#they really put all their marketing eggs in one basket

[housederiva]

[nariism]

gojo satoru believes that all good things come in twos.

he was the second half of his best friend, after all— part of a wandering soul somewhere else in japan spouting some bullshit about retribution. he hasn't quite been the same since 2009.

it wasn't always this way. never before had he been so endeared, so enchanted by the prospect of keeping things together just for the sake of it. 

he remembers clearly the day this hyperfixation started, actually: a warm summer sunday in sagae with you dragging him along through the local fruit market. you picked out a bag of cherries, holding up a twin pair of them and dangling them in his face.

"they're sweeter here," you told him with such a fascinated expression, completely enamoured by the ruby jewels held between your fingers. and he savoured that moment, as mundane as it was, because your eyes were shining in adoration at such a perfect pair of cherries. 

(also, when you ate them your lips stained a pretty shade of red that made him salivate.)

he realized that things felt more whole in pairs: two hands cupping his face, two charms dangling from your neck, two cherries infinitely sweeter than one. two hearts, two souls, two people who both belong and don't belong in such a wicked world cradling each other with a shared breath.

gojo felt lonely without another— in the time between geto's defection and your reunion, he missed the feeling of being the other half of a duo. nanami buried himself into work. shoko fared no better. he was utterly, shamefully alone.

he was a new person when you returned to him. a lot of things had changed. but despite the distance and the slow untwining of your lives over the years, you knew gojo to be stubborn more than anything.

"two dogs are better than one," he argued when megumi was first learning how to control his cursed technique.

"he's just a kid. making him responsible for one, let alone two, is crazy!"

"i'm telling you, megumi is no pushover! you'll see."

he was right. sometimes (and only sometimes) he does know better. two was better than one.

you could see it in megumi's face when both dogs pounced on him, licking him and wagging their tails. in fact, it was probably the first time you'd ever seen the kid smile at all.

so you went along with gojo, indulged him whenever he reached for two things instead of one: two boxes of juice from the convenience store fridge, two fingers locked together while you walk, two earbuds split between you so you can sing together. two hearts, two souls, two blue eyes fluttering shut when he leans in to kiss you.

when he asked you to move in with him, you weren't surprised in the least. you were also not surprised to see how he set things up around the house, nothing lonely and everything in a pair. gojo feels like you think he's insane. he might be.

being with you made him feel as normal as gojo satoru could ever feel in this life— breathing no longer hurt like water filling his lungs. it was as natural as you basking in the rising sun every morning. living didn't need to be justified anymore. he wasn't obligated to be the strongest. he just needed to exist in your warmth.

things make sense in twos. the world is less gloomy with you by his side.

it's unspoken between you, but you oblige to his strange fixation anyways: two slices of peanut butter on toast in the morning, two stars atop a christmas tree, two picture frames on every side table. two hearts, two souls, two people being each other's reason to keep pushing.

he thinks he loves you a foolish amount. knows he shouldn't be putting all his eggs into one basket. he might be untouchable, but you aren't.

it's inevitable. one day, gojo satoru will be alone again.

and it's a fair exchange for power; a curse he wishes he was never born with. if he had the choice, he would have picked you over limitless power without a moment's pause.

he doesn't have the choice. unlucky.

all he can really do is let you cup his face. feed him cherries. argue over how to raise megumi and tsumiki and live in your little fantasy of pretending to be a family. all he can do is cherish the time you have left together, regardless of how long. all he can do is hope you'll say yes.

two hearts, two souls, two matching rings (one white, one black; he was poetic that way). one meant for him, and the other meant for you— a promise to keep and to break.

he doesn’t care. you and him make the best pair he can think of, no matter how fleeting.

© ALABOADOA 2023 — please do not translate or post my works to other platforms.

[e-dubbc11]

Okay, so... I would also love to request a song fic from you for our dear Billy boy ❤️

It's Wish - Canaan Cox.

And if... if I may make a little small extra request? Can the reader be plus size? It's not something I've really seen for Billy 🫣❤️

My lovely Lily,

So I listened to this song for about half a day, I love it and it took me awhile to come up with the idea for this but I like it so I hope you do too! ♥️ Thank you for all of the asks you sent me, I appreciate you ♥️♥️♥️

Intuition

Photos are not mine. They are courtesy of Pinterest/Google.

Pairing: Billy Russo x Plus Size! Reader

Warnings: Swearing, fluff, self-esteem issues, smooches

Word Count: 1.7K-ish

Summary: You take a leave of absence from work to help your mother out on the farm after your father gets sick. A handsome CEO buys a cabin in town.

A/N: I’ll link Wish by Canaan Cox at the end and TECHNICALLY this is my last sleepover ask but I can’t say no to my friends when they send me things so I have one more after this for the devilishly handsome, Matt Murdock (see what I did there 😉)

As always, thank you for reading!  I appreciate it so much and comments, reblogs are welcome and encouraged. Don’t be shy to tell me your favorite part. 💕💕 💕

“They say the guy who bought the Miller’s cabin is quite handsome.” Your mother said, as she counted out ears of corn to put into a paper bag.

When your father got sick, your mother needed help tending to their farm in upstate New York and running the market where locals would come to buy fresh fruit, vegetables, and eggs among other goods. So you took a leave of absence from your job in the city to help her out.

“I’ll keep my eye out, Ma.” You replied with sarcasm dripping from your voice.

She wiped the dirt off of her hands with her apron.

“He told the realtor he just wanted a place to come every so often to relax and be alone. He has some fancy job in the city.” She said.

Raising your eyebrows, you said, “Well the Miller’s place is out of the way so aside from the wildlife, he’ll be very alone.”

After your customer paid for his corn, you headed for the back room. Since it was almost closing time, you started cleaning up and putting things away when you heard the bell ring on the front door. Someone had just walked in.

You couldn’t hear exactly what she was saying but your mother was very chatty with whoever walked through the door. The other voice you heard was smooth like warm honey and you swore you could actually hear your mother blushing out there.

Holding a basket of tomatoes, you walked out from the back and said, “Hey Ma, you want these tomatoes out front or—“

You froze in place with the basket still in your arms.

A sly smile stretched across your mother’s face as she said, “Ah, here she is. Billy this is my daughter, y/n. Y/n, this is Billy Russo. He’s the one that bought the Miller’s cabin.”

He was probably the most handsome man you had ever seen in real life. Billy was tall with dark brown hair and a well-groomed beard. His smile made you weak in the knees and his eyes were like two pools of dark chocolate.

You pulled yourself together long enough to pick your jaw up off of the floor, place the basket on the floor and extend your hand for him to shake. It was a beautiful hot summer day today, so you were positive you looked like an absolute mess with dirt on your cheeks, hair in your eyes, and sweat stains on your t-shirt.

Billy, on the other hand, looked perfect. He had on a gray t-shirt, jeans and what looked like an expensive pair of sunglasses hanging off of the collar of his shirt.

Extending his hand, Billy shook yours and said, “Billy Russo…it’s nice to meet you, y/n.”

As if you weren’t warm enough already, heat rose to your cheeks and you knew you would be warm to the touch. “It’s nice to meet you too, Billy. What can we do for you today?” You asked, fidgeting profusely.

Your mother continued to fawn all over him as he replied with a warm smile, “Well they told me this was the place to get all of my fresh fruits and vegetables so for right now I’d like some lettuce and tomatoes, please.”

After paying for his vegetables, Billy left but not before saying “I hope to see you again soon.”

“What? He wants to see you again.” Said your mother, looking surprised.

You dropped your shoulders and rolled your eyes as you turned the sign on the door to “Closed” and locked it.

“Ma, come on. He was just being polite. A guy like that has zero interest in me.” You said with a slight frown.

“Hey, you don’t know that.” She said.

“Oh yeah? Show me a guy like that with a girl on his arm that looks like me. I have thick thighs, a little bit of a belly, and these round Charlie Brown cheeks. Guys like him go out with supermodels Ma, not chubby girls that work on her parent’s farm!” You said with a raised voice.

You’ve always been self-conscious about the way you looked. People would always say “Oh you have such a pretty face.” And you were just waiting for them to finish that sentence with “It’s just the rest of you that looks terrible.” You could only wish a guy like Billy would give you a second look.

“Well I think he likes you.” Said your mother.

You shook your head as you replied, “You’re the only one, Ma. You’re the only one.”

**********

Billy was splitting his time between his cabin and his penthouse in New York City. He would come in weekly for supplies but even after completing his purchase, you found he would stick around to talk to you, even help you wait on customers. He did seem to enjoy talking to you.

“I thought you came up here to relax, Russo. Helping me with my work is not relaxing.” You said.

“It’s funny…I really don’t know how to NOT work, y/n. Plus,I kinda like helping you. This is actually relaxing for me.” He said in a low tone.

“You bought that cabin to get AWAY from work. Go enjoy it!” You told him.

He inched a little closer to you. Your arms were touching as he turned his head to the side and looked down at you with that perfect smile on his face.

“You tryin’ to get rid of me?” He asked, his slight New York accent peeking through.

Without thinking before speaking, you blurted out, “No, I’m not tryin’ to get rid of you, I like looking at you, I mean—uh, well—what? Oh look, a customer! Hi, Mrs. Newman!”

Stumbling over your words, you became flustered as you walked to the front to wait on Mrs. Newman but you could feel Billy’s eyes on you and heard him chuckling a little.

Trying to keep Mrs. Newman in the store as long as possible so you weren’t alone with Billy Russo, you asked her, “Wait! Are you sure you don’t need anything else?! The watermelon is really good this year!”

“I’m all set, dear. Thank you.” She said, walking out the door.

Shit.

“Soooooo, you like lookin’ at me, huh?” He asked with a coy smile stretched across his lips.

With your palm pressed to your forehead, you emphatically said as a joke, “NO! Well I—I don’t understand the question.”

Billy moved in closer like he had before, his eyes looked like two wells of black ink, and he tilted your chin up so he could look into your eyes.

“I like lookin’ at you too, ya know.” Said Billy.

Your stomach began to flutter and you had to clench your thighs together listening to his silvery voice.

But you couldn’t help yourself and said, “Yeah? Well I think you’re full of shit.” And you stormed off into the back room.

Billy chased after you.

“Hey, y/n! What the fuck was that? Why would you say something like that?” He asked.

It was a reflex action. The tears came thick and fast as you tried your best to keep them from spilling over.

You turned to face him.

“You know exactly what I mean, Billy!” You said curtly.

He shrugged and raised his eyebrows. “No, obviously I fuckin’ don’t. Please tell me!”

The tears had spilled over and streaked down your cheeks.

“Guys like you don’t like girls like me, ok?!” You yelled.

Billy looked confused as he replied, “Girls like you…you mean girls that are funny? Girls that are beautiful, and sweet? Someone who’s easy to talk to? Those kinds of girls? If I didn’t like you, why would I be here all the time? I could just pay for my shit and leave like most people do but I stay because I genuinely like you.”

You folded your arms protectively across your chest, trying to figure out if maybe he lost a bet to the guys in town and now he has to try and bang the chubby farm girl but his eyes told you he wasn’t lying.

“Billy…I don’t exactly have guys beating down the door to go out with me. I’m always the funny friend or the chubby one with the good personality. I’m not the one they want. It’s just the way it is.” You said softly.

“Well they’re fuckin’ stupid and it doesn’t have to be that way with me.” He said with a kind smile and he slowly started to walk toward you. “I would love to take you out.”

Your heart was racing as you absentmindedly reached out to play with the fabric of his t-shirt. It felt soft as you were sliding it through your fingers but you couldn’t bring yourself to look into his eyes because you felt like you might start to cry again.

But he brought your gaze up to meet his anyway. Your entire body was shaking as he pinched your chin in between his thumb and forefinger. Billy gently pressed his lips to yours. They were soft and tasted like the peach you gave him a little while ago.

Placing your hands on his chest, you kissed him back. The bristles of his beard tickled your chin as his tongue parted your lips wanting to twist and knot with yours.

It felt like a dream but Billy was real, very very real. A wish that you had asked for over and over again, had finally come true. It was finally your turn to kiss the handsome prince. Or in this case, the handsome CEO.

“Oh my goodness! I am so sorry!”

It was your mother.

“Jeez, Ma!! You scared the crap outta me!” You exclaimed.

“Well pardon me, my darling daughter but I didn’t know you were playing tonsil hockey with the New York City hunk, ok?” She said.

You and Billy started to laugh.

“I can see where you get your sense of humor from, pretty girl.” He said with a wink and a smile. “Come to the cabin with me. I’ll make you my famous BLT.”

“Really? FAMOUS BLT huh?” You asked.

Even Billy’s eyes were smiling at you as he nodded.

Biting back a smile, you replied, “I’d love to.”

And in typical mom fashion, your mother interrupted and said, “See…I told you he liked you.”

You hated to admit it, but your mother had been right all along.

Tag List: @wheresthesunshinesblog @idaoftheburningmind @rafaelakelley @snowkestrel @fakehappy27 @music-indie-tv @kayhi808 @fictional-hooman @munsonownsmyass @gijos @celestialend @k-marzolf @nutmeg17 @rosaleenablack @vaguekayla @qu1etwolf @danzer8705 @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes @aoi-targaryen @mysteriouslydeafeningwerewolf @rachlovesactors

Others that might enjoy: @itwasthereaminuteago @fluffyprettykitty @jvanilly @ittybxttykxttytxtty @imagine-a-fictional-boyfriend @mrsbillyrusso

If you’d like to be added (or removed from) my tag list(s) for the ever so handsome Billy Russo, just let me know and thank you again for reading! 💕💕💕 If I tagged you but you didn’t want to be, just let me know and I’ll never do it again.

