#verse: hell johan

[xxxangeleyesxxx]

“I was there in the dark when you spilled your first blood

I am here now, as you run from me still

Run then, child

You can't hide from me forever” - Ptolemaea

It was always this familiar dark place she was sent to.

Anna was accustomed to this dream at this point, if you could even call it that. She once heard from someone that sleep is death playing shy, and this was fairly reminiscent of it. It’s completely pitch black dark, you couldn’t even see the tips of your fingers if you tried. No matter how far she walked, nothing blocked her from transversing further.

Disembodied hands would grab at her side and graze her cheek. She wondered if they were truly there or just her mind playing tricks on her. Still, she would swat at them. Still, she would draw back and shiver in disgust at the mild violation. Occasionally, she would hear a blood curdling scream from somewhere in the blackness. Sometimes it was far away. Others, right next to her ear. Despite mirroring their suffering and fear in this lonely place, it never made it feel any less cold and isolated.

This was hell. After reading the Bible at 12 and getting to the verse it was described, that was what she concluded. There was no demons torturing you for eternity in unspeakable ways. It was no Dante’s Inferno. It was darkness, weeping, screaming, and complete and utter despair.

The only thing missing was fire and agony, but, as Anna thought thankfully, you couldn’t feel pain in dreams. That would only wake you up.

Her only question; Why was she sent here? What had she done?

One would think after several years of experiencing this nightly torment that she would no longer be afraid of it, but no. Anna would still walk with uncertainty, her hands reaching out in front of her for something, anything to grasp onto and make the chaos make sense, but she could never find it. Even now, she still covered her ears to block out the horrible screams from countless people she had no way of saving. Her heart would still ache with the all too familiar pain of loneliness and betrayal from a source she couldn’t ascertain. It never got easier.

Tonight was different though.

There was a formless door. It opened just slightly. Precious light spilled from within onto the oak floor. Anna reached towards it.

The metallic taste of blood hit her tongue.

She hesitated. Her outstretched hand shook unsteadily. A part of her understood that what lie beyond this door was something that she did not want to see, something she was simply not ready to face. She didn’t want to enter it, but she knew she had to.

Suddenly, she was a little girl again. The delicate hands before her gave way to small, stubby ones, nail beds bitten and peeling. She carefully peered inside.

This didn’t feel like a dream anymore, it felt like reality.

And yet it just couldn’t be. The monster standing before her couldn’t be real. She had to be dreaming, cause if she wasn’t—

The beast with seven heads audibly shifted it’s haunting blue eyes to look at her. She froze, then began heaving, unable to get enough air into her lungs. She couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything to run or defend herself, though in all fairness, what could she do? There were two bodies on the floor, blood gushed out from their torn, mangled limbs. The monster’s elongated hands were drenched in blood. Gnashing teeth easily tore apart flesh from a leg. It gingerly offered her a severed arm, as if it meant nothing to indulge in the most taboo thing imaginable.

Her heart was pounding. Her mouth spilled words beyond her control.

“Johan? You- W-What have you done!?”

The most demonic, distorted version of her brother’s voice came echoed out of sync from the many heads of that creature.

“Anna, please listen to me. We have to-“

All at once Anna was in her bed again, sweating bullets, breathing heavily and staring at the ceiling. She had her blanket clutched to her chest in a white-knuckled grip. She slowly adjusted to her new surroundings and sat up, scanning her room for anything out of place, glancing back every so often at an oddly placed coat and the closet. Anna was used to nightmares, but not ones of that caliber. She was admittedly shaken, and didn’t think more sleep was in the cards for tonight.

The bedside clock read 1:43am. Pictures of her, her family, and friends stared up at her with their mocking smiling faces, like she didn’t just go through hell and back. She picked the one of her and Johan at their high school graduation ceremony and smiled, feeling herself begin to calm down. Johan looked at her with such a gentle expression, while she beamed at the camera, her arms wrapped around her barely older brother in a vice grip.

It was one of her favorite pictures. It served as a reminder that no matter what happened, he would always be there for her.

She put the photo down and slipped out of bed, leaving the room.

Johan would probably be asleep by now, but you honestly never knew with him. He had quite the odd sleep schedule.

His door was just barely left opened, the plain, navy blue queen sized bed was neatly made and without its usual inhabitant. She could hear him scribbling something on a piece of paper and flipping through the pages of a book. Hopefully, she wasn’t interrupting his late night study session.

She knocked the side of the door frame.

“Johan? Is it ok if I come in?”

The writing paused and he called for her from his desk. She smiled warmly and entered the room. He swung his chair to face her, giving her that signature soft gaze he always carried.

For whatever reason, she felt herself tense in front of him. Sweaty hands clenched at her sides. Unable to meet his eyes, she glanced at a patchy spot on the carpet the landlord refused to fix.

“I um, I-I had a really bad dream.” Anna was awful at hiding her emotions, especially in front of him. She sat down on his bed and seemed to have his full attention. Opening up about things would always be difficult, but it shouldn’t be this difficult. Johan was her most trusted person. “I know that it probably sounds silly, and I know that I’m too old to be letting it affect me like this but it just felt so real.” She sucked in her lip and shyly popped the question.

“Can I sleep here for tonight?”

@theartifxce

[randomnameless]

If we ever get Genealogy remakes (fingers crossed), are there any things you would like the remake to do differently from the original?

Based on your profile pic, I figured you might appreciate a Judgral ask

You can always send me jugdral asks anon ! Party!Julia's from 2014 iirc, when I fell in Jugdral hell and she remained there since then.

As for different things from Fe4...

Well, add more convos between characters, like support convos especially with characters who "are/became" married !

And maybe... Make fire tomes not so damn heavy to the point they're not garbage anymore, ditto with giving one or two more point of weight to wind tomes, jugdral really needs some balancing (but it shouldn't balance the general unfairness that is HB and the associated HW).

Oh, and of course, correct Hilda's major Dain blood lol, and give the ish sibs minor Fala blood (but still nothing for scipio he'll forever remain a joke !).

As for the plot...

It's opening another can, rather, super container of worms anon !

In a nutshell, give more plot importance to Julia so she's not in her own tier anymore, maybe have Tine not join if Arthur is the one who killed Ishtore (give him more relevance damn, Tine is supposed to like/love her cousins but dgaf, after crying for his death for 3 seconds, when the LA wants to recruit her ?), kinslaying being so vile in Jugdral verse, Johan/lva doesn't die when the other is picked up, let's have them maybe be a green unit sometimes met in a castle, or have him lead off screen armies (like they're sent to meet with Leif before Seliph officially rescues him in Fe4) etc...

Oh and unless it's a pure Fe4 remake, incluses elements from Fe5 (with Fe5 remake proper being another game), like the feud between Galzus and Shanan (resolve it ffs, let us have the reason why Shanan's dad slaughtered one of his sisters and threw his nephew in exile, but didn't want the same fate for his other sister), Faerghus shenanigans and, of course, Saias stuff (him joining Julius' side and picking Valflame in the last map, only being recruitable by Julia).

Edit bcs I forgot :

Give Julia the Lord status, aka when she dies it's game over because she's the only one who can use Naga to defeat Loptyr !

For all of the narrative integration in its gameplay, Fe4 really dropped the Ball with having Seliph and pals be able to defeat Julius once he's fully Loptyr'd

[dernarrleid]

CHARACTER SHEET INFO

Name: Anna Liebert (first real name she associates with herself), Nina Fortner (the name she truly resonates with from her adopted parents)

THREE HEADCANONS YOU’VE NEVER TOLD ANYONE

Nina's something of a sleeper. She doesn't have command phrases or words, but her brother is able to give off a presence that draws her up by a string. In the manga, it's speculated maybe once or twice that Nina's actually the monster and doesn't realize it. That within her in something Johan's actually trying to protect her from, which is like, never mentioned in detail but man. It's definitely present in my characterization (as loose as it may be. idk, she needed more screentime).

Johan's decided he needs to be more involved in her sister's development, unfortunately(?) Nina's had boyfriends. Both of them not exceptional, more like good friends. It's not until Johan gentle nudges her in the direction of an upperclassmen, sometime around her last bachelor semester, that she realizes women are more appealing. Even later she realizes that sex seems more like an activity to enjoy distantly than something she necessarily craves.

Aside from the obvious issues with her mother, Nina finds comfort in dangerous men. She likes that they share that element in common, and doesn't shy away from the knowledge they bestow from time to time. It's funny, because occasionally, they'll look at her and wonder why the hell she's so interested in them and just oh. Like, wow, this girl found me out, hasn't told the police, hasn't change her demeanor once. Who the hell is she? And as soon as they have that private revelation, like clockwork, she's on their tail asking them question after question, lesson after lesson, gathering all sorts of information and techniques to eventually use for herself. And the strange part about most of them is that they'll give her what she wants without much effort. There's always a "you're so young and pretty, why do you need to do this?" Nina gets that look in her eyes and once again, they just know.

THREE THINGS YOUR CHARACTER LIKES DOING IN THEIR FREE TIME:

Read. Classics, the newspaper, web articles. You name it, she's read it.

Making clothes. She studying for a law degree, but she's also super into fashion. It's sort of comforting to her, as most of her brother's antics involve disguises, so when given permission (or orders disguised as requests) to be the distraction, Nina's brought it upon herself to pad them with the most ambitious styles she has knowledge of.

Training. She can fire a gun with 75% accuracy, so they're not her weapon of choice. If she must defend herself, she'd rather use martial arts and integrate a few small knives if the verse demands her to be more physically inclined. (Despite the grit required to make this something to like, she does enjoy it as a way to release pent up resentment. It's almost spiritual. Some techniques she'll get the hang of and be able to turn her brain off, going through the motions.)

SIX PEOPLE YOUR CHARACTER LIKES/LOVES:

She interacts with like, 4 people because her Mun is dysfunctional.

TWO THINGS YOUR CHARACTER REGRETS:

Not fighting for her brother when they were children. It was almost always Johan protecting her, but she couldn't recall ever doing the same for him.

Shooting him too.

TWO PHOBIAS YOUR CHARACTER HAS:

No phobias!

TAGGED BY: @unladielike TAGGING: @mugunghwc ( kim ), @badheart ( futaba/fang ), @furiaei, @zorkaya

[sylviareviar]

[ 🕯️ ]ㅤ.ㅤwhat memory do they replay when they’re alone ?

This changes depending on when/where she is in the verse. And in which verse, too.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, the memory she constantly replays in her head is when she was kidnapped in Arcadia Movement and accidentally astral projected into Crow's mind in Satellite. When she first met him (as opposed to when he first met her), he was introduced to her as the "Chief of the Blackwing Tribe" by the other Blackwings. She saw how he took care of the kids, and shared her concerns with him. He promised to take her flying one day, which was a promise she held onto for dear life.

There are lots of memories bouncing around in her head from past that time, but specifically that, and going flying with Crow, were two of her greatest core memories.

In GX, however, this shifts. Honestly, I think her memory with Lena is what plays in her mind over and over again. Even though it's hazy, it's such a deeply important part of Lena she had never known existed until now, and she was determined to help heal her however she could.

However, Lena's not part of the canon, so I guess if you want her "default canon" verse, it'd be the moment Sylvia jumped between time. The chaos that she followed had led her to Duel Academy, and was making things difficult for her. On top of that, she has to deal with Judai/Jaden's Season 3 stuff, which makes keeping the timeline steady even more complicated. For all she knew, her mere presence had caused Johan and Judai to go through hell. All of Judai's friends might have died because of her. The weight of the world rests on her shoulders, and she has to try and relieve it off the backs of innocent students who were just trying to live their lives.

In Time Crasher (which is Season 1 GX), the memory that keeps replaying in Sylvia's head BEFORE she gets her Runner back is of coming out of the testing center and finding that it was stolen. After the fact, though, the memory that replays in her head was of Kaiba cackling after revealing to her that "he had what he wanted from her" and ditching the Runner on the island with her as an act of generosity.

So, it really depends. Sylvia treasures all of her memories equally, seeing as how she has so few of them. She turns them over in her head constantly, trying to examine them from every angle. Each memory is precious.

