#'oh god. i have a very particular romantic archetype that i like. and it has everything to do with monstrousness.'

[hua-fei-hua]

i was talking w/sapph the other day abt particular ship dynamics we liked, and she told me that since the last time i asked, she’d thought abt it a lot, and she has realized that she likes ships where a guy will look at a girl, and he will go, “i can fix her” and i think that dynamic has rights

[sanstropfremir]

ok this took way longer than i expected because i got sidetracked looking at paintings and reading poetry and just admiring the mv, but it's finally finished!! let's talk about

higher

✨

i'm going to draw your attention to a few things.

firstly, these verses from rime of the ancient mariner by samuel taylor coleridge, published 1834:

The harbour-bay was clear as glass,

So smoothly it was strewn!

And on the bay the moonlight lay,

And the shadow of the Moon.

The rock shone bright, the kirk no less,

That stands above the rock:

The moonlight steeped in silentness

The steady weathercock.

And the bay was white with silent light,

Till rising from the same,

Full many shapes, that shadows were,

In crimson colours came.

A little distance from the prow

Those crimson shadows were:

I turned my eyes upon the deck—

Oh, Christ! what saw I there!

Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat,

And, by the holy rood!

A man all light, a seraph-man,

On every corse there stood.

This seraph-band, each waved his hand:

It was a heavenly sight!

They stood as signals to the land,

Each one a lovely light;

This seraph-band, each waved his hand,

No voice did they impart—

No voice; but oh! the silence sank

Like music on my heart.

secondly, this ivan aivazovsky painting, chaos (the creation), c. 1841:

and thirdly, the memorial of percy shelley, who drowned in a boating accident at age 29, in 1822:

there's a common conflation between the romantic and the pastoral in the general cultural consensus because the pastoral a) has been around as an art term longer than romantic, and b) romanticism does use some similar imagery. but there is a key difference: the pastoral is specfically an idealization of 'the simple shepherding life,' often for high class and urban audiences who have no conception of the details of this life includes. one of the more famous examples is christopher marlowe's a passionate shepherd to his love, published in 1599:

Come live with me and be my love,

And we will all the pleasures prove,

That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields,

Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the Rocks,

Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks,

By shallow Rivers to whose falls

Melodious birds sing Madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of Roses

And a thousand fragrant posies,

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle

Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool

Which from our pretty Lambs we pull;

Fair lined slippers for the cold,

With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and Ivy buds,

With Coral clasps and Amber studs:

And if these pleasures may thee move,

Come live with me, and be my love.

The Shepherds’ Swains shall dance and sing

For thy delight each May-morning:

If these delights thy mind may move,

Then live with me, and be my love.

whereas romanticism is a more pointedly specific movement that was active from around 1800 to 1850, primarily focused on intense emotion and catharsis as the primary experiential output of an artwork. which most prominently manifested in a deep fascination and glorification of the natural environment and historical nostalgia. the movement sprung from the german sturm und drang (literally storm and drive/stress) period of the late 1760s to early 1780s, which was a direct reaction to rationalism and enlightenment. romanticism had similar impulses; it was also a revival of medievalism and a reaction against the looming urban sprawl and mechanization of the industrial revolution. a typical romantic poem from one of the originators of the english movment william wordsworth, composed upon westminster bridge, september 3, 1802, originally published 1807:

Earth has not any thing to show more fair:

Dull would he be of soul who could pass by

A sight so touching in its majesty:

This City now doth, like a garment, wear

The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,

Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie

Open unto the fields, and to the sky;

All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Never did sun more beautifully steep

In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;

Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!

The river glideth at his own sweet will:

Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;

And all that mighty heart is lying still!

this romantic fascination with nature was underpinned by the philosophy of the sublime, generally agreed to be first treatised by edmund burke in 1756, the theory was also written about by kant and hegel. in the simplest of terms, the sublime is a quality of greatness beyond calculation, imitation, and human comprehension. the sublime is twofold; the greatness of the ocean is beautiful, but its power is also terrifying, and the experience of the sublime is to feel those two at once. to be in awe and also to be horrified of its ability to sink ships and drown a life in a tempermental change of tide.

let's take a quick detour to talk about

clothing

in the present day we have become much more lax thanks to the aesthetic movement in the late nineteenth century, but back in the early victorian period there are still highly structured rules about when and what clothing one can wear in public. and the clothing itself is also highly structured. anyone with a passing understanding of the victorian era knows about the whole flashing of the ankle thing and corsets galore, and it is true that the general day to day garments cover a lot of area. for men in particular, this manifests in no less than three layers in public at all times: shirt, waistcoat, and suit jacket, with a coat or mantle overtop in colder temperatures. this also includes a variation of a neck tie (depending on what year), hat, gloves, and any other decided upon accessories (this can also include a corset and other padded structural underpinnings). an important tangent to mention here is that this is the uniform of the upper classes, although the rules do apply to the lower classes if they wanted to appear 'sophisticated.' the working man's uniform was also shirt, waistcoat, trousers, but the difference here is in the textiles themselves; the colours tended to be much more drab, with less complicated patterns. obviously due to the price fabric itself, but also due to the labour of laundry. an indicator of class here is the white shirt itself and its pristine implications. (there is a longer conversation here about the invention of neckties and detachable collars and cuffs, but that's for another day). the silhouettes are very important to note here in the higher mv, as they are directly referential to the 'romantic poet' archetype of loose shirt and tight pants that we see in popular culture. but as i've just said, the reality is that men of the era were not dressed like this out in public. this look is essentially underwear; the implications are salacious. so where did this come from? well, we can blame it mostly on lord byron, who by all accounts was the first western 'rockstar.' notoriously called 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' by lady caroline lamb (a married women he publically had an affair with), byron was openly bisexual and deeply hedonistic with a lot of questionable habits, but his poetry was so popular that he was known to have women following him in the street and gathering in large quanities to see him at salons. and this was close to three decades before lizstomania. his close friends and contemporaries included percy and mary shelley, with whom he lived with abroad in italy for some time (this living arrangement resulted in the writing of both frankenstein and john polidori's the vampyre). byron's reputation was so eclipsing that the image of the lush poet lazing in his undergarments has become its own genre of romantic, slightly removed from the movement byron was writing in. it's also worth it to point out that there are no official portraits of byron dressed like this from the time. the visual assumption is somewhat apochryphal. now let's get into some specifics. a.c.e is not unfamiliar to this silhouette; as previously mentioned in this post i wrote about their styling, the boxy loose upper and fitted lower is their general mode for their styling because of its emphasis on legs. cactus was the most extreme example of this, and to prove my point, this specific silhouette is extremely common in classical ballet:

1. vaslav nijinsky, giselle, 1911 2. nehemiah kish, george balanchine's ballo della regina, 2011/12

higher fits very neatly into this same category: we have an emphasis on the legs through tightly fitted garments and also through light reflective textile, as well as a secondary emphasis on arm and shoulder movements with looser fit shirts. plus, the shirts are made from fabrics that have good drape and flow, and mimic the visual effects of water:

there are also several instances of scale patterning and wetlook hair styles, further elabourating on the siren theme. and the jewelry is the same, purposefully cut clear stones for oceanic sparkle or pearls, the gem directly born from water, as highlighting accents to specific parts of the body - namely eyes, hands, and torso:

the body jewelry also serves a double purpose in addition to being sparkly; it gives a semblance of shape to their torsos so their movements aren't totally lost in the shroud of their shirts, and it also invokes some of that salacious element that us as a modern audience doesn't necessarily perceive in the same way when we see a man wearing only a shirt. all of these points are especially prominent in the stage costuming. concerning the veils, these are an aesthetic choice following the theme of depicting water without actually using water. the song has a very breathless quality to it, and the lyrics directly make reference to water and breathlessness, so it only makes sense to have a physical manifestation of struggling to breathe.

