#there are so many wild aspects to this issue hahaha

[theodore-sallis]

“Deathwatch!” Man-Thing (Vol. 1/1974), #9.

Writer: Steve Gerber; Penciler: Mike Ploog; Inker: Frank Chiaramonte; Colorist: Linda Lessmann; Letterer: John Costanza

[keypaa]

Astrology Observations No.4

<3 TW

I use the whole sign system

Mars-Saturn hard aspects struggle with sexual encounters at first and have a poor relationship with intimicy.They may loose their virginity later than others and that‘s good yk never loose sahahah

Mars in leo/degrees can be known for their drive (that one girl in my class is super intelligent and everyone knows that) Since leo rules fame it makes more than sence✮⋆˙

Moon in cancer (if developed) can talk about that they just cried over an quite little duck running around without being ashamed of pointing out their own vulnerability (ma sweethearts) That is because cancers ruler is moon

Venus in aquarius always have something to do with animes and they live for video games and their friends. Nevertheless you can be their partner but sometimes they put their friends first 𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ𐀔

Mercury in taurus thinkkkk before they talk, might talk slow and come of as seriøs

Wait jupiter in 3rd house just get a lot of money from family members $♡

Venus in 11th house post their favorite things online ( your pets, your playlists…) 💋

4th house in aries: your home environment is wild, full of chaos and passion at the same time ✮⋆˙

Saturn-Pluto: The relationship to your father changed or transformed you. Some people with this placement are not in contact with their father anymore or just see him once in a while

Moon-Jupiter individuals get lucky if they show their emotions (others try to emphasize with them or they get help) also depends on other aspects ☼

Trust me libra mercury knows how to charm others or themselfes out of uncomfy situations with their words

Mercury in aries try to help you through telling you the solution to your problem (you might get mad but they just wanna help) lovely cookies of mine

Lilith-Mc no one believes that you are innocent. Oh you are a virgin,they will assume you have stds because apperently they assume that you fucked around the town and bānged your friend friends their exes and boyfriends/girlfirends plus their grandfather-mothers

Uranus-Venus positive =tip try to work if problems in relationships accure

How Uranus-Venus hard aspects behave= They may jump to the next person and think that working on relationships are not worth it if you have serious problems or if they don‘t see growth quickly. But that doesn't mean that they will leave you just that they do not have time for bullshit

Venus in pisces need a lot of time to recover if they get hurt but they will die for you

Sag moon have the opinion that getting distracted is good (especially with friends,loved ones). These folks don't believe in telling you their feelings that much

Specific but scorpio pluto in leo degree are known for their dark deep feelings and pain

Jupiter in libra generation loves money, some more others less ˗ˏˋ✩ˎˊ˗

Please listen Mercury-Asc people in combinition with Venus tense aspect with Mars, you are not ugly people always talked about your appearence and that makes you always think about how you look. Mercury=thoughts,Asc=Appearence. TW! Body dismorphia can be the case, if so I hug you and advice you to get help¡

Why do aries individuals often have some type of allergy it isn't normal anymore hahaha

TW! Most borderliners have intense aspected moons or gemini, leo or aries moons. Gemini moons have a maze of mind and will overthink everything and then turn into an empty minded person in one split second (typical for BPD), leo moons suffer from people pleasing and having a high opinion of themselfes turn into low low self esteem issues, and them aries moons show their emotions impulsifly or act on them impulsifly. I am not a professional but I am here to make you aware, I observed it in soo many charts, you know best if you show signs! It is more than important to get help :)

Neptune-Asc everyone seems to guess your age differently

Let me know if you would like to have a more dark astro observation next time

Luuuuuv muah

03:02 PM

555

© 2023 the content is subject to the copyright and responsibility of the author

[atopvisenyashill]

who would be the best westerosi bachelor season? and their contestants?

omgggg.

okay so i was thinking either aegon vi, renly, or tyrion are the funniest options here. all of them are heirs to a significant seat (i mean technically, don't think about it too hard), and they'd all need like, a parade of options bc there are some issues finding love themselves (to say the LEAST). and the contestants-

arianne nymeros martell -> clear frontrunner. she's smart, ambitious, gorgeous, she wouldn't care that renly is gay, and if tyrion is charming enough & offers her something good enough, she could overlook the disability aspect (boy that felt shitty to type out lol), especially if tyrion plays up the "i know i'm a lannister but i also hate lannisters" angle.

margaery tyrell -> similar to arianne, but she has the added "i'm just a sweet innocent virgin" persona. i think the hometown visit would be WILD tho, tyrion and aegon are experiencing just so many microaggressions and straight up aggressions lmfao.

several frey girls -> none of them are getting roses tho lol, although I can see one or two like Ami being kept around for the drama/villain angle for awhile.

jonelle cerwyn -> i think they'd spin the whole "30 and never found love" thing as a bonus, but she'd be too shy to really make good use of her dates with any of them except maybe tyrion, who loves shy people because he loves to hear himself talk lmao. i think with tyrion she'd get further but the other two are dropping her pretty quick imo (unless she can appeal to renly hahaha)

cersei lannister -> imagine her trying to seduce renly

asha greyjoy -> she’s gonna be someone who comes on and is like ‘i don’t want to get engaged at the ending’ and get really far bc she’s sexy & funny & smart but during the hometown visit everyone’s gonna be talking about how she’ll never get married & she gets sent home by aegon & tyrion who are sobbing

malora hightower -> every season needs someone who just clearly doesn’t want to be there

[fallynleaf]

i've been away from tumblr a bit because i've been busy (again), and i also had my interest piqued by one of the most unique shows i've ever seen lol so i've spent the past few days on Japanese producer Tokio Omori's wild ride fgkjdhg

i'm not really the right person to talk about Omori's influence in the modern Japanese horror scene because most of my knowledge is secondhand (read my friend's wonderful article for an overview of some of the biggest names in the scene right now!), but he was part of the creative team for A Missing Exhibition, which i've talked about and giffed here already.

anyway, just over a week ago, Omori announced the release of a new project he finished, and it was basically the last thing my friends and i were expecting to see from one of the top up-and-coming creators in the modern Japanese horror scene.

it’s called フィクショナル ("Fictional"), and it’s…....... a BL drama???

i nearly fell out of my chair when i saw the news dfgkjhg

QUEER READING OF 正体不明 VINDICATED 😤

naturally i was super curious what this show was even about (and was admittedly also a bit wary, because i mean... i've seen three of Omori's previous projects lol i know what he's like. there was bound to be some sort of trickery here, i just knew it).

however, it's extremely inaccessible hahaha. it's on a weird app that's a huge pain to get if you live outside of Japan, and obviously there are no English subtitles to speak of, and the app is so tyrannical with its DRM protection, custom subtitling it is basically not an option, either.

but, せっかく (after much trouble) i was able to access the show, and it does have Japanese subtitles available, so i was able to slowly and painstakingly watch it by pausing repeatedly to look up a bunch of words hahaha.

it ended up being the first (non-wrestling) show i watched fully in Japanese! though it's really the length of a movie and not a proper drama lol. it was NOT a breezy casual romcom type of BL with easy Japanese, let me tell you 😅

i'm gonna talk about it a bit because i doubt you'll find this show discussed in many other places, even in Japanese.

Tokio Omori's Fictional asks the real questions, like, should you get a job creating AI deepfake videos for the scumbag straight guy you have a gay crush on?

(light spoilers)

i will say this is absolutely an Omori project through and through. i don't think you can quite call this one horror, but it's a thriller at the very least. there are a lot of unsettling and uncomfortable themes, and it plays on your expectations a lot. i feel like Omori's anger really comes through in this, as a creator who has largely built his career on creating fake documentaries for artistic purposes in a world where AI deepfakes now exist that are being used for unfathomable evil.

i hesitate a bit to call it a BL (even though it calls itself one!), because it's not really about a gay romance at all, though it has a canonically LGBTQ main character and gay desire is one of the main driving forces of the show. the gay aspect feels very secondary to the main story it wants to tell. i suppose it's a bit of a bait and switch in that regard, though the more i think about it, the more i think it's actually kind of cool that they labeled it BL because i feel like it rejects the limits that other people impose on the genre, and it also embraces a label that is somewhat stigmatized (or at least de-legitimized as serious art).

i don't think the typical BL audience will really like this one, though, hahaha. there are a few Japanese BL fans talking it up on twitter, but they seem to be BL fans who are actually queer and who genuinely care a lot about LGBTQ rights and other political issues, which unfortunately isn't really the norm for a BL fan in Japan.

the scenes that are charged with sexuality in this work aren't the kind of scenes that would really appeal to an audience of mostly straight women, i'll put it that way. it never gives the sense of being meant for an audience who is mainly there to fetishize a M/M relationship.

it's also incredibly political. like, far more than i was expecting! i've seen Six Hack, another Omori work, and that one had a lot of commentary on like anti-vax covid conspiracies as well as conspiracy theories just in general, but Fictional went quite a bit further than that.

one thing that really struck me was its portrayal of a deepfake being used to fan anti-immigrant sentiment, causing a man to attack a group of people protesting for immigrant rights. the context was within Japan, where anti-immigrant sentiment is a big issue, but it's also a big problem in the US right now, and the protesters getting attacked was also legitimately a bit triggering for me, as someone who has been out on the the street protesting a lot this year. it was upsetting to see that depicted and know that it wasn't that far from reality...

