#THE END OF EPISODE STINGERS ARE SO GOOD

[favcharacterpoll]

ROUND 6 MATCH 3: CECIL VS. C!WILBUR

Cecil Palmer from Welcome to Night Vale faces c!Wilbur from the dsmp. @10piecechickenmcnugget get over here sage

Cecil Propaganda:

"Cecil is not only the Tumblr sexyman, he is the first gay protagonist of a podcast that most of us have ever heard. From the very first episode he was unashamedly queer and no one has ever called him out or given him shit for being gay. He is a gay Jewish fashion disaster who is the mouthpiece for an incredibly bizarre town and plays the whole “this horrifying thing is completely normal”thing so well. If Cecil wasn’t there, I think a lot of people wouldn’t have felt so accepted for just being who they were. Cecil is an inspiration and the queer podcast rep we all deserved as we were growing."

"he’s gay. he’s a dilf. he’s ageless. he has been since there’s was nothing and he’s still here after the world ended. he can summon music. his mother is a oracle his father is a tree. his cat is a man who got cursed and also has wings a stinger and poison??? he thinks a tutu and crocs is formal wear and has talked to god and she said ‘I love you. I’m sorry’. he’s definitely guilty of manslaughter from negligence"

"this is the website Night Vale built!"

c!Wilbur Propaganda:

"Accurate depiction of mental health and spiral, handled delicately and deliberately, every piece of his story was thought and planned and in the end he went home to Utah. Thank you lord."

"Please don’t let the name dream smp effect how you feel about this submission, this character is completely unrelated to dream and I’m pretty sure the person who played him has nothing to do with dream anymore. This man single handedly got me through a horrible patch filled with extreme paranoia by also being extremely paranoid. Genuinely really helped me feel seen and I coped a lot by getting invested in this character. I almost cried when he died :("

"He’s so fucking stupid. I could infodump for hours this man transed my gender. Everything has gone wrong in his life. He’s the definition of a bisexual disaster."

"I didn’t fail 10th grade math bc I was thinking about c!wilbur for him to lose round one"

"I mean look at him!! his Minecraft skin is adorable!!!"

"if you people vote for cwilbur i'll draw him in a bikini."

"A VOTE FOR C!WILBUR IS A VOTE FOR GIRLBOYS EVERYWHERE"

"i should not have underestimated minecraft fans they came together"

"Season 1 changed me. I didn’t know minecraft videos could have good acting, dramatic plots, etc. Wilbur was one of the best there. His plot was so interesting with the L’Manburg and the unfinished symphony arcs. He was funny, dramatic, sad… I fondly remember my dsmp days (though I only saw up to like part of Tommy’s exile)"

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - it was a pretty darn good time, frankly

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Feb 2024 Wk 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

The Sign (Sat YT) ep 12fin - Everyone looked like they were having a lot of fun in the fight sequences. I’m very happy for them. I’m not surprised they shot Khem and Chart. A little shocked it wasn’t also Yai, TBH.

I found this final episode rushed. According to rumors, The Sign was originally slated to be 14 eps, and it probably should’ve been. And I don’t say that often about Thai BL. But we all knew it was getting too bloated for its britches, so I'm not surprised they fumbled the ending. For me personally, it just wasn't that bad. It was fine and I was fine with it.

Tho, Billy does not look good with facial fur, messes up those gorgeous angles.

I was ultimately amused that the solution to the mythology thread was simply to talk to the river god and persuaded him to give up... off screen. It felt very old school wuxia. Or like Aeschylus or something. I did adore the stinger, Saint was basically like “I want wings too”. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

This show is literally everything (except straight) all at once. It's BL, queer, band of brothers, romcom, erotica, PNR, fated mates, police procedural, fantasy, mystery, suspense, and slasher. It’s the king of genre mash-up chaos. Sure, it's madness but there is genius in it. Was it a crazy unhinged mess +1 roll for damage? Yes. Yes it was. Did it manage to hold all those tangled threads together? No it did not. Was it also a charming, sexy, engaging, non-stop piece of entertainment? Sure thing. I think this show is basically my KinnPorsche, and frankly I’ve been chasing that dragon naga since KP aired. Is it perfect? No. But it was balls to the wall FUN and that gets a 9/10 from me.

I'm thinking of doing a full recap review (partly because I have so many great screen shots.)

Cherry Magic (Sat YouTube grey) ep 10-11 of 12 - Since this series is following the yaoi so closely, I knew these were the separation eps. (Also I knew with would be a soft non-doom ep 11, Japan rarerly does these.) I like that they used it to show improve communication and development in all relationships, but, frankly, TayNew are just best when they are TayNew together on screen. So yeah. Let’s keep them back together, please?

Meanwhile, TayNew gifted us a gorgeous loving sweet sex scene. Thanks OG for doing us a solid. 

I wanna add, it sure is fun to see New play as soft and vulnerable character, I feel like he hasn’t done that since SOTUS. 

(Read all about distribution issues here.)

Cooking Crush (Sun YT) ep 12fin - 1/3 of this is a sweet romance about a student doctor falling in love with a student chef, and the rest of it is utter dross. Look the OffGun bits were GREAT.. In fact, I think they’re better AS A PAIR in this show than in any of their other BLS. And I'm a hard sell on any OffGun being better than PickRome. Saying that, how can I review a show where I could only tolerate 1/3 of it? Because I didn’t like any other aspect of this show, no other pairs and no other plots. That gives me: 9/10 for the OffGun bits, 5/10 for everything else. Frankly it probably should be an 8 but I gotta go with my gut and it's upset about this so 7/10. Sorry boys. It’s GMMTV’s fault. Your heart was in this show, mine wasn’t. 

City of Stars (Fri iQIYI) ep 4 of 12 - These two are so good at making heart eyes at each other. It’s ridiculous. They don’t need any cartoon images or noises. Moot crush but "I wanna flirt and court more" is so flipping awesome. I love this for them… and us. 

1000 Years Old ep 2 of 12 - It’s very silly and we have been gifted with the dorkiest vampire ever. But... the smell thing makes me so happy. And I like that the vamp uses chan/nai or tan = v old fashioned. Nahlak. I love our ghost girl. Did you notice she wasn’t in the room with them but they left an empty chair for her? Also nahlak.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Perfect Propose (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 5 of 6 - Kai was pretty much just “you're a workaholic but I basically married you whether you like it or not.” SMOOCH. What can I say? I'm a sucker for this dynamic.

AntiReset (Taiwan Fri Viki/Gaga) ep 5 of 10 - How is this show so cute? How do they both love and hurt each other so much. They are both just scared of loosing each other. Gah.

Unknown (Taiwan Sat Youku YouTube) 1 of 12 eps - Youku dropped the first ep to their YouTube channel but I doubt we can expect that to continue. Still, it was nice to be able to watch it in a convenient way. I enjoyed it. But I am cautious about it. Of course this is possibly two of my favorite tropes of all time (stepbrothers or a variation + hyung romance). So I’m looking forward to the romantic thread, but from the gritty style, it feels a lot more like a Taiwanese short. Which means it could go very dark and may not end happy. 

Although I Love You and You AKA Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 7 of 10 - I just don’t know if the main couple should be a couple. But when they finally get around to talking to each other, they sure are lovely. Also how great is it to see a uke initiate a kiss? Even if it’s not a very good kiss. 

My Strawberry Film (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 2 of 8 - I am still not sure about this one. I am not contesting its quality, just saying it’s not for me. Also I’m not wild about what amounts to basically a redo of everything that already happened in the first episode from a different perspective. I know it’s a tall order with Japan, but I would like (when it’s a short series) for each new installment to actually move the plot (such as it is) along in someway. Am I asking too much?

It's done but I have no time

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - will binge when I have any spare time. 2024 is crazy busy for me so far.

The Servant and the Young Master - from Vietnam, it's on YouTube. I will give it a try when I have a window of time.

Began Beginning (Myanmar YouTube) - A Burmese BL? @heretherebedork vouched for it, so I will give it a watch.

It's airing but...

Dead Friend Forever (Thai iQIYI) - rumors are it's interesting but full of unlikable characters. I'm waiting to know how it ends.

Ossans Love Season 2 (Japan Gaga) - 5 years later, will anything have changed? This is Japan so… probubly not. I won't be watching this. I disliked Season one and actively hated the follow ups. No thank you.

