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dangermousie · 8 months ago

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Top Dozen cdramas - 2024

This can obviously change but nothing truly exciting looks to air for the rest of the year so that's unlikely. My Top Dozen for the year are likely be set in stone.

It's a very idiosyncratic list which has two mini dramas, three moderns (!!! for me that's insane) and a lot of vibes dramas.

12 Hard to Find - all vibes all the times. A tragic romance that feels like a Gothic fairytale, this is what minidramas could be.

11 Love In the Desert - out of all the dramas on this list, this is the one that screams most "a good time." It's a romance and visual feast and webnovel madness and sexy good time and it made me cry.

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10 Fortune Writer - a mini that is so smart and meta and fun about narratives and fate and villainy and fighting the story itself. So clever.

9 Derailment - a puzzle and a love story, telling most anything about it would be a spoiler but this story about a rich girl from 2025 who seemingly wakes up in a parallel universe in 2023 in body of a poor doppelganger, and the young man who was in love with the original has everything including addressing what it must feel to people to have a transmigrator possess a loved one.

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8 Tender Light - the ending was just - it's the reason it's not n1. But the rest of this drama about an abused wife and an idealistic young man refusing to bow to societal pressure was just exquisite. It addresses morality and loneliness and complicity and sacrifice. Just incredible. Poetry in motion.

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7 Will Love In Spring - a modern romance cdrama? In my list? Is the world ending? But seriously, this is such a gorgeous, realistic yet intense exploration of love and loss and trauma. It made me utterly reevaluate Li Xian to boot.

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6 Snowfall - this is such a fever dream of a mood piece of a vampire romance, with seriously BDSM and gay vibes, as well as utterly incredible canon age gap ride or die OTP with Ouyang Nana bothering to act for the first time in her life and Vengo Gao embodying a gentleman vampire to perfection. Li Muge remains one of my favorite directors for a reason.

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5 Heroes - the story of three very different men all consigned to the dustheap of history by changing times (the best swordsman in the era of guns, a former imperial guard of a regime about to be overthrown, a constable obedient to obsolete code who studied for imperial exams which got abolished) as the Qing dynasty is about to fall, this has fights, humor, three (!) separate love stories, philosophy and utter and complete heartbreak. The performances, the ideas, the filming and the writing all combine to make a bleak masterpiece with a 99% death rate (I am not kidding, only tertiaries make it out.) If I were in charge, it would get all the awards.

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4 The Legend of Shen Li - the one truly mainstream idol costume hit on the list. It's an adult, passionate xianxia that reunites Zhao Liying and Lin Gengxin as deities and battle powerhouses in a love story that is so full of yearning and passion and intensity I feel like peeking through my fingers. This is everything xianxia romance tries to be and almost never is. This just might be my favorite xianxia of all time, tbh.

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3 Eternal Brotherhood - a dark horse whose existence I didn't even know about before it aired. Visually stunning despite its tiny budget, this narrative about three sworn brothers in a kingdom and world in crisis, is pitch perfect in its humor, its intensity, its tragedy and its themes (also THREE!!!! amazing love stories despite not being a romance-centric show.) The battles, the friendships, the traumas, the darkness at the heart of it all!

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2 Fangs of Fortune - the sole drama that can rival JoL2 for me (only caveat is it's still airing), this is visually the most jaw dropping drama I've ever seen, but it's also high fantasy the way it should be - making me feel so immersed that stopping feels like coming up from a deep dive or waking up from a hypervivid dream. It has impeccable performances (many from actors who I don't normally even like), and its plot and relationships and themes - fate and sacrifice and choice and found family bonds and trauma and so many other things - make it feel as if it was made just for me.

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1 Joy of Life 2 - THE drama of 2024 for me. It's somehow better than the incredible first installment. It's funny, it's heartbreaking, it has insane performances, a narrative that hits all my personally favorite themes (a person trying to remain human in an inhuman world, righteousness not being weak), a large cast of fascinating characters who feel like they live in front of me (there are no throwaway roles in this), my favorite ship of the year (though it's not even a ship-centric show) and above all, Zhang Ruoyun's live wire of a performance as Fan Xian, arguably my favorite cdrama character of all time. It should not work yet it does. Brilliantly.

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#cdrama #joy of life 2 #fangs of fortune #eternal brotherhood #the legend of shen li #heroes (2024)#snowfall #hard to find #fortune writer #love in the desert #derailment #tender light #will love in spring

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irenerose21 · 5 months ago

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One of my favorite fandom jokes is that Zeus is a huge Captain Swan shipper, which is why he brought Killian back to life.

Because even though it is not what happened( he brought him back to life as a thank you for defending Hades), it is still just such a funny thought!

