#the other is a pun and me using the pun rather than the original

[zutarawasrobbed]

ALTA Live Action Season 1 Initial Thoughts (Spoilers)

I just finished the season, and holy shit!

Quick things that need to be addressed/debunked:

“Sokka is no longer sexist”

I dont know what people were talking about when they talked about Sokka’s “sexism” being removed. It’s still there! But not in the overly exaggerated comical way it was in the original.

In fact, it’s more in line with ancient practices of indigenous tribes where men are seen as protectors and providers while women are expected to nurture. It’s not the same “boys are better than girls” narrative in the original.

Additionally, Suki still beats the fuck out of Sokka and humbled him really quick. They’re super cute by the way. And I love Suki’s “I like my men a little stupid” vibe. She’s great.

“Aang doesn’t run away like the original!”

That is not true. He does run away, but not because he’s trying to get away from the temple but instead to get some air because he feels overwhelmed. He’s more like taking a quick break and planning to come back. It’s not exactly the same, but almost. It also is done in a way where his guilt feels more justified.

“Katara doesn’t talk about her mom anymore like the original”

This is true… BECAUSE THEY SHOW INSTEAD OF TELL. I was honestly not prepared to see the death Kya in such graphic detail and how Katara was in the room hiding when it happened. It’s honestly really sad and more heartbreaking.

Plot:

The timeline seems to be ambiguous compared to the original series where it was “end of current year.” In fact, they repeat “three years” a few times, which makes me think if the series get greenlit for more seasons, it would be over a three year period.

Jet is still villainized but given more nuance and not a simple "good v bad" way like the original.

Zuko’s story about how he got his scar has additional lore that makes him come across as even more selfless and compassionate. The additional context of the platoon he advocated for in the war meeting, becoming his current crew, really added to the story.

Eradicated the nepotism baby plot point with Pakku only training Katara when he finds out he used to date her grandma. Instead, Katara proves herself and ends up teaching the other male fighters the techniques she learned from watching other benders use their elements and mimics them.

This season doesn’t have Aang learning any waterbending, but rather facing his trauma and the consequences of his actions. He get roasted by all his past lives. Which is an interesting choice, but I think it works well in how they executed it.

This season seems to actually be Katara focused and her journey of learning waterbending which I honestly loved because it really hits home the element of “water” being the story of an untrained waterbender learning her element. But, I do think Aang could’ve learned a little bending. It felt a little off.

Katara ends up advocating for all waterbending women and ends up leading an army of both men and women during the siege. She’s really bad ass and is given the title of master without being formally trained by Pakku. She made herself a master.

I think the timeline is a little wonky because of how much they had to fit in with the limited episodes they had.

Kuruk is given respect! I loved that.

June actually seems into Iroh which I thought was a funny but cool way to flip the script from the original.

The relationship between Zuko and Iroh is really beautifully executed. I love the depth they added with flashback scenes and their bond prior to the Agni Kai. It also wasn’t as frustrating watching Iroh and Zuko’s dynamic because Iroh communicated with Zuko in a way he could understand with straight answers rather than seeming to actively sabotage him with cryptic puns and shenanigans like the original.

They changed the love triangle with Yue Hahn and Sokka to be very healthy. They gave Yue autonomy and a choice in her relationship- which- again- is much more in line with indigenous cultures. Also, Hahn and Sokka’s relationship is really supportive and full of respect and no ill will.

They way they handled grief and the realities of war with the loss of life was very well done and really drove home the point that this is a war and these are child soldiers.

There’s a lot more but these are my initial thoughts. Will probably post more later.

Shipping:

Kataang is all but removed. Literally DOA. There is no indication of a crust on either side. It’s painted like a sibling relationship, which is like the original, but this time everyone seems to be on the same page. But, I swear the writers had to have read ZK fics because damn.

They canonized a popular Zutara theory/hc about the cave of two lovers and how the crystals would light up once it went completely dark instead of a “kiss” activating the crystal glow.

Speaking of the Cave of two lovers. They keep the Oma and Shu story with red and blue coloring. Making it come across more as foreshadowing than a direct link to the present tunnel story.

Sokka is put in Aang’s place with Katara in the tunnels and turned it into a story about the love of family and sibling bonds. Aang wasn’t even present.

Zuko and Katara share a meaningful look when they first see each other and continue to have a Katara centric scene followed by a Zuko centric scene and vice versa.

The scarf scene. I will not be elaborating further. If you know, you know.

Zuko and Katara fight scene in the North is epic. He still taunts her with almost the exact same dialogue but it’s so sassy- I love the banter.

Suki and Sokka were really cute and the actors had great chemistry. I think Yue and Sokka was really rushed and didn’t really feel anything about them, honestly. But I attribute that to lack of episodes to develop all that plot.

[artsandstoriesandstuff]

REVAMPING (pun intended) A HALLOWEEN-ESQUE STORY IDEA FROM LAST YEAR

The idea, of course, is called 'Once a Month Wendell', though I sometimes call it 'Wendell Once a Month'. The cover resembles one eof the 'evil version of yourself' stories, but it's different than that, so bear with my explanation.

Many monsters transform into their monsters once a month. Wendell curse does the opposite.

After accidentally disturbing a mysterious lady on the street, he gets cursed to change, but not in the way you'd expect... rather than becoming a monster at every full moon, he will have to suffer being one until a full moon, which occurs once a month.

This normal monster form that he's in is a weird mash of a vampire and a werewolf.

He has a favorite diner he mostly goes to at night, and has a crush on Ramona, a waitress there (who secretly has an affinity for monsters). But he rarely gets the chance to interact with her unless during the day... and wearing a giant straw hat isn't the best look.

Recently, he's joined a group for struggling monsters such as himself, in an attempt to find a way to turn back. But the other members see him as an anomaly, not only due to his lack of skills in the monster area, but also something different about his curse than the others.

And strangely enough, it isn't about him turning human.

The twist thing is slightly different than my original idea (VERY vague language I'm using, too)... but let me know what you think of this series if you've read this far!!! :)

(I've had this idea for a while... I just haven't found a sound idea I like.)

[ineffable-opinions]

Seme/uke - long response

A decolonial and subaltern take on three posts on seme/uke dynamics that aims to contextualize them while questioning ethnocentrism. I welcome alternative perspectives, corrections and criticisms.

Post #1: Seme/uke dynamics in Be Loved in House...  

@absolutebl responding to @echos-of-ivy

Seme – Uke

About two or more characters in a ship/pairing:

seme 攻め: top (the pitcher) (from origin - attack) also referred to as 左 (left)、タチ (tachi)、トップ (top)

uke 受け: bottom (the catcher) (from origin – receive / accept) also referred to as 右 (right)、ネコ(neko/cat)、ボトム (bottom)

riba リバ: verse (doesn't mind being either a top or a bottom) (from origin - reversible)

seme and uke are sourced from martial arts lingo: seme (martial arts), uke (martial arts) & is related to nanshoku tradition (depictied in ukiyo-e style painting below) of androphilia rather than western norms of queerness. Such differences in culture in queerness is seldom appreciated.

Spring Pastimes. Miyagawa Isshō, c. 1750

Sometimes, androphilic men use seme/uke/riba instead of the following terms which are popular in their queer community:

tachi タチ 凸 - top

neko ネコ 凹 - bottom

riba リバ 回 – verse

Other BL producing countries also have similar terms for seme/uke/riba. And those countries also have terms for top/bottom/verse/side in their queer communities.

For example,

In Chinese BL (danmei), seme/uke/riba -> gong (攻)/shou (受)/hu gong (互攻)[1]

In Chinese tongzhi community -

top: gong (攻) or 1 or 上 or 凸

bottom: shou (受) or  0 or 下 or 凹

verse:  bu fen (不分)or 0.5 or 10

side: 不10 or 纯爱[2]

四爱 (fourth love) is the Chinese term for heterosexual relationship wherein the woman tops. When fictionalized, such romances are referred to as GB (girl boy) romance as opposed to BG (boy girl) and the heroine is referred to as female gong 女攻め.

In Thai BL, seme/uke/riba -> me (เมะ)/ ke (เคะ)/ se (เซะ) & their queer community have these terms.

Evolution

When the work does not involve sexual acts, seme/uke/riba is assigned based on speculation (‘what if’) in line with audiences’ preference. There are a bunch of stuff that are employed to determine the dynamics but owing to variation in taste, audience don’t always agree with each other. Since seme/uke/riba archetypes rose to that status with the yaoi (doujin) boom with development of comiket, etc. tanbi, June, original shonen ai and other such types of BL don’t follow these archetypes. Live action which follows, to an extent, the latter tradition, such as Boys Love (2006), also don’t have uke/seme/riba archetypes, instead follows the archetypes that was popularized by tanbi literary movement. Tanbi literary movement was queer in more ways than one. It preceded/birthed BL (Mori Mari) and influenced it.

As no culture is passive recipient [pun intended], different glocalizations of seme/uke/riba dynamics exhibit different features, both within and outside Asia (eg. original English-language BL publication).

IRL

While being top/bottom/verse/side pertains to sexual preference/choices and acts or lack thereof, it is not devoid of other implications. Here are some interplay between these preferences/choices and the implications to consider:

Are these preference/choices innate or socially formed? Or both? Or neither?

What does it mean to be top/bottom/verse/side – within and outside the queer community?

Performance of masculinity, femininity, neither. Which masculinity/femininity? Is that masculinity/femininity performance – marginalized, soft, protest, hegemonic or amalgamated?

How local and global queer cultures influence it?

Is it some kind of conformation/attempt to fit in? If yes, what kind and why?

How are those choices impacted by history (including that of colonialism), legal/political implication (e.g.: pink certificate in Türkiye), local forms of patriarchy & heterosexism, class, nationality, race, skin color, caste, age, employment (including sex work) or lack thereof, physical location & avenues of exploration, abilities and disabilities, access to internet & other infrastructure, education (including sex education), health conditions and access to medical care, etc.

How do they form expectations regarding oneself and others?

While it can be argued that there shouldn’t be any other implication associated with such preference/choices, one can not simply wish them away as it is more often than not linked to certain social realities.

BL as well as gei comi are genres of fiction, telling tales of male androphilia – these are reproductions of imagination entwined with realities, reflecting desires, fantasies and biases plenty.

Conflation

I disagree that uke/seme/riba archetypes are conflated “casually” with bottom/top/verse in narratives and discussions around them. There is a difference that P’AbsoluteBL probably isn’t aware of:

Uke is the bottom in a ship. A character could be uke in a ship, seme or riba in another. For a character to be a ‘bottom’, he has to be sou uke or total/complete uke. It means no matter who he is paired with he will always be the uke.

Alternatively, a sou uke is a character that makes all other characters become seme for him and go after him.

Similarly, a character could be called ‘top’ when that character is a sou seme or total/complete seme. Unless a character is established as a sou seme or sou uke in the narrative, there is always a possibility that those characters are verse. While most BL involves set ships, it is not rare to find characters who are uke in one relationship becoming seme or riba in another. Sometimes, after a time skip, transmigration, reincarnation, etc. BL characters end up switching within a ship.

In Live Action

While there is plenty of riba ships in other BL media, live action has had very few.

These couples were riba in the novel:

Bai Luoyin and Gu Hai – Addicted – The censorship struck right after the couple had their first coitus interfemoris (based on the chronology in the novel).

Lu Feng and Cheng Yichen - A Round Trip to Love

Lan Yu and Chen Handong - Lan Yu

Dom/sub

While the P’AbsoluteBL is allowed to do whatever, I don’t think correlating dom/sub with seme/uke is a good idea in the context of BL because:

BL has a separate speculative fiction subgenre called dom-sub-verse (Dom/Subユニバース) which have its own conventions. It is one of the many subgenres that took inspiration from omegaverse and has grown parallel to it. It takes dominance and submission from the kink community and explores them as innate/biological traits.

It involves characters who are identified as Dom(ドム), Sub(サブ), Switch(スウィッチ), and Usual/Normal/Neutral(ユージュアル/ノーマル/ニュートラル). Along with the standard elements of BDSM in fiction such as safeword, sub space, sub drop and aftercare, it also involves additional elements such as kneel(ニール), glare(グレア) and collar (カラー). There are commands コマンド (命令) that Dom gives to Sub. Sometimes elements borrowed from omegaverse such as heats/ruts, suppressants and professional Dom also appear in this sub-genre.

