#I outsold with this so it’s going on main

[ladykailitha]

Icarus Part 1

Hello! I know there are a few minutes left of the poll, but there is nothing that could happen in the next 15 minutes that is going to change the outcome.

3 to 1 in favor of the main story first. The only reason I asked, was because that story has been finished a long time, but this one is just getting started. But the masses have spoken.

Original prompt here.

Summary: Eddie and the Corroded Coffin boys made it big right out of high school. So big that Metallica could open for them. Outselling the biggest bands and artists. They are huge. Then a small little indy metal band called The Fallen comes on the scene. They wear hoods and masks and go by aliases. Eddie (and most of the rest of the metal scene) are dismissive of them. More splash then talent.

Only fans don't thinks so. So when Dustin takes him to one of their concerts Eddie learns two things.

One that they are super talented.

And two, that he knows at least of one the members' of the band's real identity.

@mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @redfreckledwolf @emly03 @itsall-taken

****

Getting out of Hawkins had always been the dream. Being able to do it with three of the best people he had ever had the pleasure of knowing with their music? That was the cherry on top of the icing.

But Eddie never dreamed that Corroded would outsell one his favorite bands of all time. Never even crossed his mind to dream about.

But there it was in black and white. Corroded Coffin was the highest grossing band of the year. Metallica was seventh. Fuck they had outsold Taylor Swift for Christ’s sake.

Barely.

But it still counted damn it!

What was a surprise was the number nineteenth best selling band of the year. A band he’d never heard of before. The Fallen. It said the genre was metal in that little italic font.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Yeah, it was impossible to listen to every up and coming metal band. But if they had already hit this big with only their second album, surely Eddie would have heard them on the radio.

Only on their last tour Chrissy Cunningham, their beautiful and amazing manager had put an embargo on the radio because the riffs were finding their way into Eddie’s song writing. So he guessed it made sense that he hadn’t heard of them.

So he called the one person he knew who would have all the details on these guys.

“Dusty!” he greeted when the man picked up. Man. Shit, when did they all get so old?

“Eddie!” Dustin greeted back. “Finally back in town?”

Eddie grinned. “You know it. Dude, you know my tour schedule better than Chrissy does.”

“Maybe.”

He laughed. “Guess who hit the top of the most successful metal bands of the decade?”

“Oh my god!” Dustin screamed. “That’s so cool! Is the issue out on stands yet or did you get a sneaky peak for having made it to the top of their list?”

Eddie winced. “Sadly the later. But! I can bring it over to show you when I come to hang out.”

“That’s acceptable,” Dustin said. “Steve just got back in town, too. That label he works for sure does like dragging him all over the world.”

Eddie hummed. “Yeah? Where’d they send him this time?”

“Japan if you can believe it,” Dustin huffed. “He basically came home sometime around midnight and just crashed.”

Eddie didn’t know what Steve and Robin did for the studio, no one did. But the general consensus was that they were dogsbodies of some sort. Getting coffees for execs and stars, driving them places. Just stuff they didn’t want to hire out for, they made Robin and Steve do.

“I won’t be waking him up if I come over, will I?” Eddie asked, biting his lip. He had a crush on the other man. A large one. But fame and fortune kept getting in the way of something more.

“Nah,” Dustin assured him. “He woke up about an hour ago. He’s even showered and eaten. He’ll want to see you as much as I do.”

Eddie very much doubted that, but he was going to take it. “Great! This list is insane, man. I can’t wait for you to see it.”

“Come over for dinner,” Dustin suggested. “We’ll pour over the list over pizza and beer.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe you’re old enough for beer now.”

“Yeah, yeah, old man,” Dustin said. Eddie could feel the eye roll from here.

****

Eddie was watching Steve in interest.

He was walking around like he was used to being in high heels or something, as he would catch himself on his toes and force his feet down on his heels.

He would jump at Dustin throwing open the door. He kept touching his face and rubbing at his throat.

Robin was constantly pushing tea into his hands to get them settle. When they weren’t cradling the tea mugs, they were all over the place. Not just his face. But his back and stomach, too. Rubbing his palms on the front of his jeans.

“Dude!” Dustin hissed. “What is wrong with you? Japan can’t have been that different from America.”

Steve winced from the sound. “Bud, you are seriously being too loud. I told you that I have a migraine.”

Eddie tilted his head. “Hey do you need me to go? Butthead here said you were fine.”

Steve looked up at Eddie and his expression softened. “I’m fine as long as you aren’t yelling like Dusty Buns, here.”

Eddie chuckled. “I hear that. So how was Japan? When me and the boys went a couple years ago it was so beautiful.”

Steve rubbed his forehead between his eyebrows. “I wish I could have seen more of it. It felt like we were running nonstop. At least we aren’t roadies. I don’t think I could do the work they do. They’re the true beating heart of the operation.”

Eddie nodded. “Our last tour we had twelve trucks of roadies and equipment. It was insane.”

Robin grabbed Steve’s cold tea mug and swapped it with a warm one. Steve murmured his thanks. “I’m still not sure if I’m on this time zone yet. And I worry that this fucking migraine may throw me off even further.”

“Is that why Robin is plying you with tea?” Eddie asked. “To keep you awake enough to go bed at the right time?”

Steve nodded, humming contently over the cup of tea. “Nothing caffeinated, not really. Peppermint for the most part, honey lemon, too. She thinks I might be coming down with travelers’ cough.”

Again Steve made an aborted movement toward his face.

“Stop doing that!” Dustin hissed again. “Why do you keep touching your face like that? Did the Tibetan monks curse you or something?”

Robin smacked the back of his head. “That’s China, doofus! And no, no one has been cursed. We had to wear face masks like the surgeons wear for a lot of the trip because there had been a flu outbreak.”

Eddie nodded. “Ooh, yeah. They recommended we wear them too in certain areas, it wouldn’t surprise me if I was that twitchy when we moved to the Australian leg of the tour.”

Dustin eyed Steve warily, like he wasn’t sure if he should believe him or not, but Eddie had backed him up, so Dustin decided to let it go.

For now.

“Where were you touring again?” Steve asked Eddie after taking a long sip from his mug. “South America, wasn’t it?”

“Right in one, big boy,” Eddie enthused. “It was our first time in some of those countries so it was super exciting meeting the people, learning the culture, eating the food. I swear by the end of the tour we had all gained at least ten pounds and that was with us sweating our asses off on stage almost every night.”

Steve winced. “I don’t know how you guys do it, the stage lights we had were merciless.”

“Years and years of practice, Stevie,” Eddie said, “years and years of practice.”

Dustin turned to Eddie. “All right I think I’ve been patient enough, I want to see the top twenty money makers of metal before I vibrate out of my skin.”

Steve laughed and smacked the back of his head. “You know who number one is, why do you care about the other nineteen?”

Eddie shook his head. “Not just metal bands, my weird little friend. But out of all the bands.”

He pulled out the magazine and Dustin snatched it out of his hands, careful not to rip it.

Dustin was furiously reading the list and it was clear that he was looking for someone specific.

“Eureka!” he cried. “I knew it! I knew they were outselling other new metal bands.”

Steve looked over his shoulder. “Yeah? Who’s that, bud?”

“The Fallen!” he cried. “They are so cool man. They have these on stage personas like Daft Punk and they kick ass on stage. I was so bummed when they didn’t come to Pasadena or anywhere near there when they were doing their US leg of their tour.”

Dustin was going to school at Caltech because as much as he wanted to go to MIT his mom was worried about him being by himself, so he moved out to California to move in with Steve.

He was on campus for housing most of the year, but he came home on the weekends and that put Claudia’s mind at rest.

Steve himself had moved out to California a couple of years before. Robin and him had gotten a job at record company and had to move out there to be closer to the headquarters.

Interestingly, or at least to Dustin, Steve’s friends all found jobs out here, too.

“I saw that one,” Eddie was saying. “But I’d never heard of them are they any good?”

Dustin scoffed. “Are they any good? Holy shit are they good.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “They’re a metal band, no offense to Eddie here, but there are only three metal bands on the whole list. Most of them are pop, rap, or country. How good can they be?”