I mean, imagine Zeus, the literally king of the gods, loving your relationship so much, that he defied death and brought you back to life. Mainly because he was pissed that one part of his OTP died and he couldn’t live for the rest of eternity KNOWING his OTP never got a happy ending.

Also, it is just so funny saying to people who didn’t know Killian died, “Yes, he did die. But Zeus(yes the Greek god Zeus) is a huge Captain Swan shipper and brought him back to life.”

God, I love this fandom!

#ouat #once upon a time #oncer #killian jones #Zeus is a captain swan shipper #captain swan

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silme-lorien · 1 month ago

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Samwise for the character ask meme 😳

thanks for the ask <3

How I feel about this character:

i love him ofc!!!! hes such a sweet character but he also definitely has an edge which is what i love about him, i feel like people don’t give him enough credit for being tough and intelligent. one of my favourite things about him is the way he utilizes the history and mythology of middle earth and kind of weaves that into the narrative- a elbereth gilthoniel and other moments

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

honestly the only person i can really ship with him is frodo, we all know im a samfro truther but i do think that his relationship with rosie is cute as well!! both are valid to me but my fav is samfro as always

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

ohh this is a hard one, i love his friendship with pippin and merry though, i feel like their chaos clashing with his more orderly nature is hilarious. also him and gandalf is a pretty funny friendship

My unpopular opinion about this character:

i think that he has pretty deep flaws. i feel like the general portrayal of him is like a sweet guy who can do no wrong and is eternally devoted to frodo, which is true, but he can also be overbearing, sometimes lacks foresight and he can be a bit clumsy. this isint to say that he is any less of a good character though! the best characters have flaws

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

i wish he would have been allowed to interact with other characters more. he is really shy and reserved and i know he gets severed from the rest of the fellowship at the end of the first book but i really wish we could have seen his relationship with legolas, aragorn, gimli etc develop more. also i really wanted him to have more interactions with galadriel.

#samwise gamgee #lotr #lord of the rings #the lord of the rings #jrr tolkien #lotr books #frodo baggins #sam gamgee #samfro #merry #pippin #gandalf #ask

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blasphemousclaw · 9 months ago

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Idk if you plan on doing the "questions-about-character-x" list yet, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on Marika (maybe with a side of Radagon but mostly the golden strumpet).

• favorite thing about them

nothing hits me harder than characters who lash out because of the injustice or suffering they’ve endured… there’s something so cathartic about characters who make their pain and anger felt in the world in a tangible and consequential way. Marika is this character to me!! I think it’s so powerful to introduce her as an all-powerful goddess, keeping her at a distance as this enigmatic figure who shaped the world as it is today and then shattered it, and then to humanize her by showing us where she comes from and what she went through… she was never just a cold, distant, uncaring deity, but a person, with very human motivations and flaws. learning her backstory gives us so much context for why she did the things that she did and gives us the opportunity to feel close to her and empathize with her… I think she was always sympathetic in the base game, but she still felt so distant, so I really love how the dlc fleshed her out and made her character so accessible

• least favorite thing about them

this isn’t even about her, but about how the fanbase has responded to her writing in the dlc because like dear god

it almost makes me want to avoid content of her which sucks because I really like her LOL

• favorite line

“Hear me, Demigods. My children beloved. Make of thyselves that which ye desire. Be it a Lord. Be it a God. But should ye fail to become aught at all, ye will be forsaken. Amounting only to sacrifices...”

absolutely fascinating quote… we don’t really know the context, so there’s many different ways to interpret it… Marika urging her children to become a lord or a god is interesting, because when she deposed the Gloam-Eyed Queen and removed Destined Death from the Elden Ring, it seemed like she was fighting hard to stay in power and to become “Eternal,” but her children succeeding her would necessarily end her reign? This also almost seems like she’s encouraging conflict between her children… there can only be one god and one lord, after all. we don’t know when the quote was spoken, but it almost seems to reference Ranni’s sacrifice of Godwyn on her path to godhood on her own terms? is this a warning? is it a challenge? is it just the words of an extremely jaded and cynical goddess?

• brOTP, ОТР

ok I’m gonna do away with this format here because I just want to list some of her relationships that I really like without having to categorize them:

Marika and Messmer: the dynamic of Marika being a god-queen whose grace is blinding, and her son being born cursed with a serpent of the lightless abyss is so good… him taking up the crusade on her behalf, of his own volition, because he hates how he was born so deeply and will do anything to try to atone for something that isn’t even his fault, committing horrors in her name, is SOOOO

Marika and Radagon: I love pondering where one of them starts and the other begins, how they have opposite goals and worldviews but exist in the same being. really good

Marika and Rennala: I wouldn’t call it an otp but I like it as a ship. Marika being the one to steal away Rennala’s husband, but she actually IS her husband. unparalleled dynamic

