#the chokehold this meme has had on me

[snobgoblin]

queen never cry

[shiftywing]

onyx being like late 30s in dragon years is so crazy to me like that's not even your clawmate that's just a babysitter

[therosejamjournal]

just rewatched midnight mass and... yeah

[roguerambles]

All Morning

Tekken - Jin Kazama x Reader x Hwoarang

Warnings - 18+Only.

Writer's Block still has me in a chokehold, but with Tekken 8 coming SOON, I wanted to try something short and fluffy with these two.

I've said it before, but there is a criminal lack of Tekken x Reader out there and we as a society should rectify this post-haste--

Enjoy the Rambles!

-

You awoke to the sounds of Jin and Hwoarang fighting.

This was hardly an unusual occurrence, but you had been greatly looking forward to a long, peaceful, lazy morning, and they had promised to behave. You squeezed your eyes shut, desperately trying to will yourself back into slumber--

"You are doing it wrong--"

"Outta the way!"

"Pitiful."

"What'd you say?!"

There was a loud crash as the sound of something in your kitchen smashing on the floor made you wince, and you forced your eyes open, glowering at the ceiling as Jin and Hwoarang continued to hiss at each through the thin walls of your apartment.

One morning...just one....

A thick cloud of irritation quickly rolled over you, obscuring the bright sunshine trickling through your bedroom window. Kicking the blankets off you roughly, you swung your feet off the side of the bed, grumbling under your breath as you marched towards the door.

"I swear if you two have wrecked my kitchen again—”

You shoved the door open and marched across your living room, squinting in the glare of sunlight shining through the bay windows. Jin and Hwoarang’s heads snapped towards you, their eyes wide. The were stood across from each other, a scattered bowl at their feet, their clothes….

…covered in flour.

You stared at Jin and Hwoarang, who both stared back, mutely. You were beginning to think you were still asleep.

It was Jin who spoke first, his voice a low, irritated huff as he stepped around Hwoarang, kneeling down to begin clearing up the shattered bowl on the kitchen floor. “Now look what you’ve done.” He snapped at the red haired man. Hwoarang’s expressed soured as tore his gaze away from you to glower at Jin.

“What did you say?! You sayin this is my fault—”

“Yes.”

“Why I outta--!”

“Are you two making pancakes?”

Both men fell silent once more. You stared at them, then at the cluttered countertop – eggs, mixing bowls, an unholy amount of flour and sugar and strawberry syrup—

“…it was his idea.” Hwoarang grumbled, scowling at a corner of the kitchen that had somehow gravely offended him. Jin shot Hwoarang an irritated glance, while you rubbed your eyes, blinking a few times afterwards at the scene before you.

…yes, definitely not dreaming.

“Do you two even know how to make pancakes?” You asked. Jin gestured towards the countertop, where Hwoarang’s phone sat.

“…Xiaoyu sent us instructions.”

Hwoarang snorted. “Yeah. Instructions. In between all the memes and emojis—”

“They are simple enough to follow, if Hwoarang would listen for once—”

“Eh?! You trying to fight—”

“Why are you making pancakes in the first place?”

Both men fell silent again. Jin stared somewhere above your head, while Hwoarang rubbed the back of his neck. They seemed…bashful.

You folded your arms, realisation beginning to dawn on you, a smile twitching onto your lips. “Guys….”

“We have not had a morning together in some time.” Jin said finally, beginning to look slightly sheepish. “I…thought it would be…nice.”

…God, you adored those beautiful fools.

Smiling, you stepped around the counter, leaning up to softly brush your lips against Jin’s cheek. His eyes widened slightly, the faintest tint of red on his skin. “You’re sweet.” You murmured in his ear. He chuckled slightly, his palm sliding over to your hip.

“Hey.” Hwoarang cut in, lips tugging downwards in a sharp frown, puffing like a bird whose feathers had been thoroughly ruffled. “I helped—”

“Hardly.”

“That’s it, right here, Kazama—”

You laughed, catching Hwoarang’s forearm, tugging him towards you so you could press a kiss to his jawline. He grumbled, glaring at Jin over your head, his arms slipping around your waist. You trailed your fingers over his arm, while your free hand grazed slowly up Jin’s torso.

“So, if this is all for me…” You hummed thoughtfully, and both Jin and Hwoarang paused in their bickering, their heads snapping towards you as you smiled coyly at them. “…does that mean I get to make requests?”

Both men looked at each other, then back at you. “I suppose.” Jin said, stepping closer towards you, his eyes moving over you like a slow caress.

You felt Hwoarang press into your back, his rough hands sliding around your hips, a pleased grin spreading across his handsome face. “I guess.” His voice was low in your ear, wicked promises in his tone. “What is it you want, hmmmm…?”

You already had something in mind.

-

“You are so cute when you pout, Hwoarang.”

The red head responded by glowering at you from the kitchen, aggressively stirring the large mixing bowl tucked against his arm. The toned muscle of his abdomen flexed and contracted with every movement, and he turned sharply towards the back counter, giving you an uninterrupted view of his broad shoulders, the naked expanse of his back trailing down to narrow hips, his low hanging pants snuggly accentuating his perfectly formed—

“Coffee?”

You tore your eyes away from Hwoarang to get a new, equally pleasing eyeful of a half-naked Jin Kazama holding a fresh mug of coffee under your nose. You made an appreciative sound – not entirely because of the beverage – and accepted it with a smile, while Jin rolled his eyes slightly and headed back towards the kitchen to finish making breakfast. You settled back onto the couch, sipping from your mug as you admired the morning view of two unreasonably gorgeous, half-dressedmen making you pancakes.

“This isn’t what I was thinking of...” Hwoarang grumbled as Jin rejoined him in the kitchen. You smiled brightly and lifted your mug in salute.

“It’s what I was thinking.” You tilted your head, eyes trailing down Jin’s abdomen, shamelessly admiringly the way the sun caressed his flawlessly carved physique, the smooth roll of Hwoarang’s muscles beneath his smooth skin. “Although I confess, reality is better than my imagination…”

“Thank you.” Jin said, his tone dry as paper. His large hands closed around a jar of sugar, tugging the lid off – the muscles of his arms flexed and bulged downright indecently, and you knew you caught the hint of a smile on his lips as he caught your gaze lingering. Hwoarang scoffed, but you caught him tensing slightly as he reached into the cupboard, the muscles in his back flexing deliciously, his sharp gaze catching yours over his shoulder.

You were beginning to contemplate requesting to forget about breakfast entirely, but you reminded yourself to be patient.

The three of you had all morning, after all.

[yurileclercseyeliner]

didnidoitforyou??? kermie…

for day 6: Moustache, can i interest you in some fucked up dogrigues? i've drawn werewolf!Rodrigue as more or less a borzoi, because they have such nice wavy silky fur like his hair.

