#which is upsetting bc that match should have been the highlight of the evening

[retro-rezz-the-est]

fuck it, gonna post a slight rant below about last night bc some of y'all need to get over yourselves and stop being so damn annoying. convo is between me (bolded text) and @roofgeese (italics).

read it if you want, get mad if you want. at this point, idc anymore i just had to get stuff off my chest:

WAIT LIV BEAT RONDA AND IS CHAMP NOW?????

WHAT

Yep

Liv won the womens MITB and cashed it in on roomba and won

I'm so happy ;-;

Literally it was the highlight of the night for me

Both of Liv’s moments and the SP/Usos match

the men’s MITB however…..

questionable at best

who won? was it theory

Yep

retro-rezz-the-est sent a post "adding onto @dalekofchaos's ask: theory got added into the MITB match at the last minute (i.e. right before it began) by pearce..."

He got added as a surprise eighth entry right before the match started and won

Which doesn’t make sense to me at all mainly because you had to win a qualifying match to even be in money in the bank and this boy lost the US title – his US title – at the start of the show

And that kind of takes away from everyone else who had to qualify for the match in the first place

that smells like a Vince decision. isn't he super big on Theory for some reason

And my question is why did they have him when it in the first place?

It makes no sense story wise

Because at the end of the day he’s either going to be cashing in on Roman – who he is definitely not beating, absolutely not �� or he’s cashing in on Brock – who is also not beating, no chance in hell is that happening

yeah that doesn't make any damn sense

I heard some rumors that he was going to be facing Cena at SummerSlam for the briefcase because theory in Cena we’re going back-and-forth when Cena came back for his anniversary celebration and because Cena failed his only money in the bank cash in but it still doesn’t make sense

If the plan was theory versus Cena, why not have theory win at money in the bank and retain his US title and then face Cena for the US title at SummerSlam?

that would make so much more sense, but WWE is...illogical at best lol

That would make infinitely more sense than having theory lose and then win the money in the bank case because the US title is one of the titles that synonymous with Cena and his career

I’m not mad at the fact that they’re pushing younger talent. Both Liv and theory are incredibly talented wrestlers and they deserve the push

I’m just confused as to why theory, out of all the people who you could’ve possibly put in as a surprise entry into the match, was chosen

Because it makes no sense no matter how you look at it

yeah it's bizarre. The only thing I can think of is Vince, even though he's not super involved at the moment

And that kind of just makes all the qualifying matches for the men’s match mean nothing in a way, because this random surprise entrance that no one knew about until literally right before the match began won the match

And if you’re going to have a surprise eighth entry into money in the bank, at least make it someone interesting that no one would expect

agreed

Theory literally lost his title at the top of the card

That should literally make him one of the least qualified people to be in money in the bank because he fumbled his own bag

100%

Like I’m still trying to wrap my head around this

The circles that you have to run in order to make this seem actually plausible and like a good idea is wild

And there are people on here that are just getting pissy that people are upset about theory winning because “oh you just don’t like theory, oh you just hate the fact that he’s been accused of all this stuff, oh you just hate that he’s not the guy that you want pushed” and that’s not the case

People are upset because every single one of the men in the money and the make match had to qualify for money in the bank

And there was no talk of a surprise entrant into money in the bank

If they said that there is going to be a surprise eighth entry from the jump, then we wouldn’t have been so surprised

Of course people were going to be angry no matter who it was, but that’s not the point

The point is Siri lost his match, he lost his title, he shouldn’t have been in the match in the first place

*Theory

That’s why people are mad, that’s why people are upset

They’re not mad because they’re pushing younger talent, they’re not mad because of some BS allegations, they’re not mad about any of that

Yeah, sometimes disliking something doesn't have to do with the person's history, just TERRIBLE illogical booking

They’re mad because it literally makes negative sense that he won the match

Because who is he going to cash it in on, Roman? Brock? Heaven for bid, Dwayne?

Because he’s going to lose and he’s going to lose spectacularly and it’s going to make him winning money in the bank almost a waste of time and effort

Winning the money in the bank contract is supposed to elevate your career and it’s supposed to have you make a mark on history as a potential champion, as a potential world heavyweight champion

But looking at the lineup now for who is potentially going to be facing, it’s going to be an embarrassment when he feels his cash in because we all know that’s what’s going to happen

Hell, even riddle qualified to be in money in the bank rightfully and I don’t even fucking like him

Summerslam is in one month and no matter who wins that last man standing match between Roman and Brock, if theory cash in on either of them then he’s going to get his ass turned into literal grass

And if he waits a bit of time until wrestlemania next April, then he’s going to potentially be facing either Roman or the rock

And he will get his ass turned into literal field mulch there as well

So much so that all of his stans on here are going to act like this was planned from the jump when I bet you that him being entered into money in the bank in the first place and him winning the match in the first place was decided like minutes before the match began

Also if you’re going to have a surprise entrance into money in the bank, why not pull up one of the guys from NXT?