(big spoilers)

i think my biggest criticism of the show is that it went a little too overboard with the main character's paranoia in the last chunk. he starts losing his grip on reality, which makes sense with how things had been going, but it felt like a fairly generic twist to me. i wish the show had been a little more restrained and had him lose faith in all phone/video/image communication, but not his in-person reality, or something.

though one thing i really appreciate is that it never calls into question his gay feelings for another man. as someone on twitter put it, his love is the only real thing in a world overflowing with fakes.

i'm glad that Omori left that part alone, and am also glad that the gay character didn't die. i wasn't a super big fan of the ending overall (i think it satirizes getting redpilled a little too heavily lol at the expense of sacrificing some of its coherence as an original work), but i feel like that may just be me wanting something different out of the story than what Omori was wanting to tell.

i'll definitely be watching his future work with more interest now, though. he's the kind of Japanese creator that alt-right anime fans in the west don't believe exists. it's cool as always to see someone at the forefront of a genre like horror doing things that go outside of the mold beyond simply innovating new stuff in the genre. it feels very brave to tell a story like this, and it's admirable that he's using whatever power/influence he has to make that story happen, even if we have to put up with the most annoying app in history to watch it lol.

they're apparenly going to be airing Fictional in a 30 min slot on tv. i can't imagine how they can cut it down to just 30 minutes... i hope the gay stuff and the political stuff stay in. if they don't, i suppose that might explain why the show ended up on a weird app instead of just airing on tv from the get-go...

[polyhexian]

When I read Jasper's therapies I must admit that in some aspects I feel identified, obviously we all have traumas and many of us in the generation deal with it. and I think most of us were not child soldiers or manipulated like that hahaha. However, my point is, the way you write Jasper allows the reader to feel so much empathy, talk about his losses like miscarriages, the concept of earning love or having to deserve it or not, (something we see a lot in Hunter, your value as a person depending on how useful you are (hitting me hard there hahaha).

I think that in Jasper you have created an endearing character, a physically strong, attractive and sexy man haha, funny and silly, confident and insecure, sweet who without problems would be a very good housewife, loving her son, and when he learns the way correct to his partner pufff. You write and describe therapy incredibly. ...that and thank you 🫂 you created a beautiful universe that I love, even though I feel like Darius with a broken heart and a taste for slightly damaged introverts hahaha. I love you! bye

Eeeeeeee thank you. I love my goofy little guy. He is just... such a mess of discordancies. He's the compartmentalization king. He's had to separate himself into such harshly defined roles that he's still struggling to consolidate it all into one Self... and wow I gave him such a variety of issues beyond just "oh yeah he got hit a lot." I gave that man a miscarriage. That's wild.

I love him!!! I want him to be happy!!! And I sort of initially set out to write a 10k wish fulfillment happy au story that's just, jasper lives, he has a baby and boyfriend and lives happily ever after but I am just truly Not That Guy and instead I've launched into a 100k+ study of this dudes progress through mental health care. I broke up the otp! Who does that? I've never done that. I'm off the rails here I'm driving the card blind.

Darius has such a type tjwhabgmakt he looks at a scruffy sad autistic man crawling around in the trash and he's like holy shit I have to have that

I have to draw a jasper pinup on actual paper on that note. I may be a primarily digital artist/animator but my traditional sketches are waaaay better than digital. It's what he deserves

[cocinadelcarmen]

Mission Statement in length.

Hello.

Hope everyone's doing well.

It's been now at midnight, a week since the last market. This week has actually gone by pretty slowly... while working at the market the weeks used to go by so quickly. Thinking of menu's, spending 2 days making the bread then the market on Saturday. About 5/7 days of the week were spent thinking about bread or making bread. And now here I am, enjoying this first week off and slowly coming to more space in my day. Space for other activities that give me peace, like going on walks, doing yoga, going to the beach, swimming, even working out. Or just doing nothing.

This week has been busy though, it is my brother and dad's birthday and turns out I had to make them both the birthday cakes. The baking never ends! haha. But I appreciate all that I am given. All the opportunities and the support. And I want you all to remember that I am still here for you as a member of the community and as a service to provide healthy, natural, and healing food. I want to re-state my original mission with making and selling bread: I Want to give people medicine via their food. Healthy, real, natural food. Yes sometimes I may sell some sweets or something a little less healthy, but I promise that in every step I take in cooking and in every ingredient I put in, I make sure it is the best quality, most natural, that I can find. I put in love and the intention that this food be healing to whoever consumes it, in whatever way that may be (healing, I mean). Whether they bond with their family through the bread... or it helps them with their gluten intolerance... or it helps them to eat healthier bread, losing weight... or whatever it may be. I want to raise awareness that so many of the issues that humans face, sickness mental and physical, are due to the way that one eats. The way one nourishes or malnourishes themselves. Yes, of course, there are emotional aspects too and other forms of nourishments... but food is such a major one. Masters have said the the leading cause of diseases (dis-ease. Meaning lack of peace within the body) is due to chemicals that we consume in our food and medicine. Our bodies are sooo smart. More than we know. Our bodies KNOW when something that we eat is not natural. When it is modified or artificial. Because our bodies are 100% natural. Created from the universe, we have the intelligence of the universe. And it is a shame to see these diseases being caused because, most of the time, people do not know. They simply don't. And I really want to help with that. I want to share knowledge. I want to share medicine. I want to share NATURAL food. And... bread just happens to be such a great symbol of life and nourishment... or a basic food that all of humanity intakes in some way. Our daily bread. And even this bread is so altered now. It is crazy what is happening. So I want to and will provide real bread. Sourdough bread is the way in which bread was originally made to rise. There was no commercial yeast. No instant yeast. There was only flour and water... and that flour and water becomes the sourdough starter. It gives to all the natural bacteria and wild yeast that naturally leaven the bread. That is what I do at Cocina del Carmen. Everything, every little step, is done by hand. No machine ever touches the bread (except the oven). Not saying that using a mixer is bad or anything... it is just that I don't own one hahaha. Mixing by hand really is such an enduring process. Not only is it time extensive but it's a workout too! But I kind of love that about it. It's like a bonding time with the bread. And I can workout some all those days when I can't find time to.

Back on track. My mission statement is out there. Natural food. Natural sourdough bread. Natural medicine. To share with my community, wherever and whomever that may be. We are here.

[katerinu]

I have arrived at the Yashahime is Over Party! I never, ever wanted a sequel, I was much happier with my own opinions and headcanons as to what happened after the show was over. (As I'm sure many fans were.) InuYasha has always been this great, big sandbox, where you can do whatever you want. Yashahime basically came in and stomped on everybody's fun time, so now I'm just trying to rebuild what I had! This rewrite isn't exactly my thoughts to a T on what I think should have happened at the end, rather, I tried to keep in mind the premise of Yashahime and just... fix it!

I know that my likes and opinions tend to be a bit disjointed from the rest-- for example, I LOVED the filler episodes. To this day, some of my favorite episodes that I go back to rewatch have been filler. I like slow and steady, I like lots and lots of dialogue. But Yashahime? Not like this. Never like this. For my rewrite, this is no longer a fantasy romance action adventure whatever. This is slice of life.

For my rewrite, Moroha becomes the main character. The story follows her as she travels around Japan, basically meeting old friends of her folks, and meeting some new ones along the way. InuKag and MirSan live generally happy, peaceful lives, with the Root Head demon being the last of their major problems for a long while.

I love the idea that with InuYasha and Kagome being a committed couple in an "unusual" relationship with an "unusual" daughter, Kaede's village over time becomes a safe haven for weak demons, half demons, and like-minded humans. It expands into a vast and bustling town, with plenty of colorful characters in addition.

Sango spends a lot of her day training Hisui and Gyokoto. She doesn't go out herself much anymore, and has basically passed the torch to her children and, of course, younger brother. Her time is mostly spent now creating and repairing weapons, though her real passion is in experimenting with fabrics to create stronger, more resistant material. Miroku continues to travel (so long as he stops by to say hello to his wife once and awhile) alongside his daughter Kin'u, who basically apprentices under him. He's so proud of who she's become.

Moroha is at that age where she longs to see the world outside their humble home. She packs her things, says goodbye to her mom and dad, and sets off. I can totally see her keeping the bounty hunter job as it would be a great way for her to make money on her own. And with her being loved and reasonably fed, whenever she loses a head, it can *actually* be funny. She still uses the rouge to become Beniyasha in tough times, but without the red pearl. (No pearls in this, the pearls are stupid.) She made a promise with her momma to only use the rouge in DIRE situations, since it can be dangerous. Of course, she's looked over by grandpa Myoga... and Shippo!

Shippo is much older now, but given that he's a demon (and I do subscribe to the demons age slower HC, despite the shit I give it) he appears to be around, or a little younger than Moroha. They're about equal in power which means they have to work together a lot to get out of sticky situations. They act as brother and sister since Shippo was basically adopted by InuKag, so there's no romance between them. It's purely familial.