[23fallencomets]

📓 !!

this one…this one was a lottt lmao

okay so lowkey inspired by that one norgeant frat post you made so long ago and it’s not even frat related, i got stuck on the norgeant aspect of it (again like a dog with a bone because it has not left me alone since)

moving on, basically landoscar are roommates—and in a casual sugar daddy/baby arrangement because lando has a shit ton of money at his disposal and he likes helping his friends, it’s quite literally irrelevant to the main plot but i just need people to know because it’s funny to me—logan needs a place to crash because the apartment he’s moving into isn’t ready yet.

oscar lets lando know and in true british fashion, lando spends like the week before logan gets there talking absolute shit about him and oscar is constantly like 😐🤨🙄

imagine his surprise when he answers the door while oscar is out and mr. all american shows up with his pretty blonde hair and green-blue eyes and light scruff (that one red flag logan video? yeah him) and lando blanks.

anywho, turns out oscar has to go on a work trip for two weeks which works out for logan and lando tries not to murder oscar when he tells them.

it also turns out that logan only moved with a few suitcases and left everything else behind and now had to buy things. logan has a big wtf did i just do moment and has a bit of a crisis.

lando, with his exorbitant amount of money, and logan realizing he needs to settle down spend a week running around london buying home appliances.

they have this strangers-to-friends-to lovers progress because they’re dumb and oscar wants to push them off a cliff whenever he gets caught in between them.

things culminate when logan finally gets to move in and the two spend like three days building everything even though they both suck at building things and give up a million times.

lando has a severe oh fuck moment in the bathroom while logan is making dinner and now he has to figure out wether to say anything or go with the flow which he most certainly does not.

they figure their shit out and live happily ever after or something like that

it’s just a cute fic with little to no angst or miscommunication because both of those concepts make me want to throw myself into the nearest ice hole.

things are also so stupidly domestic from the start with logan making their meals, asking lando to tag along and joining lando on stream sometimes; their existence becomes so intertwined with each other they become the embodiment of the sold together do not separate meme

anyway, norgeant have strangely had me in a chokehold

[thisnameisnotspokenfor]

Hi! Hello! So uh, your AMAZING fic has me in a chokehold for the past few months. So here's a fanart based on that popular meme that I think really fits these two lol. Hope you like it! 👉👈

AAAAHHHHHH THANK YOU! LOL THIS IS SO PERFECT just know that my sides are now in orbit because of you 😂😂🤣🤣

I literally saw the trend the other day and was like this is so them but the way how you captured it here is so perfect I’m honestly in love- because you 1000% know that that man had the AUDACITY to look at Asha like he did good after almost burning down the market 🤣🤣🤣 so this is honestly chapter 18-19 in a nutshell 😂😂😂

[white-poppie]

ST✩RBOY: random hxh hcs

Now playing- STARBOY by The weekend ft. Killua, Kurapika, Chrollo, Illumi Tw: dissociation

💿 Kurapika

The most perfect man there is to exist!!?!!

So I know Kurapika had to almost grow up by himself, so I think he can handle household chores very well.

I would like to think that he somehow discovers baking. I just know he would be good at it <3

I just know he has super pretty cursive handwriting -sighs dreamily-

If you hug him, I know he would be so hesitant, but would slowly nuzzle deeper. If you were close to him and finally hug him, he would literally try his best to hold back tears (Please tell him, it's okay to cry!)

He smells so good omfg. I can't decide between Vanilla or some earthy smell, either way, it's so comforting yet at the same time it's like *eyes roll to the back of head*

You can read this for more scent hcs: Serenade my Senses

Call him pretty boy and he would be so shocked the first time, but as he gets used to it, he gives coy smile <33

I like the think it takes him a long time to get comfortable, but when he does it's so soft that it feels like breathing air. He is so touch-starved tho, so I can imagine him getting clingy after a while. (same bro same)

He is the knuckle and neck kisses type of dude *cue the flusters*

He hates Andrew Tate and his fans like he would go spit on them if could, this guy has the most healthy masculinity in all of anime and I love him for that.

Doesn't really understand the concept of memes tbh, he needs some explaining but he will laugh a little when you send them, he will once in a blue moon send memes but only the cat ones.

(realises how much I wrote for him while about to write more. This man has me on a chokehold frfr)

💿 Killua

He has trans-supporting t-shirts for him and Alluka. They are all matching.

Takes Alluka to pride parades! He has them sat on his shoulder the entire time too!!

Cant comfort a person even if his life depends on it. If you are crying he is just there like 🧍, awkwardly offering you some chocolate robots tho.

He just can't sit without moving every second! Literally a cat 😒

Older! Killua around 16-17 is a massive flirt! He is so quick to pull out reactions from anyone and takes a sick pleasure in it too??

Calls himself 'The Rizz lord' unironically.

His top Spotify artists would be Chase Atlantic, Mother-mother, The Scotts, Nirvana, Mitski and the Arctic Monkeys. Basically really an alt-rock/indie thing going on (us bro.)

💿 Chrollo

Mansplain, Manslaughter, Manwhore, Manipulate, Malewife ™️

Reads macabre literature like Crime and Punishment, No longer human, if we were villains, the secret history etc.

Tbh I feel like unlike how the fandom portrays him, he is a rather normal dude.

Gothic Academia ultra pro max.

Did the Soldier/Poet/King test, wanted 'king' but got 'poet'

Doesn't have pets because he thinks he can not take care of them

He loves animals tho, idk he seems the birds type of guy.

He likes the 'ominous' kind of birds more; like Ravens, Crows, Vultures and eagles.

Listens to Lana Del Ray and Maneskin, no questions asked.

Is scared of diving into conspiracy theories because he knows he would get sucked into the black hole because he is very interested in morbid things.

He is a DC fan, especially Gothan chronicles. (is that what it's called? Yk the things related to Gotham: joker, poison ivy, harlequin etc.)

Tried journalling once, failed terribly, and stopped after a week.

💿 Illumi

Oh wow, he is a difficult one to write about, but you guys love him, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I hate to say this, but I think he frequently dissociates, usually for very short periods of time, he doesn't even know it tbh, just thinks he is out of the element.

He is subconsciously under a lot of stress so his mind tries to flee from it by dissociating.

I wrote a little more about this here: Stuck in a vicious cycle

I think he likes potted plants, especially succulents. He is patient so I can see him take care of even the very difficult ones.

If he is going on a mission, he would go to his mother (because he cannot trust his siblings and father in this matter) like 'take care of my child.'

She actually manages to keep it alive somehow??

I think he knows how to do origami (he saw a child making a paper crane once and got curious.)

Illumi genuinely doesn't know how to care for his hair, he just follows whatever his mom tells him to do, so thank Kikuyo for those luscious tresses.

He has a hyper-fixation on mushrooms (not the psychedelic kind you weirdo). He knows the names of a lot of mushrooms.

