#this reminded me about what I actually like. No more silly trope y stuff I’m gonna. work on more soft sweet real people feeling stuff.

[inkats]

Hiyori Tomoe + I was feeling weird about drawing and then saw a handsome woman and died a little bit.

[wrongcaitlyn]

So someone out there in the tyt/tgol universe must be writing at least some fanfiction right?? I don’t know what it would be about but probably a lot of the standard y/n and x reader fics mixed with some stuff about the lunchtable group. However, someone must be writing the pollen and piper x shell fics. And then there’s also Naomi x Apollo, Percabeth, and just the fact that it would be real person fiction for them also makes me so envious lmaoo 😭😭 But back to the point of my ask, are the characters reading it? Because I’d like to believe that they would, they may even write some themselves (cough cough Kayla cough cough) but I just don’t think some of them would be able to resist the urge to go on Ao3 like the rest of us. Like even if it was just pure curiosity and not for casual enjoyment. And then imagine their shipping culture and their tumblr and they (the fans) must be having so much fun knowing that a ship being canon means it’s like real life and oh my god THE MEET AND GREETS. I usually don’t care too much for celebrities and are fine with just appreciating their art but I’d actually feel previously unknown levels of excitement if I could meet legit anyone from the main cast of tyt. And like I’m totally yapping right now, but it reminds me of when my mom was like “yk I would’ve gotten you eras tour tickets if you told me about it sooner right?” And I was like “huh 😀” So yeah if I could get the equivalent but make it a Nico concert that mistake would’ve never made made on my watch. But this must be what the bts fanfiction authors kinda feel like except we’re all forced to watch from afar and the people in the actual universe get to have all the fun, and they get to have all of our celebrities too so they get extra but at least we get your fics so they’re at a significant loss too so ig that’s how we even the playing field.

ohh they definitely are. i don't know if there'd be much pollen fics, because they weren't very popular at the time- maybe more *now* after, like, pictures of them with kayla at archery competitions and stuff. shel/piper would be more like piper/reader or piper/oc, seeing as shel isn't publicly dating her, and people don't really know who she is- though i'm sure that some people would come up with oc's that are relatively close to herjkfsd

percabeth and naomi/apollo DEF have a few fics, and now i'm just thinking of someone writing an au where naomi lives and they get back together after many years... it wouldn't happen, ofc, but i think someone would definitely write it. there's a lot of au potential with them, at least from an outside perspective, if someone sees them as a right person wrong time sort of romance (it isn't, in my head, not in this au, but it could be seen that way)

solangelo and valdangelo are probably the most popular, just nico has,,, sort of, maybe nearly, surpassed jason and piper in fame at this point? maybe not jason, but seeing as piper took a step back over the recent years, he's definitely growing further. so jasico would prob also be popular, though i think the more... crazed fans would like the childhood friends to lovers trope more with will and leo! prob even some will/leo/nico with how codependent they all are LMAO

i think KAYLA would 100% read silly fics as a laugh, just so that she could quote them to her friends, bc she'd think it's hilarious. there may even be like one nico/kayla fic (which, ew) and she's just sitting there CACKLING over it bc nico's character couldn't be so wrong. neither could hers, for that matter.

other than that, i think i wrote before that shel has def written fanfic, and so has lou ellen, though i think lou ellen wrote more, like, fictional stories fanfic, not real people. and shel might've too- as a rule, i tend to stay away from writing real people into fanfics unless it's like, mentioning an actor/singer in passing

but you are literally SO REAL FOR THIS god i wish i could see a nico di angelo concert live. like fr all my problems would be solved it'd just be so nice. im srsly so jealous of the people in the tyt universe for just getting them as real life celebrities😭

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Thailand & Vietnam End with Bangs, Korea with a Whimper

Jan 2022 Wk 3

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Not Me (YouTube) Ep 5 - OffGun still crackle on screen together. The parkour jumping thing was, erm, silly. Gram’s info-dumping in this episode showed us exactly why Not Me has no product placement. Also, I want a twist to be that Black was in love with Gram and gave the card. 

Love Area Part 2 (GaGa) Ep 1 - this is basically a continuation of the previous “season” - let’s be fair this is a 12 ep BL that they split into 6 & 6 for reasons of lockdown. Anyway the first half of this first ep is recap. Val & Toon are painfully endearingly awkward, but Toon cannot possibly be that dense about either seme’s intentions. King, Peat & Ice are more interesting to me, but their plot is dealing with domestic abuse and mental health issues which might be too much for me in a BL. There was a fun commentary on the Pink Milk = uke trope. New character Jun is VERY fascinating. So far, Jun is agender in both speech and appearance. Jun uses ha instead of krap/kha. So this show might be worth watching if only for Jun. 

Something in My Room (Ch3Thailand, YouTube) Ep 1 - It’s cute, basically He’s Coming To Me meets So Much In Love and not really scary at all (which I like). Also, nice to see Nut in a new role so different from Solo.  I’ll keep watching. 

Gen Y 2 (grey) Ep 5 - It was totally nonsensical this ep. I spent most of the tome missing ForthBeam. Updated the live blog here. 

Paint with Love (Gaga) Ep 9 - At least stuff happened? Except now the side dishes have gone wonky. GREAT KISS THO. Soem of the domestic bits were cute, I guess? Still, what is going on with thi show? 

You’re My Sky (Viki) Ep 3 - I’m not into the main basketball couple at all. The puppy/nerd-tsundere are cute but he’s a bit too stalker aggressive, still kinda MarkKit vibes. Frankly the cheater couple have by far the best chemistry (bummer because I hate the storyline) but I do love a shy grump vs a flirty playful boy. 

Bad Buddy (YouTube) Ep 12 fin - The bar has been raised, Thailand. This ending was unexpectedly satisfying if not typical romance-y. I give Bad Buddy a solid 9/10 mostly because of crazy good acting and all the queer affirmation and effort put in to specifically subvert damaging Thai BL tropes. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED I finished the live blog here and full review here. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Behind Cut (Korea - Viki) Ep 7 & 8 fin - honestly last week I thought this one was working itself to be something special, but then they did the old break ‘em up until a year later for no good reason K-drama (specialty of the house) and fubbed the landing. It’s fine, but no more than fine. Pretty much My Sweet Dear level so 8/10. RECOMMENDED, just don’t expect it to exceed the bounds of KBL’s narrow scope. The best bits were the dating scenes and it drifted from there. Full review here.

Color Rush 2 (Korea - Viki) Ep 1-2 - I like it. The new seme character, Se Hyun (played by Hyuk of VIXX) is a bit sinister while also reminding me a little of Sam Lin (always a good thing). Se Hyun is a very different personality from Yoo Han and I liked that they didn’t try to repeat the pattern. Frankly Hyuk is a better actor than Hwall (no offense to any B out there) and these two actors have better chemistry, even though we’ve been told this will be a bromance. Regardless, I want to find out what’s going on in this weird little universe so I’ll probubly stick with this show until the bitter end no matter what, and even knowing it’s likely to be ultimately unsatisfying. 

Rainbow Prince (Pinoy musical - YouTube) Ep 2 - Remains stupid glorious. Started out with actual 1950s level Disney tinkle music. Creepy stalker ex-bf is creepy but the prince needs a job. Honestly it’s kinda acted like its a cartoon for children. I don’t know where I am with this show but I do not care. 

The Next Door Crush (Vietnam - YouTube) Ep 4 - didn’t drop, again. I might be giving this series a dnf at this juncture. It wasn’t wowing me anyway. 

You Are My Stupid Boy Ep 1-2 (Vietnam season 2 YouTube) - is a continuation of 2 existing couples Couple 1 (Troung & Khoa) from You Are My Sunshine and Couple 2 from Stupid Boys, Stupid Love (who I like better). SBSL couple brings with them a supportive female bestie who immediately goes up against the resident faen fatalle threatening YAMS couple. AKA the Anti-Faen Fatal... explosion immanent. I like it okay, but it’s a quar project (a bit talky and slow) and you probubly should watch the first two series first. Luckily they’re on YT under the same parent channel. 

Mr Cinderella (Vietnam - YouTube) Ep 8 fin - these two are great flirts and good kissers. We got a fabulously (and quintessentially Vietnamese) domestic ending. Technically this should probubly still get a 7/10 when compared to, say, the Thai stuff, but it just that much better than previous Vietnamese BLs and I’m giving it an 8/10. RECOMMENDED. 

In Case You Missed It

Thai BL short ZMaj sort just a min music video but with a little dialogue. 2 boys work at a cafe and a breakup drives them together. That’s James (Beer in Oxygen) & Nat from upcoming Bed Friend & Middleman’s Love. 

Gossip

The Thai redo of Love Stage!! looks a lot more like the original manga or anime. I’m excited about that a lot, actually, since I was very disappointed with the Japanese live action version. It looks like Thailand is brave enough to do the cross dressing element (could go horribly wrong but Turbo is gonna be SO pretty) and Kaownah actually looks like a great Ryo, less slapstick and more of a gentleman. This series will be long enough to deal with the BL side couple of the brother and the house manager too (younger seme, older uke, plus somewhat whipping boy). So yeah, you can tell, I’m excited. It’s a first for Thailand too, doing its own adaptation of something Japan has already tackled. Let’s see how Thai they can make it! You can watch the trailer here. I might be expecting to much from this one. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

One Love (unknown) & Physical Therapy (GaGa) both start tomorrow (Sunday). Physical Therapy has been described as “bittersweet” so WATCH OUT. My Ride (unknown) is supposed to start Thurs. For Friday Enchante will be taking over Bad Buddy’s time slot (on GMMTV’s YouTube) and The Love of Winter (YouTube) also starts. Love Stage!! is supposed to start Saturday (Aisplay - no idea on international) and Restart(ed) on Sunday (unknown). 

I’ve officially given up on Tell The World I Love You. I want to see it. But doubt I ever will. It’s been nearly a year and it’s still no where near out. 

Upcoming 2022 BL master post here. It’s now static (Tumblr has locked me out of editing it). It’s a bug, please just realize I can no longer use it to keep you updated on new announcements. It’s static as of Jan 15, 2022. 

This week’s best moments?

Still living for these two cuties. 

[btxtreads]

the world ends with you | choi yeonjun (1)

How can someone fall in love at the most incovenient time?

➴ Pairing: Choi Yeonjun x Reader ➴ Rating: R-13  ➴ Genre: Multiverse!AU, Fluff, Angst, My usual taehyun is the smartest out of everybody trope  ➴ Trigger Warning for the chapter: Death, Blood

A black void.

A field of purple and yellow pansies.

Y/N tried to call out to the void—for anyone, anything, anybody.

But there was no answer.

Y/N sighed through her nose, walking forward.

Well, at least she can move now. That’s a start.

It was eerie—the way she heard the wind rustling through the flowers, the way she can feel the cold gust breezing past her, but she doesn’t know where it’s coming from.

It was an endless walk, and endless field of white, yellow, and purple—wait.

There was someone, in the distance.

Y/N waved her hands.

“Hello? Who’s there?” She screamed as she neared. “I’m here!”

The figure didn’t reply. Maybe they didn’t hear her.

She walked closer.

“Hello?” She greeted.

Still, nothing.

She walked even closer.

And closer.

And closer.

Oh, it’s him again.

Y/N pursed her lips as she stopped in front of the figure, hunched over in a chair.

A crown of roses rested upon his head, his throat sliced and bleeding.

The way his eyes were closed and his body slumped, it was almost like he was asleep.

The corpse wasn’t scary at all, though—He looked majestic with his blonde hair, white clothes and flowers, making his corpse seemingly gentle as the chair he sat on a chair in a pond.

He was so beautiful, Y/N almost wanted to cry.

“Who did this to you?” Y/N asked, submerging herself to the pond and kneeling in front of him. “Who are you?”

The corpse suddenly gasped, opening his eyes.

Brown eyes.

Y/N locked gazes with him as she fell back into the pond and into the darkness.

She didn’t even get his name.

Y/N shot up, panting as she gazed around her.

She was in bed, her plush doll she cuddled to sleep haphazardly thrown off of her bed like it usually was.

Her sheets bunched around her—that must be why she felt so hot.

Not because she dreamt of the corpse. Again.

“Why was he dead?” She asked herself, grasping at  nearby notebook and writing it down.

Dead guy again. This time, no one was talking. But he woke up for the first time.

She sighed, taking a look at the other entries.

Dead guy. Voices: he just came from America.

Dead guy: Voices: he wants to go to a flower field.

Dead guy. Voices: he wants his Huening. What’s a Huening?

Y/N sighed as Namjoon, her older brother, bursted the door open.

“Rise and shine!”

“You rise and shine,” Y/N argued, tucking the notebook under her pillow.

“Rough night?”

“Same old,” Y/N shrugged, as she went to the kitchen. “Still dreaming stuff,”

“Wonder what it means,” Namjoon asked, humming in thought as he followed after the girl.

“You tell me,” Y/N snorted. “You’re the star man,”

“Cosmological Physicist,” Namjoon argued. “And I deal with science, not astrology. Plus, even if I was studying astrology, I doubt I can help you.”

“Yeah, I doubt that my sun sign can tell me why I’m dreaming about creepy shit,” Y/N snorted.

Namjoon only rolled his eyes, taking a seat by the table as Y/N helped herself to a cup of coffee.

“I don’t know what to say, Y/N,” he sighed, leaning his head on his hands. “You should go see a therapist about that. Maybe there’s some psychological thing about it?”

“Sure,” Y/N snorted. “Like they can help decode my annoyingly cryptic dreams,”

“It’s a suggestion,” Namjoon shrugged, checking the clock. “Anyways, you woke up late and it’s almost noon. Take a bath and get dressed,”

“What for?”

“Have you forgotten?” Namjoon snorted. “We’re seeing grandma today,”

“Sure,” Y/N made a move to go back to her room before turning back. “Hey, star man. You study universes, right?”

Namjoon rolled his eyes before nodding, making Y/N hum in wonder.