Eddie scoffed and held his hands to his heart. “You wound me!” Then he flopped on the sofa, playing dead.

“That’s what does make them so good, Steve,” Dustin insisted. “Because there are only three metal bands on the list, it means they had to work their asses off twice as hard as the others.”

Eddie popped up. “Yeah, Stevie!” He stuck out his tongue and Steve laughed.

“You got any of the albums?” Steve asked, with a flippant wave of his hand. “If they’re so good, let’s hear them then.”

A shadow crossed over Robin’s face and she looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t.

****

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

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[marshallmallows]

doing my annual perfect match replay and it just reminded me how much i love this book. the characters, the storyline, and just the intricacies of everything!!! AND the polyamory??!! perfection. pb has made no book better and i hate to say it but wtf happened with their new books 😭 nothing tops old choices i fear

the variation! if you didn’t previously romance hayden or any of the other love interests and suddenly do so in book 2, you receive special dialogue and an achievement. it makes it so personal and throughout the book the weight of your decisions really shines, especially with the love interests and the variants of dialogue!

AND THIS i’m sorry this is turning into a hayden young appreciation but IDC I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

each of the characters are so fleshed out and human. especially hayden, where their main storyline was about finding themselves and reforming their identity. love interests like these are a rare commodity with pb, with so many of the new books featuring love interests that have brains full of sex. (nothing wrong with smut books if that’s your jam, but still. where is the depth???!!)

even damien, and his difficulty opening up and healing from past trauma. but he did it, he made it, and he is happier than ever. and don’t even get me started on the dames and damien switch, no plottwist in choices can ever top it

and SLOANE!!! i love her so so much, she truly grows into her own throughout the series and her ending fits her so wonderfully. helping rehabilitate the matches and give them the life they’ve always deserved? having her guilt for creating them assuaged because she can do good in the world? AMAZING. plus she’s adorable and badass and just everything

tldr perfect match outsold every other book go home <3

[steveharrington]

Why are you uninterested in Will? (me too 🫡, but I just want to know your reasoning)

honestly i think which characters you find compelling tends to be like an instinctual thing but if i were to put it into words i would say… will doesn’t have much of a personality outside of the circumstances he finds himself in. To Me (obligatory these are just my thoughts don’t yell at me i’m not saying you can’t like him) part of it i think is because we didn’t get much time to get to know him before he became The Missing Character ykwim like. mike starts off with a distinct personality, as do lucas and dustin, so when the plot kicks in and they become aware of their horrible circumstances it’s interesting because you’re like “okay i’m starting to know these characters, i really like them, let’s see how they react to the horrors” and i feel like with will, he didn’t get that time in s1 to develop and become a person before going missing. in s1 he’s like… more a plotline than a person. and then again in s2 he’s possessed for a lot of it, and by s3 when we finally get to see will just existing without being gone for 95% of the season or zoned out in a trance like state, he does a whole lot of nothing 😭 like s3 will simply asks to play dnd and touches the back of his neck and has his developing plot line about his feelings for mike WHICH i think is really well done but the pre-teen romance storylines do not appeal to Me personally. basically i feel like i never got a chance to know who will Is as a person outside of being missing or being possessed or now more recently being in unrequited love, none of which give me the character elements i personally need to be interested and compelled by him. plus on a fanon side i am just rubbed the wrong way by the constant efforts to make literally every aspect of the show about him. i am soooooo tired of reading that he’s the main character or that “it started with him” like. el outsold bye

[stunfiskz]

ship bingo roulx x king

ohhh haha you have opened. a very large can of worms with this one. under the cut because this is long and probably me thinking too hard

kingkaard is a bit odd to me both from a fandom meta perspective and a how i personally think of it perspective…. firstly, it’s definitely a ship that i enjoy more so in watching them be miserable than as a happy couple. i think that the nature of both of them- king’s bitterness and cruelty spurred by being abandoned and rouxls’s spineless suck up nature- makes for an absolute trash fire of a relationship. a fascinating one, but like. it’s awful. i think that the way rouxls expresses his dislike for king is fascinating, too, because no matter what he says, he never DOES anything. i don’t think they like each other very much, but they’re kind of the only ones left. it’s very interesting. i also honestly don’t think it’s that far of a stretch to interpret them as having had something going on either (to be clear don’t think its canon or toby fox’s intention when i’m saying this lmao), considering rouxls’s search for a new “evil rulere” in queen is portraying like him attempting to woo her lmao.

but also, i mentioned this before when discussing results from the ship survey (which unfortunately has been scrapped, by the way), but the sort of history i guess of this ship in the deltarune fandom is super interesting to me. i’m pretty sure it’s still the most popular ship for both of them on ao3 despite people not really caring for it that much anymore, and i’m pretty sure that’s mostly because with only chapter 1 out, it was pretty much the only ship option for both of them (well, i think jevil/rouxls was a thing for a bit? but you know, there’s not really any canon notion that they knew each other, and i think seavil outsold.). but that also leads me into the main problem… dear god, finding fan content for this is a trash fire. it’s either way too fluffy and soft for my taste for this ship, and feels really out of character (as well as ignoring things like king’s abuse of lancer), or. really fucked up in a way that i do not enjoy engaging with. so that’s part of why i don’t post about them all that much, lmao. 

also, i would be remiss not to mention that this ship can just be really fucking funny. i almost worry that i got too dramatic with my initial description because goddammit i will ALWAYS be a sucker for characters being haters about each other. they’re that one damn “eating trail mix” “no one even knows you…” “what does that have to do with me eating trail mix…” tweet in my head. just stupid shit like that. it’s very funny.

damn. knew i had a lot of thoughts about them but did not realize i had this many. lmao

also just remembered and i NEED someone to know this. i had my mom, who i’ve played undertale and deltarune with, fill out the ship survey, and she’s apparently a big kingkaard fan so. make of that what you will, i guess.

[randomvarious]

Today’s compilation:

Totally Hits 2001 2001 R&B / Hip Hop / Pop / Pop-Rock

Fuuuuuuck, man. Can we please just go back to the year 2001? Y'know, before *the big main event* happened? Top 40 and hip hop/R&B radio were sooo good back then!! 😭

And here's an excellent collection of radio bops to prove it, put out by Totally Hits, the main, always-runner-up to the ever-dominant Now That's What I Call Music! series. I feel like a lot of people aren't aware of this, but, while the US run of the Now series was originally made up of a partnership between Universal and EMI and all their many subsidiaries, Totally Hits was its answer, provided by BMG and Warner Bros. and all of their subsidiaries. (And BMG also includes Sony, mind you.) So, while Now always outsold Totally Hits and released their albums more frequently, and also had a bigger pool of pop songs to pick from, Totally Hits definitely wasn't a slouch either, especially with this 2001 installment; they had plenty of goods to offer that Now couldn't.

But I don't even know where to start with this thing. Like, nearly all of this CD holds a special place in my heart. Those classic strings from Blu Cantrell's "Hit 'Em Up (Oops!)" ignite and my inner child just immediately activates 🥺.

So I guess I'll just pepper this post with some observations and fun facts about a bunch of these songs then...

Diddy and co.'s "Bad Boy for Life" still bangs hard to this very day. Its beat sounds just as nuts now as it did the day when it first came out 21+ years ago. I mean, I’ve still yet to hear anything else quite like it. And it was made by this dude Megahertz, who also produced Nas' "Got Ur Self a Gun" in the same year. And while the song only peaked at #33 on Billboard’s Hot 100, its “there goes the neighborhood”-themed music video was in *super* heavy rotation on MTV and featured an extended cameo from Ben Stiller, along with other cameos from Xzibit, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Shaq, Mike Tyson, Baron Davis, Travis Barker, Dave Navarro, Access Hollywood’s Pat O’Brien, Fonzworth Bentley, fucking Crazy Town, and weirdly enough, the character actor Richard Dunn, who’d wind up playing a bunch of different roles on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! some years later.