Just imagine him and Hisoka taking walk and he randomly spots a mushroom and mumbles to himself 'Coprinus comatus'

and Hisoka is like:

(yes it's a bad meme, but it's the effort that counts)

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⤷‧₊˚ Hunter x Hunter (ハンタ x ハンタ)

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[anniflamma]

HEY ! okay so this is rlly random but i was wondering if u had any book .. well really any piece of media that has to do with ur interests and the ships you like? ik u get stuff from the bible and etc but i need more content of Jonathan and David , you have me invested.  😭

Heheh! You have come to the right place!

First of all, the book that truly put me in a chokehold is The Prince's Psalm by Eric Shaw Quinn.

I was hooked and read it in less than a week. I think it's really well written in both storytelling and character development.

Then we have Beloved King: A Queer Bible Musical by J. Sylvan. Right now, there is only a demo with 6 songs. But I'm really eager for it to get a full release one day.

Then we have the opera David et Jonathas by Charpentier! I know it's an opera, but seriously, it's really good, and I'm gonna be honest, the song when Jonathan dies made me ugly cry. It's an opera, so they play heavily on the tropes. Jonathan plays the almost feminine damsel and David is the hero. Saul is the over protective/paranoid father role.

I do have a much detailed review of these 3 adaptations from my Rating the most gayest King David adaptions. The other movies - adaptations there are for the memes.

Then we have books that I haven't read but want to: The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks and How Are the Mighty Fallen by Thomas Burnett Swann. I know that How Are the Mighty Fallen portrays David and Jonathan's relationship as romantic, but I'm not so sure about The Secret Chord. In case you are interested, you could take a look?

I also recommend non-fiction works such as Jacob's Wound: Homoerotic Narrative in the Literature of Ancient Israel by Theodore W. Jennings Jr. This book focuses on ancient Canaanite culture and narrative storytelling, explaining why David and Jonathan would be considered queer in that time. It's really interesting and provides some key details. The author mostly talks about the dynamics between David/Jonathan, Samuel/Saul, and Elisha/Elijah. But he also discusses Joseph and his gender nonconformity, as well as Ruth/Naomi.

And this is kind of non-David/Jonathan related, but I do really recommend the podcast It's in the Book: A Queer Bible Podcast. It's by the same person who's making the Beloved King musical. It has only 2 seasons and covers only Genesis, but gosh… I learned so much about queer themes in the Bible that, well, nobody really talks about. Like God having a womb, or Rebecca being called a twink 20 times, or the idea that Joseph and Dinah's souls were switched in the womb, explaining why Joseph is very feminine presenting. It's genuinely a really good podcast.

[perewinklebuzz]

Kaveh state of mind, bro has me in a chokehold extremely belated birthday to my favorite 30 yr old alcoholic, the only tie, his stupid roommate will happily do the chores

He has a whole page of watercolor and this drawing I did the night after a con, one of the ppl I was with drew me mechanic Kaveh 🥺

Melanin restoration to teh beloveds and a shitpost based off a tumblr post teh at had me perishing

Sketch vrs final

Kaveh dressed to teh nines bc I cannot resist putting my favs in pretty clothes, teh first fic is based off clothes I found at my grandma’s and teh second is based off images from Pinterest and old adopts and dress memes

[lancelot-drawsalot]

This meme has had me on a chokehold so I quickly made a Harringsmith version of it

[7grandmel]

Rip of the week: 11/11/2024

Radical Halation

Season 2 Featured on: Rips of Christmas Past Also on: Now That's What I Call Quality!

Ripped by wheel able, wolfman1405, David Morales Boroff

Birthday Special!

Anniversaries, anniversaries...how they come, how they go. This week in particular is a pretty special anniversary, not just for the release of hit game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but for the release of ME: My birthday!

It's surreal how vividly I still remember when I wrote Your Silent Reality for my last birthday, covering a SiIvaGunner rip that's sat with me long since I first heard it due to the emotional ties I have to the material it utilizes. I began this entire blog as a way to give me writing practice, and I'd like to think I've grown a fair bit as a writer in the time since; but nevertheless, even a year and a half since the blog's begun, my emotional attachment to Season 2 of SiIvaGunner remains as firm as ever. The channel's output has grown to be more impressive than ever before, and last year's Season 7 in particular has had me in a chokehold with rips like Beautiful Dreamer (late but- happy birthday Minindo!) and The Paragoomba and the Wiggler...and yet, I will always keep coming back to the rips of that second season, to the rips that defined my ride-or-die fixation to the channel, and to the season that more than any other gave me feelings for things I didn't even know I was capable of caring so deeply about. Indeed, in direct contrast to last year's birthday rip, Radical Halation was the kind of gift I never knew I needed, yet one I will never stop treasuring.

Way back when I covered the rip Eterna's Cocoon, I wrote about how special it is to me to know that rippers on the team will continue to champion the works which have long since faded from public consciousness. Sure, SiIvaGunner leverages then-current events for comedy a fair number of times; a previous post on the blog's covered one such example in Lagplane, and one of the channel's most revered events back on Your Best Nightmario only came about as a result of a viral meme from that same timeframe. Yet just as often - if not moreso - the channel operates within its own bubble of time, with no care in the world for relevance or target audiences, a team making rips in huge part just for their own enjoyment. Take, for instance, the 1999 SquareSoft JRPG Chrono Cross; a game that, six years before its remaster in 2022, still existed as nary but a memory to many. Nevertheless, it was a memory treasured by two rippers in particular, a duo who had already impressed me time and time again throughout the channel's first two years. Be it Sog-Gee Ambiance, voiceless, Kass' Theme, or their previous collaborative work on 28 Saves Later, wheel able's stellar touch for arrangement and wolfman1405's unbelievable talents as a jazz performer are both some of the absolute highlights across the channel's early run. When the time came for one of the most important anniversaries relevant to the SiIvaGunner channel, the two took the opportunity to also honor a forgotten classic they both cherished – and in doing so, Radical Halation ironically became one of the first times I ever engaged with Chrono Cross. With the game's anniversary also just two days away, and the rip lying so close to my heart, I see no better time than to reciprocate that passion all these years later.