Playboyy (Thurs Gaga) 14 eps - Dear Playboyy, it's not you, it’s me… I hate you. You’re about as deep (and as palatable) as a shot glass of cum. While I'm sure you’re someone’s kink, you're my weakest link. Goodbye. I DNFed this at ep 5. Frankly I'm impressed with myself for getting that far. Ends next week TF.

Time the series (Tue Gaga/YT) 10 eps - dropped it at ep 4.

A Secretly Love (Thai WeTV) - I tried but I can't get into my WeTV account anymore and I'm way too lazy to figure it out. Should I bother to go grey for it?

To Be Continued (Thai C3 Thailand YT) - High school sweethearts who had a bad break up reunite when both of them have full time jobs but coming out is still a problem. You can watch this on YT but it has no Eng Subs.

Next Week Looks Like This:

We're light on content right now, but frankly I'm so busy with work I don't really mind.

3/6 Born to be Y (Thai ????) 10 eps - 14 contestants who audition to compete in Born To Be Y, a program that searches for the best couple of the year to work together on a giant project. Described as semi-reality series. So I probably won't bother.

3/7 Deep Night (Thai iQiyi) 10 eps - Multiple romances set in a host clubs. Nice to see First back on my screen but this is not my favorite setting.

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

The eyes have it.

Your random BL moment brought to you by my ult-bias being a hyung smartass to his maknae.

(Last week)

[sprunkrat]

I have some thoughts about Amazon's Fallout TV Show.

The show is of course disrespectful to West Coast Fallout, but in a more insulting way than just having the many iconic elements of the classic games be reused over and over again. You start to really feel as though that Bethesda resents the success and continued interest in New Vegas, and while that may be true, it doesn't explain the mountain of references to both the classic Fallouts and New Vegas.

I assume there was need to appeal to the fans of the West Coast, as the TV show is a large event and they would make a portion of viewership. There's all sorts of things sprinkled in, the Brotherhood is fashioned to be more medieval with monk robes and rituals, one of the props used for a pistol is a recreation of the stupid Hard Boiled magazine-fed revolver from Fallout 1. These references are all just borrowing from the aesthetics from prior games, though. It was probably expected that FNV fans would be happy with this representation alone.

Maybe they didn't see that there would be such a negative reaction to flattening all that has been built up in the West Coast, people would just be happy to see the NCR and New Vegas, even though they were nuked or left in ruin. Maybe people would point at the screen when they saw Robert House, not caring that his inclusion contradicts his ideology and goals in FNV. Why would they change the West Coast so much? Well, maybe they don't know what to do with it after FNV. Or that the fact that the West Coast has actual nations and progress doesn't fit well with Bethesda's view of the series of just being a perpetual apocalypse where you can explode raiders' heads while listening to 50s music. There is another reason I haven't seen discussed, but I need to first write about another part of the show that bothered me.

There's definite anti-capitalist themes in this show, as there is in all of Fallout. The Fallout show is different in the way that they aren't particularly background, just told in old world terminals and other storytelling. They are front and centre to the final few episodes of the series, but told in a very bad way. It's not the general system of capitalism caused America to keep declining to it's eventual fall anymore, it's rather disappointingly been changed to simply a shady cabal of evil capitalists that decided to drop the bomb because it would be profitable. And don't worry, the group trying to fight back against this aren't actual communists, they are rich Hollywood actors, so it's all good, they aren't like actual communists who deserve how they are treated under this America. It's rather a boring way of going about it.

It's the use of the line "War never changes." in the scene where this is all revealed that made me realise a potential reason why the slate in the West Coast was wiped clean. I think they are interpreting "War never changes." as "The world will always be in a state of perpetual war, new societies will arise but they will always fall as violence and cruelty is innate to human existence." rather than "War doesn't change despite how it's fought; no advance of technology or reasoning will change how pointless it is and the end result of suffering and destruction."

To demonstrate this, the NCR must fall. Just have Vault-Tec nuke it like they did for the old world, no matter how unsatisfying of a fall for the NCR that may be.

With the Marvel-esque sequel stinger of New Vegas being a setting of season 2, I'm morbidly curious if they will continue to mess up further, but maybe it's time to just let go and stick to the old games that I actually enjoy.

[my-writings-and-musings]

Who's ready for some more Earthspark appreciation and Bumblebee simping?

Here's a favorite moment of mine regarding Bee being an absolute badass in episode 18, because I adore how his capacity to be a dork is only matched by his ability to take names.

Spoilers under the cut below, plus a criminal amount of Bumblebee thirst!

So we get RIGHT into it with Bee in the arena, looking pretty worn down already but possibly more determined than we've ever seen him. It's a pretty big shock after his absence for the past few episodes to say the least!!

He takes a nasty hit to the jaw, yet recovers swiftly, putting his defenses back up even when it's clear he's not doing so good. You can see him forcing himself to focus through the pain and it breaks my heart every time because MY BOY

But then you get a look at who he's fighting, and everything gets so much worse. Brawl is easily a third taller and at least twice as heavily built, complete with some built in weapons that would only take one solid hit to end the entire fight. It very quickly becomes apparent this is a fight of strength versus speed, but neither side is especially lacking in either.

Bumblebee dodges effectively, narrowly missing some MAJOR hits while getting in a few of his own, and actually proves strong enough to hold both of Brawl's fists at bay. You can see he's struggling, but if not for a well aimed headbutt from the bigger bot he might have held him off!

They exchange more hits, with Bee landing quite a few out of sheer athleticism (if someone could GIF these scenes I'd be eternally grateful because pics do NOT do them justice) before he's hurled to the ground and Brawl makes it VERY clear this is a fight to the finish. Bee reacts accordingly.

After dodging a number of near stabbings, he transforms and utilizes his altmode, taking out one of Brawl's legs before transforming back and trying to make use of his Stinger... which he remembers (and we learn) far too late has been disabled. This gives Brawl enough of an opening to grab Bee and CRACK HIM OVER HIS KNEE LIKE HE'S FREAKING BANE. But does that stop our boy?! Not for more than a few seconds, and he picks himself up JUST in time to stop what would have been a possibly fatal hit.

Then, after enduring all that damage and exhaustion, he manages to end the fight by HURLING BRAWL OVER HIS HEAD AND CRACKING HIM DOWN ON THE CEMENT LIKE HOW???!?!!

There's no sense of victory though, just Brawl getting hauled away and Bee looking utterly exhausted, his frame seizing up before he collapses from it all... You can tell he's had a rough go of it after having to leave, and the expression he makes when Brawl is hauled off just hammers in the tragedy. He doesn't want to fight any of these bots! Which sucks even more, because his only immediate reward for surviving this fight is to endure another.

Look at him I know he's three times my height but I need to COMFORT HIM

Thankfully he's reunited with the Maltos, and after enduring even MORE suffering, complete with a shattered arm and nearly having the literal life drained out of him, what does our Scout need more than anything?

A nap.

Sleep tight my beautiful prince.

I think of this scene frequently, can you tell? I definitely didn't have a great time watching Bee display a ridiculous amount of athletic prowess or anything, just, you know, appreciating a good character on a good show... Because this may be my favorite Bee and my favorite piece of Transformers media, and the bar is HIGH.

Please feel free to share your Bee thoughts, I have accepted I simply can't get enough, and my inbox is fully open for Earthspark requests.

[oneatlatime]

The Chase part 2

Apologies for the technical problems. Battery power must be conserved for necessities, which unfortunately does not include Avatar. But the power's back on now, so!

Picking up from Toph treating a senior citizen like a snooker ball...

I do like how Mai's not shy about participating in Ty Lee's nonsense.

The way Zuko Jr. says "I'll follow this trail" is very menacing.

We're continuing last week's cowboy theme.

This village has the same menacing single windchime as the village in the Spirit World Part One did.

This was may more satisfying than I was expecting! It was completely unfair how easily the Fire Nation ladies defeated Sokka & Katara so getting Appa'd was a nice payoff.

No disability unmocked this episode. Also nice stance from the lizard.

This whole scene with Toph and Iroh has the most beautiful backgrounds. I sense phone wallpapers in my future.

Forget about the visuals, every line of this exchange was golden. Two towering pillars of wisdom and emotional maturity meet for tea and not a soul goes untouched. Also a nice moment of calm in an otherwise frantic episode.

Can this PLEASE be the rock bottom for Zuko. I can only take so much more second hand embarrassment.