Bron, Carmelo, Grimes, Solo, Trick, Gacy, D’Angelo, Santos….

He will get destroyed. that twink will get obliterated. and oh 100%. they were probably like yeah go for it Thoery why not

The list goes on and on and on and on

That would’ve been an amazing thing to do because the interactions between the main roster guys in the NXT guys so far have been relatively great

All of the matches that have been going on between both sides have been awesome and it would be such a great thing to see one of the guys break out into the main roster and their first opportunity is a chance at the title

It would have been so damn interesting to see Braun in money in the bank because he is extremely over and has had some great matches on war against Ziggler and Roode and Ciampa already

*Bron

But at the end of the day, at least riddle didn’t win and that’s all I’m happy about

lol

(end scene)

[nightwvnglvr]

Just for tonight (Mat Barzal)

request: dad!barzal where he watches his kid alone for the first time cause you want to go out with ur friends or smth, and he gets sad bc your son is a total mommys boy and only wants you when he cries?

warnings: none

a/n: i legit wrote this in under 20 mins but i needed to put something out because i’ve been busy so sorry if it’s not up to standards haha :)

Taking one last look in the mirror, you gave yourself a nod of approval before grabbing your bag and heading towards the door after receiving a text telling you the taxi was here. You spun around on your heels to face your boyfriend who held your one year old son, Noah, in his arms as he followed behind you. You were going out with a few girlfriends tonight, it was the first time in forever that you were doing so because ever since your son was born you never wanted to leave him alone. It was just your motherly instinct to be with him at all times. Mat was staying home to look after the baby, some father and son bonding time but your boyfriend was nervous because everyone knew that the little boy was a definitely a mommy’s boy so you couldn’t wait to see how that panned our during the night.

“I love you both,” you smiled and pressed a kiss to Mat’s lips before looking down at Noah. “You be good for daddy, okay?” you brushed some of his dark hair down on his soft head.

“You look beautiful,” Mat said after scanning you from head to toe, he really was a lucky man. “Now get going, me and this boy are gonna have a blast! Be safe too.”

You gave both your favourite boys another kiss before opening the door and stepping outside. “Don’t stay up too late!” you called before closing the door and running over to the taxi where your friends were waiting for you.

Mat breathed out and looked down at the baby who stared at the wooden door, probably expecting you to walk back through. “Just you and me tonight, bud.” he rubbed Noah’s back and walked towards the living room. “What should we do first, crack open a couple beers and watch some game highlights?” he joked and chuckled to himself before sitting down on the couch.

Not that long into the night, Noah started screaming and crying and Mat couldn’t seem to calm him down and it was obviously due to you not being here because he had tried everything. He tried feed him, but the plate was just pushed away and he wouldn’t drink from his bottle. Maybe he was tired? Nope, the kid didn’t want to lay down in his crib and kicked when Mat tried to put him in it. He obviously wasn’t going to call you and demand you come home, you deserved a break because you haven’t had a night out since before you were pregnant and he wanted you to have a great time. He would get through the night with the baby, he always pulled his weight around the house and helped you out when he wasn’t off at a game or practice but he wasn’t going to lie, it did upset him that he didn’t seem to have a strong bond with his baby like you had, but that didn’t make him love his son any less. He did try his best and he would continue to.

“Come on little man,” he stood in the middle of the nursery, patting Noah’s back as wet tears dropped onto his shoulder and nothing but whimpering in his ear. “Like me for one night, eh?” Mat ran a hand through his own dark hair and looked out the window.

He sighed and rocked Noah a little while he wondered why the baby wasn’t attached to him as much as he was you. Was it because of hockey? Maybe because he was away a lot of the time and so Noah didn’t really like that...no it couldn’t be. He loved being a dad though,even though he was a young father, he caught on very quite and learned as he went and made sure to make time for his son, because he loved him so much.

It was now nearing ten o’clock and you probably wouldn’t be home until early hours in the morning so Mat would just need to deal with this for a while and so he did, he let Noah play with whatever he wanted too, because the kid didn’t seem tired, so he found the iPad sitting on the coffee table and played with that most of the night, which you would probably have scolded both boys for since the baby was up late. That made Noah feel content for quite a while before he started bubbling up again when he heard your voice on the other when on the people when you called in to see how things were. You felt bad for doing so because you didn’t want to stress Mat out even more with him having to deal with a stubborn baby and told him to maybe try out him to bed again with an item on your clothing so your scent was around him.

“Please stop crying, Noah buddy,” the one year old sat on Mat’s bouncing leg as he tried to calm him down again. “Maybe I should put you down for a nap, eh because it’s way past your bedtime.” that resulted in another screaming match in the nursery because Noah didn’t want to stay in his crib. “How about I come in there with you, eh?” and with that, Mat lay your son down again with your shirt before climbing over the top of the crib and getting in as well. Hopefully this would work and get him to sleep.