Over the course of the series, Moroha meets old characters, both filler and canon, from the OG series. (Some Shippo recognizes, some he doesn't.) They help out with whatever problem-of-the-week is going on, as the episodes are primarily laid back and focused more on character interaction and development. They meet old faces like Jineji, Botan and Momiji, Kanta, Bunza, and even Shiori!

Shiori would have an episode or two, going more in depth on half demons and their human nights.

To keep the "mystery" aspect Sunrise TRIED to do while also putting a long term goal/conflict in the show to prevent it from getting boring, I would include Towa/Setsuna. But here's the kick-- I would combine them into one character.

Zetsumetsuko would sometimes run into our main cast and cause issues, mostly based on what the audience infers is some kind of misunderstanding or jealousy. This character will butt heads with Moroha, similar to how InuYasha and Sesshomaru were, but with her having a bit more sass.

Moroha says they smell familiar, but she can't place her finger on it. Zetsumetsuko tends to say some cryptic stuff, saying she knows some info that Moroha doesn't. This character is basically a wild card, and is to keep the audience on their toes. It is of course, later revealed that this character is the daughter of Sesshomaru. (Not that it's hard to guess, haha.) It happens when the main cast run into Rin. Zetsumetsuko appears to try and cause more trouble, only for Rin to excitedly shout, "Sister!" And begin doting upon her.

With tensions eased, the characters manage to sit and chat calmly. Zetsumetsuko feels like she doesn't belong, and struggles to find a place in the world similar to InuYasha. They barely knew their own father, raised primarily by Rin and Jaken. She doesn't even know her own mother. Zetsumetsuko has been following Moroha out of a sense of jealousy, since they're related but their paths have been so different. She basically reveals how lonely she's been, too. Which leads to her joining the group!

I wanted to introduce Zetsumetsuko as the daughter of Sesshomaru at the same time I introduced Rin as her sister, basically cutting Rin out of the running for potential mother right away.

The mother would be Kagura, who... I don't have a design for, ah! I heard a lot of talk and rumors about Kagura having become a goddess and I think I would apply that idea to my rewrite. It would explain why Kagura wasn't around for Zatsumetsuko growing up. Ah, now I have to make a Goddess!Kagura design, hahaha.

In conclusion, my sequel would be made purely for nostalgia's sake. No retcons, barely even touching the original plot of InuYasha. It would be a way to see the old cast through new characters, who would be charming in their own right without relying on their parents, and would allow us to revisit one-off and filler characters again. The sequel wouldn't be a necessary watch to enjoy InuYasha, it would just be a way for fans to go, "Oh, I remember that character! Good times!"

That's about it! I worked really hard on the character designs and thinking about their personalities and how they fit in, so if you haven't yet, it would be nice if you took a look at the links I put in and read a bit more about their characters! Please feel free to ask questions, I'm not the best at explaining myself at length since my mind gets jumbled, haha.

Thank you!

[myaekingheart]

You've been visited by the random OC question fairy! :D ~☆

Happy International Women's Day! What is your OC's relationship with being a woman? How has being female affected their upbringing and/or their past? How does being female affect their actions, thoughts, and relationships with others, if at all?

Hi OC Questions Fairy! 

I’m gonna answer this for all of my female OCs so they each get a little attention so this might take a minute hahaha With Rei, it was never so much of an issue of being a woman than it was an issue of what was expected of her as a woman. Her parents had a very specific vision in mind for the type of life they wanted for her that involved the usual “get married, have babies, be a housewife” route. And while Rei has always yearned to be a wife and a mother, she also has always yearned to be a ninja. The opposition of her family about her becoming a ninja, however, led her to believe that she could not do both and for a long time she suppressed her desire for domesticity in order to focus entirely on her career.  Which is also telling of Rei’s mother, Hana. She had sort of an opposite experience in that her family wanted her to become a ninja and take advantage of the Yamanaka’s kekkei genkai, the mind transfer technique, but Hana was not fit for becoming a ninja. Every time she tried to use the family jutsu, she would get splitting migraines. She never even wanted to become a ninja in the first place, however, and feels right at home fulfilling her expected gender roles.  Kakashi’s mother, Aijo, never really played by the rules when it came to femininity. She was always kind of feral and wild, she didn’t have any reservations about getting down and dirty in her work.  Rei’s grandmother, Teiko, had very much the same path as Rei. Her family had no interest in shinobi whatsoever, but Teiko had a gift and she was drawn to ninja work. She also kind of defied what was expected of her for a really long time and tried to balance both a ninja career and being a mother but she ultimately had to make a sacrifice and choose her family over everything else.  Teiko’s old teammates, Komori and Edna, have interesting relationships with their womanhood. Komori is kind of eccentric and materialistic in a way. She has a twin brother, Rojin, and together they run the local antiques shop. She never really felt like she was not on equal footing compared to her brother, but she also worked very hard to become a solid ninja. She was ready to give it up in a heartbeat in order to be the best mother she could to her children, though. Edna is the type who loves being a woman and engaging in things that are deemed “womanly.” Though she, too, was a fearsome ninja, she is also an expert in fashion and even runs the local high-end kimono shop. She’s the type who just absolutely revels in everything that she’s allowed to do and expected to do as a woman and she does those things with utmost confidence.  Komori’s granddaughter, Suisen, struggles with not just womanhood but existing in a body in general. She deals with an eating disorder and therefore has struggled a lot with body image, peer pressure, and a sense of control, all of which are not exclusively feminine issues but are definitely influenced by those issues.  Edna has two granddaughters, Sefure and Arai, who could not be more different. Sefure is far more feminine than her younger sister, but at a price. She has adopted that maternal instinct of wanting to provide for her sister, while Arai has the instinct to protect. In turn, Sefure has learned to use her womanhood and sex appeal for a source of income in order to support her sister, who instead turns to shinobi work and yearns to prove herself as strong and capable so that she can create a better life for the two of them.  Rei’s teammate and best friend, Sekkachi, has a similar issue to Rei in that she has certain expectations pinned on her by her family. Sekkachi wants nothing to do with them, though. She refuses to become the doting wife and mother--it’s just not in her blood. She is, instead, the strong, independent woman type but with a fault. She wants to have companionship but she struggles with accepting others into her life and allowing herself to be vulnerable. She’s built up an impenetrable wall and keeps up this facade of being unaffected and aloof. And while we’re on the subject of her and womanhood, it’s also important to note how significant woman are to her as a lesbian, so despite her bluntness and her independence, she of course tries her best to support women (even if sometimes her support seems like the opposite, in terms of her and Rei’s relationship where they butt heads constantly and she tends to criticize Rei’s life choices once and a while. All in all, she’s not perfect.)  Rei’s other teammate and childhood best friend, Naru, definitely also revelled in her femininity much like Edna and Sefure do. Naru has charm, she’s popular, and she always knows everyone’s business because she feels like she has a responsibility to be a nexus of information. She’s bubbly and bright but also knows how to use her feminine charm to her own benefit, i.e. manipulation and genjutsu.  Rei, Sekkachi, and Naru’s sensei is Chikara, a former dancer turned shinobi. Chikara has a very vast knowledge of what it means to be a woman in this profession but rather than fight against that inequality, she teaches her students how to use that to their advantage. She taught her students choreographed dance routines and as a team, they created an entire ensemble alter ego of rave dancers to perform at a local club where many enemy ninja are often attracted so that in this way, the girls essentially weaponize their femininity in order to lure criminals to their deaths.  And on the subject of weaponizing femininity, none do this better than Tenshi. While she also exemplifies some of the negative social aspects of being a woman such as sexualization and competition, she uses her sex appeal to lure men so that she can get what she wants. And often times what she wants are eyeballs. Specifically Sharingan. Because she works for Danzo. This is why she is currently in jail.  Mikazuki doesn’t really feel very tied to her identity as a woman, I don’t think? She’s very spiritual and while she’s also very feminine in the way she presents herself, as well as demure and shy, I don’t think she really focuses much on the fact that she’s a woman. I know in terms of sexuality, none of it matters to her one bit. She’s more concerned with what type of person you are than what gender you are, though she definitely is aware of the inherent inequality of being a woman. After all, she’s in this shinobi business, too, which doesn’t really let you forget about that.  In terms of Sekkachi’s family, her grandmother Kohai’s entire backstory hinges on her womanhood. She migrated to the Konoha because she dared to practice a sense of agency over her female existence in terminating an unwanted pregnancy, which her family disowned her for. She knew that she made the right decision for herself, however, and went on to carry that with a sense of self-acceptance--as well as a reclamation of the term fumeiyo, which means dishonor, and was the surname she chose for herself when she branched out on her own.  Sekkachi’s cousin, Tenjikubotan, is another woman who soaks up all the advantages of her womanhood. She behaves like a socialite and enjoys the company of attractive men, as well as making herself attractive for them.  Tenjikubotan’s younger sister, Roru, is far less concerned with appearances. She just wants to follow in her cousin Sekkachi’s footsteps and become a badass ninja. She isn’t entirely concerned with what effect her womanhood might have on her, which perhaps is merely a positive sign that her much younger generation is making strides toward gender equality in the shinobi world.  While these two are more minor characters, I really want to include Amai and Hiretsuna, as well. Amai is very much invested in her womanhood and she enjoys engaging in the cute and the feminine. She is a waitress at the local dango shop and loves pink and sweet things and cute animals. She just wants to exist as something bright and positive and to make people smile. Hiretsuna is far more subtle in her femininity, but is feminine nonetheless. She works reception at the hospital and definitely engages in the local gossip and fantasizing about attractive men, even if it’s far more fairytale-esque and fluffy than sexual.  Sosei and Seiiku are middle-aged twins who work in the hospital and represent the significance of mental and physical/reproductive health for everyone but especially women. Sosei works in the mental health ward as a leader for group therapy and inpatient treatment, a role that she takes very seriously. She is passionate about mental health and the inherent sense of healing that comes from community and communication. Her sister, Seiiku, is the head of the maternity ward and is very passionate about reproduction, pregnancy, childbirth. She has a very holistic, female empowerment approach with an emphasis on expecting mothers taking charge of their own birthing experience. 