• nОТР

there arent any Marika ships I’ve seen that I dislike

• random headcanon

I think she was horrified and disgusted by Morgott and Mohg AND she loved them still. omen babies would have their horns cut off, usually causing them to die, but omen babies born of royalty did not have their horns cut off, so they were allowed to live… I love the idea that Marika couldn’t bear to sentence her children to death, but she also couldn’t bear to look at them because of her past, so they were confined to the Shunning Grounds

• unpopular opinion

*cracks knuckles*

SO MANY people have the wrong idea about her. you’ve got people saying everything she did was justified, she didn’t go far enough, “total hornsent death” etc etc. and on the other hand you’ve got people saying the dlc writing is terrible because it’s excusing Marika for her crimes, it’s baiting you to feel bad for the hornsent and then pulling a plot twist that actually, they were evil and Marika was good the whole time!

both of these interpretations are flawed because the story is not arguing that the hornsent are fundamentally evil people, and it is not arguing that Marika is now blameless because of what she suffered. the story is rife with moments of sympathy for the hornsent’s suffering and examples of the crusade’s inexcusable cruelty, and so much of what’s in the base game showcases the cruelty that Marika’s Order has inflicted. just because the story is giving Marika a sympathetic reason for why she is the way she is does not mean that these facts cease to exist! sympathy for Marika, sympathy for the hornsent, and condemnation for the Golden Order’s and the crusade’s crimes can all exist in the story at the same time!!!!!

• song i associate with them

…how about this: if anyone has a song in mind, leave it in the replies or tags!

• favorite picture of them

Ranni holding her head u_u

#asks #marika #sorry i didnt really talk about radagon im tired

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amybloomz · 3 months ago

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ᯓ★ i never missed you (maybe just a little bit.)

where ochako uraraka is trying to digest all of her trauma from the previous school year while also trying to understand why her ex boyfriend won’t even look at her.

where katsuki bakugo claims everything is fine and that what happened during the previous school year was just apart of being a hero while also trying to digest his true feelings over what had happened.

ochako’s point of view.

author’s note: i love kacchako so much and they r literally my otp so have chapter one of this!?

masterlist.

everyone deals with grief differently, and everyone has someone to grieve. for example, mina had delved into her world of dance to distract her from the realities of midnight’s sacrifice. sato had baked so much that he might as well open a bakery— it worked out well because every refugee shelter in japan needed more necessities and every person in class one— 2A was willing to help deliver them.

hero’s dynamight and uravity were delivering boxes of baked goods from sato and clothes made by the support course and yaomomo. everyone had to leave in partners just incase, but the war had long since ended. ochako always tried to start conversations with bakugo, but he’d always brush her off. she’d requested to change partners multiple times, but she was always denied. she wished she could crawl into bakugo’s mind, somehow understand what he was thinking. she gave it up as a bad job after a while.

they flew in silence, all that could be heard was bakugo’s explosions that were keeping him up. she wasn’t sure what to say; it’s not like he’d reply to her anyway. instead of being sad or upset about this fact, she feels frustration build up inside of her. she’d tried so hard to try a build them back up, it was like a switch inside of him had flipped.

she stares ahead, determined to get this job over with.

it had been a particularly long night of patrol, her coming back at around 2am to katsuki sat on the couch on his phone. at the sound of the dorm building door open, his head shoots up.

“you’re two hours late.”

“i got caught up trying to find a little boy’s mother,”

“i thought someone had taken you. i know you can handle yourself but you know how dangerous it is with all of the villains out there and shit,”

thunder crackles in the background and ochako’s face softens as she approaches him. although katsuki’s face seemed emotionless, she couldn’t help but notice the slight tremor of his body and the way his eyes were sick with worry. it reminded her that he cared, despite the front that he put on. dropping her head piece, she pulls him into a tight embrace. he clings onto her desperately— like he’s afraid she’ll disappear from his grasp.

it was only them inside of the universe, and she’d gladly keep it that way until she died. even then, the stars they’d create would never be too far apart. they’d shine for each other, with each other. future astrologers would look up at their twinkling lights and marvel at their beauty. she was so certain.

lightening strikes and thunder booms— suddenly ochako is falling from the sky like an angel falls from grace.

it startled her, causing her to tap her fingers together to release her from her gravity-defying quirk— she hadn’t assessed the situation at all and now she was falling. and bakugo was diving. his warm body collides with her shaking one and he wraps a tight arm around her waist. she holds onto him as he uses his explosions to manoeuvre them to safety. her heart almost beats out of her chest and she can’t tell whether it’s from panic, anxiety, or a secret third thing.

they land in an alley, the supplies thankfully in one piece, floating gracefully beside them. despite them landing, katsuki doesn’t budge. he keeps his tight hold on her waist and she lets him— ochako lets him. they stay like that for a few moments, eternity, listening to each other’s heart beats, copying each other’s breathing pattern. twinkling at the same rate. completely synced.

bakugo’s the first to pull away, of course.

thunder grumbles in the background as rain slices their skin. they’re completely soaked, yet they still stand there in the alley, unspeaking with so much to say. he lifts up some bags and she mirrors him.