Dom×Sub ship: Dom is the seme & Sub is the uke.

eg. Hizamazuite Ai Wo Tou 『跪いて愛を問う』 & Rhetoric 『レトリック』 by 山田ノノノ Mijuku Na Boku Ha Shihai Wo Kou 『未熟な僕は支配を乞う 1』 by音海ちさ

Sub×Dom ship: Sub is the seme & Dom is the uke.

Jouzu Ni Dekita Ne Watasesan 『上手にできたね、渡瀬さん』 by 野萩あき Shoshinsha Dom Ha Hameraretai 『初心者Domはハメられたい』 by やんちゃ Gohoubi Ni Kubiwa Wo Kudasai (ご褒美に首輪をください) by Naruse Kano

Dom×Switch ship: Dom is the seme & Switch is the uke.

Sono Meirei De Ore Wo Abaite 『その命令で俺を暴いて』 by 小夏うみ れ愛の声で暴いて by 泉門くき いでおすわりしてみせて by 由元千子

Switch×Switch ship: One of the switches is the seme and the other the uke. 

強情なSwitchの躾け方 by ことぶき

Dom×Dom ship: One of the dom is the seme and the other the uke.

コマンドミー、プリーズ by 町田とまと サディスティックに暴かれたい by 星崎レオ (uke is a Dom, seme’s identity is not made clear) Kyousei Switch 『強制Switch』 by 彩田あまた

Like most BL genres, it is yet to make its way into live-action BL.

There are plenty of BDSM themed BL as well as training (調教) style BL where seme/riba/uke can be switch or sub or dom.

Problematizing the Problem

Hence, the argument that conflation of seme/uke with top/bottom is “a PROBLEM” is ironic. The main reason given for that argument is that “het consumers [would] conflate (egregiously & incorrectly) top with male/masculine and bottom with female/feminine.” Here are some things that I think is relevant to think about that:

Why would ‘het people’ or any people for that matter think in terms of male-female / masculine-feminine binaries? Do they think in those binaries only and not other binaries such as wen(文)-wu(武)? Why think in binaries and dichotomies at all? Don’t they not think in terms of multiplicity of genders/gender expressions such as various kinds of masculinities and femininities) based off on their local contexts? 

Do queer people not make such/similar conflations? (Hint: they do.)

Is it a problem? While this seems to be the popular notion, plenty of scholars from across the globe has dismantled it.

What exactly do P’AbsoluteBL think ‘het people’ conflate riba characters with? Feminine-feminine? Masculine-masculine? Neither? Both? Something else?

There are different conceptions of masculinities within a culture which get reflected in cultural goods, including BL, from there. Here are some really old depictions:

Qing dynasty Chinese Water and Land Ritual painting depicting a divine civil official and thunder god in military regalia. [Wen - wu]

Paintings of Padmapani and Vajrapani on either side of the Buddha, from cave 1 of the Ajanta Caves.

Moreover, if the problem is hinging on a particular understanding of seme/uke: the one in which seme is not feminine or uke is not masculine enough. If latter is the issue, it can be fixed by sticking to BL media with otokomae uke or macho uke. If former is the issue, there’s more than enough works with maiden seme and josou seme. If one is yet to encounter any such works, one is not looking far enough.

Masculinities in BL

Here are three central characters from Finder series embodies different types of masculinities – a lot of it is presentation, physical attributes, age, power and social standing. Akihito is a young and vivacious uke who happens to be short and sinewy. Asami Ryuichi is a supadari seme: a guy who is tall, well educated, high earning, with good looks. In addition, he cooks and cleans and cares when he wants to. Fei Long is tall, beautiful and cunning and can be regarded as a riba character. But can any of these characters considered not masculine by regular standards?  Isn’t Akihito masculine enough for his age? And if we are to compare Asami, we are sure to find him lacking but then give him time to grow. They have a dozen years between them. Moreover, can average men stand comparison with a super darling? But then in the grand setup of patriarchy, isn’t power concentrated in the hands of the older men who dominates even the super darlings, both in real world and fictional ones.

Ayase Yukiya & Kanou Somuku from No Money

Consider the case of Ayase, would you call him a “feminine” uke? Probably yes. He is small in stature - petite and cute. He is definitely very small in comparison to his seme Kanou. They probably have one of the most exaggerated size differences and an extreme case of the traditional pairing.

The traditional pairing comes from the customary practice of androphilia in pre-modern Japan. It involves relationship between a wakashu and a nenja or from the tradition of nanshoku. The former is not considered a man by the period’s standards and is considered a third gender by some scholars. The latter is considered as a mentor and lover for the former. While the traditional faded with ‘modernization’, tanbi literary movement (among others) kept alive remnants of it through the writings of the likes of Yukio Mishima.

Note that the youth on the left is wearing a kimono whose style (furisode) and color was considered appropriate for adolescents of both sexes but not adult men, which along with the partially shaved pate denotes the boy's wakashū age status while the exposed bare feet indicates the purely sexual demeanor.

The traditional pairing has clearly inspired Japanese mangaka both BL artists and others. Look at the wakashu in customary androgynous clothing, younger, fairer and even smaller than the nenja, with relatively less experience being embraced by nenja who is in customary male clothing.

Check out more shunga about nanshoku to see visual ancestor of “yaoi”. The visual legacy continued with the likes of Go Mishima. The queers did it first.

From the series "Mishima Go Book of Young Man" - Japan - 1972 (Showa 47)

Ayase in No Money fits into the wakashu ideal. Moreover, the creators of this manga explicitly differentiated between feminine uke with wakashu uke by juxtaposing Ayase with Someya who embodies traditional femininity.

Someya and Honda from Henshin Dekinai

Putting it into perspective, it is noticeable that many a BL involves similar pairing. A lot of criticism BL faces is when it sticks to nanshoku dynamics. Interestingly, critics who can’t imagine genders beyond masculine and feminine, fail to tell apart “feminine” characteristics from wakashu characteristics. But there is no dearth of such dynamics getting subverted in numerous ways in BL:

ship with younger, lower class, petite, androgynous or any combination of customary wakashu characteristics in seme/riba.

ship with all parties being of similar age, class, physical attributes, experience, etc.

Emancipation

Shouldn’t typical uke archetype be seen as an example of subversion of the main character masculinity that dominates media landscape? Shouldn’t they be exalted for being what they are? Uke archetype that allows all genders to project onto and gain pleasure from, is that any less than a marvel in itself?

Pursuer & Pursued

In order to analyses if there is a shift in seme-uke dynamic, the P’AbsoluteBL employs the following to categories who is active:

who is pursuing whom

who makes the first call in terms of declarations and physical touch

who seems to be more in charge of the relationship

In BL, these are never reserved for seme/uke/riba. Who takes on which role depends on the narrative. BL rarely have fixed pursuer-pursued. All parties involved in a ship take on active role in different circumstances.

Take, for example, the original edition of Ossan’s Love, Hasegawa Yukiya employs certain indirect tactics to pursuing Soichi Haruta such as cooking, cleaning and caring for him. (These are tasks that seme/riba/uke usually engage in lighter BLs to gain and retain the attention/affection of the one they are pursuing.) Hasegawa also engages in activities they do together as a means to grow closer. Once he learns of his love rival, he switches up the tactic. He pursues more directly and aggressively. Soichi rejects him. He withdraws and returns to the original tactic but without attempts to grow closer. Soichi feels the loss and tries to get close to Hasegawa but is brushed off. He does not back down. Instead, he takes on a more aggressive route of pursuit - making amends and chasing after Hasegawa.

What P’AbsoluteBL implies with “I think BLIHID’s main couple has a REALLY weak seme/uke dynamic from the get go” is made abundantly clear in with “ShiLei does a lot of active pursuit, also he’s very self actualized.” Here, using pursuer/pursued would have sufficed. Instead, P’AbsoluteBL chose to disappropriate established terms ‘seme/uke’ and imbibed them with implications of “active pursuit” as well as “self-actualization” [regarding queer identity] that seme/uke/riba doesn’t carry originally. Most of it based on biases built on equating all BL to one type of BL: the one with traditional pairing that follows royal road progression.

What P’AbsoluteBL actively avoids discussing is that Beloved in House is basically following the super popular ‘domineering president’ plot based on a BG romance.

Live Action Struggles

P’AbsoluteBL mentions an imagined ‘struggles around seme/uke’ in live-action BL. I think the actual issue plaguing live action BL is the struggle to balance business and other interests while being able to do justice to the diversity within BL as a media genre.

source: (chil-chil.net)

In the chart:

ほのぼの – heartwarming – Example: Restart After Come Back Home

コメディ – comedy – Cherry Magic

ダーク – dark – Sing in Love

シリアス – serious – Cornered Mouse Dream of Cheese

キュン – exciting (kyun) – Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice but to Kiss

Japan has trouble in diversifying its live-action in terms of sub-genres and treatment/mood. Even Thailand, despite the amount it produces have trouble offering variety. Riba couple, maiden seme, yarachin characters, yandere X yandere ship, etc. are either very rare or non-existent in live action BL. Moreover, live action BL is seldom explicit and are mostly in the speculative territory with seme/uke/riba dynamics, making it all the harder to diversify.

Tbh, what fascinated me the most is the “I kind of automatically cringed” part of the question. I would love to know what brought about that reaction. I am sure that it would help shed some light on discourse surrounding BL in general.

Post #2: Blushing Maiden Trope & Seme/Uke

Discussion (intended and in italics) between an anon, @heretherebedork & P’AbsoluteBL on actions and reactions during physical relationships.

The discussion centers around “the character placed into the stereotypically feminine role” being repulsed/reluctant/hesitant when it comes to physical relationships. It is directly attributed to “purity culture in BLs”.

BL have a complicated relationship with “purity” or being “clean”. Tanbi roots of BL hinged on sexuality and obsession with beauty to the point of decadence. Shonen ai (original meaning) works also had characters who are usually promiscuous for one reason or the other, never forming very deep relationship (at least not enough to stick to monogamous unions for long) yet endlessly entangled with other characters, often baffling non-queer characters in those works.

from Song of the Wind and Trees

*

[Inviting readers to hazard a guess: who is the seme and who is the uke. Answer at the end of this post.]

*

But how explicit the depiction of physical relationships has varied in BL with time and space. Japanese BL with the self-published BL (aniparo / yaoi – original meaning) boom saw very explicit depictions side by side with the commercial BL which have barely any explicit content or those which take a closed-door approach. Now Japanese BL have a wide range in terms of explicit content and have grown to incorporate elements from other genres including gei comi. Korean BL is similarly doing well. It is not uncommon to have chapters or parts of chapter in manhwa and novels dedicated to the celebration of physical relationships. Thai BL also have no dearth of explicit content, especially in web publishing. Chinese BL in its early days had lots of explicit content, especially in self-publishing. But as censors started taking notice and cracking down, authors and platforms clamped down. Most BL were purged of any & all explicit content. Some of it migrated to Taiwanese platforms, AO3 & other foreign hosts. Now all danmei published is “pure love” devoid of even allusion to depiction of any physical relationship beyond above neck action.

When it comes to BL live action, things are a little different. In Japan and to an extend abroad, there has always been overlap between audience of BL and audience of Japanese GVs and pink eiga. Moreover, early live-action Japanese BL was probably aimed exclusively at hardcore BL fans. They were way more explicit on average and did not always involve physical relationship between the main ship. Same seems true about early live-action Chinese BL. A Round Trip to Love Part 2 (2016) even had bondage and SM scenes which wasn’t there in the novel; but then it didn’t have the hard-earned happy ending the novel had either. But now, even dangai with “socialist brotherhood” (社会主义兄弟情) can’t be aired. Meanwhile, Japan’s average BL today lacks much explicit content. This isn’t to say that it doesn’t drop an occasional Sei no Gekiyaku (2020) once in a blue moon. Here are my speculations to why more of those doesn’t get made.

There is another reason for “purity culture” in BL.

Sathaporn Panichraksapong, an MD of GMMTV, a major producer of BL series, claimed that audience members who are mainly heterosexual women look for romantic relationships among the characters rather than sexual relationships.

We know that our audience are [sic] women. Women want to see only two boys having romantic moments together. They don't want to see sex. Sexual relationships in BL are for a gay audience. That's why in SOTUS the Series we have only two kissing scenes. With only these, audiences were already screaming. This is enough for them. (Interview with Sathaporn, GMMTV, 10 Aug. 2017)

Jirattikorn, Amporn. "Heterosexual Reading vs. Queering Thai Boys' Love Dramas among Chinese and Filipino Audiences." (2023).