[youvebeenlivingfictional]

Proposal

Part One of Three Years

Masterlist | Year One

Pairing: Nathan Bateman x Reader

Rating: Explicit - 18+ Only.

Length: 4.3K

Notes: ....Hi! This is the first of 2-3 fic drops. I'm hoping to push all five chapters of this fic out this weekend. Also I started writing this before the current AI market explosion. Not beta-read. Never beta-read.

Warnings: Cursing; angst; enemies to enemies who fuck; tech-talk; angst (I know I said it before but really); Nathan being Nathan

Summary: He’s shorter than you thought he’d be.

Nathan Bateman isn’t unattractive, or short, even, he’s just…Shorter. 

Of all of the things that you thought you’d feel about Nathan Bateman’s visit, surprised wasn’t what you thought would be first. Shit-scared, sure. Insanely nervous, absolutely. Surprised by his height? Not on your list.

“This could be huge for us.” 

Jenn looks at once desperate and wild-eyed as she paces in her office. You watch her closely, taking in the dark circles under her dark eyes. Her typically California-tan skin is pallid from her recent late nights, and her days spent indoors. The company is running her ragged—and this potential seed money from Nathan Bateman is throwing her into the craziest tizzy you’ve ever seen. She sweeps her hands through her frizzed auburn hair before she raises her nails to her mouth.

“I mean,” She mutters, continuing to pace, voice muffled as she chews her nails, “If we get Bateman’s backing, that’d be great, but if I can get him on the board.” She stops finally, turning to face you, lowering her chewed nails from her mouth. “That would send us into the fucking stratosphere.” 

“...Okay,” You sit up a touch. You don’t want to be a buzzkill, but you need to bring Jenn down from the fucking stratosphere. “Nathan Bateman has scheduled a meeting. Okay? A meeting. One,” You raise your finger. 

“He’s having his team go over our numbers—” 

“I know that. He’s doing the due diligence that anyone coming in would be expected to do. Just, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket when we haven’t even gotten the basket yet.” 

“Come on,” Jenn groans. “I could be the next Steve Jobs!” 

“Yes, you absolutely could. But if you keep putting your focus on the idea stuff and not on the structure and application stuff, you’re going to be the next Elizabeth Holmes. And honey, I love you, but you do not look good in orange.” 

Jenn deflates just a little, slouching back against the windows that stretch from the floor to the ceiling. 

“...It clashes with my hair,” She grumbles. 

“I’m not saying don’t be excited at all," You insist, "I’m just saying…We’re bringing him in to talk about financing. How freaked out would you be if you went on a first date with someone and instead of asking for a second date, they said, Hey this was fun, let’s get married.”

“...Pretty freaked.” 

“Right. And asking someone to join the board is like a business-y 3.5 carat pear cut diamond on an infinity band. So. Let's schedule an All Hands, give the team a heads up, get them prepped. Before that, though, we need to get you some fucking lunch and some sunshine.” 

“You’re my sunshine.” 

“Awww,” You coo before you get up, adding, “Seriously. Get your phone and your sunglasses, we’re going out.” 

“But I have an email from prod—” 

“Production about the user profile settings set to drop at the end of the week. I know, I answered it already. Phone. Sunglasses. Lunch. Let’s go.” 

"You'll be here, right?"

You frown, shaking your head in slight confusion, and Jenn clarifies: "For his tour. You'll be here?"

You consider, glancing at your phone. If you can get the time off—but that's no guarantee.

"I'll try."

--  

When Jenn started Sc(ai)le three years ago, you’d had no idea that it would take off the way it would. You knew that Jenn was brilliant, you’d never had a doubt about that. But you couldn’t have anticipated how quickly varying industries moved to scale AI. Jenn had assembled a team of engineers, scientists, and sales reps. She trusts her teams, and they work hard to keep the company in motion.

But Jenn still insists in being very much hands-on everywhere she possibly can, sometimes to hers and the company’s detriment. She needs a Chief Knowledge officer, a Chief Information officer, and a Chief Marketing officer. She has a Chief Tech officer, a Chief Financial officer, a Chief Compliance officer, a Chief Data officer—all incredibly knowledgeable in their fields. She wants a board, too, but you’re worried that the company may still be too young for it. 

You work with the SVP of Marketing now and again, helping her to manage the way marketing materials are created, where they’re stored, and how they’re distributed. You’re working with Sc(ai)le part-time, on a temporary basis (though it’s technically been ‘temporary’ since the company started). Jenn needs an official team, with people that can work with her full-fucking-time. You have a full-time job at a separate tech company, one that’s well away from the AI space. You’d been worried their hackles would be raised when you informed them that you’d be taking a part-time position elsewhere, but they hadn’t even flinched. 

Hell, your manager had asked you if you’d be able to get them an employee discount. You may just have to take a few days off for Bateman’s visit.

You don’t blame Jenn for being so excited, or so nervous. 

Nathan fucking Bateman? This is huge. 

But if both of you have your heads in the fucking clouds, neither of you are gonna make it out of orbit. So you’ll keep yourself grounded, and bring Jenn back down to Earth if you absolutely have to. 

-- 

He’s shorter than you thought he’d be.

Nathan Bateman isn’t unattractive, or short, even, he’s just…Shorter. 

Of all of the things that you thought you’d feel about Nathan Bateman’s visit, surprised wasn’t what you thought would be first. Shit-scared, sure. Insanely nervous, absolutely. Surprised by his height? Not on your list.

You glance over at Jenn to find her tipping her chin up, slapping on her I Should Be On the Cover of Forbes smile. It’s the smile that’s brought every other investor on board. It’s the smile that’s brought on every single team member in the company. Now, you can only hope that it’ll bring Nathan Bateman into her coffers.

Where you’d typically leave Jenn to finesse any other investor, you stick close by. You trail Bateman and Jenn by a few steps as she directs him around the offices, and the facility. 

He asks a fair number of questions. A few are unexpected, but for the most part, they’re things that you and Jenn had anticipated. The three of you come to a stop overlooking a row of engineers. You don’t want to appear nonchalant, but with Bateman and Jenn focused elsewhere, you allow yourself to lean back against the wall, eyeing the room. It’s then that you see an engineer flagging you down, a harried look on her face. You glance toward Bateman and Jenn’s heads and make sure they’re distracted before you push yourself off of the wall, skirting around the two and walking over to her as calmly as possible. 

“What’s up?” You ask, crouching down beside the engineer’s desk. 

“The marketing team sent through a brief about the user profiles—” 

“Uh-huh—” 

“And there’s an error regarding the, uh—The functionality.” 

“Okay. Where’s the problem, what’s the fix?” 

“Our systems are starting at Mac- or Blue-OS compatible.” 

“But not Windows?” 

“Most of the companies we use don’t touch Windows OS anymore.” 

“But we have got a few clients that do.” 

“Yes, we’re—We’re working on it. But this can’t go out like this, it’s not correct.” 

“Okay,” You nod, mind racing through the possible, necessary fixes. “Okay. Could I use your laptop for a second?” 

“Sure.” 

The engineer starts to stand, but you wave her back into her seat, just turn the laptop toward yourself. You hurriedly log into your email on a web page, and tap out an email to the marketing SVP. 

“Mac and Blue only,” You reiterate as you type. 

“—But not Windows, yep.” 

“Do we have an expected date on Windows functionality?” 

“Q2 of next year—Maybe Q1, but—” 

“We don’t wanna over-promise and underdeliver,” You shoot the engineer a smile. “I appreciate the honesty.” 

The engineer nods hurriedly. You feel her casting a glance behind you, but you’re already turning back to the laptop, practically hammering the keys as you send out the message. You lean back, reading and rereading the message before you CC your work email, Jenn’s, and the engineer in question. Then you send it, straighten up, and sign out of the email. 

“I’ve put myself and Jenn on the email, we will take it from here. Thank you so much for flagging that—And if anything comes up, please text, email, slack me. Anything.” 

“Thank you!” 

“No, thank you,” You insist, patting her shoulder. You straighten and turn, and freeze immediately at the sight of Jenn and Bateman standing just behind you. You swallow thickly, fighting to keep a straight face. 

“I didn’t mean to hold up the tour,” You apologize. “You guys could’ve moved on, I would’ve caught up.” 

“Everything alright?” Bateman asks, nodding toward the engineer. 

“Yes. Just a little communications update.” You give them both a reassured smile. “Why don’t we continue?” You add, nodding down the hall. 

--  

“What are you doing for dinner tomorrow?” 

It’s a question that he should be asking Jenn, and that’s why your mouth works wordlessly, your brow furrowing heavily. It’s a bad look—Nathan Bateman has asked you a simple question, and you’re floundering like a landed fish. 

“Uh—Shoving something in the microwave, probably?” You manage with a shaky laugh as you put your laptop into your bag. You haven't been able to take the time off as much time as you’d hoped, and you’ll have to make up what time you have taken to keep yourself on track. “I’m working a double, so, I’ll get off shift around one in the morning.” 

“A double.” 

“...Yes? It’s when you work two shifts at—” 

“I know what a double is.” 

Jeez, of course he does. 

“Right. Sorry. You seemed—...Anyway.” 

“I seemed what?” 

Confused is the wrong word to use with this man. 

“Inquisitive?” You offer. Nathan’s brows tip impossibly higher, his chin angling down to gaze at you over the tops of his glasses. 

“One,” He finally confirms. “How’s 1:30 for you?” 

“For what?” 

“For dinner.” 

“I—I don’t think I’ve ever eaten dinner that late in my life. I don’t even go out that late anymore.” 

“But you’ll make an exception?” 

“Do I have to?” 

When he smiles, you know that you will have to. 

“I’ll send you the details.” 

That’s it. He breezes away from your desk space. He doesn’t offer to walk you to your car; he doesn’t ask you any questions about what you want to eat, or what you like to eat. He just walks away. You look after him for a moment before you look down, taking up your laptop chord and wrapping it with a mutter of, 

“Dinner at 1:30 in the morning? Not in fucking college anymore…What’s even gonna be open that late for fucking dinner?” 

You think, and then giggle. 

Maybe Nathan Bateman is going to take you to McDonald’s. 

--  

“You ever been here before?” 

“Uhh…” You peer down at the menu. It’s timeworn, and splattered with what look like gravy stains. At least—well, you hope it’s gravy. “Nope, can’t say I have.” 

The diner has a vintage bent to it. The seats are all coated in robin’s egg blue vinyl; the floor is tiled like a checkerboard; the walls are pepto-pink. There’s a jukebox in the corner, but the oldies being played in the diner are coming from a few recessed speakers in the ceiling. You glance up again as you hear Bateman shifting in his seat. He’s lounging back in his seat like he owns the damn place. 

…Maybe he does own the damn place. 

It could explain why they’re open so late, at least. There are a few other people in the diner, a ways away. Now and again, an explosive swell of cackling laughter will pass over your way before one of their party hurries to hush them. You glance back curiously as you hear one of them add, 

“Dude, you’re gonna get us kicked out again.” 

“So how long have you known Jenn?” Bateman asks. 

“Oh, gosh,” You turn back to him. “Since Kindergarten. She’s my oldest friend.” 

“You two seemed pretty close during the tour yesterday.” 

“Did we?” 

“Insomuch as you were her shadow.” 

You close your mouth, reaching for your water. You had shadowed because Jenn had asked—but you’re in no position to quibble with this man. You’ve no need, either; he goes on: 

“How was your double?” 

“It was fine.” 

“What are you working on?” 

“I work at a company that produces technical books and longform guides for—” 

“I know where you work, that wasn’t my question. What are you working on.” 

The bored, irritated tone in his voice raises your hackles, and it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. But you swallow your annoyance in favor of giving a straightforward answer: “Right now, a quantum software engineering roadmap.” 

“Are you enjoying it?” 

“The writing can be a little dry, but the subject matter is interesting.” 

“Hm…” Bateman nods, his eyes sweeping your face curiously. You fight the urge to shift or fidget under the scrutiny of his gaze. 

Can you ask questions? Are you allowed? Why does this man make you feel like you’re in a damn interview? Your gazes break as a waitress comes over, a pad in hand and an expectant smile on her face. You instinctively offer her one in return as you order. You don’t really hear what Bateman orders; you’re too busy wracking your mind for things that came up on yesterday’s tour—pain points, questions that Jenn promised she’d get back to him on. 

“So,” Bateman’s voice snaps your focus back to him, and you arch your brows as you meet his eyes again. “In your opinion, what’s the company lacking?” 

It’s a slap of a question. Your brows manage to inch higher. Oh…God. No wonder he didn’t want to do this with Jenn around.

“Uh…” Is your initial succinct answer. You clear your throat, taking your glass up for another sip, gathering yourself. You could say that Jenn has everything she needs, save for capital. You could say that the team is rowing as one one, your little unsinkable ship, the Sc(ai)le. 

But Nathan Bateman is a genius, and a billionaire, and a man with a low tolerance for bullshit. 

“She needs a complete C-Suite,” You admit firmly as you set your glass aside. “She needs a solid, knowledgeable team behind her. We’re doing the best that we can now, and the Chief positions that she has filled are pushing the company in the right direction, but the ones that she doesn’t are slowing down growth. We need a CMO and a CKO and a CIO, like...Yesterday. We have a lot of data, and we have a lot of marketing materials—and the seniors VPs in those positions are doing the best they can, but you can only fill a leaky bucket so many times before the handle breaks. The company doesn’t have the capital to bring those positions on, and until it does, the company’s going to continue to grow at half-speed because the plane’s being flown while it's still being built."

Bateman doesn’t react for a moment. His silence makes your stomach twist with nerves; your palms are sweating. 