The sheer quality of Radical Halation should be made evident just a few seconds into listening; this is, as Wolfman1405 in particular specializes in, a ground-up cover and performance of the original Radical Dreamers ~ Unstolen Jewel theme from Chrono Cross. The original theme already had a shockingly acoustic sound to it for its era, really plucking at the emotions just a few chords in; that emotional rawness in the track may well have been the core reason why it was chosen to celebrate this anniversary in particular. Indeed, the anniversary I alluded to beforehand as being one of the channel's most crucial is that of the very song the rip title alludes to, the song that sits at the very emotional core of SiIvaGunner's entire being: Snow Halation from Love Live. I wrote back on Waluigi Pinball (Beta Mix) that the Grand Dad meme is like the beating heart of SiIvaGunner's creative spirit, being the core that created the entire channel; by that same logic, I feel as if Snow Halation is like SiIvaGunner's *emotional* core, its "soul" for lack of a better term. Grand Dad may be the spark that sets new rippers into action even all these years later, but Snow Halation was the first thing that people got EMOTIONALLY attached to on SiIvaGunner – it was the core behind its first story arc of SiIvaGunner: Rebooted, it continues to effectively serve as the "protagonist" to the Christmas Comeback Crisis storyline – and its use throughout the channel continues to feel like a reminder of that same attachment, the one that the channel has to all of us. It's an openly sappy, almost overbearing song, yet one that represents so much about the love of remixing and rearranging that SiIvaGunner continues to focus on all these years later.

You take that emotionally-charged melody, put it in the hands of two stellar arrangers, and inject it into an arrangement of an emotional melody the soundscape of which said aforementioned rippers already appear to hold a close attachment to, and the end result is exactly what Radical Halation shows us. Throughout 2016, throughout the entirety of Season 1 of SiIvaGunner, we as the audience had gone on such an emotional rollercoaster regarding out attachment to the channel, its creatives, and its memes, with Snow Halation at the very center of it all; with the channel returned just in time for the holidays, it also happened to return just in time for Snow Halation's anniversary on December 22nd, ever so coincidentally aligned with the time upon which we were all wholly, earnestly in love with everything the song had come to represent. Many months before Season 3 and beyond would begin feeding irony into the discussion of appreciation for these melodies, right as the Christmas Comeback Crisis was just kicking into gear, and just long enough after the channel's return had occurred to make us truly accept that it was back, Radical Halation's release window struck gold in a way only truly comparable to the rips of the Season 1 finale a la Tupac's Empty House and THANK YOU FOR RIPPING.

I'm of course not aiming to frame Radical Halation as just being "the right thing at the right time"; beyond that emotional attachment, the simple fact of the matter still remains that its a hauntingly beautiful arrangement, even close to 8 years later. Radical Dreamers ~ Unstolen Jewel's beauty sinks in just from the acoustic guitar lead-in, and is only emphasized by the time the rip's true "twist" sets in, of its lead melody being that of a Snow Halation arrangement played on violin. The two halves form an incredible, inseperable whole; not confined by the restrictions of a mashup, the hand-made nature of this arrangement means that both the guitar and violin segments are free to fill in for one another, to emphasize the sounds of Radical Dreamers ~ Unstolen Jewel or the melody of Snow Halation to different degrees on a moment-to-moment basis. I particularly love the section after the Snow Halation melody first plays - at around 0:47, the violin seamlessly leaves the Snow Halation melody and instead takes cues from the source track, yet never stops feeling as if its all from the same arrangement, even upon returning to Snow Halation at 01:10. The rip throughout has the same feeling as the best and most carefully-constructed mashups of today a la Eazystep or Maroonbound whilst in reality being a completely new arrangement and performance.

The visuals of the rip are of course just the cherry on top of it all. Viewers are made immediately aware that the rip is going to be something special not just through its audio, but from the cold-open visuals of pitch blackness fading into a view of the ocean from underneath the surface, the logo fading in just as the melody's played its first few notes. These visuals only change once Snow Halation is first quoted in the audio, changing from the undersea depths to the view of a beachside in winter, a quite literal mash-up of Chrono Cross' dreamy seasides and the snow-covered comfort of Snow Halation. None of this visual detail is particularly "necessary", it's not here to further a punchline; rather, in the spirit of rips like i love(d) you, the visuals serve to punctuate the emotional core of the rip. Visuals in any rip are a surprise, an often-time momentous occasion, and Radical Halation combines that knowledge with its purpose of celebrating Snow Halation's first-ever anniversary celebration on the SiIvaGunner channel to create a rip that, even with no ties to Chrono Cross at the time of watching, I just KNEW would be special back in 2016 just three seconds in.

All these years later, and a rip as special, profound and heartfelt as Radical Halation still manages to feel...forgotten about, in many ways, sitting at less than 25K views as of writing. In that sense, Chrono Cross may have been a more apt game to use for this tribute than its rippers initially thought; all these years later, despite its clear emotional core, the passion that went into it and the release of its remaster, the game remains a jewel swept away by the tides of the industry. We're soon nearing nine whole years of the SiIvaGunner channel's run, and with every day I run this blog I'm made all the more aware of how many gems just like Radical Halation continue to slip by the cracks, how much joy and love the channel's team crams into so much of its output despite never having any sort of guarantee that its audience will reciprocate that love.

But, even all those years ago, Radical Halation did reach me. And even so many years before the idea of this blog was even a consideration, before I was knee-deep in thought about the channel's existence and the people involved in its upkeep...I knew that I wanted to thank its creators. I knew that it was a rip that could only have been made out of outpouring love; love for a game years old, love for a channel that was still standing shakily, love for a leitmotif and its impact on an audience...and most of all, the love of creating and performing music outright.

I held onto those thoughts, kept them stashed away in the back of my mind – yet I feel as if subconsciously, they were part of why wolfman1405's arrangement and performance of Sunday Morning, three years later, hit me as hard as it did. The song was different, the subject was different, the context was different, the "joke" was no longer there; and yet it was as if Wolfman1405's creative, emotional spirit, that I'd felt so prominently years past, had never left. Put simply, beyond its inherent qualities that I'll forever applaud wheel able and wolfman1405 for, I feel...indebted to Radical Halation: it may well just be one rip, but its one of the most core pieces I can think of for why my love for the channel continues to this very day.

[slaygentford]

hi um. as an opera enjoyer do you have any thoughts on gounod's romeo & juliette?

just dug through my absolutely unusable inbox (sorry I did that ask meme and never replied I got really busy :/) to find this again because I just saw it last night and I have a couple of points ie an essay. first off the libretto is fucking deranged you have the entirety of one of the greatest achievements of the English language at your disposal

and do this instead

which proves again that the only way to adapt Shakespeare is ballet/physicality/mime because it's the only way of not using his poetry that you can convey his poetry

adjacent is that obv above they're in their 20s-30s but with dance the acting comes across better bc it's the entire body whereas opera they've gotta stand fairly still and so you're very aware you're watching two 35 year olds do this same scene as 14/15 year olds only singing and singing bad verse besides.

point b leads into point b.5(?) which is I straight up don't like tenors. I've come to accept this about myself. I straight up dislike a tenor. grow up. why are you as a man a tenor. men should either be countertenors (I kno we all saw it six years ago and daily since but let's revisit) or baritone or bass. stop yelling. STOP IT!!!! STOP YELLING!!!!! oh MY god. as you can imagine this makes my life very difficult. not Gounod's fault. I understand that Romeo obviously cannot be a baritone.