Fully-provisioned princess of the fire nation v. sleep-deprived half trained avatar v. starving outlaw who seems to have forgotten to bring his swords, the only weapon he's good at. Place your bets, folks!

Zuko in a nutshell.

Ok so we're getting the whole gang back together.

The whole whole gang.

The whole whole whole gang.

How the hell did they mess up six on one?!?!

A princess can't surrender with honour when she doesn't have any!

That was kind of Katara to offer to help. I didn't expect that.

Final Thoughts

This episode doesn't let up once. Even the break with Toph and Iroh having tea doesn't do much to dispell the rising tension from the chase. The musical stinger that plays over the title card was a surprise bit of foreshadowing in that way.

That tank thing was neat. Shame about what it contained, but that's a really cool design.

Poor Appa was once again the MVP this episode. It was uncomfortable watching him get so exhausted.

It seems like the thin veneer of level-headedness cultivated by Katara over the last season or so is indeed quite thin. It was interesting to see how the different characters reacted to being tired. Sokka was alternatively amped up and completely chilled out, Aang got quiet (until he felt Appa was being insulted), Katara reverted to her early season one characterisation. It's hard to say with Toph, because we've only known her one episode (it feels like more) but I think she just got more Toph-like.

Please let this be the end in Zuko's experiment with independence. He's not good at it. He needs uncle. Points for trying, but he failed, so please bring uncle back.

Sokka low key wins this episode. He's the one with sense, the only one who stays clear-headed when it counts, and it turns out that clear head of his can defeat the pokey thing Ty Lee does.

I don't know how much time is supposed to have passed between picking up Toph and the start of this episode, but I can't help but feel that Toph really got the short end of the stick here. She did give up everything, even if much of what she gave up was not that great for her personally. And in return she got to travel in a way that completely blinds her and get yelled at. Meeting Iroh was a nice consolation prize.

Now I kind of want a story where Toph doesn't come back to the Gaang and instead goes around unleashing bending hell on the earth kingdom.

Was there no b plot or c plot this episode? Everything kind of collided in the final couple of scenes, which I did not see coming.

Frantic is the word I keep coming back to for this episode. Everything fit together nicely. I'll definitely rewatch it when I have the chance to do so in one sitting, without unforseen technical problems.

[evelili]

okay I’ve been reading your magnum opus fic and I’m at the chapter with fluttershy and the manticore and GOOD GOD this fic is amazing. Your writing of twilight is stunning. Her steadfast belief in science at the start seemed odd but now that her past bullying has been revealed it feels like she was just clutching to the one thing that couldn’t hurt her. God sunset getting possessed is so cool and I am TERRIFIED of when twilights going to be forced to see her like that. Your characterization of Celestia blows me away, she’s this perfect mix of a loving mentor and a woman who would do ANYTHING to keep her demons locked away. I really like how you write that there’s this shift between her when she is talking to twilight normally vs when she’s talking about magic. She goes from loving to almost cold, it’s brilliant! I’m halfway through fluttershy’s chapter and good god. Applejack’s speech about it not being Twilights fault she got bullied and having to trust her in spite of all that has happened nearly brought me to tears but GOD. Twilight being a bit possessed by the manticore is such a cool shift from the original episode it makes it all so much more intense. Fluttershy and twilight talking about how twilight didn’t deserve to be bullied and it’s alright that she didn’t get over it!!

“Something’s wrong with me,” she whispered back, her mouth dry with guilt. Fluttershy nodded carefully, the stinger still inches away from her throat. Twilight didn’t trust herself to move, and instead added, “I don’t mean just right now. There’s still—” She choked on her words. “I didn’t get over it,” she said instead. “I couldn’t. Not like you.”

Like!!! This bit right here fucked me UP. Your descriptions of the emotions she’s feeling and how she’s expressing it physically between her mouth and her voice and how the wings and scorpion tail are reacting are BRILLIANT!!

Twilight didn’t try to move away. “But I’m not better,” she admitted. Fluttershy’s hand brushed against her cheek, gently tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. “And I don’t know why.”

This line is the one that broke me and made me write this. GOD. I don’t have words besides just. oh my god. Fluttershys gentleness is so good and so heartbreaking and I love it

I’ll be honest I’m not yet sure how to write long comments on fimfiction, but when I finish this fic you’re eithering getting a long ass ask in your inbox or a comment on there if I figure it out. Love this fic so far!!! Ah!!!!

AHHHHHH tysm for taking the time to write such a lovely comment!!! like holy shit you have just given me enough serotonin for WEEKS omg, it makes me so happy to know that you're enjoying the story!!

celestia is a rlly interesting chara to me, and im super happy w how the version of her in the fic turned out! actually, most of the reason for the 30k epilogue jumpscare is that i really needed to properly resolve her "arc" with twilight, so if you are a fan of this version of her please look forward to that! and, sunset as a "villain" was something we only saw briefly in eqg1 (and for my tastes, i wasnt a huge fan of how it was done) but there's so much POTENTIAL there i couldnt help myself in exploring it :)

chapter 5->act 2 is the real "turning point" i guess of the fic in terms of tone, and even tho it was a struggle to write shy's chapter i think over time i've rlly come around to liking how it turned out :D in the fic i ended up writing fluttershy as more of a later season version of herself (less cowardly maybe?), but the essence of her chara to me is someone who can be kind even in situations when she is receiving unkindness in return. and sometimes, this "fighting fire with kindness" is actually the only solution, and one that only shy can find.

wahhh i never know how to properly express how much i love and appreciate these sort of detailed responses, so please also accept a little doodle of the scene you mentioned liking as part of my thanks!

[beetlebugdash]

My live thoughts during The Owl House finale! (Major spoiler warning!)

Why so late at night for this finale

But 10/10 for disney for doing a marathon before the finale

WHY AM I ALREADY TEARING UP IT HASNT EVEN STARTED

HERE WE GO

Oh the song

It hurts OWWWWWWWWWWW

ALL THE CHARACTER GROWTH

Here comes the tears 

Oh that wasnt the episode?

Black screen?

Oh no different dimension

HEY!

bELOS?

Creepyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Im just as confused as you luz

DID STRINGBEAN JUST SAY HI?

I dont like this

NONONO PETREFICATION

O MY

LUZ VS AMITY?

Nightmareeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

EDA WHATS GOIN ON

NO

Oh shush lilith 

ITS ALL THEIR NIGHTMARES

Willow?

Are they puppets now and their living through the nightmares?

Nice suit evil dream Gus

NOT THE SHOVE

O gosh not hunter

A WITCHES BATTLE?

Its a witches duel

ITS NOT REAL!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

SMART VERY SMART

Now its the title!

And on a rubix cube

REUNITED YAY

THE KISSES AW

RAE RAE

DONT TOUCH FRANCOIS

Dog?

Belos is acting horribly sus rn

MANIPULATION EW

NOT FRANCOIS

“I can imagine”

WAIT HOW DID IT HAPPEN

EDA’S PALICEMAN IS ALIVE!

“Itty bitty spiders”

Kid dosent understand death….. Owch

Thank god there isnt any commercials

HES ALIVE?

RAINE FIGHT IT FIGHT IT

AMITY MOVED

WAIT I DIDNT KNOW THERE WERE COMMERCIALS

I DONT WANT A HACHIMALS FAMILY VACATION

NO

Ooooooooooooo owl house marathon monday (at 8pm smh)

Finally were back

JUMPSCARE PACMAN

10/10 music

Stinger hehe

Marbles?

KING ACTING LIKE A HAMSTER

JENGA!

The blushing and sadness awwww

Lucky number 13 hehe

USING THEM PRONOUNS FOR THE COLLECTOR

THEIR JUST A KID 

COLLECTOR LORE!

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Abandonment issues ow

COLLECTOR IS AN INNOCENT KID!

ADOPT THE COLLECTOR 

THE LIGHT GLIPH

NOT BELOS

YES FIGHT RAINE

RAINE VS BELOS

“IM DONE” AHAHAHAHAHA

THATS THE TITAINS HEART

WAIT OWL HOUSE ABRIDGED YAY

Uh ohhhhhhhhhhhh

NOT THE MERGE NO

Im scared mom come pick me up

LIGHT GLYPH

MISS LILITH teehee

SAFETY FOR LUZ

Back to the owl house

“The bird house”

Series recap! Tying all the episodes together!

TALKIN ABOUT SPINOFFS

The mountains!