The crib was strong enough to hold his weight so he could easily get in and lay down but it wasn’t big enough to fit his tall frame so he would need to make so. Noah watched his father as he sucked on his dummy as he calmed down a little, laying his sad on his dads chest and breathing out through his nose. Mat smiled and pulled a little blanket around them, hopefully this would get Noah to sleep because someone was in the crib with him.

After a few more hours of being out clubbing, you turned up at your house at two am and locked the door behind you after you entered. You weren’t drunk, you had a few drinks but you could handle alcohol and you just wanted to get back to both the loves of your life. Pulling off your jacket after dropping your bag, you hung it up on the rack and looked around the living room, it was quiet which you expected since it was way past bedtime for all three of you. You heels were the next thing to go, letting out a sigh of relief when they were finally off your feet. You weren’t used to wearing heels so they killed your feet. You then made your way towards the bedroom, putting the heels aside as you frowned, Mat wasn’t in your bed, where you did expect him to be so you made your way towards the nursery where you were in for a surprise. Pushing the door open quietly, you entered and walked up towards the crib, putting a hand over your mouth when you took in the sight in front of you. You giggled and shook your head, Mat was sound asleep with baby Noah laying right across his stomach. Both of them looked so at peace but you didn’t know how your boyfriend could feel comfortable in that tiny space but he was definitely making the most of it.

“Baby,” you whispered, reaching down and placing a hand on Mat’s face, stroking your thumb over his cheekbone. “Mathew, baby...”

You watched as his eyes fluttered open, a smile growing on his face when he seen you. “Fun night?” he grunted.

“I was missing my boys all night long. Is that comfortable in there?” you chuckled and looked at Noah. “How about you come cuddle me now?” you asked your boyfriend while carefully moving Noah from being sprawled over him.

Noah shifted slightly but didn’t wake up, he was sound asleep as Mat stepped out of the crib. Your boyfriend couldn’t help but sigh in relief, he couldn’t remember falling asleep really but Noah was finally down for the count so it was success, right?

“Don’t leave me alone again, please.” he half joked with you as you made your way out of the nursery and into the bedroom.

“Stop, he loves you babe,” you took a seat on your bed, taking Mat’s hands in yours. “I know it probably doesn’t seem like it but he does.” you tried to make your sleepy man feel better. “Now get into bed.”

You soon changed into your pyjamas and washed your face and brushed your teeth before climbing into bed beside your mam. You were happy to be home and in the arms of Mat, telling him how much you missed your son and boyfriend. You eventually fell asleep with a smile on your face as Mat played with your hair. You never wanted to leave them alone again either, here is where you would rather be.

[wrestlingisfake]

Best of the Super Jr. preview

This is New Japan’s annual junior heavyweight tournament--if you’ve heard of the G1 Climax, it’s basically like that, but ony for wrestlers under 100 kilograms (220 pounds).  The tour runs through fifteen dates from May 13 to June 5.

BOSJ is a round-robin tournament with two blocks of wrestlers.  Each wrestler will face every other wrestler in his block in a one-on-one match.  For each match, 2 points are awarded for a win, 1 point for a time limit draw, and 0 points for a loss.  (Double disqualifications and double count-outs are rare, but I believe both participants get 0 points in those outcomes as well.)  The wrestlers with the highest scores in each block then face one another to determine the winner of the tournament.  The tournament winner earns a trophy and the right to challenge Dragon Lee for the IWGP junior heavyweight champion at the Dominion show on June 9.  (If Lee wins the tournament, he gets to select his challenger.)

This year’s tournament is expanded from 16 men to 20, and for the first time every show will be streamed live on New Japan World with full English commentary.  Most shows will feature five matches from one block with filler in the undercard, but the ones on May 22, 23, 24, and 26 will feature ten block matches, and should be pretty action-packed.

We’ll take a look at the participants and some highlights after the cut.

A Block

Dragon Lee [CMLL] - The current IWGP junior heavyweight champion, who won the title at G1 Supercard in Madison Square Garden.  Lee specifically wants to hold the title until he can defend it against Hiromu Takahashi, who was injured in a successful title defense against Lee last year.

Jonathan Gresham [ROH] - A submission specialist, this is Gresham’s first BOSJ.  Like all the first-timers from outside New Japan, he’ll be looking to make a good impression to earn a spot on future tours.

Marty Scurll [ROH] - One of the ROH trios champions.  Over the past 18 months Scurll went from being Bullet Club’s key junior heavyweight, to breaking away with the Elite, to remaining in ROH while the rest of the Elite left to found AEW.  I get the feeling he’s waiting out his contract to leave, and I suspect that will cause him to be booked with a lower score this year.

Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables de Japon] - The absolute unit of the junior division, Takagi gets people wondering if he’s really making weight.  He jumped from Dragon Gate to New Japan last year to help fill in with LIJ after Hiromu Takahasi was sidelined.  Since then he has never been pinned or submitted, which makes him a favorite on paper to win this thing.  If someone can beat him in this tournament, it’ll be big news.  If he can go undefeated, it’ll be even bigger news.

SHO [CHAOS] - One half of Roppongi 3K, the IWGP junior heavyweight tag team champions.  Sho is the shy quiet one who wears gold.  After the Young Bucks left the junior tag division, R3K kind of got stuck wrestling the same two teams endlessly, so I’m looking forward to them in singles action.

Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] - He’s been BC’s main junior since the Elite exodus, and a dominant force as Kushida, Scurll, Ospreay, and Takahashi have fallen by the wayside.  A strong pick to go all the way.

TAKA Michinoku [Suzuki-gun] - He's one of the “Indeed!” guys from the WWF 20 years ago.  Taka mainly seconds Zack Sabre, Jr. these days, so I expect him to pick up a few wins but mainly put over the rising stars.

Tiger Mask [Hontai] - The fourth and longest-running performer of the role based on the Tiger Mask manga.  Tiger is the veteran of this field, having debuted in 1995.  It’s hard to imagine him scoring many wins in this block.

Titán [CMLL] - One of a handful of CMLL guys who regularly come in for New Japan tours.  This is Titán‘s first BOSJ since 2013.  He hasn’t had much of an impact in New Japan yet, and I don’t follow CMLL so we’ll have to see what he’s got.

Yoshinobu Kanemaru [Suzuki-gun] - I mean, he’s pretty much just the guy with the whisky bottle from Suzuki-gun and that’s about it.

B Block

Bandio [ROH] - A rising star from the Mexican indie scene, who was plucked from obscurity to headline last year’s All In show.  Bandido was a lock to go to AEW, but he chose to sign with ROH instead because of the opportunity to go to New Japan, so you have to figure BOSJ is a dream come true for him.  Another newcomer with a lot to prove.

BUSHI [Los Ingobernables de Japon] - He was LIJ’s resident junior until Hiromu Takahashi joined, and then he spent most of the past year being Robin to Shingo Takagi’s Batman.  My main interest in Bushi is that he sprays poison mist and Rocky Romero hates on him in color commentary.

DOUKI [Suzuki-gun] - A last-minute replacement for El Desperado, who broke his jaw in a match on May 7, Douki works for small promotions mainly in Japan and Mexico.  The story is that Suzuki-gun’s Taichi hand-picked Douki as a hired gun for the group.  There’s very little info on him, which makes him a pretty cool wild card for the tournament.

El Phantasmo [Bullet Club] - A Canadian wrestler who just came in from Rev Pro in the UK.  ELP got a hot start with a series of “coming soon” videos throughout the New Japan Cup and a flashy debut at Wrestling Dontaku.  He should do very well.  He might even win.

Ren Narita [Hontai] - One of the Young Lions, the rookies in black trunks who pull double duty as the ring crew and opening match jobbers.  Narita is a late substitute for ROH star Flip Gordon, who ran into work visa issues.  Here’s the interesting bit: In theory a young boy should lose every single block match, but Flip was probably supposed to get several key wins, which can’t be re-booked without altering the layout of the entire tournament.  So if there was ever a time for Ren Narita to score an upset, it’s gotta be now.

Robbie Eagles [Bullet Club] - An Australian, Eagles has been brought in for a couple of tours, particularly when Taiji Ishimori needs a tag team partner.  It’s not clear yet where his level is in the pecking order, but we’ll soon find out.

Rocky Romero [CHAOS] - The coach of Roppongi 3K and my pick for the best guy on the English announce team.  Rocky’s great, but as a wrestler he’s been largely a comedy prelim guy since the original Roppongi Vice broke up.  I’d love to see him get a big run, but I’m not counting on it.  Rocky’s dream scenario for this tournament is a three-way tie between Yoh, Sho, and himself.

Ryusuke Taguchi [Hontai] - ONe of the NEVER trios champions, and the coach of “Taguchi Japan,” which is basically “anybody teaming with Taguchi that wants to pretend he’s their coach.”  His ass is both an indestructible weapon and his secret weak spot somehow.  Taguchi kinda drops the comedy bullshit for BOSJ, but even 50% serious Taguchi is still pretty wacky.

Will Ospreay [CHAOS] - Ospreay recently had a run as the NEVER openweight champion, and was starting to move up into the heavyweight division before he lost the title at Madison Square Garden.  As long as he can still make weight, it makes sense for him to pursue this opportunity for junior gold, but it’s not clear yet if this is a retreat from the heavyweights or an attempt to do both at the same time.  Ospreay’s great but he runs himself too hard, too fast, and this would be a bad time for it to catch up to him...