As Jirattikorn goes on to highlight, this [wrong] perception about the audience (“women”) have changed ever since.

While early BL series tend to portray pure love without showing many sexual relationships, later BL series started to show more sex scenes between the two male lead characters.

Jirattikorn (2023)

“It’s always the character being pursued, who is typically in his first relationship, who Never Thinks Of Sex. They’re often very sweet and innocent and wide-eyed.”

While heretherebedork attributes it to “purity culture”, it can be argued that this has to do with what audience wanted:

I like the way they portray love in Thai BL. It is a kind of puppy love. BL of other nations, like Chinese BL, are darker. In Thai BL, two male characters often start off friends, then develop feelings for each other. It is very light, very sweet. (Krissy, f, 27, Philippines)

Jirattikorn (2023)

and what media houses thought they wanted, as evidenced by Jirattikorn’s interviews with BL fans. This is not to dismiss struggles with purity culture which is often a very slow part of decolonialization.

P’AbsoluteBL goes further to the argument that “purity” is associated with seme/uke dynamics in BL and maps it to typical het pairing (BG):

The stronger the seme/uke dynamic (the more heterosexually dysmorphic and less actually gay) the more likely this trope will manifest. Simply put: the man (because he is hooah a MANLY MAN DUDE) wants sex but the woman (delicate pure flower of cleanliness and joy) does not. And if she does want it she is a DIRTY, worthless, whore - so she MUST protest sex (GASP) at every single turn. (Seme is acting the male and uke the female in these kinds of narratives.) *please sense my sarcasm dumb interwebs, mm’kay?*  

It’s true that the argument seems persuasive but is it right? Probably not. Seme, uke and riba characters can be divided into strong/weak categories based on their characterization - with the strong ones being those who pursue, take initiative, most likely to initiate intimacy at least for their first time, etc. and weak ones being those at the receiving end of pursuits and initiatives. Pairing a strong one with a weak one is probably more traditional –

strong riba x weak riba like in Addicted (at least before time skip)

strong seme x weak uke like in Old Fashioned Cupcake

weak seme x strong uke like in Saezurutori Wa Habatakanai (at least before time skip; pavam Doumeki)

compared to those with both parties being strong (which leads to delectable friction and sparks flying when done right) or both being weak (which leads to audience wondering: will either of them do something? No? Very well!).

BL’s sex negativity

Seme gets overwhelmed by his lust for uke, acts aggressively and has to be shut down or warned off. 

Not only seme, uke and riba characters does this too. P’AbsoluteBL attributes “getting overwhelmed by lust” and “acting aggressively” to seme when it can be attributed to both uke (襲い受け) and riba as well. Other than acting aggressively, characters may employ seduction (eg. Xia Shang Zhou in You Are Mine (2023) - tried and failed & Charlie in Pit Babe (2023) - successful) and/or manipulation (Color Recipe by Harada).

Seme won’t take no for an answer because his needs are too great and his needs take precedence (he’s “the man” after all) and the uke is just TOO CUTE how could anyone resist? (After all the seme is only gay for this one guy because he is so cute. Everything, therefor, is the uke and his cutenesses’ fault.) 

Moreover, P’AbsoluteBL is probably not aware of kawai seme who employ their cuteness to get uke to lower the guard and to seduce. Cuteness is clearly not a uke prerogative.

Like the sailor-costume wearing seme on the cover, cuteness is sometimes invoked through conventionally women’s clothing, cosplaying (maid, sailor, nurse), etc.

If the seme makes the choice to have sex for the uke, then the uke is not at fault and is still technically innocent. Only if an uke wants it, is he actually impure (or actually gay). In H4 when they both comfort and sex shame the bottom after the rape sequence, this is the narrative’s mentality. (A man who does not want sex is assumed to be able to fight another man off.)   Oh and ALSO, the seme must read the uke’s mind and know what the uke really wants.

I don’t even know what went into this argument. There is an entire subgenre: 調教 BL (training / conditioning) that is focused on pleasure training. If a character (seme/uke/riba) wants sex in a narrative, it usually only means that their partner is on the right track. Moreover, when a character wants, actively seeks and are denied intimacy for manipulation reasons, then their partner is made out to be cruel (either 鬼畜 or ゲス・クズ).

In other words, if the uke is interested in sex, he’s made impure by this interest.  Sex of any kind is an act of desperation and indicates lack of control and therefor diminishes both parties but particularly the uke, therefor the uke shouldn’t have to take responsibility of wanting sex, so the decision must be made by the seme for both of them. He is being a “good seme” by doing this. The uke, therefore MUST appear reluctant to have sex, or he is not a good/pure/virtuous person.

Honestly, I haven’t come across BL which gives off this kind of message. However, two-faced scummy characters (seme/uke/riba) get to employ hypocrisy, which includes slut-shaming, to humiliate characters they are shipped with but then such narratives are built to illicit hatred (for scummy characters) and angst and often punished with:

(a) unhappy ending for the couple

(b) breaking up of the ship

(c) groveling which may or may not end in redemption of the scum

(d) switching within ship – uke turns into riba/seme or seme turns into riba/uke – or shift in power dynamics (rich character becomes relatively poorer, junior from school becomes senior/superior in workplace).

A lot of readers find such dramatic plots satisfying and hence it is a successful subgenre.

*

Can you guess the seme in these 20 BL manga? Try this quiz on renta.

*

Post #3: How do they determine who will be archetype seme/uke?

Discussion regarding seme/uke determination in BL: @elynn0723 & P'AbsoluteBL (intended and in italics).

I think your confusion is partly nested in the fact that seme/uke is not about who fucks who, not really. Certainly not anymore. Seme/uke are narrative archetypes not physical acts.

Disappropritation. Discussed above.

I should say for the record that personality is NOT sexual preference. 

P’AbsoluteBL goes onto give examples (all of which are fictionalized in different genres – GB, BL, etc.) but probably due to being limited by lack of exposure, goes onto ask, “How weird that anyone would think queers do this.” Queers do this. If one is willing to look beyond LGBTQIA+ form of queerness (which is born and brought up in America), one can see queer possibilities. For example, Kothi-Panthi queerness in India/South Asia. It is probably a good idea to pay attention to it when generalizing queerness given how big India/South Asia’s (queer) population is. There are very many similar forms of queerness in other parts of Global South. In many cultures, sexuality doesn’t inform identity but sexual preference does.

[ Aside: Kothi-Panthi model of queerness

This model doesn’t work for whole of India – region (India is so big and heavily populated - different sexual cultures and practices); linguistics (different terms in different region, same terms different meanings in different region, decline of Farsi (used in queer spaces in Delhi) and other queer argot/cant and their replacement with American English internet slang); class & caste (LGBTQIA+ being self-identification of mostly urban/rurban, upper class, English educated v/self- identification common among the sex workers, working class and other lower classes in rural as well as urban spaces who are excluded from consumerist queerness);

NGOfication of queer movement & action; global queering and neoliberal take over leading to americanization –– intermixing & “gay” (and other terms) being used differently by different classes.]

How do they determine who will be archetype seme/uke?

P’AbsoluteBL points to narrative roles - who is “after” the relationship more, and then goes onto claim “the heroine is the main character, the love interest is her love interest. It’s decided for them because it’s a romance novel.” I don’t know if this helps explaining either seme/uke/riba archetypes in BL or pursued/pursuer. Aren’t there romances where hero pursues heroine and the other way around? Aren’t there romances where both party pursue each other?

Even if we assume that androphilic female audience is projecting the sexual mores & expectations imposed on them onto male characters, then by the very act aren’t they subverting those expectations.

How do they determine who tops?

P’AbsoluteBL provides the following schema:

seme = active pursuer

since active pursuer is “the male role”

he should do the penetrating

which has to be done

P’AbsoluteBL also gives a term for this association: heterosexual dysmorphia - "the idea that any couple must fit into predetermined binary gender roles". This is probably coming from a place of ignorance since the example given is confined to musings about sexism concerning the upper class in Global North. Also, at least in the ambit of Kothi-Panthi sexuality, fitting into masculine top-feminine bottom dynamic doesn’t place them into any predetermined binary gender roles. Instead, it only places them in the fluid space of multi-genders: can/are seamlessly float(ing) between being kinnar/hijra/ali and being “cis-men”.

If one is to ask the question: “Which one of you is The Girl?” to a kothi-panthi couple, the kothi would tell you without hesitation: “I am The Girl.” Might even asked you in turn, “Couldn’t you tell?”

Kothi [is the word used by] effeminate men who desire to be penetrated by "real" men whom they call ‘panthi’.

Queer Movements by Paromita Chakravarti & Aniruddha Dutta

Seme/uke/riba archetypes are imbibed with different traits and different spin on personalities that a seasoned BL sommelier might be able to spot easily but would confuse those who are less familiar with all that the genre has to offer. The following excerpt from an analysis by @ranchthoughts reflects the most popular idea about seme/uke dynamics.

Most BL shows can be read through a lens of seme/uke dynamics, which originated in yaoi. The seme is the “pursuer” character and the uke is the “pursued”. There are certain physical (height, skin colour, etc.), social (age, wealth, social capital, etc.), and personality (active vs. passive, extroverted vs. introverted, flirtier vs. shyer) markers which are typically associated with either the seme or the uke. For example, semes tend to be taller, wealthier, older, flirtier, tanner, more active, and have a higher social status, while ukes tend to be shorter, poorer, younger, shyer, paler, and have a lower social status. “Seme” and “uke” roles are also sometimes conflated with masculinity and femininity (semes are “masculine” and ukes are “feminine”) and sexual preferences (semes are dominant and tops and ukes are submissive and bottoms). There are also tropes associated with either the seme or the uke, like ukes typically give cheek kisses and semes forehead kisses. Thus, things like height, age, wealth, personality, presumed sexual preference, and the role they take in tropes can index the character’s status as a seme or a uke, and in turn the character’s identity as a seme or uke in the narrative (pursuer vs. pursued) indexes a character’s personality, sexual preferences, etc., however unrealistic and simplistic that is in real life. In a BL, we would expect the seme (pursuer) and uke (pursued) characters to exhibit most, if not all, of the associated seme or uke traits and roles in tropes, though this is not always true (and some BLs have little to no seme/uke dynamics at all).

There are two interesting things about such an understanding of seme/uke dynamics:

It closely resembles nenja/wakashu dynamics (and its cousins) in the customary and mostly age-stratified androphilia in pre-modern Japan.

Live action BL, at least the ones that were current and popular, stuck mainly to a single type of dynamic: pairing of one seme of a particular kind (スパダリ – super darling) with one uke of a particular kind (ヘタレ – milquetoast). There are barely any riba couple. It is painting picture of BL in monochromes. So much so that Bad Buddy and My School President were seen as some path breaking feat and a break away from “yaoi” tropes by live action audience, rather than seeing them having just another (or less familiar) set of yaoi / BL tropes.

What P’AbsoluteBL identifies as “heterosexual dysmorphia” in “yaoi” is basically what BL inherited from Japan’s pre-modern androphilia including “femininity” in uke from chiago, wakashu and androgynous Kabuki actors and (hyper)masculinity in seme from nenja and others who enacted “the male role”. BL did not passively receive any of these. And for moe, artists and audience alike, subverted it all.

This is true for all tropes that are attributed to seme/uke.

Height difference – Earliest BLs had petite bishonen pairings. Yaoi introduced height differences – all of them: tall seme x short uke short seme x tall uke (this is probably the most sexualized height difference) tall seme x tall uke (with little to no difference) both/all short riba CP/ship both/all tall riba CP/ship tall riba x short riba short riba x tall riba

Cuteness – Used to establish how irresistible a character (seme/uke/riba) is irrespective of their attitudes and behavior are. Oft part of seme’s seduction tactic, especially when uke has a weakness for cute things. Even when cuteness is not one of the seme’s attributes, it is invoked either actively by serving kawai in speech or through actions including cosplay; or passively like in the following example where a typical super darling seme, Asami Ryuichi from Finder unintentionally triggers moe in Takaba Akihito (his uke) by cuddling a baby.

Uke’s cuteness is exploited to establish a sou uke (an uke every other character turns seme for) or subvert the same like in No Money where one of the epitomes of bishonen cuteness, Ayase (uke), who manages to enthrall others however isn’t a sou uke as one might expect and thus subverts the wakashu trope. Moreover, Kanou (seme) wasn’t initially drawn to Ayase due to his cuteness but due to Ayase’s kindness that lifted him out of the abyss of despair, when Kanou was at his weakest.