b.5: in every French opera you inevitably have the one frenchman in the cast who instead of rolling the r's has decided to swallow them instead which just annoys me. thats the entire point I just dont like it I like French opera fine love it even but oh my godddddd stop it. stop it. get some help.

point d: all of that being said the music alone is absolutely. just absolutely. just absolutely absolutely. beyond beautiful. and obviously we're all there at least in part for the spectacle of it. I spent 43 usd to see her do this

and obviously that was the bargain of a lifetime and regardless of all of the above I'd go again if I had another 43 bucks to spend. Ive seen her as Violetta as well several years ago and I will say that her Violetta is what took me from a casual opera fan to my current state and I did SPECIFICALLY go see this for her. the chokehold this woman has on an audience is unreal and this + je veux vivre are just really stunning pieces of Gounod's so what can you do.

in conclusion to enjoy this opera you must pretend it is not Romeo and Juliet because it is not Romeo and Juliet. not to be dramatic but it's a garish pastiche that offends me on a base level and if I'd seen it in 1860 whatever when it came out I'd be saying that loudly and complaining for the ENTIRE carriage ride home. but it's 2024 and I can turn on the baz Luhrmann Romeo and Juliet so it's all good. it's sonically really lovely and a great showcase for any soprano

[blue-lollipops-and-ice-clouds]

Rock Sound 25 Icons - Sleep Token Article (Transcript).

Transcript written by yours truly!

(Original Article Link)

(Google Doc Version Link)

ROCK SOUND 25 ICON

SLEEP TOKEN

WITH A METEORIC RISE UNLIKE ANYTHING THE HEAVY MUSIC WORLD HAS SEEN BEFORE, SLEEP TOKEN HAVE BECOME ONE OF THE BIGGEST SUCCESS STORIES IN MODERN ROCK HISTORY. AS THEY ACCEPT THEIR ROCK SOUND 25 ICON AWARD, WE EXPLORE HOW THEIR GENRE-PUSHING VISION HAS RESONATED WITH FANS ACROSS THE WORLD, WITH SOME OF THE BAND'S FORMER TOURMATES AND SUPERFANS REFLECTING ON THEIR INCREDIBLE JOURNEY.

WORDS

MADDY HOWELL

PHOTOS

ANDY FORD

[page break]

LIVE PHOTOS

ADAMROSS WILLIAMS

It took less than seven minutes for the Sleep Token explosion to hit.

Gathering momentum in the UK underground scene with their 2019 debut 'Sundowning' and its 2021 follow-up 'This Place Wil Become Your Tomb', in early 2023 the masked collective set the internet ablaze with 'The Summoning'.

Nonchalantly dropped just 24 hours after the emotionally driven 'Chokehold' arrived, the inferno came out of nowhere for many heavy music fans. The song's gnarly down-tuned guitars and crushing metal riffs resonating deeply, its ominous, poetic lyrics searing with passion, and the voice of the band's masked frontman —Vessel — soaring over its huge, otherworldly chorus. It was the kind of mastery that proved difficult for any metal fan to ignore, but after five minutes, something wholly unexpected happened The riff-laden chaos segueing into a two-minute funk outro, from that moment - the stage was set for a revolution.

Forging their sound whilst remaining insistent on resisting genre classification, Sleep Token had been darting between progressive metal, R&B, and glossy pop with ease since their formation in 2016. Adding new styles and influences into their arsenal at every opportunity, from the second they erupted into the mainstream consciousness their expansive vision was impossible to ignore.

Capturing something elusive, something that had long felt absent from the contemporary heavy music scene, 'The Summoning' defied easy categorisation. Blending sounds in ways that were as unpredictable as they were seamless, the track catapulted the band to viral fame on TikTok. Clips of the song's outro paired with memes, fan art, and incredulous reactions from listeners flooded the app's feed, and within days the band's cult following began to expand rapidly, each new fan clamouring for more information about the mysterious masked group that were suddenly dominating their social media timelines.

"It's pretty crazy when you think about it,"' laughs John Famiglietti, bassist and producer of experimental band HEALTH.

"A lot of this stuff really doesn't have precedent but when TikTok was created, they built the concept of virality into the code. It needed to become the fastest route to virality, and they wanted to destroy YouTube. Sleep Token is the perfect example of that in action, because that song was released in what the music industry calls 'The No Zone'. It had a visualiser of a copyright-free Elden Ring boss, and it was nearly [page break] seven minutes long. That kind of thing just doesn't get big."

What John explains is vital to understanding the magic behind Sleep Token's rise, because simply put - the whole thing is almost impossible to believe. From making their live debut in front of less than 500 fans at London's The Black Heart in the summer of 2017, to dominating the social media algorithms of thousands, their sudden and overwhelming rise is entirely unprecedented.

The release of 2023's Take Me Back To Eden' swiftly followed by a Best UK Artist award win at the Heavy Music Awards and an announcement of a standalone headine show at Wembley Arena, the excitement surging through the scene was palpable — evident as fans scrambled to acquire tickets for the landmark evening. Selling out within ten minutes of going on general sale, Sleep Token were officially an arena-filling rock band.

"It's not often you see that kind of leap anymore," John continues.

"In the span of eight months, Sleep Token went from small clubs to headlining arenas. For me, that's the most exciting part. I can't remember the last time I saw a band do that."

With HEALTH playing alongside them that historic night in London, John recalls the atmosphere vividly. Looking back then, how does he think Sleep Token's stratospheric rise happened?

"They're bringing pop elements in through the language of heavy music, and that's a big part of the appeal," he explains.

"When you're at a Sleep Token show, you can see the kids connecting with that shit and singing along. It's a big show, it's theatrical, and when everyone's singing along…that's where you get the chills. The crowd makes it, and you can see the smiles on people's faces. For a lot of these kids, it's their first concert. If your music can bring new people into this world, that's the most powerful thing possible."

With 'Take Me Back To Eden' landing the band their first ever Top 5 album, as well as becoming the most-streamed metal album on Spotify in 2023, Sleep Token's Wembley Arena ritual served not only as a celebration of a remarkable year — but a declaration of the future of metal.

Asserting that the scene was ready for change, from the moment that Vessel emerged into the stage's central spotlight, all12,500 fans gathered in the room knew that a new era of heavy music was beginning. With striking [column break] nu-metal inspired masks for band members II, III and IV unveiled on Instagram just moments before the band's scheduled stage time, the energy surging through the crowd was nothing short of electric.

A sonic and visual spectacle, from the assaulting intensity of 'Vore' to the raw catharsis of 'Ascensionism' each moment of the show shone with intent. The night blooming into a powerful karaoke session as Vessel suddenly became unable to sing mid-performance, by the time proceedings culminated in a heartfelt rendition of 'Blood Sport", everyone filtering out the doors of Wembley Arena knew they had witnessed something groundbreaking.

A remarkable achievement from a simply remarkable band, to understand how Sleep Token ended up taking their songs to a stage like Wembley, we need to take things back to the beginning.