Seiiku’s star pupil is Tanjo, who had a really interesting struggle with accepting her womanhood. She was initially an enemy ninja sent to Konoha to gain intel but her mission was quickly sidetracked when she began experiencing severe abdominal pains and had to be rushed to the hospital where she discovered she was in labor and she didn’t even know she was pregnant.* This startling and life-changing incident at first left her reeling and with very little sense of direction but she decided to take charge of her own life after this and train to become a midwife herself as a way to regain control over a situation in which she had none. She is very much supportive but also a tough-love type of woman who went through a very traumatic experience but came out the other side better for it and having found a true passion in helping other women and empowering them the way that she wished she had felt when she gave birth.  *This whole chapter originally began as a gag based on the fact that Kakashi Hatake’s English voice actor, Dave Wittenberg, also narrated I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant. The characters and plot points from this chapter, however, expanded to something far more developed so now here we are.  I have more characters that I could speak on on this because about ninety percent of my OCs are women but this is already getting really long and I feel like there’s a pattern in the way I write female characters so many of them will probably sound the same in terms of the way they approach womanhood and the influence that being a woman has on them. I think this is a pretty well-rounded group to have answered this for, though. Thank you for asking! 

[msbeccieboo]

Arrow 7x15 brain dump

Oh my gosh this episode was an absolute gift!!  Especially after the news we got last week, this fluffy beast of an episode could not have come at a better time (for me, at least)!  I’m not sure if part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was that we didn’t really see it coming?  I thought it would be sort of a filler episode that we typically get around this point in a season, that the OTA snippets we saw in the trailer would be about it, but boy was I wrong hahaha!!  I am still a mess!  There is so much to unpack here, I can’t form fully cohesive thoughts still, and this is shaping up to be another whopper, sorry 😬😬😬….

Olicity

Fresh off the pregnancy reveal to Oliver from last week, our ship is still a-sailing!! The heart eyes are back, the eye contact full-stop is back, the supportiveness (”We’re a team, too” “Always”😭😭😭) , the united front.  The little touches are getting there (we’re working up to that sex scene, I can feel it 🤞🤞🤞).  Oliver even looks better in this episode!!  Now, this could be the SCPD-issue tight t-shirt (it’s certainly not the hair), or just his more all-round peaceful demeanour that he seems to have achieved through baby/Felicity joy.

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Continued below the cut.

We got so much Olicity this week!  Multiple times! Olicity, all the time!  The first proper Olicity scene, has Oliver being all Zen-like over the SCPD set-up, meanwhile, Felicity already knows it’s gonna be a shit show.  Our girl is a genius, what more needs to be said? Turns out Oliver is so gung-ho with the SCPD because he wants to do everything he can to make their city a safe place for “our baby” (complete with little adorable smile) HCOJIDNFJKDNVJBDBV!!! This scene also has Oliver offering to make food for our starving/nauseous pregnant Felicity (squeeeee) and a DOUBLE KISS!!!!

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Then we got a scene with an increasingly-frustrated Oliver (the Zen didn’t last too long) over the aforementioned inevitable SCPD shit show.  Where Felicity got to give a pep-talk resulting in this delightful exchange:

Source: oliverxfelicity

We got the eyes, the compliments, THE MINT CHIP!!  Scenes out of fanfic have arrived people!!  We see that Felicity has been busy getting the Arrow Cave back up and running, and we get some quality Green Arrow/Overwatch comms action too!!

Then, we get the absolute heart-warming/breaking scene at the end of the episode, which again the fandom could have written for us!!  Felicity is adorably checking out her non-existent bump, asking Oliver if she’s showing, to which he wisely says no 😂  Then they talk about baby names!!  Who would have thought this day would come??!?!!  Oliver is adorable in offering up the name Mia, as many predicted, in tribute to Moira.  I loved how Felicity had a far-away look in her eye, describing the name as “sweet and fiery” (well we got fiery, and a little bit of sweet haha).  Oliver just made me weep in his earnestness and sincerity here; all he wants is to make his children’s lives better than his has been. 

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Then they lament how the children will “always have each other and they’ll always have us”.  Well if that didn’t shoot me straight in the gut!!  Because we have seen the future and 😭😭😭 *ugly sobbing ensues*.

Flash Forwards

These just keep getting better and better.  I know they’re still a bit divisive, but I’m seeing more and more people squeeing along with the likes of me at them haha!!  This week focused entirely on William and Mia (YAAAASSSS), and sees them at the Star City Bazaar doing a spot of Antique shopping, namely looking for a cassette player to play their “old tape from the 80s” 😂😂😂. Wow, way to make me feel ancient lol.  Will being the naïve cupcake that he is, bungles the transaction leaving Mia to go and beat up the vendor.  I loved seeing William hold her back, hilarious!  SO MUCH OLIVER!!  This is something Will tells her after, and it absolutely devastated me (and Mia, by the looks of her reaction) that she didn’t know the iconic “You have failed this city” line.  How is this not a thing of legend in Star City???  The answer to that hurts me too much so I will skip over for now!

Source: oliverxfelicity

Anyway, thanks to William’s techy genius (“like, literally” 😍 he is such a mini Felicity), they manage to cause a distraction, allowing Mia to knock out the vendor and for William to get the tape player.  That’s team work, guys!  Bonus lolz to Will’s saccharine “thank you” as he walks off 😂  Back at Mia’s base they eventually decide to play Felicity’s tape (“What are you waiting for?” “I dunno, what are you waiting for?” I STAN THESE SIBLINGS SO HARD)  And then here is where I died.  Firstly, Will’s nerves at hearing Felicity’s voice after 20 years 😭, Mia’s reassurance that they will listen together, and then Felicity’s message itself.  

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Felicity is alive bitches!!  After a delightful Felicity-ramble, she apologies to them both for keeping them apart, stating that “We did it because we love you” WE!!! Present tense!!!  Oliver lives too!!!  This is my happy place and I am staying here for as.long.as.I.possibly.can.  

She then directs them to give the team some coordinates then get the hell outta Star City.  I loved how there was no deliberation at all from the siblings, “So we’re ignoring her?” “Definitely”.  And they’re off to The Glades...duh duh duuuuuhhhhh!!!

OTA/Delicity

OTA is well and truly back this episode, following Dig’s apology last week.  There wasn’t masses of Diggle in this episode, and that is one thing I would have liked to have seen from this episode, but to be fair we have been so well fed that I will not complain!!

They told dig!!!!!!

Dig can tell that there is something Olicity aren’t telling him, and the kind of bashful joy on Oliver’s face is just so beautiful and heart-warming! 

Source:oliverxfelicity

Dig is so pleased for them!!  I love Uncle Dig!  And as always Uncy John has some sage advice for our OTP.  He tells them that in order to clean up the city for their family, without sending Oliver back to the Big House, that they have to find another way.  This is a motto that Arrow lives and dies by, but it felt all the more poignant here for some reason, maybe because OTA were finally coming back together?  Maybe because we’re aware now that the team as we know it is soon going to drastically change?  Maybe because the fracking show is ending soon HFDOVHUIERGBVSDVIFDVJDSHVODNVKODW!!!  Anyway, I had feelings about this whole scene (cue Beccie in floods of tears, again).  *whispers I would’ve really liked a hug here ok*

As if that beautiful OTA scene wasn’t fabulous enough, we got bonus Delicity!! I think this was so needed, given their particular distance so far this the season. Dig is still kissing arse a little bit (rightfully so), and not only offers felicity some sweets to help her morning sickness 😍 but offers her some reassurance that she’s got this.  “You were absolutely amazing out there, your tech was phenomenal”.  My Delicity heart is soaring!!  He goes on to point out just how brilliant her security system is (extra kudos for Felicity shading Curtis lol), and that it could be the basis for something much bigger….Smoak Technologies anyone??

Source:felicitysmoakgifs

Team Arrow/SCPD storyline

The training montage at the start of the episode was everything!!  Felicity’s in particular facial expressions were absolutely hilarious; the utter horror of not being able to hack, and using outdated computer systems were just delightful! Even Wild Dog got a quality quip in there about having their own uniforms.  