“Hey, what if this is like an alternate universe thing?” Y/N wondered. “Ooh, what if I’m time travelling to—”

Namjoon snorted.

“Okay, first of all, the multiverse theory is complex. There’s no way you’re travelling while you’re asleep unless you’re strong and fast enough to vibrate in the same frequency as that universe and strong and fast enough to throw yourself in and out of the universe in a night,” Namjoon snorted, amused at the idea of his sister travelling the multi-verse. “Or, every night for that matter.”

Y/N opened her mouth to argue, but Namjoon cut her off.

“No, not time-travel either. You’re not living a sci-fi movie,”

“What if I am though?”

“You aren’t,”

“You just don’t like it that I’m better than you,“ Y/N teased, wiggling her eyebrows. “What if I’m a scientific break-through?”

“Y/N, just go take a bath,” Namjoon rolled his eyes.

“Fine,”

It was a few hours later when the two arrived at their grandmother’s humble abode.

Namjoon wandered around aimlessly around the old house, confused.

“Where are the eggs?” He asked Y/N, making the girl snort as she assisted their grandmother to the kitchen counter.

“Stop panicking and sit with grandma before you poke your eye out with a fork,” Y/N snorted. “I’ll cook,”

Namjoon breathed out a sigh of relief as he plopped down on the chair next to his grandmother.

“You still don’t know how to cook?” His grandmother chastised, making him wince.

“I don’t know, Grandma. He made breakfast once, he burned scrambled eggs, so…”

“I didn’t know you had to flip it,” He muttered under his breath, as his grandmother laughed.

“Anyway, grandma,” Namjoon changed the conversation, embarrassed enough at his lack of cooking skills. “How have you been?”

“Oh, same old, same old, darling,” His grandmother gushed, patting his cheek. “Oh, and happy birthday, dearest,”

“It’s not my birthday,” Namjoon sighed, scratching the back of his neck.

“Grandma, it’s only July,” Y/N said, exchanging a sympathetic look with Namjoon. “His birthday’s in September,”

“Oh, is it? Silly me,” Their grandmother hummed. “Now, what are you concoting there, child?”

“Just a snack,” Y/N said, setting a pan on the stove.

Their grandmother smiled in wonder, humming dreamily.

“Ah, this reminds me of when I was younger. My mom would be in the kitchen cooking while my father sat with me,” Their grandmother reminisced, making Namjoon sigh in worry.

“Grandma, you should really rethink on our offer to stay with us,” He said.

“Oh, I can handle myself, dearest,”

“I’m sure you can, grandma,” Y/N sighed, turning back with a nod as she set a plate of food in front of the old woman. “But, we still worry,”

“Oh,” their grandmother gasped as she reached out to touch Y/N’s necklace, hanging from her neck. “Where did you get this?”

Y/N exchanged a look with Namjoon before shrugging and taking it off for her grandmother to observe.

“Just the mall. I thought it was cute,” Y/N replied, frowning. “Is something wrong?”

Their grandmother gasped, standing up with Namjoon’s assistance.

“Come here, dearest,” their grandmother whispered, pulling a box from underneath the coffee table and revealing a small music box.

Y/N sat next to the old woman, marvelling at the antique.

“What’s this?”

“Something my mother gave me,” Their grandmother gushed before urging them to pull closer. “Look, look,”

Namjoon sighed in boredom as Y/N gasped in curiosity.

Their grandmother turned the knob to open the music box, emitting a soft lullaby she has heard before.

“This is the lullaby mom always sung to you and me, Joon!” Y/N gasped. “I used to be so confused because it was in Korean and mom doesn’t know how to speak Korean, remember?”

“Our lullaby. Your mother couldn’t sleep without hearing it back then.” Their grandmother hummed. “It’s actually father who taught me, it was a lullaby from their family,”

“Great-grandpa Lee,” Namjoon said as Y/N hummed along with the music box. “Mom never told us about him,”

“Well, of course she wouldn’t. He died before your mother was born. He was a great father,” Their grandma told as she lifted the music box and pulled on a small switch at the side. “He left me this,”

Y/N gasped as a necklaced, with a pendant of a fossilized purple and yellow pansy, was pulled out of the music box.

“It’s beautiful,” Y/N gasped as Namjoon seemed confused.

“It’s just a flower,” Namjoon muttered, making Y/N roll her eyes.

“Your grandfather told me it’s from another world,” Their grandma whispered, like it was some sort of conspiracy theory and not a bed-time story. “This box was given to him by your great-great-grandmother, who got it from your great-great-great-grandmother,”

“So, an heirloom,” Namjoon said, taking the pansy for himself as Y/N thought to herself.

“It’s yours now, Y/N,” Their grandmother gushed as she urged Y/N to take the necklace. “Wear it,”

Y/N frowned as Namjoon gave her the necklace and clasped it on her.

Why does it look so familiar?

Y/N ran her thumb on the fossilized petal.

“There’s a long-running legend in our family,” Their grandmother told. “We always used to dream the same thing—over and over,”

“Excessive dreaming, huh,” Y/N crossed her arms. “So, it’s a genetic thing?”

Their grandmother continued like she heard nothing.

“The last one who dreamed was my grandmother, yes,” The woman hummed. “She dreamt about a field of purple and yellow flowers—that’s what she told me,”

Their grandmother sat still, deep in thought.

“I remember, she saw someone there. She never found out who or even got near them,”

Y/N frowned.

But she did.

Namjoon interrupted.

“That’s ridiculous,” Namjoon snorted. “It’s probably some fever dream passed down from generation from generation, through story-telling,”

Y/N looked over at Namjoon.

“Yeah, probably,” Y/N muttered.

No, it wasn’t.

That same day, Namjoon decided to stay over at their grandmother’s house for the night—just to be with her in the mean time.

Y/N frowned, thinking.

What could any of this mean?

Her hands shot out to her necklace, thumbing the petal once more.

“Joon?” She called out, looking up to find that she was in a world of black once more—smack dab in the middle of a field.

A field of flowers.

A field of pansies.

The necklace.

Y/N gasped, reaching up to her neck and feeling the fossilized petal once more.

So, it was sort of true.

Y/N wandered around the field aimlessly as she thought.

Her family had a line of people who dreamed about the same thing—maybe even the same boy—for centuries.

Her great-great-grandmother never got to the person, and she was the last one to have the dream—but somehow Y/N did.

Oh, right. The boy.

“Hello?” She called—no answer.

Y/N continued walking, wandering around aimlessly until she hit a figure in front of her.

She yelped, falling to the ground.

“Ow,”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” A male voice gasped, making Y/N snap her up.

It was the boy—still blonde, still beautiful, but very much alive.

There was no chair in sight, no crown of thorns and flowers—just him.

“Holy shit,” she muttered under her breath, making the boy burn red.

“Are you okay?” The boy asked as he helped Y/N come to a stand.

“Are you okay?” Y/N said, confused as she inspected the boy. “You’re okay?”

Unlike the other times, the boy wore a comfy gray sweatshirt with a slit on the shoulder and a backpack swung over his shoulders.

His usual well-kempt blonde hair dotted, topped with a flower crown, now looked somehow wind-swept.

There was no traces of wounds or blood anywhere.

He sent her a look of confusion, before looking to his side and back at her.

“Uh, are you lost?”

“You’re alive,” Y/N gasped, reaching out to cup his face in her hands.

Well, he definitely felt alive.

“Oh, wow,” Y/N gasped.

Yeonjun widened his eyes, gaining a look of recognition as his lips formed into an ‘o’.

“Wait, have we met before?” Yeonjun asked.

“In a dream, I think.” Y/N said. “Maybe I’m dreaming again,”

Yeonjun furrowed his eyebrows, raising his hand to cup hers on his face.

“This is my first time seeing you alive,” Y/N muttered to herself. “I can’t believe you’re alive,”

The boy tilted his head, grasp tightening on her hands.

“But, I’ve never been dead,” He replied. “Are you okay?”

Then, Y/N stopped.

The boy—he seemed all too real, all too warm, all too corporeal.

He kept frowning as Y/N noticed her surroundings.

Yes, she was in a field of purple and yellow pansies—but instead of a regular black void, she can see the vast blue skies above her.

Behind the boy approached another, with lavender hair just as windswept as the blonde boy’s in her grasp.

“Yeonjun-hyung, who’s this?”

Y/N’s grip dropped on the boy, mind racing a mile a minute.

The blonde boy shrugged, tilting his head as the lavender-haired boy stopped next to him to look down on the girl with a frown on his face.

“I don’t know, ‘bin. She said we met in a dream,” The blonde replied as Y/N looked back up at his brown eyes. “What did you say your name was again?”

That’s when she realized that, no—this wasn’t a dream.

[goddamnelsa]

Liz’s Top Books of 2020

blatantly stolen from @alamorn but also i wanted to feel accomplished that i did in fact read published books this year before descending entirely into mdzs/the untamed fanfiction :) :) :) :)

In two parts! Books I read that actually came out in 2020, and then honorable mentions of books I read in 2020 that were published in previous years. Enjoy!

Top Books Published in 2020 (which are not in any kind of order because I can’t like rank stuff, I’m not that kind of person)

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

What can I say except it’s N.K. Jemisin who wrote my favorite high fantasy series (The Inheritance Trilogy), won three consecutive Hugo Awards for her The Broken Earth trilogy, and she’s writing urban fantasy with Lovecraftian and superhero team flavor. I mean....obviously I was at the top of the wait list for this once my library ordered it. And it lived up to the hype!! Because of course!! It’s fabulously fast-paced with amazingly smart and interesting characters of diverse backgrounds. I kept thinking one of them was my favorite, and then another would have a great line and I would change my mind. It’s fine, they’re all technically one entity with several parts, so I can love them all and not choose (but it’s probably Bronca, let’s be real). And it’s the first of a series! And I’m counting down the days til there is more!

Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis

I definitely picked this up simply because Lindsay Ellis, one of my favorite video essayists, wrote it, and then ended up loving everything about it. I’m not usually one for First Contact stories, but I appreciate the very human-focused approach here, sticking solely to an ordinary girl’s perspective as she navigates being the person first in contact with a very alien alien. Cora’s attempts to humanize Ampersand are relatable, but I appreciate Ellis reminding us at almost every turn that Ampersand is super Not Human, no matter how much Cora reads into his actions. Ellis doesn’t gloss over the Science part either, especially when it comes to the race of aliens Ampersand belongs to. Again, the first of a series, and you will absolutely be screaming for the next book when this one is over.

You Had Me At Hola by Alexis Daria

Insert my obligatory “I don’t usually read romances blah blah blah.” Though, during lockdown, I attempted to branch out beyond my usual genres when I was attending a ton of publisher webinars about upcoming books. This one stood out to me because of its Latinx cast and the whole behind-the-scenes of a Jane The Virgin-esque show, based on a telenovela (of course). It is fantastic, a quick read with instantly likable and fun characters. And the tropes! We’re playing love interests but we have insane chemistry! A sensitive, traumatized male lead who learns to open up again! A sassy but insecure female lead who learns to let loose and love again! Hooking up, but we have to keep on the DL or else scandal! And of course, the extended families add to every scene they are in--I loved every interaction Ashton and Jasmine had with their families, it was the cherry on top of a fantastic read. Also the sex scenes are steamy. 

Beetle and the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne

I got this graphic novel as an advanced reader copy well before it came out, and after reading it, I was sCREAMING because I couldn’t tell all my graphic novel, queer coming-of-age-with-magic loving friends to immediately pick up a copy!! So thankfully, it’s out now, so I can scream to the heavens to please read this!!! It is such a sweet story with beautiful full-color art and fantastic world-building. It has the same silly, referential humor you see in a lot of kids/YA graphic novels these days, but Beetle packs in a lot of heart as well. 

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

Like many people in May/June of this year, I was reading, reading, reading a lot of books about racism from as many Black authors as I could get my hands on. There were many not published this year that should definitely be read (So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo being among the top), but this book really stuck with me because it is written specifically for a younger audience, and Jason Reynolds knows how to talk to kids about tough subjects. Stamped gets across difficult concepts like assimilationists and segregationists in an easy-to-understand, conversational style that doesn’t take away from any of the important history and nuance. This certainly is not The Book of antiracism studies, but it is a good starting point if you are daunted by lengthy title lists and aren’t sure where to begin. I highly recommend the audiobook as well, read by Reynolds himself.

(Side note: I watched this keynote address with Reynolds and Kendi which is an excellent primer into the background of how this book came to be. Reynolds is also just very interesting to listen to)

Honorable Mentions aka Books I read in 2020 that were published in previous years again, not ranked because I CAN’T, OKAY

White Is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

I read this book and then wanted to go back and read it immediately again, not necessarily because it was so amazing, but because I felt like I would get it even more if I did. This is a haunting little book that took turns I was not expecting, even with the book synopsis I read. It is disturbing and features descriptions of an eating disorder, so proceed with caution. However, if you like Gothic tales of haunted houses and the trauma inflicted on us by those who came before, I can’t recommend this one enough.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

My last book club read before the pandemic D: We didn’t actually get to meet to discuss this book, but my club (all librarians) were working at our emergency call center at the same time and all reading it, so we KINDA got to discuss it, if not in a formal book club setting. ANYWAY, it’s a thrilling jaunt through 1920s Mexico, following a fantastic Cinderella-esque heroine who makes a deal with a Mayan god to retrieve his body. If you are a fan of the Percy Jackson-brand of mythological adventures, this is definitely one to add to your list, especially if you are looking for something a little bit more Adult.

Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker

Okay, I know it’s a young readers/middle grade book, but HEAR ME OUT. This is whimsical and haunting tale about seven little fox kits who set out to scare themselves shitless by hearing scary tales. Only one kit will remain when the night is over, but the one who does will get to hear a surprisingly sweet, and well-earned, happy ending. If you are a Neil Gaiman-esque horror fan, I recommend picking this up. Its scares are fairly scary, especially for its audience, but it’s an engaging story about the lengths we will go for the ones we love.