“I didn’t think you’d say that,” He finally says. You can’t help but laugh a little. 

“Look—I could tell you that we’re all one happy family, and that the only thing wrong is the fact that bluebirds don’t land on our shoulders and code for us—” Your stomach flips as Bateman’s lips twitch with a smile, “But you’ve already been inside. You’ve looked through our books, you’ve seen the facility. And if you’re going to go in on investment, you’re going to see the dirty laundry anyway. I may as well show you where the hamper is.” 

“You like your metaphors.” 

“It’s the writer in me.” 

Bateman’s brow quirks a touch as he nods. 

“...Why aren’t you full time?” He asks. That question throws you for a loop. You shake your head a little—like it’ll knock an answer loose. But the answer—the truth—is that you and Jenn haven’t worked well together in the past. Sure, you’re part-time now, but you hardly ever interfere with her day-to-day unless it’s to coax her out of her office to get some air or a meal. You prefer to take your time with a project, and Sc(ai)le is in a growth period where time is of the essence. 

“...It’s not…” You start, brow furrowing as you grapple for a reasonable answer, “What Sc(ai)le does, it isn’t what I do.” 

“The company has technical writers.” 

“...Yeah—” 

“It needs someone that knows how to compile the information, translate it for the average consumer—” 

“But—” 

“Just tell me they can’t afford you.”  

Your chest twinges with indignation. 

“That’s not true,” You insist. 

“So they can afford you.” 

“That’s not what I—” 

“Which one is it?” 

“You’re twisting my words, and I don’t appreciate that.” It leaves you more harshly than it should, and you damn your tone immediately. There’s no way scolding this man is gonna bring him on board. You realize that your shoulders have scrunched defensively and risen toward your ears, and you force yourself to relax them. But Nathan’s lips just twitch again, his eyes bright with amusement. 

“...Why aren’t you full-time?” He repeats. 

“I told you. This isn’t what I do.” 

“It could be.” 

You don’t want to make the concession, but the look on Bateman’s face tells you that he’s got you pinned. So you give a small, begrudging nod. 

“Hypothetically.” 

His smile widens at your confirmation. You want to smack him. 

But that really won’t bring him on board. 

--  

You expect Jenn to grill you for your time with Nathan the second you get in, but she’s grabbing your hand and hissing, “He’s here, and he’s waiting.” 

“What?” You ask dazedly, pulling your sleeve back to eye the watch face where it rests on the inside of your wrist. “He’s not supposed to be here for another two hours! I didn’t see an email—”

“He didn’t send one! He just showed up!”

You pull Jenn to a stop in the hall, slowing her with a gentle, “Whoa, whoa—Okay. Look at me.” 

Jenn stops, eyes wide, head shaking minutely as she tries to continue walking toward the conference room, insisting, “We’re already late—” 

“Slow down!” You urge. She looks stricken, and you immediately feel guilty. You take her hand in yours, giving it a squeeze before drawing in a deep breath. Jenn hesitantly does the same, pushing it out when you do. You draw in another, and are relieved as she copies you, some of the tension melting from her face as she closes her eyes. You watch her pull in and push out one more deep breath before she opens her eyes slowly, nodding. 

“Thank you,” She breathes, patting your hand before she tugs down the hall again. 

--  

“I like what I’m seeing.” 

Bateman’s assertion shouldn’t surprise you, but it does. Sc(ai)le is a good company, something that would make sense in his portfolio. But he’s so steady and calm as he peers out of the office of Jenn’s window. 

You don’t like how he’s commandeered the space behind her desk. She shouldn’t be sitting on the other side of it with you; she should be behind it, with him—or he should be on your side. 

Still, Nathan pushes himself off of the window, turning to face Jenn. His gaze flickers to you before he looks down at something laid out on the desk. 

“Your initial proposal was…Whadda we got here…” Bateman tuts as he turns a page. You think he must be dragging it out for suspense—there’s no way he doesn’t have those numbers memorized. Sure, it must be chump change to him, but it’s still a big fucking number. “One million for a fifteen percent stake in the company.” 

“That’s right,” Jenn nods. 

“I’ll give you four.” 

“...Four?” Jenn repeats dazedly. 

“Four million for what percent?” You ask before she can leap up, kiss the man on the lips, and accept. 

“Fifteen,” Bateman affirms. Your eyes narrow at him. This doesn’t feel right. He adds, “I have one condition, though.” 

“Name it,” Jenn nods. You glance at her nervously. You’re certain that if he told her to strip naked and run through the office covered in spray cheese, she’d do it right this second. 

“You come on as CKO, CIO, and CMO.”

Your brow furrows as Jenn turns to you. Who comes on? Jenn? She’s already CEO for fuckssake—

And then Jenn turns to you, eyes wide and insistent as she nods toward Bateman. Your head snaps to him, stunned. He’s waiting with that same patient, bored expression that he'd given you with all throughout dinner. 

“You want me to take on three C-Suite positions?” You ask, brows raising. “Are you that strapped for cash that you won’t spring for two more people?” 

Jenn hisses your name in warning. You know it’s the wrong thing to say, but to your surprise, Bateman just smiles and leans against Jenn’s desk. 

“Hear me out,” He waves your irritation off. “I want to roll the positions of CKO and CIO into one. Chief Knowledge and Information officer.” 

“And add Chief Marketing officer on top of them.” 

“That’s right. You’re much quicker on the uptake than you were the other night. No, it’s alright—I’m sure the double shift and the late dinner had you off your game.” 

You want to argue, but Nathan is already turning his attention to Jenn. 

“Four mill for a fifteen percent stake,” He reiterates before nodding toward you. “And her.” 

What would Jenn get if you didn’t come on? One million at fifteen? Two million at thirty? Nothing at all? You can’t bring yourself to look at Jenn just now—you know you’re getting a pleading expression. So you keep your eyes on Bateman, and his expectant expression. He knows he’s got you backed into a corner. 

“...Does this condition have a term limit?” You ask. Bateman purses his lips, seeming to think for a moment. Then he levels you with an ungodly answer:

“Three years.” 

You feel like you’ve been punched in the gut. You only just manage not to double over with it. Three years. Three years inhabiting two positions that you never wanted or asked for. Three years working with your oldest friend on her passion project, knowing that you will lock horns on approach. Three years of Nathan Bateman hanging over your head. 

You can’t face Jenn. One look at those hopeful, doe-like eyes and you’re going to fold like a house of cards. You can’t look at Bateman. One look at him and you’re going to lunge in, slap him silly, and ask what the fuck is wrong with him. 

You look down at your lap. 

Three years. Three years or what? Nathan pulls his backing? Asks for repayment? That could level the company, and everything that Jenn has worked for would disappear overnight. 

Three years. 

You don’t ask about the pay. You don’t care about that. You’re not doing badly as it is. Two C-Suite positions (well, three) would surely pay you more than you make now, but still. 

Three years. 

You’ve been considering leaving your current job. You’ve been chugging along happily, though you’ve started to get too settled, too bored. Too complacent. But you've been ducking away from management positions at job after job because you just don't want to be in charge of people. You want to be fully in the action, working on the words, not floating above them and giving them a thumbs up or a thumbs down. This isn’t like anything you’d consider throwing yourself into. 

Three years. 

This is bigger than you and Jenn. Pumping more money into this company would give Sc(ai)le the chance to expand its staff, upgrade it's tech, bring on a more comprehensive QA team.

You draw in a deep breath, giving a small hesitant nod. 

“Alright,” Leaves your mouth before you can talk yourself out of it. 

“You’ve got yourself a deal,” Bateman bats back without missing a beat. You can hear a note of triumph there, one that makes you want to reach into his throat and rip out his layrnx. Jenn is springing out of her seat, pumping Bateman’s hand enthusiastically and telling him that he won’t regret it. You’re staring down at your hands, your head and chest feeling hollow, like you’ve just been jailed for three consecutive life sentences. 

Three years. 

Bateman’s hand enters your field of vision, outstretched and patient. You eye it for a moment. 

You could still tell him to go fuck himself. But you glance up at Jenn, and find her beaming down at you. Her eyes are bright with joyful tears; her hands are clasped to keep from visibly shaking. 

You can’t tell him to go fuck himself, and he knows it.

So you suck in a deep breath and raise your hand, shaking Bateman’s without meeting his gaze. 

“We should grab a drink to celebrate,” He insists. You let go of his hand and push yourself up shakily. 

“I—Have some things I need to sort out. You two go on,” You add, slapping on an encouraging smile and turning to Jenn. 

“Sure,” Bateman concedes. “You have a letter of resignation to write.” 

You pat Jenn’s shoulder on the way out, hardly meeting Bateman's eye as you go. You get into your car, and drive back to your apartment. You mechanically unlock your door, drop your keys in the bowl by the entryway, kick your door shut. You don’t bother to turn the lights on. The sun is streaming in through your front window with a vengeance. You walk over to your bar cart and take up a bottle of whiskey. You don’t bother with a glass. You just plop into your favorite armchair and curl up. You don’t cry. You don’t scream. You just stare blankly at the wall. 

Three years. 

Next Part: Year One

Tag list: @missredherring ; @fantasticcopeaglepasta ;  @paintballkid711 ; @massivecolorspygiant ; @blueeyesatnight; @recklessworry ; @amneris21 ; @ew-erin ; @youngkenobilove ; @carbonated-beverage ; @lorecraft ; @moonlightburned ; @milf-trinity ; @nolanell ; @millllenniawrites ; @chattychell ; @dihra-vesa​ ; @videogamesandpoorlifechoices​ ; @missswriter ; @thembosapphicclown ; @brandyllyn ; @wildmoonflower ; @buckybarneshairpullingkink ; @mad-girl-without-a-box ; @winchestershiresauce ; @aellynera ; @writefightandflightclub ; @thedukeofcaladan ; @beepboopyoda ; @foxilayde ; @revolution-starter ; @rachelwritesstuff ; @queen-of-elves

[blueikeproductions]

After days of uncertainty, it’s official via a trademark applied by Hasbro.

It’s coming next year, and is indeed the successor to EarthSpark.

It’s still being treated with uncertainty by some if it has a show, but we’ve crossed this bridge before with each new show. Need I remind people how it was commonly believed Cyberverse was going to be a filler toy line with no show or some new Animated or Prime sequel when increasing evidence proved otherwise. (Though I suppose in a way they were half right on the former, since it did come off as a filler kids line when Hasbro put all their eggs in Netflix WFC’s basket, & look how that turned out.)

But no matter what we keep having that weird cycle of denial. Some still convince themselves Cyberworld is a sequel to EarthSpark or that it’s a continuation of TFONE.

TFONE themed series is more plausible but too soon to call because TFONE isn’t out yet, & we don’t know if it will be profitable. Just because people say they liked something doesn’t mean it made money or casuals liked it. -gestures to CV, RotB & ES rotting on shelves-

A Mutant Mayhem style Tales of the TMNT continuation DOES make sense, but Hasbro going full steam ahead with Cyberworld after EarthSpark’s underperformance feels more like a reaction to EarthSpark specifically not TFONE.

And again, why focus on what appears to be an Optimus Prime vs Galvatron story? How does that make sense where TFONE leaves off via leaks. What emotional connection does Orion Pax have towards Galvatron if he’s a separate person? Why skip ahead to D-16 having apparently upgraded further to Galvatron when he named himself after his idol Megatronus Prime? Theres leaps of logic that don’t make sense from either a Hasbro or fan perspective. The same can be said with Scorponok, who to my knowledge, isn’t even IN TFONE.

EarthSpark sequel speculation. Same problem. Even Rescue Bots Academy, despite focusing on new Rescue Bots, was very upfront in leaks and marketing about still including Heatwave’s group, so how is this an ES sequel when the Terrans aren’t even included? Not even any hint of new Terrans or for that matter new unique to the show Transformers.

The Autobots so far appear to be Optimus, Mirage, Grimlock & Snarl. Unless Hasbro is also sick of Bumblebee, the little lemon should be front and center along with Twitch & Thrash (with new Vehicle Modes), but he’s seemingly not in favor of Mirage. People try to defend it as an ES sequel due to its “unorthodox choices”, but are they really? Cosmos, Skywarp, Nova Storm, Skullcruncher, & the Insecticons feel more like hold overs from Cyberverse more than anything since both shows share staff, & in both shows hardly any of them get to do anything memorable. ES Cosmos’ only memorable thing is being voiced by Weird Al so far as of typing. Hardtop is the only one that sticks out to me because of his highly specific reference to a forgotten toy only TF Cybertron toy. And then he proceeded to be a nothing character with his arm used by Mandroid. Dude didn’t even get his own toy (yet), not even as a bad repaint of Swindle’s toy…

Sky-Byte, in fairness if he were allowed to be his RiD personality, DOES make sense for EarthSpark, but they never used him for it for whatever reason. (He too is a Cyberverse hold over in that earlier context, so it is kind of strange they didn’t use him).

One thing that does stick out to me though.

Similar to Digimon, Transformers has gotten into the habit of using one of the 13 Primes as a gimmick for a show, like using one of the Seven Deadly Digimon as a set piece.

Prime had Alpha Trion (& the Prime arm Megatron wore), RiD15 had The Fallen as a major villain and Micronus as a supporting character, Cyberverse had Alchemist Prime as a major character (albeit not handled well & feeling tacked on), & EarthSpark of course has Quintus Prime as the reason the show’s events happen.

If we’re to assume Cyberworld follows a similar approach, would that mean Onyx Prime gets used here?

It’s still bizarre to me he wasn’t used in RiD15’s own Beast theme, and with Cyberworld seemingly having its own Beast theme using Grimlock, Snarl, Sky-Byte & Scorponok, perhaps Onyx might have a role here? Maybe his weird Mask ties into the World aspect?