3. Bulk – BL have main characters (seme/uke/riba) with varying bulk and body types. There is far less diversity when it comes to Live Action BL.

4. Blushing maiden/virginal innocent trope – applies to all sorts of BL characters.

Edit: Conclusion

1. Surprisingly, ethnocentrism and loud echo of colonial masculinity in particular seem to permeate the discourse surrounding BL.

2. I really wish live action BL would have as much diversity as other BL media. Why is it so slow to diversify? Is it because of business interests? Is sticking to super darling X milquetoast pairing with royal road progression a sensible business decision? Or is sexism promoting wrong impressions of what audience want?

3. How come the Japanese terms "seme" & "uke" are used a lot but not "riba"? Where did live action BL audience learn these terms?

***

Yaoi = [how P'AbsoluteBL uses it] synonym for ボーイズ ラブ (boys love) manga.

            = [popular use in anglophone BL manga fandom] BL manga with explicit content; as opposed to shonen ai.

            = [original meaning] derivative works, which were mostly plot-what-plot type, that are self-published (doujinshi)

Answer to a question posted above: Gilbert Cocteau – uke in Song of the Wind and Trees

Below is the seme: Serge Battour

from Song of the Wind and Trees

Earliest BL manga had very pretty seme/uke/riba characters (if we are to call them so) and were not too preoccupied with "manliness" or a single type of "masculinity". But, they were surely obsessed with bishonen.

-

[1] 互攻 is also used to indicate POV switching between gong and shou in fiction.

[2] 纯爱 is also used to indicates asexual androphilia.

CP/pairing - involves 2 characters. Ship - involves 2 or more characters.

Inviting @waitmyturtles and @lurkingshan to share your thoughts if any (since I have noticed you guys use the terms "seme" & "uke" as well). Hope you guys don't mind the mention.

[dokidokitsuna]

Rise of the Mammalians: Deep Cut Sketches

So…I’ve never really cared much about Deep Cut. On one hand, this keeps me out of a lot of drama, especially around Splatfest time. ^^; But on the other hand, it means that I’m constantly forced to stare at these ubiquitous mascot characters that I should care about, but just…can’t.

Basically, I think they’re shallow and underutilized, and lacking in unique characterization.

For example: The Squid Sisters are weirdo goofballs who are more like living cartoons than actual people, with their constant quips, puns, and random references to their personal lives. And Off the Hook swings to the opposite extreme, with more grounded personalities dripping in charisma, and edgier backstories that flesh them out further, connect them thematically, and chronicle their development as characters.

And then we have Deep Cut, who just sits awkwardly in the middle. They’re not as goofy and campy as the Squid Sisters, but they’re not as edgy and dynamic as Off the Hook, either. They’re kinda just…there, acting out their basic ‘cool’, ‘peppy’, and ‘airhead’ archetypes. Apparently, a shallow anarchy aesthetic (???) and references to their childhood friendship is all we can expect in terms of character depth. Needless to say, it’s not enough. :/

So how did I flesh them out further for their new, more involved roles in this re-concept? The answer is very simple: I just decided to actually make use of that ‘anarchy’ aesthetic.

I found it…actually really disappointing that the word is constantly tossed around in-game, but apparently means absolutely nothing. Considering the original Japanese equivalents of the phrases where it’s used, it might as well be a mistranslation, and it’s honestly such a waste. Whether there’s any true anarchist ideology in Splatsville culture or not, it’s still most definitely the ‘city of chaos’, and yet we really don’t see any of that, especially not in the behavior of the idols that supposedly represent the city. In fact, rather than being rougher around the edges, they seem to be more privileged than any of the previous idols, being essentially born into nobility…

Anyway-- the real kicker for this weird ‘rebels in name only’ attempt at characterization is their secret motivation: the revelation that they’re searching for treasure in Alterna so they can sell it and give the money to the poor of the Splatlands. I KNOW it’s supposed to be sweet and heartwarming, but to me it was just another letdown. Like…that’s probably the most lukewarm ‘bandit’ characterization you could possibly do. T_T They’re essentially dumpster diving for the needy, rather than, I dunno, stealing resources directly from the capitalist overlord next door…??

Like, Deep Cut are supposed to be rebels with hearts of gold who aren’t afraid to use violence to achieve their goals, and Mr. Grizz is literally right there in front of them, hoarding money and energy for his own ends. The dynamic writes itself, but instead the game totally ignores the possibility of connecting the characters at all.

Well, I don’t. ^^ And I think the combination of the two ideas-- ‘rebels in name only’ AND ‘actual rebels who join the protagonist in opposing the final boss’-- is more interesting than either one alone. Like, by day, they really are ordinary idols, who are even willing to shill for Grizzco on the Anarchy Splatcast. They talk tough to appeal to their fanbase, but at the end of the day they do what they need to do to maintain their civilian personas and uphold their family names.

But by night, they reject all of that posturing and take direct action to help people in need. Under the cover of their masks, they become freer, wilder, more honest versions of themselves that can achieve anything together. And this version of Deep Cut is the one that accompanies you through the story mode. ^^

[therealvinelle]

Is it true that Tom Riddle has a different name in a lot of translations because publishers thought making the anagram in book 2 would be super important so they changed the name rather than just letting that one thing not work in the translation? What's Tom's name in your Norwegian copy?

I'll have you know almost everybody have different names in the Norwegian translation. I'm sure Harry would too, if the translator could get away with it, sadly his name was on the title card.

Some of this is for pronunciation, Hermione Granger is made Hermine Grang so we're not all sounding like Victor Krumm trying to make sense of her name, others are given more of an overhaul to convey the pun or vibe from the original name. Alastor "Madeye" Moody is Alastor "Galøye" Bister ("Galøye" is literally "Madeye", while "bister" means "terse").

Other examples of translations include the Black family being Svart (Norwegian word for Black) but by and large keeping their constellation names and spelling (with such exceptions as Alfar ("ph" isn't how we spell the f-sound, and the d would doesn't really work either - it's a phonetic translation of Alphard) and Narsissa (the c would be a problem)), and foreign characters like Victor Krumm and Gellert Grindelwald stay (almost: Victor is now Viktor.) the same, presumably because they're foreign in-universe.

For punny translations we have not just the names, but places and things being made punny to best reflect the original. Diagon Alley is made Diagonalgangen, "The diagonal hallway" that with the -en ending becomes "walking diagonally". Heh. Quidditch is rumpeldunk, the snitch is "snoppen" (a euphemism for penis. I commend the translator for making the game somehow that little bit gayer than it already was), Rita Skeeter is Rita Slita (conveying that she's an exhausting, tireless person), Cornelius Fudge is Kornelius Bleouf (a made-up surname that coincidentally is pronounced the same as "bluff"). It keeps going.

Some people didn't get punny names, simply names that captured the vibe. The Crouch family is now Kroek, Percy is Perry, and Tom Riddle (whom I'll get further into below) is Tom Venster.

(Though, since you've got me talking about one of my favorite niche subjects: the translator did make a pun out of Tom's name that isn't in the original series.

Tom is a common name in Norwegian, but it also is the word for "empty". We have an unrelated idiom, "full av faen" - literally "full of the devil", figuratively a malicious or cruel person. For use in conversation, I could use it about a person but also about a particularly grouchy cat. My friend had a horrible day so now they're full av faen, I tried petting that cat but it's full av faen.

The chapter where we meet eleven-year-old Tom Riddle is titled "Tom, eller full av faen".

I can only imagine the translator had been waiting four books to make that pun.)

In other words, yes Tom's name was trnaslated. In Norwegian the full name is Tom Dredolo Venster, with the anagram being "Voldemort den store" (Voldemort the great). That's right, we suffered even worse secondhand embarrassment in Norway.

I am quite fond of the translated name, as it in my opinion captures the vibe of Tom Riddle very well. An ordinary name with a very nice ring to it, and you don't actually know anybody else with that exact name. Dredolo, the oddball middle name, is as foreign yet fitting with the rest as Marvolo is in English. It's a name that rolls off the tongue.

The Danes, by comparison, have Romeo Gåde Detlev. Which is a very... eyecatching name, I've seen it go viral several times (along with the French Tom Elvis Jedusor), but the problem is that Tom was named for his father, an English gentleman in the 1920's, and this name sounds like a cultural melting pot. Gåde, originally the middle name that stood out and had Mrs. Cole assuming Merope came from an exotic background, is now the most normal name in there.

I want to be lenient, I do, the translator hadn't read Half-Blood Prince at the time and didn't know how much emphasis would be placed on Tom's name being ordinary. But, well, he made the name a different ethnicity, and I can only imagine he must have wanted the first name "Romeo" quite badly. We're left with a name that signals completely different things, which I do think is relevant when Tom's name being painfully Muggle and ordinary, growing up in 1930's London, had such an impact. Being perceived as foreign, which he would be with that name, would change things. His shedding the name to become Voldemort also takes on a very different meaning when he's an Englishmen who spent the first few decades of his life being asked if his parents fled the Soviet Union.

So, not a fan of Romeo Detlev.

As for Tom Elvis Jedusor, that one I have no problem with. Elvis wouldn't become a star until several decades after Tom's birth, and the middle name is supposed to be unusual anyway. The rest of the name sounds appropriately French, no notes. (Though the Danish translator should have taken some for how to give readers a funny, but plausible name).

[tagidearte]

"Pongo, the Imp Clown. Some say he used to be a Star, others say that's just his delusional ramblings." -Original Character for a (so far) unnamed Original Story.

I'm still in the early stages of designing him and his "friend" Pinga. However, I decided to share these initial drafts regardless! This way someone other than me can join in on the character design journey! Let's see how much he changes until the final design! Thoughts below.

Concept Log #1 - Pongo

Aka I want to ramble and my friends don't care robot clowns. Really big rambly rant below.

Also no, this is not a d/ca oc. Trust me, making a robot clown/jester is like walking into a laser trap when you've been obsessing over those two for the past three years. The only d/ca inspiration here was making Pongo warm coloured and Pinga cool coloured. If anything, this was more inspired by the Funtimes.

For now, I hate all the outfits. They don't fit his vibe, his personality, his whole persona. He's an imp clown, but he has... Delusions of grandeur. I need to make him more princely, perhaps? I'll attempt that next time. I already have the chibi base, so it'll be relatively quick.

I also want to make his casing... Different. Either paler with pink shadows, or a darker, more solid pink. He's meant to have only warm colours, contrasting with Pinga (you'll see him some other time) who only has cold ones, so no blues or greens... But I must say. Darker pink will probably win. When I painted his face white it looked too much like a Slay Button En/nard. In fact, I added all that eye and lip makeup to make him look less like En/nard.

The coil torso is the most important part. On a final drawing I'll make it have more loops, which should give the impression the thing is stronger and capable of more powerful bounces (which can hurt you if he decides to launch) - but for these concepts I merely half assed it. The star shaped hat with the back cone coming out is my favourite part!

Hope you enjoy his star shaped nipple coverings as much as I did coming up with them! Originally (not pictured here) he was going to have a big star on his chest, to mimic what I see in a lot of jack in a box's boxes. But the nipple coverings were so raunchy and funny, yet still appropriate for younger audiences (in world), that I left them in. Him being a reformed villain (in the media he's built after, inside the world) allows for messing around with the makeup and eccentricity, but we can't go to far - he needs to look PG while being predominantly adult/teen entertainment as an amusement park bot.

For context... Ever since I got into FN4F I've wanted to do something similar - with a location and mascots -, but instead of an USA animal band, I wanted it to be based on a cartoon set in a magical forest (like Noddy from my childhood - with a city of living toys and two imps that lived in the eViL wOoDs-, but funny for all ages rather than so 5 year old centric). Overtime, the thought of sentient robots forced to work - objects that were given a soul, trapped in a synthetic shell that is their body, dependent on humanity and property to it despite technically being alive, easy to manipulate via some changes in code - wormed itself in.

But I never really had the proper setting or characters for it. That, and I have another original story that has plagued my dreams ever since I was 12/13.

Until now.

I won't go into setting details yet. Let me just say Pinga and Pongo are a ping pong pun, because they both bob up and down with coils - Pongo on his torso, which makes him kind of like a jack in a box; and Pinga on his legs, which allows him to jump really high. They are based on cartoon characters that exist in world, from a movies series that ended up with a cartoon too, sort of like disney stuff but... Not disney. The entire mythos of that company's content takes place in one single world/franchise, it just explores different parts of it with each new series/movie/game.