I really wasn’t looking forward to this aspect of the episode, as I just find the whole SCPD angle annoying and ridiculous this season.  Luckily, this episode was a means to an end, and finally addressed the problematic nature of mixing the Police with the Vigilantes in this way.

The SCPD didn’t seem to want to learn anything from Team Arrow.  Where is the sense in having these people join the force if they aren’t going to provide some unique skills and training?  And the first thing they do is strip them of their weapons and their suits (ahh, if only literally….*ahem*).  They do have a point when it comes to gathering evidence legally, not using coercive ‘interview’ techniques and so on, but presumably, by some kind of TV magic, they were able to successfully convict plenty of criminals caught by Team Arrow previously…so what has changed?  

The evil little Mayor keeps popping up this season, trying to undermine the Team. Oliver never seemed to have this much clout with the SCPD when he was Mayor Handsome.  So why does Mayor Tiny spend so much time there?  Clear off!  Her interference, and the apparent loss of Dinah’s cry, leads to Dinah having a crisis of confidence, briefly picking the SCPD over the Team.  Wild Dog gets all up in her face with a sense-making motivational speech, which he seems to be doing a lot of this season…who knew he had it in him??  Anyhow, Dinah eventually comes to terms with losing her cry, and decides to continue being the Black Canary.  This plot point seemed superfluous to me.  Sara nor Laurel had a meta-cry, and they turned out alright as Canaries…..wait….never mind.  If only they had some friends with medical and meta-human expert knowledge and technology (looking at you Larry)?!?!

Anyway, I enjoyed the twist that Team Arrow had actually been working with the SCPD during the final mission scene, following Dig’s advice that they needed to become ‘something else’.  DD blackmailed dirty Mayor tiny into giving Team Arrow free-rein under the SCPD umbrella still, and repealing the anti-vigilante law.  Yay team Arrow!!  No more SCPD storyline!  All’s well that ends well!

Black Siren/Emiko

I think they took up an acceptably small portion of the episode, and it was just about enough for my liking.  This reaffirmed that I only really care about BS when she’s in scenes with Felicity, but it was nice seeing her try to do the right thing with solving Diaz’s murder.  As many predicted, Emiko killed Lizard Boy, as she is working for Dante.  Even doing this didn’t endear me to Emiko any more I’m afraid.  I just don’t care about her, sorry.  The showdown between BS and Emiko has potential to be interesting, and could lead to conflict between BS/Felicity/Oliver/Emiko in coming episodes, but my babies don’t need any more conflict, just let them be pleeeaaaase!!

The surprise that no one saw coming (I didn’t see anyone call it; well done Boss Beth!), was the appearance of baby Bronze Tiger, Connor ‘Hawke’ Turner.  Connor Hawke from the FFs is Bronze Tiger’s son, adopted by Dig and Lyla?!?!?!  Fab idea, writers!  This likely means that Ben Turner is going to die imminently, which is such a shame because he had so much potential in the prison arc!!  I loved seeing him again in this episode!

Looking ahead

THAT TRAILER GUYS!!!!!  MSDOI;’#GFHGSD;VNSD’K[GSDJVANVNFDK!!!!!!! I was not ready.  None of us were ready it seems!!!  We’re gonna see Mia’s birth this season!!!!  Oliver will be there!!  There’s a photo of Olicity and baby Mia!!!!  AAAAAAAAAGHGHAGHAGHAGHA!!!

Source:olicitygifs

The Team is back!!  But now we see this joint ‘black ops’ type scenario joining Team Arrow and the SCPD together, along with the repealing of the Anti-Vigilante law, the landscape isn’t tying in with the FFs. How do we get to the point where Vigilantes are utterly outlawed and hated by society, when they have done so much to help the city over the years?  What changes?  Is this why Oliver is ‘gone’?  Why Felicity appears to have to give birth to Mia in some abandoned farmhouse somewhere? Where Mia has to be kept hidden? Where Mia and William can’t know of each other’s existence, or be spoken of in the same sentence (seriously….the TEARS!!)?  Where Mia can’t even go by the name Queen for her own safety?  I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!!  I think Emiko could be at the bottom of this somehow.  She’s literally doing nothing else interesting.

Either Oliver and Felicity, or Rene and Dinah must be on the outs from the Team soon, to explain the latter’s unawareness of Mia.  Could this be this why only Rene and Dinah have been set up in the FFs so far, because this is the only place we will see them next season? (Assuming they are coming back for S9).

I am so unbelievably excited for next week now.  It’s gonna be dark, I know, but I’m hoping we get a decent amount of questions answered, and see Future Felicity and Diggle!!  (I’d love to see future Oliver, but not holding out hope for that just yet).  I was looking forward to the all-future episode anyway, as I’m living for Mia and William right now, but now???  Bring.it.on!

As always, huge thanks to the amazingly talented gif-makers in our fandom. Kisses and jazzy-hugs all round 😘😘😘🤗🤗🤗

[nineteen-yearslater]

I know you're doing something similar with the character aesthetics (which are awesome, by the way!!!), but could you find a song that best describes each kid? and possibly an explanation on why did you chose that? Thanks, and I love your blog, soooo glad you continued it *-*

Hahaha it’s funny you should say/ask that…

A few months ago, I decided to turn two scrapbooks I hadinto pages for the next generation (and then their kids, and then the kidsafter that) and there were some leftover pages so I’m doing some for some bookcharacters or Teen Wolf characters or whatever. Anyway, each kid had a doublepage, and the pages were covered in relevant paper (e.g. Victoire is pink andflowery, Hugo is very geometric, Rose has a lot of patches in a navy colourbecause she constantly wears denim) and then I made those moodboards to go onthe page, and also printed out some aesthetic-y quotes and badges and stufftoo. Then I’ll decorate it with washi tape and embellishments to make it 3D.Why I’m saying this is because over the top of each page, around thepictures/quotes/embellishments, I chose a song for each kid to write on thepage. I only posted the moodboards for this generation here because after Iprinted them off I realised that they were relevant to this blog so might be aninteresting side-project thing to run.

So yeah, that’s why I made them, so it’s funny you askedabout songs because I have that info ready to hand ;) Also I’m glad you likethem! Thank you so much for your kind words <3 I’m so glad you’re stillhere!

Ted: Therapy –All Time Low. The line “arrogant boy, love yourself so no one has to” remindsme of Ted a lot because he thinks he doesn’t need romance in his life and heshuts down that side of himself for so long, and it’s a bit arrogant. The restof the lyrics suit his personality, too. Also Figure Me Out – The Summer Set,because that’s a situation Ted would be in, but that’s more of a day-to-daything than an aesthetic personality song

Victoire:Paradise – Coldplay. This has been her song in my mind for maybe five yearslol. Her head is such a hard place to be in sometimes, because she doubts everymove she makes and is so insecure about loving Ted, her best friend, whodoesn’t notice. So part of it is wishing for paradise with Ted and part of itis wishing for paradise/peace in her head. Literally every time she closes hereyes

Dominique: Can’tPin Me Down – Marina and the Diamonds. She’s different versions of herself toso many people: growing up, she has an eating disorder and is the quiet,bookish sibling; she’s a sunshine to her siblings; she’s crazy and fun withRose and Lily; she’s a badass and invincible to James; she’s stuck-up and coldin the opinion of people who don’t know her. Also, this sounds weird, but thetune reminds me of her – it’s not slow and soft, but it’s not super upbeat,either; it’s this unique blend. And it has the “time to back off, motherfucker”line in which is one of my fave uses of a swear word in a song lol because it’sjust there to prove a point and drive home the line, not to be vulgar or takeaway from the song

Louis: Good Life– OneRepublic. I remember the first time I heard this song and I was incrediblyanxious and stressed, but hearing it calmed me down and appreciate what I had.And that’s Louis. He’s content with who he is and where he’s at; he nevercomplains; he thinks every day is this beautiful gift and he’s so happy tospend it loving people and making the most of it. He has the happiest lifepossible because he’s loving and grateful and a pure soul

James: Either OneNight – The Summer Set or Boys Don’t Cry – The Cure. The latter because if youignore the fact it’s about a relationship, it’s very much how James acts. He’safraid/ashamed to apologise for what he does because he has this massive shieldbetween how he’s portrayed and his emotions. He acts invincible and cocky butinside he’s actually incredibly insecure. It’s kind of like he doesn’t want toappear weak so he forces himself to overplay some aspects of his personalityand downplay others. One Night because it’s the same sort of theme –self-discovery and being aware that not all of yourself is necessarily what youwant it to be

Albus: Girls/FastCars – The Wombats. The lyrics are him completely. At first, he’s the dorkyPotter who’s too sensible for his own good, but as soon as he starts histeenage years at Hogwarts his personality develops a lot, and he’s lazy, funnyin his own way, ends up with a long-time girlfriend who’s one of the prettiestgirls in school, confident, playful with Rose… I don’t really know how todescribe him outside my head, but he’s still this understated guy, he’s justmaking the most of it and is enjoyable to be around. So the whole “and what Ifeel is what I say, I’m not trying to be smart” is very him, but then the vibeof the song is him as well – I don’t know how to explain it, but if he were atune, he’d be that tune