Does anyone else remember that early 2000s rap and R&B fad that was obsessed with making South Asian-sounding beats? Did Timbaland start that whole trend with Missy Elliott's bhangra-infused "Get Ur Freak On"? I could be wrong, but it feels like he did? 🤔

Here's what I think is the most slept-on song out of this entire slate: the remix of Dream's "This Is Me." I actually totally forgot that this song even existed, but this CD helped jog my memory. Do you even remember Dream? No, not The-Dream, but Dream; the ultimately fleeting female R&B and pop quartet that were most famous for that song "He Loves U Not." Anyway, they were on Bad Boy and Mario Winans took the original version of "This Is Me" and remixed it to include a sample of the bells from Bob James' "Take Me to the Mardi Gras," which is one of those samples I go nuts for every time I hear it. I first heard it in Snap!'s "The Power" and I've loved it dearly ever since. It also appears towards the end of Missy Elliott’s “Work It.”

Those who call Eve 6 a one-hit wonder are just flat-out wrong. "Here's to the Night," a soft, Police-inspired follow-up to the catharsis of “Inside Out” (the “heart in a blender” song), only placed two spots below it on the Hot 100.

It’s really funny and interesting how Uncle Kracker (what a stupid name) came out of the Kid Rock milieu as the turntablist in his backing band (lmao), and then, despite being a rapper, rose to immense adult contemporary fame with “Follow Me” and then a cover of Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away” (🎶Give me the beat boys and free my soul🎶). It also seems like Kid Rock kinda followed in his footsteps too, dropping his brash, working class, trailer park asshole gimmick for a quick sec to make “Picture” with Sheryl Crow the following year 🤔.

Remember “I Do!!” by Toya? It was her only hit, but that catchy, midtempo R&B groove was 🔥. Produced by this guy Antoine “Bam” Macon, who then went on to co-produce Nelly and Kelly Rowland’s “Dilemma.” Toya would release one more single after this one, which didn’t fare too well, and then she’d appear on Cam’Ron’s 2002 classic, “Hey Ma,” before falling all the way off.

We gotta talk about Willa Ford too. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that the people who produced “I Wanna Be Bad” also produced a bunch of songs for Britney Spears as well. Willa says she wasn’t trying to copy Britney, but damn, does this sound like a Britney song! Also, what on earth is Eminem friend-and-foe-and-friend-again Royce da 5′9″ doing on this?!?!?

           Oh yeah, and we can’t ignore this from Willa either:

That article was then followed up with this:

Which then allows for the perfect use of this meme:

Is there a stronger trio of singles to come from a rap album than the one that came from OutKast’s Stankonia? I mean, how can you beat “B.O.B.,” “Ms. Jackson,” and “So Fresh, So Clean”? I really don’t think you can. The production group of Organized Noize had a large hand in OutKast’s first four albums, and one of their members, Sleepy Brown, also provides the falsetto parts on the chorus for “So Fresh, So Clean.”

Why wasn’t Craig David a bigger thing in the US? He could’ve been our British R&B king, but he only wound up with two successful singles here with “Fill Me In” and “7 Days.” “7 Days” actually performed better on the Hot 100, but I feel like “Fill Me In” is far more remembered in the States. Anyway, despite his brief showing here, he managed to stay relevant all the way into the 2010s back home. Awesome voice and great beats.

Lastly, Dido’s “Thank You.” This song took such a long path to reach #3 on the Hot 100. It actually first came out in 1998, appearing on the soundtrack to an indie flick called Sliding Doors that starred Gwyneth Paltrow. Then, in ‘99, it was included on Dido’s debut album, No Angel. Following that, Eminem released The Marshall Mathers LP in 2000, which included “Stan,” a song that made the chorus from “Thank You” its own. Naturally, that helped to increased the popularity of “Thank You” itself and Dido then released it as a single in September of 2000. Then a couple months later, Eminem released “Stan” as a single too. Finally, in January of 2001, “Thank You” entered the Hot 100 at the #80 spot, and by April it had climbed all the way up to #3. It then stayed on the chart until September and became one of the biggest hits of 2001.

What a fucking nostalgia rush this whole thing was. Radio was at its absolute peak in these days. Just so many good and fun songs. Take me back! 

More of these installments from Totally Hits and Now in the near offing, so if you enjoyed this post, stay tuned!

Highlights:

Blu Cantrell - "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" 112 - "Peaches & Cream" Missy Elliott - "Get Ur Freak On" P. Diddy, Black Rob and Mark Curry - "Bad Boy for Life" Dream feat. Kain - "This Is Me (Remix)" Usher - "U Remind Me" O-Town - "All or Nothing" Eve 6 - "Here's to the Night" Uncle Kracker - "Follow Me" LFO - "Every Other Time" Sugar Ray - "When It's Over" Willa Ford - "I Wanna Be Bad" Toya - "I Do!!" OutKast - "So Fresh, So Clean" Ludacris feat. Shawna - "What's Your Fantasy" Craig David - "Fill Me In" Dido - "Thank You"

P.S.: I wrote a long Twitter thread about almost all of the songs on this album. I only covered a little more than half of them here in this post, so if you want more observations and fun trivia, check it out!

[columbineyaoi]

trying to make some like-minded friends!

shipping is not that deep — it can be fun and healthy! i am going to post my favorite ones (please tell me you understand the homestuck reference)

tina/bette (the l word)

I WANT WHAT THEY HAVE 😤

mars/poppy

I'M SO SORRY... no not really. it’s not a thing i just wish mars had a gf. i would absolutely love this one under another circumstances. also brunette poppy and mars look like nana main characters

mark/eduardo (the social network)

i am currently reading the accidental billionaires and irl markwardo is pretty nice too you cowards.

eric/dylan

listen to my dylric playlist :) https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5L9b30heU3kfKGKHeFTBpu

mm/tr

you seek out for this. listen to my playlist! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/44HqDjrSsxigGl6px77RBZ

richard/trent

they were so cute together n*nnies dni listen to my playlist instead: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6iJ5cX02DEriMh5W7W5DhO

yuri/jessica (girls generation)

EVERYTHING would be better if these two were together.

lisbeth salander/mikael blomkvist (the girl with the dragon tattoo)

heterosexual representativity

yulia volkova/lena katina (t.a.t.u.)

<3 my girls.

tavros nitram/gamzee makara (homestuck)

og homestuck pairing widely mocked because it’s peak 2012 cheesy yaoi. no regrets.

eridan ampora/sollux captor (homestuck)

my first homestuck otp. look at their baby.

vriska serket/terezi pyrope (homestuck)

BEST GFS outsold kanaya/rose

nepeta leijon/equius zahhak (homestuck)

best brotp AND otp!

the mulholland drive lesbians

:/

skrillex/diplo

GOD is this ship dead.

patrick stump/pete wentz

iconic !

brody/caroline

my rarepair that i think makes total sense.

alex/nate (cobra starship)

best boys

joker/batman

i prefer bottom bruce bc i love to suffer alone

ryan ross/brendon urie (panic! at the disco)

my first slash ship 😮

severus snape/lucius malfoy (harry potter)

i don't even care about harry potter i just think the fan arts are cute.

robert pattinson/fka twigs

god they were the cutest.

robert smith/david bowie

another rarepair that i really like but i think would never work out.

david byrne/lou reed (talking heads and the velvet underground)

rarepair that has like two fanfiction published.

gabe saporta/william beckett (cobra starship and the academy is...)

i am basic and generally like the most popular pairings.

[ghcstvalleychief]

You know whats funny? And why I don’t take VP seriously? They have been saying the same things since before the show came out, I’ve been here since the first trailer and their ‘VP outsold!’ ‘the main ship is boring’ ‘second lead syndrome’ claims have been there since the beginning. So this tells me that to them it didn’t matter how the scenes for VP were gonna turn up, what the actors were like, their chemistry, they would have said the exact same things 🤷‍♀️ And that tells me all I need to know.

