#this is one of my favorite episodes of all time

[murderbot-moodboard]

The diversity of Murderbot (and the other characters) in fanart is one of my favorite aspects of this fandom, and I definitely don't want that to end because of the show. I saw a Tumblr post yesterday about fandom in general being made up of people who enjoy the canon of a work and people who enjoy transformative takes that expand on or diverge from canon, and how sometimes people think the two approaches are in conflict, but they don't need to be.

The nature of The Murderbot Diaries (books where most of the characters are minimally described) means that the majority of fanart has been transformative by necessity, which has led to many beautiful interpretations of canon by different artists. I'm realizing that I've also been thinking of the TV show as another transformative interpretation of the books' canon; it's going to differ in some ways, but that doesn't mean the love or intention behind it is any less. And regardless of how much it changes or leaves the same, I can still enjoy it as much as I enjoy other fan works that take the characters and events in occasionally non-canon-compliant directions.

For some people, the TV show will become their new canon, and for some who haven't read the books, the show will be the first canon they've ever known. But like all TV shows, there will be aspects that different people headcanon in different ways, some of which aren't covered by the show canon, and some of which diverge from the show canon. For example, I'm a Stargate SG-1 fan, and among SG-1's 10 seasons there are some episodes which contradict each other in their canon information, some which include events or plotlines which some of us exclude from our headcanons, and many episodes with loose ends that fanon has addressed with hundreds of fix-it fics. My headcanons for the show don't all match with the show's canon, nor do they match all the headcanons of other fans. And the fandom has room for all of us.

I'm hoping that's the approach we can take with the Murderbot fandom. We already have fans who try to stick as close to canon as possible, fans who enjoy exploring slight canon divergences or whole AUs, and fans who do both at different times. I have deeply enjoyed fanart and fanfics from all of these categories, and I hope to enjoy the Murderbot show in a similar spirit: as a fanwork made by fans of the books (including the lead actor) who are exploring one interpretation of the book canon, with slight canon divergences and transformative elements to tell the story through the medium of TV.

can we all collectively agree to not stop drawing murderbot however we want after the show comes out. i KNOW there's gonna be people getting into it through the show and there'll be a lot of art reflecting that which is good and fine and encouraged however i would hate more than anything to lose the diversity of murderbots i see in fanart rn

[entities-of-posts]

When I was little, I was terrified of space. Which was funny, because one of my favorite books was a constellations activity book. I think I just liked it for the Greek myths tied to the constellations. I still have it, I think, up in my room. It's the kind of thing you just don't have the heart to get rid of. But that's besides the point.

One time, in elementary school, we took a field trip to the little observatory in the high school. No telescope or anything, but it had one of those fancy, expensive, spherical projectors and a domed ceiling. I remember the red lighting around the rim of the ceiling, so that we could see our worksheets but it was still dark. Something about red light not really registering as bright light, and helping your eyes adjust to darkness? I dunno. Again, I'm getting off topic.

I don't really remember what the presentation was about, what the person said. I remember the wobbly seat that leaned back so you didn't strain your neck looking up. I remember the stars across the ceiling. I remember the person fast-forwarding the projection through the whole year, watching the constellations and planets move.

I felt so small. I was terrified. The universe is huge, and I'm just one little kid on one little planet. Would anything I do ever matter? Would anyone remember me? I was so scared, I felt sick to my stomach. I left the observatory feeling hollow.

And one time, my parents were watching Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. Neil deGrasse Tyson was talking about the life cycle of stars, and how, in 5 billion years, the sun will run out of hydrogen, and for 3 billion years it will swell, swallowing Mercury, Venus, and Earth. I tried to tune it out, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. Why did it matter to me? I'd be gone by then. I shouldn't care what happens in billions of years. but the idea of the sun devouring its children, burning them up in its hunger and desperation…

There are little things, too. I'm afraid of heights, but only if they’re not contained. I have really strong call to the void - the urge to throw yourself off the edge. My school auditorium has a balcony, and when I was touring the campus for some class, the instinct was so strong I had to stand as far away from the railing as possible, and I still got dizzy. My knees were weak, I was shaking, the world was spinning. No one noticed.

Ironically, my most pleasant dreams are ones where I’m flying. The wind in my hair, the breathlessness. Tucking my wings in to dive, or fall, so fast I think I’ll hit the ground, and opening them at the last moment to skim just above the Earth, then soaring up into the clouds again…

But as far as space goes? I lived with that fear for years and years. But one day, maybe when I was 18 or something, I don’t remember, something just… changed. I was in a depressive episode, I think, and it was like 10pm. I was the only one awake in my house. Talking online wasn’t enough, I needed to get out of my head. So I just… went outside. There were no clouds. There was light pollution, sure, but I could see Orion’s belt, at least.

And just… Just sitting there, looking at the inky black of the sky, hearing the nightbirds and cicadas and crickets and distant traffic, I just… I don’t know. I finally felt like I was a part of it all. A small part, maybe, but an important part. A tapestry is nothing without all the little individual threads, and I was one of those threads. I could finally see that. And I could see the butterfly effect of my actions, my kindness, just my presence. Rippling out from me, to those I loved, to whomever they love, to people I’ve never met, people in other countries. I could see it all.