now let's talk about

mise-en-scène

unlike most kpop mvs, I would argue that higher is not a spectacle in what we normally see spectacle to be. the overwhelming visual saturation of goblin (and the goblin remix) is more in line with what we expect, but how do you follow that, top it? the answer is that you don't. you aim for something with a completely different feel, which is exact what they did with higher.

the performing arts did not escape romanticism. the very start of the movement, sturm und drang, is actually named from a specific play written by friedrich maximilian klinger that premiered in 1777. the plays of the brief period are characterized by extreme and passionate emotions, and were siblings to one of the most famous genres of theatre, the melodrama. meant to appeal directly to the emotions of the audience using sensationalist plots and stock characters, the melodrama was the predominent form of entertainment in victorian england and gradually developed a specific form of its own. in this period we also start to see the development of 'stagecraft' into the recognizable form that it takes today. footlights, limelight/spotlighting, the separation of house and stage lighting, fly galleries, elevator platform mechanics, and the first (purported) western use of rear projection are all innovations of the late 18th and 19th centuries, as melodramas were known to have very intricate and spectacular stagings. and to go along with these stagecraft mechanics we see the rise in designated stage crews, which were predominantly off-duty sailors looking to make money. the rope systems that made up the fly galleries were very similar to that on ships, and much of the terminology and supersitions crossed over: this is the origin of the term 'rigging' being used for suspending set elements, and also the origin of the 'don't whistle in a theatre' superstition. as sailors communicated with whistle patterns on ships, the same system was adopted for changing scenery, and therefore whistling a random pattern could potentially drop a setpiece on an unsuspecting victim.

so with all this backstory out of the way, what is the very first full location we see? a stage, complete with forced perspective via the painted fabric legs (the side panels) and borders (the wavy upper panels). we even have a flat painted backdrop with a projection screen and hanging overhead lamps. there's also a second interior set, a desk in what looks to be a study of some kind. bit self explanatory on this one, taking the poet notion on the nose.

the locations have a bit of an obtuse arc, but it's there when you look for it. it starts interior spaces, where the ideas of sublime attempted to be recreated for the viewer. then it moves to transitory spaces; portions of nature isolated from a whole environment, interjections of human architecture into natural spaces:

(the white hut structure in the greenhouse is reminiscent of a skene (literally hut/tent), which is the structure at the back of the stage in ancient greek theatre used for the actors to change their masks and costumes. it was originally temporary, but slowly transformed into permanent stage architecture)

and then finally outdoors, into the sublime itself:

jwm turner, crossing the bridge, 1815

lastly,

lighting

there's a very clear lighting pattern here, primarily in light and dark. the base colour story is fairly simple complementary pairs; there's a lot of purple/red and green, and blue and yellow/amber, with everything relatively on the same tonal level. there are deliberate interjections of heavily saturated red for specific effect. there are also, most notably, a 'dark' version of all the sets. obviously as a reference to the eclipse that we see in the mv and in the concept photo series, but also as a reference to that darker undercurrent of the sublime, the upsetting, the uncanny, and the terrifying:

And the bay was white with silent light/Till rising from the same/Full many shapes, that shadows were/In crimson colours came.

[formless-monkeys]

What is your favorite relationship(s) in the show (romantically or platonically, doesn’t matter!)

Anon you will regret opening pandora’s box. Or not. In any case, this post is going to be very long because I’m full of love. Also, anything marked romantic does not need to be romantic for me to lose my shit over them. In no particular order, either. Just in the order I thought of them.

1. The Black-eyed trio

Characters: Otto, Sparx, and Gibson.

Type: Platonic, Romantic,

Explanation: These three are grouped together by virtue of not being obscenely powerful and serving more practical uses on the team. Also, their eyes are all the same color. Besides the poetic connections of the colors of their design, they were alone in the robot together while the other three monkeys were out training.

Sparx and Gibson’s interactions give me life, going from playful jabs to genuine fighting right back to ride-or-die is amazing. The beginning of Night Of Fear, the battles in Brothers In Arms, and a bunch of small moments throughout the series are wonderful for this.

I could write an essay about Otto and Gibson, and someone else already has, but I’ll summarize it as ADHD autism solidarity with a side of Shut The Fuck Up Gibson. They care about each other and learn to respect each other in a way that’s better for both of them. I know a real-life Gibson to my Otto and learning that she’s just pretentious and doesn’t really hate anyone, and figuring out that we’re both equally brilliant and incredibly similar has made life a million times better.

Otto and Sparx don’t have as much development as Gibson with both of them, but their jokes together and general trust is amazing. Sparx is the dumb monkey and Otto supports him in his himbo endeavors. 

These three together make an unstoppable technical team, and the only reason they probably couldn’t be a superhero team on their own is because of the raw power and fun dynamics brought by the other half of the team. 

Romantically, these three would make the DUMBEST polycule ever. There is no true mediator here. It’s three dumbasses figuring out how they could possibly share a twin-sized bed when they have the ability to just make a bigger bed. Gibson calculates the most efficient 3 monkey makeout and none of them follow the statistics. They all give Chiro equally useless and conflicting advice on homework. Trying to give them a mediator in the polycule just makes me go back to shipping polymonkeys because I literally can’t decide if Antauri or Nova go better with them.

2. Quiet trust and encouragement

Characters: Otto, Antauri

Type: Platonic, Romantic

Explanation: When Otto is being dismissed by the other monkeys, or by the show itself, Antauri is usually the first to say “that’s bullshit, Otto is wonderful”. Circus Of Ooze is a notable example, but there are little moments in other seasons as well. 

I just love the idea of the historically MOST SERIOUS and strongest monkey, sometimes even elevated to god-like status by some fanworks... paired with the monkey that has been infantilized and disrespected to no end. I personally like making Antauri have to lean on Otto, just to subvert that even further. 

Beyond spite, I ship this simply because I like their dynamic. Antauri needs someone to ground him with more tactile physical things, and Otto needs someone to share his more nebulous thoughts I can’t imagine the others listening to. I love them.

Also, I want Antauri to unlock his true dumbass potential. He has the abilities, but not the will. Be silly with Otto. I want to hear him snort-laugh.

I literally forgot all the silver monkey stuff but I got three fics about that you know I go nuts over mechanic x robot shit.

3. The monkeys and their human son.

Characters: Chiro, Antauri, Nova, Sparx, Gibson, Otto

Type: Familial

Explanation: This family gives me joy. They were forced together through astronomical means and they made the best of it. 

Everyone living in the robot is absolutely fucked up. They help each other in the darkest of times. They lift each other up when it’s light. They are a perfect team and nobody can be missing without it feeling wrong. But they can add people!

“Girl Trouble” as a concept is AMAZING to me but my secondhand embarrassment is so strong that I hate the episode. But never once is any of the monkeys resentful of Chiro. Not even Mandarin is like “wow I wish he didn’t take my place” no he’s also struck with the urge to nurture this kid to his fullest potential. Whether you see the team as a bunch of older siblings or 4 dads and a mom doesn’t really matter, they’re a family.

I mean, this also has a sprinkling of shipping all the monkeys in a really domestic way because I like seeing my optimal future in characters I like, but like literally all of these, it doesn’t need to be romantic for me to go nuts. I just think it would be fun to throw just a big monkey wedding or whatever. And funnier for Antauri to go “Chiro I’m having a baby. The baby is you” and holding up adoption papers because on the principle of Toby “Radiation” Fox I love that joke, especially when made much less weird than the original context.