The problem that most fans tend to create for themselves is when they raise their expectations and hype something up before they even have a chance to know what they're getting in return. For example, the thing that always seems to happen to me is that I'm always recommended shows that have been hyped to high heavens and have come highly recommended, and they never seem to match my expectations. In fact, they fall so short that I always end up feeling irritated afterwards because I expect more and that's not what I get. I can count on one hand how many times I've received recommendations for something and it's actually worth the hype, because it doesn't happen often.

VP is a perfect example of this concept. So many people hyped it up - from the actors to the shippers - and so many people shot themselves in the foot by setting the bar so incredibly high that I knew the scene (and ultimately the ship itself) wouldn't meet those expectations. It was hyped up too much. People were hyping it up based on what they got from the novel. Fans can lie and pretend as if the majority of the hype didn't come from the actors or the novel or meta posts on here, but that's where the hype came from. I saw so many meta posts on here about this ship and what was going to happen when it finally happened that I expected more and I know I'm not the only one. Show canon didn't give me anything to go on. I never read the novels, so that didn't give me anything to go on either except for absolute disgust (I was told what happened in the novel between VP and no ma'am!).

Are there some shippers who can willingly admit that it didn't meet their expectations either? Yes. There are some that can actually admit to the truth of the matter. But those shippers probably aren't the same shippers who are wasting their time coming for KP and claiming that KP scenes are filler either. I don't think those are the same people. I'll leave you with this before this gets too long - just because you have two actors who are conventionally attractive doesn't mean they can deliver a good sex scene. Attractiveness can't be the only determining factor in whether or not a sex scene is going to be high heat and properly done. There's more to a good sex scene than how attractive the actors are and how raunchy it can get. There's a lot more, but I don't think people are ready for that conversation just yet. I don't think I can talk about it without being shady either so ... I'll leave it there.

[vobocaloid]

alice in borderland spoilers ep 1 and 2 thoughts

honestly now that ive seen Kyuma's game and how it works, now seeing Niragi become desperate is starting to hurt. i know he's a terrible person but he's kind of been scared into his final corner with the legitimate imminent death approaching him. i knew going in not to expect him to have a redemption of any sorts, but i can still feel for him and his past as he remembers how poorly it was. that saying, though he's going to die definitely, he should not sacrifice Usagi's ability to play by attacking her, even despite their issues that remain standing from the Beach. he started a complete bloodbath with his already tense nature then, and he's jeopardizing it even further now that he's had to play with Tatta, Kuina, Arisu and Usagi. all four of them were willing to die on his behalf during this game for him and eachother.

i'm writing my thoughts before i start episode 3, but i'm really wondering what Niragi is going to do in the next episode, and what the outcome of the game will be.

obviously, the main cast can't die, so obviously they do win, i'm curious to how they win it, however.

Also, Kyuma definitely knew he was getting to Arisu with the consistent pedaling of his own friend's death. The parallels of the lifestyles between those two will be Kyuma's demise, i think.

also i miss Karube and Chota,,,, i keep getting emotional seeing them in memories with Arisu.

anyways i need gifs of s1 to remind myself of what had to happen before

they outsold with Dori Sakurada's casting and wardrobe. even all wrinkly, he's still hot as fuck

ALSO????? I NEED AN UPDATE ON CHISHIYA IMMEDIATELY

[baekhvuns]

I made it (aka finished Bodyguard last night - I almost didn't but I had to I told myself "you're not weak, it won't take you 3 days to finish one fic PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER") and MISSSSSSS MISSSSSS BAEK 😭😩🤧 this is perhaps my fave fic of yours, please! I still think real Hwa would be a pretty useless (yet enjoyable) bodyguard, but you convinced me that this lil meow meow can kick ass <3333 I loved how fun Y/N was, I loved reserved yet soft Hwa, they were a perfect match. But when he pulled that cliche "I don't like you" shit I was like??? Ofc the others gave him this idea, smh... I'm glad the old man realised his mistake, but poor Y/N went through so much 🤺 Also obligatory Kai appearance lmao, we love to see him as another supportive bestie!

NOW TELL ME did Y/N close the mafia, did she and Seonghwa live happily ever after?! Did he stay as her bodyguard or just as her boyfriend? Honestly I expected more angst, thought you'll destroy us with either Hwa or Y/N getting seriously hurt, but I'm glad you spared us 🤗 My only complaint? Not enough Dumbles, hellooooo!!!

And I wanna know more about Bodyguard Hwa, what does he like, what's his story, why was he about to be killed before Y/Ns father saved him??? Please, I need to have a talk with him

About the concerts, I think it's also the culture, people in Japan as well as South Korea aren't as wild during the gigs, which is great sometimes, and yeah they're strict with the cameras, but it also depends on the security

Your Bodyguard Woo and Love is Gone Woo need to meet, who would win? I mean your Woo is trained to punch and possibly kill, BUT he's a dumb dumb too...I want fuck boy Hwa to be devastated by Y/N's life story and to feel guilty then beg for her forgiveness 🤗

I'm gonna be honest bestie... I'm not sure about Guerrilla so far 😭😭😭 I love the guitar and screamo HJ, the chorus is... kinda catchy, but it's giving NCT (in a bad way because I dislike most NCT songs, oops) so I'm a bit underwhelmed? Which is crazy, cause the song has a lot going on. Hopefully I find the whole track okay, I don't wanna dislike it and tbh I'm saaaaad I'm still looking forward to the cb obviously, but idk how to feel about the title track 🤧 It's like Turbulence all over again, everyone's loving it meanwhile me and a few of my friends aren't loving it. I love noise and I wanted Rockteez, but I feel like me and my flatmate are gaslighting ourselves into liking it like we did with Maniac lol

I've been staring at photos and videos of sweaty Hwa in a tank top for a bit too long... people need to fucking stop putting him everywhere 💀

Can you believe I never dreamt of Soo Hyuk?! We need to change this. I need a good drama with him as the lead 🤲🏻

Omg you got San that's so fucking funny and Tuxedo Mask - I used to love him as a child, always liked dramatic ass men. Uhhh I got ecstasy 👁👄👁

Also, omg I need to tell you (maybe I already mentioned it, can't remember) I accidentally found a Twitter account of one of my mutuals on Tumblr and... they're so fucking cringe I had no idea? They're kinda an Ateez shooter tbh, pretty obnoxious with their takes, they're not like this here and we had a lot of deep and fun conversations, but this is such a fucking turn off. They literally liked a tweet that said "if you dislike Guerrilla you're not an Atiny, you're a fucking weak ass pussy stfu and be grateful for REAL music" and other similar ones. Their Twitter is full of dumb and embarrassing tweets like "yasssss kingzzzz what a cock-banging song Ateez main slayers outsold your stupid faves their visionis immaculate!!!" and I'm like, huh??? That's so unexpected, help 😭 now I'm glad they're not on tumblr as much so we don't speak that often - DV 💖

hi hello!!!

I made it (aka finished Bodyguard last night - I almost didn't but I had to I told myself "you're not weak, it won't take you 3 days to finish one fic PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER") and MISSSSSSS MISSSSSS BAEK 😭😩🤧 this is perhaps my fave fic of yours, please! I still think real Hwa would be a pretty useless (yet enjoyable) bodyguard, but you convinced me that this lil meow meow can kick ass <3333 I loved how fun Y/N was, I loved reserved yet soft Hwa, they were a perfect match. But when he pulled that cliche "I don't like you" shit I was like??? Ofc the others gave him this idea, smh... I'm glad the old man realised his mistake, but poor Y/N went through so much 🤺  Also obligatory Kai appearance lmao, we love to see him as another supportive bestie!

HELLO 😭😭 IS IT??? ALL TIME FAVOURITE?? EVEN MORE THAN TTWHY??? IM SO SURPRISED HELLO??? JVDWNDJS IT WAS THE “inspo” THAT WOOYOUNG HIT WATCHING A SHOW 😭😭 yes. kai. my best man. glad u like their pairing and that yn wasn’t annoying fbwndhdj the actual bodyguard in question this vid reminds me of him in bbhwa 😭😭 😭😭 

NOW TELL ME did Y/N close the mafia, did she and Seonghwa live happily ever after?! Did he stay as her bodyguard or just as her boyfriend? Honestly I expected more angst, thought you'll destroy us with either Hwa or Y/N getting seriously hurt, but I'm glad you spared us 🤗 My only complaint? Not enough Dumbles, hellooooo!!!