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

Did someone say Navajo monster-hunting heroine with magic powers navigating a post-apocalyptic world, oh and also saving it??? Look, Maggie is My Kind of Hero, in that she’s damaged, she drinks too much, she’s surly, but she has a seriously gooey heart of gold underneath all that armor. Navajo mythology is woven into this tale of monster-hunting, surviving. If you’re in Supernatural-disappointment-land, maybe give this a try! It has that Western-y, road trip feel to it, and again, I love the lead character. (It also has a currently published sequel and a soon-to-be-released third book as well!)

This is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

This was rec’ed to me by a librarian friend, with the words, “Oh, Liz, you’ll really like this.” And she was RIGHT. Red and Blue are on opposite sides of a war waged across time and decide to send letters to each other, at first, to taunt, but then, to understand, to learn, and to love. The details of the war don’t matter much, but what does matter is the achingly beautiful poetry with which Red and Blue reveal themselves to each other. I was told to listen to this one, but I’m glad I read it myself instead. The prose is very purple at times, and I appreciated being able to go back to passages to reread again and again. Oh, and it’s queer (Red and Blue are both female), and SPOILERS SPOILERS has a happy ending. 

(also there is a wangxian remix for my mdzs buds. and also a semi-officially sanctioned fanfic sequel???? at least amal el-mohtar linked it from goodreads so whoo! also also it’s very funny)

And that’s my Year in Books 2020! Seeing it laid out like this, I had a surprisingly good year for book reading even though I felt like I barely read anything. For awhile, reading was Hard, and I just wanted to consume fluffy, sweet fanfiction, but I’m getting back into it. Oh, and please let me know if you check any of these out!

Here’s to a good year for books in 2021! ✨

[wombathos]

1.8 i robot... you jane

- this episode is so late nineties, it’s beautiful

- what is up with the starting scene where the pretty boy is asked to profess his love to the wrinkly moloch (the corruptor) demon 

- so i robot… you jane is a fun episode title (riffing off tarzan) (also asimov! specifically I’m guessing his robopsychologist stories got to admire the man’s commitment to cool scifi versions of psychology about positronic brains and stuff) and it’s not like those influences are entirely absent from the episode itself but… eh. the tarzan and jane stuff is there in the interactions between characters from different........ cultures, fine, I guess? and I suppose one form of a positronic brain would be some ancient demon consciousness as a machine, sure that’s what asimov had in mind

- the scanning magic words and thus letting the demon loose in the computer is admittedly a neat idea, playing off the whole ~power of the words themselves~ trope and trying to bring the magic and tech worlds together (though contrast with s4 episodes that just had unabashedly scifi villains like adam without needing to explicitly involve magic, iirc anyway). also like how the words disappear when they’re scanned - which reminds me of dark willow sucking those magic shop books dry, ~uploading~ them as a source of power

- bit of a tonal disconnect between a character going “I’m jacked in I’m jacked in I’m jacked in” but then in the next shot committing decidedly disturbing self harm

- “to read makes our speaking english good” is just a beautiful line

- one thing I appreciate about btvs episodes - as someone who gets really strong second hand embarrassment - is that even though main characters occasionally have to be idiots for plot purposes, they usually don’t go too far. willow does get suspicious pretty quickly when malcolm knows too much about buffy. and despite how it did tackle the whole ‘oh well you never know who you’re talking to on the internet!’ by going ‘it COULD be a robot/ancient demon’, which... well. it does at least devote some time to the students’ loneliness and why willow might want to believe that the internet guy is real

- “okay, for those in our studio audiences who are me?” nice fourth wall nudge by xander there

- the ‘suicide’ of the boy catches me unawares every single time I watch this episode. it’s such a jarringly dark moment. idk, it’s not like btvs doesn’t normally switch up tones and I can’t attest to how this would’ve played to audiences in the 90s, but I think where I struggle is that despite alluding to plenty of serious fears of technology, the actual plot is... really quite silly (especially the way the fritz character is written), but it doesn’t necessarily feel like the episode is acknowledging that in the same way other episodes might or even seem to be aware of it - so a lot of the dark stuff feels quite cheap and used only for shock value. hence the tonal disconnect

- the robot in the military facility gives it a proto-s4 vibe

- “the divine exists in cyberspace” ha

- about the technopagan thing - it is interesting as a s1-ism since after the early years there’s a lot of emphasis on magic and science as oppositional worlds, which is discussed a lot in relation to willow but isn’t exclusive to her either. like in a post-s2 world, they could’ve gone with willow continuing on with jenny’s path to find a sort of union of the two worlds, contrasting that with giles old-school approach, but they don’t, really. there’s moments where the two meet, like when willow uses magic to make a computer search go faster at some point in s6, but even for willow they mostly remain very separate? she’s adept in both, but in s4 it’s all about how she’s into all the ‘new age’ witch stuff now (not so much in love with those computers any more, she’s into that new trendy thing, get it, get it), then in s6 and in bits of s7, she tries to replace magic by going back to her computer skills. so there’s not really a lot of technopagan-ing going around (not really thought through the implications of this, but I feel like this could’ve been something interesting for her to explore in s7 when she’s trying to forge a new identity of sorts? then again, that would mean you’d need a concrete idea of what technopaganism constitutes beyond ‘using the computer to research stuff’ and ‘doing remote magic circles’ and the more I think about it, it does feel kinda gimmick-y. here it’s fine because it’s the contrast between new and old but… at most tech could be reintegrated into s7 in that faintly utopian noughties spirit of finding community through the internet and willow making her own way, reaching out to others like her, all that collective empowerment schtick) and WOW this is a tangent and a half, anyway

- this is an odd episode for cordelia to miss since it feels like she would’ve fit right into pushing the lonely nerds a little further in their loneliness and their ‘no one else understands me’ thing, except maybe given the dark turn of this episode, they felt like that’d make cordelia look a bit too bad/distract from the main plot

- speaking of lonely nerds, on the balance of s1 villains, the bullied do end up being the villains more often than the bullies, don’t they? for the former you get fritz, invisible girl, admittedly fake-out villain of puppet show. then while the nightmares kid isn’t bullied or a villain, he is abused and thus also a victim. for the latter, there’s the pack. other villains are a teacher, a coach and a mother - all authority figures - and then various vampires who don’t at all fit into the high school hierarchy. all in all, there’s a lot of characters using the supernatural to lash out at others, often their bullies, with sometimes more and sometimes less sympathy afforded to them. but then you also have the protagonists, who are themselves put-upon nerds but ones who don’t (yet) reach to supernatural solutions to dealing with their high school enemies, as well as the negative ways in which the figures at the top of the hierarchy, including cordelia, are portrayed throughout the season. so maybe there’s a fairly even split in how the supernatural is both used in tormenting the weak but also used by the weak to lash out in turn, reacting to their powerlessness (but not in a way the audience is meant to see as good or right)

- moloch telling willow “you are mine”, even robots are doing the male possessiveness thing these days

- “let’s face it. none of us are ever gonna have a happy, normal relationship” press f to pay respects

[detectivemarkiprincess]

THE VIEWER’S ROLE but first some notes

I'm back and looks like I missed all the fun! Ah well, I still have analyses to spew. I haven't been through the tag very much so if I repeat some stuff others have pointed out, forgive me. I may repeat some stuff that Gre has said too but I kind of have this particular post as a big analysis so bear with me. This is why I hate being late.

I was really pissed when I got back from the middle of nowhere to learn that Mark was releasing a video called “DAMIEN” because I had this theory that I never posted. It had to do with the “Korean Beauty” video thing. Y’know, this one.

With that whole monologue thing. Which was a teaser now that I think of it.

“Snow blankets the field, a pristine meadow of untouched white. No animals call. No birds cry. Only the steady rustling of wind through dead trees accented by the impact of his axe. A crack like thunder rings out as the ancient pine finally succumbs to his murderous assault. The old giant crashes into the ground. Dami-”

I would have brought it up if I HAD BEEN HERE. Sigh. I’ll be kicking myself about that one forever. Anyway. Time to theorize. 

The viewer's role in Mark’s story has been pretty fuzzy overall. But I had an idea. Actor Mark mentioned he was creating a story. He's the "hero," and Damien's the "villain." Yeah. Sure.

But you know Damien mentioned "other prisoners." We can assume it's our other beloved friends, Abe, Warf, the butler, etc. He probably meant us, too. So it occurred to me that everyone represents a role in the story as well. Before I get to that, let me go through a couple things that were really cool because I'm really happy that some of the stuff we've been pushing was right. We'll go through some of the video.

Man I love symbolism. My favorite was the tree branches spreading out like veins. 

We actually first noticed this in one of Mark's thumbnails for a game. And it actually looks like a lot of his thumbnails were teasing what was happening so go figure. 

PAY ATTENTION TO THE THUMBNAILS. Please.

Anyway, normally trees represent immortality or a soul. But it looks like in this video, they represented illusion. Or perhaps Celine’s protection. When they appeared in the window, Damien was thrown back into the loop and began again. And at the very end, we see the forest completely gone.

The illusion was gone. No secrets between siblings. Perhaps there’s a bit more to it, but I’m going to keep it short and sweet. Speaking of sweet, the flower.

Everyone seems to believe it represents Warf, and it probably does. Silly thing. But Gre pointed out that it also represents spring, a new beginning, change. If there’s one thing Warf has been doing, it’s getting people to change the routine. Throwing a wrench in the illusion. Pulling people out. He’s a wild card.

And after Damien saw it he began to sense things were off. Just like Abe did when he ran into Warf. 

A quick note on Warf: he’s an important character. He doesn’t seem to play a role in Mark’s story because he keeps breaking free and it seems all he can to keep him contained. And honestly? I don’t think Mark really messes with him because he’s scared of him. He’s going to play a key role, you can bet.

Back to business. The corpse. Oh I loved the corpse. 

Looks almost familiar huh?

All these lovely masked creepos. Not to mention the ten million I didn’t put here. Again. The thumbnails tell all. What I think is interesting about the corpse though, is that it’s this decaying ugly...well, corpse, but there seems to be a...fresher layer of skin over the face as well. Like. A mask. Fun details, I love this video, I love the art. An allusion to Mark in Damien’s body? Maybe.

I mean, he is the one wearing a mask and telling everyone to smile and wake up.

OK ON TO MORE THEORY-Y THINGS. Thank you for staying this long. So the HERO, the VILLAIN. What other roles are there? Abe is the silly detective trope and the chef and butler are obvious. 

Celine is...difficult to figure out. I wonder what exactly Mark gave up for her. I’ll try to pinpoint her another day. I did mention that Warf could be our wild card but, again, he breaks the roles and the rules. Then there’s us.

The viewer. The disembodied camera, if you will. Powerless to do anything but record the events. It kind of reminds me of old-ish books where the narrator was an actual character in the story, but they didn’t actually have an impact, they were just along for the ride to tell the story later. Stuff like The Great Gatsby, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Phantom of the Opera.

Then I learned about a big project in the making. A Heist With Markiplier? Apparently taking place after ADWM. Then I got thinking. Why would Mark, Actor Mark, want to take us along for a heist? If he’s so obsessed with being the hero you’d think a heist would be the furthest thing from his “beautiful” story he’s writing. 

Unless he means to blame you. You see, it occured to me that in ADWM, you seem to get in trouble for all his problems. He forgot the money, so you had to pay. If not, you both were kidnapped and you suffered for it. In the jail cell route, you were the one who had to fight the chef, even though this was all Mark’s fault. In the Dark Mark route he conveniently disappears when Dark shows up. It’s not you he wants, it’s Mark. But you’re stuck in the middle.

The van vlogs. It’s more lowkey and on a smaller scale, but he still bolsters his own ego when things go right and he takes the credit. When things go sour, he “jokingly” blames you.

Not to metion WKM itself. You were the only truly innocent party, caught in the crossfire, paying the price in a dispute for something you weren’t even involved in.

You’re the scapegoat. The blameless victim. We’re completely helpless, but we keep getting the short end of the stick, and can’t seem to do a damn thing to change it. 

We don’t have a choice. I wonder if that will change, however. It seems that everyone is eventually going through some sort of rebirth or shift in character. I wonder whether the choices we make will finally have an impact on this convoluted story.

Maybe it’s not groundbreaking, but it is an analysis, and you know how much I love those. I’m just really glad to get back into the swing of things, so expect more from us soon! Thanks for reading my mess of a post! Talk to us we love it!

~mod Fe 

[ladyfl4me]

A,E,F,G,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z ;o

Okay *cracks knuckles* let’s go! F, M, and S have already been taken from this list, so feel free to send in... B, C, D, or H, I guess. Yeehaw. This is really fucking long.

A: How did you come up with the title to [TMWCIFTC]? -- It started, as many things do, as a bad pun. The novel The Spy who Came In from the Cold was a cold-war spy thriller, about a British spy who goes over to East Germany as an apparent defect, except he’s actually there to spread misinformation and fuck shit up. He falls in love, becomes disillusioned with his superiors, and is shot dead over the corpse of his lover after climbing over to the east side of the wall. Needless to say, this is nowhere close to what happens in TMWCIFTC. I chose it early on because of the literal meaning: there’s a moth(man), he’s coming in from the cold WV weather, boom shaka laka, we have a title. Over time, though, it’s evolved into another meaning. Indrid himself is coming in from an isolated, lonely existence: he’s rejoining the family that cut ties with him, he’s in love, he’s warm and safe. The moth sure did come in from the cold, and hopefully he stays that way.

E: If you wrote a sequel to [TMWCIFTC], what would it be about? -- Hm. Considering my entire TAZ fic career is a tangled hairball of sequels and prequels, I kind of have this base covered. At the moment, TCOS - aka The Children of Sylvain, the sequel to TMWCIFTC - is about three things: a Pine Guard road trip race against time and the feds, the Spanish Sylvan Inquisition That Nobody Expected (least of all Jake and Hollis, who have to set aside their differences and past conflicts to save Kepler - and who knows, maybe they’ll fall in love along the way), and Alexandra the Interpreter getting woke to Sylvan politics and doing what she can from the inside to change them. In other words, it’s going to be a massive sequel that is the finale of the Amnesty alternate universe I’ve created. It’s this series’ Endgame. (That reminds me, I need an actual title for this collection of stories I’m writing. The “Tin Cinematic Universe” doesn’t quite have the ring to it that I’d like.)