It can see other times, people, places and WORLDS after all.

Above all, the bare minimum is CyberWorld has to be fun instead of whatever CV, PW, WFC, & ES were.

And that will be put to the test soon enough…

…As Studio Trigger has been confirmed as working on some kind of Transformers anniversary anime thing. Notable rep includes Animated, Armada & G1 in what’s been teased so far. More than likely it’s a short similar to Gridman’s Boys Invent Great Hero short, and as many have pointed out, that served as the launching point for the well received SSSS.Gridman, SSSS.Dynazenon & Gridman Universe series & film. Fans seem extremely excited at this, so hopefully it’s a big return to the anime TF era that began with RiD01 in the states (yes I’m aware of Headmasters & the rest but still). With Trigger at the helm too!

We have nowhere to go but up after late stage IDW, CV & ES’ shortcomings, & with Skybound continuing to do well as of typing, hype for TFONE remaining strong, and general excitement at Cyberworld & Trigger, perhaps an emphasis to back to basics is just what we needed.

[loneworldgazer]

noooo! don't turn me into a marketable plushie!!

about: trigun guys with a reader who likes to make plushies

a/n: tiny vash (this is also short cause i was impatient to post this limau (lmao) )

pairings: vash x reader, wolfwood x reader

vash

best believe he does a little squel when he sees your works

he ADORES all of the little animal, fruit, veggie, whatever you make plushies you make and squeezes the living hell out of it in excitement

if you like gift giving, he will gladly show it off, keeping them on his bags as keychains, putting it on his table, hell even on his ears if he wants to feel silly

he's also the type to send those good morning messages with the small plush that you made sitting right next to his plate of eggs and bacon

and when you make a tiny version of him, he thinks he died and went to heaven (not literally though i haven't read the manga bro isn't dead right)

it is the most cutest fcking thing he has ever seen in his life, you even got down to the shade of his hair and coat!

for funsies, you would defitenely make his gun and he would scream if you added something that could make tiny him hold it

he would hug you and the plushie at the same time to thank you

he will cherish this gift forever

just know if anybody ever sees it and mskes fun of it, he'll just say that they don't have a wonderful, most coolest person to make plushies for them and fake cries to make fun of them and run off to giggle

gives it silly nicknames like vashie or vash the junior

wolfwood

would grip the ever living shit out of your plushies as if they'll respond

he thinks it's a cute hobby (and that you're cute too

i see him as a guy who just fucks with it, you do you

would buy you materials if you ever run out and you would panic every single time if you think you're running out but a new fresh batch (the exact same colour too!) would pop up in your sewing basket!

he doesn't admit this though, he thinks he's slick

he keeps some in his pockets and gives them to children if they're in need of a small companion/ cheer them up

very much suprising you when kids come at your doorstep to thank you for the plushies and they would grin in thanks

but his favourite one is the tiny version of him, how adorable

he places it into his pocket like it was his kid and brings it everywhere, so if he ever wants to pull out a cigeratte to smoke, he would always have to push away tiny him deeper into his pocket to get at his box of cigerattes

calls it little guy

knives

he doesn't have a need of plushies, it clogs up his space, he finds it useless

second chill guy? he doesn't care at all of what you do and he doesn't bother with your gifts, keeping it into a basket at first

until you made effort in creating a tiny version of himself to which he scoffs in amusement

and hey!! there's detachable blade coils, isn't that fun???!?!?

you have to look at him closely for a reaction, just a tense constipated look of focus on what you've done, intricate details of his suit means he kinda likes it (he doesn't want to admit he finds this action cute whether friend or spouse, it was nice to receive something that was really worked hard on especially when it was him, literally)

there was also a slight twitch of his lips, a quick lift at the end like he wanted to smile but he didn't want to give you the pleasure

(he find your methaphorical droppy ears on your head funny, what a meanie)

he keeps it on his piano, although he finds it bothersome when it falls face flat because of the piano's vibrations or his tiny him blade coils making it heavy on the back, he still likes keeping it close

he goes through that same basket of what you sewed for him and gradually the plushies you thought he threw/dump it elsewhere were now popping up in every corner of the house as decoration (atleast there was some use..? right?)

vash calls it little nai (knives doesn't do nicknames)

[popculturebuffet]

Transformers ONE Review: Autonomy is the Right of All Sentient Beings (Comissoin for Brotoman.EXE)

Hello all you happy autobots! This reviews one i'm excited for. See I was hoping One would be good: Rise of the Beasts was a disapointment having some good spots (the soundtrack, Anthony Ramos) but falling into the trap of trying to cram 80 tons of plot into two hours while not developing the robot cast enough. I mean it didn't have robotic gay jokes, racisim, robot testicles, or Optimus Prime gleefully murdering people, instead at worst being an asshole, but it didn't quite reach the heights of Bumblebee , not really taking in it's lessons of "less is more" and "Maybe people like characters"

Thankfully Transformers One takes the later to heart: Transformers One succesfully combines the spectacle people want from robots punching each other on the big screen, with a deep and personal character story of two robots who were like brothers whose ideologies drive them apart. One delivers both huge robot spectacle but grounds it in characters you care about. I'm a more casual fan of the franchise, haven't seen g1 , but I can't be happier as a fan of both transformers and animation itself to see this film and hope it does well over time. The first trailer REALLY didn't help but word of mouth probably will.

So while that's the most I can give without spoilers, I invite you to join me under the cut as I dive into WHY this film is so great, it's characters, ambiguities, great design choices, and the mistep or two. let's call him act 1 bumblebee. It's all under the cut with FULL SPOILERS. Seirously the film relies heavily on a twist about halfway in that while experinced fans and those experinced with fiction can probably see coming, though the marketing did a good job not telegraphing it, is still not something I want to be a dick and spoil outright So join me under the cut, till all are one.

What's Old is New:

Transformers One is the first animated transformers movie in decades: While I really CAN'T explain the 90's as Beast Wars seemed super popular when I was a kid, from the 2000's onward Hasbro largely dubbed anime of the transformers, and once we got to the live action films in the late 2000's through the 2010s Paramount made so much money hand over fist with each entry despite being "they gave devistator truck nuts" levels of baffling and "what seems to be standard micheal bay" levels of racist, they likely felt no need to inovate. If the movies are making them enough money to scrooge mcduck every time one comes out, there's no real reason to fight that if your a studio executive. The cartoons could simply take a queue or two from the films, as both animated and prime did and still make them money.

One comes in during this cash flow: looking into it on wikipedia, I genuinely tried looking elsewhere and couldn't find much, One came about after Age of Exctinction, with Parmount setting up a writers room to pitch sequel ideas. The films title animated nature and basic premise as a prequel came from that.. then as far as I can gather sat on the shelf as they still had binload of money.

Then the last knight happened ,an incoherent mess that had Anthony Hopkins have violent sexual tension with C3PO yet did nothing with it, so naturally it failed at the box office. This lead to Bay steping back from the franchise as a director

And lead to One being dusted off after Bumblebee's success. While the live action films continued with the ehtastic Rise of the Beasts and a GI Joe vs Transformers movie on the horizon, it's clear Parmount saw two things: putting all their transforming eggs in one transforming basket probably wasn't the best idea and animation was making bank post spider-verse. So One was dusted off. It just needed a director. Weirdly despite expresssing intrest in doing it Travis Knight, director of Kubo and the Two Strings, Bumblebee and longtime Laika animator, wasn't tapped.

Instead Parmount went with long time pixar animator and Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley. And cooley ended up being the perfect man for the job: he looked at the script and while he liked the concept he'd been pitched, a prequel focusing on a younger optimus and megatron and their brotherly friendship destegrating into a forever war, he found the script was a bit lighter in tone and wanted to get a tone.

Cooley was a fan of the G1 Cartoon, and in one interview recounted seeing the film as a kid and being blown away by the scope opening on unicron eating a planet. He loved the spectacle of it and wanted to bring that to one, comparing it to epics like ben hur or the tend commandments; big bombastic stories with a very human core, a relationship breaking down at it's core. Cooley also had a great approach to adapting it:he clearly loves the franchise with his reaction to various animators and storyboarders sneaking in their faviorite autobots for cameos simply being

Cooley knew how to adapt the film: honor it's legacy, with plenty of nods to transformers history, but not be beholden to it going for a style that was a mix of g1 astetics but with an art deco sensiblity. Notably his decision not to have orion pax wear the optimus mask a ton was for good reason: instead of just being change for change's sake, it was to let him emote more. It's the same reason Peter Cullen wasn't chosen: Cooley utterly adores cullen but got that this optimus.. isn't him yet. The films about Optimus growing into being a leader and thus needed another tone. More on that later but these interviews gave me even more respect than the film itself already had, showing a man who knew how to adapt something well.

Visually the film is a treat: the animation is done by industrial light and magic, who did the films and who have only done three animated films. To my suprise i'd not only seen them all but one of them wasn't the clone wars. You'd think but no, Lucasfilm outsourced. No instead they did the animation for Rango, also with paramount under nick and Strange Magic, and both films have some impressive animation. I mean the designs for strange magic are questionable, as are a lot of things in that very dumb very fun movie, but it's clear they were just as good at making a fully animated world as they were making animated parts of a live action one. It's been almost a decade since strange magic, but they haven't lost a step.

As a result One looks gorgoeous: we've seen pre war cybertron before, but the big budget means we can see it as a gorgeous gleaming futuristic city with icacon, it' sbucolic surface and it's full glory once the planet is restored at the end. It adds emotoinal weight as the war will likely leave this planet a ravaged cold wreck as usual, but we ge tto see that beauty first. Even with the unlimited budget of comics the cybertron of the idw comics, while not bad looking is a pretty generic city. Here we get a gleaming metropolis that fully takes adantage of the fact some of it's citzens can transform, cramped quarters and mines. It makes cybertron feel truly alive and fils me with the kind of joy and wonder I missed from sci fi. This big colorfulspectacle that dosen't shy away from darker themes or moments, but despite the darkness of it's world, the corruption, the lines, and the tragic destiny that awaits there's a sense of hope. I loved Dune Part 2, still one of my faviorite films of the year and one of the best films i've seen, but it also follows it's characters tragic downfall as he's forced on the path of the chosen one wether he likes it or not and no matter how many genocides he's going to do walking that path. It's nice ot have a thetrical space where you can have a tragic yet hopeful story abotu robots in the same space as a tragic tale of a charsmatic leader's villian origin story. That I can have the kind of fun and thrill I had with star wars before disney decided to make the most pandering film in existance with rise of skywalker and still make no one happy, be a kid again for 90 minutes while still having the intresting stories nd characters that engage me as an adult is nice.

We Were Closer Than Brothers

This quote's been glued to my brain since I first read it in Powers of X, this perfect summation of the disolution of xavier and magento's friendship and why the two were forever at odds. There's a simple gap in who they are, who they want to be that can't be crossed.

And it's that kind of eternally recurring conflict that drives the film. It's one I never realized just how common it is yet so timeless and malleable it's been done a lot. In addition to x-men, both in the comics and the reboot/prequel films, Nartuo and She Ra and the Princess of power both tell the story of two people who are closer than family, but whose lives, egos and core beliefs pull them apart. Granted only one of these takes the obvious route of "and now kiss" but I digress. This is a tale as old as time, the tale of two people who genuinely truly love each other, as family or more. ANd it's one that works really well with these two characters.

This isn't the first version of Transformers to have Optimus and Megatron as former friends: The War for Cybertron Trilogy and Prime both use this idea, as we discussed earlier this month Transformers Cyberverse teased it and the IDW comics i've covered had something close to this: the idea that Pax agress with Megatron that cybertron needs to change and for the better.. but they simply can't agree.

One however gets the time needed to really dig into this: the two aren't just friends.. their best friends. Possibly more but that's left open for interprtation. And in the good way not "QUICK WE NEED TO MAKE THE FILM LESS GAY BECAUSE WE WANT MORE MONEY BECAUSE THAT'S HOW WE THINK THAT'S WORKS. "cooley saw the two as brothers , while it's just as easy to see the two as having feelings for one another. I tend to go towards the latter, with D-16 like he tends to do repressing it and the point being moot by the end as that bridge is burnt beyond recognition.

Transformers One sti feels queer coded, something I noticed pointed out on tv tropes but is hard to ignore once you notice it: it's a story about two young robots one whose proud of who he is and wants to buck the corrupt system they were both born into , the other who keeps his head down and mouth shut, both of whom find out a part of them was kept form them by said system and are allowed to be who they are. It's really not hard to read into that, especailly when the main antagonist is literally stealing a part of who they are. Which is not subtle but the fact a family film is saying this at all and in a way that's hard to ignore is fucking amazing.

Circling back to that first part it's how the two react to the world they live in that defines Pax and D-16 long before they become the bots we all know and love. The world of cybertron is one where a good chunk are seemingly born without cogs, forced to work in mines or other hard labor for hours on end, and all for the glory of their leader Sentinel Prime, played by John Hamm in glorious smarm. The queer coding is hard to tell if it's intentional.. but the film's commentary on how soceites are often built to keep one class, often containg people of color, queer people and others society deems "other", down to profit the rich.

It also shows how those in power create cults of personality: Sentinel gets all this hard work by projecting a show of being this loved glorious figure, going on quests for his people every few days. John Hamm does a damn good job showing just WHY cybertron hangs on his word. In the IDW continuity, Sentinel really didn't hide what a bastard he was beyond what he had to. Here... they all love him and he leaves the dirty work to his minons. They get to bully the lower class and do whatever they please, and he gets the adoration while likely condoning their bullshit because he's just as much of a monster as they are, he just gets to hide it.