Lily: Girl onFire – Alicia Keys. Lily’s stubborn and fiery and fearless, but she also hasnormal worries that anyone in her place would have – she doesn’t know what shewants to do after Hogwarts, sometimes she feels a pull away from theJames-esque side to her and towards kinder, softer traits that she holds; she’sunreal in a way because she’s unapologetically herself and the most fearlessperson anyone knows, but she’s also very real because she’s aware of the worldshe’s in and how her actions affect other people. For example, she makes fun ofHugo a lot growing up, because it’s funny and they’re best friends so itdoesn’t matter, but afterwards she knows that she may have taken it too far

Rose: Angel ToYou (Devil To Me) – The Click Five. It’s a very Rose song lol. Half of her is asweet, motherly, dorky person, and the other half throws the craziest partiesand loves getting drunk and kissing boys. So it sums up both sides of herpersonality – the day side, which her parents know and which gets her highgrades and a good reputation, and the night side, which makes her an incrediblywild and fun person to be around and makes her irresistible to some boys.Lorcan would never hook up with her (he says), because she’s good friends withJames, who’s one of Lorcan’s bros, so it’s kind of incest in his book (lol) buthe has a lot of respect for her for being who she is and pulling it off. She’snot faking, because she is kind and motherly, but she also values having fun,too

Hugo: Johnny Boy– Twenty One Pilots. Mainly because of the verse “no one really knows his mindetc etc never really won a prize before”. He doesn’t struggle with life oranything, but he gets angry at Lily easily growing up and they fight a lot, andhe hated that she got Prefect and he didn’t, when he was the one revising forhis OWLs in second year and Lily was too busy pulling pranks with James. So hehas to sort that mess in his head out and that’s why this song reminds me ofhim

Molly: One Girl Revolution– Superchick. Honestly … Molly exhausts me because I was like this a year ortwo ago. She has NO time for anything because she’s so bloody busy beingperfect – she’s Head Girl, obsessed with Quidditch, studying constantly … she’salways pushing herself to be better and is incredibly ambitious. That’s not allof who she is; she has a beautiful friendship with Victoire and she’sincredibly soft and compassionate, but she’s this walking revolution and is the“girl who gets shit done”. It’s a bit lonely, but she’s too busy to notice, andshe does have friends. I should probably ease up on her a bit lol

Lucy: Far Far –Yael Naim. The whole song is Lucy. She’s desperate to make her mark on theworld and prove herself, but she’s trapped as the youngest Weasley and isunderestimated every day of her young life. She’s also incredibly creative, sothis song represents her dreamy, imaginative side and how she always wishes forsomething more and channels that desperation into writing or painting orphotography with Victoire, or even trying harder at things like Quidditch. Thissong is the hidden soul inside of her that no one sees until she’s aroundseventeen

Fred: Shake ItOff – Taylor Swift. Because that’s what he does. People say what they likeabout him, but he’s true to himself and doesn’t let it faze him. Teachers tellhim off for messing around in class – doesn’t bother him. He doesn’t date muchat Hogwarts – does he care? No. People’s opinions wash right over his head. Helikes what he likes and he does what he does and if you don’t like it, that’syour issue and your business, but don’t bother telling him because it’s notlike he’s gonna change. Most people actually respect him for that and it makeshim a really easy guy to get along with. He won’t take things personally orblow things out of proportion – he’s just gonna shake, shake, shake it off

Roxanne: Run theWorld – Beyonce. Classic girl power anthem, and Roxanne runs the world betterthan anyone. She has no time for boys or romance; she does what she wants andno one ever criticises her because they know she literally does not give asingle damn. She plays cheesy 90s boyband songs in the common room; she owns itand so other people start to enjoy it. She doesn’t care about school and neverstudies, and yet she and her brother get straight O-grades in all of theirexams. How? No one knows. She’s untouchable. She also ends up richer than allthe other next generation kids put together because of her amazing eye forbusiness; she takes Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes global and tunes out critics whosay it won’t work – because it does. Also the song She’s a Genius – Jet, mainlydue to the line “Oh, hey there girl, tell me what do you do?” “Nothing, but I’mdamn sure it’s more than you.” That’s Roxanne

Lorcan: Homewrecker– Marina and the Diamonds. This song is from a girl’s perspective but naturallythe pronouns are switched for Lorcan. He breaks a million hearts just for funand enjoys doing it. He obviously has more to his personality – bigger aims,insecurities, etc – but until he graduates Hogwarts his main aim in life seemsto be to play as many girls as possible. It’s a hobby. For the longest time heis only happy when he’s on the run, until he leaves Hogwarts and grows up veryquickly in a very short space of time. But until then – why not have fun datinggirls and getting away with breaking hearts while you can?

Lysander: TheScientist – Coldplay. This song actually was the basis for a really bigLily/Lysander fanfiction I wrote/still need to finish which is in the form oftheir penpal letters throughout the years. I think that although it’s arelationship song and not a personal one, it shows off Lysander’s personality,too. He’s the quiet one in his gang – he likes going to the library, doesn’treally join in on James and co.’s pranks, Prefect … he’s the voice of reason,and he doesn’t start to lighten up for a while. He enjoys a joke, of course,but he’s not confident enough to make any all the way up until seventh year.His world is almost clinical but from fourth/fifth year onwards his heartstarts to become a bigger thing in his life – imo the line “questions ofscience and progress do not speak as loud as my heart” really applies to him

Scorpius: TheLightning Strike: The Sunlight Through the Flags – Snow Patrol. The song isreally long and made up of three sub-songs, but the second one is the one whichapplies to him. The lyrics are calm in a way, like him, but they speak ofrepairing yourself and making up for mistakes in his case. “These accidents offaith and nature” verse sums him up because he’s born into a family which hasmade a LOT of mistakes, and he’s nothing like that, so he has to find thisbalance between loving his family, because he does, and staying genuine to thedecent person that he is. It’s also kind of about his siblings – he assumes hehas none (because he’s an only child), but he ends up with a really big familycollected over the years: Ted’s basically his cousin and with him comes lovelyVictoire; Lily and Rose, although he dated them in his second/third year, endup as close as sisters to him; James, despite a very rocky start duringHogwarts, has his back and becomes a brother to him when they’re partnered forAuror missions. The Wotter and Scamander kids are crazy but they’re his. MrsWeasley sees him fiercely as her own as much as she did Harry, and Mr Weasleygets so excited when he hears that Scorpius is visiting. Andromeda has thebiggest amount of love for him. Astoria and Draco would give the world up fortheir son. So it’s like – you think you’re alone, but breathe … relax … you’resafe here with friends. You’re fine

[drewsdailydish]

Taylor Swift Reputation Tour

As I mentioned in my previous post, I got my partner tickets to see @taylorswift in concert in Philadelphia as her graduation gift for completing her Masters Degree. She is a huge Taylor Swift fan and had never seen Taylor in concert before.

Our hotel was within walking distance to the stadium, so we saved on parking! We got to the stadium & our seats about an hour before show time. We received our glow wristbands....which continued to flash and work for 2 days after the concert. Haha, the only bad part about all of this was we were where the Eagles play and I’m a huge New York Giants fan. I was in enemy territory....Super Bowl Champion enemy territory...

I had to sit and stare at a big Eagles logo(seats in the 3rd deck made it up) for a while before people filled in. That was annoying!

First, there were so many people dressed up in crazy outfits. Some people literally covered themselves in glitter, some dressed up as Taylor, others made their own special shirts. It was wild.

Charlie XCX & Camila Cabello did around probably 30 minutes each. I didn’t realize how many Charlie XCX songs I knew! Haha, I only knew Cabello’s hit “Havanna”.....a song my partner loves, but I found them entertaining.

Then it was on to Miss Swift. They played songs before she came out, my partner was convinced Taylor herself picked this playlist of songs. I’m not so sure about it. However, the funny story about this was the last song before everything started was “Obsessed” by Mariah Carey. Now, I’m not really a major fan of Miss Swift, but I absolutely love Mariah(Lambily for life!!).❤️So that was nice little surprise that I could joke around with my partner about because we go back & forth with silly arguments of who is better—Taylor or Mariah. We always agree to disagree.😄 Anyway, I got to use my partner’s argument against her: “Ohhh Taylor picks these songs, eh? Then she must like Mariah, because she picked this song!” My partner was displeased. Hahaha

“Obsessed” ends and “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett starts playing. Yup, it was definitely time for Taylor. Although, “Bad Reputation” always reminds me of Ronda Rousey....who I also love(it was her UFC entrance song & now her WWE theme). It was nice to have a little bit for me to enjoy beside just seeing my partner’s excitement.

Taylor came out and put on a really good show. Seeing the outward happiness my partner was experiencing made it a great one for me too. She sang and danced her heart out the whole time. Knew every song, every word, it was nice to see her let loose. She usually is a very reserved person. I’m pretty sure I watched her more than I watched Taylor(sorry Miss Swift)!

