#to bring the concept to life though in this case the project
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greatmuldini · 1 day ago
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The original “substrate” - the bottom layer - provides the plane and the body of Rex Reason, which must be joined up with the head of Nelson Brenner as he would have looked “15 years ago” (i.e. in 1960). The picture chosen to represent the facial features of the younger Brenner (though not his hair) is a 1965 portrait of the actor Patrick McGoohan, as he appeared in an episode of Danger Man (Loyalty Always Pays). Aside from the incorrect age gap, the new head is too large for its adopted body and sits uncomfortably on Rex Reason’s shoulders at an anatomically impossible angle (with barely a neck to speak of).
The contortions do not end there, however, as the youthful image of Nelson Brenner must clearly display his receding hairline – the third layer to be added to the composition. For the “enlarged” close-up that Columbo presents as “evidence” in the final “gotcha” scene, the hairline was completely redrawn with a new left-sided parting, and the entire image inexplicably rasterized. No changes were made to the face itself, its size or its angle in relation to the rest of the body.
For the fifth and final transformation, Columbo’s “photo guys” went to work on the close-up and added features from the description that their witness gave them of the mysterious “operative” (code)named Steinmetz – and young Nelson Brenner, already follicly challenged, becomes an elderly gentleman, bearded and bespectacled, who is peering at the onlooker from underneath a set of bushy white eyebrows topped by the shiny expanse of his formidable forehead. (3/4)
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back2bluesidex · 2 months ago
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Third Time is a Charm - KNJ (18+)
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Patreon Membership Exclusive Drabble Series
Part of Bangtan Chaebol Universe
Pairing: Chaebol!Namjoon X Fem, lawyer!Reader
Theme: angst, pining, exes to strangers to lovers au.
Summary: You met Namjoon thrice in your life. For the first encounter, you were his rival. During the second one, he broke your heart. As for the third time, you let him walk in again even when he brings no promise of healing what he broke.
But they say, third time is a charm. Will that stay true in your case too?
Warnings: Angst, high school setting, competitive reader, tiny fluff, discovering crush.
A/N: This is a part of the Patreon exclusive ot7 series of Bangtan Chaebol Universe. Jungkook and Jimin's story is already completed. and Namjoon's is the next in line. This story is kind of overlapped with Jungkook's one, anyone who has followed From Within will know why.
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Chapter Index: -
Part 1: The heart shaped hair pin
Part 2: Chaebol took the subway?
Part 3: The first kiss
Part 4: Recipe for a heart break
Part 5: Third time as grown ups
Part 6: All the clouds are in a silver lining
Part 7: Making and breaking boundaries
Part 8: Loving two people at the same time
Part 9: [5th December, 2024]
Part 10: [12th December, 2024]
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“Your place or mine? Or better, the library?” Namjoon had questioned, staring down at you expectantly, clearly too excited to be induced into a science project. 
While it was unlikely for the teachers to pair two good students up on the same team, it was the lottery which put you and namjoon together. 
That is where the concept of being destined first struck you. 
Though you had brushed it off. 
“Library sounds good.” you answered. 
Later while working on the project, he had asked you another question, something very personal this time. 
“Why do you think I am your enemy?” He gave you his utmost attention. 
“I- what?” your pen scratched against the surface of the notebook crudely. 
“You think I am your rival or something. I know. I am asking you why?” He kept an impassive look on his face. 
“I used to top before but I come second these days. Also.. you got it all. It kind of annoys me.” You had answered truthfully, without showing the courtesy of masking your language. 
“I got it all?” Namjoon raised an eyebrow. 
“Yeah. You are good at studies and your family is rich.” you shrugged. 
He had chuckled then, “Just because I am good at studies and I have a wealthy family, doesn’t mean I got it all, Y/N.” 
It was the first time he called you by your name. 
And that was the moment you decided to start liking him a bit - only a bit.
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Read the full chapter on Patreon.
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honeytonedhottie · 9 months ago
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a post on persistence⋆.ೃ࿔*:・💝
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im super happy and excited to announce that this post is a collab with the AMAZINGG @pinkpigtailsprincess. we wanted to collab on this post and talk about PERSISTENCE in manifesting and how crucial it is when ur manifesting things.
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HOW TO PERSIST ; persisting simply means reminding urself that u already have whatever it is that u want. when u persist, you decide what it is that u want and you STICK to it.
the oxford definition of persistence simply means to continue in an opinion or course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.
your 3d literally has no choice but to catch up and reflect the new thoughts that ur thinking in ur 4d so just KEEP GOING. if ur gonna whine or complain every step of the way and think thoughts like "persisting is hard" or "theres lots of resistance/difficulty with manifesting" then thats what ur going to experience.
manifesting is easy, effortless, and instant. when u catch urself thinking thoughts that perpetuate the old story, remind urself that no matter what, whatever u persist in will harden into reality simply because it HAS to. stop getting in your own way!!
LIMITLESS > IMAGINATION ;
limitless definition; possesing power of an immeasurable rate a perfect way to describe your power your literally the god of your reality and you know you might think thats silly or “delusional” its so true though like ever since birth people are conditioned to believe that being negative is the more “logical” and “realistic” way to think than positive which is such a stupid revelation because all throughout life you meant to believe that you have to bring yourself down to earth about achieving something and that you’ll never have “” but that makes no sense seeing all of the extraordinary achievements that humans have done like
build rockets and do rocket science
walk on the moon
build the great wall of china
and so many others including the human body its self your cells in your body healing and protecting wounds and your organs being able to stay in the designated spot no matter what and you think “logic” actually matters?
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everything in the human mind is projected i mean everything you use on a daily basis started off in the mind it all stems from imagination
DECISIONS ⭐️ ;
deciding is the final decision and the final outcome no matter what no questions asked like if you went too a sushi restaurant and ordered and decided that you want a shrimp tempura roll you will have the shrimp tempura roll no matter what concepts “if the concept of something can exist then that can be achieved no matter what”
literally something i think about alot and a direct quote from yours truly like most people do think that you can have something because its quote “unrealistic” or it “doesn’t exist” but if that were really the case than why is the concept of it allowed to prosper like if those things really didn’t exist then the concept of billionaires or superpowers and superheroes wouldn’t exist or even time travel everything single one of those things are a product of imagination!!!
YOUR THE ONLY POWER ;
alot of the times on loablr you see people say “you’re the only power” and “you don’t even need that method just imagination and that honestly just so real because if you really think about all of these methods ie: 48 hour challenge, 10k affirmations method etc.
and the void state those things also stemmed from that person’s imagination when you use those methods or use subliminals all your doing is giving it a smidge of your power the method is only powerful because your giving it that power in conclusion you and your imagination are the only things that matter !!
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jamiepaige · 16 days ago
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Constant Companions Closeup #2: NOT QUITE THERE
(also on spotify!)
b-b-back once again
Round two of the Constant Companions Closeups - a series of in-depth dives into the songs off of my latest album, Constant Companions! Yesterday was track one, Dyad - today is track two, Not Quite There, featuring the incomparable telebasher!
This one's a bit of a dark horse relative to the rest of the album, but it may very well be my personal favorite song on the entire thing so dammit let's Yap
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For the uninitiated, this song pulls heavily from a song off my previous album called Gummyworm, both in vibe and by very directly quoting its synth motif.
Both of these songs deal with two sides of the same emotional coin. I actually don't want to go into too much detail about it - I feel like the lyrics spell things out clearly enough - but I will say this:
When it's all you know, it's easy to believe that a love that isolates you, a love that doesn't respect you, a love that hurts is better than no love at all.
You deserve better. There are always people who genuinely want what's best for you, who want you to feel truly loved. It certainly isn't always easy - it's genuinely good if your interpersonal relationships have a little friction sometimes - but love should make your life brighter.
You deserve a love that's fair.
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The original version of this song was actually intended to be on Bittersweet alongside Gummyworm. The original concept for that album had a whole heady concept involving duality, songs reflecting each other, the two halves basically being reprisals of each other... Ultimately, I'm glad I scrapped that idea, because it was waaaaaay too much for me to manage after a couple years of barely making music. Maybe I'll revisit it someday though?
The drums on this song are sampled from an Instagram post by Louis Cole, where he's doing this crazy one-handed hi-hat blast by holding a drumstick sideways. I'm a drummer and that shit genuinely scares me a little like i dont know how he does half the things he does its fucked BUT. I bring this up because he's one of my biggest inspirations as a musician! I'm really big on jazz in general, in case my love for spicy chords wasn't enough of an indication, but his specific brand of freaky hyperactive bullshit just does it for me.
Seriously, go watch his band KNOWER play their song Overtime. Absolutely insane performances across the board. also Clown Core
This whole song is really just my attempt at matching some of that hectic jazzy energy with my own style of music, so I figured it only made sense to make it another collab with another musician making delightfully frantic jazz bullshit - the legend herself, telebasher! I really am such a massive fan of her work, and I struggle to think of anyone who plays guitar quite like she does. We previously worked together on another Bittersweet track, Asemic Speech, and her guitar work is a major reason why that song is still one of my favorite I've ever released!! She's just built different like listen to this oh my god!!!!
Lastly, since this song was one of the first written for this entire project... it is admittedly a case of me shoehorning the album's leitmotif in after the fact. It's a little forced when it shows up in the backing vocals! But, the choir of vocal synths during the guitar solo served an additional purpose - my own voice doesn't show up on the album again for another four entire songs, and this would've otherwise been the only song on the entire album that didn't feature any vocal synths. Thus did I attempt to bridge the gap, as it were. Hopefully it makes the final product feel more natural!!
Either way, that's all for today's post.... i think.... which means that tomorrow.... we're gonna rot.... for clout
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theoxenfree · 2 months ago
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BOUNTY
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hot gunslinging outlaw x reader | 2.7k
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following your bitter mother's death, you come to learn that you're the illegitimate child of the most powerful man in san-am, soon to come into a vast inheritance as he is on his deathbed. what you anticipate to be an uneventful train across the country comes to a screeching halt when a mysterious man boards and tells you there's a substantial bounty on your head.
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warnings; multiple mentions of death, brief blood mention, some graphic details, kidnapping, roughly proofread, post-apocalyptic setting, neo-western, reposted from old blog 2kmps
this is a concept piece for a larger project. please offer feedback to the questions at the end + reblog!! it really helps out with the project development and honing in on what y'all wanna see in the finished story!
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Mother died a week before the lawyer showed up on your doorstep with an inheritance letter and half-hearted condolences for your absentee father’s poor prognosis. A day after that, your life was stowed into a pair of suitcases and a heavier hard case that you barely justified bringing aboard the train. In three weeks and three layovers, you would be across the continent in St. Corpus, the industrial heart of San-Am, where your father awaited you on his deathbed.
Horace Grissom had fathered a new age of industry and outward expansion in lands once believed to be sprawling metropolises centuries long gone. They had been left behind as skeletons of steel and rust from a time of global war, reclaimed in totality by the roots of elder trees, the decay of salt and sea, the precarious will of mountains, and the great sinkholes and corrosion of sand and time.
Traces of that old world had survived thanks in part to the rigorous efforts of archaeologists and conservationists at the University of San-Am in Grimerise. With each new discovery, opportunistic vultures like your father blotted their pens to their tongues to their pocketbooks and readied themselves to own the patent of it like history had a price and could only belong to them. Indeed, anything could be bought, because with those fragments of history, he built the San-Am Continental Railroad which crossed through each of the five territories and was considered the premier way to travel.
You were never allowed to ask questions about Horace under Mother’s roof as the very mention of his name would set her ablaze in some pettish, garrulous tantrum that, oftentimes, ended with you going to bed before dusk without dinner until the next day. She loved that bitterness up until the very moment she died, clawing your clothes, your skin, her nightgown, her own throat because she couldn't breathe and there was nothing you could do to save her from succumbing.
“Go in peace, Mother.” you said, kissing the back of her sun-speckled hand even as she tried digging her nails into your face. “I love you.”