It's their reactions to this inequality that define our heroes: Orion is a dreamer. You've seen the type in animation before: he wants a better world, keeps striving and wants his big shot at being someone. But One nicely grounds this: where his now.. is a dangeorus life of mining being bullied constantly and where his heroic act of saving a coworker get shis boss Elita One demoted. It's a world where he can't even look at the past glories of cybertron and it's 13 primes without having to dodge security. Orion senses something is off and that the world can be better. He's an optimist.

What I like though is this isn't without consequence: elita did get demoted and resents him for it, D-16, his best friend, quitely resents him for having to bail him out. He has the heart of Optimus Prime, wanting to try for the best for everybody and wanting to take D-16with him as he gets up in the world... but he lacks the patience he'll gain in time, rushing into things, dragging others with him and generally not thinking before he acts. His actions get a friend demoted and later get him and his best friend sent to the depths.

D-16 on the otherhand.. just wants to keep his head down. Respect authority even if it's unfair, slowly get promoted.. work his way up. The thing is... the system isn't really BUILT to help bots. At most he'll be leading a shift. And while there's nothing wrong with that, as there is in real life blue collar work, he also wants to ignore that there's something.. off with the world. That maybe he dosent' HAVE to be a miner if he dosen't want to or wait centuries to get promoted. He's quick to see the benefits when Pax drags him into thei iacon grand prix.. but just as quick to panic, worrying any slip will get him sent back down. He's resigned that their stuck where they are. And look i'm not saying class disparity is easily sovled in the real world. It's not. But you can still fight for change where you are.

Eventaully though Optimus finds his shot, one that Megatron tries to resisit.. but ultimately can't: what seems to be the matrix. Taking along Elita, who gets dragged along and only agrees if she can arrest their asses if this fails, and B, a bot they find in the depths of waste management, our heroes trek heroically across the planets dangerous surface and duck a quintesson ship.

And the World Screams, Kiss Me Son of God

And it's here.. where the film gets flipped on his head. Now i'll grant the twist isn't super groundbreaking. Having the seemingly nice authority figure turn out to be an asshole is old hat, the film's marketing tried at first to hide the fact Megatron would turn evil till they realized they kinda marketed it bad, it's pretty easy to suspect sentinel. It dosen't help on my end that the previous versions I know are a genocidal racist monster man whose horrible managing of cybertron helped create the decepticons, and a smug prick who needs to be thrown into the sun.

But it works well as Sentinel Prime.. works as a symbol for systemic corruption. The primes were 12 noble people chosen by primus for their character and who ruled justly. Now granted it is iffy having your creator god whose also the planet pick your rulers, but Pax's ascendance later makes it very clear Primus choose not just by destiny but by character. Sentinel claimed he was one and the last survivor after they beat out the quintessons. One's universe uses mostly chunks of the g1 backstory: Primus created transformer kind and became the planet as in the comics, but the Quintessons are still key, just as adversaries rather than a monsterous race that created the transformers as slaves before they rebelled, though still keeping parts of that in spirit. The 13 primes from war for cybertron and prime are added in creating a perfect precursor.

Sentinel however betrayed them, selling them out to the quintessons to become god emperor of cybertron with the mining class born entirely of his own greed, stripping them of their t cogs and indocrinating them. And tha'ts what makes this scary: part of why Sentinel's plan works so well.. is indocrination. To most of Cybertron this is just how things always were. The few people who know gladly keep up the lie. By creating a system he can control, sentinel has guaranteed few will rebel because they have no reason to doubt him. Like any good dictator he's set himself up as the be all end all and as a god unto himself so his people don't question and those like optimus who do are struck down.

Even when Alpha Trion last of the primes played wonderfully by Laurence Fishburne tells them all of this and in a truly beautiful and horrific sequence shows it to them using some dust he controls, only pax and Bumblebee truly digest it. It makes sense for both. Pax has ALWAYS questioned his place in the world so while he's mildly skeptical at worst, for him, someone whose broken into the archives to learn, constantly pushed against the system, finding out "Oh your life is a lie".. is freeing. It's finding out the horrible sytem that hates what you are is wrong. It's where the queer coding comes in finding out no your not wrong.. it's the people who said you not being you were horrible. For Pax this is what he's always wawited for: a mentor who truly respects all he did to get here, a purpose in freeing cybertron, a true world.

For B when we meet him he's spent his life being constantly kicked down rungs for his screw ups, abandoned by Cybertron to it's depths and happy just to have friends. Finding out "oh yeah your leader is a lie and you get to be badass now" is just.. nice. B is just kinda there for the ride. Honestly Bumblebee is just kinda there in the movie. Keegan Michael Key does a great job as the character especially in the second act when he gets to react to the more horrific things going on , but for the first he's just the annoying comic relife. The Badassatron gag gets old FAST and the trailers did not help. The trailers also didn't help focusing entirely on the comedy, which helps offset things and makes the more dramatic and often violent second act work. We get ot know these characters and there world... then see what happens after the curtains lifted and they see what there world always was.

This plays into Elita who i've glanced over, and who dosen't take it well, having to see Sentinel directly selling out to the quintissons to belivie it. Elita did her job, played the system, tried to get out.. and finds out it was rigged the whole time. Elita as we see her is tough, but fair.. wanting to arrest our heroes when they escape to the surface.. but willing to go with them when stranded as if they ARE right she gets what she wants and if their wrong they've agreed to be arrested anyways. Yet when her world turns upside down her response to it is shock.. then acceptance. The world is bad, how can we fix this? She goes with Optimus plan, though dosen't go loyally pointing out it MIGHT not work.. but it's their best option: expose sentinel to the public and hope it turns them.

This... is where D-16 shifts entirely. And his actor Brian Tyree Henry is easily the standout of the cast. No question. We see D-16 as someone who truly belivied in the system and the primes: he's a huge Megatronius Prime fanboy, who in most realities ends up being a tratiorus monster and basically satan.. but here.. is a good person and the strongest of the primes. He respected sentinel, utterly in awe to help him find the matrix, which was said to be lost. So instead he finds out everything he belivied in is a lie and takes it hte hardest: elita was annoyed with the system enough it took light convincing, pax was never for it and B is just happy to be included. But for D... this was everything. This was his LIFE. He rages at Pax for taking them on this adventure, for everything he loved and worshipped being relveaed a lie. Finding out what his life was, or rather what he likely expected it was but refused to admit to himself breaks him.

And that.. unleashes his rage. You get the sense D-16 has a lot of supressed anger: constantly having to tow the line, to clean up after his best friend, to keep his head down.. and finding out it was all for nothing and said friend is the reason he knows this.. unelashes every rage. Every thought he had to keep in every bit of it at once... and he wants Sentinel dead: not brought to justice, not heroically brought down for corruption: DRAGGED THROUGH THE STREETS IN CHAINS TO THE DEPTHS OF THE MINES AND TORN APART. Orion wants justice, he wants revenge.

The film also does a good job not making d-16 just.. evil. He's full of rage, he lashes out at orion.. but you still side with him despite knowing where this angers gonna take him. The system is broken, horrible and nightmarish. Like the IDW megatron, D-16 has EVERY reason to think it needs to burn. Yet you get why Pax wants the softer touch at first: he dosen't care about sentinel fuck that guy but burning it to the ground gets other people caugh tin the fire. Neither is entirley wrong: sentinel probably does need to die, but a brutal execution dosen't help anyone. And as pax can do doing so won't fill the void in his chest. Getting the t-cogs for the literal voids in their chest dosen't either.

The film dosen't entirely stop the lighthearted stuff: We get that great seuqnece form the trailers where our quartet try to transform and end up stuck mid way. It's both a neat idea, as i'ts essentially waking up a whole part of your body you could not use, and fun, based on Cooley's own experinces as a kid where for the more complex transformers they'd end up in a half transformed pile.

But the core is clear... and while the divide between D and Pax deepends as we meet the High Guard

Choked Out

So our heroes are kidnapped by the High Guard, the future decepticons. The High Guard were the primes loyal and noble enforcers but have spent the last however long it's been turned into a rebellion against sentinel, barely scraping by. Granted their also lead by Starscream which has never gone well and there's no giant gun to shoot him with nor volcano to throw him in so their kinda stuck.

I do love Starscream here played by the one and only Steve Buschemi who gets Sceamers smugness and arrogance right while adding in a dash of bloodthirst and class. The High Guard has devovled into a might makes right hellscape. And it's this hellscape.. that finishes creating megatron. I belivie had b had time to process or think , he MIGHT of not become megatron. It's likely why Alpha Trion still trusted him.. though as Brotoman pointed out when we discussed the film it could just as easily be that trion didn't care and wanted D-16 to go on a blood rampage. This still puts him above the G1 version whose only menoring to optimius was bringing him back form the dead like jesus after four robots from the future wondered in.

But the high guard share his views: wanting to burn it down, wanting to use brute force, resenting the rest of cybertron. It's all there. And the high guard are the army he needs to pull off his goals, as he's grown to resent optimus and Bee and Elita are firmly on his side.

So in a fit of Irony it's starscream who helps fully cement the creation of megatron. Megs is annoyed at their postering, doing seemingly nothing and done with their shit. He plans to just fuck off if their not going to do anything. Starscream as usual for him takes this as a challenge. And as usual across space and time megatron's response is exactly as good for starscream as you'd expect.

Megatron fucks him up so bad his VOICE changes. Yeah in this continuity Starscream's whiny voice.. is because megatron choked him out. And Starscream was into it asking for more. Was it a love of violence or is starscream discovering he's a sub?

But it's the point to me where D-16.. is gone. He hasn't turned full villian yet.. but he's found himself surronded by likeminded bots whose reaction to them choking out tehir leader is FUCK YEAH! YOU GET EM MEGS. I grant spending at least a decade around starscream is probably a lot for anyone, but it's still nicely horrifying and I like this barbarian portrayl of the decepticons: that they too started from a good place but having to constantly fight while being seen as traitors and being isoilated casued all their warrior instincts to go to a whole lord of the flies situation.

Megatron dosen't get to bask in his new horde or a nearly destroyed starscream who only lives because Orion is there.. and D makes it VERY clear this won't happen again. The mercy thing. Instead Sentinel kidnaps most of them with only Orion and Elita escaping.

You've Found my Breaking Point, Congradulations

So our two heroes are now seperated.. and while it was clear what path D-16 was on, it's Orion's turn to cement his. Oriion.. is not doing so good

He feels this is all his fault, that his constant diving into stuff hurt people and while before he was able to brush it off, the elita one situation REALLY wasn't his fault, enlisting megatron in the race was an attempt to help them, and even ending up in the cybertron's bowels, he figured Sentinel would come from them. Every reckless action and unintended consequence was just a step up. And he wasn't entirely wrong, his actions were well meaning.. but it's here he finally gets the downside and what makes his earlier character work: that relization that yes, he meant well, yes he wasn't wrong.. but he was still dragging everyone along with him when they kept telling him no and while in the long run, even with what he's about ot become, d-18's better for it, Orion finally gets that he can't just keep assuming people will be better off or he knows what's better.

Granted he takes this as

But Elita has changed. She's seen the good that's happened from it and encourages pax... she also rubs in that she's smarter than him, true, but also that as annoying as he could be to her... he had one thing she didn't, that d-16 didn't... hope. He never gave up, just fell into the system. He never stopped beliving in a better world even after finding out it was a lie. He dosen't try to stop sentinel just because "what else am I going to do" or "revenge" he's doing this because he WANTS a better world for everyone. To lift people up. He dragged d-16 into this not because he was blind, but because he wanted to help him. He wanted them both to see the sun. To build tommorow together. And maybe make out a little. His methods weren't great, but he was always trying to do the right thing.

So with that Pax isn't back to his old self he's better, and thinks out his plan for a second.. and it's a brilliant one, for once not just winging it but thinking it out: they need to take down sentinel. They can't broadcast his misdeeds for now, but they can at least stop him. They dont' have enough of an army as only half the guard escaped, so it's time to split up: Elita will lead the rest of the elite guard to free their captured brethren, Orion will go rally the miners who already trust and look up to him. Shockwave asks "Wait why would I do that" and get sa cup of punch in the face as his answer, while Soundwaves like "eh why the fuck not. " I do love shockwave in this film, he's just a pathetic butt monkey aand sounds like bluster blaster. It's glorious.

Meanwhile Megatron gets some MORE trauma. He refuses to bend the knee for Sentinel. Sentinel's plan is to frame the guard as destrutive rebels and megatron as one. And he has a chilling line I love: "The truth is whatever I say it is: it's the truth and i'ts chilling and Hamm does a fantastic job going from egotistical ass to chilling dictator at the drop of a hat, never dropping the smarm. Sentinel is the perfect vilian for this film: a legit threat and meance.. but also someone clearly there to be the starter villian: someone who unites our heroes at first but gets the fuck out of the way for the emotional climax. It makes the whole 'Oh no the heroes idol is evil" twist we've seen a lot. A lotttt, go down smother as while he's evil enough that his final takedown is satisfying, he's not so menacing or compelling you feel he's wasted. He's just comeplling enough

He's also a massive dick and upon seeing Megatron's sticker, he's been wearing a decal of megatronus, he rips it off.. and fucking BRANDS megatron. Yeah there's.. some racial stuff buried in here that as a white dumbass i'm not qualified to talk about. But it is brutal as hell.

SO while Team Elita crashes a train into a buildling to start the climax, because Elita is the best and I wish I had more to say about her other than she's the most badass one there is and Scarlett Johnasen is having a LOT of fun playing her, Orion goes to inspire a line of cameos. There are a LOT with Ironhide and Arcee being the most prominent.