YOH [CHAOS] - Sho’s partner in Roppongi 3K, the IWGP junior tag team champions.  Yoh is the pretty one who looks like a male model and wears silver.  He feels like the star of the team, and this could be an opportunity to make it official.

All right, let’s quickly run down some key matches I’m looking forward to...

May 13

SHO vs. Shingo Takagi - After months of their respective tag teams feuding, the Dontaku tour really played up the idea that Sho is obsessed with beating Shingo.  Now they’re going to get a chance to go at it one-on-one.

Dragon Lee vs. Taiji Ishimori - A rematch of their great title bout from Dontaku.  It’s time for Ishimori to get a win in this series, unless they just want to close the book on him chasing the title this year.

May 14

Ren Narita vs. DOUKI - As luck would have it, I guess Flip Gordon and El Desperado were slated to be each other’s first opponent, so now we get to see their replacements go at it right away.  This will be my first look at Douki, so I’m real curious what he’s got.

May 15

Marty Scurll vs. Taiji Ishimori - The Bullet Club vs. Bullet Club match I didn’t get to see last year, when these were the two juniors in the group, and the group was embroiled in civil war.  I guess that issue doesn’t matter anymore, but I still want to see the match.

May 16

Will Ospreay vs. Rocky Romero - A Chaos vs. Chaos match.  These guys have been the foundation of Chaos’s junior roster for years, but Ospreay came up just as Rocky was drifting down, and they’ve never met in BOSJ before.  I dig the idea of Rocky pulling his “sneaky style” on a guy from his own faction that ain’t got time for that shit--it’s basically the junior equivalent to Kazuchika Okada vs. Toru Yano.

Robbie Eagles vs. Ren Narita - If Ren is gonna score a win in this block, it’d probably be here, against an expendable prelim guy that would never have been booked to pin Flip Gordon in the original plans.  I don’t have my heart set on it happening, but it will be interesting to see if they can work around not doing it.

May 19

El Phantasmo vs. Robbie Eagles - The real Bullet Club vs. Bullet Club match of the tournament.  Both of these guys are just holding Ishimori’s water until they step up.  Phantasmo needs to squash Eagles hard if he’s gonna be a title contender, but Eagles can’t just lay down for that.

May 22

YOH vs. Rocky Romero - Will Yoh be able to stay a step ahead of his coach?  Will Rocky be able to bring himself to cost Yoh 2 points in the tournament?  I expect some big drama in this one.

Will Ospreay vs. El Phantasmo - I don’t follow the British scene so I’m not clear on the backstory between these two, but it’s definitely there.  I’m counting on some intense flippy violence here.

May 23

Rocky Romero vs. Ryusuke Taguchi - It’s coach vs. coach.  The alliance between Chaos and Hontai has led to some overlap in the roles of these two--in eight-man tags they often call “plays” for their teammates.  There was some talk a while back that they agreed the winner of this match would be the one and only coach going forward, but I’m not sure if they’ll follow through with it.  This should be some quality comedy nonsense.

Dragon Lee vs. Shingo Takagi - One’s champion and the other is (so far) undefeated.  One put Hiromu Takahashi on the shelf, the other took his spot.  This could get real interesting, especially if Shingo has managed to avoid a loss up to this point.

May 30

Rocky Romero vs. BUSHI - Listen, I’m a Rocky Romero mark, okay?  He is furious that Bushi even exists, and complains about him constantly on commentary.  It’s like Corey Graves and Elias!  Or Corey Graves and Booker T!  Or Corey Graves and Bayley!  Or Corey Graves and Renee Young!  Except it’s actually going to culminate in a match!  This match!

May 31

Shingo Takagi vs. Taiji Ishimori - I have a pretty good feeling that this one match is going to end up deciding the A Block--it’s a pick-’em and it would make sense as the main event.

June 3

Will Ospreay vs. Ryusuke Taguchi - The last day of B Block doesn’t have any super obvious feature match but I could see Ospreay needing these last two points to win the block over Phantasmo.

El Phantasmo vs. DOUKI - Likewise, I don’t see this as a top attraction--ELP is a clear favorite to win--but it could be more important in determining who gets mathematically eliminated.

June 5

I’ll come back around later to preview the finals.  At this point, though, it’s real hard to predict who will make it to the end.  The logical favorites are Shingo, Ospreay, Phantasmo, Dragon Lee, and Ishimori.  But it’s not like the main event of a stadium show is riding on this, so they could surprise everyone with a big run from Sho, Yoh, Taguchi, or Bushi.  Hell, Douki could unmask and turn out to be Michael Nakazawa or something, and go 10-0, and it wouldn’t knock the earth out of its orbit or anything.  Anything could happen, which should make this a fun time.