And I heard the universe sing. Every cell in my body, every atom under my feet and circling through my lungs, every star lightyears away. It was all singing, and I could finally hear it. And it was all just for me, just in that moment.

“You are part of me,” it said. “You will always be. Don’t forget that.”

And I, uh. I haven’t.

The Vast, perhaps more than any other Fear, weaves wonder and dread together beautifully. It’s just awe-striking, for better and worse.

[impathearted]

do you feel watched

i do wish i'd stop giving up on drawings before i'm happy with them but i only have so much patience and i still can't color properly so uh don't look at the clothes and squint at everything else

im only on episode 4 of total monster kill but lowkey might be one of my favorites so far (working my way through every jrwi series)

i love all three of their characters sm, everett makes my brain happy tho bc fucked up little guy with fucked perception of reality and should not be given any power whatsoever

specially the way bizly describes how everett follows jin and lucia as they're heading to the infirmary and he just. slips into the fucking crowd calmly and is just. simply following them and RAHHHHHHHHHGSGGAHEGAHHW how every time he's been more "apparently" a monster against his will it's been frantic and bloodlust but the moment he Chooses to be that monster is the moment he is the most composed and present 🐺🐺

[thebroccolination]

THE SUBLIMELY MARVELOUS WRITING IN THAMEPO

I just watched episode twelve and maaaaan, this series is playing its writing game on a completely separate plane, holy shit.

MAKING ME CRY OVER MICK?

All those little flashbacks to when he was helping them??? IN EPISODE TWELVE?

THIS SERIES IS SO WELL-WRITTEN IT MAKES MY CELLS EXPLODE.

The technique this series has repeatedly used where it shows you a scene and then later cuts back to the same scene through someone else’s perspective is always so fucking brilliantly executed. It never feels like a cheap trick or cheating because the show uses its framing so well you really are just seeing everything through one perspective until the show allows you to see more through another person’s eyes. I have such a writer crush on this series.

I couldn’t watch live yesterday because of work and I wanted to give it the mental space it deserves so I got up early before work and watched it with breakfast and a kitty on my lap and now I’m on the train to work and I’m just blown away.

GMMTV mainly makes half-baked, quickly slapped-together fluff without a clear vision in order to promote actors who then promote things to get money from fans (and every bland, calculating interview I see with Tha just reinforces that impression), so when we get heartfelt series like Be My Favorite or ThamePo where it’s so clear that the writing was a priority and time was devoted to making the script as good as it could be? That the creators didn’t care how long it took to make these series as long as they felt they were following through with a creative vision that felt true and honest and passionate to them—that’s special.

From the very first episode, the script of ThamePo has been as close to perfect as it could be. And from the preview for the finale next week, I think they’ll stick the landing in a way so emotionally satisfying, it’ll cement ThamePo as the best-written series GMMTV has made yet.

[dankbog]

I haven't listened to Critical Role in a while- I tend to get burnt out around episode 70 in every campaign and give up. But I adore the EXU series, it's a perfect length and I love seeing Brennan play around in Exandria.

But my gods Divergence is incredible. It feels like Brennan and the crew looked at the horrible state the world is in and wrote a story telling us to hope. To fight. There are bad people in power, but there are less of them than there are of us. "Seven overlords or 1,200 of us?" Incredible. "Change is coming and I am change?" Jaw dropping, I had tears in my eyes.

These level zero characters; commoners who have been through absolute hell; find the cracks in the system they are in and use whatever they can to make change. They aren't warriors or heroes or even adventurers. They're just regular people, some of whom have up on hope long before the show started. They're regular people who finally said 'no, this isn't how the world is going to be' and made it true.

I think my favorite line so far has been "To respect the free will of all beings means to respect when one has made themselves an obstacle to a kinder world". I had to keep rewinding the video so I could write it down. In a time when fascism is on the rise, here in the US and worldwide, that is such an important message. People are going to make their choices, and many of them are going to choose to side with fascism and hate and oppression in the hope that they will be safe or out of hatred for others. Whatever their reasoning, they have chosen to become an obstacle to a kinder world. And those of us who are striving for a better world need to fight those obstacles however we can, with whatever means we have. Others have made their choice- respect their choice. And make yours.

I'm a level zero character. I'm exhausted and beaten down by the system, by a failing body, by so so much. But change is coming. We are change and we can make change happen. And with whatever means I have, I am going to stand firm against those who are obstacles to a kinder world.

[qoldenskies]

Thinking about Mind Meld and how Donnie was so confused about being burned by Raph

“Yes! Sick burn, Raph! Wait… you burned me. What’s going on here?”