Kindness and forgiveness

Scary animation

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Holy crow thats a lotta magic

DID RAINE DIE?

YEAAA COLLECTOR MAGIC!

tHAT DOSENT WORK COLLECTOR

NONONONO

AMPHIBIA?

WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Oh my OH MY WHAT

EVEN HER MOM KNEW

KING AND EDA ARE PISSED

IM PISSED

Yep shes really gone wow

Dimension portal?

OW

Who what huh

HOOTY?

KINGS DAD

IN GHYPH PJS

BAD GIRL COVEN TSHIRT

“King and queen, best of both things”

AW BEST PARENT AWARD

Is that king andrias’s va?

THE BOILING ISLES

POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aw saying something to king TELL ME

Epic music is epic music

Rest in peace

CAMILLA IS AWAKE

Uh oh 

ARE THEY PULLING A SVTFOE?

Theyd better not be

YOU BROUGHT PAPER YAY

THE TEARS AND APPOLOGIES

BOOM

NEW FORM LUZ

WOA

LONG HAIR AND MATCHING EYES TOO

YOOOOOOOOOOO

COLLECTOR HELPING!

SMOOTH ANIMATION

AW

BOOM LIGHT

THE GLYPH IN THE MOUTH

Woa skys above

THE SMILE

NOT THE FLIPPING COMMERTIALS

FINALLY

Whistle?

RAINE!

AW

TEH KISSING

“Fluffier?”

AZURA SPEECH BUT LUZ

OH NO COLLECTOR

NOW EAT THIS SUCKERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Is he gone for good?

“I dont feel so good” -belos

AW THE ACCEPTANCE

ITS SO PRETTYYYYYYYYYYYY

Philip?

Oh just kick him already

KICK HIM YAY

Transformation sequence?

Back to nomal form aw

I LOAF YOU AW

Aw

IS THAT HOW IT ENDS?

STEVE!

AW REUNITED!

GAY KISS!

DARIUS AND HUNTER!

Idk how i feel about the music?

THE CUDDLING!

KISS!

HOOTYS LASHES

FRANCOIS!

Awwwww at least the collector gets a happy ending

No more glyphs…

Awwwwwwwww

LUZ!

COLLEGE?

TIMESKIP

PORTAL WORKS!

AWWWWWW

HUNTER MAKES PALICMAN

A flapjack gravestone awwwwwwwwwwwwww

THE MUSTACHE

LILITH GLOW UP

AMITY LOOKS AWESOME

Prof bump the gardner awwwwwww

Oooooooo new power

DARIUS AND AMITYS DAD SHIP?

Raine looks GOOD

GUS LOOKS COOL

EDA YESSSSSSSSSSSS

Eda became what she feared, a headmaster

KING-CENERA AW

A DRESS AND AZURA CAKE

Wow king is big

Aw a shooting star!

BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Oh that was a PERFECT ENDING!

[sezija]

Ok i think i’m actually going insane not talking abt this so fuck it

Dragonwalker Hiccup AU

My fic of it, set during HTTYD1; basically just a prologue

Ramblings underneath (like, a lot. i’m warning you.)

So basically, Dragonwalkers are humans who, when they fall asleep, turn into dragons. Just go watch Wolfwalkers actually it’s a very good movie and the concept is very hard to put into words, i’ve found.

Anyway; thoughts. Many MANY of them. :)

Valka’s had her dragon form (a night fury) her whole life, and lived on an island w her family AND a family of Night Furies. (Night Furies live in family packs, w the parents leading/raising/teaching their children (they only have 1 egg at a time, and only lay up to 3 in their whole life) until they’re old enough to get their own mate and start their own pack. (When a Night Fury pair’s children all have left and started their own families, they will sometimes join their children’s packs since they can’t hunt and fight on their own that well as they get older.))

And bc thw sucks and Grimmel, a man who is still alive, somehow killing off an entire species of dragons is stupid, i’m using my sibling’s idea, which is that Grimmel’s family has been hunting Night Furies for generations. It’s a family tradition basically, tracking and killing them until none are left. (And every person in his family has been killed by Night Furies, further motivating them.)

So Valka’s family (dragon&dragonwalker) were all killed, and only she escaped, ending up on Berk. Fell in love w Stoick, tried to make the vikings stop killing the dragons, was taken by Cloudjumper, the usual. She reunites with Hiccup early, during RTTE, just bc i want them to kick dragon hunter ass together. The war w Drago happens later.

Also i’m completely discarding the whole “king of all dragons” thing, it doesn’t fit w how i want this world to feel. Also toothless sucked as Alpha, i dont want that. And what i’ve always liked abt the HTTYD dragons is that they’re animals. The whole “king of all dragons” kinda,,, ruins that. So that’s also gone now.

I’ve been having a lot of thoughts abt how dragon flocks/packs/pods work, and these are my current ideas;

A “Flock” is a group of dragons of different species, under the control/protection of an Alpha (the Red Death’s flock, (Valka’s) Bewilderbeast’s flock, that one flock of dragons in RTTE s2e8-9 “Edge of Disaster”)

A “Pack” is a group of dragons of the same species, under the control/protection of a leader/queen/etc. etc. (speed stingers, fire worms, terrible terrors, (night furies in this AU))

A “Pod” is the same as a Pack, except for Tidal-class dragons specifically (a pod of seashockers, scauldrons, etc.)

The whole franchise is very inconsistent abt this so i’m working w what i have ok

The “Great Beyond” was separated from Berk/Berserkers/etc. by a heavy wall of fog all around them. There were some spots you could cross, used by traders and such, but the rest of the world has stayed pretty separated from this one corner of the world that experiences Dragon Raids.

However, after the Red Death’s demise, the fog has been slowly dissipating, allowing more to cross over; this way, the riders taking hours and hours of exhausting flight to reach “the great beyond” AND Gobber somehow making his way to Dragon’s Edge on a small, rickety boat both make sense; the more time passes, the easier it is to cross.

A lot of the conflict in the series comes from the human characters not understanding why the dragons are doing something, so giving Hiccup the ability to communicate with them takes away a lot of it, which i’m not happy abt bc it means i need to come up w my own stuff >:( (communicating w the dragons is actually kinda difficult in human form, since his hearing isn’t good enough to hear a fair amount of their vocalizations, and his throat isn’t made for producing those sounds.)

Anyway, my thoughts have been specifically focused on one episode of RTTE, my favourite one since i first saw it, up there w Dire Straits and Enemy of my Enemy; s3e8 “Stryke Out”.

In this AU, hiccup is taken by dragon hunters in his dragon form, taken to a dragon fighting ring. He’s worth a lot to them, being a Night Fury (this is what the art at the top of the post is depicting). He’s caged up for a few weeks until the news of a Night Fury in the ring spread enough, and he has to start fighting. The Riders figure out where he is due to these rumours, and interrupt his fight with the Triple Stryke 3 days into him being forced to fight the other dragons, the same day Ryker came to collect his cut of the money again.

Anyway, that’s all i rly wanted to get out rn. Just. Obsessed. Hiccup becoming crueler and much less forgiving towards dragon hunters after this experience. He’s seen their cruelty many times before, but being caged and muzzled and forced to hurt other dragons if he wants to live, dependant on them for food, even for the capability to eat it, bc of the hook they put in his mouth, really just... changes him. God i love torturing my faves <3

He would take the Dragon Fliers&their Singetails so personally here.

anyway, art;

(i forgot to add his chin scar in many of these oof)

[heytherecentaurs]

Notes about the finale of Mentopolis:

It's so good. It's soo damn good. just great.

I think this is one of the most fulfilling seasons. It wraps up so well. The finale has some big moments, the players take big swings and Brennan is his classic self, delivering the thoughtful and funny narration and commentary we all expect and adore. The worldbuilding this season is very interesting and so well done (and I still think it's more Osmosis Jones than Inside Out); the set design and dome projections are next level. This has instantly become one of my favourite seasons. Brennan's fact about diners originating from dining cars is one of my personal favourites—that style would go on to become the Googie architectural and design style, probably most famously found in the Welcome to Las Vegas sign.)

I love how much Freddie enjoys being at the table. He really has a fun time. It's evident in Dungeons & Daddies and D&D Chaos too and I'm glad to see him having so much fun. Exploding twice was an amazing moment and really helped make it feel like a finale where the stakes are high. The fact he managed to succeed felt earned. His commitment to his character's vaguely Laszlo Cravensworth voice was so wonderful.