She did not waste peacefully, nor did she end by staring up rapturously at the ceiling as though something else waited for her beyond it. Mother passed in blood, vomit, excrement, and all her hatred while you bade her farewell and considered who was best to call to have her body carted away to burn with all the others that had also succumbed that day. You made sure to label that as the cause of death on the official paperwork.
After that, you had made quick work of piling all of her things into boxes to be incinerated as well, certified the house was safe and in a liveable state (besides her old mattress, which was the first thing you disposed of because of the smell) for another family to move into.
Once all of that had been finished and you gained the time to rest, you got a knock at your door, a bald, sinewy man with a round hat claiming to be Joseph Whitwald—estate planning lawyer, he made sure to specify more than once—and that you needed to leave post haste to your father's estate in St. Corpus before he perished.
“You have significant placement in his will, illegitimate or not. This is what he wanted, this is what shall be done,” said Whitwald assuredly as he rooted through the pockets of his pants and white suit vest for something. He found it and made a sound and a flourish, revealing to you a red ticket. “Take this. It's for one of the elite cabins in first class. Your father wanted you to have the best amenities that the San-Am Continental has to offer.”
Even with such luxuries available to you with the sound of a bell on string, you eventually found yourself exchanging tickets with a young woman traveling solo for the first time. She went red in the eyes, asserted her appreciation, and scooped you into a hug before taking the ticket and her belongings to the first car.
The passenger car was considerably noisier with children running amok, drunks and musicians belting tunes while dancing in the center aisle—doing poorly to keep their balance as the train navigated the terrain beneath the rails, and ladies in bustles and fashionable blouses screaming like hens over fresh gossip. The stewards were frustrated that they couldn't get their trolleys through all the bodies, whereas some passengers let their stomachs roar through their mouths as they assailed anyone nearby (especially the poor lads just trying to deliver food) with complaints.
You liked everything happening around you; it was a good distraction from the way life had twisted your arm behind your back. The cacophony of laughter and anger felt like home, a comfortable companion to sit there with you on the empty, thinly padded benches while you stared uselessly at the inheritance papers—uncomprehending.
A gasp shot up your throat and made you bite your tongue as you were launched forward onto the adjacent bench (also empty) when the train suddenly began to slow—brakes engaged with such quickness that the wood beams under your feet vibrated up through your soles into your bones and teeth and skull until you became lightheaded and collapsed back into your seat.
The squeal and grind of steel worsened your confusion, turned the fuzz in your head into dull drumming—aches that pulsed to a beat you couldn't figure out, but it deadened the screams all around you and bodies hitting the floorboards in thunderous heaps.
And then, there was silence.
The other passengers kept their voices low as they climbed back into their seats, children were smothered deep into their mother’s bosoms as they wept, and no one dared to investigate what had brought the train to such a violent stop.
“Mummy, what's happening?” asked a girl from the benches behind you. She couldn't have been older than ten, from the sound of her. “Mummy, why—”
“Lottie!” the mother hissed at her daughter, “Shhh! Say nothing else, child.”
From a few seats away, closer to the front, you recognized the gruff, muddled voice from one of the drunkards who had been dancing in the aisle a while ago. Now, he had a bloody nose and a nasty knot growing on his forehead.
“What the hell is the big idea of them scarin’ the piss outta us like this? Do you see my face? They gonna do somethin’ to fix it?” he complained, then swigged liquor from a flask he had smuggled on. “I should go up there and give ‘em a piece of my mind. Bastards.”
“Peace, friend,” soothed a musician with an unfamiliar accent and stringed instrument. “Don't be hasty. I'm sure there’s a good reason why they had to stop. Let them find a solution, we’re just here for the ride.”
Just as the chatter was rising up again, commotion from the first class car stifled it hard, prompting some folks to abandon their seats near the door separating the cars to crowd into the rear. You were tempted to flee with them, join their pack so if they were going to find a way off the train, you'd be mixed up in their stampede and have a better chance to get away.
Except, you simply packed away your inheritance paperwork and sat there with your chin tucked to the collarbone, the visor of your baseball cap pulled lower over your sunglasses to seem as nondescript as possible. Meanwhile, the sounds from first class grew intense; glass shattered, passengers screamed and shuffled around, something you knew to be true because you felt the floor rumble under your feet again.
And then, the passenger car door slid open without the ferocity you had expected. The door scraped along its metal rail, allowing the body to pass through in heavy, languid steps. You paced your breaths to hear it all; the boots and clinking spurs striking wood with dull thuds, a baritone hum that you were convinced you could feel reverberate in your own chest as it came closer, the scuff of thick fabric and creaking leather.
You waited for it all to pass, to move on like a slow-moving rain cloud amidst a humid summer day, but it stopped at you instead. The tips of the man's boots were within view, as were slithers of tattered, black fabric from a long duster that fell short of his shins.
And then, there was the barrel of a gun. The breaths you had been holding shivered out of you, cold dread sank deep into your stomach and bones as the gun flicked upward a few times.
You obeyed and raised your head up to look at the man—tall, broad-shouldered, a rugged face with dark features mostly obscured by the shadow of his wide rim.
He tilted his head, gun higher as he flicked it down and you understood that to mean to take off your sunglasses. When you did so, offering him a full view of your face, his lips lifted crookedly into a half-smile.
“Well then,” he took the bench adjacent to you before holding something up to your head, seemingly a piece of paper, and shifted his gaze between you and it just twice. “Aren't you something special? Found you, darlin’.”
“What?” you frowned. “Found me?”
“Yeah, the resemblance is uncanny. You're definitely his kid. It's all in the eyes, really.” He said, turning the paper around to reveal a photograph of a man who you did share an eerie likeness to. It was the sameness in the eyes—the color and shape and emotion they evoked through a simple still image. “Horace Grissom had an illegitimate kid a long time ago. Turns out, not everyone is so pleased for that to become public knowledge. Turns out, someone wants you to bite the ground.”
“I've done nothing wrong!” you bristled.
He settled on the bench and hiked an arm up across the back of it. “That's usually how it goes, hun. Puttin’ holes in types like you really ain't my favorite thing to do. You'd be surprised how many people get put in your exact situation. Well, eh, not quite. ‘Cause not everyone is Horace Grissom’s kid.”
“Who hired you?” you demanded.
His lopsided smile remained. “Can't tell you that, darlin’. Confidentiality an’ all that.”
“So, then, you're a bounty hunter?” At this point, you weren't sure if you were trying to stave off an inevitability, or he had just riled you up that badly. “How much are you getting?”
“Enough to live the high-life for quite a while, I'd say.” He continued, “but I ain't no bounty hunter. Them folks gotta play by rulebooks an’ a bunch of codes and whatever. Not my thing.”
“A criminal, then,” you said. “An outlaw.”
He shifted the rim of his hat away from his eyes and leaned towards a pillar of golden, midmorning sunlight that came in through the window. “Sure, if that's what'll make you feel better about this entire thing.”
You could actually see him now—the contrast between the ambery hue in his rich complexion and pale green of his eyes. His skin had some weather to it, enough to prove that he had seen the worst of every season for years on end without it wearing him thin, along with thoroughly kempt hair on his face and loose waves that draped slightly beyond his shoulders.
“I…” the longer he stared at you, the less you were able to think. That was ridiculous considering you had survived the soul-crushing burden of engineering school and all of the personalities therein. “I can offer you something better than what you were hired for.”
He did a fast sweep of the colossal heaps of fabric hanging from your frame, a style you preferred to keep eyes off of you on the best and worst of days. It didn't do much to deter him as it did others.
“Oh, yeah? Whaddya got, hun?”
You lifted your shoulders and stacked your bones right. “I've got a vast inheritance that I'm not interested in. Horace is dying and I’m in his will to receive half his properties, along with his shares in the San-Am Continental Railway and Subsidiaries. If you can get me to St. Corpus, you can have the inheritance—every last gris.”
A shrill whistle echoed around your head, tuneful and mocking. The sound of it whittled your confidence back down to nothing, filling the space of your throat with a vise that you couldn't seem to swallow around. That same great unease you had felt before weaseled around in your chest, coiled your ribs and then plunged straight down into your gut.
“Good offer, but it ain't on the table.” The way he spoke was easy and slow, a thick drawl that suited every bit of him up to even now. He acted as though he weren't essentially holding a gun to your head, threatening your life in the name of money—or something else. “Gris is always good to have lyin’ around, but, honey, it don't really mean a lot to a man like me. Why, then, d’ya think I take on work like this? Why do ya think I trek halfway across the five territories time and time again? What really keeps a man goin’ out here in this godforsaken place?”
You felt yourself shrink in your seat as he leaned forward over his thighs, coming closer still like he had a secret to keep. “It's for the thrill. The hunt. The challenge of it all. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't actively seek out men to shoot or… nice types like you, but part of the fun is trackin’ down, the other part is just havin’ a chat—just like this.”
Then, he had the picture of Horace held out to you between two fingers. “Tell ya what, I see that hard case you brought aboard. I know what it is, but I want you to offer me somethin’ more interesting than a bunch of gris.”
You scrunched the photograph against your palm once you had it, hoping the sweat off your skin would ruin his face and make the ink run, but looked to the aforementioned hard case instead.
It was made of a hard plastic shell with strips of rubber outlining the odd shape of the thing. Inside was your handheld welding gun—one of many—that you had decided to bring along for little reason besides thinking it could be of use at some point during your time away. It wouldn't be enough to handle larger jobs such as the ones you were accustomed to in the workshop back in Grimerise, but it could fix a wagon or two, glue some pipes together, and do some damage if need be.
“C’mon, darlin’, sell yourself to me.” he pressed, gesturing his impatience with winding fingers. “What do you do for a living, huh?”
“I'm an engineer,” you continued hastily, “I-I can solder, weld, braze, cut, and saw. I can do anything if I have the right equipment.”
In turn, he asked, “Does that mean you can cut open a safe?”
“If you give me what I need, I can do anything.” you said.
A new sort of look overcame his features, one of great fondness and admiration that made the green of his eyes take on the milky luster of jade. You had the hope that this unique softness would gain you freedom from a shallow, empty death; a chance to go forward to seize the assets sworn to you by a man you'd never known.
His hands came forward to take your wrists, the weight of them first heavy and then cold as a pair of handcuffs were locked around you, knocking bone when you lunged back into your seat and fought against them.
“I've got myself quite boon!” In the next moment, he had hauled you up across his shoulder, retrieved both your suitcases, and called one of the stewards to carry your welding gun after him. “Time to go. Gotta introduce you to the crew and get ya settled in.”
“Wait, I don't even know your name!” you shouted and thrashed from shoulder.
He grinned. “Jericho, darlin’.”
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a/n: thank you for reading, and hopefully (pls 🥹) reblogging this first concept piece! let me give you a little bit of background before launching into questions:
this entire idea came to be after reading/watching trigun, watching fallout prime, playing fallout 4, and prior playing my time at sandrock. setting-wise, I imagine the story will have some similarities between all of these things while putting mainly my own spin on the sci-fi western genre.
I intend for this project to be around 90k-100k by the time it is completed and will be the longest piece of writing I've done to date. additionally, I am building the entire world from the ground up and genuinely hoping to execute an extremely immersive reading experience! it is currently in the brainstorming and rough outlining stage, but I am making polls and asking for feedback to help move the process along.
I'd like to up to 2-3 additional concept pieces bc the scale of this project is so large. which concept piece would you like to see next, first? 1) an intimate moment sitting around the fire with jericho 2) jericho teaching mc how to shoot and gets very, very close.
currently, what is your impression of jericho's character? what could I do to improve upon him?
would you prefer for this story to be streamlined w/ the main focus on mc reaching st. corpus + theirs and jericho's romance? or, would you like prev mentioned + detailed character arcs of the other characters in jericho's crew?
this story is neo-western, but is definitely an adventure and epic at heart. is there anything in particular you'd be interested in seeing me write for a story like this? different areas around the continent? creatures? cultures? spend some extra time in st. corpus?
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roboticprince100 · 8 days ago
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Exam Success Using the Law
Simple and short answer - Study hard like hell, affirm day and night, challenge yourself with tests and always target Rank 1.