I have a set of characters who is just 5 people in a polycule raising kids and living life because I really love this concept as a family.

4. Evil Coworkers

Characters: Mandarin, Sakko

Type: Romantic, Platonic,

Explanation: Why the hell are these two, in particular, working together? SK could’ve put Mandarin with literally anybody else and he chose what on the surface appears to be the LEAST compatible person on the account that they’re both monkeys. Some bitter asshole who now looks like the epitome of toxic masculinity and this tiny pink pet who used his femininity both as an advantage and a style. They’re different but it ends up working really well for both of them because they’re different in ways that cover each other’s bases. It’s wonderful. Pink and Orange go well together. Green and Purple go well together. Mandarin and Sakko go well together. Also, they clearly trust each other. During almost the entirety of “Hidden Fortress” Sakko was presumably just chilling inside of Mandarin’s armor. Mandarin trusted him enough to have Sakko in a place where he’s able to mess with his cybernetics, and Sakko trusted Mandarin enough to go into the battlefield with him and probably get tossed around.

If they were both human and in a more modern media, then they would definitely be shipped in the straightest way you can get without actually being straight. The Straightest Gay Ship. 

5. A Witch and her Accidental Evil Coworker

Characters: Skelemandarin, Valeena.

Type: Platonic, Romantic, 

Explanation: These two have been through some shit. Skelemandy was made to serve Skeleton King only to have that purpose yanked away from him. Valeena was groomed to idolize and serve Skeleton King for nearly her entire life. They were forced together by SHEER CHANCE and they both hated it. Arguably they both died at some point. 

They both have absolutely NOBODY they can trust so let’s make them trust each other. All hilarity and sweetness comes from that. 

Their dynamic is so good that I have them on a blog for a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FANDOM and people love them with no context. 

This is the only cross-species ship I have (besides chinmay and the antauri ships but that doesn’t count), but the fact that Skelemandy isn’t actually a monkey and needs no cybernetic assistance to be human-level sentient makes it a lot less weird. Just put them on equal ground power-wise (like by nerfing Valeena’s magic) and you have the ingredients for bonding. 

They have like, no cute moments in canon, but that’s why we have fics and art. They have potential. I want them to help each other figure out who they are without their purpose. I want them to survive this horrible life together. I want them to figure out how to trust again. I want a lot but Valeena is fucking dead.

But she doesn’t have to be.

(Also Valeena is REALLY HOT and Skelemandarin is just me as a monkey)

6. Gay Dads

Characters: The Alchemist, Captain Shuggazoom

Type: Romantic, Platonic

Explanation: Oh my stars. Oh null. Oh me oh my hhougfhfakjghf. These two have the angst of Mantauri but on crack. 

They only appeared in about two episodes each and all three episodes are top tier. They call each other “Friend” multiple times in their shared episode. THEY’RE FRIENDS!!!!!!!!! The face Al makes when he realizes that Cap is visiting makes me really happy. The fact that Cap had this whole Batman Double Life thing and he shows the Alchemist BOTH OF THEM is amazing. The alchemist is a hermit living in the woods and he lets Cap into that life. 

There isn’t a lot shown, much less than everything else here. But that makes every single fanfic so much richer since they’re almost completely based on headcanons. Friends who have a mutual crush on each other but are No Homo about it? Secret boyfriends? Husbands with 6 monkey kids? An Old man and a grumpy Skeleton making it work? Literally just platonic friends? Dude, you can do whatever you want. 

The tragedy of these two losing each other to one big horrible event crushes me. It influences my every move in my creative work. I have an entire character dedicated to reuniting these two in the most astronomical and ridiculous way possible because the alchemist angered the gods but she thinks he needs some company in his eternal punishment.

I want Clayton to unlock Al’s less serious, more fun side. I want them to work together. I want them to hold hands. GHGHGHDFBG UTTHTYE CNAZSNT EBCV ASUA ER

7. The girl power duo

Characters: Nova, Jinmay

Type: Familial

Explanation: These two were my only comfort during the uncomfortable nightmare that is “The Hills Have Five”

Nova was the one who trained Jinmay, and it seems like they hang out a lot offscreen in season 4. They fulfill the early 2000′s cartoon archetypes of girl and Girl, so they’re supposed to get along. If they didn’t I probably wouldn’t like Jinmay.

Nova is a really good big sister/parental figure to Jinmay, who never had any family to speak of. 

Anyway, this entry has to be shorter because most of their bonding is in “The Hills Have Five” which is either #1 or #2 in my least favorite episode list. Not because it’s bad, but because it makes me viscerally uncomfortable. I really wish literally any other character than Jinmay was in her role in that episode. Or that the “taken to an offscreen area by an adult man while she screams” just wasn’t there. SHE’S 13!!! Nova did literally all she could to help. 

I really like that scene in questionable where Valeena kills almost the entire gang. It’s what they deserve.

Look I just really like Jinmay and I always have. She deserves a good Mom.

8. "My Second In Command”

Characters: Antauri, Mandarin

Type: Theoretical

Explanation: The fandom has really made this ship go from “literally nothing to stand on” to “integral plot point in a lot of fics”. Seriously. I have TWO screenshots that vaguely imply these two ever stood next to each other on the battlefield. This was entirely title-based and fan-made until ProjectAfectivity interviewed Ciro. Yeah he knows Antauri but only as well as the rest of the team. Anyway. Wow. This ship.

This is by far the worst breakup in history. These two, despite what Antauri says, were on equal ground at some point. According to Ciro (and fan speculation), they trained together. This (and other Mandy ship) changes wildly depending on if you think Mandarin was corrupted by the portal or not. Maybe Mandarin was once a kind leader who just crossed the wrong boundaries and paid for it. He could’ve held Antauri gently before battle. He could’ve been the monkey Antauri went to when he needed someone to talk to. He could’ve hyped the team up like Chiro does.

Or maybe, they were constantly fighting against each other in small ways. An incredibly unhealthy relationship, yes, but an interesting story. I like stories where Antauri isn’t this all-knowing pillar of stability. He’s got weaknesses. One of them may have been Mandarin.

Now that’s a good nickname from one to the other.

Imagine Antauri, in a moment of complete trust, declaring Mandarin his weakness. A sweet sentiment. They both know the other is incredibly strong, and trust that the other would never take advantage of that connection. They love each other. Until...

9. "My Closest Ally”

Characters: Otto, Mandarin

Type: Theoretical

Explanation: Okay I'm looking at the screenshot I put for this entry while also having watched Evil Ages recently. My brain is making uncomfortable connections. Combine that with the fandom and the show’s general treatment of Otto and I’m about to slam my head into a wall. I really do not like that, but I feel like there’s somebody out there who does. 

Anyway, this is Gibotto and Ottauri but with all the spice that shipping Mandarin with one of the other monkeys brings. When done well, it’s all the respecting Otto that comes with Ottauri and all the intimate partnership of Gibotto. And the Angst of Mantauri, but a lot more grounded. 

It paints a lot of stories. A story of a single point of comfort in a world Mandarin thinks is out to get him. A story of powerful validation from the one authority in Otto’s life. Of letting your guard down. Of trust, then breaking that trust.

I’d LOVE to see some things with Mandottotauri because that’s epic and cool and poggers. Don’t see a lot, though.

10.The Hets, I guess.

Characters: Jinmay, Chiro. 

Type: Romantic. Platonic. Canon.

