#That one post that's like all MASH fans want to combine one of their other interests with MASH

[flufftober]

🍂 🍃 Hello and welcome to our fourth annual Flufftober 🍂 🍃

We’re so excited to be back and have you here once again!

As always, let’s fill the month of October with as much fluff as possible 🥰 for that to happen, you can either use our 31 regular prompts or enjoy a little challenge 😏

Below the cut, you'll find all our rules, posting info, and all the prompts in writing. If you have any more questions, please feel free to send us an ask.

And now, for the challenge...

Prompt Extras

We love to see how many of you get inspired by our prompts every year - be it by the original list or the Prompt Extras. Once again we're offering you that option and you're more than welcome to replace prompts from the original list if they don't work for you for whatever reason - no explanation needed.

As has become tradition, we offer you last year's top five fan favorites (as voted in the end survey). In addition to that, we also offer a little challenge: five angsty prompts for you to turn fluffy!

If you don't want to replace any prompt from the original list but still love the additional ones - or you simply want to challenge yourself even further - you can also mix them all together!

So in whichever way you use these Prompt Extras, have fun with them and go wild 💚

We hope you like these prompts, and now

Happy Creating 🥳

Standard Blog Rules & FAQ

(Due to previous asks, we made sure to add more points to this section - while they're not new rules, they're newer to this list, so you'll find them colored green)

No inc*st or p*dophilia - we can’t keep you from writing it or creating art for it but it won’t be reblogged. No inc*st: This rule does not apply to distant cousins and such, as you might find in the LotR fandom (or basically in all of European Monarchy). The line we draw is at direct blood relations (siblings, parents, kids) and/or legal guardianship. No p*dophilia: This rule does not rule out fandoms that feature teenagers such as Harry Potter, Heartstoppers, Hunger Games, etc. It also doesn't mean you can't write about their time together as teenagers! It's aimed at ships in which one is a minor and the other is not - but since even that has grey areas, the rule is this: if you keep it SFW, all is good and allowed, we don't care; if it turns NSFW, be mindful of the legalities of the world/society/times your characters live in.

No hate or ship bashing - we’re all different and we all love different things. As long as it doesn’t go against rule #1, it’s allowed.

Tag correctly! Trigger warnings (including cheating!), ships, ratings, (pure) smut, etc - it’s all fine as long as you tag it.

There’s absolutely no word count restriction, write as little or as much as you like.

In regards to art, anything goes: drawings, paintings, collages, mood boards, gif sets, videos, playlists… the sky’s the limit (though not really…). If you would like to create a podfic, the fic you're using does not have to be new - your creation will be new!

You can mix and mash different mediums however you like, be it within one prompt or on different days.

While we can’t force you to write fluff or create fluffy art, please try to keep in mind that this is a fluff event 😉 that, of course, doesn't mean you can't combine it with angsty/whumpy prompts - hurt/comfort is absolutely welcome!

You can start creating as soon as you see this - but please refrain from posting before the respective day.

If you post early, we will schedule your post for the correct day; if you use multiple prompts in one creation, we will post on the earliest day you used.

You can participate on as many days as you like, even if it’s just one; you can also create multiple entries for the same day.

You can replace as many original prompts as you like with our prompt extras; you can also combine them with the original prompts or create for them in addition, that's completely up to you.

It’s okay to write one story/a series for all the prompts.

You do not have to stick to one character, ship, or even one fandom - switch as often as you like to or even write for multiple ships for one day.

The ship does not have to be a romantic one! Friendship and family feels are more than welcome (but this is not a way to get around rule #1!)

Original works as well as OCs in fandoms are welcome! But please make sure to mark these clearly, either in the tags or the post itself. We're not familiar with all fandoms (though we're definitely learning a lot!), so we're not always sure what might be an OC and what might be such an unknown side character not even Google can find them...

Reader insert fics (for example "character x reader") as well as RPFs are absolutely allowed.

Other languages are also welcome - just make sure to clearly mark the day and fandom so that we can still easily reblog.

This event can be combined with other events as long as the other event allows it.

Late entries are always welcome, even if it is months or years later.

All fandoms and ships are welcome - fanon and canon - as long as they’re of age (in case you want to add smut) and not related.

Posting

Posting to tumblr

Please use the tag #flufftober2024 Please make sure there is NO SPACE between flufftober and 2024! We will NOT be checking the other tag this year!

Since tags are sometimes wonky, make sure to also mention us with @flufftober in your post

We will try to catch them all, but please don't be mad if we miss a post or if it gets reblogged a bit late

If you're absolutely certain a post has slipped past us, feel free to send an ask with the link to your post

To make reblogging easier for us, make sure to add the following tags: #flufftober2024 #day [xy] #[fandom] #[ship and/or main character(s)]

If you're using a prompt extra tag it as #alt [number]

Posting to ao3

You can add your creation to the collection Flufftober 2024 (either as flufftober2024 or as flufftober_2024)

Late entries are always welcome, on tumblr as well as the ao3 collection! Neither will close - but like always, reblogs will become less regular the more months have passed...

Prompts

1. Lost Pet Meet Cute

2. “Left. Other left!”

3. Favorite Scent

4. Market Day

5. Acorn, Chestnut, Pine Cone

6. Mistaken Identity

7. Hoodie Weather

8. Chopping & Piling Wood

9. “Don’t do that!” - “But…”

10. Bet, Game, Contest

11. Ingredients & Spells

12. “This is spooky.” - “Really?”

13. Attic, Cellar, Hidden Room

14. Fantasy AU/Mundane AU

15. “What are you wearing?” - “It’s laundry day!”

16. Yes, No, Maybe

17. Only One Bed

18. Bewitched

19. Yarn

20. Paw

21. Bonfire

22. Heirloom

23. Stormy Night

24. Comfort Food

25. Haunted House

26. “I can’t find it.”

27. Afternoon Stroll

28. Lucky Charm

29. Time Capsule

30. “Forever?”

31. Make a Wish

Prompt Extras

Last Year's Favorites

Alt 1: “I’ve got you”

Alt 2: Rainy Day

Alt 3: “Wait you love me?” - “I always have”

Alt 4: “I hate it” - “No, you don’t”

Alt 5: Porch Swing

Challenge "Make it Fluffy!"

Alt 6: Gravestone

Alt 7: Getting Revenge

Alt 8: Written but never sent

Alt 9: Suddenly Severed Communication

Alt 10: Rejected, Betrayed, Exiled, Left Behind

[x-on-the-calendar-business]

ryan ross iceberg explained (masterpost and tier 1)

tier 2, tier 3, tier 4, tier 5, tier 6, tier 7, tier 8

if somehow you have no idea how icebergs work/what they are, then i’ll give a tldr: it comes from the saying “it’s just the tip of the iceberg,” so basically, the entries at the top of the iceberg are the stuff the average person would know, and as you go deeper, the content becomes more obscure. for example, if you’re a more casual panic! fan, then a lot of the entries in the sky tier are more likely to be things you would know, whereas you’re probably only going to know the stuff at the very bottom if you’re an insane person (me).

i got most of the entries from this iceberg from a couple of others that i found on twitter, here and here [i]. i combined them, shifted some stuff around, and added some things to make this one. of course, a special thanks to the twitter users areyouIlooking and checkyesjuul for making the ones i used to create this one.

i also want to give a special shoutout to the tumblr blogs @pathetic-at-the-disco and @prettyoddfever because i got so much info from them for this iceberg and they are just incredible sources of information for panic! fans.

finally, i'm really hoping everything on this iceberg is correct; of course, i did my research and there was a lot of it i already knew. however, i was not actually there for presplit panic! so i can't speak off of firsthand accounts for a lot of things. with that being said, if something is wrong, or if there is something you think should be added, please feel free to let me know, and i will go back and edit the post.

enough introduction, let’s get started.

the sky (tier 1):

guitarist of panic!:

what he is most well known for. ryan was the original guitarist of panic! and one of the true founding members. he departed the band in 2009 with former bassist jon walker, which we’ll come back to later.

rosevest:

this refers to an iconic piece of clothing that ryan wore while they were touring their debut album, a fever you can’t sweat out. he wears it in live in denver as well.

(side note: the post i got this pic from is a very interesting look at their outfits from that tour so i would recommend checking it out here!) [ii]

good at makeup:

during the fever era, ryan was really well known for doing makeup looks, some elaborate. i’m inserting some examples here, but i’m also going to link a post that showcases more pics of the makeup looks he did. there are more that he did than just the ones shown in that post or here (like the god awful blue eyeshadow he did on that red carpet), and there were a lot of times he just did the classic black smudged eyeliner.

and the tumblr post as promised: the makeup styles ryan ross wore in summer 2006 [iii]

ryden:

oh boy, where do we even start with this one. there are actually going to be quite a bit of ryden references in this, but at the end i’ll link a masterpost for further reading (although most of it will be covered here). but to be keep it short and simple, ryden is the ship name for ryan ross and brendon urie. it was arguably one of the biggest ships in early 2000s bandom, as evidenced by the litany of fics written with them as a pairing. this ship (unfortunately) still lives on in people’s hearts today even though ryan and brendon don’t speak anymore.

also, i know it would seem to make more sense if their ship name was ryDON not ryDEN because of how brendon’s name is spelled, but the ship name comes from the mashing of their nicknames ryro and bden (which still doesn’t make any sense but i digress).

unfortunately, all of the ryden content on this iceberg will probably be long because i am a former rydennie (yes u can make fun of me for it go ahead) so i have a lot of knowledge on that ship. but trust me i know that ryden was not real.

“creative differences:”

this entry refers to the july 6th, 2009 split where ryan and jon left the band. the most cited reason for the split was musical differences, as stated in these interviews with brendon and spencer [iv]. however, most people believe the band actually split due to personal reasons since they basically all stopped speaking afterwards, and because of some comments jon made [v]. in fact, one MTV interview specifically singled out ryan and brendon as not getting along, but it has since been deleted [vi].

cheez wiz:

this references a clip from the pretty. odd. short-film called american valley [vii]. the video went viral circa 2015/2016 and became a huge meme in the bandom community, especially in the crankthatfrank yeemo fanbase (that sentence wasn’t in the bible). if you were a panic! fan during that time, you know the cheez wiz jokes were inescapable.

milk fic:

“ryan was kneeling in the bathtub…”

this is also unfortunate. to be blunt, this is a ryden fic in which brendon gives ryan an enema with milk. it catalyzed a trend of other shocking fics within the bandom sphere, such as the comb fic. it’s just cringy. sadly, it became so iconic that brendon knows about it and even made a vine referencing it [viii].

i would link it but i’m not going to because the author, druscila, is a pedophile. so there’s that.

onceler jokes:

i’m going to put a picture of the onceler, who is from the lorax, and ryan side by side. and that should explain this.

now let’s move on to the next tier.

tier 2

references:

[i] https://twitter.com/areyouiooking/status/1366887508441718790?s=46&t=srOJ3YueMMsx9_sm96odQQ, https://twitter.com/checkyesjuul/status/1368794897499615233?s=46&t=srOJ3YueMMsx9_sm96odQQ

[ii] https://prettyoddfever.tumblr.com/post/628882839458512896/panic-at-the-discos-2006-summer-tour-costumes

[iii] https://prettyoddfever.tumblr.com/post/629161631117656064/the-makeup-styles-ryan-ross-wore-in-summer-2006

[iv] https://patd.livejournal.com/2943372.html, https://patd.livejournal.com/2928377.html#cutid1

[v] https://oneweekoneband.tumblr.com/post/131968366779/jon-walker-and-ryan-ross-from-a-2009-interview-in

[vi] https://whisperdlullaby.livejournal.com/9051.html

[vii] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBot_X9pquo

[viii] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyWlisnfrm0

[beneathsilverstars]

you could. probably think if some characters are texture eaters and if so which textures they would prefer or what reactions they'd have over disliked textures

@kimdokjafan replied

I would love to hear what you have to say about the party's food preferences! Things like favorite food, things they dislike/won't eat

i started answering this anon and then got this reply, so i'll combine them. got really long lol, food is such a complex topic!

bonnie enjoys the multi-textured fish head, so they're probably big on texture! i think they're starting to have enough cooking experience to get put off when a texture isn't correct. like the problem isn't the texture itself but rather that rice should not be like that, they overcooked it, yuck, ugh! they would probably make a new batch if possible. however, they're also used to eating what you have because it's all you have — sometimes the nice neighbor drops off her shitty mac n cheese and it's better than nothing, or you mix up salt and sugar for today's bread but you're almost out of flour — so they'll try to come up with a new use for the fucked-up batch where the weird texture works better, or just eat it themself. unpleasant, but better than serving it to someone else or wasting it! as for what they enjoy the most: lots of different textures mixed together, like a salad or deluxe burrito. and chewy things!

we know bonnie's favorite foods are pineapple, rice, and samosas. i'd say they love sweet things as most kids do, but they're really starting to prefer a little more complexity to their sweet treats, like the tart acidity of pineapple. rice is a great favorite bc it's a comforting plain staple, but it can also be used in such a variety of dishes, as the entire base or to add texture! bonnie likes spicy, sour, etc... bring on the flavor! honestly i don't think there's many ingredients they don't like, it's more often a case of that flavor doesn't go there, why would you do that??? maybe they haven't grown into bitter vegetables yet.

siffrin also likes the fish head, so they really enjoy a fun texture, and they like trying new foods as they travel — but when they don't like something they hate it. but they also hate to raise a fuss! so if they're eating with other people, they'll try to just eat around the offending element without making it too obvious that's what they're doing, and then claim they're just not that hungry. if they're by themself, they'll spit it out and rinse out their mouth and eat something crunchy. they don't like tomatoes, which is convenient bc they also don't like when sandwich bread gets soggy at all. they don't like mushrooms or caramalized onion. they enjoy super crunchy things and a nice thick soup!

we know malanga fritters are presumably his favorite. i think he likes mashed potatoes too. fish, of course, and hearty stews. he loves clam chowder! he used to be a big sweet pastries fan, but post-canon he pivots to fruity sweetness bc he can't stand caramel-marshmallow-candy sweetness anymore, and even fruit's on thin ice. most of his disliked foods are about the texture, not the taste. but he's also really sensitive to associations - if he coincidentally gets sick after eating something, eats something badly seasoned, etc, it'll put him off of that taste for a while even if he doesn't remember why.

iirc isabeau wasn't into the fish head. he likes simpler and more predictable foods! he gets yucked out by overripe fruits, but luckily it's usually pretty easy to tell if a fruit will be good. if he does accidentally bite into a bad one, he makes a face and swallows it as quickly as possible, and asks if anyone else wants the rest before he donates it to the local wildlife. he likes fluffy breads and nuts! he's the kind of guy to pack a stack of pb&js and an apple for lunch every day, just buying a different flavor of jam each time he runs out. he doesn't like anything too spicy or bitter! probably a cheese fiend too.

mirabelle isn't super particular about textures, but she is pickier about tastes; she doesn't like a couple common vegetables, like green beans and cooked carrots, and a couple common sauces, like mustard and marinara. she doesn't like nuts, but sometimes eats them anyway because they're so popular in dormont's house for some reason and she gets tired of refusing to eat them, and now she sorta hates them even more but also will absentmindedly stand there munching on them? in general if she doesn't like a food she's served she'll still try to eat enough to be polite, but sometimes can't manage it. some foods she loves are honey, olives, and apple pie. she does love plums too, but it's less that they're objectively her favorite taste and more that they're her thing. it's fun having a thing!

odile likes delicate textures like flaky pastries and watermelon, and doesn't like purely glop-based foods like oatmeal, though it's tolerable with a crunchy topping. she really enjoys a good meat, like a nice herby steak or buttery pork belly. she doesn't dislike sweets, but she doesn't indulge in them in often; when she does, she prefers lemony desserts or bitter chocolate. she finds most foods tolerable at least, and especially likes sharp flavors, like vinegar and vodka!

[foxes-that-run]

Taylor is so chaotic rn, why are you singing speak now with hey stephen when you know there are shippers who'd obviously take it as a sign or something. "You are not the kind of boy who should be marrying the wrong girl" when mh is engaged and hey stephen is his favourite song and hus fiance is beautiful but she doesn't write songs. She does it intentionally I'm sure just to get people talking idk why she needs that

Anyone who virtual signals of being a fan of Taylor seperate to sub-fandoms of hers overlooks how much of her career branding, especially early in her career was built on that personal level engagement. While it did get out of hand and become invasive it is also a key element of the brand that Taylor is a friend we all know, she knows us, we know her, we want the best for her because she is our girl. A part of that (and the committed engagement with her is fed) is kept going by her signalling to those subfandoms.

Some of her and TNs posts play 'fandom bingo' she used keywords that Haylors related to, others that another sub-fandom enthusiastically did the same day. When I heard Hey Stephen this is also what I thought today. Playing Mary's song was exactly this recently.

It doesn't make those signals wrong, but it is foolish to think it is without awareness of what her fans talk about online and look for, what incites them to keep talking about her and her shows. Most of these fandoms also seem to miss or disregard the clues for another too, which I find surprising, but it speaks of the echo chamber so many online communities are in now with blocking anyone with opposing views.

Back to Speak Now, yes she said it is about urging a friend to interrupt a wedding of someone marrying the wrong person, but when talking about the album she also said:

"I just kept going back to 'Speak Now,' because I think it's such a metaphor, that moment where it's almost too late, and you've got to either say what it is you are feeling or deal with the consequences forever. And I feel like that's such a metaphor for so many things that we go through in life, where you can either say what you mean or you can be quiet about it forever. And this album seemed like the opportunity for me to speak now or forever hold my peace."

So while one fandom will relate to the childhood friend interrupting wedding, to me, mashed up with Hey Stephen and the other song I took it to mean 'take your shot/say how you feel before it's too late.' Which is kind of my point, the ideal surprise song combination has the maylors, haylors, kaylors, gaylors, trailors, toe-shippers and virtuelors feeling that she sees and agrees with them.

[msbarrows]

Yeah, got behind because I wanted to include photos of my crochet and kept procrastinating on that, so have a verbose post of four days at once.

Aug 15 - finished the green and white cotton wool scarf! Overall pretty pleased with how it came out. It's a little weighty and has great drape, as cotton generally does.

Then I killed some time looking at various shell crochet based shawl patterns online, before settling on a simple one with a good video tutorial, Lacy Triangle Shawl by Hopeful Turns (damn but she's a fast crocheter).

For supper I got the pair of remaining moose hand pies out of the freezer, and reheated them in the air fryer. Served them with potatoes mashed with chopped green onions and smoked paprika, steamed butternut squash, and a couple of fresh garden tomatoes cut in quarters.

Aug 16 - More crochet, more Anno 1800. I'm half regretting going for such a fine yarn; thinnest one I've ever worked with, which is proving to be a PITA. But it'll look fantastic if I manage to complete it. Right now I'm just trying to start it; I keep making mistakes and having to frog back and try again.

Supper was mild Italian sausages with hashed potatoes and corn.

Aug 17 - slept in stupidly late after staying up until stupidly early. Disordered sleeping'r'us.

It was due to a combination of Anno 1800 and getting very focused on crochet once I went to bed; I'm finding that crocheting for a bit before trying to sleep usually helps my brain wind down. Anyway, I finally got the hang of the pattern of repeats for the lacy shell crochet and got a reasonable start on it:

After that I decided since I was still feeling too wired to sleep that I might as well frog the crochet vines (the scale of them really is completely wrong), drag out my yarn winder to rewind the variegated yarn from that into a cake, and then start on yet another scarf using the green yarn I'd been using for the leaves. Yup, I now have two projects on the go at once. Got the first few rows of it done before I finally felt tired enough to sleep, on the wrong aide of dawn. Brain, why do you do this to me?

Once I finally got up, showered, dressed, etc, I didn't really have time (or motivation) to cook anything else, so supper was pasta, with meat sauce from the freezer.

Aug 18 - Day started out with a nice long power outage, so what did I do? Crochet, of course! Overcast day so I stuck with working on the green scarf, which doesn't need me to work under a light to differentiate the loops from each other (also helps that it's all one colour). Made pretty decent progress on it, since the rather large yarn (having to use my biggest crochet hook with it) means it adds up fast. I'm working this one out of my head, not from a pattern. I think I'm going to aim for about three times as long as it is wide, if the wool lasts that far, as it's quite wide.

Not a big fan of the yarn. It's 100% acrylic (Red Heart stuff) and works up very stiff; even with netting parts I think the final scarf might be uncomfortably bulky and not have nice drape, though that may improve with size, as its own weight will affect that. I'm mostly thinking it'll go in a pile of stuff to eventually donate or give away or something, since there's only so many scarfs or shawls or whatever my mostly house-bound self needs.

I need to find a sizable project to work on that isn't either of those two types of items. Maybe buy a LOT of yarn and make something sweater-ish. I'm looking at the construction of a poncho-style ice dyed top I purchased recently and thinking it might lend itself really well to a crochet coverup to wear over other items; it's basically two same-sized rectangles, with a slight scoop at the middle of one long side for the neck opening, joined along that long seam, and then partially up each short side, but set in from the edge hems so there's a few inches of loose fabric beyond the side hems to be all flowy:

It looks like it should be very easy to make out of a couple crochet panels, I just have to figure out how to work the scoop. I'm thinking make the back panel first, from the top hem on down, then starting at the top edge of it again work the front panel directly off of it as well, so my starting chain is lost in the join except along the back of the neck opening. Then I just have to slip stitch the side hems and done.

Ended the day playing even more Anno 1800. I'm teetering back and forth between making and losing money, but am generally gaining more than I'm losing. Have gotten even further than last time (yay!) and have now hit a spot where I can see a hump looming that I need to get over or around, can see what the way past it probably is, and just have to work through some prerequisites to unlock some technology so that I can change from shipping a bunch of things long distance from other regions, to making them locally out of alternate (local) materials.

For supper I made corned beef hash. Yum.

[sparks-to-flames]

This is a bit all over the place but please understand what I am trying to say. If you need me to make this more clearer, I will make another post about this.

Ngl I want to start a convo with other black people about watching non-black creators misusing AAVE. Even though, you love their content. (This may be a sign for me to watch more black creators tbh and if you have any good ones let me know.) Because I'm sick and tired of hearing my language being butchered and being used as a joke or to get brownie points to seem to be cool, hip, and/or trendy. And then some of these creators saying that they don't understand "today's lingo", despite the fact it was here before they were even born. Like there's actual proof of these words existing through older music or films. For example, I remember seeing a clip from MASH and a white person used the word "period" correctly. And that word is older than that show. (To be honest the only way they would have known that word is if they heard black soldiers using it.)

And I'm starting to watch less of these creators works/videos because of it. I want to talk to my favorite creators about it but I fear that they may not take in consideration of my or other black fans' feelings. Either because they don't want to bring "politics" into it (tbh I feel like everything is political, even if you strive to be apolitical but that is for another post for another day.), don't want to think about a minority of their fanbase's feelings because they are a fraction of the whole fanbase, or a combination of these two. Despite the fact some of these creators had publicly sided with the BLM protest back in 2020.

With everyone non-black just now discovering "gyat", to me, it seems like it's been really blown out of proportion. It physically hurts me when I hear it misused. Gyat is not an acronym nor does it mean that someone has a fat ass. It's another way of saying goddamn. It's just written as if someone was saying it but they stopped midway. Similar to chile, it's just an Ebonics phonetic spelling of child. It's not that hard to understand unless you are not a part of that culture or you don't care about that culture.

I just want to watch something without mocking my culture because I get that on a daily basis in real life. I know this sounds like I need to touch grass (I know I do), but I use the internet to escape it. Yet it seems like I can never do. Everywhere I go I get ridiculed for it, even if it's unintentional. It still hurts me and other people like me either way. Especially since I may seem less "intelligent" by using that word meanwhile if someone that is non-black uses it, they're funny. And I hate that black people's lives get treated as a commodity for non-black people's entertainment and have no sympathy for us.

Again, please if you are black, please feel free to respond to this post.

|| To non-black people: It is okay for you to reblog, just don't comment on this though. If you want to talk about it, dm me. ||

[nickgerlich]

To The Max

When was the last time you watched something on linear TV? In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about, linear TV is programming that is scheduled for specific times, like NCIS on CBS tonight at 8pm. It’s how people of my age had to watch TV, because we had no choice when I was young, and if you really liked a show, you just made sure you did not make any other plans, or else you would miss it.

To answer the question, my last time was August a year ago, and only because I was completely sucked in to the last season of Better Call Saul. New episodes aired at 9pm on Mondays on AMC, and I wanted to be in the moment, as well as not have to worry about spoilers being posted to social media fan pages.

By definition, linear television is traditional broadcast TV, and includes cable, satellite, and over-the air. Today, for the first time ever, linear TV has dipped below 50% of all television content consumed.

So what happened? Well, we have to go back to the 1980s when we had programmable VCRs that allowed us to record our show, and effectively time-shift when we viewed them. These were followed by DVRs. And now we have cloud storage and streaming content, fueled by an explosion in cord-cutting by households. Being anchored to a TV at set times is now just a quaint, fading preoccupation.

All these things taken together mean it is incumbent upon all media outlets to find their way into streaming, because this is the future. Actually, the future is now. And CNN is very much aware of this, this last week announcing a partnership with Max (formerly known as HBO Max). The new service will be a combination of older content along with live shows, amid the many varied movies and TV shows already in the Max catalog.

The move comes a year after the news giant launched and then abruptly shuttered its standalone CNN+ network, which could not find traction. I get it. At a time when households are facing streaming saturation (I have nine, if I remember correctly), it makes perfectly good sense for CNN to piggyback on someone else that already has an established presence. CNN can then reach more people with the same ads we would see if we were viewing its news content on cable or satellite.

I expect to see more partnerships as well as consolidations like this in the future, because the space is becoming crowded. Never mind the fact that we still only have 24 hours in the day, and we can’t watch movies and show endlessly. Well, maybe if we get a blizzard this winter I might, but otherwise, I have a job to go to, groceries to buy, miles to walk and bike.

At this point, you might be wondering, “Why is CNN pushing linear television in a non-linear arena?” Excellent question, because it is somewhat of a hybrid. And when Hulu releases new episodes of Only Murders In The Building on Tuesdays, and Max dropped new episodes of The Righteous Gemstones on Sundays at 9pm, you have a mash-up of old and new. Sure, we can watch them whenever we want, but they have stirred in a degree of linearity.

The bottom line, though, is that consumers have spoken, and we want to be in control of our viewing. We want to watch our desired content whenever we want to. I might also add the “where" aspect as well, because when I travel, I always have an HDMI cable with me to hook into the hotel TV. Portability is a big part of the equation now. All we need is a strong wifi or cellular signal.

Things sure are a lot different from when I grew up, when we had an aerial antenna on our roof, and a limited number of stations. Back then, everyone had extreme cases of FOMO, because you had one shot to watch something. Today, the only FOMO going around is when you don’t have a particular streaming service.

And that’s the kind of news that CNN is definitely listening to.

Dr “I’ll Be Watching” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[culinaryburst]

6 Healthy Tailgate Foods The Whole Team Will Love

Football season is upon us, and for many sports fans, that means tailgating is in full swing. But with all the greasy burgers, hot dogs, chips, and beers, it can be easy to forget about healthy eating. However, just because you’re tailgating doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your health and clean eating habits. In fact, there are plenty of ways to enjoy delicious tailgate food that won’t break your healthy habits. In this blog post, we will talk about why healthy tailgate food matters, tips for healthy tailgating, and some quick and easy healthy tailgate recipes that you and your fellow tailgaters will love.

Choose Lean Protein Sources

When it comes to tailgating, grilling is one of the main activities. It’s not hard to make grilling healthy, though. Choose lean protein sources like chicken or turkey burgers, fish, chicken sausages, or grass-fed beef when you’re grilling. These options are lower in saturated fat and calories than traditional burgers or hot dogs. You can also grill vegetables like zucchini, peppers, or portobello mushrooms as a vegetarian option. They are delicious and healthy.

Make Grilling Healthier With Healthy Tailgate Food

Do you know that grilling itself can create carcinogens? So, do it right and make healthier choices when grilling food. Use olive oil, a healthy fat, instead of vegetable oil to baste your grill or grill pan. Olive oil contains monounsaturated fats that are healthy for your heart, unlike vegetable oil, which contains polyunsaturated fatty acids that are unstable under heat. Another option is to grill your meat on a piece of foil. This way, the fat will be trimmed, and you won’t be consuming excess calories and harmful chemicals.

Pack Smart Sides

Instead of bags of chips, offer smart sides like grilled or raw veggies, salads, or fruit. A fresh green salad with tomatoes, cucumber, onions, and olive oil is always a crowd-pleaser. You could also make protein-rich side dishes like quinoa or lentil salad. These options are nutrient-dense and provide fiber and proteins that will satisfy you until post-game. Raw veggies like carrots, peppers, or cherry tomatoes are perfect for dipping in a healthy dip.

Think Beyond Chips And Dip

Chips and dip are the staple of any tailgate party, but that doesn’t mean you can’t think beyond them. Make your own healthy dips like fresh tomato salsa, avocado hummus, and tequila guacamole. These dips are full of healthy fats and nutrients. Instead of cheese dips or other high-calorie dips, these options are delicious and abundant in vitamins and minerals.

Go With Fresh Fruit For Dessert

Your tailgate party will need some dessert. Instead of relying on high-calorie, high-sugar sweets, offer a fresh fruit bowl. It’s easy to make and will satisfy your need for something sweet. Cut up some fresh fruit like berries, melon, apple, or grapes. Fruit contains natural sugars, fiber, and plenty of vitamins, making it the perfect way to end a meal. Plus, you and your tailgate buddies will feel better knowing that you consumed something nutrient-dense and healthy.

Quick And Easy Healthy Tailgate Recipes

Suppose you want to make something beyond the basics. Here are some quick and easy healthy tailgate recipes to choose from:

Step-By-Step Guide To Fresh Tomato Salsa:

Dice up some ripe tomatoes.

Chop spicy jalapenos.

Add onions for a crunch.

Sprinkle aromatic cilantro for a burst of flavor.

Season the mix with a squeeze of zesty lime juice.

Add a pinch of salt to enhance the taste.

Enjoy this refreshing and vibrant salsa as a perfect accompaniment to your favorite chips or as a topping for tacos and grilled meats.

Step-By-Step Guide To Delicious And Creamy Avocado Hummus:

Mash a perfectly ripe avocado until smooth.

Add smooth chickpeas and minced garlic to the mashed avocado.

Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil over the mixture.

Sprinkle a pinch of salt.

Blend the ingredients together until well combined.

Enjoy the delightful blend that will leave your taste buds satisfied and craving for more!

For the complete article, visit www.culinaryburst.com Enjoy an enhanced reading experience with rich content and valuable insights!

[transgayhawkeyepierce]

Okay but through a time traveling mishap, Leonard McCoy gets stranded in 50s Korea. He gets mistaken for a draftee, and not wanting to stray too far so the Enterprise can find him, and not wanting to be shot for deserting, and not really having anywhere to go, he stays. But if Bones has to be apart of the 20th century American army he's going to do it as a doctor damn it! And after forging some credentials (bafflingly easy) he ends up in the good ol' 4077th.

It's tremendously hard for McCoy at first. He's a man out of time in a terrible place. He has to completely relearn surgery with tools that look more to him like instruments of torture rather than tools of healing. The medicine is medieval and the conditions are abyssal even for the time. The day-in-day-out carnage beats even the Enterprise's worst missions. But it's the helplessness of patching these kids up only so they can kill or get themselves killed, that wears on Bones more than anything else. But Leonard McCoy isn't a genius for nothing. He learns meatball surgery and he gets damned good at it too. He learns how to open people up with steel and sew them back together with silk so he can get the next body on the table and do it all over again. But most of all he learns how to cope.

Hawkeye and him get along right off the bat. McCoy hates the army, the war, authority in general, and Hawkeye appreciates anyone who hates the army as much as he does. But McCoy is a good doctor, a good man, and loves a drink, so Hawkeye decides he likes him.

Despite his edges Leonard slots well into the dynamic of the 4077th. While the man can be reclusive and puts on airs that he’s above all the tomfoolery, he has a mischievous streak a mile wide and a vindictive streak double that. He has a way of approaching problems that is so deranged that it gives Hawkeye’s antics a run for the money. The worst part is that McCoy always acts like his course of action was the most reasonable one. At least Hawkeye knows he’s crazy! Leonard soon becomes an important part of camp moral. If Hawkeye is the beating heart of the 4077th, then Leonard is the hands, to sooth away pains or to ‘shake some sense into these idiots!’  He gruffly motherhens everyone, earning respect through sheer human decency. And while McCoy is never a close friend to Hawkeye in the same way Trapper was or BJ is, he is a support that Hawkeye needs. McCoy has an uncanny way of seeing through his jokes, through him, something which Hawkeye is simultaneously grateful for and extremely uncomfortable with. The only person that doesn’t like McCoy and that McCoy seems to hate is Frank, the two devolving into a screaming match as soon as they’re so much as in the same room.

Hawkeye's new friend is more than a little strange though. Leonard won't know extremely basic things one minute (much to his embarrassment) but then will turn around and pull absolute miracles out of his ass. He says strange things and clams up when asked to elaborate. He has an almost suicidal disregard for social conventions that Hawkeye can’t help but admire if not pity. He remembers when Leonard mentioned that he was in a relationship two other men with a casualness that made even Hawkeye's jaw drop. Eventually it becomes a running joke between them; Hawkeye will ask after McCoy’s two big strong sweethearts and he always responds that he’ll ask them as soon as they pick him up from the war. Even so, everyone notices Leonard doesn’t get letters from home.

The war eventually warps Bones just like everyone else. The terror, the gore, the cold, the boredom, the endlessness of it all. The longer he’s there, the more he becomes convinced he’ll never make it home, that the Enterprise is never coming for him or that he’ll be dead by the time they get there. The more it sinks in, the more he starts having trouble doing things, doing anything except lying in bed. This is nothing new to Bones, but he hasn't had it this bad in a long time. The more times they're shelled, the more times they're shot at, each time someone dies on his table, he gets worse. He goes from helping patients and the members of 4077th through episodes to having them himself. He’s a doctor, he knows PTSD and depression when he sees it; has been seeing in the 4077th for a long time, but he’s never been good at helping himself. Despair becomes a close acquaintance and pain works itself under his skin. Luckily he has friends. People to lead him out of bed with a joke and something outrageous to show him, to forgive him when he acts irrationally and lashes out, to talk some sense into him, to hold him as he cries. Sometimes it stirs memories of the Enterprise crew, of Jim and Spock, and it makes him ache.

In the end McCoy is there for all three years. He's there for the goodbyes and for Hawkeye's earth shattering breakdown. He remembers in the beginning he tried to keep himself at a distance, something that proved impossible right away, through sheer proximity if nothing else. But even if Bones hated the war, he grew to truly love these people and he knows he'll miss them for the rest of his life.

The Enterprise comes then. According to Spock, this should be the time and place that Doctor McCoy was lost, but Jim grows more nervous the longer the landing party takes to locate him. When they finally find him, they glance right past him, not even recognizing him for a few horrifying moments. When Jim's eyes snap back onto his partner's face, it's immediately obvious that Bones has been here for much longer than they had theorized, and his time here has not been kind to him. The man in front of him is hunched in on himself like the whole world is baring down on him, his face washed out, and his hair greying around his temples. But Bones gaps out a breathy, Jim and Spock! and rushes at them, until he's hugging both of them with desperate manic elation, crying and laughing. Jim can tell this isn't going to be a simple mend, but no matter what they'll always have each other.

Hawkeye never figures out what happened to Leonard after the war. Radar and some of the members of the 4077th try to find anyone by the name of Leonard McCoy in Georgia, turning up nothing, making Hawkeye wonder if that was his real name or if he even existed at all. Either way, Hawkeye hopes he's surviving. He remembers how lovingly Leonard described his partners, always shooting a crooked smile and saying 'they sure are outta this world,' and think's he might be alright.

Sometimes when the wind blows Leonard's southern drawl through the trees, or he catches the smell of peach cobbler, or he simply misses is old friend, Hawkeye looks up. Whenever Leonard used to reminisce about home he'd look up to the sky, and somewhere along the way Hawkeye too started associating him with the stars.

[stormblessed95]

Hi Storm,

I’ve noticed that JiKook seem to have a lot of nicknames attached to them individually and separately. JungKook is bunny, baby star candy, JK, Koo etc. Jimin is Mochi, Chimchim, min min, Mangetok(?sp) etc. Together they’re the Busans, Sun and Moon and not sure what else. Are they the only ones in the group with all these cute nicknames? Are they all given to them by fans and what’s the origin? I thought of this ask after seeing JM referred to as puppy kitty by the editors which is so darn cute. What do JiKook call each other the most? Do they ever use any of these as endearments toward each other? It’s more like three asks in one but just really curious at the plethora of nicknames these two seem to have.

Lmao! Hi!! Welcome Back!

Sooo, i have a whole small masterlist section about Nicknames that Jikook call each other, which you can find here:

And I have some of the Nicknames K Diamonds have given to some duos (jikook, vmin, namseok, yoonjin and taekook) here

If you are just wanting a list of all the Nicknames that BTS members have collected from ARMYs over the years per individual, well i can absolutely list those for you too! Lol it's a lot for them all.

JIMIN NICKNAMES

ChimChim (given during AHL by Tony Jones and it stuck)

Christian ChimChim (Jimin gave himself this name when asked what his English name would ever be)

Mochi/망개떡 (given because his cute cheeks make him look like a Mangae cake)

J.M (a legit Nickname shortened from his own name lol)

Diminie (during a fansign he was asked how he acts when very drunk, JM said he does lots of aeygo and once called himself Diminie instead of Jiminie)

Dooly (ARMY and the members say that when Jimin puffs his cheeks out he looks like the cute cartoon puppy Dooly, Jimin even referenced himself as Dooly on Taes first Instagram post)

Ddan-ji/장딴지 (basically just means Calves, in reference to Jimins insane leg muscles. Lol Tae called him this in his 2013 birthday letter to Jimin and K ARMY all called him this too lol especially whenever Jimin wore shorts on stages)

Be-i-geul-nam/베이글남 (a mash up of Korean words that basically means "man with a baby face and a hot body," lol given by K ARMY)

Mochi Sexy (coined by RM during Festa and by K ARMY during Sugas Honey FM)

Ddochi (Jimin said his Middle school friends would call him that because he looked like a puppy)

Little Prince (coined by ARMY and the members and picked up traction with Jimins first appearance with blond hair)

빡지민이/PPAK Jiminie (Suga's Nickname for Jimin often)

Puppy Kitty/강양이 (Jimin combined the name for Dog/Cat into 강양이 when asked which he likes best and ARMY decided that he WAS a puppy kitty and the name stayed)

Jimin-ssi (thanks to Jungkookie lol)

Angel/Fairy (coined by Tae in 2014, also later by RM and JK. ARMY jumped all over it. Jimin himself also confirmed many times)

Chanel Boy (comes from how often he wears the brand on his personal time)

JUNGKOOK NICKNAMES

The Maknae (the youngest)

Golden Maknae (given by RM and adopted by the fandom since he is good at everything and is their golden youngest)

JayKay, JK, Kookie (shortened verisons of his name lol)

Muscle Pig/Muscle Bunny/근육돼지 (affectionately coined by the members for his insane muscles and love for working out)

Bunny/Kkooktokki (he looks like a bunny when he smiles or his name combined with bunny in Hangul)

Justin Seagull (JK was originally going to debut with a possible stage name of Seagull and when asked what his English name would be, he said Justin Seagull)

Nochu (given to him during AHL by Nate Walka and it stuck)

Jeon Cena (given by ARMY after his skills shown off during the wrestling portion of ISAC competitions)

Jeonrusali/전루살이 (a combination of Jeon and "short lived" given by K army because they joked that he is angling for his hyungs to smack him with how often he teases lol)

Mr. Spreading Legs and International Playboy (self appointed Nicknames from 2014 that have stuck around lol)

Baby Star Candy (given by staff and adopted by ARMY)

Puppy Prince (given by Jimin)

Little Prince (given by Suga)

Donggurami/동그라미/Boba Ball (동그라미 given by K army and Boba Ball by I army, basically for the same reason. JKs cute round head lol)

Guktiz/꾹티즈 (JKs name + Maltese dog, K army say that he looks like a Maltese puppy. K armys are spilt into 2 teams actually, team bunny and team Maltese lol)

아기장수 꾹투리/Baby Warrior Ggukturi (K army gave him this nickname because he is super strong like the Korean Folktale Baby Warrior Wootori)

NAMJOON NICKNAMES

RM, Monie, Joon, Joonie, Namu (shortened verison of his name)

Namjoonie (what the hyungs often call him)

RapMon Hyung (what JK often calls him)

God Of Destruction (coined by the members because they said he can't do a day without breaking things)

Appa (coined by Jimin because he acts like a dad apparently lol)

President (given by ARMY for his leadership skills and want for him to lead a country lol)

Kim Leader/김리더 (coined by vmin)

NamuJoon/나무준 (basically a combination of his name and Tree because of his love for plants and he named it himself on weverse)

Natnu/낮누 (a typo made by a k army trying to type Kim NamJoon, but Namjoon saw it and thought it was cute so it stuck)

방탄의 남은 이성/The BTS's last string of reason (given by K army for his amazing leadership and the way he loves his members. They say "1 takes care of 6, and 6 takes care of 1")

Brain Mon/뇌몬 (given by k army for his 148 IQ and genius)

Moon child (given because of his song on his mixtape moonchild)

JIN NICKNAMES

Worldwide Handsome (given for his insanely good looks)

세계조각미남 1위/#1 Sculpted Face (feels self explanatory lol)

Car Door Guy (When Jin left the car first at MMA 2015, he attracted a lot of viral attention, people started searching for him with Car Door Guy trying to find who he was)

Third Guy from the Left (same as above but from BBMAS 2017)

오비남/Today's Visual Guy (from the picket he held in MMA 2016)

대문남/Entrance Door Guy (same as above but from opening the door at You Quiz)

줌인남/Zoom in Guy (given the nickname from how red carpet camera people always end up randomly zooming in on Jins face)

Quokka (a species of animal known as the happiest and sweetest animal and given to Jin by K army)

Shoulder Hyung (coined by JK)

어깨미남/Eo-kkae-mi-nam (combination of the words Shoulders and Handsome man given by karmy as well his descriptors basically lol)

BalSeokJin/발석진 (basically foot + his name for his talented toes, given as a name since run bts ep 5)

Matnae/맏내 (basically means fake maknae. Given by the members and k army for how Jin often acts as the true youngest of the group even though he is the oldest)

YOONGI NICKNAMES

Suga/AgustD/Min PD/Gloss (his musical alter egos and names lol)

Minstradamus (also comes from what yoongi wants yoongi gets, comes from his ability to speak goals into exisistence basically and predict BTS's future)

Lil Meow Meow (given because of his resemblance in looks and personality to a cute cat)

Hands of Midas (given by ARMY and the music industry, anything Suga touches turns to gold and breaks records)

Min Yoonji (his female alter ego nickname that comes from run bts episode 11)

민덩방아/Min DungBangah (min fell on my hips. Lol coined by RM after Yoongi fell out of his chair at his studio

Min Stone/민돌멩이 (given by ARMY after Suga said he wanted to be reborn as a stone in his next life)

Grumpy Marshmellow/심통난 마시멜로 (K army affectionately call him this because he looks like a cute grumpy marshmallow when he wakes up lol)

Black Suga/흑슈가 (given by K army whenever his hair is black)

SongWol/송월 (nickname from his father, which means "enjoy the art of music and beauty of nature")

Semo-Rami/세모라미 (means tri-circle. It was given by karmy for his soft rounded facial features and triangle eyes.)

민윤기천재짱짱맨뿡뿡/min-yoon-gi-chun-jae-jjang-jjang-men-bbung-bbung (lmfao basically translated as Min Yoongi is the best best man and then bbungbbung which is the cutest way to describe a fart sound affect. A fan wrote this line to him in a letter and Yoongi loved it an adopted it for himself. Lol you also see it pop up in Run ep 140)

Boiled Dumpling/물만두 (came from Suga saying that his mother once told him he looked like a boiled dumpling)

Axolotl (coined by RM I believe lol)

Min Grandpa (coined by K army saying he acts like the grandpa of the group)

HOBI NICKNAMES

Hobi/Hope/Seokie (shortened nicknames)

Golden Hyung (JK is the youngest who is good at everything and Hobi is the hyung who is good at everything)

J-Dope (given by the members during Dope era)

J-Kill (given by the members during Run bts episode 32)

J-Hooooooppppppeeeee (lmao given by the members, in particular Suga, when they fanboy over Hobi)

HweeMangi/희망이/Hope (self explanatory lol but the Hangul nickname of Hope)

Cheon-sa/천사/Angel (Hobi used to introduce himself as I'm your Hope, Im Your Angel and the names both stuck)

Sunshine/햇살 (given by fans for his sunny personality)

Jay (often called this by the members, particularly Suga and the other hyungs or before he raps)

Smile Hoya (his underground dance crew name before BTS)

Captain Nemo (made by Hobi himself around the release of Hope World)

光州小漂亮/guāng zhōu xiǎo piào liang (Chinese phrase means 'Gwangju's little beauty' written in Mandarin)

Jung Team Manager/정팀장 (how the members often used to called him as he took good charge of their stage performances a lot, adopted by k army)

호도기/Hogogie (a very baby verison pronunciation of his name given by k army)

정다정/Jung Sweatheart (given by k army back in 2015 from how he would always comfort armys)

Prince of South America (given by ARMY and members about just how insanely loved Jhope is in South America and how he always says its his favorite place to go on tours lol)

TAEHYUNG NICKNAMES

Tae/TaeTae/Taehyungie (natural nicknames)

Tae Hyung Hyungie (sometimes called this by JK and it's so cute)

Gucci Prince (given by ARMY for how often he would be wearing Gucci)

Baby Bear/Teddy Bear/Honey Bear (his family used to call him this and Jimin has before too)

CGV (given by ARMY because he is so handsome he could've been CGI lol)

Wind Prince (given by RM during the VR Games run bts episode)

Voo/Vu/Bu (given by Jin)

Jack (Tae said this would be his English name if he had to pick, inspired by the titanic "jack... come back....")

Good Boy (given by Tae himself from how he introduced himself once)

Baby Prince V (given recently by k media and ARMY loved it)

Vante (given by Tae himself as his art and photography tag name)

4D (given by ARMY for the way he stands out and is unique)

세계일위미남/World's Number 1 Handsome Guy (given by ARMY after he won most handsome face in the world and used often by both fans and the members sometimes too lol)

김스치면인연/Kim Friends at a Brush Through (basically means that he makes friends anywhere he goes and is very social. Given by k army)

뷔주얼/"V"isual (given by k army for how handsome he is)

MC Jadu (means plum cheeks to describe his cheeks when he smiles by k army)

Myung Dong Young (K army say “His face is a ‘Painting’ 명화, his personality is a ‘Children’s book’ 동화, his life is a ‘Movie‘영화." And the 3 words all rhyme in korean)

Kimchi Papa (given by k army after Tae said he would name his son KimChi is Delicious)

They have so many that come and go and some that stick around for a while and some that become iconic. Lmfao I'm sure this isn't even all of them from across the decade. But it's most of them at least I think! Hope this helps!!

[amintyworld]

Dream SMP Fusion AU:

Certainly not me thinking about a Steven Universe AU for Dream SMP because fusions

Also, just to note: Not all fusions are for romantic relationships, so please no shipping since many of the creators are uncomfortable with that. The one somewhat romantic relationship fusion mentioned is between the characters Schlatt and Quackity, and are the only ones classified as such for the lore and story already created - I do not ship them whatsoever. Thank you.

Also, feel free to use these ideas with credit!

TW: Abusive Relationship, Toxic Realtionship, manipulation.

So like, what if during the L’manburg Independence War L’manburg was the only ones who really fused with each other, and the Dream SMP just never really thought it was useful and therefore didn’t really use it all that much for battle, pvp, etc. 

They discovered fusion one day while building the wall when a bit of debris was about to fall on Fundy and Wilbur swooped in to save him, and suddenly... a whole completely different person stood in their place. It didn’t last very long, but Wilbur from then on was determined to learn all he could about it and understand it. 

Wilbur couldn’t seem to explain his findings much scientifically, but he wrote up a journal on all he learned - how the fusion seems to combine and showcase the best parts of each individual person.

An iconic Steven Universe Scene takes place (For you SU fans, when Smoky Quartz first came to be) when Tommy in a effort to get his discs back one day tries to take Dream head on, pushing away Tubbo’s help. Tommy gets throughly beat up by Dream and in a heartfelt moment Tommy tells Tubbo that no matter what he does Dream will always win against him because he’s not strong enough. Then, Tubbo says that that’s not true, that Tommy doesn’t have to be like Dream, if anything Tommy’s like him because they both aren’t like anybody else, and it sucks, but they have each other. Finally Tommy accepts Tubbo’s help as they fuse for the first time.

Eret and Niki fused once while hanging out and dancing one day, which led Wilbur to discover how to trigger the fusion in a more controlled manner - through dancing. 

The war happens with the revolution holding better against Dream and his posse for the short fact that they had fusion on their side - they weren’t totally confident in the ability yet, which lead to some close calls to unfusing at the wrong time, but a few prominent fusions came out of it. In the end, they won and Wilbur continued to write his findings in the journal.

The election came about, and with it the exile of Wilbur and Tommy - this time the two were on the receiving end of fighting with fusions.

Wilbur even suggested on fusing together for survival - together they were more combat skilled, and better focused. After all, there was lesser chance of hurting one target than there was two. So, for a while they stayed together, at least, until Technoblade came to help.

Techno was very awkward at the whole fusion thing - it seemed stupid, and the poor pig hybrid didn’t exactly dance very well, though he was often too embarrassed to admit it. Techno didn’t understand how his two brothers could fuse so easily while he just... couldn’t. (I’m imagining Wilbur coaching him in Pogtopia while Tommy has to wear paint cans in order to each his height)

While out together, the sight of Tubbo causes Wilbur and Tommy to become so distressed they unfuse as Tubbo tells them he wants to help, and becomes their spy.

Back in Manburg, a certain goat hybrid finds Wilbur’s fusion journal and does some light reading. Schlatt thinks that he needs fusion soldiers to fight for him - from what he’s reading, these fusions are practically unstoppable. If he were to have that kind of power at his disposal, no one could stop him.

Being the ‘selfless’ leader he is, he uses himself as a test subject as he fuses with his militia - Punz, Ponk...

Quackity at first makes fun of his attempts as always within five minutes the fusion quickly falls apart. This only pisses of Schlatt more, until he comes up with an idea. 

He confronts Fundy and tells him that if he was loyal to Manburg, and their desires aligned, they’d be able to fuse no problem. Fundy agrees and they become the first completed fusion in Manburg - Fundy only does it because he wants to keep suspicion low and his cover a secret, and it somehow works. Schlatt doesn’t question Fundy much after that.

As the festival gets planned Schlatt continues his tactic of sniffing out traitors through fusion, which does not bode well for Tubbo, who keeps narrowly escaping having to fuse (Looking at the ‘I’m pregnant’ excuse-).

Back in Pogtopia, tensions rise as Wilbur and Tommy become more and more distant as Wilbur plans to blow up Manburg during the festival. 

Festival happens, not much really changes except Schlatt tries to get Niki to fuse with him to prove she wasn’t a traitor and not get killed like Tubbo - Wilbur overhears and intervenes, running away with Niki back to Pogtopia, fusing with her to help both of them escape.

When Quackity tries to leave, Schlatt forces him to fuse to stop the traitor from escaping, and for the first time, the two get trapped in a mixed up mess of a fusion - nothing is combined of the two, it’s all a mish mashed up mess - thankfully they aren’t fused for long and Quackity escapes, but both have the feeling of agony, sorrow and pain of the forced fusion in their minds. 

They take back L’manburg with some awesome fusion v fusion fights.

In a last attempt to keep from dying, Schlatt forces Quackity to fuse with him again in exchange that he release Tubbo, who was on his last cannon life (Schlatt held up a knife to his throat.) Once again, Quackity is trapped down in the painful and dark abyss as their fusion makes mass destruction. Wilbur, Tommy, Tubbo, and Techno all fuse to take  the unstable fusion down.

They succeed in doing so, fatally wounding Schlatt enough to corner him, the stress, drugs, and alcohol combing into a panic attack and he dies. 

From there, things proceed as normal - Techno releases the Withers, Wilbur pushes the button. 

New L’manburg is thriving with Tubbo as the new president... everyone can finally be who they want to be - wounds of course are still healing.

Quackity talks with Tubbo about his bad experience with Schlatt, and Tubbo is there to listen and always tells him that he doesn’t have to fuse if he doesn’t want to... of course fusion can be helpful (Some fusions have been helping repair the TNT and Wither damage) but, Tubbo insists, you don’t have to fuse to be able to help.

Ranboo gets a crash course in fusion basics by Phil and Ghostbur. (It’s like gem classroom, it’s all so cute guys-)

Phil also helps out Fundy who’s still iffy about Wilbur and all that he did for him... namely, fusing with Schlatt to avoid suspicion. It’s all wholesome and sweet, even with Ghostbur and his failed attempts to help in the background.

Things play out as normal in terms of plot - Techno retires, Tommy gets exiled...

Dream, at first, is very committed to blowing up Tommy’s stuff - one day, he says he won’t do it only if Tommy fuses with him, because he’s curious in how it works. 

This turns straight up unhealthy during the Beach Party when Tommy remembers all the times he used to have and how he feels so lonely, and Dream tells him that he’s always gonna be there for him even if they don’t, which results in Tommy and Dream fusing for a while whenever he comes to visit so Tommy won’t feel as lonely or as depressed. Tommy becomes dependent on Dream and the fusing and clings to it to an unhealthy amount, though Tommy of course wouldn’t admit that.

Eventually, Dream blows up Logstedshire and leads to Tommy running away in a brief moment of clarity. 

Phil gets under house arrest as the Butcher Gang try to take Techno down to kill him, but Phil, the ever to clever, gets there before they do and fuses with Techno to help take them down. They unfuse when Quackity threatens Techno’s horse, revealing that Phil snuck out. Techno covers for him and tells them that he broke Phil out, that it’s his fault and Phil had nothing to do with it. They believe him and Phil is in the clear.

The attempt fails, Techno finds Tommy and the two continue to practice fighting while fused - Tommy’s idea from his experience fighting with Wilbur - and they’re pretty strong. Ranboo and Ghostbur hang around and ooo and ahh over their moves.

Tubbo visits Tommy and as in cannon believes he’s dead but for a different reason - he finds evidence of when Tommy and Dream were playing around while fused and thinks that they’re permently fused - Dream forged a letter claiming that exact thing. Tubbo of course blames himself for losing his best friend.

Back in New L’manburg, the Butcher Gang gets fusion training too (except for Quackity) and Ranboo finally fuses for the first time with Fundy, the fusion turning into what a 12 year old would be like on redbull.

While on house arrest, Phil tries fusing with Ghostbur and to his surprise... it works - not for very long, but it works. They come to the conculsion that since Ghostbur is a ghost, that maybe it wasn’t two people fusing but instead a soul and a person, leading to the imbalance.

While Techno and Tommy are fused, they hold Connor captive and ask for ransom... leading Tubbo to be extremely confused when someone he doesn’t know is asking ransom from him who appearently knows him-?!

Only after they unfuse... Tubbo realizes that Tommy’s still... here. He’s still here and not in a fusion with Dream. Things go as in cannon.

Finally, after Dream figures out where Tommy is and tells Techno, any chance he gets with Tommy alone he tries to tell him that they could fix everything if they just fused again, and Tommy keeps finding himself refusing.

Anyway, what do ya’ll think? Should I do a follow up post for the fusions?

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Pacto

Debut: Kirby’s Dream Land 3

Can you feel it in the air? The funkiness? That’s right! Today is a Funky Friday! And this one’s extra funky because it’s also my first post! I’m Mod Sockop! A new mod, it’s a pleasure to meet you all! Most important thing to know about me is I really like Kirby enemies, as the following post will surely prove! At its most basic, Pacto is a large, oblong yellow sphere. That alone is already really good but the features this sphere gets is what makes Pacto Special. For starters, a big gazing eye, everyone loves big round eyes! More importantly, they have a huge gaping maw! Which they can open to extreme lengths to gobble up Kirby.

Originally these mouths were filled with rows of exposed red teeth, in their next appearance, Canvas Curse, they were given wavy lips! Which make their mouths look much cuter when closed, a welcome change personally! Don’t worry red teeth fans, those bad boys are still in there!

After Canvas Curse, all their subsequent appearances have been in 3D, where their teeth are now yellow with red tips! This implies these teeth are part of the mouth itself instead of bony outgrowths, kinda like geese beaks! I personally also welcome this change.

The final feature we need to talk about are these cute little nubs at the base, I personally see them as ears or horns, though some people see them as tiny feet. 

This brings us to a point of controversy among the Kirby community: What’s the symmetry of Pacto’s body plan? Are they meant to be interpreted vertically? If so, that would imply they’re just a head with tiny legs, a singular eye, and a huge gaping mouth where their brain would be.

Or are they meant to be interpreted horizontally? Their brains being located between their two eyes, one on each side, and the mouth being on a regular mouth position.

The 3D models have one eye, which could be an argument for Team Vertical Symmetry, though this could easily just be a way to ease development since Pactos never rotate their bodies anyway. I personally am Team Horizontal Symmetry. Their appearance and their name, both in English and Japanese (Pakuto), seem to make an allusion to Pac-Man, which is meant to be interpreted horizontally!

Come on, the resemblance is uncanny!

Don’t let my position push you to either side though, I personally like both interpretations since they both have a lot of charm to them, we can all live peacefully knowing Pacto exists first and foremost, and we love them for that, regardless of their bauplan symmetry.

Pactos also hide surprising intelligence! As very often they’re found behind or below food items and other goodies, they use bait!!! Where they get these food items and how they put them in ideal bait positions is a mystery, but it’s clearly a working out for them! Especially if they catch players low on health, desperate for a healing item, they’ll rush in and get nommed, the player will then have to mash or shake quickly if they don’t want to become a hearty meal!

Blinded by a burger, Kirby has no idea what’s coming for him….

This feels like a good place to end today’s wonderful entry, but great news! Pacto has 2 alternate forms/related species! Starting with Pacloud, a personal favorite!

Name: Pacloud Debut: Kirby’s Return To Dream Land

I love clouds and I love Pacto, so if you’re like me you are losing your mind at the sight of this lovely image! Unlike Pacto, they have little cloudy circles between their nubs and their eyes, kinda like a very pretty frill, you look very elegant Pacloud! (please compliment them).

Their nubs also look quite distinct, seemingly imitating the horns of a ram! This, combined with their fluffy frill makes them resemble a sheep in more ways than one, and we can all appreciate sheep in videogames.

The teeth on Pacloud are completely white, but strangely enough, they’re a different shade of white from the rest of their body! So these guys’ teeth are actually bony outgrowths and not part of their mouth? What is the truth?!

Those pearly teeth do look very well taken care of so good job Pacloud, proud of your dental hygiene!

Name: Pacflower Debut: Kirby Triple Deluxe

And finally, we have Pacflower! Easily the design that diverges the most from the original Pacto, I do like this guy a lot, It’s a very clever take on Pacto, they’re a flower now! Their body being two distinct petals, like a closed rose! The nubs are now replaced by several leaves surrounding their base, which also makes them look like a strawberry! What a charming little shape! Their eyes have a yellow sclera with pink pupils, which is a very rare eye color to see and I’m all in for it! 

And this is not all! They went in the extra mile with the flower imagery! When they open their mouths, they reveal two small tongues that resemble the Stamen of a flower! Isn’t that delightful? They look like a Hibiscus now :)

Pacflower’s hunting strategy relies on hiding among shrubbery, so their plant-like appearance makes complete sense evolutionarily speaking, it’s mimicry!

Very sneaky…

Pactos come in all shapes and sizes and every single one of them fills my heart with joy, I hope they have the same effect on you readers! Thanks for taking time to appreciate these wonderful creatures!

[junicai]

Relationship with WAYV

➣ KUN ☾ karia

if it wasn’t for dotae potentially coming to kill him, he would steal aria into wayv

he’s the cool dad? 

they can’t spend a lot of time together because none of their schedules match up, but aria takes every third or so weekend out to come have dinner in the wayv dorms

she’s surprisingly close to the china line, and its a combination of ten dragging her to his dorm for an entire month and them just kinda adopting her when they realized she was a foreigner as well 

yuta can fight them, she’s one of them now

he doesn’t like to baby her a lot, and she really appreciates the break from being the “maknae” so to speak 

however does that stop him from giving her the forehead kithes? no

aria sad? forehead kith

aria mad? forehead kith

aria smad? forehead kith + kuddles (kun cuddles)

he has sent her a passive agressive text when he found out that she wasn’t eating enough again and had almost passed out

but he finished it with a heart so its ok

if she isn’t smiling at all times, someone will die

aria feels like she can trust him with a lot; that no matter what she tells him, he’ll never out her or make fun of her

kun actually took a two-week online course to learn how to make traditional japanese dishes when aria mentioned missing her parents

he originally was going to learn how to make irish dishes, but he changed his mind after seeing what they were

“im not giving my kids boiled cabbage and mashed potatoes what kind of post world war-”

wants to give her a chinese name but hasn’t yet because he hasn’t found the one that fits her right and he wants it to be perfect 

aria teaches him japanese phrases in exchange for him teaching her a little bit of mandarin

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

aria saw kun’s back as she entered the practice room, the man standing with three other members in the centre of the floor before the choreographer came in to start their practice. coming up behind him, she wrapped her arms around his waist, peeking her head around from where she was. “hi!” she smiled brightly.

“hi,” ten chuckled, showing her the camera that had just filmed all of that. 

➣ TEN ☾ tenaria

Whipped(TM)

so so gone for her its upsetting actually

yangyang and aria share the position of his baby 

except aria willingly accepts the title while yangyang would rather fling himself from a rooftop

ten’s instagram is half his cats, half miyazu aria

he posts her dancing practice on his story a lot, with a variety of captions ranging from “thats my baby  ♡( ◡‿◡ )” to “yah that’s not right...(눈_눈)”

such an enabler for her bad ideas 

aria wants to go shopping at 4am? ten agrees, now they’re sitting by han river eating ice cream

pls he’s gonna get her in so much trouble one day

when they walk together, ten likes to take her hand and put it in his pocket 

its under the pretense of not wanting her to get lost 

he just wants to hold her hand

yes he has lost her in a shopping mall, and NO it wasn’t his fault

ten always complains that they never have schedules together and he misses his baby 

“we have superm-” “I NEVER SEE YOUUUU (ﾉಥ益ಥ)ﾉ”

if they’re in the same room ten is either watching her out of the corner of his eye, or is actually wrapped around her like a boa constrictor 

hugs n kithes all around

only he is allowed make fun of her mistakes in dancing 

anyone else gets deaded. he will fight for her honor how dare you insult his baby 

sm give these ttwo a dancing duo video pls 

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT. 

the first and only time aria and ten had a duet was during their last concert on superm’s first world tour. during the second half of ten’s solo performance, aria emerged from the left side of the stage, coming to join him in the centre stage. no one had ever seen aria as serious as she was then, both herself and ten becoming completely different people in the moment. midway through, aria spun with her back to ten and leaped backwards into the air - eyes closed - completely trusting ten to be where she needed him to be to catch her. 

➣ WINWIN ☾ winria

a love hate relationship at its finest

they don’t actually hate each other it’s just really funny to pretend that they do (especially because yuta complains that 2 of his favourite people aren’t getting along)

winwin is so savage towards aria but it’s ok she claps back twice as hard

at first, before czennies had seen enough of their dynamic they thought that they actually did hate each other

but that’s not true they just don’t know how to express, affection, without brutally insulting the other with a loving tone

they are, surprisingly, the most stable pairing in 127 - they have a dynamic and rarely stray from that, which is a good comfort for the fans

despite what they might say to each other, they don’t mean any of it - and winwin has been seen several times raising his eyebrows with a questioning look at aria to make sure she wasn’t taking any of his playful jabs to heart

oh god the flexibility

the entirety of nct is terrified of them

the day sm gives them a circus act is the day that kun and taeyong have a heart attack

quietly supportive of each other - catch aria “playing” with a water bottle and not getting up to get it when it conveniently rolls across the floor and into winwin’s leg

he makes sure to save some new chinese sweets whenever the wayv members get packages from their familes, and sneak it into aria’s room before the managers can catch her breaking her diet

not really physically affectionate with each other, which played into czennies idea that they didn’t like each other but aria cleared it up in a vlive

“winwinnie and I, well. we don’t hug a lot because i know he doesn’t like it as much as i might, so i try to show him i care with other things :)”

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

winwin and aria going in to each other on knowing brothers, to the point where the mc’s had their eyes popping out of their head and waved about to stop the segment before aria could start attacking winwin’s cooking methods-

nothing is off limits when it comes to them

➣ LUCAS ☾ arihei

besties 

please they’re so cute together - tol child next to tini child she barely comes up to his chest :(

bear hugs

he just swamps her in his arms, and when he doesn’t feel like being bent over he picks her up 

complains that she’s too heavy but then immediately after will throw her around like a softball 

someone tell this man to be careful with her she’s not a barbie doll 

singular braincell energy

don’t get it wrong, they’re both super smart 

so it’s just - being smort together, but then nearly dying because neither of them remembered that you couldn’t eat raw cookie dough when there are eggs in it

she adores how he’s so confident in the things that he does - like convincing the entire nct fandom that he was fluent in english? king behaviour

so aria looks up to him (literally) but also because she wants to have that confidence some day 

lucas says they’re not close and then aria pouts and he takes it all back

nczennies made a 14 minute compilation titled “lucas melting like a popsicle in australia for aria” 

and literally what the title tells you, this man goes :(( when he sees her 

lucas was actually the person to convince her to go ahead with the [redacted] proposal - and reminded her that it was too good an opportunity to pass up just because she felt like she was outgrowing the boys

he’s so proud of her

and she’s so proud of him 

they’re so proud of each other and it makes nczennies want to cry because they never are seen together 

sm stop separating the platonic soulmates first markhyuck and now arihei smh

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

during a photoshoot, aria was standing off to the side of the boys, dressed in white suit to contrast the boys’ black ones. the photographer was calling out to her to get her to move closer, but she couldn’t hear him from so far away, and so lucas (who was on the end) just walked over to her, gripped her by the biceps and lifted her vertically and to the left a little bit. 

“luc-LUCAS?”

“you had to move :)”

➣ XIAOJUN ☾ arijun

honestly these two aren’t super close, just because their schedules never matched up until the NCT 2020 promotions

even when aria was dragged to the wayv dorms, xiaojun kept his distance from her because he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable 

even so, when they were filming Make A Wish together, they seemed comfortable enough around each other

there was a mutual agreement to not try fill the silence with awkward small talk, so they sat in silence when left alone together

they’re both shy :( someone needs to get them to talk to each other :(

even so, aria was all supportive smiles and thumbs-up when she saw him getting nervous before their first public stage as the unit 

he was a little intimidated of her at first, but also really curious about how she was holding her own against the other members

not only physically, but her vibes are tiny let the man be concerned ok

his first impression of aria was just: small quiet? she was sitting apart from the other boys in the practice room, and he almost wanted to go over and ask her if she was ok; before she was approached by donghyuck and her face broke into a bright smile 

aria’s first impression of xiaojun was: eyebrows he was really handsome? at first, she thought he was in the wrong room, seeing as the SM modeling auditions were happening in the next room down

any arijun shippers are starved of content im so sorry guys 

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT. 

currently still up for debate between the fandom :(

➣ HENDERY ☾ aridery

ah these two 

you might as well sign a waiver if you decide to do anything with them, because they can and will get you killed 

kun can testify

ten’s the enabler but hendery is the do-er

super giggly around each other, for no reason at all

hendery could pick up and throw a basketball and suddenly aria’s on the floor in literal stitches 

have a secret code 

no seriously

they don’t text in words, they just send various reaction memes and a colourful variety of emojis to convey emotions and scenarios 

it’s become quite a beautiful language actually 

got some nice proverbs in there

they’re like, cousins but the ones you only see at family reunions but get so hype to see them

that energy 

asides from the chaotic, murderous vibes they possess as a duo

hendery knows what it’s like to miss home, to miss your parents, etc etc

and so he tries to make aria feel as home as possible - especially with wayv, because they’re all foreigners who know how she feels 

whenever he gets packages from his parents who have sent things over, he always makes sure to keep some of the small treats/sweets back for aria

1. because he knows she’ll appreciate the thought and she gives good hugs

2. because he knows she’s on a diet constantly and never allowed eat these things when she’s in the dorms with managers around 

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT. 

filming the Resonance “Wish” event, aria was put in a skimpy minimalistic mock-suit to differentiate from the others’ clothes. unfortunately, that left aria with a little too much shoulder and chest on display than she would like, and she was noticeably uncomfortable with her clothes, constantly pulling it up and even going so far as to just hold it with her hands. 

hendery saw this, and knew he was finished filming his segment for the time being, so he pulled off his own jacket and tossed it over to aria, who caught it with a grateful smile. “thank you,” she mouthed to him, tugging the dark blue material over her shoulders.

➣ YANGYANG ☾ ariyang

aria. has 9 days of age on this boy and will never let him forget it

“respect your elders you brat” “9. DAYS.”

european pals 

they feel so cultured when they get asked about europe, and then are kindly reminded by hendery that A. Germany started 2 world wars, and B. Ireland was just a British colony until 100 years ago. 

they both hit him for that

aria teaching him curse words in irish and yangyang teaching her curse words in german? more likely than you’d think 

they met before yangyang’s debut was announced, in a practice room that had let them accidentally overlap their practice times 

instead of working it out between them, they actually just started to alternate their songs - and the other gave them some good, constructive criticism 

most of the time

when they found out they were going to be in 90s Love together, they were so happy 

it was going to be their first official schedule together

all the behind-the-scenes videos are just aria and yangyang being children and then ten coming over and cooing at them 

they love ten, but they will trash talk the man behind his back 

yangyang confessed to her that he sometimes feels nervous when speaking korean, like he’s going to make a big mistake

so she tries her best to teach and correct him where she can, and make him as comfortable as possible 

if you look at any of the 90s Love promotions - aria is always beside yangyang

he bit her ear once

she doesn’t know why and he won’t tell her

but now when she makes fun of him, he threatens to do it again 

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT. 

aria skating onto the rink during filming, and yangyang following her because she promised to teach him how to skate backwards.

“ok just, think like you’re leading with your heels. press your knees in, and push outwards, with you-no no that’s forwards. go backwards yangyang.”

“no no no thats a WALL YANGYANG STOP-” 

[adventuresofclever]

CleverMax: SDCC 2021 Masquerade Entry

Comic-Con@Home Masquerade Entry: Adventures of Clever Costume Title: CleverMax - Mr. Clever as a Borderlands boss Costume Description: Recreation of Mr. Clever from the Doctor Who episode Nightmare in Silver, written by Neil Gaiman, done in the style of the video game, Borderlands. Bio: They/He pronouns

Greetings all!

I realized that I never wrote about how I made my CleverMax mashup cosplay, so when SDCC posted about their At Home masquerade, I figured this was the perfect time to do so! Most of you know that I cosplay exclusively as Mr. Clever from Doctor Who, with the random mash up thrown in here and there. I’ve always wanted to be a Borderlands cosplayer, and the following is how I managed to combine the two together.

As always, enjoy the blog and if there are any questions, please feel free to contact me. 

Let’s step into the TARDIS and jump back to October 20, 2009, when the first Borderlands game was released. It was my first foray into FPS (First person shooters) and I was hooked from day one. In 2012 they released Borderlands 2 which is, in my not so humble opinion, the best video game ever created. We got some of the most iconic charcters and storylines in that game. Including the best DLC ever, Bunkers and Badasses. And my second favorite villain of all time – Handsome Jack.

Jack’s sass, sarcasm and charm fits well with Mr. Clever’s personality. And in the pre sequel you get to play a version of him called the Dopplegnager.  I mean, this pretty much wrote itself.

Handsome Jack from Borderlands 2 and Mr. Clever from Doctor Who

Borderlands cosplayers have aIways left me in a state of awe and admiration. The style of the game is so unique and seeing it recreated in person is nothing short of incredible. I’ve always wanted to figure out a way to be a Borderlands cosplayer. For the past eight years I have only ever cosplayed as Mr. Clever from Doctor Who. In the summer of 2019 I decided that was the perfect time to try to make this happen before NYCC.

When I initially decided to do this, it was going to be more of a mash up between Handsome Jack and Mr. Clever. I had planned on wearing Jack’s basic outfit, but in Clever’s colors with the a few add ons. Namely the bow tie and the cybernetics.

After much research and drafting, I decided against that. I ended up just turning Mr. Clever into a Borderlands boss. Same basic outfit as Mr. Clever/11th Doctor, but cel shaded and with weapons, cause Borderlands.

I made the accessories, chess set, and obviously the working cyberplanner piece itself for my Nightmare in Silver version of Clever, but I have never tackled anything this ambitious. An entire costume from scratch? Not something I thought I could do. Not knowing how to sew and being visually impaired were both challenges that I had to work around.

I started with looking around my house for various items that I thought I could use. I figured if I messed up, might as well mess up on something I hadn’t spent money on yet! I was going to toss a pair of my old paddock boots as they had some rips in the leather. Ripped leather? How very Pandora. They were the first thing I tackled.

Old paddock boots that I refurbished for the cosplay

This was my first time using leather paint and I have to say I am very pleased with the Angelus brand of leather paint. I have worn these in the rain and through puddles, and they have held up 100%.

After the boots were done, I started on the vest. I had an old black vest lying around the house that was sort of the shape and size I wanted. I don’t have a dress form, so I put it on myself, inside out, and used safety pins to make it the size I needed, then hand sewed around the safety pins. Not ideal, but it works.

I had a spare pair of black jeans, button down light blue shirt and a plain bow tie that I just ended up cel shading.

The only item that I really couldn’t figure out was the purple frock coat. Try as I might, I couldn’t find one to modify. So the coat was actually made by my friend Heather Long. I did alter the length after NYCC. 

With the clothes themselves all set, for the most part anyay, it was time to paint. This was my first time trying to recreate the art style of Borderlands, often referred to as cel shading. I have a few “art of Borderlands” style books that I poured over before I sat down to attempt this.

Other than the accessories and anything leather, I used the same materials and techniques for each article of clothing. Instead of describing each seprate piece, I’ll just explain what I did to achieve the overall look.

When you look at a Borderlands character on screen, it can be a bit overwhelming. So many colors, and so many nuances of each color. I did my best to visually sift through all that, and try to establish what I thought was the base color.

Once the base color was determined, I just added blotches, blobs, shading, low lights, highlights and other variations of the base color itself throughout each piece. I recommend keeping your fabric wrinkled and using those wrinkle as guidlenes for where the lines and shading would fall naturally.

Once all of that dried, I then went over different sections of the fabric with white and black lines. To get that crisp, almost comic book looking outline of each piece I used black sharpie, and white fabric pens as well as white fabric paint.

When I sat down to do the coat, I wanted something a little different than just cel shading. During a second playthrough of Tales from the Borderlands, I noticed Rhys and other characters had interesting logos and designs on the back of their jackets. I ended up putting a chessboard pattern on the back as a homage to the chess game between the 11th Doctor and Mr. Clever in the episode.

Great shot of the chess board and my Judd Nelson pose

The materials that I used for all of the clothing items were craft paints that I had around the house. Any brand works, but I prefer Americana paints. I then added an additive that you use to make the paint water proof and used various sized brushes. Dry brushes are also very useful if you have them.

Black sharpies of different sizes and any fabric markers are also very helpful. Heat setting is required to make the paint waterpfoof, so if you mess up before you add sharpies, you can wash the clothes and start over.

A few tips if you decide to undertake cel shading clothing: Until now I hadn’t noticed that there aren’t many thing in Borderlands that are true black. Due to the art style most things that appear black are in reality shades of grey, with a grey base colr. This makes it easier to add the lines, shading, and what not.  Looking back, I should have bought GREY clothes. It was a ton of work to make the pants look like they were a mixture of greys. And as a result of so many laers of paint, they are stiff, lost their stretch and feel an entire size smaller! So I would recommend grey fabric as a base for black clothing and buy a size larger.

The pants are so stiff that I think they will stand up on their own

This entire process was way more fun than I thought it would be and I’ve since become addicted to cel shading anything I can. I may or may not have started cel shading my guest room. 

After the clothing was finished, I started on some accessories and props. The first being the easiet – a wee little cybermite that I cel shaded. My cosplay of Mr. Clever always has a cybermite on my lapel, so I took one of my older ones and repainted it.

You can’t have a Borderlands character without some sort of weapon, so I painted a nerf gun that looks similar to the one that Clara Oswald holds in the episode.

I have never had to carry a gun for my Mr. Clever cosplay before so weapon checks are sort of new to me. I didn’t want to go through that at NYCC so I came up with a clever, no pun intended, way around it.

I took a photo of each side of the gun. Went to Staples and had them printed on heavy cardstock. Then I cut around the guns, glued them together between a piece of cardboard then added some black electical tape around the edges.  Viola. Instant weapons check approved gun that is lightweight, and also acts a fan when it gets hot. It was a huge hit at the con. A few security guards were like “ we have to check your…wait..is that flat?” And they proceeded to play with it. I highly recommend doing this!

Gun and its flat counterpart

I am holding the flat gun in this picture from NYCC

In the actual game, you can equip your characters with mods that give them certain abilities and bonuses. In the Pre-Sequel, you can play as a Dopplganger of Handsome Jack so I searched for some of his mods and found one in purple which seemed perfect. I made the mod with cardboard, covered it in craft foam, modge podge to set, and installed led lights. The first time I wore it I put it on my belt which didn’t work. It kept falling off. I eventually put it on my lapel and wore it like Jack does. Unfortunately, someone glomped on me at a con and broke it, so I recently had to remake it all over again.

No Borderlands costume would be complete without cel shading on yourself. This was a huge challenge for me for a few reasons. One, I’m visually impaired so doing line work like this was challenging. Two, I am highly allergic to so many materials and ingrediants that finding a make up brand that I could wear was a trial and error process that ended up with many break outs and rashes before I found the perfect combination.

I used mostly eye liner pencils and liquid eye liner to achieve the look. The Wet n Wild liquid eye liner lasts forever, and is actually difficult to remove, but that is not a bad thing as it stood up to the heat of a very crowded venue.

As for the cel shading itself, I relied on many refernce photos of various characters in the game. I started with the eyebrows first as that seemed to frame the face nicely and give me a nice mischvieous look. I then just outlined the bones of my face, adding some random lines here and there. It never looks the same way twice, but that’s ok. Playing with different angles, lines, shading etc is half the fun!

The only real challenge were my hands. The make up didn’t last that long on my hands so I had to touch it up throughout the con. I also eventually started to use band aids that I cel sahded to cover up a tattoo on my inner wrist.

Figuring what to do with my hair is an on going process that I still haven’t 100% mastered. I opted to not use a foam wig as I have over heating issues on a cool day let alone trying to wear one if it gets warmer. I have had adverse reactions to craft foam in the past, so I don’t want it touching my skin, and lastly, I think a wig AND a facial prosthetic would be too much for me. So I decided to just cel shade my hair.

This takes forever to do, and I’m still figuring out better techniques every time I wear it.

I have a really great brand of colored gel, called Mofajang which I apply with a baster brush that you would find in the kitchen gadgets aisle. I also use a clean mascara brush to add some finer lines here and there. Set with way more hair spray than I ever used in the 80’s and it becomes fairly waterproof.

I have learned that due to how hard the make up and hair color is to remove, I really need to wear this on the LAST day of a con. I made the mistake of wearing it on day one of Long Island Who one year, and spent hours scrubbing my skin and hair for the next day. Far better to just leave the con with a tad bit of left over cel shading. Which makes it very interesting when you stop at a roadside bathroom on the trip home.

With the entire costume done it was time to work on the actual cyberplanner appliance. 

Next time I make a variation of Clever, I will make this FIRST. Making these pieces is the bane of my existence – I love wearing them, hate making them.  It’s a long process.

I am allergic to latex, silocone, scuply, most clays, and so many other things that seem to be every cosplayers go-to. When I made my first cyber piece back in late 2013, I spent weeks trying to find a substance that would keep attached to my face all day without causing a rash. Like an alchemist in a fantasy novel, I submerged myself into creating the perfect concoction. It took 22 days to finish the final product.

I admit that I rushed a bit on the Borderlands one.  As a result, it doesn’t quite fit as well as my others, and is a bit heavier than I expected. I only added two working lights, instead of the usual four, to hopefully balance the piece out. It lasted through two full days of a con, despite the heat of a crowded venue, but I did end up tweaking it a bit after. Even with the tweaks, it still doesn’t fit as well as I would like. It is too heavy and brings down the entire left side of my face, making it difficult to keep my eye open at times. I really need to sit down and force myself to make a new one.

There are a few more things that I would like to add to this costume eventually. Like a belt of grenades, and maybe another gun. But aside from that, I am incredibly pleased with how this costume turned out. It is by far, my favorite Clever variation that I have done.

I hope this post gives you the inspiration to go off and cel shade something, and possibly even play some Borderlands!

[doorbloggr]

Thursday 6/5/21: Masters of Musical Mashups

I do not consider myself a musically minded person, but I feel I enjoy music as a past time more than the average joe. When I engage with audio entertainment, I do so with my soul, to the point where songs I have nostalgia for can move me to tears.

Sorry for using K-On for mood-setting imagery again, but its a cute and fun aesthetic.

But before I meander too much off-topic, today's on-topic is specifically about music derived from existing media. Parody is the immediate word that comes to mind, but the type of derivative musical masterpieces I wanna highlight in this blog post goes a bit deeper than that.

The internet is an amazing place (maybe I should retitle this blog series to that string of words), and I've been exposed to many smaller or otherwise hidden musical talents that I would not have encountered in everyday life. Today let's discuss two musical talents from YouTube who have made it their mission to incinerate existing music in a grand inferno, and rebirth a new sound, like a radiant phoenix. The masters of mashups.

High Quality Videogame Rips: SiIvaGunner

SiIvaGunner (spelt s-i-i-v-a-g-u-n-n-e-r) is a videogame OST ripping channel. It owes it name to fellow videogame rip channel GilvaSunner, (g-i-l-v-a-s-u-n-n-e-r), who in turn pays homage to original videogame ripping channel Silvagunner (s-i-l-v-a-g-u-n-n-e-r).

Confusing names aside, the purpose of a videogame rip channel is to provide audio acquired directly from a videogame's files in order to fully enjoy the original soundtrack (OST) in its purest form. There are hundreds of such channels on YouTube, but SiIvaGunner has been set apart from the rest by the specific ripping skillset of its community. Take a listen to this:

SiIvaGunner songs are a fun bait-and-switch type entertainment, where the bit usually involves using the thumbnail and title of a video game song, but the artist has used the sound font of that game to construct a completely different tune.

A lot of the time, this is as simple as using a Mario soundfont to play notes of a TV show theme (as above), but sometimes, it can go further. Many of SiIvaGunner's most popular hits involve just straight remixes of mainstream music mashed up with videogame tunes.

And sometimes, the musician will go one more step, and sentence mix lyrics from the videogame song or mainstream song to make a song of entirely new meaning.

SiIvaGunner is not one artist, there is an entire community of musical artists who contribute their pieces to this channel. The channel uploads often double digits of videos daily, so if I've intrigued you at all, please check the channel out!

A World of Mouth: Neil Cicierega

Neil Cicierega is an internet legend. He has been creating online entertainment for almost two decades. Particularly credits include his Potter Puppet Pals series, and his own original music under the name "Lemon Demon", with works such as The Ultimate Showdown and Two Trucks.

Given his aptitude in comedy and musical talent, it is not surprising that Neil jumped into the parody/remixing scene. But whereas other parody artists and remixers simply created their own altered versions of popular music, Neil Cicierega created something on entire other level.

Neil has recently released his fourth album in the Mouth series, a collection of mashup music that transforms popular mainstream music into something new and fantastic. Neil will take the vocals from one song and transplant it into the instrumentals of another song. Often this contrast is used for comedic effect, but in my opinion, many of the songs he's remixed sound catchier and more fun than the originals.

The namesake of his series, Smash Mouth, feature heavily in a number of his songs. Given the meme-able nature of Smash Mouth, thanks to Shrek, the Mouth series is known across the internet for its fun parodic nature.

Smash Mouth is far from the only source Neil Cicierega uses. Source music is taken from all genres of popular 20th and 21st century hits. Neil has a musical ear where he can perfectly match any lyrics with their instrumental soulmate. The pairing needn't be songs of the same genre however, and some of his most fun music comes from combining music from polar opposite genres.

Using the vocals from AC/DC's Back in Black with the instruments from Vanessa Carlton's A Thousand Miles sounds like a pair that shouldn't work. But Neil knows his rhythm and it goes off. And while Neil is a master of putting hard-ass lyrics to a softer song, that doesn't mean he can't go in the other direction. Below is Spongerock, a mashup of the Spongebob theme song and Queen's We Will Rock You.

Some of Neil's remixes aren't mashups at all, but rather a transformation of a song into something silly, bizarre and barely recognisable from the original. The prime example being Bustin.

Neil Cicierega posts his original music on Spotify, and his Mouth series can be found on his Soundcloud. Fans have uploaded most of the Mouth series to Youtube, and if you have a spare few hours (or want to consume it over a few days), a fan has compiled all of his albums into one long video, The Mouth Experience:

I've given my readers plenty of good music to listen to today, so if you do enjoy yourselves or have already experienced these musical geniuses before, be sure to let me know and spread the word.

[ask-fantasy-sanders-sides]

Did I hear dancing? Did Dee, Remus, and Virgil like to dance? I need all the details!!

Oh for sure they danced together!

Mod (thats me) is a huge fan of dance so there will be a lot of it in this AU, probably ^^

(explanation is long so I’m putting it under a cut, also I have no control and have started some sketches on this, will post them later if y’all are interested in seeing them but they’re very self-indulgent and sappy lol)

    Remus isn’t an amazing dancer, but him and Virgil cutting it up are a goddamn sight to behold.

    As soon as Remus found out Virgil had never heard of dancing before meeting him, it became Remus’s personal mission to teach Virgil All Of The Dancing. He and Roman were extensively trained as children, and goddammit he was going to use those classes somewhere

    Virgil wasn’t a huge fan of the simple/gentrified slow dancing, like the box step or waltz, cause you’re “basically just standing there wasting time,” and he didn’t like the boisterous town ball line dances either, cause that was too many people. But, he liked the solo and duo stuff, like tango and ballet:

They were more athletic, so his brain likened them to his training, instead of a recreational or romantic thing. For Virgil, dancing is “exercise where you have fun with a friend and show off your personal skill”  

ballet was easy for him because he was flexible and strong, and it wasn’t incredibly different from the stretches he already did. (“I can implement this in battle,,,, don’t laugh I’m being serious”)

Tango or Lindy hop or other energetic/acrobatic dances were with one other person who he trusted, not a group of strangers, and it was definitely a workout

    So he and Remus sort-of started combining them. Imagine a sort of crazy ballroom dance: lots of footwork, tosses and lifts, very intimate, requires total trust in your partner. Remus could throw him way high up in the air for crazy ballet catches, and Virgil could show off his downright ridiculous flexibility. Some sort of cross between spider-monkey shenanigans, crazy stupid stunts, and very close, romantic dancing. It is the craziest shit to watch them do in person, it’s like watching a car crash but the crash never happens. 

    And of course, they were best friends for sixteen years; You can feel the energy and trust between them. They have undeniable chemistry, even if it’s purely platonic, and it’s viscerally visible when they dance.

    Dee would NEVER attempt it, but he cheered them on for sure. He definitely got very very flustered watching Remus and Virgil dance, poor gay baby. (There was quite a while after he first joined them that Dee was just a demisexual disaster between his oblivious asshole boy crushes, with Remus having absolutely no sense of personal boundaries and Virgil being completely desensitized to the human body and oblivious to romantic gestures. Eventually, he got used to their bullshit.)

    And it’s not like this was a rare thing for them; it was one of the sure-fire ways Remus and Virgil would spend time together and show affection to one another, what with both of them being a little weird with words and full of energy (or nerves, in Virgil’s case). Any fast-paced/dramatic song starts up at a tavern they’re hanging out at, and there’s an abandoned patch of floor? Dee already knows where they’re going, doesn’t even have to look up from his drink.

    Dee danced with them too, of course, just not anything as wild as what they would do together. Dee is a good dancer, but he just doesn’t enjoy it as much as they do. Dee and Virgil don’t like to make big shows of themselves in public, but for Dee its more like “I don’t want to be a spotlight” and for Virgil it’s “I don’t want to be around strangers.” So, if it’s a small group of people, Virgil’s fine with getting a little performative, but Dee still doesn’t want to make a big fuss.

    Dee and Virgil didn’t dance often, but that’s because Virgil would tire Dee the hell out. Virgil took the lead when it was just the two of them, and they would do more swing/tap-style dances, like what he did with Remus but less intimate and intense (still very much a workout, though).

    Remus and Dee liked to slow-dance. They did the soft, swaying-and-spinning ballroom dances that bored Virgil. It was much more Dee’s speed, and Remus didn’t mind slowing down for him. It’s like the stuff parents do in movies. where by the end of the dance they’ve basically devolved to just hugging and stepping from side to side. Gentle and affectionate. They do this a lot when they’re drunk, and Remus is feeling uncharacteristically vulnerable and sappy.

    Growing up practicing these dances with other students, Remus was always frustrated with his partners. No one trusted him enough to really get to the fun parts, like lifts and dips and spinning around, and no one could really stand him long enough to do the sweet, slow ones, except for his brother, Nico, or Mom. So, he could never really let loose, which is what dancing is for. Dee and Virgil, though - at the time when this became a thing for them - trusted him, and Virgil was spry enough to keep up with him during the more energetic routines. Remus really appreciated that.

    They have tried to all dance together at the same time, but it’s usually a disaster. Remus and Virgil both want to lead, Dee doesn’t know what they’re doing, and it ends up looking like three kids goofing around, but they are having the time of their lives. It usually ends with Remus pulling That Move where he just picks them both up and spins and spins and spins around until he makes himself dizzy, and they fall over into a silly hug, smiling like idiots.

As a small note I couldn’t figure out a good transition for, lmao:

    Dancing was definitely a part of Yuan-Ti culture, and done often during festivals and cult rites. The type of dancing they would do was a sort of mash between belly dancing and bharatanatyam, and Dee and Marissa both know how to do it. Now you have that mental image, you’re welcome. uvu