Just like- being made fun of by Leo? Just another day? By Mikey? Unusual but also classic annoying younger brother behavior. But by his Raphie? Unheard of

If he couldn’t even comprehend Raph making fun of him how could he ever even imagine his big brother outright ignoring his begging and sobbing or hitting the door while yelling at him to shut up. How could he anticipate him chasing him down with the intent to kill

It’s unfathomable, unthinkable, and it happened

CC BRAINS AND BRAWN MY BELOVED AHHHHHHHHH

NGLLLL mind meld is one of my least favorite rise episodes, i really just do not vibe with it, but i do think its a very important one for donnie's character and also its probably the best canonical evidence for everything in caged lungs making sense. like even when he KNEW their minds were altered (by his doing no less lmao) he still reacted with so much dejection like a kicked puppy. i dont go to rewatch it a lot because i dont like it but CL incidentally ended up taking a lot of elements from it i suppose ,,,,, its like kid-friendly CL lmfaooo

anyways cc brains and brawn makes me absolutely deranged like chewing on drywall deranged because of how unexpected everything is for both of them. how both of them see their relationship torn apart by something they were both utterly helpless to, and every moment in cw they spend apart they yearn for each other. its more noticeable in raph's side (chapter 7 especially) because donnie has to intentionally shut out his thoughts of raph because he's a walking trigger, but its pretty apparent in his behavior just how much he always, always wanted raph there.

like they just missed each other so much :(

(ugghh something about this being the first time that donnie in his right mind calls for raphie, and this time raph gets to tell him what he always dreamed of wanting to under the curse-- dreamed about doing in retrospect. he wonders a lot if he could have, had he just had more strength. something about how in CL when he shut him down and hurt him he saw doing this as being strong enough to, and now that the curse is broken he thinks the fact that he hurt him was horribly weak, that he should have fought.)

and for both of them i think its made worse knowing there's something a little self-destructive about it. how raph yearns to be the kind of pseudo father figure he was for donnie before, even though being that kind of person for his brothers was exhausting and stressful and he was actively crumbling under that pressure-- while donnie wants to be useful to raph, he wants to work ceaselessly so raph can be proud of him, even though that was the exact kind of thing that nearly killed him-- the fact that even when raph despised him, was willing to kill him, donnie was willing to grovel anyway because he felt that somehow he could do something to make him proud, to be worth it to him.

both of them have a tendency to look down upon their past, pre-CL selves for being "ignorant", but i also think that they see it as this kind of idyllic, unblemished time of their lives where there wasn't any fear or caution or tension, and they could play these parts without having to worry about anything like this. which isnt true, they argued all the time and their roles were actively harmful to them, but what they have now is painful that they cant help but idealize that more than a little.

it huuurts that even healed there's this unbearable tension to their relationship because its so hard to have fun one on one now :( its just really hard for both of them to try and break that barrier, especially because they're so cautious around each other. they usually need mikey and leo to facilitate. maybe one day they'll just get to fuck around and be dumb together again </3 they deserve it

[dock57]

What's your favorite parts of Shrike Sanchez from Monkey Wrench?

[OH BOY! Asking my favorite parts/moments about either Shrike or Beebs is. Difficult to say... (No one ask me my favorite moment of those two either, that would be also difficult) I'm going to assume when you mean parts, as in favorite parts of Shrike from the show itself. Cause I will say that I that I love Shrike's design all together, which is funny, because the first time I saw him I called him String Cheese...

Anyway! I think the part that sold me for Shrike is from the first episode! Its when they meet Norbert for their job. I love that scene in general because it tells us A LOT about Shrike and Beebs as characters. How they both react and response to their new job is very different. I just really enjoy Shrike's expressions, jokes/insults, and body language alone in that part. Just some specific shots I enjoy:

I don't think I have much else to say? I know this scene is the one that got me hook pretty quick on the series. At least it feels like the scene that did the job- only because I cannot exactly remember, but I noticed I tend to fall back to this one often to rewatch. This scene altogether really gave us a great first impression of these two and their dynamic. Shrike just ready to turn the bird over to anyone while Beebs was making SURE they do this job right.

Man can't believe its only been a year since I first watched this series...]

[thewinter-eden]

Blood Sugar Virus (1)

CHAPTER ONE

Genre: Horror, zombies, strangers to lovers, angst, suspense Pairing: Kang Yeosang x female!reader Warnings: based on the Wanteez Zombie episode, OT8 friendship dynamics Author's Note: Those of you who already know me already know - my side characters/extras are played by BTS/BlackPink. It's just for name recognition so we don't have to go into introductions for everybody. It's insignificant to the narrative, they're just names and personalities. I wouldn't consider this a BTS/BP fic but they're all in there :P

Summary: You (stage name Sugar) are the co-captain of a horror acting group. You and your guys are the ones the companies hire when they want to stage a zombie, ghost, or any vaguely horrific and dystopian episode. So when you get hired by Ateez to develop a zombie program, it's just another routine that you've done a million times. Everything's going exactly according to script--until suddenly it isn't, and it starts getting a little too real.

next chapter >

“Mornin’ guys.” You sweep into the styling room laden with coffees. A chorus of greetings echoes back at you, and you find two of your colleagues immediately at your side to relieve you of the two handled coffee carriers on each arm and the flat carrier in each hand.

“Morning Sugar.” The guy closest to you, Taehyung, beams a boxy smile moves off with half of your caffeine supply while the other, your especially dramatic basket case Jin, moseys off with the other half.