Pongo is an egomaniac, programmed the be flirty to adults, who struggles on the line between property and self. He used to give a lot of trouble to the park, because his AI allowed him to learn new tricks rather quickly... and most weren't really all that safe or appropriate. So, time and time again, he got sent back to fix it. Having his "brain" messed with has made him deeply afraid of not behaving like a machine, which clashes with how self pleasing he is - you just don't realize it at first, because he's programmed to be a flirty little demon with an attitude. It's just that his real attitude is much more... intense.

Let's see if posting this online makes me not put the project aside too quickly lmao.

[haedalkoo]

I was curious about same thing and I ended up in quora once.. and this is what I found about their speech pattern from Korean speaking or K-army , basically what you mentioned already : (I'm copy pasting)

This is an overview of what I noticed about the boys' speaking habits :

🌳 Namjoon :

• He chooses words very carefully and wisely, wide range of vocabulary, always impresses people with how eloquently he speaks.

He uses lots of advanced vocabulary, always finishes his sentences with great details. He has a way of mixing metaphors with his spoken Korean vocabulary.

• If you see something that looks like it’s quoted from a poem or a novel, it’s Namjoon's

• Uses calm tone when speaking in normal circumstances, but tends to raise and distort his voice when under adrenaline rush (eg. bts gayo track 3, acting mission with Yoongi )

🍗 Seokjin :

• Varying talking speed, he can either talk really slowly or talk so fast that even 0.5x speed can’t help decipher what he’s saying.

he sounds like and old guy most of the time and his way of speaking is very “exaggerated” like he puts a lot of emotions when he speaks i believe

• Focuses on emotions rather than words, so middle-ranged vocabulary.

• Come across some lame puns? it’s Seokjjn's

• But tbh i love his puns even though sometimes it’s really lame that i have to consider turning off the video

• imo, 2nd best english speaker in BTS, after Namjoon

• Also i love how seokjin pronounce the ㅅ and ㅂ syllables

🐱 Yoongi :

• Imagine Namjoon but with less philosophical elements and more emotional explosion.

• Not the easiest to understand due to his low and raspy voice. He mumbles a lot of what he says which can be due to him being a rapper. Most of the time it’s like his words are sticking together and talks fast (kind of like he doesn’t articulate most of the time and speaks fast normally). Therefore most of the time it’s not easy to catch up onto what his saying

• Usually stretches the ㅔ(e) in 네 ( nae ) like instead of a short 네 (nae : yes )he would make it sound like 네에에에에 ( yeahhh ) ↘

• Kind of keeps his original 'Daegu-style' speech (but not the up-and-down nature of satoori sounds)

🌻 Hoseok :

• Uses 되게 (really) and 뭔가 (somewhat) A LOT

• Likes to insert 네 ( yeah ) in mid sentence, he uses a lot of what I call “filling words” like 되게 (like) 진짜 (really) 많이 (lot ?) I believe that he uses these words the same way V uses actions to describe situations

• How should i describe his tone? it varies 100% of times, speaks with a lot of energy in his voice.

• Has a distinctive way of pronouncing ‘fun’

• In short, the opposite polar of yoongi

🐯 Taehyung :

• Doesn't finish his sentences, and often stares into the air after stopping midway. I noticed that he’s always using actions instead of words. I’ll say that he “lacks” the most in that aspect because some of the time what he says doesn’t make sense.

• Uses adverbs like 약간, 조금, 진짜 separately and repeatedly, has the habit of saying adverbs first, then continue with his sentences and repeat those adverbs again

• Splits one straight sentence into short phrases

• Uses ‘like this’ and demonstrates with actions instead of describing the actions with words

• Tents to use slangs, but not a lot as far as i can remember.

👼 Jimin :

• Soft and sweet, a very feminine like tone. Very soft spoken and he has a very comforting voice. His words/ vocabulary have the most feminine speech pattern compared to the other members

• Always talks to armys as if he’s with his friends, when doing a v app broadcast alone, he talks informally like how friends talk to each other, but when sending messages or some other ‘official’ occasions, Jimin talks formally

• Jimin is the one with a slight lisp to me, i've always noticed that he has this funny little tongue/teeth sound when he's saying things that end in an "s" or "ㅅ" sound sometimes

🐰 Jungkook :

• Jungkook is like 30% satoori and 70% dialect. Usually men speaking with Busan dialect makes them sound hot and more masculine to Koreans.. Honestly, this is fascinating — he seems to be especially adept at mimicking sounds and patterns, so the fact that he chooses to hang on to his Busan accent even though I bet he could very easily adopt the Seoul accent... interesting !

• Raises voice at certain random words when he's excited, kinda talks through his teeth

JK is not the best speaker in BTS but he sounds well spoken most of the time. He’s just not as polished as other members, like Jin or Jimin, and tends to stutter (rarely though).

Yes to all of this!! Namjoon is a walking poem guys I'm so down bad for him 😣

[petra-creat0r]

Deltarune: Fool's Fate Ch. 7 Secret Boss

We finally get to the Studio Dark World! The only chapter other than Chapter 1 of Fool's Fate to be set not in Hometown!

I think I first started coming up with this guy around the fourth of July, it's just taken me a bit to draw them and flesh out their lore. Anyways, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen I present to your, your host, the one, the only, the darling deer with the charming voice, Ray D. O'Skelly!!

Ray's name should be obvious. It's a pun on radio. They're a radio host. Not a lot to explain there. Though when first coming up with their name and concept, I did look into 30s and 40s era radio hosts to try and pull inspiration from their names. Red Skelton was one I landed on since Skelton is similar to "skeleton" and I already knew I wanted this boss to have a skeletal face to resemble 30s era radios. Eventually I shorted it to Skelly to flow better with the O to go with the radio pun.

I don't really have a text quirk for Ray yet? Best I can think off is their voice sounds staticy or they get interrupted by ads/song lyrics similar to Spamton and Bitsy. I do know that they can't actually speak because of the well... whole thing that happened to their face. Their voice comes through their microphone. If anyone has any ideas let me know. Maybe a sound board situation?

Since I imagine the studio world being similar to what I think Chapter 3 will be like, being based off movies and film rather than TV, and Bitsy is already animation theory and I've got Casper to cover Woody theory, Ray is radio theory. Video killed the radio star. The theory I forgot to include in my original poll when I was first coming up with Bitsy despite being one of my favorite ideas. Aside from being based on an old-timey radio host, I also vaguely pulled some subtle inspiration from Alastor from Hazbin Hotel. Mostly just in the fact that Ray is a deer along with their color palette, radio theming, and some of their demeanor.

Backstory under the cut

Ray O'Skelly used to be the talk of the town, the bees knees, the cats pajamas! The voice heard across the globe and broadcast to nearly every station. MTTWood's very own home town darling and host of the most tuned into radio channel in all of the studio world. Ray's radio show had it all! Music, news, even radio plays performed by the deer themself! It was the age of radio and Ray was monarch, surely there was no way their popularity would falter any time soon.

At least... that's what Ray thought before the leader of the studio world signed a deal with some folk from this up and coming "Television" Dark World.

At first, the TV World didn't pose much of a threat to Ray, or at the very least it couldn't yet compete with the popularity of their radio show. But over time, the alternative form of entertainment started to gain more attention and views than Ray's show gained listeners. Especially after the appearance of a supposed Knight in the other Dark World and the merge of most of the channels into TennaVision. According to the public, Ray's show was getting old and bland. The music they played went out of style who knows how long ago, and people would prefer to watch the news and Ray's "radio plays" rather than simply listening. Ray either had to adapt, or fade away in obscurity.

That was when Ray met a man. A man offering aid, offering salvation to the deer down on their luck. The man offered to help Ray "get with the times" as they say, and rise back to fame. Help get their radio show back in the public zeitgeist and to surpass the competition. Almost without thinking, Ray took the man's offer, desperate to stay relevant through whatever means necessary.

The man made good on his deal, helping Ray by suggesting a few changes to their format here and there. New music, updated segments, notes on Ray's tone and how to better appeal to masses and be "hip with the kids", the works. Ray wasn't particularly for all the new changes, but they were desperate. Desperate for attention, desperate for fame and adoration. And fame and attention they got. It was almost as if, whoever tuned into the station would HAVE to listen. Ray's listenership was through the roof, all thanks to the man...

Perhaps it could be said that fame and power corrupts, because at some point, listeners noticed a shift in Ray's demeanor. Once the soft-spoken and well mannered host with the most, they got more prideful, vein, sadistic. Either from all the attention going to their head, or perhaps from a great Truth revealed to them about the nature of their existence breaking their mind. Whatever it was, it twisted the once charming radio host. Twisted them into an arrogant yet still devilishly charismatic individual with an ever captive audience.

Eventually, Ray's pride got the better of them. Even after the man left, Ray still maintained their popularity and fame, yet their ego wouldn't settle for just that. Ray had a captive audience at their disposal who would have to listen to anything they said. Any idea they suggested could be implanted in as little as a whisper and the right frequency. Ray could control this town. Could bend it to their every whim and will. Which is just what they tried to do. Before their operation got shut down of course.

Turns out, an old acquaintance had played stool pigeon and cried wolf to the authorities. Even if Ray tried to charm the guards, it was no use. Their studio was taken from them and shut down and they were cast out onto the rainy street. Yet even stripped of everything, Ray wouldn't let anything stop them from reaching the top. In a makeshift studio down in the darkest corners of MTTWood, Ray continued to broadcast their signal to who ever would listen.

That is until the children of a star and their friends found themselves in the studio world...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hehehe. It might've taken me a bit to come up with but this was fun. When I designed Ray, I knew they were a little charmer, but I also wanted to have them be twisted. I imagine after the studio Dark World is sealed and Ray ends up staying at the Blook house with Spamton and Poly, they act like the sweetest little darling. Only to still be manipulating people through subliminal messaging in their radio broadcasts. I'll have to play that out some time.

Anyways, only 3 left to go! And one of those I already have so it's really just designing the secret boss for the Town Hall world and then the Festival world. The later of which I already have a vague idea for.

[songbirdreal]

I'd like to share my abomination to the world!

INTRODUCING, FRESH!DREAM !!:

INFO:

Fresh!Dream is not possessed by Fresh himself, but was infected by a similar parasite. It lives in his socket and the two co-exist together in a friendly nature solely because Dream doesn't mind being the host too much. He named the parasite Sunshine (or Sunny for short).

Fresh!Dream continues to spread positivity, but RADICALLY.

DESIGN:

-leather jacket that shows the shoulders, short-sleeved

-his undershirt is a yellow collared shirt with a popped collar

-his yellow gloves are actially connected to his arm pads, which are used for skating and archery

-his glasses shades are connected to his crown. the shades are vaporwave and animated!

-he has dark brown leather pants with knee pads strapped to them

-his boots have retractable wheels for skating, basically heelies but cooler

-he has a cartoony sun connecting his jacket :)

-yellow tooth!

-the pupil that Sunny is possessing will be blue. it swaps sockets sometimes.

OTHER:

-his main state of his glasses are "?? ??". the letter O is always replaced with a ? -- so "hello" would say hell?. this is because he's constantly confused!

-he says "yello" rather than "hello", since its slang *and* a pun on the word "yellow"

-he never understands a thing he says and sometimes doesnt even know what hes going on about. "rad! --WHAT AM I SAYING??"

-his parasite is yellow. the tentacles are orange, akin to the sun connecting his jacket

-blushes yellow! :)

-he over-pads himself because he is too much of a coward, for good reason. he Sucks at skating. thus his pads have a lot of scratches

-Sunny is very similar to the original Fresh parasite. he has a yellow body with dark orange spots, resembling a sun or sunflower, around the eye/mouth. the pupil in the center is yellow. he is silly.