Siobhan is so incredible. She's so funny. She's been killing it with this unhinged impulsive (sorta Rowan Berry-esque) character and she's looked amazing all season long. Everything she does is iconic.

Alex's play style is really sorta chill and subdued. Not that they don't make big moves but it all seems somehow understated in their performance. Also 57 being their favourite number because of Heinz was so funny and they really wrecked everyone with that one.

I loved Hank as The Fix. He was such a sensitive tough guy and he dropped some very wonderful nuggets of wisdom. I'm so happy he got to be on D20 and I'm even happier his cancer is in remission. I know he was nervous because while he spends a lot of time talking this is a different medium and he isn't an improv actor or pro ttrpg player. But he does very well. The fish monologue at the end was bad ass. His line when Pasha N. comes and he can't think of any facts is flawless.

Danielle had her big moment last episode but she has really knocked it outta the park all season. I didn't know her before Misfits & Magic and she continues to be impressive.

Trapp was so funny all the time. Whether he was doing his own bits or just tacking on a stinger to the end of other players' bits, he was a master at humour. Hunch was such a good character. I love a gumshoe and he really falls into the classic film noir trope of a detective who basically tumbles through a mystery getting beat up and having misfortune befall him. His joke about foot stuff at the end is such a good call back.

[darkmasterofcupcakes]

What are five pros and five cons you would give to Hazbin Hotel?

Gonna start with the cons, because I like to end on a positive note.

The Pacing. This was something I had a feeling was going to be a weakness of the show from the time I saw the trailer and learned that the first season was going to involve the next Extermination, especially when it was confirmed the season was only going to be eight episodes long. The twist in the first episode that the next Extermination was happening in half the time helped a little, but it still meant we skipped over months between episodes, with it being implied important stuff did happen that we just didn't see.

While I think it's better than Helluva Boss in balancing it's main cast (I love that show, but the uneven attention given between all of the main characters is one of the biggest issues it has), it still has some trouble with making all the characters feel fully like "people"? Niffty probably being the biggest example, since I love her, but right now she feels more like a living punchline than a real character.

The tone can sometimes be just a little...off with how it feels like we're supposed to feel. Best example being Sir Pentious death. The characters react to it like it was a serious event, because for them, it was...but the death itself was treated as kind of a joke? And I understand the show is a sort of dark comedy, so to an extent I expect stuff like that. But I think at that moment, the switch from "joke" to "you're supposed to seriously grieve this character" felt a bit too abrupt?

This is a completely personal thing, but as I've mentioned before, I don't love the whole sideplot of Sir Pentious having a crush on Cherri Bomb? It felt like it came out of nowhere, whereas most of the other relationships that seem to be a thing in the show were at least given hints in the Pilot. And it's just another example of the pacing being break-neck, since they had Cherri not show up until episode 6 of 8, and then Pentious dies in the finale, so they had basically two episodes (and not even full ones, just some scenes) to try and convince me of a romance, and, maybe it's just my arospec self, but....I couldn't really get convinced at all.

It's kinda hard for me to really think of issues I really have with the show, so I gotta kinda cheat a bit with this last one, since I can't help but wonder if they would've left the scene out had they known from the start of production that they'd get more seasons, but I personally don't love the whole stinger that reveals Pentious ended up in Heaven after Adam killed him? Not so much because I don't like the idea that he ended up there - I like that part. But I kind of feel like his death would have had a bit more impact if the audience did genuinely think he was gone for good for longer than like...fifteen minutes.

And now for the things I loved about Hazbin Hotel

The songs are arguably the biggest highlight of the whole series for me. I don't think there's a single one that I wouldn't happily listen to, whether in or out of context. From what I've seen I apparently don't have as high of an opinion of some songs as others, but I legitimately love all of them. I don't think there's anything I could say about any of the songs in this show that could be considered anything close to a real critique.

All of the characters are an absolute blast to watch. Yes, some of them don't have the most depth so far, but that doesn't change the fact that I just love to watch them whenever they're on screen? And it's not just the main cast, either. Obviously I love all of them, but even with fairly limited screen time, I found myself absolutely adoring whenever I got to see characters like Carmilla Carmine, Zestial, Velvette, and Rosie on screen. And all of the characters are so interesting and fun to imagine in different scenarios. And since I'm a writer, that is one of the biggest pros a series can have.

While the show is arguably more of a comedy, it is actually very good, in my opinion, dealing with some pretty serious topics when it wants to. The biggest example is Angel Dust's struggles with what he goes through thanks to Valentino, but you also have things like Vaggie's past and how her hiding that effected her relationship with Charlie when the truth got revealed. Or the whole thing of how it's implied most of Heaven didn't know about the Exterminations and that being revealed to them caused a lot of tensions, particularly between Emily and Sera. Or even just the whole thing of how Carmilla discovered how to kill Angels...but doesn't want it to be known what she did because she doesn't want to cause a war and lose her daughters, when the whole reason she learned that Angels could be killed was because she wanted to save them.

The character designs are some of the best I've seen in a long time. It really feels like the team took full advantage of the fact that it seems like there's no set rule for how demons can look in their version of hell, and so they went absolutely nuts with it, in the best possible way. Pretty much every single character has an incredibly unique design, and they're all just so fun to see. It makes the whole world feel so much more alive....slightly ironically considering it's the main setting is full of people who are technically all dead.

Outside of the one I mentioned above, I really like how basically all of the relationships in the show are handled, from the romantic to the platonic to the familial. They are all extremely varied and obviously some get more real attention than others, but all are given enough focus and attention that you always get the sense that the characters care for each other very deeply, especially by the end. And because you feel those bonds, you are even more effected by what the characters go through, because you feel like you're part of that group of people who care for one another. And I love that it also applies to the villains, with how Lute was clearly devestated by Adam's death, following the show indicating they were close, but usually showing them in what seemed to be a mostly "professional" relationship.

[favcharacterpoll]

ROUND 4 MATCH 10: CECIL VS. AELITA

Cecil Palmer from Welcome to Night Vale faces Aelita Schaeffer from Code Lyoko. Who do you like more? vote aelita please its so much easier to get pictures for her i dont wan tto just screenshot the same image different ways please

Cecil Propaganda:

"Cecil is not only the Tumblr sexyman, he is the first gay protagonist of a podcast that most of us have ever heard. From the very first episode he was unashamedly queer and no one has ever called him out or given him shit for being gay. He is a gay Jewish fashion disaster who is the mouthpiece for an incredibly bizarre town and plays the whole “this horrifying thing is completely normal”thing so well. If Cecil wasn’t there, I think a lot of people wouldn’t have felt so accepted for just being who they were. Cecil is an inspiration and the queer podcast rep we all deserved as we were growing."

"he’s gay. he’s a dilf. he’s ageless. he has been since there’s was nothing and he’s still here after the world ended. he can summon music. his mother is a oracle his father is a tree. his cat is a man who got cursed and also has wings a stinger and poison??? he thinks a tutu and crocs is formal wear and has talked to god and she said ‘I love you. I’m sorry’. he’s definitely guilty of manslaughter from negligence"

Aelita Propaganda:

"The older version you can find, the better"

“She's essentially the guardian angel of a virtual world who's been through hell and back due to being stalked by a malicious AI, smart as a tack, gives as good as she gets with her friends' banter, is a musical prodigy who goes on to DJ for a famous in universe band, and eventually becomes pretty badass fighting against said malicious AI for herself after years spent forced to run and hide”

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

Nov 2022 Wk 2

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying the most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Between Us (Sun iQIYI) 1 of 12 - It got hot and heavy way faster than expected. With DeanPharm the side couple, I just want more of them like I did with WinTeam in UWMA. But yeah, it’s VERY good, thank fuck. WATCH ALONG HERE. 

Big Dragon (Sat Gaga) 6 of 8 - How can this dumb little pulp be so good? Also P’Nine? I will heal your broken heart. The brother zone is rough, baby. The thing about this damn drama is all of the characters are honestly motivated and act in accordance with their personalities. I think that’s mostly why I can’t stop watching. Loved the scene with Yai and his ma-in-law-to-be. Also, nice stinger! That’s one way to come out. Look this was a REALLY engaging ep. 