The Miners are chafing under the strips not helped by Dreadwing, their supervisor and the dickbag who demoted Elita earlier and who in general is a bullying asshat. So naturally Optimus easily deals with him with a punch to the face. It's a nice moment that says a lot with just one punch: Optimus has problems FAR BIGGER than one petty asshole and has grown, literally and metaphorcially past him.

Orion having a t-cog and easily taking out the local bully is enough to get everyone to listen and he gives his first true rousing speech, revealing the truth, admitting they dont' have much reason to belivie him, but beliving ther'es something better.. there has to be and Sentinel has no right ot take it: So with mining equipment and jetpacks, our hero leads the future autobots. AI am a bit iffy about all the autobots being in one group and the decipticons in another, but the sequel could help flesh it out and I get they only had 90 minute sto pack a lot in. One is VERY overstuffed and takes place over maybe two days tops. A lot happens.. but it all feels resonable and well set up: D-16 changes entirely but it's hard to say megatron wasn't lurking under the surfance and a LOT of trauma in less than a day didn't change him. Likewise Optimus and Megatron rising as leaders.. makes perfect sense; The Guard had spent years hiding and stewing and suddenly a new kid comes along with more o fa vision than ducking and weaving and easily chokes out the guy who was likely only leader because he killed a few people who said no to that. He then refuses to bow to sentinel despite knowing what this might means an dkeeps getting up.

Meanwhile Optimus leads not through badassery.. but hope. He puts his dreamer nature to good use and instead of inspiring his troops thorugh violence, inspires them. And because Oriion was already a decent guy who instead of being seen as a weird outcast, was seen as a guy who did what they wished they could, a nice turn of that usual "never accepted weirdo" thing we get, because he was simply a good perosn.. people listen.

So here comes the climax.

Throw My Better Self Overboard, Shoot At Him When He Comes Up for Air

So we get our big climactic battle as our untied rebel forces eat the rich while Elita squares off with Airachnid. I hadn't brought up Airachnid because her plot relevance for most of the movie is to stand around and look menacing, being Sentinel's liutiennt. And I like how they went for something diffrent: true to the name she's part modern helicopter, part spider and usies her spider legs to brutally tear into foes, leaping on them and tearing them to shreds. While the rest of Sentinels mooks, various mass produced drones ala the ones Megatron has in prime, go down easily when fighting Alpha trion she took him down and let sentinel finish him off later because of course he wanted to gloat.

So while the final battle goes down to the two female robots of importance duking it out, it still works as it makes sense: Elita has quickly become the autobots bruiser and Optimus second in command, and Sentinel is busy gloating to his captives. Rather than the cliched "well the women must fight because a man punching her would be too mucH" it feels like a fight between each sides seconds that's also brutal and well done.

Orion however has a plan and while he and an ungreatful B-17 fight Sentinel, who reveals he took Megatronius cog, he has elita grab airachnid as she showed off her creepy camera head before... and thus he realizes she has incriminating footage. So while Bumblbee finds he has knife hands and helps clear the way, our heroes team up.. kinda.

I also have to give it to the fighting here: Something Cooley made sure to include was transforming. In most continuites the transforming is used maybe to ram a fucker and most fighting is as the robots. Here ther'es a lot of transforming in combat: Ariachind uses her alt mode to gain advantage as it can fly nad elita's can't. Sentinel uses his massive jet form's firepower to even the odds before diving back into bot mode. D-16 RAMS into the fucker with his tank mode, uses it frequently for blasting and easily switches back into combat. It's fluid, gorgeous and really takes advantage of the trasnforming to turn every fight into a spectacle.

While D-16 fights Sentinel, Orion inacts his plan: hyjack the radio tower and er.. slam Airachnids face into the console therebye getting the footage he needs.

Sentinel's outed as a bad guy, everythin'gs fine? right? right? Right D-16.. whose inching towards sentinel and... oh... oh no.

So Orion rushes to prevent his friend from doing a murder, whiel Sentinel pathetically crawls away. He begs him not to do this, that this isn't the right way.. but it won't work this time. Pax says the wrong thing: "Don't be like sentinel". He threatnes pax to move and pax instead jumps int he way.. and is shot , barely alive. And thus.. two bots die... D-16 throws Orion Pax into the core of the planet "I'm done saving you". One wanted war, to keep raging forever against a planet that wronged him the other wanted to fix tha tplanet and restore it. In the end it was two roads that simply HAD to diverge but damn do they make it painful. You see just how much these two meant, how much good they acomplished..b ut ultimately B-17 can't let go of his rage and pain.. and he shoudln't.. not entirely. He can still feel hurt and rageful.. but it's in trying to tear the rest of the world down where he failed.

Sometimes the world DOES need to burn, but if you don't think about the people who get hurt, then your in the wrong.

Where You Go Once You Arrive, Where We Go Once We Arrive

The next scene.. is the films best... a truly striking back and forth series of cuts as we see the true ascendance, the birth of megatron and optimus prime given all the gravitas 40 years of stories, conuities and tellings of these two's clash.

Megatron gives a firey horrifying speech as he rips Sentinel in half. The film is unflinching with hit's violence. It did have to cut around things.. but all that did was have cooley let your mind fill in the gaps. For a family film, this is fucking brutal, and it all crecnedoes with a bot getting ripped in half. likely being robots gave them some leeway, but it's still horrifying to see. I don't feel bad for sentinel he fucking deserved it but Megatron giving him a mortal kombat fatality then going on to scream about he's going to burn iacon down, destroy every last person loyal to sentinel to burn the world no matter who gets hurt... it underlines Optimus point. While Sentinel defeintly deserved to die, this dosen't fix anything. This dosen't change iacon for the better, it just replaces a tyrant who made the trains run on time and again deserved his mortal kombat fatality, with one who thinks he's doing the right thing while killing as many people as he has to to do it. Neither version of this is good but Megatron is too blinded by trauma to see that and thus has become something almost as bad as what left.

Thankfully as Megatron rises... so too does another. As he falls into the core, his body dead.... Orion Pax meets the primes, all 12 showing up.. with Alpha Trion himself anointing our hero. This could easily be iffy: chosen one narratives aren't nearly as common these days for a reason and this is the same year where Dune Part 2 showed just how bad that could go based on a book all the way back in the 60s, just taking out the racisim and sexism.

So instead Orion Pax becomes robot jesus this time not because destiny says so.. but simply because he acted well. He acted nobly, selfishless and laid his life down and thus he not only rises from the dead but gets an upgrade: a cool ax ehe does the thor thing with , which had to be intetional, able to take out a hudnered bad guys with swords or at least all three main decipticons with only megatron giving him trouble.

So before our climactic breakup, le'ts talk about primus. Some consider the idea Primus is a two faced prick: he made the matrix of leadership, the source of cybertron's energon in this continuity and why they have to mine without it, not feel so good and go away into dust robbing sentinel of it.

Me... I think it wasn't the smartest move given Sentinel then created a slave race to do the job and it didn't really stop him.. but my take is that it was all primus COULD do. Primus did create the primes to guard cybertron, but that was right after becoming the planet and space god. My honest interpretation, one backed up by talking to brotoman is that primus isn't as fully cognizant without the matrix. In the war for cybertron duology, Primus created the matrix as a way for it to be with the rest of cybertron kind as it really coudln't commuincate outside it's core. If eel that's the same here: that it can only do so much and without the matrix as a conduit, all it could do was thrash blindly, hence the storms of the surface and the mines shifting horribly. THe mines woul dbe closer to cybertrons core, giving him more dexterity. Prime fell directly into a shaft leading down int oCybertron's bowels and into it's core, which gave Primus a chance to look him over, see what he did. If you notice primus doesn't even talk directly. He has to use alpha trion's ghost. Primus transformation into cybertron likely put him beyond most cybertronians and unlike say Unicron if he shows up, please let him show up, he can't go back and forth.

Now that's just my interpretation but it's something I like about the film: the world's well built and set up.. but it dosen't explain everything. It leaves some ambguity: where the primes as perfect as they seemed or was sentinel right to resent them, even if

Did Alpha Trion know the risks he was unleashing with megatron? We don't know, and tha'ts okay. And yes the sequels probably will clear some of this up if we get them, but it's still something really neat to think about.

For now we get an awesome fight with Optimus ending the thing by slicing Megatron's fusion canon. He commands him to leave: he tried to conquer cybertron, killed a man and broke Optimus' heart in the process. Megatron bitterly leaves setting up a sequel that please please please god let us have some form of sequel, and takes the gaurd with him.

This leaves optimus in charge, and their paths set: Optimus turns the miners into the autobots and gives them their cogs back, restoring cybertron.. and Megatron... brands his new peeps the decepticons. THey are not being being decieved and they will open cybertrons eyes and close optimus'. It's a truly painful but well done ending with both rising : Optimus prepares to hold off the quintsions.. and Megatron prepares to do what he planned to do in the first plac.e. burn it down. They were close but now... the war begins.

The One and Only One

Transformers One is a masterpiece, well worth a look in theaters. I'ts a feast ofr the eyes. But it's it' semotinal core that makes it: following two young men as one goes from reckless dreamer to real leader, with his voice lowering the right octaves, and the other going from a stickler for the rules to a radical planning to kill as many people as he has to to save cybertron from hitself. One is a heartfelt epic, with eye popping colors, great social commentary and a hell of an emotional core. This is the best of the transformers films i've seen, probably not a stretch to say the best given it lacks robot testicles or a man waving around a piece of paper saying he can fuck teenagers, but still a truly great film I hope Paramount gives a sequel even if it dosen't do gangbusters. In a year with maybe three animated films i've wanted to see theatrically, this was a welcome treat and is one of the best transformers stories. Go see it, thanks for reading and remmeber you can win if you dare.

[hxzxrdous]

Hi! I really liked the we have each other again story. I was wondering if you could do an alternate timeline in the story when reader and lesso don’t have their reunion until later when reader is an adult. But readers going through their villain era and returns to try and destroy lessos life bc they’ve been angry for so long. But like after they have a fight they have a happy ending. Sorry if it’s worded weird it’s hard to put it into text😭

Eeeeek, thank you for the request and I hope I did it some justice :333 😩 </333

Lady Lesso x daughter!reader

TW: Angst, hurt/comfort, some fluff

FEELINGS NEVER LIE

First your biological parents didn't want you and then you moved from a foster family to another foster family. You started thinking that you might be a problem and not them.

Until you came to the next couple - The Jones'. They were extremely kind the first few months, after they adopted you however, their masks came undone. They took advantage of your situation just so they could get their monthly payment, just so they could provide for their own six kids while your needs were completely neglected. On top of that you had to help with the kids and the farm work. They even made you discontinue your school by the time you were fourteen years old. You started working in a nearby market place in the square, selling the crops of vegetables and batches of bread from your farm.

And you waited.

And you hoped. You hoped that your parents will come back to you once you turn an adult.

Maybe you were a burden and you wouldn't be a burden now that you'll become an adult?

But you knew in your heart, they'll never come and get you. They never sent a single letter. Perhaps they just didn't care? Perhaps they were dead? You didn't know which possibility was worse. The latter one?

Your 18th birthday was getting closer, day by day. And you were hoping that maybe, just maybe... you real parents were on the way, thinking of you, coming to save you. But they never were.

Then you turned eighteen. And nothing happened. Then you turned nineteen and then twenty and twenty one.

You lost all hope. You stopped caring. Maybe it was meant to be for you to rot in this godforsaken place.

You wanted to escape the farm and Gavaldon. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn't. Like a magnet pulling you back. Until that one day.

It was a warm spring day. Easter. Your 'siblings' were running around, playing on the backyard after you hid the easter eggs that they coloured it the day before.

"Don't hit your sister, Adam." You pointed to the blonde kid. "Stop stealing the eggs from your sister, Meredith." You ordered the youngest one. "Come inside, it's getting dark!" You yelled out of the window.

"Alright, Ambrose, I see you found the most eggs," you kneeled infront of the freckled child. "Your seven eggs..." you held out the basket as Ambrose put the eggs inside, "for my seven chocolate eggs," you pointed to the bowl with the chocolate eggs. After the kids exchanged their eggs you walked back outside. You haven't finished the laundry yet and your 'parents' wouldblet you go to sleep only until after you finished all the chores.

You just hung the bed sheet on the string when you fell to the floor from surprise as it started moving in the wind. It took you a couple of seconds to figure it out there wasn't any wind at all and suddendly the air around you got colder.

"Y/N Jones," a voice came from behind the bed sheet, so you lifted it up, only to see a man standing right infront of you.

"Excuse me sir, you shoul- How do you know my name?" You tilted your head.

"I finally found you, my child, I've been searching for you," the man spoke, despite his icy voice, you couldn't help but feel warm inside.

"F- father?" Your eyes widened and you froze as he nodded. You immediately knew he was your dad. Feelings never lie. But he felt so frightening. Maybe because you didn't know how it felt to have a parent. Maybe because the feeling was so different.

"What about my mother?" You asked, your voice shaky. "She left you. Her career as a Dean was more important." The man spoke. "You love me? Can you take me away from this place?" You asked. You waited for this moment for such a long time.

"Actually, I have another plan..."

As he continued speaking, you felt a burning fire in your heart. He told you all about your mother, how she hated you, he told you about some School for Good and Evil. He convinced you to take you there and apply for a job as a Never professor. It was time for revenge. Your mother will have to dance on your tune.

It was your first day at the school. You  taught Special Talents. You knew how to deal with group of kids already, so it wasn't hard for you to control the class full of hormonal teenagers. You heard about the Doom Room that the students were sent to. You learned how she hated the students. She hated children. No surprise she left you. She was cruel and vile.