Explanation: Look two entries on this list are polyamorous and four of them are mandarin so I have to say SOMETHING for the heteroes following me. Picked this ship over Spova because when I was a young child still suffering from comphet, I never watched the last episode of the show. I only saw up to season 3 at the most. This was the only canon ship for me. And out of all the ships, it’s the most relatable. I’m currently a teenager with black hair who looks really good in eyeliner dating a girl with pink hair who can pick me up and is unbelievably sweet. Except we’re gay and polyam. Wait a second I totally had a crush on Jinmay as a kid and now my gf is the Jinmay in this situation. Oh my god I was going to make this comparison if I did Spova too and I liked Nova.

ANYWAY

These are two LONELY kids. Chiro had bullies during school, and now he doesn’t even go to school. Jinmay hasn’t really had friends at all. Two kids with places in their universe that they aren’t too sure about, and just need someone to lean on. Their date was cute. They instantly bonded over their love of monkeys and I love that. 

The super robot is sometimes an analog for Chiro, in the first two season at least, and the way the super robot held Jinmay’s hands to keep her steady on the COB while her head flew in was SO SWEET. Chiro’s instant recognition and reaction to Jinmay’s head being thrown at the team, as well. He really loves her.

I think it’d be interesting if she didn’t love him back, though. I might take a stab at writing that.

[chamerionwrites]

Alsoooo. if you are still doing character thoughts asks: Draven

How I feel about this character

MY MINOR ROGUE ONE FAVE. It’s a complicated kind of love, because he’s my excuse to explore ugly political subjects in space and I’m not interested unless he genuinely is at least 20% Unmitigated Bastard, but Draven is a fabulous elevator pitch of a character - principled enough to join a doomed little cause, ruthless enough to be its designated hit man - of a sort that you rarely ever get in Star Wars, and I can’t help but love a character who opens up a story that way.

Everyone I ship romantically with this character

Mon Mothma, as discussed here - to make a long story short the best description of this ship is “built-in threesome where the third partner is The Rebellion” and imho that’s narratively sexy.

Also, General Merrick/Blue Leader was extremely charming in his twenty seconds of screentime and Draven is the exact opposite of charming, so somewhere along the way I encountered this and unexpectedly went oh no, now I have headcanons. And then there’s the version where it’s wartime and dealing with their private life is like the 100th priority on everybody’s list so Merrick/Draven/Mothma happens in various combinations and it’s kind of a poorly-discussed hot mess. (My professional opinion about the Rebel Alliance is that almost everyone there is both stressed out and excruciatingly aware of their own mortality, and thus falls into one of several categories: (1) too busy and/or freaked out by their own emotions at the thought of losing people, (2) banging like a screen door in a hurricane, or (3) some bizarre blend of the two.)

Idk if you can call it a ship when it’s divorce, but I’m also very attached to my headcanon that Draven got married young and it was a trainwreck and he had a slightly spectacular quarter-life crisis where he walked out on his marriage and defected from Imperial Intel all in one go, because at least in this particular respect he is the classic cop/soldier/spy trope of Workaholic With Poor Emotional Communication Skills.  

My non-romantic OTP for this character

CASSIAN ANDOR, good god, those two acted an entire John le Carré novel with their eyes in like five minutes of shared screentime (during which - I have to stop and point this out because it boggles my mind that the character dynamic feels so well-developed - Cassian never speaks a line of dialogue directly to Draven) and I am absolutely serious and sincere when I say that I would watch an entire trilogy of movies based on that dynamic alone. Please give me the fraught psychological spy&spymaster dance in space. PLEASE.

My unpopular opinion about this character

Depending on who you’re talking to, it’s either that assassinating Galen Erso is honestly a pretty understandable decision and it was just the way he went about it that was super shady, or that he is not some kind of heart-of-gold-under-the-crusty-exterior archetype but genuinely a bit of a bastard all the way down, albeit one with redeeming qualities. Basically fandom seems to fall into one of two camps on the question of whether Draven is a sympathetic character or a jerkass, and I’m off in my own little corner waving a “Draven is a sympathetic character and a jerkass” flag.

Also, I’m into the popular fanon that there are some surrogate father&son undertones in his and Cassian’s relationship but I’m only on board insofar as we acknowledge that (at least according to offscreen canon) Cassian’s real dad was straightup murdered by the government Draven worked for at the time, and the relationship there can be meaningful and human but some part of it is always going to be deeply fucked up. And quite frankly most of fandom does NOT want to go that hard - not that I entirely blame them, but “it’s far more interesting if you lean into the awful parts” is a hill I’ll die on here (and also, is it really Star Wars without problematic father figures? Jyn has two).

What I wish had happened in canon

Listen, in the ruthless economy of storytelling all minor characters are to some extent cannon fodder; I respect your right to slaughter your cast in a story set during wartime. What I cannot imagine is why you’d choose to do it in such an unimaginative way as the comics writers decided to kill off Draven. Generic Desperate Rearguard Self-Sacrifice is just…that’s not why Draven is there. That’s not what he exists in the story to do. He exists to pose awkward questions about moral compromise and democratic decision-making and the ways war fucks people up even in an indisputably just cause.

Narratively speaking, the FUN thing to do with a character like that is to make him live with his choices. Make this guy live long enough to face the New Republic state-building. Make mister unsanctioned-assassination-for-the-greater-good take part in the attempts to stick the landing from scrappy revolutionaries to the people in power. Make him confront the ways the late Republic already was the Empire in all but name - he would know, if anybody saw the Republic’s nastiest underbelly it was an intel officer - and whether they’re going to replicate the same old patterns (I know DLF doesn’t have the range for this but come ON). Make him confront the people (up to and including himself) that he used as weapons because they were desperate and it was necessary, and maybe he’d make all the same choices over again but what does that do to somebody in the long run, you know? There’s that devastating line from The Spy Who Came In From The Cold: “In our world we pass so quickly out of the register of hate or love–like certain sounds a dog can’t hear. All that’s left in the end is a kind of nausea; you never want to cause suffering again.”

THAT. I want Draven to live long enough to experience that specific, exquisite badfeel.

TL;DR - I don’t object to Draven getting Vader-choked because I have a soft spot for him (I’m a Rogue One fan okay, I love stories that tenderly knife me in the ribs). I object because it’s the most boring possible narrative choice you could make, and particularly given he’s a slightly unusual sort of character for Star Wars it seems a shame to waste him. Give Mon Mothma someone to harmonize with while she’s singing Empty Chairs At Empty Tables, FFS.

[tanoraqui]

Oh dear Octover Daye musical sounds wonderful! How would Simon and Sylvester duet sound like? Or Sylvester and Luna that starts off as romantic fairy tale but slowly turns in Luna s hearfelt but villainesque song about how she will do anything to keep her family. Luidaeg takes breaks in between songs to complain but she is grinning whole time. Pete singing shanties! And Amandine could get reverse of hero's songs, where she sings about her duty and everything they all expected and -cont

And importance of her duty and why she chose NOT to be hero “ Done being vessel of your hopes, done being your sacrifice for better tomorrow, Daddy is hero and i wont be his ticket home, find your own hope chest” luidaeg is complaining in between songs but smiling. And Eira? She doesnt sing. In fact all music stops with her

Thanks a lot, take all time you need! Also another musical idea- a song duel between Luidaeg, Amandine and Eira. Luidaeg calling out her sisters on their bullshit and hammering in that she did nothing to deserve such treatment, Amandine stating that Eira and Luidaeg are same and just want to manipulate and sacrifice her for their own objectives, and Eira accusing two of them of being weak and hiding behind facade of benevolence while she admits her hunger for power.

okay, first off, I stand by absolutely everything I said in the original post, particular the opening song and Quentin’s Disney Princess song and May’s rock interjection and Tybalt and Toby’s sappy love/battle song and…all of it

To your suggestions:

amendment/addition to original post: the Luidaeg’s song definitely has echoes of “Poor Unfortunate Souls”, but it’s also a) played mostly on a lute, save when a whole damn orchestra kicks in for the last verse or so, and b) sung - BELTED, opera-level lungs - from center stage while behind her, he whole bloody story is acted out - the Roane, the jealous mortals, the skinning, the kinslaying, the promise, the selkies. The bindings and the Sea Witch. It’s danced in something like if ballet was infected by Irish riverdance.

and then the light returns to the rest of the stage, the flashback over, and she resumes being amiably bitchy at Toby & co.