My Only 12% (Fri iQIYI) 14fin - I really did not expect this show to end on this note. Ah Earth with the crying. I did expect the final episode to be family drama-llama, but this kind of drama didn’t work for me under the context of a BL. I do love the siblings. (There’s a part of me that wanted Prem’s character to be Team. This could work as Team’s back story.) All in all? I found it disappointing. Conclusion: This is a strong little BL romance (tailor made for SantaEarth) about holding onto first love and childhood, but it’s buried under waffling family drama and formless side characters so that it took a lot of digging to get to - still, RECOMMENDED. 8/10 

Ai Long Nhai (Mon iQIYI) 7 of 10 - Nothing continues to happen and exactly nothing will and yet I keep watching. Probably because the nothing keeps getting shirtless. 

Ghost Host, Ghost House (Weds YouTube) 6 of 8 - Cute bfs are cute but... NO SINGING. Adorbs but sad GL side plot AKA dead lesbians got a nod. 

Remember Me (Sun Gaga) 5 of 12 - JaFirst are just great on screen together, I am very invested in their couple but, yeah, no one else. The stuff with Name was really difficult to watch, but Title is a GREAT little actor. 

Love in the Air (Thurs iQIYI) 13fin - Ultimately? Sky needed a therapist not a stalker lover, but whatever Mame. DUMPSTER FIRE TRASH WATCH COMPLETED HERE. I gave it a very reluctant 7/10, recommended only if you know you like this kind of thing. Look you remember in high school drama class where they make you “envision a basket, and put all of your worry, bad mood, and anxiety into that basket, and leave it outside the door”? Well, in order to enjoy this show, you have to do that, only with your morals. Some people have bigger baskets than others. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

My Tooth Your Love (Taiwan Fri Viki) 6 of 12 - I do like a little jealousy from the dentist. Yet another installment in this week”s “please get that uke to a therapist” only this time (unlike LITA) our seme actually gives it an honest try. I might be completely and totally in love with the dentist. I adore how stern he gets, plus he has a very strong white knight tendencies. Also baby boi wanna-bartend with the big-ass crush is giving me life. 

Eternal Yesterday AKA Eien no Kino (Japan Thurs Gaga) 4 of 8 - Am I the only one who JUST realized the actor playing Koichi is Komiya Rio who played Tanaka in Takara & Amagi? I’m so slow. Look all Japanese BL (even the most fluffy nonsense like Kabe Koji) is a little bit emo and exists in a sideways state. It’s gonna go into uncomfortable and uncanny spaces. It’s what it does. This one, given its psychological horror elements, is even more uncanny, to the point of creepy. I’m not a big fan of creepy, and yet I like this show. Japanese zombie incubus? Yes please. Look, I’m utterly unable to back away from the pun, and so: I see seme stiffie can get a stiffie. Puns aside? This was a killer first-time sex scene for something relatively low heat. I’m reminded of Shin’s tongue. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, no one does thirst like Japan. Korea and Thailand can have a winsome yearn-off, and Taiwan is great a pining, but Japan? Japan brings the Thirst. 

Choco Milk Shake (Korea Strongberry Tues YT) 3-4 of 10 - I love this show so much. It made me tear up and then in the second part I was laughing my ass off, because the cat was trying to teach the dog how to stare properly. So funny. Then Pets being worried about their sick human, is so accurate. Is anything funnier than the idea of a cat in a service industry job? I really don’t want this to be sad. Please don’t be sad. In Strongberry we trust is my mantra!

Kabe Koji (Japan Mon Viki) 6 of 10 - I like it more and more as it goes on, but I still don’t think I actually, ya know, like it. 

It’s Airing But I’m Not Watching It

War of Y (Thai Gaga) 20 eps - it’s just all too much for me.

My Roommate (Thai YT) 32 eps of 2 minutes each + terrible production values? - I’m not bothering.

Fahlanruk (Thai Sun GaGa) 12 eps - I cut my losses at ep 5. DNF

To Sir With Love AKA Khun Chai 28 eps - dito

2 Moons 3 (Thai Mon ??) 10 eps - Possibly a future binge watch. Rumor is it’s banal.

SELF (Thai Thurs YT) - DNF

Love Bill  (Vietnam Sat YT) - Bah Vinh is back but I’m too distracted. Also there’s a lot of fund raising and stuff going on. I’ll wait and binge.

In Case You Missed It

Korean GL She Makes My Heart Flutter finished it’s run on YouTube. RECOMMENDED. Full review (not by me) here. Extremely cute, about a lesbian bar run by an aunt and her niece.  

I have no idea if any of these still work, but the spies reported in on ways to watch the Cherry Magic movie (2022) with Eng Subs: BiliBili | Website I liked it, not as much as the original, solid 8/10 from me. Again no kissing, these actors must be expensive. Still with Thailand bringing the high heat with such consummate casualness these days (licking ass and taking names) there really isn’t much of an excuse anymore for no kisses. Even Korea has buckled. 

Gossip

Kpop boy group OnlyOneOf has collectively signed up to be in idol-based BL, Bump Up Business (based on a webtoon of the same name). They’ve been auditioning for this since Libido IMHO. You can watch me chronicle their BL MV series in this post. It’s from Idol Romance who will do sad and can do good kisses (Wish You, Nobleman Ryu, Once Again, Kissable Lips, Poongduck 304, Tasty Florida, Tinted With You). More info here. 

HIStory 5 is coming! Office BL + time travel. “A cheerful and energetic senior student from 2000 travels to the future (2022), works as a deliveryman, and meets his first customer, an heir with a domineering personality.” Nancy Chen to direct (HIStory 4, Papa & Daddy).

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting up: 

Nov 18: I Will Knock You (Thai Fri Gaga) A college kid & tutor confronts the leader of a gang who then turns out to be his next student. Bad boy/good boy + sunshine/grumpy, + younger seme pairing, bully romance. Adapted from korean_rabbit's y-novel of the same name, directed by Champ (2gether).

Nov 19: GAP the series (Thai Sat YT) - 12 ep office set GL. WATCH IT! GL and this studio need our support. 

Nov 2022 still to come?

Nov 24: Happy Ending Romance (Korea Thurs Gaga) stars Karam (The Boss), Ha Jong Woo, and Leo (VIXX). Formerly Happy Ending Outside the Fence - thank fuck they changed the damn title.  

Nov 26: 609 Bedtime Story (Thai Sat WeTV) - another OhmFluke vehicle that’s rumored to be a good story. A one night stand leads to a series of mysterious premonitions and a possible parallel universe.

Nov ??: My School President (?? GMMTV YT) tester trailer here - it’s Love Sick + Korea & Japan's influence.

This Week’s Return of the Shirt of Shame 

Work From Heart wasn’t enough? You had to put it on the prettiest boy in the world? (Ghost Host, Ghost House) 

This week’s best moments?

Oops indeed. 

This weeks earworm: MCND #mood

(last week)

Note: I’m off to France and then Australia, as ya do, so posting may be odd and sporadic and strangely timed. Don’t get excited, it’s work, I mostly get to see the insides of hotels. 

[retrieve-the-kraken]

Heartstopper Season 2 play-by-play analysis

I’ve already written all these thoughts during the last rewatch, but since I’m rewatching again to figure out which gifs I want to look for, I always end up rereading or rewriting something, adding more thoughts, etc. There’s always something to add, something new that I noticed. The next few rewatches will be all about the music, probably.

EPISODE 2 - FAMILY

- “LION FISH VERY TOXIC THEY HAVE STINGERS THAT ARE DEADLY TO THE TOUCH” “THERE ARE MANY TYPES OF FISH. HERE ARE A VARIETY OF FISH” “THAT LIVE IN THE SEA. I LOOKED UP PICTURES OF FISH ONLINE FOR THIS PAGE” “UNICORN FISH TYPES OF DEEPSEA FISH” I died reading Tao’s drawing notes.

- Why does Mr Farouk always look like he’s about to either give the scolding of a lifetime or give terrible news???? Even when he’s saying nice things. I love him, though.

- Isaac looking down at his book as he gets told to participate more.

- IS THAT DAVID THACKERAY telling Ben’s parents that Ben is wonderful? Poor thing.

- If we get Spanish-speaking Charlie at some point, I will cry.

- “I know getting your first boyfriend is very exciting, but…” Charlie’s parents will never know about Ben. The only ones who know are Nick and (somewhat) Tori, and that’s how it will stay. Was it Charlie’s first boyfriend? Technically, maybe, but in all the ways that matter, Nick is the true first, Nick has changed the game for Charlie forever. He shouted it at the sea and everything.