SINCE ITS AN OPEN ENDING! yes! y/n did. close the mafia bc ain’t no way bestie about to be disturbed,,, seonghwa returns more as her boyfriend and the bodyguard part is just saying he still does the thing he did as a bodyguard but in boyfriend form! AYO FBDBDH IF I WROTE MORE ANGST UT WOULD’VE GONE 40k+ also bc angst is yn dying so idk if anyone would want that fbfbf YES IM SO SORRY I REALIZE I DIDNT ADD DUMBLEDORE IN IT AS MUCH AS I SHOILD HAVE 😭😭

And I wanna know more about Bodyguard Hwa, what does he like, what's his story, why was he about to be killed before Y/Ns father saved him??? Please, I need to have a talk with him

yes, he likes y/n & ice cream <3 his story is basically rmr when yn was looking thru his profile? it said he was an assassin for this italian mafia thing and how that same mafia was out to kill him bc (he tried to leave and they don’t allow that but her dad helped bc he was an ally <3) PLS DO HAVE A TALK WITH HIM ILL SCHEDULE THE APPOINTMENT FOR THIS FRIDAY!

About the concerts, I think it's also the culture, people in Japan as well as South Korea aren't as wild during the gigs, which is great sometimes, and yeah they're strict with the cameras, but it also depends on the security

AHHHH makes more sense, it seems a bit more reserved there! surprising but also kinda cool but then u can’t see them 😭😭

Your Bodyguard Woo and Love is Gone Woo need to meet, who would win? I mean your Woo is trained to punch and possibly kill, BUT he's a dumb dumb too...I want fuck boy Hwa to be devastated by Y/N's life story and to feel guilty then beg for her forgiveness ����

LMFAOOOO I THINK BOTH WOULD BE FRIENDS 😭😭😭 omg absolutely i want that man to be on his knees, sobbing hands clasped and asking for forgiveness while she stares at him blankly she better 🔫

I'm gonna be honest bestie... I'm not sure about Guerrilla so far 😭😭😭 I love the guitar and screamo HJ, the chorus is... kinda catchy, but it's giving NCT (in a bad way because I dislike most NCT songs, oops) so I'm a bit underwhelmed? Which is crazy, cause the song has a lot going on. Hopefully I find the whole track okay, I don't wanna dislike it and tbh I'm saaaaad I'm still looking forward to the cb obviously, but idk how to feel about the title track 🤧 It's like Turbulence all over again, everyone's loving it meanwhile me and a few of my friends aren't loving it. I love noise and I wanted Rockteez, but I feel like me and my flatmate are gaslighting ourselves into liking it like we did with Maniac lol

LMFAOOO NOT NCTBDBDBDBD no but that’s completely understandable if u don’t like it bc not everyone has the same music tastes, you’ll probably find yourself liking a different track from the album or maybe the title will grow on u once u hear it!! love the concept and tbh the beat in the chorus like except the noise is rly good! showed my kpop hating brother that and he was like “ayo ayo???”

BUT FBBFB NAURRR NOT THE GASLIGHTING MANIAC 😭😭 i didn’t like manic at all except when they say “manic dhdhdh im a maniac” that what was rly cool! skz songs for me have been a hit or miss! tho if u have some rec pls do let me know! also did not like that christmas noel song idk what it was idk what jyp was doing 😭😭 trying to pull a got7 confession song redo??? also um, garam out?

I've been staring at photos and videos of sweaty Hwa in a tank top for a bit too long... people need to fucking stop putting him everywhere 💀

imagine being an idol and u wore a tank top once and it went viral and now u see it everywhere and anywhere, deserved, but also let’s move on quick! ✨but

Can you believe I never dreamt of Soo Hyuk?! We need to change this. I need a good drama with him as the lead 🤲🏻

YOUVE NEVER?? ITS TIME ITS TIME omg have u watched his handmade love kdrama?? where he’s the lead, he’s so cool 😩

Omg you got San that's so fucking funny and Tuxedo Mask - I used to love him as a child, always liked dramatic ass men. Uhhh I got ecstasy 👁👄👁

“always liked dramatic ass men”

ECSTASY??? 👄👁👄 well damn i got curiosity,,, polar opposite’s

Also, omg I need to tell you (maybe I already mentioned it, can't remember) I accidentally found a Twitter account of one of my mutuals on Tumblr and... they're so fucking cringe I had no idea? They're kinda an Ateez shooter tbh, pretty obnoxious with their takes, they're not like this here and we had a lot of deep and fun conversations, but this is such a fucking turn off. They literally liked a tweet that said "if you dislike Guerrilla you're not an Atiny, you're a fucking weak ass pussy stfu and be grateful for REAL music" and other similar ones. Their Twitter is full of dumb and embarrassing tweets like "yasssss kingzzzz what a cock-banging song Ateez main slayers outsold your stupid faves their visionis immaculate!!!" and I'm like, huh??? That's so unexpected, help 😭 now I'm glad they're not on tumblr as much so we don't speak that often

"if you dislike Guerrilla you're not an Atiny, you're a fucking weak ass pussy stfu and be grateful for REAL music"

oh…..

man i can list some REAL music gimme her @ 😭😭😭 no bc that’s so??? forcing ppl to like something won’t make them like it better tf 😭😭😭😭 ISNT this bULLŸING 😭😭

“yasssss kingzzzz what a cock-banging song Ateez main slayers outsold your stupid faves their visionis immaculate!!!"

im so,,,

here’s a quiz!

is this man ok 😭😭+ this baldie

BESTIE

WHATS GOING KNDGEBDBNED

[harrysfolklore]

@maretameee on insta!!

second blurb today bc i hit 600 followers 💕 love youuuu

btw, this is the shop where the hats are from http://byjonah.etsy.com

ask me anything | masterlist | likes and reblogs are appreciated !

liked by gemmastyles, harrystyles and 81,018 others

yourinstagram i’m running out of outfits and there’s still like 10 shows to go

view all 2,759 comments

harryfan1 a fashion icon

harry_lambert You can always give me ring 👀

↳ yourinstagram you’ll probably put me in red, blue and suspenders so no thanks

↳ harryfan2 THE SHADE 😭

liked by jenniferaniston, yourinstagram and 4,539,006 others

harrystyles Love On Tour. Boston, MA.

view all 75,480 comments

harryfan1 ICONIC

pillowpersonpp Bum bum bum 😍

↳ yourinstagram RIGHT 🍑🤤

↳ harryfan2 THEY’RE SO 😭

harryupdates i didn’t realize that y/n and harry were matching blue and white in their outfits 👀

↳ yourinstagram had to take advantage of the fact that homeboy wore different colors and not red for the first time

↳ harryfan2 yn casually dragging lambert and socializing in harry’s comment section

liked by lookitsnyoh, harrystyles and 81,549 others

yourinstagram i should be the main act of this tour

📸 @paulithepsm

view all 3,598 comments

harryfan1 SHE ATE

pillowpersonpp 😍😍

harrystyles Agreed x

↳ jefezoff Same

↳ yourinstagram 🥰🥰

harryfan2 outsold harry lambert

liked by harryupdates, yourinstagram and 2,578 others

theharrycorner HARRY IS MY BOYFRIEND available now on my etsy shop ✨

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harryfan1 JUST PURCHASED MINE

yourinstagram WTF i need this

↳ harryfan2 PLEASEEE

↳ theharrycorner GUYS SHE ACTUALLY BOUGHT FROM MY SHOP !!!

liked by jefezoff, yourinstagram and 4,107,649 others

harrystyles Love On Tour. Atlanta, GA. I

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harryfan1 THATS MY MAN

yourinstagram alexa play need to know by doja cat

↳ harryfan2 SHES SOOOOO

jefezoff Damn.