“the shelter isn’t that far of a walk from here,”

ochako blinks, and suddenly she’s back in the dorms.

she’s decided that katsuki’s embrace is her favourite place to be. it’s like summer’s afternoon sun, golden and joyful. it creates a ball of warmth deep inside her chest, enveloping her heart and causing it to do flips. and they always seemed to last for infinity.

they were in her dorm, her head resting on his chest as they co-exist together. she listens to his beating heart and feels his chest rise and fall. the pros were preparing for the war to begin very soon, and this would be one of the last times they’d be able to stay like this until the fighting began. both were determined to persevere through this war and win, even if it killed them.

ochako decides she wouldn’t mind dying in katsuki’s arms if it meant feeling his warmth.

“if you get scared you can hold my hand,” katsuki says teasingly, though ochako knows better than to assume he’s joking.

“i think you’ll be needing to grab mine more,” she giggles and he rolls his eyes in amusement.

“absolutely not, i’ll be too busy exploding the shitheads to hold your hand anyways,” he grumbles, causing her to laugh harder.

“so i can’t hold your hand if i get scared?” she asks, trying to catch him out. his eyes widen.

“no that’s not what i meant pink cheeks!! don’t go twisting my words!!” he pouts in a playful anger and she clutches her sides as she watches katsuki’s face heat up in a flustered false fury.

another strike of lightening crackles and ochako flinches.

bakugo opens the door of the shelter, walking straight in and not bothering to keep the door open for her. she pushes it open herself and places the bags down at the entrance, hurrying over to ryukyu as she’s the pro who protects the shelter. the two make quiet conversation as bakugo begrudgingly begins to unpack all of the items that they had carried here.

a cold shiver runs up ochako’s spine and she comes to the sudden realisation that she’s soaked due to the rain and currently dripping onto the floor of the entrance. ryukyu simply laughs at her embarrassment and offers the two to stay the night at the shelter as it may be too dangerous to go out in the harsh conditions. ochako looks back at bakugo and agrees when she sees his slight nod of acknowledgement.

bakugo hated the rain.

ochako limps across the rubble: her suit, hair, and body drenched with the relentless rain. she doesn’t know what to do. himiko toga had just sacrificed her own life to save her’s. she was so young— the same age as ochako. uravity was supposed to save people, but she couldn’t even save one teenage girl.

exhaustion overwhelms her as she manages to reach the main fight and she collapses to the ground, trying to look up at the scene around her. trying to find her kat. she carefully pushes herself up, trying to get further in. she sees deku in the sky, fighting for his life, for safety, against any villain who may threaten his path. then she sees him. her stupid, angry, explosive, wonderful boyfriend. she sees the light of his star go out.

katsuki hated the rain.

they are taken to their room for the night. it’s small, and there’s only one bed, but they were no strangers to sharing one. bakugo goes straight to the bathroom, opting to get changed into the spare clothes they were given in there. she peels off her own wet clothes, placing them on the radiator and getting changed promptly before laying down on the bed. the bathroom door clicks open and bakugo walks out, placing his clothes beside her own.

“i can sleep on the floor if you need me to pink cheeks,” he mumbles, his face void of any hints to what he was truly thinking.

she smiles softly and shakes her head in amusement. “i don’t bite, ka— bakugo,” she catches herself just in time.

bakugo walks towards the bed, laying down on the edge, facing away from ochako. she turns her body to look at him, only to be met with his back. she nervously wraps an arm around his middle, and seeing him relax causes her to move closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder.

and for a moment, despite everything, it was like the war had never happened.

everyone in class 1A was admitted to the hospital once the war was over, some only stayed for a few hours— others had to stay for up to a week. it was the longest week of ochako’s life.

since she wasn’t supposed to leave her room, and only family were allowed to visit, she has no way of knowing if her kat was okay— no way of knowing if the star that inspired her was still burning brightly. she was terrified, a constant state of panic and anxiety.

when she was released, and settled back into the dorms, she immediately went to katsuki’s room. she knocked gently (just incase, she’d never want to wake him) and waited for him to open the door.

“what?” katsuki opens the door. his face is unreadable and he can barely look at her in her eyes. he sounded so— rude. harsh. cold. not like her katsuki anymore.

“i wanted to check on you, i haven’t seen you since.. and i needed to know you were okay!” ochako says sweetly, her voice not as full as life as it used to be.