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Let's discuss the long answer. Before I explain to you in detail how to use the Law to be the best student in class, let me share my personal story. I was the 1st rank holder in school, every single time. I was the brightest kid ever. I lost it all in college during my graduation because I was distracted, addicted and overly confident. I got my shit together when I got to know about the Law and tried to apply it in studies. I was studying for some big exams and projects during my graduation and I tried to use the Law. You know when people saw me failing and didn't know who I was in school, they used to advise me like - 'Bro, you should discipline yourself, make some notes and work a bit hard. You are not so bad in understanding concepts, you just need a push.' I used to smile and say - 'Thanks for letting me know, I have no idea how to study' with a Thomas Shelby death stare.
And then, I used to go in my room, stand in front of the mirror and think - What kind of a person I have turned myself into? What is all this shit? People are advising me on how to clear exams? Someone who has topped every single subject in every single class in school is advised to make notes and pass a shitty exam? Having this big tummy, looking like an obese shrek, unable to concentrate on anything I study, how will I change my life? I loved football in school, I was very athletic and the captain of my team. Lost every single match in college, lost my health completely, degraded to a filthy piece of muck, all thanks to my never-ending addictions, useless distractions and continuous negative self-talk. How is it even possible that just by using the Law I would turn around my life? How is it possible that just by affirming all day and night would I become the best version of myself that I was a few years ago? I tried all the methods, all techniques, believed completely in not taking any action, just affirming, robotic affirming, writing, scripting, visualizing, imagining, doing SATS, using vision boards, journaling, gratitude journaling, whisper method, telephone method, CUP method, pillow method, 369, 555, water method and many more. Guess what happened? I failed brutally.
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My faith in the Law was completely shattered. Then I realised the biggest mistake I made by believing in all the Manifestation teachers who said there is no need to take any action, even though your desired reality could just be an action away. I promised myself to take massive action, discipline myself and stick with robotic affirmations. It took me 6 months to get in shape, bring my focus and concentration back, get rid of addictions. Some addictions took a year to be broken because I fried my dopamine receptors to a very high degree. But I did it and then my self-concept was back to where it was in school. I saw more opportunities, SPs flying to me from everywhere, getting good grades again and many more things. I noticed something - There is a strong compounding effect when you develop good habits and challenge yourself. Same is the case with bad habits. You build 1 good habit and 2-3 more will be added, you build 1 bad habit and 2-3 more will be added. So even when I got my life back, I wasn't satisfied. You can't satisfy an elite student by just passing the exam. That's the point when I set unachievable goals for myself because now not only do I have the knowledge of the Law but also I am extremely disciplined.
Massive Action + Your Favourite Technique = Desired Reality. So here comes your first lesson regarding using the Law in exams:-
Lesson 1 :- Develop a strong mindset
You can clear an exam without studying by using the Law but you will never ace it without studying. I want you to work hard and discipline yourself like an elite student. This develops a strong high-class mindset which is needed to manifest wealth later in life. You are dealing here with your mindset, not just grades in school, always remember that. Elite people in general never fail no matter what happens because their mindset is unbeatable. Don't keep your goal so low as to just clear the exam for the sake of it. Think about what after that? A rich friend of mine used to say that his father never trusted him for handling their business because he was always bad in school. School doesn't matter when you have to manage a business, but your impression and principles do.
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Lesson 2 :- Practise Robotic Affirmations
Always have your affirmations ready whenever you prepare for an exam. Affirmations give you the boost you need to study for long hours. Some days you won't feel like studying, it's okay. Make sure you affirm robotically that day without fail. Your subconscious will be forced to think how important it is for you to study and the next day you will sit and study. Never stop affirming. Practise robotic affirming which is slow and mindful whenever you can. You can choose any technique that you love whenever you have a bad day. Replace your bad day with saturation of your subconscious mind.
Lesson 3 :- Always target Rank 1
I don't care what your studying routine was in the previous years or how bad you were before. You can change that and you will. You could be the lowest scorer your entire life and it can still be changed. All you need is a goal that can move you and inspire you to work hard. Target Rank 1 even if 8 billion people are giving the exam. It doesn't matter, the goal should always be Rank 1 even if you end up failing. How do you achieve this goal? Affirmations, discipline, hard work, challenging yourself through tests and being consistent. That's it. By doing this forget about Rank 1, you will end up beyond that by breaking records and being an idol to all the future students.
Bonus Lesson from a Serial Valedictorian:-
Just one request to everyone out there. Please fall in love with studying. Education and learning is a tool to develop an unstoppable mindset. It's not so difficult to fall in love with studies, the problem is your subconscious is not used to it. Don't demonise geeks and nerds because in the future you will end up working for one. The world is always ruled by geeks and nerds. I am a proud Nerd. If people made fun of me for being a nerd, a bookworm, wasting my life with studies while every other student was enjoying, I used to smile and think - My enjoyment is beyond your stupid pleasures. I am chasing life-long happiness and wealth, not pleasuring myself with stupid activities. A strong disciplined mindset is unbeatable in any area in life. So enjoy your studies, fall in love with books not screens, read a lot, give up your top 5 bad habits and always chase Rank 1 irrespective of your circumstances. Good luck!
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pinkpigtailsprincess · 9 months ago
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౨ৎ ⁺ . Dolly n Honeys Collab .ᐟ 🎀🍯🐬
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Hii Dolls!! im soo soo 2 do this collabs with one of my favorite blogs @honeytonedhottie !!! basically we’ll be talking about persistence and being limitless!!🧁🎀 Enjoy!!!
Honey 𝜗𝜚 ! 🍯🎀
HOW TO PERSIST ; persisting simply means reminding urself that u already have whatever it is that u want. when u persist, you decide what it is that u want and you STICK to it.
the oxford definition of persistence simply means to continue in an opinion or course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.
your 3d literally has no choice but to catch up and reflect the new thoughts that ur thinking in ur 4d so just KEEP GOING. if ur gonna whine or complain every step of the way and think thoughts like "persisting is hard" or "theres lots of resistance/difficulty with manifesting" then thats what ur going to experience.
manifesting is easy, effortless, and instant. when u catch urself thinking thoughts that perpetuate the old story, remind urself that no matter what, whatever u persist in will harden into reality simply because it HAS to. stop getting in your own way!!
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Dolly ୨୧ ! 🎀🫧🍨🛼
Limitless > Imagination!! 🎀🧁
Limitless Definition; Possesing power of an immeasurable rate a perfect way to describe your power your literally the god of your reality and you know you might think thats silly or “delusional” its so true though like ever since birth people are conditioned to believe that being negative is the more “logical” and “realistic” way to think than positive whoch is such a stupid revelation because all throughout life you meant to believe that you have to bring yourself down to earth about achieving something and that you’ll never have “__” because of “__” but that makes no sense seeing all of the extraordinary achievements that humans have done like
- build rockets and do rocket science
- walk on the moon
- build the great wall of china
and so many others including the human body its self your cells in your body healing and protecting wounds and your organs being able to stay in the designated spot no matter what and you think “logic” actually matters? everything in the human mind is projected i mean everything you use on a daily basis started off in the mind it all stems from imagination i mean just think about how everything around you started put as an idea in someones head!!
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Decisions!! 🎀🍨🫧
deciding is the final decision and the final outcome no matter what no questions asked like if you went too a sushi restaurant and ordered and decided that you want a shrimp tempura roll you will have the shrimp tempura roll no matter what
Concepts !! 🎀🧁🐬
“if the concept of something can exist then that can be achieved no matter” literally something i think about alot and a direct quote from yours truly like most people do think that you can have something because its quote “unrealistic” or it “doesn’t exist” but if that were really the case than why is the concept of it allowed to prosper like if those things really didn’t exist then the concept of Billionaires or Superpowers and Superheroes wouldn’t exist or even time travel everything single one of those things are a product of imagination!!! 💭🎀
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cosmic-walkers · 11 days ago
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Thomas and his view of bastards placed into religious vows/holy orders is very interesting. Because his first thought is to assume that now, as adults who choose to stay in said orders, they hate it, or that they don't take it seriously. Which at first, is an understandable misconception. But sometimes, he lets his own personal view of religion overshadow the fact that maybe, just maybe, they are happy in positions that have given them power, status and family. This is about both Dorthea and Stephen, and his relationship to them.
Thomas can count a total of two bastards on his fingers forced into the religious life that he's pissed off. and i put the rest under the cut.
He did it first to Stephen, where in the book he mentions that Stephen was basically forced into being a priest even though he didn't want to. He talks about how Stephen loathes being a priest, how it’s this shameful, things that he is embarrassed by (in addition to being well, a bastard). However, being a priest gave Stephen immense amount of power, and he ends up becoming the Bishop of Winchester. There is nothing that states, at his big age, Stephen actually hates being a priest/Bishop. 
He also brings up sex with Stephen, basically asking if Stephen has been sleeping with women. Aside from being gay, Stephen takes his vows of celibacy very seriously, and that was something that shocked Thomas. UNDERSTANDABLY, because aside from Stephen, almost all the clergymen Thomas knows are fucking and have kids running around the place. Stephen however, doesn't, and there is that cognitive dissonance from Thomas because he is probably thinking, "why do you take a position you were forced into so seriously, especially when no one else does?" and it's because yes, he was forced into it, but that was the only place he was accepted. he is a family embarrassment, but the clergy became his family.
Next is Dorthea, whom like Stephen also had no choice in taking religious vows, but as we see in both the show and the book, she doesn’t hate it. In the show she states she wasn’t there by choice, and she might be forced to leave, not by her own choice. She brings up her sisters, and worries for them, especially when Thomas doesn’t. Thomas comes to her thinking that she hates her life, that she wants to leave, that she detests being a nun - but that simply isn’t true. He offers marriage to her as an escape, but doesn’t even realize that is a cage. At that time, nuns had far more freedom to live their lives than married women. They didn’t listen to a man, they were not governed by a husband, they could make their own money, they could teach, etc. Because Thomas assumed that Dorthea hated her life, he never actually asked her if she liked being a nun. She loves her sisters, and even though she had little, to no choice, the life she as given is the life she accepted. She found a family, she found happiness even if she was shunned. And again, she has far more freedom that many women around her. 
The lack of awareness is also quite interesting to me. because Thomas doesn’t realize that the *only* reason she’d be attempting to “escape” being a nun, is because her monastery is going to be destroyed. It’s not so much ‘ I hate this life, I wanna marry you’ as much as it is ‘because of YOU, this life that I have learned to love is over - so I am going to either go to the street or be forced into a marriage.”
ANYWAY back to the concept of bastards and religions. Back then, being in holy orders or religious vows was one of the few things that saved bastards and gave them family, status, power, etc. Especially when their own families were either ashamed of them, or didn’t want them. Which is the case of the two bastards in question. Thomas does a lot of projection on his own view of Catholicism, holy orders, and religious vows. And with that, there is also this idea of entitlement, which I already talked about in another post.
Anywayz...
tl: dr - Dorthea is a fully-fledged lesbian, and if they were on better terms, Stephen would have let Thomas fuck him if he asked. He would have absolutely bent over for that man.
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autosuns · 7 months ago
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Of Ambulon and Pharma and doomed amica endura
I'll preface that I'm the last person to try and explain my ships by how canon they are and this is very much the same case of me just entertaining the idea and what their relationship represents and what role they play in a wider story, this is not an invitation for discourse or a debate. It's just me rambling on why I like the ship so much, think Pharma and Ambulon are narrative foils, while using some canon stuff and word of god.
Jokes about hamburger or hot dog or literally anything regarding Ambulon's death will end in block idc I think it's obnoxious 👍
CW for robot gore, discussions of torture, you know, the package that comes with DJD and Decepticons and MTMTE.
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When it comes to Ambulon and Pharma's relationship, I think it's fair to start with bare bones, yeah?
I'm going to start with each character individually, what my take on them is, so we're all on the same page.
Ambulon
So, the basics are:
Ambulon was part of the failed combiner project of decepticons, the first combiner at that. He has horrible alt mode, that brings him a lot of shame, so he prefers to keep it a secret. He switched to the Autobots, eventually.