harryfan2 MY BABY

[alleunwalk]

tokyo revengers idol au hcs part 3 that no one asked for AGAIN here’s part 1 and part 2 to get a better understanding.  this is what the members would be doing alongside their idol promotions+ what they would post on social media  toman tbh these guys are all just so damn funny on their own that they would constantly be invited to comedy variety shows. maybe perhaps doing something similar to seventeen or wanna one where they even have their own variety show on youtube (ie. seventeen’s-going seventeen series or wanna one’s show on mnet)  mikey-he would post basic food pics like of his parfaits or taiyaki but also it’s rare because he��d constantly forget his password. however on important days he’ll post long emotional and sentimental posts that hit you in your feels thanking his members and fans always. he also has a youtube channel posting random funny vlogs. draken- he has his own personal soundcloud to upload solo mixtapes/songs feat diff members. posts photos of his bikes and different tattoos he would be getting. responds with 1-2 words to fans during fansigns or ig comments but like mikey, once in a while, will also write heartfelt posts thanking everyone.  baji- his ig feed is filled with animals + dance practice vids. also has his own soundcloud too. trolls his members by commenting on their stuff. “delete this u ugly mf no one wants to see this”.  takemichi- very chatty, (sometimes too chatty where he’ll end up accidentally spoiling their next album info) and interactive on social media to his fans. tries his best to respond to most comments or ama ig stories questions. posts a lot of selfies and photos of his members. king of fan service.  chifuyu- beautiful photos of the sky a lot on his ig (in canon he wanted to be a pilot :,) ) along with cute soft selfies. (which baji and kazutora troll and comment being like “damn....u ugly AF!” “lmao stop pretending to act cute u loser”  kazutora- his ig is filled with pure chaos. just pics of him catching his members slipping (sleeping photos where they’re drooling or have their eyes slightly open or making ugly faces behind the scenes). also has photos of cursed memes and memes made by fans. he’s a literal enigma.  mitsuya- very wholesome ig photos- lots of photos of his family, group photos, sometimes cool artsy edited selfies. occasional photoshoot photos.  hakkai- ig is filled lots of #ootd photos and occasional photos from his modeling or acting gigs (he’s the visual, duh!) gets a lot of sponsorships from big brands.  pah-chin: has a joint youtube channel with peyan. they do silly challenges but will sometimes post dance videos (feat. baji) since they’re the main/lead dancers. fans love him because of his “matter-of-fact” responses that are funny without even trying. (example- fan comment: omg i love u guys soooo much u guys are the best in the whole world!!!<333 toman OUTSOLD!.  pah-chin: idk about best in the world but we’ll just take “the best in our neighborhood” for now i guess. thanks.”)  peyan: joint youtube channel with pah-chin. at fan signs mikey has to warn him to chill out cuz peyan will accidentally yell and scare fans without meaning to, but he’s just really excited to meet his fans is all ^_^   angry: posts a lot of wholesome photos like mitsuya (selfies with smiley) and writes a lot of motivational sweet captions cheering fans up and reminding them to always be happy :,)  smiley: joint youtube account with angry. smiley does a lot of prank videos and angrys just usually in the back like  🧍‍♂️... he also does tiktok- he would be doing all the dances, memes, and trends.  inui: ok hear me out, i mentioned before inui has similar vibes as cha eunwoo so i’d figure his ig would give the same vibe as his (iykyk). since he’s the other visual he would be getting a TON of acting and modeling gigs. idk why but i feel like inui would be a great actor (his facial expressions during tenjiku arc, the range!). actor of the year. gets a lot of skincare commercial deals too. 

black dragons shinichiro- photos of bikes, cars, and photos where hes pretending to do a cool pose but his members (+mikey) would troll and comment “LAME!!!!!” “why tf do u look like that?” “hey leader, it’s not too late to delete this now bestie :)” does fun ig lives. on variety shows as a joke his members tease him there as well. really great at fan-service and pulls the whole “pretend boyfriend” scenario with fans (the delusional fans are gonna act up if he keeps this up...).  taiju- (if shinichiro did not exist in this au OR if you wanted both in the group) photos of him at the gym, photoshoot photos.  inui- similar to if he was in toman, his ig would just be a lot of cool and cute photos of him from behind the scenes of dramas or photoshoots. a soft visual king. occasional selfies with koko and bike photos.  kokonoi- has a personal youtube channel but he would be Drowning in sponsorship videos all from high-end designer brands. he’s just casually flexing that PPL in his vlogs. ig feed is a lot of #ootd photos or pics taken with inui. him and inui would be makeup brand ambassadors or faces of brands (ex: like jennie from blackpink represents chanel). in this case kokonoi would be the face of fendi (he wears fendi slides in the manga cover) and inui would be the face of jimmy choo (his heels in the manga cover looked like jimmy choo but i could be wrong.. but u know what i mean) 

tenjiku  izana- pretty leader has a very artsy ig feed. extremely photogenic like inui. has photoshoot photos and candid pose photos. acts in dramas time to time (gg second male lead syndrome).  kakucho- posts gym or dance practice videos on his feed but he posts rarely because he’s just too busy or forgets he actually has an ig. loves commenting on takemichi’s posts “haha no wonder ur called baka-michi!” as a joke.  kanji- posts gym photos but it’s rare because he always forgets his password.  ran- the other visual. he would be modeling for high-fashion brands and go on runway shows. also definitely gives off actor vibes (he would be constantly casted in dark action movies hahaha). loves giving fan service.  rindou- in contrast to his brother, rindou when it comes to fan service, he loves trolling fans. also he’s really good at drawing a line between fans (y’know, keeping the delusional ones in check...which means he ‘friend-zones’ them but it’s for their own good tbh idols need to remind people their boundaries). has a youtube channel where he just posts random dance practice vids and occasional vlogs. also comments under his brothers ig posts “you look stupid af in this wtf”. on variety shows people find their brotherly banter hilarious.  mutou- posts gym photos, also really awkward selfies (he doesn’t know what his angle is lmao). another member who also reminds fans of their boundaries and keeps it real. (sanzu always likes his photos though and hypes him up in the comments).  sanzu- shy baby. constantly following mutou around. posts a lot of cute selfies and random pics of shogi stuff (he tags mutou in it of course). during fan signing/autograph sessions they love putting cute headband props on him like this or this. 

bonten because this group’s concept and aesthetic is mysterious, mature, artsy, gloomy, and dark they will take this concept to the grave. (minus a few exceptions) they are invited to variety/talk-shows but never make an appearance because they want to keep the air of mystery around them. (it’s a good marketing technique).  mikey- does not have any social media. he does have a private account to lurk around but no one knows what it is.  kokonoi- has a youtube channel but it’s locked and you have to pay to get into it. posts super short vlogs and teasers. thats it. (the ultimate scam! but their fans love them too much to notice). lots of sponsored #ootd posts on ig.  kakucho- he would be modeling ONLY high fashion brands and high end editorial places. his instagram is just his exquisite and expensive modeling photos whether it be candid backstage photos from shows, candid runway walk pics/vids, pics of diff photoshoots you name it. doesn’t really comment much.  ran- visual. similar to kakucho- modeling ONLY high fashion brands and editorial places. instagram is filled with modeling photos but also some artsy scenery pics he took.  rindou- posts short artsy dancing clips (like modern dances in black&white filter) on ig.  sanzu- since he’s the other visual, he also posts a lot of his modeling/acting photos on instagram. also pretty chatty (he’s the exception) on social media and loves teasing and trolling fans. posts with a lot of random cute emojis on everything. “just ate lunch and now im off to practice hehe 🍜🍇🤟💃🤠🧚‍♂️💞🦋” no one really knows why he uses random emojis but it’s just endearing lmao.  kanji- no social media at all.  akashi- manager....or if you made him the rapper in this au then he too would also not have any social media. 

[iarasstuffss]

I have an unpopular opinion or maybe not so unpopular...

I hate the current Riverdale situation and while I love Bughead I always try to watch the episodes as a normal watcher and not a shipper.

And while I was watching the latest episode (trying to not fall asleep or die of cringe) I realized the main issue with that particular ship.