You snag two coffees from Taehyung’s trays and cross to the farthest end of the room, exchanging smiles and greetings with the rest of the actors you pass until you get to your co-captain in the last chair.

He’s leaning back, eyes closed while the makeup artists slather him in frightfully realistic zombie makeup.

“Namjoon.” You greet. “Stimulants.”

He immediately holds out his hand to blindly accept his coffee. “Thanks, Sugar.”

Sugar has been your nickname for longer than you’ve been a horror actor. As soon as you got this job and got to know your eleven colleagues and your stylists, it caught on with them too and never went away.

“I assume we’ve all studied up on our program for today?” You guess, smiling at Jisoo who’s in the chair next to yours.

She has a downright disgusting looking open wound coming to life on her face, preparing her for the role of Brutally Turned Zombie. She just grins back at you and sips at her coffee. “I’ve memorized mine word for word, boss.”

“We should be good to go.” Namjoon confirms. “I’m not worried about anybody except maybe Hobie. He’s got it down pat now but there’s always a surprise.”

Hoseok (J-Hope, colloquially known) is a fantastic horror actor, his skills in excess drama rivaling those of Jin’s on any good day. He is also, however, known to get a bit caught up in the role of the dynamic set and scare himself—which always leads to interesting improv.

“He’s half the reason we’re the number one group.” You respond comfortably. “Everyone likes to see him psych himself out.” Glancing over at Hoseok, you find him already made-up and costumed, taking garish selfies to show off the gory bloody mouth and teeth he’d been given.

“I’m not that worried.” Namjoon said. “But I am a little concerned about how he’ll react to the clients’ energy themselves. Some of them are renowned for Hobie-like antics.”

You pop an eyebrow. “You did warn him who we have today right?”

Namjoon heaves a sigh directly into his coffee cup and nods. “Ateez. God help us all.”

One Week Ago

“Good morning!” You slide into the private booth at your favorite coffee shop and smile brightly at the two men across from you. “My co-Captain is on his way. He’ll be here soon. And I think we were meeting with three of you?”

Across the table, Hongjoong smiles at you and extends his hand to shake yours. “Yes, Wooyoung is here. He’s outside on the phone but he’ll be back as soon as he’s done. This is Seonghwa.”

You turn your beaming grin on the taller, darker haired of the two, and shake his hand as well. “Seonghwa. Pleasure to meet you. I’ll go ahead and order us some drinks. Do you know what you want?”

Hongjoong starts to get up, protesting politely that he’s happy to purchase coffees for the table but you raise a hand to stop him. “You’re our clients, Hongjoong-ssi. I’ll just bill your company.” At your teasing wink, Hongjoong sits back down and laughs lightly.

“Yes, good plan.” He and Seonghwa give you their orders, and tell you what Wooyoung is going to want, and you exit the private room to place the order.

By the time you get back, both Namjoon and Wooyoung have arrived.

All four men thank you for the drinks as you sit down.

“Once again, my name is Kim Namjoon, and this is Sugar. It is an incredible pleasure to meet you and we look forward to having some fun together.” Your co-captain is saying politely. “What we’re doing today is a quick run-down of what to expect from the game, plus some prep work.”

You slide in next to him and sip your drink. “Namjoon and I are co-captains of our acting group, we’ll be your point men for any questions or specific requests or notes. You should have both of our email addresses and phone numbers. As listed in your documents there, there are twelve of us. Our photos are here: Namjoon, Seokin, Yoongi, Hoseok, Jimin, Taehyung, Jungkook, Jennie, Rosé, Jisoo, Lisa, and myself.”

“Your name is Sugar?” Wooyoung looks up from the documents to grin at you questioningly.

You smile back, used to the question. “It’s a nickname, going back to the wee days of my youth. At this point though it’s pretty much my professional stage name.”

“Your real name isn’t listed here?” Hongjoong wonders, scanning the document.

“It’s here.” You point to where your name is printed neatly next to your contact information. “This is me. So here’s the deal: everyone in our group will be playing zombies for your Teez High School zombie episode. There are two exceptions: myself and Rosé.”

Namjoon picks up your train of thought. “Rosé will be the game’s objective. She’s trapped upstairs, you have to rescue her and get out of the building before 11pm without getting bitten by zombies.”

“What happens at 11pm?” Seonghwa wonders.

“The automated locking system bolts all of the doors and the school becomes a lockbox until 5am.” Namjoon supplies.

“What is your role?” Wooyoung asks you.

“I’m a survivor. When you arrive at the school I’ll be the person you find who tells you what happened and how to survive the zombies. I’ll also at that point tell you that Rosé is somewhere in the building. Your second objective is to keep me alive for the duration of the game.”

Your clients looked pleasantly intrigued by the program you’ve set up for them, so you carry on cheerfully. “Rosé and I will both meet up with groups of you in the days leading up to the episode, so that you can build a relationship of familiarity and trust with us. It will make filming and reacting more natural if it’s not the first time you’ve seen us. Your roles in the episodes are transfer students, so you would have met us in classes and we’re just trying to manufacture that kind of dynamic. So today it’s us, tomorrow it’s Rosé with San and Yunho and Mingi, tomorrow afternoon it’s me with Yeosang and Jongho, and we’ll rotate groups until the big day. Any questions?”