Debuting the project with 2016 EP 'One' and 2017's 'Two', the groundwork for the world they were about to build was lain. A world filled with technical metal, expansive atmospheres, and an unapologetic commitment to musical experimentation, the band's early releases demonstrated an unusual level of ambition for a fledgling band. Not just blending genres but entirely blurring the lines that segregated them, their metalcore and djent influences bled into lush soundscapes, with emotionally raw vocals and progressive song structures constantly throwing the listener off-guard.

Evading every potential classification, songs like 'Nazareth' and 'Calcutta' felt cinematic yet intimate, drawing from ambient electronica and R&B with a steadfast spirit of eclecticism, yet never feeling disjointed. Carrying a coherent emotional thread — a mood of longing, heartbreak, and spiritual seeking — their vision resonated deeply with a small but passionate group of early fans.

Among those early to hop aboard the Sleep Token train was Holding Absence vocalist Lucas Woodland, who recalls his first encounter with the band.

"The first song I listened to was 'Nazareth', and it just blew my mind," he nods.

"It was just so cool, and to this day, I think that's Sleep Token's greatest strength. It's cool for kids that are just getting into this genre of music, but it's also cool for people like me who listen to bands like Radiohead and Bon Iver. It somehow manages to scratch two very cool but very different itches. Throw that together with vocals that are so out of this world… you' ve got something special. I was shocked to discover how small they were at that point." [page break]

With that, Lucas became one of the band's earliest champions. After discovering them, he immediately shared Sleep Token's music in the Holding Absence group chat, urging his bandmates to check them out.

The Welsh band joining forces with Loathe for a split EP titled 'This ls As One' the two bands were in the process of mapping out a co-headline tour. With shows set to take place in early 2018, they knew they had to find a way to get Sleep Token involved. Picking a local band to join them on each date of their joint UK run, they decided to offer the slot for the two biggest shows — London and Manchester — to the genre-slashing newcomers. Witnessing the earliest iterations of the band's live show, their full vision may not have been realised back then but already something was brewing.

"It was surreal," Lucas nods.

"The first two times I saw them were supporting us on that 2018 tour, and it was early days for them, but there was still this magical element to them. I remember speaking to Vessel after the show, and he was like, 'Sorry can't catch your set, I've got to run off and wash this I paint off'."

"When you look back on that, it's crazy to think that there was a period of time where they painted up, got on stage, played to 50 people, and then quickly ran off to have a shower in a Travelodge," he laughs.

"The third time that I saw them though, they played St Pancras Church to around 120 people. By that point, the vision was realised, and that was the moment where I realised that this was their turf now. Everyone in that room saw what this could be. It was a seated show, and it almost felt like a sermon. For that to be one of your first headline shows, and for it to captivate people in the way that it did..that's crazy."

Looking back on what shift may have occurred between the band he saw onstage that evening and the band Sleep Token have become, Lucas explains.

"When 'The Summoning' came out, barely anything had changed.. everyone else had just woken up to it."

"I honestly believe that the vision of the band, the message, and the sound has been there since day one. It's so cool to think that the band I watched in that church all those years ago and the band that is now playing to tens of thousands of people now is the same band."

The heavy music world had long been craving the kind of shake-up Sleep Token brought. Much of the scene tired of existing in a lull of stagnation as artists began to take [page break] bigger risks with their sound and experiment with fresh influences, a sense of scepticism transformed into intrigue.

Despite a growing longing for something different though, it takes something truly special to bowl in and completely shatter the boundaries of everything that existed before it. With little of the band's core identity changing since its inception, for Sleep Token to achieve such an explosion — the moment had to be right. With the world emerging from a global pandemic and grappling with a growing reliance on social media, Lucas reflects on the circumstances that led the band to greatness.

"It's important to note that every important band ever was in the right place, at the right time to ignite the culture,"" he explains.

"If Slipknot came out today, they wouldn't be the band that they are. If Metallica came out in the 60s they wouldn't have been as successful. Everybody has lived their lives terminally online for so long now. As musicians, for so long we were told that we must engage with our audience, because it's never been so easy to do it. We're told that we should be tweeting every day, we should be posting photos every day, and nothing is sacred anymore."

"You can engage with your fans at any given moment, but we reached a point where that almost plateaued. People are sick of hearing everyone's opinions, and they just want to hear the music. There are music fans who can't remember a world without the internet, and they can't remember a world where anonymity existed. They can't remember a world where mystery exists."

It's understandable then how the band's anonymity and carefully curated lore have forged a large part of their appeal. Whilst they are far from the first band to adopt masks and a hidden identity — with the likes of Slipknot, Ghost, and Hollywood Undead coming before them — Sleep Token's anonymity feels different. With social media making it easier than ever to know everything about a band, the collective have chosen to withhold almost everything, and that has only elevated fan's desperation to unearth more.

In a world obsessed with personal branding, where artists often cultivate parasocial relationships with their fans through constant interaction and engagement, Sleep Token's decision to remain an enigma marks a decidedly different approach to their peers. Their identities remaining closely guarded secrets Vessel- who has spoken just a handful of times in interviews early in the band's [page break] career has built a persona around the idea of serving an ancient deity known only as Sleep.

Carving out a role that feels entirely other-worldly, at the same time, there is something deeply human in Vessel's character, Wracked with emotion, pain, and a desperation to grow, their ability to tap into the deepest, darkest caverns of the human feeling is unrivalled. Their larger-than-life image clashing with the humanity and vulnerability of Vessel's lyrics, whilst fans may not know the identity of the men behind the mask, they can connect deeply with every word he says.

Because of this, the band's anonymity has proved much more than a gimmick, it's become a vital part of the identity that has forged a fanatical community. Stripped of a name and a human visage, Vessel is not a rock star in the traditional sense. He doesn't present himself as a relatable figure or even a person at all — he's an idea. An invitation to immerse yourself in the band's universe, the inability to put a face to the name makes every part of Sleep Token feel universal. Stripping away the distractions of celebrity and ego, it's allowed listeners to project their emotions and interpretations onto the songs like never before.

"They managed to line up this beautiful thread through the needle moment because everyone is so hungry to find out more about them," Lucas nods.

"We live in a world where we know everything about everyone, and they have been able to use that in a backwards sense. They've not only kept hold of the anonymity, but they've embraced it. They've turned II, III and IV into characters, and they're relevant parts of the band and the culture. They've always been important musicians on stage, but I remember being drunk at a house party and seeing the mask reveals on my Instagram feed. It felt like a new character had just been unlocked. It was such a moment."

That feeling of grandiosity is something that Sleep Token have become well-versed in creating. Each fresh reveal feeling monumental, it's elevated their live shows from simple performances to powerful rituals [column break] as though they've been a part of something much bigger.