The whole relationship based on them being connected by their "superpowers" It's the most forced thing I've ever seen. And while I get the show's attempt at being camp this is not it. And while I get the fans love it because their ship is together for the overall plot it's so out of touch with the show's essence. Honestly, the episode felt so off.

As much as I hated the beginning of b*rchie in s5 (post time jump) I was interested to watch how they were going to explore/handle their relationship, and just as Bughead's s5 angst I have to admit it had potential, not because of their chemistry but for the whole friends (friends?) with benefits thing. And again for that ship that was wasted potential for a possibly good way to start their relationship.

I would have given them a chance if they had carried during the season some kind of connection, tension or longing or even some kind of friendship because.... weren’t they BFFs? (that was nonexistent). And it would have made sense at the end of the season with the "kind of" beginning of their relationship. And maybe (just maybe) would have made me like them or buy it.

No surprise, Varchie outsold in that department.

Also not forgetting the fact that during seasons 1-4 they barely interacted in a way that would allow the watcher to think "what would have happened if these two got together at some point". They could have done it, and at the same time build a great love triangle to keep the watchers interested, but they didn't. (Love triangles are not my favorite trope but when it's well done it's really interesting)

So essentially my point is the problem it's not the ship itself (I think if it was handled differently they could have had potential, they are ruined at the point of no return for me) but the writing that makes them no justice, it's annoying, repetitive, boring, and lacks emotional depth or excitement, It's just an excuse to make two characters (that have nothing in common and no chemistry) date because a small loud (and annoying) population on Twitter decided it wasn't enough being friends (friends?) with benefits who agreed to end it because he was in love with someone else and she needed a real friend, not just a booty call, so no, It's not that it wasn't enough, it wasn’t meant to be. And now the whole show is paying the consequences.

And don't forget their annoying fans that have a high school mean girl wannabe complex.

[daydreamerdrew]

So, I saved my response to an ask as a draft which apparently just deletes the ask and the response, but fortunately I had the question part of the message and my response to it saved in a google doc, so I’ll just be making a post for it.

Question from @theaskingguy

I know that in the beggining Billy Batson / Shazam / Captain Marvel wasn't part of DC and was owned by Fawcett Comics, created as an answer to Superman I believe as well, my question here would be, How do you think his creatin influenced the following media to come? I know that he wasn't very popular back in the Golden Age, even if Shazam was the main source of income for Fawcett Comics, the comic still wasn't enough to save the company (thanks great depression or WW2, I can't remember which event catalyzed the end of the golden age), and still somehow Captain Marvel / Shazam / Billy Batson was relevant enough to survive and make a comeback in the Silver Age of comics, so clearly something was done right there, but what was it? What kind of legacy did it left in the end of the Golden Age that managed to get revived in the Silver Age?

My response:

Hello! You have sent me such lovely questions for this week and I’m very grateful for it! I appreciate the time you spent in sending them to me and I will try my best to do them justice.

I can see how you could come to the conclusion that Captain Marvel didn’t sell well because of the dissolution of his publisher Fawcett Comics, but that is very much not the case! Captain Marvel was an incredibly popular comic book character and was the best-selling comic book superhero in the 1940s. To try to put that into contemporary terms, Carl Captain Marvel-ology! recently pointed out on Twitter that in the Golden Age Captain Marvel on average vastly outsold what Batman sells today.

Captain Marvel appeared in 3 titles- Whiz Comics, Captain Marvel Adventures, and The Marvel Family- and in the mid-40s Captain Marvel Adventures sold 1.8 million copies per issue.

Now, this Quora essay that Carl wrote covers a lot of what your ask has raised, like how exactly Fawcett Comics came to stop publishing Captain Marvel, what made the character so successful, and the character’s impact as it touches on how Superman changed to be more like Captain Marvel; I strongly recommend you read it. (Also, if you’re interested, here is one he wrote on the creation of the character Captain Marvel.)

As for my take on the character’s influence, by the nature of being the best selling Captain Marvel inherently had influence on the comic book superhero industry, but it's a bit difficult for me personally to give specific examples of how other comics changed to be more like his during the Golden Age. I know that there are others out there that could, but I'm just not as well-versed (yet) in other Golden Age comics and I'm not a comics historian. Though I think it's just sensible to think that other publishers would see what sells well and try to replicate that in their own way.

I do think it’s important that the Marvel Family was the first superhero family. Captain Marvel was the first comic book character to have a team of characters with a similar style and powers. We have, of course, since seen many superheroes with similar franchises built around them.

Also relevant to Captain Marvel's influence on the comic book industry is how the dissolution of Fawcett Comics led their creators to work for other companies; namely, Otto Binder going to work for DC Comics. Otto Binder was an incredibly prolific writer at Fawcett Comics and is said to have written over half all of the Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., and Mary Marvel comics published by Fawcett. After he came to work for DC, Binder was then very influential in Superman comics.

As an example of one of the many things that Otto Binder contributed to the Superman mythos, he co-created Supergirl in 1959. Now, Binder had co-created Mary Marvel in 1942, a notable character in comics history as she was the first teen girl hero, the first female spin-off of a male hero, the second-best selling female superhero in the Golden Age (Wonder Woman was the best-selling), and she’s notable for her position as an equal member of the Marvel Family in the 1940s and early 50s. It’s easy to frame her as the precursor to Supergirl. Mary was introduced as Billy Batson’s previously unknown long-lost twin sister and as a young girl spin-off of Captain Marvel, whereas Supergirl was introduced as Kal-El’s previously unknown long-lost cousin and as a young girl spin-off of Superman.

I think that the oral history of Captain Marvel that Newsrama did some years back does a much better job of conveying the impact of Captain Marvel on the comic book industry that I ever could and I recommend checking out the whole thing, but here are a few quotes from it:

Alex Ross:

“The extended family and the overall rogues’ gallery seemed like some of the best in comics history. There was so much creativity then, it was an apex of the art form.

“Many of the simplest ideas, like the quick-change to hero transformation and even lightning as a pivotal element, have been repeated endlessly in countless comics and fantasy characters so as to almost be in the DNA of mythmaking. Exact copycats of Captain Marvel are so numerous but without their success extending to him.

Jeff Smith referred to the original Monster Society of Evil storyline as:

“the first long-form comic. It’s the ancestor of today’s graphic novels - a long story that continued for almost two years in every issue of Captain Marvel, with a beginning, a middle and an end, where they capture Mr. Mind.”

Also, I think I should note here that Captain Marvel was actually the first live-action superhero! His serial Adventures of Captain Marvel in 1941 was the first live-action adaptation of a comic book character and is currently streaming for free on Tubi.

As for what was done right that made the character a success, aside from the quality comics created starring him, I would say that the inherent wish fulfillment aspects of the character, the concept of a child who has a magic word and turns into an adult superhero with incredible powers, it is the appeal of that premise that has made the character so long-lived and why he has had such great success in the past.

The circumstances that led to the character to stop being published were largely influenced by the downward turn in sales that the entire superhero comics genre experienced when WWII ended (not something specific to Fawcett’s comic line) and corporate greed on DC’s end. Around that time, the Silver Age of Comics had a shift in style and tone from the Golden Age as part of a process of revitalization and trying to change comics to re-appeal to the markets. I read Captain Marvel’s position in that be touched on in Captain Marvel and the Art of Nostalgia by Brian Cremins:

Almost two decades after Captain Marvel's final appearance, Larry Ivie, at the close of a long article in his fanzine Monsters and Heroes: The Magazine of Pictorial Imagination, lamented the loss of "the moral values within these well-written stories," narratives "that were so influential upon the children in the 1940s. Writing in 1969, Ivie believed that, because of Fawcett's settlement, "the entire field has suffered."

As for how the character was revived by DC Comics during the Bronze Age (the character was not published for nearly 20 years, covering the entirety of the Silver Age), Fawcett’s settlement with DC stipulated that Fawcett couldn’t print anything involving Captain Marvel without the permission of DC Comics, so Fawcett wasn’t allowed to do anything with the character themselves, but they were allowed to license the characters to DC Comics.