Wooyoung perks up. “Is it gonna be scary?”

Namjoon chuckles softly. “We hope so. We are a high ranking group because of our ability to manufacture intense programs, so most of you should be able to find yourselves caught in the thrill of it.”

“We have no doubt of that,” Hongjoong says, chuckling softly. “Not many of us are exceptionally brave.”

“Yunho will be brave.” Wooyoung states confidently. “And Yeosang.”

“And you, too.” Seonghwa agrees, nudging Wooyoung arm.

The younger boy shakes his head and laughs, meeting your eyes for only a second. “No, I’m nervous,” he says. “A zombie apocalypse and we have to keep ourselves and two girls alive? That’s too much pressure.”

“You’ll have fun.” You say with a smile. “It’s a rush once you’re in the middle of it. And it’s completely safe so don’t even let yourself feel any pressure.”

You spend the week getting to know the guys.

It takes days of carefully crafting the character that you’ll play for their episode, establishing a relationship that they don’t have to think about when the time comes. You do different things with them, sometimes meeting at a coffeeshop and playing questionnaire games to keep the laughter flowing and the conversation easy.

Other times you have them meet you at a pizza parlor and you play hypothetical games - “who would be the last to survive on a deserted island”, “who is most likely to take over the world during an alien invasion” type questions - which resulted in nearly three hours of good-natured insults and vivid imaginations that had you genuinely entertained the entire time.

You took them to a trampoline park and had them compete against each other to see who could jump the highest, who could do the most front flips, who could do the most backflips.

On the last night, you and Rose took them out for dinner and drinks and just let the conversation go and allowed everyone to get comfortably drunk, until you were singing discordant karaoke with San and exchanging bad jokes with Seonghwa.

By day three, you were in.

Wooyoung and Jongho adamantly called you Noona, while the others affectionately latched on to your unusual stage name/nickname. By the third day, they were all fairly relaxed and comfortable and looped you into their playful teasing and ribbing of each other, a dynamic you eagerly encouraged as it would play into your ease of acting in the future.

And by the time the week was over, you and Rosé were firmly entrenched in their comfort zones. San gripped your hand at dinner as you both sang obnoxiously into a muted microphone, Jongho merely played along and pouted as you did everything you could to keep him from downing a fourth bottle of soju, Hongjoong and Yeosang dutifully rescued you from the hyper drunken energy of Wooyoung and Mingi, all while Seonghwa did his darndest to convince you that what you were eating was chicken (it wasn’t).

You’ve developed a good grasp of personalities by the time the week is done, and you’ve become pleasantly fond of the mini friendships you’ve cultivated with them. They’re all so kind and sweet and naturally funny, naturally entertaining.

Seonghwa seems to have taken both you and Rosé in already, scooping you right into his little family and looking after you just as much as he does with the guys, plus a few extra protective measures. He even does that thing where he guides you to the inside of the sidewalk so he can be between you and the street.

Hongjoong completely understands that the two of you are actors and that the goal of these social exercises is to create a compelling story when the time comes to roll the cameras, but his leader instincts have also completely taken over and he’s put himself in charge of making sure you’re looked after and comfortable. He instructs Mingi to guard your drinks with his life while you and Rosé excuse yourselves to visit the ladies room when you all have a casual hang out at a bar.

He goes so far as to advocate for you when you have to argue with the trampoline park employees about your private reservation, politely but firmly backing the guy off when he subtly tries to run over you.

Yunho proved himself a massive (and massively tall) sweetheart at one of your coffee shop hangouts, helping you carry drinks and dutifully scolding Jongho when he accidentally talks over you (he hadn’t heard you when you started speaking) and Wooyoung when he laughed directly into your ear so loudly that you had to stop and wait for the ringing to stop (Wooyoung apologized, he hadn’t realized how close he’d gotten to you whilst ducking away from Seonghwa’s reaching to smack him for an inappropriate joke).

Yeosang really took you by surprise this week. He first struck you as the quietest, the most reserved, and the least obnoxious of the group—and he is, but he’s also one of the most assertive in his own way. You got your first hint when he noticed Wooyoung and San overwhelming you with questions about your “zombie career” during your second meeting with them, and he booted Wooyoung right out of his seat to put himself next to you instead as a physical barrier.

You watched him jump up to offer Rosé his seat when the company bus had neglected to open enough seats for everybody on the way to the trampoline park. You watched him shrug off his jacket and offer it to her when she found herself woefully unprepared for brisk February weather, and dramatically avert his eyes when the wind picked up and flipped the hem of her shirt up slightly.

San and Mingi became your instant buddies/bodyguards, refusing to let you step outside the bar by yourself to take a phone call from Namjoon, standing out on the sidewalk in the cold with you while you discussed another client requesting a change of schedule. They also took up your entire side of the booth at the pizza place to engage you in a very detailed discussion about your dystopian acting experience and trying to come up with new storylines for you and your group to offer (Hongjoong and Seonghwa had attempted to rescue you from the intense nerdlings but you were comfortably in your element and waved them off).