I knew about half of the tunes Taylor did(I don’t know much of her music, just the more main stream hits), but I still enjoyed myself! The only bummer was a stage set piece technological malfunction. Taylor got in this shiny globe which was supposed to take her to the stage right in front of our seats. I picked those seats specifically so my partner could see Taylor up close, but there was some sort of issue. The set piece only went up and down, but didn’t move over the crowd and take Taylor across the stadium to the side stage—like it was supposed to. You could see Taylor was a bit thrown off & confused singing whatever song that was. After the song, Taylor explained what was going on. She asked whoever on the other end of her inner ears if she could walk to the side stage—the crowd went nuts hoping so. She sang a couple of songs A capella while she walked across the stage and as she traveled in the other transporting set piece across the crowd to another side stage opposite of where we were sitting. She did a really dressed downed version of “Wildest Dreams”—which is my favorite song of her’s. And that was really awesome!! Apparently, it’s not a part of her normal set list.🤷🏻‍♂️In that aspect, we got really lucky. Even though Taylor never made it to the side stage in front of us and we didn’t get to see her up close....we did get a little extra with those different songs, so that still made it special.

Yeah, I was a little disappointed. That’s why I got those seats, so my partner to could see Taylor up close. But in reality, you gotta think about it logically. It must’ve been a safety/security issue. The whole production couldn’t risk Taylor walking in the crowd or anything else to get to the side stage in front of us. Who knows if someone or something crazy would happen.....and you just can’t risk that. This is these people’s living and she has more people to entertain than just us in the crowd that night. Literally thousands of people are relying on Taylor’s safety. They just simply couldn’t risk anything happening to Taylor. I understand it. It’s a bummer it happened to us, I guess it was her first/only technically difficulty on tour thus far, but the correct decision was made. And Taylor handled it with great professionalism. I’m sure she felt bad she couldn’t go to that side stage, but it wasn’t her fault. She carried without a hitch and definitely earned more of my respect for that. Stuff happens, she reacted great. Hey, at least we have a good story about it!!

Overall, my partner had an amazing time....which made it awesome for me too! That’s all I wanted. I was very happy to be able to help her achieve that emotional high. Of course, the rest of the credit goes to Taylor Swift, her crew, & the staff at the stadium. Thank you, Miss Swift and your amazing staff!! Thank you so much for bringing such joy to my partner. She said it took her back to middle school & the innocence of life at 13 years old. That’s the power of music and entertainment. Thank you for sharing you talents and gifts with the world, Taylor. It truly was a blessing to experience your tour and you gained a new supporter because of it(Congratulations, yo!🤣)!!!

I look forward to experiencing more Taylor Swift concerts with my partner in the future!

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Unlocking Hidden Insights: The Power of Marketing Campaign Analytics and Customer Sentiment Analysis

Marketing campaign analytics and social sentiment analytics could save your company millions. US businesses lose $611 billion every year due to bad data and poorly targeted marketing efforts, despite heavy investments in marketing campaigns. Your company's most valuable asset might be sitting unused. Data remains the most underutilized resource for 87% of marketers. Most campaign metrics barely scratch the surface and miss valuable insights that could boost results dramatically. Email campaigns can generate $40 for every dollar spent. However, the average open rate stays at 20%, suggesting huge potential for improvement through better analysis and customer sentiment analysis.

This piece reveals the hidden campaign analytics metrics that managers often miss, including social media sentiment tracking and consumer sentiment analysis. On top of that, it shows how complete campaign performance analysis can sharpen customer personas and find the best audience positioning. The evidence-based decisions from this analysis lead to higher ROI. You'll get the knowledge to use your marketing campaign data analysis and social listening sentiment analysis as a competitive edge – from email campaign insights to attribution models that show the real customer path.

Hidden Metrics in Email Campaign Analytics

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." — Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist and Nobel Prize Winner

Email marketers usually look at simple metrics like open rates and clicks. The real story of how campaigns perform lies in metrics that many teams don't watch closely enough, including customer feedback sentiment analysis. These hidden numbers show customer behaviors that affect your profits if you analyze them properly.

Unsubscribe Rate Trends by Segment

Looking at unsubscribe rates in different audience segments tells us much more than just how healthy a campaign is. Mailchimp's study shows average unsubscribe rates are around 0.26%, but this standard varies by a lot between industries and email types. Welcome emails have higher unsubscribe rates at 1.19% while newsletters sit at just 0.11%.

Your team should look beyond total unsubscribes. Watch which segments drop off more after specific campaign types – this helps spot when content doesn't match what audiences expect. Sudden jumps in unsubscribes from certain demographics can warn you early about audience fatigue or messages that miss the mark. Incorporating customer sentiment metrics can provide deeper insights into why subscribers are leaving.

Bounce Rate Categories: Hard vs Soft

Marketing managers often track total bounce rates. They should separate these into categories that point to different problems. Hard bounces mean emails failed permanently due to wrong addresses or blocked domains. Soft bounces happen temporarily because of full inboxes or server issues.

Email platforms mark a bounce as "hard" after several soft bounces from one address. Mailchimp waits for 7-15 soft bounces based on subscriber activity before calling it a hard bounce.

Smart campaign analysis means watching both bounce types. Hard bounces above 0.5% point to list quality problems. Regular soft bounces from specific domains might mean your sending setup needs fixing. Analyzing these metrics alongside customer sentiment analysis can provide a more comprehensive view of email campaign performance.

Revenue per Recipient in Drip Campaigns

Revenue per Recipient (RPR) shows how much money each email makes on average. You calculate it by dividing campaign revenue by delivered messages. Klaviyo's standards show email campaigns average $0.11 per recipient, while SMS messages bring in about $0.12 each.

RPR helps measure campaign returns and compare different marketing efforts. Marketing teams can predict monthly revenue and make smart choices about discounts and incentives with this number. Combining RPR with sentiment analysis in business can help optimize campaigns for both financial performance and customer satisfaction.

Spam Complaint Rate and Deliverability Impact

Spam complaint rates might be the most dangerous metric teams overlook. This percentage shows how many recipients mark your emails as spam. The industry sets 0.1% (1 complaint per 1,000 emails) as the limit. Higher rates put your delivery at risk.

Even small increases in spam complaints can hurt badly. Gmail watches complaint rates over 30-60 days, which means delivery problems can last months after complaints start. Starting February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo won't allow spam complaints above 0.3%. Smart marketers aim much lower than this.

Watching these hidden metrics turns simple email campaign numbers into applicable information that boosts current performance and long-term delivery success. Integrating customer sentiment analysis can further enhance your understanding of how recipients perceive your emails.

Overlooked Metrics in Paid Campaign Performance

Marketing teams that perform well look beyond conversion rates and cost-per-click in their dashboards. They get into four significant metrics that people often miss, including social media sentiment analysis. These metrics offer better insights about how well campaigns are doing.

Budget Utilization vs Total Spend

The percentage of weekly budget spent versus what you set aside might be the least known metric in paid advertising. We looked at your current weekly budget against actual spend over seven days. This percentage shows how well your campaigns work beyond just looking at spending numbers.

You might think 100% budget utilization is good. But this usually means your bids and CPA targets are too high. Low utilization points to targeting problems. A small audience won't generate enough clicks to use your full budget. Too broad an audience wastes your money.

Account budgets work differently from daily campaign budgets. They set fixed spending limits over specific periods. Your account ads stop running if campaign costs hit this amount before the end date. Then monitoring these rates helps pace campaigns throughout budget periods.

LTV:CAC Ratio for Ad Channel Efficiency

The LTV:CAC ratio shows how customer lifetime value compares to acquisition cost. This key metric helps evaluate how well advertising channels work. The ratio tells you what value each customer brings compared to what you paid to get them.

SaaS companies should aim for these standards:

3:1 or higher shows a healthy business model

Numbers below 3:1 mean marketing isn't working well and needs budget changes

5:1 or higher suggests you could invest more in marketing

You can find this ratio by dividing customer lifetime value by acquisition costs. Customer lifetime value includes average revenue and retention. Acquisition costs cover all marketing and sales expenses. SaaS companies calculate LTV using this formula: Average MRR per account × (1/monthly churn) × gross margin (%).

This ratio helps compare different advertising channels and shows which ones bring the most valuable customers for your money. Incorporating customer sentiment analysis can provide additional context to these metrics, helping you understand not just the financial value but also the emotional connection customers have with your brand.

Time-on-Site from Paid Clicks

Time spent on site by paid traffic shows more than just click metrics. It tells you if visitors find value in your content or leave right away.

Analytics platforms measure time-on-site between page views. All the same, measuring gets tricky with single-page visits. These bounces usually show zero minutes spent.

Dropping time-on-site in paid campaigns often means your message doesn't match your audience or your landing pages need work. Visitors who spend less than 15 seconds on your site – about 55% of them – aren't really engaging with your content, even if you got their click cheaply. Using social media monitoring sentiment analysis can help you understand why visitors might be leaving quickly and how to improve engagement.

Ad Fatigue Indicators in CTR Drop-offs

Ad fatigue happens when people lose interest after seeing the same creative too often. You'll notice it most in falling click-through rates (CTR) even when impressions stay steady.

Look out for:

Frequency going above 3-4 on Facebook or 5+ on YouTube quickly

Higher cost-per-click with lower engagement

Lower brand recall or more negative brand feedback

Performance starts dropping when frequency hits 4 impressions per person. Costs per click go up while conversion rates fall. In fact, about 70% of users get annoyed seeing similar ads repeatedly. Utilizing social media sentiment tools can help you detect early signs of ad fatigue and adjust your strategy accordingly.