As Sleep Token's rise has continued, word of their live shows has spread far beyond the UK. Kickstarting a new era after wiping their Instagram in early 2024 — leaving just a bio that read 'Nothing lasts forever' — North America were invited to bear witness to 'The Teeth Of God' tour.

A 21-date run taking place throughout April and May, they were joined by Empire State Bastard for the shows, with both bands playing to packed out venues night after night.

"It was an incredible spectacle to witness each night," guitarist Mike Vennart reflects.

"Their audience is hardcore. The most dedicated and obsessed fans. The best audience a band could hope for, really. Not to ruin the magic, but the lads in the band are wonderful too."

While many bands take years, even decades, to build up a loyal fanbase, Sleep Token have culminated a rabid community of fans in record time. Their collision of influences uniting people from vastly different sonic backgrounds, there are moments that speak to every kind of music fan.

Whether it's the ethereal melodies of 'Alkaline', the crushing heaviness of 'The Offering', or the gutting piano melodies of 'Blood Sport', their refusal to be confined has become their calling card. Retaining a core heaviness whilst pulling from pop, R&B, progressive rock, and jazz, they've spawned a sound that speaks to people from all walks of life, never alienating any one group.

Before they were headlining rooms to thousands of fans Stateside though, one of the first US bands to recognise Sleep Token's potential was Issues. Looking for an opener for their 'Beautiful Oblivion' tour — celebrating their third and final allbum — their booking agent threw Sleep Token's name into the conversation. Having recently begun working with them, he sent over their debut EP, and bassist Skyler Acord felt an immediate connection to their willingness to push boundaries.

"It felt like it came completely out of left field," he recalls.

Everybody who's a fan of Sleep Token knows the feeling of finding them where you're like, 'What the hell am I listening to? Where did this come from? Why does he sound like that? Where are the masks for?' … I went through that whole experience." [page break]

With only a few songs out in the world at that point, a series of internal discussions took place about whether it would be a better move for the band to acquire an opener who was little more well-known However, with Acord recognising the potential Sleep Token had it didn't take long before they were on the bill for their first US tour. Watching the British band play some of their earliest shows, each night Issues felt more and more certain that they'd made the right choice to take a chance on Sleep Token.

"They're doing something really interesting and really different, and rock absolutely needs that," Skyler nods.

"I could tell that they were going to be huge, and I wanted to be the first to take them out. I love giving a leg up to anybody doing something different, because rock is so boring. especially in America. In America, rock is the most conservative popular genre I can think of. If you stray a little too far outside of the norm, you get shut down. However, Sleep Token found a niche. A vacuum that was just dying to be filled."

"As soon as we started playing with them, I could tell that they really wanted it. The crowd would start with confusion, it would slowly develop into intrigue, and by the end of their set it was all they were talking about."

Since forming in 2012, Issues have made it their mission to change the shape of rock's future, and whilst the sound and aesthetics of their respective projects may differ — Skyler recognised a kinship between the two bands. A drive to alter the music world's perception of rock, and a passion to confuse, captivate, and involve fans, he was instantly in awe of the world they were creating.

"Vessel is the creative force behind a lot of the project, and you can tell that he is coming from the perspective of a piano player," he says.

"That was confusing at first because I was like, 'Where are these riffs coming from?' They're cool, they're simple, but they're heavy. That dude is just a sick keyboard player, and any time you hand that type of great musician a guitar, they're going to come up with something that you never would have dreamed of coming up with."

Inviting Vessel to rip piano solo in the middle of the band's 2019 track 'Get It Right" throughout the run, Skyler and his bandmates had no doubt that Sleep Token would go on to accomplish huge things. Admittedly though, they never expected them to get to where they are quite so rapidly. [page break]

"I'm a huge metal fan, and the only bands that really make a diference are the ones doing something different, and doing it well," Skyler nods.

"Every once in a while, there's a band with a lot of hype, and when you check them out, they just sound like everybody else. There's nothing that special about it when you peel back. By removing identity out of the equation and digging into the mystery of it…Sleep Token mastered it. That approach worked for basically all the bands that I love who have mattered. It worked for Ghost, it worked for Black Sabbath, and it worked for all the black metal bands loved when I was in high school."

For Lorna Shore vocalist Will Ramos, Sleep Token's success also represents a turning point for the entire metal genre. A self-proclaimed superfan of the band, he penned an impassioned essay on the band to celebrate them taking home the title of Best British Artist at the 2023 Rock Sound Awards.

In the piece, Will spoke about seeing the band perform for the first time at the Blue Ridge Rock Festival, rushing over to the stage from Lorna Shore's own 'meet and greet' elsewhere on site.

"Ten seconds into running turned around and saw Of Mice & Men's singer, Aaron Pauley, following me. We started running through this huge crowd together, and everybody was so excited I'm not the type of guy to leave a meet and greet early, but I needed to witness that set. It was an act of true love!" He laughs.

"That's where it started to set in how freaking massive Sleep Token were becoming. They're one of the biggest metal bands that I'm aware of right now, and there were so many people watching that set. They refer to their live shows as rituals, their fans are the congregation, and the stage as a place of worship. It's something that could easily seem tacky if a band did it with little consideration for the details, but they're so committed to what they do."

"Even when they post on Instagram after shows, the captions are always like, 'The ritual has been completed in Copenhagen'. They totally absorb themselves in the spiritual aspect, physically, visually, and sonically. It's a brand, and they completely own that brand. They've made it exactly what it is, and they stick to it."

"The whole experience does feel super spiritual, and they don't just give 50 per cent to the theming, it's 100 per cent. People feel the emotion, see the way they embody this ideal, and hear this incredible music — and I think thats why people are so ready to absolve themselves in this spiritual moment. Everybody has a different connection to every song because of the different things [column break] everyone goes through in life, but they get to experience all of that in a place where everybody else is feeling something too."

Speaking on his admiration of their ability to bring new fans into the heavy music world, the frontman is quick to point out that Sleep Token's genre-blurring tendencies have not only broadened their fanbase, but have also breathed new life into the scene.

"For a long time, metal bands have been putting themselves in a box," he explains.

"It's so refreshing to see the evolution of music, and bands like Sleep Token out there bringing in all these different genres. Doing that brings in a whole bunch of different people, which is so important for the metal world. Half of the time, this genre is seen as dying, but then you hear something like this. There are all these people who didn't listen to metal before listening to Sleep Token, and I love that. It feeds into this community, because people who listen to R&B are listening to this band, and they're venturing further into the genre. It's welcoming to a lot of people, which is a beautiful thing."

What Will describes is a feeling that spreads far beyond music. Bringing together music fans from worlds that once would have clashed, Sleep Token's story is the perfect example of how a movement begins.

Embracing our differences and welcoming all into a world devoid of boundaries and specifications, behind the mystery and the lore, Sleep Token have tapped into some of the most vital, vulnerable parts of our human need for connection. Each note speaking to each person in a uniquely different way, their ability to unite has positioned them as one of the most important bands of this generation, and somehow it still feels as though this is just the beginning.