- Here we have the first time that Jane takes a very extreme approach, but of course she doesn’t know that Charlie has bigger problems than being distracted by his new boyfriend. Jane’s approach is complete ban, complete cut off, no in between.

- Olivia Colman, in yellow, like the ray of sunshine she is. But how Sara managed to raise someone as shit as David, when she’s so wonderful and Nick turned out so wonderful, is beyond me.

- The actor who plays David is so good, you just want to punch him.

- “the universe is pulling us apart” “we are tragic starcrossed lovers” “we should run away to paris together” “bring nellie though” “of course”… two dumbasses in love.

- Ugh, Ben seeing Nick approaching so he pulls Imogen closer and kisses her because he knows it’ll piss Nick off… And Imogen being so oblivious that she thinks nothing of Nick’s frown and not waving back. She does look a bit sad that he doesn’t. And Ben looking so smug.

- New favorite character unlocked: Sahar. We love her. I didn’t really get much personality from her in the comics, but here it’s much more fleshed out.

- “Still as desperate as ever”, excuse me? Who’s the true desperate one here? Ben gets this wistful, googly-eyed look every time Charlie appears and looks equally as murderous at Nick every time he sees them together. None ya business, Ben.

- Nick seriously telling Ben not to talk about Charlie, because that’s as much as he can do, or ignore him, but Ben won’t let it go, like he’s not even a little bit afraid of the boy that could snap him like a twig.

- “It’s not my fault he liked me before you”. EXCUSE ME, for one thing, what does that have to do with anything??? And for another thing, you really think that Charlie liked you? I don’t think Ben realizes how much Charlie’s crush on Ben was just that, a crush, but actually liking him would have probably made it harder for Charlie to break things off, and it wasn’t… I think Charlie authentically had a crush on Ben, because he’s handsome and because he took an interest in him, and because there was no one else. But liking him? Nah, that was just wishful thinking.

- “I hate you because you literally assaulted him”. YES NICK, TELL HIM.

- “I was going through personal stuff”. Everyone is always going through personal stuff, you dick. But you chose to “take it out” on Charlie.

- “You hurt him and who knows if you’ll do the same with Imogen.” Sweet Nick. “Do you even like her?”

- “Sorry, am I not allowed to like girls as well as boys?” This might be the first time that he’s been this honest with someone over whom he doesn’t have any control whatsoever. Also Nick’s face when he realizes that him and Ben are both bi, or at least that’s what Ben is telling him. And it reinforces the fear that Nick’s had since last season, that he’s just like Ben.

- “I’ll believe that when I see it.” Ben also thinks that being queer means having to tell the world, otherwise it’s not real.

- Ben saying that Charlie thinks that Nick is perfect, like… sir, you do not speak for Charlie, and you do not know Nick, and you are just trying to make yourself not look as bad, and convince yourself that you could just be as good a boyfriend to Charlie as Nick is, and why don’t you just go to therapy, SIR??? But Nick for a moment looks like he believes him, because it’s been hard for him to come out, he’s only managed to come out himself to two people, his mum and Imogen, and he knows it’s hard, and maybe Ben is right, maybe he’s just like him, maybe he’ll hurt Charlie too by keeping their relationship a secret… Him stroking the pen that Charlie gave him.

- “I’ve had the worst day haha” aw baby, the haha just makes it worse.

- I just realized how much I relate to Nick’s relationship with his brother. Not that my sister was ever as bad as a David, but I wish she had been more of a Tori… Being the youngest and having to deal with an invasive older sibling who just waltzes into your room and looks at your stuff and thinks they know you better than you know yourself… yeah… In retrospect it’s funny how siblings can be so unbearable to each other, and often it gets better when you don’t have to live together anymore, but it’s amazing how we can tick each other off, like no one else can… they did such a good job at capturing that dynamic…

-“If you do have a girlfriend, I want to know about it, she needs my approval”, sir fuck all the way off back to uni, please.

- “We could meet at the park”, and then they meet there and it’s so obvious that their homes used to be their safe places, but now, now they know that it’s each other, they’re each other’s safe place. Recharging!

- Listen, that hug, that spin hug, with the music playing, the joy on their faces as they realize that home is wherever the other one is, it’s just soooooo… it rewired my brain, it was like a deep breath, it’s the epitome of all NickxCharlie hugs. It’s one of my favorite scenes, if not the most favorite.

- I love how we got to see the beginning of Charlie’s serial hoodie thievery. This whole scene is so soft. And Nellie just makes everything ten times better.

- Nick leaning in for a kiss in an open space, and Charlie looking around nervously, because last season Nick was flinching with nerves at the idea of anyone, even strangers, seeing them kiss, and Nick knows this and he has moved past that and he pulls Charlie on top of him and just kisses him like crazy… seriously the amount of kissing this season is magical… And Charlie feeling euphoric as he walks home and sees Nick’s instagram post about him…

- Elle’s new friends are as stylish as her… Naomi’s eyeliner is perfect…

- I love that we get a little more insight into Elle’s experience, and why she wants to pursue art, and why Lambert would be a safe haven for her…

- Tao’s mum being the biggest fan of Elle and being the biggest TaoElle shipper… I’m glad we got a bit more of her, and other parents. Elle’s parents were excellent too (more on them later).

- Nick gathering up the courage to confront Imogen about Ben, because he wants to protect her, but not being able to tell her why, and Imogen getting defensive because she’s just afraid of being alone. And the whole thing affecting Nick and causing him such anxiety that he can’t really focus.

- The big hug and lift, priceless move. (I've lost count of all the times that Nick gives into his urge of picking Charlie up in any way he can).

- “That boy of yours is here”. Elle’s mum being a bit of a TaoElle shipper too. Elle trying to put distance between them.

- Charlie not being a fan of Marvel movies, whilst Joe Locke is starring soon in a Marvel streaming show… poetic. Methinks that, when the time comes for Nick to watch Agatha Coven of Darkness, he’ll have a massive crush on that actor who plays (presumably) Billy.

- “I’ll have something when I get home”, and then when he gets home “I ate at Nick’s.”

- Fucking David, snooping around, disrespecting Nick’s privacy. And Nick’s little “you okay?” at Charlie. David is such a perfect asshole, and I love Nick calling him a homophobic prick, but not being intimidated or anything. “You left a picture of you two kissing on your bedroom wall” “WHY DO YOU KEEP GOING IN MY ROOM?” Yes, David, why?

-Some people pointed out that Nick seems to unfairly take it out on his mum, when it was David, a grown man, sneaking in as he pleases, but I didn't see it that way. Nick's yelling at David, but looking at him mum, or looking to her for support, like going "do you see what he's done??? do you see what a dick your other son is???? please tell him to stop!!"

- Nick telling Charlie that it’s not his fault, and telling him that he’s fine and he doesn’t care, but Charlie had really thought he’d be able to protect Nick from the things that happened to him when he came out.

- Tao’s talk with his mum, it was so sweet.

- Charlie and Isaac being so serious, but also not arguing when Tao said “I know you’ve been laughing behind my back because I’m so oblivious”. And him asking for their help.

This episode was brought to you by HOODIES™.

[lesser-mook]

A female knockoff done right, whom i wish was canon or got her own movie by now (Spider-girl) Mayday Parker

Grew up on some of her stories, usually at the Library when i was bored, so i forgot some fine details. Need to dive into em again.

Given she’s born of the 90′s era of comics she was technically Ultimate Spider-man 2000 before Ultimate Spider-man was even a thing by Bendis. 

As far as Female knockoffs go, Mayday is top 3 spinoffs i actually like, easily.

Number one reason she’s logically the successor because she is the daughter of Spider-man. Not some obscure Cousin that comes outta fuckin nowhere.

She’s not Peter by virtue of her powers being integral to her since birth.

Not something that happens to her by accident, she is a mutant by definition of being born with powers in The Marvel Universe, so that alone is setting her apart from Peter. She’s not clique specific, she hangs with nerd and jocks. 

Which is how you do a knockoff properly- differentiation. 

Closest thing of her i can remember in recent memory in media for her was Ultimate Spiderman XD had “a” Spider-girl but it wasn’t Mayday just a genderbent Peter.

She was lame.

I wanted Mayday.

Funny how Miles’ ended up in his own feature movie before her and Spider-man 2099 put tgoether but they’re graced the light of day in the sequel, lmfao.

Token Black Spiderman gets to skip in front of everybody, no respect.