“i’m fine,” he says bluntly, shutting the door in her face.

ochako stands staring at the door, surprise written all over her face. she doesn’t know what to do. she walks down the hall in a stunned silence, horrified at the interaction. she chalked it up to the war still being fresh in his mind, and she knew that people had different ways to cope— like mina’s dancing and sato’s baking— but she never for a second thought that her katsuki would shut her out. she decided to give him the space he needed, of course.

but eventually, slowly but surely, everything was becoming normal again. she was back to hanging out with deku, iida, todoroki, tsu and yaomomo and bakugo was back with ‘his idiots’ as he would call them. but bakugo’s attitude towards her never changed. it was radio silence from his side. he wouldn’t even look in her direction— it was like she had a disease.

then they read the patrol assignments, and hope swelled in her heart. maybe, just maybe, they’d be able to burn as bright as they used to. his neutral face didn’t change, but yaomomo swears she saw the corners of his mouth twitch up ever so slightly when he read their names.

on their first patrol, it was raining.

the light pattering on rain against the window was heard as the two laid together. simply existing. ochako decides that she would willingly die this way like she did just last year. his warmth consumes her, burning into her skin.

“why won’t you look at me?” she asks gently, anxiously— as if he would break if she was any louder. she feels him tense underneath her.

“because all i see is the girl covered in blood staring at me in horror in my final moments”

ochako wishes to stop breathing.

#ao3 writer #chapter one #mha #mha bakugou #mha uraraka #uraraka ochacho #ochako uraraka #uraraka #my hero academia #bnha #boku no hero academia #ao3 fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #mha fanfiction #kacchako #kacchako fic #bakugo x uraraka #katsuki x ochako

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sagesparrow394 · 3 months ago

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Watching the Apotheosis finale... figured its only right to do a liveblog thing like I have for other JRWI finales so here we go

"I was just wondering if you'd walk with me through the woods for a minute" "oh jesus" "not that kind of a forest walk" lmaoooooo

I love JRWI. Where else can I hear the most beautiful exchange of love that also includes the phrase "admittedly very very perfect sexy hot tight bod"

AAAAAAAAA PETER ASKED RUMI TO MARRY HIM IM NOT OKAY

"you guys had sex yesterday" true love knows no bounds

AND INSTANTLY MARRIED AWWWW

move aside angelstone, thanatos x toaster is the real otp

thanatos offering relationship advice to rumi is hilarious

thanatos really laughed once and immediately became the most chill guy

'i cut him off and say "cover them up, slut"' rumi ilysm

rumi calling peter darling....... oh they mean so much to me

'you hit peter and i go "MY BABY BOYYYY"'

'and these wings burst out from behind him, these six wings' 'rumi is aroused', "me and my partner are gonna have hot sweaty love after this". love how even when fighting against the god of all gods all rumi and peter can think about is having sex, honestly a power move

"touch me again and I'm going to tell my husband" 90% of this liveblog is just me pointing out angelstone moments that make me happy and i wouldn't have it any other way

'peter is so sexy, dude. peter is so fucking hot. ugh, peter' reasonable reaction to seeing your husband jump on a magic grenade for you

"i can see why exandroth constantly moaned inside of you, peter" OH MY GOD

"'preciate that, bruh" i love chill thanatos

THANATOS DEALING 78 DAMAGE LETS FUCKING GOOOOO

"peter if you zoot again, I'm going to choke you" "that's fair... zoot~" okay so peter's canonically a kinky motherfucker ig

bro i hate found family breakups, thanatos staying behind to guard zuen for all eternity is destroying me... it 100% makes sense for his character but :((((

peter using his final wish to make thanatos an immortal lizard is so fucking precious ;-;

"hey. once a thannie-" "-always a thannie" AUUUUGHH

awwwwww Elena! choosing their mother's name is so sweet

"i love you, Elena" "I love you, Peter" ;-;

thanatos immortalised spreading cheeks in the stars... beautiful

elena dropping peter into a pile of rocks lmao i love my cringefail couple

exandroth, thanatos and condi singing don't you forget about me out of sync was perfect

angelstone cabin house in the mountains......... with a pretty garden and baby lizards........ oh its so sweet and domestic

YEAH THANATOS STATUES!!!

awww the book updating with elena and peter's stories so thanatos gets to see it all is so sweet

and condi ending with a perfect monologue... god this campaign was so good. all of them did amazing, condi is an awesome dm!

And with that, I think I've run out of JRWI campaigns to watch. The only ones I haven't watched are Total Monster Kill and Judgement, but unfortunately i don't have any way to access to them I don't think (if anyone has a google drive or smth...)

Though there's also Mythborne and Monster Control Service but I think those are just oneshots, right?