[coolandspicy]

Lost Fantasia recap

This is crazy long so i’ll put it under the cut!

Pre concert they play most of VIXX’s mvs on the big screens which is fun. (Super Hero and Rock Ur Body are suspiciously absent lol)

About 5 minutes before concert start time there’s this super loud count down...but after a few seconds it fades into a song? It scared me both nights tho lol!

1st Vcr - its all in black and white, people walking around in animal masks, and we see the members one by one, frozen in place seemingly?

The big curtain falls and the members are lowered from the raised platform while intense music plays

They’re wearing these sparkly Silver zigzag jackets and matching pants, they get into formation to perform and the first song is Odd Sense! It starts awesome with really cool lighting (all the lightsticks turn red) but a few seconds in the backing vocals totally cut so its just vixx singing live and the music is a bit quieter, they keep going a little longer but then suddenly the whole song cuts and Hakyeon apologizes and asks if they can start again. The lights go off and the members exit the stage.

We ended up waiting about a full hour for the technical issues to be resolved and the atmosphere was super tense; starlights were so upset and they were kind of cursing at jellyfish? At one point they chanted for an apology 😅I was seriously worried that if the problem wasn’t resolved something terrible would happen...

But the concert finally resumed and the members appeared exactly were they had been when the music cut; they performed Odd Sense, followed by Escape (during the the “run away” part starlights were even louder than ravi) and then Silence!

1st Talk session: first the members apologized again for the issues and Hakyeon asks for starlights to give them strength/energy by still cheering loudly. They go on to talk about hair colors; Hongbin has purple hair (at fans request!) Leo has blond instead of silver bc he couldn’t take any more bleach, Ravi dyed his hair to be the same color as Hyuk? Hakyeon pokes Ravi insistently waiting for Ravi to talk about his gray highlights (Ravi ignores him for a while but then finally they acknowledge Hakyeon^^)

The next song is Fantasy, after which the members disappear but Ravi stays (he took his jacket off and has the white shirt and black harness on) and does a mini solo performance (I’m calling these solos ‘mini’ bc they’re really not quite as long as the usual solo performances we see?) Ravi performs with female back up dancers and then at the end walks back upstage where the other members are waiting ( and also wearing the White shirts, black pants + harnesses)

They perform Into the void, while seated/standing with these two props shaped like some kind of rocks. After the song the members walk down stage (Leo, Ravi and Hakyeon go to the middle; Hyuk and Hongbin go all the way to the left side of the stage; and Ken goes all the way to the right) they perform Six feet under — its so hype live, I really loved it!!

2nd talk: Hakyeon complements Ravi’s performance, and asks Ravi shoot hearts to each floor/section of the audience. Then they ask what song starlights would like to see next, because the audience is not really in sync (some people are asking Leo to shoot hearts also)  Leo shoots a powerful heart before they start Trigger. This choreo oh my god!! Everything from running gun hands down their long legs, the members circling round Hakyeon poised to shoot + and the killer moment: Ravi grips Ken from behind and shoots towards the audience 👀

Then they do Beautiful killer (with even more gunhands) and descend into the stage

2nd Vcr: solo scenes!

Ravi is in the rain holding an umbrella, but the then he drops it and just lets the water soak through his jacket, then he takes of the jacket and his shirt is all wet and see though;; he throws the jacket at the audience/camera and disappears!

Hyuk has an aesthetic scene in a phone booth & with the ground covered in rose petals?? He steps out and holds a blue potion and disappears when the rose petals fall around him

At an aesthetically neon bar Hakyeon surveys the scene, looking #opulent. He considers different wines but then he snaps his fingers and a bottle of champagne appears. He pours a glass, holds it close to smell the aroma, and tosses it in our face, causing him to disappear.

Leo appears draped in sheer tapestry, wearing a blindfold(?) which he takes off. Then he just, rolls around pressing into the mattress and stuff, and disappears (I can’t describe this okay, he was a hoe and that’s all you need to know)

Ken walks into a room with bathtub & candles, he looks seductively at the candles and drips some wax into the bath water. Then he blows out one of the candles and disappears

Hongbin is in the forest at night, surrounded by mist, he disappears in the mist

Finally the screen says simply “What exists is the scent of the soul”

--

Hongbin appears in red and does a mini solo with female back up dancers,

The members appear in formation for Scentist, wearing red fringed jackets with no undershirts — also Ravi’s has a cut out in the back 👀

During Scentist lots of mist stuff came out, idk if it was actually scented but it looked cool!