Wooyoung is Wooyoung. He spent the entire week questioning both you and Rosé about your favorite dramas and movies, demanding to know whether or not you’d listened to Ateez‘s entire discography, and teasing you both constantly as though your hangouts were just giant dates with all of Ateez. On the other hand, he was also the first to serve you at meals, the first and most frequent to ply your bowls with sides from the table.

When Rosé informed him of your strict diets, he launched into a pouty and very flattering (and very fast-paced) monologue about how the two of you need to abandon that immediately and eat everything the guys offered you.

Jongho, the stoic and quiet Jongho, didn’t surprise you all that much. He remained the perfect gentleman, keeping a respectable distance, and didn’t speak much unless spoken to. It wasn’t until the last few meetings that he started to let loose and began to play and tease with the rest of them, finally looping you in on some of the jokes.

You’re well aware of fan service. You’re completely aware of their public personas and the fact that you and Rosé are being treated like well known personalities, both being given a healthy dose of their embellished idol images.

That doesn’t stop you from being drawn in. You can’t help it. They’re magnetic. And, after very possibly the most fun week of your life, you’re ready for the zombie apocalypse.

The stage is set.

It’s time to film the episode.

And you’re thrilled, because you’ve never in your life had such a good time creating a repertoire with your clients before.

next chapter >

tag list : @mysterysold @threevracha @igotajuicyass @velvetmoonlght @ramadiiiisme @mrsminseochoi

[lastofthewardens]

oof. probable BIG spoilers for the new show under the cut for people who care about that. nothing is confirmed, but i wholeheartedly believe this to be the truth, so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK because i'm basically just screaming into the void in long form with nowhere else to let this out. my heart hurts so much right now.

for context, i'll be censoring characters/properties i mention that are unrelated so this doesn't show up in those search results.

so i guess the writing is basically on the wall about what will happen with foggy. i tried to stay positive, be delusional, rationalize a way out of what admittedly always looked bad to me. i didn't want to believe it because getting rid of FOGGY NELSON in a DAREDEVIL show seemed absolutely insane to me, especially when there are comic plots they could use to achieve 'matt losing foggy' and then go back on it afterwards. i did my best to not think about it for months at a time, reasoning that it can't be what it looks like, but at this point, the show comes out next week, and here we are.

now obviously nothing can be 100% confirmed until the episode comes out, i'll take all this back if i'm completely wrong, etc. etc. maybe this is the just the CRAZIEST long game of all time, the most coordinated possible lie. but based on the leaks i've seen, the interviews they've been giving, and what we can piece together from officially released material.. yeah, it looks like it's pretty much over.

they all talk like people who are preemptively trying to do damage control. i get the impression they KNOW this will upset maybe not MOST people but some amount of people, and they keep trying to pass blame around, hoping they won't have to take accountability. no one seems to want to own this plot point or acknowledge they've gone along with it. if i'm being completely honest, and i won't go into details because there's no point, but over the past year since this roller coaster started with the first leaks, i've lost a lot of respect for some of the people involved due to the way that they've chosen to engage or conduct themselves with regards to foggy's death.

but my gripe with them is not what this post is about. this post is about foggy.

let me back up first. when i watched daredevil, i didn't care about marvel at all. i was a fan of spiderm*n, but i didn't really read the comics, i only watched the original trilogy movies with t*bey mag*ire and the cartoons when i was a kid. i was primarily a DC fan actually, those were the comics i read, and god, I HATED the MC*U in particular. if you asked me at the time, i would've said something incredibly stupid like "spiderm*n is the only marvel character worth anything", and i would've been sat here years later cringing off the face of the planet remembering i said that.

and then i watched netfl*x's daredevil. i remember instantly falling in love with the show, the characters, the cinematography. man, i was obsessed. i loved everything about it, i loved nelson murdock and page, and i was so glad they let karen stick around because while i didn't read comics then, i was aware of her fate. but my favorite dynamic in the show was matt and foggy, right from the very start. and after years of watching them struggle, sometimes with painfully long waits between seasons, i'll never forget the absolute JOY i felt when they were stood in front of ray in season 3, saying they're going to represent him, and foggy says 'as nelson and murdock, attorneys at law'. united again at last. then nelson and murdock 'officially' became nelson murdock and page, and i was given the happiest possible ending for a show that was cancelled far too early. i carried that happy ending in my heart for a very long time.

when the show ended, i was obviously sad. i wanted to spend more time with all of these characters, and it was being cancelled for reasons that didn't feel fair after an amazingly well received season. i held out hope that maybe one day my favorite show would return, maybe a little different but with the same heart surely. surely. (if only i knew then what i know now). i didn't expect it though, and i made peace with my happy ending because that's something not all shows even get! i was grateful. grateful is the best way to put it.