I LOVE the idea of Amandine having a not-a-hero song. Honestly, that’s one of the most sympathetic interpretations I’ve heard of Amandine, that refusal to do this thing that was just kind of dumped on her and her bloodline by prophecy, and I kind of love it? Let her have her very soprano solo.

the songs don’t stop with Eira, though. Are you kidding? The songs are Faerie; songs are the very essence of story and story is the very essence of a world in which Hero is a title and acknowledged archetype as much as it is a noun. This is a fairy tale, and Eira is and always has been the Evil Fairy Godmother. Eira certainly has a song, and it’s sugary-sweet and 100% Broadway classic and about the power she’s going to seize, to finally be adored as she deserves and subjugate everyone unworthy. 

Maybe she mentions her sisters by name, and when she does, they appear - the Luidaeg Annie as someone she’s beaten, Amy as someone she’s using. But the Luidaeg argues back with each line, though Eira doesn’t acknowledge her, and Amandine just starts reprising her own song as soon as she’s onstage. The Luidaeg starts doing that, too, and then it’s all three of them - Titania’s daughter in at center stage, Oberon’s and Maeve’s one on each far corner, singing their own songs in overlapping harmony, lyrics sometimes similar, sometimes deliberately contrasting

I…have trouble imagining a Luna song? I’m not sure why. She just…she’s often aggressively uninvolved with the plot. If she has a song, it would just be a verse or two and it would involve rose gardening as an increasingly dark metaphor for life.

Simon, though…if you want to be really sad about Simon, he also gets a flashback song. It’s him and Amandine and August as a young girl, and it’s soft and sweet, energetic enough for raising a daughter but never frenetic, never aggressive. It’s just about how happy he was and how much he loved his wife and daughter. It probably has a melodic or at least lyrical echo somewhere of Sylvester’s “I’ll be here” song for Toby.

and then in the present day, whenever Simon sings, it’s just a reprise of Eira’s song, even if some of the lyrics still reflect his old song. Maybe, here and there, the melody also slips back…but never for long

until they find August, of course. Then Eira’s song leaves completely, rotten oranges losing to apples

Quentin gets the One True Disney Princess “I Want” Song, but August would also have one, really. Or, it was a Disney Princess “I Want” Song™ once. Then she got lost, fucked up, and spent a century alone in Annwn, and now it’s kind of clipped and too shrill, cynical and bitter, demanding rather than simply yearning. And I still kind of love her, so help me god

if Rayseline gets to sing (why not; there’s no plot here), it’s basically Cassandra’s “Crossing the Line” and “Nothing Left to Lose” from Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventures, which I shall not at this time disclose how many times I’ve listened to on repeat

[superrcell]

clara!! or teru mobbedpsycho

omg hehe ill do both bc i love them both so much : )

clara!

How I feel about this character

oh my god, i LOVE her? i love her so much. literally my favorite healer. her route is literally the best.

its just like. shes SO fun. shes so weird and shes so funny and i just love love love how shes written. i love that in the beginning of her own route shes like.. literally Just a little girl. like getting worried bc she told the first lie in her life ,,, its just like shes so cute. i love her and shes soooo funny oh my god. i love love love how through her route she becomes more confident with herself and her path, it seems... just like everything is so good about her.

i love her place in the game as well... shes the youngest, definitely the one who you’d probably trust the least to do a good job, and just so ... she’s so weird! i love that she is the character who becomes the sort of meta character, where the developers Know you’ve gone thru everything twice, we’re now just going to let her know all you need. plus, i fucking LOVE her powers with the hook - thats a trope i just love so much... 

i love her black and white mentality? its just so interesting... i love how the world warps in her route, where people are especially evil, or are especially good. and i love. i LOVE that she’s put with all of the humbles... like i just love everything about her SO much ... 

All the people I ship romantically with this character

oh, as ive said: grace!! i find their relationship incredibly cute, especially with how clara says how much she likes her in her route... plus! weird (graveyard) girls unite :) idk, i just feel like they complement each other very well, and would understand each other very well! its very cute!

to a much lesser degree, i also find capella and clara cute, but i dont have quite as many thoughts on it. 

My non-romantic OTP for this character (im just interpreting this as other relationships i find interesting)

omg, so many, um ,,, 

firstly, the saburovs! i think more about katerina just because of who i am, but i love thinking of if they were like . . . an actually good family. idk, its just like if the saburovs weren’t In That Situation... maybe, just maybe they would be better? they obviously care about clara very very much, as shown in those first few days... idk, i just love the idea of good families 😔

secondly, like almost every relationship she has with the humbles, or what potential relationship she’ll have in p2 now that some of them have been reworked. i cant go through the whole list because ill be here all day, but especially rubin and her relationship; the connection she has with aspity; im interested in how the others will be reworked and how they’ll interact with clara just... ayugh i love all of the  humbles so much!

thirdly, um. okay not to be a termite stan but thinking of her relationship with some of the termites is super interesting... in particular, as ive said, grace and her seem like they could very well be very good friends if not gfs, and sticky! theyre both thieves ... i feel like it can be very interesting, though i doubt they would be really close hsdjkgjk still! i just love thinking of her potential relationship with the other kids.

fourthly, also aglaya because of her connection with clara, with knowing. Everything about their world is so interesting. plus, just how aglaya treats her is so... interesting? shes just SO different in clara’s route, its so interesting...

and lastly, as i said: her relationship with block! i dont have too many thoughts, but i find his care for her very very interesting and sweet... im interested in how their relationship will be expanded upon in her route!

wait no im still adding things: her relationship with the albino! idk i just find her relationship with the creature of the steppe so sweet... its just like the bond between them its just so nice and it makes me so 💖thinking about it in her route...

My unpopular opinion about this character

clara best healer! clara’s route is the best! i hate it when people only use her for their daniil/artemiy ship shit! she doesnt give a shit about them! stop pushing her off to the side! her route is unfinished, yes, thats really only the side quests from day 8 on! the main quest is always different! just play her route! shes not just some weird person who only speaks in metaphors, shes also a little girl!  i love clara very much! 

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

oh, hmm... her route to be finished, and actually full of details? ghdsjkgj really though, i remember people saying that they might go for a genre shift with the other two routes in p2, and i think her’s being more horror would be SO cool... i also hope that we can hug people in her route as well, oh my god. oh my god. please let me hug the saburovs. 

-------

teruki!

How I feel about this character

i LOVE teru! hes absolutely, 100%, completely my favorite mp100 character. hes such a huge comfort character to me as well its just like i looveee his character. hes so SO funny and hes so dumb but also hes like SO smart and. hes SOOOO smart and i just can relate to him a lot! who am i but a constant string of “oh yeah im very smart and i can do this amazingly” and then almost immediately being followed by someone showing me up, 

plus, i feel like hes just my favorite character archetype. its just like! i am such a huuugeeee fan of characters showing off and trying to act big but are hiding behind a ton of insecurities. or well, maybe not quite hiding behind them, but having a lot of them. after all i think teru truly is just Like That, though his actions in his arc were heavily motivated by these insecurities... idk i just love him so much. hes just really relatable to me in some aspects and in all others i just find so fun. hes such a great character!