A few days later you were making rounds through the dormitories when you walked by Lady Lesso's office. You peaked through the slightly opened door and you noticed Lady Lesso behind her desk. Professor Bilious Manley showed you the Mimicry spell the other evening and you quickly learned it yourself. So you stepped inside... as none other than Lady Lesso.

"You." You grinned as she noticed you. "Me? You?" Lady Lesso was confused as never. "What is this some sort of joke?" She barked. "I'm you, Leonora. Your conscious." You replied, sitting down on the chair, playing with her stuff on the desk and looking down at the papers she was grading. 

"Mmm, so much red. You aren't doing a really great job as a professor, Leonora," you raised an eyebrow. "I-" Lesso let out a deep sigh. "Does the Doom Room even help? You drag the students inside when they are failing. Perhaps you deserve the Doom Room too?" You smirked. She was quiet. The usually load woman was speechless. "You aren't failing as just a professor though. You are failing as a Dean. Not once did Evil defeat the Good." You continued, standing up, walking around her desk. You stood right next to her, leaning down. "You failed as a mother." You whispered in her ear, backing away later.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she shook her head. "N- no- T- that was Raf-" when she paused, noticing you didn't have a cane like she did. "Who are you?!" She turned towards you when you revealed yourself. "Ms Jones, explain yourself-" Lady Lesso sneered. "Well, dear mother... Father told me everything." You turned towards the door when she stopped you. "Rafal? No, YOU listen to me now, Y/N." She stood up. "Whatever he told you... was a lie. He's a manipulative asshole, I bet he didn't even tell you his name."

You stopped in your tracks, thinking for a moment. "It doesn't mat-" "But it does. Y/N, he took you away from me when he found out I was trying to hide you from him. He's abusive. He's cold. He's evil. Did you even trust him when you first saw him? Feelings never lie, Y/N." Your mother tapped her cane standing up. You looked at your mother. And when you looked at her... you felt loved and safe. "Feelings never lie?" You repeated and immediately grabbed onto her, hugging her. "My, my, you have grown into such a beautiful young woman, my darling." The redhead whispered as she held you close. "I'm sorry." The older woman's voice shook with sadness and happines. Proper childhood was stolen from you. You were stolen from her. You were both grieving. And now she finally found you. And this time, she'll never let go of you.

[m0r1bund]

I want to step aside and say I'm grateful for everyone who has shared my adoptables, bought 'em, enjoyed them with your eyeballs, or just hung around in general. I don't like to mix money with art, but these past two months I've been in a tight position where I needed to to make ends meet. I didn't want to lead with this because we're all broke motherfuckers out here, and you know how it is. being poor can be the most shameful and humiliating thing in the world, even when you know in your forebrain that it's not something you can necessarily control.

Thankfully, this is a transition period. I'm lucky to have the support of really cool people who have made it possible for me to secure some work doing what I love. 🤞 with any luck, we will be out of the woods soon.

As much as I hem and haw about making money off of my art, this has been an encouraging experience. I've enjoyed being able to act on design ideas that wouldn't fit into my own stories, but are really fun in someone else's hands. I also learned a lot during this brief return to the adoptable market, which I will share below, in hopes that maybe it can help others who find themselves in the same position.

I've been strict with pricing my work hourly, rather than just slapping on a price that "feels right" for the perceived complexity/finish/originality of the design. It's like pulling teeth, because I'm always slower than I think I am. I try to hold onto a piece of advice that I heard somewhere, which I will paraphrase poorly. Basically, even though your instinct might be to make a lot of small, affordable things, so you're not putting all your eggs in one basket or setting yourself up for disappointment if there's no bites, it's sometimes more "efficient" to do expensive jobs that are few and far in-between. there is... obvious... tension between this and my feelings about accessibility. one thing wins over the other when you're in survival mode, for better or worse. but i feel fortunate to be able to eat today so that i can pay it forward tomorrow.

i've tried to be conscientious of overhead, platform fees, and invisible labor. I probably would have made more money if I had conducted sales as auctions and exchanged money through direct invoices, but I chose to use ko-fi and fixed prices because that meant there was less friction between sharing my work, conducting a sale, exchanging money, and distributing the files. This might seem like a deranged tradeoff (surely it would be more worthwhile to just exchange a few emails) but it reflects the state of mind I was in before I received the news about my new job. If I wanted to keep doing this for what seemed like an indefinite amount of time, I needed to make it as simple as possible.

in line with the above, I chose to make adoptables rather than open commissions because the risk of losing time without any financial return was acceptable to me. time and technical effort was not my limiting resource, haha... I really respect commission work, but it's challenging for me to do. maybe you can guess from my desire to use ko-fi that it takes more effort for me to translate a client's vision into visual art than it takes for me to spitball an idea and hope someone will like it enough to take it home. I already prioritize this more "intensive" work as part of my (current) dayjob, so it's better for me to pick the path of least resistance in this case.

all of this rides on having a following. honestly, i wasn't sure things would work out here on tumblr. i have traditionally sold adoptables over on deviantart, where I have a larger following. dA recently enshittified (again) so this blog became an impromptu experiment in critter sales. I'm happy that I haven't had to touch dA, in the end, and I really owe that to you guys. thank you! (again!!)

[literaticat]

If a close friend or family member came to you and said they wanted to start writing an MG book and get published.. would you tell them to maybe try another category?

I know MG is hard right now.. but how do I give up on my dream? It seems like even MG writers are taking a break to try other categories. I get that it's realistic, but it's also kinda heartbreaking. 

Is that the best thing to do? MG is not a waste of time to me! But I'm honestly feeling some peer pressure here. :(

If a close friend or family member came to you and said they wanted to start writing an MG book and get published.. would you tell them to maybe try another category?

No? If they want to write a MG, and they are great at writing MG, I see no reason they shouldn't write the book that is calling to them.

If they came to me with SEVERAL ideas for different types of books, all equally strong, that they are all equally passionate about, one of which was MG, I might candidly explain the realities of the market right this second -- and maybe they would decide to try something different first. But if they want to do a MG the most, who am I to tell them otherwise?

I know MG is hard right now.. but how do I give up on my dream?

... don't? Just because something is hard doesn't mean you shouldn't do it if you want to. Let's be real: PUBLISHING ANYTHING IS HARD. So what? As I've said a hundred times on here: Hard doesn't mean literally impossible. I've sold MG books this year. New MG books come out EVERY WEEK from publishers. They ARE buying new ones to publish in the future, and SOMEBODY IS WRITING THEM. Why shouldn't it be you?

It seems like even MG writers are taking a break to try other categories. I get that it's realistic, but it's also kinda heartbreaking. 

Those writers probably realize that it's helpful not to put ALL your eggs in one basket. But "taking a break to try other categories" is not a heartbreaking thing -- it's fine. Why not mix it up? Careers are long, there's no reason you have to write the same kind of book over and over. Exploring lots of things you might be interested in, being flexible, trying other styles or genres or categories on for size -- ALL those things may potentially make you a stronger writer and open doors to more opportunities for you. (Nothing heartbreaking about that!) -- Or, perhaps they will realize, oh, actually, I miss writing MG books, I'm better at that, I like that more -- and then they can go ahead and do that again.

Is that the best thing to do? MG is not a waste of time to me! But I'm honestly feeling some peer pressure here. :(

If you want to write MG, please do. Will it be "easy to sell"? Probably not. And that would also be true for any book, so... if you consider it a "waste of time" to write a book that might or might not sell, I have bad news for you about publishing. (Most authors don't sell every book they write! Does that make all those efforts a waste of time? Really? Might they not be learning and growth opportunities? IDK, just spitballing!)

If somebody is PEER PRESSURING YOU into writing a kind of book you don't want to write, they sound like a real tool. Time to get better friends.

[pbandjesse]

Today wasn't a bad day. I am not feeling incredible but I think I just need to sleep.

I got home last night and James was sitting at their desk. I was happy to see them. We sat in the kitchen for a bit talking. I told them all about the scary things and what I liked and what I thought could have been better. I was in a good mood. I just wanted to hold them so when we were in bed that's just what I did. Even if they fell asleep to fast. I would eventually fall asleep and things were good.

I decided to only take my small vitamins last night and wait until the morning to take the big ones. Ane I'm glad I did. My stomach still hurts last night but it wasn't as bad as it has been and I was a me to sleep.

But in the morning I was a little startled awake and I didn't feel amazing. I got dressed and tried to feel okay. I took the big vitamins and went downstairs to start Cole of ring my frog torsos to close up while I was at the market. And that's when I was like. I'm going to be sick. And had to run upstairs to throw up. And it was violent and scary and I was crying. James ran up and rubbed my back and tried to be supportive. I was very upset.

But we tried to just continue on as normal. I cleaned myself up and brushed my teeth again. And we would head out.

We stopped to get a bagel. James also got me a soda but I swear it was a regular and not a diet, despite them telling me otherwise. I drank it but I didn't particularly enjoy it.

Ann was running late today. So when we got there we were mostly in charge. We had to direct some vendors to their spaces and I got myself set up. James made us a sign letting people know we wouldn't be having a market next week because of the running festival. And we would get a few little baked goods. And got a few more little pumpkins for the window. James would also pick up some greens for Crabcake. And Ann, later after she got there and got her own groceries, would eat me cut the green tops of her radishes and carrots to give to Crabcake too. The Internet said he can have those in moderation which is pretty neat.

I was very productive today. I sewed all 38 frogs shut. And I'm very happy with them. A woman who I chatted with said she likes them without legs, that they were tadpoles. And I thought that was very funny. Maybe I'll do a basket of tadpoles too.

I didn't make any sales but it was so pretty out and I was having such a productive day I didn't even mind. James would come out to get apple cider and got me apples. I ate ones of them while I worked. And while I wasn't making sales I was getting my card out there and telling people about my workshops. It was still a good day.

I'm also exaggerating a little. I did make one sale. When the girl I fixed the bear for in my teddy bear hospital came to pick him up. She would pay for the repairs and then bought a froggie too. She was so sweet. She brought the replacement original I had found the listing for and we had a nice chat about her plan for giving the fixed bear to her brother. She also said she would recommend me to others and it was just really sweet and a lovely way to end the day.

I packed up pretty quickly. Chatted with the arts and crafts table next to me (they do free crafts with the kids) about my wagon and how I only ever want to do one trip. I am looking to upgrade my wagon next season though. I want something that folds smaller. But is still strong. I haven't been doing much research but it's on my mind for sure.

I went inside after I loaded the car. Chatted with Meril and Jordan. James was a little busy but I jumped in to give them a hug before I left. I was really looking forward to going home.

When I got back here I put away the groceries. And figured out the best way to warm up my avocado toast from last night. I put the egg and the bread on a pan on the stove and it actually worked pretty well.

I had my lunch and let Sweetp run around outside. But would bring him in and went to change into a big T-shirt so I could lay down.

I would sleep until 430. And it wasn't the best nap ever but it was something.

When I woke up I would go downstairs and laid outside on the porch swing and waited until James got home.

I was feeling pretty nauseous and was just happy to see my husband when they got back. They would kiss my face and went to make me dinner. They made me stuffing and veggie chicken nuggets. Which was great. I had to really pace myself because I was not feeling great. But I tried my best.

I would come inside and laid on the couch with James. Eventually going upstairs to take a bath. They filled a bucket with hot sink water for me. And it was a nice bath. And eventually we would get in bed together to watch videos and cuddle. My stomach hurt and made me nauseous but James pressed on my ribs and that helped.

Now we are just laying on bed. James just finished taking a shower. I think I'm going to throw up again. But I really just want to sleep.

Tomorrow is a long day. I have the first Baltimore autism society class of the season. And then right after I have a wedding to work at the museum. It's going to be a long day but I'm really hoping it will be fun.

I hope you all have a great night. I love you all. Goodnight.

[saintseed-family]

“Damn, I’m hungry,” Janus said as he looked around the marketplace.  “Can we stop and eat?”

“Of course, we’ve been shopping for awhile,” replied Thorn, “There’s plenty to choose from here, what do you want to get?”

Janus took in the various stalls that had been set up.  Summer market was always full of delicious smells and tastes, but today it seemed especially hard to decide on what to get.  Normally he’d settle for a fried kebab, or maybe something sweet, but everything looked good today.  While shopping, Thorn had already loaded up his basket with anything that Janus had asked for - leafy green vegetables and extremely sour fruits and his favorite kind of squash that got real buttery when it was baked, and yet none of those things really seemed like what he wanted to eat right now.  

He wasn’t fond of the phrase “eating for two,” he had always had a hearty appetite, but it was true that he was definitely putting that food to more use these days, and Thorn was more than happy to indulge in every request Janus had.

“Somethin’ fried… no… somethin’ spicy,” Janus said, glancing at all the food on display.  During the summer market they often got vendors from out of the village, bringing food they normally didn’t get to have, and the choices were overwhelming.  “No wait…  Sweet sounds good too…”

“We’re not on a budget darling, you can get more than one thing,” Thorn chuckled.

“Ah, I just can’t decide,” Janus laughed. “I’m used to thinkin’ with my stomach, but my belly is full of cub and they’re callin’ the shots.”

“Ah, so the cub is hungry then?” Thorn mused.  “What does the cub want?”

“A little of everything I think.”

“Well then I think we can make that happen,” he said with a smile.

“Alright then… Maybe… maybe some of that sweet fry bread from the bakery and… oh, egg sunny up sounds good… and maybe some of the Hazelbough’s hot sauce they put on their kebabs,” mused Janus.  “With green onions.”

“All at once?”

“Can I have it all at once?” Janus asked.