But damn, it's weird going from campaigns that either aren't concluded or had depressing endings (bitb im looking at you), to one that has a happy ending. It's like a different flavour of post-campaign depression

#jrwi #just roll with it #jrwi apotheosis #jrwi spoilers #liveblogging

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gavillain · 1 year ago

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I was talking with @marciabrady the other night about ships and the aesthetics of our favorite couples, and it made me really want to do a break down of one of my obscure crossover OTPs:

Grimhilde/Cruella, a.k.a. EvilPuppies!

Because I feel like Grimhilde/Cruella, out of all my ships, looks the most like crack at first glance, but there is so much more to it than just sticking two random Disney Villains together.

So, first and foremost, I started shipping them because of Kingdom Keepers Book IV, Power Play:

Despite the fact that Frollo is on the cover of the book and was the heavily promoted new Overtaker before the release of the novel, the main villains of the novel are actually Grimhilde and Cruella. The premise is that after Maleficent and Chernabog were captured at the end of the previous book, the Disney Villains who are trying to take over the parks have had to take on new leadership to get Maleficent and Chernabog out of Imagineer-prison. Grimhilde is the next in the chain of command, so she's in charge and has Cruella De Vil as her companion who follows her everywhere. They are ALWAYS together in the book, and Cruella, naturally, has a very flirty and complimentary demeanor towards Grimhilde that the Queen naturally just adores. Their chemistry is great, and there is even one part where the main hero finds the two of them asleep together on an air mattress and a bundle of furs (it makes sense in context) and, well... yeah XD The novel really glued the two of them together in my head.

And that togetherness, as you can see above, blends over into the parks. Grimhilde and Cruella are the only two main Disney Villainesses who are out with some regularity as face characters in Disneyland. All of the villains in the Disney Parks have a familiarity with each other, and you can get similar gal pal dynamics with them and Maleficent (and Lady Tremaine) around Halloween time. However, because Grimhilde and Cruella are out together for so much of the year, they tend to carry the brunt of that sort of "evil besties" friendship, leading to cute photo op moments like this...

So Disney is already doing a lot of the leg work to make them come across as girlfriends and to give them chemistry and a ship dynamic. However, if that was all there was to it, I probably wouldn't love this ship as much as I do. I need that interesting and thought through layer of shipping, and thankfully, these two have it in spades.

So, despite being from different time periods and wildly different worlds, Grimhilde and Cruella are aristocrats through and through. Grimhilde is literally royalty, and Cruella an over-financed heiress to the remnants of England's aristocracy (and she's the head of a corporate fashion empire in the Glenn Close movies). The House of De Vil dates back to medieval times, and evidence of that extensive and wealthy history is littered all around Cruella's mansion.

Cruella is in essence, the remnants of an old world that no longer exists, one of royalty and station that Grimhilde herself was a part of, and though the times have changed, Cruella keeps that class and regality alive. In that way, I think it blends perfectly with her taking on a lover who is quite literally OF that time period, and it also helps tie Grimhilde in with the modern world, giving Grimhilde a sort of immortality and transcendence that I think she'd very much value with her desire to be eternally young and beautiful. And, along those same lines, they are both very strong examples of matriarchal authority and power with Cruella bemoaning the uselessness of men and the pitfalls of women losing themselves to marriage, whilst Grimhilde murdered her own husband in order to reign alone without a man over her. They fundamentally get the sort of twisted villainous feminism that they are peddling.

Next is the themes of beauty and glamor. These are two women who are fundamentally motivated by vanity - Cruella wants to design her original Dalmatian puppy coat and stun the art world with her ruthless originality whilst Grimhilde wants to kill her stepdaughter so that she can reign as the Fairest One of All. For them, beauty and aesthetics are absolute, and they share a willingness to buy their glamorous ambitions with the blood of the innocent. They would fundamentally GET each other in that regard. However, and this is important, they GET that same motivation for vanity, but they don't COMPETE with each other. Cruella is a pretty woman, but she's older and she's a chain smoker whose habits have caused her to become a bit emaciated. She's beautiful in her own way, but she's never going to rival Grimhilde as the Fairest One of All. Likewise, though Grimhilde has extravagant fashions and jewelry, she's not setting out to be at the forefront of clothing design and art. She would certainly WEAR outfits Cruella designed for her, but she wouldn't want to supplant Cruella either. They're going to make the world kneel before their beauty, but they're going to compliment each other rather than rival each other or have to set aside their vanities for each other.

Then one of the big important elements that makes this ship appeal to me so much is the motif of DUALITY. Cruella is noteworthy for her hair that is half-black and half-white. It's her signature style, she's well known for it, it ties in with the black and white dogs, and it ties in with how she has her likable and admirable public face but also her sinister and dark side that the rest of the world doesn't see. Grimhilde also has the duality motif. Hell, she has BLACK HAIR as the Queen and WHITE hair as the hag, and the whole black and white motif shows up in her potions ("Black of Night" and "To Whiten My Hair, a Scream of Fright"). Grimhilde literally has two faces and two forms. She is two villainesses in one, which is such a tasty match for the woman with infamously two-toned hair. And what I like about that too is that Cruella BLENDS with both the Queen and the Hag. With the queen, she has the aristocratic and blue blood regality and beauty that I mentioned before, but with the hag, she has the cackling maniacal bloodthirsty side that would have an absolute riot bringing death to innocents. It's so symbolic, and they're the only Disney villains who have that duality motif in that fashion.

And the fact that they have all of these interesting parallels and motifs while also being from two different worlds and two different time periods (medieval and modern) is a lot of fun purely from a crossover perspective but also as ANOTHER manifestation of their duality motif! And THAT is the type of tasty shipping fuel that I LIVE for!

So with Grimhilde and Cruella being of two different time periods, they also simultaneously coexist in one time period. Cruella in the original animated film may have been released in the 1960s, but her animator, Marc Davis, designed her to be a throwback to the old Hollywood glamor of the 1930s. Most specifically Tallulah Bankhead...

And Marlene Dietrich...

Cruella is pure Old Hollywood 1930s glamor trapped in a late 50s/early 60s modern domestic setting. And you know whose movie was made in the 1930s and has a very 1930s cultural aesthetic to it?

And Grimhilde herself is designed based on ANOTHER 1930s film villainess, She (Who Must Be Obeyed):

A movie that was famous for its Art Deco sets, and Art Deco is one of the main aesthetic motifs attributed to Cruella in the Glenn Close movies. So stylistically speaking, the two of them despite coming from different time periods and different worlds coexist in a way that is very old Hollywood. And with that combined link to the 30s, it helps the two of them to coexist peacefully and harmoniously in the same time period. They meet in this glamorous and mythologized liminal space. Heck, with Cruella's aesthetic links to the 1930s, I personally headcanon that she grew up absolutely obsessed with old Hollywood and making a concentrated effort to emulate that energy in her own style. Since Grimhilde is kind of an Old Hollywood character come to life, it's almost like Cruella can be a fangirl of something that she's admired for her whole life when she gets with Grimhilde, and you know Grimhilde is gonna LOVE that attention.

In addition, I personally like to be very cognizant about my ships with regards to what the individual character is going to look for in terms of a romantic partner and why the character that I've chosen for them suits that specific need. With Grimhilde, we know that she was married to Snow White's father and that she killed him, so we know that she didn't have any real love for that man, possibly any man. She rules over her kingdom alone and doesn't want anyone to rule beside her. In the Snow White comics and deleted scenes from the film, she showcases a sort of romantic rivalry for Prince Florian, but her affections for him are never about wanting an equal. She wants him because he is young and handsome and compliments her beauty and elevates her image in a way that helps give her more power through her beauty. So for Grimhilde, she needs a lover who can fill that niche - not someone to rival her or rule beside her, but someone who can be a perfect accessory to her beauty. Cruella being all about fashion and style is absolutely that person. She's very cognizant of appearances and what can accentuate or take away from beauty and aesthetics. That inherent utility to their relationship means that it would be something that Grimhilde would be open to indulging, and from there deeper feelings can develop under the right circumstances in a way that they wouldn't without having that utility first.

So that's Grimhilde's side of things. But what about Cruella? Well, we see Cruella's relation with love mostly revolving around this sort of one sided attraction that she has to Anita. And at first glance that seems contradictory to her getting with the queen, because Cruella is obviously going after a dainty and demure woman who she can kind of steamroll and collect as another fashion accessory. However, I think what makes this work so well is that it really showcases that Cruella has an attraction to traditional feminine beauty and women in general, and Grimhilde is of course is the fairest woman of all. The Glen Close movie adds an interesting dynamic to Cruella's attraction to Anita in that she enjoys the creative interaction that she has with Anita. Never really noticed Anita until the two of them started to collaborate creatively, and I feel like that's a big thing that Cruella needs and wants in a partner, someone who engages that creative side of her brain and understands her drive for aesthetics and beauty. And, as previously stated, who better to do that than the Queen of beauty herself? Grimhilde is a perfect model of unlimited dramatic creativity wrapped in a feminine and beautiful package that would set Cruella's heart ablaze.

Together the two of them fulfill that perfect niche for each other and foster a creative, beautiful, and bloodthirsty ruthless energy that would make them feel seen and supported. They effectively create their own little world of 1930s fantasy glamor when they come together, and that's just beautiful to me.

Those are the biggies, but some other really fun pieces of shipping fuel: *I love the aesthetic they have with them both being tall women with dramatic almost drag queen makeup and outfits that have tones of black, white, and red in their own signature styles. And Cruella has the flowing fur coat with the red liner and Grimhilde has the flowing cape with the red liner and so they can be very flouncy and twirly with their styles. *Grimhilde keeps a royal huntsman who can kill all of the animals for Cruella whenever she wants. *They both have similar structures to their stories - they start out on friendly or familial terms with the protagonists before they show their true colors, then they entrust men to kill the innocent creatures needed to enact their plan but those men fail them, forcing Grimhilde and Cruella to take matters into their own hands, and then the finales showcase them both transforming into frightening demented versions of themselves (old hag and crazy demon eyes Cruella during the car chase) madly pursuing their goals until they ultimate bring about their own defeats by the environment turning against them *Cruella has the green smoke of her cigarette which echoes the green and smoke of the Magic Mirror, and also Cruella's chain smoking being a sort of poison in and of itself links back nicely to Grimhilde's literal poisons. *OUAT gives Cruella magic powers and ties to the Author, and Grimhilde also has magic powers and is a literal storybook villain.

So, yes, at first glance, EvilPuppies may seem like just a crackship, but it's really not. There is SO much here in both their canon interactions and in their numerous parallels, and there are honestly probably even more that I'm forgetting. They are the crowning queens of femslash for me for good reason, and I adore them, darlings!

#EvilPuppies #Queen Grimhilde #Cruella De Vil #Evil Queen #Cruella #Cruella de Ville #The Evil Queen #Disney Villains #femslash #gay disney

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thesunwillshineonusagain757 · 1 year ago

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I know your blog is very focused on Rhaegar x Lyanna but I wanted to ask what are other Game of Thrones universe ships you like. Can you give me a top 10 ?

This is a really cool question my top 10 is very weird. I like very different couples it’s my crack ship obsession. I’m gonna put an honorable mention to Sigorn x Alys Karstark, Arthur Dayne X Jaime Lannister, Sansa Stark x Margaery Tyrell, they are a cute couples but they don’t make my top 10 !

10. Alysanne Targaryen x Alaric Stark: I mean, I do have an obsession with stark/targaryen, fire and ice, ships so this was no surprise. My head canon is that this helped Alysanne with a lot of trauma from her first trip on Westeros where she was attacked. And I love that Alaric is kind of grumpy at the beginning but warms up to her with time.

9. Jacaerys Velaryon X Cregan Stark : Again stark/targaryen ship, but gay ! Two of the things that I love the most in life. I’m very sad that apparently Cregan won’t be making another appearance in this season of House of the Dragon. Because you know, I just wanted to see my ship or a little bit more of it.

8. Oberyn Martell X Willas Tyrell: This one is kind of complicated; For people that don’t know Willas is a book only character, he is the heir of HighGarden, when he was very young, he went into jousting, and he jousted against Oberyn. But sadly because he was so young and unprepared, he ended up having a very serious injury on his leg. And that caused the Martell’s and Tyrell’s to have even more beef than they already have, but the cool thing is Willas did not blame Oberyn. They became friends after this. So yeah I ship them because this one brings a softer side of Oberyn that we rarely see.

7. Jon Snow x Satin : I mean, bisexual Jon Snow, that’s it.

6. Ned Stark x Jaime Lannister : This one is one of the crack ones, and I know a lot of people will think I’m mad. But if you read the books, and you read Jaime’s POV you know for a fact, he had a huge fat crush on Ned Stark. Also bisexual Jaime Lannister !

5. Lucery Velarys x Aemon Targaryen : Oh we’re getting to the toxic one. This is more like a very dependent on the AU vibe. But I like the idea of forgiveness and growth.

4. Brienne of Tarth x Jaime Lannister: I mean, you don’t really have to explain this one. it’s amazing. It’s probably the best thing that happens to Jamie in the books and in the series, and I will be eternally bitter of how they were treated in the tv show.

3. Arya Stark X Aegon Martell Targaryen : This the one that is the most cracked ship of all of them, but hear me out, yes, I know that the possibility of young Griff, being Aegon, is very slim, but I don’t care.

2. Lyanna Stark x Jaime Lannister : I’m usually attracted to ships that are opposites attract, but that is not the case of this one. I would like to make the claim that Jamie Lannister and Lyanna Stark, are virtually the same person in different fonts. Middle child, of dysfunctional family, that lost their mom, has a very ambitious dad, and a kid that has to grapple with the weight of societal ecxpectations, but at heart are both rebellious.

1. Rhaegar Targaryen x Lyanna Stark : I mean, this one is my OTP, of all the ships of all time. It’s my sensitive boy, and my tomboy girl, they’re everything to me and no, I will not be questioned or hear any criticism for it!

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