Members descend into stage again, but Leo reappeared to do his mini solo with two male back up dancers, they grind on the floor and other things;; priming us for the next performance Circle. There are mic stands and the 6 people standing behind them are clearly intimately familiar with sin

3rd Talk: mostly they talk about the performances they just did, especially Hongbin and Leo’s solo parts, move on to the next song

They perform My Valentine (who knew chairs were actually the sexiest prop possible) Love Me Do is next, and the members disappear at the end, but Hyuk reappears to do mini solo reprise of Love Me Do with male back up dancers

3rd Vcr: all the members are together at a cute bar; eating drinking, reacting to vixx old stages and music videos. They talk about their memories and Hyuk gets emotional 😭

Ken rises from the stage, sings a beautiful mini solo ballad. He’s wearing all white with a long, sparkly blue coat

The VCR screens fill with constellations, and six boxes appear in the back. The members appear one by one to sing their parts of the ballad medley (which includes On A Cold Night, 닮아, 12345, Bad Bye, and maybe more?) wearing the same outfits as Ken. When members appear their box lights up and the screen behind them has their birthstone (Same as from Shangri-la birthstone version!)

The members reappear but sitting on the stage and this time they sing Us Now, near the end of the song Starlights on the second floor do their prepared event -- they hold up sheets of paper that are either yellow or blue. Together it spells out 우린 영원을 믿어 (We believe you forever) I think its especially powerful not only because it was unexpected but because of the difficulty starting the concert today. After all, isn’t that always how it’s been for VIXX? So many struggles since the beginning but they’ve worked so hard to prove themselves to us; I know I would never leave them for anything.

4th Talk: they talk about how surprising the event was, and after getting over the surprise joke around about how Starlights were bickering whenever someone was unsure/about to put their paper down. Hakyeon talks about how funny he thinks Starlights are when they accidentally make mistakes, the confusion over the fanchant for My Valentine is especially funny to him. He asks Starlights to keep confidently making mistakes ^^

They take off the jackets and perform Chained up (This is a song that I have so much fun seeing live? Its never my favorite to listen with headphones, but on a huge stage oh my god!!) The follow up with Black out, and then the members walk off but Hakyeon stays. When the lights go back on he is surrounded by female back up dancers and has blood dripping down his chest. He does a really intense dance to scary music with lots of creepy smiles and scary expressions throughout.

The members reappear and they perform Hyde altogether (it’s made even better by the fact that Hakyeon still has blood on his clothes!)

5th Talk: Hakyeon exits (to change) and 5VIXX discuss the previous performances, and how tired they are. Leo especially looks like he’s so tired ^^; Hyuk says something about being able to keep going and he does the leg popping part from the Hyde choreo; the stage directors give him some flames to go with his leg pops which encourages him to do a bunch; the other members scold him saying he’ll burn the whole place down. Hakyeon comes back freshly changed and talks about his performance -- he asks if it was scary (we all answer 네!!!! as always but slightly unsure lol bc we’re not sure if we should say that our beloved leader was scary lol) He says that means he succeeded ^^ Then he tells us it’s time for the last stage and we all whine but Hakyeon shushes us.

They perform Desperate (how we’re all feeling at this point lol) Then they disappear and male dancers appear in the outfits from the Wind of Starlight performance. The members enter wearing silk cloaks decorated with red flowers to perform Shangri-la. 

After the members disappear, Starlights cheer 사랑해 (while the overhead logo pulsates like its charging lol) until VIXX returns to perform Milky Way. They enter in the second floor carrying balloons with the letters of their stage names. Then they do Navy And Shining Gold, after which Hakyeon says its time to go but Starlights insist (One more time!) and they start doing Heaven (which of course means doing it a bunch of times lol) the boys were super cute, running, jumping, pouring water on each other lol. Hakyeon sat down and took some selfies with fans phones

After many runs, they finally said it was time to go and for everyone to go back safely, and lots of other sweet things

The end credits was a behind the scenes video with Good Day as the bgm (which means every song on EaudeVixx was featured ^^)

I’ll forever be jealous of Starlights on the second floor but ultimately I feel so grateful to have had this opportunity and I thank VIXX and Starlights both for making Lost Fantasia the best concert possible!

[izzyovercoffee]

Kal and abuse: inability to shoulder responsibility (preview)

This is gonna be a quick thing bc I don’t want to pull all relevant quotes but I also want to post this before I forget.

So this is gonna be a quick “handful of quotes highlighting how Kal is doing something shitty without us realizing it”

This is regarding the scene where Jusik accidentally drops the ball that Etain is pregnant in the presence of Vau and Mereel who were previously unaware.

Ordo stared straight ahead, but Mereel’s stare was searing a hole in the side of his face ... 

“It’s not funny, Walon,” Skirata said. Mereel was going to get huffy when he realized Ordo had kept something of so much importance from him. “We have a personnel issue we have to factor in to all this.”

---Republic Commando: True Colors, pp 97

Right here, Kal completely absolves himself of any and all responsibility, internally. 

“What do you mean, Izzy?” you might be thinking.

