this issue is a solid favorite of mine, id say definitely top 5 or even 3. I'm super biased bc I fucking LOVE time travel, it’s seriously one of my favorite tropes ever, and this issue hits all the time travel beats I love. characters traveling to the past and interacting with people they know! conversations that have multiple meanings bc of TIME TRAVEL! trying to save someone who meets a terrible fate in your future! fun time travel action! the time traveling characters being generally terrible at hiding the fact that they're time travelers! ITS SO GOOD. 

and I love the clever way everything is tied together here - where we get a nice continuation of shadowplay, with this taking place shortly after that with a lot of the same cast, and time travel classics like the good ole ‘if we hadn't travelled back in time and done what we did, the future we came from wouldn't have existed at all,’ in the flavor of ‘rodimus saving his baby self’ and ‘rodimus NOT saving trailbreaker’ and ‘everyone forgot about roller :(’ 

ok but like, did the lost lighters just go ‘oh well, guess rollers gone now.’ like they DID realize that the outlaw crew would have no idea what happened to him if they got their memories erased, right?? did the lost lighters figure that since roller never reappeared after this time period, that was how history was ‘supposed’ to go and they shouldn't mess with it? am I overthinking it? as usual: yes, probably. I love overthinking about comics, in case that wasn't obvious

basically...I love this issue soooo much. so so good and a bunch of fun tropes that I love. I mean the whole arc is like that for me since I love time travel so much. so I cant wait to (re)read more!!