Thorn laughed, “You can have anything you want darling, I just worry the cub will be kicking you in protest!”

“It just all sounds really good,” admitted Janus with a shrug, “And I want all of it.”

“Then all of it you will have.”

They stopped at the bakery for the fry bread first, hot and dusted with sugar, then went to a street vender selling fried eggs.  The vendor gave Janus a strange look when he asked him to put the egg right on top of the sweet pastry, but didn’t say anything.  Finally they visited the Hazelbough’s stall for a sampling of their sauce and a handful of chopped onions.  Janus looked extremely pleased at his assembled treat and he smiled as he took a big bite.

“How is it?”

“I suspect I’ll hate it if I ever have it when I’m not pregnant,” Janus chuckled as he tried to politely cover his mouth.  “But right now it’s the best damn thing I’ve ever had.” 

[511digital]

The SEO Marathon:Why Slow and Steady wins the Digital Race 

Discover why SEO success takes time and learn strategies to stay motivated during your long-term SEO journey. Perfect for digital marketers feeling SEO burnout!

1.The SEO Sprint vs. Marathon Mindset

Hey there, digital marketing rockstar! Feeling a bit winded in your SEO race? Trust me, we’ve all been there. It’s tempting to think of SEO as a mad dash to the top of Google’s rankings, but here’s the truth bomb: SEO is more marathon than sprint.

Think about it. You wouldn’t expect to go from couch potato to marathon runner overnight, right? Same goes for SEO. It’s all about building that endurance, one step at a time.

2.Why SEO Takes Its Sweet Time

So, why can’t we just chug some digital Red Bull and zoom to the top? Here’s the deal:

Building Authority: Google’s not handing out authority like free samples at Costco. You gotta earn it, and that takes time.

Link Building: Quality links are like gold in the SEO world, but you can’t just mine them overnight.

Content Indexing: Google’s bots are fast, but they’re not The Flash. It takes time for them to crawl and index your awesome content.

Algorithm Plot Twists: Google loves to keep us on our toes with algorithm updates. Adapting takes time.

User Behavior: As your site gets better, so do your user metrics. But users need time to notice and change their behavior.

3.Staying Pumped When Progress Feels Slow

Feeling like you’re running in digital quicksand? Here’s how to keep your SEO mojo flowing:

Set Realistic Goals: Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is SEO success. Set achievable milestones.

Celebrate Small Wins: Did your rankings jump up even a little? Break out the party hats!

Focus on Your Audience: Instead of obsessing over rankings, focus on creating killer content your audience will love.

Keep Learning: SEO is always evolving. Stay curious and keep updating your skills.

Mix It Up: Don’t put all your eggs in the SEO basket. Try other marketing strategies too.

4.Common SEO Hurdles and How to Leap Over Them

The Ranking Rollercoaster: Rankings fluctuate. Focus on overall trends, not daily changes.

Fierce Competition: Analyze your competitors, then find ways to stand out. Be the purple cow in a field of black and white!

Resource Crunch: Short on time or money? Prioritize the SEO tasks that pack the biggest punch for your business.

Content Fatigue: Keep your content fresh and exciting. Think of it as giving your website a regular spa day.

5.FAQ: Your Burning SEO Questions Answered

Q: How long until I see SEO results?

A: It varies, but typically, you might start seeing some movement in 4-6 months, with more significant results in 6-12 months.

Q: Is it worth investing in SEO if it takes so long?

A: Absolutely! While it takes time, SEO can provide long-lasting, cost-effective results compared to paid advertising.

Q: Can I speed up SEO results?

A: While you can’t cheat the system, focusing on technical SEO, creating high-quality content, and building genuine backlinks can help accelerate your progress.

Q: What if I stop doing SEO?

A: Your rankings may start to slip as competitors continue their efforts. SEO is an ongoing process, not a one-and-done deal.

6.Wrapping Up: Embracing the SEO Long Game

Remember, friends, SEO isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a long-term investment in your digital presence. Sure, it can be frustrating when you’re putting in the work and not seeing immediate results. But trust me, that consistent effort will pay off. So lace up those digital running shoes, pace yourself, and remember: in the SEO world, slow and steady really does win the race. You’ve got this, marathon runner!

Now, I’m curious: What’s your biggest SEO challenge right now?

Drop it in the comments below. Let’s brainstorm some solutions together!

5 Words: “Boost Your SEO Marathon Endurance”

1 Statistic: “93% of online experiences begin with a search engine.”

1 Action: “Download our free ‘SEO Marathon Training Plan’ to start building your long-term SEO strategy today!”

[namtanlovesfilm]

[01st June, 2023.] 

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH. #PrideMonthSeries

Hi Axelle,

Since you are a huge fan of OffGun,...I'd like to ask you a few question based on my hypothesis of having watched GMMTV for so many years. 

GMMTV is one of the biggest entertainment conglomerate in Thailand right now, and most of their BL series generate huge views, despite having mediocre storyline sometimes, because GMMTV can afford to market their actors in such a way, that BL fans tend to sometimes watch a BL for an actor, rather than the actual story, or direction. 

GMMTV marketed BrightxWin as the next big thing, despite both of them not having any chemistry at all. And they did succeed in that endeavour, by airing “2gether” during the time of the pandemic, making it one of the highest view series online. 

Since the time Singto has branched out of GMMTV, they have been actively trying to find a pair for Krist. While with Tay and New,…the company is trying to milk their popularity as much as they can, and as long as they can. And with Ohm and Nanon,…it seems like the ship has hit the iceberg, and the effect is starting to show, which GMMTV isn’t bothered about.

But with OffGun,…it seems like they are the face of GMMTV, and will continue to remain so for next couple of years as well. Thanks to their popularity, and the constant public appearances, and their social media presence. 

So,..related to this I’d like to ask you a few questions:

How long do you think Off and Gun will remain the face of GMMTV?

What do you think is GMMTV’s strategy for every BL actor working under them?

Why isn’t GMMTV focussing solely on BL Series, instead of doing Lakorns which isn’t generating many views in comparison, anyways?

Has the focus and attention of GMMTV shifted from older BL couples to younger actors like FirstKhao, GeminiForth, and PondPhuwin?

Is GMMTV trying to milk the popularity of their already established couples by arranging fan-meets, and top-spender events. While for young couples, it’s all about doing the BL series?

If we compare the popularity of GMMTV vis-a-vis the views that their BL Series are generating lately. Do you think they are in for a tough competition from other independent production companies?

Why aren't actors like Sing Harit, Mond Tanutchai, Joss Wayar, Luke Ishikawa, and Lee Thanat promoted as much as others?

What do you think is the strategy of GMMTV going ahead? Can you guess based on your observation?

Thanks!

xoxo

Arjuna

hi, happy pride month 🌈

I personally don't think offgun are the face of gmmtv, simply bc they've been overlooked by the company many times & deserve way better managers. living in bangkok, brightwin are undeniably the face of the company that gmmtv is holding onto for dear life, as they are literally in half the ads in thailand. offgun are, though, without a doubt, the most iconic bl pairing, & not just bc they've been together the longest :) I believe they'll stay with gmmtv for many years to come, especially off. I've said before that even if gmmtv was a sinking ship, off & tay would be the two last actors to jump ships & I truly believe that. gun might leave in 3 to 5 years but I have my doubts.

gmmtv's strategy for bl actors really depends whether or not they're in an established ship or just a one-time pairing. for established pairings, they've clearly been betting more on them since last year by putting way more emphasis on them with merch, series like our skyy 2 & events like lol fanfest 2 as well as inter fanmeets. they are putting their eggs in more baskets in order to get more funds & milk their fans even more lol.

the reason gmmtv doesn't solely focus on bl series is that, as money-hungry as they are, they do have a clear artistic vision & business model. out of the 20 shows they release every year, only about 5 achieve great success & get merch, events, etc. the money generated from that is in turn used to produce more artistic & interesting projects that might not be lucrative but do possess an artistic value. moreover, before gmmtv blew up for its bl shows with sotus, it became known in thailand for its straight series like ugly duckling & u-prince, and they have won multiple awards from their straight series like who are you & the gifted. I am SO GLAD they do not just do bl, as most of their best shows are in fact not bl.

yes, of course the focus of bl fans has shifted to younger ships, which is why offguntaynew are very separated from the other younger gmmtv ships rn. the bl market is absolutely saturated so fan attention is more divided than ever, but luckily offgun & taynew have very strong fanbases that are incredibly faithful to them.

gmmtv is also milking their younger ships just as much, with many fanmeets, lives & ads. older bl ships might have more top spender events tho bc they're more established.

it is definitely a tough competition on the bl market rn in general, as it's very hard to capture & retain attention with that many releases & new ships. but gmmtv has the advantage of being incredibly accessible to inter fans, having by far the best fan content with bts & variety shows, and the best merch & events. I don't believe they're going anywhere, especially now that they have 10 main established ships.

for the actors you've mentioned, lee & joss are very much promoted, as they're the default straight male leads for gmmtv & have both achieved mainstream success. it might not be obvious to inter fans bc they don't give a fuck about non bl shows (sigh), but they're big deals in thailand! luke is also very popular despite having no real notable role lol, but people find him hot so he's in many events. sing has sadly never been a main lead so that's why he's not as big as he could be, but he's still a big deal! as for mond, sadly bc his sister is way more famous in thailand & was so even before he entered the industry, he will always be eclipsed by her, but also there is NO EXCUSE as to how gmmtv has treated him, especially after the huge success of boy for rent in 2019. they really dropped the ball for him & I will forever resent them for it :(

gmmtv's strategy is gonna be divide & conquer. more bl ships, more events, more merch, anything to get more funds. since nadao bangkok's shutting down they are now the sole series provider for gmm grammy (the biggest thai entertainment conglomerate that produces 70% of all thai media be it series, movies & music.) I think they'll continue their 2023 strategy for at least 2 more years & I ain't mad about it.

xxx

[ettawritesnstudies]

IE your 'what would i pay for poll'. I would pay around $3 monthly feasiblhy but honestly I would be more invested in doing that if you were a bigger presenc3e on here again, over if you had anhy fun treats for subscribers. mostly i just miss seeing you alkl over my dash! i like to support the people who are big involved in the comunity or who post a bunch of fun snippets or moodboards or character rambles. and i dont see that from you very often!

Hey Anon!! That is SO FAIR and honestly I wish I were a bigger presence here too, and one of my concerns about offering memberships is that creating all the ~*exclusive*~ content will take away my time from shitposting and playing tag games and just generally hanging out. The more I'm splitting my energy between several platforms the more my "presence" on each platform will suffer if that makes sense and I miss the days when I only had tumblr and I could just ramble about whatever.

That being said there are a couple reasons why I've changed my approach so I hope you understand where I'm coming from

I'm on Draft 5 of the same book I've been working on for like 3ish years now and if I shared the same snippets for every "find the word" tag I think people would be sick to death of it by now

I'm on Draft 5 of the book I'm planning to publish and if I share too many excerpts of the in-between drafts, those things are both A) subject to change, B) probably spoilers and I want to be very very picky about the excerpts I choose to share from now on

Tumblr (and instagram, and tiktok, and other social media sites) regularly get nuked by the companies that own them so I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket which is why I've doubled down on my website.

I'll share more moodboards and fun snippets and stuff soon! But they'll be in the promotional/marketing vein probably because if I'm going to spend time making that stuff it's going to be multitasking

You raise a really good point. I'd love to be more involved here, and I'll try to set more reminders for things like WBW and STS. That being said, I've been trying to support the writing community through other ways like ARC reviews and interviews!!! I put so so so much work into these every month and they do fine in general, but for some reason they don't get any traction on tumblr. Not for my lack of trying, but I don't know? Nobody wants to reblog a link to a youtube video I guess? It's discouraging because just because it looks different than the old traditional games and things doesn't mean it's not still contributing something to the community - a way to find new authors and promote your newly published books - that's largely going unnoticed and unappreciated.

If you want me to reblog snippets and moodboards for the love of god please send me stuff my queue is empty! I love seeing what people have going on but I'm also following well over 1000 people so sometimes stuff gets lost.

[t00thpasteface]

trying to spread myself out and cast a big wide net over all these fringe social media sites. i'm looking to see what really ends up clicking and what doesn't.

pillowfort seems pretty familiar in structure, right down to the use of the word "reblog", but i also really like the more decentralized, open-source approach of mastodon, given how many recent tumblr updates have made me want to start biting people.

i just registered as @ shebbz on pillowfort! this isn't as specific in purpose as my donphan page, but i'm thinking i might use the fresh start to try focusing on original stuff— characters, paleoart, that sort of thing— instead of basing my whole brand on just fanart. i really enjoy the community format; it feels like something of a tumblr-reddit fusion. probably what i'll do is post directly to communities, where applicable, then reblog to my main. odds and ends that don't fit in a community, whether it's because they're too niche or because they're just doodles, will be posted directly to the main.

as i mentioned, i've already gotten the ball rolling at shelly @ donphan.social! it'll be pokemon-centric, as befits the instance. this might hopefully inspire me to get back in the habit of drawing pokemon stuff more regularly… if i really stick the landing here, i'll probably branch out to other mastodon instances.

i'm also toothpasteface@mastodon.social, but i like the idea of having a more focused community instead of That Place Where Everyone Else Is. i'm not interested in mass-market appeal, so i have no need for that broad of an audience. this is also why i'm not interested in joining generalist artist instances.

time will tell which sites i end up sticking with, but i'd really like to run at least two different accounts in parallel to each other, instead of putting all my eggs in one basket, so to speak. i'd especially like to curate what i post for each site according to the particular benefits and communities of each.

feel free to say hey if you see me on these sites!