I mean look at the wording: “when he realized Ordo had kept something ... from him.” The implication is that Kal, at least internally, believes he, himself, had nothing to do with that decision --- and the implication is that Ordo is entirely shouldering the responsibility for lying by omission to Mereel (and the rest of them) in this present moment.

See further: Kal goes on to say we. Not I. We.

So even if Kal is not absolving himself and it’s miss-worded, he still sees Mereel is upset with Ordo, and chooses to not correct Mereel’s assumption --- he actually lets the entire conversation progress, and says “we” chose not to tell anyone, as if Ordo had a choice in the matter (he did not).

Mereel gave Ordo a wary look. “So maybe I shouldn’t tell you what Agent Wennen dug up, seeing as I can’t be trusted to know we have a clone-impregnated Jedi ...”

---Republic Commando: True Colors, pp 98

Context: Mereel just had a conversation with Besany getting intel on the Republic, Bardan dropped the news above, Kal allows the entire conversation hinge on Ordo holding all responsibility on hiding the information from his brothers.

About the quote above: A few things to note before I get into it:

Ordo just spoke to Besany

Mereel fixed her comm so it’s safe to call them, which Ordo would know

Ordo could simply call Besany to get the information

He doesn’t have to go through Mereel.

But most importantly: Mereel knows this.

MEREEL KNOWS THIS.

So why does Mereel say that?

Well ...  If you’ve been keeping up with my meta on Mereel, in general, then you’ll know that Mereel is a master manipulator and spy. He knows what to say to get information out of people --- and he modifies what he says to match who he’s talking to ... or in this specific case, who else is in the room and listening to him.

The people in the room: Bardan, Vau, Ordo, Kal.

This is not the first time Mereel does or says something to get a specific reaction out of Kal, and this is not the first nor last time Mereel leverages Ordo to do it.

In the context of the series, where minute details result in “Gotcha, found your weak point that I can press on”, minute details then matter even in personal conversations like the above.

So why does Mereel say that, when he knows Ordo can easily bypass him?

Because of Kal’s response to it.

“Knock it off, Mer’ika,” Skirata said. “It’s my fault, not Ordo’s ...”

---Republic Commando: True Colors, pp 98

Recap: Mereel is explicitly, obviously, verbally withholding sensitive intel from the group because of a perceived slight from Ordo. Up until this moment, Ordo has not confirmed nor denied that he’s responsible for lying to the other nulls by omission.

Mereel is hurt by this.

Mereel is also perceptive enough (he is the most socially perceptive out of the six nulls, by the by) to know that there’s something else that Ordo either can’t, or won’t, tell him

So, Mereel does what Mereel is good at: takes a risk (withholding information from the group) to get more information.

And it pays off.

“It’s my fault, not Ordo’s.”

An entire page of conversation allowing Bardan, Vau, and Mereel to believe that Ordo holds all the responsibility of lying to Mereel by omission. An entire page of throwing Ordo under the bus, however minor and easily missed it is.

And Mereel, in withholding something Kal needs, specifically, gets the actual truth of the situation: it was Kal.

Kal finally takes responsibility --- but only because Mereel withholds something he needs.

I need it to be understood: Kal does not, under any circumstance, admit ANY responsibility before there’s any indication that Mereel will no longer be compliant after having been lied to.

To reiterate: only when Mereel stops cooperating, only when Kal needs something from him, will Kal actually do what he should have done at the beginning of the conversation. 

He allowed Mereel, and everyone else in the room, to believe that Ordo did not deem Mereel trustworthy enough to know sensitive information.

He led everyone to believe Ordo was responsible for restricting the spread of information by not admitting his culpability at the start.

By refusing to own his actions, failing to take responsibility, up until that point Vau, Jusik, and Mereel believed that Ordo, not Kal, did not trust his closest brothers.

“But Izzy, you’re reading too much into this !!” You might say.

Listen. This series does the thing where ONE WORD someone says is a BINGO in manipulation. ONE WORD and Kal can suddenly “manipulate” and “press” on a perceived weak point. You cannot then say it’s selective, that it only applies to targets and not everyone else. The novels literally cannot function under that perception.

Kal had the opportunity to clear up the mess by taking initiative and owning up to his responsibility at multiple points, and then didn’t.

“We have a personnel issue we have to factor in to all this.”

---Republic Commando: True Colors, pp 97

Note the we. Not I. We.

I shouldn’t have to spell out to you how potentially damaging that is to the Nulls relationships. In their world of black ops, where even the person you trust most could potentially turn on you, and where it’s told again and again that the Nulls view the other Nulls as their closest, closest allies and brothers --- to the point of it being the Nulls versus the rest of the galaxy --- for Kal to put that at risk for literally no reason is fucked up.

Kal throws Ordo under the bus, callously risks the relationship between the Nulls, for no reason. And this is just ONE, MINOR SCENE. It is a glimpse, a tiny drop in a very deep bucket.