All the people I ship romantically with this character

oh, mob ofc! i dont think about the ship all that much, but i think its rlly cute, and i definitely feel like teru has a lot of love in his heart for mob! its rlly nice and can be very sweet c:  

My non-romantic OTP for this character (im just interpreting this as other relationships i find interesting)

mob! once again i just think their friendship is just really nice, and i love how much teru cares for mob! plus theyre so funny gdhksjjg idk theyre just a fun team!! i love them!! i dont have many other thoughts, as i feel like their relationship is explored constantly, and i dont have many new thoughts to bring to the table. i just love it when their shown in a fun light c:

also, now idk if ive ever given this vibe off but, i LOVE found families, so i looveeee love love the au where reigen and serizawa take in shou, tome, and teru! like even outside of the au, i feel like a friendship with shou would be so nice? its just like the shared familial issues 😔plus i think theyd be hilarious together. no matter what i see them as having a more brotherly relationship! i like especially thinking about them playing games together, and same with tome! which like tome, oh my god i feel like theyd be so fun together and just the thought of them as siblings sounds like it could very very easily go badly because of clashing personalities but idk... i just feel like it could also be really nice and fun :) i love thinking about the sibling relationships in mp100 so much because theyre all just so fun characters and it feels like it can always result in such a fun and not like... angsty atmosphere. like i can just see them as being actual siblings, and its nice!

also, reigen ofc! i mentioned that i like the idea of reigen taking him in, though i think reigen might not be a . . . great parental figure. but i just really like the found familyness of it... plus, okay, this is going to be obvious since im such a teru stan, but the one omake where reigen takes them all out for a “client” but it just is reigen trying to give them all a fun summer day because teru mentioned how his family doesnt ever really see him... oh my god its about That. just an adult figure caring for teru makes me happy and thats why i love their relationship so much.

also, i have much less thoughts about this (or at least now i do), but the idea of teru and ritsu being friends sounds so funny. like i dont have many thoughts on it; its all mainly this comic on them 

My unpopular opinion about this character

hmmm, i think all of my opinions are echoed by the people in my corner of the fandom, but one i can think of is like just about Every take on his fashion sense is so cold, besides the one thats like “hes a rich teenager living on his own and thats why his fashion sense is like that.” like he obviously cares about his own appearance, but aahkdshjkg i dont think its like so much as so many people put on him. also for  the love of god focus on his other interests other than fashion for once, 

idk, i think most of my opinions boil down to “i dont like what hes been reduced to/what the fandom always focuses on for him.” 

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

oh, hm! i wish they hadnt cut out the one scene in s2 (around the beginning of the world domination arc, at teru’s apartment) where teru basically shows off his powers and how much hes grown and knows... i get Why they cut it out, but, as far as i remember, its such a good part of his character i wish they had kept in! 

i also hope that they add a little extra of him in s3 since i feel like they will have  more time left over ... 👉👈

send me a character :)

[crystalelemental]

Faye is cute but goodness fuck they ruined her character. Her characterization is literally: I love Alm. Her support with Silque is horrid. She has no aspirations except to stalk Alm. Even in her ending where she married SOMEONE ELSE she still spent her time stalking Alm. Like it’s awful so I can’t get behind Faye at all.

Okay, this is gonna be a quick thing that’ll probably lead into a longer thing, but let’s talk about Faye a bit.

First thing’s first: I don’t count the ending cards.  I feel like they’re often stupid or irrelevant.  Oh yeah, Canas died in a snowstorm, Nino and Jaffar ran off forever without their kids, Mathilda stopped being a knight to be a mom to Clive’s crotch spawn, and Sonia was turned into a witch while investigating what happened to her sisters after the war despite witches being the direct product of Duma’s influence and Duma’s dead at this point.  Even as recent as Three Houses they’re all trivial little lies.  Oh sure, Edelgard’s route ended in absolute victory against all their problems and everything was great continent-wide forever.  Yep, no negative repurcussions down the line based on creating an unchecked center of power across the continent that would allow any emperors that came after you with different ideologies to completely unmake all your progress.  No, definitely not.  They’re all dumb, and they don’t count.  If you really want to count them...why?  Like, I can’t stop you, but why?

As for Faye herself...listen, she’s an archetype.  Same as Tharja and Camilla before her, two other characters that aren’t handled particularly well either.  They wanted that yandere type, because Awakening sold really well and to this day they have no idea why, so they carried over the same tropes hoping to strike gold once more.  Faye was one such carry-over.  Is she handled well in Echoes?  No.  God no, not at all.  She’s awful to Silque for no reason, and the whole “ready to kill in your name” thing is awful.  But I kinda feel like...those are to establish those tropes; the undying loyalty to the main protagonist.  Alm isn’t an MU like Robin or Corrin, but he’s still the male character that they expect players will identify with, so of course he needed this obsessive devotion character behind him.

But also, just like Tharja and Camilla, I feel like there’s actually a decent character buried under the obvious outward yandere shell.  Faye’s a character marked by insecurity.  Nowhere is this more obvious than if Alm doesn’t recruit her, and Celica shows up but also refuses.  With Alm’s rejection, there’s an edge of playfulness, like she expects him to change his mind.  “Guess I’ll just be sad forever” isn’t really the kind of serious tone you take when you’re devastated.  But then he does leave, and when Celica arrives, seems a little more downtrodden, and asks if she can join Celica instead.  If Celica also rejects, Faye’s outright defeated.  “Right, it was foolish to ask that...”  She has zero confidence in her own abilities or general worth.  She throws herself into battles to prove herself, but at the same time, her reason for not following Alm against his wishes was she’s scared she’d be killed.  She’s someone who seems to want to prove herself but lacks the belief that she can, and I think this is a consistent part of her character largely because she shows the same things toward Celica in this interaction.

The other interesting part is that it’s not just Alm that Faye cares about.  She’s dismissive of Silque, which is odd, but when she sees Celica again after years, what’s the first thing out of her mouth?  “I’ve missed you so much!”  This is her romantic rival.  Even as kids, Faye had a crush on Alm, and recognized that Alm liked Celica better.  You’d think that an obsessive, awful character would hate Celica or never want to see her again.  Instead, she’s thrilled.  She actually missed her.  Faye’s people-driven.  I think it ties into that desire to prove herself; people are important to her, and she wants to be important to them too.  Except Silque for some reason.  I have a theory on that, though.

Faye’s dismissiveness is at the outset, where Silque’s offer of friendship is largely about wanting to talk about things “not for the ears of men.”  Basically, gossip, which just isn’t Faye’s deal.  Faye’s really direct about it, and comes across as rude, though I think a lot of the annoyance with this support is because it does the trope thing with “No, I just want to be near Alm” kinda nonsense.  By the end, Faye does apologize for being rude, but sticks to the fact that she doesn’t want to gossip about anything, but does want to learn more about Silque herself.  It’s not until she’s been around Silque a while and seen Silque’s persistent attempts to befriend Faye that Faye herself warms up a bit and starts to accept the offer.