WHY?

me and my friends made him as a joke, so i figured i would post him incase any curious georges want to use him! you're free to draw him, use him for whatever. i don't expect any popularity, i only think this is cool to share LOLL

Reblogs appreciated! I'd like to spread the sunshine menace and see what you can do with him!

we say buhbye! :)

[txttletale]

bundletober #11: locum tendons

i really need to stop getting these up so late. god. tomorrow ill have my bundletober done at a regular time i've just had a weird day. anyway locum tendons is a game about devouring your double by elijah raine.

what a silly pun. locum tendons. come the fuck on. no just kidding i love it obviously. it's become a running theme this month and i'll always say it again: you can instantly endear me to your game with a razor-sharp premise. i'm on board from reading this paragraph. let's see if the game can keep me.

you have two stats, as a flesh-devouring doppleganger: your Deception (ability to pretend to not be a the thing from the thing) and Consumption (your ability to make a big mouth like the thing from the thing and eat somebody). this is a bit of a missed opportunity for flavour¹ because i think these stats could have been named something a bit more evocative--'deception' and 'consumption' are just kind of bland and plainly descriptive. aw well. they're inversely proportional--each party member (or, as the game suggests, each two or three) that you eat makes you stronger but also makes the party more suspicious.

other than rolling these two stats (it's a dice pool affair, using caltrop core's d4s) the main mechanic is 'fear', a stat that tracks up every time you fail or partially succeed on a role. if 'fear' gets too high while there's more than one victim left, the game ends--either in fleeing or death. i like that little detail, just because i'm always a fan of non-death outs for characters roleplaying games ever since blades introduced the concept to me.

other than that, there's a couple random tables. disappointingly, one of them is just for stock unlikeable adventurer characters--and maybe this is just because i'm immersed in the fantasy genre and TTRPG stuff and that whole cultural millieu but it really seems like something that anyone could have come up with.

like, i've seen every one of these done a million times. since i'm way too young for the height of drizzt and his ilk i'm honestly more familiar with these subversions than the original stock fantasy adventurers they're meant to be undermining. and familiar is the last thing i want from my random tables--random tables are peak 'game as co-author' for me and i want them to push me to places i wouldn't go myself. it especially hurts locum tendons because it's a one-page RPG, so this table represent a non-insignificant chunk of space used here! i'd have much rather had a table of possible origins for our player character shapeshifting flesh devourer! once more, missed opportunity. the other table, listing locations / setups for contrived one-by-one murderathons, is quite a bit better. i really like the 'at a wedding' suggestion, makes the player characters that much more villainous and creates an opportunity for great drama.

all in all locum tendons is competently put together on the dependable bedrock of caltrop core and has a strong concept, but it just doesn't quite commit enough. it's not immersed enough in the aesthetic that the name promises, it doesn't go full john carpenter, and i think that's ultimately to its detriment. there's a lot there, but it just doesn't fit it all together within the tight constraints that one-page design puts on a game.

locum tendons is available for purchase as a digital download through itch.io ¹teehee

[cellu-lightreading]

Day 12- Candy Crush

This fall, I am on a campaign to fix a major injustice- Halloween not being a major gainer holiday. Just one month before Thanksgiving, America has a whole dedicated to candy. It’s the only acceptable reason for someone to crash from a sugar rush after hours of candy. Not to mention, offices will put out candy dishes weeks in advance and every store will sell their largest bags for half price the week after. Halloween is the day fat kids dream about all year, and it’s time this community start acting like it. That’s why I started working on this project 10 months ago.

I present to you Transformers Candies. (I know, not the most original name.) They're personally crafted by men and made in my backyard factory. Each flavor was concocted by me to have their own effect on the customer’s body. The flavor names are all puns so you know exactly

Rather than test them myself, I brough them to gainer night at the local bear club. I don't have much in the way of friends, but these greedy guys were not going to turn down free candy. It was harder to get them to eat the first one by itself. They popped them in their mouth and immediately the taste was a success. “These are so good!” “It tastes amazing.”

Now time for the moment of truth. I waited patiently to see whose would kick in first, if at all. I asked them what flavor they had. The first guy flipped the wax paper and read it aloud:

“Bear’s Honey” A mild flavor drawn by the smallest of the bunch. His lithe body puffed up bit by bit from its his skeletal frame. A bit of pudge appeared on his waistline and fat seemed to trickle in, filling him out from the bottom. Thick thighs appeared to give his new stockier frame a wider base. His middle ballooned into a round firm gut with love handles. Pillowy pecs came next, first as muscle and then as flabby moobs. His arms begin to bloat from his fingers to biceps, first growing muscle then being buried in fat until the strength is only suggested. The last step was his face- chubby cheeks and a jawline converted into a double chin with a beard that stepped up his masculine look. The transformation was gradual; until it was too much to ignore.  “Holy shit, these really work!”

The rest of them flipped their wax paper and the chemicals started to do their part. “Bubble Butt Bubblegum” As a six-foot-tall super chub, people have never called him small. Despite being the owner of a belly the size of couch cushion, beyond his waistline, he was flat as a board. At least he was. When the group looked at his backside, his pants weren’t baggy. Two massive shapely globes had become a fixture just below his waistline. They were so big the seam along the back of his pants were fraying trying to hold on.

“Double Chunky Chocolate” A shiver practically ran down my spine hearing that one; things were about to get interesting. The guy reading it was the biggest of his friends. He looked like he hadn’t trusted a public chair in years. He had a giant soft gut that went most of the way to his knees, thighs wider than most people’s waists, and no neck to be found under his chubby jowls. Doubling that produced a spectacular show. Expansion at that size meant popping off the buttons to make more room and the shirt still ripping at the seams. Expansion at that size means hearing his breathing get harder with the extra stress on his lungs. Expansion at that size meant hearing the screech when the bariatric stool he travels found out that there were limits to its impressive stress.

Another group of guys walked up to us. “Hey, we’ve been watching you guys blow up, and we want in. Do you have any more of that candy?”

“Sure, there’s a bunch of other flavors like Thick Thighs Lemon-Lime, Root Beer Beer Gut, Caramel Cellulite, Plain Vanilla Dadbod-”

“Wait a second, how come you didn’t change?” One of the new guys pointed at the only one of the original group with no signs of a change.

He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, maybe they don’t work on me. I did get snacky and start munching on a handful of candies. Maybe it was the flavor. He flipped over the first candy wrapper and read it out loud, “Gluttonous Grape. Oh. Oh no. I’ve had like 7 other candies…”

[666writingcafe]

Some Time Later

Lucifer (The Angel)

I've been assigned to patrol the woods alone this afternoon, and I have to say, I'm grateful. I don't get to be by myself very often. Some of that is due to choices I've made; after all, I've taken six angels under my wing, pun half-intended.

But there's something on my mind that none of them would be able to understand. Or rather, a person.

The Demon Prince is trying to fix the relationship between our realm and his. Originally, Michael was going to be the representative that went down there, but it got assigned last minute to me. After spending time with the prince, it makes me wonder if Michael would feel the same about him as I do if he were in my place.

The prince is kinder than some of the angels. I originally dismissed it as him simply practicing diplomacy, but he seems genuine in his efforts to get to know me as a person. He doesn't care about titles, instead focusing on character. Despite my less than stellar behavior when we first met, he still insists on becoming an ally.

Not just the Celestial Realm's, but my ally.

"I don't know what happened back there. I haven't felt that way about him in a really long time."

Great. Someone else is in the woods. I hold back a groan, knowing that I'll have to confront them. So much for my alone time.

"I think this place is doing weird things to all of us." Another voice.

"Did something happen to you, too?" The first voice...it sounds familiar.

"I feel like I'm behaving more like a demon than a human. First, there was the cover story for our appearance that I pulled out of my ass, and then I very nearly went all Asmo on Simeon when we were looking for Belphie earlier."

"Like, are we talking sexually? Magically?" The second voice sighs.

"Magically, Satan. I'm pretty sure having sex in the Celestial Realm is akin to heresy." I mean, they're not entirely wrong. But that's not important right now.

Satan...that's the name I've given to the anger that's become a permanent fixture inside my head. At first, it was just an emotion, but then it started talking. Or rather, screaming. At first, its noises were incoherent, but then I started hearing words in a voice that was not my own.

A voice that sounds eerily similar to the first trespasser.

"We have to get out of here," he tells his companion. "There's no telling what will happen if we..." He trails off as his eyes meet mine. Immediately, he tenses up, appearing to freeze in place.

"What's wrong?" Satan maintains eye contact, and the human follows his gaze. "Oh. This is bad. Really bad."

I step out of my makeshift hiding spot, making myself fully visible to them.

"Well, this is rather interesting," I remark, putting on an air of authority. "I should capture the two of you and not release you for a good long while."

"Please don't," the human quickly replies. "We don't mean any harm. If you can just help us find Simeon, I'll promise we'll be out of your hair." They seem terrified, but at least they're moving. Satan, on the other hand, hasn't budged an inch.

"If I was Michael or Raphael, your pleas would mean nothing. Thankfully, I'm only interested in talking." I focus my attention on Satan. "After all, it's not every day one sees the physical manifestation of their wrath."

"I was there even back then?" Satan whispers, confirming my earlier suspicions.

"You've been around from the moment I took Mammon in." My statement shocks Satan. "Your presence implies our separation at some point in the future. Assuming that you're a demon, that means that I must have fallen all the way down to the Devildom, correct?"

After a moment's hesitation, he nods his head.

"Along with the five angels you consider part of your family."

"Six," I correct.

"One doesn't survive the journey. Not entirely."

"What do you mean, not entirely?"

"If you knew who it was, then you'd end up altering the timeline," the human interrupts. "As it is, you know way more than you should."

"That's one way of looking at it, I suppose," I tell them. "I see it as preparing for the inevitable." They groan at my response.

"Barbatos is going to kill me," they mutter. Before I can question how they know the prince's butler, they take a deep breath and look straight at me.

"We can answer any questions you have, but you need to help us find Simeon. Not your Simeon, but ours. He and Satan got in a heated argument, and he went off in the opposite direction to hopefully try to calm down. Is there a spot here that he feels comfortable hiding in? One where he feels he won't be found easily?"

"There is a place, but it's a bit of a hike from here."

"Good enough. Let's go."

[divine-knight-hand]

Imagine Looking for Wanda at a Halloween Party

Wanda Masterlist || Full Masterlist || Read on AO3 Halloween Triple Feature 2023 Masterlist

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Female Reader

Content Warnings: Some confrontational situations and traces of angst. After that, fluffiness all the way!

Word Count: 2,874

Dividers by @chaosofevil

"Well, well, well, if it isn't our friend, the... pumpkin?" Tony raised a curious eyebrow at my choice of costume.

I wore a round and wide orange top with orange pants and black boots. My cheeks and nose were painted with an orange blush, and a green felt stem sat atop my head with the help of an equally green headband.

"Couldn't even spring for a Jack-o-lantern?” Tony fought off a smile. “You're just a pumpkin?"

"What?" I rolled my eyes. "I had to embrace my inner... pumpkin. Look, at least I didn't show up as myself." I motioned toward Tony's suit.

He came to his own Halloween party as Iron Man. How original.

This year, Tony was holding a Halloween party in the lobby of the tower. Everyone showed up in costume for the festivities. There was fun dance music playing, and spooky decorations all around the room. I wondered how Pepper and Tony managed to fill the room with streamers, cobwebs, plastic spiders, and other seasonal elements overnight.

"Hey, kiddo!" Natasha approached us, waving four of her arms.

She wore a black suit with a red hourglass symbol on her chest. Each side of her suit had four arms hanging off of it, which dramatically swayed with every move she made.

I tried, and failed, to figure out which of her eight arms were real. "Hey, Nat! You're a black widow? That's clever."

"Oh, so it's okay if she comes as herself?" Tony rolled his eyes.

"You're wearing uniform." I retorted. "She's wearing a pun."

Tony playfully scoffed and waved his hand. “Fine. Be that way.”

"By the way,” I changed the topic of conversation. “Have you guys seen Wanda? Did she show, yet?"

"No, I haven't seen your girlfriend." Tony grabbed a glass of champagne off of a butler’s tray as they walked by.

"Me neither." Natasha added. “Sorry, kiddo.”

"Oh, ok." I sighed before Tony’s comment registered to me. "Wait- She's not my girlfriend!" I felt warmth creep into my face. "She's just my best friend."

"That's how it starts." Tony winked as he took a sip of his drink. "That's how it always starts."

I playfully smacked his shoulder, shaking off the resulting pain after the audible contact I made with his suit. "All right, Stark. I'm going to look for her."

“Good luck!” Natasha nodded in my direction. “I’m sure she’ll turn up.”

“Thanks.” I flashed her a small smile before turning to walk away.

"Enjoy the party!" Tony called after me. "And make sure to drink some punch. It's good punch!"

I rolled my eyes, positive that the “punch” had traces of alcohol, but went to the snack table to pour myself some anyway. The glass bowl on the table was full of blood-red liquid, and I used the ladle inside to pour some into a red plastic cup. Once I was satisfied, I stepped to the side, walking right into a large figure next to me.

"Oh! Sorry." I turned to see Thor.

He was a very buff Pop-Tart, though the muscles were courtesy of his physique, rather than the costume shop.

"Hey, Thor!” I softly chuckled at the comical sight in front of me. “I love your costume."

"Thank you!" Thor grinned. "You look wonderful, as well. It would seem we both arrived as our favorite foods."

"Yeah, I guess we did.” I returned his smile showing less teeth. “Hey, have you seen Wanda anywhere?"

"I'm sorry, but I haven't seen her." Thor frowned. "Have you tried asking Stark?"

"Yeah." I sighed. "Well, thanks anyway, Thor. Enjoy the party."

"You too!" Thor waved before I walked away, sipping on my definitely alcoholic punch.

I dodged dancers, sidestepped those in conversation, and passed groups of people that overall made me wonder how many of Tony’s friends were real, and how many only showed up to the party in search of some of his wealth and fame.

It was then that I found Clint talking to Bruce on the other side of the room. Clint had come dressed as a vampire, while Bruce was decorated in a skeleton costume.

I approached them with a smile. "Hey, guys! How are you?"

"Hi!" Bruce made a small wave at me. "We're doing fine."

"Yeah," Clint added. "We were just wondering how many friends Tony has here. Real friends, not associates or sponsors or random rich people."

I couldn’t help but laugh. "I was just thinking that, too!"

Bruce sheepishly smiled. "I guess great minds think alike."

"I hate to cut our meet-up short," I went on, "But, have either of you seen Wanda?"

Clint thought for a moment. "I thought I saw her on the other side of the room." He motioned across the room with one hand.

"Yeah," Bruce added. "She was talking to Thor's brother, wasn't she?"

"Ugh." I would have facepalmed had I not been worried about messing up my makeup. "Why the hell would Tony invite Loki?"

"Sour much?" Clint smirked at my resulting scowl. "He's here by Thor's request, and on the promise to not cause any mischief."

“As if he would actually hold to that standard. ” I rolled my eyes. "Do you think she's still over there?"

Clint shrugged. "Not sure."

"I hope you find her." Bruce bashfully scratched the back of his neck.

"Thanks." I started to walk away. "You guys enjoy the party."

I took a deep breath before heading towards the one corner of the room I had yet to explore. The crowd noticeably thinned as I neared the wall.

"What vivid colors for a plain character such as yourself." I rolled my eyes as the familiar voice purred.

I turned to him, only to be met with a black, green, and gold Asgardian tunic, topped with a wicked smirk. So much for being subtle.

“Loki!” I forced a smile. "You came dressed as a witch. A little cliché of a costume, don't you think?"

Loki's cocky smirk dipped for an instant before lifting back up. "Not everyone has original ideas such as your seasonal gourd."

"Actually, a pumpkin is a fruit." I proudly grinned. "I'm sure an intelligent man such as yourself can tell the difference between a fruit and a gourd." I mentally high-fived myself for having researched random pumpkin facts last night to really get into character.

Loki scowled. "Of course I can tell the difference! You simply don't wear food items well. That’s all."

"And you don't wear anger very well, princess." I teased. "So, I heard you were talking to Wanda earlier. Is that right?"

"Yes," Loki's smirk returned, paired with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Just as I've heard that you've been looking for her all night. Correct?"

"Well, yeah." A sour feeling settled into my stomach—the same one I usually got right before Loki would screw me over. "Can you point me in the direction she went?"

"Well, I could," Loki nonchalantly examined his perfectly manicured nails. "But I might not."

The frustration that had been building up inside me started to slowly seep out. "Loki, I swear-"

"Ah-ah-ah..." Loki held up his pointer finger to silence me. "You wouldn't want to make a scene at Stark's perfect party, would you?"

I stopped to think for a moment. Tony was an annoying person, but that annoying person also happened to be my friend, and I didn’t want to do anything to hurt him if I could help it.

I tried to quell the fire in my stomach. "I guess not."

Loki slowly approached me as his smirk widened into a sadistic grin. "I suppose I could point you in the direction of your lost friend... if you agreed to assist me with a small request."

"No." I scowled. "I'll just find her myself."

I turned to storm off when Loki grabbed my upper arm and spun me around, yanking me toward him. “Let’s not be too hasty, now, pet.”

“I’m not your pet.” I growled through clenched teeth. “Let. Me. Go. NOW!”

I grew a little embarrassed as a few partygoers turned to look at us, but I didn’t back down from my stance.

“What happened to not making a scene?” He muttered as he reluctantly released my arm.

“Trust me.” I started. "You’d know if I caused a scene. And, if you think, even for a second, that I'm going to let you use me for whatever trick or plot you want me to do, you’re sorely mistaken."

“Is that so?” Loki’s expression grew dark. “Then I suppose you care not to find your little friend.”

“You’re worse than useless!” I was practically bursting at the seams. “Nobody can stand you, you know that? Your games only ever hurt people. So, yeah, I’ll take the risk finding Wanda myself, since the last person who played into your tricks and mind games wound up dead.” I resisted the urge to clap a hand over my mouth. I definitely took that way too far…

Loki scowled, but his eyes were clearly filled with hurt. “You know not what you speak of, Midgardian."

"Just stay away from me." I turned to walk away.

I only made it a few paces before I heard Loki's voice call from behind me. "Your friend is outside. She left in need of fresh air after we exchanged words."

I turned back in time to see Loki's backside as he walked away. I debated just following his instructions to where Wanda was, but I knew I couldn’t after pressing his wounds like I did. Instead, I rushed after him.

"Loki?" I softly called when I finally caught up to him. When he didn’t respond, I tried calling louder. "Loki?"

"I can hear you, mortal." He faced me with a dark expression. "I just wish I couldn't."

“That's fair.” I sighed. “I just couldn’t leave without apologizing for disrespecting you. I really crossed a line back there. I’m sorry."

An expression of shock crossed Loki's face, followed by a flash of sadness, before he began to seem unbothered. "I… appreciate your apology. I suppose I should return the sentiment. Though I do tend to derive pleasure whenever your face makes that scrunched-up scowl as the result of your vexation, it may not be the most... ethical method of entertaining myself."

"And bringing out your baggage might not have been the best way to handle it." I held my hand out to him. "Truce?"

Loki skeptically raised an eyebrow at me before taking my hand in his. "Very well. No more… pranks... at least for the time being."

I smirked. "Watch it, Odinson. I might pump-kick your butt if you go back on our truce."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Oh, the puns from you, girl."

I laughed and started making my way toward the door. "Enjoy the party, Loki."

"You, as well." He called after me.

I began weaving through the crowd to get to the door. I finally made it and pushed the door open with a sudden urgency. I had a feeling that I needed to find Wanda as soon as possible.

There were more rich people outside who didn’t even bother dressing up for Tony’s Halloween party. As they let the outside air fill with their dry, ingenuine laughter, I pushed through crowds of them, earning myself dirty looks from people who had higher net worths than me.

But, that didn’t matter. I had to find Wanda.

”Wanda?!” I called, “Wanda?! Where are you?”

I shoved through more people in suits and costumes as I frantically scanned the area for red hair, ignoring the rude comments from people around me. As I made my way farther from the tower, the crowd began thinning.

Suddenly, a small voice called my name loud enough for me to just barely hear it.

I turned to the source of the sound to see Wanda, hiding away from the partygoers with an anxious expression. “Wanda!”

She wore a bright red bodysuit with a headdress and cape that sported similar crimson hues. I wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be dressed as, but she was gorgeous.

I noticed her visibly shaking as I ran up to her. “Wanda? What happened? Did Loki do something to you?” I already felt the urge to go back on our earlier truce creeping in. “Because, I swear, I’m gonna-”

”No!” Wanda cut off my threat, which was lucky for me, since I had no idea how to effectively threaten a literal demigod. “Loki did nothing wrong, I promise.”

My rage quickly shifted to guilt for getting so easily distracted. Focus on Wanda, damnit!

I placed my hands on her shoulders. “What’s wrong, then? Are you alright?”

She sighed, looking at me with watery eyes. “I’m scared… I’m terrified.” She sniffled. “And I don’t know what to do.”

“Wanda,” I frowned, trying not to picture the pathetic image of a ghoulish pumpkin trying to console a weeping… whatever Wanda was dressed as. “Whatever you’re afraid of, you can talk to me. I promise, I can help you get through it.”

Wanda sniffled again and ran a delicate gloved hand across her face to catch runaway tears. “It’s just… All night, I’ve been hiding. I’ve been… secretive. I want to tell the one person who should know, but I’m afraid.” She shuddered. “And I thought, If I never tell them, I’ll exist in this limbo forever. But if I do…”

“They might not respond in the way that you want?” I breathlessly asked. Wanda wordlessly nodded.

It was in that moment that I took her in with my eyes. She truly was gorgeous. Her wide brown eyes. Her soft pink lips. The way her headdress framed her round face. The way her costume conformed to the curves of her body. She was gorgeous.

I didn’t lie to Tony earlier. Wanda wasn’t my girlfriend…

…But it didn’t change the fact that I wished she was.

It was true that I was infatuated by Wanda’s beauty, but I was also in love with her mind and personality, so seeing her this upset crushed me.

”Wanda,” I breathed. “It hurts me to see you this way. There’s only one word of advice I can give you: Stay strong. No matter how it turns out, just tell them what you need to tell them. No matter what, I’ll be here for you. And if they’re a good person, they’ll be good to you, too.”

Wanda gulped, “I can’t do that…”

”Yes, you can.” I urged. “I know you can. You can do anything.”

Wanda sniffled. “I don’t want to ruin our friendship.”

My blood ran cold. “I’m the person you’re trying to tell something to?” She wordlessly nodded once again. “Wanda,” I nervously chuckled. “You can tell me anything.”

She looked like she wanted to say what she was dying to say, but shook her head. “I’m not as brave as you.”

”Maybe I’m not brave, either.” I spoke without thinking. Wanda cocked her head in confusion and I just continued before I could hesitate. “You can’t idolize my bravery if I wasn’t brave enough to reveal my own secret to you.” I grabbed her hands and took a deep breath. “Wanda Maximoff…” There was an expectant glint of what seemed to be hope in her eyes when I paused. “I love you. I love you so much, and I-“

Before I could finish my declaration, Wanda cut me off with a kiss. She wrapped her arms around my neck and shoved her tongue in my mouth. I greedily took it in my own as I moved my hands along her waist to the small of her back, one hand reaching up to her hair. I dreamt about a moment like this for so long, and I wanted this to last forever, but Wanda and I eventually had to break for air.

We were both still gasping when Wanda breathed. “I’m not afraid anymore.”

I smirked and opened my arms. “Then come here and pump-kiss me again.” We both visibly cringed at my horrible pumpkin pun before bursting into laughter.

“That was really bad.” Wanda giggled.

“Well, there’s more where that came from.” I smirked. “You’re going to be hearing those for the rest of the night.”

Wanda warmly smiled. “I’m looking forward to it.” She wrapped her arm around my waist. “I can’t wait to party with my new gourd-friend.” She winked.

I laughed at her pun, too content to correct her with the fact that a pumpkin was a fruit, not a gourd. Speaking of corrections…

“Hey, Wanda,” I began. “Can I ask you a question?” She nodded. “What’s your costume?”

“Oh!” She seemed to come alive with a newfound excitement. “This old thing?” She let my waist go to twirl in a circle and toss her cape with a flourish. “I’m dressed as a Sokovian fortune teller!”

“I love it!” I grinned, holding my arm out to her. “So, what’s in store for me and my new lover?”

She giggled as she locked my arm in hers. “Our future is yet to be determined, detka, but it’s looking bright.”

She leaned in to give me a peck on the lips before we made our way back to the party.