G: Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order? -- eh, it kind of depends. It’s like a buffering bar on Youtube videos. I outline what I can until I run out of ideas, then start writing, then add outlines to the end, until the outline is complete and I just have to keep writing.

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)? -- I don’t have one for reading, but for writing, I fucking love structuring chapters around songs. Classical or otherwise, I love music. All my stories play in my head like a movie screen, and I just do my best to describe what I’m seeing in my head with an accompanying score. It’s not so much a guilty pleasure as it is a writing process. Frankly, I don’t think I actually have a guilty pleasure; the act of writing itself is all the happiness I need.

J: Write or describe an alternative ending to [insert fic]. -- An alternate ending for The Devil Went Down To Georgia would be... interesting. It ended with Boyd-as-Jersey-Devil scaring the pants off some poor broke college kid, who stole his worthless fiddle; then he changed back, and he and Ned went on their merry way to go break into Aubrey’s house and send everything down the drain. If there was one thing that I could change in there, it would be how fast Ned ran. If he ran a little faster, he would have seen the alley; he would have witnessed Boyd turning into the Jersey Devil, or at least turning back into himself; and he’d get a very rude awakening as to what Sylvans are and that his partner (in crime, and everything that mattered) was a fucking cryptid. God, that’d be a fun AU to write. Who knows, I might go do that someday.

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with? -- At the moment, the only angsty idea that I’m actually conceptualizing is a Hollis/Jake angsty breakup for TSG. (Spoilers, I guess.) I once wrote a very grimdark ending to TMWCIFTC where everyone fell through the ice and drowned. It wasn’t fun. I’ve also mentally killed off each Amnesty protagonist and NPC in various ways, but I never felt comfortable writing them down. I only write angst with a happy ending because those are the kinds of stories I need to hear.

L: How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting? -- 9 times out of 10, I just throw it into the void. I write as much as I can in big chunks, and then kind of hope for the best. TMWCIFTC, for example, is a completely unedited, unbetaed vomit draft. I usually do a quick reread of my oneshots to catch grammar and spelling errors, but other than that I just trust myself that it’s fine.

N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you? -- Can I get some kind of resolution for To the Edge of Night? Can I please get some kind of resolution for To the Edge of Night??? I was 14 chapters into that bastard before I a) became a more casual MCU fan and b) discovered TAZ. It was such a niche fic with such a niche structure - LOTR as galactic Asgardian propaganda to cover up Odin’s mistakes - that at some point I lost interest in it. I just saw Endgame though, so now I might get some inspiration for stuff to bastardize.

O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters? -- Characters. When coming up with character backstories, I can usually find ways to slot their lives together that necessitate a plot. I love character-driven stories, where their actions actually do shit and their words actually mean something, in favor of getting dragged along behind the plot like tin cans behind a car.

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?) -- I’m definitely an architect, but in a really messy way. My friends can attest that I do an insane amount of planning for each story - often in their DMs, sorry about that, Fae, Cro, Indy and Aline 😬 - and all that usually ends up in a stream-of-consciousness rant outline on Google Drive. Knowing where the story is going helps me a lot, but the planning I do is definitely just building flower beds in which to sow seeds. Or building a greenhouse. I plan the bare bones of a story, and things get really wild within it, but it does follow a logical plot structure.

Q: How do you feel about collaborations? -- I have a lot of respect for the people who can successfully pull it off, but idk if i’d ever want to do one myself. I get really possessive of my stories and ideas and like to be the one in charge of their execution. That being said, some collabs have produced amazing stories. I don’t mind reading collab fics, but actually being in a collab grates on me more than it should.

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence? -- I’m definitely influenced heavily by Neil Gaiman. I read American Gods and Good Omens a lot while I was trying to write TMWCIFTC; not only was it a good brain break, but I was able to pick up a lot of tips on scene pacing, concise yet expressive language, and character interactions. My creative wriitng professors have always told us to read so we know what to steal - not in terms of content, but in execution. 

On the fanfic side, @miamaroo is a huge inspiration for me. I’ve been reading Northern Migration a lot recently, and I love how its canon divergence is so worldshaking and so complex, but is still familiar in nostalgic yet terrifying ways. I read it back in October, went, “Huh, I wanna do something that wild. And if miamaroo can do it then I sure as fuck can too,” and I started planning TMWCIFTC during that one month dead zone the McElroys took last year. Northern Migration is one of the best, most coherent, most stunning, and most incredibly written TAZ Balance AUs I’ve ever read, and if I hadn’t read it, I wouldn’t have been inspired to take the fuckall huge plunge into TMWCIFTC.

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist? -- Bed sharing and cuddling, hand kissing, wrist kissing, whump, sympathetic villains. Canon divergent AUs are my absolute favorite things to both read and write. Anything that would turn me into Charlie Kelly slamming his finger on a bulletin board screaming, “CAROL,” is a fic I would give my life for. 

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand? -- Not a fan of a) woobification and b) flat villain characterization, to the point where the story is riding on villain tropes instead of an actual person or plot. Character nuance is always something I look for when I read. I don’t usually get bitter about tropes, though; some stuff, when subverted, works really well. I fully subscribe to don’t like, don’t read, don’t write, which is why I don’t write anything that warrants AO3 content warning tags or an Explicit rating, in favor of focusing on plot. Every author has a reason for what they write and how - be it their level of experience, personal preference, or simply the joy of writing something and getting it out there - and I respect that. Within reason, of course.

U: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much. -- 

@miamaroo, for reasons I’ve already discussed. My favorite TAZ Balance author hands down. Read Northern Migration and give it the love it deserves, or I’m replacing all the faucets in your house with silly straws.

@transagentstern. Fae has a bunch of absolutely incredible fics and an amazing grasp on characterization. We come from the same place with AUs, in that canon is but the bare planks on which we put the drywall of our plot an characterization. They structure AUs and character backstories from the ground up in believable and emotionally raw ways. Also they have great music taste. I especially like their interpretation of Indrid in Moth to the Flame; he, like all the other characters in the story, is far from perfect, and his character arc is explored in relatable ways that I love to read. 

@keplersheetz. Aline - theneonpineapple on AO3 - researches like a motherfucker and has a wealth of knowledge/experience/viewpoints to draw on, making author-author interactions with her an absolute delight. She’s also doing the lord’s work with rarepairs. Spin a wheel, find a ship, and she’s probably written for it or at least conceptualized it. Reading her character studies and stories of the old Pine Guard - aka Mama’s original crew, before the current PCs joined - is always a delight. I’ve also hashed out a lot of details for The Children of Sylvain, especially for Mr. Boyd Mosche, guilt-wracked Jersey Devil extraordinaire, with her help. 

V: If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose? -- Not gonna lie, I’m fine with a lot of stuff that’s out there right now. It’s been a hot few months since I’ve actually stopped to read fic, but from what I recall, most of the fics I’ve read have done a good job of keeping things intact.

W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones? -- The vaguer, the better. With really specific prompts, it usually feels as if the story’s been written for me already; with vague, general prompts, I have more agency to explore my own ideas. Some accompanying detail is usually nice, though. For example, the coffee shop/college/flower shop AUs that @transagentstern​ wrote are my ideal prompt for drabbles: premise, a little bit of open-ended detail, clear explanation of what’s going to happen while leaving the rest up to the imagination. Good stuff. If it’s for a long-form piece, though, I prefer full agency, or even just some time to lie facedown in the dirt and wait for an idea to strike me.

X: A character you enjoy making suffer. -- Yes.

Y: A character you want to protect. -- Tim.

Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate? -- I do read lots of major character death, yeah, though not always for TAZ. There’s something cathartic about seeing a character die, but sometimes it sits wrong with me in ways that I don’t like. As for writing, I’d rather kill a character for a reason rather than for shock value/for the Feels, though said Feels can accompany the reason. 

[joyofcrime-elinorhigh]

Powerpuff Girl 2016 REVIEW: Part 2

Point Four: The Chararcters  So now that I've talked about the pre-show controversies I can now move on to the show itself (only two thousand words in!) And the most importaint part of any story, at least in my unprofessional opinion is the characters! So how do the reboot characters stack up to there 1998 counterparts? What is the same and what is different? Well the best place to start is with the girls themeselves, so let's jump into this, shall we?  Blossom is the commander and the leader. She is also the most drastically changed between versions. This old version of Blossom was the responsible leader. She was the smartest of the three girls and wanted everybody to do things her way. She was useally the voice of reason of the three girls. This version of Blossom is still the leader, but they tone done the responsible aspect and play up the smart aspect. Now I'm not saying she's not responsible, but there tends to be a lot less focus on that aspect of her. Instead the focus seems to be on her being the steriotypical "nerd" archtype. Now I'm not agianst the idea of this, as it could be interesting to see Blossom be a little nerdier and maybe even less popular than her two sisters because of that, but they don't really do that here, or at least not thus far. Instead they mostly focus on same "OCD needs to be in control, neat freak nerd tropes" that we've seen from other characters in a ton of other cartoons. Over all I think Blossom is my least favorite of the three girls in this incarnation, but than agian she's also had the least ammount of episodes about her so far (which is odd since she is the leader.) Maybe she'll improve as the show goes on but I feel like she's really been flanderized in this show. Maybe if they tonned it down a bit and focused on how being so smart and nerdy effects her as a character, or if the "nerd jokes" where just more original maybe I would like it more. Hopefully it will improve as the show goes on, but so far I say that Blossom is a down-grade.  Bubbles is the Joy and the laughter. In the old version Bubbles was the kindest of the group. She was sweet, ditzy, loved animals, and was kinda a cry baby. Dispite this she could definetly go hard core an once assulted a innocent dog. Now, how does she stack up in the new show? Well don't you worry, she still assulted an inncocent dog in the new series, so y'know, character saved. (Did Bubbles ever assult an innocent dog in Powerpuff Girls Z?Tell me in the comments if she did, and if she didn't she should of.) Now Bubbles in this show is pretty close to how she was in the old show, while still being different enough to be a new version of the character. She's still super cute, in fact she might even be cuter in this show because of the funny things they do with her eyes and facial expressions and the fact that Kristen Li has the cutest frickin' voice ever! This version of Bubbles still has the hard core streak she had in the old show, though unlike in the old show where her changes from sweet to hard core gradually this Bubbles will switch to hard core mode for one second and then switch back a second later like nothing happened. This leads to some very funny comedy, to me at least. She also seems a lot ditzier in this show, as she tends to just ramble nonsensically whenever she tries to make a point. (She actually reminds me a lot of Elinor from "Elinor High" to be honest.) She's also a coder now. At first I thought it was weird that Bubbles was the coder instead of smart girl Blossom, but as I thought about it I started to like the idea of Bubbles being the coder instead. I liked as it showed that being a coder didn't just require intelegentce but also creativity. It also helps makes Bubbles look smarter by showing that she can do something that her sisters can't do, besides speaking Spanish. Out of the three girls in this reboot, Bubbles is easily my favorite.  Buttercup is the toughest fighter. She is also the one that the show and the marketing is really pushing. Now a lot of people seem to be annoyed by how much the show is pushing Buttercup. I admit that CN might being going a bit overboard with all the Buttercup, but I don't mind as much as other people do because Buttercup isn't an awful character or anything, and it's not like there not pushing the other girls as well. It's not like in Teen Titans Go! where 80% of the episodes are just about Robin. I kinda understand why CN is pushing Buttercup. When I was a five year old boy Buttercup was my favorite of the girls because she made me feel less insicure for watching a "girl show" (also green was my favorite color of the time so that might of had something to do with it) Now I know now that that resoning was kinda silly, but when you're five you think of things like that! So I wouldn't be suprised if CN is pushing Buttercup to help get the "Girls have cooties" demo. I mean this show is targeted at children so I wouldn't blame them for doing that, but I have no proof, maybe that's not the reason there doing this. Maybe they just like Buttercup, I don't know.  Anyway, in the old show Buttercup was the mussle of the group, and the team tomboy. In this show she is also like that. She seems a bit more mischiveous in this show, Which isn't nessicarily bad thing. This mischiveous nature is the biggest change between this Buttercup and the old version. This Buttercup seems to be a bit more joke-y and maybe it's just me but she seems a bit dumber. Granted she wasn't a genius in the old series or anything but that's at least how it feels to me. She seems to also be a bit jerky-er too but it is in the jerk with a heart of gold way. She does feel remorse when she does something wrong, like when she was responsible for hurting Bubbles on accident or loosing Octi. If Blossom is my least favorite of the girls in this series and Bubbles is my favorite than I would say that Buttercup is the one I feel the most indifferent too.  All three of the girls seem a bit more childish, which is an interesting ideea for the series. In the old show they pretty much acted like adults unless an episode had them doing something childish, sort of in that "Calvin in Hobbes" way. Here they are children. This show keeps in mind the idea that they are suppose to be five years old. Granted they do act a bit older than five but between the way they sound and the way they act they deffinetly seem to be trying to play up the fact that they are little girls, and I don't really have a problem with that. It's a unique way of seeing the girls.  But it's not all about the girls, we also have the other characters, old and new. I'll go over them quickly because this section is already pretty long already and a lot of the characters we've only seen once of twice thus far. The Professor is still the Professor. He's still the doting father like he was in the old show. (The Professor still acting all supportive during the talent show, even though the building was on FIRE is still one of my favorite jokes in the series XD)  The Mayor is still the Mayor. He's stupid, silly and far less annoying than he was in season five and six of the old series. He also shows a level of competents as he's been shown to not only survive alone on Monster Island and was able to fight of the Bikini Sisters. Ms. Keane is still the same, and theres some controversy about her not having boobs in this show, or something like that. I mean that seems like such a minor thing, I mean are you really this upset that this school teacher is boob-less? It's just a design change. I don't see how her laking boobs is sexist like some people are saying, it seems like such a weird thing to complain about.  On the villian side of things Mojo seems to be about the same as he was in the old show. We've seen his silly side, which is true to the character but I hope we do get to see his villianous side as the series goes on. Also he seems to sometime refer to himself in the third person. Was this something he did in the old series, I honestly don't remember. Like i know he said thins like "I am Mojo Jojo" but did he ever refer to himself as just "Mojo Jojo?" He doesn't do this all the time but it just seems a little weird, espically because he DOSN'T do it all the time. Anyway Him seems to be pretty much the same, though I have to say his apperance in "Tiara Trouble" wasn't as scary as he was in the old show. However that episode wasn't just a Him episode,  it also had a lot of other villains so maybe that's the reason why it wasn't as scary as the old show. However it was still pretty creepy in it's own right and totally seems like something Him would do. Princess, as stated partically last time, is a lot less whiny. She seems a lot more just full of herself and they make a lot more jokes about the absurd things she has because of her wealth. We also got some new Villains like Manboy, The Bikini Sisters, and Packrat. Manboy can be kinda funny with the absurdity of some of the stuff he can do, I also like the idea that he isn't actually a man, but a little kid who acts like a man. It makes his sexism a lot less cliche and more understandable because he's probably about the same age as the girls. My only concern is that I'm not sure if his theme is really deep enough to be a recurring villain. I mean I'm not sure how many jokes you can make out of him being manly, but we'll have to wait for him to appear in more episodes to see if he's more than just a one trick pony. Also I think it would be adorable if he had a school boy crush on Femme Fatale. That would be amazing. The Bikini Sisters meanwhile I think are kind of weak. There only real gimmik is that there fashionable, and that one of them is a gorrilla. I mean we already have Mojo as our monkey villain and another one just seems like overkill. Bianca was actually pretty threatening when her hair got all messed up and was attcking the Mayor trying to stab him, but other than that there not that interesting. At least so far. Plus they feel kinda simular to Sudussa, even down to becoming the Mayor's aid. I like Packrat and his Gollum meets Magpie from Batman style personality. He's probley my favorite of the new villians, as the idea behind his character is pretty good, and the show seems to show him at least somewhat symathetically. Plus I'm interested to see where the show will go with him having the robo-cast.  One thing I do like about this show though is the introduction of some allies for the girls. The Derbytantes I actually really like and would love if they came back as a semi-reccuring characters. Same thing with Donny the Unicorn. I like the idea of the girls getting some recurring allies along with enimes, and maybe even becoming some kind of Justice Leauge Unlimited style thing. This probley won't happen but I think it would be kinda interesting if it did.  Now to move on to the big controversy. Well, maybe not the biggest...like in the top five in terms of controversies this show has had. Ms. Bellum is no longer in the show. The creators said that they don't want to use her, as she doesn't match the show. Now everybody has assumed that the reason for this is because of how sexual she was in the old show and this show is trying to more femminist, and this is a bad thing because Ms. Bellum was a role model and yada yada yada. Now I just want to say, first and formost, that the creators NEVER gave a reason on why they replaced Ms. Bellum. We ASSUME it's because of how sexualized she was but we don't know. Not one hundread percent at least. Now personally, I think that getting rid of her was a bad idea. I think she is a good foil to the Mayor and without her there isn't really an explenation of how the city manages to run (I mean the Mayor himself wouldn't be able to keep order) I also don't like the way they got rid of her, because the explantion expects you to be upset this character is gone when in THIS series we've never even seen this character before. If you're a kid, and you've never seen the 98' series you would have no idea who this character is and why everyone is sad that she is gone. If they didn't want to use Ms. Bellum than I feel it would of been best if they just never brought her up, saying she just didn't exist in this universe. Though then people would be mad that they didn't explain why she's there and that would of started a whole new controversy, so I see why they did it. It's just not they way I think they should of went with. Part 5: The Story and Humor  So now that we know about the characters, it's time to talk about the story and the humor. Honestly this, along with the animation, is where the show falls flat. The show, at least to me, isn't all that funny. Most of the jokes aren't that bad, and there are some really good jokes that feel one hundread percent at home with the writting of the old show, but for the most part the humor just doesn't really stick out all that much. This is kinda a problem, espically since the show doesn't really focus as much on the action. I don't really know what else to say about the humor to be honest, it's just pretty average, and compared to the humor of other current Cartoon Network shows it seems a bit sub par.  The stories for the episodes also have some problems. Now in order for me to talk about this i might have to go into spoiler territory on a couple episodes, so if you don't want to know spoilers you might want to skip this part of the review. Some episodes seem oddly paced, and try to shove in way to much into an eleven mineute episodes. An example of this is in the episode "Tiarra Trouble", where we have to juggle the main plot about the girls trying to win the talent show, the rivalry with Princess Morbucks, all of the villains also entering the contest, Princess turning into a monster, and the introduction of Him! You honestly could of cut out Mojo, Fuzzy, and the Gang Green Gang from the episode entirely and lose pretty much nothing story wise. Another example is in the episode "Princess Buttercup", where we have to show the the Derbytantes and there character arc, Buttercup and her character arc, Blossom and Bubble's perspective, Princess evil plan, a giant monster attack, and a final battle. There are more episodes like this, however these types of episodes do seem to be becoming less common, as newer episodes seem to be keeping there focus a bit more.  Another thing with the story in this series is that a lot of episodes seem simular to episodes of the old show, which I guess I can understand as the old show ran for six seasons, but still. Now this show does not have any episodes that DIRRECTLY rip off the old show, I want to make that clear now, but a lot of episodes do feel simular in story and message. Some examples include "Strong Armed" and "Bubblevicious" are both about Bubbles trying to prove she can be strong, features Bubbles fighting with her sisters, and as previously metions features Bubbles assulting a innocent dog. "Bye Bye Bellum" and "Something's a Ms." Both involve a villian replacing Ms. Bellum as the Mayors assistant. And "Man Up" and "Now and Zen."  are both about Buttercup trying to become more peaceful. Again, there are more examples than this, and the show does change things up a bit, like how in "Man Up" Buttercup becomes a hippie and in "Now and Zen" it's more of a monk type thing, but still. It is something that is notcable if you've seen the old series.  This will conclude Part 2 if the Powerpuff Girls 2016 series REVIEW for now. In Part 3 we will discuss the difficultly of making a reboot in this day and age, and the dankiest of memes. I hoped you enjoyed this review, and remember that I am in no way trying to push my opinions on anybody, i just wanted to take a look at this show in I way that I don't see many other people doing. If you liked this than you might also like the first part of this review or my on-going series "Cartoon Thoughts." Or maybe you would like my webcomics, "Joy of Crime" and "Elinor High." Either way I hoped you liked the review, and have a great day.

  https://www.deviantart.com/joyofcrimeart/journal/Powerpuff-Girls-2016-REVIEW-Part-2-604161979 DA Link

[groundramon]

Do you have a list of like top 5 tv shows? (Cartoons and anime included)

!!! Yes I do, actually!

I’ve actually thought about doing a YouTube video about this in the past, and while I do want to do list-like videos (and I already have at least one in mind) in the future, I put off doing this one because it actually…depends greatly on where certain shows I currently like are headed because some currently-airing shows would be on this list if they hit their full potential, but who knows if they’ll hit their full potential. Also I always split anime and cartoons into two categories because I always had a hard time picking otherwise xD But I do have some semblance of a list, and I adore talking about this kind of stuff, sooo:

5. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

This spot is kind of a three-way tie between Voltron, Bojack Horseman, and FMAB, all for extremely different reasons. So consider Voltron and Bojack my honorable mentions. But while I believe Bojack’s best is honestly some of the (if not the) best out there, and if Voltron promises through on what they’ve promised it will easily skyrocket up this list, Bojack’s worst is everything I hate about Hollywood and Voltron just has too many holes at the moment.  FMAB has the best of both worlds because it has great animation like Voltron, doesn’t have any of Bojack’s bad kind of moments, and doesn’t have many holes in it.  (Another honorable mention goes to BNHA, but like Voltron, I just don’t think it has had enough time to develop all the way. Unlike Voltron, it doesn’t really have any holes, but I do have a problem with how strictly it adheres to cheesy super heroes of the past.)

BUT onto FMAB itself. God cmon, its FMAB, do I really need to elaborate why its so great? The characters are compelling, their motivations are powerful and interesting. I could write an essay examining Ed’s character alone, because he has so many interesting motivations and morals that seemingly conflict with his angry disposition, and I don’t even like Ed that much. The story is exciting - there’s basically no filler, and it almost moves too fast at points. I do have problems with the show - as I said, it goes too fast. The only two deaths in the season happen in the first 12-15 episodes of the series, and although I think that’s because the original FMA animated those scenes already, it still fucks with the pacing of this show. Additionally, despite Lust, Gluttony, and Envy all being revealed before, the show introduces a completely new villain - Greed - to introduce the homunculi. And then they kill Lust - the presumed leader of the first three introduced homunculi?? Idk man, the show barrels in a completely different direction way too quickly. But other than that, its a great show. The only reason it isn’t higher is because I’m a biased shit towards other good shows.

4. Teen Titans

Speaking of being a biased shit, idk if it shows or not, but I have a HUGE soft spot for corny kids shows that try to give kids bad laughs and dark/relatable storylines, or rather, have a heart while doing so. Its not so much that I like a balance of comedy and darkness in my shows - although that’s a good thing, I eat pure angst up and I’m all-for pure comedy shows that have the aforementioned heart (ie we bare bears, another good show not on this list) - its just specifically corny pun-ridden teen/tweeny-feeling shows/games that actually have a decent story underneath that get me. (Also my sense of humor aligns much more with shitty teen lingo and puns than modern cartoon humor that’s considered “good”. Like I find Teen Titans 10x funnier than I’ve ever found Steven Universe. I’m a 90s kid at heart even tho I wasn’t alive in the 90s)

But the biggest impact of this show for me was the heart and the plot. The silly moments made me laugh, sometimes iromically and sometimes unironically and sometimes I wasn’t sure how, but it was the story that really gripped me. The first season’s overarching plot for Robin is honestly one of the most compelling things I’ve seen in kids cartoons…period. Its dark, its unique, its a subversion of such a simble and broad trope. Sure it had a nice cheesy ending but Robin actually saves the day through INTELLIGENCE, something he always had. No other Teen Titans ending did that, but I digress.

And god, do not even get me started on Terra’s arc. Just because Robin’s was the most well-structured arc doesn’t mean his was the most emotional. I was fucking distraught after Terra’s season. Those memes weren’t a joke, I legitimately cried right in front of my mom. IT WAS SO OBVIOUS, BUT IN MY BLIND LOVE, I MISSED ALL THE SIGNS… and god, even when she comes back, even when she’s given a happy ending, she manages to make me cry AGAIN. I never, ever thought I could cry over a character like Beast Boy, but she made me do it. I didn’t even cry when Sokka’s girlfriend died, but this really, really got to me. Once for personal attachment, and the second time because…the finale is so good. Literally its Bojack levels of deep, emotional, and realistic, and this was the ending of a fucking kids show. What the fuck. To this day I still get emotional whenever something reminds me of her arc. Which brings me to my next series…

3. Cybersix

Hi so did I mention Cybersix is really good? Because Cybersix is really good.  I’m not even done with it but yeah, I love this show.  It’s got an amazing art style, great animation, an intriguing story…I have a feeling I’m gonna be really disappointed when it ends because I’ll want to know what happens next so badly.  I like the characters, I like the aesthetic, I like the old-timey music that dates this cartoon so wonderfully, I even like the romance between Lucas and Cybersix/Adrian!  How’d you make me do that.  Oh yeah, because it’s not hard to get me to care about a mutually rewarding relationship that’s gradually built up through a friendship, then an aesthetic attraction, then presumably a relationship but idk yet, where both parties care about one another and their boundaries and have gotten along well since the start.  I forgot.  (I could nitpick that Lucas doesnt have the same buildup for the relationship as Cybersix [its complicated, basically he’s friends with Cybersix’s alternate persona Adrian but he’s in a relationship with Cybersix, and he doesnt know theyre the same person] but I’m not gonna.)  It’s just…a good show man.  @ hollywood, reboot THIS you cowards.  Stop rebooting shit nobody wanted a new version of and reboot shows that were ended to quickly.  Actually dont reboot Cybersix because the only animation studios that would be able to do it any justice are Studio Mir and anime studios, and whoever owns the current copyright to Cybersix would probably be okay using flash for it

2. Digimon Adventure (with a honorable mention to Digimon Tamers)

You can rip my love for the entire Digimon franchise from my cold, dead hands.  I’m sincerely surprised any show passed up my love for this show.  If/when the currently airing series in Japan gets brought over here, I’ll watch it, even though Digimon has kind of abandoned what made it so great in the first place.  But hell, even Fusion was enjoyable - the second arc, from what I remember, was pretty dark and interesting (im still mad they got rid of the two best characters tho) - and the only reason I disliked Data Squad so much is because of Marcus (that and it doesnt have anything else that’s absolutely stunning, in fact from a technical standpoint Marcus is the best thing about the show).

But there’s a reason I put Digimon Adventure here and not the entirety of the Digimon franchise.  Digimon Adventure is what started it all.  No Digimon season has as much heart in it as the original.  Sure the animation improves each season, sure Tamers is probably better story-wise on a technical level, but I dont think any season matches the raw charm of the original.  It was so charming, in fact, that what was supposed to be a 13-episode miniseries evolved into a massive franchise that’s still beloved to this day.  Hell, there’s still content being released for the 8 Digidestined of this season!  It’s right alongside Pokemon, Invader Zim, Hey Arnold, and all these other beloved 90s/early 2000s cartoons that are being revived in recent years, and I think that says a lot.

I wasn’t even alive when Digimon Adventure was airing, but I loved the Digimon games I had played so much that I went out of my way to watch it.  And I…loved it.  Sad as it may be, it was the greatest TV show I had seen at the time.  Growing up in the late 2000s watching only Nickelodeon and CN was not a good period to grow up in, and I never saw Avatar as a kid.  By the time the 2010s had rolled around, I had mostly given up on cartoons, and besides, they were all fugly.  I still tried to watch some, but just…the humor didn’t grip me, they seemed dumb, and they weren’t pleasant to look at.  (Okay the main shows I’m vaguing about are Adventure Time and Regular Show, as well as whatever Nickelodeon was doing but I begrudgingly put up with Nickelodeon for the most part because I preferred Nick and I never knew what else to watch)  Then Digimon came around, and hol-y-shit.  The characters were like nothing I had ever seen before, the storylines engaging and interesting.  Sure it was cheesy, but there was 95% less fart jokes than the average cartoon, a good story, and actually relatable characters that actually go through hardships and actually change for the better!

Digimon Adventure has been and always will be proof to me that no matter what you are, no matter what your show is, you can make a good show out of it.  If you get people who care, who can make relatable characters, who can come up with an interesting story, you can make a good show.  Digimon Adventure is basically a big long toy commercial, and yet its better than lots of shows that dont even have merchandise - and its also better than a lot of shows that have merchandise now, but weren’t created to sell toys in the first place.  I just.  Love it a lot.

Also, the reason I specifically chose Digimon Adventure, outside of having a personal attachment to it since it was always my favorite, is because Tamers hecking scared me as a kid and I’ve never gotten over how creepy the last arc is.  Like it’s good, but it still scared me.

Honorable mentions: Bojack Horseman, Voltron: Legendary Defender, We Bare Bears, Gravity Falls (thats a big one, it would definitely be on this list if I had 10 spots, and will gladly take the 6th spot if Voltron doesnt follow through or Bojack goes south), Over the Garden Wall,  the aforementioned Digimon Tamers ,and Infinity Train might be #2 or at least #3 if it wasnt just a single episode l m a o

1. A tie between Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra

HI SO YEAH if you didnt expect this then you dont know me //BRICKED

Before I explain both, I want to be very clear that I’m not counting them as a single entity.  No, I just cant pick between them.  They’re two extremely different shows, and I actually agree with people who say ATLA is overall a more-rounded show.  Problem is, I watched both during a period of my life where politics and darkness make an extremely interesting show for me (aka the current period of my life) and thus its a very biased and “nostalgic” pick, just like Digimon Adventure.  Had I watched these shows when they were airing, I dont know if LOK would even be on this list.  Heck Digimon adventure probably wouldnt be on this list since ATLA would’ve held the crown for my favorite show for all those years.

They both have amazing animation and solid writing, but that’s about all they have in common in my eyes - even though they share the same world.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a kids show.  Through and through, its a kids show.  That’s not an insult in the slightest though; no, the fact that they can make something so sophisticated and enjoyable that still clearly appeals to children is really a testament to their skills.  Many kids shows that try to take on heavier/darker stories feel like completely different shows when they try to do that - shows that arent intended for kids.  Voltron and SU are the most notable examples of that, but even LOK has a little bit of that (but in LOK’s case, its the entire show, so I kinda give them a pass lol)  Other shows do it okay (Gravity Falls) but really the only show I’ve ever seen match Avatar’s perfect balance of comedy and seriousness is Bojack, which isn’t a kids show so it has an advantage over Avatar.

Avatar’s world is fanciful and larger than life.  I’m so sad that I watched Avatar and LOK after my fanfiction days; I would’ve loved to spend nights thinking about a potential Avatar story, complete with my own Avatar and original cast.  I could put it before Avatar, after LOK, who knows? but it would’ve been so much fun.  Hell I HAVE thought about Avatar stories, but I obviously dont have much thought up on any of my potential ideas.

The pacing of Avatar is golden.  How a show wish such good pacing got through Nickelodeon, I dont know, but whatever deal allowed Avatar to go on for three seasons and then end was a once-in-a-life-time deal (as evident by what happened to Korra).  Somehow this show came out almost completely perfect, with few or no flaws.

This is the pinnacle of children’s entertainment, in my opinion.  This is proof that there’s no excuse for the garbage that makes up 90% of children’s entertainment.  The standard doesn’t have to be this, since this is the best, but this show is proof that we need to raise the standard.  I wish executives actually gave a shit about quality; if they did, maybe we could get mostly good shows instead of mostly bad shows.

If most shows were half as good as Avatar, the average show would be gorgeously-animated, smartly-written, and really good, even if it had a flaw here and there.  If most shows were half as good as Avatar, Steven Universe would be the average instead of a godsend.

If I someday, somehow make a show that’s 2/3rds as good as Avatar, I’ll officially be a good writer.  I’d love to make tons of shows just as good as Avatar, but hey, I cant get TOO cocky now lol

Now for The Legend of Korra.  Korra has slightly better animation (god i love studio mir) and different but still intriguing worldbuilding.  I know a lot of people found the political bs to be annoying, but I actually found it quite intriguing.  Avatar did a little bit of exploring moral gray areas and playing with politics, but Korra just goes all-out.  I wish the first season’s morality could’ve been a little grayer, but even then, the politics were still interesting.  And god, that one scene in the first season finale, the murder-suicide…that’s still a really powerful scene.  The entire finale would’ve been super powerful were it not for everything resetting by the end of it, but hey, they basically did the same thing in season 3!

Holy shit though, season 3.  An on-screen strangling.  Someone exploding themselves to death.  And then the finale’s fight.  The finale’s fight. The finale of season 3 is one of the most intense things I’ve seen…ever.  The atmosphere in that fight is just…so good - combined with the animation and choreography, its just amazing.  You can almost feel every hit, you actually feel concern for Korra, you’re legitimately concerned for her life.  And you know what?  You should’ve been!  Because she almost dies, and she has to suffer the consequences of that.  The fourth season has a time gap in-between, but even then, she spends episodes trying to fully recover.

In my opinion, the only thing making Korra a kids show is Milo.  I’m certain they put him in there because otherwise, it wouldn’t have been allowed to be called a kids show.  It’s dark, its intelligent, its beautiful, and it’s going to go right over most kid’s heads.  As a kids show it does kind of fail; it just doesn’t really appeal enough to them.  Once you’re old enough to understand, say, Naruto or Dragon Ball you should be okay, but ATLA appeals to all ages while Korra really needs a certain maturity in its audience to be understood and to not scare its audience.

They’re just both. so good

(thanks for the ask!!!)

[breeeliss]

Marinette is wearing a flower in her hair and bee!Chloé cant control herself for the Marichat tropes.

im glad that maribee!marichat tropes are becoming a thing :P

words: 1695

“Okay, so it says I need to get a package of puff pastry.”

Marinette snorted and spoke with her mouth full. “Strike one. Store bought puff pastry is abominable.”

Queen Bee frowned. “Obviously I would get the expensive kind.”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s all sub-par. You gotta make that stuff from scratch otherwise what’s the point?”

“Not all of us live in a professional bakery, Marinette!”

Marinette stuck her tongue out. “That sounds like a ‘you’ problem.”

Queen Bee plucked up some of the mille-feuille crumbs from her plate and threw them in Marinette’s hair, laughing when the girl screamed in outrage. “Don’t sass me, I’m a superhero!”

Marinette shoved a foot against Queen Bee’s thigh, jokingly trying to shove her from her dainty perch on her balcony railing. “I’m giving you my professional opinion.”

“No.” Queen Bee reached over and tapped her on the nose. “You’re making things difficult by not giving me the recipe for these things and forcing me to do research.”

Marinette shrugged. “Family recipe. Sworn to secrecy. Sorry, my dear.”

“I wouldn’t tell anyone! Surely you’d trust me over anyone else.”

“Your sterling commitment to civic duty is not enough of a reason.”

Queen Bee pouted and handed Marinette’s phone back to her. “Fine. I’ll just starve then.”

“Or you could just come back during opening hours and buy some.”

Queen Bee smirked. “Why would I do that if I can just tap on your window and get some for free?”

“Oh, I see,” Marinette said with an eye roll, pulling out the second box of pastries she’d brought with her to the roof. “So I don’t benefit from this arrangement huh?”

“Of course you do, silly,” Bee said. “That Ladyblog girl breaks her neck trying to get exclusive interviews with the four of us and here you are with straight-from-the-source access to anything you could ever possibly want to ask me. Surely you have questions.”

“Yeah just one,” Marinette nodded solemnly. “Who told you that blue eyeshadow and yellow went together?” Marinette burst into giggles when Bee reached over and gently slapped her on the shoulder and started ranting about her elaborate plans to slowly gain her trust and pull this top secret Dupain-Cheng recipe from her one of these days. 

Queen Bee was really fun to tease, and Marinette wasn’t quite sure why. She reminded Marinette of Chat Noir in the sense that they were both really strong personalities that tended to be just a touch over the top. The difference was that it was obvious that Chat Noir liked to play it up for the sake of being funny and teasing Ladybug – two of his most favorite pastimes. However, Marinette was convinced that Queen Bee really was this dramatic on a day-to-day basis. She was a ferocious fighter and was more eager than the three of them to jump straight into the action, but would do things like complain about flying on hot days, scream out in horror in the middle of an akuma battle because of a broken nail, or whine melodramatically in front of a closed bakery sign after forgetting that businesses closed early on Sundays. 

It should’ve been annoying, but it just made it easy to poke fun at her. Queen Bee wasn’t an obnoxious person, and she had too much respect for her miraculous and for Ladybug to even come close to being someone worthy of Marinette’s scorn. She wouldn’t ever admit this to her, but Bee was wonderful entertainment. She supposed that was why it was so easy to invite her in for pastries and sit with her outside. Despite the fact that this was technically Queen Bee’s first time meeting Marinette, the two of them slipped into their familiar banter as if Marinette’s mask was still up. 

Marinette pushed off from where she was leaning against the banister, put the pastries to the side, and went back to her seat in the lawn chair that she’d been occupying before Queen Bee showed up. “You’re so distracting. I was in the middle of something before you showed up.”

Bee scoffed dramatically. “Oh, what could possibly be more important than me?”

“My class is holding a Spring picnic tomorrow,” Marinette explained. “I promised a few friends I’d make them flower crowns to wear tomorrow.”

“Flower crowns?”

“Mmhm.” She held up her wire crown that had un-flowered greens and a few cut white daisies that she was pulling from a store bought bouquet by her feet. “I thought about keeping them all one color, but maybe I should put in some other colors or something. White doesn’t seem very spring-y you know?”

Bee’s wings fluttered briefly as she walked along the balcony wall to the left of Marinette. “They’re pretty…”

“Thanks!” Marinette smiled. “I’ve never made flower crowns before, so it’s been interesting. I don’t mind if you stay, but I kinda want to finish these before I have to go to bed.” She bit her lip and put the flower crown on her head, looking up and adjusting the flowers that were drooping too low past her brows. “Maybe the stems are too long…”

Queen Bee sat on the edge of the balcony and plucked up one of the flowers sitting in front of Marinette. She pressed it to her nose, inhaled, and blinked in shock. “They smell amazing.”

“They’re fresh!” Marinette explained. “Bought them this morning. I’m going to leave them in the refrigerator over night so that they’ll stay stay fresh in the morning. Hopefully the fragrance will stay.”

“No I mean they smell really good,” Bee repeated, keeping the flower close to her nose. “Like…something sweet, and grass, and rain, and something else….”

Marinette looked down and snipped the stems off the flower she just took back. “Well, if I can get the hang of this and if I have flowers left over, I can make you one if you want. I can make it yellow and add in some light blue ones just to help you match that eyeshadow shade you seem so attached to.”

She expected Queen Bee to snap back defensively at Marinette making fun of her makeup again, but she didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, Bee crawled along the banister and leaned over to smell at the flowers in Marinette’s hair. Marinette froze and felt her eyes widen as she heard Bee inhale as deeply as she could. “They smell even better when you have them all clumped together like this….”

“Um,” Marinette muttered. “Thanks?”

Queen Bee gently cupped Marinette’s cheek and tipped her head upwards so that she could press her nose to the center of every flower that was weaved into the crown. Marinette furrowed her brows and looked at Bee from the corner of her eyes, more confused than offended that she was invading her space this much for the sake of just a few cheap flowers she’d bought at a stand earlier that day. She could just see Bee’s wings fluttering gently every time she switched to a new flower and inhaled a new lungful of fragrance. 

The hum of her wings was getting louder, and pretty soon she was hovering just a few feet above the ground and practically burying her nose in the flowers. Marinette felt herself smiling with all her teeth. “Are….are you buzzing?”

Queen Bee blinked as if she were clearing her vision and hummed. “What was that?”

“You’re…kind of hovering over me. And getting pollen on your nose.”

It took a few seconds for her to realize that she’d forced Marinette to lean almost completely to one side because she had been getting so closer to her. Queen Bee squeaked in embarrassment, touched her feet down the floor, and skipped back a few steps until she was leaning against the railing at the complete opposite end of the balcony. Her blush was spreading underneath her mask and up to her ears and Marinette had to hold back her comment about Bee sporting all three primary colors on her face at once. 

“I’M SORRY!” Queen Bee exclaimed, the apology coming out as an involuntary shout. “Oh God, that was so weird. I was so weird. That was weird. Oh crap, now you think I’m a freak, oh holy effing Christ.”

Marinette snorted in laughter and walked over to Queen Bee, using the sleeve of her sweater to wipe off the bits of pollen that were still on the bridge of her nose. “Don’t worry about it, you’re totally fine. It was just…surprising, that’s all.”

Bee covered her face with her hands and mumbled through her fingers. “I’m still getting used to these superpower things and that’s never happened before!”

Marinette stared at her pitifully and rubbed one of her shoulders. “I mean….maybe it’s a bee thing.”

“What?”

“You know,” Marinette continued. “Bees. Flowers. Pollen. Makes sense.”

“I-I’m not….that’s not….I’m not actually a bee, Marinette!!” she sputtered. 

Marinette closed her eyes and winced. “I dunno! That seemed pretty bee-ish.”

Queen Bee’s brows were pulled into a confused scowl and the lingering blush on her face just made the girl look downright adorable – so adorable that Marinette felt her cheeks aching from how hard she was smiling. “I just liked the flowers you picked!! They were really good flowers!!”

“Hey, if you want you can take some. Pollinate some of the gardens nearby.”

“Shut up, you’re the literal worst!”

“I guess I’m definitely making you that flower crown now. I’m afraid you won’t be able to sleep at night without them.”

“You’re never going to let me live this down, are you?”

“Are you kidding?” Marinette scoffed. She picked up one of the white daisies and teasingly held it out for Queen Bee to take. “I’ll turn this into a rooftop garden if it means seeing you bug out like that again. Get it? Bug out?”

Queen Bee pouted, snatched the flower out of Marinette’s hands, and turned around with a huff. “So mean…”

Marinette picked the flower crown off of her head and started eyeing the yellow bouquet of flowers still sitting in the paper she’d bought it in. “Yup. You’re definitely getting a crown now.”

[jesterlady]

Absolutely feel free to skip this one because it’s very long and very spoiler-y.

How can I explain Farscape?  No, I'm not going to do the Mean Girls thing, it wouldn't do it justice. I think what makes Farscape so special was that it wholly embraced its scifi-ness and yet somehow managed to invert most of the tropes therein, in such a way that still managed to make it seem ground breaking and yet completely scifi.  One of the ways it does this is the fact there's only one human on this show.  John Crichton is our guide to the universe and the eyes through which everything is filtered (totally making him like the companion on DW, lol) but the show is a big melting pot of alien.  Even the aliens that are humanoid or look human have very specific cultures, physiology, mannerisms, and values that make them completely alien.  It's a bit shocking to get used to. Before I watched Farscape the only thing I knew about it was that it was extremely popular and made with Muppets in Australia.  In fact during the first episode I got all confused because all along I'm been assuming John Sheppard from Stargate Atlantis was Crichton, whoops. The first episode itself didn't immediately make me fall in love but it didn't take much more than the first half of a season to make me completely involved, in a good way or a bad way.  Like I said, this show doesn't play by humanity's rules.  Crichton may be the lead of the show and he may influence them all in huge ways, but these are incredibly different creatures with extremely different morals.  One of the very first episodes deals with three of the characters cutting off the arm of the Pilot in order to secure maps to their home worlds.  I was so pissed off and I kept on being pissed off through the whole episode and you know what...they don't apologize or realize it was wrong and they weren't influenced by the alien bad guy like I thought at first, in fact, in the end scene D'Argo even says he'd do it again.  He was attempting in his own way to make it up to Pilot, but he wasn't backing down.  I fretted and fumed about it for a while and then started writing fic in my head to fix it, but the episode brings home an important fact.  This isn't Star Trek, these aren't people, this show does things differently, and the main characters might not always be likeable.  John and Aeryn both bring up the incident later when they're being accused of something to remind everyone that that they were the ones who were a. psychotic about reaching home and b. not exactly careful about treating Pilot well, but that's all you get on that front. So, yeah, it's an interesting show to get used to.  The cute little Muppet is a dirty, greedy, rotten old man who betrays them countless times and constantly deserves to get spaced.  When Chiana joins the crew later she's like a little alien street rat who uses her body and whatever else she can to get by, but even though the only thing alien looking about her is makeup, her physicality is so incredible.  The actress just makes her move and stand and be alien, it's amazing, she's like a living puppet on strings. It's not the greatest budget on the planet and the special effects weren't amazing, but using the prosthetics and the puppets, actually made it really cool.  I love shows set in Australia, they just don't care if they reuse actors a bunch or if everyone speaks with an Aussie accent, they just focus on making their show and trust it to deliver what the budget can't.  It's very inspiring. And like I said, it turns things on their head.  Our lead John Crichton is so very Southern and he's all action hero and all, but he's also a scientist, an astronaut, incredibly smart, peculiarly fitted to understand space and learn to live with aliens.  His plans are insane and they always work even though they require a lot of improvisation along the way.  He's a pop culture machine, always spitting out references, which we get, but the aliens don't.  It's always a joy to wonder what he'll say next and what new nickname he'll give someone.  Now, he's got a reason to act crazy.   Literally just being shot to the other end of the universe and living among aliens would do that, but then he is hunted by Crais, Mr. Head Peacekeeper, and then gets the most wanted tech in the universe, wormhole knowledge, encoded in his brain.  So literally everyone wants to capture him and when he does get captured, he's tortured and then turned into Mr. Nosferatu Scorpius's pet science project, up to the point of having a chip in his head and then neural clones.  Imagine living with your worst enemy in your head.  I mean, it's no wonder Crichton is insane.  To be honest, I love Insane!Crichton, he's hilarious.  But...it's torture to watch at the same time.  At the end of S2, when they're desperately trying to get the chip out and each time it doesn't work out, I was audibly begging the invisible showmakers to please let him get the chip out. Of course the torture didn't end with the chip, why would it?  What is most torturous and most wondrous about the show is John and Aeryn's relationship.  I mean, talk about a romance for the ages.  They're never fully together it seems, they're never actually apart, but it doesn't feel like a 'will they, won't they' type of deal.  They are bound by astonishingly amazing chemistry and it just builds and builds until their UST is enough to make you explode.   But even that's all backwards because they have sex like first thing in the first season, and then it's never a thing really.  But they talk and talk and talk and work well together and protect each other and look at each other and sometimes even cuddle in Pilot's den.   Now Aeryn is stiff and bred for war and was taught love was a weakness.  She is an outcast from her people and adrift amongst the very people she was born to kill and hate.  It's difficult, oh yeah.  All through S2 she's just fighting it like crazy.  There's this whole 3 parter where John actually gets married to and has a baby with some Princess but he'll never live long enough to see his child and Aeryn is off freaking out while he's being held hostage in this situation.  At the end...do we get a beautiful reunion?  Nope, we get them both knowing that they're compatible and smiling.  Finally, finally when she does admit she loves him, he's being taken over by the evil clone in his head and he ends up killing her. Oh, and then when she's brought back to life by Zhaan (so sad Zhaan died like that.  I mean, it was beautiful, but I hated that she was gone) Aeryn admits to John she loves him but she won't be with him because Zhaan gave her life for Aeryn and Aeryn won't risk feelings because it would get people hurt.  Trope annoyance alert! I hate the whole 'I love you but I won't be with you because I would lose focus and it would hurt more if one of us died' bits.  You're gonna be worried about him anyway, honey, you might as well enjoy the fun part of love. Anyway...S3 was all sorts of fun and angst.   Because they twin John so now there's a copy and an original.  As soon as they didn't resolve that by the end of that episode I knew there was going to be angst about it, I spent like 10 episodes analyzing everything they each did and trying to figure out who was the copy and who I should root for to live and be with Aeryn.  By the way, they never reveal who the copy is.  So I will never know if John Crichton actually died in the Uncharted Territories.  This show, this show. But what they did was actually really clever and interesting.  They split the crew up for most of the season on two ships.  One Crichton on each. So they got to develop some interesting storylines that way.  Of course, as soon as Aeryn ended up with one of the Crichtons on Talyn, you kind of felt he was doomed.  Red shirt alert!  Another trope not inverted but held for maximum angst.  Because of course she and that John got together and it was beautiful and perfect and wonderful.  Then in a dramatic two parter, that John finally unlocks the wormhole tech in his brain and gets rid of the Scorpius clone living in his head while with Aeryn in beautiful, tangible love so...naturally he dies of radiation poisoning. It wrecks Aeryn, she finally opened up and then she had to grieve so she clams right the hell back up.  I mean, I knew it would happen, but I was so sad for the other Crichton because he's been on Moya missing her like hell and the saddest moment in all of Farscape (apart from Zhaan and D'Argo's deaths) is when he runs up to the transport pod with the cutest love struck look on his face, so anxious to see her again, and she just cuts him.  Oh, it breaks my heart to think about it. Of course, then they have to work together and it's obvious they both still care.  I get it with her, but I'm just like 'girl, you have the best opportunity in the world, to watch the one you die and still be able to have exactly him.'  They've both had to watch each other die at this point.  At the end of the season she leaves and he tries to stop her but she can't deal and he lets her go because they freaking toss a coin to see who wins that argument.  Wow.  Of course, magically (this whole bit is kind of silly) he finds out she's pregnant after she goes!  (Neranti is just weird but again, a delightfully non human element of the show that they just stick in.) So next season when they get reunited and she's finally figured things out a bit, but she still can't tell him the whole truth or if the baby is even his (weird alien gestation alert) and so he decides he can't trust his heart to her.  Ack!  Then she's working on building his trust back up and he's taking drugs to dull his feelings for her.  I am usually with Crichton on their relationship stuff cause she's so bad at (unused to) it but this time I was about ready to smack that boy.  I was clutching a pillow and yelling at the screen for him to say no to drugs for so much of that season.  Turns out it was all a ploy to protect her and the baby from Scorpius (which is also silly) but then as soon as she called him on it they started a secret relationship and it's going to be fine but she gets kidnapped and tortured and he breaks all hell and makes a deal with the devil to save her and they accidentally start an interstellar war and the Scarrans are going to attack Earth and Crichton collapses the wormhole that would let him go home again and then the baby is his and he proposes and they kiss and are happy and happy and happy and then they get shot and turned into crystals and the series ends... Yeah, this show ends every season on a cliffhanger and they got canceled.  I actually only found that out at the start of S4 when I started to question if it would be okay.  I freaked out and googled it and found out they had a miniseries to wrap things up.  Heart quieted at that point, maybe it was knowing that the story would continue on, but actually the ending wasn't so bad if it had ended there.  I could have happily pretended the last two bits didn't exist and that it ended with them getting engaged and having a baby and defeating the Scarrans.  I don't know. What I do know is that there was a miniseries that wrapped things up really well, completing the arcs and wrapping up the wormholes and the Peacekeeper/Scarran war and resolving John and Aeryn perfectly, giving them the happy ending they deserved with marriage and baby. Not to say that everything ended happily because D'Argo died and I don't like that at all.  He kind of asked for it, resolving things with Chiana and Jothee like that. Now, bits of the show that were weird and involve all of that.  D'Argo and Chiana get together in S2.  It was a bit weird and out of the blue if you ask me.  Not that they couldn't be together, but I feel like it was fairly obvious that D'Argo and Zhaan were really heading somewhere and then it just...stopped.  D'Argo and Chiana were not an obvious couple and she's all innocence and sensuality and little girl (D'Argo always felt a bit like her dad to me).  D'Argo is all honor and loyalty and commitment.  Now...D'Argo has been searching for his son Jothee for the last two seasons and they finally reunite at the end of S2 and it's so beautiful and gorgeous, but all hell breaks loose and they have to fight a war and all that and in the chaos Chiana and Jothee sleep together.   WHAT?  Chiana's been freaking out about D'Argo preparing to ask her to marry him, but geez.  It's another example of how the show is not afraid to make its characters do things that aren't likeable and aren't human, but still, that one threw me.  I feel like there were so many other ways they could have gone with that.  I would have really liked to have had Jothee join the show and have him and D'Argo really struggle with getting to know each other again and, if they weren't meant to be, Chiana and D'Argo could have plenty of relationship issues without that huge betrayal.  Maybe Jothee and Chiana could even end up together but only after proper development.  But instead, they did that.  Jothee leaves and we don't see him again until the miniseries.  D'Argo forgives Chiana but they don't get back together until the end of S4 and then things get all good between them in the miniseries and then, naturally, D'Argo dies. John and Aeryn name their baby after him!  Sob! But like I said, the show wrapped everything up pretty well and they were extremely good about pacing, really, about telling a deliberate story with plenty of room for natural development along the way and making sure every character and relationship and story arc got fulfilled.  The only thing I felt like got dangled and forgotten was from S3.  Stark, I have a special place in my heart for Stark, not sure why.  Boy is legit crazy and sane at the same time.  Him and Zhaan could have been nice.   But they do this whole thing with him being on Talyn while the crew is split up where he finds out what Crais and Talyn are up to and there's this whole menacing threat to Crais and then when he leaves, he encodes a message for Crichton on his mask and when John starts to listen to it, it gets interrupted and we never hear what Stark wanted to say.  Even when Stark comes back, it's never referred to ever again.  It might have become a moot point because Crais and Talyn sacrifice themselves for everyone at the end of that season, but I still feel like it was a pretty big thing to just leave hanging like that. So...I can't describe Farscape and what it means to me.  The show completely wrapped itself in my insides and won't let go.  I just want to watch it over and over again and I wish there was more and yet I'm so glad it ended the way it did.  This show lived and breathed naturally and it wasn't afraid to make bold choices, assuming its audience's intelligence, and yet it entertained.  The episodes Crackers Don't Matter and John Quixote are so hilarious.  Every bit where John interacts with Harvey in his brain is so amazing and funny.  The acting is flawless, the writing brilliant, the creativity boundless.  This show is submersive, you can't help but be drawn in and caught up in the plight of the living ship Moya and her crew.  Found family is one of my favorite things and this absolutely encapsulates that.  I remember reflecting in S1 that I didn't think they could ever all be a cohesive whole because everyone was so different.   That never changed but even the unlikable characters (Jool started out so so annoying but I actually really grew to like her) and the people who did things that made you angry, somehow they're still a vital and amazing part of a family and they fight for each other, they're trying to survive.  They're caught up in a galaxy's machinations and politics and wars, and mostly what they want to do is go home and protect each other.  They have to do horrible things along the way.  They don't always win.  There's a truly awful episode where they go back in time and end up causing the slaughter of a bunch of nuns!  I mean, wow.  But in the end, you root for them and you will die rooting for them.  All the different interactions are important.  Obviously John and Aeryn are the heart and soul, but Aeryn's relationship with Pilot is so touching and tender.  Crichton and Chiana have this slightly sexual but yet not, brother and sister relationship that could be weird yet never is.  John and D'Argo's epic, bickering bromance is a thing for the ages.  It's just beautiful.  It's like Crichton, a plague that has ruined my life.