Here’s how I think of Faye’s character.  She’s people-centric, but in the sense of wanting to have very close relationships.  She cares about her friends from the village, which absolutely includes Celica, but now all those friends are going off to war with enthusiasm, aiming to become heroes, and Alm’s becoming the leader of the army and drifting further and further from the group.  Faye doesn’t like that.  She likes her friends and everything about her life before they joined the Deliverance.  Hell, her final support with Alm is largely just about going back and living as they did before being her only wish.  Silque’s new.  She doesn’t hate Silque, but she doesn’t want all these new connections drawing everyone apart or ruining her hopes of returning to the old status quo.  She pushes Silque away because, as she’s said, she’s not interested in other people right now.  Alm’s the centerpoint of her fixation, but on a bigger scale she just wants everyone to live their quiet lives.  Once Silque’s been with them a while, though, Faye starts to open up a bit, and accepts that okay, she does like this person, and maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to have one new friend here.  It takes her time to branch out.

Which I think also helps explain the fixation on Alm.  Imagine how this would’ve played out when Celica first shows up.  You have this close group of friends you really care about, and one in particular you’ve got a serious crush on.  Being a very, very simple boy, Alm responds to her in the same way he does in their supports; amicably, and without fully realizing, or at not acknowledging, what Faye’s feelings are.  So you’re pretty sure he likes you back.  Then suddenly, a new girl shows up in the village.  You have no idea what her deal is, but now the boy you liked is only paying attention to her.  While you’re playing with all your old friends, the person you want to be there most is off somewhere else playing with the new girl.  Given Faye’s natural inclination toward the status quo, this is a huge deviation.  It’s not just upsetting because you’re crush shows feelings for someone else, it’s upsetting because now the friend group seems split.  As the new girl sticks around and integrates more into the friend group, you get used to her and consider her your friend too, but your initial response is probably very similar to how she’d react toward Silque; dismissive and unwilling to even try being friends.  There’s even stronger emphasis on Alm, because he’s the one who keeps leaving.  I’m sure at some level, there’s concern that if she doesn’t tether herself to his side, he’s going to leave forever.  Her A-support is even all about that, asking him point blank to go back to Ram and being told he won’t.  And all things considered, she handles it well.  There’s still that self-depreciation, telling herself she should’ve known it wouldn’t happen, but on the whole, all she asks is that he understand she can’t just set aside her feeling for him, “at least until we part.”  There’s no hysterics at being told the feelings aren’t reciprocated or anything, and she’s even able to acknowledge that she’ll move on, it’s just going to be hard while they’re traveling together.  Which, frankly, is super fair.

All this to say...I get why people don’t like Faye.  She doesn’t get a ton of screen time, and almost all of it is spent talking about Alm.  Which is why we need support conversations in the first place!  Yes, Echoes added supports, but almost all of them are...frankly, pretty shallow and don’t offer a ton.  There’s also just so few, and one of hers is with Alm so we kinda know how that one will go.  I think there are pieces of character beneath the Alm fixation that can make Faye interesting.  Can.  I’m also well aware all of this is personal interpretation and extrapolation from scraps.  But because of this interpretation and those scraps...I dunno, I kinda like her?  Not a favorite, but I like her well enough.

[overthinkingkdrama]

Jona's Top 5 Second Male Leads Who Deserved to End Up Alone

[Disclaimer: This list is intended for entertainment purposes. It includes spoilers for the tagged shows. This is just my personal opinion, so I apologize in advance if I’m bashing your fave. I just woke up this morning and thought, “You know, I haven’t pissed anyone off in a while.”]

In the Kdrama fandom much is made of SLS, or Second Lead Syndrome, that is the condition of sympathizing with the secondary character, usually male and usually the hypotenuse of a love triangle, over and above the actual hero and wishing he would get with the female lead instead. Most of the time because the hero is an asshole and the second lead treats her like a human being. There are occasionally examples of SLS regarding the second female characters, but it is far more common with male, because unfortunately second female leads have a tendency to be stock characters or finger-steepling jealousy monsters, instead of fully fleshed out people. God knows I’ve had my share of SLS in every flavor…

But this isn’t a list about SLS, but rather the opposite of that. This is about the second leads I had no patience for. The ones who are a waste of air and screen time. The ones who annoyed me with their shitty “nice guy” attitudes or frustrated me with their passivity. The ones I immediately wanted to punch in the face. In short, the second leads who deserved to end up alone.

5. Kang Shin Woo/ You’re Beautiful

I’ve gone off several times in the past on the infuriating species infesting dramaland I’ve termed the “passive pining second lead”. I really dislike this character type, it drives me up a tree. So you knew going in one of these boys was going to end up on this list.

It didn’t have to be Kang Shin Woo. It could easily have been Ji Hoo from BoF or Kang Woo from Master’s Sun. Or any number of other second leads who fit this archetype. But it had to be one of them.

I can’t really explain to you why Shin Woo earned my particular ire. Maybe it was just teeth-grinding frustration I felt with each successive, convoluted attempt to woo Mi Nyeo. Maybe it was the weirdness of that let-me-stalk-you-via-telephone-while-you-go-on-a-solo-date thing. Or that fact that the male lead was such an unmitigated moron.

Shin Woo managed to miss his window while Mi Nyeo was still crushing on him hard. He had countless opportunities to confess his feelings and just waited and waited until she was almost obliged to fall for Tae Kyung out of sheer impatience. This is the kind of character that makes me want to tear my hair and yell at the screen “USE YOUR FRICKEN WORDS!”

Luckily, there’s an appealing “third lead” in You're Beautiful who saves it from mediocrity, and the drama is otherwise such dopey, fluffy fun that you can’t help but be endeared. Jeremy saves this from being higher on the list.

4. Lee Ji Hoon/ The Best Hit

Talk about a character who has one of the worst cases of “Nice Guy” syndrome I’ve ever seen. Lee Ji Hoon was one of those characters I was initially rooting for, since Best Hit’s ambiguous love lines appear to leave things open ended as far as the end game couple was concerned. For the first half of the drama it seemed like things could go either way, and the friends-to-lovers dynamic between Ji Hoon and Woo Seung was endearing and heartfelt.

Also Kim Min Jae is pretty. So, so pretty…

For a while I was worried he was going to fall into the “passive pining” category, remaining silent, and losing his chance. But finally he made up his mind to confess and I was ecstatic. Yes! Go for it! And that was just about when it all went wrong.

The way a male character handles rejection and disappointment is make or break in my book. It takes them farther than charisma, looks and even moral fiber. (Give me a pirate or a conman over an entitled asshole.) And for me Ji Hoon totally failed this very important test. After Woo Seung told him she didn’t return his feelings Ji Hoon continually badgered and attempted to win her over even when she asked him to stop, intentionally made her uncomfortable, and thrust a surprise kiss on her. My frustration with his character grew until the point were he told Woo Seung that he regretted meeting her first as his friend, after which point he was dead to me.

Despite the potential ickiness of timetravel paternity shenanigans, I was so relieved when Hyun Jae ended up being our male lead. The Best Hit remains one of my very favorite dramas of the year and I still highly recommend it. But if you want to come at me about SLS for poor, poor Ji Hoon, kindly get out of my house.

3. Han Tae Jin/ Another Oh Hae Young

Han Tae Jin had all the makings of a really interesting, sympathetic anti-hero. After all, he comes across like the obvious wronged party in this love triangle. Due to a case of mistaken identity, Tae Jin becomes the target of the jealous spite of our male lead, Park Do Kyung, ultimately causing the ruin of his business, the breaking of his engagement with the titular Hae Young, and getting him sent to prison! Ouch. That’s a lot of angst wrapped in an attractive Lee “Chiseled Jaw For Days” Jae Yoon.