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We don't know for certain if he was created for the project, or was one of the "volunteers". What we do know though, is that he's an MTO specifically, not just constructed cold, and MTOs were a concept of war.
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Meaning, he cant be older than the war. Meaning, in my personal opinion, he was either made for some operation, then snatched by Shockwave for the project, or was created already specifically for the project.
There, I think, comes a timeline conflict. It feels unfeasible, to me, that MTOs were made this early into the war, by Decepticons. What I think happened, is that Shockwave did try to experiment on other Decepticons to figure out and develop on Jhiaxus' research, but once MTOs as a concept came into the picture, it became infinitely easier to just have an alt mode pre-made for a mech.
Unless when Shockwave said he was going to give Megatron a gestalt he meant he'll postpone it for 4mil years and do it a little before he succeeded with Devastator so Ambulon deserting LITERALLY as he is picked out for the combiner project JUST to avoid it makes this line from him especially funny:
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Boy for all we know you're not even 15 years old.
Also the idea that character like Ambulon did that out of some sort of cowardice, that THIS was his breaking point to join Autobots, feels wrong.
In-text it becomes even less likely Ambulon had a life before the project, as his name "Ambulon" seems to be the only one he ever had (judging by his statue post on Necroworld).
I think why I'm getting a Little long-winded explaining Ambulon is to draw a better picture on his experience with Decepticons, Specifically Shockwave.
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That to say, he had a horrible one. He knows better than anyone what Decepticons are capable of and how far they will go/what Megatron would allow. Especially once DJD comes into the picture.
And it just emphasizes the way Ambulon in the end of it all chose kindness. The first issues he appeared in cement it very well, especially since most of his intro we get from First Aid's point of view.
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Ambulon is tetchy, can be a gearstick sometimes
Ambulon took pity on the Decepticons he thought were hunted down by the DJD
Ambulon convinced Pharma to let them stay
The Genericons showed their scars to Ambulon specifically
Ambulon gets passionate about hate crimes concerning one's shape/alt mode
Ambulon is "tetchy" and rejects First Aid's idea because he's concerned that it's too risky
For Ambulon to put your own life on the line to save a single life is an act of selfishness (also stemming out of his concern for First Aaid, imo)
Ambulon let the Genericons share a cell
To sum it up: Ambulon is very greatly concerned for the greater good and treating people without bias, Decepticon or Autobot, especially when there's any sort of discrimination involved.
(Using Genericons and Triple M as a tool with Ambulon was a very clever foreshadowing for Ambulon's situation, but it is a general theme that runs in these issues and Ratchet's/medics character arcs, it's the functionism, one's shape and purpose in life, but it is a completely different post to make. Just let's keep the theme of one's shape and purpose in mind.)
The thing is, Ambulon is who he is by choice. His Decepticon past is always showing, whether he wants it or not, but all he wants, essentially, is to help people and treat them with kindness. He's a "gearstick", but he's a gearstick with a big spark. He saw the greater cruelty in Decepticons and made a choice to never participate in it.
Ambulon is an MTO who made his life and became what he wants to be despite everything: Decepticons, his alt-mode, biases, all of that. He's true to himself and his intentions.
I'm gonna also get this out of the way that Ambulon's established character is continuously ignored, dumbed down and twisted: the point is that I do believe JRO didn't think about him that much or that deep, and what he did with him did not retain with him into further issues. That is to say, "You're gonna let Dr DJD cut us in half?" is a dumb fucking line to come out of Ambulon specifically, makes no sense, too snarky and cruel all things considered, and while I think it's also very funny it jsut shows Ambulon's accidental insignificance. Ok. That's all.
Pharma
Oh boy this one's a doozy. Okay, listen, I'll try to get more brief with it, try to get straight to the point, but Pharma has so much nuance around him on a greater scheme of things that it might also just be it's own post. SO we'll just try to focus on his persona and relations to others.
Pharma is a doctor of talent on par with Ratchet, if not actually better. He used to be friends with him, he's implied to have used to do medical service in the new institute, and eventually was stationed on Delphi by Prowl, practically abandoned by Ratchet. There, he ends up being blackmailed by Tarn, ending up killing his patients to meet the increasing quota, being led to the brink of creating a virus that he exposes the facility to in hope to close it down and escape it scot-free. Obviously, because of Ratchet, it didn't work, the rest is history.
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Unlike Ambulon with his 3 panels and a half of screentime worth talking about character-wise, Pharma is a combination of multiple things at once, his place as an Autobot, his connection to the DJD, his act, and most of his actual character we get from very few shots of him from the past and what people say of him, and just a little of his behavior at Delphi before his crime is revealed.
So I think we'll focus specifically on the Decepticon part when it comes to Pharma cuz it's much easier to talk about.
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Pharma vehemently, without hiding it, hates Decepticons.
It will go into even bigger field of speculations than trying to piece Ambulon's character together for why he hates them so much. It could both just be a thrown in line for the story to flow (Genericons) and act as a foreshadowing (DJD blackmail), the fact of the matter is, he hates Decepticons, he does not have pity for Decepticons, and if DJD did not play into his hatred, years of war for sure did.
(Also worth mentioning that in the issue #4, the paralleling story is Tailgate learning about the war and backing off on his decision to be a Decepticon. The entire build up works very well, imo, and plays into just how much it should hit you when Pharma turns out providing for DJD, along with the choice of Ambulon to not be a Decepticon anymore.)
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You see, I think Pharma is incredibly caring person. He cares for his patients and he cares for his people. He takes his work extremely seriously. He's willing to be a donor for his patient and he's still conducting research to cure illnesses when there was no legitimate point for him to do that anymore. He's not just a surgeon, but he's a virologist/epidemiologist.
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But, probably when we ask ourselves, "So if he was such a wonderful doctor, equal to Ratchet, someone Ratchet recognizes, why wasn't he the Chief Medical Officer in the first place?"
I think it's mostly his personality. It's his hubris and ego. It's also the inherent societal bias of Cybertron when it comes to jets - though this part of worldbuilding isn't that consistent, he is a forged jet AND a doctor.
And that's also why I think he doesn't believe in that "forged" functionism bullshit. BUT thats another post of its own (take a shot every time i say that in this post).
Let's just bullet point this:
Pharma is a talented doctor who's good and dedicated to his job. Practically nothing is impossible for him and it becomes a focal point of his conflict with Ratchet, too.
That said, Pharma's shape is what, I think, is responsible for his hubris. He's a jet, he's forged, he's a doctor, but he's a doctor because HE, PHARMA, is good. Nothing to do with some God. (which is different from Ratchet's internalized functionism)
Pharma hates Decepticons, he tried to kill the DJD, and it may seem like he pushed it all on Ambulon because he was a Decepticon, but I don't think that's the case. Specifically because of this:
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He does not see Ambulon as a Decepticon, and it was just panicked shitty lie he had to quickly come up with on the spot.
Pharma feels guilt for his actions, and after killing Ambulon, he's actively taunting First Aid to kill him.
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Pharma is a jet doctor trapped in the loop of self-sabotage after being exploited, psychologically tortured and left for dead, after a poor attempt of saving face. Pharma is a jet doctor who embraced his new look, but couldn't live with it, far from accepting it. Furthermore, his body is used by Adaptus himself, where the only thing he could do is trying to get his body back, to help his comrades, only to end up dying, again.
That's where I'm going to use a single word of God that makes, all in all, a lot of sense.
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"Grurdging respect" is about best way to describe Pharma and Ambulon.
Now since I've reached the image limit on this post it's relentless rambling and speculations time!
You probably can already tell where I'm going with this. I think Pharma and Ambulon direct inversions of each other.
Decepticon gone Autobot as a choice - Autobot gone rogue out of blackmail and fear of failure
MTO doing what he wants to do and taking control of his body and life, disconnected from a gestalt or his "purpose" - A forged jet trying to continue his career of a doctor despite all the odds but who's agency is continuously taken, not only by others but by his own ego
Where they overlap, is their desire to do what they want. Where they differ, is one's sincerity and other's toxicity.
Ambulon is someone Pharma would never be, and someone he, on meta level, wishes he was more like. He doesn't want to be Ratchet, even if we think a little about his obsession and desire to prove to Ratchet that he's better, he wants to be someone Ratchet would respect. And in the end of the day, it all didn't matter anymore, because clearly Ratchet never respected him enough in the first place: "waging a war on his body", taking body parts for his own gain (hands), that Pharma didn't even really care about anymore. It was personal. He wanted Ratchet to hurt.
All of this, ultimately, is justified. Little who would respond to knowing someone who betrayed you (and whom you, also, betrayed) also breached boundaries of your autonomy. It's just basic decency. I don't believe TFs never heard of that or don't follow it, in some fashion. Maybe it's more loose, but for the purpose of drama and villification of Pharma, it was convenient, I guess.
See, Pharma is just inherently, like anyone, very flawed. The circumstance he's put in and the war led to the worst of his qualities spike. And in relation to Ambulon, it's the inverse of a person who, having seen the horrors of the war, having been through the horror and the existential dread of being in a gestalt, chose kindness anyway.
"Grudging respect". A jet doctor, a genius, and an ex-soldier MTO, who made the choice of helping people. An ex-Decepticon, too, no less.
See how it could've developed into something more?
Both eager to do their job, Ambulon is a perfect stabilizer for Pharma's general emotional response to things. He may be a good doctor, but he's prone to acting and saying things before really thinking about it. Ambulon is capable of convincing him and giving a good argument, without it being personal.
"Grudging respect" with Ambulon working with one of the best doctors out there, who's work is going to be invaluable even after his death.
And if things worked out differently? Do you think Ambulon wouldn't be there to sympathize with Pharma's trauma regarding DJD? Do you think Ambulon wouldn't pity Pharma for what Tarn put him through? Ambulon? The Decepticon who was there? The one who even should fear DJD the most? The one who might've even triggered DJD once he was so close on the radar?
He might've confided in Pharma in the first place, as someone literally second in charge after him.
Pharma and Ambulon are defying Adaptus as a societal concept, among with the existential idea of your shape dictating your purpose. And within the text they don't just defy, they end up suffering the most out of it - Pharma ends up in a position where his hands are praised more than he, as a person, is, Ambulon dies by these hands, and his death dooms Pharma as well.
I hope it was comprehensive enough, i WISH i could include more images to prove my point. The amica endura would've been insane. If only the circumstance was different.
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69misato69 · 2 years ago
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Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures (Alhaitham x Kaveh) ✦ smut, 3.5k
archive of our own ✦ twitter
masterlist pinned on my profile !
Summary: Kaveh overhears Haytham having a one night stand and he is unable to think of anything but fucking him. The initial premise was meant to be crack, then it turned into an actual fic but I do still find it kind of funny if I'm being honest. I hope you enjoy :)
Top Alhaitham x Bottom Kaveh
cw: blowjobs, handjobs, ejaculation, slight overstim, unprotected anal sex
writer's note: explicit +18 content, please view at your own risk. thank you, have fun !
“Haytham!” Kaveh angrily walked into the living room to find his roommate reading on the couch as always, “We have a problem.”
The scribe didn’t lift his gaze from the page and turned it over with his index finger, “I have a feeling that it's your problem and I have absolutely nothing to do with it.” Kaveh crossed his arms at his chest, refusing to follow-up in an attempt to get his attention. Per usual, it was a futile effort, so he gave up with a long, annoyed exhale, “I can’t get laid. It’s getting out of hand.”
Alhaitham was unfazed by the abrupt indecency, it was Kaveh after all, he had spent years trying to teach the concept of boundaries to him but the man was sticking to his values of oversharing and making every detail of his life public to their small household. “Impossible, it's your only source of income.” Alhaitham jested, skilfully hiding the half-smirk that formed on the corner of his mouth. Kaveh gasped and squeezed his fists, “Rude and untrue.” he protested. Alhaitham turned another page and settled more comfortably in his seat, “Mmhm, do go on.”
“My proposal is to fuck.”
“Seems like an appropriate solution, any candidates?”