and so i took that energy with me, and eventually, i decided to read some comic books. matt and foggy's relationship in the comics made me mourn for the season 4 that could've been because in my heart, i know they would've finally mended things properly. they would've worked together as a team again. and while the daredevil comics obviously have tons of other stuff going for them, matt and foggy were still at the heart of that for me. seeing the source material really enhanced my appreciation for the show and the characters, while also giving me something else to love about daredevil because many of those comic runs are amazing.

and when the new show was announced, i was so nervous but so excited. at first. but then what followed from there was a series of rumors over time about foggy and karen not being included at all, about foggy just being a cameo, foggy being KILLED off screen??? i remember just thinking what the actual fuck are they doing. and then everyone was fired! they hired a bunch of new people, said they were fixing things. there was hope. set pictures came out of nelson murdock and page, and for a day, i couldn't have been happier than i was seeing the three of them together again. then the other set pictures came out. videos. stories about those days on set being told by the people who leaked them. leakers who were supposedly reliable (as reliable as any of them ever are) said independently that foggy was still going to die. i was livid and upset and confused about how they could ever think this was a good idea.

for a solid year, i tried to ignore it was happening. 'they couldn't possibly be right, this can't be what it looks like, it's too obvious right? ...right?'. but i think it is what's happening. they are killing foggy nelson, in a daredevil show. and i'm absolutely devastated.

this is such an incredibly huge mistake for them to be making, even objectively. they talk about wanting this show to go on for 'season infinity', saying they have so many stories left to tell, and i just don't get it at all. 60 YEARS of comic history that i've come to love just flushed down the drain. so many story lines discarded, now impossible to adapt. so many story lines gutted, not impossible to adapt but missing the beating heart of it.

and it feels like no one cares. i go on social media, on twitter, on reddit. so many people just seem to think 'well, that's sad, but as long as it's a good story', as if foggy nelson isn't absolutely vital to matt's character, as if their friendship isn't part of the fabric. some people are arguing that 'it's never been done, and bold choices are good!' or else saying that they 'needed to raise stakes', especially to make bullseye look cool, all of which are absurd arguments to me. i remember when adaptations used to be love letters, not shitting on something just for the sake of 'doing something new'. i only wanted to see my favorite characters on screen again.

so the hardest part of this is feeling like there won't be any justice for this colossal fuck up. most people will obviously still watch this show. it will likely be extremely successful. just look at the early reviews, eating it up despite his death in the FIRST TEN MINUTES. they won't get the backlash that they deserve for shitting on the original show and the source material. at worst, a handful of people won't watch, like me, and they'll get some small amount of hate on social media, but largely, i suspect people will move on. (i won't).

there will be no justice. just insane disrespect for foggy's character, insane disrespect for his relationship with matt. i'm less sure about this part, but i've heard there's not even a funeral, that after he dies it goes to the title screen and then a year time skip. skipping all of the immediate aftermath in favor of what.. daredevil doing sick flips? another fight sequence? whatever. they couldn't even respect his character in death, but don't worry guys, i'm sure they totally 'care a lot'.

how they'll choose to handle it throughout the season will remain to be seen (or read and seethed about in my case because fuck that), so i can't speak on this part as much, but it seems like a disrespect to matt's character too. that man would never be happy again if foggy nelson died, but this new team clearly has other ideas.

and they could've fixed this. if you're someone who is upset, DO NOT let them fool you or talk you into thinking their hands were tied. the first and last two episodes are all new content the new team filmed. the story relied on everyone thinking foggy was dead, sure, but he didn't have to actually be dead. there's comic precedent for a fake out, and the death scene is newly filmed content. they even reshot scenes they'd filmed, like vanessa's when they got the actress back. however it plays out, the NEW team decided to make it play out that way. if i'm right and foggy is dead and there's no coming back from it, it's THEM who decided this. instead of making him look dead by constructing a death that he could come back from and then bringing him back after the plot they needed to tell (to keep the footage they already shot) was resolved, they just killed him. hold them responsible, always. don't let them pass the blame around the way they've so obviously been doing. this IS in fact on them, no matter what they say.

but at the end of the day, all that aside, my anger and sadness over this won't change anything. foggy's still dying. he's a character of his own with so many stories left they could've told, but they're discarding him in episode 1. any character development i'd been looking forward to seeing for him is all just gone. so many beautiful moments between matt and foggy just.. tossed away.

i'm a matt fan first. he's my favorite character. but i won't watch this show without foggy. there is no matt without foggy, to me. a permanent death, a matt permanently without foggy, is not a story that i'm interested in seeing or one i think is even worth telling. daredevil stories can be dark, yes, matt loses people close to him, yes, but there can also be a lot of hope, and foggy is his constant. there is no hope here. in retrospect, i know the original show didn't get everything right, but they would never have killed off foggy nelson. they knew how important he was. i believe that in my heart.

and i'm devastated. i've cried, honestly. because i don't know how i'm supposed to engage with anything daredevil now without it being tainted by this. i don't know how to watch the original show and not be thinking about what they've done, that the future of that version of those characters is what it is. i don't know how to read the comics and not be reminded of what could've been for matt and foggy, if people who actually cared about the right things had made this new show.

