mepple98

[mepple98]

Queens & Cowboys: The Gay Rodeo

[mepple98]

I keep forgetting how handsome he is. There's really an All-American/Armie Hammer vibe to the way he looks!

Matt Cornett behind the scenes of Bad Counselors

[mepple98]

JAMES DEAN in Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

[mepple98]

I simply must know more about the Men In Exile Affair, please

The Men in Exile is a The Man From UNCLE (original series) fic in which Ilya and Napoleon were accused of being in a relationship and got forcibly separated for a while.

Napoleon stared at Mr. Waverly in disbelief, aware that beside him, Illya’s face had emptied of all expression. “Sir, you can’t be serious.”

Their superior’s face was grim. “I don’t like this damned nonsense any more than you do, gentlemen, but it is U.N.C.L.E. policy. You two have been accused of having a….” Waverly paused to gaze upward, either searching for words or appealing to a higher power. “An inappropriate relationship. Until the investigation is finished and the matter resolved, you two won’t be working together.”

“And how long is the investigation going to take?” Napoleon demanded, disbelief rapidly shifting to dismay. Although he and Illya had worked apart before, there was a stark difference in having separate assignments and being told you could not work together.

The man sitting next to Waverly cleared his throat.

Napoleon resisted the urge to glare at Samuel Frazer. He hadn’t liked before how self-satisfied smugness radiated off the man when Frazer conducted internal investigations; now he wanted to wipe the smirk off of Frazer’s face, preferably using his fist. The man seemed to be taking actual pleasure in Napoleon and Illya’s predicament.

“I’m afraid it might take some time,” Frazer said, though the smirk made Napoleon doubtful of his sincerity. “You see, not only are you two accused of having a relationship that clearly breaks U.N.C.L.E.’s partnership policy…” He paused as well, but unlike Waverly, the pause was to make a face of disgust. “…but this means that you have also been accused of, ah, shall we say, having certain proclivities which would most assuredly put U.N.C.L.E. at risk.”

A derisive snort showed what Illya thought of that particular line of thinking, and Napoleon had to bite back a grin as his partner asked pointedly, “How long, Frazer?”

“A few weeks, at the very least. Perhaps a month or two.”

[mepple98]

just, uh, a casual reminder

[mepple98]

If only 😩

daniel craig fucks a twink and suddenly everyone wants to get in on it

[mepple98]

I have an entire gif folder titled ‘RA hand porn’ and I’m only slightly ashamed to admit it

[mepple98]

This hairstyle?!?! 😍

Golden Globes (2001)

Russell Crowe long hair, rugged, bearded look will always be my favorite era of his. THIS MAN IS GORGEOUS🖤🙌🏻

[mepple98]

Did we almost get a The Man From U.N.C.L.E. sequel?

It brokes my heart to say it, but we can't deny that the MASTERPIECE of a movie that is 2015 The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was a financial flop. On a budget of $75 million, it only managed to gross $110 million worldwide. It's clear a sequel was not on the cards...

And yet, with years the movie managed to find an audience. An audience that got progressively more vocal about wanting a sequel. But probably the loudest voice was the one of (2015) Illya Kuryakin himself: Armie Hammer.

He released multiple quotes about wanting to make a sequel and talking about it with Lionel Wigram (writer and producer of the movie). Obviously, though, nothing came out of it for years...

Until the 5th of May 2020.

Out of the blue, the twitter and instagram accounts for the movie came back to life with a post celebrating Henry Cavill's birthday.

Now, that's suspicious. That's odd.

Why bother since the account had been dead for 5 years? As you can see, before that, their last twitter post had been a retweet (about someone speaking the truth!) from 2015. What was this really about?

The instagram account then posted about Black Lives Matter on May 31.

The accounts went dormant again until August 28 of the same year. This time, with a post celebrating Armie Hammer's birthday.

On November 2020, Armie Hammer posted this to his instagram stories:

(credit to: @el3anorrigbyworld)

Sure, like I said before, Armie multiple times mentioned the fact that he and Wigram would talk about a sequel... But this direct call to action? Considering that the official accounts had started posting again, is it possible that something was finally happening behind the scenes?

Also, the scene from the movie The Gentlemen (2019) directed by Guy Ritchie (the man behind TMFU as well) where a character says that the movie he's working on "Needs a sequel" with a The Man From U.N.C.L.E. poster behind him, took a slightly different connotation after all this.

Maybe after 5 years, we were going to get something more than "It might happen one day!". Maybe there were some chances Warner Brothers wanted to bet on a sequel? Could it finally go into production?

Well, we didn't have to wait long to find out an answer to this because in January 2021 this happened:

(Note: as you can see this article is from March 2021. This image is just for context. The first allegations against him started to come out in January 2021)

If at the end of 2020, the chances of a sequel might have risen up to 5%, after this they precipitated back to 0% again. A sequel for this itineration or The Man From U.N.C.L.E. simply wasn't meant to be.

On May 5th 2021 the official accounts, shared another post to celebrate Henry's birthday. But since then, the accounts have gone radio silent again.

As I'm writing this (22/01/2025) the 10th anniversary of the movie (August 14, 2015) is approaching us. I'm left wondering, will the accounts come back for one last post? I highly doubt it. For one reason: Armie Hammer. He was once the movie's stronger supporter, but now, he has become the most toxic thing about it.

So, did we almost get a The Man From U.N.C.L.E. sequel?

Eh. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Even with these "receipts" I doubt it. However, I still find it curious that the official accounts started posting again so randomly. What was the point? We'll probably never find out... But I just can't stop thinking about it.

However, I'm sure that, eventually, we'll get something else TMFU-related. For best or for worst, Hollywood loves a good remake/reboot.

[mepple98]

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. SEASON ONE NAPOLEON and ILLYA // touch

"Please," Napoleon whispered intently. "Trust me. Hold my hand for a few minutes. And smile when you look at me."

—The Final Affair, by David McDaniel

[mepple98]

yeah so uh... guess what is my new hobby

you guessed it, making covers for fics because god forbid my new kindle wasn't perfectly organised and formatted to the last page of a pdf.

also this one just slaps so if you're into Napollya (but also if you're not, because you should be), go read The Ethical Limit of Coffee and then this sequel beauty by @theheirofashandfire because this is one of the like three coffeeshop AUs I've ever actually enjoyed in my life. Not an exaggeration.

Also yes, I'll keep posting new covers whenever they happen to happen.

(made in Canva, free account; seriously, that app is so freaking good and easy to navigate??? i'd sell my firstborn child to it probably)

[mepple98]

[mepple98]

I really need to finish this series. I love them so much 🥹

Going my way?

Illya waiting for Napoleon at the airport and Napoleon being so happy to see him at the end of Love Affair always brings me joy. :D

[mepple98]

Why is he so cute 🥹

here, have a short of Richard Armitage during The Hobbit Dwarf Boot Camp doing a flip to brighten your day

[mepple98]

my school library regularly purges its outdated books and just gives them away for free. usually theyre just technical books that arent interesting to anyone, but i found an old book on fan culture, which contained this gem

[mepple98]

I swear they made out between the cuts from the bedroom to the balcony...

[mepple98]

GERARD BUTLER as SET GODS OF EGYPT (2016) dir. Alex Proyas