Alhaitham could see where this conversation was going from miles away, but for now his plan was playing dumb and savoring the moment as his roommate further embarrassed himself. “The proposal is for you and me.” Kaveh certainly didn’t sound ashamed, laying down an unchaste and indecent offer as if it was nothing. 
“You want us to fuck?”
“Yes. What is your answer?”
“Who fucks who?
“You top.”
“Why, you don't like it?
Alhaitham heard footsteps approaching him, Kaveh snatched the book away from his hand and put it down on the table. Alhaitham hated it when he did that, but he was drawing too much joy from the situation that he wasn’t bothered at all.
Kaveh stood between his parted legs and looked down on him with his arms crossed once again. “Haytham. Listen to me very carefully. Fucking you won’t solve my problem. This is serious. I need to be thrown around, okay? I need to forget my own name. I can’t take it anymore. You’re as emotional as a Scarab, so I’m sure you won't catch feelings. Also, I assume you’re packing down there. So please , stop drawing this out and just answer me.” he explained calmly, as if the words he uttered weren’t absolutely insane. 
Alhaitham nodded, “Fine, I accept.” Kaveh’s eyes lit up momentarily, then the spark vanished with the growing awkwardness between them. Alhaitham parted the silence, “What are you waiting for?” Kaveh was frozen in place, he hadn’t planned things this far. He didn’t even think the scribe would accept. Though it seemed impulsive, it had been on his mind for some time, since the day he was supposed to check up on a project and stay overnight in the desert last week. 
He had told Alhaitham beforehand, it was an unspoken rule between the two. Kaveh enjoyed having people over but they kept it confined within the walls of his bedroom, Alhaitham would only see those people for a moment in the mornings when they would be leaving, but he would never bring home someone he was involved with. Kaveh didn’t exactly know why, but he knew that the scribe definitely cared for his privacy. Regardless of the reason, he tried to tell Alhaitham when he was going to be away, in case he wanted to have the house to himself and have people over. Everytime he came back he would notice signs but would never pester his roommate about it. 
So last weekend, he got ready for his departure as always, failing to account for the fact that he was extremely tired. He came home and went to bed immediately, confident that he would easily get up near noon and leave with the convoy. But when he finally opened his eyes, rested and light as a feather, the time was nearing five in the afternoon. 
He got off the bed, cursing as he made his way through the kitchen to quench his thirst. He sat on the balcony for a while and then ran inside upon spotting Alhaitham in the distance. The scribe approached the door, Kaveh could hear him from the large window opening to the balcony. But he wasn’t alone, there was a tall brunette tangled around his arm. Kaveh rubbed his temples, trying to devise a plan by the time they made their way up. 
If he left he would undoubtedly run into them, plus he wasn’t even dressed. Even if he found a way to evade them, everyone that would welcome him in the city was out in the desert with the rest of the team. Though he liked to poke fun at Alhaitham, he handled most of the housework, cooking and cleaning, taking care of their plants and, taking care of Kaveh. It was his house after all, and if he saw Kaveh there he would surely never bring anyone home ever again. Kaveh truly didn’t want to shatter his trust in him. 
So, the only option was to hide in his room. It wasn’t so bad, he was still tired after all. Hurriedly, he sneaked a bottle of water and some snacks and ran to his bed. Alhaitham walked in with the man that Kaveh didn’t know, they cooked dinner together, laughing and talking about things that were terribly boring to the blonde. Yet, it was interesting to hear Alhaitham crack up at the jokes, he surely never laughed like that at Kaveh or at anyone at work. 
It was actually kind of nice to see a more human side of him. Kaveh couldn’t help but smile all evening, sketching his new plans quietly and occasionally taking breaks to eavesdrop on the two. From what he had gathered, it didn’t seem like a serious relationship, maybe it was just a casual thing, and maybe it wasn’t even a ‘relationship’ at all, Kaveh thought, until later that night, when Alhaitham took the man to his room. 
After that, all that Kaveh heard was the rustling of clothes and kisses through the thin walls, and the man moaning Alhaitham’s name over and over again. Kaveh should’ve just plugged his ears, but he felt paralyzed, unable to move a single muscle until he realized he was gripping tightly onto the sheets. He whispered curses when he felt a twitch in his groin, it was extremely annoying to get hard at Alhaitham’s grunts. 
Aside from the frustration he also felt, perverted. It was wrong , slipping his hand inside his boxers was wrong, imagining his own self under Alhaitham was wrong, lusting over something that he wasn’t even meant to hear was so wrong. But, that didn’t stop him. He laid down, playing with himself to the melody of his roommate’s soft moans and words of praise. 
It was so unattainable, what that man was achieving. It was so out of touch for someone like Kaveh. What he felt wasn’t jealousy, but it was certainly something. After the two settled down, Kaveh also felt his eyelids get heavy once again. He rid himself of the overwhelming thoughts and drifted off to sleep. Luckily, the house was empty in the morning. All that remained was a note with beautiful handwriting that Alhaitham slipped through the door, probably before leaving for work. 
“Hope you had a safe trip back. I’ll be away until tomorrow. Please do not leave the window open again. H.”
Kaveh sighed. He went to drop off the plans and apologize for missing the trip. Since he was going to have the house all to himself, he decided to hit the tavern and hopefully find someone to spend the night with. He desperately needed to shake off Alhaitham’s voice from his ears, but it seemed impossible. Instead of taking an interest in newcomers, he spent the entire night drinking and thinking of his roommate. 
Kaveh barely made it through the rest of the week, bickering with Alhaitham as usual but having his mind drift off to lewd fantasies of him whenever he was unoccupied was exhausting and confusing. So he really wasn’t lying when he told Alhaitham that he couldn’t get laid, Kaveh had just conveniently left out the part that Alhaitham was the reason for that, and the only cure for his debilitating condition. 
“I—don’t know. Do something, Haytham.”
“I take care of your drunk ass every night, you do something for once.” 
“Fine, but don’t enjoy it too much.”
Kaveh lowered himself to his knees and reached to undo the scribe’s pants. “I don’t think I will.” Alhaitham chuckled. 
“Stop being mean or I’ll bite.”
“It’d be the last time you ever bite anything, Kaveh.” 
Kaveh couldn’t help but laugh as he slipped away his roommate’s underwear. “Damn, pretty.” he remarked out loud accidentally. It really was decent, Kaveh couldn’t help but imagine it inside himself, the thought lit a spark in his groin. “It’s a dick?” Alhaitham said, bewildered by Kaveh’s comment. 
“So, I’m not allowed to find it pretty?”
“Why don't you suck it so I can have some peace and quiet?”
Kaveh huffed and looked up at him daringly. Not fighting back was taking everything he had, but for once, Kaveh had the chance to actually impress Alhaitham. When it came to housework, the scribe would always complain that he didn’t do things properly, and when he acclaimed Kaveh's work as an architect, well, that wasn’t really a personal thing. So, he decided to revel in the opportunity. He tied up his hair neatly and leaned forward, holding onto Alhaitham’s waist with both of his hands. 
Kaveh first left a trail of kisses all over his thighs, grazing his teeth over the sensitive skin. Alhaitham twitched at the sensation as the blonde’s mouth moved up to his groin. He dragged his tongue around the scribe’s cock hungrily, being rewarded with light moans. Kaveh sucked on the tip, looking up shamelessly before sliding his mouth all the way down. 
He was bobbing his head up and down and altering the way he sucked and released with such precision that Alhaitham felt like he could orgasm at any moment if he wanted to. “Not bad.” he mumbled, it was an understatement but was necessary to humble Kaveh. 
But he was persistent, he supported his movements by placing one hand around Alhaitham’s base, timing them in a way that he knew would drive his roommate insane. Curses spilled out of Alhaitham as he yanked on Kaveh’s ponytail and pulled him up by the waist. 
“Hey! I wasn’t done.” the blonde objected, but he still wrapped his arms around his roommate’s neck regardless. Alhaitham freed his hair from the pin and pressed a kiss onto his neck, “Well, I want you here, on my lap.”
Kaveh felt his heart skip a beat, Alhaitham stripped him slowly while peppering kisses all over his upper body. He shivered once he was fully naked on the scribe’s lap, the erection rubbing against his entrance already.
Alhaitham took such good care of him, massaging his thighs, playing with his hardened nipples and leaving bite marks all over his sensitive skin. Kaveh held onto his roommate’s shoulders for support, he felt like a ball of yarn at the mercy of a cat’s paws, he had no choice but to unravel. 
Alhaitham slipped two fingers in Kaveh’s mouth, watching the blonde carefully as he sloppily lubricated them, eager to move on. Kaveh was already grinding back and forth, he couldn’t help it, just as he couldn’t help tilting his head back and moaning Alhaitham’s name as he quivered for his touch. 
Alhaitham took out his fingers and circled them around Kaveh’s hole. Though they had been in this position for some time, Kaveh leaned in for the first time to kiss his roommate on the lips. Alhaitham passionately responded, intruding Kaveh’s mouth with his tongue and his hole with his fingers. 
The blonde sank even deeper on his lap, grinding onto the digits with excitement. His moans escaped into Alhaitham’s mouth, hot breath hovering over the scribe’s face. Alhaitham pulled away and lifted his lips to line up with his entrance, Kaveh took a deep breath before pushing all the way down, all in one go with a low groan. 
Alhaitham hissed, the warmth came so suddenly, and Kaveh’s walls sucked him up with no hesitation or delay, it was impressive, how he took it with such ease and the way fit him perfectly. “So good, Kaveh.” Alhaitham purred in his ear while playing with his nipples. The blonde stuttered and then decided not to speak at all. Instead, he slid back and forth, up and down in circular motions, fucking himself on Alhaitham’s cock as he kept pampering him. 
“L—let’s go inside.” Kaveh offered. Alhaitham carried him to his bedroom without pulling out, with every step he took the blonde gently hopped up on his lap. The scribe entered and immediately slammed Kaveh on the wall, he cried out from the overwhelming sensations, the cold surface against his back, the sharp momentary pain that stabbed his hips, and the way Alhaitham reached so far up his hole with the force of the impact. He was thrusting somewhere so deep that Kaveh didn’t even know such a place existed. 
“Thrown around, you said, right? Does this suffice?
Alhaitham pushed him even further, instead of letting Kaveh slip back, he held his hips and drew them in, maintaining the depth that made Kaveh’s eyes widen with every thrust. “I don’t know about making you forget your own name but I’ll make sure you at least won’t be able to speak it.” Alhaitham cooed in his ear. Kaveh was already far gone, drool spilled from his lips over to his roommate’s chest, he was gasping for air, breathing out incoherent words. 
Alhaitham kept holding him close, Kaveh didn’t deserve anything short of being filled up to the brim. Though, after a few more thrusts, he felt warm liquid seep out of Kaveh’s tip and pulled away, leaving only an understimulating portion inside. Instinctively, the blonde tried to wrap his fingers around his cock but Alhaitham swiftly pinned both of his wrists above his head with a single move. Kaveh winced at the distress, he struggled to free his hands and whined, “Stop it, Haytham, you’re—ruining it.” 
Alhaitham smirked, “Oh, am I?” The rest of Kaveh’s load leaked out pathetically as he begged the scribe to help him out. Alhaitham didn’t seem to care, he watched the blonde ride it out with a cruel and merciless smile. “Put me down.” Kaveh spat out angrily. 
Alhaitham stepped away and released his grip on his wrists and hip. Kaveh hadn’t accounted for the fact that his legs were on the edge of giving out, with Alhaitham gone he collapsed on the floor, his knees knocking up against the harsh, wooden surface. Alhaitham grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled it back roughly so Kaveh would look up at him. 
“I’ll give you a proper one, Kaveh. I promise.” His words were comforting but the playful look on his face surely wasn’t. Regardless, Kaveh was hitting a point where all the pain started to feel right. His aching back, knees and hips, his abused hole that was already yearning for more, and now the stinging feeling at the base of his scalp. It had become so pleasurable, so delicious as it pumped adrenaline through Kaveh’s veins. 