Reaching heights that most bands work for decades to hit, there is simply no other story quite like Sleep Token's. Each release taking a step forward, a deeper dive into their evolving, immersive sound, they continue to push the boundaries of not only what heavy music can be — but what it should be.

An invitation to feel, to come together, and be a part of something, they've given us a front-row seat to one of the most explosive musical phenomena of our time. Swerving all expectations pushed by the industry, their rise has become a reminder of why music matters. Inspiring a new generation of heavy music artists to strive for something bigger, Sleep Token are proof that with enough belief and commitment in a cause, there are truly no limitations on what you can achieve.

[zombee]

i am now canyon public enemy #1 on Twitter for the Doug obituary. the buzzword of the day is bully, never mind I was screenshotted and swarmed (someone unblocked me to call me "a massive cunt." perhaps we have different definitions of the word bully!) I've also been called unsafe, because i guess writing a fake obituary that is at worst in poor taste is dangerous somehow.

i am so tired of the chokehold the canyon has on this fandom. we have been coddling them since day one. when the proto canyon ruined this character for me in early days, I quietly stopped writing him into my fics. I was careful not to be anti canyon or even izzy on main (BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT THE SAME THING). but after season 2, when dozens and dozens of canyonites came out to berate and harass David? nah. I stopped censoring myself. i still barely say fucking ANYTHING on main, but I don't ignore it anymore. the obituary wasn't even posted on my TL - it was in a reply!

but they still hate me, and do you know why? because after season 2 we weren't allowed to TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH WE LOVED THIS SHOW. because the canyon is such a loud fucking minority they made us feel bad! for loving the show! we all spent a year and a half collectively loving!!! so that's why I made my Hit Television Series Our Flag Means Death posts. I'm a believer in not qualifying your positivity - not, "i don't care what the haters say, I loved it!" just, "i loved it!" which is relevant because once again I was not even alluding to them!!! i was simply expressing joy and optimism about this amazing show.

so now here we are, close to a year of these fucking people dancing on the grave of this precious show, and I make one mean meme and I'm the bully. okay.

but i expect it from them. it's the folks who have been following me and my work for months and years that see one screenshot and say, oh, no. how terrible. what a bully. never mind two and a half years of positivity and seeing the measure of my character through my work, this is it.

and why?? to coddle THE CANYON??

and by the fucking way, if the original obituary was just cringe, if it just said "I'm sad, this isn't fun anymore, I'm out" then that would be fine! but it's NOT! what it actually says is, "David Jenkins et al are homophobic and those of you simpletons who like Ed and Stede are barely queer. the divide in this fandom that we did not cause, because we are the victims, have made things unsafe for us, a group based around liking a fictional character." BE SO FOR REAL!

so cool. i made one shitty meme and then instead of it being passed along in group chats and dms I was screenshotted, vilified, called names. one person said I was "punching down" because as we all know the canyon is an oppressed class. i was also kicked out of a canyon centric group chat for galaxycon Columbus (did NOT know it was when I joined, lol) which I expected. and the mods were genuinely very chill.... except when they tagged me by name and username on the announcement page 🥴 they did edit it, again they were chill, but if you are ostensibly ANTI BULLY AND ANTI DOXXING, perhaps fucking think about that! Jesus!

strictly by the numbers I am one of the biggest writers in this fandom. and I'm unapologetic about loving my work. if there's one thing miserable people hate, it's being popular and not humble enough about it, so I already had a target on my back. and for the ultimate crime of loving the hit television series our flag means death loudly and proudly i might actually have to leave ofmdtwt. I'm sick with it. fuck.

[darkheartedprince]

x. @firexfvalisthea sent : Top 10 favourite characters? Your OTP? (for final fantasy munday meme)

Accepting from this meme.

TOP TEN FAVOURITE CHARACTERS:

This one's a little too easy to answer, but I'm gonna rank them in order of 1 - 10 . This is based on a lot of internal factors , but also one game holds my heart so tight and I write in this fandom a lot , so . . . on that note !

Noctis {ffxv}

Ignis {ffxv}

Cloud {ffvii}

Prompto (ffxv)

Aerith {ffvii}

Zack {ffvii}

Yuna {ffx}

Lunafreya {ffxv}

Tidus {ffx}

Sephiroth {ffvii}

BONUS/ HONORABLE MENTIONS {BECAUSE I CAN}: Kadaj {ffvii}, Cindy {ffxv}, and Somnus {ffxv}, Joshua {ffxvi}.

OTP:

I'm breaking this one down by games I've played . So , that being said here we go:

FF X: Yuna and Tidus all the way . They're literally so cute ?? I could write essays about them , and I just might . I will happily die on this hill. They're also from the very first FF game I've played , so no matter what they will always hold a special place in my heart.

FF VII: Surprise to no one, I have a few in this fandom/game . Aerith and Cloud . I think they are really soft together , and she brings out a side of Cloud that we don't normally get to see . On the flip side , Cloud brings out a certain spunkiness in Aerith and they balance each other out well . Cloud and Zack . I'm a sucker for a good best friends to lovers , ride or die trope . I am . Cloud changes so much around Zack , and Zack helps him open up and not be so stormy. They're cute . Zack and Aerith . Classic , tried and true that can do no wrong in my heart . They have great chemistry , and their story is just . . .delightful . Tifa and Cloud grew on me , but I really learned to love them . They take work though , they fight some times , but at the end of the day they always return back to each other and are always there for one another . They’re another pair that are loyal to a fault no matter what happens .

FF XV: Same thing as FFVII , I have a lot of OTPs for this game . This game has me in a stupid chokehold . That being said . Noctis and Prompto . Best friends to lovers . Awkward best friends since childhood , falling in love during sunrises . Late night pizza , and 3am talks about nothing . They get each other and just . . . I love them , okay ? Following that path, Ignis and Noctis . Listen , this one tickles my senses . I adore them . They are the classic 'prince falling in love with his advisor' trope. Ignis knows every little hair on Noctis' head, while Noctis knows Ignis' routine backwards and forwards . They have really tender moments . And don't get me started on Ignis actually willing to die for Noctis to keep him safe . Okay ? Okay . Noctis and Lunafreya . The game did them justice but not enough justice {we got so little screen time with them, don't come for me}. That being said , the moments we did get were beautiful between them . You could tell how much she cared about him from a young age , and how much he valued her and respected her . They had a really particular bond and it was remarkable . {One of my favourite threads I've written on @rexelectus was a thread of just letters between Luna and Noctis and it's my favourite in the universe}. I have too many OTPs for this game, Ravus and Ignis , Prompto and Cindy , Iris and Talcott , Aulea and Regis. I could write even more about this game than I already have , so I'mma stop .