[needtoloveoutloud]

hey Becks! North_was_here here (pun intended). i mentioned in a comment on SPPF that i've been working on a fanart. i said i wanted to take my time to make it good...

well, i lied! (unintentionally)

i didnt take my time at all and finished it that same day, after about 4 hours (i think. could be more and closer to 5 or 6, as i'm using an older version of my program that doesnt track work time). i've just touched it up and decided id share it now before i can overthink anything else about it!

i recorded a timelapse (around 3 minutes) of me working on it but i dont think i can upload videos to tumblr via Ask. if you want to see it id be happy to share, i think i can just upload it on my own tumblr. I've literally never uploaded anything on tumblr before LOLOL

here it is! I'm quite happy with the result. heres a breakdown of the drawings, my struggles, extra info, stuff like that if you wanna read it!! (timelapse shows more detail and probably makes this whole breakdown make more sense):

before we start off, let me just clarify that since i'm getting back into art, ive been experimenting with different art styles (and with that using references) which is why some things look different than others in this drawing

I started with the left drawing (labeled with her hero name) with a pose reference, then drew her body and clothes. i used that ai image of Yoru you provided during the battle training chapter as reference for her hero suit. it was actually quite fun drawing it, especially the wrinkles in the clothing and such!! did her face, scars, eyes and then her hair (which i later redid as i was unhappy with how it came out).

the second drawing, the USJ attack, in the bottom right, is by far my favorite of these three. i used a reference drawing i found on Pinterest, and added some more detail to it and it turned out great. the hair was minorly tweaked from the reference, hence why it looks so much better than the other three's hair. i added her scars, and added the wound on her throat toward the very end of this whole project as i debated whether or not (or rather, how) i would draw it

the third and final drawing, top right, is probably my least favorite because its so simple, even though thats the point lol. i was thinking about making it an art of younger Yoru at first then decided id stick with older Yoru, so i made her hair longer, since i originally had it quite short on this drawing, and added her throat scar (i faded it out quite a bit, maybe more than i should've, as this is after the USJ). after all these drawings i shaded and added some more details

finally, after i added the watermark, title, your user and mine, i went back and polished it up (this is where i, as i mentioned earlier, changed the hair on drawings #1 and #2, added the shiggy scars, and even more details to make me more happy with it, and hopefully raise your chance of liking it) and now im here!

as im writing all of this, ive already noticed quite a few things id go back and fix up on this drawing, but im not going to because 1. by the time im done overthinking, SPPF would be finished lol and 2. i can go back and look at mistakes during future projects to learn!

anyways thank you so much, first of all, for even creating SPPF in the first place. This series is one of if not my favorite fanfics of all time. you're an amazing writer and i cannot wait for more chapters and things from you in the future. secondly, i really hope you like this fanart! this is actually my first time doing fanart for anything, but i plan to do more in the future - especially for SPPF. and hopefully, in the near future, i'll relearn how to color and render again to provide you with better art than this haha

feel free to include this drawing in the next chapter's notes. if not thats alright too! (that'd actually be such an honor tho not even kidding)

yap session over lol <3

NORTH! HELLO! 🙌

Sorry for the ultra-late reply, I just came back home from France and was out and about with work, walking through Marseille, and flying back home and all that, so it took me a long ass time to give your message the time it deserves! :(

This is so ridiculously AWESOME! I want to hug you and gently pat your head (maybe even give you a kiss on the forehead if you'd be comfy with that) because THIS IS SO DAMN AMAZING!!! 😍😍🥹

You got her hero costume down to a T! It's perfect! And the way she's standing kind of reminds me of her Dad's seemingly disinterested stance. And her scars and her face and expression!

The portrait is awesome, too! OMG I love it!

AND THE USJ ONE!

!!

It's perfect, shows her exhaustion and her empty stare so well! Like, her swollen eye and the dirt and grime and messed up hair and all that!

Now, personally, one of my most favorite things about your stunning drawings are the handprint-scars! I never managed to got them right and had such a hard time explaining the placement, and you did it exactly how I envisioned it in my head!

THANK YOU so much for this, North! I feel so damn honored that you (and people in general) draw Yoru! And put in so many details and thought behind everything, too! And since you said that it'd be okay for me to include it in the next Author's Notes, I'll definitely do it - thank you for allowing me :)

And thank you so much for your kind words, it makes me super happy to hear that you like the story so much! 🤍 Especially to such an extent that it inspires other people to get creative and bring the story to life even more. That fact is still so wild to me. I'm giggling like a schoolgirl (kicking my feet, twirling my hair, and all that!) everytime I get a new comment, even more somebody making art for the story. I love you readers all so much. People spending their precious time doing something like that is really moving

P.S.: Also, I'd love to see your drawing process! It's so interesting to see how people's brains work when they draw + I learn so much by watching it, too!

HAVE THESE FLOWERS AS A THANK YOU!

[postsforposting]

I know this is a stupid question, but I know that he was trying to find a Logan to replace the anchor being, but do you have a theory why he went throughout the universes?

not a stupid question. it's easiest to get a start with the simple things and build from there. i also can't possibly think of everything, ideas are always welcome.

he had to go universe hopping because the original logan died, so he had to go find "an alive one". as for why he walked away from so many and took specifically the worst wolverine, i talked about it a bit before but i have some new expansions.

he was looking for a logan who:

gave as good as he got: didn't just "take it" but also returned fire and "gives back". pushes back when given an invitation. he's looking for someone who can hold his own against him, a partner, rather than a subordinate sidekick.

is available, not already taken.

who chose and wanted to be there, not just one who was forced to be there by necessity or felt like he had no choice.

wade doesn't just want to "fuck around", hence "every other logan would have really hurt me by now" and "being on the clock". dicking around is a necessity because that's wade's personality, but that can't be the only thing on offer. the "screwing around" needs to be that wade is allowed to mouth off AND wolvie returns the banter. "fucking around" is also a pun on a "one night stand".

fourth wall wise, he can't go directly to the one he wants because the metaphors don't work. this is bible numerology which i did longer posts on, but suffice it to say he wants "forever" and not just perfect. that's why the logan he takes is #8, ie a tick beyond godly and infinity in a "different direction". leans a different direction. queer in more than one way.

there were seven rejected logans:

1: short king: wade calls him "hairy lou retton", a reference to a famous lesbian gymnast. the implication is he's already married to both jean and scott. there's a size queen joke in here too, but that's not the reason wade walks away. he does not "push back" against any of wade's jibes. this logan has people protecting him, that's why the axe throwing--wade can literally get through to him but he still can't actually touch him. this logan has every reason to stay where he is, and is "serious" ie not screwing around. he lets wade screw around but isn't interested in doing so himself.

2: 80s hairmetal wolvie: this one is from apocalypse timeline, not called Wolverine but Weapon X. he's not the logan he's supposed to be (star wars not the droids you're looking for reference), and he's taken with jean.

3: old man: this is from a timeline where logan was tricked into killing all the xmen. he vows never to use his claws again. he's retired, and he won't get back in the saddle. he's deadly serious and not fucking around at all.

4: hulk: he's already "getting busy". taken. this one isn't even up for screwing around, which is why it's hulk who bats him out of the way.

5: cross: this guy is already the "anchor being" for his world. he can't get down off his cross ie make a real choice about where he wants to be. this logan is a jesus figure, not the god he's looking for (star wars again).

6: cavillrene: available, the whole hog, but doesn't want to. i'm pretty sure this is the one right before we meet worst wolvie, making him #7: numerology says this is godly perfection. biblical god gets other people to do the work for him, he doesn't leave his throne to get his hands dirty in the flesh himself. that's jesus's job: god famously forsakes jesus to suffer and die without him, without mercy.

7: patch: this is an alias used to help bring down a crime lord and to hide who he is so the xmen stay safe. this wolverine literally can't "come out" of his closet. neither can james bond, which the tux and undercover gambling setting are referencing from the 1971 Diamonds are Forever movie.

the worst wolverine, by contrast, initiates the "fucking around" with wade: gets flirty. even when they're getting down to business they're still dancing around what they're actually saying, not directly saying what they mean.

this wolvie is tolerated by his world but neither treated well nor welcome. they'll give him one drink--i think this is meant to be a "pity fuck"--but nothing more, and certainly not everything he's asking for. in the original xmen movies, that's kind of how he was treated--even xavier still called him an animal and demanded he be someone other than who he was. that wolverine tolerated it because he thought he deserved it. ww doesn't put up with that--he couldn't say he wanted to be there because he flat out didn't like how they treated him. but people being imperfect--sinning--doesn't mean they should die for it, and that's why this is the BEST wolverine, a tick beyond god. god kills and tortures people for offending him, for sinning against him, but this one doesn't. he literally forgives but doesn't turn the other cheek--turn his face away ie damn people. he just didn't show up in the first place because they didn't truly want him there. the idea is that tolerance is a step in the right direction but you don't gotta be grateful for it, it's not enough, and it can happen even to the best of us. but people shouldn't die for it, a commentary on magneto's methods.

ww hangs around his world because he feels like he shouldn't leave because he hasn't forgiven himself. he makes himself a punching bag, taking without giving as good as he gets, because that's all his world wants from him and he thinks he deserves that. martyring himself metaphorically because he can't do it literally (same reason wade in dp2 stays with the xmen; he can't literally kill himself so he'll do it metaphorically by forcing himself to be someone he's not). he's quite happy to volley back at wade, though, verbally and literally after wade confirms he's asking for it. ww doesn't outright agree to go with wade, making wade carry him across the threshold (wedding joke) because if wade takes him, ww doesn't have to get down off his metaphorical cross himself--someone came for him, rescued him, and thus is proof he's worth a second chance, should get another life (resurrection joke, you gotta get off the cross to rise again)

[freakblrbookkeeperofficial]

Blog Name: .˳·˖✶𓆩^𓆪✶˖·˳.

Username: @bluexjayy

Aliases: The Freakblr Poet, @xx-pink-haired-devil-xx, @00-not-jake-from-state-farm-00, @a-self-accliamed-god, @im-haunting-freakblr, @31days-of-freakblr

Type of Blog: Original Freakblr Seven

Date created: July 19th, 2023

Reason Created: N/A (Non Applicable)

Last Active: Present Day

--------------------------------------

@bluexjayy, also known as Jay, is one of the Original Freakblr seven. The group is considered to be the original Freakblr bloggers on Tumblr as sourced from a list @sobeksewerrat posted several months ago. Giving them a special sort of status on this blog.

According to Jay the main reasons they ended up joining Freakblr was because several fanfiction creators hey followed were on Tumblr, "Originally, I joined Freakblr due to many of the tmf fanfic writers I followed on ao3 joining/being (aka @jagged-dust-jacket) on their, along with for the art...I discovered the community via the blog @tmf-confessions after I had joined tumblr."

Jay has stated that initially joining Freakblr was a bit awkward, "I knew no one, and no one knew me really." Eventually though, they managed to integrate with the other few users on the site, "After a little while of sending asks to @tmf-confessions, I ended up being “initiated” into it via my Drew Shrine confession, along with one where I shared that I made puns with the names of the jomies. Remember, don’t be a jakeass and have a drewtiful day!!"

Other than being a very active and beloved participant in the Freakblr Community, Jay is well known for running the gimmick blog knows as The Freakblr Poet, who I have catalogued here: Poet

But, they also run several other blogs. Such as the @31days-of-freakblr blog, or the @im-haunting-freakblr. They have various other alias (all just as iconic as these ones) which I've listed above.

It is also important to note that Jay was the one who created the underrated and underutilized Freakblr Community tab. Which allowed Freakblr users to have a more focused and protected forum to post their Freakblr and Music Freaks content.

When asked about blogs of note, they specifically mentioned users @/xizxles and @/roryheart. "They’re two original members of freakblr that well, had to leave due to personal stuff. They were great members, I miss them dearly <3" They had also mentioned being allied with the @freakblr-underground-agent and the @freakblr-detective.

When asked if they had any "enemies," they noted @sobeksewerrat, stating that it was specifically in Freakblor lore. This leads me to believe they have a closer relationship, that they're not serious enemies but rather friends who love to joke around. "I’m his defiant child, fighting against him and his dictatorship over Freakblr (and that Hailey’s hair is BLUE)"

Speaking of Hailey's hair, when asked if they had a specific memory of note they mentioned the Hailey Hair controversy. "The war happened technically.. due to me posting a photo of an angsty thing I made that @sobeksewerrat misinterpreted, thus sending the little community of ours to chaos. And while we were all fighting.. well, I loved how it brought all of us(at the time) together online. It was fun." This incident is commonly cited by older Freakblr members, remembered as a time of playful fighting and chaotic debate.

According to Jay, they have a sense of Nostalgia for the old days on Freakblr, "I do miss how Freakblr used to be, in it’s prime. I miss the months of September, October, November, where we had wars, had fun talking all about our headcanons, ships, theories." This is the era that most users, especially the Freakblr Original Seven, consider to be the peak and/or height of Freakblr. The time when the community was believed to be the most active. "Freakblr is fine now, but alas, I miss our original fandom here on tumblr."

Throughout the wild ride that has been the existence of Freakblr, Jay has been a constant. They are always active within the community and are considered to be a valued and adored member of Freakblr. It is impossible to hate them, and without Jay Freakblr would absolutely not be the same.

As a final quote to sum up their thoughts and feelings on Freakblr, Jay had this to say:

"I love it here, and yes, my rats are good, I just ate their eggs for breakfast B)"