Alhaitham was just as he expected, selfish and impudent, disregarding the amount of agony he was putting Kaveh through and discourteously ruining his high while feeling zero remorse. The more Kaveh realized it, the more he was drawn to the scribe. He stuck out his tongue, leaving a wet trail from Alhaitham’s base all the way up to his tip. He encased his cock inside his lips, this time much more gently, grazing the tip against the insides of his cheeks. 
Alhaitham had expected him to make a bigger fuss before settling into submission again. “I didn’t know you could behave so well.” he gave a backhanded compliment that made Kaveh’s brows furrow and pushed his head away. The blonde’s whines stayed muffle on his throat when the scribe picked him up and laid him on the bed. 
Kaveh relaxed onto the mattress, finally resting on a soft surface. Alhaitham sat between his legs, but the sight suddenly stunned him. He had seen Kaveh almost everyday for the past two years, and in almost every conceivable scenario. Exhausted and alert, sober and drunk out of his mind, snorting from laughter and sobbing uncontrollably. But this was a new entry, unregistered. Laying down on the bed with bruised knees and a sheer coat of sweat, eager to have Alhaitham take care of him. His golden locks scattered over the pillow and his cheeks tinted pink.
He looked absolutely breathtaking, and Alhaitham realized that he never stared at him for this long. The most he would do was take stolen, quick glances from his book when Kaveh would fall asleep on the couch. Not that he was going to wake up, but secretly Alhaitham was scared of seeing something, he didn’t even know what that “something” was, but now it was clear to him. Kaveh was beautiful, ethereal. Slithering over him lustfully, it wasn’t like anything Alhaitham had ever seen before. 
You’re as emotional as a Scarab, Haytham. 
“I know, I’m pretty.” Kaveh snapped him out of his thoughts, Alhaitham had lost track of time, he scoffed with a dramatic eye-roll, “And a shallow idiot.”
“Well you almost came inside that idiot two times so that makes you even more shallow.”
“What?”
“You edged twice, didn’t you?”
“How do you know that?”
“Well I felt it.”
Alhaitham chuckled, he was awfully good at hiding every physical cue, it was interesting, Kaveh was oblivious to his mastery during daily life, but apparently he was immune to the deception when it came to being intimate. 
“How is it that a field expert like you can't find someone?” Alhaitham quipped as he leaned forward and slid inside. 
“I—fuck—don’t know. It’s been like that for the past week.”
“No luck yesterday either?”
“Uhh…not really. I sat at the tavern but no one even bought me a drink.”
“I would. If you were there.”
“Sorry?” Kaveh was flushed, his legs wrapped around the scribe’s waist went numb for a moment, his mind was at a blank as well. 
“I was at the tavern yesterday, doing corrections. Almost all night.” Alhaitham seemed very calm, he was sliding in and out with a relaxed pace, watching Kaveh slowly lose composure and fall apart. It truly was a terrible time for his roommate to come up with an excuse or a lie, and that was why Alhaitham had brought it up right then and there. 
Kaveh felt like an ice cube slowly melting away into a puddle, for a brief moment it actually seemed pretty ideal to disappear so he didn’t have to deal with the situation. Luckily, Alhaitham didn’t expect an explanation, he picked up the pace, eliciting deep moans off of the blonde’s lips. Kaveh was already feeling close again, still longing for a satisfactory relief unlike his last.  
“Your cute little ploy is very amusing but the next time you want me, just say so.” Alhaitham mewled as he nibbled on the blonde’s neck. “Shut up, it wasn’t a—Ah!--ploy.” Kaveh opposed. The scribe chuckled, he brushed against his roommate’s prostate to work him out even more, Kaveh gasped, it was becoming harder and harder to defend himself. 
“You were here last week, weren’t you?” Alhaitham asked. He lifted Kaveh’s hips with a slight angle and pressed down on his groin. The blonde whimpered, the unexpected pressure was making him even more sensitive as more blood rushed to his lower body. 
“I thought a bright man such as yourself would at least think to hide away his shoes.” Alhaitham continued. He was shamelessly badgering Kaveh, enjoying the sight as he squirmed and tried to cover his blushing face with his hands.
“Ah, I see. You’re not embarrassed because you heard it, you’re embarrassed because you liked it.” 
“Please—” Kaveh pleaded.
“You laid here and fucked yourself like a freak, didn’t you?” 
Kaveh was living through an insane thrill, he was desperate against Alhaitham’s claims, they were terribly accurate, as if the scribe could read his mind. Hearing Alhaitham belittle him usually annoyed Kaveh, but in the heat of the moment he felt euphoric, an overload of emotions as his body fluctuated between shame and pleasure. 
Alhaitham’s eyes had darkened, an evil grin was sculpted on his face. He wrapped his fingers around Kaveh’s dick and slid his hand up and down. “Didn’t you?” he repeated the question, not that it needed an answer, but hearing Kaveh admit to his degeneracy would simply be delicious. 
Tears pooled around Kaveh’s eyes as he struggled to talk, “I hate—” but before the blonde could say “you”, he released so intensely that his vision went dark for a second. Ropes of cum shot out in between them as his body spasmed and released. 
Alhaitham hummed, “Ironic.” 
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marvelousmop · 22 days ago
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The King in Yellow and the War Over the Mind
I think one of the most powerful aspects of Robert W. Chambers's The King in Yellow, and one which sets it apart from a lot of later Weird Fiction about academics who become too invested in the world of the arcane, is the idea that there just isn't anything explainably wrong with the play. People know there's something wrong with it, especially once you get to the second act... but if you just looked at the text itself, you wouldn't find anything.
'No definite principles had been violated in those wicked pages, no doctrine promulgated, no convictions outraged. It could not be judged by any known standard, yet, although it was acknowledged that the supreme note of art had been struck in The King in Yellow, all felt that human nature could not bear the strain, nor thrive on words in which the essence of purest poison lurked.' ~ The Repairer of Reputations
Despite how central it is, I completely missed it on my first reading (mainly because I was young and grappling with a particularly bad printing of it which made the text really small). I only started to grasp it when I listened to the concept album The King in Yellow by experimental post-rock band "Ah Pook, the Destroyer".
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This album is largely inspired by Chamber's work, using that premise - an idea that you can't see but can still cause genuine harm - to talk about the current political climate. Songs touch on a wide array of cults and conspiracies - from the modern-day antisemitic ramblings of Qanon and Lizard People conspiracies to the strong figureheads and interpersonal conflicts of cults like Heaven's Gate. They even find time to touch on the Time Cube somehow, all under the framework of the King in Yellow propagating harmful ideas and bringing about the New Age of Madness.
But it's not as simple as just looking at these people and calling them mad. Okay, sometimes it is that (best exemplified in the gospel stylings of "The Tribulation of Alex Jones"), but there are cases where the characters are presented with genuine empathy, such as in "The Road to Carcosa" where we hear about the life of a man who, through exposure to the Yellow Sign (which here is attached to Right-Wing conspiracy theories) ends up destroying his relationship with his family. The singer gets a moment of lucidity in the refrain "The fall of my life came after; And all of my mind was scattered", though this fades away as we hear the end of this story: Him living alone in a gun-filled squalor.
Another thing that elevates this album is how it turns it all back on the listener. There's obviously a specific audience of Left-leaning listeners a project like this would attract, and those people are very unlikely to also share the beliefs of the average Qanon-minded person, but (much like in the book) it constantly emphasises that the actual specific beliefs don't matter as much as the spread of ideas. This is most visible in the refrain heard throughout the album:
The fall you believe Is not far as it seems And the deep can not be so alive The blithe poison meme That you did not believe But you saw and it entered your mind
Belief doesn't matter. Sheer exposure to these toxic ideas means that, in a way, you've already been harmed no matter what you take away from it. This idea is also present in the book, most directly in the story "The Yellow Sign".
In it, Mr. Scott is fully aware of the King in Yellow, but has actively tried to avoid its influence, partially due to the unfortunate fate of Hildred Castaigne (who featured in the story "The Repairer of Reputations" and at the very least wanted to do a monarchist coup of America that would place him as King - all after reading The King in Yellow). By all means, he should be doing the right thing - he has no interest in The King in Yellow and is actively avoiding the play... and it's not like anyone's staging it anymore, so he should be fine... and yet, after strange dreams, an erie watchman, and other bizarre events, he and his model, Tessie, are driven to read it. This is also a story the album quotes right at the start:
'Then, as I fell, I heard Tessie’s soft cry and her spirit fled: and even while falling I longed to follow her, for I knew that the King in Yellow had opened his tattered mantle and there was only God to cry to now.' ~ The Yellow Sign & Beautitudes
It's an idea I think is also evoked in the structure of the anthology. While the first 4 stories directly feature the King in Yellow in one way or another, the rest are tragic, sometimes supernatural romances with seemingly no connection to the title character, to the point where some reprints just do the first 4 and ignore the rest... though I feel it's deliberate when keeping this idea in mind. While the King is absent, Yellow is a recurring motif throughout the book, often emphasising death or danger, and reminding the reader of that titular presence. You have been exposed to the King in Yellow, and now your mind is his domain.
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blueikeproductions · 2 months ago
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So the Pokémon Giga Leak happened and the thing that stuck out to me was leaked planning documents for HZ and various separate animation projects. I don’t want to discuss the leaks that show the future road map to HZ’s ending though, it’s the preproduction stuff that strikes my fancy.
I’ve been very upfront in not liking HZ, as the plot and characters never felt right for the main line anime. They felt more suited for Twilight Wings type stuff, and apparently I wasn’t far off.
One of the earliest phases was a movie, apparently they’ve been trying to push forward with a “movie universe reboot” post Pokémon Coco in an attempt to bring back lapsed adult fans, but nothing has gotten off the ground. There were rumors prior to this leak of a Liko movie, but nothing ever surfaced, so I’m guessing leakers found scraps of the original movie pitch and went wild.
That it was originally intended as a movie makes more sense, as the continual stretching out its main plot beats across the usual three year anime life span doesn’t work. It’s the same problem Digimon Tri had, unnaturally stretching out and waffling on its Meicoomon plot, annoying and confusing fans until they finally decided to kill her off as was originally intended. (Apparently the writers wound up liking Meicoomon and didn’t WANT to kill her off, creating one of the problems.)
As such the Terapagos plot and the general treasure hunt/Castle in the Sky vibe it has fits a movie plot far better. I’m not super sure if the Six Heroes were involved in this phase, but they’d make the script too bloated if so.
The concept then became the basis of the anime instead, but during development it was intended to continue using Ash as the main protagonist, lining up with previous rumors I’d heard from Japanese fans. These rumors stated Ash was to go to Paldea and meet up with two students, some prototype versions of Liko and Roy. It would appear in this version of the story Ash was intended to remain business as usual but late in development he was cut, intending to start fresh instead.
Taking it at face value, as HZ is functionally a continuation of JN’s globe trotting gimmick, I wonder if Ash would’ve taken a break from battling and just become an Adventurer. The original story map didn’t include battling in the Gym challenges, with the school arc we got being the result of executive meddling, but if they kept using Ash, would they have included the Gym challenge anyway… Also Amethio’s early rivalry with Friede makes far more sense if you put Ash in Friede’s place, which makes me think Amethio was conceived with Ash in mind, and is why he doesn’t really vibe well with Liko and Friede: he was never meant to be THEIR rival.
Also a big complaint is the lack of capturing other Pokemon, and how fans keep insisting everyone needs to get six Pokemon, but the show has stayed consistent so far on only keeping two Pokemon each. So does that mean in Ash’s case he would’ve had Pikachu and a spare? With Friede being Ash’s stand in, it stands to reason Ash might’ve had Charizard too, but with ATBAPM seeing Pidgeot return, I wonder if the original intent was Ash using Pidgeot as his secondary.