I watched 4 seasons and 1 mini series in 14 days.  It was perfect because I was on vacation for the first 10 days and I actually really took my time, feeling like I had the time. I started it casually, but it quickly consumed everything.  I lived and breathed Farscape for those days even when I was doing other things and I made sure I did other things.  My hands were shaking, my heart was racing, I clutched pillows and yelled at the screen, and I did happy squee flailing and monkey dancing around my living room on more than one occasion.  This show is not casual, it is a lifestyle.  I am so glad I was not watching it while it was on air because having to wait even a microt for between seasons would have been horrible and too much.  It is such a blessing though, the perfect sci fi show.  It's not a perfect show like Leverage is literally perfect and I would never change a thing about it and it's not fluff and happiness and comedy like Parks and Rec is perfect, but it is everything a scifi show should be and it has all the ingredients necessary to make it absolutely one of the best shows I have ever seen. 10 out of 10 recommend.  Make sure you have some time because binge watching is so necessary with this one but do it, do it, do it.

[absolutebl]

This Week In BL

April 2021 Part 5

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Close Friend Ep 2 (JaFirst) - First is a cat. No actually a cat. It was WEIRD. Cute, but creeping towards beastiality. It reminded me of that strange series out of China (@heretherebedork says Youth in the Breeze). The most amusing thing to me was that the cat used Thai formal linguistic register when of course cats would use informal rude guu mueng with EVERYONE. No cat would use pom. Don’t be ridiculous, Thailand. 

Second Chance Ep 5 - still invested, things progressed for all 3 couples, in one direction or another. They cuties. I love them. Carry on. 

Y-Destiny Ep 5 - the “virgin scoreboard” is gonna make the seme real hard to redeem with this pairing. If they bother. This might be a life lesson episode. What does it remind me of? Oh yes. Kids. *SHUDDER* Point of interest: did you notice Team uses ha with Mon? What a pushy flirt. 

Lovely Writer Ep 10 - honestly I just love it when Poppy shows up in anything, why is he such a delightful screen presence? (Gene’s brother) Sorry, distracted. What happened in this one? Oh, ya know, stuff and things. Family drama. (It is just me or have they been giving us some long ass episodes lately?) Obligatory beach trip activated. (Result = dumb probability mathematics jokes.) Next week it looks like we have Keeping Actor’s Closeted 101. You know the Casting Couch? This is the Casting Closet. 

Fish Upon The Sky Ep 4 - early stage confession, how fun. It’s not unprecedented it just usually means we are in 4 act structure, not 3, which means Fish might go more serious than I thought. Honestly? I’m losing interest mostly because I’ve gone from mild annoyance to active dislike of Pi. Happened to me with Tine too. They better redeem this obtuse tsundere uke soon or he’s not tsundere at all he’s just a jackwit. 

Brothers Ep 13 fin - a kiss and the family finds out about the not-so-brotherly brothers, drama, graduation, THE END. My side-dish happy heart made thumps over Q + delivery boy, I’m sad they got so little screen time. My babies KhunKaow did get a tiny coming out sequence as such. I’m seriously considering doing myself a bootleg of just the KhunKaow plot, but that means I’d have to rewatch the whole darn series and I can’t STAND the idea. Which should give you insight into how not good this show it. Very NOT good. Must we get a season 2? Please stop now, Line. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 7 - Muren is the cutest peanut and anyone who says otherwise can fight me, although they probably have to go through Licheng first. I was NOT invested in these two at the beginning, but as a couple? They own my soul. The other storyline is still the dumpster fire that I can’t decide to roast marshmallows over (knowing they’ll get tinged with eu de trash) or flee from in horror clutching my pearls and my nose. H4 continues to provide the quality psyche torture I’ve come to expect from this franchise. *sarcastic thumbs up*  *** A word on seeing Boxiang show up (side dish from H3:MODC). It was an unexpected pleasure, I loved his pairing (May/December is a winner for me *glares at Method*) but I do think it was a bone from the franchise telling us that we are never getting that spin-off or reboot that people yearn for. However, how AWESOME that Licheng has someone to go to and ask about topping properly. Otherwise he’s sure to have screwed it up. (Pun intended.) 

Papa & Daddy (Tailwan) Ep 1-2 - this came out of nowhere and is ADORABLE. Applies a ton of BL tropes (cheek kiss, his closet, B&W stripes, drag baby around, boop) but what IS it? More slice of gay domesticity than romance. Like 2019′s Kinou Nani Tabeta? or currently airing Close Friend. I enjoy this style, very wholesome, but I’m not sure what to call it. (Bonus points for cutie lesbians.) A bit weird to have a kid with your partner and STILL not be out to your parents. I hope they aren’t going to throw in a break up for dramatic effect. 

My Lascivious Boss (Vietnam) Ep 4 - I’m really enjoying this series. It’s unabashedly queer, although there’s some problematic stuff lurking under the wig. How it ends is gonna dictate if they handled this stylishly. But hot damn the leads ZING on screen together and their crackling prank-flirting is a joy to watch. 

Word of Honor (China) Ep 31-33 - moving into the home stretch. Big rescue and the band is back together (presumably for the final slaughter). Then a death! *this is my shocked face* Did I tear up? Of course I did. 4 act structure is designed for maximum pathos during the final 1/4. Did we all faint from the symbolism of the love token hair stick being gently thrust into Ah Xu’s bun? Sure we did. All that and sill I’m flagging. This is a long-arse show. Save me, Korea, with your iItsy bitsy teenie weenie...

Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding (Korea) Ep 5-6 - I am getting such strong 12th Night vibes from this. Tae Hyung is now brigadier of BL’s historical himbo brigade. (To be deployed whenever you are in need of poetry or a cut sleeve.) This show is all ridiculous charm and I LOVE it. Although, five seconds of Lee Sang is not enough Lee Sang. I had to immediately rewatch Wish You. 

Gossip

Nitiman gave us an actor intro BTS teaser. 

Kang In Soo (AKA Kyang Insoo) posted a cute behind the photo shoot of Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding plus a silly interview with Jang Eui Soo on his YouTube channel (you should subscribe, it’s a fun channel, his fitness regime is both insane and inspiring). 

My Engineer 2 dropped a couch interview with the boys but it feels like one that was filmed a while ago (oh and no subs).  

STARTING SOON: Nitiman, Love Area, Top Secret Together, Be Loved in House, & I Promised You The Moon  

Nitiman (Thai) May 7, One 31. University set, moons, engineering students, enemies to lovers, adapted. - Looks to be a solid 2 Moons knock off, I’m in.

Love Area (Thai) May 8, AIS Play, 10 eps total. Restaurant set, stars Pak Chavitpong (the only good thing about Cupid Coach) and the OST is sung by Jeff Satur (Ingredients). - It’s boys in love revolving around food = my kryptonite, try to stop me from watching this probable trash. 

Top Secret Together (Thai) May 14, Line TV. 5 couples, one IRL (Newyear from I Am Your King), story arcs revolve around secrets.  - I’m getting fatigued by these multi-couple sampler pack dramas, but I’ll try it for Newyear’s sake.  

Be Loved in House: I Do (Taiwan YES!) May 20, Viki. Office set, relationships prohibited at work by a new boss, one of the employees is determined to figure out why. Grumpy/tsundere pairing so loads of drama. - I am so flipping excited for this one. A 4th BL series from Taiwan in less than a year? That’s unprecedented. GO BABY ISLAND GO! 

I Promised You the Moon (Thai) May 27, Line TV. Follow up to I Told Sunset About You with the boys now at university. - I won’t be watching this as I have yet to finish season 1. 

Possibly Gameboys season 2.  - Rumors are all over the place right now on this. 

Next Week Looks Like This: 

Some shows may be listed later than actual air date for International accessibility reasons. 

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

[vskpop]

November 2017 ⋅ Dramama

I kind of love when all of my favourite groups release at the same time, even though it makes it incredibly hard to keep up with their activities – especially when there are two dozen members spread across any variety show imaginable. My two favourite groups with too many members both released albums this month – with great success and great sales for Seventeen, with less of an enthusiastic response for Pentagon.

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that Seventeen are just a two-year-old group. They are at the point where they could do anything and fans would buy their stuff. What I truly appreciate is that this doesn’t mean they’ve started doing average or unoriginal stuff – they keep experimenting, changing up their image, working as hard as they did at the beginning.

I wasn’t super keen on how seriously they were taking themselves in Don’t Wanna Cry, so it was a relief to see them going back to their silly selves in Clap, as well as embracing the rock concept I had envisioned for them since Boom Boom.

Back in June, I had written: “I’m still mostly ok with Seventeen moving away from their bubbly, cute image, but not if it means rounding down to the blandest, trendiest thing they can come up with”. It feels that with Clap, they still moving away from the cute image, but in a way that’s more uniquely theirs and less beige (literally and figuratively).

I’ve always been so enamoured with Seventeen (and exhausted by the amount of people involved) that I never thought I could find another large group of comparable talent and with just as excellent and consistent releases. Pentagon has taken a lot from Seventeen’s Don’t Wanna Cry for their latest single Runaway and even for the previous one, Like This, but they execute it so confidently that they can stand the comparison with their senior group.

Pentagon have worked incredibly hard this year – this is their third round of promotions in 2017, and they’ve had five full comebacks in the span of thirteen months. That’s a lot even for the most prolific and active groups.

Of all these releases, Runaway has to be my favourite. I’ve read a lot of middling to negative reactions to it and boy, do I disagree. I find the rhythm addictive, and the chorus really effective without needing the drop that I was expecting when I first listened to the song. I understand that a “epic” twist would have probably made it more popular, but I love how powerful it is without being that obvious.

Both Pentagon and Seventeen have used the rest of their albums to experiment with combinations of members and genres that are not as comfortable for them. Pentagon’s rapper unit keeps being outrageous with Pretty Boys, the bona fide follow-up to Get That Drink. Seventeen finally break out of their sub-units, and the best result is without doubt rapper Vernon and singer Joshua’s Rocket.

All in all, Seventeen’s album reminds me of all the reasons why I prefer shorter releases: there is just so much material to work through, and it doesn’t feel as cohesive as it should. When I started listening to k-pop, I hated constant tiny releases, but to be honest I’ve been finding Pentagon’s strategy of short, frequent EPs much more easy to digest than a 13-song album. That’s not helping their sales in the least, but I still have hope for them.

My less numerous but just as consistent favourite group is Monsta X, also at their third round of promotions in 2017 after the Beautiful and Shine Forever activities. In a market that is (obviously) guided by trends, Monsta X have managed to find and stick to an image that is almost uniquely theirs – musically and visually.

I’m always impressed by how well they manage to blend the hip-hop flavour of their songs and the rap sections with pop, danceable parts while still finding space to make their vocalists shine. That’s a lot to have in one song without making it feel like a mess, but they do it every time. Dramarama also continues my other favourite Monsta X trope – the hard-to-follow, vaguely sci-fi dystopian music videos, something that I could see more of from other artists as well.

Speaking of gifts that keep on giving, EXID had already given me everything I wanted this year with Night Rather Than Day, when they picked something slightly out of their comfort zone and got the chance to highlight new strengths in the group.

This time around, their new album Full Moon and lead single DDD are a much safer choice for EXID. It’s undeniable that some parts are almost identical to some of their past hits (especially LE’s part is almost identical to Up & Down), but it’s been long enough since their previous super sexy, super catchy single that it feels new and familiar at the same time.

On a purely superficial note, the styling of this comeback was perfect. Whoever decided to put lilac hair on Hani deserves an award, and it was nice to see a girl group do a whole comeback in full-length trousers for once, even if they were jeggings.

While we’re on the theme of concepts, I honestly would stay away from food-based concepts in an industry/culture so obsessed with thinness and dieting. I was sort of OK with Ice Chu, but Digipedi and whoever worked on this Gugudan comeback is the worst. Not a lot in k-pop this year has infuriated me as much as seeing Mina being “stick-and-carrot”ed with a donut – Mina, a minor (she just turned 18) who was ridiculed and disparaged because of her size, and made to lose a huge amount of weight after Produce 101. Fuck you, Jellyfish.

I was 100% less enraged by seeing that Red Velvet have been finally given a decent concept. This is probably the closest we’ll get to a “velvet” concept now that Red Velvet is basically the only SM Entertainment girl group, and by this I mean that the members literally wore velvet throughout the promotion.

My favourite thing about early Red Velvet was their signature use of chanty, nursery rhyme-y melodies in a creepy way, and I’m so glad to see that with Peek-A-Boo they brought this at the forefront.

Even if the song was garbage – which it isn’t, I’m obsessed with it – I would be so pleased by Red Velvet getting a good concept that I wouldn’t even be bothered. If this video and their MMA VCR are anything to go by, we might actually see more of this witchy aesthetic from them.

I do wonder if this twist in their concept is a prelude to a new girl group debuting at SM, just like SNSD and f(x)’s respective “sexy” and “edgy” turns came just before a younger group debuted.

The only thing that I found marginally annoying about Peek-A-Boo is that this would have been a perfect Halloween comeback and, with a 17 November release, it was about a month too late to be tied in with the season.

Same goes for KARD, even though I found the horror twist in their music video for You In Me so clever and unexpected. Even though no song of theirs has reached the heights of Oh Na Na for now, I keep being surprised by how they manage to do so much with the same basic elements – two female singers, two male rappers, dancehall flavours.

MORE SONGS OF NOTE

She’s Mine – VAV Pouring – DAY6 Jelly – Jeon Soyeon   New – Yves (Loona) Dear – Snuper

STRAYS

NCT 127 Limitless Japanese version, aka this song finally gets a decent music video  after almost a year:

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 Taemin’s personal vault of random material releases the VCR for Thirsty:

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D25FPfkZ0GI" width="700" height="393" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0">