These often-missed metrics turn basic campaign analysis into practical insights. They directly affect how well your marketing money works and can be enhanced with customer sentiment analysis for a more comprehensive view of campaign performance.

Social Media Campaign Metrics Most Managers Ignore

Social media campaign success relies on metrics that many marketing managers don't see beyond likes and follower counts. These deeper analytics show not just content visibility but also reveal user interaction patterns and long-term brand connection after campaigns finish. Incorporating social media sentiment tracking can provide even more valuable insights.

Follower Churn Rate After Campaigns

Marketing teams often celebrate new follower gains without looking at existing follower losses—a significant gap in performance analysis. Follower churn rate shows the percentage of followers who disconnect from your brand during a specific timeframe. Industry measurements show that 10+ year old businesses usually keep churn rates under 10% yearly, while startups and SMBs tend to see rates higher than 10%.

The formula for calculating social media churn is:

Churn Rate = (Followers at Beginning of Period – Followers at End of Period) / Followers at Beginning of Period × 100

This metric helps you spot whether your marketing campaign analytics bring in the right audience after major campaigns. Research shows that a large follower base means nothing if they don't match your business needs—even substantial follower numbers with dropping engagement point to underlying issues. Using social listening sentiment analysis can help you understand why followers might be leaving and how to improve retention.

Engagement-to-Impression Ratio

Smart marketing campaign analysis looks at the connection between impressions and meaningful interactions rather than raw engagement numbers. This ratio gives a clearer picture of content effectiveness compared to individual metrics.

Impressions measure content display frequency, while engagement tracks actual user actions like comments, shares, and saves. Your engagement-to-impression ratio reveals how many people find your content compelling enough to take action after seeing it.

This ratio helps you determine if lower engagement comes from content quality issues or reduced visibility, unlike tracking simple metrics separately. Research also suggests users tend to unfollow brands most often when their content becomes stale or lacks originality. Incorporating consumer sentiment analysis can provide insights into what type of content resonates most with your audience.

Click Depth from Social Referrals

Social platform traffic numbers tell just one part of the story—click depth shows how deeply visitors explore after arriving. This overlooked metric tracks the number of pages users visit after clicking through from social media.

Click depth shows which social platforms send your most invested visitors. Users who move through multiple pages likely find value in your content, which suggests they're more likely to convert.

Different campaign types need monitoring to improve both social content strategy and landing page experience. The specific topics or properties that lead to deeper site exploration can shape future content development and marketing campaign data analysis. Utilizing social media sentiment tools can help you understand which content drives the most positive sentiment and deepest engagement.

Attribution Models That Reveal Hidden Insights

"The goal is to turn data into information, and information into insight." — Carly Fiorina, Former CEO of Hewlett-Packard

Attribution models are the foundations of accurate marketing campaign analytics that connect different touchpoints throughout the customer experience. Standard single-touch models give incomplete insights and cause marketers to misallocate budgets. Here are three advanced attribution approaches that uncover hidden insights, including emotional analytics and voice of customer sentiment analysis.

W-Shaped Attribution for Mid-Funnel Effect

W-shaped attribution recognizes three milestone moments in the customer experience. The model allocates 30% credit to the first touchpoint, 30% to lead creation, and 30% to opportunity creation. Intermediate interactions share the remaining 10%. This model captures the nuanced reality of B2B sales cycles where lead qualification is as vital as the original awareness.

Companies with long, multi-stage sales cycles can use W-shaped attribution to learn about key milestone moments like demo requests, content downloads, and sales consultations. B2B marketers first popularized this approach. Now any business with complex customer experiences can better understand mid-funnel effects on final conversions. Incorporating voice of customer sentiment analysis at each stage can provide deeper insights into the customer journey.

Time Decay Attribution in Multi-Touch Experiences

Time decay attribution gives more weight to interactions closer to the conversion point. Recent touchpoints usually influence purchasing decisions more strongly. Each interaction becomes more important as customers approach conversion. A product demo might matter more than an ebook download from months earlier.

This model works especially well for industries with longer sales cycles because it shows how customer decisions evolve over time. Marketers can allocate resources more efficiently toward channels that drive immediate conversions. Time decay attribution helps teams adjust messaging based on current customer behavior patterns through live campaign performance analysis. Integrating emotional analytics can help understand how customer sentiment changes throughout the journey.

Segment-Level Attribution by Channel

Modern attribution capabilities let marketers break down attribution by segments to compare performance across different customer groups. Segmentation shows how different customer types respond to various marketing channels throughout their experience.

Campaign performance analysis reveals whether new customers react differently to marketing channels than repeat customers. It also shows how loyalty level changes channel effectiveness. This approach helps identify the best channels for specific audience segments. The result is more targeted campaign optimization and better marketing campaign data analysis. Incorporating sentiment analysis customer experience metrics can provide a more nuanced understanding of each segment's preferences and behaviors.

Tools That Surface Hidden Campaign Analytics

Marketing campaigns need specialized tools to uncover metrics that lie beneath surface data. These analytical platforms reveal insights that many teams miss and provide a deeper understanding of how campaigns perform, including customer sentiment analysis.

Segment-Level Reporting in Google Analytics 4

GA4's segment-level reporting lets marketers analyze specific subsets of users, events, or sessions. Segments work as data filters that isolate particular audience behaviors for better analysis. GA4 comes with three segment types: user segments (subsets based on previous purchases or cart abandons), event segments (specific triggered actions like purchases in particular locations), and session segments (subsets of website visits from specific campaigns).

Creating effective segments requires selecting relevant dimensions, choosing the right comparison operators, and adding specific values. A North American user segment would use Country ID dimension with values 'US,' 'CA,' and 'MX'. Users need Editor or higher permissions to create property-level segments that become available to all users. Integrating customer sentiment metrics into these segments can provide even richer insights.

Conversion Funnel Drop-off in Mixpanel

Mixpanel's funnel analysis spots exactly where users leave their conversion paths. This tool measures conversions through sequential events, which helps marketers learn about conversion rates and pinpoint where prospects exit the funnel.

Marketers can track conversion trends over time and see how long users take to convert. Mixpanel spots drop-off points by tracking user interactions and shows leaks in your conversion funnel such as complex forms or unclear CTAs. Combining this data with sentiment analysis in business can help identify not just where, but why customers are dropping off.

Audience Overlap Analysis in Hightouch

Hightouch's Audience Overlaps feature helps marketers understand how different audience segments compare. This tool is great for proving that your targeting matches your intended audience characteristics.

Marketers get feedback as they build new audiences, which leads to more efficient campaigns. You can compare a new segment against existing successful audiences to check for enough overlap before launch. The tool only allows overlaps between audiences that use the same parent model. Incorporating consumer sentiment analysis can help refine these audience segments further.

Link-Level Click Tracking in Bitly

Bitly goes beyond simple URL shortening with detailed link-level analytics. Its dashboard shows every click from all channels as they happen. The platform tracks total clicks, click sources, and when visits occur for each link.

Link tracking in Bitly calculates ROI without manual analytics searches. Each shortened link shows total engagements, engagement patterns, geographic data, referral sources, and device information. Teams can measure their marketing success and make smarter decisions about campaign performance with this detailed information. Integrating social media sentiment tools with Bitly data can provide a more comprehensive view of how content is received across different channels.

Conclusion

Marketing managers often overlook several hidden metrics that could substantially improve their campaign performance and ROI. These deeper analytics, including customer sentiment analysis and social media sentiment tracking, give valuable insights that go beyond basic metrics like clicks and impressions.

Email campaign success relies on tracking specific metrics. These include segment-specific unsubscribe rates, hard versus soft bounces, revenue per recipient, and spam complaint trends. Paid advertising works better when you analyze budget use, LTV:CAC ratios, time-on-site metrics, and ad fatigue indicators instead of just conversion rates.

Your social media campaigns work better when you look at follower churn rates, engagement-to-impression ratios, and click depth from social referrals. Advanced attribution models like W-shaped, time decay, and segment-level attribution help you understand complex customer trips across multiple touchpoints. Incorporating emotional analytics and voice of customer sentiment analysis can provide even deeper insights into customer behavior and preferences.

The right tools can boost your analysis capabilities. Google Analytics 4 gives powerful segment-level reporting, while Mixpanel spots critical conversion funnel drop-off points. Hightouch shows valuable audience overlap insights, and Bitly tracks detailed link-level data. Integrating social listening sentiment analysis tools can further enhance these platforms' capabilities.

The numbers paint a clear picture. Companies lose billions each year due to poor analytics. A complete campaign analysis, including customer sentiment analysis, can change marketing results dramatically. Marketing teams that explore these hidden metrics gain big competitive advantages. They target better, create more relevant content, and allocate budgets wisely. As Einstein wisely noted, "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." The most valuable metrics often lie beneath the surface, waiting for smart marketers to find them through comprehensive analytics and sentiment analysis.

Source: Unlocking Hidden Insights: The Power of Marketing Campaign Analytics and Customer Sentiment Analysis