I mean it makes sense, long time fans have wanted Pidgeot to return, & the old children’s chapter books in America had two original stories that saw Ash keeping Pidgeot and using it, throwing a bone way back then. In an adventure setting, Ash riding on Pidgeot and using it more extensively to help with Explorer and Team Rocket stuff would be a great way to reestablish it. Also with Ash having obtained Mega Evolution, and Mega Evolution returning once more in the anime anyway for ZA synergy, we could’ve gotten Mega Pidgeot ideally. Ash’s removal is still weird, as lining up with other interviews and comments, it sounds like they intend to bring him back anyway. Some writers have apparently said outside the leak they were considering bringing him back for HZ, confusing the matter further. Adding on to this, despite Ash and other familiar characters not being present, the leaks confirm Liko’s thing not only is still happening in the Ash anime, but it actually happens in-universe immediately after JN. (This leads to a minor technicality, as ATBAPM is treated as its own thing, so does that mean Ash’s Latias story happens alongside it or it hasn’t happened yet?) The notes also mention an idea to include Iris at some point, but she’s older… That doesn’t really make sense with the provided time frame, but a couple year time skip is referenced after the kids capture the Six Heroes, so maybe Iris appears after that? It’s not clarified, nor does it help that Brock appears in the document but doesn’t seem to be included in this guest appearance otherwise.
Anyway Ash’s departure is still strange as it’s the result of the staff having waffled for years on continuing to use him, and they decided to finally put their foot down. Ok that’s fine. Then they decide to not definitively call this the end, avoiding finality like language, leaving it wide open for Ash to come back. So… the staff was wanting to move on for years, finally decided to, but plan to bring him back anyway, negating … all of this.
Then why not just keep him? Ash is the mascot alongside Pikachu and heavily ingrained in pop culture like Optimus Prime. It honestly feels like with this continued waffling, they’ve unintentionally set up Liko to be the Rodimus Prime martyr for if and when Ash returns. Whether any force in the universe can stop Ash remains to be seen. Also that makes it worse for Liko, as if Ash does guest star in HZ, it’ll suck all the oxygen out of Liko as fans will be far more invested in what HE’S doing, negating the whole point of getting people invested in a new character. And they know it!
This feeds into pry HZ’s chief problem: apparently the show’s unusual chaotic story structure is the result of the anime staff studying fandom reactions week to week, with the show being driven by that alone instead of the plot or characters.
-rubs temples-
Ok there’s a reason the Ash formula worked, and after using it for 25+ years you’re pretty much married to it. If you have to constantly guide the new show based on fan feedback only that tells me, coupled with Ash in the back door, that they had zero faith in this new idea, and the continued waffling has led to the show’s subpar production and performance. Even Game Freak staff in leaked notes have expressed dissatisfaction with the new direction, admitting it’s bad and confusing, with the main plot being sluggish. They also pointed out how little stuff like the Titans in SV are being used, if at all. Pokémon is a toyetic anime like it or not, you kinda have to properly advertise and use new Pokemon to get kids and veterans into them more. That’s why several of Ash’s and Team Rocket’s Pokemon are fondly remembered, vs here where the show outright admits in universe they completely forgot about Roy’s Kilowattrel.
This bizarre behind the scenes drama might be why other animated projects that were supposed to be out by now seem to be paused or outright cancelled until either another leak or official announcements say otherwise.
This loops back to the movie problem, where the only Parallel Ash movie that did well was I Choose You, while Coco and Power of Us shunted Ash to a supporting role and the new cast and stories didn’t wow audiences. Neither of these movies are fondly spoken of, or even remembered, with even in post COVID, Coco seems to have been forgotten entirely.
The aforementioned push to capture lapsed ADULT fans lined up with some chatter I’ve heard previously where TPC seems only interested in targeting us, and not kids. Which is utterly ridiculous because kids are still super into Pokemon 20+ years later. I can’t walk by families in stores without seeing some kids wearing Pokemon clothing or buying merch. I over heard one boy sad he couldn’t find any Pokemon Journeys books he was looking for, while a girl was looking for Pokemon books at the library, and the library just threw out its well read Ash themed books.
Like are Japanese kids not invested as much anymore? Is that why they’re targeting adults? I guarantee that’s not gonna work in the long run going by Digimon and Transformers’ own current struggles to remain relevant with children and its own fickle audiences.
That’s where the other adult oriented pitches come in. After HZ was shunted into being an anime, they tried again with a pitch about cyber bulling and suicide, something that sounds more like a Digimon plot for their Adventure sequel films. The concept art sees a girl riding Pidgeot in what looks like a virtual space in an upside down world being chased by Aerodactyl pouring out of a cyber portal. Like replace the characters with Sora, Birdramon and Pteranomon, you have something that works. For DIGIMON.
They tried again with a more grounded plot about a teenage boy investigating a mystery related to (a shockingly violent) Mew, with a sequel tease involving an ominous Mewtwo observing events. This was fleshed out more and seems otherwise completed script wise, but it’s stuck in development hell. Having read it, it reads like the live action Detective Pikachu somewhat, and others who’ve read it have said the same. It also sounds kind of … boring. I don’t know if Ryan Reynolds would help here but it’d be a start.
It seems both films were only intending to use Kanto Pokémon, not helping complaints of Kanto pandering, but despite this, a new Pokémon seems to have been toyed with, as an unidentified dog like Pokemon crops up in the cyber world concept art.
The only other noteworthy thing is a 12 episode “all ages” kids anime intended for Netflix, but other than the Twilight Wings studio attached to it, there’s no character or plot details. It seems to be in an unknown status, which doesn’t bode well.
Until something official comes out about any of these projects, I’m leaning towards them all being cancelled due to creative differences.
So what’s my take away.
Removing Ash was the worst decision they made and I think. like with Hasbro and Good Boi Megatron, they’re slowly realizing they done goofed. Liko, Roy and Dot SHOULD have worked and on paper their story is interesting, but the writers just keep messing up. Maybe just get new writers/director, crack a whip, I don’t really know what to suggest here. The new kids haven’t been treated well at all in both ends and that really sucks.
Talk of letting him return and keeping the anime within the same universe seems to be a fail safe to do so if they need to. Continued fan demand/preference for Ash dominates especially in the US, where children’s books and activity books being published now in 2024, as of typing, are STILL Ash, going back and adapting later Journeys material. Some reports, anecdotal & recent pre Giga Leak, suggest the US heavily influences what Pokémon does, and with America side stepping Liko in merch right now in favor of Ash might guarantee a return. Emphasis on MIGHT, but TPC is fully aware of the demand, and increasing backlash at Liko’s character development, as of the school arc, isn’t endearing her to anyone still.
I think the situation should be as follows, and some past stuff implies it, that despite being in the same universe, HZ shouldn’t use Ash or any of his friends.
At all.
That will further undermine the struggling HZ cast, and it’s far healthier to just let the Rising Volts ride off into the sunset; and going by what I’ve read and heard for their story map, eugh, let LDR have that dignity of riding off.
My current theory, based on the leaks and what we’ve seen before that, is if Ash returns full time, it’ll probably be Gen 10. That’s pry the best way to start clean with him again, and going by internal complaints, I wouldn’t be surprised if the anime stops the Journeys formula and returns full stop to the loose game adaption with any upcoming new gimmicks and Gym matches intact.
All attempts to start over fresh seem to be imploding, so swallow your pride, and just accept the fans and kids want Ash and all that entails back. You tried a new direction but couldn’t commit to it well and now the dirty laundry is out for everyone to see thanks to a phishing scam. If you don’t want to go back to Ash, I’d personally recommend getting the PokeToons team to pick a kid from their shorts like the Nidoran girl, and make a new main line anime based on that. People seem on board with PokeToons, so that’s a start.
But until something is officially announced, I’m leaning towards the next anime being a compromise: Ash, Dot & a new kid that’s technically the new lead but not really.
Because if TPC is aiming at us only now, then veterans have spoken and majority would rather have the immortal 10 year old back over what we’re currently getting. For now let’s let LDR ride off when their time comes peacefully, be it next year or the year after, and go from there.
Despite it all, there’s really no easy answer to this, all we can hope for in the context of the anime, is they figure out something that works, either being the familiar Ash or a new kid with a smoother introduction. We don’t know until they try something.
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manic-maniac-man · 2 months ago
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Maison Martin Margiela PITTI IMAGINE UOMO REPORT & INTERVIEW
Aw06 (pt.2)
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"The invitation was a demitasse cup that featured handwritten details about the show."
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"The reception party held at Theatro Puccini on the night of January 12th. The view from a camera positioned at the entrance was projected on screens inside the venue. In a piece of clever trickery, models for the show appeared on screens walking in the front door but suddenly strode out onto the main stage. After their appearances, each of them slipped away into the crowd with the presentation ending in just a few moments. The models then proceeded to party along with the assembled throng. All were clad in clothes from assorted past collections, some of which were especially painted white for this event."
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What is the concept behind your project at PITTI?
We were kindly invited by Pitti Imagine to attend their last fair in June 2005. On that occasion we spent most of our time visiting all of the pavil- ions and stands of the participants and were greatly inspired by the ener- gy and bustle of the place. Of course the projects of the invited and fea- tured designers were great yet we were more drawn by the core energy and purpose of Pitti itself. Pitti is a men's wear fair first and foremostly yet it is also a meeting of minds, cultures and creativity where people of our industry have the time to work, socialise, catch up on news, ideas and the work of others. This was our primary stimulus in our project and we very quickly decided that we would like our project to be within this maelstrom of creativity and commerce.
As the colour white is a key element of the expression of the Maison Martin Margiela and commerce, stands, booths, cafés and restaurants are key to the life of Pitti we decided to have these aspects confront each other and try to create a "Fair within a Fair", a game of sorts. For this reason we decided to bring our 'White' to as many aspects of the life of Pitti imagine Uomo 69 as possible in the stands and areas we have created as well as propose souvenirs of this Pitti and provide light moments of distraction, relaxation and fun for its visitors.
-What are your impressions of PITTI?
We have always been greatly impressed by the strength that Pitti Imagine and Pitti Uomo represent for our industry and even more impressed by all of the projects that have been created and staged by our predecessors ans invited designers at Pitti Uomo. The organizers of Pitti Imagine have had a lot of patience with us down through the years as this was certainly not the first time that they have invited us to partici pate. On the other occasions we had decline as we were too small a team to cope with putting on the type of project we would have liked to We are more than happy that Pitti Imagine persisted with their invitation and that we can now bring a part of who we are to Fiorence.
-Why are all of the Maison Martin Margiela interiors and con- tents painted white?
We have always used white as an expression of our House, team and work. White represents a force through fragility for us. It is never just white and more-whites all the shades possible! We usually use mat white so that the passage of time is evident.
-Many Critics have commented on your work as being on the borderline between fashion and art. is that how you regard it as well?
We view it as firmly footed on the fashion side of the fence yet we are happy to learn of how our work touches others. It is not that we view our work in one way that any other interpretation is not valid. Such an interpretation, in this case that our work is closer to that of an artist, though welcome, remains entirely subjective
-Your Artisanal collections remake vintage clothes. Why?
We have always enjoyed the challenge of reworking existing clothes, fabrics and objects to create new garments and accessories. This challenge is linked to finding a new role and force for these materials, revisiting their structure and use. For us it is not that garments are vintage in the since that this word has now become we use materials and garments from many sources and periods - many of them very ordinary.
-What effect did Martin Margiela's time as designer at Hermès have on his work for the Maison Martin Margiela lines?
When he first got the offer, Martin Margiela felt that it was a great honour. Many interpret luxury as a level of quality, but we perceive luxury as quality with functionality that it is important for something to be able to have a long term of use. The experience at Hermès further strengthened Martin's belief in this principle.
-How do you view the trends? Do they have any effect on Maison Martin Margiela?
We inhabit the realm of individuality, so we tend not to concern ourselves with trends. We do, however, understand that as long as one has an interest in clothes, they cannot be ignored. As people who make clothes, we may absorb them subconsciously.
-Your men's and women's wear collections are very different. Why is that? And why no men's fashion shows?
The original title we gave to 10, our men's wear was "A wardrobe for men. In this our approach is much more linked to purely a sensibility of dressing than a creative expression in the designer' sense of the term. Our focus is much more on the details of construction and fabrics of individual garments than on outfits and styling. In our view most men search a less radical, more introverted, expression through their clothes than the women who enjoy wearing our clothes. For 1 (our collection for women) the approach is much more one of an ongoing study on the form of a gar ment as it is worn on the body as well as the overall silhouette. The challenge is to invent and bring new views on the shape of garments to our customers. As for the lack of shows for 10 this is born from our wish to present the clothes being wom in a more day to day environment than that of a fashion show for this reason we tend more to present the wardrobe via a photo reportage with an explanation of the detailing of the main gar ments of 10 for any particular season in a more one-on-one setting.