This was the cover that got my attention to her back in the day:

My first thought was, “wait- That’s not Peter..?”

Curiosity peaked, opened the issue- rest is history.

Then i read a little bit of A-NEXT, fell in love with American Dream, Stinger, Mayday’s various cameros & role on the team. Good ol days.

She (May) could easily carry her own show, and a game. Easily.

Last game i played with “Spider-girl” was Marvel Ultimate Alliance, i MAINED tf outta that Spider-girl skin.

10 Episode Season, a small scale game that focuses on urban storytelling, or a miniseries on Youtube exploring her #0

Something like The Maxx the animated run

Instead of shoving Captain Marvel in our face cause you want a Superman or a Wonder Woman, do something with a character that deserves attention, Marvel.

Imagine if they teased her in No Way Home or had Tobey’s Spider-man allude to her being canon in Raimiverse, I would lose my actual shit.

[cdyssey]

Wishlist (1.03)

LOL, that lady dropping off that very outdated machine and Janine having to accept it with a smile is a distillation of customer service.

What I love and simultaneously hate about this episode is that it calls attention to the very real and bleak reality that so many public teachers face when it comes to supplying their classroom. God, kudos to the show for drawing attention to it, but it’s so harrowing that it’s even such an endemic problem in the first place. Teachers shouldn’t have to pull from their own pockets to give their kids what they need, but they willingly do every single day.

“And I said that’s a few too many questions.” Never change, Melissa.

That red houndstooth coat on Ava oughhdhshsh.

“Oh, Lord, the boy is in the trash.” AKQOQKSJAJSJSN.

“I know what it’s called. It’s called trash.”

“I know that if this feels like you, you might be a serial killer.” Gnenfndnd.

Gregory’s smile when he says he likes clean is so cute.

Looove Ava being a social media savant. She is creative, and it shows in that area, as well as the ways she approaches various problems in the show.

DNWKDNNSNS. “It looks like you went into an office supply store and bought the first five or six posters that you saw.” [Cue Gregory kicking bags under his desk.]

Set design appreciation: Peep Gregory’s desk and how everything is meticulously straightened and ordered. Not one notebook is crooked.

Janine seeing Barb use her last tissue always gets me a little.

“And I know she comes from that generation that doesn’t ask for what she needs.” Yup.

“People like Johnny. It makes them sad.” GNSJWOWQKSSJJA

Ava has an OnlyFans and sends out feet pics confirmed

“She’s the most aggressively offline person I’ve ever met. She responded to my Paperless post with her ATM code.” AHAJQNSNSNS

#RollTide - I scream every time I hear that. It’s the slogan for my fave football team. 😭

Melissa helping her wife unpack her boxes. ☺️

Ava evil laughing when Janine threatens to quit ANDNSNS. Loooove that deep blue on Janine. The golden jewelry accents are perfect too

“My kids don’t have half the supplies they need most of the time, but they don’t need to know that.” […] “Our job is to build them up, make them confident. Is it nice to have stuff? Sure. But my students do not need to feel less than because they do not have stuff. So, we talk about what they do have, not about what they don’t.” Ugh, so, so good.

“Oh, hell no! I’m keeping all that.” AIQJQKQKWOWJDISINSNSIWKS, Barbara Howard, I love you so much

Janine interpreting all the kids’ drawings and being good at it. 🥺

SCNDNDNSN, good end stinger pay off to the trash machine.

[pqrachel]

Fucking Amazing Game Alert

So Goodbye Volcano High just came out today, and I played it all in one sitting. (6.9 hours, nice) And like holy fucking god. It was so good. I mean it was buggy in places and some of the minigames weren't fully polished but whatever. The storyline, and the characters, and the music, and the story!!

Heads up. Minor spoilers but I wanna talk about it so here I go. HUGE REVIEW / INFODUMP BELOW (There's also a bunch of screenshots from my playthrough mostly of the last couple episodes.)

Fang's VA sounded like Chloe from Before the Storm (not Ashly Burch but Rhianna DeVries) and it was so cool, and speaking of Life is Strange, there's so much Life is Strange vibes throughout the whole thing. Apocalypse, queer teens, great music!

Oh my gosh great music! The music minigame didn't work 100% but when they did it felt so great and I loved all of the songs actually all of them.

The main cast was great Fang was relatable and flawed and well written. And I loved them so much. Trish was an amazing backup to Fang and drove the story so well. Reed was amazing especially as GM, and his L&L character Sydd was hot as fuck. Sage and Stella were great and reminded me so much of my friends @hearthurian and @spookyscarynik it was amazing. While not everything matched up them, Sage being a femme presenting trans boy was handled well and remind a lot of Arthur. Especially him talking about horoscopes and being so invested in Stella but still being so strong on his own, and Stella crushing on fictional characters was so Nik lol. And they just kept being so great as a duo even if they weren't dating in game. I ship it. Rosa was nice but I definitely missed some scenes with her and after seeing the name of the achievement "Surprise Friendship" I do wish I knew what her story was like. Naser was so fun, was a well written older brother character, and did great in the L&L session.

And Naomi. <3 Lovely Naomi, her reveal as the secret admirer was done so well. Like even though I was thinking maybe it was her the reveal that I was right in the end of the 3 episode had me screaming, I loved it so much!!! And their short time together was great and I really want the best for them even if their world's story is almost definitely ended.

The game aspect of it wasn't great, like honestly this could have been a short miniseries kind of thing, like Looking for Alaska and it could have been so much better. Because as medium all the game aspect let me do was play along to the music (which I did like though), and miss some scenes because I didn't choose the right dialogue options. I guess there were the unlockable flashback but those could have been added as like little cut between episodes or commercials. (Maybe like the Sk8 the Infinity stingers idk) I did like getting multiple dialogue options but if choosing ones that felt right to me means missing out on scenes, it's not worth it. Like I really wanna see all the story has to offer and it's a shame I couldn't see the full story just because they wanted the story choices to feel important. According to the achievements I missed scenes with Rosa, Stella, Trish, and Reed.

Rosa's story felt the most lacking. Stella's story felt fine as a side character but maybe I just don't know what I'm missing. I kept wanted to see more of Reed's story but it never happened. Trish's story felt whole as I got it but apparently I still missed something, possibly connected to Rosa's story but maybe it was just more with her. Maybe I'll go back if there's a guide on which dialogue options result in getting to see every scene in the last act (the achievements say it's possible to get all of them in one playthrough), but that depends on how restrictive it is and how much that would take me out of the game. I might do it like how I did the Life is Strange Ultimate playthrough a few years ago, where I looked at the wiki to get every scene I wanted. Cuz yeah I could just play the game over and over again but seeing a story like this over and over again can make it lose its magic. I know the last time I played Life is Strange definitely wasn't anywhere near as impactful as it was the first couple of times I played it. I couldn't even finish True Colors on my second attempt going for 100% because it just felt like I wasn't in the story like I was the first time I played it, and I don't want this game to be the same. It deserves better, so I'm just gonna leave it at one playthrough for a while and MAYBE I'll come back to it at some point.

And now for the storyline. Holy feels dude. So much worm drama! The story is so deep and emotional and tackled a bunch of rough issues really well, all with an amazing friend group. Dealing with the apocalypse felt so real after the pandemic, and that brought a lot of emotions back up which felt almost nice? now that I'm in a better place and have had to sit with them. And having dealt with my dad's death last year, some of the family scenes did hit me more than I was expecting even if I wasn't too close with him or my family. Fang being non-binary was handled so well and all the scenes with their parents deadnaming and misgendering them also hit me really hard, Naser was being supportive the whole time and that meant a lot. And even though the scene at the end with Fang's parents correctly calling them Fang and them saying they love you back felt a little undeserved, it's the end of the world and there's some love there even if they don't fully understand Fang. Which doesn't always happen with trans people and their parents so I guess I'm happy for them if their happy.

The Battle of the Bands plot was fun, after reading Steph's story (the Life is Strange book) [SPOILERS FOR THAT], I wasn't actually expecting Worm Drama to win. But I guess even more amazingly they did and it didn't matter; and they had to find their own meaning in their music and with their friends. And they did, and it was great.

The dino characters were great. It was like lowkey furry energy (I mean that in a good way) but it wasn't just thrown it. They thought about it the emojis faces and hands were dinos. All the character's clothing made sense with their dino features. (I loved Fang's horn choker thingy.) It just brought me into the world way more than took me out of it.