[royaltyoon]

HEYyy since you're back yoon :) (welcome back btw) I really enjoyed your escape room headcanons. It was fun!! Can I request for part 2? With any characters you would like

Thank you anon!! It's so good to be back (⁠✿⁠^⁠‿⁠^⁠)

HEADCANONS

Escape room headcanons

[A/N]

I was planning on writing another part of this so it works out for the best, thanks anon.

This was SO fun to write lol

Johan

He's not the brightest in the bunch and nor did he want to be here

So you can't really blame his lack of interest.

He just wanted to, in his words, "get it over with"

But what he didn't make up for in brains or the patience, he made up for in luck.

Ik Johan is never lucky in the ptj verse so just please, let him have this.

It was by fluke at first, when he accidentally pressed a switch on the TV to display the next puzzle.

In all honesty, he just wanted to see if it worked so he could make use of the time he was forced to spend locked in a room, against his will.

It happened the second time when he was looking at the bookshelf, picking out random books.

Looking to see if anything in there was exciting enough for him, when suddenly a piece of paper fell from one of the books .

And there was a riddle on it.

It was suspicious at this point, you looked at him sceptically but he just shrugged with an innocent look.

"how the hell are you doing it!?" You asked in surprise. It could've been a coincidence the first two times. But after the third?? After the FORTH?? it didn't seem like a coincidence anymore

"I don't know!" He flailed his arm around a little stressing his point that he indeed had no idea of what was happening.

"Stand in the corner, don't do anything. I want to solve atleast one puzzle before we escape." You seethed at him.

He quietly followed your orders and leaned against the wall. But, oh?

He felt a small push on his back, he leaned off and looked back at the wall. Seeing a 3d version of the world map. And a small compartment which was definitely not there before.

"umm, we're looking for a key, right?" He asked to your back as you were busy looking for clues in the show piece. "Yeah, why?" You answered without looking back.

"uh, I think I found it."

You whipped your head in his direction faster than sound, he just stood there pointing at the small compartment. "There's a key in here."

You were not happy to have gotten out without solving even a single puzzle

"sir, you both have the record for the fastest escape." The employee said.

That did little to help your mood

"But we have got to disqualify you, for you skipped a puzzle before escaping the room."

Yeah that sounded more appropriate for the day you're having.

All in all? You were never doing an escape room with Johan again.

Eli

Eli never had a normal childhood, far from it actually

So it was no wonder he never knew any games to play, well except for hide-n-seek

But that game was far from normal too (iykyk)

Eli, to say the least, was excited

Even before entering the room, you could see it in his eyes. He was looking forward to it.

And he got to work the very first second.

He was determined to waste not even one second

It wasn't easy, but you both were making your way through it fairly well

You made sure not to do much, just give few insights and few leads you had so he would do most of it

He opted to take hints on the clues even you couldn't figure out

And it was made known to you there were a limited three hints only after you both used up the three hints

It forced you both to stare at the room with an empty gaze looking around to figure something out

And it wasn't going well, so Eli decided to take things in his hand

"ma'am." He spoke slightly louder, looking at the camera. "May we have an extra clue?" And he smiled, crinkling the side of his eyes. He looked as if an angel landed on earth, like heaven cleared the skies just to shine a beam of light on him.

Eli jang may not be a good hairdresser

He may not be the best student

He may not even be good at an escape room

But something Eli jang was good at? It was using his pretty privileges.

You rolled your eyes discreetly knowing what he was doing. "O-oh." The voice stumbled a little. "But three is the limit, sir." It only caused Eli to display a sickeningly sweet frown on his sickeningly pretty face. "The last one was a pretty obvious clue, we could've solved it even without. Don't you think so too?"

You could tell the employee melted at his smile. "Y-youre right." she stuttered before giving you the clue.

Eli just grinned shrugging his shoulders after noticing your glare. "Thank you, you're such a sweetheart." He spoke in a honey tone looking back at the camera and ended it off with a wink.

You heard a dreamy sigh from the speakers which just make Eli look proud of himself.

After that, the rest was pretty much smooth sailing.

Though, the employee didn't miss her chance to ask for his number and he replied like he always did.

The iconic, 'Im sorry I use a pager.'

And she looked absolutely devastated on hearing that

Yujin

It was your idea, not his

But it felt like your presence was absolutely not needed in this situation

You felt more useless than the g in lasagna.

You were sure it'd probably helped yujin more if you weren't there.

The only one who could relate to you in that situation were the hints

The hints that didn't even need to be used, just like someone else you could think of.

It's not like you didn't try

It wasn't even the fact that he restricted you in any way

But the second, the second you receive a puzzle. It's already solved.

It felt like magic, that was the only explanation you could think of

There was no way he'd know the answer before the gears in your head even started working

Or the only other reason would be:

"you've come here before, haven't you?"

He looks up from the sliding puzzle he was working on. "Huh?"

"How else do you know everything, there's no way you could actually be that smart." You sounded exasperated and it was heard in your voice.

He turned his attention back to the puzzle, "I have no idea what you're tal- OH!, it's says Denmark on here." He says completing yet another puzzle

Wow what a complete shocker

"There's a world map behind you, press Denmark and see if anything shows up." He said pointing behind your shoulder.

Uhhhh...

Where was Denmark again?

It was as if he read your mind and silently came up behind you "here." And pressed the small button on what you would've guessed was Denmark.

And it was. It opened a small compartment which held the key to the door. He completed the entire escape room on his own.

Wow what a complete shocker pt.2

GUESS WHAT?

Apparently he held the record for finishing it the fastest.

Wow what a complete shocker pt.3

But it was after this some guy named 'johan seong'

But the employees let y'all know he was disqualified so technically yujin has the record.

Here's part 1

[higuchimon]

Fanfic Writer Interview

tagged me! Took me a while, but here we go! Anyone else who wants to try is more than welcome.

How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently 783. But with September about to start, that's about to jump up.

What's your total AO3 word count?

At the moment 2,668,538. AGain, that's going up starting in September. Also, I have a metric ton I haven't yet posted there from ffnet. I should really get on with getting all of my fics on AO3, tumblr, and Dreamwidth.

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

That's a bit tricky becaue of how AO3 classifies fandoms. So let's break this down.

Digital Monsters X-Evolution

Pokemon (crossover with Zexal)

Kingdom Hearts

Harry Potter

Rise of the Guardians

Digimon Savers

Digimon NEXT

Digimon TRI

Mighty Morphin Power RAngers

Digimon Applimonsters

Power Rangers Turbo

Power Rangers

Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds

Digimon Xros Wars

Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boubei LOVE!

Digimon Tamers

Yu-Gi-Oh

Digimon Adventure

Digimon Frontier

Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V

Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal

Digimon Adventure 02

Yu-Gi-Oh GX

And then there's one Power Rangers fic of mine that spans a good many years and thus counts as three and more subfandoms of Power RAngers. So, the answer is somewhere between twenty-four and twenty-seven.

What are your top five fics by kudos?

Let's see:

Winding Down: Digimon Adventure 02

Lying Hearts: Digimon Adventure 02

Children of the Shadows: Digimon Frontier/YGO GX crossover

Give Me You: Digimon Adventure 02

Silent Contentment: Digimon Adventure 02

Do you respond to commets, why or why not?

I do my very best, even if it's just a thank you. I like knowing that people like what I write. If I didn't want people to like what I write, I wouldn't put it where it can be seen.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

I have to choose? Uh... Reversal (GX) doesn't have a lot of happy endings. Reign of the Undead King (Digimon, 02) had a little hope but it wasn't a flawless happy ending. I'm bad with getting things to end so that's hard to say. Readers, what do you think? Which fic of mine has the angstiest endnig?

Do you write crossovers? If so, what's the craziest one you've ever written?

Yes, I do write them. In truth, the one that I think is gonna be the strangest/etc one hasn't been written yet. But it exists in my head and in my heart: the sequel to Prey and Hunters (which I need to rewrite to get to the crossover portion). For those unaware, Prey & Hunters is my original "Yuuri torments Shun for an extended period of time" fic. The crossover part comes when the god Vesta is pulled through an interdimensional rift and finds himself in the world of Arc-V. He's from SilvorMoon's Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boubei LOVE!'s AU (That I am godparent to), and is the god of love. He is not happy to find Shun being kept and tormented. And now I'm gong to shut up before I spoil any readers who might be interested.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

A few, way back in the early days. I think the fact I've never actually cared beyond laughing whenever someone tries to insult me or my writing helped it taper off.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Oh, I write very light smut, mostly Kaiser x Daisuke or Juudai x Johan, though other ones do creep in on occasion (I have alluded to Thing Happening between Fallen Angel Desire and Marufuji Ryou in my Reversal AU). I try to stay light because I also post on ffnet and many of us know what that's like.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I can recall.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have been asked, but I don't remember ever seeing it. But I don't look for fics in languages I can't speak/read (and all I can speak/read is English).

What's your all time favorite ship?

A firm tie between Yubel x Juudai and Ken x Daisuke.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

Probably a lot of my Power Rangers ones. I'm not as into that as I used to be so the ideas are quietly gathering dust.

What are your writing strengths?

Apparently I write very good angst?

What are your writing weaknesses?

Being able to write a satisfactory ending.

What are your thoughts on writing dialoge in other languages in a fic?

As I said, I only read/write/speak English, so that's not something I am inclined to do. I would generally just allude to the fact people are speaking different languages instead of writing it out. I'd rather not make mistakes.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I think Power Rangers. That was a very long time ago.

What's your favorite fic that you've written?

I love just about all of my fics! But I really love writing breeds-verse and Reversal (and Hell's Ice and wingfic and Shadow Demons and ...)

Well, that was fun!

[queen-erika-the-songful]

Okay, here are my initial thoughts on Princess Adventure. These are in no way organized; they’re just as I can remember them. Feel free to send asks if you want

- Barbie defending Chelsea’s creativity and imagination is great to see. It’s one of the best parts of Dreamhouse Adventures so it’s nice to see them continue that in this film

- I like “Try It On” a lot more now. It’s not my favorite, and I think it’s one of the weaker songs in comparison to the rest of the soundtrack, but it’s honestly kind of a bop.

- “It’s like they don’t even want me in this movie!” LOL even Tammy herself knows she’s been done an absolute injustice.

- Holy crap Amelia’s plan is so freaking funny to me. She could’ve just, like...invited Barbie over to her kingdom since she’s the princess and was already a fan of Barbie’s vlogs anyway. But nah, she’s gotta have this whole convoluted “cultural exchange” bullshit I just can’t

- Speaking of Amelia, it’s a little disappointing that we don’t spend nearly as much time with her as we do with Barbie, and, thus, we don’t get to see who the supposed “real” her really is. She says she finally got to explore things about herself, like her fears and dreams, but she never goes into details. Ironically, the audience never gets to see who the true Amelia is, we just have to go off what she said about “who [she] is does matter”. I mean, we certainly get glimpses of it (again, the convoluted plan - she’s obviously ‘act first think later’), but overall it’s not nearly enough, at least to me

- “(Not A) Picture Perfect Girl” might just be my favorite song from this movie. It honestly made me tear up a bit. We’ll see if that changes over my next rewatches

- The running gag with Trey mixing up Barbie and Amelia while Ted and Ned knew was a lot funnier than I expected it to be

- Trey is now trans and you can’t change my mind.

- I really appreciate “Somewhere New” a lot more now since seeing it in the movie. I love that the choreography starts on the plane. It was a cool choice that really felt like a “musical” thing to do. I also like that everyone got to sing at leaset a line or two on their own. 

- WTF happened between Floravia and Johanistan? Did they have a war or something? Why are they being united into just a bigger Floravia? It sounds pretty fishy. I can understand why Johan is so upset based on what little information is given to us, so I wish they had gone into it a bit more.

- Johan asked “Amelia” (Barbie in disguise) if she remembered what they said they would do as rulers when they were kids. That never comes back and it really bothered me. What was the promise? That they’d rule together? That they’d treat each other’s kingdom equally? I actually thought at the coronation that Amelia would give the answer to that question (something like “Johan, remember what we told each other...”) and then do something like absolve the treaty so that she and Johan would rule their own respective kingdoms. l

- IDK, I think I would’ve just liked it more if Johan had been like Amelia’s brother/cousin/whatever that wanted to become King. He’d be a more boring villain that way but it would be less complicated than this.

- WE GOT REPRISES OF 2 SONGS BUT THEY AREN’T ON THE SOUNDTRACK?! I will NOT stand for that. As soon as the movie comes out on DVD I’m ripping those tracks out and adding them to my playlist

- I really thought Ken and Barbie were finally going to get together. I shall now accept my clown shoes and wig. I’m already applying the makeup now.

- The sequence for “Life in Color” disappointed me a bit. It’s one of my favorite songs on the soundtrack, but the placement in the movie felt like it came out of nowhere. I was really hoping for a nice, tender moment between Barbie and Amelia. Even if they were kept separated, it could’ve started with them video-chatting again. Maybe they’d talk about their personal struggles and then Barbie would stop the recording (”We don’t have to film this...”) and they’d just have a moment between themselves to talk.

- On the other hand, “King of the Kingdom” was such a good scene. It was very entertaining and I laughed a lot (which I had to hold back a lot since I was still at work). Also, those boys can move!!

- To make up for all of the interruptions and missed opportunities, Ken Carson deserves at least 3 episodes centered on him and his life and 1 where he finally tells Barbie how he feels

- TAFFY HAD NO REASON TO BE IN THIS MOVIE. I don’t care that Barbie almost always needs an animal sidekick. Snowy (Amelia’s bunny) fills that role. Taffy just gave everyone a freaking heart attack. Also, how the heck did she survive the plane ride? California to Floravia is a 10-hour flight so how did she stay unnoticed for so long?? ROBERTS FAMILY, GET SOME DAMN LEASHES!

- Speaking of that scene, I hate it. It ate up valuable time that could’ve been later spent developing the plot or Amelia’s character. It was only like 2 minutes but in a movie that is already pretty short (1hr11min) every second counts

- Can DA please finally drop the whole “Hey look Renee is claustrophobic” already? It’s repetitive as all hell and honestly it rubs me the wrong way how often it’s played for laughs. It works in the DA Halloween episode since it’s all about everyone facing their fears but everywhere else it feels like a cheap & undeserved laugh (it only happens twice in the movie I think but I wanted to mention it anyway)

- Morningstar being a little bitch to Barbie was hilarious. I don’t really like animal toys anymore but I’d totally buy her. (She’s part of a doll-horse set called Prance & Shimmer Horse. The Barbie doll has Amelia’s princess dress).

- “This is My Moment” really warmed my heart. The last shot with Amelia and Barbie smiling at each other reminded me a lot of Princess & the Popstar actually. I also really like how they brought back stuff from “Try It On” for Barbie’s verse. Musical finale numbers that bring back earlier motifs is something I just cannot get enough of. 

- I liked Alfonso. Like Amelia said, he means well; he just didn’t put as much thought into what Ameila herself wants as he could have. But hey, he was learning just as much as they were

- I LOVED all of the stuff with Barbie trying to make it big and that bitch Rose Ross being all “This is what you have to do to make it sweetie :)” like that’s a great thing to show to kids. You can want to be famous and expand your content like Barbie wanted to, but you have to be smart about it, and you have to stay true to yourself. That plotline also mixed pretty well with Amelia’s life being formulated for the public too. I really did like all of that stuff about how media, social media especially, is constantly fabricated and edited to make things seem easier/better than they might be in real life. 

- THEY FINALLY WENT BACK TO INDIVIDUAL END MORALS THANK GOD. I got really tired of seeing “This is our story, what’s yours?” after every Barbie movie, especially when every movie that used it wasn’t going for that message. Hell, that’s not even a lesson or anything, that’s just a random end quote.

- “Life doesn’t happen on camera. Life is what happens when the cameras are off” THAT IS SO GOOD AND RELEVANT I CAN’T EVEN!!!

[spiritsncrystals]

Gx Month day 12: "But what If they had bikes"

Yknow as much as i definitely wanted to draw as i spent most of the day playing Mario kart for some inspiration

I decided instead. How about i just talk about ideas I've heard about for if gx gang was in 5ds. If you claim credit/have shared any of these ideas feel free to let me know because honestly most of these are really unique ideas

So while I'm starting on rather a sad one it's kinda one i can understand happening because hey when your fused with a demon pretty sure someone's gonna be thinking ooo new labrat/plaything and well you never know in someone's potential ideas judai may become just that to them various tests n experiments done. And eventually one day he might be braked out. And just becoming an escaped labrat to the view of society. It really depends on when it's set more likely in s1-2 for judgmental. And well post 5ds (where the idea came from a small starshipping comic by mini on pixiv) that one's more just sad.

Another idea I've heard is that he got himself yeeted into jail by simply going something like f u goodwin which honestly i don't blame him for though tbh i could see some of his other pals getting thrown in jail too. They can all be jail buds well uh until they decide enoughs enough and decide to fucking break out.

The most obvious one would be let him kick ass ride a D-wheel n stuff Heck I'm sure in someone's verse i think him jun and johan were all a D-wheeling team which is pretty neat.

Then there's the fact that he could be considered a psychic duelist. Who knows maybe someone out there's had the idea that perhaps Divine would try and get him on board with the arcadia movement but he rejects it and instead tries to fight against it though there'd probably be some attempt at forced recruitment maybe idk it depends on how much of an asset he would be seen as.

This last ones an idea of my own to do with Ryo and sho but i love the idea of Ryo getting into being a professional D-wheeling duelist and sho's all like are you sure you wanna cause harm to your body again and parcially being against the idea but Ryo proves to him a lot the chances of him getting serious injuries from it would be very slim. (he's still rocking the hell kaiser nickname even though he probably is no where near as vicious as he was in s2 at dueling.)

@gxmonth

[lightsandlostbells]

Druck season 3, episode 1 reaction

WE DID IT, KIDS. When Druck’s first season aired, I knew shortly after Matteo’s introduction that I could not wait for his season. But with that came a lot of apprehension that we would ever get Matteo’s season - Druck S1 got less attention than some of the other remakes, and for a long time, the fandom didn’t know if the show would get a S2, let alone S3. Months went by with no official news of when the show would return. Many people thought the show had been quietly cancelled. 

And then, finally, Mia’s season was announced. Ratings and subscribers grew substantially. Druck trended frequently on YouTube and Tumblr. Then finally, we got confirmation that S3 was in the works. So here we are, and to put it politely, my ass is on fire. 

Episode 1

Clip 1 - Matteo’s miserable night

Party time! This opening is pointedly sexual, with the music (”You’re turning me on”) and the dancing, with the closeups of boobs and butts and writhing bodies. Sara gets freaky with a banana. The presence of sex makes sense to highlight Matteo’s alienation, as we see him sitting on the couch, not participating. He’s disengaged from the flirtation and seduction, this isn’t something he wants to be a part of.

Is the guy dancing with Hans the turtleneck dude, or is that someone else? PLOT TWIST: he was never Matteo’s love interest, despite fan theories. He was Hans’ love interest all along!

Matteo gets up, trying to escape this scene that makes him uncomfortable. But Sara pulls him into a dance (much like she’s going to be playing the role of Emma this season, pulling Matteo back into an attempt at a straight relationship). They kiss, and he’s soooo not into it, hugging her and staring over her shoulder into space like she’s his great-aunt who smells like mothballs and he can’t wait to get the fuck out of this family reunion.

He escapes into the bathroom where the boy squad is smoking weed. Carlos showing the boys a sex position on his phone. I’m sure Matteo loves hearing about that. He’s getting high as the boys debate the mechanics of this man-woman sex position. The proper response, honestly.

Oh my God, Carlos just called Kiki a catheter. He meant cathetus. I don’t think you’re ready to integrate catheters into your sex life, dude. 

Matteo looks dead. I know he’s getting high, but this kid looks fucking deceased. Someone revive him already.

When he realizes he has three calls from Kiki, Carlos pulls up Jonas and Abdi, saying they’re going to go hook up with girls. An activity that I’m sure Matteo wants to participate in. Matteo lingers behind. He just seems so wiped. He looks at himself in the mirror and it’s as if he’s disappointed in what he sees.  (The way it’s shot makes his mirror image divided down the middle, like he’s a fractured person.) I’ve seen some later episodes by this point and Matteo seems like he’s really struggling with anxiety, like he just needs to escape sometimes, it all gets overwhelming.

The girl Jonas is dancing with kinda reminds me of Sonja (similar-ish haircut).

HOLY FUCK DID MATTEO JUST PUT THE WEED IN AMIRA’S BACKPACK???? Matteo, that is TOTALLY the worst an Isak has been about this, planting weed on on a person rather than a vase. I guess he assumes a Muslim girl in hijab seems like an unlikely candidate to have drugs, but ... dude. Asshole move. And I wouldn’t trust the authorities not to search the Muslim girl’s belongings for discriminatory reasons, anyway, which would have made it even worse.

Photoshop Markus is at this party and Matteo tells the cops Markus is the renter, LMAO GOD. Matteo is just snaking all over the place tonight. The cops tell everyone to turn the music down, which is pretty reasonable and not nearly as bad as them telling people to break up the party. Or maybe I’m just old. Carlos salutes as the cops leave, heh.

Amira just walks out with her backpack … and the weed. Lol, she might’ve just left because the cops showed up and she figured better to bail now, not wanting to get in trouble, or because she had a curfew or something, but part of me wants to believe she knew Matteo stuck weed in her backpack and she’s walking out to make him suffer. In that case: he deserves it, make him suffer.

Mia wasn’t at the party. I guess she and Alexander were making their own fun, but her presence is missed.

Clip 2 - Survival camp

Matteo’s new room is already a little messy, with beer bottles and remnants of the party. He wakes up and checks his phone, he’s got a Bible verse from mom. One that sounds normal and non-threatening enough, not like it’s about sin and hellfire, but you know. All religious texts are probably loaded coming from Matteo’s mom.

Matteo rolls over and Jonas is conked out in bed next to him. Oh nooooo, my heart. Matteo watches him and then reaches out and slooooowly lowers his hand to lightly touch Jonas’ curls, closing his eyes a little. GODDAMMIT.

If he doesn’t do this to Gereven at some point, touch his hair without having to be secretive about it, then I’m suing Druck.

You can tell Matteo is indulging in this fantasy that Jonas is his boyfriend and he’s waking up next to him, and the fantasy is broken when he looks down and sees that Jonas has a phone number with a little heart written on his arm. A girl. Jonas will never be his boyfriend.

Although I almost don’t think this is specifically about Matteo pining over Jonas - I think there’s definitely some lingering feelings, enough to be disappointed that Jonas might have a girl, but I also think it’s just the wish that Matteo can have this experience with a guy at all, he can wake up next to a boy who’s not just a friend, who he can touch and show affection to. 

The fantasy is further interrupted when Hans walks in (the dreamy music cuts off) and Matteo rolls on his back like he’s totally not staring wistfully at Jonas. Hans throws himself on the bed between them in a perfect face plant, lmao. 

Hans asks Matteo to buy rolls, saying Mia would’ve done that. Hans, if you are expecting Matteo to be a Mia substitute, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. I don’t think Matteo will lovingly wipe your vomit off the tub. (I mean. Maybe when he falls in love and is in just that good of a mood.)

Jonas asks why Hans is in Matteo’s bed, and Hans says he could ask Jonas the same question (DAMN) but Jonas is like … I’ve waited for you. He and Hans stare into each other’s eyes. Lmao, the way their gaze holds without comment or them breaking it off. I’m sure Matteo just loves seeing them “flirt.” But I don’t think the fantasy of Jonas in his bed involves Hans, sorry Hans. Matteo gets up to buy rolls, just to get away from the JoHans lovefest, I guess.

Linn comes in and says she wants to make pancakes but doesn’t know where the pans are, and she doesn’t know how to make pancakes either. Everyone in this flat is screwed without Mia. But Jonas offers to make pancakes, so all is saved! Matteo grumpily leaves Jonas, Hans, and Linn to take a selfie of their “survival camp” to send to Mia, showing they’re totally making it on their own. They look so perky, heh. They won’t be so perky when Jonas leaves and takes his pancake-making skills with him.

Matteo steps outside and gets a text from Sara about whether he slept well. I feel bad for Sara. She’s not just the Emma equivalent, she’s a character we’ve seen in the past who has been entertaining and likable. I don’t want to see her either make Emma’s mistakes like outing Matteo OR get her heart broken by him.

 Hans throws Matteo’s wallet out of the window, beaning him in the head, which is truly the perfect gif.

Clip 3 - Will you surrender?

Matteo goes into school on a rainy Monday morning. We start with some passionate straight kissing in the foreground, coupled with a pic and text from Sara, just to show the kind of shit Matteo is dealing with. A heterosexual assault from all angles. 

He meets up with the boy squad. Jonas is looking to get with Linn’s friend, who is “Emma Watson but blonde.” Sucks for Matteo to hear yet more girl talk, and girl talk from Jonas specifically. The heterosexuality strikes from another corner.

Adding another unwanted conversation topic, Abdi asks about the weed. Matteo seems like he wants to get the hell out of there, so he bails and goes up to Hanna and Sam, asking where Amira is. She’s out sick, so solving the weed dilemma will have to wait another day.

Hanna glances over at Jonas, who finally seems to have snapped out of his S2 funk as he talks about his new girl … does Hanna know yet Jonas has a new flame? Or is she just suspicious?

Man, I keep saying it, but Matteo seems like he’s sleepwalking through life, like this kid is just. Legit depressed. He has no energy for anything. Not even to fake being OK.

Continuity snarl: Matteo puts up his hood as he rounds the corner after leaving the girls, but it’s down a moment later.

The music is kicking in and there’s still almost a minute of clip left, is Matteo going to like … literally run into Beanie Boy/Gereven?

YEP

Well, they didn’t do a rom-com Meet Cute collide into each other or anything, but they passed each other in the hallway! In slow motion!

The big moment: Matteo and Gereven are coming at each other from different sides (like different ~walks of life? ooooo). They lock eyes and then look back at each other once after they’ve passed.

The scene goes into slow motion as soon as Matteo lifts his head and sees Beanie Boy. Matteo is just ambling his way to class and meandering through life, but when he sees that guy, that’s when he starts to feel present in the world, like it’s not just around him but including him. And then Gereven comes into focus as they pass each other.

I adore the music choice for this moment. It’s beautiful, and the lyrics are so lovely. “Will you surrender?” when we see Gereven and Matteo looking at each other, because Matteo’s seeing the boy who will make him give in and stop hiding who he truly is, who will make him surrender to love. And I suspect the same is true for Gereven, that Matteo will make him surrender as will, let go of his fears. 

So I reaaaaally don’t think Beanie Boy was trying to get Matteo’s attention like Even was. There’s nothing about it that suggests so. My prediction is that Beanie Boy, like Matteo was trying to keep his head down and get through life, and they just happened to walk by each other. I mean, Matteo’s just walking down a school hallway, it’s not like Beanie Boy parked his ass deliberately somewhere so Matteo could see him, he couldn’t predict Matteo was going to walk down that hallway at that particular time. I feel like Beanie Boy is very much like Matteo in that he’s lonely and an outsider. He’s not trying to attract attention, he’s not seen smiling or laughing at someone at the beginning. Our first glance at Even was his brightness. Our first glimpse of Gereven (from Matteo’s POV, not the brief moment of him last season which is more of an Easter egg, really) has him in dark clothes, headphones on. I feel like he and Matteo are just checked out of life. And I think that’ll be an interesting take on Even, not so much that Beanie Boy has Even’s confidence and swagger in drawing Matteo to him, but that Matteo and Gereven are both outsiders and recognize their loneliness in each other.

That’s what really makes me love this scene. It’s just a mundane occurrence. Two boys walking by each other. Something that happens all the time. Something that Matteo no doubt does every day, walk by other boys whose faces don’t register. But this time, there’s ... something. Physical attraction? Sure, that’s part of it. But even more I think it’s a sense of connection, something inexplicable that draws them to look back at each other even when the moment should have ended. A gut feeling that this person is also lost, that he would understand. 

Clip 4 - Everyone’s favorite reluctant friendship begins

It’s the first remake to focus on the teacher’s nipples! Matteo is staring at them instead of listening to her talk about their exams. 

Amira comes in and Matteo just gets up from where he was sitting and sits next to her while the teacher is talking. Lol, is that allowed? Is this a study session or something?

Amira coolly ignores Matteo even when he tries to get her attention. Eventually she says she found his weed and how fucked up it was for him to do that, she could have gotten in trouble. A bit of a change because Sana was upset that Isak almost fucked over Eva, causing a demonstration of Sana’s loyalty to her friends. With Amira, it was personal, a risk to herself. Matteo acts shitty too, he’s just like come on, it wasn’t personal, it wasn’t a big deal. Dude! If you want your weed back, that’s not the best course of action. You need to grovel.

The teacher calls on Matteo and Jonas shoots him an entertained look, like ha ha, you got in trouble. Or probably, more ha ha, check out our teacher’s nips. Nice display of Jonas going for that hetero bro bonding that Matteo would love to avoid.

LMAO, when Matteo asks for the week back and Amira says, “What will I get for it?” Matteo is like “IDK, blowjob?” THIS KID. His mind went to that, huh. Remember Even was all “yeah, we had to suck dicks” without two minutes of meeting Isak? And then later Eskild told Isak that talking about sucking dick when you meet someone is a sign someone’s gay? Yeah. 

Amira says she’ll give the weed back if Matteo and his boys join the abi-prank committee. Didn’t they do that last season? The copies of the boobs and butts and Jonas’ dick, didn’t that count as the prank?

The teacher makes them study partners. So far, she’s not a racist, at least? Anyway, Amira and Matteo look positively thrilled to be paired together; meanwhile Jonas is flirting with his seat partner. Oh, maybe that’s what the Look was about. Matteo continues to be pelted with heterosexuality like rotten fruits and vegetables.

Clip 5 - Matteo gets a prom date

Matteo and Sara sit on opposite sides of the bed, texting their friends, on their phones. LMAO, sounds about right, tbh. Truly scorching chemistry. Nah, it’s very Isak and Eskild.

The boys’ group chat has Jonas saying he’s getting laid on Friday. That rotten hetero produce comes in the form of eggplant emojis. Matteo sure loves hearing about Jonas banging chicks!  He’s like, yeah, I’m totally having sex with a girl as well.

Sara asks his opinion about a dress. Subtle (“subtle”) hint about the prom? Yes, as it turns out. But she suddenly leans over and kisses him after he’s like yeah, that looks nice. He looks as excited as you’d expect. He was actually staring into space before she did that.

Sara gets a text, Matteo wants to know what they’re talking about, and there’s some “flirting” until Sara caves and tells him that Leonie likes the new guy from their PE class. GEE I WONDER WHO THAT COULD BE. Matteo offers to investigate for her. Yeah, I’ll bet he’s gonna enjoy that more than he knows. He’s going to become one of the Hardy Boys.

Sara somewhat nervously asks if they should go to prom together, and when Matteo is agrees, she asks whether they’re a thing. It makes me sad how clearly vulnerable she is right now, like she really likes him and is hoping to say yes, but she isn’t sure. Matteo says they’re a thing. Not conveying how utterly miserable this must make him, but not exactly jumping for joy, either. Like Isak tried hard to impress Emma, he could turn on the charm, but Matteo is just sleepy about it.

Sara kisses Matteo again, but before they go further, he asks if she wants to watch a movie with him. Smart move.

I’m sure Matteo will end up going to prom with Gereven. Sara and Leonie can go together? Realizing their love for each other at last. Or just as friends. (But preferably girlfriends.)

Clip 6 - Make a wish

Matteo goes to the abi-prank meeting, looking like he gives nary a fuck. Amira shoots him a nod and he gives her a “what more do you want from me” look. The girls are at the meeting, the rest of the boy squad is not, obviously. I see Photoshop Markus but not Beanie Boy.

All the girls are looking beautiful by the way. Look at Amira, she’s radiant!

Kiki literally goes Fight Club on this meeting. I have to say, if you asked me which Druck character would be a member of Fight Club, it would be Kiki. Her clumsy nervousness is a total front for bloodlust.

Matteo is being rude as hell just taking out his phone while Kiki is talking. The boys text why they aren’t there: Jonas has a date, Kiki is still mad at Carlos (dude, that’s why you need to come, it’s a way to get back on her good side) and Abdi just forgot.

They suggest a flash mob. Lmao, good luck getting Matteo to dance. Or they suggest just randomly hugging teachers. That could get all kinds of awkward, judging by the last teacher we saw with the power nipples. I’m just imagining some short kid going for a hug and getting their face mashed into the teacher’s areola.

Photosohp Markus has a suggestion. I love this dude, sorry. He loves hugging! He wants to practice with Kiki. Kiki realizes in an instant why the hugging prank might not be the best idea. But she’s like, we can group bond instead. Kiki wants everyone to hold hands and Matteo just peaces the fuck out. This prank meeting is pretty depressing, honestly. Way more so than kosegruppa. Kosegruppa might have been uncool or whatever but I got the sense the people involved enjoyed it. This meeting was just excruciating, and barely anyone is there. Look at that tiny circle.

Oh shit! As Matteo exits the room, Beanie Boy is going into it, and Matteo stops him. No, don’t go in there, it’s dangerous! Or actually it just sucks and they’re doing a trust circle where they hold hands. Beanie Boy obviously does not want to hold hands in that room, since Matteo is out here and not in there.

Aww, I love that Matteo has a slight smile? Just the tiniest when he talks to Beanie. Beanie is kinda doing the talking with his eyes, he’s definitely considering Matteo.

Shit, it’s Matteo who offers weed! Matteo is the one being the initiator! The bolder one. I love the idea of maybe having a shyer Even, like it does drastically change their dynamic, but I’m fine with that as long as the show does a thorough job of adapting their interactions, not just a cut and paste. Beanie Boy is the new kid and probably didn’t expect someone to make overtures of friendship (or more…).

And I love Matteo doing this when we’ve seen him sleepwalking through his interactions with Sara and … everyone else, kinda. He’s actually found some courage. Like he could have just let Beanie Boy go off and do his own thing, there was no real reason to offer a joint once he’d warned him off the meeting. But he somehow just felt the need to keep talking to this dude.

Holy fuck, MATTEO putting the joint behind his ear. This role reversal is so much fun already. And it’s even more amusing if you think that this is how some of Evak played out from Even’s POV? We thought Even was this charming, suave, mysterious dude when he stuck that joint behind his ear, because we were in Isak’s POV and Even was some handsome stranger. Later we realize what a huge dork Even is and that he was super desperate to get Isak’s attention and had been pining since the first day of school. So this is like how Even actually was - we know Matteo is a big dork and not a suave dude, but maybe that’s how he comes across in Beanie Boy’s eyes. 

HIS NAME IS DAVID. A perfectly excellent name, tbh. I was worried they were going to call him something like Daniel or Noah, names that already exist in the Skam universe, which would be confusing as hell when those Noorhelm seasons are concurrently airing. “I can’t believe that thing Noah just did in this clip.” Uhhhh which Noah are you talking about, untagged post? Or God forbid, another Lucas, although David’s actor is named Lukas so I figured we would dodge that bullet.

Although it does occur to me that we have do have a David, the Skam France director, soooo … fuck.

I want to make a disclaimer: as fandom knows, David is played by a trans actor. There’s no guarantee that this character will be trans yet, but I think it’s unlikely that they won’t bring it up. The nature of this show seems like they’ll incorporate it into the story rather than let the opportunity pass to talk about trans issues, and I know that trans Druck fans campaigning for a trans Even had a ton to do with this decision, so I believe their input would weigh on the story itself beyond the casting. So I’m going to make speculation and comments with the assumption that David is trans and how that will affect the plot. There are things in this conversation that are potentially relevant to that, for instance. I don’t want to overstep, but I also don’t want to ignore moments of possible foreshadowing or pieces that might be relevant to his characterization.

So for instance, I don’t know if they have replaced Even being bipolar with David being trans. To be clear, NOT because being trans is a mental illness but more as an area of societal marginalization that the character has to deal with, that might be hidden from the other characters and the audience. We don’t know when we will learn that David is trans; while I write this we’re several episodes in, but I don’t know if we’ll learn three clips from now or three episodes from now. I don’t know if David will be trans and bipolar, or just one of the two. I don’t know if the reveal will end up being casual and non-dramatic, or if it will be a big thing like the end of episode 8. I have some guesses about where the story might go, but I’m keeping in mind that there’s a new element that none of the Evak seasons have tackled before, and that may cause big changes to the story. 

Matteo asks David about being new so close to Abi, and David says he killed someone and had to go into hiding. That could be a reference to his dead name. I don’t know if that term is the same in German, but seems like a possible hint. He does say he killed his parents, but that’s after Matteo asks if he had stress with them, so he’s just riffing off what Matteo said. Or just the fact that when Matteo asks about him being new, David wants to know why - maybe he’s wondering if Matteo knows something or heard a rumor. 

Isak asking about Even transferring in his final year got cut off because Emma showed up. Here Matteo just kinda accepts David’s joke and doesn’t question him further.

Matteo is super into him, of course. Look at that body language, he’s all angled toward David. David, too. Tarjei and Henrik had masterful body language so this is very promising.

David points out an eyelash on Matteo’s face and you fucking KNOW later in the season he probably won’t ask, he’ll just brush it off himself. Matteo is like, can I make a wish now? JFC, Matteo is flirting so much, he is intensely looking at David when he says that. Honestly, it’s really exciting to see this dynamic kinda flipped, mixing and matching Isak and Even elements between Matteo and David. David says it was just an eyelash. Maybe he’ll be more of the realist rather than the romantic? God, if Matteo is the more romantic one, I will lose my mind (in a good way).

David does ask what Matteo’s wish would have been, and Matteo is like, IDK, go on holiday or something. David says he knows the feeling and Matteo asks where he would go. Matteo would get in a car and just drive away. David says to go directly to Detroit. David, I’m fond of you already but unless your car turns into a submarine that is not gonna work.

David has been pretty chill so far, but he perks up and smiles when mentioning Detroit at the very end, so Matteo gets hit with the ray of charm. That’s when the music kicks in, too, because Matteo has seen David smile. No turning back now. I presume we are going to be hearing music from Detroit artists this season?

LMAO, I was like oh, Sara’s not there at the meeting so she can’t interrupt their moment, and yet SOMEHOW she managed to anyway. And she kisses Matteo so David knows Matteo has a girlfriend right off the bat. David takes this as his cue to exit.

Why was Sara there, anyway? Did she show up late for the Abi prank meeting? Didn’t she just do a big prank where she photocopied her boobs for the school to see? Or did she just know that’s where Matteo was headed tonight and she waited around for him?

For Matteo, Sara’s arrival cuts into this charged moment with David. With David, it’s a little less intense than Isak finding out about Sonja? Because he’s only shared a few minutes now with Matteo instead of stalking him for a week and then spending hours at his house, although obviously he could be crushing on him for a while already. Though personally I think they might eliminate that part of the story. Anyway, this is like … a spark of hope getting extinguished REALLY early and it makes me wonder how the rest of this story is gonna go. Matteo is the one with the girlfriend, the “obstacle.” Is he going to run hot and cold, go back to Sara after getting with David? 

Matteo looks sad as David goes, obviously. Making it worse is that of course that’s the dude Leonie likes. Matteo takes a drag of the joint before replying that he thinks it’s somebody else. Well, David was someone somebody else liked (ahem), so I guess that does make him somebody else. But clearly David is going to be so much more to Matteo than just “dude Leonie likes.”

Anyway, I love how quiet and down to earth that scene was, how it wasn’t instant smiles and conversational bliss but a little rough, testing each other out. And I think it’s good that Matteo seems to be more proactive around David, because they both seem kinda like chill stoner/emo kids, and two sleepy guys is not going to be that exciting of a dynamic, honestly. Matteo being the instigator gives the story a fresh take, and the contrast between Matteo with David and Matteo with everyone else is really, really important. We can already see that David is the person, the one who makes Matteo slip into a different mode of his being, one that’s happier and more comfortable. The one who makes him wake up.

Social Media/General Comments:

Jonas says he’s better about the Hanna situation than he was before. We’ll see how long that lasts. I hope his S2 attitude leaves a trace this season, like it was such a big deal and had an affect on Matteo feeling adrift from his best friend, so it should play a role in their relationship.

Abdi refuses to get on Instagram, which is convenient for the show’s social media content creators, lol.

As explained in the texts, a pipe broke in the apartment, so Mia, Hans, and Linn had to move out, and Linn found them a new apartment but one with an extra room, so they needed another roommate fast. Mia suggested Matteo as she heard through the grapevine that he wanted to move out. It’s pretty sad because he was looking to leave, so we can assume things are very bad at home. At least it didn’t escalate to him sleeping in a basement.

I’m glad they found a way to move Matteo into the apartment neatly and quickly with the small gap between S2 and S3. I think Matteo living on his own is a pretty big contributor to his feelings of isolation and instability, and assuming Hans plays a similar role as Eskild with his “guru” advice, it helps a lot if they’re living under the same roof. However, it does create a different setup for the two, though, because Hans didn’t “rescue” Matteo like Eskild did with Isak. Living with Hans will give them more opportunities to bond than living apart would, but Hans didn’t nurture and shelter Matteo to the degree that Eskild did for Isak. Hans is like a new acquaintance, and it will take more effort to build them to a point where Matteo feels like he can trust Hans and go to him for advice. Unless it’s solely like “well, he’s the only other gay guy I know” which would be understandable but a bit underwhelming. Hans has a depressing family life, as shown in S2, with relatives who don’t accept his personality, to the point where he adopts a “straighter” persona to interact with them, and it would be amazing to bring in his background to the Pride clip.

LET’S GET SOME MIA/MATTEO CONVERSATIONS ABOUT SEXUALITY GOING, TOO. They made Mia bi but many people think they could’ve done a better job of addressing it, so this is their chance! Don’t just sleep on it by following the OG story structure - make use of those changes.

The only non-confirmed LGBT person in the flat is Linn and you know, they could remedy that this season.

Linn apparently took care of a lot of the move, so that’s progress for her, she got something done for once, lol. 

With the other girls, Hanna and Mia are furtive about why they don’t think it’s serious between Matteo and Sara. I love them for keep their mouths shut about his sexuality.

Seeing Matteo flirt with Sara and make plans to go to the movies with her has me yelling like I’m in the movie theater for a horror film. DON’T GO UPSTAIRS! GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!

There are pictures of Matteo and Amira looking smiley and happy because The Incident happens, heh. Matteo looks like he was having a decent time earlier in the evening and then descended into sadness and fatigue. And, you know, getting drunk and high.

Sara posts a pic with Leonie being like #theonewhounderstandsme and if that isn’t screaming for a Sara/Leonie endgame...

Linn super loves flamingos. 

Kiki and Carlos fight because he was in the bathtub getting high and ignoring her texts.

Mia is absent a lot because she’s hanging with Alex, that’s why she missed the housewarming party. The girls miss her. Come back soon, Mia! Don’t just disappear because Noora went to London!

We got a sappy chat between Mia and Alex to remind us that they’re around, at least. Alex misses Mia even though she’s sitting across from him. I guess they’re in their little couple bubble now.

Matteo checks in with Amira and asks if she’s feeling better or still sick, and Amira’s answers make me suspect she knows exactly what bullshit Matteo pulled on Saturday.

When Matteo invited Sara to study at his place on Thursday, I found myself wishing that maybe Hans could save the day and just be so intrusive and annoying that he drove Sara away without Matteo having to make out with Sara or blow her off rudely or whatever. Alas.

I’m laughing how Markus is “Photoshop Markus” even in the group chat. No one else appears to have a nickname, just him.

Leonie and Sara chat; Leonie has her eye on Gereven and Sara is trying to figure out where she and Matteo stand as a couple. I’m really fond of them and I hope they don’t become Emma and Sonja, honestly. Again, just ... nip those relationships in the bud. Let them go to prom with each other, not the boys. Even if they aren’t together romantically, they seem to be the most important people in each other’s lives.

Matteo zips his lips when Jonas asks if he banged Sara, which conveniently doesn’t mean he has to say no. A very Isak technique.

Mia wasn’t in this episode at all, which is strange when she, you know, lives with Matteo and goes to school with him and we saw all the other girls. In-universe the explanation is that she’s with Alexander, but I wonder if they were filming parts of S2 at the same time, maybe? Reshoots? And that’s why we haven’t seen either Mia or Alexander, because the actors were busy. The other explanation is just that Mia is not here because Noora was not there, and Druck felt the need to follow that story. I’d find that really disappointing. 

This is a really promising start to the season, and I already love the tone. It has a very down-to-earth, painfully vulnerable feel. Matteo’s misery is palpable in basically every scene, except the ones with David, where we get glimpses of his better self. I can sense this kid’s internal struggle all the time. There’s also pining and longing in the simplest moments, from Matteo brushing Jonas’ hair while he’s sleeping, to that one look in the hallway with David causing a spark, to the way they look at each other while smoking, David pointing out the eyelash on Matteo’s cheek. It’s quiet, raw, and real. And that is exactly the atmosphere I want from a S3 remake.

I’m not German so feel free to correct me on translations or cultural notes.

If you got this far, thank you for reading!

[betterthedevilyouknowuk]

Mythology Mondays - Beelzebub

Beelzebub is known as one of the princes of the seven princes of hell in demonology. He is also known as “Lord of the Flyers”, or “Lord of the Flies”. He has therefore been represented as both an anthropomorphic demon (pictured above) and a fly(pictured below).

Beelzebub (or Beelzebul) is a name derived from a Philistine god, formerly worshipped in Ekron, and later adopted by some Abrahamic religions as a ‘major demon’. The name Beelzebub is also associated with the Canaanite god Baal (whom we will cover in another post). Beelzebub is also used in some Christian mythology as another name for the Devil, similar to Satan. Due to his association with flies and demons with wings, he is regularly described as a flying being.

In Testament of Solomon, it is written that Beelzebul claims to cause destruction through tyrants, force men to worship demons, introduce lust to priests, wreak havoc in cities, inciting murders, and to bring on war. The Testament of Solomon is an Old Testament pseudepigraphical work, purportedly written by King Solomon, in which Solomon mostly describes particular demons whom he enslaved to help build the temple, with substantial Christian interpolations.

Occultist Johan Weyer from the 16th-century described Beelzebub as a high placing demon in Hell’s Hierarchy. He also wrote that Beelzebub led a successful revolt against the Devil. Similarly, 17th-century exorcist Sebastien Michaelis stated Beelzebub is among the three most prominent fallen angels (the other two being Lucifer and Leviathan).

John Milton wrote Beelzebub seemingly as the second-ranking of the many fallen angels in his epic poem Paradise Lost. Milton wrote of Beelzebub, "than whom, Satan except, none higher sat." Beelzebub is also a character in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.

Sebastien Michaelis associated Beelzebub with the deadly sin of pride. However, according to Peter Binsfeld, Beelzebub was the demon of gluttony, one of the other seven deadly sins, whereas Francis Barrett asserted that Beelzebub was the prince of false gods.

Within religious circles, the accusation of demon possession has been used as both an insult and an attempt to categorize unexplained behavior. Not only had the Pharisees disparagingly accused Jesus of using Beelzebub's demonic powers to heal people (Luke 11:14–26), but others have been labeled possessed for acts of an extreme nature.

Down through history, Beelzebub has been held responsible for many cases of demonic possession, such as that of Sister Madeleine de Demandolx de la Palud, Aix-en-Provence in 1611, whose relationship with Father Jean-Baptiste Gaufridi led not only to countless traumatic events at the hands of her inquisitors but also to the torture and execution of that "bewitcher of young nuns", Gaufridi himself.

There are 7 relevant verses (source) in the Bible which refer to Beelzebub:

Mark 3:22

The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."

Luke 11:15

But some of them said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons."

Luke 11:18-19

If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? So they will be your judges.

2 Kings 1:2

And Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber which was in Samaria, and became ill. So he sent messengers and said to them, "Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this sickness."

Matthew 10:25

"It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!”

Matthew 12:24

But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons."

Matthew 10:27

"What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.”

Beelzebub was also imagined to be casting his influence in Salem, Massachusetts: his name came up repeatedly during the Salem witch trials, the last large-scale public expression of witch hysteria in North America or Europe, and afterward, Rev. Cotton Mather wrote a pamphlet, titled Of Beelzebub and his Plot.

In modern culture, the mythology of Beelzebub has also loosely been used in Japanese manga of the same name; Beelzebub. Where it follows the story of a baby found to be the son of a greater demon. 

Beelzebub’s use in mythology is used as an external excuse for primal feelings amongst humans such as jealousy, lust, and rebellion. Created simply so that people can pass on misdemeanors onto a creature who is unaccountable due to not existing on any real or physical level.

Wiki

[3w-writer-with-wings]

1, 5, 6, 10, 17, 19, 22, 23, and 34 for the yugioh meme?

1)  Favourite Yu-Gi-Oh! series

This is like asking me which out of my six children should survive while the other five die XD. I love all the series since they all have both pros and cons, and they all have interesting characters and stories, but I guess ARC V will always have a special place in my heart since it got me back in Yugioh fandom (I stopped after 5Ds for a while several years ago). VRAINS is currently my favourite series plotwise since it continues to surprise me and keeps me hyped every single week.

5)  Favourite opening/ending

For the opening, it’s a tie between second and fifth ARC V opening. “Burn” has an incredibly upbeat melody that makes me smile every time I listen to it. “Light of Hope” on the other hand tells a story of how there is despair but smiles will be there to make it go away. I’m rather torn between choosing either of them since they are both really nice endings. As for ending - “Close to You”, 4th ending from 5Ds. I first started watching 5Ds in English dub but once I caught up with it, I was too curious what is going to happen next so I started watching Japanese dub from that point on and that was probably the smartest decision ever. I got to see “Close to You” not only as the first Yugioh Japanese ending but the very first anime ending ever. I loved every single moment of it, of all the characters just chilling around the city, then meeting up, watching the sunrise and then riding D-Wheels with their dragons! It is an ending that is beyond perfect and really emphasises the bonds and friendship between all Signers. 

6)  Favourite character

If you had asked me this question before Takeru showed up, I would’ve probably blurted out the names of several characters and say how I love them all, but Takeru is a special case. You see, he is a character that I loved before he even officially appeared XD. I’m following the news, cast lists and summaries, so when Takeru showed up for the first time in an anime magazine (like a month before his official anime appearance), I fell in love with everything about him. Both his human self and avatar had all the right colours and designs that fit his personality well, his backstory was intriguing, I was already looking forward to seeing another Lost Child and out of all possible voices, he got to be voiced by one and only Kaji Yuuki (who is among my Top 3 anime voice actors!). Then he showed up in the new opening and ending and him being friendly and cosy with Yusaku was just plain adorable! I had no idea what his role was going to be but from that point it was clear - Yusaku is getting a new friend! And was his entrance perfect - lightning, fire tornado and then him! 10/10 Burner of Souls! Not only was he righteously hyped up, but he also continues to be amazing and I have a feeling his character will get even more development!    

10)  Favourite Duel Monster

It’s hard to pick a single monster, but I love every single card in Johan’s deck aka. Crystal/Gem Beast archetype. The designs are simple but so well executed and out of all of them, it’s hard to pick just one. I love their story, the legend and just the fact how much they all care about Johan, trying to reach out to him when Yubel possessed him. A big plus is also the fact how much personality they all have and they are always there to help up Johan.

17)  Have you ever cried over YGO and why?

You should’ve rather ask me when I didn’t lol. But yeah in every spinoff there was a moment that I actually cried. In original series there were two moments, when Yugi duelled Atem in the fourth season, letting him defeat him and then fading away in his arms and the Ceremonial duel when Yugi stumbled on his knees and cried, I cried with him cuz I also didn’t want Atem to go. Then in GX, it was basically whenever Judai would show vulnerability, cuz really, I hated his guts and his goofy overpowered persona. But then when he lost Johan, when he was afraid of Yubel, when he succumbed to the power of Supreme King and the entire season 4 when he was battling with depression - to see someone so cheerful becoming a mere shell of himself was so darn sad. 5Ds started darker but nothing could prepare me for two scenes, Yusei nearly dying, being afraid to duel and then watching his friend die in his arms and then losing another friend for real (Bruno! :’( ). Zexal made me cry a weird mixture of happy and sad tears whenever Yuma and Astral did something. When Astral sacrificed himself for Yuma I don’t know when I cried more - when Yuma watched Astral die or Yuma suffering from major depression for the next few episodes. But that scene when he got reunited with Astral was that more powerful because of it and their relationship is truly the purest of them all. ARC V, spinoff all about smiles was probably one of the saddest series, not just because of many sad moments throughout the whole thing aka. Yuto dying in Yuya’s arms for real, Yugo losing Rin, Yuya losing Yuzu, the fate of other Bracelet Girls and Yu-Boys and the overall ending, but also how inconclusive the ending felt. I kinda get the point was to show the realism of war, how not everyone can get a happy ending but it could still be executed better. Then there’s VRAINS…. *sighs* where do I even start with this….

VRAINS truly took the plotline seriously and doesn’t seem like it’s going to back down. It is like the writing staff put together a medley of the saddest moments in Yu-Gi-Oh! and were like, “Let’s make it sadder!”. From the fact that mere six-year-old children were tortured so badly, that Ryoken was so messed up by his father, that all Lost Children are still suffering in one way or another, that SOL practically killed a living being and all the drama that it’s going on between Yusaku and Kusanagi right now. Last week’s episode had me nearly tear up and for tomorrow I will most definitely cry. It’s just so painful to see someone so desperate to save their own family, to attack someone they were all set to protect just a few episodes ago… And VRAINS isn’t even over yet. I thought nothing could top Earth’s death scene, but from the looks of it, tomorrow will be getting a dose of the most painful feels.

19)  Least favourite series

It’s a tie between GX and the first series if I had to choose one. GX has a rather monotone first half when there is some stuff going on, but it’s really episodic and easily forgotten. While there were some interesting episodes, the rest was just one giant filler that tried to deliver too much nostalgia from the first series instead of developing on its own. And speaking of the first series - I know the card game wasn’t as developed at the time so tons of duels made absolutely no sense. Then it was only Yugi, Kaiba and Joey having the development and extremely long duels that were starting to feel off and annoying to watch. But overall - I know that was the very first series and the spinoff, so it was obvious it wouldn’t be perfect. What I truly love about Yu-Gi-Oh! is that it’s a franchise that continues to grow with every single spin-off, even if they’re becoming less relevant they are still getting stronger storywise.

22)  Least favourite character

This little brat is a perfect representation of how to create the most annoying character. Everything about him screams “annoying, useless and awful”. It would be completely fine if he was an episodic villain, but noooo for some reason writing staff was like, “hey let’s make this dude into Yuma’s friend”. I get it, Yuma can make friends easily, but for the love of God, why him?! Yuma has enough friends already, why bring this brat into his group? Tokunosuke has literally no purpose to be here but to cause trouble or be a plot device to bring Yuma trouble. Okay, I was fine with that one time that he got Yuma into trouble and Yuma still forgave him, but why the hell did they have a need to repeat that three more times? I feel the same way about Kotori - she has no basic purpose but to be moral support or act as a damsel in distress.ZEXAL had way too many characters and out of them all, they picked the most useless ones for major roles. 

23)  NOTP

Canon datastormshipping. I think I made it clear why I dislike it in two posts already, but I guess I could sum it up for the third time. In canon verse they are two unstable people who bring out the worst of each other. They rarely interact, their ideologies are vastly different and they are in a way obsessed with each other in a very unhealthy way. If the two of them dated it would most likely result in a very toxic relationship which would only worsen up their already broken mental states. Again, I greatly dislike this ship in canon verse (in anime up to episode 92) and my opinion could change by the end of VRAINS. I still like the fanfics and fanarts that depict “what if” scenarios where their relationship could work (I’m actually writing one at the moment and I have plans to write one where I focus on their relationship in detail), but canon shipping just feels off and dysfunctional.

34)  If you met Kazuki Takahashi, what would you say to him?

First of all, I would thank him for coming up with those amazing characters and plotlines. I still love the original manga and season 0 the most since it had so much creativity with different games, but I can see it keep getting included more with new summoning methods and unique stories. Then I would most likely present him my idea for the 7th series and its protagonist. From the start of the series, there wasn’t much about card game production or who designs them. We got some info on how Pegasus discovered Millenium Items and the tablet with Egyptian Gods and in GX it showed Hayato working as a card game designer. I would love to see a protagonist who loves games just like Yugi and wishes to create more, so he strives to become the best card game designer. He is not that keen on playing the game since he prefers to make the cards more, but when he creates a particular card(kinda like how Takato created Guilmon in Digimon Tamers) he is pulled into an adventure where he must find other cards that contain powerful Duel Monsters spirits and he has to lock them back into their cards. I would also love to have a protagonist that can talk with spirits again since while Judai had adorable interactions with Winged Kuriboh and Neo Spacians, it was still largely brushed aside and not that much explored. So yeah please make the next protagonist into a card game designer, it will be unique and open to so many interesting plotlines and potentials. 

[happymetalgirl]

10 MORE albums I missed in 2017

Okay, so I’m feeling like a real numskull for this one here, not for missing out on talking about these albums in the first place last year, but because I already did a piece about albums I missed last year, and somehow completely forgot to include some of the albums I’m going to talk about here. Some of these I found out about this year and am giving my belated thoughts on because I think they deserve it. But some of these... I was just sterpid, and forgot to talk about them in the post I ALREADY DID about albums I forgot to talk about.

Anyway! Here we go, ten more albums I missed in 2017.

Arckanum - Den Förstfödde

This was one of the albums that made me originally want to make the first installment of posts on albums I missed last year, but in my infinite idiocy, I somehow left it out. And since Arckanum's mastermind, Johan Lahger, has now retired the project this year to focus on his writing career, I definitely wanted to talk about his last album under the Arckanum name. The occult mystique that has overlaid Arckanum's intimidating black metal aura from the start is here on Den Förstfödde as well. And this album ends Arckanum's artistic journey with such ritualistic and meditative tranquility amid the expansive spiritual darkness it conveys, and it does so quite powerfully, with a great, well-versed blend of slow-burning grooves and dark atmospherics to wrap everything great about Arckanum up in one final dark atmosphereic swell of slightly experimental, minimal, black metal. Another addition, a final addition, to the Arckanum legacy, Den Förstfödde is a grand and fitting conclusion to the catalog of one of black metal’s truly unique contributors.

Loss - Horizonless

I had heard a fair amount of hype surrounding this debut album, but I never really got around to checking it out somehow until earlier this year. A bit more of a slow drone-y sort of doom release, Horizonless is an example of something that usually isn't my cup of tea, but ended up being pretty potent and immersive. The band do focus on the more morose and mournful side of the genre, and they show themselves to be quite adept for the most part when it comes to capturing that doom somber. It's a sufficiently long project, but one that doesn't overstay its welcome, a good starting point for the band, but I think they are going to have to do some work on their compositional approach if they're to make a more noticeable mark on doom metal in the coming years. They have the sound narrowed down, and they do show some pretty impressive writing chops on certain tracks on here. I would just love to see this band take this sound to its highest heights with compositions that lend themselves more fully to the tone the band works best with.

Vader - Dark Age

This album came out at the tail end of 2017, and even though I was desperately looking for something better to end my year's worth of discussions on than Asking Alexandria's self-titled disaster, Vader's Dark Age didn't seem like the right kind of release (a compilation album of rerecordings of songs from the band's debut album) to end the year with. Also, it came out four days before the new year, while I was working on my year-in-review lists, hardly enough time to digest the thing and present my thoughts on it. However, as I've come back to this thing a few more times throughout this year, I've found the band's modern approach to their old songs an interesting alternative album experience at least. The steadfast death metal traditionalists make predictably little effort to shake up their sound stylistically, but this album, a rarity of its type, serves as a fascinating exhibit of a close comparison of old and new, showcasing how different they sound on the production fronts, where they differ compositionally, but also how the style of old would fare in today's studios.

Venom Inc. - Avé

I don’t exactly know what kind of Queensrÿche-esque split Venom is undergone, but I can say that this Venom Inc. offshoot has brought a more ambitious and refreshingly modern set of songs to the table than what Venom have been bringing for the past however-many years now. I have seriously not paid Venom much attention since hearing some of the goofy tracks off their previous few albums and giving up most hope of Cronos trying to seriously update his band’s prototypic sound. As vibrant and gruff as Avé is, however, it’s still incredibly drawn out and mostly just a surface-level modernization of the band’s evil thrash metal sound. Still, I appreciate the effort to bring a little bit of the kind of epic bombast akin to the likes of Behemoth to this album, and if this new appendage of Venom really puts its creative head down and focuses on trimming the fat and playing to the strengths of Tony Dolan’s gruff snarls and Jeff Dunn’s knack for groovy rhythms, they can make themselves a name to continue to keep an eye out for.

Godflesh - Post Self

I'm still not sure how exactly I missed a new Godflesh album last year, but it was pretty crazy last year; I remember only hearing of a new Morbid Angel album coming down the pipes about a week or so before it's release, so I guess I'm not super surprised. But either way, it was a pretty unexpected release, somehow. Anyway, Godflesh followed up 2014's fantastic A World Lit Only by Fire with Post Self, an album that leans a little bit more on its portion of atmosheric experimental industrial pieces than its predecessor, but one that is not without its infectious, beat-driven cuts as well. Post Self is mostly the expected continuation of Godflesh’s extraordinarily flawless industrial metal legacy. The ingredients haven’t really changed all that much, but they never really have, and yet something about Godflesh’s consistency remains admirable in a way that hasn’t staled the way the singular motives and predictability of bands like Slayer, Megadeth, or AC/DC have all transformed from selling points to fans’ clamor for something different. Godflesh don’t really deviate, and it’s perhaps because they have such a dominant reign over their musical territory, and Post Self is as solid of a reinforcement of their stronghold as any. All in all though, it's as solid as any album by the mighty and reliable Godflesh, and one I wish I had gotten to sooner before it started distracting me from 2018's metal.

Artificial Brain - Infrared Horizon

The potential for a future, technologically induced apocalypse at the hands of AI seems like the perfect subject matter at the perfect time for a technical death metal project like this, and the sci-fi-minded Artificial Brain seem like just the group to make a statement on the subject. I enjoyed their Labyrinth Constellation album from 2014 for its merits as a solid, virtuosic death metal album, but I was looking for the band to expand their sound a bit more on Infrared Horizon. I don't base my critiques off what I was hoping for from a particular album, and I won't do this album that unusual unfairness here. But man did it feel like a missed opportunity, one the band luckily still has. They could have done so much more than simply spit out more instrumental prowess, which is fine and dandy by its own merits once again. But I was really hoping their expression of the celestial would involve more than the usual sustained dissonant guitar chords and their embodiment of the technological would involve more than robotic technicality. Complex drumming, dissonant guitar atmospherics, tasty slaps of unsubmissive bass, nasty snarls, deep and entirely unintelligible growls: this album has all the ingredients to make your usual techdeath chicken noodle soup. And that's kind of all the album amounts to, a slush of technical wankery. The few times the album ascends beyond techdeath's basic standards, it reveals the band's excellent writing chops and creativity, like the dynamic and bass-heavy "Static Shattering", that I wish popped up more frequently on this album. It's not bad by any techdeath standards, but it seems like this group are punching a bit below their weight, I hope. Definitely still worth the time to digest and appreciate.

Replacire - Do Not Deviate

I heard the hype around Replacire’s Do Not Deviate a little bit late (as in earlier this year), but I have not really connected with that hype. It’s an animated and dynamic progressive death metal release, but the sophomore project still has its kinks to work out, and I didn’t completely see what all the fuss was about. It’s definitely a cut above most of the techdeath crop, but I think there is definitely growth to be done upon the ground laid by this record in the small areas. The band clearly know what they’re doing when it comes to the basics of techdeath (as much of an oxymoron as that might seem to be), it’s just those few quirks to figure out and mold into an identifiably unique sound for the band. The quality playing and presentation of what Replacire are technically and imaginatively capable of does, of course, make a great case for the potential this band has, so I will be looking out for the mastery of the madness strewn about this album on their future releases.

Scour - Red

I didn't really pay Scour much attention when their first EP, Grey, dropped in 2016, mostly because the thought of Phil Anselmo trying his hand at black metal seemed kind of goofy and like something that wouldn't end well. I thought this project would fizzle away not long after this second EP, but that was entirely me judging the book by its cover. One day earlier this year I figured that since they were just EPs I'd check 'em out, why the hell not? And I was pleasantly surprised with both. It's not the most groundbreaking black metal around, but it's hardly the amateurish embarrassment I thought it would be. Even though the black metal vocal style Phil employs on here isn't nearly as technical as his usual melodic gruffness or even other black metal vocal styles, his continued exploration of different techniques at his age continues to impress me. And he still manages to maintain his unique tone and tambre while implementing these new styles. As for how it compares to their first EP, Red is rather stylistically similar and similarly compositionally consistent, but it finds them seemingly more confident on all fronts: Phil with his improved black metal screams, his integration of his lower register growls, and the well-versed band (comprised of members of Pig Destroyer and former Cattle Decapitation bassist, Derek Engeman, who brings that band's guitar style all across the two records as a highlight feature) with their more confident writing and bolder instrumental performances. This EP and the last both possibly benefit from the potential hiding of any major compositional incompetence in the consistently short run times of the twelve tracks between them, but Scour's channeling of the sardonic, nihilistic side of black metal with compelling conviction across these tracks is respectable at the very least. Scour is no novelty side project and far more than just a curious experiment for Phil. The group has the chops to justify their entrance into the readily scornful territory of black metal. Perhaps these short, small releases mark the extent of their creativity, but perhaps not. I'm very curious now as to where this project will go from here and what they might put forth on a full-length.

Amenra - Mass VI

I have stated don't like when bands name albums based on how many albums they have, but I should probably clarify that it doesn't bug me as much when it plays a clear role in their artistic intention as opposed to a lazy showboat of "look how many albums we've made". I don't mind Amenra's numbering of their albums as "masses" because they clearly put effort into embodying a metallic version of that traditional Catholic ritual (even if it's not as true to an integration of those traditional musical elements as Batushka are). Mass VI is perhaps the culmination of the band's work up until this point, with a steady improvement on their sludgy post-metal sound showing signs of crystalizing here on this record. It's not a particularly long album, but it does what it needs to in the time it has, and that is to set and maintain an atmosphere. Amenra do well to capture a sense of liturgical ambiance amid the clashes of sounds they play with across Mass VI, and they do well to expand on them beyond the simple fundamentals of post-metal mood-setting with some truly dynamic shifts between somber, sweetly sung ambiance and soulful crescendos of guitar distortion.

Heresiarch - Death Ordinance

This album is one I found out about this year, completely randomly. I was in a record store and I stumbled upon the band's EP, Hammer of Intransigence. I had never heard it and it was relatively cheap so I just went for it. I then went to find the rest of the band's catalog and found that they had released their first LP last year, Death Ordinance. The lesson from this I suppose is that I'm sure as long as I'm around, I will never find or cover everything I like from a certain year in that year. There will always be stuff I go back and find that I wish I would have known about earlier. As thorough as I am being this year, I'm sure I'll look back and find something I missed, possibly a favorite new artist I didn't even hear of this year. And that to me is wonderful, I'm so glad there is so much metal out there to find and enjoy through this constantly exciting musical journey. Death Ordinance is a meager, but solid enough gruff death metal project that focuses on drawn out sections of low-register guitar groove and bellowing growls to carry its dismal moods. I think the band will need to work on the arrangement of those grooves into more intentional structures on long-form projects like this going forward, but it's a decent enough start.

And that's it for albums I missed in 2017. I'm sure there's still plenty out there that I just have not heard that I am missing that I would love to not be missing, but for now, this is it.

[kpopgerapitico]

Song of the Week

After the heavy hitters last week . . . well, I was gonna say this week lightened up, but it really didn’t, so here’s a bunch of song reviews.

Honorable Mentions:

I like the contemplative mood of NO.11′s B1. But I think that is more because of the video than the song, which captures the world in such a stark visual tone, and uses the contrast of a blue filter to a yellow well really well. That’s not to say I didn’t like the song, which was simple but good.

A lot of time, a sweet voice is associated with a high tone. But I can’t think of a better descriptor for Han So Ah’s voice than sweet. And her range and control puts her right in my favorite female vocal range. A Day Prior To Moving is really really simple, which lets Han So Ah be the focus as she sings her heart out with enviable control. Also who isn’t a sucker for a key change.

I love Koh Nayoung’s voice, and a lot of her songs. I am glad to add Clumsy to that list. While she doesn’t get to be quite as powerful with her vocals in this case, she fits the sound really well. The beat drop is nice, and I even like the ear worm weaving in and out for most of the song. And in a year where plot based MVs have been pretty uncommon, or incredibly confusing, Clumsy manages to pull it off with a concise plot, interesting directing and pretty good acting all around.

If you need a dance track that only has vocals so that a verse exists, SM’s Station channel has you this week.

I really like the verse of Red Velvet’s Peek-A-Boo, as well as the video, which is creatively creepy. Sadly, the chorus is just a little too now, and a little too not my thing.

If you like trap, New Champ’s got you with Training Zombie. If you don’t like trap, but want to feel what it is like to be on a slight acid trip, you should still watch it. And if nothing else, the rappers all kill their parts. I also enjoy Sleepy towering over everyone in group shots.

There is a song called Boat this week. Listen to the chorus. Then listen to this. Then you will understand why I couldn’t stop laughing.

I don’t really know he purpose of putting kittens on your base drum. But I like it.

Remember those overly confusing plot videos I referenced earlier? Wanna One has one now with Beautiful. They decided in 6 minutes they would have: a reuniting old friend plot, a falling out of those same friends plot, a fight that kills someone plot (which may have caused the friends to grow apart), a boxing plot, and the rest of the members being bffs plot. Oh, and it ends with Sungwoo presumably dying from falling off a staircase, and Daniel losing his boxing match, but still smiling? I just don’t get it. There are makjang dramas less complicated.

Hey, do you remember those songs for charity that had approximately 5 million people in them, and never really made sense, and had a lot of underwhelming melodies? Fly Day is the equivalent at least in the number of artists. They include: Park Ji Young, Sunmi, DIA’s Jooeun and Jaeyeon, Jin Sewoon, Eunhyuk (yes from Suju), NRG, Astro’s Moonbin and MJ, Halo’s Wowoon Jaeyong and Heechan, B.I.G’s Heedo and Geonmin, B.A.P’s Jongup and Youngjae, Deowon, and Kim Johan. The time it took me to write out all those names was the length of the song. Or maybe just how long it will take me to forget it. Oh, and at the very end, they let you know it is for the Olympics, which gives me high hopes of seeing all of them at the opening ceremonies next year. Or maybe the closing. Or maybe both.

I really want to like Swing’s Clock Out. And the chorus is strong with Crush at the helm, and Jay Park’s rap is solid. Hell, Swings himself is solid too. I just can’t bring myself to care. Maybe it’s just a little bit too relaxed?

At least BtoB’s plot video is easy to follow. Way Back Home may be a bit of a boring ballad, but the video passes the standard of having an actual plot that makes sense. I also may have fallen in love with Hyunshik. And by maybe, I mean definitely. Have you seen him smile recently?

If you like your MV actors famous a pretty, Soyou and Sung Si Kyung’s I Still has you covered with a brooding Lee Dong Wook.

I actually like the jazzy sound of Samuel’s Candy. At least, it is a huge step up for me after his debut.

When I see the names Nell and Groovyroom on the same track, I start getting hopeful. And when I started listening to Today, I grew more hopeful. And more hopeful. And it is basically as amazing as I expected, while being totally the opposite of what I would expect from Groovyroom. Basically, listen to it now, and thank me later. It only didn’t win because of how much I love the song AND video of the first place winner.

So, confession time: I write my little write ups as I am listening, and choose a winner at then end, at which point I cut and paste that song’s review into the end. But this week, I can’t because it is referenced in like 3 other reviews, and I like the referencing, so it is staying.

That is to say, Koh Nayoung won. Go back up and read that one if you didn’t read it the first time.

[higuchimon]

[question for prompt senders!]

Everyone who has requested a fic from me for a prompt, I have a question. There is one AU that I do in a lot of different fandoms: my Healer/Firestarter AU type. What I want to know is, if said fic prompts could be done in that AU (some can't, for a variety of reasons) would you mind if I did?

Here's a list. If you recognize your prompt(s) & are okay with it being in a Healer/Firestarter AU, then let me know. Conversely, if you really don't want it set in that AU, also let me know. Also let me know if I have the correct prompt. I have a lot of prompt lists and prompts and some of these have stuck around for years so I want to be sure I'm doing it right for what you want.

Manjoume x Fubuki: holding hands when it rains/snows/storms

Ken & Hikari: friendship: "taking the hit" or "I have a complaint to file with you" (also, would a breed-verse be okay for this? I can do a combo Firestarater/Healer + breed, or just F/H or just breed, or none of the above)

Yubel x Juudai x Johan: drink me

Edo x Ryou: Please, put it DOWN

Yubel x Juudai x Johan: Please listen to me-

Taichi x Daisuke: Look at me - just breathe, okay?

Edo x Ryou: soulmate AU, with date one's soulmate dies on the wrist

Yubel x Juudai x Johan: soulmate AU, soulmates share extreme physical sensation

Yubel x Juudai x Johan: Arc-V AU

Johan x Yubel: moving around while kissing, stumbling over things, pushing each other back against the wall/onto the bed

Juudai x Johan: A kiss that is leading to more but is interrupted by a third party

Yubel x Juudai: A kiss that lasts so long, they are sharing each other's breaths

Yubel x Juudai x Johan: one person stopping a kiss to ask "do you want to do this?" only to have the other person answer with a deeper, more passionate kiss

Johan x Yubel: I told you not to fall in love with me

Yubel x Juudai x Johan: Summer Camp AU + Bathtub fic

Digimon Kaiser & Daisuke: obsession (also, breeds, yes/no?)

Daisuke x Ken: adjusting jewelry/necktie/etc23 (also breeds, yes/no?)

Ai x Yuusaku: holding hands

Michael x Yuuma: sharing a dessert

Yuuto x Yuuya: please shut the hell up

Yubel x Juudai: I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere

That's all my current prompts where FIrestarter/HEaler is an option. If you ever want to request something, the inbox is always open and checking my "higuchimon asks" tag will provide lots of prompt options!

[amsterdammotherfucker]

New AU idea under the cut:

- While Pax and the lads are club-hopping in Amsterdam, they end up at a club where an amazing dancer is performing. (She is exactly who you think she is) 

- Pax, of course, is especially captivated by her, especially since he ends up with her scarf, but considering she’s just a dancer and NOT a hooker he’ll probably never see her again, right?

- WRONG

- By pure “coincidence” (everything happens by pure coincidence in Hostel land of course), the same dancer shows up at a club in Bratislava where Pax and company take the ladies. 

- Pax, of course, decides that this is ~FATE~ and that he HAS to meet her

- He does end up meeting her backstage, though he’s surprised to find that behind the scenes she’s very sweet and soft-spoken and convinced that he won’t be interested in her once he knows what she’s really like

- He learns a bit about her in the process, including the fact that she’s a virgin

- This is, indeed, bombshell information, but Pax has never been a quitter and he isn’t about to start now; admittedly it helps that he’s now convinced that she’s his soulmate 

- Obviously this timeline would last a couple weeks longer than the actual movie at least, during which Pax spends a great deal of time winning over the woman of his dreams, albeit unwittingly leaving his buddies at the mercy of the pair of black widows in the process

- Josh thinks Pax has completely lost his mind and is like “we should just goooooo to Barcelona” and Pax is like “hell no bro i am THAT CLOSE” 

- Pax is oblivious to the fact that he’s no longer doing this to A) sleep with her or B) prove a point, completely unwittingly he’s actually grown to have some legit feelings for this girl

- THEN. The evening of what canonically was “the supply closet incident,” Pax ditches Josh to go back to dream girl’s apartment with her

- They sleep together, Josh dies, everything is terrible

- THE NEXT DAY. Pax debates staying with dream girl but ultimately goes to try and find Josh, with her knowledge

- Josh is gone

- Pax freaks out and goes to the black widows for answers

- Y’ALL KNOW WHERE THIS GOES

- Things look bleak for our hero and all hope seems lost WHEN SUDDENLY

- DREAM GIRL ARRIVES ON THE SCENE WITH HER RIGHT HAND MAN VASSILY 

- AND SHE IS HELLA PISSED

- Johan just kind of stands by and lets her set Pax free, she looks him over for injuries and as soon as she sees the state of his hand she turns, grabs the Glock off the table, and shoots Johan dead with no hesitation

- She pays double the price Johan paid for Pax for him to leave with her, alive

- Turns out, dream girl works with the Hunters, though she isn’t a Hunter herself

- She used to be a victim, like Pax, and Vassily saved her the same way she saved Pax

- She had the sides of her tongue burned with a lighter, and still has scars from it

- Vassily is more of an older brother figure/Alfred-to-her-Batman in this verse

- Her thing is that when clients of the Hunting Club have problems amongst themselves, they’ll often go to her if they want someone killed for them

- She has only ever killed Hunters and people who work for them

- After dropping dream girl off back at the hostel, Vassily drives Pax to dream girl’s place, not the apartment he was at before but a GIANT PENTHOUSE

- In the meantime dream girl punishes Natalya and Svetlana for nearly getting Pax killed by subjecting them both to electroshock

- (Pax and dream girl still encounter the American Client on their way out of the warehouse; later on another Hunter gives dream girl a ton of money to sew the American Client’s mouth shut and sever both his hands)

- (guess Kana dies in this verse SORRY BBY)

- Pax ends up living at the penthouse with dream girl for the time being, with the promise that he’ll be safe under her protection; though it takes some time for him to adjust to all of this information, not to mention he’s still hella traumatized after near-death-by-chainsaw

- Later on, Pax learns from Alexei of all people that dream girl is as fearsome and influential as she is to the Hunters because she allegedly ripped out a man’s heart and ate it years ago, earning herself the nickname “Evil Queen,” like the one from the Snow White story

- When he asks her about it, dream girl confirms that part of the story is true; she ripped out the heart of the man who tortured her and murdered her best friend, using a special gauntlet she found in the warehouse’s armoury; but she didn’t eat it. That part was an embellishment that was added over time, and she never corrected it because the more scared of her the Hunters were, the better

- Pax is still thoroughly horrified by all of this, despite knowing that dream girl’s affections for him were always legitimate

- (said horror is not helped by the fact that among dream girl’s possessions is a bracelet made out of human teeth; a gift she was given by a client)

- Soon enough, dream girl gives Pax the option to leave and go off on his own if he wants to, not wanting to keep him there against his will

- Pax almost does leave, but his feelings for her win out over his disgust towards the Hunting Club

- From there, the rest of the verse focuses on them living together and dream girl helping Pax cope with his experiences, as well as Pax learning to adjust to dream girl’s line of work

- That “cleaning blood off of each other” trope BECAUSE YES PLEASE

- There’s an additional optional bit where dream girl ends up killing the Dutch Businessman as an extension of Pax’s desire for vengeance, luring him into a trap by using his young daughter as bait, and then shipping the little girl off to live with her wealthy aunt in Poland, none the wiser

[27-magazine-blog]

Download Festival, one of the premier British festivals running since 2003 in Donnington Park, made its Australian debut with a lineup including 29 bands across 4 stages the past Saturday, March 23 at Flemington  Racecourse.

 Despite the gloomy morning and severe rain the festival kicked off energetically with a bunch of  local acts. Cast Down, High Tension, Clowns and Ocean Grove delighted the early punters to a mix of genres and musical styles.

Up next followed Sydney’s metal core quintet Northlane, LA feminist punk-rockers Bad Cop / Bad Cop with their bold political messages, and Tassie celebrated masters of Death metal Psycroptic.

  The  crowds kept filling Flemington racecourse as the weather cleared and Swedish war machine Sabaton took us on  a battle “To Hell and Back” and made clear that the evening was just getting started. Frenchmen Gojira amidst columns of fire reminded us about suffering and pain with their obscure heavy melodics and triggered the biggest moshpit of the day so far one that included at least 30 people sitting on the ground evoking an imaginary boat and rowing powerful to chant the last chords before Swedish Death metal legends Amon Amarth appeared onstage. Vocalist Johan Hegg drank from a horn and cheered “Skol” as the crowd —in one of the best moments of the festival— held up high one of the fans in a wheelchair. Tales of Asgard and Viking mythology continued as Thor’s Hammer was wielded to please the fans.

 Mastodon blasted our ears straight away with “Sultan’s Curse” from their last album “Emperor of Sand” —widely acclaimed and considered best metal album of 2017 by Metal Hammer. With tracks like “Show yourself” The band displayed once again their versatility and impressive blend of metal styles which makes it hard to classify them. Troy Sanders requests the crowd to chant ‘Happy birthday” to guitarist Bill Kelliher before closing with Leviathan’s masterpiece “Blood and Thunder”

Good Charlotte’s “”The Anthem” divides the crowd as some of the younger people dance and sing while  others head to the Avalanche stage to watch Venice beach thrash skater punk legends Sucidal Tendencies perform.

It’s been already a long, weather changing and intense day. Time for a quick bite, drinks and a much needed stop at the festival’s inflatable church to clear the mind and try to decide which of the upcoming clashing bands is best to witness. Heading back to the Black stage Wes Borland matches in perfection, all clad and painted in Black. Limp Bizkit is in the house and after a few minutes Fred Durst is held up in the middle of the jumping crowd chanting to the beat of “Hot Dog”.  “Rollin” and “My Way” continue to widen the moshpit before their rendition of “Smells like teen spirits prepares the audience for the climax of the set with “Break Stuff”

  As the nigh falls upon Download, excitement arises as sirens wail and members of the  USA supergroup Prophets of Rage stand in line with their fists high in the air. Tom Morello, Brad Wilk, Tim C, B-Real, Chuck D and DJ Lord light fire on the Red Stage with their homonymous track. “Testify”, “”Take the Power Back” and “Bullet in the head” transport us back to RATM’s glorious days; “Bring the noise” —Public Enemy and Anthrax great collaboration across genres back in the day—, “Insane in the Brain” and “Jump around” get everyone to raise up and down and dance their arses off.  A few minutes later Tom Morello gives a speech about the lost friends along the way and encourages everybody to sing in memory of the late Chris Cornell. “Like a stone” delayed riffs are the backdrop to a shining light on a lone microphone stand. A perfect yet sad metaphor of the void in the world of music and all our hearts that will never be filled. 

After the most emotive moment of the night “Bulls on Parade” followed by B-Real statement “Violent times call for violent songs” seem a perfect fit in today’s world politics “Killing in the name of” caps an outstanding and powerful performance that leaves everybody ecstatic. A woman in her 60’s high fives the crowd and claps vigorously, another man approaches me and my mates and says “How good was that? I am a father of 4 kids and could die right now!

That’s the power of music 

And talking about power, Arch Enemy’s front woman Alissa White-Gluz shreds the remains of the Dogtooth Stage with her impressive growling, while NOFX’s Fat Mike delights the audience by wishing malaria to Melania (Trump) and makes sure the Avalanche Stage is closed in due manner as “Linoleum” and “Stickin’in my Eye” get the last crowdsurfing action of the night.

Back to the main stage, festival headliners Korn close the evening with an hour and a half of tracks from their 25 year career. Jonathan Davis, Fieldy, Munky and Head deliver pure Nu Metal anthems to keep the multitude going for a little more. “Y’All Want a Single” bass slaping makes for perfect headbanging while “Shoots and Ladders “bagpipes are the perfect lead to the erratic “Twist”.

Back from the encore “Blind”  and “Freak on the Leash” are chanted loudly by the crowd who knows the festival is close to an end.  “Da boom na da noom na namena. Go!” makes everyone jump to the last verses of the song as the first  Aussie edition of hopefully many more Download festivals  comes to an end.

 Behind the lens Nicole Matthews Words by Gus Morainslie

            Live Review: DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL Download Festival, one of the premier British festivals running since 2003 in Donnington Park, made its Australian debut with a lineup including 29 bands across 4 stages the past Saturday, March 23 at Flemington  Racecourse.