-How has the sale of the majority of your company to Diesel changed your life?
It is Renzo Rosso, President of Diesel group that has entered our company as a majority shareholder. In a certain way this means that Diesel is a 'sister company' rather than being directly part of our structure. The changes we are experiencing are both sought and very evaluative, natural and are very reassuring in that we now have access to an expertise and approach to the more structural aspects of our work as a company that eluded us prior to this change in our structure.
-Is there anyone you'd like to wear your clothes? Do you wear your Maison Martin Margiela clothes?
Among people like us who love clothes, there are many who place importance on a creativity and sensitivity. There are many people like that among the Japanese. Of course, we all wear Maison Martin Margiela.
-In the past you have collaborated with Rei Kawakubo, what Impression did you have of her?
Whether you are Japanese or Belgian, Madame Kawakubo is a very great woman. Despite the fact that she has already become a legend, she continues in her pursuit if creation. That is a wonderful thing. To us. she is both 'spiritual mother' and 'creative sister.
-Martin Margiela refuses to be photographed. This makes you unique in a business that thrives on celebrity and cult of per- sonality. Why did you decide on this policy?
In any case we do not adopt this way of behaving just to be unique but more so that we may find our way to function and to proceed that best represents our priorities for our work and the means of stimulation for us in our work that we choose to focus on. If we were not to find our way of functioning to continue over the long term was not to be possible.
-The Maison Maartin Margiela speaks as a collective, why have you chosen to do this?
In order that we best reflect the reality of our work together. Even though the final result of our work may be accredited to the creative vision of a designer and their team (as is the case for all other fashion design com- panies) we preferred that the contribution of all team members to this final result be expressed in a more transparent manner. It must also be said that our wish to communicate collectively clearly evokes the position that we have taken with the label on our clothes since our beginning in 1989, namely, that it be blank or with numbers and not the name of one individual printed on it.
-Some people have speculated that there is no such person as Martin Margiela...
We have been hearing this for a long time now. It is sad that people do not accept the way that a person wants to be, and leave him alone. The reason that Martin Margiela is not exposed to the media is absolutely not an attempt to create some sense of mystery. If you want to know about us, look at the clothes we make that is everything - there is no need for a designer to be visible. For the record, fear not; the designer Martin Margiela does exist in the flesh.
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lovetogether · 2 months ago
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here i will send an ask to inquire because perhaps you would like to share a bit about them on your blog .... what oc's have you been workshopping!!! i would like to know the secrets. what has tumblr user lovetogether been cooking
Hello hello our dear friend allister! Rubs hands together… eheheh, since T:MLs (last big oc story we did) we’ve been mostly working on tiny oc “drabbles”? I guess you could call them. We have bursts of scenes and whatnot but that’s about it. They mostly exist to . Have fun . We’re a writer at heart though so they do have a bit of narrative set up - anyhow! Come with us down here into this wine cellar,
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First one is this ^
This is “Humanity”, a man made passion project of sorts. It’s mostly based off glados, portal two in general, and our own alienation from people and tendency for “escape” but not in a manner close to usual “fandomites” (Is that a word..? I just made it up…) Humanity’s deal is it was maybe a “human” (used loosely as you know we draw most people as kemono) at one point but was then wiped and given many mechanical enhancements. Its essentially and a i trained off only human made media like films and tv shows, it’s connected to tons of TVs in its main sorta “lab” (shown in the tiny drawing) nd these screens will reflect snippets of movies and tv shows which coincide with whatever emotion Humanity is mimicking at the moment. Despite the heavy media training though Humanity remains mostly emotionless, only mimicking what it’s been fed. It’s never actually been given field training. And it never will. The lab in a portal two type situation was abandoned for one reason or another, the place only inhabits machines now, including Humanity. The place is overgrown and lonely. We have this idea that a girl ends up there, maybe Chell style (can you tell we like portal lolol) but she’s like, a child. This child is Humanity’s first like experience with a real person and it’s confused by her lack of - what was on the screen. It learns from here, we think at first it rejects the truth of humans, opting to believe what it was trained on, but it eventually learns.
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Next is Persimmon :-) !! Or Persi (per-see) for short ! He’s a young chipper business man who died and ended up in the afterlife, he’s kinda comparable to a zombie? His premise is sorta dark humor-ish, apologies to viewers out there-! He was a very upbeat businessman and then one day a slight inconvenience happened at work and so he went home and offed himself in the tub. He resides in the afterlife now and is pretty chill with this. He often greets new comers and whatnot, his excited energy towards everything is sorta welcoming..? He’s extremely open about the fact he ended his life and is very chill about this, when questioned about his life and he goes on to say it was fine which then spawns the question “why’d you do it?” He sorta just smiles and shrugs. Admittedly a very dark humor type concept but we just wanted to make something which made harder topics like that a bit easier to stomach as those kinds of things have always left us numb rather than offended. We’d want people to feel okay with themselves, nd in a weird way his optimism is sorta a..? “It could happen to anyone” type thing, through the dark humor we create something earnest. As always.
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Finally here’s Donut! She’s a coworker alongside our other workshopped oc Delilah “Dell” Coordinates . They’re “fbi agents” cause well they’re based off twin peaks characters. We don’t really care about fbi type junk though so they’ll just be defunct detectives or something funny like that. Donut is chill for the most part, bringing the sorta straight man edge to a case but with a kind demeanor. She waves off supernatural but in no way undermines believers. But don’t let her lax attitude fool you! She’s extremely skilled. She doesn’t linger but she also doesn’t rush yknow? She’s maybe a lowkey daydreamer but a realistic one, she enjoys the simpler things…
Oh my god we forgot to say, Persi is a stoat and Donut is a white tailed mongoose. Yus 👍 oh and, Persi + Humanity are sorta “us-based” ocs which means we don’t reeally? Have set pronouns? They’re agender. Yuuup. You can use he or she for them . We defaulted to it for Humanity cause it felt right. And he for Persi cause of the businessman title. But really we don’t care. Thank youu ~!
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myobsessionsspace · 1 year ago
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Who is Kim Young Jin?
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The man behind the looks, bringing BTS' vision to life, from photo-folios, to music videos to high fashion magazine photoshoots.
Kim YoungJin and his team have worked with the members as a group and as individuals on their concerts and everything in between.
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“Seoul-based stylist Youngjin Kim has been obsessed with fashion since he was a child, saving up his pocket money to buy magazines. “It was so special to me,” he remembers. After majoring in photography at college but leaning into the looks just as heavily, somebody suggested he give styling a go and well, the rest is history. These days, he’s working with BTS, but can also be found dressing the likes of NCT 127, Super M and Daniel Kang for cover features, campaigns and album artwork.”
ID Magazine - VICE Interview (March 2022)
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👤What was your entry point to styling?
“I worked as an assistant to [Korean actor] Jin Oh Jeon’s stylist for about five years and came to understand the overall system of the Korean fashion scene. Looking back, that time was so precious; time that brought me to this moment, I guess.”
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The man himself, Stylist @kimvinchey on IG
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Kim YoungJin styled BTS and Bang SiHyuk for their TIME Magazine 2022 photos.
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Kim YoungJin has been head stylist for MVs such as 'My Universe', styling Jimin for 'Vibe', j-hope for 'On The Street' to name but a few MVs
👤Tell us about the type of work you do.
“Styling for albums and projects such as “My Universe” by BTS and Coldplay is receiving tremendous attention on a global scale. Whenever I style an idol group, I think of a designer creating a collection. I mix and match clothes from different Japanese brands such as Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto, and I express my own aesthetic with styling to fit each concept. I also style various editorials for fashion magazines. I consider myself a fashion stylist, and when I first took on the role of an idol stylist, I was proud of demonstrating what kind of visuals could be created if a fashion stylist takes on an idol.”
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Kim Youngjin has worked with the members on the brand ambassadorship endeavours, such as styling for mag shoots like the Valentino photoshoot with SUGA
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👤Of course, a stylist doesn’t just ‘style’. You’re often a bridge between celebrities and brands — a look you introduce to an idol could quickly become a trend.
“Exactly. In many cases, celebrities or models with good momentum are recommended to brands or magazines, and if the celebrity is an ambassador of a fashion house, they communicate more closely with the fashion brand.”
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👤What do you think is the most important thing in styling?
“I try to combine the latest fashion trends with classic items. For instance, I like pairing Levi's denim and casual sneakers with a Saint Laurent blazer. As details are crucial for men's clothes, the overall outfit is often impacted by details such as perfect length and sleeves.”
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In Chapter 2 of BTS' journey, Kim YounJin has been part of many of the members solo projects that were even released post enlistment for some, such as j-hope LV campaign and styling for Esquire Magazine
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👤Do you have a favourite brand or designer?
“I’ve always loved Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci, which has had a huge impact on me as a stylist. I have such respect for a person who has accomplished what they’ve wanted to do for a long time — I think Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons are both great in that regard too.”
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“I’m 32, so I was in elementary and middle school in the 1990s, which was when I started getting into fashion. Since I was really young, like 10 years old, I used to go downtown to buy clothes by myself. In elementary school, I wore baggy sweatshirts and jeans like this Balenciaga ensemble. I liked hip-hop and K-pop even back then and would dress up like this and dance at school festivals. Retro fashion is back in style, so it doesn’t at all look out of place or time to dress like this again.”
Mr Porter - The Journal Interview (Oct 2020)
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💜
Special Mention:
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**Though Taehyung has worked with Kim YoungJin with group projects the Head Stylist for Taehyung (V) during Chapter 2, in particular his Layover Era has been @HIJIBIN, Taehyung's personal stylist.
Info on Kim YoungJin:
https://www.mrporter.com/en-sg/journal/fashion/youngjin-kim-contemporary-fashion-classic-style-k-pop-1445414
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pasitheapowder · 7 days ago
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Hi! Working on my English capstone's project proposal, which has ended up being on The Pasithea Powder. I've gone back and forth on asking you (especially since my ideas are still very much in their infancy-- and my ideas tend to snowball in directions I don't expect), but I have decided that I might as well.
I think that I would like my capstone to center around the sort of concept of truth, propaganda, and the way that media and people can alter all of that. My problem is that I'm having such a hard time connecting all the dots right now. I think that's important to know that the war was televised and that Sophie because a "favorite player character". I think that it's important that the first voice you hear is a reporter. I think that it's important that Pasithea is a memory altering drug. I think it's at least relevant that the narrators aren't always reliable. Is it important? Or is it important because I as a viewer thinks it's important?
Do you have any insights on your thoughts while writing the Pasithea Powder? Why choose post war? Did you consider the theme of truth? Of propaganda? Am I going insane and doing the classic English major "over-analyzing the media I love"? Sorry for all the questions!
FIRST OF ALL, what an honor.
Second of all: "Is it important? Or is it important because I as a viewer thinks it's important?" Not to completely dodge the question, but those are the same thing. If we've done our job, then we've provided enough cues for you to get to the stuff that we've intended to be important, and also the beauty of having viewers at all is that they are going to have their own analyses of the text that take concrete moments and use those pieces of evidence to build cases that we intended as well as those we couldn't have predicted.
Third: go hog wild.
Four: On the why choose post-war front, I'm pretty sure the Regeneration book club Patreon extra has some stuff for you. (For those eavesdropping on this convo, our Patreon is free and open now! Just sign up for the $2 level and we'll never charge you.)
Five: We were both English majors. This is music to our ears. (Jackie now:) I didn't have access to John Le Carré or Armistead Maupin when I was writing my big projects, and I think maybe that removed a burden from my shoulders. We'd love to read whatever you wind up writing, but maybe proceed as though we don't exist any more, and write from your wildest interpretations, and then bring us back to life in your mind only when you're done. And then hopefully you'll want to share parts of it with us, and with Tumblr, because this is so, so cool.
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