this isn't just.. a bad new show, that i can ignore, you know? if they'd kept it a reboot, excluded characters, i would've been annoyed but i could've just brushed it off as nothing to me. now that it's a continuation, and they've brought foggy back literally just to fridge him, it feels like something is being taken away from me. the joy that i felt watching season 3, reuniting 'as nelson and murdock, attorneys at law'. the joy that i felt watching foggy write nelson murdock and page on the napkin, and ending that show knowing they were going to be okay, even if i never saw them again on my screen. the happy ending i'd held in my heart all these years. it feels like that's been stolen from me by people who don't really get it at all.

i hope on tuesday i look like a complete fool for writing all of this, that i come back here and delete this post in embarrassment because i'm so completely wrong. i want to be wrong sooo bad, but i don't think that i am, and this all just really sucks. foggy nelson deserves so much better, and so do all of us fans.

[rube-too-many-fandoms]

⚠️SPOILER WARNING FOR THE NEW EPISODE (S2:E7) OF HELLUVA BOSS⚠️

THE KID’S HORNS ARE BROKEN TOO I’M SOBBING 🥺🥺🥺🥺

[frogsandmagic]

There’s honestly something so poetic about Wendell and Usha both having this big moment of confronting their alter egos,

but while Wendell is learning how to become one with his persona, Usha is slowly being taken over by hers.

[kurikorso]

nostalgia slapped me upside the head a little while ago so i had to draw my favorite dudes ft. the gecko effect

[supercupcakecollector-love]

another thing iv noticed is the dog whistle of "but it's a Slavic story it should be made by Slavic people", those people don't directly say the bigoted things mentioned but you know they care more about Yennefer and Triss "not being played by Slavic actresses" than they do Geralt, Jaskier and Ciri not being played by Slavic actors

And The Witcher is a weird thing to get mad at as an adaptation when there are so many other adaptations and expansions of the canon if you do not like the show, especially if you can speak Polish:

The Hexer (has worse effects than a '70s doctor who episode, and is completely bonkers at times, especially at the end but has its own slav jank charm)

a stage musical (which iv heard from Polish fans is actually the most accurate of the visual adaptations)

a fully voiced audioplay of the books with dozens of actors, music, and sound effects

and if you dont speak Polish, there are the Peter Kenny audiobooks, who does such a theatrical and sing-song performance that captures the original feel that may have been lost in the English translation

one of the greatest video games of all time brought the world to life in a way few other books ever got to be and brought the series to a wide audience ( and the critics of the show complained The Witcher never got to be seen by a wide audience in a good adaptation because of the show while acting like this game isn't one of the most acclaimed and popular games of the past decade )

My favorite Witcher adaptation of all time, Thronebreaker an incredible RPG that has everything I love about the Witcher lore,( and doesn't have the things I don't love like the misogyny and over-sexualisation of the books and games) is closer in the story and tone to the books than the mainline games, even if it doesn't star any of the well-known characters from the franchise

and numerous other comics, the TTRPGs, the lore expansions from stuff like the Gwent game, and weird stuff like the officially published fanfiction "Szpony i kły"

any problem anyone has with the show is more than likely properly portrayed a way they like in one of these adaptions anyway, so what is the fuss about

"i'm pretty tired of seeing hateposts about the netflix show everywhere people talk about the witcher. it's like the only thing people talk about anymore, especially on the subreddit (which is just a shitshow anyways). the show wasn't just made for the hardcore books & games fans - it was made for anyone to be able to watch, digest, and enjoy. i'm totally fine with people having opinions and i know not all of the show is accurate to the source material, the hate just gets ridiculously excessive. if you really hate the show that much then just ... don't watch it and don't post about it?

to be clear: valid criticisms are one thing and that's not what i'm talking about; there's just so much hate like "this show is shit!" with no real explanation, or "characters being gay & poc is woke!" that comes from a place of bigotry."

[egophiliac]

Of the TWST cards you own, which is your favorite (or favorites of you can't decide)?

(not that I'm still salty over that, nope, no way)

seriously though, this turned out to be harder to answer than I thought! I did actually manage to pull Stitch Lilia (THANK YOU TWSTFEST for the free bonus keys!) and he's absolutely adorable, I've literally been doing random battles just to watch him surf around and high-five Stitch. a fine addition to the Lilia collection!

in terms of proudest/most unbelievable achievement, that is 100% when I somehow managed to pull every single Scary Monsters card except one (only missing Rook!). I think I used up all my luck on that one, but at least it was for the Halloween cards! (after Scary Monsters and Glorious Masquerade, I'm so afraid of what this year's Halloween event is going to be, what if they look amazing how am I supposed to save my keys nooooo)

if I REALLY have to pick one, though...there is actually one card that I think I would call my favorite! he just makes me happy every time I look at him. :>

[dilfmobius]

"Existence is chaos. Nothing makes any sense so we try to make some sense of it. And I'm just lucky the chaos I emerged into gave me all of this. My own glorious purpose." LOKI 1x02 - The Variant

[pinkmirth]

god he looks so kissable