And as for why, I’ll admit that the specifics on who did what within DC Comics that led to them reviving the Captain Marvel character are a bit of a blind spot for me but I believe it was due to a resurgence of nostalgia for the character, there being fans of the characters from when they were kids growing up and working in the comic industry, and Superman not selling well at the time leading to the thought that there might be commercial value in the character that had previously outsold him (and everyone else).

Finally, as for his legacy now, while Captain Marvel is the undisputed king of the Golden Age and that can’t ever be taken away from him, he’s not exactly currently being treated in comics in a way that respects that history, but I’ll get into how his modern portrayals differ from his classic character in another post.

If you’re interested in reading more on this topic, I’ve made a list of Marvel Family history reading recommendations here.

Also, since I’m talking about Fawcett Comics, I feel obligated to give some recommendations. I think that it can be easy for modern comic book fans to dismiss Golden Age comics out of hand and assume that old stories would have no appeal to them, but I would strongly encourage everyone to give them a chance! At the same time, I’m obligated to give the warning that comic books published in this time period don’t always portray people of color respectfully and that there are racist caricatures depicted in some Marvel Family stories, so that is something to keep in mind when reading comic books from the 1940s. If you’re a modern day Captain Marvel or Shazam fan, then two Golden Age issues I’ll recommend to just get a feel for the old stuff are:

Whiz Comics (1940-1953) #2

This is where it all began! The first story in this issue is the very first appearance of Billy Batson, Captain Marvel, and the Wizard Shazam, as well as the villain Dr. Sivana. It’s Billy’s origin story as Captain Marvel, their very first superhero adventure, and where Billy got his job at Whiz Radio. This is a historic issue and it’s been scanned in absolutely beautiful quality which you can view for yourself at the digital comic book museum, a site that hosts scans of comic books that are in the public domain.

Captain Marvel Adventures (1941-1953) #88

The third story in this issue explores Billy’s life before he met the Wizard Shazam. In addition to establishing more of Billy’s backstory, this issue exemplifies things you’d miss about what Billy’s life looked like after he met the Wizard if you just read the origin story like the distinction between Billy Batson and Captain Marvel as separate people. I also think the story pairs well with Whiz Comics #2. This issue is unfortunately not in the public domain, but scans of it made by fans can be found online.

[shinaus]

shinso as a dad

request: the thought of hitoshi being a dad is overflowing my mind, if possible can you make some dadtoshi(like dadzawa) content to make our hearts go uwu? also im calling him dadtoshi from now on whenever shinso as a dad content I see. - anon

pairing: hitoshi shinso x reader

a/n: my shinso brain go brrr

man, oh man

honestly i think shinso would be one of the best parents in the bnha universe

like by far

growing up he had a hard time in terms of acceptance so he would ensure his kids are aware of just how loved they are

this can either mean if he was to become a teacher himself like aizawa, or when he has kids of his own

you can bet if he does go on to teach he would be the one that everyone crushes on

i mean think about it 

unruly hair, eye bags, turtlenecks and trousers teacher shisno?

lord take me now 

his class would be one of the best in the whole school just like his mentors used to be - doing everything in his power in ensuring his pupils have the best high school experience possible

i think he would teach similarly for sure, a little bit of tough love with a lot of underlying genuine love and pride over those kids

the main reason i think he would be so incredible though is this:

his forte? teen angst

the second he’s in the presence of teenagers he knows exactly how to handle them, talking them through anything they think as they begin to grow up and understand the world a little better

them: begin self doubting

him, bringing out old records he listened to from under his desk: try these and get back to me

got voted favourite teacher ever year he worked there and is his biggest accomplishment yet

has the plaques up on his mantle

now

talking about his own kids?

oh boy

like i said, best parent

but with his own kids you better believe that they are his entire world

would do anything to protect them and you, watch him be at his most nervous when his partner is pregnant since he wouldn’t be able to watch your every move like he would so desire

even outwith this context he would do anything for you

but you want someone to get you a hot pack? craving snacks at 2am? he’s got you

absolute best boy

the only thing that would concern him would be how much of his quirk, if any, his kids would inherit

at this point he would have very much perfected his quirk and proven that it can be more than useful in the world of heroes

but he understands the struggle of other people, kids in particular, don’t always see a person for who they are at first

so if they do, he’s going full 100 on protective

standing at the gates every day to pick them up, making it well known who their dad is

though he would never let them see him worry

every night he would come to bed with you, cuddling into your side and airing out his worries as you rub his back

as he became an adult, shinso became so incredibly strong

both physically and emotionally

he still spends some nights feeling his anxiety spike at the thought of his kids having a hard time because of him

if only he knew that they had gained the same strength he has, fighting off the bullies if they ever tried to come for them and proving that their quirks are by far the most powerful

god forbid those babies end up in his high school class though

boy would never let them out of his sight

but

to conclude

shinso outsold, unmatched

[blueikeproductions]

Well it’s officially official, IDW isn’t doing anymore Transformers after this year.

Over all I can say I liked IDW’s take, but there’s definitely a lot of stuff towards the middle and end I wasn’t a fan of. The various Beast Wars books and the original trilogy Movie books pry remain my favorites in particular, and I’ve generally had a positive experience with MTMTE despite not really enjoying how the final arcs went down. (Though the Functionists using Primus like Unicron was kinda funny in a meta sense).

The true loss, personally, is the Beast Wars ongoing. While Rocky in spots, it’s the first true fresh take that wasn’t a strange inbetweenquel or forced prequel to the original cartoon, it was finally a proper reboot going it’s own direction with a couple of new characters to keep the cast fresh. And it was all the better for it, and its a pity the book will inevitably have to be rushed to finish the story. The one solace I take is the book outsold the main G1 book quite a bit, so it shows theres a strong demand for Beast Wars content that I hope Hasbro will take advantage of.

What this means going forward? Going by Twitter specifically, and admittedly I don’t especially trust Twitter’s opinion on things, a lot of the younger-ish, queer fan base cultivated by MTMTE wants females and gay robots to continue, and basically just wants more MTMTE style stuff in general. (Which makes the whining about wanting no Earth and no humans weird when the Lost Light Autobots we’re pretty much twenty something hipsters who adored earth culture and humans and would’ve thrived on the planet. And that’s not including a story that took place on a holographic version of Earth, so yeah…). Anyway I think the situation is two fold.

I don’t think female robots and gay characters are going to go away (the former is especially silly with the influx of ladies like Strongarm, Scatterspike, Clobber, Shatter, Filch, Glowstrike, RBA Whirl, Shadow Striker, Airachnid, Skold, Nyx and Windblade being the new token Smurfette over Arcee these days). Gay characters could go either way, they’ll be there but it might just be limited to Knock Out and (possibly) Arcee and their romantic interests starting out, along with the possibility of gay human ally leads. The key thing to keep in mind, and I could be wrong, but there’s a slim chance the new book is going to be a MTMTE type thing again. Not right out the gate anyway. As much as some people don’t want to hear this, the new book is likely going to be a “safe” book featuring a conflict on Earth between the Autobots, their human allies and Decepticons. Once enough butts are in seats with the appeal of a traditional conflict, then, if sales are good, they can afford to do something more… exotic?

Again, anyone expecting MTMTE/Cyberverse out the gate are probably going to be disappointed. At most, a G1-y story with smatterings of Prime, Bayformers, Devastation, and maybe even the upcoming Nick show for brand synergy, is far more likely for now.

A splitting of the difference could be an opening arc focuses on a small crew of space fairing Autobots and Decepticons (one led by Bee and the other Shadow Striker) who are following a lead on something (probably the Allspark or some kind of wacky new age relic knowing Hasbro) and after some space adventures and a dogfight, they crash landing on Earth. Both trying to blend in, find the relic and manage to contact Autobot/Decepticon High Command for a rescue/backup and the story goes from there.

It won’t happen specifically like that, that’s just off the top of my head, mind you.

Whatever happens next, hopefully it does well and attracts a lot of people to be able to do more experimental things as it goes on.