And yet, instead of cutting a fetchingly tragic figure, Tae Jin turned out to be a vengeful, bitter, violent man incapable of letting go of a grudge even for the woman he supposedly loved. He was such an emotionally unstable, loose canon that I was frequently uncomfortable when he was onscreen. If I’m not very much mistaken he assaults Do Kyung not once, but several times, to such a degree that Hae Young ends meeting him to beg him not to hurt Do Kyung anymore. It struck me as incredibly messed up.

I really didn’t want Lee Jae Yoon on this list twice– I have nothing against the actor–which is the only reason his Cruel City character Detective Ji Hyung Min wasn’t on this list instead. I actually like Lee Jae Yoon! Just not the characters he tends to play…Luckily, Cruel City wasn’t extremely focused on the love triangle, it was focused on the pain. I chose his character in OHYA instead because, being a romance focused drama the way they handled the love polygon was more important to me. By the end of the drama they attempted to redeem him and it just didn’t work for me at all. Keep this dude the hell away from me.

2. Lee Joon Hee/ Falling for Innocence

There are a variety of strategies drama writers use to make us root for the jerk chaebol hero over and against the started-from-the-bottom second lead with treats the female lead with tenderness and respect. They give their heroes tragic backstories, slowly grow them into human beings, build UST, and give them melodramatic redemption arcs. The options are basically endless.

But why go through all of that when you can just make your second lead a secret scumbag murderer! There…all sorted.

This was honestly the most confounding bait and switch love line I’ve probably ever seen. When the reveal of who was ultimately responsible for the death of Sung Joon’s fiancé finally happened I very nearly threw my tablet across the room. They go to a lot of trouble to give Joon Hee a sympathetic long time unrequited love backstory as well as motivation for his sometimes morally dubious corporate ladder climbing. They also give him frequent shippy scenes with Sung Joon where he takes care of her and worries about her or vice versa. While in contrast Min Ho is absolutely horrible to her for a good portion of the show, the only thing that redeems him being a literal personality transplant.

They go out of their way to present this like it’s a legitimate love triangle, when given all of the facts it’s nothing of the kind. It makes me wonder why they even bothered trying to get me invested in the character since it turns out he’s actually evil.

Upon rewatch (started this one again rather recently) I had a lot more fun with this drama. Since I already knew what I was getting into I had the resounding pleasure of yelling at the screen every time Joon Hee and Sung Joon get a cutsy or romantic scene, which is very satisfying. The real reason to watch this show, Min Ho’s horrid behavior in the first episodes notwithstanding, is because Jung Kyung Ho is absolutely hysterical. For me it’s still kind of a garbage show with a garbage plot, but, hey, I love garbage.

1. Goo Jung Hee/ Ms. Perfect

There are very few characters in drama land that inspire in me the kind of hatred I felt for Jung Hee throughout this series. There are villians that don’t fill me with such seething rage. There’s a lot of adjectives I could use to describe Jung Hee. Loathsome comes to mind. An incomplete list of others would include: spineless, selfish, sniveling, and “the slimiest weakling ever to crawl the earth.”

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. I hate this so called man. And yet, to my eternal confusion he is loved by and romantically involved with not one, not two, but three different women throughout the course of the show.

Actually, this entry poses a little bit of a problem regarding what we actually consider to be a “second male lead”. For the majority of the list so far I’ve been using the definition of the “second romantic lead” or, in brief, “the member of the obligatory love triangle who doesn’t get the girl” rather than “a male character with lesser narrative importance and/or subordinate billing to the male lead.”

In Kdrama the two things are usually one in the same. Usually, but not always. The reason is a) most dramas place a heavy emphasis on romance b) romantic fulfillment is usually the overt goal or the overt reward of the hero’s character arc and c) if a show ends without romantic closure (dating, marriage, babies ever after) it’s not generally seen as “satisfying”. But there are cases where the character with top billing or greater narrative importance is not meant to be our romantic lead, or even necessarily someone we root for. Jung Hee falls into this category, which made me wonder if I should even include him on this list.

Because Yoon Sang Hyun received top billing and was considered, by all reports, the lead in Ms. Perfect there was a great deal of disagreement and turbulence surrounding the intended endgame of the drama. Sung Joon’s Kang Bong Goo readily fits the mold of the romantic lead but his screen time is about half of Jung Hee’s, so I can readily understand where these concerns came from.

I’m happy to report that Jung Hee remained a subject of sometimes pity, but more often disgust, and the only thing that really disappointment me with his plot trajectory was that he didn’t end up dying in a fire at the end of the show. Missed opportunity IMO. While certainly a weird and flawed drama, Ms. Perfect remained entertaining throughout its run and I honestly would recommend it if for no other reason that Shim Jae Bok is a goodamn queen. There is the notable downside that this character has forever ruined Yoon Sang Hyun for me as an actor, as I can’t even see his face without feeling slightly ill.

I hope you enjoyed my top fave LEAST favorite male leads. This list was requested anonymously and I would be interested in producing other, similar lists in the future. If you have a subject you’d like me to cover please send me an ask or reply to this post and I’ll take it under consideration.

Jona

[itsybitsylemonsqueezy]

4, 8, and 11 for the ship questions please!

Aww, thank you friend!

4. Name a popular ship you don’t get the appeal of.

Mmm... tough call, tough call. I guess Stucky has never really appeal to me. Dunno why, guess I’m just not into Marvel enough ^^; A lot of people I like and respect adore it though, so good on ya friends!

8. Your oldest ship; the one you’ve shipped for the longest time?

Oh jeez... fuck. Welp, Aragorn/Legolas was my first slash ship. Long and ridiculous story there.

Mmm... in some ways my VERY very first ship was Anna and the King from The King and I ^^; DON’T YOU FUCKING JUDGE ME. Rodgers and Hammerstein was my CHILDHOOD okay?! And LOOK at that racist, sexist boat of tragic love!?! Like, how can you NOT ship it??? And it FUCKED ME UP bro, it fucked me up, because he DIES, he straight up fucking DIES in the end of a goddamn broken heart so if ANYONE wants to know where I get my romantic ideals, I need you to understand that prepubescent Lemon was exposed to a GUTTING romantic story that ends in FUCKING TRAGEDY and it imprinted on her as her fucking archetype for all time.

That dance man. That dance... my first acquaintance with sexual tensions friends. And it’s fucking...!!! JUST GO WATCH THIS RACIST PIECE OF TRASH IF YOU HAVEN’T OKAY?! Oh my god, it tore me APART. Ask @amaranthineexcuse we rewatched it for our anniversary, I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT IT.

11. What is a character you can only imagine in one particular ship?

Ohhh mannnnn... I am NOT a multishipper, I am a monogamous piece of trash, so almost all my ships are like... OTP. But there’s a select few that I rally CAN’T ship with anyone else. Hannibal, for example, while he had many sexual partners, I really think can only love Will. And yes, I’m excluding crossovers, no Adam, no Cal, just Will and only Will. Not to say you shouldn’t write those things! They are fun and good and you should enjoy c: But, to me, Hannibal can and will only love Will Graham.

Harvey Bullock I also don’t think I can ship with anyone else except Jim Gordon. Harvey has... already, so many times, said “Take my life, I don’t care, but leave Jim” and Harvey does it in this completely selfless way CONSISTENTLY. Harvey is just... constantly offering up his life for Jim, to Jim. He’ll never love anyone else the way he loves Jim. And while we know Jim and Babs are the canonical endgame if the show decides to stick close to established canon, which... it may not, I think there’s a lot to be said about Harvey being the one and only stable relationship in Jim’s life.

Thanks for the questions, good questions friend cc: